Project 11 meetings touch on CIMMYT knowledge and impacts

Seeking to review progress and plan future contributions to CIMMYT research, nine members of Project 11, “Knowledge, targeting and strategic assessment of maize and wheat farming systems,” met in El Batán during 19-20 February 2007. Reports and MTP planning covered the Project’s four “pillars,” which correspond to MTP project outputs: knowledge/capacity building; value addition; diversity/gene valuation; and targeting and impacts assessment. Participants reported that CIMMYT guides the thesis research of a large number of advanced degree students, that methods have been developed to measure household welfare effects from on-farm conservation and use of crop genetic diversity, and training on conducting impact studies was completed during 2006 in Turkey, Ethiopia, and Uganda. Achievements slated for 2007 include the launch of the IRRI-CIMMYT knowledge-sharing portal, renewal of the popular “Maize and Wheat Facts and Futures” publication series, analyses of maize and wheat value chains, publications on crop diversity and cereal intensification, and the completion of ex ante impact studies on diverse CIMMYT initiatives, including drought tolerant maize in sub-Saharan Africa.