Twenty-three farmers who attended a wheat course on soil management and preparation back in March 2010 returned to CIMMYT-Mexico to complete their training last week. “Integrated Management of Wheat in Mexico: Part Two” ran from 02-06 August 2010 and was a collaborative effort of CIMMYT and the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries, and Food (SAGARPA). It focused on pest and disease control, existing genotypes in the Mexican market, seed health, end-use quality, and use of geographic information systems (GIS) for extension agents.
The participants spent the first two days in Toluca where Fernando Delgado, Toluca’s station superintendent, led the activities in the field. From Wednesday through Friday, the group stayed at El Batán, where they had a varied schedule that included presentations on wheat variety profiles; visits to demonstration plots, the germplasm bank, and seed health laboratories; and sessions on GIS, conservation agriculture (CA), grain industrial quality, and the registration process of new varieties in Mexico.
Petr Kosina, knowledge, information, and training manager, and Roberto Javier Peña, wheat quality expert and laboratory head, coordinated the SAGARPA-funded course, which received technical support from the Mexican National Institute of Forestry, Agriculture, and Livestock (INIFAP). This course will be given again in 2011 and 2012. Big thanks to everyone who helped make this training a success, including Julio Huerta and Bibiana Espinosa of the germplasm bank; Noemà Valencia and Gabriela Juárez of the seed health lab; Andrea Chocobar and Ricardo Romero of the CA team; INIFAP’s Eduardo Villaseñor; Fernando Delgado; and the GIS office team.
