News
Battling devastating viral diseases, also in plants
Nutrition, health and food security
Maize lethal necrosis has taught us that intensive efforts to keep human and plant diseases at bay need to continue beyond the COVID-19 crisis.
Stripe rust hits wheat crop in Nepal
Environmental health and biodiversity
Source: Seed Quest (27 May 2020)
Nepal Agricultural Research Council and CIMMYT scientists suspect new races of stripe and leaf rust in the Nepal hills and terai in the recent 2020 wheat season.
CIMMYT for Mexico in times of a global pandemic
Nutrition, health and food security
CIMMYT representatives discuss the impact of the pandemic on Mexico and why CIMMYT works towards more resilient agri-food systems with healthier and more prosperous people.
Plant-based materials catch on with home-goods designers
Capacity development
Source: The Manila Times (26 May 2020)
Mexican designer Fernando Laposse partnered with CIMMYT and works with a village of Mixtec farmers to transform unused maize husks into furniture.
Africa’s smallholders to bear the brunt of COVID-19
Nutrition, health and food security
Source: SciDev.net (25 May 2020)
As COVID-19 pandemic threatens smallholder farmers, it could be an opportunity to shift priorities and increase support to agriculture.
Scaling up research for development in CGIAR
Capacity development
ILRI incorporates CIMMYT tool into their scaling framework and recommends other CGIAR centers to do the same.
New Publications: Cropping pattern zonation of Pakistan
Innovations
Zoning study shows the reach of 25 crops in Pakistan.
This little seed went to market
Capacity development
Seed companies in Malawi share how they chose their flagship varieties and got them onto the commercial market.
Fawligen registered in Bangladesh
Environmental health and biodiversity
Source: PR Newswire (18 May 2020)
CIMMYT contributed to rapid assessment and registration of biological control for fall armyworm.
International analytics award goes to CGIAR centers for sustainable agriculture tools
Innovations
The 2020 IAAA award recognizes groundbreaking data systems and tools helping more than 150,000 farmers in Mexico.
Fall armyworm survey marks CIMMYT’s first research project in Laos
Nutrition, health and food security
Hot on the trail of fall armyworm, CIMMYT builds local research partnerships in Southeast Asia.
Launching the AgriFoodTrust platform
Innovations
New testing and learning platform aims to build the knowledge base for trust and transparency technologies in food systems.
Breaking Ground: Maria Itria Ibba and the lab that bakes bread
Innovations
CIMMYT scientist helps breeders meet complex and stringent market demands for high-quality wheat.
Opinion: COVID-19 highlights need to boost resilience of Africa’s rural poor
Nutrition, health and food security
Source: Devex (4 May 2020)
Leaders from CIMMYT, Harvest Plus and Clinton Development Initiative discuss need for smallholder farmers to be resilient against shocks — pandemics, droughts or crop infestations.
New publications: Gender differentiated small-scale farm mechanization in Nepal hills
Gender equality, youth and social inclusion
Adoption of mini-tiller is significantly lower in female-headed households, CIMMYT researchers find.
