Colleagues from CIMMYT, the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), and national agricultural research systems gathered in Njoro, Kenya, on 05 October 2011, to celebrate the approval of BISA (Borlaug Institute for South Asia) by the Indian Government. The event was organized by Sridhar Bhavani, CIMMYT-Kenya. Ravi Singh, CIMMYT-Mexico, gave the opening address to more than 40 international scientists and thanked the Government of India for funding the institute. He described the significance of the new centre in relation to the growing challenges of food security, and expressed confidence that this centre will address the expectations of a second Green Revolution in South Asia and worldwide.
Eleven wheat breeders and pathologists from South Asia were already in Njoro with CIMMYT colleagues, attending a rust training course and selecting resistant wheat material. They felt that the scientific work embedded in BISA is already being linked to Kenya, and it is hoped that the institute will play an important role in maize and wheat improvement and training in Africa, in addition to furthering links between CIMMYT and South Asia.
Capacity development 