Salvadoran national and graduate of the Universidad Autónoma Agraria “Antonio Narro” (Agronomy, 1969; Honoris Causa Doctorate, 1996) and the Colegio de Postgraduados (MSc in plant breeding, 1973), Córdova came to CIMMYT as a postdoctoral fellow in the Maize Program in 1975. During 1980-86 he focused on coordinating and supporting the research of CIMMYT and partners under the highly successful Programa Regional de Maíz para Centroamérica y el Caribe, and continues adding value to efforts of maize researchers in that region.
Maize varieties to whose development Cordova contributed are sown on more than 300,000 hectares in Central America. He has served on different occasions as head of CIMMYT research on both lowland tropical maize and subtropical maize, contributing to breeding methodologies and, particularly, the development of quality hybrids for tropical maize areas.
As a key input since 1998, Córdova has led efforts with partners worldwide to improve and promote quality protein maize (QPM), a CIMMYT product grown previously on little more than 150,000 hectares in 6 countries and now sown on more than 650,000 hectares in 25 developing countries.
Congratulations to Hugo and the other scientists for their achievements and well-deserved promotions!
Innovations 