The management committee (MC) met in Nairobi, 28-29 September, prior to the Board of Trustees meeting, and had an excellent discussion on research planning, resource allocation, and budgeting processes in CIMMYT. The CGIAR Science Council requires centers to plan, budget, and implement all research activities within the context of the medium-term plan (MTP) Projects. For this and other reasons, the MC agreed in Nairobi on some new policies and procedures with regard to research priority setting, research planning, resource allocations, and budgeting.
The previous portfolio of 11 MTP Projects has been reduced to 8, with each director responsible for two:
P1: Genetic resources (GREU, Jonathan Crouch)
P2: Breeding tools (GREU, Jonathan Crouch)
P3: Abiotic and biotic stress maize (Marianne Bänziger)
P4: Quality and specialty maize (Marianne Bänziger)
P7: Water use efficient wheat (Hans Braun)
P8: Wheat yield and quality (Hans Braun)
P10: Maize and wheat systems (John Dixon)
P11: Impacts and targeting (John Dixon)
The regional maize Projects (Africa and Latin America/ Asia) have been rolled into trait-based Projects. The wheat Projects have been aggregated along with the core aspects of conservation agriculture applicable to both maize and wheat systems. The latter will be managed as a cross-cutting Project, similar to the impacts and targeting Project. The numbering for the Projects retained is the same as in the MTP, following CGIAR requirements. Directors will explain in greater detail the implications of the changes, particularly with respect to restricted projects that may be re-allocated. Apart from bringing CIMMYT in line with Science Council requirements, the changes more closely align our flagship products with the Projects that deliver them.
Capacity development 