Capacity development
CIMMYT training courses play a critical role in helping international researchers meet national food security and resource conservation goals. By sharing knowledge to build communities of agricultural knowledge in less developed countries, CIMMYT empowers researchers to aid farmers. In turn, these farmers help ensure sustainable food security. In contrast to formal academic training in plant breeding and agronomy, CIMMYT training activities are hands-on and highly specialized. Trainees from Africa, Asia and Latin America benefit from the data assembled and handled in a global research program. Alumni of CIMMYT courses often become a significant force for agricultural change in their countries.
CIMMYT empowers a new generation of maize breeders in Zambia
Capacity developmentCIMMYT conducted a training course in Zambia for maize breeders teaching modern maize breeding methods.
Big data for development research
Capacity developmentBoth private and public sector research organizations must adopt data management strategies that keep up with the advent of big data if we hope to effectively and accurately conduct research.
Global conference underscores complex socio-economic role of wheat
Capacity developmentA recent gathering of more than 600 scientists highlighted the complexity of wheat as a crop and emphasized the key role wheat research plays in ensuring global food security.
Transforming maize farming failures to successes in Kenya’s drylands
Capacity developmentKDV4 is one of the DT varieties sold in Kenya’s eastern drylands alongside other improved varieties, developed by CIMMYT.
Changing the pace of maize breeding in Africa through doubled-haploid technology
Capacity developmentTwo words – accelerated breeding – are synonymous to doubled-haploid (DH) based maize breeding. This was the core message shared with 56 maize breeders from 10 African countries who recently participated in a two-day training workshop organized by CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program (GMP) in Nairobi, Kenya, from September 23–24, 2015. The breeders benefited from the knowledge and experience of resource persons from public and private institutions in France, Germany and USA who have dedicated years of research on the DH technology that is changing the pace of maize breeding.
India visit: Dr. Martin Kropff, Director General, CIMMYT
Capacity developmentSummary of CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff visit to different research sites in several states of India, 28 September – 2 October, 2016.
Towards total quality: workshop on maize seed quality analysis-based on ISTA protocols
Capacity developmentDuring the training courses for MasAgro Network seed producers given in 2014, surveys were conducted to determine their training needs in 2015. CIMMYT seed systems experts who visited seed production facilities and fields also identified gaps in the capacities of small, medium and large seed producers in Mexico.
CIMMYT helps the Seed Entrepreneurs’ Association of Nepal devise its organizational strategy
Capacity developmentIn response to the interest expressed by the Seed Entrepreneurs’ Association of Nepal (SEAN), CIMMYT-Nepal organized a meeting with SEAN and the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) on 29 July 2015 at NARC’s Agriculture Botany Division, Khumaltar, as an activity of the CIMMYT-led Cereal System Initiative for South Asia-Nepal (CSISA-NP).