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.
Happy Seeder, happy farmers: tillage in a single pass
Capacity development
Gulshad Nabi (Chand) is a progressive farmer from Chak Dahir, Tehsil Muridke in the Sheikhupura District of Punjab Province, Pakistan. He cultivates wheat and basmati rice, which constitute his family’s only source of livelihood. Heavy tillage and burning of rice residues are the common practices for growing wheat in the region, resulting in the loss of soil nutrients, air pollution and poor food security and livelihoods for farmers like Gulshad.
CIMMYT showcases advances in agricultural technology and development in Pakistan
Capacity development
The Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP), led by CIMMYT and funded by USAID, presented the latest advances in agricultural technology and provided a platform for local industry to explore innovative technologies, products and services at the Pakistan Agriculture Conference and Expo 2015 in Islamabad.
BISA and CIMMYT-India join in Agricultural Science Fair
Capacity development
The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) organized the Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela (Agriculture Science Fair) during 10-12 March. Initiated in 1972, the Mela is an important annual event for IARI to raise awareness about agricultural technological developments and for receiving feedback from farming communities. The Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) and CIMMYT India mounted an exhibit on their work and staff discussed farming practices and mechanization with several farmers and scientific community members, as well as handing out printed materials to visitors.
Climate-smart agriculture to combat global warming
Capacity development
Agriculture has the potential to be “part of the solution to reduce the impact of climate change,” according to Dr. R.S. Paroda, Chairman of the Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences, who was one of nearly 100 participants at a launching and planning workshop for Flagship Projects on climate-smart agriculture of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS). Held on 24-25 February in New Delhi, the event was jointly organized by CIMMYT and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), with participants from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and other partnering countries.
Maize and wheat global gender study: coding large-scale data to reveal the drivers of agricultural innovation
Capacity development
Over the last week, MAIZE and WHEAT CRP investigators from the global cross-CRP study on gender in agricultural innovation met at El Batán from 26 Feb to 1 March to take stock of progress so far and plan the next steps in the implementation of this unique research initiative.
Researchers define and measure “sustainability”
Capacity development
Leading specialists on the sustainable intensification of agriculture tried to hammer out indicators for assessing “sustainability,” a development term that refers roughly to the health and longevity of a system, at a 13 February workshop in San Jose, California.
Crop model gives scientists a window on future farming in the Eastern Gangetic Plains
Capacity development
In work to help farmers in South Asia tackle changing climates and markets through resilient and productive cropping systems, scientists are now using a leading and longstanding model, the Agricultural Production System Simulator (APSIM).
Spreading innovation: new partnerships drive change in Odisha
Capacity development
The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) has collaborated with Digital Green (DG), the Department of Agriculture (DOA), Government of Odisha, Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) and Orissa University of Agriculture & Technology (OUAT) for a pilot project integrating information and communication technology (ICT)-based video-led dissemination models in 20 villages of Puri district in Odisha, India.
Two-wheel tractors to increase smallholder farm power in Ethiopia
Capacity development
For Ethiopian smallholder farmers who have for millennia used the traditional animal-drawn maresha plow, two-wheel tractors could increase their productivity while reducing labor.
CIMMYT formally welcomes four local workshops to the machinery and equipment innovation group
Capacity development
In 2014, the work of The Machinery and Equipment Innovation Group begun activities after signing of four contracts with four Mexican workshops.
Pakistan wheat farmers call for quality seed of the right varieties
Capacity development
Lack of good seed of appropriate varieties is holding back harvests of smallholder wheat farmers in rugged, rain-fed areas of Punjab, Pakistan, said a group of farmers to some 50 representatives of seed companies, input dealers, and research, extension and development organizations, at a workshop in Chakwal, Punjab, on 18 September 2014.
