Climate adaptation and mitigation
Climate change threatens to reduce global crop production, and poor people in tropical environments will be hit the hardest. More than 90% of CIMMYT’s work relates to climate change, helping farmers adapt to shocks while producing more food, and reduce emissions where possible. Innovations include new maize and wheat varieties that withstand drought, heat and pests; conservation agriculture; farming methods that save water and reduce the need for fertilizer; climate information services; and index-based insurance for farmers whose crops are damaged by bad weather. CIMMYT is an important contributor to the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security.
Innovation key to wheat yield potential advances, says in-coming CIMMYT DG
Climate adaptation and mitigation
Martin Kropff, incoming CIMMYT director general, joined the global wheat community at the CIMMYT research station in Ciudad Obregon in Mexico for annual Visitors’ Week.
Green manures help Zambian and Malawian farmers feed crops and livestock
Climate adaptation and mitigation
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has tasked CIMMYT with a new project to introduce green manure cover crops to smallholder farmers in eastern Zambia and central and southern Malawi.
Mother-baby trials promote conservation agriculture in Manica, Mozambique
Climate adaptation and mitigation
A testament to increased climate variability and risk for farming systems already operating on the razor’s edge, the 2014-15 cropping season will be recognized as a sad write-off by most farmers in Central Mozambique. The rains started six weeks late and most of the rainfall fell in only two months (normally it’s distributed over four), followed by a long drought and some few showers at the end.
CIMMYT joins global move to adopt climate-smart agriculture
Capacity development
Climate-smart agriculture can be “an effective tool to address climate change and climate variability,” according to Kai Sonder, head of CIMMYT’s geographic information systems (GIS) unit, who was one of 754 participants from 75 countries, including 39 CIMMYT representatives, at the third annual Global Science Conference on Climate-Smart Agriculture, held in Montpellier, France, during 16-18 March.
Global partnership propels wheat productivity in China
Climate adaptation and mitigation
Benefits of three decades of international collaboration in wheat research have added as much as 10.7 million tons of grain – worth US $3.4 billion – to China’s national wheat output.
Malawi Principal Secretary praises CIMMYT contributions to climate change adaptation
Climate adaptation and mitigation
Malawi’s Principal Secretary for Agriculture, Erica Maganga, led a delegation of Government Principle Secretaries and seed company representatives to Mpilisi and Ulongue in Balaka District on 11 March to observe progress in conservation agriculture (CA) adoption, as part of the country’s Agriculture Sector Wide Approach Program (ASWAP).
USAID Approves USD 17.8 Million Grant for a New Project to Support Seed Scaling in Eastern and Southern Africa
Climate adaptation and mitigation
Mexico meeting outlines scientific roadmap for increasing wheat yields
Climate adaptation and mitigation
Mexico aims to boost domestic wheat production 9 percent by 2018, said a government official at a conference in Ciudad Obregon in the northern Mexican state of Sonora.
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.
Floodwaters put food security at risk by halting crop production
Climate adaptation and mitigation
Water plays a vital role in crop production, but flooding in vulnerable regions also ruins crops and hinders aid agencies’ efforts to reach people affected by crisis.
Lack of rain can jeopardize maize seed production
Climate adaptation and mitigation
World Bank program shores up drought losses by providing Senegalese farmers with short cycle, drought-resistant seeds to help them salvage the season’s crops.
Gravity water flow project aids farmers in Ethiopian village
Climate adaptation and mitigation
Nguse Adhane, a smallholder farmer who lives in a small village in Ethiopia, collects his water from a spring source, which runs dry for months at a time.
Industrial water run-off can sustainably boost crop production
Climate adaptation and mitigation
This irrigation reservoir at the Kulumsa Agricultural Research Center in Ethiopia’s highlands captures water from a nearby beer distillery, diverting it from a river.
CIMMYT at the global forum for innovations in agriculture
Climate adaptation and mitigation
During 9-11 March, scientists from 90 countries gathered at the Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture in Abu Dhabi to discuss the looming topic of feeding nine billion people by the year 2050.