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International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center

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International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo
(CIMMYT)
Formation1943,[1] 1966 and officially established in 1971
TypeNon-profit research-for-development organization[1]
PurposeTo develop improved varieties and sustainable farming methods of wheat and maize for improving livelihoods of the world's poor[1]
HeadquartersEl Batán, near Texcoco, State of Mexico, Mexico
Director General
Bram Govaerts
AffiliationsCGIAR
Staff1,600 staff members working throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America, and projects in over 40 countries[1]
Websitewww.cimmyt.org

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (known – even in English – by its Spanish acronym CIMMYT for Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo) is a non-profit research-for-development organization that develops improved varieties of wheat and maize with the aim of contributing to food security, and innovates agricultural practices to help boost production, prevent crop disease and improve smallholder farmers' livelihoods.[1][2][3][4] CIMMYT is one of the 15 CGIAR centers.[5] CIMMYT is known for hosting the world's largest maize and wheat genebank at its headquarters in Mexico.[6]

CIMMYT's ninth director general, Bram Govaerts,[7] replaced Martin Kropff in 2021.[8] Other notable scientists like Thomas Lumpkin have served as director general of CIMMYT.[9][10]

Origins

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CIMMYT emerged from cooperative efforts of the Mexican government and the Rockefeller Foundation that led in 1943 to the founding of the Office of Special Studies, an organization within the Mexican Secretariat of Agriculture. The goal of the office was to ensure food security in Mexico and abroad through selective plant breeding and crop improvement.

The project developed into a collaboration between Mexican and international researchers. It established global networks to test experimental crop varieties. One of its researchers, wheat breeder Norman Borlaug, developed dwarf wheat varieties that put more energy into grain production and responded better to fertilizer than older varieties. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 in recognition of his contributions to world peace through increasing food supply.[11] The program was renamed and morphed into CIMMYT in 1963, though it was still under the Secretariat of Agriculture's jurisdiction. As international demand grew and it became apparent CIMMYT required internal organization and increased funding, the center was reorganized and established as a non-profit scientific and educational institution in its own right in 1966.

In the early 1970s, a small cadre of development organizations, national sponsors, and private foundations organized CGIAR to further spread the impact of agricultural research to more nations. CIMMYT became one of the first international research centers to be supported through CGIAR. Today, CGIAR comprises 15 such centers, all dedicated to sustainable food security through scientific research.[1]

Activities

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CIMMYT scientists support national research systems and work through small- to medium-scale seed enterprises to offer affordable, improved seed and sustainable farming methods to smallholder farmers. Though its headquarters are in Mexico, the center operates through 12 regional offices (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Colombia, Ethiopia, India, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan, Turkey, and Zimbabwe), as well as number of experimental stations.

CIMMYT's researchers promote the sustainable intensification of farming systems, for example, through the use of machinery that allows for resource-poor female farmers in Africa[12] and South Asia[13] to reduce labor costs and conservation agriculture practices such as no-till farming,[14] which allows direct planting without plowing or preparing the soil.

CIMMYT hosts the largest collection of maize and wheat in the world:[15] 28,000 unique kinds of maize and 140,000 types of wheat.[16] Materials are made available under the terms and conditions of the multilateral system of access and benefit sharing, using the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA[17]). A duplicate of these wheat varieties[18] is stored at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, Norway. Through CIMMYT's global breeding system and partner network, this genetic diversity is used to develop maize and wheat varieties that have higher yields,[19] and can survive climate stress and diseases.

Last year, CIMMYT scientists have developed 70% of wheat varieties presently planted globally and about half of the world's corn, or maize, varieties.[20] By CIMMYT's own accounts, the pedigrees of about half of the maize and wheat varieties sown in low- and middle-income countries carry contributions from its breeding research.[21]

Criticisms

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Despite its noble goals of sustainability and self-sufficiency, one of the organization's founders and researchers, Norman Borlaug, has faced criticism. Borlaug's obituarist, Christopher Reed argued in an interview with The Guardian from 2014 that although his Green Revolution and high-yielding agricultural techniques averted poverty in the short term, in the long time they might have added to it.[22] Critics of CIMMYT argue that it is important to consider the social and ecological changes that the Green Revolution, and subsequently CIMMYT, create for local farmers. According to critics, dependency on expensive 'high-yielding' seeds that demand expensive fertilizers has pushed local farmers who cannot afford them out of the market, causing further social inequalities and, in some cases, cropping intensification has degraded soils and depleted aquifers.[22] At the time Norman Borlaug began the Green Revolution, the US agricultural science establishment and agribusiness industries supported him because it allowed their industries to grow around the world as dependency on their patented seeds and herbicides increased.[22] Nonetheless, in contrast to the preceding observations, which are sourced from the popular press, a widely-cited 2003 article in the peer-reviewed journal Science notes that "...it is unclear what alternative scenario would have allowed developing countries to meet, with lower environmental impact, the human needs posed by the massive population expansion of the 20th century."[23] Today, CIMMYT still works closely with both public and private partners, including seed companies, to foster farmers' access to seed of improved varieties and agro-chemicals of their choice. One example is "StrigAway," a herbicide-coated maize seed variety that combats Striga, a parasitic weed that infests up to 50 million hectares of Sub-Saharan African land.[24] Much of the wheat seed in the South is produced by the public sector; in the case of maize, seed companies play a key role in seed production and marketing. CIMMYT maize and wheat breeding are available free of charge to public and private partners, as international public goods.[25]

Partners and funders

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Main funders include Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,[26][27][28][29][30][31] CGIAR, Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), OCP Group and the national governments of Australia, Britain, Canada,[32][33][34][35] China, Germany,[36][37][38] Mexico,[39][40][41] Norway and the United States.[42][43][44][45][46][47]

Historically, CIMMYT received funding from the European Commission and the Rockefeller Foundation.[48][49][50]

Notable scientists

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "About us". CIMMYT. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  2. ^ "Norman Borlaug - Nobel Lecture: The Green Revolution, Peace, and Humanity".
  3. ^ "Bread Wheat - Improvement and Production".
  4. ^ "FAO - News Article: FAO and partners ramp up efforts to track and prevent spread of damaging wheat rusts". Archived from the original on 22 May 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  5. ^ "Research Centers". CGIAR. Archived from the original on 12 May 2010. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
  6. ^ Estevez, Dolia. "Bill Gates And Carlos Slim To Partner On Reducing Hunger". Forbes. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  7. ^ "Director General CIMMYT". cimmyt.org. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  8. ^ "Martin Kropff / CGIAR / About Us / Our Governance / Center Directors General". Cgiar.org. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  9. ^ "Dr. Thomas Lumpkin Receives the 2014 Outstanding Alumnus Award from the University of Hawaii". Wsm.wsu.edu. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  10. ^ "Thomas Lumpkin of AVRDC new CIMMYT DG | CIMMYT. International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center". Cimmyt.org. Archived from the original on 2 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  11. ^ "Norman Borlaug - Facts". Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  12. ^ "Two wheel tractors assist Zimbabwe and Ethiopia farmers grow yields and income". The Zimbabwe Mail. July 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  13. ^ "Innovative approaches to including gender within agricultural mechanization". Feed the Future USAID. 5 November 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  14. ^ "Alternatives to burning can increase Indian farmers' profits and cut pollution". EurekAlert. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  15. ^ "Inside the world's largest wheat and maize bank". www.abc.net.au. 14 April 2014. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  16. ^ "Pandemics aren't limited to people: How the world's most famous seed vault defends plants against their next big outbreak". The Counter. 21 May 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  17. ^ Noriega, Isabel López; Halewood, Michael; Abberton, Michael; Amri, Ahmed; Angarawai, Ijantiku Ignatius; Anglin, Noelle; Blümmel, Michael; Bouman, Bas; Campos, Hugo; Costich, Denise; Ellis, David (2019). "CGIAR Operations under the Plant Treaty Framework". Crop Science. 59 (3): 819–832. doi:10.2135/cropsci2018.08.0526. ISSN 1435-0653. S2CID 132137010.
  18. ^ "Pandemics aren't limited to people: How the world's most famous seed vault defends plants against their next big outbreak". The Counter. 21 May 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  19. ^ Staff Reporter (1 July 2020). "Two wheel tractors assist Zimbabwe and Ethiopia farmers grow yields and income". The Zimbabwe Mail. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  20. ^ "New zinc-fortified wheat set for global expansion to combat malnutrition". New York Post. Reuters. 15 April 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
  21. ^ "About us". CIMMYT. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  22. ^ a b c Vidal, John (1 April 2014). "Norman Borlaug: humanitarian hero or menace to society? | John Vidal". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  23. ^ Evenson, R. E.; Gollin, D. (2 May 2003). "Assessing the Impact of the Green Revolution, 1960 to 2000". Science. 300 (5620): 758–762. Bibcode:2003Sci...300..758E. doi:10.1126/science.1078710. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 12730592. S2CID 10578438.
  24. ^ "A New Twist on Seed Technology". Feed the Future. 28 January 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  25. ^ See "CIMMYT germplasm policy," https://www.cimmyt.org/content/uploads/2019/10/CIMMYT-Germplasm-policy-2019-10.pdf
  26. ^ "Search - Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation". 18 October 2005. Archived from the original on 18 October 2005.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  27. ^ "OPP1134248".
  28. ^ "Helping Poor Farmers, Changes Needed to Feed 1 Billion Hungry - Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation".
  29. ^ Administrator. "Climate-ready maize gets a boost: Phase III of the drought tolerant maize in Africa project to reach more farmers". Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  30. ^ jb755 (25 January 2017). "Cornell receives UK support to aid scientists fighting threats to global wheat supply".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  31. ^ "$24M grant aims to combat global wheat crop threats - Cornell Chronicle".
  32. ^ Canada, Employment and Social Development (10 June 2014). "International agreement to focus on improved durum wheat disease resistance - Canada.ca".
  33. ^ Canada, Research Branch;Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada;Government of. "Scientific Cooperation with International Organizations".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  34. ^ Government, Open. "Government Grants and Contributions". Archived from the original on 3 October 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  35. ^ Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada;Government of. "The Making of Wheat Warriors: Canadian Wheat Stands Out".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  36. ^ GmbH, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). "Project data".
  37. ^ GmbH, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). "Project data".
  38. ^ GmbH, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). "Expertise. Projects". Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  39. ^ "Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture, MasAgro". Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  40. ^ "CIMMYT: 50 años de impulsar el maíz y el trigo".
  41. ^ "50 Aniversario del CIMMYT".
  42. ^ "USAID-OFDA Agriculture and Food Security Sector Update, Fiscal Year 2016". 12 October 2016.
  43. ^ "International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) 50 Year Celebration - Opening Remarks by USAID Kenya and East Africa Mission Director Karen Freeman - Speeches & Testimony - Kenya - U.S. Agency for International Development". Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  44. ^ "U.S. Launches 'Agricultural Innovation Program'". Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  45. ^ "Seeds of Change: Growing Hill Maize Sustainably in Nepal". 11 March 2015. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  46. ^ "Ethiopia Complex Emergency Fact Sheet #5 - March 3, 2016 - U.S. Agency for International Development". 19 August 2016. Archived from the original on 26 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  47. ^ "Center Analysis". CGIAR. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  48. ^ "100 Years: The Rockefeller Foundation - International maize and wheat improvement center (CIMMYT)". 29 September 2013. Archived from the original on 29 September 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  49. ^ "Our History - A Powerful Legacy :: The Rockefeller Foundation". 1 January 2013. Archived from the original on 1 January 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  50. ^ https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20150423201716/http://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/app/uploads/Annual-Report-1966.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  51. ^ "Norman Borlaug - Biographical". Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  52. ^ "Dr. Borlaug & The World Food Prize - The World Food Prize - Improving the Quality, Quantity and Availability of Food in the World". The World Food Prize. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  53. ^ "2014 - Rajaram - The World Food Prize - Improving the Quality, Quantity and Availability of Food in the World". The World Food Prize. Archived from the original on 6 October 2016. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  54. ^ a b "2000: Vasal and Villegas - The World Food Prize - Improving the Quality, Quantity and Availability of Food in the World". The World Food Prize. Retrieved 4 March 2017.[permanent dead link‍]

Further reading

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  • Byerlee, Derek; Edmeades, Greg O. (31 August 2021). Fifty Years of Maize Research in the CGIAR: Diversity, Change, and Ultimate Success. CDMX: CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center). hdl:10883/21633.
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