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Viviana López Ramírez uses her passion for biology to tackle agricultural challenges in her adopted country, Argentina. Originally from Medellin, Colombia, she forms part of a multidisciplinary team at the Institute of Agro-biotechnical Research (INIAB) at the National University of Río Cuarto, Argentina working to isolate and […]

Discover the latest from the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) initiative. This issue talks about product profiling, costing of maize breeding, highlights of CIMMYT’s Kenya Annual Partner Days and portraits of Kenyan farmers who have adopted stress-tolerant maize varieties.  READ HERE

A recent growth in popularity of blue maize has led researchers to conduct a choice experiment study on blue maize tortillas to test consumer preferences and willingness to pay for this product.

Swedish journalists Eric Abel and Anna Liljemalm who are writing a book on climate change and seed visited the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa project in Kenya from Sept. 9-11, 2019. We met some farmers who adopted drought tolerant maize hybrid SAWA from Dryland Seeds Ltd (DSL) in drought-prone Makueni county. Dolly Muatha is a

By Natasha Nagarajan A recent study by the International Food Policy Research Institute estimates that rainfed maize yields in countries in northern Central America are at the highest risk of crop loss as a result of climate change in the region. Maize crops occupy more than 36% of total cultivated land in Central America and

The CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE) is pleased to announce the winners of the 2019 MAIZE Youth Innovators Awards - Latin America.

A new zinc-enriched maize hybrid developed for Colombia will provide added nutrition and financial security to rural farming families in the coffee-growing region of Colombia.

CIMMYT breeders selecting new CIMMYT line candidates in stage 4, scoring hybrid entries according to their drought tolerance in Kiboko research station – 5 September 2019

Discover some of the recent maize breeding and seed systems work of the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa initiative, covering the period April to June 2019. STMA addresses multiple stresses affecting smallholder maize farmers in Africa. Read More

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is offering a new set of improved maize hybrids to partners in South and South East Asia and similar agro-ecological zones, to scale up production for farmers in these areas.

The MAIZE Annual Report 2018 is now online! To go directly to the online version of the report, please click here.

‘’Getting a good maize harvest every year, even when it does not rain much, is important for my family’s welfare’’ says Sequare Regassa, a widow and mother of four, while feeding her granddaughter with white injera, a rollable flatbread, made of white grain maize. Since her husband died, Sequare has been for many […]

Nominations are now open for the 2019 MAIZE Youth Innovators Awards – Latin America/ Las nominaciones para los Premios de Innovación Juvenil en Maíz 2019 - América Latina están abiertas.

Blessings Likagwa is the first ever winner in the "farmer" category of the MAIZE Youth Innovators Awards.

Lokwa Mila Giresse received the 2019 MAIZE Youth Innovators Awards – Africa for his innovative work developing the Mobile Agribiz app that helps farmers diagnose and monitor fall armyworm infestation in maize.

The Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) project held its annual meeting May 7-9, 2019 in Lusaka, Zambia to discuss the achievements of the past year and priorities going forward. STMA Project Leader Cosmos Magoroksho recalled what STMA project launched in 2016 is aiming at “Maize is grown on 30 million hectares in SSA, and

A new book draws on experiences of men and women farmers across eastern and southern Africa who bravely embraced change to improve their farming methods and the lives and livelihoods of their families. The farmers’ words in this book drive home the core philosophy of SIMLESA: that critical paradigm shifts in smallholder farming are possible

SIMLESA project leader, Paswel Marenya reflects on 8 years of project learning, what CASI means for African smallholder farmers, the dialogue between scientists and policy makers and next steps. Read more on SIMLESA’s policy outreach

“I am Hajia Asibi, a community women leader, civil servant and a proud farmer. But my story and venture in agriculture is not a conventional one.      I have not always been a farmer. In fact, I never dreamt of one day becoming a farmer. In my youthful years, I believed farming was a profession

CSISA in Nepal organized a three-day traveling seminar on “Scale-appropriate machinery for cereal crop harvesting in South Asia” on March 25–29, 2019. In Nepal, the adoption of agricultural mechanization has increased slowly over time. While small, regional markets for combine harvesters have existed in Nepal for the last 20 […]

Tabitha Kamau, 29, is scrutinizing a maize demonstration plot on which 12 different varieties were planted in November 2018. “What I am looking for is a maize variety that produces a lot, even when there is scarce rainfall,” says the single mother of three, who lives in Katheini location with her mother on a quarter

A spatial ex ante framework for guiding agronomic investments in sub-Saharan Africa, Sebastian Palmas and Jordan Chamberlin, CIMMYT Kenya Brown Bag, 4 March 2019.

Read more on CASI policy efforts in Rwanda

Agrodealers play a pivotal role in delivering the gains of the green revolution to millions of smallholders in Africa, providing access to key inputs like improved maize varieties. So far, seed systems research has mainly focused on the factors influencing farmers’ adoption of new varieties, and, to a lesser extent, why seed companies will […]

Recent innovations in digital imagery and sensors, packaged in what plant scientists call high-throughput phenotyping platforms, save money and time by replacing lengthy paper-based visual observations of crop trials with real-time big data collection and management.