Agrobiodiversity
A wild bean’s genes may help a key crop thrive on a hotter Earth
The climate change point-of-no-return may still be 1 degree C away. But that is of little solace to the people whose lives have already been upended by a warmer climate. They include growers and consumers of one of the most important protein sources in low-income countries: the common bean, a staple in diets from the highlands of Central America to the vast expanses of sub-Saharan Africa.
Beyond “shovelomics:” Growing cassava in the air helps study the plant’s mysterious roots
Scientists tossed aside the shovel and studied cassava roots as they grew in real time, suspended in the air. The innovative use of aeroponics may usher in a new era of science for cassava genetic improvement and sustainable intensification.
There is still time to apply for the US$2 million Food System Vision Prize!
The prize intends to award 10 participants from around the globe who have compelling visions of what regenerative and nourishing food environments will look like in 2050. Individuals, organizations, institutions, companies, and other entities across the globe are encouraged to participate.
Grass height in cow nutrition: size does matter
In one day, a cow can eat between 25,000 and 30,000 morsels of grass. What do the differences in these amounts depend on? They will depend on how accessible the grass is to them, and the height of the grass could make a difference.
Subnational climate-smart agriculture (CSA) action planning: Lessons learned with Veronica Ndetu, head of the Climate Change Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture
Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is the proposed approach in the face of climate variability. The government of Kenya, through the Ministry of Agriculture, is playing an active role in advocating for the uptake of CSA both nationally and subnationally.
Strengthening Partnerships for Agricultural Resilience in Africa
Going forward, the UM6P and the Alliance between Bioversity International and CIAT will work to initiate cooperation in research, education, and outreach with the aim of contributing to the advancement of science to address the challenges of sustainable agricultural intensification globally.
CIAT and partners fight cassava diseases in Southeast Asia with new project
Along with the support of numerous partners across the region, CIAT has put together and ambitious research project titled “Establishing sustainable solutions to cassava diseases in mainland Southeast Asia”. This project was commissioned by the Australian Center for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR) for four years with a total investment of AUD4 million.
Pan-Africa Bean Research Alliance co-winner of US$1 million Al-Sumait prize
The Pan-Africa Bean Research Alliance (PABRA) was awarded the 2019 edition of the US$1 million Al-Sumait Prize for African Development on November 25. PABRA, which is coordinated by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), shared the award with the Africa Rice Center, said the Al Sumait Prize Board of Trustees in a statement after choosing the winners.
PABRA received the award “for serving a dynamic network of scientists and practitioners specializing in improving the productivity, processing, and the value chain of beans throughout Africa,” according to the announcement.
Monitoring and Evaluation of the Partnership Platform for the Amazon through Social Network Analysis
Monitoring and periodic analysis of the network of past, present, and future relationships within and outside the Partnership Platform for the Amazon (PPA) are an important component of the overall PPA learning agenda. To implement the Social Network Analysis (SNA) monitoring of the Catalyzing and Learning Platforms and Partnerships for Biodiversity Conservation (CALPP) Program, the specialists on statistics, SNA, and modeling from CIAT-Colombia, Jean-François Le Coq (overall project coordinator), Carlos Eduardo Gonzalez (SNA and modeling specialist), Bryan Mora (statistical analysis specialist), Camilo Andrés Méndez (statistical analysis specialist), and Vivian Zeidemann (program evaluation coordinator), have been working with their Brazilian collaborators Sylvia Mitraud (project coordinator in Brazil) and Valderli Jorge Piontekowski (IT development coordinator) from IPAM (Instituto de Pesquisas Ambientais da Amazônia), with the objective of monitoring some of the activities of CALPP through SNA.
Brainstorming biodiversity monitoring
The outcomes will nurture new CIAT collaborations in Brazil and help us jointly build a biodiversity monitoring approach that can meet both CIAT’s and USAID’s objectives. Furthermore, the approach will be useful for other institutions specialized in biodiversity monitoring, as well as for the private sector as a way to evaluate the performance of their activities in the Amazon region. In fact, such a tool can benefit all sectors of society engaged in the difficult task of balancing the trade-offs between development and environmental conservation.
About agrobiodiversity research at CIAT
CIAT develops more resilient and productive varieties of cassava and common bean, together with tropical forages for livestock. We also help improve rice production in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The superior crop varieties that result from our collaborative work offer many valuable traits, such as high yield and stress tolerance, which are vital for guaranteeing global food supplies in the face of rapidly rising demand, shifting disease and insect pressures, rampant environmental degradation, and the looming threat of climate change.
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This CIAT Blog was launched in January 2016. For articles related to agrobiodiversity prior to this date, visit our former blog. Please note the old AgBio blog is no longer updated.