Climate-smart village: What it is – and isn’t

by Maria Eliza Villarino | Sep 13, 2017

A forthcoming paper describes the experience of CCAFS* and its partners to establish climate-smart villages across five regions around the globe. We spoke with Ana Maria Loboguerrero Rodriguez, CCAFS Regional Program Leader for Latin America and one of the paper’s...

What’s life like for an IPCC lead author?

by Maria Eliza Villarino | Sep 11, 2017

CIAT’s Ngoni Chirinda has recently started work as a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Sometimes jocular and philosophical, he discussed with us what it all means. What exactly will you be working on? I’ll be working on the 2019...

Soil fertility and plant health offer clues why cassava entices certain pests

by Maria Eliza Villarino | Sep 6, 2017

Soil makeup and the presence of plant disease may well determine the build-up of pests in cassava, one of Asia’s key food, feed and industrial crops, according to a pair of recently published, peer-reviewed CIAT-led studies. In 2008, a number of invasive mealybugs...

IPCC taps CIAT scientists as lead authors for much-anticipated climate change reports

by Maria Eliza Villarino | Sep 5, 2017

Two scientists from CIAT’s research program on Soils and Landscapes for Sustainability have been selected to contribute to upcoming reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Dr. Louis Verchot, director of the program, joins experts from 52...

A different kind of scarecrow

by Maria Eliza Villarino | Aug 10, 2017

At noon, a 60-year-old farmer ends his lunch and checks an app on his mobile phone. The next day, he spreads fertilizer on his crop. That’s happening in Japan. And that could be the future in Colombia and beyond, where food producers make fast, smart, and precise...