The Eyes of a Drone, an agronomic revolution at CIAT

by Sylvia Pineda | Nov 29, 2017

Last October, the CIAT Phenomics Platform Team from the Agrobiodiversity Area conducted the “Drones for Agriculture” course, with the purpose of training staff from different programs at the Center, who were interested in getting acquainted with the remote...

First Study Shows Eating High-Iron Beans Improves Memory and Attention Span in Female University Students in Rwanda

by Georgina Smith | Nov 22, 2017

Eating beans bred to contain higher iron can boost memory and attention span in female university students in Rwanda, the study shows. Policy makers could consider including iron-biofortified beans as part of national strategies to overhaul food systems on the...

DNA fingerprinting uncovers exactly who and why farmers use improved cassava

by Maria Eliza Villarino | Nov 21, 2017

Cassava production in Colombia’s southwestern Cauca department. Photo by: Neil Palmer / CIAT It was a eureka moment for geneticists at the CIAT gene bank. They found 60 new cassava varieties from samples brought into their lab from Colombia’s Cauca Department....

CIAT’s most distinguished ‘offspring’ in Latin America

by Adriana Varón | Nov 7, 2017

They have been leaving home since 1967 and while they are scattered across Latin America, they all have something in common: the surname CIAT. These are 377 rice varieties that have been released over the last 50 years and they all carry the International Center for...

Where in the world is there a cassava virus? This new app can show you.

by Maria Eliza Villarino | Oct 25, 2017

Symptoms of the disease include short internodes on the stem. Photo by: Georgina Smith / CIAT In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, CIAT lead virologist Wilmer Cuellar stood before Food and Agriculture Organization representatives to confirm the presence and likely spread of...

Strength in diversity: How cassava intercropping benefits the crops, the farmer, and the environment

by Madelline Romero | Oct 20, 2017

Photo by Madelline Romero/CIAT Cassava currently covers 25 million hectares worldwide, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization – more than all the land in the entire United Kingdom. At this huge scale, the impacts of agriculture on the...