Latin America and the Caribbean
Regional research project seeks to promote the development of cacao to continue competing in the European market
The Latin American and Caribbean region (LAC) is the main producer of fine flavor cacao in the world. The contribution of LAC to the worldwide production of cacao, currently 17%, has nearly doubled in the last decade, taking advantage of the growth of global and regional demand for cacao by consumers. Cacao buyers obtain part of their supply from LAC to diversify and ensure their supply, forecasting the growing demand for fine flavor cacao in the world market and anticipating the negative impacts of climate change, among other factors, in West Africa, where most of the conventional cacao is currently produced.
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.
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.
CIAT Champion of Open Science: Leroy Mwanzia
Throughout his university studies at Africa Nazarene University, where he studied computer science (B.S. degree), Leroy Mwanzia focused on only one thing: software development. So great was his passion that, after graduating, he turned down a computer networking opportunity at East Africa Breweries Limited and instead opted to become a lecturer at an affiliate training center of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), a job that paid much less. Two years later, he went to a different college to teach the UK-based BTEC Higher National Diploma in Computing.
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.
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.
For sustainable cacao farming in Colombia, going organic is not necessarily the only good answer
As noted in an analysis on the opportunities emerging from cacao production to contribute toward peace conducted by CIAT and Purdue University, cacao farmers in Colombia come in different forms. Some members of the International Climate Initiative (IKI)-funded Sustainable Land Use System (SLUS) Project team saw this reality for themselves when they recently visited cacao-growing areas in the departments of Caquetá and Cesar.
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.
A plan to strengthen the agricultural sector in Colombia and help the region is underway
Agrosavia and the Bioversity-CIAT Alliance enter into a cooperation agreement. Plantain, banana, cocoa, pastures, restoration, circular farming, and Future Seeds are some of the research projects that will be strengthened in the next five years.
We bid farewell to Alba Lucía Chaves
This text is about a great scientist retiring from CIAT after working as a chemist at the Agrobiodiversity Area for 28 years. Here is the part of her life story spent in this beautiful campus.
CIAT in Latin America
Through our work in one of the most ecologically and agriculturally diverse regions on the planet, we aim to ensure that the whole world benefits from agricultural innovations developed in Latin America and the Caribbean.
With its wealth of natural resources, wide pool of human talent, and strong record of technological innovation, the region has great potential for restoring degraded lands, achieving sustainable agricultural development, and strengthening global food security.