Latin America and the Caribbean
The Ministry of Agriculture of Japan Grants Award to CIAT Scientist
A Colombian researcher is to be awarded with the Young Scientist recognition of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (MAFF) and the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS).
New development partnership brings much-needed investment for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in the Amazon
A new, first of its kind impact investment was launched 7 November to bring much-needed financial support for sustainable development in the Brazilian Amazon. The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), as a cornerstone investor in the Althelia Biodiversity Fund Brazil (ABF), sees this as a unique opportunity to support new economic models that promote biodiversity while using its core expertise to evaluate, understand, and share the learning that this model generates, globally. It is novel in many respects.
Agriculture AI Brain
The Inter-American Development Bank, through its innovation lab – IDB Lab, approved US$2 million funding for a project that will improve the productivity and sustainability of rice farming in Colombia.
The Champion who created an App to identify banana diseases
Michael Selvaraj is the leader of the Phenomics Platform team from the Agrobiodiversity Area at CIAT. He is a Champion, because he developed the smartphone App Tumaini, which makes it possible to identify five diseases and one pest affecting banana plants.
Artificial intelligence and farmer knowledge boost smallholder maize yields
Data-driven agriculture can boost smallholder production threatened by weather and climate change, but data scientists need to work with farmers and governments. Four years of collaboration in Colombian maize fields shows what success looks like
Sara Rankin, the researcher from Cali who promotes urban agriculture as more than just producing food
Sara Rankin was born in Cali and she is a researcher from the Sustainable Food Systems team at CIAT. This Champion has worked towards understanding the food system in Cali to develop a municipal public policy on food safety and sovereignty that meets the specific needs of this territory, among other goals. In this process, she has been able to meet one of the hidden pearls of the food initiatives in Cali: urban orchards, which are increasingly popular.
Social Progress Index applied in the Sustainable Territories Program
The Social Progress Index (SPI) is a comprehensive measure of the well-being of a society, which aims to support decision-makers in identifying development priorities to generate plans and projects in pockets of high social and environmental vulnerability. The index is based on social and environmental indicators, such as wellness (health, shelter, and sanitation), equality, inclusion, sustainability, and personal freedom and safety.
What happens in the city when we understand that the rural-urban link is increasingly strong? Cali’s example
Not a new: agriculture is not an exclusive business from rural areas. For that reason, several years ago, CIAT began to respond to the need of building an inclusive and resilient food system in one of the most important cities in Colombia: Cali.
Marcela Quintero: Success at Work is a Matter of Balance
Marcela Quintero is one of the most prestigious researchers on environmental and agricultural issues at CIAT. She began her work as a member of a small team that started thinking how to internalize the environmental externalities in water basins. The work on Payment for Environmental Services stemmed from there, a pretty “odd” topic for the Center 18 years ago.
Restoring land in Latin America shows big potential for climate mitigation
First inventory of restoration projects across Latin America and the Caribbean shows where the potential lies for climate mitigation and provides a compass towards reaching the Bonn Challenge ambitions through forest restoration
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.