New microbial biotechnology platform launched in Vietnam

by Madelline Romero | Feb 1, 2018

Plant roots are assessed for mycorrhiza, a symbiosis between fungi and roots of the plant.  Photo by Madelline Romero/CIAT As Asian agriculture increasingly intensifies to satisfy food and income demands of a growing population, it meets with the reality of soil...

The RTBfoods project inception meeting will be held in Buea, Cameroon, from 23 to 28 January 2018.

by Georgina Smith | Jan 23, 2018

The RTBfoods project, which has an initial budget of 11.5 million euros over five years, will be implemented with five partner countries: Benin, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Uganda. It will analyze three common uses of each target crops (cassava, yam, sweet...

CIAT research surprises Japanese delegation led by Minister

by CIAT Comunicaciones | Jan 22, 2018

Two hours were enough for Japan’s State Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, Mr. Sakai Manabu, to ratify once again that the use of technologies and information is key to improve agricultural production systems. Walking through CIAT’s rice experimental...

CIAT scientists innovate using GPR technology

by Sylvia Pineda | Jan 18, 2018

CIAT’s Phenomics Platform scientists can now study crop roots directly in the field using non-invasive technologies, that is, without a direct contact with the roots to avoid damage. The use of this technology known as “ground-penetrating radar (GPR)” offers...

Cooking up a sustainable diet for all

by Madelline Romero | Jan 11, 2018

It is an irony in the developing world that those who produce food are most often the ones that are nutritionally-deprived themselves. There are many factors contributing to this status quo, and one that the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) is...

Helping build sustainably productive farming systems through the work of the Asian Cassava Breeders, and Forage Legumes, Networks

by Madelline Romero | Dec 21, 2017

Researchers from eight Asian countries – Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Vietnam – gathered on December 12-13, 2017 in Haikou City, China, to form the Asian Forage Legumes Network. This is in response to the increasing pressure for...

Opinion: Armed conflict was not always ‘good’ for preventing deforestation in Colombia | Mongabay

by Augusto Castro | Dec 20, 2017

A field trip to Reserva Natural El Hatico, familia Molina Durán, near Palmira, Colombia, to take carbon measurements in an area of tropical forest, as part of a CIAT-hosted workshop on REDD+. Photo by: Neil Palmer / CIAT   This piece first appeared on Mongabay. ...

[Press Release] HarvestPlus is awarded US$15 million grant from MacArthur Foundation

by Stefanie Neno | Dec 20, 2017

[Re-posted from HarvestPlus website] Washington D.C., December 20, 2017 – HarvestPlus is proud to announce it has been awarded $15 million as one of the finalists in the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s 100&Change competition. This global challenge...

Partners for the Amazon

by Wendy Francesconi | Dec 14, 2017

The future of the Amazon region partly rests on how the private sector will balance development vs. environmental conservation. They face the question of how to invest effectively in sustainable business, thus avoiding an extractive path which has local to global...

How Can Ugandan Farmers Ease South Sudan Hunger Crisis?

by Georgina Smith | Dec 13, 2017

This is post is part of our climate campaign in Africa. The story has appeared in several news outlets including Associated Press, the New York Times and others.   Earlier this year, South Sudan fell victim to the first famine declared since 2011. Almost six million...