El Batan, Mexico
July 20, 2016

The 2015 Annual Report from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) documents a remarkable year of scientific innovations that respond to the needs of people in the world’s poorest and most vulnerable regions.

With crucial support and collaboration from partners and donors, CIMMYT offers maize and wheat farmers technology and knowledge to address the shocks of shifting markets and climates, rising grain demand, natural calamities, land degradation and resource scarcities. Individual stories describe:

• Improved, climate-resilient, disease-resistant maize and wheat varieties that bring billions of dollars of benefits each year in added grain and better nutrition.
• Genetic analysis of massive maize and wheat seed collections, many of heirloom varieties being used to build bridges to farming’s future.
• Profitable and better quality seed production and distribution systems.
• More productive and resource-conserving farm practices and machinery.
• Support for smallholder farmers to recover from disasters like earthquakes and drought.
• Capacity-building for institutions and farmers.
• Transformative insights on men, women, and youths’ roles and behavior in agriculture and natural resource management.

In September 2016, CIMMYT will mark its 50th anniversary in pursuit of its mission, joining with partners and stakeholders to review achievements and set new directions for research on two leading food crops, maize and wheat. At stake is humanity’s capacity to safely feed a global family of more than 9 billion by 2050.

Click here to access the 2015 CIMMYT Annual Report in one of several electronic formats.

Website: http://www.cimmyt.org

Published: July 26, 2016