Freshly made blue maize tortillas in a market in Texcoco, Mexico. Photo: Carolyn Cowan.
Step into supermarkets or restaurants in many parts of
Mexico City and surrounding towns and you might see products made from blue
maize – products which would not have been available just a few years ago. From
blue corn chips to maize-based Mexican dishes such as blue tortillas and blue tamales,
a beloved staple crop has taken on a new hue. But should breeders, millers,
processors or farmer organizations invest in expanding the production of blue
maize and blue maize products? Are consumers really interested, and are they
willing to pay more?
These are some of the questions asked by researchers at the
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico. They set
up a choice experiment study on blue maize tortillas to test consumer
preferences and willingness to pay for this product.
A new zinc-enriched maize hybrid developed for Colombia by
HarvestPlus with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)
and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE) will provide added nutrition
and financial security to rural farming families in the coffee-growing region
of Colombia.
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is offering a new set of improved maize hybrids to partners in South and South East Asia and similar agro-ecological zones, to scale up production for farmers in these areas.
Stephen Mugo of CIMMYT explains the MLN screening facility in Naivasha to partners. Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT.
The maize lethal necrosis (MLN) artificial inoculation screening site in Naivasha, Kenya will begin the second interval of its phenotyping (screening/ indexing) cycle of 2019 at the beginning of April 2019. Interested organizations from both the private and public sectors are invited to send maize germplasm for screening.
