Happy New Year from the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE)!

As we look forward to 2020, here’s a recap of some of the exciting MAIZE activities and accomplishments of 2019:

New publications: Understanding changes in farming systems to propose adapted solutions

Researchers identify national policies, climate and soil fertility changes, population increase, and urban expansion as the major drivers of farming systems change in the Hawassa area of Ethiopia.

By Frédéric Baudron and Natasha Nagarajan

Farming systems are moving targets. Agricultural Research and Development (R&D) must understand where they come from and where they are going to offer solutions that are adapted. This is one of the main objectives of the Trajectories and Trade-offs for Intensification of Cereal-based systems (ATTIC), project funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE) and implemented by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Farming System Ecology group at Wageningen University & Research.

Biofortified crops address the world’s ‘hidden hunger’

Feeding the world is about more than just satisfying stomachs. Food scientists and nutritionists have long recognized that the foods we eat not only need to fill us up, but nourish our bodies as well.

The problem of ‘hidden hunger’ — deficiencies in essential vitamins and minerals — continues to pose serious threats to populations and economies around the world. A lack of micronutrients like iron, zinc and vitamin A in diets can lead to blindness, disease or even death, particularly for women and for children under the age of five.

Screening cycle for deadly MLN virus set to begin in Kenya during January 2020

By: L.M. Suresh

The maize lethal necrosis (MLN) artificial inoculation screening site in Naivasha, Kenya will begin its phenotyping (screening/ indexing) cycle of 2020 at the beginning of January 2020 and in four other intervals throughout the year. Interested organizations from both the private and public sectors are invited to send maize germplasm for screening.