Message from the Chair of the Board of Trustees
The year 2019 was the third of CIMMYT’s Strategic Plan 2017-22 and saw the continued successful delivery of its research and partnerships outcomes for the benefit of tens of millions of smallholder farmers.
The Board of Trustees was privileged to observe multiple examples of that impact and to engage with a range of stakeholders before, during, and after its fall board meeting in Kenya.
CIMMYT’s strategic priorities continue to gravitate towards improved food systems supporting healthy diets that are sustainably produced and climate change-resilient. Both national and regional policymakers are emphasizing the diversified production of stress- and disease-resistant crops on less land and with fewer inputs, with a particular focus on improving the livelihoods of women and youth. The Center’s responses are being continuously adjusted to address these priorities. Its vast maize and wheat genebanks are a rich source of genetic diversity and a critical element of its solutions.
The threat of pests and diseases continued unabated in 2019. CIMMYT continued to play a key role in the transboundary coordinated response to threats such as maize lethal necrosis, fall armyworm, and wheat blast.
CIMMYT was closely involved in the debate leading to the One CGIAR recommendations that were endorsed by the CGIAR System Council in November 2019 and looks forward to the implementation of this momentous change over the 2020-21 period. Aligned with the One CGIAR initiative, CIMMYT also continued to modernize and enhance its resource mobilization efforts, with pleasing success in a challenging funding environment.
The Board was also pleased to note ongoing progress in the upgrade of business processes and systems, both at headquarters and in the regional offices. In 2019 this included improved workstreams, enhanced financial management reporting, and a major overhaul of business continuity and disaster recovery planning.
Prudent stewardship of the Center’s financial resources has preserved CIMMYT’s strong financial position despite funding uncertainties.
CIMMYT’s Board of Trustees acknowledges another year of sustained effort and strong achievements on the part of the Center’s staff, management, and worldwide partners.
CREDITS
- Editors-in-chief
- Rodrigo Ordóñez, Geneviève Renard
- Project coordination
- Alison Doody, Emma Orchardson
- Art directors
- Clyde R. Beaver III, Alfonso Cortés, Nancy Valtierra
- Layout and design
- Nancy Valtierra
- Web development
- Ricardo López
- Graphics and illustrations
- Ángel Eduardo Aguilar, Clyde R. Beaver III, Alfonso Cortés, Marcelo Ortiz, Eliot Sánchez,
Nancy Valtierra - Writers and editors
- Ricardo Curiel, Leslie Domínguez, Mary Donovan, Alison Doody, Jennifer Johnson, G. Michael Listman, Marcia MacNeil, Marta Millere, Matthew O’Leary, Emma Orchardson, Samuel Storr
- Contributors
- Ricardo Ampudia, Lone Badstue, Hans Braun, Johanna Braun, José Juan Caballero Flores, Denise Costich, Susanne Dreisigacker, Andrea Gardeazabal Monsalue, Elias Garcia, Bram Govaerts, Filippo Guzzon, Jesús Herrera, M.L. Jat, Victor Kommerell, Timothy J. Krupnik, Jean-Flavien Le Besque, Joshua Masinde, Terence Molnar, Dina Najjar, Natalia Palacios, Thomas Payne, Kevin Pixley, B.M. Prasanna, Michael Quinn, Rajiv Kumar Sharma, H.S. Sidhu, José Luis Torres, Martha Wilcox, MAIZE Independent Steering Committee (ISC), WHEAT Independent Steering Committee (ISC)
- Photography
- Alfonso Cortés, Georg Goergen/IITA, Uttam Kumar, Peter Lowe, Johnson Siamachira, Love Kumar Singh/BISA, Sam Storr, CIMMYT Archives
- ISSN#
- 0188-9214
- Correct citation
- CIMMYT. 2020. Seeds of change. CIMMYT Annual Report 2019. CDMX, Mexico: CIMMYT.
- AGROVOC descriptors:
- Maize; Wheat; Plant breeding; Genetic resources; Innovation adoption; Plant biotechnology; Seed production; Food security; Sustainability; Research policies; Economic analysis; Cropping systems; Agricultural research; Organization of research; Developing countries. Additional Keywords: CIMMYT. AGRIS category codes: A50 Agricultural Research; A01 Agriculture– General Aspects. Dewey decimal classification: 630
© International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), 2020. All rights reserved. The designations employed in the presentation of materials in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of CIMMYT or its contributory organizations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. CIMMYT encourages fair use of this material. Proper citation is requested.
ACRONYMS
- ACIAR
- Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research
- AGROSAVIA
- Colombian Agricultural Research Corporation (Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria)
- ATA
- Agricultural Transformation Agency
- BISA
- Borlaug Institute in South Asia
- BrAPI
- Breeding Advanced Programming Interface
- CCAFS
- CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security
- CIAT
- International Center for Tropical Agriculture
- CIMMYT
- International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
- CRP
- CGIAR Research Program
- CSISA
- Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia
- CSSRI
- Central Soil Salinity Research Institute
- EIAR
- Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research
- EiB
- CGIAR Excellence in Breeding Platform
- FACASI
- Farm Mechanization and Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification
- FAO
- Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations
- ICAR
- Indian Council of Agricultural Research
- ICARDA
- International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas
- IFPRI
- International Food Policy Research Institute
- IIASA
- International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
- IITA
- International Institute for Tropical Agriculture
- INIFAP
- Mexico's National Forestry, Crops and Livestock Research Institute (Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias)
- IRRI
- International Rice Research Institute
- MAIZE
- CGIAR Research Program on Maize
- MENA
- Middle East and North Africa
- MDGs
- Millennium Development Goals
- ODK
- Open Data Kit
- OPV
- Open-pollinated variety
- PET
- Polyethylene terephthalate
- PIM
- CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets
- R&D
- Research and Development
- SADER
- Mexico's Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development (Secretaría de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural)
- SDGs
- Sustainable Development Goals
- SDSN
- Sustainable Development Solutions Network
- SMS
- Straw Management System
- STMA
- Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa
- TReNDS
- Thematic Research Network on Data and Statistics
- UN
- United Nations
- USAID
- United States Agency for International Development
- WHEAT
- CGIAR Research Program on Wheat
Sustainable Development Goals
On September 24, 2013, the newly formed United Nations (UN) High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development held its first meeting. At the Rio+20 Conference, Member States also agreed to launch a process to develop a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were to build upon the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were established in 2000 and expired in 2015.
Of the 17 individual goals, 10 relate directly to CGIAR activities and to CIMMYT’s mandate. The SDGs have set the pathway for the next 15 years of agricultural, social, and economic development. Likewise, CGIAR has transformed its approach to ensure that its work aligns with the ambitious goals.
CIMMYT, through its research for development activities, is working toward a world free of poverty, hunger, and environmental degradation. CIMMYT and CGIAR efforts help bring the world closer to reaching the goals, such as the empowerment of women, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and the improvement of health and nutrition for the world’s poorest people.
CIMMYT’s work contributes to the following SDGs:
About CIMMYT
CIMMYT — the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center — is the global leader in publicly-funded maize and wheat research and related farming systems. Headquartered near Mexico City, CIMMYT works with hundreds of partners throughout the developing world to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat cropping systems, thus improving global food security and reducing poverty. CIMMYT is a member of the CGIAR System and leads the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize and Wheat and the Excellence in Breeding Platform. The Center receives support from national governments, foundations, development banks and other public and private agencies.
For more information, visit www.cimmyt.org.
