CIAT is a not-for-profit organization that conducts socially and environmentally
progressive research aimed at reducing hunger and poverty and preserving
natural resources in developing countries. CIAT is one of the 15 centers that
make up the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

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• Agriculture and Nutrition: A Healthy Alliance—A Seminar for
  Southwest Colombia
• Innovation Africa: Enriching Farmers' Livelihoods
• CIAT's New Board of Trustees Elected
• New Publications:
  - Challenges to Managing Ecosystems Sustainably for Poverty Alleviation:
  Securing Well-Being in the Andes/Amazon
  - When Disaster Strikes—A Guide to Assessing Seed System Security
  
• Strategic Planning Process at CIAT
• Job Openings
• News Releases
  

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16 October 2008 — World Food Day

Agriculture and Nutrition: A Healthy Alliance

A Seminar for Southwest Colombia

To celebrate the World Food Day, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the National University, and the Valle University have organized a 1-day seminar to analyze nutrition-related problems in Latin America and Colombia, with special emphasis on southwestern Colombia. This seminar will be held at CIAT headquarters on Thursday, 16 October.

More information (in Spanish).

Innovation Africa: Enriching Farmers' Livelihoods

This book, edited by Pascal Sanginga, Ann Waters-Bayer, Susan Kaaria, Jemimah Njuki and Chesha Wettasinha and published by Earthscan, covers new conceptual and methodological developments in agricultural innovation systems, and showcases recent on-the-ground experiences in and lessons from related research and development in different contexts in Africa.

The contributions show how innovation is the outcome of social learning through interaction of individuals and organizations in both creating and applying knowledge. The book brings examples of how space and incentives have been created to promote collaboration between farmers, research, extension, and the private sector to develop better technologies and institutional arrangements that can alleviate poverty. In 25 broad-ranging chapters, the book reflects cutting-edge thinking and practice in catalyzing and supporting innovation processes in agriculture and management of natural resources.

More information

Contact: Jemimah Njuki

CIAT's New Board of Trustees Elected

CIAT now has a new Board of Trustees with 11 members, five of which are new, two reelected, and the remaining four ex officio (because of their positions).

The new Board members are Juan Lucas Restrepo from Colombia, Anthony Cavalieri from the United States, Pietro Veglio from Switzerland, Luis Fernando Vieira from Brazil, and Fina Opio from Uganda.

Two recently appointed members of the former Board, Emilia Boncodin from the Philippines and Gordon MacNeil from Canada, were reelected to ensure a smooth transition with the outgoing Board. Dr. MacNeil was appointed Interim Chair.

The four remaining members are ex officio members and continue to be the Minister of Agriculture of Colombia, the Rector of the National University, the Director General of the Colombian Corporation of Agricultural Research (Corpoica), and the Director General of CIAT.

CIAT's Management Team will hold an extraordinary meeting with the new Board of Trustees in Washington during the week of 22 September. The date for the next regular Board meeting, to be held in Cali in November, will be defined at the September meeting.

Visit the Board of Trustees Web site.

New Publications

• Challenges to Managing Ecosystems Sustainably for Poverty Alleviation:
  Securing Well-Being in the Andes/Amazon

  This report aims to guide research and capacity-building priorities related to ecosystem services and poverty alleviation in the Amazon basin and eastern Andes. It is the result of extensive engagement with stakeholders in the region, combined with novel analysis of secondary data on poverty and ecosystem services such as water provision, biodiversity, and soil quality. The report presents a list of priority research challenges for the region, concluding that it is far more cost effective to prevent future degradation through incentive-based schemes that empower local communities rather than force people to comply authoritatively. Commissioned by the Ecosystems Services for Poverty Alleviation Programme (ESPA), a UK-based initiative of DFID, NERC, and ESRC to promote multi-disciplinary research in sustainable ecosystem management, this study will be valuable to direct environmental-management policy at all levels.

  Download the report (1663 kb).

  Contact: Andy Jarvis

• When Disaster Strikes: A Guide to Assessing Seed System Security

  Droughts, floods, locusts, civil war, tsunamis.... When disaster strikes, threatening lives and livelihoods, humanitarian agencies must respond swiftly and decisively. Making sure people have enough to eat is usually at the top of the list of emergency measures. But that task invariably raises the important issue of seed supplies. Will farmers in the stricken area have enough seed to plant during the next growing season?

  When Disaster Strikes: A Guide to Assessing Seed System Security is a practical assessment tool. It will help emergency relief agencies and their field workers to decide whether a seed-related intervention is warranted in the first place, and if so, to design the best strategy to help farmers. The method is laid out in seven steps. Each includes how-to notes, guiding questions, and action checklists. Besides helping agencies understand and cope with acute stresses on seed systems, the guide also tackles the issue of longer-term stresses and how to take advantage of development opportunities.
  

  Download the manual (726 kb).

  More information

  Contact: Louise Sperling

News Releases

• CIAT's New E-Newsletter
• CIAT-Led Institutional Knowledge Sharing Project of the CGIAR Delivers Promising Results
• Rice Growers Will Promote a "Technological Revolution" to Confront the World's Food Crisis
• US Patent Office Rejects US Company's Patent Protection for Bean Commonly Grown by Latin American Farmers
• Partnership with TTDI to Enhance Cassava Production and Farmer Livelihoods in Thailand
• Research Examines Seed-Aid Effectiveness

Ethiopia Recognizes CIAT's Work

The Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) has made an important recognition of the work carried out by CIAT in beans in that country, on the occasion of the Ethiopian Millennium and its 40th Anniversary.

More information