BY FRANCESCA EDRALIN When Ellen Piwoz joined the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2007, the global nutrition field seemed to be struggling. The community “lacked a common narrative and agenda for action,” she said. It was also difficult to engage outsiders who did not understand the nutrition community’s techno-speak, and the field was also critically underfunded with a narrow donor base. Over the
BY SIDDHARTHA BASU, ALAN DE BRAUW, KHIN PWINT OO AND RUSSELL TOTH Surrounded by some of the largest consumer markets in the world, at the nexus of important trade routes, and with its own growing consumer markets, Myanmar has tremendous potential as an agricultural producer. Yet one persistent obstacle is the agricultural sector’s lack of access to financial services, which
By Hugo Campos and Michael Quinn In the face of accelerated climate change, COVID-19 and growing populations, breeding at One CGIAR has a chance to lead the way towards food security. But to achieve that, breeding programs need to consider not only genetic and scientific progress, but also applying some innovation tenets to deliver according to expectations – namely,
FFAR + CIMMYT NEWS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACTS: Brian Oakes, FFAR: 202-604-5756, boakes@foundationfar.org; Marcia MacNeil, CIMMYT: +52-595-114-8943, m.macneil@cgiar.org WASHINGTON (January 11, 2021) – Wheat constitutes 20 percent of all calories and protein consumed, making it a cornerstone of the human diet, according to the United Nations. However, hotter and drier weather, driven by a changing climate, threatens the global wheat supply. To
Wheat constitutes 20% of all calories and protein consumed, making it a cornerstone of the human diet, according to the United Nations. However, hotter and drier weather, driven by a changing climate, threatens the global wheat supply. To address this threat, the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) awarded a $5 million grant to the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) to
In 1967 Albert O. Hirschman, the pioneering development economist, published Development Projects Observed. Based on an analysis of a handful of long-standing World Bank projects, the book was an effort, as Hirschman writes in the preface, “to ‘sing’ the epic adventure of development — its challenge, drama, and grandeur.” He sang this epic not in the register of high development
The UN has designated 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health. CGIAR Centers have significant scientific knowledge, extensive experience on the ground, and thought leadership that they can lend to the global discussion to advance awareness, collaboration, and scaling of needed interventions. CGIAR’s International Year of Plant Health events will comprise a series of four webinars of global scope
Children’s heights are a bellwether indicator for all the things that can go wrong, or right, in society. As IFPRI researcher Jef Leroy put it, poor child growth is like a smoke alarm: It tells you there is a fire burning somewhere. Then it can take some detective work to figure out where that fire is, its source, and to identify