News Overview

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) signed a new memorandum of understanding in January 2026 to deepen research collaboration across crop and livestock systems in Africa and Asia.

Across Nepal’s diverse landscapes, farmers and partners are testing maize innovations that improve yields, resilience, and livelihoods, but the biggest challenge is moving from local wins to sustainable scale. Scaling for Impact (S4I) program is helping to build structured pathways that connect proven research with markets, investment, and policy.

In many agricultural markets, the limited ability to measure product quality at the source and trace it through the supply chain remains a key barrier to improvement, as the absence of reliable quality information blunts incentives for upstream actors to invest in better practices

The Government of Nepal is scaling CIMMYT’s Maize Commercial Model (MCM)—an inclusive, market-based approach that turns spring and winter rice fallows into a productive 90–120-day maize window, backed by bundled climate-smart practices, services, and coordinated value-chain partnerships.

A one-day CIMMYT–CGIAR Scaling for Impact (S4I) workshop with BARI on 8 Dec 2025 brought together 25 early- and mid-career scientists (56% women) to strengthen creative and systems thinking for more innovative, inclusive, and scalable agricultural research.

In Bambey, at the heart of Senegal’s groundnut basin, a phytopathology and crop improvement greenhouse, jointly managed by Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles (ISRA) and CIMMYT, is ready to accelerate the development of improved crop varieties for millions across West and Central Africa.

The Government of Senegal and the Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles (ISRA), together with CIMMYT and CGIAR, have inaugurated a new state-of-the-art phytopathology and crop improvement greenhouse at ISRA–CNRA Bambey.