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August, 2008
Source: Plant Breeding News,
Edition 193
Contributed by Petr Kosina,
Coordinator - Knowledge Sharing and Capacity Building, CIMMYT
From May 26th to July 27th, the
Center for Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT) successfully
hosted a five-week course in conservation agriculture (CA) for
visiting scientists titled “Laying the ground for sustainable
and productive cropping systems.”
Participants from China, Ethiopia and Romania learned about
resource conserving technologies in irrigated and rainfed wheat
and maize production systems, including reduced tillage and crop
residue management strategies.
Tesfay Araya, who is expected to be the first conservation
agriculture specialist in northern Ethiopia, commented on the
interdisciplinary theme of the program:“It was a very holistic
approach, with diverse content from a number of disciplines¬from
breeders, soil specialists, agronomists, crop protection people
and so on.”
With the chance to work directly with the Cropping Systems
Management team at CIMMYT’s research stations and in nearby
farmers’ fields, the visitors developed skills in trial
planning, management and monitoring. There was also first-hand
opportunity to initiate individual research, as each participant
had to define a clear research objective and draft a paper for
future publication. “We learned skills in publishing, writing,
reviewing data…we didn’t miss anything,” said Mr. Araya.
Participants took away with them lessons learned for application
in their home countries. “I saw people here working together
with good communication,” said Mr. Araya. “That’s the most
important thing, and it’s very unique.” For Zhang Bin, from
China, implementation of CA was a consideration. “When I go back
I will do research on conservation agriculture, and if I have
good results I will demonstrate it to farmers and try to
transfer the technology to them.”
Since 1996 CIMMYT has hosted over 86 course participants and 30
visiting scientists from 26 countries in its Conservation
Agriculture research area. Long-term courses and research are
conducted at CIMMYT’s headquarters in El Batán and at its
research station in Ciudad Obregon, Mexico.
The next course is scheduled for May 25th to June 26th in 2009.
For more information, please contact Petr Kosina (pkosina@cgiar.org)
or visit
http://www.cimmyt.org/english/wps/events/courses/pdf/announcement_CA_course_2009.pdf
Plant Breeding News
An Electronic
Newsletter of Applied Plant Breeding
Clair H. Hershey, Editor
Sponsored by
FAO/AGPC and Cornell University,
Dept. of Plant Breeding and Genetics
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