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News Releases

  • US Patent Office Rejects US Company's Patent Protection for Bean Commonly Grown by Latin American Farmers

    Controversial Court Patent Case for Simple Yellow Legume has Become Rallying Point for "Biopiracy" Concerns

    The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today rejected all of the patent claims for a common yellow bean that has been a familiar staple in Latin American diets for more than a century.

See the News Release.


  • Partnership with TTDI to Enhance Cassava Production and Farmer Livelihoods in Thailand

    CIAT scientists are developing new cassava varieties that will enable smallholder farmers in Thailand to produce more revenue. A five-year collaboration with Bangkok-based Thai Tapioca Development Institute (TTDI) aims to adapt cassava to growing conditions in Thailand while optimizing its marketability.

    See the News Release.

  • Research Examines Seed-Aid Effectiveness

    Findings Already Influencing Policies of Donor and Recipient Governments

    Emergency seed aid, a critical intervention during times of crisis for farmers in the developing world, has had a range of unexpected effects—and the easiest solution, seed handouts, is rarely the best, according to a new paper published today in The Journal of Development Studies.

    See the News Release.

Dr. Hawtin Continues as CIAT DG

Dr. Geoff HawtinThe Board of Trustees of CIAT unanimously confirmed the continued appointment of Dr. Geoff Hawtin as CIAT Director General (DG) pending the selection of a new DG in early 2009.

See the News Release

 





Job Openings

  • Coordinator of the CGIAR Systemwide Program on Participatory Research and Gender Analysis

    The PRGA Program is now seeking applications for a Senior Research Fellow/Senior Scientist position to lead and coordinate the Program. The position will be based in the PRGA Coordination Office at the CIAT headquarters in Cali, Colombia.

    Closing date for applications is 31 May 2008 or until a suitable candidate is identified.

    More information

  • Entomologist

CIAT is seeking applications for a Postdoctoral Research Entomologist in the area of insect plant interactions and integrated pest management strategies. The position offers an outstanding career opportunity for a young researcher interested in international agricultural and tropical entomology research.

Closing date for applications is 30 May 2008.

More information

  • Virologist

The CIAT Virology Research Unit is seeking applications for a qualified young Post-doctoral scientist in plant virology. The researcher will be part of a multidisciplinary team working on the major virus problems of common bean, cassava, and rice.

Closing date for applications is 30 May 2008.

More information

  • Coordinator for CGIAR's Amazon Initiative Ecoregional Program

CIAT, on behalf of the Amazon Initiative Consortium (AI) for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Natural Resources, is looking for a Coordinator for a Collaborative Research Program in the Amazon.

The AI is committed to the reduction of poverty and social vulnerability, food security, and the sustainability of ecosystems in the region. The thematic and conceptual agenda of the Consortium is focused on sustainable land use systems for the prevention, reduction, and reversal of environmental degradation and livelihood improvement of vulnerable Amazonian populations.

Closing date for applications is 30 April 2008 or until the position is filled.

More information in English and Portuguese.


Ethiopia Recognizes CIAT's Work

Ethiopia Recognizes CIAT's WorkThe 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

 


III Course on Hybridization and DNA Microarray Analysis

CIAT's Agrobiodiversity and Biotechnology Project will host the III National Course on Hybridization and DNA Microarray Analysis from 7 to 9 May 2008.

The course will be offered free to researchers, professors, last-year undergraduate students, and postgraduate students.

More information


New Publication

Inventory of Official Policy Instruments for Rural Enterprise Development

Inventory of Official Policy Instruments for Rural Enterprise DevelopmentThis publication, only available in Spanish, aims to facilitate the understanding and use of instruments pertinent to the official policy on agriculture and livestock production by rural development actors, especially final beneficiaries. The document presents a framework of the national policy on agriculture and livestock production and an organized portfolio of policy instruments pertinent to agriculture, livestock production, and rural development.

More information

 


On-line

Promotional Brochures of CIAT

Promotional Brochures of CIATThree promotional brochures of CIAT are now on-line and can prove quite useful when attending visitors.

The first is a general brochure that provides a brief outline of CIAT's history and its main achievements over four decades of research. The second focuses on training activities and the third is a guide for visitors to the Center's headquarters in Palmira.

All three brochures are available in English and Spanish.

Download the brochures:

From the CGIAR "Story of the Month"

Safeguarding the "Crown Jewels" of International Agriculture

Safeguarding the "Crown Jewels" of International AgricultureTen genebanks operated by CGIAR-supported Centers were the scene of frenetic activity in recent weeks, as staff rushed to finish packing samples of more than 200,000 crop varieties for shipment to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV), a new storage facility located on a remote island near the Arctic Circle.

Read the whole story: www.cgiar.org/monthlystory/february2008.html


Seminar on Cassava Harvesting
(CIAT, Cali, Colombia, 26-28 March 2008)

CIAT organized a "Cassava Harvest Seminar" with the aim that different collaborating institutions from universities, our partner the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), NARs, and the private processing sector can participate and get a hands-on experience in the entire process of identifying high-value cassava.

More information


News Release

Colombia Ships Seeds of Staple Food Crops to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault for Safeguarding

Colombia is participating in one of the world's most ambitious projects. Known as the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the project aims to preserve, safe from any catastrophe, humanity's agricultural heritage.

See the News Release


International Symposium

Innovations as Key to the Green Revolution in Africa: Exploring the Scientific Facts
(Arusha, Tanzania, 17-21 September 2007)

Innovations as Key to the Green Revolution in Africa: Exploring the Scientific FactsThis Symposium was organized by the African Network for Soil Biology and Fertility (AfNet) of Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility (TSBF) institute of CIAT in collaboration with the Soil Fertility Consortium for Southern Africa (SOFECSA).

More information

 

 




Multi-Institutional Distance Learning Course on the Ex Situ Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources

Multi-Institutional Distance Learning Course on the Ex Situ Conservation of Plant Genetic ResourcesThis publication, funded by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA, its French acronym), covers basic concepts of plant genetic resources, germplasm acquisition, introduction, conservation, characterization, documentation, and germplasm bank management and aims to answer questions such as: Why conserve? What should be conserved? For who do we conserve? and How do we conserve?

More information



CIAT Annual Report 2006-2007

CIAT Annual Report 2006-2007Our 2006-2007 corporate annual report is already online. The report covers the different projects carried out by CIAT in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, with the collaboration of numerous partners that share our mission of mitigating hunger and poverty in the tropics.

Download the report:

Full color (1288 kb).

Text only (408 kb).



Report of a Collaborative Association

Delivering Distance Education on Plant Genetic Resources

Delivering Distance Education on Plant Genetic ResourcesThis report describes the activities of a collaborative association between CIAT, Bioversity International (formerly the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute [IPGRI]), the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (UNC), and the Network of Institutions Dedicated to Teaching Agricultural and Rural Development Policies for Latin America and the Caribbean (REDCAPA). The association aimed to conduct a distance-education course on the ex situ conservation of plant genetic resources.

Download the report (702 kb).




New Manual

Market Knowledge—The Compass for Innovation

Market Knowledge—The Compass for InnovationThis manual, only available in Spanish, is based on the experiences of Colombian and Nicaraguan agroentrepreneurs who worked as innovation agents in their own agroindustries, chains, and communities, and managed to improve their production systems, productive units, products, marketing, and even organization.

More information

 

 



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Downloads

CIAT Annual Report 2006-2007
(full color, 1228 kb)

CIAT Annual Report 2006-2007
(text only, 408 kb)

CIAT's Medium-Term Plan 2008-2010
(758 kb)

CIAT in Africa
(brochure, 278 kb)

CIAT in Asia
(brochure, 126 kb)

Four Decades: Striving for excellence in agricultural research
(brochure, 273 kb)

On-line Publications

 

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