World Tapioca Conference
2009
15-16 January 2009, Bangkok, Thailand
Thailand
is one of the world's largest exporters of cassava products and precisely
Bangkok will host the World Tapioca Conference from 15 to 16 January 2009.
This Conference is being organized by the Department
of Foreign Trade of Thailand's
Ministry of Commerce.
CIAT Director General Geoffrey Hawtin has been invited as guest lecturer
and will address the use of innovation to shape the future of cassava.
Dr. Hernán Ceballos will also participate as panelist in a discussion
on the potential of Thailand's tapioca industry, with Dr. Reinhardt Howeler
as moderator.
More
information
Tentative
agenda
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).
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
- 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
- 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
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
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