| dc.description | CIMMYT's primary research thrust is to assist crop scientists from developing countries to produce improved maize, wheat, triticale, and barley varieties that are capable of high and dependable yields on farmers' fields. Priority is given to developing germplasm with improved genetic disease and insect resistance, tolerance to drought and other environment stresses, and in some cases - such as with triticalewith improved grain quality. Crop production research issues are also of growing concern to the Center. Most of CIMMYT's crop management research activities are carried out by regionally and nationally assigned staff members through collaborative research arrangements with developing country programs. In the course of CIMMYT's work some very costeffective procedures have been developed to guide research aimed at formulating more profitable and productive farming systems. Three research service units - experiment stations, laboratories, and data processing- provide support to CIMMYT's scientific program!>. The experiment station staff manage the facilities and equipment for CIMMYT's breeding programs at five principal research stations in Mexico. Four of these stations- El Satan, Poza Rica, Tlaltizapan, and Toluca- are owned by CIMMYT. The fifth station, CIANO, located in northwest Mexico at Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, is owned and operated by INIA, Mexico' s national research institute and CIMMYT's principal research site for its small grains improvement programs. CIMMYT's laboratories include facilities for milling and baking evaluations, protein quality evaluations, soil and plant tissue analyses, and cytology and pathology studies. The new data processing facility has undergone a major reorganization including installation of new hardware to provide a modern data processing and computer center to serve CIMMYT's research and administrative requirements. In addition to its crop research programs, CIMMYT is heavily engaged in training-related activities. Most of the Center's formal training courses are aimed at strengthening the scientific skills of relatively recent agricultural graduates who occupy middle-level research positions in their home institutes. However, many other training opportunities are also offered. To better support and complement the research and training efforts of hundreds of collaborating national programs, CIMMYT has posted roughly 40 percent of its senior staff (through core and extra-core funding) to regional and national program assignments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Reported here are highlights of CIMMYT's 1983 activities in research, training and communications, and consultation. Greater detail about the Center's research program of work is found in the 1983 C/MMYT Research Highlights and numerous technical reports and information bulletins that have been published by the Center over the last five years. | |
