International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
Front gates of CIMMYT in El Batán. Maize test fields seen far-center.
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| Formation | 1943 |
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| Type | Non-profit research and training center |
| Purpose | To develop improved varieties of wheat and maize |
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Parent organization
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Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) |
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Staff
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100 specialized research staff and 500 support staff from about 40 countries |
| Website | cimmyt.org |
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (commonly called by its Spanish acronym CIMMYT for Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo) is a non-profit research and training institution dedicated to both the development of improved varieties of wheat and maize, and introducing improved agricultural practices to farmers, thereby improving their livelihoods. It is also one of the 15 non-profit, research and training institutions affiliated with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
The first steps toward the creation of CIMMYT were taken in 1943 when cooperative efforts of the Mexican government and the Rockefeller Foundation led to the founding of the Office of Special Studies, an organization within the Mexican Secretariat of Agriculture. The office’s goal was to ensure food security in Mexico and abroad through selective plant breeding and crop improvement.
The project developed into a collaboration between Mexican and international researchers. It established global networks to test experimental crop varieties. One of its researchers, Norman Borlaug, developed shorter wheat varieties that put more energy into grain production and responded better to fertilizer than older varieties, won the Nobel Prize for that work in 1970. The program was renamed and morphed into CIMMYT in 1963, though it was still under the Secretariat of Agriculture’s jurisdiction. As international demand grew and it became apparent CIMMYT required internal organization and increased funding, the center was reorganized and established as a non-profit scientific and educational institution in its own right in 1966.
In the early 1970s, a small cadre of development organizations, national sponsors, and private foundations organized CGIAR to further spread the impact of agricultural research to more nations. CIMMYT became one of the first international research centers to be supported through the CGIAR. Today, the CGIAR comprises 15 such centers, all dedicated to sustainable food security through scientific research.
CIMMYT focuses on 1) the conservation and utilization of maize and wheat genetic resources, 2) developing and promoting improved maize and wheat varieties, 3) testing and sharing sustainable farming systems, 4) analyzing the impact of its work and researching ways for further improvement. In Mexico in the late 1980s, CIMMYT began working on better varieties of maize and wheat that helped small peasant farmers, using genetic engineering to resist pests and diseases, as well as raise the protein content of maize. CIMMYT partners with national agriculture research institutions across the globe. Though its headquarters are in Mexico, the center supports 13 regional offices (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Colombia, Ethiopia, Georgia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Nepal, Turkey, and Zimbabwe).
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Wikipedia