Grain center inauguration in Ecuador
The governor of Loja Province, Ecuador (left) and a local farmer inaugurate a new center for storing and processing grain, in the Saraguro area of Loja, while Julio César Delgado (behind), the director general of the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIAP), looks on. The center will give farmers an advantage in the face of volatile prices. The inauguration, on 15 July 2010, was held alongside the launch of "INIAP Vivar 2010", a drought tolerant, high-yielding wheat variety based on a line developed by CIMMYT and named in honor of the late scientist Hugo Vivar. These are among the first benefits of a campaign launched in 2008 to renew Ecuador’s wheat production.
Until 2008, wheat research in Ecuador was in decline, as was wheat cultivation, thanks to cheap imports. While other staples were relatively unaffected, the global food price crisis of 2008 revealed this hole in the country's food security. When wheat prices spiked, Ecuador's government cushioned the blow by temporarily subsidizing imported wheat at great cost. Its long-term response was to institute a vigorous program to revitalize the nation's wheat production. Working with INIAP, the government set out realistic goals and provided about USD 4.3 million over 5 years for intensified wheat research and promotion.
The central aim of the new initiative is to expand Ecuador’s wheat area to about 50,000 hectares, enough to satisfy at least 30% of domestic demand, up from 3%. Less than two years after the 2008 decision, INIAP was already releasing improved varieties, the first in Ecuador since the early 1990s, including Vivar for southern Ecuador and San Jacinto for the country’s central and northern zones.
INIAP was able to release Vivar and San Jacinto so soon after the start of the initiative for two reasons. One was the government’s decision to thoroughly refurbish INIAP’s research infrastructure as well as to hire and train dozens more scientists and technicians. Equally crucial was CIMMYT’s unswerving support for local wheat research even during its time of relative dormancy in Ecuador. If that service had ceased, INIAP’s new wheat team would have been forced to start essentially from scratch, adding many years to the process of variety development.
Photo credit: Nathan Russell/CIMMYT.
For more information, see CIMMYT's 2010 e-news story "Ecuador's wheat awakening," available online at: www.cimmyt.org/en/about-us/media-resources/newsletter/872....
Grain center inauguration in Ecuador
The governor of Loja Province, Ecuador (left) and a local farmer inaugurate a new center for storing and processing grain, in the Saraguro area of Loja, while Julio César Delgado (behind), the director general of the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIAP), looks on. The center will give farmers an advantage in the face of volatile prices. The inauguration, on 15 July 2010, was held alongside the launch of "INIAP Vivar 2010", a drought tolerant, high-yielding wheat variety based on a line developed by CIMMYT and named in honor of the late scientist Hugo Vivar. These are among the first benefits of a campaign launched in 2008 to renew Ecuador’s wheat production.
Until 2008, wheat research in Ecuador was in decline, as was wheat cultivation, thanks to cheap imports. While other staples were relatively unaffected, the global food price crisis of 2008 revealed this hole in the country's food security. When wheat prices spiked, Ecuador's government cushioned the blow by temporarily subsidizing imported wheat at great cost. Its long-term response was to institute a vigorous program to revitalize the nation's wheat production. Working with INIAP, the government set out realistic goals and provided about USD 4.3 million over 5 years for intensified wheat research and promotion.
The central aim of the new initiative is to expand Ecuador’s wheat area to about 50,000 hectares, enough to satisfy at least 30% of domestic demand, up from 3%. Less than two years after the 2008 decision, INIAP was already releasing improved varieties, the first in Ecuador since the early 1990s, including Vivar for southern Ecuador and San Jacinto for the country’s central and northern zones.
INIAP was able to release Vivar and San Jacinto so soon after the start of the initiative for two reasons. One was the government’s decision to thoroughly refurbish INIAP’s research infrastructure as well as to hire and train dozens more scientists and technicians. Equally crucial was CIMMYT’s unswerving support for local wheat research even during its time of relative dormancy in Ecuador. If that service had ceased, INIAP’s new wheat team would have been forced to start essentially from scratch, adding many years to the process of variety development.
Photo credit: Nathan Russell/CIMMYT.
For more information, see CIMMYT's 2010 e-news story "Ecuador's wheat awakening," available online at: www.cimmyt.org/en/about-us/media-resources/newsletter/872....