Stewardship Report
Achieving Food Security and Rural Prosperity across the Tropics
CIAT’s Partnership with Germany:
Reducing hunger and poverty while
lessening agriculture’s ecological and
climate footprint
1

CIAT’s Global Vision
Sustainable intensification of tropical
agriculture
livelihoods and the welfare of whole societies
depend. Our soils work also helps make agriculture
climate smart, which is a central aim of our research
on decision and policy analysis as well.
About 870 million people around the world face
chronic hunger, and more than 20% of the global
population lives in extreme poverty. Strengthening
the fight against hunger and poverty is thus an
urgent imperative, especially in the tropics, where
climate change, food price volatility, environmental
degradation, weak policies and markets, and
emerging pests and diseases pose dire threats to
the livelihoods of the poor.
CIAT’s policy research harnesses the power of
information to influence actions concerning climate
change adaptation and mitigation, equitable sharing
of benefits from ecosystem services, and linking
farmers to markets for higher rural incomes. Our
experts on these issues include a growing team of
gender specialists, who are working to mainstream
gender in CIAT and CGIAR research agendas.
At CIAT, we’re convinced that, while the challenges
for tropical agriculture have grown since the Center
first opened its doors in 1967, so have the
opportunities to address them more effectively. In
response, our scientists have developed a
comprehensive array of scientific capacities that can
bring sustainable agriculture within the reach of
smallholder farmers.
All of our research – integrating crops, soils, and
policy – aims to make sustainable agriculture a
reality for the three-quarters of the world’s poor and
hungry who live in rural areas and depend on crop
and livestock production for a living.
The Center has a solid reputation for honesty,
integrity, and transparency together with a wellestablished record of innovative, results-oriented
research that creates tangible improvements in rural
livelihoods. Aware that development impact cannot
result from the efforts of one organization working
alone, we take pride in our strong and growing
partnerships with other research organizations as
well as government ministries, civil society, and the
private sector.
Eco-efficiency – which lies at the heart of CIAT’s
mission – is an important guiding principle for
achieving sustainable intensification of smallholder
production. To put this principle into practice, we
promote competitive and profitable food production
for reduced hunger and poverty, while helping lower
agriculture’s environmental and climate footprint.
Crop improvement is a key leverage point for
bringing about those aims. CIAT conducts research
globally on cassava, common bean, and tropical
forages, as well as on rice in Latin America and the
Caribbean. Critical for reducing hunger, these crops
also offer wide scope for strengthening farmers’
market orientation and raising rural incomes. In
addition, they present unique opportunities for
enabling food production to cope with climate
change.
Through research on soil management and land
restoration, the Center opens new pathways toward
sustainable intensification of crop production, while
improving the ecosystem services on which rural
CIAT’s genebank safeguards the world’s largest collections
of beans and cassava, as well as tropical forages
2

In Partnership with Germany
A shared commitment to sustainable agriculture
CIAT was an early innovator in CGIAR efforts to promote sustainable agriculture, and the Center
has developed a comprehensive approach for advancing this work. We share the German
government’s conviction that sustainable agriculture is central for achieving the dual aims of,
first, reducing hunger and poverty and, second, improving natural resource management while
also coming to grips with climate change in food production.
Germany is a founding member of CGIAR and a longstanding supporter of CIAT research, with
an abiding commitment to realizing the huge development potential of multipurpose tropical
forages and responding to growing concerns about the impacts of climate change in agriculture.
The German government’s ongoing investment in CIAT research on tropical forages has proved
to be especially productive. A large and growing body of scientific evidence indicates that these
diverse plant species may hold the key to a rare triple win for development. Well-managed
forages grasses and legumes show tremendous potential to (1) provide growing numbers of
urban consumers with affordable livestock products, while (2) boosting rural incomes through
increased livestock productivity and (3) contrary to much negative publicity on livestock, creating
significant environmental benefits, including contributions to climate change mitigation.
In recent years, Germany has also shown much-needed global leadership in raising public
awareness about the importance of halting soil and land degradation, as demonstrated by the
Global Soil Forum and Global Soil Week. These efforts are catalyzing valuable knowledge
exchange as part of a global approach to achieving sustainable soil management.
We’re grateful to the Government of Germany for its generous and steadfast support of CIAT
research through BMZ (Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development). We also
value our productive global collaboration with GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale
Zusammenarbeit) and the vital contribution of CIM (Centre for International Migration and
Development) in providing top-quality scientific expertise to carry key initiatives forward.
Transformative technologies to
cultivate change
The Center’s advanced scientific capacity is a
valuable resource for addressing challenges and
opportunities in tropical agriculture. Headquartered
in Colombia, CIAT has regional offices in Nairobi,
Kenya, and Hanoi, Vietnam, with networks of
scientists and partners conducting high-quality
research across Latin America and the Caribbean,
sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia. Our global
team effectively contributes to the reduction of
hunger and poverty, while providing global
leadership and expertise to curb the degradation of
natural resources and make agriculture part of the
solution to global climate change.
Over the last several decades, CIAT scientists and
their partners have shown a consistent talent for
innovative agricultural research, which blends
formal science with local knowledge to create a
diverse portfolio of genuinely transformative
technologies. Many of our products lead to farreaching, beneficial changes in crop production,
agricultural value chains, major production systems,
rural landscapes, and policies that shape
smallholder farmers’ options and decisions.
3

Impact of German Investments
Grassroots action for environmental
and livelihood benefits
emissions and leaching, around half of the nitrogen
fertilizer applied annually (with an estimated global
value of US$90 billion) is essentially wasted. By
suppressing nitrification, new grass hybrids can thus
deliver enormous environmental benefits while also
boosting crop and livestock productivity through
more efficient fertilizer use. Recent trials showed, for
example, that a maize crop grown after B.
humidicola can give good yields with only half the
amount of fertilizer normally applied.
A powerful biochemical mechanism, which operates
in the roots of a tropical grass (Brachiaria
humidicola), appears to offer agriculture its best bet
for mitigating climate change. Field research has
shown that the mechanism suppresses soil
nitrification – the microbiological process by which
nitrogen from fertilizer is converted into nitrous
oxide, the most potent greenhouse gas.
To begin reaping the environmental and economic
benefits of this improved grass on a large scale,
researchers are working on several fronts with
German support. Forage grass breeders are
developing superior B. humidicola hybrids and
seeking to accelerate hybrid selection through the
use of molecular markers.
In a major scientific breakthrough, CIAT
collaborators discovered several years ago, the
chemical substance responsible for this
phenomenon. Now, with German support, the
Center and its partners, including Universität
Hohenheim, have advanced to the “proof-ofconcept” stage and are laying the groundwork for
large-scale development and dissemination of B.
humidicola hybrids.
At the same time, scientists are using participatory
methods to evaluate the B. humidicola hybrids
already available with smallholder farmers in
Colombia and Nicaragua. Together, they’re learning
how best to integrate the hybrids into crop-livestock
systems. In addition, the researchers are using
advanced simulation models and
economic analysis to project where
the new hybrids can be profitably
introduced.
In addition to generating nitrous oxide emissions,
nitrification results in the leaching of nitrate, a major
pollutant, into groundwater. As a result of the
The scope for integrating these
materials into crop-livestock systems
is quite large, especially in Latin
America, where various Brachiaria
grass species are already the main
feed resource for livestock
production. Since B. humidicola
hybrids offer the advantage of
performing well on infertile soils, they
should appeal to large numbers of
smallholders across Latin America as
well as in sub-Saharan Africa and
upland areas of Southeast Asia.
New grass hybrids deliver enormous environmental benefits while also boosting
crop and livestock productivity through more efficient fertilizer use
4

The novel Quesungual agroforestry system has helped restore degraded agroecosystems in Honduras
Scaling up success to restore
degraded landscapes
improved through the introduction of droughttolerant crop varieties and improved tropical
forages. A major challenge now is to accelerate the
spread of new systems like Quesungual to help curb
widespread land degradation throughout the
tropics, resulting from unsustainable practices like
slash-and-burn agriculture and livestock
overgrazing.
Another major focal point for South-South
knowledge exchange with German support consists
of novel agroforestry and silvopastoral systems.
These combine crops with multipurpose trees and
in the latter case with forages for livestock as well.
Recent successes with such systems in Latin
America show that they are highly effective for
restoring degraded agroecosystems, with
substantial benefits for rural people and the
environment.
CIAT soil scientists and their partners have taken up
this challenge with German support through a
project aimed at restoring agricultural landscapes in
areas of Nicaragua and Paraguay that are highly
vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
The Quesungual slash-and-mulch agroforestry
system, for example – a product of farmer-led
innovation in southwest Honduras – has improved
rural livelihoods through higher and more stable
crop yields, while also making smallholder
production more resilient in the face of extreme
weather. The system has other benefits for
ecosystem services as well, such as carbon
sequestration and biodiversity conservation.
Quesungual has been taken up in El Salvador and
Nicaragua, and the system is being further
Operating across scales – from individual farms to
whole rural landscapes – scientists are devising
strategies to overcome barriers to the adoption of
agroforestry systems and adapt them to diverse
local conditions. The project is also creating tools to
identify areas where successfully adapted systems
can be taken up more widely. Since this requires not
just technological change but institutional
innovations, CIAT scientists are working closely with
a wide range of national research partners and
NGOs to achieve major development impact.
5

Intellectual capital for development
value
like the Brachiaria hybrids described earlier. This is
especially vital for accelerating the development of
superior new hybrids through the use of advanced
techniques from molecular biology and phenomics.
Scientists are also facilitating the spillover of
benefits from new grass hybrids to Africa, where
Brachiaria originated. In addition, GIZ and CIM have
contributed significant expertise on livestock
production and nutrition. As a result, we’re reaching
larger numbers of farmers more quickly.
The ability of CIAT’s research to deliver on the
promise of sustainable agriculture in the tropics
depends on many factors, but none is more
important than the quality of our scientific staff. For
that reason, one of Germany’s most important
contributions to the Center’s work consists of the
intellectual capital represented by German-funded
Masters and PhD students and staff working in key
positions.
The Centre for International Migration and
Development (CIM) has placed a number of
technical experts and managers with CIAT globally.
These scientists play vital roles in our efforts to
advance impact-oriented research. German
collaboration has been critical, for example, in
building CIAT’s capacity to analyze and help
smallholders prepare for the expected impacts of
climate change in major agricultural value chains,
particularly in Central America.
Scientific talent funded by Germany is also driving
the implementation of transformative technologies
Peter Laderach (right) of the CIM program lifts the lid on the
impacts of climate change on coffee production in Colombia
CIM Staff at CIAT
Period
Program
Mario Cuchillo
February 2013 - November 2014
Returning Expert on Forages
Jacobo Arango
August 2012 - August 2015
Returning Expert on Forages
Peter Laderach
November 2008 - October 2014
Integrated Expert on Decision and Policy Analysis
Monica Carvajal
June 2012 - June 2014
Returning Expert on Biotechnology
Birthe Paul
May 2012 - October 2013
Integrated Expert on Forages
Rolf Wachholtz
February 2012 - February 2014
Integrated Expert on Land Use, Ecosystems, and
Climate Change
Brigitte Maass
April 2009 - July 2014
Integrated Expert on Forages
Siriwan Martens
March 2007 - March 2013
Integrated Expert on Forages
Ringenerus Van der Hoek
November 2006 - November 2012
Integrated Expert on Forages
6

Germany-funded projects
Project Name
CIAT Leader(s)
Period
US$
(in ‘000)
Addressing the challenges of smallholder farming communities
Aracely Castro
2013-2016
1,063
Trade-offs and synergies in climate change adaptation and mitigation in
coffee and cocoa systems
Peter Laderach
2013-2016
131
Climate-smart crop-livestock systems for smallholders in the tropics:
Integration of new forage hybrids to intensify agriculture and to mitigate
climate change through regulation of nitrification in soil
Idupulapati Rao
2012-2015
1,210
Dry season forages to improve the livelihoods of smallholders
in Eastern Africa
Brigitte Maass
2011-2013
27
Climate protection and energy in Latin America and the Caribbean (Phase II)
Andy Jarvis
2013
22
Unrestricted contribution from Germany to the maintenance of
the genetic resources collection
Daniel Debouck
2013
520
Climate protection and energy in Latin American and the Caribbean Terra I Guyana
Louis Reymondin
2012-2013
31
Analysis of vulnerability of crops and ecosystem services to climate change
and adaptation measures, in the Sierra Madre Oriental (Mexico)
Marcela Quintero
Tabares
2011-2012
103
Predicting the impact of climate change on the adaptability of the
main cocoa growing regions of Nicaragua
Peter Laderach
2011-2012
15
More chicken and pork in the pot, and money in the pocket: Improving
forages for monogastric animals with low-income farmers
Michael Peters
2009-2012
904
Proagro
Peter Laderach
2011
20
Coffee and climate change program
Peter Laderach
2011
78
Sustainable palm oil production in Thailand
Andy Jarvis
2010
45
Study on the potential impacts of climate change on land use
in the Lao PDR
Andy Jarvis
2009
36
Fighting drought and aluminum toxicity: Integrating functional genomics
phenotypic screening and participating research with women and smallscale farmers to develop stress-resistant common bean and
Brachiaria for the tropics
Idupulapati Rao
2006-2009
1,068
Develop adaptability maps of coffee under the influence of climate change
in Peru, Nicaragua, and Mexico
Peter Laderach
2008
26
Understanding and catalyzing learning-selection processes of multi-purpose
forage based technologies in Central America with a focus on
dry season options and farmer-led seed systems
Michael Peters
2005-2008
240
7

Promise to partners
Looking forward: developing joint
visions
Our innovative research is carried out with the
highest integrity and transparency, according to an
agenda that is socially and environmentally
responsible. We monitor and evaluate the impacts
of all our programs to bolster meaningful
knowledge sharing and learning. CIAT’s research
and related endeavors are demand driven,
harnessing creativity and incorporating
environmental sustainability, gender equality, and
policy and institutional considerations into our
activities. CIAT ensures that donor investments lead
to tangible results for the world’s most vulnerable
people.
CIAT works through partnerships to mobilize highquality scientific expertise for global efforts to
reduce hunger and poverty, while also curbing
environmental degradation and addressing climate
change. In keeping with Germany’s strategy to
achieve this end by promoting sustainable
agriculture, CIAT works with a wide range of
partners, including Germany’s government and
institutions, to develop technologies, methods, and
knowledge that offer more for people while taking
less from the land.
The global reach of CIAT research
Asia regional hub
Guyana
CIAT headquarters
Africa regional hub
Swaziland
Lesotho
CIAT Contacts
Africa Regional Office
c/o International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology
(ICIPE)
Duduville Campus, off Kasarani Road
CIAT Africa Coordination
P Box 823-00621
.O.
Nairobi, Kenya
Phone: +254 20 8632800 or +254 72 1574967
Robin Buruchara - r.buruchara@cgiar.org
Ruben G. Echeverria
Director General
ruben.echeverria@cgiar.org
André Zandstra
Head, Partnerships & Donor Relations
a.zandstra@cgiar.org
Headquarters
Km 17, Recta Cali-Palmira
Apartado Aéreo 6713
Cali, Colombia
Phone: +57 2 4450000 (direct), +1 650 8336625 (via USA)
E-mail: ciat@cgiar.org
www.ciat.cgiar.org
Asia Regional Office
c/o Institute of Agricultural Genetics
Pham Van Dong, Tu Liem
Ha Noi, Vietnam
Phone: +84-12-5826-2512
Rod Lefroy - r.lefroy@cgiar.org
8
Photos: Neil Palmer (CIAT)