CIMMYT 5.05

*Wheat varieties bred at CIMMYT and its predecessor organization prevented famine and hunger in South Asia and elsewhere in the world. The benefits of this Green Revolution were recognized through the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize.

*More nutritious maize varieties developed by CIMMYT won recognition through the 2000 World Food Prize.

*Recent estimates indicate that wheat varieties developed by CIMMYT and its partners are planted on more than 64 million hectares in developing countries, representing more than 75% of the area planted to modern wheat varieties in those countries.

*Maize varieties developed by CIMMYT and its partners are planted on nearly half of the area sown to improved varieties in non-temperate areas of the developing world.

*As reported in Science (v. 300: 758-62), in the absence of CGIAR Centers such as CIMMYT, with their many partners in the developing world, crop yields in developing countries would have been 19.5-23.5% lower; prices for food crops would have been 35-66% higher; imports would be 27-30% higher; calorie intake would have been 13.3-14.4% lower; and 32-42 million more children would have been malnourished. The area planted to crops would be 4% higher for wheat and 2% for maize.

*Lower food prices extend the benefits of agricultural research to poor consumers in urban areas and landless people in rural areas (and even to the industrialized world).

*If the developing world attempted to meet its food requirements in 1995 without the improved varieties of food crops developed since the Green Revolution, an additional 426 million hectares of cropped area would be needed (a five-fold increase over cropped area in 1965).

*This land savings helped to preserve forested and environmentally fragile lands and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 35%. A higher concentration of greenhouse gases might have caused climate change to begin sooner.