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Puebla can be readily transferred and adapted
to a range of production situations. Although
the project is only in its fourth year, results
have been so striking that it is being extended
to other areas of Mexico and to South America
in connection with the high quality protein
maize project. It is believed that a Puebla-type
project is one of the simplest ways of getting
more nutritive corn into the diets of the subsistence
farmers and their growing children.
The crop production and communications
sections of CIMMYT, as well as many of the
local research, credit and extension agencies
are deeply involved in the project. It is hoped
that in a few more years, all the farmers in
the project area will have changed from subsistence
to commercial farmers, regardless of
the size of their farm.
Training
Training is one of CIMMYT's most important
activities. Emphasis is on the preparation
of young men who can be immediately effective
in the strengthening of national and regional
programs in all aspects of breeding and production.
Priority is given to trainees from
countries with a strong desire to improve the
efficiency of their maize or wheat production.
Most of CIMMYT's training is of the in-service
type and is production oriented. More and
more emphasis is being placed on the development
of breeding and production teams that
can organize and execute accelerated production
programs and promote the kinds of
government policies which would let such
programs flourish.
Special attention is being given to the development
of teams of young technicians (five
on each' team) who can initiate and carryon
projects of the Puebla type, for the acceleration
of production on small subsistence farms.
It is extremely urgent that the Green Revolution
include these types of farmers.
Nearly a hundred young men spent varying
amounts of time in CIMMYT's in-service
training program last year. These young technicians
not only return to their countries with
boxes of seed and new inspiration, but also
serve to tie the maize and wheat workers together
in one large fraternity of cooperating
scholars. It does not seem likely, for example,
that the almost miraculous increases in West
Pakistan could have been achieved without
the large numbers of young Pakistanis who
received their original orientation and inspiration
in the wheat program in Mexico.
Cooperative Projects with Institutions
in the Developed World
As a matter of general policy, CIMMYT
does not enter into basic research that can
be done more efficiently elsewhere. In line
with this policy, some of the more basic work
in the development of high lysine maize varieties
will be done in cooperation with scientists
at . Purdue University. A project designed to
gam a better understanding of the various
physiological processes of the maize plant is
~ow planned with the University of Guelph
m Canada. Some of the more basic work on
triticales is being done in collaboration with
scientists at the University of Manitoba.
Looking Ahead into the Seventies
The Green Revolution has barely begun.
If it is to be kept moving, many additional
varieties must be developed and production
problems solved. In both maize and wheat
more attention must be given to the develop~
ment of varieties resistant to the vicissitudes
of weather, especially periods of drought or
too much water, if the new science-based
package is to be extended to areas where
moisture is not so easily controlled. Development
of varieties highly resistant to insects
seems feasible, but very little work in this direction
has been done. Each year, a tremendous
toll in corn is taken by the fall army
worms, stalk borers, thrips and red spiders.
The conversion of all the maize in the
tropics and sub-tropics to high lysine is a
tremendous task. The breeding of wheat for
higher nutritive quality has just begun.
In maize, little is known about the types
of architecture best suited for most efficient
use of sunlight and minerals from the soil.
Also, the physiological mechanisms that control
the reaction in maize to changes in daylength
and to different climatic conditions
must be better understood if more widely
adapted, super-varieties are to be developed.
These efforts will require additional man
power with reinforced training programs.
Above all, if progress in production is to keep
up with demand and serious social problems
are to be avoided, the benefits of the Green
Revolution must be extended to the subsistence
farmers who occupy about 40 percent
of the good cultivable land in the world today
and represent about half of the world's population.
This is a formidable task and will
require a well-planned strategy involving the
cooperative efforts of many people and institutions.
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