One of the 12,000

Feb 20th, 2012 | By Simone Staiger | Category: Training

From “The Impacts of CIAT’s Collaborative Research”

Edgar Alfonso Rodríguez is among the thousands of young professionals who have benefited from CIAT’s important contribution to strengthening national research capacity. He is working on his Ph.D. in soil and water management under the joint supervision of Elena Velásquez, a soil science professor at the Palmira campus of Colombia’s National University, and her husband, Patrick Lavelle, a soil ecologist at CIAT.

Edgar’s thesis research, which he is conducting as part of a strategic alliance between CIAT and the Colombian government, addresses the fundamental issue of how to compare different land uses in terms of their eco-efficiency. Having embraced this principle several years ago, CIAT is now seeking ways to put it into practice. Edgar is helping develop eco-efficiency indicators, which take into account soil chemical and physical properties and macrofauna composition as well as the social and economic conditions of people working the land.

Both of Edgar’s parents are teachers, and he plans to follow in their footsteps to become a university professor. As such, he expects to continue his research, preferably in collaboration with CIAT, while sharing with future generations of science students his newfound passion for making Colombia’s agriculture more ecoefficient.

CIAT has contributed importantly to increasing the knowledge pool and strengthening the capacity of its many research partners. More than 12,000 professionals from Latin America, Africa, and Asia have benefited from training offered by the Center (CIAT, 2011). About half of these people have taken part in specialized courses or workshops, while about 35% have received individual training. The remainder did thesis research at CIAT for postgraduate degrees.