On March 23, the workshop on “Strengthening Impact Assessment in CGIAR (SIAC)”, chaired by Dr. Assfaw Tesfamicheal from CIAT-Asia, was successfully held in King Bola Business Hotel, Haikou, China. The delegates from different sectors of cassava breeding, production and industrial applications attended the workshop. Dr. Peng Zhang from SCCB was invited to participate in the event.

The objective of the workshop is to organize the collection of crop germplasm improvement research related direct outcomes. Three key issues were intensively discussed, including the key aspects of cassava genetic improvements, human and resource capacities of national cassava research institutions, updating the list of cassava varietal releases until 2014, establishing nationally representative adoption rates of cassava.

The meeting not only supports the assessment of CIAT function in Asia but also reviews the trends and perspectives of cassava research and development in China.