Abelino Pitty
Full Professor, Agricultural Science and Production career Chiriquí, Panamá. Agronomist, Zamorano, Class of ‘74. B.Sc. in Plant Pathology, University of Florida, 1978. M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Crop Production and Plant Physiology (weeds), Iowa State University, U.S. Entered Zamorano as a professor in 1988. Subjects taught: Plant Physiology and Propagation, Weeds, Vegetable Production and Technical Writing.
“I always try to teach my students technical information that will help them in their professional lives. I have produced educational materials that help my students in their theoretical and practical learning. This combination of theory and practices is one of the things that makes Zamorano unique.” I was invited by my colleague, Mike Owen, to spend four months at Iowa State University to work on a new edition of a book dealing with the Mode of Action of Herbicides with the participation of scientists from other universities and companies. The book has 12 chapters and I was in charge of three of them, which I wrote during my sabbatical. Every time one writes this kind of literature, it is necessary to study and update one’s knowledge about that particular field. We hope to have the book finished by 2012 for the International Congress of Integrated Pest Management. This will be held in Honduras, and part of the coordination will be undertaken by Zamorano. This scientific literature will be available to Zamorano students as part of what I teach in class, and will also be available to other professionals in the field. Students frequently mention that I am well prepared and know what I’m talking about, and that is because I like to write and keep my knowledge up to date. When students use a book written by the teacher of a class, it improves their academic performance. This year I worked on editing a new book called “Forage Production in the Tropics,” written by Dr. Miguel Vélez and Dr. Nils Berger. I also edited a manual that will be used in the molecular diagnosis module headed by Dr.
14
ZAMORANO, Annual Report - 2010
Juan Carlos Rosas. It has already been published and is available to students. I continue to be editor of La Ceiba magazine, which was founded in 1950 when Dr. Wilson Popenoe was director of Zamorano. This is the oldest publication on the subject of agriculture in Central America. In 2010, after attending a workshop on Internet publishing in Nicaragua, we started offering an online version of the magazine. In addition to running the Zamorano Academic Press, I am editor of the Newsletter of the Agricultural Science and Production career, which informs the Zamorano community and graduates about the achievements of our career and its graduates. I am also still a member of the Editorial Committee of La Calera magazine published by the National Agrarian University of Nicaragua and of the Editorial Committee of the magazine, Fitosanidad, published by the Plant Protection Research Institute of Cuba’s Ministry of Agriculture, as well as being editor of Agronomía Mesoamericana magazine. I am a product of Zamorano. If this institution had not given me a scholarship, I do not know where I would be because my parents had no money to send me to university.