1ICRISAT Happenings July 2016 1731

NewsletterHappenings 15 July 2016

No. 1731

ICRISAT

Feature Stories

Aiming to increase awareness of farmers on climate resilient varieties of groundnut and maize and create

opportunities to network with diverse players along the value chain, two seed fair programs were organized at Sikasso and Kayes regions of Mali recently.

The objectives were to:

▪ Strengthen and stimulate linkages and information sharing among farmers on high yielding, drought and disease tolerant varieties;

▪ Distribute small package of seeds of the improved varieties to farmers;

▪ Create awareness of alternative seed sources and varieties;

▪ Create forum for knowledge exchange on seed production systems among researchers, farmers and seed experts; and

▪ Create working contacts between farmers, extension staff, researchers and agro-dealers on sustainable seed systems to support climate resilience for farmers.

The fairs included plenary sessions, group discussions and exhibition stands where 65 partners, including government agencies and private sector, exhibited their products and services to about 400 participants. The fairs offered an

opportunity to create linkages that will help promote processing and value addition in Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire.

“The seed fairs have helped create partnerships among stakeholders for a better dissemination of new varieties,” said Mr Siaka Dembélé, Representative of the Regional Agriculture Directorate, Mr Dembélé also stressed on the continuity of such events as it provides training to extension agents, so they can advise more producers.

Around 300 farmers received mini-packs of improved groundnut varieties from ICRISAT through a voucher system. Along with the seeds farmers were exposed to appropriate agronomic practices and market links.

“I came to learn more about the new improved seed varieties. But more importantly I learnt about new practices. For example, I keep my seed with the rest of the crop that is highly vulnerable to insect attack. I do not measure the extent of damage caused by these insects on my seed. Now I am aware of that,” said Mr Seydou Diallo from Nangola village, rural commune of Niéna in Sikasso region.

Farmers discussed the challenges, constraints and opportunities in the seed production systems in West Africa. The dangers associated with aflatoxin

Seed fairs to promote climate resilient varieties in West Africa

Farmers queuing up to get mini seed packs of improved varieties.

to page 3...

Photo: Moustaph Diallo, Macina Film

2 ICRISAT Happenings July 2016 1731

The National Variety Release Committee (NVRC) announced the release of three new improved chickpea

varieties with better yield, disease resistance (wilt, root rot and ascochyta blight) and early maturity for production in high altitude areas (1800-2800 m) of Ethiopia.

This was the outcome of a research collaboration between International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) and ICRISAT. The breeding lines for these varieties were provided by ICRISAT and ICARDA. Chickpea crop improvement research collaboration among the three institutes has led to the release and promotion of more than 20 varieties in Ethiopia so far.

The released varieties are:

DIMTU (DZ-2012 CK-031/ICCV-10107)DIMTU variety gave higher yield compared to the standard check, Minjar and the local check by 15.34% and 29.71% and had 100-seed weight advantage of about 78.92% and 144.71% over the standard check (Minjar) and local check respectively.

HORA (DZ-2012 CK-001/FLIP 04-9C)The HORA variety is mainly proposed for its reasonably good grain yield in potential chickpea growing areas. Its seed yield advantage as compared to the standard check (Ejere) is 22.9% and local check (DZ 10-4) is 70.39% higher.

DHERA (DZ-2012 CK-009/FLIP 0163)DHERA’s better seed yield advantage over standard check Ejere (10.7%) and local check (53.51%) along with very erect growth makes it suitable for mechanical harvesting.

No fertilizers, irrigation or pesticides were used on any of these varieties to achieve the increased grain yield during the trails. When compared to standard and local checks, all three varieties showed promising results on disease resistance.

The trials were conducted by researchers from the Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center (DZARC), EIAR. Main contributors from DZARC, EIAR, were national chickpea breeders Dr Million Eshete, Mr Dagnachew Bekele, Mr Ridwan Mohammed and Mr Nigussie Girma.

The National Chickpea and Lentil Research Program, DZARC, will maintain 50 kg breeder seed of these varieties every year and plans are underway to get these varieties into sustainable seed systems and promotion under Tropical Legumes-III and USAID scaling projects.

Project: National Chickpea and Lentil Research Program, Ethiopia; TL III and USAID scaling project

Investor: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, Government of Ethiopia

Partners: EIAR, ICARDA and ICRISATCGIAR Research Program: Grain Legumes

“Tropical Legumes Phase III (TL-III) project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation presents an opportunity for different CGIAR centers to synergize their comparative advantage and expertise for the benefit of the smallholder farmer. Apart from ICARDA and ICRISAT, others like International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) were also involved in working together with their respective mandate legumes while exchanging experiences and lessons for the benefit of smallholder farmers in the dryland tropics,” said Dr Emmanuel Monyo, Theme Leader - Seed Systems & Project Coordinator, TL-III, ICRISAT.

Ethiopia supplies more than 60% of Africa’s global chickpea exports. In Ethiopia, 80% of the chickpea is marketed locally while 20% is exported mainly to Asia and Middle East. With this, the net household income from chickpea trade is estimated at US$1,500-2,000 per ha. g

High yielding and disease resistant chickpea varieties released in Ethiopia

Chickpea farmer in Ethiopia.

Photo: ICRISAT

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Women groups exhibiting their products.

Building efficiencies across the supply chain, from input supply to marketing, is key to achieving success. To this

end a first of its kind ‘Agricultural Inputs Fair’, was organized in Kano, Nigeria. The aim was to provide farmers with good quality inputs (improved seed varieties, agro chemicals and equipment), at affordable prices from genuine sources, and link them to agricultural extension services.

At the fair, nearly 70% (4,500 kg) of assorted improved varieties of seeds brought to the fair by different seed companies were sold to farmers, amounting to NGN 903,600 (US$3,204).

The three-day programme was attended by around 1,800 farmers of which 484 were women. This overwhelming response has enthused the organizers to hold such input fairs on an annual basis to provide the necessary platform

Building efficient supply chains in Nigeriafor interaction with farmers and agricultural inputs companies for higher productivity and income to farmers.

Invitees to the opening ceremony included Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, Executive Governor of Kano State, and Prof Hafiz Abubakar, Deputy Executive Governor of Kano State; Dr Muhammad Sanusi II CON, Emir of Kano represented by Hakimin Kura, Alhaji Bello Ado Bayero; Nasiru Gawuna, Hon. Commissioner of Agriculture; Ahmad Rabi’u Bako, Hon. Commissioner of Natural Resources, Commerce & Industry and Murtala Sule Garo, Hon. Commissioner of Ministry for Local Government Affairs.

Under the auspices of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Program Phase 1 (ATASP-1) and USAID Groundnut Upscaling Project, ICRISAT Nigeria in partnership with Fadama Development project Additional Finance (Fadama III AF), organized the agricultural inputs fair, hosted at Hadejia-Jama’are River Basin Development Authority premises Kura, Kura LGA, Kano State from 26 to 28 May. g

Project: Agricultural transformation agenda support program phase 1 (ATASP-1) and USAID Groundnut Upscaling Project, Investor: Nigeria Federal Government through Africa Development Bank, World Bank and USAID

Partners: Fadama Development project Additional Finance (Fadama III AF) and ICRISAT

CGIAR Research Program: Dryland Systems, Dryland Cereals and Grain Legumes.Photo: TA Azeez, ICRISAT

contamination and how to mitigate it was stressed. Farmers were made aware of diet diversification and climate change resilience strategies. Commercial seed producers and processors were able to understand farmers’ needs, tastes and concerns.

“I learned that you can turn groundnuts into nutritious food. This encourages us to embrace this cultural advantage in Cote d’Ivoire. During the exchanges, we also learned that market access is a transboundary challenge for all stakeholders, including producers of all countries,” said Mr Diedhiou Augustin, a farmer from Korhogo in Côte d’Ivoire.

Ms Mariam Sissoko from the village of Same in Kayes region appreciated the participation of women during the fair and said “Women have spoken and expressed their views on important issues such as production, processing and marketing of seeds.”

The farmers were interviewed using structured questionnaires to evaluate the impact of the seed fair. Farmers were also willing to be part of the after-fair impact assessment study, intended in August 2016, after the planting period.

The fairs in the Sikasso and Kayes regions were declared open by the Governors of the respective regions, in brief opening ceremonies. Delegations from Institut d’Economie Rurale (IER), Direction Regional de l’Agriculture (DRA), Conseil Regional and various stakeholders including farmers, representatives of farmer associations and cooperatives, seed companies, seed processors, local and international NGOs and other Mali agricultural professionals attended the events. The participants expressed that the program should be conducted annually.

The seed fairs were organized on 20-21 June at Sikasso and on 24-25 June at Kayes by ICRISAT. g

Seed fairs to promote... from page 1

Project: Increasing groundnut productivity of smallholder farmer in Ghana, Nigeria and Mali.

Partners: The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), USAID, national partners (Institut d’Economie Rurale (IER), Direction Regionale de l’Agriculture (DRA), NGOs, and private sector) and ICRISAT,.

Investor: Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and USAID/Feed the Future (FtF) CGIAR Research Program: Grain Legumes.

4ICRISAT Happenings July 2016 1731

Interested in sharing your research or networking and learning about ongoing research, globally, in the areas related to different aspects of drought, crop physiology, genomics, biotechnology, or integrated breeding for crop improvement. Then register for the InterDrought-V conference

The conference topics include: ▪ Setting the biophysical context ▪ Maximizing dryland crop production ▪ Plant productivity under drought

▪ Effective capture of water ▪ Transpiration efficiency ▪ Vegetative growth ▪ Reproductive development, yield, yield quality

▪ Breeding for water-limited environments ▪ Agronomic management for water-limited environments

Abstract submission deadline: 15 Dec 2016 (For detais click here)Conference dates: February 21-25, 2017Venue: Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC), Hyderabad, India

InterDrought-V Conference 2017

A new IYP video on the importance of funding pre-breeding activities to attain pulse revolution is available here.

Unrestricted and assured funding for pre-breeding activities can exploit new and diverse sources of variation in the chickpea and pigeonpea genepools. By bridging the huge gap between the collection of genetic materials and that utilized, it is possible to bring about a pulse revolution in these times of climate change

Dr Shivali Sharma, Theme Leader - Pre-breeding, Genetic Gains Program, ICRISAT

The International Conference on “Technical Advances in Climate-smart Agriculture and Sustainability” seek contributions on the following topics:

Climate Change: Impact and adaptation aassessment, mitigation, drought/flood prediction and resilience, disaster management, geological and geophysical proxies.

Water Resources: Modeling and management, irrigation, nutrient-cycling, hydrology, hydraulics, water technology, ecological design, food-water-energy nexus, environmental and geographical concerns.

Agriculture: Modeling and management, soils, pest management, impact of nuclear radiation on agricultural product, organic farming, new and improved crops, urban farming, agro technology.

Technical Leapfrogging: Mechanization, renewable energy, bio/nano-technology, pollution prevention and remediation, informatics, geospatial analysis, remote sensing.

Livelihood and Sustainability: Health, environmental justice, inclusiveness across gender and marginalized groups, community governance, civil society and NGO roles.

The conference offers an interdisciplinary platform to technocrats, scientists, government officials and development workers to learn and discuss promising new approaches for integrating science, technology, policy, and action. The conference will focus on integration of issues and solutions from earth science, environment science, engineering and social sciences for smart-agriculture strategies.

Conference date: 16-18 January 2017Abstract submission deadline: 31 August 2016

For more details on registering for the conference, click here.

Call for abstracts

Pre-breeding funding key to pulse revolution

5ICRISAT Happenings July 2016 1731

Science with a human face

ICRISAT is a member of the CGIAR System Organization

About ICRISAT: www.icrisat.org

ICRISAT’s scientific information: EXPLOREit.icrisat.org

ICRISAT appreciates the support of CGIAR donors to help overcome poverty, malnutrition and environmental degradation in the harshest dryland regions of the world. See http://www.icrisat.org/icrisat-donors.htm for full list of donors.

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Welcome

New Projects

Dr Eng Hwa Ng joined ICRISAT on 28 June as Senior Scientist (Breeding). Dr Hwa holds a Doctorate in Plant Breeding from Texas A&M University. He joins us from DuPoint, Philippines, where he worked as a Research Scientist. He has close to 10 years of work experience in USA and south-east Asian countries.

In his free time he loves to travel, cook and practice archery.

We welcome Dr Eng Hwa to the ICRISAT family and wish him all success.

Scaling-up and popularization of high yielding pigeonpea hybrids for enhancing productivity of small and marginal farmers of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Odisha states of India

Principal Investigator: S P Wani / C V Sameer Kumar

Period: 2016 – 2017

Investor: National Food Security Mission, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India

Synopsis: The project objectives are as follows:

▪ To enhance the productivity of pigeonpea-based systems using high-yielding hybrids along with improved land, water and crop management practices including soil test-based nutrient management options.

▪ To promote cultivation of early maturing high-yielding pigeonpea hybrids in alfisols and medium duration hybrids in vertisols.

▪ To develop village-level seed systems to achieve self-sufficiency in seeds of farmer-preferred improved varieties of pigeonpea.

▪ To build capacity of farmers and Self Help Groups (SHGs) in sustainable pigeonpea production technology components as well as sensitization of the policy makers for sustainable pigeonpea production techniques in the targeted states.

▪ To provide technical back-stopping for refinement of pigeonpea production technologies and also undertake strategic research to address the constraints identified by the farmers and other stakeholders in the target areas.

Documenting Adoption of Natural Resource Management (NRM) Practices: Evidence on Microdosing and Conservation Agriculture in Zimbabwe and Niger

Principal investigator: Kizito Mazvimavi

Period: 2016 - 2017

Investor: FAO, Italy

Synopsis: This study focuses on determining the levels of adoption of Microdosing (MD) and Conservation Agriculture (CA) in Zimbabwe and Niger by undertaking the following activities:

▪ Description and clear definition of MD and CA technologies, including what qualifies as adoption of MD and CA within each country context;

▪ Compilation and collation of existing data on MD practices in Zimbabwe and Niger and CA practices in Zimbabwe;

▪ Based on the existing data sets: estimation of current levels and intensities of adoption of the NRM technology to produce the relevant country-practice combinations reports;

▪ Conduct a survey of MD adoption by households in Zimbabwe (Nkayi, Hwange, Zvishavane, Chivi, Masvingo, Chirumanzu, Tsholotsho and Inzia districts), representative at the level of the most significant regions in the country for this technology, using hand-held devices with digital and geo-referenced data collection forms developed by the ICRJSAT data handling team. The data will be synchronised with ICRJSAT Data Servers in real time). g