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No. 15174 May 2012

Fighting poverty and food insecurity in the drylands of Tanzania

ICRISAT-HOPE trains farmers on sorghum and finger millet productivity and marketingThe poor in the target areas of the ICRISAT-HOPE project are among the most food-insecure in the world, unable to earn adequate incomes from agriculture. The vicious cycle of less production and less market demand has led to poor investment and support to dryland agriculture. The project addresses this decline by stimulating research on sorghum and millet farming, enhancing technology utilization, linking farmers with markets, and strengthening the capacity of national and civil society partners.

ICRISAT-HOPE project activities have been implemented along with partners in five districts of

Tanzania – Rombo, Kondoa, Singinda, Iramba and Kishapu – with the aim of enhancing household incomes by improving productivity and marketing of sorghum and finger millet.

Towards this end, staff from the Selian Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) and Tanzania Seed Traders Association (TASTA) in Tanzania in collaboration with ICRISAT spearheaded a training workshop for 32 project collaborators in Kwamtoro, Kondoa district on 17-18 April. The activity was participated in by

15 local farmers, 5 Kwamtoro Sacco officials, 5 extension staff, 5 local government administrators and 2 input vendors. Also in attendance were Bob Shuma and Clemence Kivuyo (TASTA), Timothy Semuguruka (SARI), Henry Ojulong and Patrick Audi (ICRISAT-ESA).

The training aimed to enhance farmers’ knowledge in techniques to improve productivity and marketing of sorghum and finger millet, group formation management, objective price negotiation with traders, and production and marketing of sorghum and millets as a business, and to be able to disseminate the same knowledge to others.

When it comes to markets and increasing productivity, knowledge is power. This was the essence of the workshop held for these sorghum and finger millet farmers and extension staff in Kondoa district of Tanzania.

2 ICRISAT HAppeNINgS 4 May 2012/1517

ICRISAT-HOPE trains farmers....from page 1Results of five discussion groups representing Kwamtoro, Lalta, Ovada, Sanzawa and Mpendo wards showed that the production cost of a 100-kg bag of improved Macia sorghum ranged from Tshs 15,000 to 25,000 (US$ 9.5 to US$ 15.8) – with a mean of about Tshs 20,000 (US$ 13). This in effect means that farmers will earn a marginal rate of return (MRR) of 50% within the forward contract agreement the farmers already have with Dunia Trust Limited in which they will sell their sorghum grain at Tshs 30,000 (US$ 19) per bag. During

plenary discussions, the participants listed drought, bird damage, striga, and unstable prices as the most important challenges faced by them.

In his closing remarks, Kwamtoro Division Executive Secretary Pius Justine Chima urged extension officers and government administrators present to actively disseminate the knowledge acquired from the workshop and advised farmers to participate in transforming sorghum farming into a business by practicing what they had learnt. g

Welcome!

Agribusiness incubation camp held in Bhubaneswar

As part of the ICAR-NAIP project on ‘Handholding and mentoring of BPD units of

NARS’ of the Agri-Business Incubation (ABI) program of AIP-ICRISAT, a one-day camp on agribusiness incubation was jointly organized by the National Institute for Research on Jute & Allied Fibre Technology (NIRJAFT), Directorate of Water Management (DWM) and ICRISAT at DWM, Bhubaneswar on 2 May. The camp’s objective was to commercialize technologies developed in the East Zone of the Zonal Technology Management (ZTM)Centre and Business Planning and Development (BPD) Unit, NIRJAFT and provide incubation support to agribusiness entrepreneurs in the region.

Dr Debasis Nag, Principal Investigator & Head of the ZTM-BPD Unit of NIRJAFT (Kolkata) briefed the participants about the opportunities and technologies available in his unit for commercialization from the zone which comprises 16 Regional Research Stations of ICAR. Chief Guest Dr Ashwani Kumar, Director-DWM, said such camps would boost the morale of entrepreneurs in the Eastern Zone who are in real need of incubation services and technical and business support from such events that link researchers to entrepreneurs.

Addressing the entrepreneurs as a special guest, Mr S Aravazhi, Deputy Manager - ABI, highlighted the impact created by the nine other BPD Units of the Network of Indian Agri-Business Incubators (NIABI) in terms of technology commercialization and

entrepreneurship development and mentioned various success stories across the nation. Mr KK Gupta, Chief General Manager, NABARD (Bhubaneswar) briefed the audience on funding opportunities from his organization.

As part of the camp, a screening committee evaluated potential and eligible entrepreneurs to enroll as ZTM-BPD NIRJAFT members to avail incubation services. Of the 80 entrepreneurs who participated in the event, 20 were evaluated. A total of 7 start-up entrepreneurs and 4 SMEs were enrolled as members of ZTM-BPD NIRJAFT with 10 technology commercialization deals along with incubation support. Potential entrepreneurs can register with AIP-ICRISAT for a similar camp being organized by NIRJAFT in Ranchi on 18 May. g

Dr Pallavi Sinha, an Indian national, joined the Research Program – Grain Legumes as Special Project Scientist (Functional Genomics), on 1 May. Pallavi has her PhD in Genetics and Plant Breeding from the CCS University, Meerut. Prior to joining ICRISAT, she worked at the Directorate of Rice Research, Hyderabad, as a Research Associate and with the Agharkar Research Institute, Pune, India as Senior Research Fellow.

We welcome Dr Pallavi to Team ICRISAT and wish her all success. g

The Screening Committee in discussion with an entrepreneur.

3ICRISAT HAppeNINgS 4 May 2012/1517

DG announces creation of Strategic Marketing & Communication Office (SMC)

The emerging context of a new CGIAR and its subsequent funding environment requires

re-examination, integration and reconfiguration of the marketing and communication functions at ICRISAT.

To pursue this direction, Director General William Dar announced the creation of the Strategic Marketing & Communication (SMC) Office effective 1 May 2012. The new Office is a merger of two previous units – the Resource Planning & Marketing (RPM) and the Communication Office (CO). The SMC will have as its interim Director, Dr Rex L Navarro.

In the new organogram, SMC will have four seamless operational clusters, namely: (1) Grants

and Contracts; (2) Global Media; (3) Publications, Public Awareness & Marketing Support; and (4) Visitors and Travel Services.

A cluster approach in managing talents will be pursued to optimize staff synergy and operational flexibility. The set-up will also allow for seamless collaboration and value addition among staff members demanded by the creative and time-based nature of the combined functions. Specific terms of reference will be drawn up for each of the positions in the clusters.

Team ICRISAT congratulates the active women and men of the new SMC who will contribute to more successes for the Institute now and in the future. g

Odisha pigeonpea project evaluation and planning workshop held

A meeting and an Orientation and Planning Workshop of the project on ‘Introduction and

expansion of improved pigeonpea (arhar) production technology in rainfed upland ecosystems of Odisha’ were held at the Directorate of Agriculture and Food Production, Bhubaneshwar and in Bhawanipatna, Odisha on 19 and 26 April, respectively.

The meeting at Bhubaneshwar was chaired by Director RS Gopalan together with his Deputy Director Saroj Das. Present during the meeting were the three Deputy Directors of Agriculture (DDAs) of Nauparha, Rayagada, and Kalahandi; NGOs (LOKSEBAK and SVA), KVK-Umarkote; three district coordinators and State coordinator; seed certifying agency; and Dr MG Mula and Mr RV Kumar from ICRISAT.

During the open forum, Dr Gopalan recommended an adjustment of the 2012 targets as an offshoot of the 2011 results. This entails a reduction in improved pigeonpea production technology (IPPT) sites from 6000 ha to 4000 ha; inclusion of Boudh and Bolinger districts in the project; reduction of the IPPT site in Rayagada from 1500 ha to 500 ha; fertilizer subsidy in the seed production component of the project; institutionalizing seed delivery system in the project to sustain pure quality seeds of farmer preferred varieties and hybrids; and hiring 15 field assistants.

Meanwhile, the Orientation and Planning Workshop was participated in by 65 project implementers involving four DDAs (Kalahandi, Nauparha, Rayagada and Bolinger) with their agricultural officers, KVK Nauparha, NGOs (LOKSEBAK and

SVA), OSSOPCA (Central Seed Certification Officer and staffs), 15 newly-hired field assistants, district coordinators, State coordinator, and ICRISAT scientists.

Prior to the planning workshop, Dr Mula presented the 2011 project accomplishments and targets for 2012. The main output of the workshop was to schedule the delivery of seeds in the sites covering 15 blocks in five districts (Nauparha, Kalahandi, Rayagada, Bolinger, and Boudh) for the sowing of 4,000 hectares of IPPT; 1,000 hectares for certified seed production; 186 hectares for foundation seed production; 40 hectares for hybrid seed production; and 42 hectares for farmer participatory varietal trials (FPVT). The workshop came up with specific schedules for the purchase and delivery of seeds and fertilizers to meet the scheduled sowing before 15 June. Fertilizers will be subsidized by the project only under the seed production and FPVT component of the project. g

Participants of the Orientation and Planning Workshop held in Odisha.

Workshop on crisis management and protection

A one-day workshop on “Crisis Management and Protection Techniques” was organized at

Patancheru on 2 May to sensitize senior scientists and managers about the current and emerging security scenario and to help them gain awareness, preparedness and practical skills in coping with challenging or life-threatening situations and incident response. FITCOMB, a professional protection consultant with international exposure, led by Capt Jaipreet Joshi and Ms Charu, conducted the sessions based on experiential learning. HRO Director Hector Hernandez in his opening remarks emphasized the importance of such

programs in the context of difficulties faced by the staff, especially during international travel, and the need to be adequately prepared and trained to handle unexpected situations.

The workshop was well appreciated, with its lively and useful hands-on sessions on threat identification; basic defense against sharp-edged weapons, firearms; kidnapping/abduction, holds, chokes, grabs and lifts; executive survival module (EXSUMO); improvising weapons of opportunity (WOO) for self-protection; travel safety and security, neutralizing road rage and defensive/evasive driving, etc. g

Sad demiseWe are most grieved to report the passing away of two of our security personnel, Senior Security Guard M Anjaiah and Security Guard M Surender Reddy.

M Anjaiah passed away in the early hours of 21 April. He joined the

M Surender Reddy passed away on 22 April. He joined the Institute in June 2006 and was with us for over 5 years. He is survived by his mother, wife and two daughters.

We pray the Almighty to give the bereaved families the strength and courage to face this loss. gInstitute in March 1994, serving for 18 years. He is

survived by his wife, daughter and a son.

Visitors’ log30 April: Mr Owen Gan Kheng Khoon, Operations Manager from Ngan Yin Groundnut Factory, Perak- Malaysia along with his two colleagues and 125 students from Sri Chaitanya Junior Kalasala, Kukatpally, Hyderabad.

01 May: Pigeonpea workshop participants from USAID, KishiDhan Seeds Pvt Ltd, Bioseed Research India Pvt Ltd. and ANGRAU; and Dr Sabine Grunwald, Professor in Soil and Water Science and Mr Chris Clingensmith, graduate student from the University of Florida.

02 May: Twenty students from the International School of Hyderabad (ISH).

03 May: Twenty-eight MSc students from Mumtaz PG College, Hyderabad.

Thought for the weekIf you’re feeling helpless, help someone.

– Aung San Suu Kyi