Scientists based at CGIAR-IITA’s climate change station in Benin are happy with the results of the just-concluded experimental release of wasps. These wasps, which are natural enemies of the Maruca pod borer, were released two years ago to go after the destructive...

Charting the 12 year course of the Tropical Legumes project An engaging read while in lockdown Sowing Legume Seeds, Reaping Cash: A Renaissance within Communities in Sub-Saharan Africa (A Springer Open publication)…

Increasing market demand for dryland crops in Kenya and Tanzania owing to IFAD-funded project interventions across the agriculture value chain for three years has led to last mile delivery plans…

Growing certified improved seed of millets and legumes is a profitable business enterprise for farmer cooperatives in Mali. Improved seed summon twice the market rate and the turnover is so high that existing storage facilities can accommodate only a quarter of the...

Makueni Agribusiness Ventures is a ten-member farmer group that participated in an AVCD funded good agricultural practices (GAPs) and modern farming training lead by ICRISAT. ICRISAT provided foundation seed for community seed for the short rain season. Through the...

Farmers in Eastern Kenya are seeing an increase in yield from their crops and earning better incomes than before. Over 144,000 farming households have been provided with 1,000 tons of improved high-quality seeds of drought-tolerant cereals and legumes, resulting in...

By now, we know that 2020 is the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH). Throughout the year, partners and stakeholders in agriculture shall increase awareness among the public and policymakers on the importance of healthy plants and the necessity to protect them...

Especially for young people, diverse portfolios for rural populations should be the core part of a well-thought out rural investment strategy, say researchers. The first results of the Kenyan census conducted in 2019 reveal a gradual demographic transition towards...

Containing COVID-19 is indispensable. But without social safety nets, the effects on daily laborer in Africa could be disastrous. Drive along any major road connecting an African city with the hinterland early in the morning before sunrise. Each city has its distinct...

People rush to supermarkets and buy what they can carry. Comprehensible, but unnecessary. To cut a long story short: COVID-19 has not affected the food availability in countries. Yet, when Ryan Buckley who prepares for field research with us at ICRISAT reaches his...

Of the 12 interventions identified for agriculture by the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA) in its September report, ‘Adapt Now: A Global Call for Leadership on Climate Resilience’, research and development has a role to play in nine interventions. That is just...

Demand for sorghum and pearl millet as major food, feed and fodder crop continues to increase globally.  However, in the last 50 years, these grains have largely been abandoned in favor of the more popular maize, wheat, rice and soya beans. This is because of...

About 8.3 million people living in Kenya’s rural areas farm to feed themselves. They typically have just a few acres of land and depend on rain to grow their crops. This makes them extremely vulnerable to changes in the weather. Many already struggle. As with other...

As Nitya Rao and colleagues show, a lot is known about the effects of climate change on women. Most research focuses on women’s vulnerability as a result of reliance on natural resources, lower access to resources and information, and gender and social norms that...

Groundnut is among the key grain legumes playing a vital role in enhancing human nutrition and farm biophysical features. Groundnut provides opportunities for smallholder and women farmers and boosts economies at the household and macro levels. However, agricultural...

Machine-harvestable chickpea variety ‘Phule Vikram’, which was launched two years ago in India, is helping farmers circumvent labor shortage during harvest in major chickpea producing states like Maharashtra. Besides reducing cost, Vikram is also proving highly...

In 2019, the CGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals (CRP-GLDC) initiated a study to understand ‘youth realities, youth aspirations and youth opportunity structures’ in the drylands of East Africa[1] for a background paper to support the designing...

Setting priorities for research in hybrid pearl millet, sorghum and pigeonpea in India Over 70 participants from 40 public and private sector institutions recently discussed and selected the highest research priorities to develop hybrid parents and hybrids of sorghum,...

Biofortification Pearl millet scientists discussed the 'Future micronutrient breeding strategy in pearl millet', and agreed that phenotyping for micronutrient trait was the most important component needed to strengthen and mainstream biofortification activity in pearl...

A recent training course sought to enable young scientists, professors and breeders in the area of genomics-assisted crop breeding for climate-resilient agriculture. The participants were from partner institutes both from the public and private sector. “It is the need...

USAID delegation visited Mali to see impacts from projects undertaken by three CGIAR institutions A recent study revealed that sorghum and millet yields increased up to 51% and 72% respectively during the period 2014-2019 in Mali. This was achieved by enhancing...

A Seed Revolving Fund initiative for sorghum and groundnut value chains has been launched in Tanzania to tackle the challenge of limited access of quality seeds of improved varieties in rural regions. The ‘Seed Revolving Fund, Youth Engagement and Gender Inclusion’...

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), also known as black eyed pea or niebé, is a legume crop grown by peasant farmers in the dry savannah areas of sub-Saharan Africa. Because of the high protein content in its grains, cowpea is commonly regarded as poor man’s meat. This hardy...

India and Australia have joined hands in a multi-institutional project to enhance drought tolerance in chickpea. The project, ‘Functional Genomics of Chickpea to enhance drought tolerance’, will see The University of Western Australia (UWA), ICAR-Indian Agricultural...

Though Uganda has some of the lowest agricultural productivity in the world, efforts to bring smallholder farmer groups into the seed production process are helping to reverse that dismal standing. In the process, some farming regions have been transformed from hungry, poverty-stricken outposts to vibrant communities.

Training programs on silage making, animal health and laboratory management were held in Niger for researchers, extension service workers and farmers to improve crop-livestock systems in the region. Silage making to improve utilization of stover A study conducted in...

Around a hundred scientists from varied disciplines, who gathered to discuss an India-UK joint research program, called for more interdisciplinary research to make Indian agriculture sustainable in a changing world and to ensure food security. The first General...

Have you heard of ‘pop’ sorghum or ‘diet’ sorghum flour?  If you haven’t, you are missing updates on an ancient grain that is gaining popularity in Nigerian markets and in nearby regions as well. Industries with guidance from researchers have picked up suitable...

Salient features: High oleic and high-yielding varieties Contain 53% oil More than 78% oleic acid Oleic to linoleic acid ratio of 17 Produce more than 3 tons of pods per hectare in the rainy (kharif) season Where and when to cultivate: Recommended for cultivation in...

The facilities aim to create sustainable business opportunities around nutritious diets for tribal farmers in Telangana In a bid to boost nutrition and income, farmers from tribal communities in the South Indian state of Telangana will shortly take to...

If school children in Uganda have taken to a super-nutritious traditional fermented millet drink called bushera and if an India-inspired peanut bar is a popular item in Zambian supermarkets, a training initiative in partnership with the India-Africa Forum Summit...

Access to quality seed remains a big challenge for farmers in Africa. With increasing drought situations and deteriorating soil quality, especially in the Sudanian and Sahelian zones, improving access to seed of climate-smart varieties is part of the solution. Spurred...

CGIAR, the world’s largest global agricultural research network, has traditionally focused on rural areas. But now cities are attracting its gaze. There are two compelling reasons for this shift. First, urban dwellers in Africa often have higher rates of malnutrition...

ICRISAT and ICAR scientists developing System Dynamics Modelling for Indian agriculture Can policy makers ‘see’ the outcomes of their decisions even before implementing them? Researchers at the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and...

Annual Review Meeting of GCDT-ICRISAT collaborative research project and participation in Pigeonpea Field Day With a view to using new and diverse sources of genetic variations in pigeonpea, the Pre-breeding Theme at ICRISAT is leading the drive to use wild Cajanus...

Pigeonpea Network Group (Asia) Workshop-cum-Field Day 2019 Pigeonpea researchers from across Asia hailed a short and mid-early variety of pigeonpea that is also high-yielding and disease-resistant, at a recent brainstorming session to benchmark region-specific...

Food systems can be effectively transformed by identifying drivers of food choice and factors influencing personal food environments, thereby enabling effective strategies to link agriculture and nutrition. This was one of the key messages at the recent conference of...

More than 20 years after the last groundnut seed variety was registered in the seed catalog, the groundnut breeding program in West and Central Africa is set to be enhanced through the registration of seven improved groundnut varieties in Burkina Faso. The...

Exciting times ahead as public and private institutions come together to promote millets Seed research stakeholders and representatives of private seed companies from Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Nigeria, met with scientists, millet breeders and seed systems...

A great deal of research on agriculture in Africa is organised around the premise that intensification can take smallholder farmers out of poverty. The emphasis in programming often focuses on technologies that increase farm productivity and management practices that...

Partnerships are key to deliver on ICRISAT’s mission of ‘Science of Discovery to Science of Delivery’. To discuss several of ICRISAT’s ongoing collaborative programs including CINTRIN, TIGR2ESS, MillNET_i, Dr Rajeev Gupta, Principal Scientist and Theme Leader,...

Twenty crop scientists from Asia and Africa were trained for two weeks at ICRISAT on gene-editing tools, including the increasingly popular CRISPR/Cas technology. From trait selection to validation of edited plants, specific sessions were conducted on designing...

Two varieties of dual-purpose (food and fodder) pearl millet were shown to increase weight and overall growth in sheep, according to a study conducted in Niger. These two varieties could be considered as good quality fodder for crop-livestock systems in the country....

The African Plant Breeders Association (APBA) was launched recently to bring together plant breeders from several African nations to work towards achieving food security in Africa through breeding. Dr Sagri Bambangi, Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture in Ghana,...

A group of farmers in India’s Telangana state is breaking new ground in their farms with recently learnt scientific agronomic practices to improve crop productivity. The group of 36, from five villages in Warangal Rural district,

ICRISAT’s chickpea researchers have developed a breeding protocol that holds the potential to create new varieties of chickpea in half-time.

Climate change makes the challenge of crop protection highly formidable, said Dr Trilochan Mohapatra, Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), even as he called for a “global plan” for “global pests” like Fall armyworm at the inaugural...

A Regional Coordinated Trial (RCT) is helping Cowpea Improvement Program in Ghana, thanks to Accelerated Varietal Improvement and Seed Delivery of Legumes and Cereals in Africa (AVISA) and Bayer projects in West Africa. The regional trials involve genetic materials...

Globally, agriculture is witnessing significant technological advancement, best exemplified by the Agriculture 4.0 movement. India, one of the world’s largest food producers and consumers, has to stay abreast of the growth. Remote-sensing imaging for monitoring crop...

A course designed to modernize National Agricultural Research System (NARS) breeding programs for improving genetic gains of 9 dryland cereals and grain legumes and to strengthen seed systems in 14 African and Asian countries was held recently in Arusha, Tanzania. The...

In a first-of-its-kind enterprise in Nigeria, a large-scale flour mill has come up with processed sorghum flour with a shelf life as high as 6 months. Typically, sorghum flour has a short shelf life of less than 3 months. This innovative product is opening new...

To strengthen the competencies of Indian scientists in climate change-related topics and to foster a generation of high-level teachers in India, 30 scientists/assistant professors and 16 students were selected for undergoing training in European partner institutes at...

Advanced breeding lines which included high-oleic groundnut and those with market-preferred kernel size, shape and color were selected for further trials by National Agricultural Research System (NARS) partners from Bangladesh, Myanmar, India, Laos PDR and Vietnam....

Five improved varieties of groundnut and three of sorghum with the best market traits were selected for active promotion in Tanzania after discussions with AVISA project partners and all stakeholders along the value chain. This is to build on the adoption to date of...

Adoption of new varieties can never be successful until efficient seed delivery systems are in place. To increase the efficacy and impact of the existing ‘seed revolving fund initiative’ for groundnut and sorghum crops a decision to form a steering committee was taken...

A recent capacity-building exercise conducted in Nigeria trained a multidisciplinary team of researchers in the use of remote sensing in their respective areas of work. Remote sensing technology – a rapid and efficient approach to estimate croplands…

A new sorghum hybrid developed using ICRISAT breeding material was recently given special recognition as the Outstanding Forage Hybrid 2019 for revolutionizing forage sorghum production in India. This is significant considering that currently, India – the world’s...

Over a period of 12 years  (2007-2019), the Tropical Legumes projects led to the development of 266 improved legume varieties and production of about 497,901 tons of certified seeds of the target legume crops. These seeds have been planted on about 5.0 million ha by...

Developing crop varieties that meet the needs of all stakeholders, with farmers, value chain actors and end-use consumers having specific needs for attributes of breeds or varieties, is a challenging task. Defining, communicating and….

In a first, the National Variety Release Committee (NVRC) of Ethiopia, announced the release of a high-yielding chickpea variety developed in collaboration with ICRISAT using marker assisted backcrossing (MABC)….

Scouting for natural enemies of the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) (FAW) in both Asia and Africa, and establishing mass-rearing facilities will aid the biological control program in the fight against the voracious pest. A five-day workshop, organized by...

Eight months of the year was the most farmer Seydou Yolo’s harvest would last to feed his family of two wives and fifteen children. From then on, cattle would have to be sold to feed the family for the following four months…

Two women’s associations in Sikasso, Mali are changing the status of pearl millet and sorghum, using these crops to diversify and improve food and nutrition security. Sikasso is one of the most prosperous agricultural regions in southern Mali, where farming is...

Developed at ICRISAT, these lines have been selected by the All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Pigeonpea Six high-yielding pigeonpea pre-breeding lines derived from wild Cajanus species with an average yield potential ranging from 1,400- 3,000 kg/ha,...

Alhaji Sani Usman remembers what being a groundnut farmer in Nigeria’s Kano state entailed a few decades ago – prosperity, respect and global admiration, manifest in the fabled pyramids of groundnut stacks that reached for the skies following harvest. “The groundnut...

Jean Goita has come a long way since his days as a grain producer in his hometown of Yorosso. Today he is a respected seed producer covering nine communes of Yorosso district in Sikasso region of Southern Mali. Goita and 10 other members of his district were trained...

Discussions at the recently concluded congress of the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) reflected the seed community’s focus on seed production in a changing environment, the association’s Secretary-General Dr Andreas Wais said. “The attendance we had at...

ICRISAT and PJTSAU partner to set up Seed Business Ventures in Telangana Groundnut cultivation in Telangana, India, could soon make gigantic leaps of improvement as a recently-launched entrepreneurship initiative is set to amplify the reach of enhanced seed varieties....

Over 6 million households benefit through the years of the Tropical Legumes Project In early 1970s, a journey to improve Ethiopia’s chickpea production started in a bid to mitigate low productivity of landraces, poor farming practices, biotic and abiotic stresses,...

Against the backdrop of changing climatic conditions in Africa, scientists, administrators and seed enterprises have urged the farming community in Tanzania to adopt hardy crops like sorghum. “Farmers, mainly those in low rainfall areas, can embrace sorghum which is...

The first trait-specific high oleic groundnut varietal trial conducted under the All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Groundnut (AICRP-G) in 2017 has paved the way for the testing and release of high oleic groundnut varieties in India. High oleic groundnuts are...

Sayilesi Gwizima, 59, from Mchinij district, central Malawi, grows CG 7 groundnut variety. Not unlike many farmers, Gwizima fell for the variety’s large seed size and high fat content, which makes for high returns at the market…

The CGIAR Collaborative Platform for Gender Research hosted a webinar on ‘Culture, choice and action in legume seed systems in East and North Uganda‘ on 10 May 2019. The webinar was organized in collaboration with the CGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes and...

To check for aflatoxin contamination in their products, groundnut value chain stakeholders in Bangladesh attended a hands-on training program. Participants learnt to use the ELISA kit and were informed of the dangers of aflatoxin contamination. Forty participants...

Over 100 participants from eight South and South-East Asian countries attended the “Regional Workshop on Fall Armyworm Management in Asia” organized in Hyderabad. The Fall Armyworm (FAW) is one of the most destructive crop pests and has invaded crops in India and...

SOYA bean has a high potential for income generation particularly for smallholder farmers who can improve their yields, says International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Soybean breeder Godfree Chigeza. Mr Chigeza said the current soya bean yields of one...

Two projects were recently launched to adopt climate-smart agricultural technologies in Niger and Mali for increasing food security and improving rural livelihoods. The projects, ‘Climate Smart Agricultural Technologies

The CGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals Agri-food Systems (GLDC) held a session at the Beating Famine Sahel conference, which ran from 26th February to 28th February 2019, in Bamako (Mali). During this conference organised by the World...

A new training model has shown how NARS can move ahead in deploying new tools and technologies to accelerate genetic gains and enhance operational efficiency of breeding and pipelines. This was demonstrated at an international training course tailored to bridge the...

Heralding a significant milestone for soybean research in Africa, the recent launch of the Optima Soy Africa (OSA) platform harnesses partnerships to ensure the development of market-driven soybean varieties and technologies and their dissemination. The platform is...

Development practitioners are increasingly interested in examining the distributional impacts of technical change and innovations in agriculture. The general expectation should be that equal chance and opportunities are accorded to everyone regardless of class, caste,...

CGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals is working on genetic improvement of the important crop cowpea to develop high-yielding varieties with resistance to diseases and pests and to increase its production and consumption, as this article from The...

Simba is a village located about 170 km east of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. On 3 October 2018, Mr Kossima Kaboré was the first producer in the village to harvest the improved sorghum variety named Jakunbe. This former gold miner rejoices on his discovery: “I sowed at...

In Mozambique and Malawi, the agriculture sector offers huge potential to improve the lives of rural households, which make up a signficiant share of the local population and depend mainly on farming for their livelihoods. Estimates suggest that agriculture employs up...

Pre-breeding utilizes wild species with tolerance to climate change, diseases and pests Hyderabad, 25 October 2018: The largest producer of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) in the world, India could increase its production three times, provided there are varieties resistant...

India leads in prioritizing nutrition in breeding The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has established minimum levels of iron and zinc to be bred into national varieties of pearl millet. The news comes during the National Year of Millets and as the...

Timely access to quality seeds by smallholder farmers is a major enabler for agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Farmers with the appropriate variety of seeds and related packages can reap substantial rewards in terms of improving food security and reducing...

India’s tribal population is generally at risk of malnutrition owing to its dependence on primitive agricultural practices, poverty, illiteracy, and poor personal and environmental hygienic practices.