Scientists crack genetic code of drought-resistant pigeonpea

by Kirk Klocke

Pigeonpea - a minor agricultural crop more common in rural backyards than plowed fields, reached a milestone on November 6 when Indian and Chinese researchers announced the decoding of the plant's genome.

Pigeonpea grows in semi-arid regions, but suffers from relatively low yields, experts say, which impedes its development as a potential nutrition source in developing nations.

Researchers said they hoped the pigeonpea genomic map, the first for any non-industrial crop, would lead to improved breeding programs for a plant that has seen a 56 percent increase in global crop production since 1976.

Researchers from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), headquartered in Andhra Pradesh, India, decoded the pigeonpea genome five years after the Indian Council of Agricultural Research funded the initiative.


The ICRISAT researchers published the pigeonpea genome code on Sunday in the journal Nature Biotechnology. ICRISAT Director General William Dar said mapping the pigeonpea genome is a breakthrough because the plant has unique qualities that make it a powerful tool in the fight against hunger, especially in places like the horn of Africa.

"The mapping of the pigeonpea genome could not have come at a better time," Dar said in a statement. "Modern crop improvement technologies for smallholder farmer crops such as pigeonpea will be crucial to speed up the development of improved varieties that can provide high yields and improved livelihoods, and at the same time meet the challenges of marginal environments and the threat of climate change and scare natural resources."

The pigeonpea project was a partnership between ICRISAT and BGI Shenzen. Scientists say having this wealth of information about the pigeonpea can help them make new varieties of the grain much faster, keeping pace with the rapidly changing climate. The researchers notably found genes that could transfer to more agriculturally significant crops such as soybeans.

"At the moment, in general, it can take six to 10 years to breed a new variety. With the use of this genome sequence data, in the future, we could be breeding a new variety in just about three years," said Rajeev Varshney, the lead ICRISAT scientist on the project.

IB Times

Project aims to commercialize millet, sorghum in Tanzania

by Zephania Ubwani

Arusha. A programme is underway to improve the cultivation of sorghum and millet to enable farmers to earn more harvests and incomes from the two crops. Through the programme, farmers will access quality seeds and be assisted to market their produce.

Ms Frida Mgonja, the project coordinator of Harnessing Opportunity for Productivity Enhancement (Hope) of Sorghum and Millet in sub-Saharan Africa, who is also a senior researcher with the Selian Agricultural Research Institute in Arusha, said it was vital for farmers to go beyond subsistence cultivation of sorghum and millet.

The Hope project took off in Tanzania in July 2009...Its implementation will cost $250,000. It is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with the technical support of the International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).

She said for the first time sorghum and millet farmers would be linked to potential markets of the two crops in and outside the country to enable them to get more benefits.

Unfortunately, according to Ms Mgonja, up to 90 per cent of finger millet produced in Tanzania is exported to Kenya for production of nutrient flours, which are then re-exported back into the country.

In Tanzania, it is estimated that about 700,000 hectares are under sorghum cultivation while millet fields cover about 440,000 hectares. Sorghum produced annually is estimated at 900,000 tonnes.

Most of the sorghum and millet produced in Tanzania is consumed by the producing households or sold primarily for production of traditional beer.

With maize becoming increasingly cheaper than sorghum in many local markets, the latter may be a good potential for expanding production in the view of price differences.

The Citizen

Nigerian project aims to boost sorghum and millet Production

by Isyaku Ahmed


ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics) aims to improve yields of millet in northern Nigeria.

"Now, due to the introduction of new farming technology, I double what I use to get," explained farmer Ahmed Abubakar Maidu. "For example, this year I planted one and half acres only, but I have 30 bags of pearl millet, 15 bags of sesame and three bags of cowpea."

He said the harvested crops are split; some are used for home consumption and the rest are sold to earn cash for the family. The seeds are kept for the next farming season.

Maidu said ICRISAT and its partners have introduced him to new markets for his produce. He now sells his farm produce at Maigatari and Babura markets on the border of Niger, and to the agro-food processing campany in Kano, Dala Foods, Limited.

Bashir Alhaji Baba is market specialist at Lake Chad Research Institute, Maiduguri, funded by the Nigerian government. He said to increase yield and income, farmers are introduced to new varieties of pearl surghum and millet.

Dr. Hakeem Ajeigbe is ICRISAT country representative and system agronomist working with the project. He said farmers are taught to use a technique called microdosing, or applying small amounts of fertilizer with the seed at planting time.

"Taking the [technique] of microdosing for surghum and millet…was developed elsewhere in [Niger] and other West Africa countries, but we have adopted it," he said.

Ajeigbe said farmers are also trained in improved management options and are linked to seed companies.

George Okwach is project manager specializing in sorghum and millet. He said the primary objective of the project is to improve yields for household consumption of up 40%. That’s good news to households in northern Nigeria, where millet is used for making a thick dough called“fura” and as an additive to fresh cow milk for the popular drink “fura da nunnu.” It is also used for making millet juice, or “kunnun zaki” and for preparing a custard-like food called “kwoko.”

The effort in northern Nigeria is part of an ICRISAT project called HOPE, or Harnessing Opportunities for Productivity Enhancement of Sorghum and Millets in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The four-year project, which is funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is providing support to 110,000 households in 10 countries of sub-Saharan Africa.

ICRISAT is a non-profit organization devoted to science-based agricultural development. It is one of 15 research institutes in the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, a network of centers funded by United Nations.

VOA

Striga-resistant varieties to boost sorghum yields

by Steven Tendo

In April, scientists in eastern and central Africa embarked on identifying sources of resistance to Striga, a parasitic weed. Supported by the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (Asareca), the researchers from Sudan, Kenya, Eritrea and the International Crop Research Institute (ICRISAT) are using biotechnological tools in locating and identifying Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) that gives resistance to Striga.

QTL is a statistical method that links two types of information phenotypic data (trait measurements) and genotypic data (usually molecular markers)—in an attempt to explain the genetic basis of variation in complex traits.

According to Dr Charles Mugoya, the programme manager of the Agro biodiversity and biotechnology programme of Asareca, knowing the location and identification of QTLs for Striga resistance is a useful tool in aiding marker assisted breeding/selection (MAB or MAS) of Sorghum for Striga resistance.

MAS is an indirect selection process where a trait of interest is chosen not based on the trait itself but on a marker (morphological, biochemical or one based on DNA/RNA variation) linked to it. So far, QTLs underlying different resistance phenotypes have been identified and the scientists are now backcrossing populations to generate striga resistance QTLs into farmer preferred sorghum varieties.

Mugoya said Striga hermonthica, also locally known as the witchweed, is a major constraint to sorghum production in particular and cereal production in general, especially in more marginal areas like semi-arid regions, where continuous cropping as a result of population pressure, has led to widespread soil infertility.

The weed is genetically diverse and several factors contribute to its diversity. These include a high turnover of several generations of witch weed populations leading to high genetic diversity; hybridisation; broad geographic distributions; long distance dispersal and locally adapted host races.

“Owing to its great potential genetic diversity, efforts to control it, through conventional breeding to generate striga resistant varieties or agronomic practices to reduce the striga seed bank in the soil, have been ineffective and striga continues to be a menace, with reported cases of up to 100 per cent sorghum yield loss in the region,” he noted.

Sorghum is ranked second, after maize as the most important cereal crop in East Africa and in the Asareca region. According to statistics from the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), sorghum is the fifth most important cereal crop worldwide and together with maize and pearl millet, it forms the most important dry land cereal crop for the semi-arid tropics particularly in Africa.

It is grown in at least 86 countries, on an area of 47 million hectares, with annual grain production of 69 million tonnes and average productivity of 1.45 tonnes per hectare. Sorghum yields in Africa however range between 500-800 kg per hectare compared with yield levels of up to 7,000kg (7 tonnes) per hectare in the developed world.

The bulk of African sorghum production is centred around the savannah areas of east, west and central Africa, where it forms a major component of the daily menu for millions of people, either as porridge or as traditional beer. Uganda is using sorghum for the beer industry. In addition, in many developing countries, sorghum stover is used to feed cattle.

Striga infested areas in Africa is estimated at 21 million ha. In many parts of East Africa, people lose half of their crop production to Striga and total yield losses occurs in infested farmer’s fields especially during drought periods. The change in farming systems from shifting cultivation to more permanent cropping, concomitant with loss in soil fertility, and frequent cultivation of susceptible host plants, are main factors responsible for increased Striga infestation.

The project promises to increase sorghum productivity in order to address food insecurity and poverty in East and Central African semi-arid zones and boost yields by at least by 20 per cent.

Widespread cultivation of striga resistant varieties is expected to reduce labour demand, since weeding to control striga seeds will not be necessary. In addition, control of striga by the application of herbicides will become unnecessary, thus saving the environment.

Daily Monitor

ICRISAT in scheme to boost sorghum, millet prodution in Africa, Asia

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has launched a new project that aims to increase food security for smallholder farmers in dryland areas of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

The project, Harnessing Opportunities for Productivity Enhancement (HOPE) of Sorghum and Millets in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, will be undertaken by 50 partners led by ICRISAT in ten countries of sub-Saharan Africa and four states in India. HOPE is supported by an $18 million, four-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Through the development and delivery of improved crop varieties and training in crop management practices, HOPE will increase small-scale farmer yields by 35 to 40% during the first four years of the project. These improved varieties of sorghum and millet will be disseminated to 110,000 households in sub-Saharan Africa and 90,000 in South Asia. Within ten years, the project should benefit more than 2 million households in these continents.

Dr William D Dar, Director General of ICRISAT, says, “Scientists estimate that yields could be doubled or even tripled from their current low levels if farmers use the right crop varieties, fertilizer and other management techniques. Capturing even a modest portion of these potential gains would generate major impacts in reducing food insecurity.

The demand for dryland crops, such as sorghum and millet, is growing as a number of major global issues continue to impact the world’s food security. Trends include: the increasing global demand for livestock feed; the growing use of nutritious foods with high levels of iron, fiber and calcium for weaning children, nursing mothers, and the gluten intolerant; rising fertilizer prices forcing a shift to crops that require limited fertilizer; an increasing global population requiring more food; and the diversion of crops such as corn into the bioethanol market.

The dryland areas in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are among the poorest and most food-insecure regions. This project aims to improve food and nutritional security by increasing production of sorghum, pearl millet and finger millet. To accomplish this, it will offer smallholder farmers access to improved seed varieties, farming techniques and information, financial support, and fertilizer. In turn, ICRISAT expects these resources to increase market access and demand for sorghum and millet, creating additional revenue for poor farmers and fundamentally change the development assistance needed in these regions.

Part of the project is dedicated to capacity building, primarily targeting national program scientists participating in the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa’s (AGRA) Program for Africa’s Seed System (PASS) program. ICRISAT will provide scientific supervision by a senior sorghum/millet breeder to such students.

The project will be managed by ICRISAT under an agreement between the Government of India and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

This grant is part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Agricultural Development initiative, which is working with a wide range of partners to provide millions of smallholder farmers in the developing world with tools and opportunities to boost their yields, increase their incomes, and build better lives for themselves and their families. The foundation is working to strengthen the entire agricultural value chain—from seeds and soil to farm management and market access—so that progress against hunger and poverty is sustainable over the long term.

ICRISAT

Kenya: Can pigeon pea take the place of maize?

Faced with increasingly unreliable rains, farmers in Kenya's eastern district of Mbeere South have started growing drought-tolerant crops to meet their food and subsistence needs instead of the staple maize.

"The rains have become [scarce]... This is the fourth year we have had insufficient rain," Harrieta Nyaga, a farmer from the Rwika area, told IRIN. "We expected rains in March, but they came in January. People got confused, some planted, some did not... the crop was affected."

Nyaga, a mother of four, said she had planted 0.8ha of maize but was unsure whether she would harvest more than two 90kg bags. "Normally, I get up to 20 bags," she added.

Declining maize yields, due to climate variability and high fertilizer costs, have caused maize prices to soar. The cost of a bag has doubled to about 2,000 shillings (US$25) in the area.

Four new drought-tolerant pigeon pea varieties are being piloted in Mbeere, and specialists say the crop is hardy and can grow in a range of environments and cropping systems.

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics is providing farmers with free seeds.

"They select the preferred varieties and sizes," said Richard Jones, ICRISAT Eastern and Southern Africa assistant director. The selection is based on maturity times, plant height, stem thickness, amount of leaves, susceptibility to disease, cooking times and soil types.

Representatives from 30 farmers’ groups have been selected to pilot the project. Across Kenya, pigeon peas are being grown on about 196,261 ha of land, according to ICRISAT. Malawi, Uganda, Mozambique and Tanzania grow considerable quantities too.

"Depending on rainfall availability, one can harvest 750kg per 0.5ha," said Jones. The new varieties mature in about 120 days while the traditional varieties flower at the end of the long rains, growing to maturity from October to August.

"These new varieties are very elastic. Because they mature quicker, one gets a harvest even with just the short rains [October-December]... if there is more rain [the long rains] one gets a second rattoon [crop]," he said.

"Old varieties will not give you a crop until after the long rains [April-June]. If the long rains fail, then there is no harvest."

Nyaga said the uptake of the new varieties would be higher if pesticides were provided during the first planting. "The pesticides are very costly for a first-time farmer," she said.

Crushed dry pigeon pea seeds are also fed to animals, while the green leaves are quality fodder. The dry stems are used for fuel.

According to Jones of ICRISAT, the pigeon pea is a bonus crop, which can be grown alongside early maturing cereals while acting as a nitrogen fixer.

"I have not had to add manure or fertilizer like I would have for maize," said Carol Maringa, a farmer in Gachoka, adding that it was also not labour-intensive. She planned to increase her pigeon pea production.

"Even when I combine the cost of ploughing, seeds, weeding and spraying, I am still able to make a good profit," Samuel Mulinge Kyalo, 45, a farmer from Riakanau said.

According to Fred Njeru, Gachoka Division crops officer, food production in the division has fallen: "Now a big number of people are getting famine relief food and this is not sustainable."

The hardest-hit localities, he said, are selling their livestock and burning charcoal to meet their food requirements.

"We are encouraging farmers to adopt drought-tolerant crops, but this will take time," he said. "In the long term, farmers should plant drought-tolerant crops to not only meet their food requirements but also to get more income."

According to Jones of ICRISAT, there is a need to scale up planting of drought-tolerant crops.

In Eastern Kenya, about 20 percent of the farmers have adopted the new pigeon pea varieties, which have been developed using conventional breeding.

Already, there has been about 80 percent uptake in the eastern Makueni District. "Often, information does not move well," Jones noted. "It is like lighting a fire, it burns, then it goes out; you have to keep lighting many smaller fires."

IRIN

Kenyan farmers benefit from new ICRISAT-developed pigeon pea varieties

by Cathy Majtenyi

Scientists at an India-based institute are developing new varieties of pigeon pea, a high-protein dietary staple. In the eastern Kenyan district of Makueni, a research team is testing more than 40 varieties of pigeon pea that can also be grown in Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique.

Business is booming in Priscilla Mutie's shop in her eastern Kenyan village. Customers come from far and wide to buy the pigeon peas she grows on her 4-hectare farm.

She says selling these new varieties has made a world of difference to her. "My income has raised from the pigeon peas that I got from ICRISAT, because from it I am able to feed myself and my family," Mutie said. "The surplus I sell to my neighbors and that income has helped me purchase cattle, build myself a home, purchase decent clothing, and most importantly purchase a mobile phone that has helped me look for markets."

Mutie is one of a handful of farmers in Makueni District who are growing new varieties of pigeon peas being introduced to Kenya by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, or ICRISAT.

In Kenya, ICRISAT is growing more than 40 varieties of pigeon pea cross-bred to thrive in different altitudes, temperatures, rainfall, and other conditions. They also want a breed resistant to wilt, a disease that hits pigeon pea plants especially hard.

Farmers have cultivated pigeon pea in this East African nation for centuries. But traditional varieties tend to take about 10 months to mature.

Some of the new varieties being developed and tested in Kenya mature within five months of being planted, enabling farmers to have two or more harvests a year.

And that is good news for farmers such as Bernard Nzuma, who says that his family's food security has increased because of the new varieties that he grows.

"It resists the drought so there is food security. I'm able to have income and take care of the family needs. The pigeon pea leaves are good for improving the fertility of the soil. I use the leaves to feed my animals and also as fertilizer," Nzuma said.

Famine is a common occurrence in Kenya, where droughts and poor government planning cause frequent food shortages.

Maize, considered to be the key crop in Kenya, does not flourish in times of drought.

But pigeon pea grows well in dry times, says scientist Said Silim, director of ICRISAT's Eastern and Southern Africa program.

He says that even maize yields can improve if the maize is grown next to pigeon peas. "It (pigeon pea) is a multiple purpose crop. It is drought tolerant. When other crops fail, the crop itself fixes nitrogen from the air making it into fertilizer that it uses and what is left is used by your maize," Silim said.

Pigeon pea is also a nutritious food source for low-income earners

"It is a poor man's meat. It is high in protein and is very nutritious, actually," he adds. "We work in Eastern Kenya with orphans, some of who are HIV/AIDS infected, and they gained weight by using protein," Silim said.

And people like the new varieties, says farmer and businesswoman Mutie.

"They say that the ICRISAT peas are fairly large and tasty. They have a lovely color that is consistent," Mutie states.

Silim says he and his team are researching ways to increase yields within the varieties and are looking at how to expand the harvesting of the new varieties beyond Makueni District.

VOA

ICRISAT develops techniques for soil reclamation in West Africa

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has developed an innovative technique of reclaiming severely degraded, abandoned farmlands in Western Africa successfully bring them back into profitable agricultural production.

This accomplishment is significant for the semi-arid Sudano-Sahelian region, whose few arable lands are under extreme pressure to produce more food for a growing population in the backdrop of climatic variations that threaten the region’s fragile agricultural production, and food security.

Additionally, the recovered degraded lands, which had been allocated to women in a moribund state, are giving back Niger’s largely marginalised women their socio-economic rights to making a livelihood through agriculture.

“In dry West Africa, studies have shown that between 13 and 15 percent of children are suffering from acute nutritional deficiency”, says Prof Dov Pasternak, a scientist at ICRISAT. “By working with women to grow indigenous vegetable and fruit trees, we have not only restored the self-worth of women but also enabled them to better care for their children and families as well as make some money on top of it all.”

According to Prof Pasternak, more than half of the Sahelian soils are severely degraded, continuously losing nutrients and organic matter through wind and water erosion resulting in hard-to-plough encrusted lateritic soils that characterise many abandoned farms across Niger. Droughts account for crop failure in two out of every five years.

Extremely adverse weather conditions in the Sahel and growing population pressure are adversely affecting agricultural production in the Sahel. In Niger, population pressure has progressively led to highly fragmented farm holdings whose ownership and farming rights are generally vested in men. This has in turn systematically edged women out of farming leaving them without means of adequately caring for their families, or making an income.

“(Some areas of Niger) are witnessing emergence of a first generation of women who do not work the land. This process begins when a woman’s gamana is cultivated by her husband because it is so small that her labour is only required for certain types of harvest. In Jiratawa, we found a second generation of landless women who have never farmed because they never had the opportunity to help their mother in her gamana as she was landless too. They don’t even know how to sow seeds!” a study undertaken by the International Institute for Environment and Development says.

In an effort to keep women farming and to avert their impoverishment, the Government of Niger, in 2004, enacted a Rural Code to govern access to and use of land and other natural resources. Land tenure is governed by a variety of unsynchronised laws ranging from customary, Islamic and civil laws. The Rural Code is envisioned to enable women to directly own and use land as they wish. But initial trends show that more often than not women are being allocated the least productive, often abandoned, lands that men cannot put to any use.

ICRISAT is developing a range of techniques to help Niger’s women transform their erstwhile unproductive, impenetrable crust-lands into productive farmland. The techniques present an integrated system to food production and include rebuilding the fertility of the degraded soils, water management for this semi-arid zone and general land reclamation using drought-tolerant tree species.

ICRISAT scientists have taught women how to create a favourable medium for planting crops that will enable effective rooting, as well as how to manage the soils to prevent water-logging. Farmers have learnt how to harvest rain-water on-farm using micro-catchments or planting pits known as zai holes, which are able to hold water for prolonged periods after the rains. The zai holes also hold soil and compost to support the growth of locally adapted, deep-rooting and highly nutritious fruit and vegetable trees such as the Pomme du Sahel, Ziziphus Mauritania, and the Moringa, Moringa stenopetala.

The Pomme du Sahel fruit is rich in iron, calcium, phosphorus and has ten times as much Vitamin C as the regular apple, while the Moringa leaves, Niger’s most popular vegetable, has seven times as much Vitamin C as oranges, four times as much Vitamin A as carrots, four times as much calcium as milk, thrice as much potassium as is found in bananas and twice as much protein as is found in milk.

These and other crop trees under test for reclamation of Western Africa’s degraded farmlands are typically tolerant to drought, high soil salinity and water-logging. They hold the promise of transforming vast swathes of degraded land in West Africa into Africa’s new horticultural front. ICRISAT estimates the value of fruit and vegetable produced from these indigenous tree crops at about USD1, 200 per hectare.

About ICRISAT: The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is a nonprofit, non-political organization that does innovative agricultural research and capacity building for sustainable development with a wide array of partners across the globe. Its mission is to help empower 600 million poor people to overcome hunger, poverty and a degraded environment in the dry tropics through better agriculture. ICRISAT, is one of 15 centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

ICRISAT

High-protein pigeon pea is ideal for drought-hit farmers

by Jim Lobe

Agricultural researchers are reporting a major breakthrough in the development of a new, high-yielding variety of pigeonpea, a protein-rich legume that can be grown in marginal lands and is highly resistant to drought.

Pigeonpea is particularly important in areas where high-protein foods are scarce, including India, where it is often cooked as dal, eastern and southern Africa, the Caribbean and Burma. It currently provides between 20 and 22 percent of the protein in most countries where it is grown extensively.

Called "Pushkal," the new variety is the world’s first commercially available hybrid legume, according to William Dar, director-general of the India-based International Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), which is part of an international consortium of agricultural research centres based at the World Bank.

"With 40 percent higher yields than the best local varieties, Pushkal is truly the magic pea," Dar said, noting that the new variety’s low cost should result in a major expansion in its cultivation. Currently, pigeonpea is grown on nearly five million hectares worldwide.

"Our efforts in eastern and southern Africa have established an active pigeonpea research programme that has already resulted in the release and adoption of improved varieties," he said. "African farmers are reaping the benefits from improved food security and enhanced incomes from the new varieties."

Developing new hybrids of crops that can survive and even thrive despite the projected impact of climate change has moved increasingly to the top of the international-development agenda, particularly since last year when prices for food commodities, including corn, wheat, soy beans, and rice hit record highs.

The World Bank and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, among other major donors, have directed a growing proportion of their funding toward agricultural research and development, especially in Africa, the world’s poorest region and the one least affected by what has been called the "Green Revolution."

While the sharp drop in oil prices since last summer has brought food prices down as well, experts here warn that the relief may only be temporary. According to a new forecast by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), average prices will remain relatively higher in the coming year than during 2006 and 2007, when prices began their climb.

"This is going to be again a tough year (for poor countries)," USDA’s chief economist, Joseph Glauber, told the Financial Times.

Like other food commodities, pigeonpea prices also increased substantially during last year’s price spike, thus reducing the protein intake of millions of people who could not afford them.

ICRISAT has been working in India since 1974 but was unable to develop high-yielding commercial varieties of pigeonpea, or any other legume, because its self-pollinating nature. After 30 years of research, scientists there developed a stable cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) line that made it possible to breed a hybrid.

"This new technology helped us break the yield barrier that has plagued Indian agriculture for the past five decades," according to K.B. Saxena, IRCISAT’s principal pigeonpea breeder.

After successful testing by poor farmers in India, private and public seed companies began producing large quantities of Pushkal seeds that so far have been planted on some 5,000 hectares. Saxena, however, predicts that planting will expand quickly due to the large number of companies that are involved in the distribution and the seeds’ low cost.

Plants and seeds developed by ICRISAT and the 14 other research centres that make up the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) are not patented.

The new hybrid technology has generated interest form a number of other countries, besides India, including Burma, Brazil, the Philippines, and China.

Pushkal, however, is not appropriate for Africa, where pigeonpeas are white, larger, and the whole seeds are cooked, in contrast to Indian pigeonpeas where small, brown split peas are preferred.

"India pigeonpea hybrids don’t adapt well to conditions in Africa, where altitude, climate, soil condition and rainfall are quite different," according to Said Silim, ICRISAT’s regional director for eastern and southern Africa. Moreover, African pigeonpeas are particularly susceptible to wilt disease, so ICRISAT had to identify varieties that were especially resistant to wilt.

And, due to wide variations in temperature, climate and light in the region, researchers focused on developing specific varieties for specific regions. "We developed niche varieties, knowing what we were targeting," said Silim.

In Tanzania, for example, ICRISAT developed high-yield, wilt-resistant varieties that cook quickly and have the taste and aroma favoured by the local population.

It has also developed varieties in Africa preferred by Indian consumers. Their growth cycle is timed so that they can be exported between May and October when India faces a pigeonpea shortage, thus providing local farmers with more income on crops that can be harvested twice a year.

ICRISAT is also promoting the cultivation of pigeonpeas beyond regions where they have been most popular, particularly in areas with mono-culture crops. It has accumulated evidence that intercropping with pigeonpeas makes both crops more productive.

IPS

Pigeon pea cultivation innovations increase yields

Research intervention changes African farmers' fortune

New methods introduced to farmers in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) by scientists at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) for growing pigeonpea have resulted in high yields , short period to mature and drought free stress, the organisation said in a statement made available to PANA on Thursday.

Prior to the new methods, farmers from the ESA area were growing pigeonpea that gave low yields, took very long to mature, were susceptible to wilt and often suffered from terminal drought stress.

"But this situation was reversed when scientists from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) adapted pigeonpea in ESA, screened for resistance to wilt and incorporated bold white grain preferred by farmers and markets in the medium- and long-duration varieties," the statement said.

A large number of these varieties were released in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique, after evaluation.

In eastern Kenya, over 10,000 hectares of medium-duration varieties resistant to wilt and cropped two times a year are being grown by farmers. Likewise, in northern Tanzania, two long-duration varieties, which are high yielding, having white bold grain and resistant to wilt are being grown on over 50,000 hectares. In Malawi two long-duration varieties have been released and pigeonpea seed is now included in the country's subsidy program.

ICRISAT's interventions are focused on enhancement and management of genetic resources, agricultural diversification, agro-ecosystem sustainability and improving markets, policies and institutions. The Institute has also successfully implemented two interventions in many countries across SSA, which are fertilizer microdosing and the improvement of seed systems.

""The fertilizer microdosing technique allows resource poor farmers to apply small, affordable and effective amounts of fertilizer to their impoverished land for improved soil health and crop production," the statement said.

"It has the potential to end widespread hunger in drought-prone areas of Africa, where soils are depleted and smallholder farmers rarely produce enough to feed even their own families," the statement noted."

Afriquenligne

ICRISAT develops striga-resistant sorghum variety

Sorghum production is set to increase following the development of a variety that is resistance to the deadly weed that has been wiping out the produce from the farms for years. The scientific breakthrough is the first in the history of sorghum farming in Africa.

Sorghum is among the crops being touted as strategic to Africa’s future food needs because of its ability to withstand drought. The weed known as striga or the witchweed destroys between 40 to 100 per cent of a complete season’s crop. Its annual crop damage across Africa is estimated at about Sh450 billion.

Currently, the weed threatens to wipe out cereal crops in most of western Kenya and eastern Uganda, national agricultural research institutes in the two countries have warned.

Dr Dionysious Kiambi, a molecular geneticist with the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics, said scientists have determined the precise segments of the sorghum genome known to confer Striga-resistance and have transferred them to farmer-preferred varieties through conventional breeding with very promising results.

The scientists said they have been working with national and international collaborators for several years experimenting with marker-assisted selection in search of Striga-resistant genes from other sorghum varieties conserved in gene-banks across the world.

Monitor

Small scale farmers benefit from fertiliser micro-dosing

Researchers at the India-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, better known by its acronym ICRISAT, say 25,000 small-scale farmers in West Africa are thriving, using the technique known as fertilizer micro-dosing.

Results in Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso show that micro-dosing has the potential to help farmers throughout sub-Saharan Africa increase their crop yields as much as 120 percent and boost household incomes 50 to 130 percent.

Micro-dosing involves nourishing seeds with tiny amounts of strategically-applied fertilizer. About six grams of fertilizer is applied to each seed, which means that a farmer with 100 hectares of land would only need half as much fertilizer to grow the same amount of crops as before.

ICRISAT's Assistant Director for West and Central Africa, Ramadjita Tabo, says having to use less fertilizer is a critical element for farmers here because fertilizer costs two to six times more in sub-Saharan Africa than the rest of the world. Prices are high largely because of low volume, high transportation costs, and because there is little or no local production.

"You dig the hole first, you put fertilizer in, and you plant your seed there and the fertilizer is right by the seed, so it is available to the plant when it really needs it. It does help the farmer reduce the cost of input and at the same time increase his yield," he said.

ICRISAT estimates that land degradation due to overuse is affecting more than half of sub-Saharan Africa, leading to a yearly loss of more than five million hectares of farm land and some $42 billion in income. Small farmers often abandon unproductive fields and clear forests for farming, a practice that has been blamed for causing massive deforestation throughout the continent and contributing to global warming.

Through the help of government and non-governmental agencies and private foundations, Tabo says about 200,000 farmers in East and southern Africa have been shown how micro-dosing works. But to make micro-dosing feasible on a much wider scale, INCRISAT says it is now lobbying to make fertilizers available to farmers in smaller bags.

"In the past, you only get those big 50 kilogram bags, which cost probably $20, $25, or $30. And small-scale farmers just cannot go and buy that. So, we are pushing in eastern and southern Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe and in West Africa, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, to see whether they can just sell small packs of fertilizer, maybe about two kilograms or four kilograms, which the farmer can take to his field and use it.

Fertilizer micro-dosing in West Africa is currently used on cereal crops such as sorghum, millet and maize. ICRISAT, which is one of 15 research centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, says studies are being carried out to determine whether micro-dosing can also be effective for growing beans and vegetables.

VOA

ICRISAT makes gains against Striga with new genetic technique

Agricultural researchers have successfully identified and transferred genes that confer resistance to Africa’s most deadly weed (Striga) using the novel marker assisted selection technique successfully for the first time in the history of crop breeding in Africa.

Researchers have managed to confer resistance to Striga in sorghum, overcoming a barrier that has for decades held back scientists’efforts to protect key food crops - sorghum, millet, maize and rice, from this destructive weed. These crops are primary food sources for 300 million people across sub-Saharan Africa.

Striga (Striga hermonthica), also known as witchweed, destroys between 40 to 100 percent of a complete season’s crop, its annual crop damage across Africa estimated at seven billion dollars (US$7 billion). Currently, the weed threatens to wipe out cereal crops in most of Western Kenya and Eastern Uganda, national agricultural research institutes in the two countries have warned.

“Scientists have searched for the solution to Striga damage using a variety of methods, but without much success,” says Dr Dionysious Kiambi, a molecular geneticist with the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). “Through marker assisted selection, we have determined the precise segments of the sorghum genome known to confer Striga-resistance and have transferred them to farmer-preferred varieties through conventional breeding with very promising results.”

Marker assisted selection is a new technique which entails use of genetic landmarks (markers) to tag and transfer specific genes or group of genes that control characteristics of interest such as improved crop productivity, resistance to diseases or pests, or tolerance to stresses like floods and drought. This is the first time the technology has been used successfully for crop improvement in Africa.



ICRISAT scientists has been working with national and international collaborators for several years experimenting with marker assisted selection in search for Striga resistance genes from other sorghum varieties conserved in gene-banks across the world. They found one sorghum variety (N13), that is neither high-yielding nor drought-tolerant, to possess the highly sought after Striga-resistance genes.

Segments of the N13 sorghum DNA containing genes for Striga-resistance were tagged with markers and crossed with farmer varieties using conventional breeding. The use of markers enabled scientists to precisely transfer only the Striga- resistance genes to farmer-preferred sorghum varieties without jeopardising farmer-desired characteristics such as drought-tolerance and higher yields.

“We had to make sure that other genetic information from N13 was not transferred to farmer varieties alongside the qualitative trait loci with Striga-resistance. We were not replacing any genetic components of farmer varieties, we are just adding to it,” says Dr Kiambi. “The resulting variety is almost identical to the original farmer variety plus the component that confers Striga resistance.”

ICRISAT has been collaborating with scientists from the University of Hohenheim in Germany and national agricultural research institutes of Eritrea, Kenya, Mali and Sudan. The team has to date created five Striga-resistant sorghum varieties whose initial trials on-station have been able to ward off Striga attacks, some as effectively as the donor parent, sorghum N13. In Kenya, Mali and Sudan, scientists are currently testing the new witchweed-resistant varieties in farmer fields.

Researchers in Africa have for decades experimented with a number of “potentially successful” techniques for managing this deathly weed including breeding for Striga tolerance in various crops, promotion of rotational cropping of cereals with legumes such as groundnuts, cowpeas and soybean in order to break the weed’s breeding circle, as well as the use of biological and herbicidal control methods.

Africa’s resource-poor farmers manage Striga primarily by weeding, a pointless, back-breaking activity which comes too late. By the time the crop sprouts, the weed, whose seeds reside in the soil, has long-since attached to plant roots and begun sapping off plant nutrients in earnest. Striga is a prolific seed producer, whose seeds lie dormant in the soil for up to two decades.

Crop breeders are enthusiastic about marker assisted breeding because it significantly reduces the duration required to produce improved crop. While conventional breeding is a hit-or-miss technique that requires scientists to wait for the crops to grow to maturity in order to observe expression of desired traits like Striga-resistance, marker assisted breeding enables scientists to check for the transfer of the trait as early as when the plant is only two weeks old, and focus on plants with the desired trait. This has more than halved the amount of time crop breeders need to develop improved varieties.

If the on-station results are successfully replicated on-farm, Africa’s biggest cereal crop menace – Striga - may well be reigned in, boosting agricultural production, food security and farmer incomes across the continent.

www.icrisat.org

ICRISAT seeks to include poor dryland farmers in biofuel boom

by William D. Dar

Whenever the world experiences prolonged high petroleum prices there is a search for alternatives, and in the last two years price rises have focused attention on biofuels.

Countries with biofuel programmes have strengthened their efforts, and many without have set one up. Using biofuels blended with diesel (up to 20 per cent) requires very little or no engine modifications. It also reduces un-burnt hydrocarbons by 30 per cent, carbon monoxide by 20 per cent, and particulate matter by 25 per cent. Moreover, sulphur content is negligible.

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), an international agricultural research institute that works to improve agricultural productivity in the drylands of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, is focusing on helping poor dryland farmers join the biofuel revolution. Since the biofuel industry requires economies of scale, it usually bypasses smallholder farmers who cannot grow enough of the main biofuel crops. ICRISAT's pro-poor biofuel strategy links the poor farmer with the industry and the market by helping them grow appropriate crops.

For example, ICRISAT is providing sweet sorghum seeds to three groups of Indian farmers who traditionally cultivate regular sorghum, as sweet sorghum can be used to produce bioethanol. And in villages that have large tracts of wasteland, ICRISAT has been helping the poor and the landless grow jatropha, and sell the seeds to a company that produces biodiesel.

Jatropha plantations can be established in low-rainfall regions on wasteland and poor soils. Jatropha is easy to establish, quick growing and hardy, and is not browsed easily by cattle and goats. Its seeds contain up to 40 per cent oil. Although jatropha monocultures in block plantations are more susceptible to pest and diseases, intercropping can help. ICRISAT has evaluated sorghum, pearl millet, pigeonpea, chickpea, sunflower and safflower as intercrops. The yield from the food crop provides livelihood and economic sustainability, especially in the initial years before the jatropha crop matures fully and generates maximum income from biodiesel. But more research into pest control is still needed.

Certainly, despite the crop's potential, there is surprisingly little data on commercial yield levels per hectare, and no breeding programmes have been established. This could be a major unrealised opportunity for new research investment, and ICRISAT is working on this research.

Since jatropha is a highly cross-pollinated crop, each plant is genetically different. This offers great potential for selecting superior plants in a breeding programme. Domesticating another oilseed crop, jojoba, resulted in a 10-fold increase in seed yield and established profitable commercial plantations.

So far, we've seen large variations in the oil content of jatropha seed, ranging from 25 per cent to 40 per cent. We need to re-test this over time and in different locations to check whether the variation reflects genetic or merely environmental variability.

Studies also show individual jatropha plants can vary 18-fold in their average seed yield over four years. High-yielders were consistent over years, suggesting — but not conclusively demonstrating — genetic rather than environmental causes.

The National Biofuel Centre of the Petroleum Conservation Research Association, in India, estimates jatropha seed yields of 1.5 tonnes per hectare in wasteland plantations, which would translate into about 500kg per hectare of oil after extraction (540 litres). But the Centre of Excellence for Jatropha Biodiesel Promotion in Rajasthan, India, gives a much higher estimate for intensively managed plantations, of around 10 tons of seed yield per hectare or 3,400 litres of oil. Both forecast strong returns on investment after five years, once plantations have reached full maturity and give maximum seed yield. It appears that jatropha certainly has potential for good productivity.

Since estimates of jatropha yield show such huge variation, testing them is a priority. We need better definition of the crop's potential, so that accurate economic feasibility studies can be carried out.

We also need to improve propagation technologies, such as vegetative propagation and tissue culture, to enable rapid and efficient multiplication. Research to optimise field management practices for these novel crops is another priority.

Jatropha oil seed cake, a byproduct after extracting oil, is a rich source of plant nutrients, and its potential as an organic fertilizer should be further researched. It might also contain toxins with potential as organic pesticides. Similarly, research should explore whether the seed cake might also be used for energy production — for example as a feedstock in village-level biogas plants.

As the biofuel revolution continues, jatropha is being planted in large tracts across the world. Strengthening the scientific research in parallel will ensure that while the poor farmers reap the economic benefits, they are not exposed to unnecessary risk.

Dr William D Dar is director general of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and chair of the Committee on Science and Technology of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

SciDev.net

ICRISAT helping small scale farmers tap into biofuels revolution

by William Dar

Whenever the world experiences prolonged high petroleum prices there is a search for alternatives, and in the last two years price rises have focused attention on biofuels.

Countries with biofuel programmes have strengthened their efforts, and many without have set one up. Using biofuels blended with diesel (up to 20 per cent) requires very little or no engine modifications. It also reduces un-burnt hydrocarbons by 30 per cent, carbon monoxide by 20 per cent, and particulate matter by 25 per cent. Moreover, sulphur content is negligible.

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), an international agricultural research institute that works to improve agricultural productivity in the drylands of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, is focusing on helping poor dryland farmers join the biofuel revolution.

Since the biofuel industry requires economies of scale, it usually bypasses smallholder farmers who cannot grow enough of the main biofuel crops. ICRISAT's pro-poor biofuel strategy links the poor farmer with the industry and the market by helping them grow appropriate crops.

For example, ICRISAT is providing sweet sorghum seeds to three groups of Indian farmers who traditionally cultivate regular sorghum, as sweet sorghum can be used to produce bioethanol. And in villages that have large tracts of wasteland, ICRISAT has been helping the poor and the landless grow jatropha, and sell the seeds to a company that produces biodiesel.

Jatropha plantations can be established in low-rainfall regions on wasteland and poor soils. Jatropha is easy to establish, quick growing and hardy, and is not browsed easily by cattle and goats. Its seeds contain up to 40 per cent oil. Although jatropha monocultures in block plantations are more susceptible to pest and diseases, intercropping can help.

ICRISAT has evaluated sorghum, pearl millet, pigeonpea, chickpea, sunflower and safflower as intercrops. The yield from the food crop provides livelihood and economic sustainability, especially in the initial years before the jatropha crop matures fully and generates maximum income from biodiesel. But more research into pest control is still needed.

Certainly, despite the crop's potential, there is surprisingly little data on commercial yield levels per hectare, and no breeding programmes have been established. This could be a major unrealised opportunity for new research investment, and ICRISAT is working on this research.

Since jatropha is a highly cross-pollinated crop, each plant is genetically different. This offers great potential for selecting superior plants in a breeding programme. Domesticating another oilseed crop, jojoba, resulted in a 10-fold increase in seed yield and established profitable commercial plantations.

So far, we've seen large variations in the oil content of jatropha seed, ranging from 25 per cent to 40 per cent. We need to re-test this over time and in different locations to check whether the variation reflects genetic or merely environmental variability.

Studies also show individual jatropha plants can vary 18-fold in their average seed yield over four years. High-yielders were consistent over years, suggesting — but not conclusively demonstrating — genetic rather than environmental causes.

The National Biofuel Centre of the Petroleum Conservation Research Association, in India, estimates jatropha seed yields of 1.5 tonnes per hectare in wasteland plantations, which would translate into about 500kg per hectare of oil after extraction (540 litres). But the Centre of Excellence for Jatropha Biodiesel Promotion in Rajasthan, India, gives a much higher estimate for intensively managed plantations, of around 10 tons of seed yield per hectare or 3,400 litres of oil. Both forecast strong returns on investment after five years, once plantations have reached full maturity and give maximum seed yield. It appears that jatropha certainly has potential for good productivity.

Since estimates of jatropha yield show such huge variation, testing them is a priority. We need better definition of the crop's potential, so that accurate economic feasibility studies can be carried out. We also need to improve propagation technologies, such as vegetative propagation and tissue culture, to enable rapid and efficient multiplication. Research to optimise field management practices for these novel crops is another priority.

Jatropha oil seed cake, a byproduct after extracting oil, is a rich source of plant nutrients, and its potential as an organic fertilizer should be further researched. It might also contain toxins with potential as organic pesticides. Similarly, research should explore whether the seed cake might also be used for energy production — for example as a feedstock in village-level biogas plants.

As the biofuel revolution continues, jatropha is being planted in large tracts across the world. Strengthening the scientific research in parallel will ensure that while the poor farmers reap the economic benefits, they are not exposed to unnecessary risk.

*Dr William D Dar is director general of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and chair of the Committee on Science and Technology of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

SciDev.Net

ICRISAT to establish agri-business incubator in Mozambique

After establishing an Agri-Business Incubator (ABI) at its global headquarters at Patancheru, India, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics is initiating a similar incubator in Mozambique, in collaboration with the Institute of Agricultural Research of Mozambique (IIAM).

Dr. William Dar, Director General of ICRISAT, and D.r Callisto Bias, Director General of IIAM, signed the Letter of Intent for establishing the Farm Business Incubator in Mozambique, a press release said.

The collaboration will explore the possibilities for IIAM & ICRISAT to develop the Farm Business Incubator together, share best practices, transfer technology, support the development of services or products in both regions or interact with the market possibilities in Mozambique and India.

Dr. Dar, who was on a visit to Mozambique, said that by taking the idea of the Farm Business Incubator to Mozambique, the Institute hopes to carry forward to the African nation the successful lessons learned in India in linking the poor dryland farmers to the market through agri-enterprise.

ICRISAT and IIAM conducted a feasibility study in Mozambique and developed a business model for the Farm Business Incubator at IIAM. A key management team from IIAM had visited India recently and studied the functioning of the Agri-Business Incubator at ICRISAT.

When the Farm Business Incubator becomes a reality it will be among the earliest of its kind in Africa, and would have the primary objective of developing agri-enterprise that will benefit Mozambique's agriculture, animal husbandry and food processing.

ICRISAT, an international agricultural research institute under the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), has been collaborating with IIAM and other partners on projects to improve agricultural productivity. Since 2001, ICRISAT has had an office at Maputo.

The Agri-Business Incubator at ICRISAT, Patancheru, India, has facilitated the transition of many agri enterprises from idea to reality. One of the successful agri-business ideas facilitated is the project on producing ethanol from sweet sorghum. Research by ICRISAT scientists developed sorghum varieties and hybrids that have higher amount of sugar-rich juice in their stalks. Through the Agri-Business Incubator, ICRISAT linked with a private sector company - Rusni Distilleries - which established a distillery to convert the sweet sorghum juice to ethanol.

Currently ICRISAT is helping a Rusni subsidiary company - Rusni Biofuels Ltd. - to establish an 'ethanol from sweet sorghum' plant in Mozambique. This plant will produce 100,000 litres of ethanol with an investment of around US$30 million, benefiting 5,000 small holder farmers and cover 20,000 hectares through captive and contract farming.

ICRISAT and Rusni will collaborate with Petromoc, the major national petroleum company of Mozambique, to enhance marketability and ensure successful implementation of the project. According to Dr. Carlos Dominguez, ICRISAT's Representative in Mozambique, the new collaborations agreed upon during Dr Dar's visit to Mozambique will strengthen the existing collaboration that ICRISAT has with partners.

ICRISAT's achievements in Mozambique include the development of guidelines for planning local seed systems interventions; creating the profile of the seed systems in place in the 58 districts of country; producing and marketing foundation seeds of improved varieties; and helping the national agricultural system to implement Good Agricultural Practices.

The Hindu News

New low cost alfatoxin test to benefit African exports, health

African farmers now have a new way to manage alfatoxin, a naturally occuring deadly poison that makes their crops unfit for consumption or export.

Scientists at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), have devised a fast, simple and affordable test kit for detecting the aflatoxin. Aflatoxin is produced by a fungus that can easily grow on many crops, including common food crops like maize, groundnut, sorghum, and cassava. It can infect them both in the field and during post-harvest storage.

Many countries reject agriculture imports exceeding certain levels of aflatoxin, costing African farmers millions of dollars each year in lost sales. Meanwhile, people who inadvertently consume a large quantity of the contaminated food can get very sick, as the toxin can cause potentially fatal problems in the liver and intestines.

Since the aflatoxin contamination is invisible in commodities, the key is detection. In developed countries, farmers routinely use detection technologies to manage outbreaks. But in developing countries, the tests have in the past been too expensive and too difficult for most farmers to implement. The new detection kit developed by ICRISAT has changed the situation by cutting the cost of testing crops from US$25 to $1 per sample.

"It's available as a small, simple kit that can be used even for most remote rural farms to monitor grains and nuts and improve storage techniques to avoid serious contaminations. The end result is safer products for consumers and higher returns for African farmers," said Dr. William Dar, director general of ICRISAT.

The test uses an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to rapidly detect the presence of aflatoxin.

Several years ago there were fears that new standards in developed countries for acceptable levels of aflatoxins in groundnuts could cost African countries $670 million in lost exports. In Malawi, which saw its status in the 1970s as a major groundnut exporter eroded by aflatoxin outbreaks, the National Small Farmer Association of Malawi (NASFAM) has successfully used the new aflatoxin detection kit as part of a broader effort to regain and re-establish itself with its once-lucrative European export markets.

Several CGIAR-supported centres, including ICRISAT, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (often referred to by its Spanish language acronym CIMMYT), and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), are putting into place a range of innovative practices to combat aflatoxin contamination in several crops. In addition to the detection test, the techniques include efforts to control the toxin using bacteria as a bio-control agent, breeding crops that are resistant to aflatoxin, and changing cultivation practices to limit opportunities for contaminations.

More than 5 billion people in developing countries are constantly exposed to aflatoxins by unknowingly consuming contaminated foods. So reducing aflatoxin contamination of African crops could also offer considerable health benefits, particularly to African children.

CGIAR

The promise of pigeon pea for semi-arid Africa

Food scientists say the hardy, drought-tolerant pigeon pea, well known to Africa, is fast emerging as one of the developing world’s most valuable tools in the fight against hunger. The pidgeon pea, mbaazi in Swahili, is a green, protein-rich legume with many branches and is often used in family meals. It is grown in the semi-arid tropics of sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia.

The International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is a non-profit research institute based in Nairobi. Its goal is to use scientific innovation to help the poor in semi-arid areas of the developing world. ICRISAT says over a billion people around the world consume pidgeon peas.

The organization’s director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Said Silim, explained the benefits of the pidgeon pea : "It survives during drought and grows in poor soils with few or no inputs and produces high yields where other crops fail.” In China, for example, INCRISAT is helping grow pidgeon peas on the roadsides, hill slopes and riverbanks. The plants have a strong root system, which helps hold the soil on sloping hillsides.

In East Africa, it is consumed mainly as a “dry grain” that is boiled and often eaten with maize. It is also canned for the local market and is a popular part of vegetarian meals. It is often grown among cereals. In China, it is grown between banana plants and cassava. Its tender stems can be used as fodder for cud-chewing animals - even as food for fish.

The pidgeon pea takes less than 10 months to mature. Since 1970 its production has increased worldwide by 43 percent and it is now grown in an area covering over four million hectares. However, demand still exceeds supply, which is good news for farmers who grow it. India is the largest producer, consumer and importer of pidgeon peas. In Africa, the biggest exporters are Tanzania, Kenya and Malawi.

Salim says Africa exports more than 100,000 tons per year and the demand is so high that the Continent could easily export five times that amount. The pidgeon pea is also commonly grown in some 50 countries in other parts of Africa, as well as in Asia and the Americas.

ICRISAT is working to build on the popularity of the pidgeon pea by improving its quality and consistency. The organization’s scientists and national partners have also developed new varieties suited to various agricultural zones in an attempt to reduce food shortages and hunger. The improved varieties are giving new life to the legume. Credit for the developments is given both to traditional breeding techniques and to molecular biology – using gene identification, marking techniques, tissue culture and other technologies. The new hybrids include vital traits that help to battle a devastating soil-borne fungal disease known as Fusarium wilt, a condition which caused losses of over 500,000 tons of the grain in India and Africa two decades ago.

Mary Nzilani is a 43-year-old farmer who cultivates the crop on five-acres in Kitui, a semi-arid rural region about 200 kilometers east of Nairobi. She says she has been planting pidgeon peas for four years, and, “It seems to be the only thing that feeds my family and earns me money.” She says she has more faith in the crop than in maize and beans, which regularly fail. She uses it in her meals and sells the rest for money to educate her children.

Another farmer, Julius Mwendwa, says he likes the fact that the pidgeon pea matures in different seasons and that there is a huge local market for it. He says it earns him $200 per ton, more than anything else he grows. “When this area is very dry and food is hard to come by, the only green crop that one can see around is pidgeon pea,” he says.

VOA

Pigeon pea hybrid breaks yield records

Scientists working to improve the grain legume pigeonpea , Cajanus cajan, announced recently that the new hybrid ICPH 2671 produces nearly 50 percent more grain than the popular Indian cultivar Maruti, definitively breaking the yield barrier that has had them and farmers frustrated for many years.

Development of the world's first commercially viable system for producing hybrid pigeonpea seed was completed 2 years ago by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT), working in close collaboration with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). "The technology represents a major breakthrough," says ICRISAT Director General William Dar, permitting pigeonpea yields of 3 to 4 tons per hectare.

Eminent agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan predicts that the new pigeonpea hybrids, with their "quantum leap in yield," could open the way for a revolution in the production of this important pulse, similar to the transformation of wheat and rice production made possible several decades ago by novel semi-dwarf varieties.

According to K.B. Saxena, the ICRISAT scientist who led development of the new pigeonpea technology, 100 to 150 tons of hybrid seed, enough to plant about 25,000 hectares, should be available to farmers in 2008. It is being produced with the help of 16 public and private seed companies. Meanwhile, Swaminathan is overseeing a project that will seek to make the hybrids accessible even to the poorest growers.

ICRISAT and ICAR scientists embarked on a collaborative program of pigeonpea improvement in the mid-1970s and quickly registered important gains in their efforts to raise productivity. By the 1980s, they had developed early maturing varieties, which can be harvested in just 3 to 4 months, compared to the standard growing period of 6 to 9 months. These varieties are now being grown in rotation with wheat in northern India, resulting in a more diverse and sustainable cropping system. Scientists also succeeded in developing resistance to two major pigeonpea diseases, fusarium wilt and the sterility mosaic virus. But despite the release of dozens of improved varieties over the years, all of them conventional inbred lines, research was unable to make a dent in average yields, which remained near 700 kilograms per hectare.

While the pigeonpea hybrids offer a sizable benefit, there is also a cost. Rather than produce their own pigeonpea seed year after year, farmers will need to obtain new supplies of certified hybrid seed each year, just as farmers do with hybrid maize and rice. The reason for this is that hybrid vigor is expressed only in the first generation of progeny that result from crossbreeding. If farmers grow seed harvested from hybrid pigeonpea plants, they will see a sharp decline in crop yields.

ICRISAT is working closely with a consortium of private- and public-sector seed companies in India to commercialize pigeonpea hybrids and ensure that ample supplies can be made widely available within the next couple of years. Moreover, the M.S. Swaminathan Foundation has launched a project that will enable women farmers to produce pigeonpea hybrid seed themselves for their own use and for sale to neighbors. The idea is to create low-cost sources of seed for small farmers, while also fostering small-scale enterprises that generate employment and income for women.

India , where pigeonpea is referred to as "red gram," accounts for nearly 85 percent of world production. But the crop is also grown in many other developing countries across Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia. It is especially well suited to poor soils in drylands. The grain provides poor consumers with a vital source of cheap protein, while the pods are consumed as a green vegetable. Pigeonpea plants serve as animal feed as well (for both livestock and fish), and the crop is commonly grown to prevent soil erosion, raise soil fertility and rehabilitate degraded lands. In China, where pigeonpea has undergone a major revival in recent years, food technologists have even developed a variety of processed foods and drinks from pigeonpea seeds.

CGIAR