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ICRISAICRISAICRISAICRISAICRISAT ResearT ResearT ResearT ResearT Research Impactsch Impactsch Impactsch Impactsch Impacts1997-20031997-20031997-20031997-20031997-2003

Sowing Seeds of SuccessSowing Seeds of SuccessSowing Seeds of SuccessSowing Seeds of SuccessSowing Seeds of Success

ForewordThis booklet summarizes theaccomplishments and impactsof ICRISAT from 1997 to 2003.Our successes in theseendeavors is proof positive thatICRISAT has competently andenthusiastically addressed themajor challenges facingagriculture in the semi-arid tropics.

Much of our success has been achieved by improving ourfive mandate crops – chickpea, pigeonpea, groundnut,sorghum and pearl millet. Our remarkable successes withcrop improvement have been widely recognized. Between1997 and 2003, ICRISAT received more than 40 team andindividual awards. Of these, none were more prestigiousthan our King Baudouin Awards. This biennial prize isawarded to the CGIAR institute achieving the most visibleimpact over the preceding two-year period. ICRISAT haswon this award an unsurpassed three times. In 1996, wewon the award for our success with pearl millet. In 1998,we won the award for the second time in a row for ourwork with pigeonpea. And in 2002, along with our sistercenter ICARDA, we completed the hat trick with ourresearch on chickpea. Three victories out of fournominations is an achievement no other center has yetaccomplished!

But we are not about to sit on our laurels. ICRISAT intendsto move forward ever more vigorously with its partners,sowing further seeds of success. Our ultimate goal –winning the Grey to Green Revolution in the semi-aridtropics – is within our grasp.

William D DarDirector General

Sowing Seeds of SuccessSowing Seeds of SuccessSowing Seeds of SuccessSowing Seeds of SuccessSowing Seeds of SuccessICRISAICRISAICRISAICRISAICRISAT ResearT ResearT ResearT ResearT Research Impactsch Impactsch Impactsch Impactsch Impacts

1997-20031997-20031997-20031997-20031997-2003

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Saving lives and money withdiagnostic kitsAflatoxins kill. These murderous fungi contaminategroundnut products grown for consumption by bothhumans, who eat the groundnuts themselves, andlivestock, which feed on the haulms and the cakeproduct rendered after extracting the crop’s oil.Medical research has revealed that people whoselivers have been debilitated by hepatitis are extremelyhigh risks for cancer if they consume aflatoxins.Detecting the presence of these hazardous toxins istherefore an extremely important health priority.

Conventional procedures to detect aflatoxin arereliable but time-consuming and expensive. ICRISATscientists took a hard look at the problem and setabout developing a simple, cost-effective tool using adiagnostic tool called enzyme-linked immunosorbentassay (ELISA). The new test costs only $3 persample as opposed to the previous figure of $18. Theimpact was immediate. Feed producers and poultryfarmers have energetically adopted this technique.One Indian feed manufacturer, which has improvedits annual turnover to more than $4 million, hasattributed its new prosperity to its use of ICRISAT’snew ELISA technology.

Upstream research results in huge savings fordownstream farmers.

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Dr Crouch with his award. He is flanked by DirectorGeneral Dar and Board Chair Mukwunye.

Leading the packICRISAT’s expertise in biotechnology wasrecognized at the 2003 Annual General Meetingof the CGIAR in Nairobi when Dr JonathanCrouch, Global Theme Leader for Biotechnology,was presented with the CGIAR Science Awardfor Promising Young Scientist. Dr Crouch i hasbeen a leading light in formulating new policiesand protocols for our increasingly closecollaboration with research partners from theprivate sector. At the same time, he and his teamhave nurtured our traditional collaborativeventures with the public sector and NGOs.

In 2001, Dr Crouch launched an initiative thatattracted national funding to establish an Agri-Business Incubator in 2002. A year later, heestablished our in-house Intellectual PropertyManagement Office and was chosen as one ofthree CGIAR members for the Central AdvisoryService on IPR (along with the Directors Generalof CIMMYT and IRRI). Most recently he has beenchampioning the establishment of a BiotechAwareness and Biosafety Support Unit.

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Any doubts about the impact of marker-assistedselection in India’s pearl millet belt are dispelled witha glance at this farmer’s field – and his smile!

Making miracles with molecules

One of the first things ICRISAT did after establishingits headquarters near Hyderabad in the mid seventieswas to initiate partnerships with importantuniversities. None has been more fruitful than ourrelationship with Haryana Agricultural University(HAU). In fact, ICRISAT viewed this relationship soimportant that we maintained an office there fornearly two decades.

The superb pearl millet breeding team at HAU,backstopped by ICRISAT researchers, was

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responsible for developing the most widely sownvariety in India, a popular early-maturing hybrid calledHHB 67. HHB, by the way, stands for Haryana HybridBajra – bajra is the Hindi word for pearl millet.ICRISAT’s role in developing this important variety,which tolerates the most difficult adversary of pearlmillet, downy mildew disease, was in supplying thehybrid’s parental lines from our headquarters.

The HAU-ICRISAT team had created an excellentvariety, high-yielding and disease-resistant. But theyknew their work was not done. Plant diseases, like allorganisms, have a Darwinian urge to survive. Like anexpert burglar picking a lock, pathogens willeventually ferret their way through the defenses put intheir way by scientists. And once a pathogen figuresout how to pick a lock, the crop would once againbecome susceptible.

Except that these scientists were ready. Utilizingmarker-assisted backcrossing, the collaboratingscientists developed – and continue to develop –versions of HHB 67 with improved levels of diseaseresistance, drought tolerance, and grain and stoveryield potential. The impacts that have sprung from thissingular collaboration include the development ofseveral improved pollinators and seed parents thathave been passed to private seed companies, alongwith information comparing the hybrids of these lineswith the original HHB 67 for disease reaction andagronomic performance. These improved versions ofHHB 67 are expected to replace the original, whichmust eventually succumb to downy mildew.

Do the farmers of Haryana like the new versions?Indisputably. They made their preferences clearduring on-farm comparisons of these improvedversions with the original in 2003, and thisinformation will contribute to the continueddevelopment of new versions, extending indefinitelythe economically useful life of this exceptionallypopular hybrid.

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Chickpea on the marchTo date, over 100 improved varieties developed byICRISAT and its partners have been released in 27countries. Areas sown to chickpea and productivityhave increased dramatically throughout the tropics,and large new production areas have been opened.The impact of ICRISAT’s success with chickpea ledto the institute’s third King Baudouin Award in 2002,which we shared with ICARDA.

Some examples of ICRISAT’s remarkableachievements with chickpea around the globe:

• India, Sudan and Myanmar. ICCV 2, an extra-short-duration kabuli variety that escapes terminaldrought, has been successfully released in thesethree countries, representing completely differentregions.

• Australia and Canada. In these two developedcountries, where chickpea was virtually unheard often years ago, ICRISAT-derived varieties arespreading like wildfire. In Canada, over half amillion hectares are presently sown to chickpea.One third of this area is cultivated with a singleICRISAT variety called Myles.

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• Gujarat, India. The net income from the newICRISAT-derived cultivar ICCV 10 was 84% morethan the local variety. Moreover, the cultivar was23% cheaper in production costs.

• Maharashtra, India. Chickpea varieties developedby ICRISAT now occupy nearly 40% of the totalarea. Adoption of these varieties yielded farmersan additional net benefit of $80 per hectare.

• Andhra Pradesh, India. ICRISAT varieties nowoccupy a third of the area sown to chickpea. Thefarmers who adopted these varieties earned $55more per hectare than farmers using othervarieties.

• The Barind, Bangladesh. Asia’s poorest farmersare sowing more chickpea every year in their ricefallows, providing a completely new source ofincome.

• Tanzania and Kenya. Collaboration with two largeinternational NGOs, Catholic Relief Services andTechnoServe, and several local farmerorganizations, has introduced chickpea into newareas, generating incomes of some of Africa’spoorest farmers.

Peas for prosperityThe impact of ICRISAT’s pigeonpea research led toour second King Baudouin Award in 1998. Sincethen, the impact has continued to increase. Morethan 800,000 hectares in the Indian states of AndhraPradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka are nowcultivated with two ICRISAT-derived varieties, ICP8863 (Maruti) and ICPL 87119 (Asha). Another fourvarieties are grown on about 85,000 hectares insouthern and eastern Africa. Pigeonpea is emergingas an important crop for fodder, fuel and soilconservation in southern China, where it has rapidlyincreased from almost zero cultivation in 1998 toabout 60,000 hectares in 2001.

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Much of this success had to do with ICRISAT’s workin reconstructing the crop into earlier-maturing,shorter-statured, higher-yielding varieties. This workstimulated large productivity gains, diversified cereal-dominated cropping systems and triggered a majorgeographic extension of the crop.

ICRISAT created ICPH 8, the world’s first foodlegume hybrid. The work took a long time – nearlytwo decades of painstaking research – but the proofof the pie is in the eating, and the poor farmers of the

Traditionally a South Asian crop, pigeonpea hasbecome a staple food in East Africa.

Pigeonpea has been revived in China, providing newoptions for farmers on marginal lands.

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semi-arid tropics are now able to enjoy the benefits ofthe increased yields that hybrid crops offer. ICPH 8 isnow under commercial production, demonstrating a25% grain yield increase, additional stem and leafbiomass for fuel and forage, as well as improvedtolerance for drought, disease and waterlogging.

Another breakthrough in pigeonpea research cameabout in 2000, when ICRISAT scientists identified theelusive cause of sterility mosaic disease. The virus isresponsible for annual production losses worth morethan $300 million.

The importance of this nutritious legume is increasingby leaps and bounds in eastern Africa, where farmersin dry areas are finding the crops an excellentintercrop with cereals. ICRISAT scientists, working inintimate collaboration with a range of partners, havesucceeded in enriching the lives of thousands of poorfarmers.

Sorghum – staple food for hungrypeopleThe impact of sorghum bred by ICRISAT and itspartners continues to make waves. Between 1997and 2003, 18 cultivars were released by 4 Asiancountries and 23 cultivars by 11 African countries.During the same period, ICRISAT supplied anastonishing number – over 70,000 – of sorghum seedsamples to over 50 countries. Twenty clients – 12private seed companies and 8 agriculturaluniversities, to be precise – formally acknowledgedthat their most promising hybrids were based onICRISAT-bred hybrid parents, or derivativesdeveloped by them from ICRISAT’s hybrid parents.

Sorghum factoids from around the world:

• Nigeria and Ghana. Variety S 35 yielded 25%more grain than the popular local, and its adoptionrate soared, reaching 15% in Nigeria and Ghana.

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Similarly, sales of ICSV 400 increased enormouslyto 4.5 million Naira ($40,000) in 2001 because ofthe variety’s suitability in the brewing industry.Virtually all Guinness Stout, one of Nigeria’s mostpopular beverages, is brewed from ICSV 400.

• Botswana. Phofu, a stay-green, early-maturingvariety, is being planted by 21% of sorghumfarmers in Botswana.

• Eastern and southern Africa. As a direct result ofexcellent regional collaboration, another sorghumvariety, Macia, is now grown on 30% of thesorghum area for its good taste and food quality inEritrea, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzaniaand Zimbabwe.

• Mali. CSM 63 E, an extra-short-duration varietyknown as Diacumbe, is making inroads withfarmers and is now grown over 10% of thesorghum area in Mali. Its area of cultivation hasbeen continuously increasing. Seven other newvarieties have been released in Mali, mostlybelonging to the guinea race: Tieble (CSM 335),Kossa (CSM 485), Ngolofing (CSM 660),Marakanio (CGM 9-9-1-1), Padi (ICSV 901),Nazomble (Nazangola anthocyané) and Nazondje(Nazangola tan). Tieble and Ngolofing, favored

Macia has brought new prosperity to southern Africansorghum farmers.

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because of their good yield, relative earliness, andexcellent grain qualities, are achieving particularlyrapid penetration among farmers in the 800-1000mm zone of the country.

• Kenya. The variety Gadam el Hamam has beenadopted by farmers who are impressed with itsearly maturity and good taste.

• Niger and Nigeria. A hybrid called NAD 1 has beenreleased, and both seed production and adoptionare increasing. Similarly, hybrid ICSH 88902 hasbeen released in Nigeria.

• Tanzania. Variety Pato has been adopted overapproximately 36% of the area under improvedvarieties in this semi-arid country.

The amazing biodiversity of sorghum.

Globetrotting with groundnutsOf all ICRISAT’s crops, groundnut is the mostubiquitous. Groundnuts, also known as peanuts ormonkey nuts, grow in various soils and climaticconditions from 40°S to 40°N. The successes ofICRISAT and its partners with this hugely importantcash crop has improved the lives of hundreds ofthousands of farming families in the semi-arid tropicsand elsewhere. ICRISAT-derived groundnuts arethriving in seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa andin nine states of India.

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Groundnut factoids:

• East Timor. In 2000, ICRISAT participated in aninitiative led by the Australian Council onInternational Agricultural Research (ACIAR) torehabilitate agriculture in East Timor (now knownas Timor-Leste), sowing 80 kg of various high-yielding varieties in trials throughout the world’snewest nation.

• Southern Africa. Medium-maturing variety CG7 ispresently grown on more than 30,000 hectares inMalawi, and has been adopted by half of thegroundnut farmers in Zambia.

• Zimbabwe. An early-maturing and high-yieldingvariety, Nyanda, is becoming popular in drought-prone areas. It is currently grown on about 10,000hectares.

• Mali. Early-maturing variety ICGS 36E has beenadopted on about 20,000 hectares.

• Nigeria. For the first time, an early-maturing,rosette-resistant variety, ICGV-IS 96894, has beenreleased in Nigeria, the largest groundnutproducer in West Africa, and one of the largest inthe world. Extremelypopular with farmersin the groundnut belt,the variety hasrestored farmerconfidence in growinggroundnut withoutlosing it to rosettedisease, the mostdevastating disease ofthe crop in sub-Saharan Africa.

• Malawi. ICGV-SM90704, a medium-duration, rosette-resistant variety

Groundnut means cashfor millions of resource-poor farmers.

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released in 2000 in Malawi, is gaining ground inrosette-prone areas due to its ability to producehigher yields under epidemic conditions.

• Zimbabwe. From materials supplied by ICRISAT, aprivate company called SeedCo Limited hasidentified short-duration, rosette-resistant varietyICGV-SM 99537 for release. This variety is likely tomeet the long-felt needs of groundnut farmers,adding to the stability of agricultural production inthis important country.

• Mali. In the Kolokani region of Mali, ICG 7878, avariety that resists foliar diseases, is now planted by25% of farmers, making a difference in thelivelihoods of the poor. Women especiallyappreciate this variety as it has improved the qualityof the daily diets of their families. The incomederived from sales of the variety also helps to sendchildren to school. Farmers like Mr Bagi Traoréhave profited significantly from sowing ICG 7878.Mr Traoré recently used his new income topurchase a seed planter, bullocks and a new wife!

In East Timor, ICRISAT’s improved varieties (left)dwarf the locals (right).

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• Senegal. Six high-yielding varieties meetinginternational grades and standards forconfectionary groundnuts are now available tofarmers for cultivation under irrigation to provideprotection against aflatoxin contamination and topromote the groundnut trade. Before 1996, only 13groundnut varieties were listed as adapted to WestAfrican conditions. Thanks to ICRISAT and itspartners, no less than 37 new varieties have beenadded to this list.

• Southern Sudan. ICG 12988, an aphid- androsette-resistant landrace introduced into southernSudan by Catholic Relief Services, an importantICRISAT partner, through ICRISAT’s program inMalawi in 2001, has become very popular withfarmers in state of Equatoria. Several tribes, someof which have been displaced because of the civilstrife in the emerging country, have adopted thishardy variety.

• India. ICGS 44 has become very popular in theIndian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, TamilNadu, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh. In certain areas,it has given higher pod yield than other varietiesand has registered high production.

• Gujarat. With increasing opportunities forgroundnut kernel export from India, confectionarygroundnut variety Asha (ICGV 86564) is in greatdemand in Gujarat, a leading groundnut-growingstate in western India.

• Andhra Pradesh. In 2000, a sudden outbreak ofpeanut stem necrosis disease in Anantapur districtof Andhra Pradesh caused extensive damage tothe crop. Losses were estimated at $60 millionduring that single year. ICRISAT leapt to therescue, identifying the causal agent of the disease(tobacco streak virus) as well as alternate hosts. Apackage of control measures was then devisedthat was successfully adopted in more than half amillion hectares.

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• Northeastern Hill States and West Bengal. In thesenon-traditional groundnut areas of India, the cropis becoming increasingly popular with farmers dueto the superior performance of such varieties asICGS 44, ICGS 76 and ICGV 86590.

• Orissa and Chhattisgarh. Under the aegis of aproject funded by the International Fund forAgricultural Development (IFAD) on participatoryimprovement of grain legumes in rainfed Asia,groundnut has penetrated the tribal belt in therelatively backward Indian states of Orissa andChhattisgarh, where tribal farmers have expressedtheir preference for ICGS 76 and ICGV 86590. InChhattisgarh, they have initiated their own seedproduction program, and in Orissa, they haveestablished village seed banks to ensureavailability during the subsequent croppingseason.

Pearl millet – the orphan cropfinds a homeAlthough pearl millet originated in sub-SaharanAfrica, its greatest impact has occurred in India.More than 60% of the total pearl millet area in India –about 6 million hectares – is planted with more than70 hybrids, 80% of which come from that country’svigorous private sector. Of these hybrids, more than60 are based on ICRISAT-bred material (mostly seedparents), or on the proprietary hybrid parentsdeveloped from ICRISAT-bred improved germplasm.In Africa, the impact of ICRISAT’s work with pearlmillet impact is most visible in the West and CentralAfrican countries.

But the impact of our work with pearl millet goes waybeyond the farm level. ICRISAT’s initiative in offeringits breeding lines and potential hybrid parents towhoever can use them has enormously diversifiedthe genetic base of hybrid programs of both publicand private institutions. ICRISAT has developed and

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disseminated a total of 90 hybrid parents, 53 of themsince 1997. During a single field day in 2000, forexample, more than 50 scientists from the privateand public sector in India selected 2,040 breedinglines and potential hybrid parents. More than 12,000seed samples of selected lines were suppliedthrough a single dispatch.

In Andhra Pradesh, hybrid pearl millets havecontributed to employment generation and enhancedincome for farmers at the seed production stage.Pearl millet hybrid seed production, most of itconducted during the summer season in a singledistrict, generates an additional income of $1 milliona year to farmers. What was an ‘orphan crop’ just 10years ago has become big business for resource-poor farmers.

Although the impact of pearl millet in India is morevisible, ICRISAT has been focused squarely on theproblems and needs of sub-Saharan farmers sinceits establishment. Our facility in Niger, the ICRISATSahelian Center, was set up largely as a base forresearch on this staple food crop in the world’s driestagricultural environments.

Pearl millet has evolved from an orphan crop into acash crop.

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The results have been significant. Variety GB 8735 isgrown on 30,000 hectares in Chad and is growingrapidly throughout West Africa. Its early maturity anddrought tolerance have enabled farmers to harvestearly when household grain stocks are traditionallylow. And in Nigeria, variety SOSAT-C88 has becomeimmensely popular, now cultivated on more than50,000 hectares. In Niger, the demand for improvedlocal varieties, especially HKP Précoce, which isplanted on more than 20% of pearl millet growingarea in that country, is steady and rising. Adoption islimited only by seed availability, according to thefarmers themselves. In Mali, varieties Benkadinio andToronio, selected in collaboration with the nationalresearch program, have rapid adoption rates as aresult of sustained efforts of seed production in theirzones of adaptation. The adoption area is estimatedat 10% of pearl millet growing area. In the Segou andMopti regions, the earlier-maturing varieties from theprogram in Niger are also increasingly in demand.

New partnerships with the private sector ensure thatthe results of ICRISAT’s research reachunprecedented numbers of pearl millet farmers.

Meanwhile, our pearl millet breeders and theirpartners have not ignored the dry tropics of EastAfrica. In Tanzania, variety Okoa has been planted on80,000 hectares, nearly 30% of the total pearl millet

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The graphs on this page show what has transpiredduring more than 30 years of crop research at ICRISAT.

Numbers of cultivars released

Productivity gains over the entire historyof the institute, as well as over

the last 13 years, in India and in Africa

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area in that country. Meanwhile, in Eritrea and Kenya,ICMV 221, a drought-tolerant variety is beingcultivated on about 40,000 hectares.

ICRISAT’s holy grail – ourgenetic resourcesIf ICRISAT were a religion, our genebank would beour inner sanctum, the seeds it holds our holy relics.These seeds are beyond price. How can one put acost on a seed that represents thousands of years ofnatural selection and fine tuning by countlessgenerations of farmers? The genetic resourcesICRISAT holds in trust for humanity are nothing lessthan life itself.

When natural or civil calamity strikes and farmerssuddenly lose their seeds, they stand to lose a lotmore than their planting seed for the next season.Their seeds are their connection to their forebears,their niche on the planet. But because ICRISATscientists, ever since the institute was established in1972, have carefully and steadfastly gathered,identified, categorized and stored seeds from everycorner of the semi-arid tropics, these farmers can gettheir holy relics back. Their seeds are not lost. Theyare safely preserved in a high-tech facility built towithstand earthquake, fire and flood.

The Rajendra S Paroda Genebank at ICRISAT-Patancheru holds nearly 114,000 accessions of ourfive mandate crop seeds, as well as those of sixminor millets. Here, our genetic resources specialistshave developed a core subset of germplasm,comprising about 10% if the entire collection, toenhance efficient utilization in research. Additionally,several ‘mini core’ subsets, about 1% of the entirecollection, have been assembled for testing atseveral locations in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.Besides collections from other countries, unique andthreatened seeds have been collected from

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Bangladesh, Mali, Mauritania, Tanzania and Vietnamas a result of the germplasm acquisition agreementsbetween ICRISAT and each of these countries.

The ICRISAT genebank has supplied thousands ofgermplasm samples to various research institutesglobally. From such seed materials, 12 accessions (8sorghum, 2 chickpea, 1 groundnut and 1 barnyardmillet) were released for commercial cultivation.Countries of releases include Australia, Bangladesh,Eritrea, India, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mexico, Rwanda,Sudan and Uganda.

But perhaps the most valuable use of our seedcollection was the opportunity it gave us to identifynew sources of resistance to biotic and abioticstresses. Examples include 13 sorghum accessionsfor resistance to shoot fly and 15 accessions of wildsorghum for spotted stem borer. In pigeonpea,hundreds of resistant accessions were identified: 460to wilt, 706 to sterility mosaic disease and 7 tophytophthora blight. In groundnut, new resistantsources were found for early leaf spot (26accessions), late leaf spot (24), bud necrosis (4) andAspergillus flavus (8).

In 1999, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research(ICAR) requested us to duplicate the seeds of 44,822

Our greatest asset – the genebank.

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germplasm accessions that had either been donatedto us by the Indian government or collected incollaboration with India’s National Bureau of PlantGenetic Resources (NBPGR). We compliedimmediately – 43,913 accessions have already beenrepatriated to NBPGR, New Delhi.

Hitting paydirtICRISAT’s extensive research on legume croprotations in cereal systems has paid huge dividendsfor poor farmers. Adding nutritious pulse crops likechickpea and pigeonpea to cereal systems providesimproved diets while decreasing dependence onchemical-based inputs. Cautious at first, farmersfrom Bangladesh to Tanzania have found that sowinglegumes in their rice fallows can provide their familieswith food and cash, provided they sow their seedswhile moisture remains in the soil. Giving the legumeseeds a head start by priming them has also proveda very useful intervention.

On the high tech side of the natural resourcespectrum, simulation modeling has made asignificant impact on smallholder farming systems.

Chickpea has brought new hope to the poor farmersof the Barind of Bangladesh. Even when farmershave access to irrigation, they often prefer to plantlucrative chickpea alongside their rice.

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In Zimbabwe, simulation models were used toevaluate a range of soil fertility management optionswith farmers, and then implemented in a collegialapproach. Similarly, in Ananthapur district of AndhraPradesh, simulation modeling showed thatintercropping groundnut with short-durationpigeonpea increased groundnut productivity andincreased cash returns even in drought years, whencompared to a sole crop of groundnut.

Zimbabwean farmers have respondedenthusiastically to ICRISAT’s simulation models.

In West Africa, ICRISAT has continued to pursue low-cost soil fertility options for resource-poor farmers.The technique of micro-dosing crops by carefullymeasuring small amounts of fertilizer into each planthole was developed in West Africa and has resultedin yield increases as high as 120%. A study tosynthesize the lessons learned from both abiophysical and a socio-economic standpoint is nowunder way.

The incomes of farmers using micro-dosing and thewarrantage (inventory credit) system have increased52-134%.

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Developing community-scalewatershedsThe benefits of combining sound water managementpractices with improved soil, nutrient, crop and pestmanagement options in watersheds are manifold:increased productivity and incomes, highergroundwater levels, greenery, and reduced runoff andsoil loss. The same dramatic benefits obtained byIndian farmers from ICRISAT’s watershed researchhave also brought new prosperity to Thai,Vietnamese and Chinese farmers.

ICRISAT pursues a consortium approach towatershed research that incorporates expertise fromvarious international, national and local organizations.Special attention is given to training of nationalscientists and preparing technicians for theresponsibility of undertaking integrated watershedmanagement in partnership with the villagers. At thecommunity level, women have been deliberatelyempowered through group training.

Protecting and nurturing water resources hasbecome a major priority for ICRISAT.

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At the model Adarsha watershed in Kothapally,Andhra Pradesh, which lies about an hour west ofICRISAT’s Patancheru headquarters, farmers’incomes increased 3.5 times over the traditionalcotton system using the maize/pigeonpea croppingsystem. The yield of maize alone recorded a two- tothree-fold increase over the baseline yields. Is thewatershed increasing? Most definitely. The vegetativecover at Adarsha, which was 129 hectares in 1996,had increased to 200 hectares by 2000, and the trendis continuing.

During the 1997-2003 period, 700 farmers from allover India were trained in integrated watershedmanagement. Technology spillover was clearlyobserved in farmers from nearby watersheds ofNawabpet and Adilabad districts as they adopted thesuccessful practices of Adarsha.

Keeping the bugs outFactoids of ICRISAT’s initiatives in integrated pestand disease management (IPM and IDM):

• India. Collar rot, stem rot and bud necrosis – allserious diseases of groundnut in India – havebeen markedly reduced using resistant varietiesdeveloped by ICRISAT and partners. Farmershave been enthusiastically embracing thesevarieties, and a strong farmer-focused NGO ispromoting their widespread use.

• Nepal. Botrytis gray mold (BGM) disease ofchickpea, the crop’s major constraint in thatcountry, has been stifled through application ofIDM techniques developed by ICRISAT. Farmersare now applying these techniques extensively,and the results are heart warming. After simplygiving up on chickpea because of their inability tomanage BGM, hundreds of farmers have adoptedthe new technologies and resumed chickpeacultivation.

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• India and Vietnam. After ICRISAT scientistsidentified sunflower as an effective trap crop forSpodoptera, a particularly nasty caterpillar, Indianand Vietnamese farmers have reported savings of$20 per hectare by planting sunflowers aroundtheir chickpea fields.

• South Asia and East Africa. Following the initialsuccess of village-level nuclear polyhedrosis virus(NPV) technology, which takes advantage of anatural enemy of Helicoverpa armigera, the podborer, numerous village level production units havebeen established and are functioning well incollaboration with national agencies, NGOs andfarmers. More than 1000 extension specialists inIndia, Bangladesh, Nepal and Kenya have beentrained in the use of this virus in pod borermanagement.An agribusinessventure for NPVproduction hasbeen initiated bythe Agri-businessIncubator at ICRISAT-Patancheru with a specialgrant from the India’s Department of Science andTechnology to produce the virus commercially, andto encourage potential entrepreneurs.

• West and Central Africa. The damage wreaked bythe tenacious weed Striga (witchweed), whichsucks the water out of its victims, is beingalleviated by a combination of hand-pulling andweeding, appropriate rotation, trap crops, delayedemergence and application of organic fertilizer.These practices are undergoing scaling-up byresearch partners, and this scourge is no longerthe threat it once was for sorghum and pearl milletfarmers in the Sahel.

• India. In a large pilot IPM project in India, ICRISATis working with national agencies, NGOs andfarmer communities to address pigeonpea and

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chickpea problems in farming systems. Acombination of new technologies, such asbiological control using viruses and fungi, alongwith traditional techniques like shaking the plantsand encouraging predatory birds, are widely used.Impact has been particularly conspicuous in a self-declared ‘IPM village’ in Maharashtra, wherealmost no insecticide is currently used andproduction costs have been considerably reduced.

• Rajasthan. Cultural practices for alleviation of thepeanut clump virus disease such as early sowingunder judicious irrigation, trap cropping with pearlmillet and rotation with dicotyledonous crops, arenow available for groundnut producers in India.These practices are undergoing scaling-up on250,000 hectares of groundnut by the DurgapuraAgricultural Research Station, near Jaipur,Rajasthan. Similar practices are under evaluationin West Africa.

• India. Use of IPM/IDM packages in several Indianstates in cereals-sunflower rotations were found tocontrol disease. Moreover, yields increased from100 to 153%.

Packages of recommendations for the control ofpests (like the Striga in the photograph) must becarefully tailored for each farming community.

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Keeping the sands at bayWarrantage. With development partners, ICRISATscientists in Sahelian Africa have formulated adevelopment model that incorporates a ruralinventory credit system known as warrantage. Thewarrantage scheme ensures that small but keyresources are put into the hands of smallholderfarmers to ensure the adoption of soil fertilityrestoration technologies.

Zai. A traditional technology for rehabilitatingdegraded land was developed by Burkinabe farmersand quantified by INERA, the national researchprogram of Burkina Faso. The technology, known aszai, is a technique whereby small quantities oforganic material such as manure or compost areinserted into holes bored through the hardpan soil.Plant shoots or seeds are then inserted, and,nurtured by the organic material in the zai holes, theythrive. Weed competition is nil because nothinggrows on the hardpan soil. Three- to four-fold yieldincreases can be obtained using this system in verymarginal soils with modest applications of manure (3tons per hectare versus recommended rates of up to

Water – or the lack of it – will continue to be the mostchallenging constraint to agriculture in the dry tropics.

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20 tons). Best of all, soil that was previously unusableis now producing excellent food crops. ICRISAT’scontribution is the transfer of this superb indigenoustechnology to other Sahelian countries.

Locally available fertilizer. ICRISAT and theInternational Fertilizer Development Corporation(IFDC) have identified local sources of rock phosphatethat can provide a cheap alternative to importedchemical fertilizers. Significant grain and stover yieldincreases can be obtained using these locally availablephosphates. Specifically, Tahoua, a partially acidulatedrock phosphate available in Niger, has provedparticularly effective in millet-cowpea rotations,especially when added to modest applications ofmanure. Using this technique, millet yields up to threetimes higher than traditional systems are possible.With complementary inputs, grain yields of over 1000kg per hectare can be achieved.

The ingenious HATA saves precious labor time,freeing farmers to pursue additional activities.

HATA. A donkey-drawn weeding implement popularlyknown as the HATA (houé a traction asine) wasdeveloped by ICRISAT and University of Hohenheimscientists at ICRISAT-Niamey. The HATA, which isboth cost- and time-efficient, was developed torespond to the formidable task of weeding, a major

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labor consideration for resource-poor farmers. Thisimplement, which can be obtained in exchange forone 90-kg bag of millet, reduces weeding time to onlya fifth the time it takes by hand. Importantly, weedingefficiency is 90% better than manual weeding. Effortsare currently being made to promote its widespreaduse in the region.

Networking social scienceAt a meeting sponsored by ICRISAT and FAO onSocial analysis in assessing gender-related impactsof NRM options focusing on buildup of social capital,a network of social scientists was formed. Thisnetwork has enhanced the conceptual framework forgender and social analysis. It has also catalyzedinteraction with social and biological scientists fromuniversities, NGOs and the donor community. Thehealthy debate between these partners has clarifiedthat social analysis must look beyond ‘one-size-fits-all’ approaches to problems, and that impactassessment must consider relevant historical,cultural and social factors when designing andimplementing new research initiatives.

Working with an increasingly broad array of partners,ICRISAT social scientists are narrowing in on thefactors that make local communities prosper.

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Finding out what the farmers think.

Spillover impactsImportant lessons have been learned through acomprehensive analysis of global spillovers fromresearch on ICRISAT’s mandate crops. Is it now clearthat the roles of both biophysical and socio-economicconditions must be considered in any realisticdetermination of the spillovers of agricultural research.Having achieved a better understanding of theconstraints that have thus far limited spillover ofimproved technologies from Asia to Africa, we are nowpoised to focus on the elimination of these constraints.

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Spillover benefits can be spectacular. The above mapillustrates a case in point. An ICRISAT millet breedercollected some seeds of a landrace from a farmer’sfield in Togo. He carried them to India and used themin a trial. Another ICRISAT breeder, visiting fromZimbabwe, liked what he saw. He took the seeds toNamibia, and the rest is history. The Togolese line,modified by ICRISAT interventions, became a best-seller in Namibia. Today, Okashana 1 is the mostpopular variety in that country.

Prioritizing water in IndiaICRISAT social scientists completed a strategicassessment of rural poverty in the semi-arid tropicsfor a review spearheaded by IFAD. Recognizing thelink between SAT agriculture and rural poverty, thescientists identified agricultural strategies to reducepoverty, recommending priority interventions andresearch directions. The study suggests that giventhe serious and persistent problems of water scarcityand drought in India, water should be prioritized as anentry point and a catalyst for development activities.

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Information repositories forpolicy advocacyIndia’s National Centre for Agricultural Economicsand Policy (NCAP) and ICRISAT have strengthenedtheir already close collaboration to improve thequality of survey data for more efficient use as policyanalysis and advocacy. In the short span of one year,ICRISAT’s village-level studies methodology wasadopted by NCAP and its 10 cooperating centers forimproving data quality and analytical rigor. Bothpartners significantly benefit from the synthesisgenerated from a large set of representative villagesdrawn from many agroclimatic zones of the country,thus establishing information repositories for policyadvocacy.

InnovationsSocial scientists at ICRISAT have pioneered the useof the innovation systems framework as a way ofplanning and evaluating agricultural research. Theframework initially focuses analytical attention on thepatterns of linkage and partnership associated withtechnical and socio-economic change. It theninvestigates the institutional context of interventions.A clear impact of this work has been its use as anunderpinning concept in the recent CGIAR initiativeon Institutional Learning and Change, which seeks toimprove the performance and impact of CGIARscience by helping the centers to contribute moreeffectively to agricultural innovation systems and thedevelopment goals to which they lead.

TrainingA systematic evaluation of the impact of ICRISAT’slearning programs was conducted in 2001. Theoverall goal was to assess the extent to which ourlearning program has met its twin objectives:

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(a) enhancing the knowledge and skills of theparticipants, and (b) facilitating the contributions ofparticipants to their national institutions following theirtraining.

Whether training activities are conducted in theclassroom (above), or in the field (below), sharing theknowledge gleaned from more than 30 years ofresearch in the semi-arid tropics must continue to bea major priority for ICRISAT.

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The results of ICRISAT’s training efforts:

• Training at ICRISAT was shown to be demanddriven. National program employers sent 46% ofthe participants, and another 30% were sentthrough collaborative research projects.

• The overwhelming majority of participants (94%)reported that their training at ICRISAT wasnecessary for their jobs.

• Participants indicated that their practical skills andsubject knowledge had been enhanced throughtraining at ICRISAT.

• Most participants (90%) returned to their jobsimmediately after training at ICRISAT. Currently,56% of them continue in the same job, while 42%have changed jobs.

• For more than half the participants, promotion orimprovement in status was attributed to training atICRISAT. Nearly 37% of the participants later wenton to obtain a higher degree (MSc or PhD).

• Ninety-five percent of participants have shared theknowledge and skills with peers, and 55% wereinvolved in training other staff.

• About 80% of the participants are still applying theskills and knowledge gained at ICRISAT, indicatingrelevance, usefulness and sustainability oflearning.

• Nearly 73% participants expressed that their jobperformance was enhanced by more than doublethrough their exposure to ICRISAT.