ICRISAT Happenings

3 August 2012

No. 1530

Farmers admiring different varieties of finger millet in the field and (inset) sampling finger millet products during a national field day at the KARI Alupe station, Kenya.

ICRISAT-HOPE holds farmers’ field days in Kenya ICRISAT’s Harnessing Opportunities for Productivity Enhancement of Sorghum and Millets (HOPE) project seeks to help end food insecurity and poverty through research-for-development on sorghum and millets, enhancing technology utilization, linking farmers with markets, and strengthening the capacity of national and civil society partners in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In Kenya, farmers’ field days were simultaneously held to increase the productivity of sorghum and millets among smallholder farmers.

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t the KARI Alupe station, ICRISAT-HOPE along with partners in Kenya organized a national field day on 21 July, attended by 231 participants composed of researchers from ICRISAT-Nairobi, NARO-Uganda, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) and Egerton University; officials of the Ministry of Agriculture; processors; agro-dealers; NGO officials; and farmer representatives from all HOPE project areas in Kenya.

During the field day, farmers had the opportunity to interact with researchers and share their experiences with other farmers from across ICRISAT-HOPE project areas in Kenya. A participatory variety selection (PVS) was held, with the improved variety U-15 unanimously selected by farmers based on preferred traits. The farmers were also taken through the whole finger millet value chain through a demonstration of post-harvest handling and to page 2 ...4

ICRISAT-HOPE holds farmers’ field days....from page 1 processing and preparation and display of value-added products.

In Asinge, Amukura, Teso, southern Kenya, ICRISAT in partnership with the KARI District Agricultural Office (DAO) and local farmers’ groups also held a field day on 24 July attended by 58 farmers and 31 secondary school students. Also in attendance were Rhoda Nungo and Gilder Aringo from KARI-Kakamega, Samson Simiyu from DAO, and Daniel Otwani, Patrick Audi and Henry Ojulong from ICRISAT-ESA.

Women farmers’ group during a field visit to Asinge, Amukura, Teso, southern Kenya.

PVS results showed that U-15, an improved early maturing and blast tolerant variety, was the most preferred finger millet by both women and men farmers. Microdosing was highly rated by farmers as they said it enhanced finger millet yield by almost 100%. The secondary school students, meanwhile, showed interest in the dietary value of finger millet.

During the discussions, 27-year-old Pamela Ekodi shared that she bought 0.5 kg small-seed pack of U-15 for Kshs 25 (US$0.3) from an agro-vet in Asinge market, planted it to 0.25 acre of land, from which she harvested 250 kg. From the harvest, she reserved 50 kg of grain for household consumption and seed, and sold 200 kg at Ksh80 (US$1) per kg giving her an estimated total gross income of Ksh16,000 (US$200).

She plans to use 2 kg of her own saved seed of U-15 to plant 1 acre during the short rains (SRs) season which starts in September 2012.

The challenges facing the farmers include nonavailability of seed, lack of credit to purchase fertilizers, lack of animal-drawn equipment for row planting, poor postharvest handling techniques, poor marketing infrastructure, and limited uses for finger millet at the household level.

In its last year of implementation, ICRISAT-HOPE will further elevate its impact by: 1) providing more small-seed packs of U-15 and Okhale varieties through agro-vets; 2) conducting training on postharvest handling and value addition; and 3) organizing farmer-trader market and credit linkage fora. g

Training on nursery management and tree propagation techniques held at Niamey

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CRISAT-Niamey organized a five-day training course on nursery management and tree propagation techniques from 16 to 20 July at Sadoré for Fakara producers. Dr Fatondji Dougbedji, ICRISAT Scientist (Agronomy) organized the training

under the CORAF Project on Integrated Systems on Agriculture-Livestock-Agroforestry for Sustainable Land Utilization, in collaboration with the Crop Diversification Program.

The training aimed to enhance farmers’ knowledge and skills on tree propagation techniques as a business and to enable them to share the same knowledge with other farmers. Training participants included 8 women and 21 men farmers.

Dr Mahamadou Gandah, ICRISAT Country Representative, gave the welcome address while Dr Abdoussalam Saidou, Crop Diversification Program Assistant, served as resource person during the training. g

Participants of the training in Sadoré.

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ICRISAT Happenings 3 August 2012/1530

Agribusiness meeting successfully conducted at ICRISAT

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he Agri-Business Incubation (ABI) program of the Agribusiness & Innovation Platform (AIP) conducted an Agribusiness mela (meeting) on 2 August at Patancheru, primarily to promote agribusiness ventures and provide a platform for the sharing and exchange of ideas and innovations in availing incubation services and funding assistance.

A key highlight of the meeting was the presence of Hyderabad Angels, an investor community in the city, who has partnered with ABI, along with the Technology Development Board (TDB) of the Department of Science & Technology and the National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) in promoting agribusiness ventures.

In his opening address, KK Sharma, AIP Chief Executive Officer discussed the role of ABI in promoting agribusiness ventures and in nurturing innovations. The activity was attended by Dr Sunder Lal Goswami, Director of the National Academy of Agricultural Research Management; Dr PS Raju from TDB; and Mr Shirish Reddi of Hyderabad Angels.

SM Karuppanchetty, Chief Operating Officer of ABI, spoke about the program and the day’s activities, while ABI clients, Mr Ramesh Kongara,

Agribusiness mela participants at Patancheru.

Mr Vijayakumar and Mr Pradeep shared their innovations and experiences in availing support from ICRISAT’s ABI. The event had 63 registered participants. Thirteen (13) proposals were screened of which seven were selected for funding. Nine agribusiness proposals were also selected for incubation support through the Network of Indian Agri-Business Incubators (NIABI) for technology commercialization from the Business Planning and Development Units (BPDs) being mentored by ABI. g

Safety awareness and orientation program held at Patancheru

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he Environment, Health and Safety Committee (EHSC) conducted a one-day Safety Awareness & Orientation Program for 48 safety wardens and new staff of ICRISAT and partner organizations at Patancheru on 30 July. Participants were given lectures and practical demonstrations on best practices, policies and procedures for a safe, healthy and environment-friendly workplace.

Mr Hector Hernandez, HRO Director, inaugurated the program and reiterated the need to create better

safety awareness and compliance with safety norms and regulations. TD Peter, Head, Security Services welcomed the participants and gave an overview of the safety management policies, practices and mechanisms at ICRISAT under the risk management framework.

A series of training modules on safety, health and environment with ground visits and practical demonstrations followed: Safety warden scheme and safety manual, fire safety and emergency response (TD Peter); Farm, engineering, workshop, and electrical safety (SC Pillay, Bijoo Davis, K Hanmanth Rao); Transportation safety (Aslam Shariff); Laboratory safety (G Pardhasaradhi); and First aid and medical emergencies (CN Reddy). g

Safety awareness & orientation program participants.

ICRISAT Happenings 3 August 2012/1530

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New appointments

The following staff members have been appointed to the International Special Project Scientist (SPS) cadre, from the SMG cadre, effective 1 July: Dr Rajan Sharma, Senior Scientist – Cereals Pathology & Head, Plant Quarantine Laboratory, Research Program-Dryland Cereals; and

Dr SK Gupta, Senior Scientist – Pearl Millet Breeding, Research Program – Dryland Cereals.

Meanwhile, Dr G Basavaraj, Special Project Scientist (Economics), has been appointed as Scientist (Economics), Research Program – Markets, Institutions and Policies, in the SMG cadre effective 1 July.

We congratulate them and wish them all success.

New publications Consortium approach for capacity building in watershed management in Karnataka, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand; Experiences and learning (Resilient Dryland Systems Report no. 56).

Assessing viability of bio-ethanol production from sweet sorghum (Working Paper Series no. 30).

Enhancing farmers’ adaptation to climate change in arid and semi-arid agriculture of India: Evidences from indigenous practices (Working Paper Series no. 32).

Visitors’ Log 31 July: Dr Edward Raja, scientist, Indian Institute of Horticulture Research (IIHR), Bangalore; Dr Kiran Babu, program coordinator and Dr Peter Lasrado, senior project officer from Holistic Child Development Institute(HCDI), Pune; and 12 foreign delegates through NIRD.

01 August: Ninety agriculture students from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Madurai.

02 August: Ninety agriculture students from the Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai.

Sad demise Dr John L Monteith, Director, Resource Management Program at ICRISAT from 1 Jan 1987 to 30 Nov 1991, passed away on 20 July.

Team ICRISAT conveys its heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family of Dr Monteith.

Thought for the week “What is the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity? Our attitude toward it.

Every opportunity has a difficulty, and every difficulty has an opportunity.”

– J Sidlow Baxter