ICRISAT Happenings

12 October 2012

No. 1540

(L-R, seated) Drs Bino Teme (DG, Institut d’Economie Rurale), Adama Traoré (member, ICRISAT Governing Board), Farid Waliyar (Director, ICRISAT-WCA), Dr Yaranga Coulibaly (Minister of Agriculture, Mali) and Dr Bonny N’tare with ICRISAT staff (standing) at the 40th anniversary celebration held in Mali.

Mali’s Minister of Agriculture Dr Yaranga Coulibaly delivers his address.

ICRISAT@40

Anniversary rites in West and Central Africa Renewed commitment and strengthened partnerships to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers living in the drylands of West and Central Africa (WCA) marked ICRISAT’s 40th annual day celebration held at the Samanko station on 5 October.

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n his address as Chief Guest at the opening ceremony, Malian Minister of Agriculture, Dr Yaranga Coulibaly said that “while contributing to the region’s food security, Mali’s partnership with ICRISAT also provides farmers with opportunities to access agricultural markets, and improves producers’ incomes towards sustainable livelihoods.”

In his message, ICRISAT-WCA Director Farid Waliyar thanked the Malian government for its support and commitment to the Institute, highlighting the significant impacts of its partnership with Mali and with the entire region. He mentioned, among ICRISAT’s key research-for-development results, the release of many varieties of pearl millet,

sorghum and groundnut, strengthening of agricultural research infrastructure, and development of soil fertility management options.

Dr Adama Traoré, ICRISAT Governing Board member, stressed that the Institute’s presence in Mali had greatly contributed to increasing and stabilizing crop yields and household incomes, while improving the sustainability of commercial agriculture.

The ceremony was attended by several officials and delegates from national research institutes, farmers’ organizations, official envoys, and ICRISAT former and current staff members. to page 2 ...4

ICRISAT@40....from page 1 The Malian Minister of Agriculture, accompanied by Dr Bino Teme, Director General of the Institut d’ Economie Rurale (IER), Dr Traoré, Dr Waliyar, and several other guests later visited ICRISAT’s demonstration plots guided by Drs Fred Rattunde (sorghum) and Bonny N’tare (groundnut).

F Waliyar delivering his message during the opening ceremony.

Also during the program, Mr Bakary Sidibé spoke on behalf of ICRISAT staff. The Partnership Award was likewise presented to INERA, UGCPA, AMSP, and FEPAB; while the Best Publication Award was presented to Drs Bettina Haussmann, Fred Rattunde and Eva Weltzien.

As part of the 40th anniversary celebration, six mini-conferences (knowledge fairs) were also organized by ICRISAT scientists and partners on the following topics: Analysis of climate observations for the Sahel with PCS Traoré, Head of GIS, as main speaker; 40 years of research on crops in the semiarid areas hosted by Bakary Sidibé and Amadou Traoré; Sharing of knowledge and technologies in the past four decades participated in by representatives of farmer associations and NGOs; Future research priorities and analysis of constraints on production with Bonny N’tare (WCA Assistant Director) as presenter; Climate change and its impacts on agriculture/resilience/adaptation hosted

by Robert Zougmoré (CCAFS-WA Team Leader); and a Q&A on ICRISAT research partnership moderated

by Tom van Mourik.

Informal distinctions were awarded to deserving ICRISAT-WCA staff members. Games, meals (with local dishes prepared with millet, sorghum and groundnut) and music completed the annual day celebration. g

Adama Traoré delivers his anniversary message.

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ICRISAT-WCA Annual Day in pictures

Mali’s Minister of Agriculture visits ICRISAT’s experimental plots.

Fred Rattunde receives the Best Publication Award.

Mini-conferences hosted on the occasion. F Waliyar presents certificates of recognition.

Best Publication Award also goes to Bettina Haussman.

Roger Kabore (right) receives the Partnership Award.

Dr Robert Zangré of INERA gets the Partnership Award.

Bonny N’Tare gives away a sports prize.

Dr Bino Teme presents the Partnership The welcome party with publications Award to Yehoum Romanic. to show.

It was a day of games, dancing and resonating drum beats.

United we stand: ICRISAT staff call it a day!

ICRISAT Happenings 12 OCTOBER 2012/1540

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At the COP11 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

ICRISAT highlights agri-biodiversity for food security and improved livelihoods

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ith the threat of climate change now visible and extreme weather events projected to worsen in the future, the world’s genetic wealth in biological diversity could be the key to ecological and economic stability and in building climateresilient agriculture for global food security.

At the top-level 11th Conference of Parties (COP11) of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) being held at the HICC, HITEX Complex in Hyderabad from 8 DG William Dar at the side event organized by FEJI. Also seen are (L-R) to 19 October, ICRISAT highlighted the use Gopikrishna Warrier, Regional Environment Manager, PSA; Ms Keya Acharya, President, FEJI; and S Faizi, Board Member, CBD Alliance. of agri-biodiversity in strongly supporting the rationale for strengthening the CBD. he added, are genes that can provide climateresilience to future crop varieties through increased “Biological diversity has been and continues to be drought, heat and salinity tolerance, and pest and the foundation for agricultural research for disease resistance. sustainable food production and improved livelihoods across the world,” according to Director ICRISAT, which has applied science-led agricultural General William Dar speaking at a COP11 side research for the past 40 years to increase agricultural event organized by the Forum for Environment production in the semi-arid tropics, has one of the Journalists in India (FEJI), Panos South Asia (PSA) and world’s largest public-funded genebanks. It preserves the National Biodiversity Authority of India (NBA) seeds of more than 120,000 accessions of pearl and attended by journalists/media practitioners. Dr millet, sorghum, chickpea, pigeonpea, groundnut CLL Gowda and Ms C Bejosano also attended the and small millets (finger millet, foxtail millet, side event. barnyard millet, kodo millet, and little millet), that are kept as in-trust collections on behalf of the Food Dr Dar said that ICRISAT’s genebank is a treasure and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN, for trove of genes useful to crop improvement for the benefit of present and future generations. sustainable food production and improved livelihoods, particularly in the marginal In a related event, Dr Dar delivered a valedictory environments of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and address at the Sixth Asian Biotechnology and could provide the genes for ensuring global food and Development Conference organized by the Research nutrition security. Locked in this biological wealth, and Information System (RIS) for Developing Countries and supported by India’s Department of Science & Technology (DST) and Department of Biotechnology (DBT) held on 7 October, in conjunction with the COP-MOP6 (Meeting of Parties) on Biosafety held from 1 to 5 October.

Dr Kiran Sharma (3rd from left) at the COP-MOP6 side event on Biotech & Farming.

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In his conference address, he emphasized the ethical and moral imperative to keep the technological portfolio open to biotechnology to increase food productivity by as much as 70% in order to meet the food demands of more than 9 billion people by 2050. He also stressed the need to harmonize biodiversity with global biotechnology applications, as well as the need for risk assessment and biosafety to page 5 ...4

Review and planning workshop for ICRISAT-HOPE project held in Arusha

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CRISAT in partnership with Tanzania’s Department of Research and Development (DRD) held a review and planning workshop for the HOPE (Harnessing Opportunities for Productivity Enhancement) project on 2-3 October in Arusha, Tanzania.

The meeting was attended by 25 extension staff and 12 farmers from the five project mandate districts of Participants of the meeting held in Arusha, Tanzania.

Kondoa, Singida, Iramba, Kishapu and Rombo. Also in the meeting were participants from the Selian Agricultural Research is in the pipeline for release. The most preferred Institute (SARI); Agricultural Research Institutes (ARI) improved finger millet varieties (due to early maturity in Hombolo, Ilonga and Uyole; Sokoine University of and high yield traits) U-15 and P224, both ICRISAT Agriculture (SUA); and ICRISAT. lines, were officially released in 2011.

Frida Mgonja, the project’s national coordinator from SARI, discussed the project’s progress and achievements and presented the work plan for the 2012-2013 cropping season. ICRISAT’s Mary Mgonja, on the other hand, discussed the project’s four years of implementation in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) primarily to improve sorghum and finger millet productivity and household incomes.

Participants from the different project districts said that through participatory variety selection (PVS) trials, supply of small seed packs, subsidized seed voucher programs, quality declared seed (QDS), field days, and variety and crop management demonstrations, more than 10,000 farmers had been reached by the end of year three in the five mandate districts. The most preferred sorghum varieties Macia and Tegemeo were officially released, while KARI MtamaI is scheduled for release this year and HZV3 At the COP11....from page 4

Farmers from Singida district reported that the use of these improved varieties in combination with Striga or blast management technologies, microdosing of fertilizers and soil-water management technologies by many farmers had resulted in grain yield increases ranging from 1 to 2 tons per ha for sorghum and from 1 to 1.6 tons for finger millet. The project also established many partnerships with rural- and urban-based organizations such as NGOs, farmers’ groups, agro-dealers, traders and processors for technology dissemination, input supply and product marketing.

To sustain the gains in productivity improvement, the project will lay greater emphasis on training on postharvest handling techniques to improve product quality and to facilitate farmer-group market linkages with processors. g

research as essential in ensuring the safety of genetically engineered foods.

ICRISAT also actively participated in several sessions of the COP-MOP6, particularly on the side event on Biotech & Farming held on 2 October. Dr Kiran Sharma, Director of the Platform for Translational Research on Transgenic Crops (PTTC), represented the Institute in the COP-MOP6 on Biosafety under the auspices of the Public Research and Regulation Initiative (PRRI).

Visitors at the ICRISAT exhibit booth at COP11.

ICRISAT is also participating in the COP11 Interactive Fair for Biodiversity at Hall-2 of the HITEX Exhibition Centre from 1 to 19 October, with an exhibit booth showcasing the theme “Agribiodiversity for sustainable food security and improved livelihoods.” g ICRISAT Happenings 12 OCTOBER 2012/1540

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ABI-ICRISAT at DST-Lockheed Martin India’s Hyderabad Tech Expo

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he Agri-Business Incubation (ABI) program of ICRISAT participated in the Hyderabad Tech Expo jointly organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) with the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India; the Lockheed Martin Corporation; the Indo-US S&T Forum and the IC2 Institute, University of Texas on 26 September.

The expo was held to showcase innovators selected through the DST-Lockheed Martin India Innovation Growth Programme (IIGP), launched in 2007 to identify technologies with commercial potential and transform laboratory knowledge into commercial products, services and processes.

Ms Valerie Hase (2nd from right), Program Manager, IC2 Institute at the ABI-ICRISAT exhibit stall.

Mr SM Karuppanchetty, Chief Operating Officer of ABI-ICRISAT delivered a talk on Incubating Innovations for Inclusive Growth, as part of the lecture series organized for innovators during the

Expo. He discussed the role of business incubators in nurturing innovators and their ideas. The clients of ABI-ICRISAT also got a platform to showcase their innovations at the ABI Exhibit Stall in the Expo. g

NIABI incubators’ training program and review meeting

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s part of its handholding and mentoring project with the National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) of ICAR, ICRISAT’s ABI conducted a training program on Business Incubation at the Technopark-Technology Business Incubator (T-TBI), Thiruvananthapuram on 18-21 September.

ABI developed and organized the program along with the Indian STEP & Business Incubators Association (ISBA), the Asia Pacific Incubator Network (APIN), and the Technopark. Twenty-two participants from the Network of Indian AgriBusiness Incubators (NIABI) and ISBA community

Participants of the meeting.

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participated in the training. Session topics included, among others: basics of business incubations; technology evaluation; Intellectual Property Rights & business incubation; funding for start-ups; and incubator client management.

Following the training program, participants visited the incubator at the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT) and India’s first Telecom Business Incubator (Startup Village) at Kochi on 22 September.

A one-day review meeting of the incubators under NIABI was also held at Kochi. While appreciating ABI’s efforts in ensuring the sustainability of the incubators, Dr PS Pandey, National Coordinator (Component I), NAIP, noted the need for further improvements, and announced that another 100 agribusiness incubators will be set up in the coming years which will bolster the network and help in promoting the agricultural sector in India. g

Oilseed Knowledge Management Platform proposed

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he meeting of the Oilseed Research Institutes of ICAR was held at the Directorate of Rapeseed and Mustard, Bharatpur on 20-21 September. The meeting was chaired by Dr BB Singh, Assistant Director General (ADG) (Oilseed Crops).

During the meeting, Dr NT Yaduraju, ICRISAT Principal Scientist (ICT4D), presented a draft proposal on Oilseed Knowledge Management Platform (OKMP). With the possibility of extension of the Agropedia-II project by NAIP until March 2014, it was agreed that the objective of developing a dedicated platform for KM in oilseed crops will be integrated into the ongoing consortium. Mr Jeetendra Singh from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur also gave a demonstration on vKVK (Voice-Krishi Vigyan Kendra) and KVK-Netplatforms during the meeting. g

Participants at the meeting of Oilseed Research Institutes of ICAR.

New appointment (SMG cadre)

Body Mass Index (BMI) camp

Dr Girish Chander, Special Project Scientist, has been appointed as Scientist (Soil Science), Research Program – Resilient Dryland Systems, from 1 October under the SMG Cadre.

The Field Medical Unit (FMU) is organizing a Body Mass Index (BMI) camp on 18 October at FMUPatancheru, in cooperation with Pharmed Limited, a pharmaceutical company. Those interested may call #2638 and register your name on or before 16 October.

On the success of ICRISAT’s 40th anniversary celebrations

Thank you,Team ICRISAT!

In recognition of the high degree of professionalism, courtesy and attention to detail that went into the successful and most enjoyable and memorable 40th anniversary celebrations in Patancheru, a special get-together was organized at the Academic Court on 9 October. Anniversary Committee, Technical Committee, and Sub-Committee members, as well as select staff who significantly contributed to the success of the events were invited to a high-tea/refreshment and were given the 40th anniversary gift boxes as a token of great appreciation by the Management.

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Welcome Dr K Mohan Vishnuvardhan, an Indian national, joined as Special Project Scientist (Pigeonpea Breeding) (Durgapura, Rajasthan), Research Program – Grain Legumes, on 10 October. He obtained his PhD in Genetics and Plant Breeding in 2012 from Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU), Andhra Pradesh, India. He worked as Senior Research Fellow at ANGRAU’s Regional Agricultural Research Station, Tirupati, before joining ICRISAT.

ICRISAT research scholars bag Academy of Environmental Biology awards

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esearch scholars Md Riyazaddin and Abdul Rashid War, who carried out their thesis work under the supervision of Dr HC Sharma, bagged two gold medals in the competitions for Best Poster (Mechanisms of resistance to shoot fly) and Best Research Paper (Induced defense system in groundnut) during the 31st session of the Academy of Environmental Biology (AEB) on “Sustainable Development: Environment and Socio-Economic Challenges”. Md Riyazaddin also received the second prize in the Best Research Paper competition. g

Visitors’ log 07 October: Twelve delegates from the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Council, Tokyo.

08 October: Drs Gilda Jacalan and Gemma Somera from the Philippines; Drs Kaushik Mukherjee, ACS & DC, and V Chandrasekhar, Commissioner of Agriculture, Government of Karnataka.

09 October: Thirty trainees from the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), Hyderabad; and Zucca Maxime, Biologist, Naturalist from France.

10 October: Eighty students from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Tiruchirapally; 10 students from the International School of Hyderabad; and 8 participants of COP11.

(L) Abdul Rashid War and (R) Md Riyazaddin receiving their gold medals.

11 October: Ms Nu Nu Win and Ms Than Than New from the Department of Agriculture Research (DAR), Myanmar; and 10 students from TNAU. 12 October: Forty five mass communication students from St Francis College for Women, Begumpet, Hyderabad; 5 progressive farmers with the Block Technology Manager through Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA); 94 biotechnology and bioinformatics students from DY Patil University, Navi-Mumbai.

Thought for the week “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”

- Henry Adams