ICRISAT
Happenings In-house Newsletter
8 August 2013 No. 1583
Photos: RL Aundhekar, MAU
Farmers in rural Maharashtra benefit from stover from postrainy season sorghum: (Left) Farmer Ganeshdada Jagdale of Mahajanwadi village proudly displaying his stover stock. (Right) Another farmer with his modern milking machine.
ICRISAT-HOPE project interventions boost milk production in Maharashtra, India Fodder shortages prevent many of the poorest farmers in rural Maharashtra, India from building better livelihoods, especially during droughts. Growing dual-purpose postrainy season sorghum in the State has recently provided smallholder farmers with higher grain yields and better fodder quantity and quality, helping mitigate fodder scarcity and generating increased income from dairy farming.
T
his was the highlight of a recent survey of the ICRISAT-led HOPE project sites in the State, where livestock is an integral component of the food, nutrition and income security of smallholder farmers. Postrainy season sorghum stover is the main, and most of the time, the only source of animal feed in droughtaffected Marathwada and Western Maharashtra regions of rural Maharashtra State in India. Since 2009, the HOPE project has been promoting ways to increase agricultural production, improve household food security, and alleviate poverty through better integration of crop and livestock production. In Maharashtra, the project focuses on enhancing grain and stover yields in postrainy
sorghum farmers’ fields. It is being implemented in six clusters in six districts where small-scale dairy units (of up to 10 animals) are quite popular and where sorghum stover is an important component of the daily animal ration. Since 2010, the availability of seeds of improved sorghum varieties along with production technology disseminated under the project has helped to substantially increase grain and dry fodder in the project areas. The seeds are maintained by formal and informal seed systems in various sorghum growing regions. Sorghum cultivars like Parbhani Moti, Phule Vasudha and Akola Kranti are highly preferred for their grain and dry fodder yields which to page 2 ...4