ICRISAT’s holistic approach
to agricultural research for development
Su sta i
Developing on-farm practices and technologies
Managing soil and water
ribu sin e
ss
Facilitating assistance to market access
al Dimens oci i S g
Integra ti
Breeding higher performing crop varieties
n
Introducing processing technologies
on
Diversifying farms
Building Ag
es
na
ati on c i f i ens t n I ble
Driving market development Analyzing key problems and opportunities
Approach for Adoption Participatory approach and partnering – working side by side Building capacity – at a national and local level Integrating communications - to build awareness and share knowledge Monitoring and evaluation – for feedback and adjustment Policy support – work closely with government to encourage the needed policies
Cross-cutting issues Mainstreaming nutrition Empowering women – women are consulted, involved and supported to lead
Science with a human face
www.icrisat.org
November 2013
Our Commitment
W
e innovate to help poor communities in Africa and Asia: ₋₋ Fight hunger and poverty ₋₋ Reduce malnutrition ₋₋ Revitalize the environment
We work across the whole value chain and have science-based solutions at all stages. ICRISAT has specialized knowledge on the drylands, which covers 55 countries in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa and are inhabited by 2 billion people, 644 million of whom are poor. These regions are most vulnerable to climate change with very little rainfall, degraded soils and poor social infrastructure. We have specialized skills on crops of immense value to the nutrition and economics of the semi-arid tropics – dryland cereals (sorghum and millets) and grain legumes (chickpea, pigeonpea and peanut).
The Solutions We don’t bring just one part of the solution. By analyzing key problems and opportunities, we work along the whole value chain: ▪▪
Sustainable On-farm Intensification
₋₋ ₋₋
₋₋ ₋₋ ▪▪
Managing soil and water Breeding higher performing crop varieties Diversifying farms Developing on-farm practices and technologies
Building Agribusinesses
₋₋ ₋₋ ₋₋
Introducing processing technologies Facilitating assistance to market access Driving market development
What is unique about this approach? ▪▪
▪▪ ▪▪ 2
It is multidisciplinary, combining social understanding with biophysical advances and business. All solutions are science based and continue to be monitored and evaluated scientifically. It not only works at the different stages of the value chain but can make the
A concept note for
Ensuring nutritional security in rural India
▪▪
linkages from farmer to agribusiness to markets.
We take it further than a value chain approach – with an Inclusive Market-
Oriented Development (IMOD)
approach. This requires: ₋₋
₋₋
being ‘inclusive’ of the stakeholders in developing solutions, and ensuring that all stakeholders, including the smallholder farmers and the women, benefit from the development. being market driven in the developments moving the poor farmers from subsistence to a commercially oriented profitable business.
Our Capabilities Multidisciplinary high class science
from natural resource management, genetics, bioinformatics and phenotyping to economics and social sciences.
On the ground in Africa and Asia
with offices in Kenya, Malawi Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and India.
Strong networks
as we work in partnership at all levels – local, national, regional and international.
Participatory methods
have been developed and are used as part of our work, involving the farmers through to the government and private industry where change is needed.
Recognized as independent
As an international non-profit organization that has worked in Asia and Africa for over 40 years, our scientific and independent credibility are well founded.
Young school children in rural India eating millet chappatis with rice and vegetable curry.
Ensuring nutritional security
BIG IDEAS
in rural communities
M
alnutrition has been declared as the greatest single threat to the world’s public health by UN’s Standing Committee on Nutrition.
Smallholder agriculture can play a strong role in reducing malnutrition in
resource-poor rural communities, through a broader partnership with the health, nutrition and education sectors. We recommend integrating nutrition and agriculture developments and working from both the demand and supply side. We need to mainstream nutrition into agricultural development. We can do this by: A. Growing nutri-resilient crops – crops that are highly nutritious as well as better able to cope with drought and poor soil. B. Incorporating nutrition needs along the whole agricultural value chain. C. Cross-sectoral partnering forged with agriculture, health and education sectors.
Science with a human face
www.icrisat.org
November 2013
The problem and opportunity
According to the UN World Food Program, more than 900 million people in the world do not get the right or nutritious food to eat.
Engaging the right partners across agriculture, health and education is essential to ensure a sustainable impact on nutrition.
Taking a holistic approach to mainstreaming nutrition will require multiple approaches, ensuring the availability of nutritious food through to the demand for more nutritious food.
ICRISAT can work with the public and private sectors and be the independent catalyst to make this happen.
About 50% of child deaths under the age of five in developing countries are linked to undernutrition. Malnutrition at an early age may lead to reduced physical and mental development and also limits capacity to learn. Past agricultural advancement that has focused on the quantity of food are often blamed for malnutrition. Let’s start in the rural areas – of the 3 billion people that live in rural areas (nearly half of the humanity), about 2.5 billion are involved in agriculture and 1.5 billion (half of the rural area population) are resource-poor smallholder farmers.
The solution A.
B.
Grow nutri-resilient crops – crops that are
highly nutritious as well as better able to cope with drought and poor soil. Identifying and focusing on nutri-resilient crops of the future is an important component. Incorporate nutrition needs along the whole
agricultural value chain. ▪▪
▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪
▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪ C. 2
Biofortification – breeding micronutrientrich crop varieties – using a combination of conventional, genomics and molecular breeding. Seed production and delivery systems for dissemination to improve farmers’ knowledge or access to seeds of improved varieties. On-farm crop and livestock diversity. Crop management interventions to improve grain micronutrient concentration. Addressing major food safety issues such as: ₋₋ incorporate resistance to aflatoxins in groundnut breeding program ₋₋ introduce on-farm and storage practices that reduce the risk of aflatoxin infections ₋₋ introduce to farmers, simple costeffective aflatoxin testing kits.
The approach Key to the success includes the following: ▪▪ Participatory approach – involving stakeholders and beneficiaries, including women, in the research ensuring they are helping identify the needs and direct the research priorities. ▪▪ Capacity building – working alongside the national system to build local capacity and ensure that initiatives are sustainable. ▪▪ Integrating communications – to build awareness and share knowledge along the whole value chain. ▪▪ Empowering women – past successes in agricultural research for development have shown the critical need to ensure women are involved in programs and empowered to take action. Nutritional programs in particular will require women’s inputs to provide direction as well as empowering them to act on the recommendations. Methods to achieve this will be important to apply at all stages of the value chain. ▪▪ Monitoring and evaluation – is important at all stages of the work to ensure inputs to continually direct the research and adoption efforts.
Involvement Reduce malnutrition through agricultural research
and development to stimulate the whole value chain – from developing, growing, and value
addition.
addition of nutri-resilient crops; biofortification, breeding and disseminating micronutrient-rich crop varieties; and partnering with stakeholders to mainstream health, agriculture, nutrition education, and women empowerment.
security.
Contacts
nutritious foods.
CLL Gowda, Deputy Director General-Research, E-mail: c.gowda@cgiar.org
Post-harvest processing and value Influencing policy to support nutrition Educating and building demand for
Cross-sectoral partnerships forged with
agriculture, health and education sectors.
A concept note for
Ensuring nutritional security in rural India
Joanna Kane-Potaka, Director, Strategic Marketing and Communication, E-mail: j.kane-potaka@cgiar.org
Young school children in rural India eating millet chappatis with rice and vegetable curry.
BIG IDEAS
Building livelihood options to empower rural women
W
omen are far more likely than men to channel their income from agriculture into the nutrition, health and education of their children.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN-FAO), tackling gender differences could increase agricultural output by as much as 4% each year, and lift an estimated 100 million people out of poverty. We can make changes now through livelihood options for rural women. Build their capacity Increase their livelihood options Educate them about nutrition
Create agriculture and agribusiness opportunities for women
Science with a human face
Improved child education
Increase income Next generation benefits Empower them
www.icrisat.org
Better family nutrition
November 2013
The problem and opportunity
The approach
Even the farmers and their families do not have enough to eat.
1)
If you are worried about having enough to eat, you are not concerned with nutrition levels.
If you do not know how you will survive this year, you are not going to invest in the condition of the soil for next year.
Participatory analysis and solution building at village level -
Bring together the women and the broader community in a village, the players along the whole value chain (e.g. traders and processors) and scientific and business experts.
Children are only sent to school if there is enough income that season.
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Analyse the barriers and opportunities
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Provide nutrition and health education
There is a cycle among livelihoods, education and health.
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Develop solutions together that are science based and owned by the community
We know that engaging and empowering women is critical in making a positive change within this cycle.
2)
Rural women are the poorest in the world. The number of rural women living in poverty has doubled since the 1970s Women farmers in developing countries are 20-30% less productive than men. This is because women do not have the same access to key assets.
Implement the solutions. This can include: - Training the women -
Giving access to needed assets
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Creating/strengthening self-help groups
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Building knowledge on nutrition and health. This will include understanding cultural norms and how to manage these, food options and social interventions to overcome malnutrition, and other practices such as water, sanitation and healthcare.
In Africa, for instance, women own just 1% of the agricultural land, receive only 7% of available extension services, and are able to access less than 10% of all agricultural credit.
3)
Women are generally responsible for the food and nutrition of the family.
Women are more vulnerable to discrimination and social mistreatment.
It is based on sound diagnostic research and incorporates strong scientific knowledge to develop solutions and continues with scientific backing in implementing and monitoring the solutions.
It brings together health, education, livelihoods and food security in a new and powerful way.
If we can close the gender gap in rural areas we can:
How you can be involved
Key for this approach:
Health is typically treated as a separate issue and is not integrated into agriculture and rural livelihood options.
- - - -
Produce more food in developing countries by 2.5 to 4%. Reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 100 to 150 million people. Build more businesses. Have healthier future generations.
So how do we change things? The focus is to implement agricultural and agribusiness solutions for women that lead to better and sustainable livelihoods.
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Continually monitor the approach, developments and impacts.
Sponsor the whole program and be a global leader. Engage with the wider general public by encouraging their involvement to: -
sponsor a village;
-
sponsor a women’s Self-Help Group; or
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sponsor a woman to run a business (through training and providing assets).
Contact Chanda Goodrich, Principal Scientist (Empower Women), E-mail: G.goodrich@cgiar.org
BIG IDEAS
Global agribusiness incubation model
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e see a huge need and value in fostering agribusiness entrepreneurship in developing countries. To take this even further, we see an opportunity to provide the connections to the global markets, for these entrepreneurs. This can be achieved by:
Setting up agribusiness incubators in developing countries
Linking these agribusiness incubators to provide access to the knowledge, technology, connections and markets in other countries.
Science with a human face
www.icrisat.org
November 2013
Problems and opportunities There is a need to further develop the agricultural value chains in developing countries, to improve food and livelihood security and economic growth.
Small entrepreneurs in developing countries struggle with less access to the needed resources, assets, technologies, expertise and market information and access.
This will also open opportunities for entrepreneurs to take their products and technologies to the market globally.
Agribusiness entrepreneurship opens opportunities for new businesses as well as for smallholder farmers to build closer business link with the market and be a stronger player in the value chain.
The solution ICRISAT has already a proven model for agribusiness incubators through the experience of setting up 22 agribusiness incubators in India, 11 in Africa and others in Nepal, Philippines, and Sri Lanka. These are self-sustaining incubators set up through private-public partnerships.
The incubators nurture and mentor entrepreneurs, providing technical, business and market information, as well as knowledge on the access to credit and partners.
Link these agribusiness incubators to provide access to the knowledge, connections and markets in other countries.
Linking the incubators across regions and countries will allow knowledge and technology sharing. This will be the channel for small agribusiness entrepreneurs to grow and tap other markets.
This is a technology transfer model that allows two-way flow of knowledge and technologies, for faster scaling up and building more profitable businesses.
•
There will be a special focus on including women farmers and agribusiness entrepreneurs. Opening up of new avenues of partnership with various public and private sector development agencies/organizations.
To scale up this model it is recommended to:
Set up agribusiness incubators in developing countries
This will include significant expansion of the number of incubators to reach a critical mass in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The incubators will be set up through privatepublic partnerships with ICRISAT hand holding the process of setting up and operating in a network to form a Global Agri-Business Incubators Network.
Expected outcomes •
•
Better entrepreneurship, enhanced technology transfer and development of better marketrelevant agro-technologies for entrepreneurs in developing nations. Enabling farmers to become a part of the value chain and enhance their livelihood means.
•
Involvement
Contact
Be a partner in setting up agribusiness incubators.
Kiran K Sharma, Chief Executive Officer, Agribusiness and Innovation Platform; E-mail: k.sharma@cgiar.org
Be a partner in expanding/strengthening this Global Agri-Business Incubator Network, and contribute in the scaling-up efforts to enhance productivity of the agriculture sector. 2
A concept note for
Ensuring nutritional security in rural India
A center of excellence in nutrition and food safety
T
BIG IDEAS
he safety, quality and nutritional value of the food we eat is of fundamental importance to our health and well-being. Lack of the right amount of the vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients and safe food, affects physical and mental growth and results in an overall negative impact on the society and economy. Private food testing laboratories typically lack the flexibility to explore and innovate new technologies and do not provide services to assist small to medium enterprises. National research laboratories focus mainly on fundamental research and do not address the agribusiness needs. Export markets are often not accessible to small agribusinesses due to the lack of affordable food testing services necessary to comply with statutory requirements of importing countries.
A Center of Excellence in Nutrition and Food Safety is identified as a critical need and opportunity – with the primary objective of developing high-throughput, innovative and low cost testing protocols for achieving nutritional security and food safety. The Center of Excellence in Nutrition and Food Safety The Centere of Excellence shall catalyze the availability of nutritious and safe foods through advancements in four key areas: 1. Nutrition ▪▪
Development of high-throughput, innovative and low cost testing protocols - Rapid screening protocols for nutrients, plant metabolites and bioactives shall be developed and validated - Rapid methods to assess in vitro bioavailability of micronutrients and phytochemicals will be developed in order to validate the bioavailability of micronutrients. - The rapid testing protocols shall be applied to assess and improve the nutritional status of typical diets and food preparations of the poor
Science with a human face
www.icrisat.org
November 2013
▪▪
Development of new innovative processing technologies and functional food products - -
- -
Develop innovative storage, cooking and processing technologies to deliver nutritionally enhanced diets and food products. This will include the development of affordable therapeutic infant, maternal and geriatric food formulations with enhanced nutritional traits, addressing hidden hunger and malnutrition, suitable for the poorer communities. Development of functional food products that can address different lifestyle diseases namely diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Health claims of food products shall be scientifically validated.
2. Food safety ▪▪
Affordable and food safety testing provided - High-throughput, innovative and lowcost testing protocols will be developed and validated for screening of microbial contaminants, mycotoxins, chemical constituents (heavy metals, pesticide residues etc.) and allergens. - These tests will be set up so they facilitate the compliance to domestic and international regulations. - They will also ensure food safety, especially in the diets of the poor and malnourished. - They will work with regulatory authorities to be a proficiency testing provider in countries where there are currently no proficiency testing provider for food testing laboratories, e.g. in India.
3. Policy support ▪▪
▪▪
Guide governments and other agencies
on national and local schemes that target the poor in regards to the food nutrition and safety. Assist with formulating guidelines and regulations to ensure nutritional security and food safety. Serve as a national referral laboratory in the areas of nutrition and food safety.
4. Promotion and capacity building ▪▪ ▪▪ 2
Undertake advocacy with industry, farmers and government in support of highly nutritious and safe foods that target the poor. Provide open sharing of knowledge and technical information. A concept note for
Ensuring nutritional security in rural India
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▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪
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Recommend appropriate food recipes, storage and cooking methods to enhance nutritional value and safety. Capacity Building Conduct trainings to enhance knowledge of nutrition and food safety and innovative cooking and storage methods. Capacity building of technical staff involved in the area of nutritional product development, implementation of food safety regulations and food testing laboratories. There will also be capacity building of field staff involved in community-based nutritional health/food safety improvement programs.
Facilitating establishment of a Center of Excellence in Nutrition and Food Safety in other countries Set up and support can be provided by ICRISAT and its Agribusiness and Innovation Platform which has experience in working on value addition, food processing, food safety and capacity building:
~ ~ ~ ~
Establishing 22 agribusiness incubators in India and more in Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Africa. Setting up 5 food safety laboratories in Africa. Training and consultancies for food processing and agribusiness. Researching across the whole value chain incorporating the social and physiological disciplines.
Outcomes and benefits ▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪
▪▪
Lead to more nutritious and safer diets of the poor, contributing to overcoming malnutrition and serious lifestyle diseases. Address lifestyle diseases through interventions at the dietary level and advocacy. Facilitate networking between farmers, researchers, and industry for efficient knowledge transfer in the area of nutrition and food safety. Facilitate new food processing and agribusiness industries domestically and for export through product development and food safety efforts.
Involvement Support the establishment of a Center of Excellence in a country or region, building a sustainable business model.
Contact Kiran K Sharma, Chief Executive Officer, Agribusiness and Innovation Platform; E-mail: k.sharma@cgiar.org
Grain legumes research for the future
BIG IDEAS
▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪
G
600 million of the world’s most vulnerable people depend on legumes for food and fodder 200 million hectares of grain legumes are grown globally US$24 billion in market value at the farm gate per annum in the developing countries
rain legumes are protein rich foods that balance cereal-based diets and are the least resource demanding option to improve the nutrition of poor people.
Grain legumes supply up to 60% of daily protein intake for the poor in parts of subSaharan Africa, and 13% for hundreds of millions of poor in South Asia. Farmers both consume and sell grain legumes, benefiting from food and income gains. Grain legumes can take their nitrogen from the air in place of fertilizer, contributing enormously to sustainable intensification and raising food production. With grain legumes’ large production and market, we are aiming for an integrated approach to research for development (R4D) to ensure that current and future generations of smallholder farmers and poor consumers will benefit. We need to invest heavily in basic and strategic research, and involve innovative research to chart new areas to enhance the genetic gain from crop improvement.
Science with a human face
www.icrisat.org
November 2013
The problem and opportunity Production of grain legumes is being displaced by cereals, leading to higher legume prices and negative nutritional impacts Inadequate seed production systems and the lack of access to seed by distant smallholder producers are particular bottlenecks to the adoption of improved varieties. In some regions the per capita demand for legumes is decreasing. As countries develop and become wealthier, legumes confront competition from other foods.
productivity. Developing new resilient varieties is urgently needed. Overall demand for all grain legumes in low-income food-deficit countries (LIFDC) is expected to double from the current 30 million tons to 62 million tons in 2050. We need to elevate and strengthen our research for development efforts to increase the productivity and production particularly of chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut in the rainfed areas of Asia and subSaharan Africa.
Grain legumes are also susceptible to climate change – both drought and heat can severely limit their
Our grain legumes R4D approach 1)
2)
We will use modern approaches to enhance genetic gain to improve productivity of grain legumes: - genome sequencing - generating large-scale genotypic information by developing/ accessing analysis and decision support tools in modern breeding approaches. - phenotyping for drought adaptation traits, and high-throughput phenotyping for diseases. We will develop insect smart crop production systems, particularly for pigeonpea and chickpea, through the use of:
- -
transgenic approaches of insect resistance, and introgressing insect resistance from wild species using genomics-based approaches.
We will harness the potential of doubledhaploid (DH) and heterosis approaches in grain legumes – promising tools to develop new high-yielding crop varieties of crops such as chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut. These pro-poor technologies make possible the selection of individuals with desirable gene combinations and to propagate them as clones, beneficial in developing countries, where farmers would be able to save hybrid seed for the following crop. 3)
Involvement
Contact
Partner with us in advancing the development of high-throughput platform and deployment of modern breeding approaches in crop improvement programs.
Rajeev K Varshney, Director, Research Program on Grain Legumes, ICRISAT. Email: r.k.varshney@cgiar.org
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A concept note for
Ensuring nutritional security in rural India
BIG IDEAS
Dryland cereals for the future ▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪
D
Grown by 33 million smallholder households in the drylands of Africa and Asia Sorghum is dietary staple of 500 million people, millets of 90 million people in the drier areas of Africa and Asia. Grown in rural and marginal, often harsh environments with limited market opportunities. ryland cereals like sorghum and millet are drought tolerant, often the only food and fodder crops for smallholders in the dryland regions.
Highly nutritious, dryland cereals crops contribute to reduction in malnutrition. They are easy to produce and has high multiple uses (food, fodder, biofuel, beverage) – offering many livelihood opportunities for farmers and agribusiness entrepreneurs. Growth in demand for dryland cereals will be driven not only by population growth but by new markets, such as increased demands by middle-to-upper classes for health food, weaning foods for infant, and especially as livestock feed and fodder.
Science with a human face
www.icrisat.org
November 2013
Demand for cereals in the target regions is forecast to increase by about 40% by 2020 (over the 2000 baseline). In the face of drought and changing climate, improving the resilience of sorghum and millets to meet this demand is a must.
Beyond the physical constraints of their harsh ecologies, dryland cereals also face biotic stresses that are difficult, if possible at all, to be addressed through traditional methods.
We are now working on crop improvement products and associated technologies for dryland cereals for over 11.8 million hectares in Africa and Asia directly benefiting 5.8 million smallholder households with a total of 34 million beneficiaries (including value chain operators).
1)
We will use modern approaches to design more resilient dryland cereals like sorghum and millets that require key breeding targets for specific environments. Here, we will need:
▪▪
phenotyping to dissect the genetics of critical traits developing/accessing analysis and decision support tools in modern breeding creating new cultivars that combine improved resilience traits with improved productivity, resistance to biotic stresses, and grain qualities.
These benefits are not only via improved food security and nutrition, but also through opportunities to increase cash income by way of off-farm sale of food, feed and fodder to meet the demands of the increasing urbanized population.
The problem and opportunity Production of dryland cereals is constrained by limited farmer access to seed of improved varieties, as well as knowledge about them. The degraded and low fertility soils often found in dryland environments, as well as drought, are major constraints, and research continues to focus on improving the resiliency of new varieties and hybrids to these harsh environmental realities. Farmers need to learn about and adopt new management practices, without which improved varieties and hybrids usually have little or no advantage over traditional cultivars. Grain quality, its storability, and fodder quality are important considerations to farmers, and can limit the adoption and production of new cultivars.
Our dryland cereals R4D value chain approach
▪▪ ▪▪
2)
We will develop develop a platform to create resilience trait – based on different biotechnologies that will create traits not available in existing germplasm.
The idea: Some of the biotic constraints that sorghum and pearl millet face in their ecologies do not have a game-changing solution from their cultivated or wild genepool: they require the creation of that resistance.
Involvement Partner with us in developing dryland cereals for the future and expanding the scale of our R4D operations through investments in: - - - -
Finally, pests and diseases can severely constrain dryland cereal production.
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We will elevate and strengthen our research for development efforts to improve the resilience of sorghum and millets in the face of drought and changing climate.
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While genetic tools are now available in breeding, improving cultivars for complex constraints requires a multi-discipline approach at a large scale.
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A concept note for
Ensuring nutritional security in rural India
large scale throughput phenotyping increasing size of network of testing locations and the quality of data collection training future breeders integration and use of full potential of genomics, physiology, modeling, biometrics and informatics to enhance genetic gain especially for drought tolerance a high throughput platform for generating thousands of events and screening facilities exploring non-transgenic ways of creating resistances.
Contact Stefania Grando, Director, Research Program on Dryland Cereals, ICRISAT. Email: s.grando@cgiar.org
BIG IDEAS
Climate resilient communities for improving rural livelihoods
S
mallholder farmers are reliant mainly on rainfed areas.
With climate change – increasing variability in the rainfall intensity and unusual heavy rainfall events followed by long dry spells – there is a need to build the resilience of these rural communities.
There are solutions to reduce the vulnerability of the rural communities to impacts of climate change.
We recommend Location specific customized adaptive strategies developed through participatory approaches. Establish a climate change information network to empower the rural communities using innovative knowledge delivery systems in the rural areas. Build the capacity of different stakeholders for developing climate resilient agriculture and enabling policies and institutions for scaling-up.
Science with a human face
www.icrisat.org
November 2013
Scientific solutions and proof of concept
▪▪
Selected villages will be studied and climate adaptive strategies developed, implemented and evaluated. A proof of concept will be established by building
▪▪
climate resilient communities.
The solutions will be context specific including: ▪▪ ▪▪
Taking into account the local catchment level, including the multi-sectoral activities. Enhancing crop, soil, water and other inputs use efficiency to increase production and profits.
Approach ▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪
Participatory development of solutions
that engage and empower the community. A consortium of different institutions to harness the power of public-private partnerships. Involvement of women and youth to build sustainability of the interventions.
Enabling institutions and policy guidelines
▪▪ ▪▪
Diversification of on-farm and other livelihood options. Other methods for sustainable intensification on-farm. Harnessing the power of new scientific tools like ICT, GIS, simulation models and remote sensing. Considering the whole value chain through to processing and markets.
Scaling up The proof of concept for climate resilient communities will be clearly defined models, sites of learning and have an inventory of tested adaptation and mitigation strategies. Established information networks in one community will be tapped for information sharing in other communities.
to support the science-based solutions.
Involvement
Contact
Support development of proof of concept for selected communities.
Suhas P Wani, Research Program Director (Acting), Resilient Dryland Systems Email: s.wani@cgiar.org
Assist with the scaling up of a network of climate resilient communities.
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BIG IDEAS
“Innovation Hubs” to empower smallholder farmers to improve their livelihoods
S
mallholder farmers are very often disadvantaged from the larger development process due to challenges of access – infrastructure, knowledge and market access – and consequently caught in a vicious cycle of low investment, low risk taking ability, low productivity and poor markets, and therefore low incomes. The opportunity lies in supporting and empowering the smallholder farmers through
Innovation Hubs.
This is a combination of ▪▪ ▪▪
Innovation Platforms which bring together players along the value chain to
share issues and opportunities; and Incubation Hubs that assist and mentor entrepreneurs through new business investments, supporting them during the start-up highest risk phase.
Science with a human face
www.icrisat.org
November 2013
How this works
INNOVATION HUB
Innovation Platforms Linking the private sector, government and communities for identifying business issues and opportunities
Innovation Platforms bring together private sector, government and the community – each partner playing a complimentary role along the value chain. There is vested or shared vision for partnerships. Facilitating discussions through the innovation platform will assist to: ▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪
Link the farmers closer to the markets Identify market issues and opportunities Forge multi-disciplinary partnerships Develop business models/market linkages Identify evidence-based policy change support that is needed.
Incubation Hubs complement and integrate with
the innovation platforms as they assist with the implementation of business initiatives. They are a safety net at the highest risk, early set up phase of business development. This is important to help farmers manage risks and enable them to invest in new initiatives to grow and advance.
The Incubation hub provides: ▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪
Customized market and business knowledge Assistance with access to inputs like technologies and credit Protection/risk management at a viable cost until scale is achieved Links to the value chain players Influencing required policies. Many of these support activities are provided through the network of the Innovation Platform as well as being customized and accessed through the Incubation Hub added expertise.
This approach brings together two proven initiatives (Innovation Platforms and Incubation Hubs) in a new and complementary way. This is a powerful 2
A concept note for
Ensuring nutritional security in rural India
Incubation Hubs A safety net and support for new business initiatives
combination of approaches that will significantly build the livelihoods of smallholder farmers with a much higher rate of success.
Implementation The Innovation Hubs will initially be run as pilots in 25 hubs. Monitoring and evaluation will be carried out throughout gathering lessons learned, and ensuring that critical factors for success are adopted. Plans are for 100 hubs in year 2 and major scaling up to 1,100 hubs by year 5. ICRISAT’s role will be to: - - - - -
facilitate the setting up of the Innovation Hubs; support with the running of these hubs; ensuring the community is empowered in the process; conduct monitoring and evaluation of the process and its effectiveness; and undertake research to support business initiatives and share scientific, market and policy knowledge and expertise.
The Innovation Hubs will be self-sustaining through a combination of community ownership and private sector investments in a market-driven production approach.
Involvement Support an Innovation Hub and the research behind it. Help grow these on a large scale.
Contact Cynthia Bantilan, Director, Research Program on Markets, Institutions and Policies Email: c.bantilan@cgiar.org
BIG IDEAS
Mitigating feed and fodder shortages through development along the whole value chain
B
oth a problem and business opportunity: farming systems are unable to
meet the rising demand for feed and fodder due to the demand-driven livestock revolution. For example in India, there is a deficit of 24% dry fodder, 33% green fodder and 37% concentrates and this deficit is further growing owing to the increasing demand for milk and meat products. A holistic approach is recommended, developing the whole value chain for feed and fodder. This will range from breeding for feed/fodder to processing, storage, policies and market access.
Science with a human face
www.icrisat.org
November 2013
Solutions that are science based The value chain development will include: ▪▪
▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪
Breeding programs that focus on: - dual-purpose cultivars with high fodder quality - high-tillering, fast growing, multicut forages with high palatability and digestibility - water and nitrogen-use efficiency - disease and pest resistance - feed resources free from/with low HCN, lignin, polyphenols, Oxalic acid, Aflatoxin Best-bet options for quality fodder production and mechanization of production and processing On-farm efficiencies and intensification Efficient utilization of common property resources Fodder warehouses establishment Advocating subsidizing/custom hiring of the machinery for fodder processing and better utilization Reviewing quality assurance of animal feeds Encourage and facilitate decentralized small scale business enterprises around feed and fodder Strengthening linkages between various actors – NARS-Milk Federations, Governments and NGOs
Background on selected crops, adaptation and feed value Sorghum and Pearl Millet Sorghum and pearl millet are among the important dual-purpose and forage crops. Sorghum is a prominent forage crop in India occupying 3 m ha area out of total 8 m ha forage area in the country. Therefore there is large private sector interest in forage seed production and distribution. High biomass production, high palatability and digestibility, regeneration ability, drought tolerance (sorghum and millet need less water than maize per unit of biomass produced) and adaptability
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to a range of climatic and soil conditions make these crops most suitable for increasing the forage production across the world. Besides, sorghum and pearl millet are tolerant to salinity and heat. While the fresh and dry stover have high digestibility, the sweet sorghum bagasse based feed blocks are found to be at par with commercial feed blocks terms of animal intake and productivity. Chickpea and Pigeonpea Chickpea is a cool season crop grown on residual soil moisture and highly responsive to applied inputs. Its fodder is used as high protein fodder mixed with cereal straw and is fed to the cattle/goats as a nutrient-rich supplement augmenting the feed from the main cereal source. Pigeonpea is an important grain legume crop of rainfed agriculture. Owing to its drought tolerance and soil fertility enrichment ability it finds an important place in sustainable cropping system. By virtue of fodder quality attributes such as high nitrogen content and in vitro organic matter digestibility coupled with higher vegetative growth it augments excellently to mitigate fodder shortage in semi-arid tropics. Groundnut Cultivated in more than 100 countries groundnut is one of the major dual-purpose crops grown for its haulms as well as for pods in dry tropics. The haulms are rich in protein with high in vitro organic matter digestibility. This makes groundnut a preferred dual purpose crop. Further there is a high diversity for traits related to its haulm quality as fodder and with little or no trade-offs between pod yield and haulm yield. Groundnut de-oiled cake (after extraction of oil) is a prized concentrate feed for all classes of livestock. Its low fiber and high protein contents make it an even more valuable ingredient for poultry rations.
Involvement Invest in the feed and fodder value chain.
Contact A Ashok Kumar, Senior Scientist (Sorghum Breeding), E-mail: A.AshokKumar@cgiar.org
BIG IDEAS
Sustainable business models for delivering ICT agro-advisories
T
he latest ICT will be used to bring affordable and appropriate precision knowledge solutions and inputs to smallholder farmers.
Customized agro-advisory services will be provided. This will be done by: Bringing together private and public enterprises Developing new sustainable business models Connecting the ICT platforms and the content
Science with a human face
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November 2013
This will lead to:
Better access to markets and market
opportunities Better management of risks (e.g. of climate, onfarm challenges and market changes)
Better on farm decision making
with timely and appropriate advice and farm inputs (such as credit, seeds, pesticides and fertilizers)
The problems that need addressing Publicly funded agricultural extension systems played a critical role during the green revolution leading to sweeping efforts to transform farming methods. However these systems are currently inadequate in terms of infrastructure and human resources. The need for such advisory services is still strong as there are 500 million smallholder farms worldwide and these farms produce about 80% of the food consumed in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. These farmers are typically among the poorest people
and struggle with unproductive soils, poor access to water, drought, little ability to invest, high risks and more. The advancement in ICT provides an opportunity to provide agro-advisory services required and bridge the technology divide for smallholder farmers. ICT solutions are currently being implemented in developing countries. However, there has been a failure of financially sustainable business models.
The Approach Setting up for sustainability is key for this initiative. The approach will include:
Select crops and value chains to target Identify and engage with private and public partnerships
The private sector players will be recruited on membership basis and the platform will provide them a healthy competitive environment to directly connect with the end users.
The technology platforms and content development Existing proven platforms will be built into one access point. These platforms have been pilot tested by ICRISAT in 3 experimental hubs.
Farmer-field-crop record database Experts database Buy and sell virtual transaction platform Credit and insurance options:
Features include: -
The platform supports tablet, smart phone and computers. The modules consist of a variety of information and input delivery services. such as:
Soil health Crop knowledge base Improved farm management videos
Develop the business model Connecting the ICT platforms that feed the web and mobile devices with the content relevant to farmers. ₋₋ Develop the integrated ICT platform ₋₋ Channel the information and knowledge through the ICT platform Promote the agro services with the smallholder farmers through the private and public partnerships.
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Report generation such as market intelligence and intelligent decision support system for improving productivity and profitability. Delivery through voice messages in 16 categories including: weather . market . crop information . government schemes . nutrition . health Local language capabilities
Involvement
Contact
Be an investor and catalyst to developing the business model that can be implemented globally.
G Dileepkumar, Global Leader, Knowledge Sharing and Innovation E-mail: G.Dileepkumar@cgiar.org
Or support implementation in specific regions with customized agro-services. 2
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BIG IDEAS
A proven model for Sustainable Management of Natural Resources
for food security and improved livelihoods Be water neutral Rejuvenate the land Sustainable intensification of agriculture Inclusive of the smallholder farmer This proven Bhoochetana* model, applied in India, is now being taken to Africa.
Science with a human face
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November 2013
The achievements
M
ajor boost in soil fertility and capacity to resist drought – through micronutrient fertilizers (Zinc, Boron and Sulphur (Gypsum) and organic compost
Enough water, despite poor rains – with the use
of agroforestry, dams, gullies and micro-irrigation to conserve rainwater – make sustainable groundwater use and prevent soil runoff
Introduction of improved crop varieties suited to the environment, coping with climate change and the markets.
The results in Karnataka state, India in the first 3 years: 20-66% yield increase 5% rise in food production across the state $1 invested = $3-14 return
3 million farmers over 3.7 million ha, made up to $500 net gain per ha in one season
The approach What made this successful, included: ▪▪
▪▪
On-farm practices - - -
Participatory soil health assessments Balanced fertilizer recommendations Diversifying crop farms to include livestock for additional income and manure
Capacity building - -
Capacity building of all partners including farmer field schools Over 10,000 farmer facilitators trained to give farmer-to-farmer demonstrations and advice
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Partnering - - - -
Strong support achieved from the government and farmer groups, and partnering with local community groups Empowerment of women in the community Communication campaigns to build enthusiasm Regular monitoring and evaluation
New work is being done now on processing technology, marketing and the use of ICT
Involvement
Contact
Apply this proven model to specific sites or have it upscaled across a state or region.
Suhas P Wani, Acting Research Program Director – Resilient Dryland Systems & Principal Scientist (Watersheds); Email: s.wani@cgiar.org
*Bhoochetana means “rejuvenating the soil”. It was used to name a project led by ICRISAT’s Research Program on Resilient Dryland Systems 2
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BIG IDEAS
Traveling “Village Knowledge Fairs� for upscaling proven technologies
W
e have over 40 years of scientific solutions developed and tested with farmers, national systems and agribusinesses.
We want to make a quantum leap in impact on moving people out of poverty by significantly upscaling these solutions. To do this we can create traveling knowledge fairs aimed at producers and consumers traveling to villages annually based on farmer to farmer and business to business knowledge sharing.
Science with a human face
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Village Knowledge Fairs These fairs are part of campaigns that are based on: ▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪
▪▪
Developing a marketing plan for each state/ region. This can include a traveling roadshow for farmers (targeting women as well as men), via: - farmer to farmer video messages - conducting training courses based on farmer-to-farmer and business-to-business - using mass media for further communicating the messages.
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Information and demonstrations on nutrition and products Advice to help villages set up their own mini incubator platforms that facilitate sharing of knowledge.
Targeted marketing campaigns aimed at both producers and consumers. Linking with state government, farmer associations, community groups, finance agencies and private industry. Identifying the technologies most relevant for each state/region that are proven, available and ready to be upscaled. Identifying and involving the necessary support for technologies. This may include seed supplies, smaller packaging, microfinancing etc.
What will be offered ▪▪
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Solutions to increase farm productivity, such as: - High-performing crop varieties - Soil and water management practices - On-farm management practices Agribusiness developments, such as: - Processing options - Linkages to market information
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Management of the campaign A brand will be built for the fairs. The village knowledge fairs will become regular events building interest and awareness.
Monitoring and evaluation will be undertaken to track the effectiveness of the campaigns and feedback for continual development.
Involvement
Contact
Take joint ownership of this initiative with ICRISAT and be an integral part of the branding of the fairs.
Joanna Kane-Potaka, Director, Strategic Marketing and Communication, E-mail: j.kane-potaka@cgiar.org
Support can also be garnered through: - - - -
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Village-level farmer fairs Capacity building of farmer facilitators Village level nutrition awareness Setting up of local farming and agribusiness incubators
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BIG IDEAS
New approaches to identify business and development opportunities
F
or almost 40 years ICRISAT has had investigators that live in villages in India collecting in-depth data on the village dynamics, issues and actions. This has been supported by a team of economists, other social scientists and business modelers. This unique data set and strong team can be leveraged to identify agribusiness and development opportunities.
What can be achieved By tapping into the village dynamics data, we can: ▪▪ Facilitate new business opportunities for the private sector to capitalize on, that cater to the needs of the farmers and rural communities. This will include strengthening the capacity of the private sector in using this village dynamics data and knowledge bank to identify needs and business opportunities. ▪▪ Facilitate development initiatives particularly where public-privatecommunity partnerships are needed and develop the implementation modalities. This will include strengthening the public sector capacity in the use of social science data and insights from the villages for evidence-based decision making and formulating pro-poor policies. Science with a human face
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November 2013
Approach The approach to identify and facilitate business and development initiatives is as follows:
Identifying business and development opportunities Deep insights of farmers’ needs and problems
which can be solved through public/private partnerships
Deep insights of private sector interests & needs
for information, knowledge and data for the development of business proposals
Capacity building of the private sector companies and public sector organizations through face-to-face and online training programs for: - the use of village dynamic data for the development of innovative business propositions - database management and Knowledge Bank for understanding key performance indicators and evidence-based decision making.
Catalyst for stakeholder partnering and support Organize dialogues to increase interaction between agricultural researchers, government officials and private companies to increase awareness about new opportunities and actions required to realize identified opportunities
Knowledge Bank and clearing house
on village agriculture and emerging business opportunities, set up as an on-line portal
The Village Dynamics data This dataset is the longest ever time series panel data with nearly 40 years of data collected by full time investigators who live in the villages. It has the most in-depth understanding of any village level dynamics. It also includes the first and only ever collated meso-level data in India. It also has household and district level insights. The data covers: Demographics Crop production (inputs and outputs) Livestock production (inputs and outputs) Asset ownership Consumption expenditure
The data warehouse, popularly known as the Village Dynamics Studies Knowledge Bank, is an online repository of panel data with user friendly data retrieval system and online analytical processing (OLAP) features. It is the first of its kind in the world for management of rural household survey data, providing online access to panel data and analytical reports. It gives the users a number of options like downloading Raw Data, Summary Reports and User Defined Reports. The Knowledge Bank integrated long-term Village Level Studies panel dataset collected by ICRISAT for the period 1975 to 2008 and data collected jointly by ICRISAT and partners from 42 villages across India and Bangladesh for the period 2009 to 2011.
Employment and wages
Involvement
Land and soil
Select a region to implement or incorporate this approach into all the locations of interest. South Asia (India and Bangladesh) will be the initial target region. Lessons from South Asia can then be articulated for other parts of Asia and Africa.
Market prices Transaction Rainfall Gender disaggregation Nutrition aspects Gender empowerment factors And more‌ 2
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Contact Cynthia Bantilan, Director, Research Program on Markets, Institutions and Policies Email: c.bantilan@cgiar.org