Patancheru, India and Tainan,
Taiwan
March 12, 2009
The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid
Tropics (ICRISAT) and the
World Vegetable Center (AVRDC) are strengthening research
collaboration to diversify the food basket for the farmers from
the developing countries of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Combining the strengths of ICRISAT’s research on dryland cereals
and legumes, and of the World Vegetable Center on vegetables,
the two Institutes aim to provide resource poor farmers a larger
basket of opportunities to improve their agricultural
productivity and income.
According to Dr William Dar, Director General of ICRISAT, many
farmers neither have the ability to withstand risks nor the
resources to seek technical help from multiple sources. By
combining the strengths of ICRISAT and the World Vegetable
Center, farmers will be able to choose more crops to grow during
different seasons to reduce the risk impact and increase the
productivity of their land.
Dr Dyno Keatinge, Director General of the World Vegetable
Center, said that vegetables are higher value crops that not
only improve the nutrition of farm families but also give them a
more sustained income throughout the year.
Collaboration in Asia
In Asia, the collaboration between ICRISAT and the World
Vegetable Center was cemented with the establishment of their
South Asian Regional Office within the Patancheru campus of
ICRISAT. The first joint activity undertaken by the two research
Institutes was the successful organization of the International
Conference on Indigenous Vegetables and Legumes in December
2006.
ICRISAT and AVRDC are also collaborating in the integrated
watershed management program, which aims at providing a package
of scientific interventions for farmers working the land within
a micro watershed. Both Institutes are working on one project
each in Jharkhand state of India, with funding from the Tata
Trusts, where both would support and supplement each other’s
activities. Building on this collaboration, new joint proposals
will be developed on high value crops for the watershed areas in
the coming years, as a way of diversifying income sources.
Since January 2008, ICRISAT and AVRDC are working together on a
project to improve the heat and drought tolerance in tropical
tomato using genetic, physiological and molecular approaches.
This project is funded by the German funders GTZ and BMZ.
ICRISAT and AVRDC are also building synergies in their research
to overcome pest and diseases in the crops that they work with.
This is through collaborative research in Integrated Pest
Management (IPM), which uses appropriate combination of weapons
in the arsenal to deal with pest and disease attacks. Breeding
crops to develop host plant resistance; using natural plant
products, bio-pesticides and natural enemies; and developing
appropriate agronomic practices offer a potentially viable
option for integrated pest management (IPM).
Collaboration in sub-Saharan Africa
There are two ongoing initiatives between ICRISAT and AVRDC in
sub-Saharan Africa.
The first initiative is AVRDC’s project on vegetable breeding
for poverty reduction in Africa. This project began in December
2006, and aims to alleviate constraints to the availability of
quality seeds of vegetable crop species through a combination of
breeding research and advocacy for conducive regulatory systems
using platforms of public-private partnerships. ICRISAT is
contributing its expertise in developing seed systems in Africa
to strengthen this project.
The second initiative is the Canadian-funded breeding program
for the Sudano-Sahelian Zone. This joint ICRISAT-AVRDC project
operating out of Niamey in Niger is helping develop vegetable
varieties that will fit into the cropping schemes of the
Sudano-Sahelian zone. O kra (ladies finger) was chosen as the
best-bet species, and subsequent work resulted in the assembly
of 145 accessions, and development of improved varieties.
Way ahead
ICRISAT and AVRDC will work together to strengthen crop breeding
through the use of agri-biotechnological tools. The two
Institutes will also strengthen agricultural systems in the
semi-arid tropics in which vegetables are grown along with
cereals and legumes by farmers.
Other news
from the
World Vegetable Center (AVRDC) |
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