Poverty is rife in eastern Africa, where over half the rural population is extremely poor. Addressing this state of affairs, ICRISAT has allied itself with an array of partners to reduce poverty through a market-driven strategy. The strategy is based on intensified cultivation of ICRISAT’s legume crops – chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut – and linking farmers to markets where these commodities are sold.
This document provides details on a new software update that will be installed on all company computers. The update includes security patches that fix vulnerabilities, improved compatibility with newer operating systems, and new features to enhance the user experience. The update will be automatically pushed out to all devices overnight on Friday and is expected to take 30 minutes to complete on each computer.
This document provides details on a new software update that will be installed on all company computers. The update includes security patches that fix vulnerabilities, improved compatibility with newer operating systems, and new features to enhance the user experience. The update will be automatically pushed out to all devices overnight on Friday and is expected to take 30 minutes to complete on each computer.
The document discusses the history and importance of chocolate in human civilization. It notes that chocolate originated in Mesoamerica over 3000 years ago and was prized by the Aztecs and Mayans for its taste. Cocoa beans were used as currency and their cultivation was tightly regulated. The Spanish conquest of the 16th century introduced chocolate to Europe, though it was initially consumed only as a bitter drink by the wealthy. Mass production and new technologies in the 19th century made chocolate affordable for the general population.
ICRISAT’s soil laboratory registers with FAO’s International Network on Ferti...ICRISAT
The Charles Renard Analytical Laboratory at ICRISAT has been officially registered with the International Network on Fertilizer Analysis – a network created in December 2020, to build and strengthen the capacity of laboratories in fertilizer analysis and harmonize fertilizer quality standards. Dr Pushpajeet L Choudhari, Manager of the soil laboratory, said that testing serves as a preventive measure to avoid the misuse of fertilizers leading to better soil management.
Uzbek delegation explores climate-resilient crop options for arid, degraded e...ICRISAT
A delegation from Uzbekistan visited ICRISAT headquarters in India to learn about short-duration second crops suited to their country's arid ecologies. The visitors were interested in crop options that mature before winter and can increase agricultural production through double cropping. They were briefed on dryland crop options from ICRISAT like pearl millet and pigeonpea. The delegation explored opportunities for academic exchange and obtaining genomic services and training from ICRISAT to develop crops suited to Uzbekistan's climate and soils. Previous partnerships between ICRISAT and Uzbekistan in developing salinity tolerant pearl millet varieties were also discussed.
The document discusses the history and importance of chocolate in human civilization. It notes that chocolate originated in Mesoamerica over 3000 years ago and was prized by the Aztecs and Mayans for its taste. Cocoa beans were used as currency and their cultivation was tightly regulated. The Spanish conquest of the 16th century introduced chocolate to Europe, though it was initially consumed only as a bitter drink by the wealthy. Mass production and new technologies in the 19th century made chocolate affordable for the general population.
ICRISAT’s soil laboratory registers with FAO’s International Network on Ferti...ICRISAT
The Charles Renard Analytical Laboratory at ICRISAT has been officially registered with the International Network on Fertilizer Analysis – a network created in December 2020, to build and strengthen the capacity of laboratories in fertilizer analysis and harmonize fertilizer quality standards. Dr Pushpajeet L Choudhari, Manager of the soil laboratory, said that testing serves as a preventive measure to avoid the misuse of fertilizers leading to better soil management.
Uzbek delegation explores climate-resilient crop options for arid, degraded e...ICRISAT
A delegation from Uzbekistan visited ICRISAT headquarters in India to learn about short-duration second crops suited to their country's arid ecologies. The visitors were interested in crop options that mature before winter and can increase agricultural production through double cropping. They were briefed on dryland crop options from ICRISAT like pearl millet and pigeonpea. The delegation explored opportunities for academic exchange and obtaining genomic services and training from ICRISAT to develop crops suited to Uzbekistan's climate and soils. Previous partnerships between ICRISAT and Uzbekistan in developing salinity tolerant pearl millet varieties were also discussed.
Indian Ambassador to Niger explores opportunities for South-South cooperationICRISAT
The Ambassador of India to Niger, His Excellency Mr Prem K Nair, visited ICRISAT’s research station at Sadore, to explore opportunities for South-South collaboration. He said that the objective of his visit was to learn about ICRISAT’s activities in Niger and to identify possible areas of cooperation for implementing agri-development initiatives introduced by India.
WFP, ICRISAT to partner on climate-resilience, food security, nutrition and l...ICRISAT
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to partner on programs and research to improve food and nutrition security and livelihoods in India against the impacts of climate change. The partnership aims to strengthen efforts bringing together science, knowledge, and implementation frameworks to bolster climate-resilient food security, nutrition, and livelihoods. A significant focus will be on vulnerability analysis at the state level in India and developing a sustainable food systems approach.
Visit by Sri Lankan Deputy High Commissioner to ICRISAT opens opportunities f...ICRISAT
Dr Doraiswamy Venkateshwaran, Sri Lankan Deputy High Commissioner stationed in Chennai, recently visited the ICRISAT campus in Hyderabad to learn more about the Institute’s science-backed research for dryland agriculture. Along with his team, he visited the genebank and toured the pigeonpea and finger millet field plots, where Dr Prakash Gangashetty and Dr Sobhan Sajja explained to him the research focus and various traits of hybrids and varieties developed by ICRISAT.
UK Ambassador to Niger discusses climate change adaptation and humanitarian i...ICRISAT
The UK Ambassador to Niger, Ms Catherine Inglehearn, recently visited ICRISAT-Niger to discuss Niger's participation in the upcoming COP26 climate conference and support for implementing climate change adaptation measures. During the visit, Ms Inglehearn spoke about the UK Embassy's humanitarian work with organizations like WFP, UNICEF, and ICRC in Niger's first year of operations. ICRISAT representatives provided an overview of the organization's work empowering youth and women in Niger and recent achievements, which the Ambassador congratulated them on.
New climate-resilient, disease-resistant chickpea varieties coming farmers’ wayICRISAT
Three new chickpea varieties have been developed with enhanced drought tolerance, disease resistance, and increased yield. These varieties were created using genomics-assisted breeding by ICRISAT and ICAR. The new varieties are awaiting approval for cultivation by Indian farmers. Genomics-assisted breeding has delivered six high-yielding chickpea varieties to India in the last three years. Improved chickpea varieties are needed due to drought threats in chickpea growing regions, as drought can cause up to 60% yield losses annually. ICRISAT is leading efforts in genetic analysis of drought tolerance and disease resistance in chickpea using advanced sequencing technologies.
Deputy Collector gets training on agriculture research at ICRISAT HyderabadICRISAT
Mrs Bikumalla Santoshi, Deputy Collector of Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district in Telangana, India, visited ICRISAT, Hyderabad recently as part of her orientation and training in agricultural research. Mrs Santoshi toured the campus and learnt about the research done on dryland cereals and legumes at ICRISAT’s centers in India as well as Africa.
Cereal-legume value chain stakeholders in WCA meet to develop demand-driven a...ICRISAT
The document summarizes a 4-day workshop organized by ICRISAT's Gender Research Program that brought together breeders, value chain stakeholders, and social scientists from West African countries. The goal was to define priority traits for sorghum, millet, and groundnut cultivars based on demand from key stakeholders, especially considering gender-related needs. Studies conducted prior to the workshop assessed trait preferences. Participants agreed production, nutrition, and market attributes must be considered in breeding, with an emphasis on nutrition security and gender equity. Traits like productivity, nutrition, and adaptability to marginal soils were discussed as priorities. The expected output is new product profiles to guide breeding programs in developing market-driven, gender-responsive varieties
ICRISAT to share expertise on sorghum production with farmers in SomaliaICRISAT
ICRISAT is collaborating with the Somali Agricultural Technical Group (SATG) to provide technical support for sorghum production in Somalia. The expertise provided includes identification of sorghum varieties suitable for Somalia, provision of breeder seed of the identified varieties and training of SATG staff and their partners in sorghum seed production.
4CAST: New digital tool to enhance farmers’ access to modern varietiesICRISAT
ICRISAT has launched a new digital tool called 4CAST to improve smallholder farmers' access to improved crop varieties. 4CAST is a user-friendly, data-driven platform that provides a digital catalog of new varieties including information on quality, availability and regional seed stocks. It also offers digital workflows and real-time tracking for stakeholders in seed value chains. The tool helps in planning variety release and seed production to ensure farmers have adequate access to quality seeds of improved varieties. 4CAST collates and shares variety and seed data nationally and regionally to guide stakeholders and provide farmers information to facilitate agricultural transformation.
New ‘one-stop shop’ team formed to take ICRISAT’S plant breeding program in W...ICRISAT
ICRISAT West and Central Africa has reorganized all disciplines of agronomic research (agronomy, breeding, biotechnology/ genomics, integrated crop management, physiology, sociology, agroeconomics, etc.) under one umbrella called the Crop Improvement Operations Team (CIOT). A “one-stop shop” for all crop improvement operations, the CIOT was launched on Tuesday 24 August 2021 at ICRISAT’s Samanko research station in Mali.
The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has been awarded the 2021 Africa Food Prize, for work that has improved food security across 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. ICRISAT, a CGIAR Research Center, is a non-profit, non-political public international research organization that conducts agricultural research for development in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa with a wide array of partners throughout the world.
Rooting for strong partnerships and participatory extension in Nigeria for ro...ICRISAT
To enhance partnerships and make the extension systems for cereals and legumes production technologies in Nigeria more participatory, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and ICRISAT recently organized a workshop for agencies implementing the Kano State Agro Pastoral Development Project.
Understanding consumption preferences for sorghum and millets globallyICRISAT
In support of the objectives of the International Year of Millets (2023), a global study, “Prioritizing Regular Intake of Sorghum and Millets (PRISM)”, is being conducted to understand the potential drivers of sorghum and millets consumption. PRISM is a collaborative effort of researchers in the Markets, Institutions and Policy team at ICRISAT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR) to understand the choices that drive the consumption of these nutricereals and to explore their increased inclusion in diets globally for the good of dryland farmers, human health and the environment.
ICRISAT introduces an invigorated research structure (The research structure ...ICRISAT
A robust, more efficient research structure is part of the reorganization initiative at ICRISAT that aims at building a cohesive and interconnected body of work in agricultural research. The revitalized framework is expected to seamlessly integrate and deliver agricultural research outputs across the drylands of Asia and Africa. The strength of this framework is the deeply interlinked global and regional programs working towards common and interdependent goals.
Training on science communication to engage funders and stakeholdersICRISAT
Communicating research findings to policy makers, peers and civil society is crucial for research uptake and development. To meet this goal, a one-day training session on messaging through newsletters and journal articles was held for participants of the International Training Programme on Climate Change – Mitigation and Adaptation of the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) at ICRISAT, Mali.
Virtual training in the use of remote sensing for the agriculture sector in P...ICRISAT
A virtual hands-on training program on developing geospatial maps for supporting insurance products using Google Earth Engine and semi-automatic techniques was conducted for participants in Pakistan as part of the project “Strengthening Post-COVID-19 Food Security and Locust Attacks”. The nine participants were from the PARC Agrotech company (PATCO) technical team and crop reporting service teams from Punjab and Sindh in Pakistan. They were introduced to remote sensing and its applications in agriculture. Hands-on training using Google Earth Engine (GEE), Image Processing Software – ERDAS 2015 and various automatic classification techniques was provided along with several applications for using these modern tools.
ICRISAT pleased to share this five-year Strategic Plan 2021-2025 which builds on our extensive partnerships, networking and our understanding of the needs on the ground and sets out our current expertise with our vision for the next five years of a streamlined, targeted research for development institution, working closely with our partners and stakeholders in the private and public sectors.
ICRISAT and HarvestPlus to collaborate on mainstreaming nutrition research an...ICRISAT
ICRISAT and HarvestPlus signed an agreement for scientific and technical collaboration between the two global organizations. Mr Arun Baral, CEO, HarvestPlus, and Dr Jacqueline d’Arros Hughes, Director General, ICRISAT, signed the Memorandum of Understanding, which is made and entered into by IFPRI on behalf of its HarvestPlus Program. On the occasion, Dr Hughes said, After 17 years of fruitful collaboration on biofortification research, we have now decided to elevate this partnership. ICRISAT and HarvestPlus will work together more closely, making available micronutrient-rich varieties, high-quality seed and related technologies to the farming communities and consumers. This will contribute to eliminating micronutrient malnutrition in the drylands.