Part I

Chapter 3

Vision, Mission, Goal and Strategy

ICRISAT's vision, mission and goal

Vision
Improved well-being of the poor of the semi-arid tropics.

Mission
To reduce poverty, enhance food and nutritional security and protect the environment of the semi-arid tropics by helping empower the poor through science with a human face.

Goal
To mobilize cutting edge science and institutional innovations for poverty alleviation, food security, human development and environmental protection for poor rural families in semi-arid farming systems of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

ICRISAT will pursue the foregoing goal by enhancing the livelihoods of the poor in semi-arid farming systems through integrated genetic and natural resource management strategies . ICRISAT will make major food crops more productive, nutritious, safe and affordable to the poor; diversify utilization options for staple food crops; develop tools and techniques to manage risk and more sustainably utilize the natural resource base of semi-arid tropics systems; identify opportunities to diversify income sources and strengthen delivery systems. Partnership-based research for impact, gender sensitivity, capacity building and enhanced knowledge and technology flows are integral to this goal. ICRISAT will provide custodianship to six mandate crops and improve germplasm and options for the diversification of SAT farming systems that will contribute to the development policies of national, sub-regional and regional institutions and donors aimed at meeting the MDGs.

ICRISAT's intermediary goals or global impact target areas (GITAs) have been repositioned along the new discipline-based Systemwide priorities. ICRISAT's GITAs are based on more generic cross-disciplinary research for development concepts as stated below:

a. Generating profits and reducing risk: Reducing poverty through improvement and diversification of crop-livestock systems and enhancement of income generation opportunities from trade and commercialization (incorporated under System priorities 2, 3 and 5);

b. Nourishing families and agro-enterprises: Food and nutritional security and human and livestock health improved through increased agricultural productivity, gender-sensitive interventions and better food/feed quality (incorporated under System priorities 1, 2, 3 and 5);

c. Enhancing livelihood and ecosystem resilience: Impact of acute and chronic crises from conflict, drought, desertification, degraded environments, and pests mitigated in smallholder agriculture with a view to facilitate long term recovery and enhance self-reliance (partially incorporated under System priorities 2, 4 and 5);

d. Building partner power: R&D partners empowered through enhanced and relevant skills that include the ability to prioritize and implement interventions and predict trends (partially incorporated under all five System priorities).

Overall strategy

ICRISAT adopts integrated genetic and natural resource management (IGNRM) as its overarching research strategy to attain scientific excellence in agriculture in the semi-arid tropics, focusing on key livelihood and income opportunities to improve the well-being of the poor with equity, multidisciplinarity, sustainability and community participation as core principles.

ICRISAT's vision and strategy is guided by the MDGs, seven planks of the CGIAR vision and strategy; new Systemwide priorities; its core competencies and thematic comparative advantages; strategic analysis of opportunities in the SAT regions; and the new setting for international agricultural research and its impact on the livelihoods of the poor.

ICRISAT's strategic focus is to attain impact through scientific excellence in agriculture in the semi-arid tropics. This vision and strategy targets key opportunities for improving the well-being of the poor, with food security being fundamental. Above all, it recognizes the need for greater thematic integration and diversification of partnerships as a core principle for engaging in science and technology for development. This ensures that its deliverables improve the lives of poor people.

As an innovation-driven organization, ICRISAT will facilitate institutional linkages among research, extension, farmers and markets that will enhance its impact in reducing food insecurity and poverty. Along with this, we will further intensify our linkages with a wide range of strategic partners which include the Future Harvest Alliance, advanced research institutes, regional and sub-regional organizations, NARES, the private sector and civil society organizations. In SSA, our strategy will be synchronized with NEPAD, the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program (CAADP), including the SSA Challenge Program. Priority setting, impact assessment and the conserv ation and strategic use of biodiversity will also be put into the mainstream. In addition, ICRISAT will integrate its research with other fields of development such as education, human health, nutrition, energy and water quality.

ICRISAT recognizes that by 2015, a very significant percentage of the world's poor will be living in urban environments. In sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, it is estimated that nearly 50% of those living below the poverty line will be urban dwellers and that it is in such environments that the greatest concentration of poverty is likely to occur. Even today, urban agriculture is a significant activity that enables many impoverished urban dwellers to improve their livelihoods through the production and sale of commodities such as vegetables, fruits, meat and milk. ICRISAT's mandate crops per se do not, however, have a major place and comparative advantage in urban agriculture. Whilst the CGIAR as a whole is addressing this issue through its Urban Harvest system wide initiative, we will maintain our focus on rural agriculture. There will, however, be instances where there are substantive interactions between rural and urban agriculture and where opportunities for rural income generation exist within such interactions. One important example is the rural production and sale of fodder for urban livestock enterprises. In such examples, ICRISAT will undertake the studies necessary to fully exploit such opportunities.

ICRISAT recognizes that its vision and strategy must be anchored on demonstrable action. This will be achieved through the adoption of the five new CGIAR Systemwide priorities as the ‘ribs' around which the ‘flesh' of our global research and regional strategies will be attached (Tables 1 and 2). Consistent with the position of the Future Harvest Alliance, ICRISAT's vision and strategy straddles the research to development continuum, generating IPGs globally and doing downstream research as a bridge, broker and catalyst to attain more impacts. Moreover, ICRISAT is confident that its adoption of IGNRM as an overarching principle to its strategy is an effective and necessary approach if our science is to have the global impact on development which it merits within the context of current global complexity.

The four global research themes and three regional strategies have been integrated to help ICRISAT refocus its efforts to the needs of smallholder farmers and development partners in SSA and Asia and help achieve the MDGs (Table 3). Global action which will pursue ICRISAT's research strategy anchored on the new CGIAR Systemwide priorities is detailed in Part II of this document.

Thematic goals and strategies

Biotechnology

ICRISAT believes in the potential of biotechnology to enhance the speed, precision, efficiency and value addition in many aspects of its crop improvement and IGNRM efforts. This is especially true in addressing the complex traits that have remained intransigent to conventional breeding approaches. In addition, many of the crops under ICRISAT's mandate have had little attention paid to them, especially in the biotechnology arena, and thus it is critical that ICRISAT continues to focus efforts on these so that our clients and partners can reap the benefits of modern scientific solutions to their problems.

ICRISAT's Global Theme, “Harnessing Biotechnology for the Poor'' was established in 2001 to provide a concerted effort in the application of modern science for its mandated crops. A multidisciplinary team of scientists assigned to the theme provide expertise in both the laboratory and field aspects of biotechnology applications to crop improvement.

A major challenge for the theme is to maintain a critical mass of scientists across the various areas of biotechnology, to coordinate ICRISAT's activities between its regional laboratories in Asia and Africa, and to evaluate the rapidly changing technologies in genomics, adopting those that will enhance the effectiveness of ICRISAT's research projects. Capacity development is therefore an important dimension of GT Biotechnology's efforts.

The overall goal of the Global Theme on Biotechnology is to reduce poverty, hunger, malnutrition and environmental degradation in the SAT by applying promising genomic, genetic engineering, wide-hybridization, diagnostic and bio-informatics tools and approaches to the improvement of ICRISAT's mandate crops.

In our efforts to reach the above goal, we will focus our strategic direction to:

a. Improve the efficiency, effectiveness, speed and precision of plant breeding for abiotic stress tolerance, pest and disease resistance, better agronomic traits, and improved food, feed and fodder quality; and

b. Develop diagnostic tools for the detection of viral infections, toxic contaminants in crops and crop-based products, presence of transgenes, and purity of seed production systems.

Strategy

ICRISAT's scientific team has made great progress in the adoption and application of various tools and techniques of biotechnology. To ensure that the above objectives are met during the next strategic period, scientists in ICRISAT's Global Theme on Biotechnology will continue to evaluate advances in modern science and acquire, adapt and apply the most relevant of these in their research programs.

Biotechnology is a broad field, and ICRISAT employs techniques in many areas. These include the more traditional technologies such as the use of tissue culture for embryo rescue of wide-cross hybrids and immunological methods for antibody production; modern genomic technologies such as structural and functional genomics to identify, isolate and manipulate genes for traits of interest; and genetic engineering to introduce novel genetic variability for traits lacking sufficient inheritable diversity. In addition to these technologies, ICRISAT employs a bioinformatics platform to provide the necessary links, databases and analysis tools to ICRISAT's researchers and partners.

As being done at present, specific target traits and crops will be determined in collaboration with the Global Theme on Crop Improvement and with ICRISAT's various partners. These close interactions will ensure that the highest priority traits are being addressed in each crop, as well as the most appropriate technologies are being used in each case.

Towards 2015, the Global Theme will pursue strategies to ensure that the necessary tools and techniques are available for ICRISAT and its partners to use in their efforts to develop improved crop varieties for the SAT. These strategies will be used to provide the required biotechnology-based inputs to meet the outputs outlined under the CGIAR Systemwide priorities 1 and 2. Further details on the specific goals, outputs, outcomes and impact pathways can be found in Part II of this document.

Crop improvement and management

The world's earliest crop improvement pioneers were the farmers who domesticated and improved yield and quality traits in crop plants. From then on plant breeders have continued their efforts to enhance productivity, improve quality, and diversify the uses of crop plants. In order to address ICRISAT's vision and to significantly contribute to the MDGs, particularly those addressing poverty, hunger, health, gender and environmental sustainability, there is a need to further enhance not only crop productivity and production, but also the quality of food, feed and fodder and where possible, reduce the cost of production.

The Global Theme on Crop Improvement and Management encompasses genetic resources and crop improvement to develop improved cultivars; provide eco-friendly pest and disease management options; and technologies to promote alternative uses of crops to encourage value-addition and commercialization. Improved crop cultivars (seed-based technologies) within an IGNRM context are the cheapest and easiest of technology interventions that can be easily adapted and adopted by farmers anywhere in the world.

Research is conducted in the three ICRISAT mandate regions (Asia, Eastern and Southern Africa, and West and Central Africa), catering to the needs of the national programs in the regions. Therefore, each region has a Regional Project addressing the priority needs of the region. Thus there are three regional projects – one each in Eastern and Southern Africa, West and Central Africa and Asia dealing with genetic improvement and diversification, pest and disease management, and where required, post-harvest utilization. Capacity development is an important consideration in all regional projects.

To contribute to improved food security and livelihoods by enhanced crop production and environmental protection catalyzed by improved and diversified cultivars, eco-friendly and cost-effective pest and disease management practices, efficient seed systems, and diversified and alternative uses of crop produce.

To achieve the foregoing, our strategic focus will be to:

a. Collect, conserve, characterize and share germplasm within the global R&D community;
b. Undertake genetic diversification and enhancement of ICRISAT mandate crops for high and stable grain and fodder yield with improved quality;
c. Develop cost-effective and eco-friendly integrated pest management (IPM) technologies;
d. Address alternative crop produce utilization strategies, including food and feed safety issues, and the prospects for commercialization;
e. Increase adoption of improved varieties by farmers through farmer participatory methods, and sustainable seed-supply systems; and
f. Accelerate technology exchange and information sharing, using both conventional methods and information and communication technologies (ICT) for capacity building of partners to achieve on-farm impact, and improve food security and livelihoods of the poor in SAT regions.

Strategy

Towards 2015, genetic diversification and enhancement will be a major thrust of this Global Theme to address the new CGIAR research priorities on sustaining biodiversity and producing more and better food at lower cost. Moreover, it will focus on the development and testing of cutting edge methodologies to enhance effectiveness of breeding technologies with input from GT Biotechnology.

ICRISAT's crop improvement program will pursue a global approach with a regional focus. Since each region has to cater to many countries having varied agro-climatic zones, the emphasis will be on enhancing and strengthening partnerships with national programs where mandate crops are important for national food and nutritional security. Strengthening NARS crop improvement programs and capacity building of partners will be priority, especially in SSA, but also in some of the weaker NARS in Asia.

Research will be carried out by an inter-disciplinary research team. Often, improved cultivars serve as catalysts for adoption of other technologies (agronomy, fertilizers, etc). Therefore, GT Crop Improvement will work closely with the GT on Agro-ecosystems (soil, water and biodiversity) and the GT on Institutions Markets, Policy and Impacts.

Most of the research activities will be undertaken in partnership with NARS, private sector, research and technology exchange networks, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), advanced research institutions, farmers' organizations, and farmers in the target areas. Technology exchange and capacity building (using both conventional and the emerging information and communication technologies) will be important components in all regional projects.

Agro-ecosystem development

ICRISAT has expanded the Integrated Natural Resource Management paradigm to acknowledge the role which crops and genetic improvement can play in enabling SAT agriculture to achieve its potential. There is a growing acceptance of the expanded version of this term to include both genetic and non-genetic solutions – Integrated Genetic and Natural Resource Management (IGNRM).

In response to the recommendations of the 5 th availability of opportunities for special project funding in the area of natural resources management in Asia, it was agreed that ICRISAT would continue to pursue these simultaneously and create a self-supporting natural reso External Program Reviews recommendations, core resources have been subsequently redeployed in a phased manner to better address the major challenges in SSA. However, given theurce management (NRM) team in Asia. In this way, NRM scientists would continue to contribute to ICRISAT's IGNRM new science strategies and draw lessons from long-term development programs in Asia to help translate these for impact in SSA. In addition, they will make substantive contributions to capacity development amongst their partners.

Goal and purpose

Agro-ecosystem development aims to improve rural livelihoods, increase food security and sustainable natural resource management throughout the semi-arid tropics as a result of a greater impact of agricultural research for development. Moreover, it is committed to help achieve sustainable increases in food security and income growth in the semi-arid farming systems of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia through the use of evolving research tools and approaches in the fields of soil, water, agro-biodiversity and climatic management (IGNRM). To pursue the foregoing, GTAE will:

a. Develop and promote affordable and sustainable soil, water, crop and nutrient management options and integrated approaches to watershed management;
b. Identify and promote options for systems diversification (high-value crops, trees and livestock) to improve rural livelihood security;
c. Enhance capacity of research and development partners, and regional networks to formulate and implement research for impact;
d. Develop and promote appropriate methodologies and approaches for agricultural rehabilitation following natural and/or civil disasters including HIV/ AIDS; and
e. Forge strategic partnerships with government agencies, donors, non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations and the private sector to ensure options are tailored to fit farmers' diverse investment and risk management options.

Strategy

Towards 2015, GTAE will develop and promote sustainable IGNRM innovations relevant to the needs of smallholders in the SAT. To pursue this, GTAE will focus on the development of methodologies, approaches and resource conserving technologies and practices.

Moreover, GTAE will play multiple roles in its research on agro-ecosystem development. It will serve as a catalyst, facilitator and enabler of three broadly based consortia on the: (1) development of improved watersheds in Asia and sharing of lessons learned with Soil and Water Management Network (SWMnet) in East Africa; (2) agricultural implications of current climate variability and potential changes; and (3) Desert Margins Program. At the national level, ICRISAT will play the role of enabler and facilitator in developing and evaluating IGNRM interventions that will help rural households to better cope with climate variability and alleviate food insecurity. In addition, ICRISATs rich information base and network with IARCs and ARI's will enable it to work closely with ILRI in developing alternative feed/fodder resources within crop-livestock systems.

Towards 2015, GTAE will also serve as a primary and secondary research provider. As a primary research provider, it will develop new science tools such as systems simulation, climate forecasting and farmer participatory approaches that integrate genetic and non-genetic solutions. As a secondary provider, it will support and coordinate SWMnet for Eastern Africa, the watersheds consortium in India, and the emerging consortium to e valuate the agricultural implications of current climatic variability and planning for future climate change.

ICRISAT, ILRI and IWMI will continue to facilitate the development of collaborative links between SSA and Asia to improve water productivity for food, feed and animal production under smallholder crop-livestock mixed systems (SCLIMS), in the face of water scarcity (including economic) by optimizing water use to sustainably alleviate poverty and enhance ecosystem health in rainfed SSA and India.  Much effort has gone into providing livestock drinking water in SSA and South Asia, but this has not been true of water for feed production. Research by IWMI on water productivity, ICRISAT on dryland crops and ILRI on livestock feeds/fodders suggests that under rainfed systems, enhanced water productivity is possible through improvements in water and soil fertility management, agronomic practices such as conservation tillage, and use of improved genotypes of food-feed crops.  In most of the semi-arid tropics of Africa and Asia, the nexus between water and feed limitation is the primary constraint to effective livestock production. 

ICRISAT in sub-Saharan Africa continues to work with an ever expanding range of partners from both the public and the private sectors to pursue more participatory strategies, linking on-farm trials with crop systems simulation in order to increase the impacts of soil fertility research. Farmer participation ensures that technology development and testing are based on farmers' needs and perspectives; simulation allows the testing of a wider array of options in different (simulated) seasons and environments. Project innovations that have resulted from interactions between ICRISAT staff from West Africa and Southern Africa include: better targeting of small doses of macro-nutrients (phosphorus in West Africa and nitrogen in Southern Africa), sale of fertilizer in smaller, more affordable packages; and new methods of disseminating information on technology options. The results continue to be promising, with large yield gains, higher water-use efficiency, and increasing adoption by smallholder farmers when input supply constraints are addressed.

Institutions, markets, policy and impacts

In keeping with recent recommendations of our external reviews, ICRISAT focused research programs through four global research themes, one of them being Institutions, Markets, Policy and Impacts (earlier known as SAT Futures and Development Pathways). The theme's objective is to inform and provide strategic direction and prioritization of research issues within an IGNRM context and to provide appropriate capacity building. It scrutinizes the key driving factors influencing farmer to market linkages, optimal input and output options (including seed systems) and on more effective policy and impact generation. The poor face a wide range of social and economic constraints, so we maintain constant communication with them to understand their needs and seek solutions. In addition, following subsequent Governing Board advice in September 2005, ICRISAT reviewed its priorities to ensure that they are closely aligned with the CGIAR Systemwide priorities.

The goal of the Global Theme on Institutions, Markets, Policy and Impacts is to help generate policies, tools, lessons, and investment guidelines that contribute to improved food security, livelihood resilience and poverty reduction while protecting the environment of the production systems in the semi-arid tropics.

Towards this, the theme aims to facilitate:

• Adoption and implementation of new tools, policy recommendations and best practices by researchers and policymakers in the SAT to make efficient choices in support of SAT agriculture;
• Adoption of alternative risk reducing, income diversification and commercialization strategies and innovations for improved livelihoods by SAT farmers; and
• Utilization of innovation systems (institutional arrangements, alliances, and monitoring and evaluation) by researchers in the NARS, IARCs and other actors in the research for development continuum to promote learning and impact.

The Global Theme on Institutions, Markets, Policy and Impacts will generate and share vital information and analytical tools that will provide a rational foundation for decisions that affect the welfare of farmers and consumers in the semi-arid tropics. It will widen and expand the scope of village level studies both in Asia and Africa to contribute to research relevance and policy formulation

It will continue to build from ICRISAT's strong socio-economics and policy research experience rooted in a long tradition of working at the farm level through Village Level Studies and Impact surveys. It will further strengthen participatory and multi-disciplinary approaches to ensure that ICRISAT addresses the urgent concerns in SAT agriculture and the changing external environment both at the micro and macro levels. It will complement the micro-level analysis of village level databases with the analysis of macro-level data for policy formulation and development of research priorities.

Likewise, it will further intensify innovative partnerships with the NARS and other stakeholders to effectively contribute to the global research agenda by complementing national programs to improve the well-being of SAT populations in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Goal and strategy for knowledge sharing

National agricultural research and extension systems (NARES) are characterized by variability among and within countries and regions with respect to their capabilities in undertaking agricultural RD&E. At present, there is a very strong and persistent need from the NARES (especially in sub-Saharan Africa) for capacity building due to the continued lack of a critical mass and resources to implement strong IGNRM RD&E programs. Hence, increasing demands are being addressed to ICRISAT and other CGIAR Centers to assist in building and/or strengthening national RD&E capacity.

On the whole, ICRISAT has a strong capacity to set trends, organize and share knowledge, provide strategic direction, and enhance the quality of agricultural science and its utilization in the Asian and sub-Saharan SAT. Amidst the continued decline of core resources, this task is a big challenge which calls for the design, development and upscaling of innovative ways in capacity building. ICRISAT is committed to improve the human and institutional capacity of SAT NARES to conduct agricultural R&D by building partner power through:

• Assessing and addressing partners' training and education needs;
• Enhancing the capacity of partners to conduct joint research on cutting edge concepts, methodologies, and knowledge sharing; and
• Organizing and sharing information, knowledge and best practices on SAT agriculture.

Goal and purpose

ICRISAT envisions a world in which all stakeholders in the agricultural innovation process can easily access and share information, knowledge and skills they need - anywhere and anytime – to enhance the food security and livelihoods of the poor. Hence, ICRISAT is committed to harness innovative tools and concepts in learning, information and communication technologies and knowledge management to build partner power in the SAT.

Strategy

Towards 2015, ICRISAT's strategy for knowledge sharing will be fully aligned with the CGIAR's new research priority on facilitating institutional innovations to support sustainable reduction of poverty and hunger. This will be pursued by generating innovative approaches of linking policymakers, researchers, development workers, farmers, private support providers and other stakeholders of the agricultural innovation process.

The ICRISAT-led Virtual Academy for the Semi-Arid Tropics (VASAT) will be upscaled with partners to e nable dynamic linkages among diverse, distributed human and information resources in the SAT. By doing this, ICRISAT will facilitate institutional learning and provide a platform for becoming a leading provider of relevant content through the interface of ICT and open-distance learning. Moreover, VASAT will accelerate pursuit of the CGIAR's ICT-KM strategy of incorporating new practices to preserve, produce and improve access to the agricultural global public goods needed by the poor in developing countries. Linkages will be established with partners such as the Global Open Food and Agriculture University (GOFAU) and national open universities to develop courses in distance mode and other innovative learning opportunities.

Towards 2015, ICRISAT will offer vast opportunities for value-added collaboration among CGIAR Centers as well as with other partners, and will deploy novel platforms for knowledge sharing. ICRISAT will work with partners to enable capacity building within the CGIAR in designing, maintaining and upgrading knowledge management systems. It will also develop expertise in assessing and deploying various connectivity technologies in sharing information and knowledge with remote regions in the SAT.

The future of ICRISAT mandate crops

SAT agriculture has demonstrated appreciable dynamism, with the growth rate in agriculture production and total factor productivity moderate, if not high. A brief outlook of each ICRISAT mandate crop is presented below (details in ICRISAT, 2004). Cropping pattern shifts are taking place and coarse cereals are being replaced in more favoured areas by pigeonpea, chickpea, lentil, sunflower, soybean, and in some places maize. In addition pearl millet hybrids are replacing rainy season sorghum as their grain is less damaged by grain molds and their shorter duration facilitates land preparation for more predictable and remunerative post-rainy season crops, permitting intensification of land use. Dietary changes are significant across all income brackets. Not withstanding this dynamism, production-related risk, poverty, natural resource degradation, and bio-diversity loss persist and are projected to worsen under the impact of globalization, climate change, modernization, and inadequate or ineffective public sector interventions in terms of investment, service and support system.

Increasing population and higher expectations of lifestyle has placed greater demand on increasing crop/animal production and for raising incomes. There is a need for greater attention from the public sector to SAT agriculture as the profits from the small, fragmented markets are often too low to attract attention from the private sector. Improving the efficiency of both the input as well as the output markets would substantially help emerging commercial and semi-commercial farmers in resource poor areas. Combining various enterprises, which can enhance profit-earning opportunities, will help SAT farmers to improve their income and employment levels. Formal and informal extension systems should develop further capacity to render advice to the farmers on new opportunities such as alternative land use and marketing systems, livestock enterprises, and better watershed management practices.

Sorghum:

Sorghum is the world's fifth most important cereal crop; and is traditionally a staple food crop for millions of poor in the semi-arid tropics (SAT) of Asia and Africa. It is the cheapest source of energy, protein, zinc and iron after pearl millet. Sorghum remains an important food crop in the major growing regions in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Of late, sorghum is passing through a transition stage from being a food and fodder crop to an industrially valued raw material in Asia. However, considering the substantial increase in the demand for animal products (meat, milk and eggs) in developing countries by 2020 (Ryan and Spencer 2001) there would be a greater demand for sorghum grain in poultry feed industry and its stover and forage for dairy industry. In addition, sorghum grain has potential for use in producing potable alcohol, and stalks for bio-fuel production. The value-added product diversification of sorghum would, however require innovative institutional and industrial alliances.

Pearl Millet:

Pearl millet is a hardy cereal crop, grown mostly in marginal environments of the arid and semi-arid tropical regions, primarily for grain production. It is also valued for its fodder, the importance of which has been rising in the recent years. The crop residue/straw of dual-purpose pearl millet is an important source of fodder (particularly in low rainfall regions) accounting for 40-50% of the dry matter intake and is often the only source of feed in dry months. Owing to growing demand for milk and meat the demand for crop residues is increasing as reflected in the rising grain to straw price ratio for coarse cereals like sorghum and pearl millet.

Although food use of pearl millet is predicted to decline due to urbanization and income growth, the crop will continue to be an important staple for low-income consumers in the major growing regions in the foreseeable future. There are however, prospects for a rise in demand for processed pearl millet products as urban consumers become more nutrition-conscious. With the on-going livestock revolution, the demand for pearl millet grain in poultry feed, and its straw as well as green forage for dairy animals will continue to rise in the coming decades.

Pigeonpea:

Pigeonpea is grown in many countries, but there are only about a dozen countries where it is grown as a commercial crop. Pigeonpea is a major food legume of the global tropical and sub-tropical regions. It plays an important role in the sustainability of smallholder farming systems in many Asian, African, and Caribbean countries. Its high protein leaves are used as fodder and the dry crushed seeds as animal feed while the dry stems make quality fuel wood. Traditional varieties generally mature in 6-9 months, which restricts its adaptation but newly developed varieties have greater flexibility in maturity which has helped in crop diversification for increased sustainability and profits. Such improved lines are also finding new niches where pigeonpea was never grown in the past. The adoption of new hybrid technology in this crop will surely help in increasing the productivity and profitability of resource poor farmers. Thus, the future of pigeonpea seems bright and the next few years should see a substantial increase in the global pigeonpea production and utilization.

Chickpea:

Chickpea is the second most important food legume in Asia after dry beans in terms of area, production and consumption. Chickpea is an important source of protein, minerals, fiber and vitamins in the diets of millions of people in Asia. The global chickpea demand in 2010 is estimated to be 11.1 million t, an increase of 29% from its current production level of 8.6 million t during 2003-04. Approximately 90% of the additional demand will come from Asia. New cultivars that combine early maturity and resistance to Fusarium wilt have recently been rapidly adopted in Ethiopia, Sudan and Kenya. This likely increased demand is a major challenge to the chickpea scientific community, policy makers and extension agencies. A combination of productivity enhancement through varietal improvement and integrated crop management and expansion of area can help to achieve this target.

Groundnut

Groundnut is one of the world's principal oilseed crops. Developing countries account for nearly 95 percent of world production, and Asia for about 68 percent. During the past two decades, groundnut area has expanded in Africa and Asia, increased marginally in developed countries, and declined sharply in Latin America and the Caribbean. Demand for groundnut products has been driven by several factors. In Africa, population growth has been the primary factor. In Asia, demand has grown due to a combination of population growth, growth in per capita income, and urbanization—higher incomes, higher opportunity cost of time, and therefore greater demand for convenience foods. Future work must therefore focus on increasing adoption rates of new varieties and to strengthen seed production and distribution systems and new crop management methods to substantially improve productivity especially in drier areas.

Regional goals and strategies

West and Central Africa

As mentioned in the previous chapter, the low level of economic activity coupled with high population growth rates over the past decade has led to negative or stagnant growth in real per capita incomes in West and Central Africa (WCA). In many Sahelian countries, more than 30% of the population falls below the international poverty line of $1 a day and more than 30% of the population is undernourished. Agriculture accounts for more than 30% of the gross domestic product, employs between 82-92% of the total labor force and is the main source of livelihood for the poor. Domestic food production has not kept pace with the rising population.

Goal and purpose

Our goal in WCA is to improve household income, food security and farmers' and consumers' health substantially above current levels and to make the ecosystems sufficiently resilient to cope with the shocks expected from climate vagaries. This is sub-divided into four intermediary development-oriented areas in accordance with ICRISAT's global strategy, and these are to:

• Achieve an improved, diversified and further commercialized agricultural production as well as improved food security and health status in the semi-arid tropics of Africa;
• Improve the health and nutritional status of both people and livestock in the SAT, as these can be intimately associated with agricultural issues;
• Reduce the vulnerability of poor households to short-term shocks resulting from drought, pest and disease outbreaks by encouraging governments, NGOs and relief agencies to adopt more effective and efficient disaster prediction and relief strategies; and
• Increase the effectiveness of regional research partnerships and networks working on poverty reduction by enabling regional research partners to adopt and further adapt innovative research and development strategies.

Strategy

A primary driver for ICRISAT's strategy in WCA is to spur market demand. We will create incentives and opportunities for the poor to grow their way out of poverty through market-orientated production and value addition, in addition to ensuring their own food security. We will focus our research on enhancing and stabilizing yields. We will work to increase agricultural income for farmers with the expansion and increased viability of the commercial agricultural sector. We will also generate cutting edge innovations to help farmers reduce mycotoxin contamination, pesticide residues and other food contaminants and produce nutritionally superior crop and livestock products.

Moreover, we will implement the WCA priorities identified by the FHA based on the new CGIAR Systemwide priorities, which include sustaining biodiversity; maintaining and enhancing yields and yield potential of food staples; increasing income; integrated land, water and forest management at landscape level; and science and technology policies and institutions.

We will pursue our work using an IGNRM approach and by enhancing our network of collaborators and providing capacity building for our partners which include NARES, various sub-regional and regional fora (i.e., CORAF/WECARD, FARA, NEPAD), Alliance of Future Harvest Centers, advanced research institutes, civil society organizations and the private sector.

Eastern and Southern Africa

Of all the SAT regions, ESA is the only area where the UNDP human development index has remained unchanged since 1975. Nearly 30% of the region is semi-arid, more than half of the rural population lives in extreme poverty, and some 85% of these extremely poor people depend on agriculture to a greater or lesser extent for their livelihood. If there is to be any hope of achieving the MDG of reducing the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day to half the 1990 level by 2015, there is a need for substantial investment in research for development in this region.

In developing our regional strategy, a number of factors were taken into consideration. The most important of these stressed that the research-for-development agenda should be driven by the priorities of African stakeholders and the specific requirements of end-users, i.e. farmers, processors and traders. In this regard, ICRISAT recognizes the existence of two major groups of end-users in the SAT region: commercializing farmers that benefit from market opportunities and largely subsistence-oriented and chronically poor and vulnerable households in less-favored areas and marginal environments.

Moreover, extensive dialogue was undertaken with stakeholders to ensure that our research priorities fully reflect the aspirations and priorities of the regional (FARA) and sub-regional organizations (ASARECA, SADC-FANR). Similarly, cognizance was also taken of new initiatives by the NEPAD, African Union, Economic Commission for Africa and Inter-Academy Council for the UN Secretary General.

W e also considered the 2003 ICRISAT External Program Review recommendation that ICRISAT should follow an IGNRM approach in developing regional research programs in SSA. Finally, we took into account the Systemwide priorities which outlined five major priority and twenty sub-priorities areas for the CGIAR.

Improved rural livelihoods, increased food security, and sustainable IGNRM throughout SSA as a result of greater impact of agricultural research for development

Strategy

Towards 2015, ICRISAT-ESA will emphasize development of alternative and targeted research products that meet the needs of market-oriented and commercializing farmers as well as subsistence-oriented and chronically poor rural households. We will also focus on improving institutions to make markets and service providers work for the poor and to develop strategies and policy options to improve livelihood security for vulnerable households.

Our programs will be guided by the IGNRM approach, strategically aimed at meeting the needs of the two major groups of farmers (commercializing and subsistence-oriented) to develop relevant solutions to the multi-faceted agricultural development constraints that they face in the SAT. Strategic partnerships and alliances with private and public sector actors will be critical in developing holistic solutions that address the limiting factors along the resource management, production to marketing value chain.

ICRISAT-ESA's programs will deliver development impacts through the application of science and technology - developed by research - in a development context, and to provide ICRISAT with opportunities to conduct action research in support of development. Along with this, we will also address the institutional architecture of research and development and technology promotion as a way of improving poverty-focused developmental impacts. The regional programs will serve as a point of integration for ICRISAT's four global research themes to achieve clear and measurable impacts, and to help ICRISAT refocus its research agenda on issues that are of importance to smallholder farmers and development partners in the region.

We will also address the need to have a critical mass of scientists with competencies that complement those of our strategic partners to tap emerging opportunities to address existing and future challenges facing the region in a holistic manner. We will also provide capacity building support to our partners where necessary.

SAT Asia

ICRISAT's wide ranging and continuing stakeholder analysis in Asia over the last five years, particularly the annual interaction with APAARI and the Crop and Livestock Network for Asia and the global problem analysis in the SAT done by Ryan and Spencer in 2001 and EPR report in 2003 suggest key drivers of research for development in the Asian SAT:

• The growing and dominant importance of water availability, management and use in agriculture and the need for more effective sources of drought-tolerant and water-use efficient crop germplasm.
• The vital importance of crop and crop-livestock systems diversification and commercialization and overcoming the effects of insufficient investment in labor saving measures, post-harvest value addition, market information and market outlets for SAT farming products.
• The consequences of weak social institutions and policy support, inadequate healthcare and health education, underdeveloped social infrastructure, socially excluded and often feminized agricultural landholdings and inadequate seed systems in the public sector.
• The decline in relative importance of sorghum and pearl millet caused by the imbalanced price support and research effort for rice and wheat. This is now increasingly offset by rising demand for livestock products, particularly milk and poultry which require greater feed availability and new opportunities for using cereal crops for industrial purposes.
• The continued significance of pulse crops in human and livestock diets, health maintenance regimes, improved environmental services and commercialization of agriculture.

ICRISAT-Asia seeks to align its goals with the strategic principles outlined in its global “ICRISAT Strategy to 2010: Reaping the Seeds of Success” approved by the Governing Board in September 2004 which were to:

• Reduce poverty, hunger and malnutrition in the SAT
• Enhance productivity, quality and use of SAT crops
• Manage the fragile risk-prone environments of the SAT effectively
• Diversify options for income generation and greater commercialization within SAT crop-livestock systems.

ICRISAT–Asia will pursue its goal by fully exploiting the germplasm, soil, water and land resources at its headquarters in Patancheru, India, within an IGNRM approach. We will optimize the very large germplasm collection of our five major crops and five additional small millets to provide functional and widely diverse genetic material for our crop improvement activities. We will use the best mix of modern and traditional science tools to ensure that our parental and varietal materials will be of maximum value. We will continue to work as the world leader in understanding the genetics of our crops and use this knowledge in advancing the goals of ICRISAT and the Future Harvest Alliance.

We will harness improved varieties and improved water use efficiency as major entry points in our IGNRM efforts, especially at watershed/landscape levels, to enhance profitability, market-orientation and resilience of farming enterprises. This will include diversification of a wide range of potential crops, including those of higher value than staple cereals and legumes. We will identify alternative uses and value addition for our staple crops and maximize the effectiveness and sustainability of crop-livestock systems. We will ensure that our recommendations are pro-poor, allow equitable sharing of resources and promote gender equality.

Our efforts will specifically include the maintenance and safeguarding of human health through our biofortified mandate crops and the reduction of food and feed contamination by mycotoxins. We will also seriously consider the socioeconomic and policy implications of drought as an additional factor in the vulnerability of farming communities to HIV/AIDS.

Capacity building will continue to be one of ICRISAT's major thrusts in Asia, utilizing the most innovative methods of knowledge sharing. Irrespective of our major investments in this area to date, we see ICRISAT's role in capacity building to be as vital today and in the future as it was when ICRISAT was established in 1972. In addition, we see capacity building as a major mechanism of sharing our research efforts with our partners in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the context of South-South collaboration.

Table 1. Alignment of ICRISAT's global research themes with the CGIAR Systemwide priorities.

** Direct involvement

* Potential involvement

Table 2. Alignment of ICRISAT's regional research agenda with the CGIAR Systemwide priorities.

** Direct involvement

* Potential involvement

Table 3. Achieving the Millennium Development Goals through ICRISAT's research.