Vision

Part II
Pursuing the Vision and Strategy

 

Chapter 4

Reducing rural poverty through agricultural diversification and emerging opportunities for high-value commodities and products (System Priority 3)

Increasing income from fruit and vegetables ( Priority 3A)

Enhance production of selected fruit and vegetables through improvement of farming systems in WCA (Specific goal 2)

Food security and poverty reduction at the farm level can be achieved through increased efficiency of the farming system, diversification into higher income-generating crops, opening new markets and adding value to farm products. Traditional food plants such as fruit trees, pulses and leafy vegetables are showing promising economic potential and therefore need technical and scientific support, through domestication, to improve their production and adoption in SAT farming systems. This research area will rely heavily on ICRISAT facilitating the spillovers of knowledge from Asia to Africa and from Africa to Asia and will take advantage of this process of the transfer of technology to improve the profitability and sustainability of small-scale agricultural enterprises.

Development of more efficient farming systems

  • The African Market Garden (AMG) is a low-pressure drip irrigation system particularly suitable for small farmers. It has all the advantages of the conventional drip irrigation systems at a fraction of their normal cost. The AMG can increase farm profits per unit area over traditional dryland farming systems by a factor of seven. Over the last three years, ICRISAT has disseminated 1,500 AMG units in eight countries of West and Central Africa and the effort is continuing through an on going project in Burkina Faso and Ghana.
  • The Sahelian Eco-Farm (SEF) is an integrated dryland tree-crop-livestock system designed to provide solutions to major constraints of current millet based production systems. Three versions of the SEF are under investigation. The system is still under development in partnership with the NARES of Burkina Faso (INERA) and Ghana and with pilot farmers in Niger. Results of four years of research at Sadore, Niger demonstrated that this system could increase farm profits per unit area by a factor of five as compared to the traditional system. ICRISAT is proposing to study mechanisms to allow a large-scale dissemination of the system.

Crop diversification

Crop diversification activity involves improvement of traditional crops and native plants and the identification of new income-generating crops

  • Domestication of Acacia Senegal , the Gum Arabic producing tree.
  • Promotion of traditional vegetables.
  • Selection of dual-purpose cowpea varieties.
  • Promoting Roselle ( Hibiscus sp.) as a cash crop for export.
  • Production of watermelons on stored soil moisture.
  • Pomme du Sahel  : The introduction to the Sahel of the domesticated Ziziphus mauritiana
  • Dates for the Sahel.
  • Introduction of new species and quality varieties of fruit trees.
  • Heat tolerant quality vegetable varieties.
Outputs and Outcomes to 2015

 

Outputs:

  • African Market Garden technology and high quality vegetable seeds made available to NARES and private sector partners.
  • Crop diversification strategies in combination with improved land use technologies (e.g. Sahelian Eco-farm) promoted, published and disseminated to partners with associated capacity building measures
  • Traditional vegetables and tree crop germplasm for integration in the agricultural production systems made available to partners.
  • Vegetable production and plants propagation technique capacity building is made available to partner organizations.

Outcomes:

  • Strengthened partners diffuse AMG technology and improved vegetable seeds and they are adopted by farmer enterprises with access to water
  • Strengthened partners adopt and promulgate SEF dryland technologies improving the resilience of agricultural systems and increasing farmer income through value-added vegetable, fruit and tree crops.

Potential impact: Farmers' annual income, system resilience and food production increased though adoption of new technologies and crop diversification systems. Improved nutrition of rural and urban populations through greater consumption of fruit and vegetables. Traders and exporters benefit from greater competitiveness in local, regional and international markets.

Predominant capability:

  • ICRISAT is well placed to organize information and legal germplasm exchanges between partners from different countries.
  • Highly trained interdisciplinary research teams at Bamako and Niamey are in an excellent position to implement regionally coordinated projects in partnership with NARS.
  • Optimal conditions for seed storage and plants propagation are available (e.g. regional nursery and regional gene bank) at ICRISAT-Sadore
  • Developing partnership with the World Vegetable Center is in place and functioning.

Counterfactual:

  • The dryland farming systems of the Sahel will continue to have a tendency towards mono-cropping of pearl millet which is unlikely to be sufficiently profitable on small-holdings to enable farmers to grow themselves out of poverty. M alnutrition amongst vulnerable groups will likely continue to be an unresolved issue.


Enhance production of selected fruit, vegetables and plant products through improvement of farming systems in Asia (Priority 3A: Specific goal 2)

Diversification: Agriculture and energy

Considering present market externalities and environmental concerns there is an urgent need to diversify systems using high-value and less water demanding crops and by using integrated crop, soil, nutrient and pest management options. For sustainable development, farmer incomes need to be raised while still protecting land, water, and environmental resources. ICRISAT-Asia is employing this type of strategy to increase income through diversification of systems with increased soil and water conservation at a catchment scale. By adopting an integrated genetic and natural resource management approach, ICRISAT is able to demonstrate the enhancement of livelihoods on a sustainable basis in rainfed areas particularly through the introduction of high-value, fruit, vegetables and value-added plant products and with options for supplemental irrigation. ICRISAT is now also concerned to stress its growing expertise in the area of agriculture and energy, particularly in the provision of substitutes or dilutants for oil and petroleum. This is likely to be an area of potential expansion in the future.

Earlier studies show that livestock contribute as important positive sources for livelihood improvement in watersheds. Hence our focus is on sustainable rural livelihoods that capitalise on the integration of agroforestry, livestock improvement, horticulture and silviculture as per land capability and the assets of specific communities.

Development of sustainable and efficient farming systems

Sweet sorghum for ethanol production : In partnership with NARS, ICRISAT has identified high-yielding sweet sorghum lines and developed varieties and hybrids which can be successfully used for ethanol production. Recently, several countries in Asia have adopted a policy of blending petrol with ethanol up to 10% creating a demand for ethanol. Traditional sugarcane molasses-based ethanol production is not presently meeting market demand. The water requirement (4000 m 3 for sorghum against 36000 m 3 for sugarcane) and crop growth duration (4 months for sorghum against 12 months for sugarcane) of sweet sorghum is much lower than that of sugarcane and thus sweet sorghum can be grown in the dry lands with low-volume irrigation facilities. Farmers can get higher income from sweet sorghum cultivation—both from the sale of stalks to distilleries and the sale of the grain after harvest of the stalks for food or feed use. Besides developing sweet sorghum hybrid parents and varieties suitable for ethanol production, ICRISAT facilitates the private sector to incubate ethanol production technology from sweet sorghum. The genetic enhancement strategy of ICRISAT is to improve seed parents further for stalk sugar content and to develop, test, and identify promising hybrids for various agro-ecosystems in collaboration with national programs. Further, strategic research on the relative performances of hybrids vis-a-vis varieties for maturity duration, response to photoperiod variation, adaptability and biomass producing ability in various agro-ecosystems will receive priority at ICRISAT.

Improved livelihoods through biodiesel plantations : Common property resources (CPR) in the villages are degraded and are in urgent need of rehabilitation. These CPRs are not fulfilling their original purpose of providing fodder and fuel for the villagers, particularly for the landless. With the increasing rise in the prices of fossil fuel and also the increasing concentration of global atmospheric CO 2 there is urgency to develop alternative energy sources. In Asian countries, an alternative source of biodiesel is non-edible oils. Pongamia a N 2 -fixing tree and Jatropha are proving to be good candidates for use as biodiesel plants. Seeds of these plants contain 30-35% oil. They are not browsed by the animals, are drought tolerant and are already grown in the region thus making them excellent candidate for biodiesel production. Our watershed consortia have initiated work to rehabilitate the degraded CPRs and low-quality private lands through establishing biodiesel plantations. In this area, public-private partnerships (PPP) are emerging quite strongly. Decentralized extraction of oil, growing of nurseries, collection of seeds, and use of seed cake as a by-product after extracting oil as an organic source of plant nutrition provides a good income to the rural poor as well as minimizing land degradation.

Diversification through vegetables and fruits : Through rainwater harvesting initiatives a considerable increase in groundwater can enable farmers to undertake investments in cultivating high-value crops with supplemental irrigation. In Asia our efforts are to increase water use efficiency in terms of economic returns using vegetables and fruits that have good market demand. It also addresses the need for greater consumption of such nutritionally rich products and thus the adoption of more nutritionally-sound diets in the disadvantaged communities of the rainfed areas.

Diversification with medicinal and aromatic plants : In rainfed areas low water-requiring aromatic grasses and medicinal plants can be successfully grown. Where groundwater is available supplemental irrigation allows cultivation of high-value medicinal plants such as Coleus forskolii, Andrographis paniculata, Cassisa angustifolia, and Withinia sominifera . Through capacity building these crops can be processed in a decentralized manner in villages and value added products can then be marketed. Marketing of diversified crop products is a major constraint, in addition to developing the management options, for such new systems. ICRISAT is harnessing the potential of partnerships with private entrepreneurs to provide farmers with assured markets for value added products.


Outputs and outcomes to 2015

Outputs:

  • Annually, sweet sorghum hybrid parents and varieties available to partners.
  • New approaches and technological options to diversify SAT systems using available water resources efficiently to grow high-value commodities that increase incomes for disadvantaged households identified and promoted by consortium partners to Government agencies, donors, NGOs, and CBOs in Asia.
  • Technological options and approaches to add value to high-value crops to increase farmer incomes through ensured high-quality marketable products developed and scaled up by partners.
Outcomes:
  • Approaches and technological options to increase incomes through diversifying SAT systems using high-value commodities incorporated in policies and implementation guidelines by government agencies, NARES, and donor agencies in India, Thailand, Vietnam, Southern China, and Philippines for strengthening their sustainable research and development programs.
  • Technologies and approaches to add value through processing and improved quality standards adopted by target country institutions resulting in enhanced market opportunities and increased incomes.
Potential Impact:
  • Participatory research and development (PR&D) approaches to improve the livelihoods of the landless and small farmers through rehabilitating degraded lands and diversifying SAT systems are developed and promoted in the SAT areas of India, Thailand, Vietnam, southern China, and Philippines.
  • Incomes of the farmers in target rainfed areas using available water to grow high-value commodities potentially increased.
  • Potential proof of concept for use of environment-friendly alternative sources of energy using biodiesel and ethanol from sweet sorghum to use as energy source in the target countries (India, Thailand, and Philippines).
  • Value addition and better quality (healthy) products from agriculture enhance marketability and incomes for the farmers.
  • Stronger public-private partnerships and seamless integration of research and development initiatives promote development in the region.
  • High-quality hygienic products benefit human and animal health and green fuel options protect environmental quality.

Predominant capability: ICRISAT has unique expertise in its ability to breed and produce ultra-sweet sorghum hybrids and can use our existing parental material to do this. ICRISAT's pro-poor stance is also highly apposite for its work on biodiesel as this often can only be grown on the most marginal land on which many poor are dependent for their livelihoods. Also, ICRISAT has a comparative advantage of working at watershed/catchment scale through consortium approach. It's international nature along with its multidisciplinary team of scientists enables it to act as a facilitator and honest broker which is trusted by partners to advocate strongly the introduction of necessary policy and institutional changes in target countries.

Counterfactual:

  • Farmers will continue to grow water inefficient crops using available water resources and farming will become a losing proposition resulting in increased poverty.
  • CPRs will be further degraded and process of desertification will set in triggering distressed migration of unskilled people to cities.
  • Over dependence on fossil fuel with increasing prices will push the developing countries on a downward spiral of development and also increase environmental pollution through release of greenhouse gases (GHGs).