Market studies, situation outlooks and institutional innovation

Traditionally, ICRISAT's mandate crops have been viewed primarily as food security or poor man's crops. Consequently, declines in area may suggest dietary changes for the poor; or conversely, expansion of area may be an indication of increasing poverty and food insecurity, although other interpretations are also possible. These studies will assess these issues, within the context of global trends towards freer trade. Issues under consideration include the potential for expansion in production of groundnut, pigeonpea and chickpeas in Asia and Africa in light high market value, export potential, and household food security consequences; and the potential for expansion of sorghum and pearl millet through diversified utilization of these crops both for multiple food and feed products. Research through these studies helps to gain a better understanding of the factors influencing shifts in cropping patterns and market competitiveness of coarse grains and pulses in the SAT and the consequences of these shifts both for the livelihoods of the poor and for research priority setting.

The commodity outlook reports examine ways for improving market access and the competitiveness of ICRISAT's mandate crops vis-à-vis other cropping alternatives, analysis of trends in area, yield and production, trade patterns, demand and supply projections for the future, and the implications for ICRISAT research on mandate crop. The ultimate goal is to assist developing countries to formulate policy changes to protect the livelihoods of SAT farmers who depend on the production and marketing of coarse grains and pulses.

The work on institutional arrangements in Asia and Africa analyzing ICRISAT's relationship with the private seed industry in India suggests that our partners value expertise as well as products. The central message is the importance of establishing iterative relationships as part of the evolving landscape of agricultural innovation systems. This has implications on the future role of ICRISAT and its research priorities.

The activities in Asia include:

• Crop-livestock situation and outlook report
• Commodity situation and outlook reports developed for the vision and research agenda for sorghum, pearl millet, chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut (linked with GT BT and CI)
• Price trends and competitiveness of mandate crops
• Institutional innovation and strengthening of public-private sector linkages: Coalition approach for effective market linkages (Linked with GT-CI)
• Introduction of improved groundnut cultivars in Deccan Plateau of India through a coalition approach (linked with GT-CI)
• Property rights and collective action in community watershed management (Linked with GT-AES)
• Groundnut seed system in Andhra Pradesh (Linked with GT-CI)

The activities in WCA include:

• Market prospects for groundnut in WCA published (Linked with GT BT and CI)
• Technical paper on groundnut seed supply systems in WCA published (Linked with GT BT and CI)
• Synthesis report on participatory variety selection in groundnut (Linked with GT-CI)

The activities in ESA include:

• Livelihoods and market linkages: Social capital in linking smallholder pigeonpea and groundnut farmers to product markets in Malawi (Linked with GT-CI)
• Sub-sector study of pigeonpea (Linked with GT-CI)
• Sub-sector study of chickpea (Linked with GT-CI)
• Regional seed policy harmonization (Linked with GT-CI)
• Institutional and organizational innovations for collective marketing developed (Linked with GT-AES)
• Regional south-south collaboration for watersheds research cemented (Linked with GT-AES)

Partners