Project for Improvement of Grain Legumes in Rainfed Asia, 19 June, 2002

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) agency of Italy has provided a grant of US$ 1.3 million towards the Improvement of Grain Legumes in Rainfed Asia project. The project partners are ICRISAT, India, China, Nepal and Vietnam. Over two days (19-20 June) ICRISAT is hosting a meeting with Indian collaborators to come up with a work plan for the implementation of the project.

The priority legumes that are being considered: Groundnut, Chickpea and Pigeonpea and the goal of the program is to affect a sustainable increase in agricultural productivity through wider adoption of legumes in cropping systems in Asia. The use of better-adapted legume varieties and production technologies (that ICRISAT has developed) will improve the well being of the rural poor.

The Objectives of the Planning Meet are:

• Selection of trial locations
• Participatory rural appraisal (PRAs)
• Integrated crop management (ICM) management

The meeting also details the expected outputs and the implementation processes. The participants include Dr NB Singh, ADG ICAR, Dr MD Jeswanii, leader of Pulse IPM Team - NCIPM, Dr MS Basu, Director NRGC, Dr PS Bharodia, Principal Scientist, GAU, Dr A Satyanarayana, Director Extension, ANGRAU, Dr T Yellamanda Reddy, Principal Scientist, ARS Anantapur, Dr B Raghu Rami Reddy, Technical Director, Rural Development Trust, Mr Surendra Behar, State Project Director, Chhattisgarh Tribal Development Society and others.