ICRISAT Into the New Millennium
| Socioeconomics and Policy Program |
Socioeconomics research plays a key
role in linking crop improvement and resource management research into real-life farming
systems; in analyzing how well new technology meets farmers' needs; and identifying and
helping to resolve constraints to technology adoption. ICRISAT socioeconomists work
closely with the Institute's crop- or system-based research teams at each location, and
with economists and other social scientists from national programs in several countries. |
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Socioeconomics research at ICRISAT addresses four broad
areas
- Resource management. Long-term village-level studies in India, Burkina Faso, and Niger
provided data on production relations, nutritional status, attitudes to risk,
socioeconomic conditions, management of common property resources.
- Germplasm development. Studies conducted in India, Zimbabwe and elsewhere have helped
quantify the relative importance of grain and fodder in cereal harvests, providing
breeders and technology exchange specialists with guidelines for future research targets
and extension efforts.
- Impact assessment, and markets and policy studies. A study measured the impact of a new
wilt-resistant pigeonpea variety in parts of southern India where the disease is endemic.
Adoption grew from 5% in 1987 to 55% in 1991; seed spread through farmer-to-farmer
exchange, and yields and profits grew sharply. The study also examined farmers' concerns
about sustainability, and how they made a conscious choice to grow pigeonpea partly in
order to maintain the fertility of their fields.
- Markets and policy studies deal with broader issues. A collaborative study with FAO examined production, trade, and utilization trends in
sorghum and pearl millet, and the factors which influence them.
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Milestones: 1992
- ICRISAT celebrates 20 years!
- HE P V Narasimha Rao, Prime Minister of India visits ICRISAT Center
- Cereals and Legumes Asia Network (CLAN) established at ICRISAT Center
- ICRISAT produces world’s first pigeonpea hybrid
- Doreen Margaret Mashler Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award instituted
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