Extra-Early Pearl Millet Hybrid in India
Downy mildew in pearl millet can result in great losses in grain and stover harvest. Scant and unreliable rainfall is another factor that drastically reduces yield and yield stability. Improved hybrids promise to protect farmers from the past “boom-bust” cycle of hybrid cultivation in India.
Interventions
Inter-institutional collaboration integrated conventional, participatory and marker-assisted breeding methods to develop extra-early pearl millet hybrid HHB 67 Improved, which has enhanced downy mildew resistance and yield.
Impacts
- >875,000 ha: Area grown to improved varieties mainly in drought-prone areas of Rajasthan, India
- Net income from improved seed: USD 1460/ha; total net benefit of USD 6.4 million in 2011
- 186 person day/ha: Jobs from seed multiplication
- USD 13.5 M: Net improved benefits in 2011 alone, compared to previous varieties
- Generated 900,000 days of employment each year, 45% of whom were women laborers.
