Along with investments from national governments, ICRISAT can help African countries boost their agricultural productivity, improve food and nutrition security, and enhance livelihoods of their smallholder farmers. This was emphasized at a virtual conference organized by the Collective for the Renewal of Africa (CORA) recently. The Collective, a pan-African initiative of over 100 social scientists, researchers, historians, community leaders, and more, seeks to produce knowledge that can help break the cycle of exogenous development models in Africa by promoting innovative African thinking and practices

1. Newsletter
Happenings
In-house version 23 April 2021, No.1903
Conference
Africa is on the threshold of a new beginning, and
ICRISAT can help
ICRISAT’s contribution to mitigating climate
change impacts
▪
▪ Biofortified pearl millet with high iron and zinc levels
▪
▪ Genomics tools for rapid and accurate identification
of climate-resilient traits in crop breeding process
▪
▪ Climate mitigation techniques and practices such as
seed dressing, tillage practices, fertilizer microdosing,
African Market Gardens, contour bunding,
agroforestry, etc.
▪
▪ Crop-livestockintegrationespeciallyintheSahelianregion
▪
▪ Digital decision support tools such as weather
information and farming advisories on mobile
phones etc.
Along with investments from national governments,
ICRISAT can help African countries boost their
agricultural productivity, improve food and nutrition
security, and enhance livelihoods of their smallholder
farmers. This was emphasized at a virtual conference
organized by the Collective for the Renewal of Africa
(CORA) recently. The Collective, a pan-African initiative of
over 100 social scientists, researchers, historians,
community leaders, and more, seeks to produce
knowledge that can help break the cycle of exogenous
development models in Africa by promoting innovative
African thinking and practices
During the panel discussion ‘Harnessing the Potential of
Science, Technology and Endogenous Knowledge’ at the
conference, Dr Ramadjita Tabo, 2007 Nobel Peace Prize
Laureate, and Regional and Research Program Director,
ICRISAT-West and Central Africa, focused on agriculture,
which remains critical to Africa’s socio-economic
development and said, “We have a wealth of agricultural
technology and knowhow at our disposal, but we need
adequate investment in agriculture and development
from the national governments to take Africa towards
reducing poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition.”
Highlighting ICRISAT as a leader in agricultural research
in the drylands, with a special focus on sub-Saharan
Africa, Dr Tabo said, “If we can create an environment of
enabling science and technology, Africa can surely make
its way to the forefront of food grain exporters in the
near future.”
“The application of biotechnology in agriculture has
resulted in new crop varieties with improved tolerance
to pests and diseases, and higher nutritional value,” said
Dr Tabo. “We have Africa’s first biofortified pearl millet
variety called Chakti that aims to combat anemia. A
large pool of good dual-purpose millet and sorghum
were recommended for nutrition for their high iron and
zinc content and for improving crop-livestock farm
system. Genomics is making it possible for scientists to
identify genes that are linked to particular diseases.
Genomic tools have been used and are expected to be
intensified to find resistance or tolerance in drylands
crops to the Fall armyworm.”
Dr Tabo talked about emerging advanced technologies
with the potential to effectively mitigate climate change
in Africa. “We have seen the efficacy of good agricultural
practices that led to an increase in system productivity
(see box). Contour bunding technology has been
successful by increasing crop yields by more than 30%,
and improving household economy by 20%,” he said.
Photo: ICRISAT