In support of SDG #2 and others, Research Program - West and Central Africa (WCA) Building resilient food systems to overcome poverty, hunger and malnutrition, developing and validating improved technologies to enhance agricultural production and productivity and increasing community resilience and provide solutions

1. Research Program: West and Central Africa (WCA)
Presentation at the
95th Governing Board
meeting
Program Committee
30 Sept 2020
Presented by
Ramadjita Tabo
Director, Research Program -WCA

2. Presentation at the 95th ICRISAT Governing Board Meeting
Program Committee Sept 30, 2020 2
Building resilient food systems to
overcome poverty, hunger and
malnutrition
Developing and validating
improved technologies to
enhance agricultural
production and productivity
Increasing community
resilience and provide
solutions

3. Presentation at the 95th ICRISAT Governing Board Meeting
Program Committee Sept 30, 2020 3
I. Crop Improvement (1)
Targeted to SDG2
Development of demand led dual-purpose crop
varieties and hybrids: both grain for food and stover
for livestock feed.
The Regional Crop Improvement Hub :
Enhance genetic gain and operational
efficiency.

4. Presentation at the 95th ICRISAT Governing Board Meeting
Program Committee Sept 30, 2020 4
I. Crop Improvement (2)
Achievements
Millet
 Iron (Fe) biofortified variety CHAKTI evaluated in
Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal
 98 new pearl millet germplasm accessions
evaluated for identifying new iron (Fe) sources.
The XRF Fe varied from 31 ppm to 51 ppm. XRF
Zn varied 31 ppm to 46 ppm  70 hybrid pearl millet with High Fe and Zn
evaluated in 14 locations in West Africa.
The XRF Fe density range from 44 ppm to
70 . While XRF Zn density range from 36
ppm to 57 ppm

5. Presentation at the 95th ICRISAT Governing Board Meeting
Program Committee Sept 30, 2020 5
II. Integrated Crop Management(1)
Targeted to SDG2
Avail technologies that enabled farm households to diversify and
avail nutrient dense food crops for household consumption and sale
Achievements
 ISFM practices in farmers’ fields increased yields of sorghum,
millet and groundnut by 30 to 55%, with a gain in net returns of
over 30%.
 Integrated and participatory watershed management approach
enabled the reduction of runoff and soil erosion by 40% and the
improvement of shallow aquifer in the range of 30 to 45%.
 Model farmers, rural extension agents, and local NGOs were
trained to extend these technologies to over 25,000 households in
different agro ecologies in the year 2019/2020.

6. Presentation at the 95th ICRISAT Governing Board Meeting
Program Committee Sept 30, 2020 6
II. Integrated Crop Management (2)
Using mechanization for
Crushing or milling of sorghum
and millet crop residues in
Nigeria
100% consumption of the
stover as against 20 -30% that is
presently being consumed by
small ruminants

7. Presentation at the 95th ICRISAT Governing Board Meeting
Program Committee Sept 30, 2020 7
II. Integrated Crop Management (3)
House gardening
Aerobic and Anaerobic
composting techniques
Integrated millet-
legume system
Tree grafting Farmer managed natural regeneration
 Farmers produced over 20 tons of vegetables
which were either self-consumed (85%) or
sold (15%).
 340 tons of compost produced for use in
2020 rainy season millet cropping system by
nearly 2,300 farmers among which 664 were
women.
 The integrated millet-legume production
system was practiced in 112 villages by 1600
farmers among which 300 were women.

8. Presentation at the 95th ICRISAT Governing Board Meeting
Program Committee Sept 30, 2020 8
Targeted to SDG2
Transform and secure contractual agriculture through
phygital ecosystems that monitor plots in real time,
innovate in rural job markets, and orchestrate value
creation to transform the global food chain
Achievement
• Agcelerant System deployed with 15 million smallholders
in Nigeria
• Introduction of novel Earth Observation and IoT
solutions, building the world’s first fully automated,
award-winning smallholder plot monitoring system.
III. System analysis

9. Presentation at the 95th ICRISAT Governing Board Meeting
Program Committee Sept 30, 2020 9
Targeted to SDG-2 : Prioritization of varieties of
sorghum and millet demanded by end users, by
examining trait preferences and choices of
different market segments in Mali and Burkina
Faso.
Achievement: Traits that enhance yield, grain
and food quality (taste, food consistency, flour
quantity) for consumption and processing
purposes are most desired and demanded
varieties by both female and male customers (>
70%)
IV. Impact and Policy:
Gender mainstreaming

10. Presentation at the 95th ICRISAT Governing Board Meeting
Program Committee Sept 30, 2020
Thank You
Questions?
10