International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
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Reducing risk of crop failure by building system-level resilience through science-based natural resource management interventions: A case for rationalising crop insurance premia
Get PDFDrylands are facing several challenges such as water scarcity, land degradation, and poor agricultural and livestock productivity. These areas are also hotspots of chronic poverty and malnutrition posing a serious threat to economic development. Agriculture and allied sectors play an important role in providing livelihoods to more than 55% of the population in this ecosystem. This sector is going to face heightened distress due to risks associated with changing climatic conditions. Likelihood of diverse biotic (pest/disease) and abiotic (drought, dry spells, floods, hailstorm, etc.) stresses is increasing, and therefore, farmers are often suffering from crop losses either partially or fully. With this realization, the Government of India and several state governments have designed many social protection programs to alleviate distress among farmers due to crop loss
Strengthening Food Security Post-COVID-19 and Locust Attacks: Supporting crop insurance in Pakistan
Get PDFThis study mainly focussed on linking Insurance and Technology. The study will use comprehensive exiting environmental, weather and management data along with satellite derived crop spatial data. This information will be modelled using crop models to assess crop yield assessment at gram panchayat (GP) and required spatial information generated from near real time high resolution satellite images
Improvement of Rice Production under Drought Conditions in West Africa: Application of QTLs in Breeding for Drought Resistance
Get PDFRice plays a paramount role in food and nutrition security in many West African countries. Despite the doubling of production during the last decade, rice consumption has grown faster, creating a deficit between the demand and supply. Although the West African sub-region remains the main rice-producing centre on the continent, production is severely hampered by biotic and abiotic stresses. Drought is one of the factors that most severely reduce grain yields of rice. Systems of production need to be established in order to mitigate yield loss as a result of drought. This review discusses the effects of drought on rice production in West Africa and its mitigation with an emphasis on the improvement of tolerance to drought stress. Yield stability can be achieved by developing drought-tolerant varieties through several processes encompassing profiling of known QTLs and identification of new ones, marker-assisted selection, genomic selection, and extensive multi-locational yield trials. We suggest a comprehensive strategy for breeding drought-tolerant rice varieties in West Africa
A new convergent science framework for food system sustainability in an uncertain climate
Get PDFThe complexity and interconnectivity of food systems and climate requires new thinking and research designs that better address the real-world challenges of securing the resilience and sustainability of human and environmental systems. Central to such an approach is coherent action across sectors and scales. Although inter-and transdisciplinary approaches are widely discussed, no convergence model exists to detect and prepare for food system vulnerabilities emerging from disruptions in climate systems, or to address the contributions to climate change from food system functions. Convergence research is critical to solving these vexing dynamics by integrating knowledge from multiple scientific domains to inform societal action. Here, we present a new convergent science model that incorporates four key components at the global, national and local level. Through the newly created Food and Climate Systems Transformation Alliance, we are now operationalizing, testing and refining the model to promote science convergence for tackling systemic vulnerabilities in the current food paradigm. Globally, funding relating to climate change and food systems transformation needs to pivot to support the levels of ambition, magnitude of need and complexity of challenges posed
Plant extracts as potential control agents of Black Sigatoka in banana
Get PDFAqueous extracts of Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Capsicum annuum and Azadirachta indica were tested for efficacy for management of Pseudocercospora fijiensis in banana (Musa spp.) when applied as foliar sprays. Extracts of C. annuum and A.indica demonstrated fungicidal effects in vitro, without showing phytotoxic effects. The two extracts protected tissue culture banana plantlets of cultivar Musakala to a similar degree as the traditional fungicide difenoconazole. Extracts of A. indica and C. annuum (0.3 g/ml) reduced Black Sigatoka severity by 69.3% and 65.6%, respectively, and were thus comparable to the fungicide difenoconazole (72.7%). Soil drenching of the extracts did not significantly reduce Black Sigatoka severity. In planta effects of the extracts mainly consisted of delayed symptom appearance and reduced lesion number. Symptom development was dependent on extract concentration and days between extract application and inoculation. Effect of the
tested extracts on height of plants and new leaves was not significant. Collectively, our data suggest that A. indica and C. annuum have interesting and unique properties as plant protection agents against Pseudocercospora fijiensis, but further research is needed to investigate their efficacy
Remediation of acid soils and soil property amelioration via Acacia decurrens-based agroforestry system
Get PDFLand degradation and the associated soil
acidity are critical challenge for crop production in
Ethiopian highlands. Since liming is expensive, farmers
have developed an alternative agroforestry system
by integrating Acacia decurrens into their landscapes.
The expansion rate of this system was assessed over
the last three decades. The effects of the agroforestry
system and charcoal-making kiln sites on soil properties
were investigated for over five years compared
to the adjacent croplands. Soil samples were collected
from A. decurrens plantations, kiln sites, and adjacent
croplands at 0–15 and 15–30 cm soil depths. In the last
30 years, the plantation and croplands increased by
8% and 17.5%, respectively, compared to the land-use
system in 1993, mainly at the expense of grassland and
abandoned land. The main incentive for expansion of
A. decurrens plantations was farmers’ income generated
from charcoal making. This intervention also
improved soil properties with a significantly positive
effect on soil pH, soil organic carbon (SOC), cation
exchange capacity (CEC), and available Bray phosphorus
(Bray-P) compared to the adjacent croplands.
Results revealed that the SOC content in year 2
increased significantly (1.3–1.7 times) under A. decurrens
plantation compared to adjacent crop fields.
Moreover, soil pH increased by one unit on charcoalmaking
fields, which was equivalent to application of
4–5 t lime ha-1, while SOC increased by * 10% on
kiln sites compared to the control. Charcoal making
kiln spots increased available soil phosphorus by
112% compared to the adjacent non-kiln sites. The
Bray- P was strongly and significantly (P\0.05)
correlated (r = 0.75) with soil pH. We conclude that
integrating A. decurrens-based agroforestry practices
would improve livelihoods by restoring degraded
lands, improving income generation and carbon
sequestration
Response of chickpea to varying moisture stress conditions in Ethiopia
Get PDFChickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an economically important crop grown by nearly one million Ethiopian smallholder farmers. The crop is often considered as “stress-loving,” but moisture stress at flowering and grain filling stages could be detrimental. Yield of chickpea is commonly affected by terminal drought stress in the rainfed production system in Ethiopia. The lack of proper field-screening methods has hindered the development of drought-tolerant varieties. This study demonstrates a simple and practical field-level screening method for drought tolerance traits in the conventional breeding programs. A field experiment was conducted using 28 elite chickpea cultivars during the 2018–2019 main cropping season to study their response to moisture regimes of varying drought intensities. We used yield and its components as proxy parameters of screening to select tolerant cultivars. The study revealed significant variation among the cultivars in their response to different moisture regimes. The kabuli cultivars were found more sensitive compared with the desi types. Yield penalty exceeded 70% under severe drought. Conversely, cultivars tested under mild and severe stress drought showed average yield gain of 22 and 48%, respectively, relative to the irrigated treatment. Overall, over 50% yield gain can be obtained in drought-affected rainfed production areas in Ethiopia using supplemental irrigation during pod setting to grain filling stages. For post-rainy-season crops relying on residual soil moisture, such as chickpea, breeding for shorter duration and resilient cultivars are reliable management approaches to minimize drought-caused yield losses
Trends and progress in sorghum research over two decades, and implications for global food security
No full textSorghum is a climate-resilient crop critical to livelihood in several semi-arid regions but has traditionally received limited research investment. In depth bibliometric analysis covering years 2000 – 2020 was performed using Scopus database to gain insight on sorghum research trends and identify gaps and opportunities for the crop. 17,720 relevant documents were retrieved and analysed. Robust increase in research literature on sorghum was observed for the period, more than tripling to almost 1,600/year in 2020. New opportunities stimulated by the sorghum genome sequencing and evolution of the crop as a model for drought tolerance, and growing recognition of sorghum as a potential food and energy security crop in response to climate change were key drivers of research output. Encouraging evidence demonstrates that both sorghum yield and nutritional quality are more stable to climate change compared to major cereal crops like maize and rice. End use trends suggest sorghum is more competitive in the food market than feed and bioenergy markets that have dominated its production in the past. Quality traits identified as most likely to expand long-term sorghum food value chain include endosperm functionality (kafirin protein properties), health (resistant starch and polyphenols), and nutrition (iron and zinc). Gene editing technology has shown promise as a tool to efficiently design sorghums with traits for high value food applications. Increased investment in market-driven sorghum improvement research targeting traits that address long-term consumer food needs will benefit both global food security and the environment
Improved household nutrition through home-grown produce and consumption of nutritious and healthy products
Get PDFThis book chapter discusses the agricultural interventions that are both nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive that can be utilized to improve dietary diversity in combating undernutrition. In particular, this book chapter provides information on various meals based on home-grown products or locally available ingredients. It presents recipes and practices to support child nutrition through: (1) packaged integrated technologies for improved child nutrition; (2) household processed milk products; and (3) vegetable-based formulations
SSR markers in revealing extent of genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships among chickpea core collection accessions for Western Himalayas
Get PDFBackground The exploration of genetic diversity is the key source of germplasm conservation and potential to broaden its genetic base. The globally growing demand for chickpea suggests superior/climate-resilient varieties, which in turn necessitates the germplasm characterization to unravel underlying genetic variation.
Methodology and results A chickpea core collection comprising of diverse 192 accessions which include cultivated Cicer arietinum, and wild C. reticulatum, C. echinospermum, and C. microphyllum species were investigated to analyze their genetic diversity and relationship, by assaying 33 unlinked simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The results amplified a total of 323 alleles (Na), ranging from 2 to 8 with an average of 4.25 alleles per locus. Expected heterozygosity (He) differed from
0.46 to 0.86 with an average of 0.68. Polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged from 0.73 to 0.98 with an average of 0.89. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed that most of the variation was among individuals (87%). Cluster analysis resulted in the formation of four distinct clusters. Cluster I represented all cultivated and clusters II, III, and IV comprised a heterogeneous group of cultivated and wild chickpea accessions.
Conclusion We report considerable diversity and greater resolving power of SSR markers for assessing variability and
interrelationship among the chickpea accessions. The chickpea core is expected to be an efficient resource for breeders for broadening the chickpea genetic base and could be useful for selective breeding of desirable traits and in the identification of target genes for genomics-assisted breeding