Enabling farmers to adapt to changing environment and new opportunities, and making markets work for them are some of the key concerns raised at the three-day regional planning meeting of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). ICRISAT scientists from Hyderabad are coordinating with their counterparts in Kenya, Malawi, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, as well as from West and Central Africa to achieve the targets.
"Inclusive market-oriented agriculture is the key to making farming more profitable for the poor and emerging farmers in Eastern and Southern Africa," stressed Dr William Dar, ICRISAT Director General.
"Partnerships and collaboration are critical to developing tailor-made solutions that suit the context of the region and providing farmers with access to science-based innovations that will build their resilience," he added.
The regional planning meeting consisted of a review of on-going research activities in Eastern and Southern Africa as well as brainstorming and interactive sessions to help identify new areas of research and opportunities for scaling out improved technologies and tools.
In-coming Chair of the ICRISAT Board, Prof Chandra Madramotoo, reiterated that science alone was not enough; it must be translated into impacts that make a difference to the lives of smallholder farmers in the drylands. He emphasized that efficient management of the natural resource base was critical to continued productivity in the smallholder cropping system and must be addressed, preferably at the watershed level.
"This planning exercise helps us to ensure that ICRISAT's research is aligned with the CGIAR Research Programs on Dryland Cereals and Grain Legumes that we are leading. But more importantly, it serves as a check for us to make sure that we are still focused on the right questions, that we are relevant to the smallholder farmers we work for and that we have strategies and tools in place for maximum impact," said Dr CLL Gowda, ICRISAT's Deputy Director General for Research.
Dr Dar committed to provide technical contribution to the soil mapping and land suitability analyses for the new scheme, to draw from ICRISAT's experience on sustainable natural resource management in the state of Karnataka in south India.
Prof Madramotoo also shared with the KARI Director ICRISAT's Inclusive Market-Oriented Development (IMOD) approach in making technologies profitable for smallholder farmers, and called for a stronger and more dynamic partnership as the way forward in creating a market-oriented agriculture,
As a result of the visit, a team will be identified to work out a time line for a joint planning meeting between KARI and ICRISAT.
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