ICRISAT Forms South-South Initiative to Fight Poverty in the Drylands

New Delhi, India, 23 March 2011 – The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) announces today the formation of the ICRISAT South-South Initiative (IS-SI) to boost India-Africa partnership on agricultural research-for-development to fight poverty in the drylands.

“IS-SI will build upon ICRISAT’s already strong and successful India-Africa partnerships to scale up its role as driver of prosperity and economic opportunities in the dryland tropics,” said Dr Nigel Poole, Chairman of ICRISAT Governing Board.

Addressing some 40 participants of the India-Africa Roundtable on Agriculture for Development held in New Delhi, Dr Poole explained that IS-SI will provide the platform for focused and systematic international partnerships critical for a more effective and inclusive development cooperation between the two continents.

Every 1 USD spent on international agricultural research leads to a return on investment of 9 USD worth of economic value in developing countries. Dr William Dar, ICRISAT Director General, said that IS-SI will open more opportunities for increased financial and technical support and enhanced public-private-people partnerships on research-for-development. “The initiative will also see better policies, more effective institutions, improved infrastructure, and better access to markets and to higher quality inputs particularly for dryland farmers in India and Africa,” he added.

“We welcome and appreciate very much this initiative to enhance South-South partnership between India and Africa,” expressed Dr S Ayyappan, Director General of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), during the meeting.

Background

IS-SI will build on the strength of ICRISAT’s almost four decades of closely working with partners in India and Africa. ICRISAT’s scientific innovations and products have significantly improved the livelihoods of the poorest of the poor through India-Africa partnerships. A few examples are sustainable watershed management, peanut aflatoxin test kit and improved pigeonpea varieties.

ICRISAT’s community watersheds for sustainable development approach has been highly successful in improving livelihoods in India and many African countries. About 100,000 farmers in Ethiopia are now adopting improved land and water management practices as an important component in capturing water for crop production. In cooperation with the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) and with funding commitment from the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), the watershed program is now an ongoing horizontal partnership between India and Africa linked with a World-Bank assisted water program in Ethiopia.

ICRISAT’s fast, simple and affordable test kit for aflatoxin detection (a deadly fungus which contaminates food) in peanut helped enhanced food safety, reinvigorated peanut trade, and gave higher returns to farmers in India, Mozambique, Kenya, Malawi and Mali. Aflatoxin-monitoring laboratories have been setup, local people trained, and diagnostic reagents distributed to partners, enhancing the competitiveness of the farmers’ produce. The aflatoxin detection kit was a key part of a broader effort to regain and re-establish Malawi’s position as a major peanut exporter in the European markets.

High-yielding, medium-duration, wilt-resistant and large-seeded varieties of pigeonpea developed by ICRISAT and its partners have also been instrumental in the livelihood transformation of many dryland farmers in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda. Along with institutional innovations to reduce costs of product marketing, adoption levels of improved pigeonpea varieties have reached 60 per cent, contributing more than 50 per cent of cash incomes for smallholder farmers.

A strong, ICRISAT-led South-South initiative between India and Africa aligned with the Institute’s inclusive market-oriented development approach is expected to further a broad-based economic and development cooperation between the two continents.

ICRISAT is a non-profit, non-political organization that conducts agricultural research-for- development in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa with a wide array of partners throughout the world. It is headquartered in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India, with two regional hubs and four country offices in sub-Saharan Africa. It belongs to the Consortium of Centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

ICRISAT’s mission is to reduce poverty, hunger, malnutrition and environmental degradation in the dryland tropics through partnership-based international agricultural research-for- development on five highly nutritious, drought-tolerant crops – chickpea, pigeonpea, pearl millet, sorghum and groundnut.

For further information, please contact:

 Dr William Dar, Director General, ICRISAT, Patancheru 502324, Andhra Pradesh, India; Tel: +91 40 30713071, Fax: +91 40 30713074 & 82, Email: W.Dar@cgiar.org

 And for more information, please visit our website: www.icrisat.org