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HomePosts Tagged "ICRISAT" (Page 4)
Agro Universities, Agrotech, R&D

 The webinar was organised as part of global efforts to mainstream climate action and sustainable practices.

To develop actions to mitigate climate change-induced risks in agriculture, a panel of experts shared their global experiences and reflected on the required policies and alliances towards building climate-resilient and sustainable agri-food systems at a webinar organized by the British Deputy High Commission, Hyderabad and ICRISAT.

The webinar on “Policies and Development Actions for Mainstreaming Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Agriculture” was organized as part of global efforts to mainstream climate action and sustainable practices.The webinar was a part of a series of events that the British Deputy High Commission, Hyderabad plans to deliver over the next few months in the post-United Nations Climate Change Conference (CoP26) context focusing on specific outcomes from the summit.

Although multiple local and global stakeholders are increasingly working towards building resilience in agri-food systems, experts shared how current adaptation efforts to address this challenge from a systems perspective are not unified or well-integrated into development plans and actions.

Steering the discussion, Dr Jacqueline Hughes, Director General, ICRISAT, expressed the need to strengthen research policy links and shape coherent local-to-national level agricultural and climate decision-making and policies.

“Strengthened local and national stakeholder networks and capacity on climate action would be key to shaping and expanding risk-informed agricultural development in a changing climate and shift trajectories towards economic, environmental and social goals,” said Dr Hughes.

Elaborating on how the United Kingdom is transforming its agriculture sector to make it more climate-smart, the British Deputy High Commissioner, Hyderabad, Dr Andrew Fleming shared how the nation has sought advice from the Climate Change Committee, an independent, statutory body. ​

Dr Fleming further spoke on ways to strengthen UK-India collaboration to develop cutting-edge technology to build a green, resilient, prosperous future for both nations.

Citing the impact of climate change on crops, Dr Shalander Kumar, Deputy Global Research Program Director, ICRISAT, India, spoke on how climate change also impacts the nutritional quality of crops.

Other panelists Dr Rengalakshmi, Director, Eco-technology, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation and Dr Sabine Homann – Kee Tui, Senior Scientist, Enabling Systems Transformation, ICRISAT, Malawi agreed that there is an urgent need to transform agri-food systems for a new climate reality that exists across multiple scales (local, regional and global), by involving multiple stakeholders and sectors. A total of 95 viewers participated in the webinar.

In his closing remarks, Dr Arvind Kumar, Deputy Director General-Research, ICRISAT, emphasized that linking research practices and policy will be the key to effectively addressing climate change impacts.

 The webinar was organised as part of

Agri Genomics, Agrotech, Finance, India, Start ups

 Seed funding was led by Ankur Capital to build a platform for the discovery of new sustainable crop varieties.

India/UK-based Agri-Genomics start up, Piatrika Biosystems has raised $1.2 million in a seed round led by Ankur Capital. The company is bringing sustainable seeds and agri chemicals to market faster and cheaper. The investment will be used to build a strong Product Development team, also for more profound research, and to accelerate the productionising and commercialization of MVP. ​

Piatrika Biosystems is incubated out of NIAB (Cambridge, UK) & ICRISAT (Hyderabad, India) and working with Researchers, Seed companies & Research institutes. Founded in 2019 by Vasudev Kumanduri and Phani Yarlagadda, Piatrika Biosystems is also building a new innovative cloud-based enterprise Platform-As-A-Service (PAAS) for agri-genomic discoveries and plant breeding decision support, program designing, and monitoring. The seed discovery platform is supported by novel technologies in computational biology and data science, integrating this with autonomous phenotypic, temporal, and spatial data capture for more accurate analysis helps enhance the discovery process. The company aims to bridge the gap between scientific research and commercial enterprise solutions.

Vasudev Kumanduri, Co-Founder & CEO, Piatrika Biosystems, said, “There remains a significant disconnect between state-of-the-art research and its practical implementation. This means that while there has been ground-breaking research in recent years in computational biology / genomics, data science, cloud and instrumentation, this important knowledge has not been applied in a timely practical manner in agriculture. There is an urgent need to translate these research advances into practical benefit for the agriculturist, the consumer and ultimately the planet through modern, sustainable and ethical food production.”

Ritu Verma, Partner, Ankur Capital said, “We are excited to partner with Piatrika on their journey to enable and create new seeds through computational biology. With the challenges that agriculture faces both from climate and increased food demand, innovation in the seed sector is critical. With advances in computational biology, we see this as a critical tool to bring new seeds to market quickly.”

 Seed funding was led by Ankur Capital

Agro Universities, Agrotech, R&D

ICRISAT’s improved crop varieties and value chain development technology will be leveraged alongside AGRA’s extensive seed systems networks to bridge gaps in market access.

ICRISAT and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) announced a new partnership that synergizes their strengths. ICRISAT’s improved crop varieties and value chain development technology will be leveraged alongside AGRA’s extensive seed systems networks to bridge gaps in market access to early maturing, high yielding and nutritious varieties of drought tolerant crops in Africa.

Speaking at the AGRA-ICRISAT partnership meeting, Dr George Bigirwa, Deputy Vice President for Program Development and Innovations, AGRA, noted that the partnership will focus on four areas:

Climate change: ICRISAT works on Drought Tolerant Crops (DTCs) like sorghum, pearl millet, finger millet, and pigeonpea which are important crops to address climate change;

Diversification: AGRA is considering incorporating DTCs in their value chains;

Nutrition: This is a big challenge in most countries given ongoing civil wars, conflicts and the global economic recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation calls for incorporation of hardy DTCs.

Gender inclusivity: Some of ICRISAT’s mandate crops play an important role in achieving gender inclusivity especially for women who consider DTCs as their main source of income and nutrition. ​ ​ ​Dr Arvind Kumar, Deputy Director General-Research, ICRISAT, reiterated Dr Bigirwa’s statement on the four areas of partnership that will be enhanced through knowledge and capacity development, technology dissemination, intensification of dryland systems, natural resource management, seed systems and value chain development, market linkages, precision and digital agriculture technologies, and farm mechanization. “ICRISAT’s Director General Dr Jacqueline Hughes’ visit to AGRA’s office in Nairobi indicates the institute’s desire to work closely with AGRA,” said Dr Kumar.

During the discussion, AGRA showcased their strategic plan which focuses on climate adaptation and resilience to help farmers deal with climate change, and inclusivity so that women and youth can benefit from agricultural development. ​ They also highlighted that their business lines include seed systems, sustainable farming, and inclusive markets and trade.

ICRISAT’s improved crop varieties and value chain

Agri Genomics, Agro Universities, R&D

Chickpea researchers got an opportunity to observe in person and select desirable germplasm among over 10,000 accessions that originated in more than 50 countries.

With an aim to enhance use of chickpea germplasm in India’s crop improvement, ICRISAT Genebank organized a germplasm field day at its global headquarters in Patancheru and displayed chickpea germplasm diversity and trait-specific sources to various researchers participating in the event.

Chickpea researchers got an opportunity to observe in person and select desirable germplasm among over 10,000 accessions that originated in more than 50 countries. This included pan genebank accessions from ICRISAT genebank (>3,500 accessions) and ICAR-NBPGR (1,500 accessions), 292 highly diverse reference set collection, 2,200 accessions of whole-genome sequenced, and 223 superior haplotypes.

Twenty-one researchers from eleven Indian institutions participated in the event. ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi and Hyderabad, ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur, Bihar Agricultural University, Bhagalpur, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur, Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar, Rajasthan Agricultural Research Institute Durgapura, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Glocal University Training & Research Center, Hyderabad, and Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University, Nandyal.

Dr Kuldeep Singh, Head – Genebank, ICRISAT, welcomed the participants, and explained the importance of germplasm conservation and laid stress on the use of diverse germplasm in crop improvement. He also emphasized on other research areas in chickpea, including the use of superior haplotypes for yield-related traits, identified at ICRISAT through the whole-genome sequencing of 3,366 accessions.

Dr Arvind Kumar, Deputy Director General – Research ICRISAT, emphasized the importance of germplasm in trait improvement. The ICRISAT and ICAR-NBPGR genebanks are leading, with one of the largest efforts on phenotypic and genomic characterization of over 5,000 chickpea germplasm, translating these efforts to integrate in the breeding pipeline for chickpea improvement.

Dr Patrick Okori, Cluster Leader – Seed Systems, ICRISAT, while addressing the participants shared that, “The project supported by DBT, India will help to improve chickpea productivity in the country and across the globe. Diversifying the cropping system in Africa, with crops like chickpea which grow in a short time, can help us effectively address the issue of malnutrition.”

Chickpea researchers got an opportunity to observe

Agro Universities, Goat farming, Live Stock

Developing goat production as a viable business hinges on strengthening all the links in the value chain.

A pilot study led by ICRISAT proves that developing efficient goat value chains lead to better rewards for farmers by increasing their market knowledge and bargaining power. Amongst the many interventions, goat sale auctions fetched on average a 6 per cent higher price than those sold through conventional market sales that often do not pay off the cost of feed. The study was for the CLIM2 project implemented in Southern Malawi, where half the country’s poor people live on farms less than one hectare.

As part of this project, farmers, traders, butchers, researchers, extension workers and policymakers embarked on a journey of goal setting, knowledge exchange and learning. They selected and tested prototypes of interventions that allowed the value chains to transform and provide higher income, food security and nutrition for smallholder farmers in Southern Malawi. Developing goat production as a viable business hinges on strengthening all the links in the value chain.

“The project has built the confidence of farmers and economically empowered farmers and off-takers such as butchers and vendors through higher profits from goats,” Madalitso Ngombe, Agribusiness Officer, Balaka district.

Benefits for farmers

In Southern Malawi, every third household owns goats amidst extremely high pressure on land and limited alternative sources of income. Highly prolific at relatively low labour cost, goats are an attractive capital, particularly for women and youth.

Higher sales of goats at higher prices translated into increased household income and changing lifestyles among farmers in Malawi, while goat meat consumption contributed to improved food and nutrition security.

Goats are important for the resource-poor to balance grain price fluctuations. Highly variable grain prices impoverish the poorest who are not food self-sufficient. Goat prices, in comparison, are more stable and they are like liquid assets that can be quickly converted to cash, which cushions farmers against grain price fluctuations. However, many still follow traditional principles in raising and selling goats.

Win-win for farmers and buyers

Establishing goat auction sales centres equipped with goat sales pens and portable digital weighing scales and owned by community-based MSMEs, added positive impetus, strengthening their capacity to sell more goat products of higher quality. At initial auction sales, buyers competed for good quality goats, which sold faster. This gave farmers insights into the type of goats the market wants and the price they can expect. Farmers appreciated the transparent price setting and buyers found quality products easily and at reduced transport costs when normally they would spend time and resources searching for goats at farm gates.

“At a recent auction, a goat reached a price of MK 48,000 (USD59), which has never happened before,” James Makwito, Phalula EPA, Assistant Veterinary Officer, Balaka district.

Developing goat production as a viable business

Agro Universities, AgroPolicy, Environment, Sustainability

The 50th milestone was framed by the challenges and opportunities facing the semi-arid tropics of Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa

The 50th-anniversary celebrations build upon the inauguration of the occasion by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar among other dignitaries, who visited the Institute’s global headquarters in early February.

The official celebration was marked by a distinguished gathering of global agricultural institutions and financing leaders to members of the diplomatic corps, ICRISAT’s Governing Board, the Director-General Dr Jacqueline Hughes and staff from across India and Africa.

The 50th milestone was framed by the challenges and opportunities facing the semi-arid tropics of Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, with a series of roundtable discussions on ‘Partnerships and Funding for Sustainable Agriculture in the Drylands’.

ICRISAT Director General Dr Jacqueline Hughes said that while the Institute’s 50th anniversary was an opportunity to reflect on the organisation’s illustrious history, it was also a defining moment to coalesce new and innovative approaches to funding scientific innovation to address the challenges facing dryland agri-food systems.

“While the world grapples with evolving climate change, environmental degradation and geo-political shifts there tragically remains one constant for dryland farming communities, and that is food insecurity and hunger,” said Dr Hughes.

“With our deep expertise in dryland farming and recent advances in research, ICRISAT will continue to serve as a global research and thought leader to reduce poverty, hunger, malnutrition, environmental degradation in the semi-arid tropics while making farming profitable.

“We will also augment our scientific advances by working to influence good public policy with a focus on gender and social inclusion as but some cross-cutting themes especially relevant to developing a more equitable and sustainable agricultural sector.

“Our strength has been built upon the diversity of our public and private sector partnerships and our inspiration remains the 2.1 billion people who call the drylands home.

“ICRISAT is well-positioned to now build upon its past successes as an autonomous, independent organisation which will be further strengthened by a deepening of our South-South collaboration.

“Our 50th Anniversary celebrations will segue the Institute into the International Year of Millets in 2023 in which ICRISAT will be a key actor. As a speciality crop of the Institute, we look forward to collaborating with partners to enhance nutritional security in India and Africa,” said Dr Hughes.

The 50th milestone was framed by the

Environment

Scientists have identified a few promising chickpea genes encoding for enzymes like chitinase and endochitinase, which can provide some degree of defence against DRR infection

Indian scientists have identified that high-temperature drought conditions and low soil moisture content are favourable conditions for dry root rot (DRR), a disease that damages the roots or girdles the trunk in chickpea. This work will be useful for the development of resistant lines and better management strategies.

Dry root rot disease causes reduced vigour, dull green leaf colour, poor new growth, and twig dieback. If extensive root damage occurs, the leaves suddenly wilt and dry on the tree. The increasing global average temperature is leading to the appearance of many new plant disease-causing pathogens at a rate hitherto unheard of, one of them being Macrophomina phaseolina, a soil-borne necrotrophic that causes root rot in chickpea. Currently, the central and southern states of India have been identified as the prime chickpea DRR hotspots with an overall 5 – 35 per cent disease incidence. 

Considering the destructive potential of the pathogen and a real possibility of an epidemic scenario in future, a team led by Dr Mamta Sharma at ICRISAT embarked on a journey to unravel the science behind DRR in chickpea. 

The team which closely monitored the disease identified that high temperatures ranging between 30 to 35 degrees, drought conditions, and less than 60 per cent soil moisture content are favourable conditions for dry root rot (DRR). 

This work supported and funded by the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India at the Center of Excellence in Climate Change at ICRISAT proved the close association of this disease with climatic factors. The results have been published in ‘Frontiers in Plant Science’.  

The scientists explained that Macrophomina survives in a wide range of environmental conditions, even at extremes of temperature, soil pH, and moistures. In chickpea, DRR is highly prevalent during the flowering and podding stages coinciding with high temperature and drought conditions. They are now exploring ways to use the study for the development of resistant lines and better management strategies.

The team is also trying to address the disease favourable conditions identified from a molecular perspective. 

In a recent breakthrough in gene expression studies, scientists have identified a few promising chickpea genes encoding for enzymes like chitinase and endochitinase, which can provide some degree of defence against DRR infection. 

The team at ICRISAT, in collaboration with ICAR research institutes, has also adopted several multi-pronged approaches, including continuous surveillance, better detection techniques, development of forecast models, screening assays, etc., to fight against such deadly plant diseases.

Scientists have identified a few promising chickpea

Agrotech, Seeds

ICRISAT’s genebank houses more than 129,000 accessions and has the world’s largest collections of pearl millet, sorghum, groundnut, chickpea, pigeon pea and small millets

ICRISAT’s genebank has begun sending copies of its large germplasm collection to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) as a backup, commonly referred to as first-level safety duplication. The first batch of 20,000 accessions of both sorghum and pearl millet was sent on December 27.

“I am pleased to note that this timely exercise has started with a large number of sorghum and millet accessions,” said Dr Jacqueline Hughes, Director General, ICRISAT. “The genebank has already safety duplicated more than 90 per cent of its collections in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.”

ICRISAT’s genebank houses more than 129,000 accessions and has the world’s largest collections of pearl millet, sorghum, groundnut, chickpea, pigeon pea and small millets.

“ICRISAT’s genebank is a treasure trove of traits and has helped breeders across the world improve both productivity and resilience of dryland crops. That apart, the genebank has helped restore many traditional varieties, also called landraces,” said Dr Rajeev Varshney, Research Program Director-Accelerated Crop Improvement at ICRISAT, to underscore the importance of conservation and duplication of germplasm resources.

Dr Kuldeep Singh, Head of the genebank at ICRISAT. Multi-level duplications are mandated by the Crop Trust, which supports and funds CGIAR genebanks through the Genebank Platform. Many genebanks across the world duplicate their germplasm in other genebanks.

“In the first batch, we sent 15,000 accessions of sorghum and 5,000 accessions of pearl millet. The second batch is being prepared to be sent to IITA by end of January next year,” Dr Singh informed.

ICRISAT’s genebank houses more than 129,000 accessions

Agro Universities, R&D

The new variety produced 23.13 per cent higher yield than the national check in three-year trials

TDRG 59, a high-yielding variety of pigeon pea resistant to Fusarium wilt and sterility mosaic diseases, has been identified for cultivation in India’s south zone. The new variety produced 23.13 per cent higher yield than the national check in three-year trials conducted by the All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on pigeon pea.

Developed by ICRISAT and Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University’s (PJTSAU) Agricultural Research Station in Tandur, TDRG 59 was identified by AICRP in June 2021. Also known as ICPL 99050, the variety produced an average yield of 1719 kg/ha or 23.13 per cent higher than ICPL 8863 (national check) and 26.21 per cent higher than CO 8 (local check) in multi-location trials. The fungal disease Fusarium wilt and the viral disease caused by the sterility mosaic virus are two diseases that significantly lower pigeon pea yields. ICRISAT developed the line which was taken up for testing and evaluation by the research station.

“After nine years in the making, TDRG 59 is ready for release. It is a medium-duration variety and matures within 170 days. The variety will become available to farmers after the Central Varietal Release Committee (CVRC) notifies it,” said Dr Rachit Saxena, Senior Scientist, Applied Genomics, ICRISAT. The south zone for pigeon pea cultivation covers the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Bheema, a pigeon pea variety that resulted from ICRISAT’s collaboration with the University of Agricultural Sciences Raichur’s Zonal Agricultural Research Station (ZARS) in Kalaburagi (Karnataka state) was among the recent varieties notified by the CVRC. Bheema was identified for release in India’s central zone covering the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh. Bheema matures in 165 days and has high resistance to Fusarium wilt and sterility mosaic virus.

ICRISAT and ZARS-Kalaburagi are also using genomics to improve pigeon pea in a first-of-its-kind effort for this crop. Three advanced breeding lines (NAM88, NAM92 and NAM151) that were developed by ICRISAT through a technique called Nested Association Mapping (NAM) were evaluated for two years by ZARS at Kalaburagi. Subsequently, they were picked up for AICRP’s Initial Varietal Trails (IVT) in 2021.

“These lines were found to have high yield potential, good seed size and adaptation. The three lines have the potential to fulfill the need for good cultivars in early (NAM88) and mid-early (NAM92 and NAM151) maturity groups,” said Dr Rajeev Varshney, Research Program Director for Accelerated Crop Improvement, ICRISAT.

The new variety produced 23.13 per cent

Agro Universities, R&D

 Collaboration will make available micronutrient-rich varieties, high-quality seed and related technologies to the farming communities and consumers

ICRISAT and HarvestPlus signed an agreement for scientific and technical collaboration between the two global organizations. Arun Baral, CEO, HarvestPlus, and Dr Jacqueline d’Arros Hughes, Director General, ICRISAT, signed the Memorandum of Understanding, which is made and entered into by IFPRI on behalf of its HarvestPlus Program.

 On the occasion, Dr Hughes said, “ICRISAT and HarvestPlus will work together more closely, making available micronutrient-rich varieties, high-quality seed and related technologies to the farming communities and consumers. This will contribute to eliminating micronutrient malnutrition in the drylands.”

Baral asserted, “Mainstreaming nutritional traits in crop development is a key element in scaling up biofortification globally to help end the epidemic of hidden hunger. HarvestPlus looks forward to partnering and working hand in hand with ICRISAT to ensure that the benefits of nutrient-rich staple crops extend to farming families in dryland communities.”

Dr Arvind Kumar, Deputy Director General – Research, ICRISAT, said, “Under this agreement, HarvestPlus and ICRISAT will join forces to advance mainstreaming and scaling up of nutritional traits by ensuring adequate resources for this critical work to help smallholder farmers access to essential nutrition.”

Promote nutrition research in crop development on ICRISAT mandate crops in Asia and Africa

Jointly advocate biofortification at the international level

Mobilize resources for mainstreaming and targeted breeding of nutritional traits in crop breeding programs

Support public and private sector institutions for mainstreaming nutrient traits into their crop development programs

Promote research on enhancing nutrient bioavailability, retention, anti-nutrients, processing, etc.

Upscale biofortified cultivars at farmers’ fields according to rules and regulations of the national agricultural research systems of identified countries.

ICRISAT and HarvestPlus have broadly agreed to carry out the following collaborative activities:

 Collaboration will make available micronutrient-rich varieties, high-quality