FARMING in SEMI–ARID TROPICS

International Crops Research Institute for the SEMI-ARID Tropics (ICRISAT)

MILLET the next food secure crop in the tropics.

With climate change and rain patterns changing and these bringing down change in traditional rice paddy countries in SE Asia,  organizations like ICRISAT are exploring new resilient MILLET crops with improved resistance to drought and blast disease recently got a major boost. The identification of promising introgression lines after multi-location trials, will accelerate new varieties with even more pearl millet production.

Pearl millet is an important source of nutrition for millions of people in the drylands of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. However, pearl millet blast and extreme weather conditions are serious threats to its cultivation. This underlines the importance of identifying sources and breeding for drought and blast resistance.

Advances in Food Legumes Research at ICRISAT

Grain legumes as chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut are important crops of SE Asia. The grain legumes improvement program of ICRISAT has objectives to include drought resistance, suitability to machine harvesting and enhanced oil yield in chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut.