1. ®
The SEF provides solutions to most constraints of the current rainfed
production systems (low soil fertility, soil erosion, bio-diversity
exploitation, inefficient use of labor, and most importantly, low income).
ISRAEL and ICRISAT
It has the potential of transforming rainfed agriculture in the Sudano-
Sahel, which in turn should lead to eradication of poverty on a massive Partners for Better Dryland Agriculture in Africa and Asia
scale, and in preserving natural resources (soil and biodiversity) for
future generations. ICRISAT, and Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture, advanced research
institutes, and the Israeli Department of International Cooperation,
MASHAV share many goals – to help alleviate poverty, sustain
The African Market Garden agricultural production, and protect the environment in desert prone
Developed by ICRISAT scientists, the innovative African Market Garden regions. Given these common goals the Government of Israel and
(AMG) uses gravity-based drip irrigation for vegetable farming. It has ICRISAT are in a collaborative research partnership to help the poor of
now been adopted by about 4000 farmers all across the Sudano-Sahel. the dry tropics.
Over the last 3 years itself, IPALAC has promoted the installation of
about 2000 AMG units in Cape Verde, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Israel’s intensive agricultural production was made possible due
to collaboration between growers, industry, extension and R&D in Prof Dan Levanon, Dr William D Dar,
The African Market Garden uses gravity- Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad, and parts of Nigeria. Chief Scientist, Ministry Director General,
the agriculture sector. The ICRISAT-Israel collaboration was further
based drip irrigation for successful In the AMG, a mix of vegetables (onions, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, of Agriculture, Israel. ICRISAT.
enhanced when Israel joined the CGIAR and Dr David Cohen
cultivation.
potatoes) is interspersed between date palms. Varieties are chosen (Chairman, R&D Evaluation Committee, Chief Scientist’s Office, Ministry
that can tolerate the Sahelian heat so they can grow year-round, of Agriculture, Israel) was appointed Israeli liaison to ICRISAT. With
more than doubling the length of the growing season, which was wholehearted support from Prof Dan Levanon (Chief Scientist, Ministry
formerly confined to the cooler winter months. This spreads the labor of Agriculture, Israel), scientists from ICRISAT and Israel began working
requirements of market gardening more evenly across the year, and together from mid-2006 on joint projects of mutual interest. Currently
generates a steadier flow of food and income for the farm family. By four projects are underway.
using low-cost gravity-driven drip irrigation and a combination of other
techniques the AMG reduces the drudgery of labor, increases yields
and employment, raises produce quality, and improves the overall well Progress in Collaborative Research
being of the people, as well as the micro-climate of the region.
Integrated management of mycotoxins
Dr David Cohen (center) gets a warm welcome to
Conclusion Aflatoxin contamination in staple diets leads to malnutrition, and ICRISAT from Dr WD Dar, DG-ICRISAT (left) and
can affect food security, and the health and livelihoods of people in Dr BI Shapiro.
Israel and ICRISAT complement each other in furthering agriculture
developing countries. The purpose of this project is to develop simple
for the small-scale farmers of the SAT. ICRISAT is grateful to Israel, and
and low-cost mycotoxin diagnostic tools. In the last few months Dr
especially to the Ministry of Agriculture, MASHAV, Ben Gurion University,
Farid Waliyar (ICRISAT) and Dr Nami Paster [Agriculture Research
and our other partners in Israel for helping us to do Science with a
Organization (ARO), Ministry of Agriculture, Israel] have been working
The African Market Garden successfully Human Face to alleviate poverty in the semi-arid regions of
intercrops vegetables and date palms. on up-scaling integrated management of mycotoxins such as pre- and
Africa and Asia.
post-harvest technologies and resistant groundnut varieties.
Farmer participatory varietal selection trials were conducted with
About ICRISAT four aflatoxin-tolerant varieties in Anantapur district, and five varieties
in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh state of India. In general, an
The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is a nonprofit,
non-political organization that does innovative agricultural research and capacity building for average increase of 17-34% in mean pod yields were recorded
sustainable development with a wide array of partners across the globe. ICRISAT’s mission is to help with improved varieties against control, TMV-2, which yielded 590
empower 600 million poor people to overcome hunger, poverty and a degraded environment in the dry kg/ha in Anantapur area. A variety of low-cost integrated aflatoxin
tropics through better agriculture. ICRISAT belongs to the Alliance of Centers of the Consultative Group Aflatoxin reduction through integrated management
on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
management technologies and the use of mechanical pod threshers practices.
resulted in a significant reduction in aflatoxin contamination.
Contact Information
ICRISAT-Patancheru
(Headquarters)
Liaison Office
CG Centers Block
ICRISAT-Nairobi
(Regional hub ESA)
ICRISAT-Niamey
(Regional hub WCA)
Diversifying sorghum end-uses to feed and fodder
Patancheru 502 324
Andhra Pradesh, India
NASC Complex
Dev Prakash Shastri Marg
Contact information Nairobi, Kenya
PO Box 39063,
Tel +254 20 7224550
BP 12404
Niamey, Niger (Via Paris)
to enhance the livestock industry in Eastern and
Tel +91 40 30713071
Fax +91 40 30713074
New Delhi 110 012, India
Tel +91 11 32472306/32472307/32472308
Fax +254 20 7224001
icrisat-nairobi@cgiar.org
Tel +227 20 722529, 20 722725
Fax +227 20 734329
Central Africa
icrisat@cgiar.org Fax +91 11 25841294 icrisatsc@cgiar.org This is a collaborative project between ICRISAT, ARO-Israel, and the
ICRISAT-Bamako ICRISAT-Bulawayo ICRISAT-Lilongwe ICRISAT-Maputo
University of Nairobi. Sorghum is a major cereal crop with high
BP 320 Matopos Research Station Chitedze Agricultural Research Station c/o INIA, Av. das FPLM No 2698 resistance to drought. In most of Africa, and especially in the semi-arid
Bamako, Mali PO Box 776, PO Box 1096 Caixa Postal 1906
Tel +223 2223375 Bulawayo, Zimbabwe Lilongwe, Malawi Maputo, Mozambique regions of Kenya where most of the livestock is raised, high productive
Fax +223 2228683 Tel +263 83 8311 to 15 Tel +265 1 707297/071/067/057 Tel +258 21 461657
icrisat-w-mali@cgiar.org Fax +263 83 8253/8307 Fax +265 1 707298 Fax +258 21 461581
dual-purpose (for food and fodder) types of sorghum, resistant to dry
icrisatzw@cgiar.org icrisat-malawi@cgiar.org icrisatmoz@panintra.com conditions could be very beneficial, but are not used. This project will
Visit us at www.icrisat.org develop the use of productive dual-purpose sorghums, in semi-arid B35 is an improved stay-green sorghum variety.
Feb 2007
March 2006 I s r a e l a a n dC C I S A T T
China n d I I R R I S A

2. Israel a n d I C R I S AT
Central and Eastern Africa, for increasing grain and forage yields. It under conditions of terminal drought stress combined with phenology
will also examine the possibilities of introducing into Africa the new and panicle characters similar to R 16. Dr Carmi visited ICRISAT-
Israeli/American dual-purpose sorghums. Patancheru and observed the project-multiplied seed of stay-green QTL
introgression lines in other genetic backgrounds during this season.
Dr Mary Mgonja of ICRISAT and Israeli scientists, Drs Avner Carmi
(ARO-Israel) and David Cohen are collaborating on this project.
Twenty-five potential forage sorghum lines for dry lowlands were MASHAV Activities
identified, made into a trial and established at three sites in Eastern
Kenya in November 2006, under rainfed conditions. This will ascertain
Training Courses given with MASHAV
the suitability of the material for dual-purpose use in the drylands. This
season has been exceptionally good and the trials are excellent, with ICRISAT and MASHAV are cooperating in giving training courses on
some lines showing excellent dual-purpose potential. In the next trial, vegetable and fruit production under IPALAC. MASHAV provides Israeli
IESV 91131 is an improved dry lowland variety of elite materials from Israel will be tested for their adaptability to African experts who teach the courses together with ICRISAT scientists. For Training on tree propagation techniques.
sorghum from ICRISAT-ESA developed in Eastern environments. instance, since 2005, four courses have been given as follows on:
Kenya. • Nursery methods and tree propagation techniques in Niger in
Genetics of root traits for enhancing the chickpea late 2005
molecular breeding strategies for drought • Nursery training at Sadore from 19-23 September 2005
tolerance in the Semi-Arid Tropics (SAT) • Vegetable seeds multiplication and storage from 7-11 November
2005
Chickpea is an important source of protein, minerals, vitamins, and
• Vegetable seed multiplication and storage methods in 2006.
fiber in the diets of millions in Asia and Africa. Terminal drought is the
foremost constraint to chickpea production in over 70% of growing
areas. Biotechnology and genomic tools have made it possible to The Jean Paul II Foundation Project (AMG)
breed for better root traits. This will enable plants to evade drought This project is co-funded by MASHAV and the Vatican through the Jean
because of better root strength, which will enable it to extract water Paul II Foundation with the technical support of ICRISAT. About 300
from deeper soil layers. African Market Garden units have been installed so far in nine Sahelian
A team of ICRISAT scientists led by Dr RK Varshney, as well as countries (Cape Verde, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mali,
Dr Shahal Abbo (Hebrew University, Israel) are working on breeding Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad) within the framework of this program and
for drought tolerance in chickpea. Phenotyping of the mapping the project continues.
population for measuring root traits is in progress. Two parental
Prof Dov Pasternak and others discuss new avenues
genotypes of the mapping populations are being screened with Other Initiatives for sustainable economic development within IPALAC.
molecular markers developed by Dr Abbo’s group in collaboration
with Australia, and new SSR markers developed for identification of
Roots screening facility at ICRISAT Patancheru. polymorphic markers. The International Program for Arid Land Crops
(IPALAC)
IPALAC, a joint program of ICRISAT and Ben Gurion University, seeks to
Drought tolerance enhancement in sorghum
promote sustainable economic development in desertification prone
This project was developed to foster collaboration on sorghum regions through the judicious use of plants, associated technologies and
improvement for water-limited production environments. Scientists human capacity enhancement. Core support for IPALAC comes from
working on this are Drs Tom Hash and Vincent Vadez of ICRISAT, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, MASHAV, ICRISAT, Ben Gurion
Dr Avner Carmi of ARO-Israel. University, and the Brach family.
As the project started too late for the normal sorghum production The main mover in IPALAC is Prof Dov Pasternak, formerly of the
season, ICRISAT scientists were forced to drop plans for parallel testing Institute for Agriculture and Applied Biology at BGU. Now working
of introgression lines (at ICRISAT-Patancheru and Israel). Instead for ICRISAT and stationed at ICRISAT-Niamey, he has enthusiastically
they focused on the final generation advance of a marker-assisted pursued ways to achieve a transformation of Sahelian agriculture like
backcrossing program to further introgress several stay-green QTLS that accomplished by Israel in the Negev Desert. The year 2005 marked
from donor parent B35 into the genetic background of Indian rabi- the beginning of large-scale dissemination of IPALAC technologies that
adapted pollinator line R 16. This was followed by initial field testing had successfully passed the research phase. Presently the following are
and multiplication of these materials during the 2006/07 postrainy underway:
season. This has resulted in sets of near-isogenic lines with and
without the B35 alleles at stay-green loci stgB, stg1, stg3 and stg4
(individually and in several pair-wise combinations) in the genetic
The Sahelian Eco-Farm (SEF)
background of R 16. Ongoing assessment has identified several Over the last several years IPALAC has been developing and testing The Sahelian Eco Farm employs various methods to
product lines with pronounced improvement of green leaf retention a new rainfed production system called the Sahelian Eco-Farm (SEF). overcome the constraints of current rainfed systems.
Typical stay green (left) and senescent (right)
sorghum material.
I s r a e l a n d I C R I SAT