Press Releases 2007

Press Releases – 2007

1. Praj Industries joins ICRISAT’s sweet sorghum ethanol consortium (14 December 2007)
2. Global Trust funds ICRISAT’s Genebank (12 December 2007)
3. IFAD supports biofuels research-for-development project led by ICRISAT (6 December 2007)
4. Dealing with climate change with cutting-edge agricultural research (22 November 2007)
5. ICRISAT to celebrate 35th Annual Day and host Climate Change Symposium (20 November 2007)
6. Tata Chemicals joins ICRISAT’s sweet sorghum ethanol consortium (21 November 2007)
7. Legumes step into the limelight in the tropics (16 October 2007)
8. Asia-Pacific agricultural research experts meet at Hyderabad (9 October 2007)
9. ICRISAT research records high impact in India (9 October 2007)
10. ICRISAT and ICAR to host Asia-Pacific agri-experts’ meetings (5 October 2007)
11. Increasing crop legume productivity in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (25 September 2007)
12. ICRISAT strengthens collaboration with Ethiopia (3 October 2007)
13. ICRISAT incubates agri-business projects in Mozambique (3 October 2007)
14. Climate change and desertification put one billion poor people at risk (19 September 2007)
15. ICRISAT Head is Chair of UN’s desertification science body (12 September 2007)
16. ICRISAT and partners initiate biopesticide production in villages of India and Nepal (21 August 2007)
17. New Low-Cost Technology Counters Widespread Aflatoxin Food Poisoning, Increases Agricultural Exports (26 July 2007)
18. ICRISAT rated outstanding among CGIAR Centers (18 June 2007)
19. Ethanol from sweet sorghum does not compromise food security (13 June 2007)
20. ICRISAT Hosts AICPMIP's Annual Group Meeting 2007 (18 May 2007)
21. Pearl Millet Group Meeting (11 May 2007)
22. ICRISAT hybrid pigeonpea to trigger pulse revolution (23 March 2007)
23. ICRISAT promotes pro-poor biofuels initiative (14 March 2007)
24. ISBA 2007 – The national conference on technology incubators being held at ICRISAT (26 February 2007)
25. Visit by Western Australian Premier strengthens collaborative chickpea research (20 February 2007)
26. A glimpse of the biodiversity at ICRISAT campus (15 February 2007)
27. ICRISAT pigeonpea spreads roots in China, finds multiple uses (2 February 2007)

27)Praj Industries joins ICRISAT’s sweet sorghum ethanol consortium

Praj Industries joined hands with ICRISAT by signing a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to become a member of the institute's Sweet Sorghum Ethanol Research Consortium (SSERC) on 10 December. Dr William Dar, Director General of ICRISAT, and Mr Shashank Inamdar, CEO & Managing Director of Praj Industries, signed the MOA at Hyderabad.

According to Dr William Dar, this partnership will go a long way in enhancing the commercialization of sweet sorghum for bioethanol production globally. Production of ethanol from sweet sorghum as a biofuel can provide additional income to dryland farmers and does not compromise their food security. Through the ICRISAT Sweet Sorghum Ethanol Research Consortium (SSERC), the institute promotes the technology for producing the biofuel through public-private partnership. The overall goal of this consortium is to strengthen sweet sorghum research at ICRISAT and at its partners' locations to improve the livelihood options of the smallholder farmers in the semi-arid tropics.

Praj Industries based in Pune, Maharashtra , India , is a leading biofuels technology company with a number of ethanol and biodiesel production plants to its credit. Praj, with its global operations, aims to provide end-to-end solutions backed by several years of research and development resources to support the biofuels industry. Through the MOA, Praj Industries could avail the sweet sorghum research outputs of ICRISAT to further refine their bioethanol engineering activities. This includes the testing of sweet sorghum varieties and hybrids along with technical know-how on sweet sorghum cultivation aspects.

Through this partnership, ICRISAT and Praj can work together to tap into the huge global opportunity to benefit millions of farmers by offering new market opportunities through the sweet sorghum for ethanol technology.

For further information, contact Dr Belum VS Reddy at , or Dr Kiran Sharma at .

26)Global Trust funds ICRISAT’s Genebank

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has entered into an agreement with the Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT), to ensure the long-term availability of funds for the conservation, characterization and distribution of germplasm (seeds) in the ICRISAT's Genebank for the benefit of agriculture and food security for mankind.

Dr William Dar, Director General of ICRISAT, and Prof Cary Fowler, Executive Director of the GCDT, signed the agreement, recently during the Annual General Meeting of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) at Beijing, China.

Under the agreement, the Trust will commit US$ 8 million and ICRISAT US$ 2 million, totaling an endowment of US$ 10 million. The proceeds from the endowment will be used for genetic resources conservation and management activities at ICRISAT. As per the agreement, the endowment's support for the sorghum germplasm collection will begin in 2007, pearl millet from 2008 and chickpea in 2009, to be followed by other ICRISAT mandate crops. The aim is to raise at least US$ 450,000 per year as return from the endowment to meet critical operational needs such as regeneration, characterization, conservation and viability testing for the crop collections held in trust at ICRISAT.

According to Dr William Dar, the long-term partnership with the GCDT, an international fund established to ensure conservation and availability of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, will ensure that there is steady financial support to ICRISAT's genebank.

ICRISAT holds more than 118,000 accessions of germplasm for pearl millet, sorghum, chickpea, groundnut, pigeonpea and 6 small millets in its genebank, Dr Dar added. “This global treasure holds the genetic material to overcome some of the future breeding bottlenecks and can help breeders develop varieties that can overcome drought, pest and disease infestations.”

According to Dr CLL Gowda, ICRISAT's Global Theme Leader for Crop Improvement, the genetic resources at ICRISAT are to be preserved for eternity. This is a big responsibility that the Center is shouldering, to ensure that the genetic resources are conserved safely and will be available for the future generations.

“This requires continuous funding support to ensure that the material is regenerated, safely conserved and supplied to researchers globally. And this is where GCDT's support has great significance for us,” Dr Gowda added.

Through the agreement ICRISAT and GCDT will conserve and make available the ICRISAT-held collections through:

• Long-term storage, management and curation of germplasm;

• Safe duplication of the collection;

• Characterization and evaluation of germplasm;

• Documentation of the germplasm and provision of data in publicly-available documentation systems;

• Distribution of the germplasm in accordance with the International Treaty;

• Providing training and capacity building;

• Partnering with other genebanks and networks; and

• Providing conservation services to others.

With the committed continuous support from GCDT, ICRISAT's germplasm collection holds the future for dryland agriculture in the developing countries.

For further information, contact Dr CLL Gowda at , or Dr HD Upadhyaya at .

25)IFAD supports biofuels research-for-development project led by ICRISAT

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) of the United Nations has committed US dollar 1.5 million funding for a three-year biofuels research-for-development project led by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).

IFAD is the first among the development investors supporting international agricultural research institutes under the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) that has committed support for a biofuels project. The project will facilitate farmers and entrepreneurs to utilize sweet sorghum stalks and cassava roots in producing ethanol, and seeds of jatropha in producing bio-diesel.

The Inter-Center project, involving ICRISAT, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the appropriate national agricultural research centers, will involve popularization of the cultivation of sweet sorghum in India, the Philippines, China and Mali; cassava in Vietnam and Colombia; and jatropha in India and Mali. Research results on producing ethanol from the juice of stalks of sweet sorghum and roots of cassava, and bio-diesel from the seeds of jatropha are quite encouraging.

According to Dr William Dar, Director General of ICRISAT, the project will support the farmers of the drylands with the latest research and research products and link them with the biofuel market. Thus they will be able to improve their incomes and livelihoods from the biofuel revolution. He thanked IFAD for committing support to this unique project that linked multiple crops and institutions across multiple continents.

The project facilitates entrepreneurs to utilize sweet sorghum stalks and cassava roots in producing ethanol, and seeds of jatropha in producing bio-diesel. The above program will be implemented by sensitizing farmers, research partners and other stakeholders in the production and supply chain about biofuel production. This will enable them to work together and make use of project’s research outputs, such as, improved target crop cultivars, production packages, seed systems, processing technologies (including management of effluents and exploitation of by-products), and learn about innovative input and market linkages developed for different agro-eco-regions in the target countries.

In addition, the project draws upon the strength of small-scale farmers’ know-how in formulating and implementing various activities. The overall purpose of the project is thus to facilitate small-scale farmers and landless poor to take advantage of the market demand for their crops for bio-fuel production and/or utilize the bio-fuels for local use (e.g. running motor pump), which in turn, will help them improve their livelihoods and rehabilitate the degraded lands (wherever jatropha and local species of bio-diesel plantations are taken up).

The project also envisages facilitating the development of farmer-friendly procedures to enable them to take advantage of the clean development mechanism (CDM), of the Kyoto protocol, to improve their livelihoods. The project contributes to energy self-sufficiency of the target countries.

Bio-fuels are gaining importance as fossil fuel prices are skyrocketing and also the growing concerns globally over environmental pollution associated with fossil fuels. Considering these issues, several developed and developing countries are formulating policies for mandatory blending of ethanol and bio-diesel (produced from renewable sources) with fossil fuels (petrol and diesel) resulting in a huge demand for raw materials for producing bio-fuels.

In the semi-arid and seasonally dry tropics/sub tropics of India, Vietnam, the Philippines, China, Mali and Colombia millions of poor farmers cultivate sorghum and cassava as staple food and fodder crops. Jatropha is grown as hedge/avenue and forest shrub/tree to extract oil from the seeds for use in lighting and for other uses such as leather tanning.

For further information, contact Dr Belum V Subba Reddy at .

24)Dealing with climate change with cutting-edge agricultural research

Climate change is expected to affect developing countries more adversely in the initial decades. For the international agricultural scientists working to improve agricultural productivity in these developing countries, climate change adds a new dimension to their research. They are seeking answers on how to climate-proof their mandate crops.

According to the projections made by the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the changes anticipated in the medium-term future will adversely affect the farmers of the developing countries – the countries in which the CGIAR Centers are working. The scientists at these centers have already started research on understanding the impact of climate change on the crops they work on, and have initiated research to breed varieties and hybrids that will overcome the adverse impacts. The scientists are presenting their research work at the Symposium.

Dr Martin Parry, Co-Chair of IPCC, delivered the Keynote Address on the Implications of Climate Change for Crop Yields, Global Food Supply and Risk of Hunger, in which he reviewed all the studies from 1994 to 2007. Dr Parry stated: “There are some conclusions common to all studies – that climate change will generally reduce production potential and increase risk of hunger, and that Africa is the most adversely affected region. An additionally important initial conclusion is that pathways of sustainable economic development have a marked effect in reducing the adverse effects on climate change.”

The IPCC has been selected for the Nobel Peace Prize 2007 for its to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.

Dr Simon Best, Chair of Governing Board of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), said that though there are challenges that climate change can create for agricultural production, they can be overcome by using good science to develop crops that overcome the adverse impacts predicted for the future. The CGIAR Centers are the most appropriate agricultural research institutions that can work on these challenges.

According to Dr William Dar, Director General of ICRISAT, there are one billion poor people in the world who are vulnerable to climate change, desertification, land degradation, loss of biodiversity, water scarcity and shortage of fossil fuels. India alone accounts for 25.93% of this population and China 16.66%. The remaining part of Asia and Pacific accounts for 18.30%. In short, Asia is a hub where the poor, undernourished and the vulnerable live. This is followed by sub-Saharan Africa , which accounts for 23.94% of the one billion.

The poor can be made less vulnerable with greater science and knowledge-based interventions, and more importantly significant donor support from the developed and developing countries to support this research, Dr Dar said.

“Business as usual will not help us meet the Millennium Development Goals and much more the goal of reducing poverty by half by 2015,” Dr Dar said.

ICRISAT believes that unless the livelihoods and resource base of such vulnerable rural communities can be made more resilient, coping with climate change and desertification may be next to impossible for poor dryland farming communities, Dr Dar said.

“ICRISAT has been doing this work in 48 countries of the semi-arid tropics of Asia and Africa for the past 35 years,” Dr Dar added. “Our future focus will build on our past work, and look at ways to climate-proof our crops, which already are those that grow in marginal lands.”

ICRISAT's strategy looks at climate change in two time frames – short to medium-term and medium to long-term. In the short to medium-term the strategy is to help farmers and stakeholders to cope better with current rainfall variability as a prerequisite to future climate change.

In the medium to long-term the strategy is to adapt the mandate crops – pearl millet, sorghum, chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut – to grow in a warmer world. The breeding will focus on improving the following traits in crops – higher temperature tolerance, ability to endure moisture extremes, withstanding higher pest and disease attacks, and migration of ICRISAT crops to areas too marginal for other crops.

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics is organizing an International Symposium on Climate Change, between 22 and 24 November, coinciding with the 35th Annual Day celebrations of the Institute.

The symposium brings together experts from the 15 international agricultural research centers under the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), who will present their research work on climate proofing their mandate crops. In addition, experts from the WorldVegetableCenter and the ColumbiaUniversity will present papers. The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada and the JapanInternationalResearchCenter for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) are supporting the Symposium.

For further information, contact Dr Dyno Keatinge at .

23)ICRISAT to celebrate 35th Annual Day and host Climate Change Symposium

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics is organizing its 35 th Annual Day celebrations between 21 and 24 November at its global headquarters at Patancheru. The theme for the 35 th year celebrations is: ICRISAT at 35: Innovation, Institutions, Information and Impact.

According to Dr William Dar, Director General of ICRISAT, the event marks 35 years of ICRISAT's service to improve agricultural productivity in 48 countries of the semi-arid tropics of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa . “Through our focus on science with a human face we have taken developed products from cutting-edge science for the benefit of the poor and marginal farmers in the drylands. The Annual Day events help us recall and celebrate our achievements along with our partners.