Another
SFSA grant to ICRISAT is developing
marker-assisted selection options for resistance to downy mildew
disease in pearl millet, improved stay-green
(drought tolerance) in sorghum, and
increased resistance to Striga in sorghum. The programme is
working in its ‘proof of concept’ phase on millet with Lake
Chad Research Institute in Nigeria, and with the Ethiopian Institute
of Agricultural Research, Melkassa Research Station on sorghum.
A newly appointed Technology Coordinator, Kassa Semagn, based
at the Biosciences for East and Central Africa (BecA) facility
on the International Livestock Research Institute campus in
Nairobi, will provide scientific support to the molecular marker
breeding programmes.
In Eritrea, where
we support a programme with the Ministry
of Agriculture for the breeding and distribution of millet,
farmers are seeing yields of 30 to 40 per cent more grain. We
are finding, however, that the farmers need not only high yielding
varieties but also crops that have long enough stalks to supply
thatch for their roofs and fodder for their cattle, so research
is taking those qualities into consideration as well.
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Gardens for
Life (GFL) – an international initiative run under the direction
of the Eden Project
in the UK – is bringing the joy of gardening and education about
the origins of food to thousands of school children in India,
Kenya and England. In India, in partnership with the Centre
for Development Education, SFSA
has funded the involvement of children from 20 schools in Mumbai
and Pune. They have very little green space available, and so
instead must grow vegetables in pots, old tyres and available
small areas such as rooftops. The schools now have grown 10
to 12 varieties of vegetables, including tomatoes, aubergines
and okra.
The students have also exchanged
experiences and learning resources with
schools in England (Bristol, Cornwall and
Gloucestershire) and in the Rift Valley
of Kenya, and have used the project as
a prompt for debating on topical food
issues. At a school in Mumbai, for example,
students and teachers discovered that after
four months of trying to grow vegetables
without success, the plants were failing
due to pollution from vehicle exhaust.
They moved the location of the garden and
set up a campaign against vehicle pollution,
which made national headlines.
SFSA
is also a member of the GFL
steering committee, led by Eden, with the UK’s
Department for International Development, Royal Botanic
Gardens, Kew, Association for Science Education, UK Department
for Education and Skills and the Royal Horticultural Society.
The three-year pilot ends in 2007. Plans are underway for extension
of the programme to more schools in more countries. |
The CGIAR’s
Generation Challenge Program (GCP) is producing a Project Delivery
Guide handbook with a matching grant from SFSA.
Scheduled for a September rollout, the handbook is a web-based
planning tool for GCP research grantees to help them define
critical pathways and project decision points. Among the themes
covered are: product and user specifications, project phases
and decision milestones, governance of decisions and roles,
activity planning, critical path analysis and risk management,
functional expertise requirements, project monitoring and reporting
requirements and freedom to operate. Dr. Vivienne Anthony is
consultant on the project, under the direction of the GCP team.
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