Pulses initiatives reviewed in India
The Fourth Annual Review and Planning Meeting of the Office Chèrifien des Phosphates Foundation OCPF/ICARDA project took place on June 24, 2016 in New Delhi, India. The OCPF-ICARDA project is entitled “Increasing food legumes production by small farmers to strengthen food and nutrition security through adoption of improved technologies and governance within South-South cooperation”.
The project establishes village-level based seed delivery systems in three Indian states - West Bengal, Tripura, and Madhya Pradesh. It runs under the India-Morocco Food Legume Initiative (IMFLI), which aims to increase the productivity of food legumes in India and Morocco through participatory knowledge management systems and South-South collaboration. Together with farmers, the initiative implements on-farm participatory testing, demonstrations of improved varieties and crop management practices, as well as capacity building through farmer field schools and traveling workshops.
The objective of the review and planning meeting was to discuss the progress of work completed during the 2015-2016 cropping season and formulate workplans for the following year. The achievements for lentil, grasspea, and Kabuli chickpea reached project expectations. Results included a good record of lentil and grasspea yields in West Bengal, except in zones where crops were affected by unusual heavy rains and subsequent water logging. In Madhya Pradesh, the Kabuli chickpea crop yielded well with positive production outcomes.
The Annual Review Meeting of the DAC-ICAR-ICARDA collaborative projects, which are part of India’s National Food Security Mission (NFSM) – Pulses, took place on June 27 and 28, 2016, also in New Delhi. The joint ICARDA, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), and Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC) projects include:
- Generation Advancement and Development of New Genotypes through Pre-Breeding of Lentil and Kabuli Chickpea;
- Enhancement of Lentil Production in Eastern and North-Eastern States;
- Nutritional Security, and Sustainable Rice-Based Production Systems in India; and
- Enhancement of Grasspea Production in Eastern and North-Eastern States for Animal Feed, Safe Human Food, and Sustainable Rice-Based Production System in India.
All partners presented activities and results for the last three years, discussed next steps and formulated future plans. Additionally, the participants reviewed the workplan for the pre-breeding project.
Overall, targeted outputs from all of the partner organization's activities were achieved and large numbers of certified seeds were produced during the project’s timeline. The meeting was successfully capped off with all attendees working together to create and implement a "Vision to work for the benefit of farmers to uplift farming societies”.