Science innovations helps dryland farmers deal with food, financial crisis

by Wu Qiang, Karuna Madan

NEW DELHI, May 9 (Xinhua) -- The global food crisis, marked by soaring food price last year, and the current economic meltdown, have inflicted hardships to poor farmers of the semi-arid tropics of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, including India.

In such a scenario, only crop research and innovation can empower these farmers to cope with the crisis, leading researchers feel, said a international farm expert on Saturday.

Dr. William Dar, Director General of International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), told Xinhua in an interview that the global financial crisis coming closely on the heels of the global food crisis has hit dryland farmers hard.

"These poor dryland farmers have very little margin for risks, and when two shocks come one behind the other, their ability to recover is quite diminished. Although food prices have fallen from their peaks in early 2008, they are still higher than what the prices were before they soared in 2007. This can affect poor dryland farmers, who are usually net food buyers," he said.

ICRISAT, which is based in Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh in central India, is a science-based international organization which conducts research on sorghum, pearl millet, chickpea, pigeon pea and groundnut that support the livelihood of the poor in the semi-arid tropics.

"Due to the financial crisis, there is also a shortfall in credit available to farmers and prices of inputs are also high. This could have an adverse impact on poor farmers, both in terms of reduced investments in agriculture and lesser food for their families," he added.

Dar lamented that the poor farmers of the drylands had no control over global developments.

"At most of the times they do not understand the cause and effect of these changes," he said. "But when scientific innovations help them overcome their day-to-day problems, their resilience to global challenges gets strengthened."

To hasten the speed of crop improvement and overcome limitations inherent to conventional crop breeding, ICRISAT has harnessed crop biotechnology, said Dar.

Using molecular marker assisted selection and breeding, ICRISAT developed a pearl millet hybrid -- HHB 67 Improved -- that is resistant to downy mildew disease, he said.

Using the same technology, ICRISAT scientists in Nairobi identified and transferred genes that confer Striga resistance to sorghum. Striga is among the deadliest weeds in Africa.

In addition to contributing to the national food basket, agriculture in the semi-arid regions of developing countries supports the livelihoods of a large segment of these countries' population.

"In India, for instance, two-thirds of cultivated lands are semi-arid. Hence, an adverse impact on dryland farming can result in decreased livelihood options for a substantial percentage of the population," Dar said.

Dar said scientific innovations can strengthen farmers to deal with situations such as this.

"Even when events happen that are far beyond the control of the dryland farmer, scientific and research-based intervention can give him the resistance to tide over the crisis with less damage," he said.