| February 2009 | SATrends Issue 97 |
Farmers of the Future Near ICRISAT’s West Africa center in Niamey, Niger, young students put ICRISAT’s agricultural technologies into practice through competition and reward for excellence. 
Learning how to graft. This is a serious matter. Competition is one way to create motivation. Eight months later, following a tour of the village, there were clearly great discrepancies in the maintenance of those four trees. Some students had large, flourishing trees that were already bearing fruit, some had only sand where the trees once were. What contributed to this difference? The participants all live in the same community and received similar instruction for the contest. Perhaps it was the best students in school who succeeded; perhaps it was those who could afford fertilizer and pesticide. Or was it household knowledge of ICRISAT technologies that helped children succeed? Peace Corps volunteer Danielle Sewell: danielle.sewell@gmail.com conducted a survey to help identify the drives behind the successful adoption of the trees. Ms Sewell, who has lived in Sadoré village for two years and works in partnership with ICRISAT, interviewed each contest participant. Five possible hypotheses were formulated to explain a student’s success: Results showed that students whose parents had knowledge about ICRISAT technologies had better success keeping their trees alive. In fact, for parents who have been employed in tree-related work at ICRISAT, their children had more trees alive on average than otherwise. Similarly, students whose mothers participated in fruit tree grafting in the village women’s group were by far more successful than students whose mothers don’t graft or grow trees with the group. Students who used fertilizers or pesticides tended to be more successful on average than those who didn’t. There was no correlation between household income and success in caring for trees. The study as a whole supports the idea that if parents are more engaged in technology generation or implementation, their children are likely to fare better at raising and caring for trees. Parent’s involvement in children’s education within the framework of the Farmers of the Future program 
Thank you for giving us a brighter future. Those families with technical knowledge fared better in caring for the trees; similarly, those students who understood the importance of agricultural inputs such as fertilizer also were more successful in keeping their trees alive. The Farmers of the Future program is only two years old. It is much too early to analyse its impacts based on its objectives. However, it appears that the program is creating motivation, love and enthusiasm for agriculture among the children and a spirit of entrepreneurship that was not there before. For more information contact: d.pasternak@cgiar.org or n.jupiter@cgiar.org. The Regional Differences: Higher Food Prices in ESAFood prices around the world have fallen in recent months almost as rapidly as they rose in early 2008. However, consumers in eastern and southern Africa (ESA) face a far different reality. The price of maize, a staple food in many countries of the region, continues to remain substantially higher than those around the world. For example, in December 2008, the average price per ton of maize in the region was US$ 211 whereas the global average was US$ 158 (Figure 1). 
Figure 1. Comparison of global and regional maize prices in the last five months of 2008. A recent study conducted by Michigan State University and ICRISAT took a closer look at the impact of global food prices on regional maize and fertilizer prices in order to understand why regional trends do not mirror global trends and One of these factors is that southern Africa, although historically capable of significant export, has become a net importer of maize. This is an important shift because as the export volumes decline the region moves away from an export parity price structure to an import parity price structure, which usually results in higher prices. Another factor is that South Africa’s 2006 and 2007 maize harvests were meager and it is likely that neighboring countries with maize shortages began to incorporate the higher South African prices into their price structures even before the sudden surge in global food prices. Government responses to the rising food prices have also contributed to keeping regional prices high. Believing that the global prices would remain high, many governments such as those of Malawi and Zambia attempted to accumulate maize through grain marketing boards to boost their strategic reserves and reduce imports. Inevitably, this resulted in pushing regional prices higher. Governments were also unable to plan properly due to underestimating the demand for maize and overestimating production levels. They imposed policies that banned exports or restricted maize trade among neighbors in an attempt to protect domestic supplies. This has created an environment with unstable supplies as informal trade continues despite the ban, leading to higher transaction costs and lower prices for farmers. Malawi and Zambia, in particular, may face problems as the domestic supplies may not be sufficient to satisfy demand before the 2009 harvest is available. Governments should focus on nurturing opportunities for increased trade among neighbors as this could bring prices down. For more information contact: i.minde@cgiar.org. Platform for Translational Research on Transgenic CropsThe Green Revolution was one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century that led to the phenomenal increase of research-based agricultural productivity, and that fed millions in many poor countries, especially on the Indian subcontinent. However, poverty continues to limit access to food, and the yields of several crops have reached a plateau in developed countries. Hence, most of the productivity gains in the future will have to be achieved through better management of natural resources and crop improvement. Transgenic research in the agricultural sector can bring another revolution – the “Gene Revolution” in food production. Genetic transformation technology relies on the conceptual framework and the technical approaches of plant tissue culture and molecular biology to develop commercial processes and products. However, some of the major bottlenecks in successful translation of this technology from laboratory to land revolve around the delays in transferring the products of genetic engineering to the farmers’ fields through “commercialization”. 
Proposed PTTC building at ICRISAT-Patancheru. ICRISAT proposes to leverage its existing excellence in the areas of transgenic research on crop plants, molecular plant sciences and plant breeding to enhance the delivery of transgenic crops. Funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, ICRISAT has established a Platform for Translational Research on Transgenic Crops (PTTC) aimed at building a solid foundation and capabilities for the development of a biotechnology-based agricultural industry. The ICRISAT-DBT platform can be viewed as a “clearing” house for innovative ideas and technology in crop genetic engineering that could positively impact agriculture. Its mission is to “Translate transgenic science and technology and harness its products to meet the needs of agricultural growth.” PTTC will facilitate a collaborative and coordinated approach for the translation of existing genetic engineering technologies for the development of transgenic crops that can be efficiently taken through product development to commercialization. PTTC will serve as a center of reference to strengthen global linkages and collaboration for transgenic research and development, exchange of materials and information and to support training, consultation work and commercialization of technologies. The major objectives of the PTTC include:
For more information contact: k.sharma@cgiar.org and p.bhatnagar@cgiar.org |
Tel +91 40 30713071, Fax +91 40 30713074,
icrisat@cgiar.org , URL:www.icrisat.org