Protein and micronutrient-packed legumes like cowpea, groundnut, beans or chickpea are important crops for small farmers in developing countries to improve family diets and soils. Yet for years, legume cultivation has been hampered by poor yields and returns. Engaging farmers in legume research may hold the clue to boost pulse productivity.
Plant breeding is a key challenge for resilience to climate change among agricultural producers. A new far-reaching project is aimed at strengthening networks and institutional capacities in this field in three West African countries. With almost 9 million euros of funding, it is coordinated by CORAF and implemented by a consortium of national and international institutes, including CIRAD, within the framework of DeSIRA, the major EU funding programme.
In an article published on 8 June in the French online journal Passion Entomologie, three CIRAD researchers look back at what started the current desert locust invasion that now spreads from East Africa to India, and is the most severe for several decades. According to the three experts, preventive management is the only way of avoiding such invasions in future. They call for investment in research and training, in support of ongoing prevention operations.
Dr Kanayo F. Nwanze will represent a unified CGIAR at next year’s United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), bringing the voice of independent agricultural research and broad-ranging partnerships to the global forum.
Le Ministre de l'Agro-Industrie et de la Sécurité alimentaire et l'Ambassadeur de l'Union européenne ont signé un nouveau contrat de subvention d'un montant de 100 million de roupies pour la l’agriculture et le changement climatique. Cet appui de l'Union européenne servira à renforcer les capacités du FAREI en matière de recherche pour identifier des produits agricoles mieux adaptés au changement et réduire l'utilisation des pesticides par les agriculteurs.
