Adoption of Improved Sorghum and Pearl Millet ... - Icrisat

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and drought tolerance for two reasons. One, early varieties provide food during the traditional “hunger period” just before the normal harvest – the majority of farmers in sorghum-growing areas run out of grain before the next harvest. Two, the rain season often ends early in areas where sorghum and millet are grown; and a 3- or 4-month crop ensures that at least some grain will be harvested. Farmers who grew landraces cited different traits. They considered yield, taste and drought resistance to be the most important traits in landraces. For each variety, improved as well as local, farmers were asked what traits, in their opinion, needed to be improved (Table 17). Bird damage was the most commonly cited, followed by field pests and storage pests. Late maturity was cited as an important negative trait among landraces. Table 17. Most important positive and negative traits in sorghum varieties, as cited by farmers, 2001. Variety Positive traits % of farmers citing Negative traits % of farmers citing Pato (n=80) Early maturity 74.4 Bird damage 79.1 Drought resistance 47.7 Field insect pests (stemborers) 58.1 Good taste 47.7 Storage pests 51.2 High yield 46.5 Diseases (particularly leaf blight) 37.2 Big grain 29.1 Other 8.1 Big head 11.6 Tegemeo (n=90) Early maturity 56.6 Bird damage 77.8 Drought resistance 49.5 Field insect pests 57.6 High yield 45.5 Storage pests 47.5 Good taste 34.3 Disease problem in field 39.4 Big grain 27.3 Other 9.1 Big head 14.1 Macia (n=9) Good taste 55.6 Field insect pests 55.6 High yield 44.4 Storage pests 44.4 Drought resistance 33.3 Bird damage 44.4 Early maturity 11.1 Other 11.1 Serena (n=119) Early maturity 53.1 Field insect pests 50.8 Drought resistance 50.8 Bird damage 49.2 High yield 39.1 Storage pests 42.2 Disease problem in field 31.3 Poor taste 10.2 Lulu (n=82) Drought resistance 51.8 Bird damage 51.8 Early maturity 34.1 Field insect pests 37.6 Good taste 30.6 Storage pests 36.5 High yield 22.4 Disease problem in field 29.4 Big grain 21.2 Other varieties (n=189) High yield 66.7 Bird damage 56.3 Good taste 56.3 Late maturity 46.4 Drought resistance 55.7 Field insect pests 45.8 Bird resistance 37.5 Storage pests 38.0 Early maturity 30.2 Disease problem in field 26.0 Other 25.5 Drought tolerance 21.4 Big head 24.5 15
Serena is a high-tannin variety. This trait gives it good bird resistance but makes it unpalatable for food use. Pato appears to be susceptible to stem borer infestation and leaf blight disease – which is cause for concern since the variety is very widely grown in Tanzania. Macia seemed to be less vulnerable, and could be promoted as a replacement for Pato in areas where leaf blight is a serious problem, while breeders continue their efforts to identify a resistant variety. In some areas where Macia had been adopted, it appeared more susceptible to kernel smut than either Tegemeo or Pato. This could be a problem with Macia in future. But it should be noted that farmers’ identification of positive and negative traits in Macia is less reliable than their responses for other varieties, because very few Macia growers were interviewed. Farmers were also asked what they found most disappointing in the new varieties. There were no major complaints, although it is likely that many farmers who did not want to comment negatively gave no response. (We feel susceptibility to pests may be a potential problem.) The biggest disappointment, as cited by farmers, was non-availability of seed at the community level. This problem was cited by 17-46% of the farmers who grew improved varieties (but only 6% of Macia growers, probably because the variety was at the earliest stages of diffusion, and being grown only by “targeted” farmers). Some farmers considered seed unavailability to be a more serious problem than the observed disease and pest problems. Pearl millet Positive and negative traits were similar to those cited for sorghum (Table 18). Farmers who grew improved varieties (Okoa, Shibe, Serere) cited early maturity as the most important positive trait. Those who grew landraces cited good taste. Table 18. Most important positive and negative traits in pearl millet varieties, as cited by farmers, 2001. Variety Positive traits % of farmers citing Negative traits % of farmers citing Okoa (n=35) Early maturity 85.7 Bird damage 71.4 High yield 42.9 Field insect pests 62.9 Good taste 34.3 Disease problem in field 40.0 Big grain 28.6 Storage pests 31.4 Drought resistance 25.7 Shibe (n=3) Early maturity 33.3 Field insect pests 33.3 Big grain 33.3 Storage pests 33.3 High yield 33.3 Bird damage 33.3 Serere 17 (n=16) Early maturity 93.8 Bird damage 93.8 Drought resistance 93.8 Field insect pests 56.3 Good taste 62.5 Storage pests 50.0 High yield 43.8 Local (n=80) Good taste 66.3 Bird damage 85.0 Drought resistance 41.3 Field insect pests 36.3 High yield 38.8 Low yield 25.0 Early maturity 32.5 Late maturity 22.5 Storage pest resistance 20.0 Storage pests 21.3 16
Page 1 and 2: International Crops Research Instit
Page 3 and 4: Adoption of Improved Sorghum and Pe
Page 5 and 6: Contents Sorghum and pearl millet p
Page 7 and 8: Table 1. Sorghum area (‘000 ha) i
Page 9 and 10: Sources: Crop Monitoring and Early
Page 11 and 12: On-station trials, pearl millet The
Page 13 and 14: Fluctuations in planted area Survey
Page 15 and 16: In the 2000 season, the schools con
Page 17 and 18: Adoption of Improved Pearl Millet V
Page 19: two seasons: 1998/99 (poor season,
Page 23 and 24: Priority Areas for Sorghum and Mill
Page 25 and 26: Annex 1. Improved Varieties Release
Page 27 and 28: susceptible to kernel smut. Has the
Page 29: About ICRISAT The International Cro

Adoption of Improved Sorghum and Pearl Millet ... - Icrisat

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