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9
General, ICRISAT rose from last to first among equals. This year, 2007, ICRISAT was rated O (Outstanding) by the
World Bank. William Dar is Filipino; when the Filipino is good, he is the best.
According to CLL Gowda, Prong 2 Project Leader, Prong 2 is designed so that farmers take part in selecting offthe-shelf
legume varieties, test-plant them, and produce the quality seeds for the next planting. The project being
R4D, research for development, the beans, cowpea, groundnut, chickpea, soybeans, pigeonpea, are the entry
points, not the exit points. There is only one exit point: poverty reduction. Or, as Bill Gates puts it, reduction of
inequity. Right, Bill; I am recommending this as the world-wise ROI.
From the press release:
The (Bill & Melinda Gates) Foundation is dedicated to a sustainable
model of agricultural development that empowers small farmers,
engages rural communities and improves agricultural productivity
while reducing inequity and protecting natural resources.
Farmers must be enabled to help themselves rise from deprivation;
natural resources must be used, not abused; for themselves, villagers
must work out together a society where there are no poor.
Denis Mwashita, a small farmer in Bingagaru, Zimbabwe says, ‘Beans
have always carried disease, but from the little we harvest and eat, we
and our children have developed the stomach.’ He will soon realize that the Tropical Legumes project will give him
disease-resistant, not disease-prone beans, and that is only the beginning.
The project is designed to harness knowledge and harvest opportunities. Advanced knowledge includes higher
confidence in genomics, including DNA sequences, to create new crops that can defend themselves by themselves
against pests, or diseases, or both. With the legumes come livelihoods and the likelihood of higher income and
lower poverty figures. With capacity-building of national programs comes the ability to initiate and sustain further
research for development in the project countries. All is well that runs well.
For the finale, Bill Gates’ Tropical Legumes project I rate 9, where 10 is max.
Farmers must be enabled to
help themselves rise from
deprivation; natural resources
must be used, not abused; for
themselves, villagers must
work out together a society
where there are no poor.
I’m withholding the perfect score because I’m disappointed Tropical Legumes does not include my favorite crop,
sweet sorghum. It could not, even if they wanted to: Sweet sorghum is not a legume; like rice, it is a grass
(Family Gramineae). And that’s precisely why I want sweet sorghum in the project – I believe any combination of
those legumes should be part of a multiple cropping system where there is a biofuel crop such as sweet
sorghum, among other crops. Multiple cropping systems simulate the natural world where the forces of nature
work out a balance in favor of the populations of the enemies of pests and diseases, and in favor of a richer soil,
so that farming requires the least pesticides and fertilizers and often leads to higher yields. If you want organic
foods, this is the way to do it.
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