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46 of purpose’ (heartquotes.net). Thoreau inspired by Walden, Wald inspired by his own elevated sense of purpose, if I may put it that way. Wald has simplified it well; his sentence of 17 words has 11 essential ones: Global shift, farm-based fuel, reduce, need, oil, slow, climate change. That’s what this is all about, isn’t it? That’s => more ethanol from farm crops => less oil from fossil fuels => less carbon dioxide from cars => less ozone depletion => less abrupt climate change. An act hard to follow, if not hard to swallow. Have faith in corn for ethanol: That could be the new Protestant ethic. Brown and other Yankee experts are afraid that the new ethic will cause corn and other food shortages in many states, because more farmers would plant more corn, plant less wheat, plant less soybeans. Wendy Wintersteen, Dean of the College of Agriculture, Iowa State U, says that this summer, ‘we will have areas of the state we would call corn deficient.’ But Keith Collins, Chief Economist of the US Department of Agriculture, reminds us that ‘the United States is paying farmers not to grow crops on 35 million acres, to prop up the value of corn.’ That is to say, theoretically, 14M ha can go into the growing of corn and wheat and cotton, so there shouldn’t be any corn deficit anywhere in the United States. What Collins is saying makes sense to me. But, I say, corn for ethanol is a thoroughly corny idea. Corny, as in insignificant. Corn is only a second-rate feedstock for ethanol. It’s more expensive to produce than, say, sweet sorghum. What Collins is saying makes sense to me. But, I say, corn for ethanol is a thoroughly corny idea. Corny, as in insignificant. Corn is only a second-rate feedstock for ethanol. It’s more expensive to produce than, say, sweet sorghum. Joe Jobe, Executive Director of the National Biodiesel Board, thinks differently. He says, ‘There’s a historical shift under way, not to grow more crops for energy and less for food, but to grow more for both.’ By Jobe, amen to that! We don’t all have to eat corn. We can eat sorghum. Did you know that sugar is sweet but, as I have already written, sweet sorghum is sweeter? You better believe it. Heraldo Layaoen, a pioneer scientist-sorghum grower in the Philippines, says sugarcane has 14% sugar content, sweet sorghum has 23% (thesweetsorghuminitiative.wordpress.com). You don’t entertain the idea of eating sweet sorghum like you eat corn? No problem. If you are in India, you may be able to eat chicken and eat sweeter. That’s because the chicken wing you have in your hand may have come from a bird fed with sweet sorghum. Not necessarily tasting sweeter in the sense of sugar, but tasting nicer, more delicious. Satisfaction guaranteed. It is as if I have seen it myself. I read in her 2005 annual report that the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has a project titled ‘Exploring marketing opportunities through a research, industry and users coalition: sorghum poultry feed.’ The report says (pages 16-17) that the coalition comprised ICRISAT, the Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU), Federation of Farmers Associations (FFA), Andhra Pradesh Poultry Federation (APPF), and Janaki Feeds. The aim: replace expensive corn in the feeds. Seeds For My Sweet
47 First, small farmers from 4 villages of Mahabubnagar and Ranga Reddy districts of Andhra Pradesh were supplied with new, improved sweet sorghum seeds from ICRISAT in 2003. Satisfaction gained: The harvests impressed the project partners and farmers themselves. Noting their enthusiasm, ICRISAT supplied seeds in 2004 to more than 500 small farmers from 12 villages. From the harvests, the sorghum grains went into new feed formulations for poultry. The feed trials were done on broilers (Cobb chicks) and layers (ILR 90 Jubilee birds). Results? (1) Better – The sorghum-feed broilers and layers had comparable body weights and their feed costs were lower than the corn-feed broilers. (2) And Better – Except for a paler yolk, the sweet sorghum layers did as well as the corn layers in body weight gains and eggs produced, at lower cost. Team ICRISAT has been able to tell this double-sweet bird story as a product of what it calls the ‘coalition approach,’ whereby partners ‘work together right from the project conception stage to the concluding stage towards a common goal with synergistic effect.’ That’s easier said than done; it is to the credit of the Team as well as the Team Captain, William Dar, their Director General, that the bigger team of ICRISAT + ANGRAU + FFA + APPF + Janaki Feeds had been successful with sweet sorghum grains as corn substitute in feeds for poultry. Success favors a coalition – with a great coalition coach. Seeds For My Sweet
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Citation: Hilario FA. 2007. Team IC
Page 5 and 6: Contents Preface Author’s Forewor
Page 7 and 8: Preface T eam ICRISAT is publishing
Page 9: Author’s Foreword Los Baños, Lag
Page 12 and 13: 2 You will understand that I’ve h
Page 14 and 15: 4 There are 3 kinds of written info
Page 16 and 17: 6 prong arrangement, Prong 1 launch
Page 18 and 19: 8 Studying in the University of the
Page 20 and 21: 10 If I have one, sweet sorghum is
Page 22 and 23: 12 We face a true planetary emergen
Page 24 and 25: 14 Charles Clover (telegraph.co.uk)
Page 26 and 27: 16 they did not devise a Senate inq
Page 28 and 29: 18 1,000 films a year. With India o
Page 30 and 31: 20 Knowledge Initiative has three m
Page 32 and 33: 22 needs more milk from a mother. B
Page 34 and 35: 24 Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), whi
Page 36 and 37: 26 Provide a global framework to su
Page 38 and 39: 28 Fire And Ice Robert Frost Some s
Page 40 and 41: 30 From the scientific (chemistry)
Page 42 and 43: 32 Great! The only problem with Bro
Page 44 and 45: 34 To compare further, from AERC In
Page 46 and 47: 36 In the Philippines, intrigued an
Page 48 and 49: 38 7. LEARNING FROM MICROSOFT R4D.
Page 50 and 51: 40 (a) long-range effects of crop c
Page 52 and 53: 42 A few days ago, the Department o
Page 54 and 55: 44 The business approach is to take
Page 58 and 59: 48 10. BEING A DIFFERENT KIND OF CV
Page 60 and 61: 50 had a project funded by the Ford
Page 62 and 63: 52 State University for his intense
Page 64 and 65: 54 2004: ICRISAT’s Turnaround: St
Page 66 and 67: 56 (2) It multiplies the farmers. H
Page 68 and 69: 58 12. THE TELUGU PARADIGM. UNDERST
Page 70 and 71: 60 Dr BR Ambedkar Open University E
Page 72 and 73: 62 13. THE TURNING POINT. KNOW THAT
Page 74 and 75: 64 The Adarsha project taught the v
Page 76 and 77: 66 Now, I’m asking you to transla
Page 78 and 79: 68 The area under irrigation is ver
Page 80 and 81: 70 Translating: African governments
Page 82 and 83: 72 15. THE ACADEME AS ANTI-POOR. UN
Page 84 and 85: 74 Poor communication services? Doe
Page 86 and 87: 76 His maternal uncle helped him th
Page 88 and 89: 78 16. AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH: WILLI
Page 90 and 91: 80 Our responsibility to our childr
Page 92 and 93: 82 A global crop - Sweet sorghum us
Page 94 and 95: 84 citizen entrepreneur who brings
Page 96 and 97: 86 17. ‘SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
Page 98 and 99: 88 Region 05: DD highest, the rest
Page 100 and 101: 90 18. BIOPOWER TO THE PEOPLE! THE
Page 102 and 103: 92 I have just been inspired to wri
Page 104 and 105: 94 19. THE CHILDREN OF MAIDANEK. OR
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96 The old world is dying, and we a
Page 108 and 109:
98 Still, I’m not comfortable wit
Page 110 and 111:
100 So, what’s that to UP Los Ba
Page 112 and 113:
102 If billions of us Primates will
Page 114 and 115:
104 Not only blogging, I take to wr
Page 116 and 117:
106 That’s a $5 million decrease
Page 118 and 119:
108 from poor to rich soils, advanc
Page 120 and 121:
110 read and put them down in your
Page 122 and 123:
112 (6) Primate, come declare your
Page 124 and 125:
114 22. WHAT’S IN A NAME? IGNRM.
Page 126 and 127:
116 IGNRM … is a powerful integra
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118 Juliet is asking Romeo to chang
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120 The language is technical Engli
Page 132 and 133:
122 because what I don’t know, I
Page 134 and 135:
124 able to sell to yourself, that
Page 136 and 137:
126 He now has his dream digital ca
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