Final version of Tropical Legumes II Project Report for Phase 1 - icrisat

A 10-day intensive training workshop on groundnut breeding methods and techniques was held at
ICRISAT-Mali from 26 January to 6 February 2009 for research assistants and scientists. A total of eight
participants (two from IER, Mali, two from INRAN, Niger, three from IAR, Nigeria and one from ICRISAT)
attended the workshop. The course covered a range of topics organized in 10 modules. Two technical
guides in groundnut breeding and PVS were prepared and their soft copies were made available to the
participants. The project also contributed to the training of research technicians from IER, Mali, INRAN,
Niger and ICRISAT-Mali in data capture and analysis using the GENSTAT statistical program from 9-20
February 2009. A total of 33 participants attended the training.
Degree training
Two PhD students (from Niger and Nigeria) at the West Africa Center for Crop Improvement (WACCI),
University of Ghana, were mentored to formulate and present their thesis research project proposals in
groundnut breeding.
Training farmers
Before the implementation of the PVS trials, a 1- to 2-day training session was conducted for the
participating farmers in the respective locations. Group meetings were also held during field monitoring
by the project staff. More than 2,000 persons including farmers and extension agents have benefitted
from the training by the end of 2009. In 2010, a total of 150 women from the farmer groups in five
villages in Sanakoroba district of Mali participated in a pre-sowing 2-day training program in good
practices of producing groundnut. In addition, 10 village (all men) agents and 2 staff (1woman and
one man) of PLAN-Mali also benefited from the training. ICRISAT-Mali provided the facility. IER-Mali
facilitated training of 75 farmers in integrated crop management at the sites in the Kayes region where
demonstration plots were established.
Establishing an efficient improvement program for NARS
At the beginning of the project no hybridization activity was conducted at any of the participating
NARS. After the training of technicians in managing crossing blocks, and the rehabilitated facilities,
hybridization has been initiated at INRAN and IAR
Farmer-friendly literature
ICRISAT prepared simplified brochures on varieties grown in Mali and crop management in French for
eventual translation into Bambara.
Lessons learned/concerns
• The release of new breeding lines remains a very slow process. This is largely due to variety release
committees not meeting or the NARS partners not being aggressive enough to promote new
varieties through nationally coordinated trials and on-farm validation tests. However, through PVS
the variety release process can be fast-tracked;
• The major challenge facing women groundnut farmers is the limited access to good land and farm
equipment to reduce drudgery in the production and processing of groundnut;
• The project involves many sites - some in isolated locations - making coordination and monitoring
a challenge. Focusing on one key region per county will be the most effective in terms of resource
use and sustainability. Successful interventions can be replicated in other regions.
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Engaging Smallholder Farmers | Tropical Legumes II Project