RA 00183.pdf - OAR@ICRISAT

Groundnut Research in West Africa
and Sustainable Agriculture
L.J. Marenah 1
The support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to the
groundnut industry includes :
1. The collection, analyses, and evaluation of production, consumption, trade, stocks, and
price data for groundnuts and its products.
2. Providing an intergovernmental forum (the FAO Intergovernmental Group on Oilseeds,
Oils, and Fats) for discussing problems affecting the world economy in the oilseeds sector,
including groundnut, and harmonizing national policies or measures that have a bearing
on the market; and
3. Technical assistance to governments in groundnut research, production, training, and
related fields.
Research should encourage the development of cropping systems that are less dependent
on costly inputs and the conservation of land and water resources to achieve sustainable
agriculture as:
• The economic problems facing most West African countries restrict the imports of essential
farm inputs;
• Inputs are expensive despite the severely limited financial resources available to farmers
and;
• There is a worldwide concern over increasing land and environmental degradation.
Technical cooperation among countries in the subregion could lead to a more efficient and
effective use of the scarce trained manpower, financial, and material resources available for
research, development, and training.
Since adapted, high-yielding, and pest resistant varieties are the best gift, plant breeding
can offer to the small farmers, breeding short-duration varieties, especially for areas that
have short growing seasons, and varieties resistant to the most economically important pests
and environmental stresses, such as drought, should receive greater emphasis. The rate of
progress in the development and utilization of improved varieties may be accelerated through
better support to plant genetic resource programs and regional research institutions that
provide segregating hybrid populations to national institutions for selection under different
agroclimatic and socioeconomic conditions.
1. Regional Plant Production and Protection Officer, FAO Regional Office, P.O. Box 1628, Accra, Ghana.
Citation: ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics). 1991. Summary Proceedings of
the Second ICRISAT Regional Groundnut Meeting for West Africa, 11-14 Sep 1990, ICRISAT Sahelian Center,
Niamey, Niger. Patancheru, A.P. 502 324, India: ICRISAT.
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