1ICRISAT Happenings July 2016 1731

NewsletterHappenings July 2016

No. 1731

ICRISAT

Feature Stories

Smart Food nutrition activities kick off in Kenya

To improve the nutritional status of women in the reproductive age and children below five years, an

awareness drive under the Smart Food campaign has been launched in selected counties in Kenya. The aim is to promote increased consumption of nutrient dense, drought tolerant crops (sorghum, millets, pigeonpea, groundnut, cowpea and green gram) and appropriate dietary practices in the project areas using social behavior change communication approaches.

The Smart Food team in Kenya will support the initiative, by disseminating nutrition knowledge with a focus on the first 1000 days of life. Various communication channels will be used specific to the community needs. As reported in the Kenya Demographic Health Survey (KDHS) 2014, stunting stands at 26% and is highest in children aged 18-23 months (36%). This indicates that to avert malnutrition there is a need for awareness building on complementary feeding and the need to fully utilize the 1000-day window.

The Smart Food campaign aims at

▪ Increasing the levels of awareness and utilization of millets and pulses;

▪ Promoting proper infant and young child feeding practices and dietary diversity of women of reproductive age; and

▪ Changing attitudes and practices that contribute to malnutrition in the selected communities.

To raise political and social leadership commitment to the Smart Food agenda, a task force has been formed with representatives from the ministries of Health, Agriculture and Education and ICRISAT. The objective of the task force is to develop a joint roadmap for the Smart Food campaign which includes the following activities:

▪ Train focal persons in the ministries and leaders of social organizations in the counties to sensitize communities (using existing structures) with key MIYCN (maternal, infant and young child nutrition) messages and educate them on the nutrition value and health benefits of smart foods.

▪ Hold a food and nutrition fair to create awareness about MIYCN and health benefits of smart foods

▪ Sensitize communities using local radio programs and jingles.

▪ Engage the First Ladies of the counties to drive the smart food nutrition agenda within their communities.

▪ Work with existing social structures to train women and youth on Smart Food recipes for diversification of diets.

▪ Ride on existing school events and competitions (drama, science congress, music festivals, athletics) to educate youth on nutrition and promote smart foods.

▪ Sensitize early childhood development teachers and decision makers from hospitals, orphanages, local schools and restaurants on the nutritional benefits of smart foods (including Board of Directors/Management).

Dr Maureen Cheserek, Nutritionist, Egerton University, addressing mothers at Elgeyo Marakwet.

Photo: ICRISAT

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▪ Train chefs/cooks of local institutions – restaurants, schools, hospitals, orphanages on Smart Food recipes and on appropriate technologies.

▪ Organize a sensitization workshop for small and micro enterprises in the county on opportunities in product development using smart foods, training on food safety, quality standards and quality assurance, and initiate linkage with other influential players.

▪ Educate urban consumers on nutrition and smart foods through social media.

▪ Develop a cooking show that educates people on nutrition and promote smart foods.

▪ Enlist support from the First Lady of the Republic of Kenya, H.E. Mrs. Margaret Kenyatta, to promote nutrition through the Smart Food campaign

The strategic approaches adopted to improve the nutritional status are to improve access (physical and economic) to diverse quality food and support improved utilization of maternal and child health, and nutrition services. These will be realized alongside other objectives of increasing productivity of value chains and improving markets and expanded trade for the value chains.

Recently, 3-day Training of Trainers (ToT) workshops were conducted at Makueni, Elgeyo, Marakwet and Siaya. The trainings focused on agri-nutrition, MIYCN and on appropriate social behavior change approaches to be used during the cascade training down to the communities.

The strategy is to use existing government structures to transfer nutrition education by training various actors including agricultural extensions, health workers, teachers,

Project: Feed the Future - Accelerated Value Chain Development (AVCD) for Smallholder Farmers and Pastoralists with Technologies and Innovations in KenyaInvestor: United States Agency for International Development (USAID)Partners: Egerton University, Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), Government of KenyaCGIAR research Program: Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals

community health volunteers, etc. The cascade trainings will also include other influencers like grandmothers, men, religious leaders, community elders and pupils/students.

Some topics covered during the training included: proper food choices and combinations, applied nutrition (selecting, preparing, cooking and distributing within households), classification of nutrients and their functions, definitions of malnutrition (wasting, stunting, underweight, overweight/obesity and micronutrient deficiencies), examples of diet related non-communicable diseases (signs and symptoms, dietary management), nutrition in the lifespan (pregnancy, newborn, infancy, etc.), food hygiene, meal planning, and energy efficient cooking.

Prior to the ToT, a formative study was carried out in 5 of the 6 counties during April 2016, to seek inputs from mothers with children below 5 years through focused group discussions. About 244 mothers participated in the formative study and were sensitized on agri-nutrition with a special focus on smart foods. The process helped the team identify and understand the characteristics of the target communities’ (their interests, behaviors and needs) that influence their eating habits. g

INCREASED HARVESTS

Nutrition Education through the Smart Food campaign in rural communities

More cereals & pulses reserved for home consumption

IR 6: INCREASED ACCESS TO DIVERSE & QUALITY FOODS

Market development activities- Smart Food Campaign

targeting urban consumers- Product Development (For

Cereals)- Capacity building of

processors- Linking farmers to markets

Increased incomes for smallholderfarmers as a result of increased demand and developedmarket

Increased purchasing power to access nutritious foods and health & nutrition services IR 8: IMPROVED

UTILIZATIONOF MATERNAL & CHILD HEALTH NUTRITION SERVICES

B. INCOME PATHWAY

C. WOMEN EMPOWERMENT PATHWAY

Training on nutrition and energy savingtechnologies

Reduced Workload(Less energy expenditure)

Save time for self and child care

A. PRODUCTION FOR OWN CONSUMPTION PATHWAY

Increased availability of value added products in the market

AVCD Nutrition Pathways for Drought Tolerant Crops

IMPROVED NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF WOMEN & CHILDREN

Social Behavior Change

Activities

More time and energy reserved to engage in other productive activities and seek health & nutrition services

SBCC activities: Smart food campaign & Nutrition &

Health Education

The Nutrition Pathways map below depicts how ICRISAT is working to improve nutrition status of women and children in Kenya.

3ICRISAT Happenings July 2016 1731

New partnership to optimize use of nitrogen in cereal crops

A team of researchers from India and the United Kingdom (UK) have come together to develop new

cereal crop varieties, that use nitrogen efficiently, which in turn, will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make farming more profitable and sustainable. The partnership will explore natural variations of cereals and basic research in model plants to deliver new varieties of cereals with enhanced nitrogen use efficiency.

With funding of £10 million (GBP) (US$13,084,500) through the Newton Bhabha Fund, UK; Biotechnology and Biological Research Council (BBSRC), UK; and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) of the Government of India, four new Virtual Joint Centers in Agricultural Nitrogen will be created. These are delivered in partnership with BBSRC, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), UK and the DBT. The Centers comprise of multiple research organizations in India and the UK, with each center receiving a co-investment of approximately £2.5 million (UD$3,271,125).

The Cambridge-India Network for Translational Research in Nitrogen (CINTRIN), one of the four centres, is led by the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB), UK and ICRISAT - India. It also brings together the Department of Plant Sciences and Sainsbury laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK; the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), India; the National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), India; ADAS UK Ltd., UK; and the agri-IT specialist KisanHub, located in Cambridge, UK and Pune, India.

The launch meeting of CINTRIN was held during end of June at Cambridge and attended by all partners of the consortium. Following this, the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) was signed between ICRISAT and DBT on 8 July for this research.

“The overarching aim of CINTRIN is to improve not only the income and livelihood of farmers by reducing the inputs cost, but also to save the environment by minimizing the negative impacts of excessive use of fertilizers,”

emphasized Dr Rajeev Gupta, Principal Scientist, ICRISAT, who is leading the Indian team of CINTRIN.

“The natural variation for nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) will be studied in diverse germplasm of wheat, sorghum, pearl millet and foxtail millet. The findings will be applied to develop new breeding lines with enhanced NUE. CINTRIN will also use model plants such as Arabidopsis and Brachypodium for basic research which will be translated into crops in the future,” added Dr Gupta.

Dr Alison Bentley, Director of Genetics and Breeding, NIAB explains, “The CINTRIN partners will translate developmental biology research into innovation in nitrogen use by Indian farmers, by connecting developmental research, crop breeding, agritechnology and extension work. This will be enhanced by easily accessible data-driven methods of technology transfer, developed by the India and UK-based company, KisanHub.”

“We want to promote a new understanding of the science associated with optimization of crop nitrogen use, built on exciting discoveries in model plant species which have the potential to revolutionize the way we think about the nitrogen requirement of crops,” said Dr Bentley.

Professor Ottoline Leyser, Director, The Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge said, “We are excited to be participating in CINTRIN as this sort of collaboration is essential for our research to contribute to solving the pressing problems facing agriculture.”

The initiative will build on established research links between NIAB, the University of Cambridge and research institutes in India. Exchanges in personnel between India and the UK via CINTRIN will enhance the skills of the next generation of plant technologists and provide a standard for building capacity in fundamental plant sciences and translation into germplasm and agronomic outputs in both countries. g

Launch meeting of CINTRIN in Cambridge, attended by all partners of consortium.

Photo: ICRISAT

Project: The Cambridge-India Network for Translational Research in Nitrogen (CINTRIN)Investor: Newton Bhabha Fund, UK (Biotechnology and Biological Research Council (BBSRC), UK and Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India)Partners: UK: National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB), ADAS UK Ltd, KisanHub, Department of Plant Sciences and Sainsbury laboratory, University of CambridgeIndia: Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), ICRISATCGIAR Research Program: Dryland Cereals

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Village by Village: Soil health being addressed in Telangana

Through a combination of government and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects, Telangana State is

starting to see a rise in soil health initiatives – one key component to making farming profitable.

Recently ICRISAT coordinated soil testing right down to individual farm level, identified by Geographic Information System (GIS) coordinates, including micronutrient deficiencies. This level of detailing has rarely been undertaken. Based on the above exercise, the first set of soil health cards were delivered to 79 farmers of the Naganpally village on 19 June. They were trained on collecting soil samples from their fields and nutrient deficiencies in these samples were then identified at ICRISAT laboratories and fertilizer recommendations given separately for 16 different crops (ranging from paddy to millets) to each farmer. As a result, every farmer has a Soil Heath Card, which saves them money by not over fertilizing, as well as maximizing yields.

The next steps will be to conduct on-farm trials to show the yield gains and net profits.

This was part of the CSR of Ramoji Foundation in two villages. Other villages have also benefited through CSRs of

SABMiller (10 villages) and Asian Paints (6 villages), and with the Medak Collector (20 villages).

Karnataka is the first state to have achieved soil micronutrient mapping at farm level across the whole state and this has been published as a Soil Fertility Atlas by the Government of Karnataka and ICRISAT five years ago. Currently Karnataka is the only state to have achieved this, as in many areas information of only macronutrients are collected at the district level. The precision of collecting soil micronutrient details will mean more accurate recommendations to the farmers. The initiative with farmers was monitored and recorded, showing up to 20 to 66% productivity gain across districts.

“Soil heath cards are one key step in a holistic approach. ICRISAT has a strong belief in a holistic approach, as any one intervention will only deliver its full advantage when all part of the value chain are also developed. Typically this includes watershed management, access to seeds of improved crop varieties, integration with livestock, on-farm practices including water use efficiency, links to markets, processing and agribusiness,” said Dr Suhas P Wani, Director ICRISAT Development Center. g

Farmer recieving his Soil Health Card from the Village President Kalamma.

Farmers comparing their Soil Health Card.

Photos: ICRISAT

mAgri™: Inclusive business development services to transform smallholder agriculture.

Dr Daniel Annerose, CEO Manobi Corporation, Dakar, Senegal.https://youtu.be/mXCt4AdlTmA

Spurring a transformation for agriculture through remote sensing- including landscape scale monitoring of smallholder crop response to fertilizer applications & MANOBI’s research & development strategy on digital agriculture

Dr Pierre C Sibiry Traore, Senior Scientist, Remote Sensing, ICRISAT, Bamako, Mali. https://youtu.be/J6zyXuHbWuQ

Conservation agriculture and mechanisation for smallholder agriculture: a win-win for agriculture and the environment.

Dr Richard Bell, Professor- School of Agricultural Sciences, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia. https://youtu.be/tAAOsrNYWVA

Three new seminars in the Take 2 series. http://www.icrisat.org/icrisat-take2.htm

Workshop on “Energy and agriculture in Smart Villages in India”

Applications Invited: Practitioners and researchers are invited to give presentations on their current work at the upcoming workshop on Energy and agriculture in Smart Villages in India. We encourage people from India and South Asia to apply.

About the workshop: The workshop will bring together experts from the domains of research, entrepreneurship, gender, ICT, business, finance, policymaking and non-profit work, to discuss linkages between energy, agriculture and climate change, particularly as they pertain to rural villages in India and South Asia more broadly.

Smart Villages and ICRISAT invite applications from those working on the above topics, including

companies. Those selected will have the opportunity to give a presentation on their current work.

Poster presentation: Exhibits of current work of participants and companies through relevant posters will be possible at the workshop.

How to apply: Send an abstract of your proposed presentation as well as a 1-2 page curriculum vitae. A limited number of bursaries for travel and accommodation are available to identified presenters.

Send applications to: Professor Sir Brian Heap, brianheap1@gmail.com.

Application deadline: 1 September 2016 For more information about Smart Villages, see here.

Join us to explore exciting new frontiers in Smart Villages and collective address questions like:

▪ What are the energy requirements of smart off-grid farms (for water, irrigation, motive power, lighting); for village-level processing of agricultural produce (refrigeration, storage, grinding and milling, drying, food processing etc.); for ICT (for education, market intelligence, payment of benefits etc.)?

▪ How can women and girls be empowered by smart off-grid farms (tablet/PC-based farm education, market intelligence, labour saving devices)? How does ICT complement other modes of learning?

▪ What opportunities exist for the creation of enterprises that add-value to farm products? How can farmers capture more of the agricultural value chain and how could off-grid energy help kick-start these enterprises through education in frugal innovation, business techniques, marketing and banking? What is the role of co-operatives and partnerships in the creation and sustainability of energy-dependent productive enterprises in off-grid farms?

Dr Tilahun Amede Wondifraw is designated as Country Representative for ICRISAT, Ethiopia effective 13 July 2016. His responsibilities as Country Representative will be in addition to his job responsibilities as Principal Scientist – Natural Resources/Systems Agronomy, East and Southern Africa Program.

ICRISAT Honorary FellowFollowing his superannuation as Principal Scientist - Entomology, Dr Hari C Sharma has been appointed as Honorary Fellow from July 2016 to mentor students and staff in entomology, write up research papers from the research outputs, contribute to funded projects as appropriate, and represent ICRISAT in organizing the International Plant Protection Congress (IPPC2019).

New Ethiopia Country Representative

Science with a human face

ICRISAT is a member of the CGIAR System OrganizationAbout ICRISAT: www.icrisat.orgICRISAT’s scientific information: EXPLOREit.icrisat.org DG’s Journal: dgblog.icrisat.org

ICRISAT appreciates the support of CGIAR donors to help overcome poverty, malnutrition and environmental degradation in the harshest dryland regions of the world. See http://www.icrisat.org/icrisat-donors.htm for full list of donors.

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22-23 September 2016, Hyderabad, India

1.3 Billion people live without access to electricity. We believe the Smart Villages concept is key to the sustainable development of off-grid communities.

Science with a human face