Maize varieties picked by farmers for farmers in western and eastern India. Validated RNRRS Output.
Abstract
This is one of 280 summaries describing key outputs from the projects run by DFID's 10-year Renewable Natural Resources Research Strategy (RNRRS) programmes.
Summary for Project title: R8099: Participatory plant breeding in rice and maize in eastern India.
Tribal hill farmers in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in western India, and Jharkhand, Orissa, and West Bengal in eastern India, helped select and test maize specifically for these areas where droughts are frequent and soils are poor. The new varieties have spread over thousands of hectares because they were picked by farmers for farmers. They are earlier than the strains they used previously, they're drought-tolerant, and meet preferences for taste and cooking quality. Plus, they intercrop well with important later crops such as horsegram and blackgram. These new maize varieties have major potential to improve the lives of small farmers who can't irrigate their crops: around two-thirds of the population in these hill areas.
The CD has the following information for this output: Description, Validation, Current Situation, Current Promotion, Impacts On Poverty, Environmental Impact, Annex. Attached PDF (18 pp.) taken from the CD.
Citation
PSP15, New technologies, new processes, new policies: tried-and-tested and ready-to-use results from DFID-funded research, Research Into Use Programme, Aylesford, Kent, UK, ISBN 978-0-9552595-6-2, p 11.