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.
Blackgram and horsegram are important for poor indigenous farmers in eastern and western India. But they are largely ignored by officialdom. Even though there are recommended varieties, farmers can’t get seed. So they grow poor varieties that are prone to mildew and other diseases. Better varieties of horsegram have a huge potential for intercropping with maize in western India and rice in eastern India in the rainy season. They could provide additional food and fodder at little or no extra cost. But farmers can only abandon old varieties by saving seed of new varieties themselves. Others would also grow the better grams if they could get seed. Although there is major potential for grams to improve food and incomes, the only way to get seed at the moment is through a few schemes and NGOs.
The CD has the following information for this output: Description, Validation, Current Situation, Current Promotion, Impacts On Poverty, Environmental Impact, Annex. Attached PDF (17 pp.) taken from the CD.