Biotech Updates

ICRISAT Project Increases Sorghum Yields in India

August 10, 2012

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics' (ICRISAT) project, known as Harnessing Opportunities for Productivity Enhancement of Sorghum and Millets in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (HOPE) was able to produce high yielding sorghum varieties, develop crop management practices and improve market linkages which resulted to an average grain yields rise by 40 percent and fodder yields by 20 percent since 2010.

The project is also in close partnership with several Indian state and national institutions on sorghum (Marathwada State Agricultural University, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth State Agricultural University [MPKV] and the National Directorate of Sorghum Research). HOPE focuses on six target areas in India, about 33 percent of which now grow improved varieties, as opposed to 10 per cent before the project began.

See CGIAR's news release at http://www.cgiar.org/consortium-news/hope-leads-to-increased-sorghum-yields/.