Research for Development on Dryland Cereals in Africa and Asia: Recent Successes and Lessons Learned.

The CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Cereals (Dryland Cereals) contributes to the improvement of livelihoods of smallholder farmers in the dryland regions of Africa and Asia, through the development and deployment of solutions for crop improvement, crop management, seed systems, post-harvest value and input- and output-markets for dryland cereal crops including barley, finger millet, pearl millet and sorghum.  These are highly resilient, climate-hardy, micronutrient-dense crops which are the mainstay of agricultural systems in the dryland regions of Africa and Asia, where they are primarily used for food, feed and fodder.  The program is a global partnership that identifies and implements necessary research for development interventions to strengthen the value chains of dryland cereals in the target regions from end to end, utilizing assembled gender-disaggregated baseline information, demand analysis, gap/constraint analysis, priority setting, foresight planning and technology generation.  Crop improvement efforts have resulted in the identification of germplasm with enhanced tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses, and with increased micronutrient content.  Crop management research has contributed to productivity increases especially in the context of the poor and degraded soils in the dry regions of sub-Saharan Africa, where the climate-hardy nature of sorghum and millets make them the primary crops of choice.  Recent research on these crops from the perspective of climate hardiness and micronutrient value, and the role of public-private partnerships in technology generation and/or dissemination will be discussed.