The impact of climate change isincreasingly and seriously affecting agricultural production systems in manyparts of the world including Eastern and Central Africa (ECA). Rainfedagriculture is and remains the dominant source of staple food production forthe rural poor in ECA. Current unreliable rainfall patterns, droughts, floods,extreme temperatures as a result of climate change are creating great challengefor good crop growth to produce enough food. Good crop adaptation andresilience are key factors needed in mitigating climate change effects, andobtain good crop yields. Development and use of well adapted and resilient cropvarieties will form a more sustainable solution in mitigating climate changeeffects. Pearl millet, Pennisetum glaucum(L.) R. Br., can grow and still produce substantial grain yield under veryextreme temperatures, acidic soils, poor soil fertility and drought conditionswhere other crops such as maize and rice fail.

The mechanism for adaptation andresilience in pearl millet makes it unique and more suitable for drylandcultivation and offers climate change. Pearl millet was ranked number one byAssociation for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and CentralAfrica (ASARECA) among the major cereal crops (maize, rice, sorghum and fingermillet as well as high nutritive cereal crop for the drylands. However, pearlmillet average yield potential, like sorghum and other types of millet, hasremained stagnant between 0.4 to 2.5 tons per ha. Pearl millet yield potentialcan be improved by improving its productivity potential, as well as improvingits adaptation and resilience to cope with adverse growing conditions caused byclimate change. Pearl millet has higher nutrient content compared to maize andrice and is known to have higher carotene content, a natural source of vitaminA.

Pearl millet varieties were promotedvigorously in the years 2000 to 2004, during the implementation of the Sorghumand Millet Improvement Programme (SMIP) project for SADCcountries. The countries involved were Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Namibia wherepearl millet is an important food crop. The countries where pearl millet isimportant have climatic characteristics indicated in Table 1.2.

Table 1.2: Inherent adaptation of pearlmillets to the current climate in dry and semi-arid areas

Technologydescription

The technology consists of improvedvarieties of pearl millet that are early-maturing and can withstand terminaldrought. Pearl millet varieties have been released in several countries. Thereare varieties like Okashana 1 and 2 that have been released in more than onecountry of Eastern and Southern Africa (Namibia, Malawi and Sudan), and ICMV221released in Eritrea, Kenya, Uganda and is currently under national performancetrial in Tanzania. There is limited option on a variety choice because of thelimited emphasis put on pearl millet compared to other crops yet it is the onlycertain crop for the arid and semi-arid areas. The pearl millet varietiesdeveloped can be useful and applicable in the dry areas of Ethiopia, SouthernSudan especially the Eastern Equatoria region, The western Sudan and Kordofanregion of Sudan including Dafur as well as Northern Uganda and northern Kenya.A total of 14 pearl millet varieties have been released in ECA, 3 each inEritrea, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, and 2 in Sudan.

Scaling-upapproaches

The pearl millet varieties are used byfarmers for producing grain mainly for home consumption. There is limited usein feed but there is great use of pearl millet for fodder especially becausecrop livestock integration is the predominant farming system in the dry areas.The pearl millet varieties are also used by NGOs who are involved in theprovision of relief food to areas experiencing natural catastrophes likedrought and floods. Seed companies are also the us market seed of improvedpearl millet varieties. This is happening in Sudan and Eritrea. However, thereis a challenge of availing quality seed of pearl millet in most countriesbecause of this millet’s biology; it is 100% cross-pollinated.

On-farm demonstrations and field days havebeen used to popularise the technology. Marketing of pearl millet seed is notdone by the formal sector. Pearl millet is a crop that is not multiplied bycommercial seed markets and therefore the informal seed provision has been themajor and predominant approach for reaching farmers with quality seed ofimproved varieties. A number of alternative seed deliverymodels were tested in Tanzania of quality declared seed class allowedcommunity-based seed production by involving farmer groups, schools, NGOs andfarmer f adoption of improved varieties from 5% to 35% in the targeteddistricts of Tanzania, and up to 45% in Namibia.

The critical and essential factors forsuccessful promotion and wider adoption of the technology or innovation includethe following:

§ Delineationof recommendation and adaptation targeting and areas for scaling out thetechnology. This can be done using GIS and other mapping technologies.

§ Availabilityof basic and pre-basic seed for further multiplication.

§ Demandfor the grain, which becomes an incentive for farmers to demand quality seed.

§ Seedsystems to meet the demanded grades of seed

§ Themain challenge has been lack of market to absorb the increased production. Thestrategy to address this challenge has been to educate the communities on thehealth and nutrition of Pearl millet, and the fact that it can tolerate all theanticipated effects of climate change.

§ Poorpost-harvest handling resulting into poor grain quality. There are various post-harvesttechnologies that can be tested and promoted for use by communities to improvegrain quality. These are community-based threshers that are amenable to ruralfarming conditions.

§ Inadequacyof the seed system. Researchers have tested a number of alternative seeddelivery models ranging from formal to informal seed system models that can beadapted to the communities.

§ Contaminationof seed especially if the farmers do not get fresh seed every season. A definedsource of quality seed especially the basic and pre-basic seed classes can beestablished because some of the output markets require a product by name; therefore,farmers can have the incentive to purchase quality seed every season.

The lessons learned are that farmerscannot adopt a technology based on one criterion such as high yield. Otherconsiderations can include quality attributes required by the market andconsumers. Market linkages always create the technology pull and this way thetechnology moves faster among large numbers of farmers.

Nameand address of the organisation:

ICRISAT Regional Office Southern Africa;

United Nations Avenue, WorldAgroforestry Centre, Gigiri;

P. O. Box 39063-00623;

Nairobi, Kenya;

Tel:+254-207224562;

Fax:+254-207224001;

Nameand address of presenter:

Dr Mary A Mgonja;

Principal Scientist and Programme Leader(Genetic Resources Enhancement and for Eastern and Southern Africa);

United Nations Avenue, WorldAgroforestry Centre, Gigiri;

P. O. Box 39063-00623;

Nairobi, Kenya.

Tel: +254-207224562

Fax: +254 20 722 4001

Mobile: +254 720 293 017

Email:m.mgonja@cgiar.org