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Farmers now benefit from better sorghum varieties

Farmers now benefit from better sorghum varieties

Over three years in India, farmers tested 27 varieties of sorghum in their fields. They chose five, and three of these went on to be officially released. All three are resistant to shoot fly and charcoal rot and make good roti flour. Plus they are suitable for intercropping with chickpea or safflower. Until these trials, farmers weren’t benefiting from decades of plant breeding because researchers had just concentrated on raising yields. They had overlooked strains that made good roti flour although this was an important factor for farmers. So, farmers didn’t adopt the new varieties. On-farm trials meant that farmers, as well as testing new varieties could, at the same time, try out better farming practices such as transplanting seedlings rather than sowing seed directly.


Region: India
Date published: 2007
Published by: Research Into Use
Type of resource: Research output overview
Resource topic: Grain


Project/Programme: Not specific
Pest/Disease: Charcoal rot, Shoot fly
Pages: 11
File type: PDF (803 KB)

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