ICRISAT Annual Report 1976 - 1977

The year described in this annual report finds ICRISAT in the busiest stages of its initial development. The earliest programs in Farming Systems, Cereals, and Pulses have established their major organizational lines, appointed most of their senior staff, and formulated and implemented sound research programs. Even some early results are evident in farming systems technology and new millet cultivars. Village level studies in the Economics Program have progressed far enough to give some clear indications of the types of new technology that will be usable by the small farmer in the semi-arid tropics. The newest program, in groundnuts, has completed its first full year of operations, although only one quarter of its principal staff has been appointed. The development of the ICRISAT research farm has kept pace with the growing volume of research. Additional precision fields for crop breeding research and additional watersheds for operational research in farming systems have been developed. Because Hyderabad is not adequately representative of all the semiarid tropics, small substations in different agroclimatological zones in India are being developed with the cooperation of the state agricultural universities. The substations extend the range of climates and seasons for which cultivars can be developed, and increase the numbers of diseases and pests against which we can develop resistance

Crops of the West African Semi-Arid Tropics

This review deals with three aspects, i.e., ecology, cultivation, and diseases and pests, of 23 crops which are grown in the West African Semi-Arid Tropics. These crops form six groups: cereals, legumes, roots and tubers, vegetables, fibres, and other crops. The review no doubt has many errors. For these I express my apologies and hope that they would be brought to my attention so that correction can be made

International Workshop on Farming Systems, November 18-21, 1974

The International Workshop on Farming Systems Research organized by ICRISAT was held from 18-21 November 1974 at the Administrative Staff College, Hyderabad, India. Thirty-eight participants and five observers representing 14 countries and 14 organizations attented the workshop. Thirty-five papers were presented. In his welcome address, Dr. J.S. Kanwar, Associate Director of ICRISAT and Chairman of the workshop organizing committee, outlined the main problems facing fanning systems research in semi-arid tropics. Dr. R.W. Cummings, director of ICRISAT, gave an overview of the objectives of the workshop and Dr. B.A. Krantz, ICRISAT agronomist, explained the program details. In the afternoon the participants visited ICRISAT and reviewed the field experiments with the Institute scientists