Changing Perception through a Participatory Approach by Involving Adolescent School Children in Evaluating Smart Food Dishes in School Feeding Programs – Real-Time Experience from Central and Northern Tanzania

The study aimed to test the prospects for, and acceptance of, pigeonpea and finger millet-based dishes in a school feeding program for 2822 adolescents’ in Central Tanzania. The focus was on incorporating nutritious and resilient crops like finger millet and pigeonpea through a participatory approach involving series of theoretical and practical training sessions, for the period of 6 months on the nutritional quality and sensory characteristics of these two unexplored foods in Tanzania. Sharing knowledge on the nutritional value of these crops and involving students in the acceptance study changed their negative perception of finger millet and pigeonpea by 79.5% and 70.3%, respectively. Fifteen months after the study period, schools were still continued feeding the dishes and more than 95% of the students wanted to eat the finger millet and pigeonpea dishes at school. Around 84.2% of the students wanted to include pigeonpea 2–7 times a week and 79.6% of the students wanted to include finger millet on all 7 days in school meal. The study proved that it is possible to change food perceptions and bring about behavior change by sharing knowledge on their benefits and by engaging the consumers through a participatory and culturally appropriate approach

Pigeonpea improvement: An amalgam of breeding and genomic research

In the past five decades, constant research has been directed towards yield improvement in pigeonpea resulting in the deployment of several commercially acceptable cultivars in India. Though, the genesis of hybrid technology, the biggest breakthrough, enigma of stagnant productivity still remains unsolved. To sort this productivity disparity, genomic research along with conventional breeding was successfully initiated at ICRISAT. It endowed ample genomic resource providing insight in the pigeonpea genome combating production constraints in a precise and speedy manner. The availability of the draft genome sequence with a large‐scale marker resource, oriented the research towards trait mapping for flowering time, determinacy, fertility restoration, yield attributing traits and photo‐insensitivity. Defined core and mini‐core collection, still eased the pigeonpea breeding being accessible for existing genetic diversity and developing stress resistance. Modern genomic tools like next‐generation sequencing, genome‐wide selection helping in the appraisal of selection efficiency is leading towards next‐generation breeding, an awaited milestone in pigeonpea genetic enhancement. This paper emphasizes the ongoing genetic improvement in pigeonpea with an amalgam of conventional breeding as well as genomic research

Pigeonpea breeding in Eastern and Southern Africa: achievements and future prospects

Pigeonpea is no more an orphan crop in Eastern and southern Africa(ESA), with its multiple benefits to cropping systems, smallholder farmers, consumers and traders. pigeonpea has huge regional and international export potential and india alone imports 506,000 t annually. ESA countries export about 200,000 t of grain per year that worth $ 180 million. During the last two decades, area and production in ESA increased dramatically by 135% and 125%, respectively. Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Kenya and Uganda are the major pigeonpea producers. Tanzania and Malawi are showing the path to success in terms of productivity and production gains that guide other countries to follow. Pigeonpea improvement in ESA started in 1992 and since then 27 high yielding varieties were released and adopted them widely. The major breeding priorities were high grain yield, inter-cropping compatibility, photo-period insensitivity, grain quality, resistance/tolerance to Fusarium wilt, Helicoverpa pod borer and resilience to climate change. ESA has unique genetic diversity and its use in genetic enhancement has paid rich dividends. Tremendous yield gains have been recoreded with the use of new varieties, integated crop management, effective seed systems and sustained market demand. However, a huge gap still exists between realizable and actual yields with present technologies. ICRISAT-Patancheru is utilizing hybrid pigeonpea technology, genomic and genetic resources most effectively. Efforts are being made to use them in ESA breeding program to further elevate yield potentials in the region. A region specific strategy being outlined to bridge the gaps between actual, realized and potential yields using conventional and modern breeding by involving all the stakeholders

Pigeonpea improvement: An amalgam of breeding and genomic research

In the past five decades, constant research has been directed towards yield improvement in pigeonpea resulting in the deployment of several commercially acceptable cultivars in India. Though, the genesis of hybrid technology, the biggest breakthrough, enigma of stagnant productivity still remains unsolved. To sort this productivity disparity, genomic research along with conventional breeding was successfully initiated at ICRISAT. It endowed ample genomic resource providing insight in the pigeonpea genome combating production constraints in a precise and speedy manner. The availability of the draft genome sequence with a large‐scale marker resource, oriented the research towards trait mapping for flowering time, determinacy, fertility restoration, yield attributing traits and photo‐insensitivity. Defined core and mini‐core collection, still eased the pigeonpea breeding being accessible for existing genetic diversity and developing stress resistance. Modern genomic tools like next‐generation sequencing, genome‐wide selection helping in the appraisal of selection efficiency is leading towards next‐generation breeding, an awaited milestone in pigeonpea genetic enhancement. This paper emphasizes the ongoing genetic improvement in pigeonpea with an amalgam of conventional breeding as well as genomic research