SMIL
Sorghum and Millet Innovation Lab
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Feed the Future Innovation Lab for
Collaborative Research on Sorghum and Millet
Newsletter - April 2023
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In-the-Field Learning and Collaboration Key to Evolving Madagascar Sorghum Growth
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While remote learning and virtual connections are great ways to stay connected, nothing beats in-person collaboration. Earlier this month, members of the SMIL team from Kansas State University and our country coordinator from Ethiopia, Dr. Alemu Tirfessa, joined the Malagasy team of FOFIFA and NGO collaborators in Antananarivo. The focus in Madagascar is to explore the opportunities to enhance sorghum availability and inclusion across the country, from large operations to smallholder farms. The team has been incredibly excited to see the willingness and interest of stakeholders across the industry as well as the national interest in collaboration. These efforts have the potential to enhance biodiversity, grow seed systems and increase sorghum value for various upstream industries in food and feed systems.
 The team focused on building the Pan-African network and increasing adaptive learning with Dr. Tirfessa, who is the national sorghum program coordinator for Ethiopia and sorghum breeder with the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR). The research team in Madagascar appreciated insight on sorghum varietal adaptation and key agronomic interventions to strengthen their understanding of sorghum production. The team visited several different agroecologies where alternative production strategies will be needed to confront constraints and opportunities.
To further enhance sorghum diversity and development of open-pollinated varieties in Madagascar, the team has focused on a Pan-African approach to seed sharing. This approach provides the opportunity for released and advanced open-pollinated varieties to be evaluated across Africa. When shared, the research provides maximum value and return on investment while helping more farmers or consumers. The new Brown Mid Rib (BMR) open-pollinated varieties currently in the final stage of development in Niger are of great interest for Madagascar to provide both higher quality forage and grain for livestock.
 It will take time for the work in Madagascar to reach its full potential, but the team is also engaged in identifying short-term opportunities to contribute to the national agricultural vision through cross-learning. In the near term, there will be adaptation trials of the seed that has been shared from other SMIL projects. First, the sorghum seed will undergo adaptation trials with FOFIFA, local industry partners and multilocational on-farm evaluations. The next step will be official release and then onto the formal seed multiplication system and into the quality-declared small-scale seed producer network.
 This project is funded in partnership with USAID and the Feed the Future Collaborative Research on Sorghum and Millet (SMIL) with the management entity based at Kansas State University.
For more information on our work in Madagascar or to stay up-to-date with our efforts across our focus countries, please follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter and check out our website at SMIL.K-state.edu.
View a photo/video slideshow
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Presenting Open Access Book to
USAID Community of Practice
Dr. Timothy Dalton, SMIL Director at Kansas State University, along with Dr. Ndjido Ardo Kane and Dr. Khady Nani Dramé (both from the West African Regional Center of Excellence on Improving Adaptation to Drought of the Senegalese Institute of Agricultural Research (ISRA/CERAAS) presented to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Community of Practice about the recently released the open access book, Crop Adaptation and Improvement for Drought-Prone Environments. Dalton and Kane are editors of the book and Dramé is one of the managing editors.
The open access book was published in December 2022 by New Prairie Press at Kansas State University. The book is an interdisciplinary effort to identify strategic constraints and opportunities to improve the sorghum, pearl millet, cowpea, groundnut, and fonio value chains in the West African Sahel region. Over 20 members of the USAID Community of Practice attended the online presentation. The open access book contains 19 chapters written by 120 authors from 31 research and development institutions and universities in 13 countries.
Dalton, Kane, and Dramé discussed the origination of the open access book idea and the process of obtaining information to ultimately publish the book. The book originated from the need to confront economic, social, and environmental constraints limiting dryland food systems in West Africa along with a desire to provide a new publication outlet for early-career scientists working on groundbreaking research. The open access book can be obtained and read by anyone in the world for free. Since being published, the book has been accessed 10,227 times (8,944 times through the link and 1,283 times through the QR code). The chapter that has been accessed the most (237 times) is Genetic Improvement of Pearl Millet in Senegal: Past, Present and Future Prospects.
The USAID members of the Community of Practice praised the editors for the work, research, and determination to publish this open access book and hope it can serve as a blueprint for additive research to continue improving regional food security that is easily accessible to students, scientists and development experts.
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Celebrating the
International Year of Millets
2023 is the International Year of Millets. Pearl millet is one of SMIL's focus crops and we are proud to celebrate the International Year of Millets with the Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations and all the farmers, scientists, researchers, and stakeholders who are dedicated to producing millets.
Pearl millet can grow on arid lands with minimal inputs and is a strong crop that is resilient to changes in climate. Pearl millet is an ideal crop for countries with a desire to increase self-sufficiency and reduce reliance on imported cereal grains.
The International Year of Millets is an opportunity to direct national and international policy attention to the benefits of pearl millet in regard to nutritional value and ideal suitability for cultivation under adverse and changing climate conditions.
The International Year of Millets will promote the sustainable production of pearl millet and other millets while emphasizing great potential for sustainable market opportunities for producers and consumers.
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Plant Genetic Resources Course Series offered by Dr. Geoff Morris through Colorado State University
Registration is open for Fall 2023 online course series on Plant Genetic Resources. Understand plant adaptation, conserve plant diversity, and discover novel plant traits.
This series of three 1-credit courses provides a solid introduction to the conservation and use of plant genetic resources. The course series is targeted to upper-level undergraduates, beginning graduate students, and continuing education for working professionals.
Find more information here.
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Sorghum in the 21st Century
Resiliency and Sustainability in the Face of Climate Change: A Global Sorghum Conference
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Follow & Celebrate SMIL
Thanks to those of you who are following SMIL on social media. SMIL now has 3,240 social media followers.
If you are not following the SMIL Twitter and LinkedIn accounts and subscribed to our YouTube channel, please do.
Copy and paste the links to share with friends and colleagues!
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sorghummillet
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sorg_millet_lab
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFYVkjKghI0tt2DiA6m5k9w
Scan the Quick Response (QR) code to open the SMIL website (https@smil.k-state.edu) on your mobile device.
We are working to grow the SMIL network and connect with global sorghum and millet community members. Please share this newsletter and our SMIL social media networks with your colleagues so we can all continue to learn from each other.
There are over 1,200 subscribers to our monthly newsletters. If you have not subscribed to receive our monthly newsletters, subscribe today! Also, ask your colleagues to subscribe by sharing the newsletter link with them: https://smil.k-state.edu/newsletter
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