RA 00110.pdf - OAR@ICRISAT
RA 00110.pdf - OAR@ICRISAT
RA 00110.pdf - OAR@ICRISAT
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
tropical countries i t w i l l be very expensive to satisfy this demand unless millet can become<br />
bread. A n d this, too, the politicians recognize, and they w i l l support whether efforts can be<br />
made to decrease the cost of g i v i n g people the food that they demand. So here is something else<br />
for the millet scientists to do. D o n ' t ask me how y o u do it. Y o u k n o w far better than I do. I am<br />
just telling y o u it's got to be done.<br />
N o w let me say a few words about I C R I S A T . M o s t of y o u k n o w I C R I S A T . M o s t of y o u have<br />
been here before. Some of y o u come here everyday. I C R I S A T was created in 1972, specifically<br />
to deal w i t h some issues that had arisen f r o m the success of the so-called green revolution.<br />
I C R I S A T was created to try to provide significant improvements in the livelihoods of the<br />
people w h o were not able to benefit f r o m those increases in the p r o d u c t i o n of irrigated rice and<br />
wheat; for the people in the dry lands, and particularly the dry lands of the semi-arid tropics,<br />
where vast number of people occupy 11 % of the earth surface and depend to a large extent u p o n<br />
the food products that they produce for themselves. I C R I S A T has been charged w i t h the<br />
responsibility to develop technologies for i m p r o v i n g the major food cereals and legume crops of<br />
the semi-arid tropics. Over the years I C R I S A T has developed into a sizeable research institute<br />
w i t h its headquarters in Hyderabad where a great deal of our w o r k is done, but w i t h significant<br />
programs in other parts of the w o r l d , particularly in Africa. W i t h pearl millet over the years, we<br />
have generated diverse breeding material largely resistant to downy mildew. We have developed<br />
and released open-pollinated varieties w i t h resistance to t w o or more diseases. We have not<br />
done m u c h yet w i t h insect resistance. We have developed and transferred to scientists of the<br />
national programs field screening methodologies for stress tolerence and resistance; we have<br />
shown the possibilities of connecting high yield to improved protein in the crop. We have<br />
developed an understanding of how pearl millet tolerates environmental stresses, and perhaps<br />
most i m p o r t a n t l y we are w o r k i n g w i t h the scientists of the national programs in an effective<br />
network of international cooperation.<br />
The successes I have mentioned have been taken f r o m statements in our 10-year plan w h i c h<br />
also w i l l tell you some of the things that we hope to do in the future. We hope to improve upon<br />
what we have done to complete some of those tasks which are incomplete and to serve the w o r l d<br />
better. Recently we have decided to reorganize the management in I C R I S A T . The present<br />
Director o f Research, D r . J.S. Kanwar, who w i l l be w i t h us later i n the week w i l l become the<br />
D e p u t y D i r e c t o r General of the Institute. We w i l l establish three Program Directorates for<br />
cereals, legumes and resource management. I am pleased, at this time, to i n f o r m y o u that the<br />
C h a i r m a n o f this session D r . J . M . J . de Wet w i l l be j o i n i n g I C R I S A T i n June to become the<br />
P r o g r a m Director for Cereals at I C R I S A T Center. R . W . Gibbons w h o is sitting here quietly<br />
learning about pearl millet as fast as he can, is going to become Executive Director of I C R I S A T<br />
for West A f r i c a located at the I C R I S A T Sahelian Center in Niamey, Niger and L . R . House,<br />
w h o is not here today, w i l l hold a similar Executive Director's post for southern Africa. These<br />
changes w i l l help us strengthen the relationship between the various parts o f I C R I S A T but also<br />
provide to our programs in West and southern Africa greater autonomy and greater o p p o r t u n i -<br />
ties to cooperate effectively w i t h the national programs of the regions in which they are w o r k i n g .<br />
I C R I S A T Center research on pearl millet w i l l i n the future move away f r o m its present<br />
applied character, towards more strategic research, but the applied research i n A f r i c a w i l l be<br />
strengthened and w i l l be given more opportunities to produce improved genetic materials in<br />
partnership w i t h the national agricultural research scientists. I hope that this workshop w i l l<br />
w o r k out a global p r o g r a m o f research for pearl millet i n which I C R I S A T w i l l f u l f i l its role and<br />
the national agricultural research programs w i l l f u l f i l theirs i n effective partnership relations.<br />
The International A g r i c u l t u r a l Research Centers are searching for better ways to participate<br />
w i t h national programs and any suggestions that y o u have as to how this can be done w i l l be<br />
greatly welcomed.<br />
F i n a l l y i t is m y pleasure t o inaugurate this pearl millet w orkshop. I hope that a l l o f y o u w i l l<br />
contribute fully to the discussions, t h i n k hard about what needs to be done, about h o w we can<br />
w o r k together to better benefit those many, many millions of people w h o depend u p o n this<br />
important crop. T h a n k y o u very m u c h .<br />
x