Meeting the Future Demand for Food Crops: Increasing Productivity and Crop Diversification

Cassava – a Valuable Source of Cheap Calories

Cassava is one of the most important sources of food energy in the drier areas of the developing world. It is frequently called "the famine crop", providing sustenance during prolonged drought periods when the majority of other food crops fail. Its outstanding performance under harsh conditions of climate and soil and its well-known tolerance to low-water stress make it an attractive food production alternative in marginal areas of the tropics.

The traditional role of cassava in Africa has mainly been in the context of either a famine crop or a common source of food energy through flour and starch. IFAD is supporting applied research on post-harvest technology to open avenues for cash income generation through a whole new range of highly marketable cassava products (examples of which are displayed below).

Women are responsible for 95% of the cassava processed in Africa. IFAD is supporting the development of efficient processes to reduce the drudgery in cassava processing and in food preparation that results from excessive pounding and cooking of incompletely processed products.

IFAD-financed research in Latin America through the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) has led to the development of elite varieties that have high protein content, dry matter, low cyanide and resistance to drought, pests and diseases. Some of the emerging varieties also bring additional advantages such as reduced cooking time.

IFAD-financed research through the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is investigating the utilization of cassava roots and leaves for a wide range of products such as cooked pastes, wet (uncooked) pastes, toasted granules (for example, gari), steamed granules (for example, attieke), and cassava chips and flours. Cassava flour could provide a diverse spectrum of products including bread, cakes, doughnuts and biscuits made from 100% cassava flour. Cassava leaf is an important component of the diet in Central Africa.

Rice - A New Green Revolution in the Making 

The arrival of a ‘new’ green revolution has been widely acknowledged. It is mainly a rice-driven phenomenon – the result of award-winning research at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Recently IRRI announced a new breed of ‘super rice’, which can boost rice yields by a further 25%. This is an increase over existing varieties, which have already led to the doubling of world rice production in the past three decades. The new ‘miracle’ rice varieties, named IR-72 and IR-87, represent the culmination of long-term research on rice germplasm development, adaptation and improvement, building on parental lines of rice varieties tested within IFAD-grant-supported rice research programmes in Asia.

IFAD-supported IRRI research, which started in the mid-eighties and continues under IFAD funding, aimed at increasing cropping intensity, adaptation of cultivation techniques and pest control associated with the above-mentioned parent varieties. The research addressed stress interaction of the high-yielding varieties (HYV), i.e., their response/resistance to water deficiency, low soil fertility, insects, weeds and pathogens. It led to the development of varieties with significantly higher yields: 26% yield advantage in Bangladesh, and about 100% in India (1.8-3.4 tonnes/hectare in the uplands and 2.1-4.1 tonnes/hectare in the lowlands). Working through the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA), IFAD is supporting the transfer and adaptation of superior rice varieties to the African continent through farmer participatory adaptive research.

Ninety-one per cent of the world’s rice is grown and consumed in Asia, where more than half of the world’s people live.

In most of Asia, rice is grown on small farms of one to three hectares. One out of every three persons on earth depends on rice for more than half of his or her daily food. By 2025, more than half of the world’s anticipated 10 billion people will depend on rice as their principal source of energy and protein. By that year, the world will need 92% more rice than was consumed as recently as in 1992. Without continuing growth in productivity, it will be difficult for most Asian countries to meet their people’s food needs in the near future. Research on varietal improvement by leading international research centres such as IRRI has resulted in high-yielding rice varieties that are now grown on more than 74% of the rice lands in Asia and 40% in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Supporting the development and testing of new wheat varieties to provide farmers with higher and more stable yields and contribute to farmers’ economic and household food security:

IFAD is supporting the Rice-Wheat Consortium for the Indo-Gangetic Plains through a strong farmer-participatory research focus in order to generate packages that are replicable in the wider Asian context under similar conditions.

The programme has made significant progress in the farmer-led evaluation and screening of high-yielding rice and wheat varieties. Farmer testing and validation of related farm management practices are developing alternative, financially attractive rural development scenarios for wider dissemination based on smallholder rice-wheat rotation.

The Rice-Wheat Consortium, covering southern Asian countries, is also supported by the World Bank, among others.

Improving Mediterranean Dryland Durum

Durum wheat is one of the major crops grown under harsh conditions in the dryland agro-ecologies of the Mediterranean region.

The durum grain is used for making such food products as pasta, burghul, couscous, frik and bread, and durum straw provides an important source of animal feed.

Durum accounts for more than half of the caloric and protein needs of resource-poor communities, much higher than in any other developing region of the world. Given its importance in the diet of the overwhelming majority of the population in the region, durum wheat consumption has increased steadily in the last two decades.

IFAD is supporting a Dryland Durum Improvement Network Programme, which is being implemented by the Joint Programme in the Mediterranean of the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and the International Centre for Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT).

The programme has already developed improved varieties of durum wheat, including the popular "Cham-5" variety, which shows promise of widespread adoptability among farmers, with significant potential for export to southern European countries such as Italy, where there is a high demand for durum-based food products.

Partnership arrangements have been developed between Italian institutions (universities and the private sector) and the West Asia and North Africa Dryland Durum Wheat Improvement Network (WANADDIN).

Food Legumes and Pulses: Improving the Diet of the Rural Poor in Asia

Legume products, especially the dried seeds, or pulses (see pulse varieties on display below), form an essential component of the diet of the majority of South Asians. IFAD-financed on-farm research on groundnuts, pigeonpeas and chickpeas and transfer of technology to farmers in the semi-arid tropics of the Deccan Plateau led to the dissemination of new chickpea and pigeonpea varieties that were readily adopted by a large number of farmers in peninsular India and beyond.

The agronomic potential of short-duration pigeonpea varieties was demonstrated by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), which also developed the world's first hybrid pigeonpea, bred successfully for resource-poor conditions. The introduction of these varieties promised to increase productivity to much higher levels than those possible with local varieties.

Some innovative farmers have helped the programme develop and modify indigenous implements, and they use them to improve farm productivity through new techniques such as raised beds.

Reviving smallholder crops and commodities: Transcending Traditional frontiers

The Date Palm

IFAD initiated the Date Palm Research and Development Network to rehabilitate the tree crop on which innumerable poor smallholders subsist. The network has increased the availability of high-performance varieties resistant to pests and diseases through the introduction of new tissue-culture techniques. It has also helped bring production technology to the smallholders, improving yield potential and food quality. Post-production handling and marketing assistance have opened new income opportunities for smallholder date producers.

The date palm, one of the earth’s most ancient traditional tree crops, has had a profound influence on the well-being of the people of the Near East and North Africa. As a highly nutritious staple food, it not only plays a fundamental role in oasis life but also provides a major source of income through a wide range of date palm products. The palm is most often grown in fragile environments to which it contributes greatly. In the arid zones, for instance, it provides shade and shelter from dry heat and wind for interplanted undercrops and for forage grown by poor nomadic oasis dwellers and small livestock owners.

The date palm plays a major role in stabilizing soils and sand, helping to maintain an ecological balance. Although dates are not an important commodity on the international market, their significance for arid and semi-arid ecologies should not be underestimated.

IFAD and its partners assisted the Arab Centre for the Studies of Arid zones and Drylands (ACSAD) to establish the Camel Applied Research and Development Network (CARDN)

The camel is an important component of the desert ecosystem. It provides transport and subsistence (primarily milk, but occasionally meat and blood) to pastoral societies. Nomads are almost entirely dependent on the camel for the necessities of life, including shelter. In poor, dryland farming systems, the camel provides power for transport and agricultural activities.

In most areas where camels have played a traditional role, significant changes are taking place. As the role of the camel undergoes modifications, IFAD is supporting a research and development network aimed at improving the livelihood systems of smallholder camel herders. The network builds on the role of the camel as a source of milk and meat for urban marketing. Other by-products such as hides, hair and bone are gaining prominence in the textile industry and in the small-scale handicraft sector.

Camel milk, unrefrigerated, keeps for six days without curdling, which makes it an attractive option for processing and income-generation in niche markets.

The camel possesses unique qualities that make it superior to other domesticated animals in the hot, arid desert ecosystem. There is a danger, however, that it may lose some of its essential genetic variability. Selection for high production and an increasing rate of offtake in order to satisfy market demand are likely to work against the camel’s adaptive advantage in harsh environmental conditions and its endurance and mobility.

Jute - Improving Income Generation Potential Among Smallholders Through Post Harvest Technologies

Jute, a traditional fibre crop, is being promoted by IFAD through the International Jute Organization’s (IJO) efforts to build on the comparative advantage of smallholder producers in manufacturing low-cost products aimed at niche markets. IFAD is supporting the development of better processing and handicraft technology with innovative techniques and quality improvements in order to enhance the marketability of a wide variety of smallholder jute products.

Promoting Apiculture and Sericulture for improved incomes in Africa

Apiculture and sericulture are promising rural microenterprise options for resource-poor farming communities in Africa. They can supplement farm income by enhancing off-farm rural employment opportunities, particularly in areas where the risk of crop failure is high or there are landless poor with few other income options.

Both sericulture and apiculture are time-tested, economically attractive alternatives for income generation in Asia. IFAD is now supporting the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in transferring, adapting and in some cases improving these technologies in the African context, with promising results.

Many of the new technologies are demonstrated below, including improved, locally manufactured hives; honey products; royal jelly and beeswax; and silk production techniques (for food and fibre) with multiple benefits, including nutrition and improved income from marketing.