Record Details

Dual-Purpose Sorghum: A Targeted Sustainable Crop-Livestock Intervention for the Smallholder Subsistence Farming Communities of Adilabad, India

OAR@ICRISAT

View Archive Info
 
 
Field Value
 
Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/12046/
https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.742909
 
Title Dual-Purpose Sorghum: A Targeted Sustainable Crop-Livestock
Intervention for the Smallholder Subsistence Farming Communities
of Adilabad, India
 
Creator Anbazhagan, K
Voorhaar, M
Kholova, J
Chadalavada, K
Choudhary, S
Mallayee, S
Kaliamoorthy, S
Garin, V
Baddam, R
Rao, K V
Nedumaran, S
Selvaraj, A
 
Subject Sorghum
 
Description Sorghum plays an important role in the mixed crop–livestock system of tribal farming
communities in Adilabad District, a high climate risk-prone region in India. Currently, the
local seed system is limited to landraces and hybrids that are primarily used for domestic
grain and fodder purposes. This study aimed to understand the farmers’ needs and
context, and use this knowledge to deliver relevant, adoptable climate-smart sorghum
crop technologies through farmer-participatory approaches (FPAs). We conducted an
ex-ante survey with 103 farmer households to understand their preferences and
constraints concerning sorghum, their staple food-crop. Farmers expressed taste as the
most important characteristic, followed by stover yield, grain yield, drought adaptation,
and pest resistance. They identified fodder deficit, loss of seed purity in landraces,
and lack of diverse sorghum seed options as critical constraints. Therefore, we chose
dual-purpose, open-pollinated sorghum varieties suitable for postrainy/rabi cultivation
as the study site’s entry point. Accordingly, sixteen popular rabi sorghum varieties were
tested at ICRISAT station (2017–18 and 2018–19) for agronomic performance in field
conditions under a range of treatments (irrigation and fertilization). The standing crop was
also scored by farmer representatives. Additionally, the detailed lysifield study elucidated
the plant functions underlying the crop agronomic performance under water stress (plant
water use and stay-green score) and an important trait of farmer’s interest (relation
between stay-green score and in-vitro stover digestibility and relation between grain fat
and protein content) The selected varieties– Phule Chitra, CSV22, M35-1 and preferred
landrace (Sevata jonna)–were further tested with 21 farmers at Adilabad (2018–20).
Participating farmers from both the trials and focus group discussions voiced their
preference and willingness to adopt Phule Chitra and CSV22. This article summarizes
how system-relevant crop options were selected for subsistence farmers of Adilabad and deployed using participatory approaches. While varieties are developed for wider
adoption, farmers adopt only those suitable for their farm, household, and accessible
market. Therefore, we strongly advocate FPA for developing and delivering farmer
relevant crop technologies as a vehicle to systematically break crop adoption barriers
and create a positive impact on household diets, well-being, and livelihoods, especially
for smallholder subsistence farmers.
 
Publisher Frontiers
 
Date 2022-03-24
 
Type Article
NonPeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/12046/1/Dual-Purpose_Sorghum_A_Targeted_Sustainable_Crop-L.pdf
Anbazhagan, K and Voorhaar, M and Kholova, J and Chadalavada, K and Choudhary, S and Mallayee, S and Kaliamoorthy, S and Garin, V and Baddam, R and Rao, K V and Nedumaran, S and Selvaraj, A (2022) Dual-Purpose Sorghum: A Targeted Sustainable Crop-Livestock Intervention for the Smallholder Subsistence Farming Communities of Adilabad, India. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems (TSI), 6 (742909). pp. 1-14. ISSN 2571-581X