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Assessment of the Economic Impact of Sorghum Variety S 35 in Chad

OAR@ICRISAT

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/1065/
ISE 006
 
Title Assessment of the Economic Impact of Sorghum Variety S 35 in Chad
 
Creator Yapi, A M
Dehala, G
Ngawar, K
Issaka, A
 
Subject Sorghum
Agriculture-Farming, Production, Technology, Economics
 
Description The S 35 sorghum variety is a nonphotoperiod-sensitive, high-yielding, ear ly-matur ing, and drought -
tolerant pure line that originated from ICRISAT' s breeding program in India, and was later advanced
and promoted in Cameroon and Chad. Its int roduct ion into drought -prone areas of Chad has been
very successful wi t h a net present value of research investments estimated at US$ 15 mi l l ion, representing
an internal rate of return of 95%. Two crucial factors explain this apparent success: (1) germplasm
research spillovers from ICRISAT and Cameroon's breeding programs substantially reduced the t ime
lag in S 35 research and development in Chad; and (2) the FAO/UNDP-suppor ted seed project at
Gassi not only successfully mul t ipl ied S 35 seed on a large scale, but also dist r ibuted it to farmers by
adopt ing the 'mini-doses' approach and involving the Office national de developpement rural and
NGOs .
Since the recommended management practices for S 35 adopt ion are simple, relatively easy to implement
wi t h available fami ly labor and animal t ract ion, and are not capital intensive, the technology has
found favor wi t h many farmers. Between 1990 and 1995, the percentage of adopting farmers grew f rom
14% to 80%. In 1990, 7% of the total sorghum area (13 000 ha) was sown to the S 35 variety. By 1995,
the area under S 35 had increased to 27% (66 000 ha). A yield advantage of about 5 1 % over farmers'
local varieties is associated wi t h the adopt ion of S 35.
The three major constraints cited by farmers - susceptibility of the variety to bi r d attack, the high cost of
seed, and low soil fertility - should assist in the formulat ion of future research priorities.
 
Publisher International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
 
Date 1999
 
Type Monograph
NonPeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/1065/1/RA_00338.pdf
Yapi, A M and Dehala, G and Ngawar, K and Issaka, A (1999) Assessment of the Economic Impact of Sorghum Variety S 35 in Chad. Documentation. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.