ICARDA News

INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH IN THE DRY AREAS
P.O. Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria
Phone: (963-21) 2213433, 2213477, 2225112, 2225012
Fax: (963-21) 2213490, 2225105; E-mail: ICARDA@CGIAR.ORG
Website: www.icarda.cgiar.org
8 April 2004
For more information contact:
Surendra Varma (s.varma@CGIAR.ORG)
Bangladeshi Farmers Welcome New Lentil Varieties
Mrs Parvati Devi has recently started growing improved lentil in her small terraces in the mid-hill regions of Bhaktapur district to meet her family demand. Lentil is a new crop in the area and an important source of protein for the people living there.
Mrs Parvati Devi, a farmer in Bhagyashwari village in Nepal, is pleased that she can now grow enough lentil to feed her family. "Pulses are the only source of protein for my family and for most of the inhabitants in the area, who are predominantly vegetarian," she said to Dr Ashutosh Sarker, ICARDA Lentil Breeder.
    Dr Sarker recently returned from a tour of Bangladesh, Nepal and India, where he spoke to farmers and worked with breeders to select promising lentil lines.
    South Asia (Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan) produces about half of the world’s lentil, and it is an important staple pulse in the daily diet of the people in the region. The national programs are closely collaborating with ICARDA in germplasm exchange, supply of improved lines, and human resource development. Improved lentil germplasm from ICARDA is selected by national scientists and is being grown by the farmers in South Asia.
    In Bangladesh, Dr Sarker attended the BARI-ICARDA Friendship Day to commemorate the successful partnership between Bangladesh and ICARDA. He also helped to select promising genetic materials at various stations of the Pulses Research Center. The new lentil lines, with combined resistance to rust and Stemphylium blight, developed from segregating populations supplied by ICARDA, were doing well. Some of these lines are candidates for future release. "Improved technologies such as seed priming and relay cropping have produced excellent results that should be disseminated to the farmers,” Dr Sarker said.
A farmer from Bagh Hashla village in Bangladesh, Mr Alef Biswas (right), grew ‘Barimasur-4’ as a relay crop in his rice field (zero tillage), and he expects to harvest more than 2 t/ha lentil from his field.
    Bangladeshi farmers now use improved varieties of lentils and production technologies. In about 150 hectares, farmers grew improved varieties, particularly, ‘Barimasur-4’. In the Bagh Hashla village, most of the farmers grew lentil as a relay crop in rice field. One of the lead farmers, Mr Alef Biswas expects to produce a bumper harvest of 2.5 t/ha from the relay crop. The farmers informed Dr Sarker that lentil production was increasing in these areas because of low production costs and higher net returns compared to other winter field crops. Farmers are multiplying and sharing seeds of improved varieties, intercropping them with sugarcane, and using traditional seed mixtures such as mustard and linseed.
    In Nepal, Dr Sarker took part in evaluating and selecting lentils at the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) in Khumaltar, the Regional Agricultural Research Station in Nepalgunj and the main pulses research station in Rampore. He met with Mr S.P. Sapkota, NARC Executive Director, Dr S.P. Sah, Director of Crops and Horticulture, and Mr R.K. Neupane, Coordinator of the National Grain Legume Improvement Program. He visited many farmers’ field demonstrations and participatory varietal selection sites in western Terai (foot hills) and in the mid-hills. Scientists have distributed the seeds of improved varieties and promising lines to about 42 farmers in the mid-hill region. Of these, the ICARDA lentil lines, ILL 6829 and ILL 7982, are performing well.
Mr R.P. Varma (left), a farmer in Betahani village in western Terai, is a champion in adopting and disseminating improved lentil varieties and technologies. He is growing an improved line, ILL 7723 (above), which will be released soon.
    Mr R.P. Varma, a lead farmer, conducted on-farm trials, and large-scale demonstrations with improved varieties and lines. Of them, ILL 7723 is in pre-release stage and has been demonstrated widely among the farmers. Farmers liked the line because it has a high level of resistance against wilt root rot complex and has larger seed size. Lentil research and development is progressing well in Nepal, where a participatory approach has been adopted and adaptive research has been strengthened.
    In India, Dr Sarker participated in the selection of lentil lines at the Pulses and Oilseeds Research Station (PORS), in West Bengal, the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), in New Delhi, and Dholakuan Research Station of Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University. He also visited farmers’ fields where improved lines, including ‘Barimasur-4’ (ILL 8006), have been planted. These lines produce about 20% higher yield than the best variety. ILL 8006 and another ICARDA line are expected to be released in the near future.

About ICARDA: Established in 1977, ICARDA (www.icarda.cgiar.org) serves the entire developing world for the improvement of barley, lentil, and faba bean; and dry-area developing countries for the on-farm management of water, improvement of nutrition and productivity of small ruminants (sheep and goats), and rehabilitation and management of rangelands. In the Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region, ICARDA is responsible for the improvement of durum and bread wheats, chickpea, pasture and forage legumes and farming systems; and for the protection and enhancement of the natural resource base of water, land, and biodiversity.

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) (www.cgiar.org) is a strategic alliance of 62 members and 16 Future Harvest Centers that mobilizes cutting-edge science to promote sustainable development by reducing hunger and poverty, improving human nutrition and health, and protecting the environment
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