This document summarizes the progress of the Tropical Legumes II project. Some key points: - The project aims to enhance productivity of six legume crops in Africa and South Asia by at least 20% through improved varieties and crop management practices. - Over 80 new varieties have been released across 9 countries so far. Seed production has reached over 92,000 tons distributed across several countries. On-farm yields for new varieties exceed national averages and standard checks by 11-41%. - Key lessons include the need for country-specific approaches, addressing institutional challenges, and focusing efforts on drought-prone areas through improved seed systems and crop management technologies.

1. TROPICAL LEGUMES II – PHASE II
ICRISAT/IITA/CIAT/TL2-NARS
PROGRESS
Presented to the Annual Meeting Tropical
Legumes I
7 – 11 May 2012, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Emmanuel Monyo
TL II Project
ICRISAT-Nairobi

2. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE:
• Improve the livelihoods of
smallholder farmers in drought-
prone areas of Sub-Saharan Africa
and South Asia through enhanced
grain legume production and
productivity

3. Specifically the Project Aims to:
• Enhance productivity by at least 20% for six legume
crops in drought-prone areas of SSA and SA, through
the availability and adoption of improved crop
varieties and associated crop management practices
– A partnership involving three CGIAR centers, 15 national
programs, the private sector and other R&D organizations.
– Organized into 9 objectives; 6 crop-specific (Obj 2-7), 2
(Obj 1 & 8) common across the crops, and one (Obj 9) on
management.

4. PROJECT LIFE
• 10 Years of Three Phases
– Phase I: Sept 2007 – Aug 2011
– Phase II: Sept 2011 – Aug 2014
– Phase III: Sep 2014 – Aug 2017
• Guided by the belief “Every life have equal
value” the foundation focuses on improving
peoples health and giving them a chance to
lift themselves out of extreme hunger and
poverty.

6. ACCOMPLISHMENTS TO-DATE

7. VARIETY RELEASES
Country GNUT SOYB COWP CHKP COMB PIGP Total
NGR 4 - 4 - - - 8
NGA - 4 3 - - - 7
MLI - - 4 - - - 4
MOZ 6 5 3 - - 4 18
KEN - 7 - 4 - 2 13
TAN 5 - - 4 - - 9
ETH - - - 2 6 - 8
MWI - 1 - - - 2 3
IND 7 - - 2 - 1 10
Total 22 17 14 12 6 5 80

8. SEED PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION
SEED CLASS (tons)
Country Breeder Found Certified Other Total
Ethiopia 22 7,813 3,351 178 11,365
Malawi 47 158 3,188 - 3,393
Kenya 16 953 13 314 1,296
Mozambiq - 53 495 - 548
Tanzania 22 194 263 82 561
Total TL II 392 14 676 76 993 829 92 890
Chickpeas 55 756, Gnuts 25 968, Beans 9 030

9. Grain Yield (Kg/Ha)
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
0
MOZ (SOY)
ETH (CBN)
IND (GNT)
New variety
KEN (PGP)
GRAIN YIELDS
TAN (CKP)
Standard check
MWI (PGP)
National avg
MLI (COP)
NGR (GNT)
NGA (COP)

10. Percentages
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
41
Senegal
36
Niger
31
India
27
Malawi 24
Kenya 20
Uganda
20
Burkina Faso
20
Tanzania
16
Nigeria
13
Mali
11
Ethiopia
11
Mozambique
11
Zimbabwe
LEGUMES VS. CULTIVATED AREA
8
Ghana
2
Bangladesh

11. KEY LESSONS LEARNED
• Regional diversity requires a country-specific
approach
• Institutional challenges are as important as
technical challenges
• Success will require institutional innovations
not only in access to seed and markets, but in
research collaboration, and in a systems
approach

12. Lessons cont
• we should aim to accelerate the successes we
have had; deliberately targeting the drought-
prone areas
• explicitly address knowledge/gap or areas
which hinder the design, implementation and
scaling up of technologies - particularly
effective seed systems

14. KEY ISSUES/PRIORITIES/OPPORTUNITIES
• Increased Seed Availability
– Improved access to breeder and Basic seed
– Sustainable seed production and marketing
– Increased awareness of improved varieties and
their characteristics
– Price information of improved seed
• Crop Management
– Use of improved crop management technologies
– Moisture Conservation Technologies

15. • issues of: 'product identity' (how to distribute
and market the varieties and seed in ways
which make them distinctive, but easily
recognizable)
• issues of 'moving lots of knowledge' along
with the seed (so as to a create a set of
informed users)

16. • Affordable Equipment
– Labor intensive activities eg shelling of gnuts
• Capacity Building
– training in quality seed production
• Engaging Policy Makers
– lengthy variety release process
– lack of grading and standards for tropical legume grains
– lack of incentive for private investment in seed production
– decline in investment in agricultural research and
development

17. we should aim to
• accelerate the successes we have had;
including use of tools from TL1 to speed up
variety development.
• explicitly address knowledge/gap areas which
hinder the design, implementation and scaling
up of technology adoption esp. effective seed
systems

18. THANK YOU
E