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Thematic Area: Seeds

  • Dougouyiriwa Dual-Purpose Sorghum Variety

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    Dougouyiriwa is an open-pollinated dual-purpose sorghum variety developed in Mali that provides both grain for human consumption and high-quality forage for livestock. It improves food and fodder security, enhances resilience to drought, and contributes to better soil fertility through increased manure availability. The variety is rich in micronutrients and adapted to Sudano-Sahelian conditions, offering higher…

  • Sorghum and Cowpea Dual-Purpose System for Sustainable Crop-Livestock Integration

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    This project promotes the diversification of legumes (cowpea, groundnut, soybean, mungbean) combined with dual-purpose sorghum to produce both human food and animal feed. It enhances soil fertility, optimizes resource use, and increases farmers’ income while strengthening crop-livestock integration in Mali. The approach includes intercropping, crop rotation, and organic-mineral fertilization, with demonstrated impacts on yields, biomass…

  • From Invisible Diversity to Targeted Interventions: A Gendered Participatory Diagnostic for Climate Resilience in Niger

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    This project develops a participatory and gender-sensitive diagnostic tool (DATAR) to document and analyze intraspecific agrobiodiversity (local crop varieties and animal breeds) in Niger and Bolivia. It highlights the importance of farmer-managed diversity for climate adaptation, reveals hidden gendered knowledge (especially among women), and produces standardized, comparable data to inform targeted agroecological interventions and seed…

  • Niobougouma Dual-Purpose Sorghum Variety

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    Niobougouma is an open-pollinated dual-purpose sorghum variety co-developed by research institutions and farmer organizations in Mali. It provides both grain for human consumption and high-quality fodder for livestock, improving food security, livestock feeding, and resilience to drought. The variety enhances agricultural productivity and supports integration between crop and livestock systems. Organisation: IER / ICRISAT / Farmer…

  • Yebagasago Dual-Purpose Sorghum Variety

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    Yebagasago is a hybrid dual-purpose sorghum variety developed in Mali that produces both grain for human consumption and high-quality forage for livestock. It improves agricultural productivity, enhances resilience to drought, and helps address food and feed shortages while supporting integrated crop-livestock systems. Organisation: IER / ICRISAT / McKnight Foundation / Farmer Organizations Author: Karim Dagno; Assitan Daou…

  • Improved Clay Jar for Safe Cowpea Storage

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    This innovation enhances traditional clay jars and silos to reduce post-harvest losses of cowpea while preserving nutritional quality and food safety. Tested with farmers in Burkina Faso, it significantly reduced grain losses by 40%, maintained stable protein levels, and kept aflatoxin contamination extremely low. The approach combines indigenous knowledge with simple scientific techniques using local,…

  • Processing Cowpea Grains into Dried Purée (Loulaye)

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    This document presents a technical guide for transforming cowpea grains into a dried purée called ‘loulaye’, a traditional food in Niger. The process includes sorting, dehulling, cooking, and drying to improve shelf life, reduce post-harvest losses, and enhance nutritional value. The innovation supports food security, local value addition, and promotes agroecological production systems. Organisation: Institut National…

  • Climate Resilience in Food Systems (CRIFS) – Agroecology Led by Women

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    This project focuses on the critical role of women farmers in building resilient and sustainable local food systems in the face of climate change. Conducted across five African countries, it follows 60 smallholder women farmers and analyzes how their agroecological practices, rooted in traditional knowledge, improve food security, biodiversity, and adaptation to climate variability. The…

  • Fonio Production Technology in Mali

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    This technical sheet presents fonio (Digitaria exilis) as a resilient crop suitable for poor and degraded soils, contributing to food security and income diversification in dry areas. Improved varieties such as Peazo show strong performance with yields exceeding 1 ton per hectare and revenues around 700,000 FCFA/ha. The document outlines production steps, challenges, and impacts…

  • Sorghum Double-Use Technology

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    This technical sheet presents a farming innovation consisting of cultivating sorghum varieties that produce both high grain yields for human consumption and significant biomass for animal feed on the same plot. The approach enhances food security, farmer income, and resilience in semi-arid tropical regions. Field trials in Mali (2024–2025) show yields exceeding 2 t/ha of…