Past Project Implementation
SMIL Research & Projects
Research projects were diversified to enhance food and feed production, educate and train end users, and provide technology solutions.
The projects demonstrate various collaborations with elements of research, education and training, local capacity development and technology delivery focused on sorghum and pearl millet. These crops are vital to vulnerable populations throughout Africa and specifically smallholder farmers to provide nutrient-rich foods for families and forage/feed for livestock and economic benefits.
The SMIL work model of inclusion of local capacity development and early career researchers enabled responses to current challenges, sustainability, resiliency and adoption of appropriate technologies for long-term impact.
Learn more about SMIL projects in USAID's Development Experience Clearinghouse or read about SMIL's work on the Harvard Dataverse.
Featured Technologies
MERERA - IMPROVED SORGHUM VARIETY WITH UP TO 43% YIELD GAIN
CROP: SorghumTARGET COUNTRY: Ethiopia
Dr. Getachew Ayana
Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR)Melkassa Agricultural Research Center (MARC)
Adama, Ethiopia
Email: [email protected]
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Dr. Tesfaye Mengiste
Purdue UniversityEmail: [email protected]
For Merera sorghum seed availability, please contact:
Bako Agricultural Research CenterChemeda Birhanu
Phone: +251 91393645 or +251 917736746
Email: [email protected]
Oromia Agricultural Research Institute
Teshome Bogale
Phone: +251 911388166
Email: [email protected]
“Merera” is an improved disease-resistant sorghum variety with up to 43% yield gain for higher rainfall zones in western Ethiopia. Our global team successfully identified two key genes that carry anthracnose resistance in sorghum, enabling targeted breeding of disease resistance into locally adapted farmer-preferred sorghums for use by smallholder farmers and scaling in the region.
PEARL MILLET AND SORGHUM SEEDBALLS WITH 30% AVERAGE YIELD GAIN
CROP: Pearl Millet and Sorghum
TARGET COUNTRIES: West Africa
IN-COUNTRY CONTACTS and CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS:
Dr. Hannatou Moussa Oumarou
INRAN
Maradi, Niger
Email: [email protected]
Dr. Ali Aminou
FUMA Gaskiya Farmer Association
Maradi, Niger
Email: [email protected]
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Dr. Ludger Herrmann
University of Hohenheim
Email: [email protected]
CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Dr. Charles Nwankwo
University of Hohenheim
Email: [email protected]
For more information:
Seedballs are produced at home with local materials that provide a 30% average yield gain while also empowering women to dry seed their fields before the intense planting season around rainfall events. Seedballs are a sowing technique for semi-arid areas, especially aimed at the improvement of plant establishment with dry sowing. Seedballs represent a mixture of soil material, seeds and additives (e.g., nutrients, pesticides). They aim at small-grain cereal cropping systems with wide spacing (seed pockets).
Mark Stelter
Texas A&M AgriLife Research and ExtensionLubbock, Texas
[email protected]
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Dr. Bonnie Pendleton
West Texas A&M University[email protected]
Official registration of RTx3410 through RTx3428 sorghum germplasm in the United States that can provide seed companies parent lines to develop sugarcane aphid-resistant seed for marketing. A dynamic team over time successfully identified key sugarcane aphid-resistant materials and germplasm through global collaborations.
INCREASED INCOME THROUGH SORGHUM-BASED INJERA AND HEALTHY SNACKS
CROP: SorghumTARGET COUNTRY: Ethiopia
Dr. Kebede Abegaz
Hawassa UniversityHawassa, Ethiopia
Email: [email protected]
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Dr. Joseph Awika
Texas A&M UniversityEmail: [email protected]
Unique highly digestible (IHD) sorghum lines that have improved performance in food processing and allow for sorghum-based injera production are being introduced. Reduced input cost using IHD sorghum and teff flour mixes for injera production compared with 100% teff injera will give female injera producers added income. Other recipes and milling techniques to support sorghum-based food products from locally available sorghum are being developed.