Tanaman Institut Riset Internasional untuk Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) adalah organisasi non-politik non-profit, yang melakukan penelitian pertanian untuk pengembangan di lahan kering Asia dan sub-Sahara Afrika. Meliputi 6,5 juta kilometer persegi tanah di 55 negara, daerah tropis semi-kering atau lahan kering memiliki lebih dari 2 miliar orang, dan 644 juta ini adalah termiskin dari yang miskin.

ICRISAT dan mitranya membantu memberdayakan orang-orang miskin untuk mengatasi kemiskinan, kelaparan dan lingkungan yang terdegradasi melalui pertanian yang lebih baik. ICRISAT berkantor pusat di Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, di India, dengan dua hub daerah (Nairobi, Kenya dan Bamako, Mali) dan kantor negara di Niger, Zimbabwe, Malawi, dan Mozambik.

ICRISAT melakukan penelitian pada lima toleran kekeringan tanaman bergizi tinggi: buncis, gude, millet mutiara, sorgum dan kacang tanah.

Visi, misi dan pendekatan

ICRISAT membayangkan makmur, tropis makanan yang aman dan lahan kering tangguh. Untuk mencapai hal ini, misinya adalah untuk mengurangi kemiskinan, kelaparan, kekurangan gizi, dan degradasi lingkungan di daerah tropis kering. Ini pendekatan ini melalui penelitian pertanian internasional berbasis kemitraan untuk pembangunan yang mewujudkan Ilmu dengan Wajah Manusia.

Pembangunan yang berorientasi pasar inklusif

Untuk waktu yang lama, keluarga petani lahan kering telah terpinggirkan dari loop pembangunan. Strategi inklusif akan memungkinkan kaum miskin, terutama perempuan dan pemuda / anak-anak, untuk berpartisipasi, daripada harus absen, dalam proses pembangunan.

ICRISAT riset-untuk-pembangunan agenda dicapai melalui Program Penelitian CGIAR di Lahan Kering Sistem, Program Penelitian CGIAR pada Kebijakan, Lembaga dan Pasar, Program Penelitian CGIAR di Grain Kacang-Kacangan dan Program Penelitian CGIAR di Lahan Kering Sereal. Ini diimplementasikan dengan cara yang menguntungkan petani kecil, memungkinkan mereka dan keluarga mereka untuk melampaui pertanian subsisten untuk menghasilkan surplus yang dapat disimpan dan dijual ke pasar, membuka jalan bagi kemakmuran di lahan kering. Menghasilkan surplus, yang disimpan sebagai makanan, berfungsi sebagai penyangga pada saat kelaparan. Pendapatan dari produk yang dipasarkan memungkinkan keluarga petani untuk membeli lebih banyak makanan bila diperlukan, termasuk input seperti bibit, pupuk, tenaga kerja, peralatan, ternak, asuransi dan pendidikan. Ini akan lebih meningkatkan produktivitas pertanian, menendang serangkaian investasi yang membawa pertumbuhan ekonomi. Karena ini ditopang, itu menciptakan jalur memperkuat diri menuju kemakmuran. Hal tersebut di atas menjelaskan proses sosial-ekonomi yang disebut pembangunan yang berorientasi pasar inklusif (IMOD) yang strategi ICRISAT yang berlabuh.

ICRISAT telah ditetapkan enam hasil perkembangan yang diyakini akan membantu orang

miskin untuk bergerak sepanjang jalan IMOD: kecukupan pangan, intensifikasi, diversifikasi, ketahanan dan kesehatan & gizi, dan pemberdayaan perempuan. Menekan angka kemiskinan dan peningkatan ketahanan pangan di daerah tropis kering yang dimungkinkan melalui jalur ini.

ICRISAT percaya ini adalah cara untuk memenuhi target yang aspiratif ngkat kemiskinan di keluarga petani rakyat, mengurangi separuh kejadian kelaparan, mengurangi separuh kekurangan gizi anak dan secara signifikan meningkatkan ketahanan pertanian petani lahan kering tropis.

ContactsInternational Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)Patancheru 502 324Andhra Pradesh, IndiaTel: +91 40 30713071Fax: +91 40 30713074E-mail: ICRISAT AT CGIAR.ORGAddresses of hubs and country offices

General contact informationDavid BergvinsonDirector Generald.bergvinson(at)cgiar.org

Media inquiry contactJoanna Kane-PotakaDirector of Strategic Marketing & CommunicationJ.Kane-Potaka AT cgiar.org

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is a non-profit, non-political organization that conducts agricultural research for development in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa with a wide array of partners throughout the world. Covering 6.5 million square kilometers of land in 55 countries, the semi-arid or dryland tropics has over 2 billion people, and 644 million of these are the poorest of the poor. ICRISAT and its partners help empower these poor people to overcome poverty, hunger and a degraded environment through better agriculture.

ICRISAT is headquartered in Hyderabad, Telangana, India, with two regional hubs and six country offices in sub-Saharan Africa. It is a member of the CGIAR Consortium.  CGIAR is a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future. Its science is carried out by the 15 research centers who are members of the CGIAR Consortium in collaboration with hundreds of partner organizations. www.cgiar.org

ICRISAT conducts research protecting the environment.Dryland agriculture has long been viewed with pessimism and hopelessness. Tropical dryland areas are usually seen as resource-poor and perennially beset by shocks such as drought, trapping dryland communities in poverty and hunger and dependent on external aid.

ICRISAT challenges this pessimistic view. Working with diverse partners in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa for almost four decades, ICRISAT has found that dryland farmers are ingenious and resourceful. By applying scientific innovations backed up with adequate policy, marketing and other support services, they are able to increase their crop productivity and incomes by several-fold, while improving the resilience of their lands and livelihoods. Hence, prosperity can be brought about in the tropical drylands.

Vision, mission and approach

ICRISAT envisions a prosperous, food-secure and resilient dryland tropics. To achieve this, our mission is to reduce poverty, hunger, malnutrition and environmental degradation in the dryland tropics. Our approach is through partnership-based international agricultural research-for-development that embodies Science with a Human Face.

Inclusive market-oriented development

For a long time, dryland farm families have been marginalized out of the development loop. An inclusive (broad-based) strategy puts them into the mainstream to participate and reap the benefits of development. Moreover, an inclusive strategy will enable the poor, particularly women and the youth/children, to participate, rather than be sidelined, in the development process.

Moreover, ICRISAT implements research programs in ways that benefit smallholder farmers enabling them and their families to go beyond subsistence farming to produce surpluses that can be stored and sold to markets, paving the way for prosperity in the drylands. Surplus produce, which is stored as food, serves as a buffer in times of hunger. Income from marketed produce enable farm families to purchase more food when needed, including inputs such as seeds, fertilizer, labor, tools, livestock, insurance and education. These will further raise farm productivity, kicking off a series of investments that bring about economic growth. As this is sustained, it creates a self-reinforcing pathway to prosperity. The foregoing describes a socio-economic process called inclusive market-oriented development (IMOD) on which ICRISAT’s strategy is anchored.

Holistic Approach

Research Programs

1. Resilient Dryland Systems – Reducing vulnerability to drought and climate change while increasing crop diversity and value.

2. Markets, Institutions and Policies – Harnessing development pathways for inclusive prosperity.

3. Grain Legumes – Raising and securing legume productivity for health, income and sustainability.

4. Dryland Cereals – Increasing dryland cereal crop productivity to help end hunger.

Our research facilities  

Aspirational targets and development outcomes

ICRISAT has set four bold targets in the next ten years that will enormously benefit the well-being of the dryland’s poorest people:

Help halve rural poverty by increasing farm incomes through more productive, stable,

diverse and profitable crops and crop products, Help halve hunger by contributing innovations that increase yields by 30% on a wide

scale and through policy advice that stabilizes food prices and availability,

Help halve childhood malnutrition by enhancing the nutrient content of staple food crops and helping the poor diversify their crops, delivering more nutritious and safer food, and

Increase resilience of dryland farming through innovations that stabilize, safeguard and enhance natural resource capital, biological and systems diversity, and land health.

Towards the foregoing, ICRISAT’s programs are focused on achieving six development outcomes namely: development Food sufficiency, intensification, diversification, resilience, health and nutrition and women empowerment.

Governance and Management

ICRISAT’s management is headed by a Director General and assisted by a Deputy Director General - Research and other members of the Management Group composed of the Directors of Finance, Human Resources and Operations, Resource Planning and Marketing, Communication and the African regional hubs (Nairobi, Kenya and Bamako, Mali). Apart from the regional hubs, ICRISAT has five country offices (Malawi, Ethiopia, Niger, Nigeria, Zimbabwe) in sub-Saharan Africa. These are headed by Country Representatives. Research Programs are headed by Program Directors.

Allied institutions

   AIP (Agribusiness and Innovation Platform)

   AVRDC (AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center)

   IACD (ICRISAT Association for Community Development)

   ILRI (International Livestock Research Institute)

   ISH (International School of Hyderabad)

   IWMI (International Water Management Institute )

   PTTC (Platform for Translational Research on Transgenic Crops)

Donors

Some call them ‘donors', but we think of them as visionary investors -- far-sighted governments, development banks, foundations, charitable organizations and even private sector companies, who recognize that the elimination of poverty is the key to a peaceful world with food security and prosperity for all. To learn more, visit the web sites of our development investors.

Core Donors

Australia - Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)  www.aciar.gov.au 

Belgium - European Commission (EC)  www.europa.eu/index_en.htm 

Belgium - Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs, Development Cooperation  www.dgos.be/en/index.html 

Germany - Bundesministerium fur Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ)

  www.bmz.de/en/index.html 

India - Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India  www.agricoop.nic.in 

Ireland - Development Cooperation Ireland, Department of Foreign Affairs  www.dci.gov.ie 

Japan - Ministry of Foreign Affairs  www.mofa.go.jp 

Philippines – Department of Agriculture  www.da.gov.ph 

Switzerland - Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)  www.deza.admin.ch/en/Home 

Thailand - Department of Agriculture  www.moac.go.th/eng 

Turkey - Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Affairs  www.tarim.gov.tr 

USA - United States Agency for International Development (USAID)  www.usaid.gov 

World Bank  www.worldbank.org

Donors - Restricted Projects

    

Australia - Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)

  www.aciar.gov.au 

Australia - Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)  www.csiro.au 

Australia - Crawford Fund  www.crawfordfund.org 

Australia - Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC)  gov.ua.nic.in 

Austria - Austrian Development Agency (ADA)  www.ada.at 

Austria - OPEC Fund for International Development  www.ofid.org 

Belgium - European Commission  europa.eu/index_en.htm 

Botswana - Implementation & Coordination of Agricultural Research & Training (ICART), SADC 

  www.sadc.int 

Canada - International Development Research Centre (IDRC)  www.idrc.ca/index_en.html 

CGIAR - CGIAR Centers  www.cgiar.org 

CGIAR - CP-Generation  www.generationcp.org/index.php 

CP – HarvestPlus  www.harvestplus.org 

CP - Water and Food  www.waterandfood.org 

CGIAR - CP-Sub-Saharan Africa  www.fara-africa.org/ 

China - Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS)  www.caas.net.cn 

Denmark – Challenge Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)

  www.ccafs.cgiar.org 

Denmark - Copenhagen University  www.ku.dk 

Ethiopia – System-wide Genetic Resources Programme (SGRP)  www.sgrp.cgiar.org 

France - Centre de Cooperation Internationale en Recherche Agronomiquie pour le Development (CIRAD)

  www.cirad.fr/en 

Germany - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH    www.giz.de 

Germany – University of Hohenheim  www.uni-hohenheim.de/startseite.html?&L=1 

Ghana – Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)  www.csir.org.gh 

Ghana – USAID – West Africa  www.usaid.gov/westafrica/ 

India – Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA)  www.crida.ernet.in/ 

India - Department of Agriculture & Cooperation (DoAC)  agricoop.nic.in 

India - Department of Agricultural Research & Education (DARE)  dare.nic.in 

India - Department of Biotechnology (DBT)  www.dbtindia.nic.in 

India - Department of Land Resources (DoLR)  dolr.nic.in 

India - Department of Science & Technology (DST)  www.dst.gov.in 

India - Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR)

  www.dsir.gov.in 

India – Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)  www.ficci.com 

India - Government of Andhra Pradesh  www.aponline.gov.in 

India - Government of Karnataka  www.karnataka.gov.in 

India - Government of Uttar Pradesh  www.upgov.nic.in 

India – Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI)  www.upgov.nic.in 

India – Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)  www.icar.org.in 

India – Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE)  www.mnre.gov.in 

India – Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME)  msme.gov.in 

India – Ministry of Water Resources  wrmin.nic.in 

India - National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Microorganisms (NBAIM)  www.nbaim.org.in 

India - National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP)  www.naip.icar.org.in 

India - National Food Security Mission (NFSM)  nfsm.gov.in 

India - National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology (NRCPB)  www.nrcpb.org/ 

India - Private Sector Companies 

India – SAB Miller India  www.sabmiller.in  

 India - Sir Dorabji Tata Trust

  www.dorabjitatatrust.org 

India - Sir Ratan Tata Trust  www.srtt.org 

India - SM Sehgal Foundation  www.smsfoundation.org 

India - TVS Agri Science Research Institute 

Ireland - Irish Aid  www.dci.gov.ie 

Italy - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)  www.fao.org 

Italy - Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR)  www.egfar.org 

Italy - Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT)  www.croptrust.org 

Italy - International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)  www.ifad.org 

Japan - Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS)  www.jircas.affrc.go.jp 

Japan - Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF)  www.maff.go.jp/e/index.html 

Kenya - African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA)  www.afsta.org 

Kenya - Africa Harvest Biotech Foundation International (AHBFI)  www.africaharvest.org 

Kenya - Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)  www.agra-alliance.org 

Kenya - BioSciences Eastern and Central Africa (BECA)  www.africabiosciences.org 

Kenya - United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)  www.unep.org 

Malawi - CARE International  www.caremalawi.org 

Malawi – Irish Aid  www.irishaid.gov.ie/Malawi.asp 

Malawi - Plan International  plan-international.org 

Malawi - National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (NASFAM)  www.nasfam.org 

Mozambique - Government of Mozambique  www.mozambique.mz 

Netherlands - Common Fund for Commodities (CFC)  www.common-fund.org 

Netherlands - Wageningen University  www.wur.nl 

Niger - Bereau de l’Ambassade du Canada  

Niger - The Community Action Plan (CAP)  

Norway - Molde University College  www.himolde.no 

Norway – Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs  www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/ud.html 

Norway - The Development Fund  www.utviklingsfondet.no 

Philippines - Asian Development Bank (ADB)  www.adb.org 

Philippines - Department of Agriculture  www.bar.gov.ph 

Philippines - Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD)

  www.pcarrd.dost.gov.ph 

Senegal - Conseil Ouest et Centre Africain pour la Recherche et le Developpement Agricole (CORAF)

  www.coraf.org/English/English.html 

Switzerland - Aga Khan Foundation (AKF)  www.akdn.org 

Switzerland - Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation  www.sdc.admin.ch 

Switzerland - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich  www.ethz.ch/index_EN 

Switzerland - Indo-Swiss Collaboration in Biotechnology (ISCB)  iscb.epfl.ch 

Switzerland - Syngenta Foundation  www.syngentafoundation.org 

Taiwan - Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC)  www.avrdc.org 

Tanzania - Ministry of Agriculture & Food Security (MoAFS)  www.agriculture.go.tz 

Tanzania - Sokoine University of Agriculture  www.suanet.ac.tz 

Uganda - Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA)

  www.asareca.org 

UK - Aberystwyth University  www.aber.ac.uk 

UK – UNEP – WCMC  www.unep-wcmc.org 

UK - University of Sheffield  www.sheffield.ac.uk 

UK - Warwick University  www2.warwick.ac.uk 

USA - Africa Harvest Biotech Foundation International Inc.,  www.africa-harvest.org 

USA - Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation  www.gatesfoundation.org 

USA – CERES Inc  www.ceres.net/ 

USA – Institute for Genomic Diversity, Cornell University  www.igd.cornell.edu/ 

USA – Cornell University  www.cornell.edu 

USA – Department of Plant Pathology, University of California-Davis  plantpathology.ucdavis.edu 

USA – Director of Sponsored Programs, University of California-Davis  www.research.ucdavis.edu/SponPrograms 

USA – Dow AgroSciences LLC  www.dowagro.com 

USA - Global Change System for Analysis, Research and Training (START)  www.start.org 

USA - Iowa State University  www.iastate.edu 

USA - New Mexico State University  www.nmsu.edu 

USA - McKnight Foundation  www.mcknight.org 

USA – S M Sehgal Foundation  www.smsfoundation.org 

USA - Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF)  www.self.org 

USA – The International Foundation  intlfoundation.org 

USA - United States Agency for International Development (USAID)  www.usaid.gov 

USA – United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)  www.usda.gov 

USA - University of Georgia-Griffin  www.uga.edu 

USA - Plant Genome Mapping Laboratory, University of Georgia-Griffin  www.plantgenome.uga.edu 

USA - University of Wisconsin  www.geography.wisc.edu 

USA - World Bank  www.worldbank.org 

Venezuela – SEFLOARCA, C.A.,  www.sefloarca.com/servicios2.com 

Zimbabwe – Action Contre la Faim  www.actioncontrelafaim.org/english/    

Zimbabwe - GRM International  www.grm.co.zw 

Zimbabwe - Midlands State University (MSU)  www.msu.ac.zw 

Zimbabwe - Organisation of Rural Associations for Progress (ORAP)  http://orapzenzele.org 

Zimbabwe – World Vision  www.worldvision.org

Grant income-2004

ICRISAT, on behalf of the poor across the dry tropics, is enormously grateful to the following development investors for their foresight and generosity in helping the dryland poor escape hunger, poverty and environmental degradation:

Grant Income from Donors for 2004

Grant income-2013

ICRISAT, on behalf of the poor across the dry tropics, is enormously grateful to the following development investors for their foresight and generosity in helping the dryland poor escape hunger, poverty and environmental degradation:

Grant income from Donors for 2013

Donor US$ ' 000

CGIAR Consortium 38,069 CGIAR Consortium Research Centers 11,955 India 6,734 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 6,256 United States of America (USA) 6,020 CGIAR Challenge Programme 1,929 Ireland 1,255 Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT) 848 Germany 666 Seed Companies 637European Commission (EU) 531 McKnight Foundation 427 Japan 382 Global Crop Diversity Trust 402 FARA 377 Seed Companies 367 Japan 382 Association for Strengthening of Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) 368

Netherlands 336 Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) 314 Other Donors 292 Philippines 287 Care Inc., 274 International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) 244 Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) 235 Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) 219 Austria 215 Office Cherifien des Phosphates Foundation (OCPF) 177Navajbai Ratan Tata Trust (NRTT) 164 Canada 158 Australia 144 Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT) 117 China 100 United Kingdom (UK) 97 Institute National de Recherches Agronomiques du Niger (INRAN) 86 Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) 85 Food and Agrilculture Organisation (FAO) 72 Institute d' economie Rural (IER) 68 World Bank 67 Coca Cola India Foundation 61 Denmark 34 France 29 Thailand 20 Turkey 10

Action Contre la Faim (ACF) 10 Catholic Releif Services (CRS) 07 Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) 05  Grand Total 80,004 

Partners

NARES (National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems)

Abellon Clean Energy Ltd., Ahmedabad, India  www.abelloncleanenergy.com   

Action Contre la Faim (ACF), Niger  www.actioncontrelafaim.ca   

Africa Harvest Biotechnology Foundation International (AHBFI), Kenya & South Africa  africaharvest.org   

Agricultural Research Council, Institute for Soil Climate and Water, South Africa  www.arc.agric.za/home.asp?pid=498   

Agricultural Research Institute (ARI), Tanzania  www.sari-shp.org   

Agricultural Research Services, Malawi 

Agricultural Research Station, AICRP Pulses, Gulbarga, India 

Agricultural Research Station, Durgapur, India   

Agricultural Research Station (ARS), Tandur   

Agricultural Seed Agency (ASA), Tanzania  www.asa.or.tz   

Agricultural Technical and Extension Services (AGRITEX), Zimbabwe   

All India Coordinated Pearl Millet Improvement Project (AICPMIP), Mandor, Rajasthan, India

  www.aicpmip.res.in/aboutus.html   

Amhara Regional Agricultural Research Institute (ARARI), Ethiopia  www.arari.gov.et   

ARI Hombolo 

ARI Naliendele   

ASEDES, Mali 

Association d’Eveil au Developpement Durable (AMEDD), Mali  www.ameddmali.org/spip.php?rubrique56   

Association des Organizations des Paysans Professionels (AOPP), Mali  www.aopp-mali.org   

Association pour le Developpement Economique Social et Culturel de Kalalé (ADESCA), Benin

 Association Minim Song Panga, Burkina Faso

 Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG)

  www.acpfg.com.au   

AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center, Taiwan  www.avrdc.org   

BAIF Development Research Foundation, India  www.baif.org.in   

Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Bangladesh  www.bari.gov.bd   

BASIX  www.basixindia.com   

BenchBio Private Limited, India  www.benchbio.com   

BGI-Shenzhen, China  en.genomics.cn   

Bioenergy Development Co Ltd, China 

Bioseed Genetics International, Inc. Thailand   

BYPASS   

Center for Agricultural Research and Development (CARD), Bunda College of Agriculture, Malawi

  www.bunda.unima.mw   

Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad  www.cess.ac.in   

Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Bangladesh  www.cpd.org.bd/index.asp   

Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI), Jodhpur, India  www.cazri.res.in   

Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), India  www.crida.in   

Centre National de Recherche Appliqué au Développement Rural (FOFIFA), Madagascar  www.fofifa.mg   

CERES Inc., USA  www.ceres.net   

Cleanergy Seeds Limited, Israel 

Compatible Technology International, Malawi  compatibletechnology.org/index.html   

Danish Management, Denmark  www.danishmanagement.com/.../denmark-headquarters-mainmenu-20   

DEEP Development Research Foundation Institute 

Departement de Technology Alimentaire, Centre National de la RechercheScientifiqueetTechnologque (DTA), Burkina Faso

 Department of Agriculture, Myanmar

  www.moai.gov.mm   

Department of Agricultural Research, Myanmar  dar.moai.gov.mm/index.php/en   

Department of Agriculture, Government of Andhra Pradesh, India  agri.ap.nic.in

   Department of Horticulture, GoK, Bengaluru

  www.karnataka.gov.in/horticulture/Pages/home.aspx   

Department of Research and Development, Tanzania 

Department of Agricultural Research Services (DARS), Malawi    

Department of Research and Training (DRT) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Tanzania

   Department of Watershed Development, GoK, Bengaluru

  www.karnataka.gov.in/watershed/Pages/home.aspx   

Directorate of Agriculture and Horticulture, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of Orissa

  www.agriorissa.org   

Directorate of Sorghum Research, Hyderabad, India  www.sorghum.res.in   

Eastern Africa Grain Council (EAGC), Kenya  www.eagc.org   

Energy Seed International  www.euroseed.in   

Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), Ethiopia  www.eiar.gov.et   

EUCORD, MALI  eucord.org/where-we-work/mali   

Euro India Research Centre (EIRC)  euroindiaresearch.org   

FASO KABA seed enterprise, Mali 

Federation des Paysans Semenciers du Burkina Faso (FePaB), Burkina Faso 

Field Crops Research Centre (FCRI), Dept of Agriculture, Thailand   

Forest and Landscape Denmark (FLD), Denmark  sl.life.ku.dk/English.aspx

   Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA)

  www.fara-africa.org   

Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), India  fes.org.in   

Fuma Gaskiya (Federation of Farmes), Niger   

GenXPro GmbH, Germany  www.genxpro.info/about_us   

Government of Karnataka, India  www.karunadu.gov.in/Pages/Default.aspx   

Government of Madhya Pradesh, India  www.mp.gov.in   

Government of Rajasthan, India  rajasthan.gov.in   

Gramin Vikas Trust, India  www.gvtindia.org   

Green Technologies 

Gwanda South Rural District Council, Zimbabwe 

Helen Keller International, Mali  www.hki.org/working-worldwide/africa/mali   

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Bangalore  www.hindustanpetroleum.com   

Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi  www.iari.res.in   

Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad, India  www.iictindia.org   

Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta  www.iimcal.ac.in   

Indian Institute of Pulses Research (IIPR), Kanpur  www.iipr.res.in

   Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai

  www.iitm.ac.in   

Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi  www.iitd.ac.in   

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur  www.iitk.ac.in   

Industrial Technology Institute, Sri Lanka  iti.lk   

Institut d’Economie Rurale (IER), Mali  www.ier.gouv.ml   

Institut de l'Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles (INERA), Burkina Faso  www.inera.bf   

INRA, France  www.infra.fr/en   

Institut de Recherche pour le Développement Researchers (IRD), France  en.ird.fr   

Institut de recherché de developpement (IRD), Montpell Institut d'economie rurale, Mali  www.mali.ird.fr   

Institut national de recherches agronomiques du Niger (INRAN), Niger  www.inra.org.ma   

Institut Sénégalais de Recherche Agricole (ISRA), Sénégal  www.isra.sn   

Institut Technologie Alimentaire (ITA) Dakar, Senegal  www.ita.sn   

Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Nigeria 

Jain Irrigation Systems Limited (JISL), Jalgaon  www.jains.com   

Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS)  www.jircas.affrc.go.jp   

Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya (JNKVV), Jabalpur, India  www.jnkvv.nic.in   

Jharkhand Tribal Development Society (JTDS), Ranchi, Jharkhand, India  jtds.org.in   

Jigawa State Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (JARDA), Nigeria   

Kamuzu Central Hospital, Malawi 

Kano State Agricultural & Rural Development Authority (KNARDA), Nigeria  www.knarda.kano.gov.ng   

Katsina State Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (KTARDA), Nigeria  www.katsinastate-lgac.com   

Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), Kenya  www.kari.org   

Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD), Kenya  www.meteo.go.ke   

Kenya Seed Company, Kenya  www.kenyaseed.com   

Krishidhan Seeds Ltd., India  www.krishidhanseeds.com   

Lake Chad Research Institute, Nigeria   

Limpopo Department of Agriculture, Zimbabawe  www.lda.gov.za/index.php?option=com_contact&view=category&catid=83&Itemid=225   

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), London  www.lshtm.ac.uk   

Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidya Peeth (MPKV), Rahuri, India  mpkv.mah.nic.in   

Mali Biocarburant S.A. (MBSA), Mali  www.malibiocarburant.com   

Mali Folk Centre (MFC), Mali  www.malifolkecenter.org   

Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Ministry of Health, Govt. of Malawi  www.moafsmw.org   

Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Tanzania  www.agriculture.go.tz   

Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF), Laos 

Ministry of Agriculture, Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS)  www.goss.org   

Ministry of Industry and Trade, Malawi  www.trade.gov.mw   

Mooriben (Farmers organization), Niger 

Mozambiquean Agricultural Research Institute (IIAM), Mozambique 

MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF)  www.mssrf.org   

Msekera Research Station (ZARI) and Provincial Department of Agriculture, Zambia  www.zari.gov.zm/msekeraresearchstation.php   

MYRADA  myrada.org/myrada   

Namburi Seeds, Tanzania   

Naps Systems Oy, Finland  www.napssystems.com   

National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS), Uganda  www.naads.or.ug   

National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), Eritrea   

National Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), Uganda  www.naro.go.ug   

National Bureau for Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), India  www.nbpgr.ernet.in   

National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Microorganisms (NBAIM), India  nbaim.org.in

   National Center for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research (NCAP)

  www.ncap.res.in   

National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI)  www.neeri.res.in   

National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), India  www.ninindia.org   

National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), India  www.nipgr.res.in   

National Research Center for Groundnut, India  www.nrcg.res.in   

National Semi-Arid Resources Research Institute (NaSARRI), Uganda  www.nasarri.go.ug   

National Smallholder Farmers' Association of Malawi (NASFAM)  www.nasfam.org   

Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), Nepal  narc.gov.np/narc/index.php   

Netherlands Minister for Development Cooperation 

Ngetta Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Ngetta ZARDI), Uganda  www.naro.go.ug/   

Oil Crops Research Institute, CAAS, China  www.oilcrops.com.cn/english/index.html   

Orissa Tribal Empowerment and Livelihoods Programme (OTELP), Orissa, India  www.otelp.org/   

Pacific Seeds (Thai) Ltd., Thailand  www.pacthai.co.th/eng_version/main_eng.htm   

Plan Mali  plan-international.org/where-we-work/africa/mali   

PRADHAN, India  www.pradhanindia.com   

Program on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford University, USA  foodsecurity.stanford.edu   

Progress Milling, Zimbabwe  www.progress-milling.co.za   

Queensland Department of Primary Industries & Fisheries, Australia  www.dpi.qld.gov.au/home.htm   

Rural Development Trust (RDT)  www.rdt-trust.org   

Rural District Councils (RDCs), Farmer Field Schools (FFS) Zimbabwe   

Rwanda Agricultural Research Institute (ISAR), Rwanda  www.isar.rw   

SAB Miller   www.sabmiller.in   

Sahel 21 Farmer organisation, Mali   

Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), Ghana   

Show Me Energy  www.goshowmeenergy.com   

SM Sehgal Foundation  www.smsfoundation.org   

Société Malagasy d'Etudesetd'ApplicationsHydrauliques (SOMEAH), Madagascar  www.someah.mg/presentation.html   

SocioConsult, Bangladesh  socioconsult.com/aboutus.php   

Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), USA  www.self.org   

Sorghum, Millet and Other Grains Cooperative Research Support Program (INTSORMIL)  intsormil.org/smabout.htm   

Sri Biotech Laboratories India Ltd., India  www.sribio.com   

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland  www.ethz.ch/index_EN   

Tamil Nadu Cooperative Oilseeds Growers Federation Ltd (TANCOF)       

Tata Chemicals Limited (TCL), India  www.tatachemicals.com/our_company/profile.htm   

Tata Steel Rural Development Society  jamshedpur.nic.in/tsrdc.htm   

TchinGarbaabd Doula FO 

The African Network for Soil Biology and Fertility (AfNet) of Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Institute of CIAT (TSBF-CIAT)

  agra.ciat.cgiar.org   

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)  www.teriin.org   

The James Hutton Institute, UK  www.hutton.ac.uk   

The Sorghum Research Institute (SRI), China   

Turkish General Directorate of Agricultural Research (GDAR)   

Unilever Industrries Pvt. Ltd., India  www.unilever.com   

Union des Groupements des Producteurs pour la Commercialisation Agricole (UGPCA), Burkina Faso

 Union Harey-Bane de Tera, Niger

   Union Locale des Producteurs des Céréales de Dioila (ULCPD), Mali

 Union Made-Bane de Falwel, Niger

 USDA-ARS-National Peanut Research Laboratory, Georgia, USA

  www.ars.usda.gov/saa/nprl   

USDA-ARS Robert Holley Center for Agriculture and Health, USA  www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=19-07-00-00   

Victoria Seeds, Uganda  www.victoriaseeds.com/   

Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VAAS), Vietnam  vaas.vn/enews_home.asp?newsgroupID=CUS_82503151141   

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), USA  www.vt.edu   

WADACE Farmer organisation, Niger 

WADAT Farmer organisation, Niger 

Waite Analytical Laboratory, Australia  www.adelaide.edu.au/was   

Wakoro Women association, Mali 

World Agroforestry Centre, Mali  www.worldagroforestry.org/regions/west_and_central_africa   

World Vision International, Zimbabwe

  www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/6d1210430917461d8825735a007e2f2b/sponsor-zimbabwe

   Zanobia Seeds, Tanzania

 Zimbabawe Fertiliser Company Limited, Zimbabwe

  www.zfc.co.zw   

Zimbabwe Meteorological Department (ZMD), Zimbabwewww.weather.co.zw

  

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ARIs / Universities

Aberystwyth University, UK  www.aber.ac.uk   

Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University, Rajendranagar, India  www.angrau.net   

Assam Agricultural University (AAU), India

  www.aau.ac.in   

Bihar Agricultural University (BAU), India   

Birsa Agricultural University (BAU), Jharkhand, India   www.baujharkhand.org 

Cambridge University, UK  www.cam.ac.uk   

CCS Haryana Agricultural University, India  hau.ernet.in   

CIRAD, France  www.cirad.fr/en   

College of Agriculture & Veterinary Science, University of Nairobi   cavs.uonbi.ac.ke/uon_collaborations   

Cornell University   www.cornell.edu   

Cornell University (Institute for Genomic Diversity), USA   www.igd.cornell.edu   

Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, USA  www.danforthcenter.org/beachy/   

Egerton University, Kenya  www.egerton.ac.ke      

GB Pant University of Agricultural and Technology, India  www.gbpuat.ac.in/   

Harvard University, USA  www.harvard.edu   

Haryana Agricultural University (HAU), Hisar, India             www.hau.ernet.in   

Iowa State University, USA  www.iastate.edu   

Madurai Kamaraj University, India  www.mkuniversity.org

   Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Rajasthan, India

  www.mpuat.ac.in/about.htm   

Makerere University, Kenya     mak.ac.ug   

Marathwada Agricultural University, Parbhani, India  mkv2.mah.nic.in   

Michigan State University, USA  www.msu.edu   

Midlands State University, Zimbabwe  www.msu.ac.zw   

Moi University, Kenya  www.muk.ac.ke   

Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT), India

  ouat.ac.in/ Panjab University, Chandigarh, India

  www.puchd.ac.in   

Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), Pakistan   

Punjab Agricultural University, India  web.pau.edu   

Purdue University, USA  www.purdue.edu   

Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner      www.raubikaner.org   

Rajendra Agriculture University, Muzaffarpur, India  www.pusavarsity.org.in   

RAK College of Agriculture, Sehore, India  www.sehore.nic.in/rak_intro.htm   

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA    www.rutgers.edu   

S.D. Agricultural University, SK Nagar, India  www.sdau.edu.in   

Sokoine University, Tanzania  www.suanet.ac.tz   

Stanford University, USA  www.stanford.edu   

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), India  www.tnau.ac.in   

The James Hutton Institute, UK   www.hutton.ac.uk   

The State University of New Jersey, USA  www.rutgers.edu   

Tuskegee University, USA   www.tuskegee.edu   

University of AbomeyCalavi, Benin  www.uac.bj/index.php   

University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, India  www.uasbangalore.edu.in   

University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, India  www.uasd.edu   

University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur, India     www.uasraichur.edu.in   

University of Basel, Switzerland  www.unibas.ch/index.cfm?cache_use=0   

University of California-Davis, USA  www.ucdavis.edu/index.html   

University of Copenhagen, Denmark  www.ku.dk/english   

University of Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambique  www.uem.mz   

University of Florida, USA  www.ufl.edu   

University of Frankfurt, Germany  www.uni-frankfurt.de/english   

University of Georgia, USA  www.uga.edu   

University of Giessen, Germany  www.uni-giessen.de/uni   

University of Hohenheim, Germany  www.uni-hohenheim.de/i3ve   

University of Horticulture, Bagalkot  uhsbagalkot.edu.in   

University of Kassel (UKW), Witzenhausen, Germany  www.uni-kassel.de/agrar/?c=65&language=en   

University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa     

University of Nairobi, Kenya  www.uonbi.ac.ke   

University of Nebraska, USA  nebraska.edu   

University of Niamey, Niger   

University of Pretoria, South Africa  web.up.ac.za   

University of Queensland, Australia  www.uq.edu.au   

University of Reading, UK  www.reading.ac.uk   

University of Valparaiso, Chile  www.uv.cl/   

University of Zambia, Zambia     www.unza.zm

   University of Western Australia, Australia

  www.uwa.edu.au   

University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA  www.cirad.fr/en/index.php   

Wageningen University, Netherlands  www.wageningenuniversity.nl/UK   

 

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Groundnut and Chickpea VDRC

Ajeet Seeds Limited  www.ajeetseed.co.in/   

AasthaBioCare Private Limited  www.aasthabiocare.in/   

Krishidhan Seeds Limited  www.krishidhanseeds.com/   

Nimbkar Seeds Private Limited  www.indiaboer.com/    

 

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CGIAR Centers

Bioversity International  www.bioversityinternational.org   

CIAT  www.ciat.cgiar.org   

CIMMYT  www.cimmyt.org   

ICARDA  www.icarda.org   

ICRAF  www.ciesin.org/IC/icraf/ICRAF.html   

IFPRI  www.ifpri.org   

IITA  www.iita.org   

ILRI  www.ilri.cgiar.org   

IRRI  www.irri.org   

IWMI  www.iwmi.cgiar.org

 

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Hybrid Seeds Consortia (HPCR)

Adriana Seed Company, Brazil 

Advanta India Limited  www.advantaindia.com   

Ajeet Seeds Limitedwww.ajeetseed.com

   Ankur Seeds Private Limited

  www.ankurseeds.com/index.htm   

Atash Seeds Pvt. Ltd.  www.avesthagen.com/atash.htm   

Bayer BioSciences Private Limitedbaybuy.co.in/bbs

   Biogene Agritech

  biogeneagritech.com   

Bioseed Research India Private Limited 

CERES Inc., USA

www.ceres.net   

DevGen Seeds and Crop Tech Pvt. Ltd.  www.devgen.com/seed_crop_commercial.php   

Dhanlaxmi Crop Science Private Limited  dhanlaxmiseeds.com   

Dow AgroSciences Industrial Limited, Brazil  www.dowagro.com/br/index.htm   

Ganga Kaveri Seeds Private Limitedwww.gangakaveri.in

   Godrej Seeds and Genetics Limited

 Hytech Seed India Private Limited

 JK Agri Genetics Limitedjkseeds.net/display.asp?ch=index

   Kanchan Ganga Seed Company Private Limited

 Karnataka State Seeds Corporation Limited

  www.beejaraja.com   

Kaveri Seed Company Private Limitedwww.kaveriseeds.in/home.html

   Kesar Enterprises Limited

  www.kesarindia.com   

Krishidhan Seeds Private Limited  www.krishidhanseeds.com   

KWS SAAT AGwww.kws.com

   Metahelix Life Sciences Private Limitedwww.meta-helix.com

   Namdhari Seeds Private Limited

 Nath Biogene (I) Ltd

  www.nathseeds.com

   Navbharat Seeds Private Limited

   Nimbkar Seeds Pvt. Ltd.

  www.indiaboer.com   

Nirmal Seeds Pvt Limited  www.nirmalseedsindia.com   

Nu Genes Private Limitedwww.nugenes.net/home.html

   Nuziveedu Seeds Pvt. Ltd.

  www.nuziveeduseeds.com   

Pioneer Overseas Corporation  www.pioneer.com   

Sagar Lakshmi Seeds 

SEFLOARCA, C.A., Venezuela   

S M  Sehgal Foundation  www.smsfoundation.org   

Spriha Biosciences Private Limited 

TriMurti Plant Sciences Pvt Ltdtrimurti.in

   Vibha Agrotech Limited

  www.vibhaseeds.com 

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Bio-products Research Consortia (BRC)

A.G. Bio Systems Pvt. Ltd.  www.agbio.co.in   

Multiplex Bio-Tech Pvt. Ltd.  www.multiplexgroup.com   

Nirmal Seeds Pvt. Ltd.   www.nirmalseedsindia.com/home.html

 

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Agribusiness and Innovation Platform (AIP)

Agribusiness Incubation Program (ABI)

Ag Sri  www.agsri.com   

B.R Cooking Sprays   www.cookingoilspray.com   

Bioseed Research India Pvt. Ltd.   

Green Fire Agri Tech Pvt. Ltd.  www.greenfireagritech.com   

Higene Seeds   

Hiranmaye Infra Ltd.   

Jytra Engineering Services  www.jytra.com   

Navaneetha Evergreens   

Pradeep   

Rupesh   

Seed Works India Pvt. Ltd.  www.seedworksindia.com   

Seed entrepreneurs in Andhra Pradesh (65)   

Seed entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu (45)    

Siddhivinayaka Agri    

Spectrum Renewable Energy Ltd.  www.spectrumrenewableenergy.com   

Sresta Organics  www.sresta.com

   Sri Prathinik Imports and Exports Pvt. Ltd.

  www.sriprathinik.com   

Surechem Technologies             

Wifin Technologies Pvt. Ltd    www.wifintech.com

 

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Innovation and Partnership Program (INP)

CENTROMERE BIO SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD. (CENBIOS)  www.vibhaseeds.com   

Hytech Seed India Pvt. Limited   

Pioneer Overseas Corporation  www.pioneer.com   

Rudraram Research Institute of Agricultural Sciences

Robert G. Edwards, who opened a new era in medicine when he joined a colleague in developing in vitro fertilization, enabling millions of infertile couples to bring children into the world and women to have babies even in menopause, died on Wednesday at his home near Cambridge, England. Dr. Edwards, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for his breakthrough, was 87.

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Keystone/Hulton Archive, via Getty Images

Dr. Edwards holding Louise in 1978.

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Central Press/Hulton Archive, via Getty Images

Dr. Edwards, center, with his team in Cambridge in 1969, when he began his IVF research in earnest

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Central Press/Hulton Archive, via Getty Images

Dr. Edwards, right, with Dr. Patrick Steptoe, his colleague in the effort.

The University of Cambridge, where he worked for many years, announced his death. Dr. Edwards was known to have dementia and was said to have been unable to appreciate the tribute when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2010.

Working with Dr. Patrick Steptoe, Dr. Edwards essentially changed the rules for how people can come into the world. Conception was now possible outside the body — in a petri dish.

The technique has resulted in the births of five million babies, many in multiple births, according to the International Committee Monitoring Assisted Reproductive Technologies, an independent nonprofit group.

Yet, like so many pioneers of science, Dr. Edwards and Dr. Steptoe achieved what they did in the face of a skeptical establishment and choruses of critics, some of whom found the idea of a “test tube baby” morally repugnant. Denied government support, the two men resorted to private financing. And they did their work in virtual seclusion, in a tiny, windowless laboratory at a small, out-of-the-way English hospital outside Manchester.

It was there, after outwitting a crowd of reporters, that they delivered their — and the world’s — first IVF baby, Louise Brown, on July 25, 1978. Her parents, John and Lesley Brown, had tried for nine years to have a child — a period that virtually coincided with Dr. Edwards’s research.

Dr. Edwards first had the idea for in vitro fertilization in the 1950s, and after beginning his research in earnest in the late 1960s, he stayed with it for nine years, through trial and error, disappointment and triumph.

He was a colorful physiologist who courted the press and vigorously debated his critics, and he was unflagging. Several times a week he drove three to four hours from his academic office in Cambridge to pursue the work at Oldham General Hospital (now the Royal Oldham Hospital). It was there that he and Dr. Steptoe finally succeeded in fertilizing an egg, growing it briefly in a petri dish and transferring it to a woman’s uterus to produce a baby.

Dr. Steptoe, who died in 1988, did not receive a share of the Nobel because the prizes are not awarded posthumously.

Dr. Edwards’s motivation — his passion, in fact — was not fame or fortune but rather helping infertile women, said Barry Bavister, a retired reproductive biologist who worked with him. “He believed with all his heart that it was the right thing to do,” Dr. Bavister said.

During the frustrating years before that first IVF birth, Dr. Edwards was undaunted by critics who said he might be creating babies with birth defects — undaunted even by the qualms of some of his own graduate students. One, Martin Johnson, wrote that he and a fellow graduate student, Richard Gardner, “were very unsure about whether what Bob was doing was appropriate, and we didn’t want to get too involved in it.”

Dr. Johnson added that when he saw “bigwigs of the subject” who were “lambasting into Bob” and telling him not to continue, “you had to say: ‘Well, what’s going on here? Can one man be right against this weight of authoritative opinion?’ ”

In 1971, Dr. Edwards’s application for research support from the British government was turned down, in part because a committee reviewing his application thought it would be more prudent to perfect the method in primates before jumping to humans.

Then there was Dr. Edwards’s personality. Committee members wrote that they were uncomfortable with his “tendency to seek publicity in the press, television and so on.”

Finally, the committee thought that the hospital where Dr. Edwards and Dr. Steptoe worked was insufficiently equipped.

The two men obtained private funds and continued their work.

In a paper published a decade ago in Nature Medicine, Dr. Edwards explained that he first got the idea for human IVF when he was a Ph.D. student at Edinburgh University. He was working with mouse embryos and testing hormone preparations that induced female mice to ovulate. Years later, he asked gynecologists if they would give him ovarian tissue that they had removed from patients for other reasons. Dr. Edwards sought to induce the eggs in the tissue to mature. Then he would fertilize them and transfer them to infertile women to produce pregnancies.

“Some gynecologists approached about this project candidly responded that they thought the idea preposterous,” Dr. Edwards wrote. But one, Dr. Molly Rose, who had delivered two of Dr. Edwards’s five daughters, said she would do it.

The immature eggs, though, would not mature. Dr. Edwards had assumed it took 12 hours for the process; that was what another research group had said. He finally succeeded, he wrote in 1972, when, after “after two disappointing years,” he let the eggs grow for as long as 25 hours. Then, he wrote, “a joy unbounding,” the eggs matured.

What followed, however, was failure after failure to achieve the steps needed for an actual pregnancy.

The first hurdle was trying to get a human egg to be fertilized by human sperm in the lab. Dr. Edwards tried repeatedly for several years, to no avail. Meanwhile, Dr. Bavister, working next door to Dr. Edwards’s lab, had developed a solution to nourish hamster sperm while he fertilized hamster eggs.

“One day,” Dr. Bavister recalled, “Bob said, ‘Barry, why don’t we try your hamster medium with human eggs?’ ” It worked. Dr. Bavister said he could still recall his first glimpse of that fertilized human egg in the microscope. “It was unbelievable, like ‘Eureka!’ ” he said.

The problem, it turned out, was that the solutions Dr. Edwards had been trying were too acidic. The hamster egg solution was slightly less acidic, which allowed sperm to burrow into the egg.

The next step was to get the embryos to start to grow and divide in a petri dish so that they could be transferred to a woman’s uterus.

Many did not develop, and those that did did not survive long. Even after Dr. Edwards and Dr. Steptoe managed to get the eggs to grow to the point where they could be transferred, no pregnancies resulted. They made over 100 attempts, but no woman got pregnant, except one, who had an ectopic pregnancy, with the embryo in her fallopian tube instead of her uterus.

“Most sensible scientists would have given up,” Dr. Bavister said. “But they plugged on and plugged on.”

Dr. Joseph D. Schulman, an American physician who later founded the Genetics and IVF Institute in Fairfax, Va., worked with Dr. Edwards and Dr. Steptoe in 1973 and 1974 and wrote of those frustrating times:

“Although we tried week after week though most of the winter and spring, with one, two or three infertile patients a week, no pregnancy resulted. We extensively debated the causes of failure, of which the informed scientific imagination would provide many.”

Dr. Edwards, “never the most patient of men, was becoming increasingly irritable,” Dr. Schulman wrote.

It is still not clear why it took so long to achieve success, Dr. Schulman said. Dr. Edwards decided that it was a hormone he was giving women to induce ovulation that was making the uterus inhospitable. He elected to do without the drug and rely instead on the one egg that a woman naturally produced each month.

There were only three remaining patients. Dr. Steptoe could not retrieve any eggs from the first two. One woman did not get pregnant. Another had a tubal pregnancy that could not be carried to term. Then he tried his method with Mrs. Brown.

The night Mrs. Brown was to give birth to the world’s first IVF baby, the press descended on the Oldham hospital. Dr. Edwards left the hospital that afternoon and told reporters that nothing was happening yet and that they could go home. He and Dr. Steptoe sneaked in the back entrance that night, and Dr. Steptoe delivered the baby by Caesarean.

It was Dr. Steptoe’s decision to do a Caesarean, Dr. Bavister said, adding, “If the baby was abnormal, they sure did not want the press in the delivery room.” In fact, he said, if the baby had been abnormal, that would have spelled the end of IVF. The method had succeeded only with rabbits at that point, so it was a huge leap of faith for Dr. Edwards and Dr. Steptoe to try it with humans.

But after the birth of Louise Brown, Dr. Edwards was triumphant. He and Dr. Steptoe founded an IVF center, Bourn Hall Clinic, in Cambridge.

The Roman Catholic Church denounced the Nobel committee for awarding Dr. Edwards his prize, arguing that human life should begin only through intercourse and not artificially. The Vatican said Dr. Edwards “bore a moral responsibility for all subsequent developments in assisted reproduction technology and for all abuses made possible by IVF.”

In 2011, Dr. Edwards was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II “for services to human reproductive biology.”

Robert Geoffrey Edwards was born into a working-class family in Batley, Yorkshire, on Sept. 27, 1925. He joined the British military during World War II, then studied biology at the University of Wales in Bangor. He received a Ph.D. in physiology in 1955 from Edinburgh University in Scotland.

He is survived by his wife, Ruth Edwards, along with their 5 daughters and 12 grandchildren, Cambridge said.

Dr. Bavister said the most moving tribute to Dr. Edwards was in a message posted on the Nobel Web site after Dr. Edwards had received the prize. It was from a man who had been born through IVF. “Dr. Edwards, thank you for my life,” it said.

Pemuliaan Kacang Tanah di ICRISAT, India

Tanggal 19-23 Maret 2012 saya mendapat tugas mengunjungi International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arids Tropics (ICRISAT) yaitu organisasi non-profit dan non-politik yang bergerak di bidang penelitian pertanian untuk pengembangan Asia dan sub-Sahara Afrika. Lembaga tersebut berlokasi di Patancheru, Hyderabad, India, dan dalam melaksanakan kegiatannya ICRISAT bekerjasama dengan banyak mitra, baik sesama lembaga non-profit maupun negara donor, dari seluruh dunia. Komoditas mandat ICRISAT adalah chickpea, kacang tunggak, pearl millet, sorgum dan kacang tanah. Kacang tanah adalah juga salah satu komoditas mandat Balitkabi, sehingga pada saat kunjungan penelitian kacang tanah yang menjadi fokus studi dan diskusi.

Tahun ini adalah tahun ke 40 berdirinya ICRISAT, dan sampai saat ini lebih dari 140 varietas unggul kacang tanah telah dilepas, baik oleh ICRISAT maupun hasil kerjasama dengan negara-negara mitra. Tujuan utama pemuliaan kacang tanah di ICRISAT adalah mengembangkan varietas kacang tanah tahan kekeringan, aflatoksin, penyakit karat/bercak daun, dan virus dengan latar belakang karakter umur genjah (75-90 hari) hinga sedang (>90-120 hari) dan kualitas lemak/minyak tinggi. Pada saat kunjungan penelitian untuk umur genjah sedang dipanen (umur 90 hari) (Gambar 1a). Percobaan ditanam pada musim kering

dengan suhu di siang hari mencapai 42 oC, pertumbuhan tanaman kurang optimal, namun jumlah polong per tanaman cukup tinggi (Gambar 1b).

Gambar 1. Panen percobaan umur genjah umur 90 hari (a), keragaan tanaman dan polong salah satu galur (b)

ICGV 91114 adalah salah satu varietas unggul terbaru ICRISAT yang berumur genjah, toleran kekeringan, dan berdaya hasil tinggi (Gambar 2). Varietas ini telah membuat revolusi dan mengubah wajah Anantapur, salah satu distrik di Andhra Pradesh di India. Dari 800.000-1.000.000 ha lahan pertanian, yang semula 80% ditanami tanaman sereal dan 20% kacang tanah, saat ini komposisi tersebut terbalik, 80% kacang tanah dan 20% tanaman lain.

Gambar 2. ICGV 91114, varietas unggul umur genjah, toleran kekeringan, dan berdaya hasil tinggi.

Program pemuliaan di ICRISAT dilaksanakan secara multidisiplin. Dukungan dari peneliti kelompok ilmu hama/penyakit, fisiologi/agronomi, dan genomik adalah dengan mengembangkan metode pengujian dan melaksanakan pengujian

ketahanan terhadap kekeringan, penyakit daun, aflatoksin, dan metode seleksi dengan memanfaatkan marka molekuler. Kombinasi pemuliaan konvensional dan molekuler untuk kacang tanah toleran kekeringan dan karat telah menghasilkan populasi BC3F3 and BC2F4 yang diperoleh hanya dalam waktu enam musim tanam. Sehingga pemanfaatan marka molekuler dalam kegiatan pemuliaan dapat meningkatkan efisiensi dan efektivitas seleksi.

Plasma nutfah kacang tanah

Plasma nutfah adalah bank gen yang sangat diperlukan dalam menciptakan keragaman dalam perakitan varietas. ICRISAT saat ini mempunyai koleksi plasma nutfah kacang tanah berjumlah 15.419 aksesi. Koleksi tersebut terdiri dari 14.968 kultivar dan 477 spesies liar (Gambar 3) yang dikoleksi dari 92 negara. Koleksi tersebut mempunyai keragaman karakter polong dan biji yang cukup luas (Gambar 4). Koleksi tersebut secara rutin dievaluasi dan diskrining oleh tim multidisiplin untuk mengetahui potensi pemanfaatannya dalam pogram pemuliaan, dan direjuvenasi untuk memperbarui dan untuk memenuhi permintaan benih.

Gambar 3. Konservasi ex-situ, fasilitas penananam spesies liar, dan kegiatan rejuvenasi koleksi plasma nutfah di ICRISAT.

Gambar 4. Keragaman karakter polong dan biji pada kacang tanah koleksi plasma nutfah ICRISAT.

Koleksi plasma nutfah d ICRISAT disimpan dalam tiga kelompok yang dibedakan berdasarkan lama penyimpanan yaitu (1) Base collections (penyimpanan jangka panjang, 50-100 tahun), (2) Active collections (penyimpanan jangka menengah 10-20 tahun), dan (3) Working collections (penyimpanan jangka pendek, 3-5 tahun).

Meskipun jumlah aksesi koleksi plasma nutfah kacang tanah cukup banyak, namun dasar genetik kultivar kacang tanah terbatas. Peneliti di ICRISAT telah

berhasil membuat kacang tanah tetraploid. Genotipe baru tersebut bermanfaat untuk memperluas keragaman genetik yang kemungkinan juga mengandung karakter bermanfaat. Selama ini karakter ketahanan terdapat pada spesies liar yang tidak kompatibel untuk disilangkan karena perbedaan ploidi. Kacang tanah tetraploid buatan terebut saat ini sedang dievaluasi potensinya sebagai sumber perbaikan karakter pada kacang tanah.

Transformasi genetik

Gedung baru lengkap dengan fasilitas untuk penelitian tanaman transgenik telah dibangun di kampus ICRISAT sumbangan dari pemerintah India dan diberi nama gedung Platfom for Translational research on Transgenic Crops (PTTC) (Gambar 6). Penelitian transformasi genetik pada kacang tanah yang sedang dilakukan adalah peningkatan ketahanan terhadap kekeringan, induksi ketahanan terhadap virus, dan peningkatan kandungan betakarotin pada biji kacang tanah. Kacang tanah kaya betakarotin β-carotene? Dengan kemajuan ilmu biologi molekuler, bukan tidak mungkin kacang tanah kaya β-carotene suatu saat akan menjadi camilan sehat teman minum teh kita di sore hari. Perintisnya adalah ilmuwan ICRISAT, India.

Gambar 5. Gedung Platform for Translational research on Transgenic Crops (PTTC) di ICRISAT (kiri) dan poster  yang menunjukkan kemajuan penelitian transformasi genetik (kanan).

Ditulis oleh Novita/Win Jumat, 30 Maret 2012 11:39. Cortesy of Balitkabi