For almost 30 years, an international team of university and government scientists has worked together to improve grain sorghum and millet for farmers and their customers worldwide.
Now, thanks to new $9 million funding, the work will continue.

Through the International Sorghum and Millet (INTSORMIL) program, sorghum yields in such countries as Mali and Niger have doubled in recent decades. New sorghum-based food products have been developed, and the value of sorghum and millet for livestock feed has increased, said Forrest Chumley, chairman of the INTSORMIL board and associate agricultural research director at Kansas State University.

Researchers at K-State, along with the University of Nebraska- Lincoln, Mississippi State, Ohio State, Purdue, Texas A&M and West Texas A&M universities and the U.S. Department of Agriculture´s Agricultural Research Service are involved in the program, as are government researchers and scientists in developing countries. The University of Nebraska serves as the lead institution.

"INTSORMIL focuses on international research and technology transfer to improve nutrition and increase income in developing countries and the United States," said Mitch Tuinstra, K-State Research and Extension sorghum breeder. "The INTSORMIL program has contributed to the development of numerous technologies, including improved varieties, new uses for sorghum and millet in food and animal production, and new marketing strategies. INTSORMIL-supported research has improved the lives of millions of people around the world."

Grain sorghum is used mainly for livestock feed in the United States, and Kansas ranked No. 1 in U.S. sorghum production in 2005 with a harvest of 195 million bushels. However, sorghum and pearl millet are important food staples in many other countries, especially those in semiarid regions, because of its drought-tolerant characteristics.

Funding for INTSORMIL through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was recently extended for one final year, through June 2007.

Through a competitive bidding process, however, USAID has selected the University of Nebraska to manage a new Sorghum, Millets and Other Grains Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP). Funding of $9 million has just been awarded for the five-year cooperative agreement, running from Sept. 30, 2006, to Sept. 29, 2011. John Yohe, current INTSORMIL program director, will serve also serve in that
role for the new CRSP.

According to an August 2006 study by Battelle Science and Technology International, 1.2 billion people in developing countries each live on $1 a day or less. In addition, 852 million people - many of whom live in rural areas of Asia and Africa - are hungry.

Efforts by INTSORMIL to improve grain sorghum and millet yield and quality and to train scientists in the United States and in developing countries has had a beneficial impact on families and villages in many developing countries, Chumley said.

"In addition to benefits for other countries, the United States also receives tremendous benefits from the INTSORMIL program," K-State´s Tuinstra said. "Africa is the origin of sorghum, and collaborative research efforts in countries across Africa have opened the door to new genetic resources for improving sorghum production in the U.S. In addition, many outstanding researchers at public and private research institutions in the U.S. were supported during their graduate training by the INTSORMIL program."

In fact, more than 700 scientists worldwide have received at least some of their degree training through INTSORMIL, according to Program Director Yohe.

One notable success of INTSORMIL research, Yohe added, is the development of Striga-resistant varieties and management practices.
Striga is a parasitic weed that invades cropland and cuts yields in such crops as corn and sorghum, particularly in regions of Africa.

Traditionally, African farmers harvested their pearl millet and sorghum crops, kept enough for their needs at home and sold the rest right after harvest - when there was a supply glut on the market and prices were at their lowest.

To counter that cycle, INTSORMIL also scientists worked with producers to develop systems to enable growers to store their crop until prices climbed from their post-harvest lows. In addition, the organization helped producers form cooperatives, so that marketing decisions were made together and, in turn, bulk fertilizer purchases were possible.

The new Sorghum/Millet and Other Grains CRSP will focus on increasing food security and promoting market development of sorghum and pearl millet products for developing and transforming countries. The "other grains" in the new CRSP will consist of finger millet, fonio and tef, traditional crops in Africa.

Targeted basic and applied research, education/short-term training, and technology transfer will promote adoption and economic impact.
The approach will involve regional, interdisciplinary, multi- organizational teams.

Plans now call for four regional projects (East Africa, West Africa, Southern Africa and Central America) and about 14 U.S. lead research projects. The U.S. research projects will be awarded to U.S. universities on a competitive basis in response to Request for Applications (RFAs) released by the CRSP management section at Nebraska.

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$9 million grant will continue international sorghum, millet research