In many developing countries, so-called “orphan” crops like millets and cassava provide essential nutrients but don’t get as much attention from agricultural researchers as staple grains like rice and wheat. To address this shortcoming, the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Crop Improvement (ILCI) at Cornell University partnered with national agricultural research institutes to assist with the improvement of orphan crops. TCI led the lab’s institutional evaluation component, assessing and tracking how the program enhanced the capacities of partner institutions.

Underfunded but essential crops

The development of improved varieties of rice and wheat has allowed for significant reductions in hunger worldwide, but undernutrition and micronutrient malnutrition remain challenges across the developing world.

Locally important crops—typically coarse grains, tubers, and pulses—are cultivated by smallholder farmers because of the nutrients that they provide and their cultural significance. They often boast rich nutritional profiles and are adaptable to diverse agroecological landscapes. However, because such orphan crops are consumed locally, crop improvement research is typically limited and undertaken by public-sector breeding programs that often lack the resources of international or private institutions. As a result, improvements in yield and disease resistance have been slow compared to staple grains.

Strengthening national breeding programs

Led by Cornell University and supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), ILCI was an integrated research and delivery program that supported national agricultural research institutions in East and West Africa, Asia, and Latin America, as well as the Caribbean. The lab aimed to empower national breeding programs to set targeted goals to enhance genetic improvement in crops, which would address the specific needs of vulnerable populations to advance economic growth, crop resilience and food security.

Evaluating institutional capacity

TCI led ILCI’s institutional evaluation component. TCI researchers evaluated the institutional capacities created by the Innovation Lab and studied how those capacities led to genetic gains and the introduction of new, economically relevant and resilient crops that enable food and nutrition security in their respective regions.

The institutional capacity of research centers is defined as their capital endowment, human capital, management and technical capacities that allow them to undertake activities that will allow for the diffusion of technology in breeding programs. Tracking the development of institutional capacity and diffusion of technology in breeding programs is essential for:

• assessing the success of agricultural research in new technology implementation and the adoption of new practices;
• understanding the multidimensional impact of research on productivity, farm incomes, nutrition and social inclusivity; and
• revealing the constraints, bottlenecks and challenges of technology development and diffusion.

Understanding the factors that influence and drive the successful adoption of tools, technologies and methods is essential to recognizing how innovation labs and scientific support groups can be successfully initiated and sustained.

Read more about ILCI

Featured image: Featured image: An improved variety of cowpea grows in a field at The Regional Center of Excellence on Dry Cereals and Associated Crops of the Senegalese Institute of Agricultural Research. (Photo by ILCI)