Submitted by sandhyagir on Fri, 23/10/2009 - 15:58
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| RA 00110.pdf | 5.69 MB |
| I t i s my pleasure t o welcome y o u a l l t o I C R I S A T and t o this f i r s t session of the Int e rna t iona l Pear l Mi l l e t Wo r k s h o p . Thi s is the d r y and hot season for us here at Hyde r abad; the season between the end of wint e r and the c omi n g of rains late i n June. A t ime whe n we are reminded of the t ropi c a l nature and even sometimes the nearly a r i d nature of our environments, but whe n we also have the hope and promi s e o f better days ahead once the rains begin to f a l l . Y o u wi l l see l i t t l e exper imental wo r k i n the fields r ight n o w for obvious reasons, but our pearl mi l l e t p r o g r am has wo r k e d di l igent l y t o provide y o u wi t h a series of demons t rat ion plots i n order t o show y o u various aspects of o u r wo r k . Al t h o u g h there i s l i t t l e exper imental wo r k going on i n the f ield, there is a great deal g o i n g on in pr epa r ing f o r the season. It is indeed a very busy t ime in I C R I S A T as i t must be i n y o u r own institutes as we l l . I hope y o u wi l l take the oppor tuni t i e s that come t o y o u d u r i n g the week t o l o o k a round I C R I S A T t o fami l iar ize your sel f wi t h wha t we have here, meet your colleagues and tal k about pearl mi l let and how we ma y wo r k together on this crop. I t i s the f i f t h most impor t ant cereal. I t i s pa r t i cul a r l y imp o r t a n t i n Af r i c a , and again most pa r t i cul a r l y i n West Af r i c a . These rather d r y statements of fact do not indicate its t rue impor t anc e , its c r i t i c a l nature, wh i c h i s due t o the fact that it is really the last imp o r t a n t cereal crop in arable f a rming. Beyond pearl mi l let we move f r o m arable f a rming int o pasture activities and even less intensive forms of griculture. Fo r the mi l let is the staple cereal, there is no serious alternative. Wh e n the mi l l e t fails, nothing else can be substituted, and that is wh y it is such a cr i t ical crop and wh y it is so impor t ant that a great deal of research t ime shoul d be given t o i t . I t deserves a t t ent ion there beyond wha t the statistics of mi l let i n the wo r l d or even i n the developing wo r l d might indicate. |  |
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