Transformative agriculture or pipedream?

Perennial Grains:

D. Garrity, World Agroforestry

Historical production of perennial sorghum

in Malawi

"Sorghum or Kaffir corn is grown chiefly on the river,

and in some places in Zomba sorghum has the

advantage of being biennial: it may even be

used for three years .. will yield a fair return in thin

shingly soil that would not support maize. The roots of

sorghum are of a stronger character, and go farther in

search of food."

Buchanan (1885)

Annualizing project?

Snapp et al., 2014

Annualizing project?

Snapp et al., 2014

ICRISAT 2015 Pigeonpea priorities:“New plant type concept on improvement of

erect varieties; Expansion and promotion of

super-early pigeonpea genotypes in new

niches."

Legumes: Annuals, Perennials

and ??

Annual pulses Perennial agroforestry

Bean, peanut & soybean Gliricidia & tephrosia

A third way

A third type of legume

Pigeonpea(Cajan cajanus)

• Lablab

• Runner bean

• Lima bean

• Pigeonpea

• Cowpea

Perennial cowpea(Vigna unguiculata)

Runner bean(Phaseolus caccineus) Lablab

(Lablab purpureus)

Ratooned pigeonpea

(Cajanus cajan)

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

Seedsavings

Secondcrop

Laborsavings

SoilFertility

Betterintercrop

Mzimba

Kasungu

Zomba

Why/why not ratoon pigeonpea in Malawi

Roge et al. ms. submitted

Why NOT ratoon:

No benefit

Increased disease

Competition with

maize

Why grow perennial pigeonpea? Choice experiments in Malawi

Waldman et al. ms. submitted

-1

-0.5

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

De

ma

nd

Soil fertility

Perenniality

Biomass

Yield

ICRISAT: Early 1990s almost shut down pigeonpea

research program

BMGF: 2008 funded ‘N2 for Africa’ Prof Ken Giller

Pigeonpea removed from project

Tropical Legumes III 2015: Pigeonpea removed

USAID-Malawi: 2010 funded ‘Integrated Nutrient Value Chain’

DAI (Malawi Government, MSU, AR), project goal: increase

by 15% yields of pulses

Pigeonpea removed from project

Irish Aid in 2011 funded promotion of Tephrosia vogelli

agroforestry maize in Malawi, pigeonpea overlooked

Pigeonpea case study

‘Always the bridesmaid, never the bride’

Pigeonpea case study

2

3

4

All farmers value annuals, some

ratoon, and value perennial traits1

Research vision is all annual (almost

no breeding no agronomy)

Yet, intensification is an annual (maize!)

project in Malawi

Perennial grains were grown historically

and persist in some locations

Perennial wheatgrass Annual wheat

Photo by Jim Richardson

Annual wheat Perennial wheat

0102030405060708090

100

P3 P11 P15 P19

Gra

in Y

ield

%

of

An

nu

al

First Year

Second Year

Jaikumar et al., 2013

Perennial wheat lines yield vs. annual

Perennial grain bibliography analysis

http:/pgrainsforafrica.psm.msu.edu

Kane et al., PLOS ONE

Perennial grain biblio. topic modeling

Which vision, agronomy = annuals?

??Why have perennial grains

been overlooked?

Are perennials key to

SUSTAINABLE

intensification?