Dr Esther Njuguna-Mungai, Scientist - Gender Research, ICRISAT, speaking at the Open Forum.

Dr Pooran Gaur, Assistant Research Program Director, Grain Legumes, ICRISAT presented work on machine-harvestable lentil varieties that will reduce drudgery of women, reduce labor requirement and thus increase profitability of the smallholder farmer.

Dr Damaris Achieng Odeny, Scientist Biotechnology, ICRISAT-Nairobi, highlighted the specific situation in east and southern Africa and the need to address the specific needs of the region. He pointed out that east Africa had unexploited germplasm and novel alleles from landraces which could be useful in the fight against poverty and hunger.

ICRISAT scientists presented new opportunities for extra-early maturing chickpea and lentil varieties such as the introduction in rice fallows and new niches such as spring planted crop. They also discussed lessons learnt from Eastern and Southern Africa in managing aflatoxin contamination in groundnuts.

Dr Esther Njuguna-Mungai, Scientist - Gender Research, ICRISAT, made a presentation on “Integrating Gender Research: Some ideas”, highlighting the status of gender research in the CRP on Grain Legumes. She informed that the Gender and Agriculture Network has designed a global study on gender norms, agency and innovations in agriculture and natural resources management.

The Open Forum meeting on Science in Grain Legumes held on 6 July in Saskatoon, Canada was held to highlight the high-quality science research conducted within the program to improve legumes research that will ensure food and nutrition security in dryland areas.

The CGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes is led by ICRISAT with the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) as partner agencies.