A strategic guide: Working towards food security in the drylands, through COVID-19 and beyond

ICRISAT is well positioned to significantly contribute to efforts towards restoring food security in the drylands, while combating the COVID-19 pandemic-related impacts and beyond. Here is a quick guide outlining ways in which we can collaborate with our partners and influence positive outcomes for smallholder farmers.

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused phenomenal disruptions in the food system – a major contributor to global livelihoods and health. Such major disruptions typically impact vulnerable geographies the most, such as the semi-arid tropics or drylands. Smallholder farmers are particularly at risk because of pre-existing lags in nutrition, health, and income goals.

Our strengths:

• Extensive network of staff and partners on the ground, across sub-Saharan Africa and Asia
• Technical and scientific knowledge to partner with development teams
• Specialization in the drylands
• A wide range of scientific tools – from GIS and remote sensing to genomics, modeling and social tools
• Nutrient-dense and drought-tolerant mandate crops – millets, sorghum, groundnut, chickpea and pigeonpea
• Scaling expertise for a range of solutions
• Agribusiness innovation platform to support agri-entrepreneurs with product development and market analysis
• Digital solutions across the whole value chain