Objective
Cereal production in S Asia has far outstripped that of legumes, with serious consequences for the food security and nutritional well being of poor farmers in marginal areas. Ricebean (Vigna umbellata) is a legume grown in Western, Northern and Eastern (WNE) India and Nepal but landraces predominate. It is grown as an intercrop, particularly of maize, and has been grown on residual water after rice. There is little or no choice of improved varieties as there has been almost non-modern plant breeding in the crop, and seed supply is limited or non-existent. Consequently, it is not grown widely despite being suitable for marginal areas where many poor people live. Established marketing channels do not exist.
Ricebean grows well on many soils. It has rapid establishment, pest resistance, and potential for good yields of nutritious fodder and high quality grain, and this neglected crop has great scope for genetic improvement. We will utilise the partners' diverse capabilities to develop, test and promote farmer-friendly, profitable, sustainable interventions to integrate ricebean into maize- and rice-based cropping systems and legume markets in India and Nepal. We will assess genetic diversity in Nepal and India using participatory and molecular techniques, collect germplasm, and catalogue indigenous knowledge on ricebean diversity.
We will elicit consumer willingness to pay for ricebean and assess its nutritional effects. We will carry out participatory agronomic trials to assess environmental adaptation. We will reach our overall objective of making ricebean more than locally popular by matching farmer-preferred varieties to diverse seasons, environments and market requirements, using a combination of genetic, agronomic, and socio-economic approaches firmly based on client-orientated principles to identify genotypes and parents for breeding programmes suitable for integrating ricebean into rice and maize-based cropping systems and consumer diets in WNE India and Nepal.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP6-2004-INCO-DEV-3
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Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
BANGOR
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.