Thumbs up for new millet

A new variety of millet developed by Burkina Faso s agricultural research institute, l Institut national pour l étude et la recherche agronomique (INERA), is proving a big hit with farmers in the central southern region of the country. The IKMP5 variety, nicknamed Kiipala (new millet) by local farmers, is popular because it ripens more quickly than the traditional variety and has greater resistance to drought. Kyelem Benjamin, a research technician at INERA, says it has a 70-day cycle, almost half that of traditional millet. Farmers can therefore sow later, enabling them to manage their agricultural timetable more efficiently and to cut down on their workload. This means they have more time to devote to other activities such as growing maize, peanuts and cowpeas. In the words of one farmer, Souleymane Ouédraogo: With the improved variety, you have to plough and make ridges, sow, weed and earth up, while with the traditional variety you have to go back five or six times for weeding. Farmers are also enthusiastic about the flavour of the improved variety. It is easier to chew and much sweeter, so much so that it can be used to make zoom koom, a local drink based on millet flour, without adding sugar. Producers claim dishes made from this new variety are more appetising, since the millet is less yellow than the traditional version. The new variety was introduced in the country s Toessé department 2 years ago. Mr. Benjamin stresses that it requires more technical precision, i.e. a distance of 80 cm must be left between each row and 40 cm between each plant. Some farmers are so keen on the new millet that they maintain it produces higher yields, a claim that is denied by the INERA researcher traditional millet and the improved variety produce identical yields if grown in the same conditions. By contrast, he says, IKMP5 is more resistant to mildew, the scourge of millet. Photographics credits: © IPGRI, © TDAU, © MPA, M.Malengrez © InfoSud, © Meantime Brewery, © Syfia International.

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Main Author: Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
Format: News Item biblioteca
Language:English
Published: Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation 2005
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/48031
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/99624
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spelling dig-cgspace-10568-480312023-02-15T12:49:50Z Thumbs up for new millet Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation A new variety of millet developed by Burkina Faso s agricultural research institute, l Institut national pour l étude et la recherche agronomique (INERA), is proving a big hit with farmers in the central southern region of the country. The IKMP5 variety, nicknamed Kiipala (new millet) by local farmers, is popular because it ripens more quickly than the traditional variety and has greater resistance to drought. Kyelem Benjamin, a research technician at INERA, says it has a 70-day cycle, almost half that of traditional millet. Farmers can therefore sow later, enabling them to manage their agricultural timetable more efficiently and to cut down on their workload. This means they have more time to devote to other activities such as growing maize, peanuts and cowpeas. In the words of one farmer, Souleymane Ouédraogo: With the improved variety, you have to plough and make ridges, sow, weed and earth up, while with the traditional variety you have to go back five or six times for weeding. Farmers are also enthusiastic about the flavour of the improved variety. It is easier to chew and much sweeter, so much so that it can be used to make zoom koom, a local drink based on millet flour, without adding sugar. Producers claim dishes made from this new variety are more appetising, since the millet is less yellow than the traditional version. The new variety was introduced in the country s Toessé department 2 years ago. Mr. Benjamin stresses that it requires more technical precision, i.e. a distance of 80 cm must be left between each row and 40 cm between each plant. Some farmers are so keen on the new millet that they maintain it produces higher yields, a claim that is denied by the INERA researcher traditional millet and the improved variety produce identical yields if grown in the same conditions. By contrast, he says, IKMP5 is more resistant to mildew, the scourge of millet. Photographics credits: © IPGRI, © TDAU, © MPA, M.Malengrez © InfoSud, © Meantime Brewery, © Syfia International. A new variety of millet developed by Burkina Faso s agricultural research institute, l Institut national pour l étude et la recherche agronomique (INERA), is proving a big hit with farmers in the central southern region of the country. .. 2005 2014-10-16T09:12:34Z 2014-10-16T09:12:34Z News Item CTA. 2005. Thumbs up for new millet. Spore 119. CTA, Wageningen, The Netherlands. 1011-0054 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/48031 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/99624 en Spore Open Access Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation Spore
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description A new variety of millet developed by Burkina Faso s agricultural research institute, l Institut national pour l étude et la recherche agronomique (INERA), is proving a big hit with farmers in the central southern region of the country. The IKMP5 variety, nicknamed Kiipala (new millet) by local farmers, is popular because it ripens more quickly than the traditional variety and has greater resistance to drought. Kyelem Benjamin, a research technician at INERA, says it has a 70-day cycle, almost half that of traditional millet. Farmers can therefore sow later, enabling them to manage their agricultural timetable more efficiently and to cut down on their workload. This means they have more time to devote to other activities such as growing maize, peanuts and cowpeas. In the words of one farmer, Souleymane Ouédraogo: With the improved variety, you have to plough and make ridges, sow, weed and earth up, while with the traditional variety you have to go back five or six times for weeding. Farmers are also enthusiastic about the flavour of the improved variety. It is easier to chew and much sweeter, so much so that it can be used to make zoom koom, a local drink based on millet flour, without adding sugar. Producers claim dishes made from this new variety are more appetising, since the millet is less yellow than the traditional version. The new variety was introduced in the country s Toessé department 2 years ago. Mr. Benjamin stresses that it requires more technical precision, i.e. a distance of 80 cm must be left between each row and 40 cm between each plant. Some farmers are so keen on the new millet that they maintain it produces higher yields, a claim that is denied by the INERA researcher traditional millet and the improved variety produce identical yields if grown in the same conditions. By contrast, he says, IKMP5 is more resistant to mildew, the scourge of millet. Photographics credits: © IPGRI, © TDAU, © MPA, M.Malengrez © InfoSud, © Meantime Brewery, © Syfia International.
format News Item
author Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
spellingShingle Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
Thumbs up for new millet
author_facet Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
author_sort Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
title Thumbs up for new millet
title_short Thumbs up for new millet
title_full Thumbs up for new millet
title_fullStr Thumbs up for new millet
title_full_unstemmed Thumbs up for new millet
title_sort thumbs up for new millet
publisher Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
publishDate 2005
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/48031
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/99624
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