Introduction
In 2007 with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, GCP initiated what was originally intended to be a three-year research project entitled Improving tropical legume productivity for marginal environments in Africa. The project is dubbed Tropical Legumes I (TLI) because it has a twin project—TLII—whose mandate is seed multiplication and distribution to pave the way for research results from TLI translate into breeding materials for the benefit of resource-poor farmers. TLII is also funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and led by International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (see TLI-TLII launch press release). The TLI project involves a wide array of partners, and is led by Tropical Legumes I Project Director, Carmen de Vicente.
The TLI project represents a key initiative in GCP, as it brings together advanced molecular research labs and national research partners in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Senegal, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and India. Together, they will develop molecular markers for groundnuts, cowpeas, beans and chickpeas. These markers, once validated, will be used to accelerate the development of stress-tolerant legume varieties that meet the needs of smallholder legume farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
In 2010, a second phase of the project was approved and initiated. Phase II will span four years (2010 – 2014), having seamlessly commenced on May 1st, 2010 at the conclusion of Phase I. Research activities in Phase I resulted in significant increases in the genomic tools for these legumes, a thorough knowledge of drought tolerance traits, as well as markers available for specific diseases. TLI Phase II will emphasise the ‘application’ of these outputs obtained during the first phase, using the genetic resources and genomic tools developed.
This second phase of the project also has a strong capacity-building component that will build on Phase I efforts to improve human resources and local infrastructure. It will be implemented in close partnership with institutions in the target countries. The research activities will also be carried out in collaboration with our twin project Tropical Legumes II at ICRISAT, and also dovetail with GCP’s Integrated Breeding Platform initiative and the GCP Challenge Initiatives on chickpea and cowpea.