Dry Grain Pulses Collaborative Research Support Program

The Global Vision of the Dry Grain Pulses CRSP is to contribute to:

  • Economic growth and food and nutritional security through knowledge and technology generation
  • Sustainable growth and competitiveness of pulse value chains utilizing socially and environmentally compatible approaches
  • Empowerment and strengthened capacity of agriculture research institutions in USAID priority countries
  • USAID’s Feed the Future and Global Food Security Research Strategy
  • Achievement of Title XII legislative goals for CRSPs including the generation of dual benefits to developing country and U.S. agriculture

The Pulse CRSP achieves its vision by supporting a portfolio of collaborative research and institutional capacity building projects that address five Global Themes (numbered) and Thematic Areas (bulleted):

  1. To reduce production costs and risks for enhanced profitability and competitiveness of bean, cowpea and other grain legumes
  • Thematic Area 1:  Increasing pulse productivity through genetic improvement
  • Thematic Area 2:  Increasing pulse productivity through integrated crop management

2. To increase the utilization of bean and cowpea grain and food products so as to expand market opportunities and improve community health and nutrition

  • Thematic Area 3:  Increasing pulse utilization for improved nutrition and health

3. To improve the performance and sustainability for bean and cowpea value chains, especially for the benefit of women

  • Thematic Area 4:  Strengthening pulse value chains

4. To increase the capacity, effectiveness and sustainability of agriculture research institutions that serve the pulse sectors and developing country agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America

  • Enhancing the capacity of host country institutions is an integral objective of all research and technology dissemination projects supported by the Pulse CRSP. The approach and achievements in institutional capacity building are presented under the Achievements page

5. To support a dynamic and impactful research and capacity building agenda that builds upon past technical achievements, learns from past experiences, and gives priority to future investments that sustainably enhance the productivity and consumption of pulses while supporting USAID’s Feed the Future Global Food Security Research Strategy

  • Thematic Area 5:  Impact Assessment

For more information on the research strategy of Pulse CRSP please visit: Alignment of Dry Grain Pulses CRSP with FTF Research Strategy 

Genetic Improvement

Increasing Pulse Productivity through Genetic Improvement

  • Improved varieties of bean and cowpea with high yield potential, resistance to economically significant diseases and insect pests, and grain quality attributes demanded by markets
  • Improved varieties of bean and cowpea with adaptation to drought, high temperatures, and low soil fertility, factors associated with climate change

Combining Conventional, Molecular and Farmer Participatory Breeding Approaches to Improve Andean Beans for Resistance to Biotic and Abiotic Stresses. PIs: James Kelly and Sieglinda Snapp, Michigan State University; George Abawi, Cornell University; Eduardo Peralta, Instituto Nacional de Investigacion Agropuecuaria (INIAP), Ecuador; and Louis Butare, Institut des Sciences Agronomiques du Rwanda (ISAR), Rwanda. MSU-1

Development, Testing and Dissemination of Genetically Improved Bean Cultivars for Central America, the Caribbean and Angola. PIs: James Beaver and Consuelo Estevez, University of Puerto Rico; Timothy Porch, USDA-ARS Tropical Agriculture Research Station-Mayaguez, Puerto Rico; Juan Carlos Rosas, Escuela Agrícola Panamericana-Zamorano (EAP), Honduras; Emmanuel Prophete, National Seed Program, Ministry of Agriculture, Haiti; and António Chicapa Dovala, Instituto de Investigação Agronómica (IIA), Angola. UPR-1 

Modern Cowpea Breeding to Overcome Critical Production Constraints in Africa and the U.S. PIs: Philip Roberts and Jeff Ehlers, University of California-Riverside; Ndiaga Cisse, Centre National Recherches Agronomie-Bambey, Institut Senegalais de Recherches Agricole (ISRA), Senegal; Issa Drabo, Institut de l’Environment et des Recherches Agricole (INERA), Burkina Faso; and Antonio Chicapa Dovala, Instituto Investigacao Agronomica (IIA), Angola. UCR-1 

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Crop Management

Increasing Pulse Productivity through Integrated Crop Management (ICM)

  • Biological controls for affordable, integrated management of insect pests in cowpea
  • Improved Rhizobium inoculants and bean varieties with high biological nitrogen-fixing capacity
  • Bean genotypes with root architectures more efficient in P uptake and adapted to drought
  • ICM technologies to enhance productivity and sustainability of pulse-based cropping systems

Using Improved Pulse Crop Productivity to Reinvigorate Smallholder Mixed Farming Systems in Western Kenya. PIs: Julie Lauren, Cornell University and John Ojiem, Kenyan Agriculture Research Institute (KARI), Kenya. CU-1

Improving Bean Production in Drought-Prone, Low Fertility Soils of Africa and Latin America – An Integrated Approach. PIs: Jonathan Lynch and Jill Findeis, Pennsylvania State University; Magalhaes Miguel, Celestina Jochua, and Soares Xerinda, Instituto de Investigação Agrária Moçambique (IIAM), Mozambique; and Juan Carlos Rosas, Escuela Agricola Panamericana-Zamorano (EAP), Honduras. PSU-1

Enhancing Biological Nitrogen Fixation of Leguminous Crops Grown on Degraded Soils in Uganda, Rwananiada, and Tanz. PIs: Mark Westgate, Iowa State University; Mateete Bekunda, Makerere University, Uganda; Susan Mchimbi-Msolla and Hamisi Tindwa, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania; Augustine Musoni, Institit des Sciences Agronomiques du Rwanda, Rwanda; Michael Ugen, National Crops Research Institute, Uganda; Henry Kizito Musoke, Volunteer Efforts for Developmental Concerns (VEDCO), Uganda; Lynne Carpenter-Boggs, Washington State University; Karen Cichy, USDA-ARS, Michigan State University; and Eda Reinot, Becker Underwood, Inc., Iowa. ISU-2

Biological Foundations for Management of Field Insect Pests of Cowpea in Africa. PIs: Barry Pittendrigh, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Clementine Dabire, Institut de l’Environment et des Rechereches Agricole (INERA), Burkina Faso; Ibrahim Baoua, l’Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique du Niger (INRAN), Niger; Mohammad Ishiyaku, Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Nigeria; and Mamadou N’Diaye, Institute d’Economie Rurale du Mali (IER), Mali. UlUC-1

Nutrition and Health

Increasing Pulse Utilization for Improved Nutrition and Health

  • Value added bean grain though appropriate crop management, grain handling, and processing
  • Knowledge of health promoting attributes of cowpeas in diet

Enhancing Nutritional Value and Marketability of Beans through Research and Strengthening Key Value Chain Stakeholders in Uganda and Rwanda. PIs: Robert Mazur, Iowa State University; Dorothy Nakimbugwe, Makerere University, Uganda; Michael Ugen, National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCCRI), Uganda; Hilda Vasanthakaalam, Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Rwanda. ISU-1

Increasing Utilization of Cowpeas to Promote Health and Food Security in Africa. PIs: Joseph Awika, Susan Talcott, Lloyd Rooney and Bir Bahadur Singh, Texas A&M University; Chitundu Kasase, John Shindano, and Kalaluka Lwanga Munyinda, University of Zambia (UnZa); Kennedy Muimui, Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI), Zambia; Abdul Faraj, Prisca Tuitoek, Egerton University, Kenya; Amanda Minnaar, Gyebi Duodu and Andre Oelofse, University of Pretoria, South Africa. TAMU-1

Value Chains

Strengthening Pulse Value Chains

  • Assessment of bean and cowpea market structures and identification of leverage points in domestic and regional value chains
  • Development of policy recommendations to improve bean and cowpea producers’ ability to increase the value they receive from supply chain transactions
  • Brief on constraints to increasing smallholder participation in domestic markets
  • Understanding constraints to adoption of new bean productivity-enhancing technologies by households
  • Development of production capacity and market linkages for fair trade beans from Central America

Expanding Pulse Supply and Demand in Africa and Latin America: Identifying Constraints and New Strategies. PIs: Richard Bernsten and Cynthia Donovan, Michigan State University; David Kiala, Universidade Agostinho Neto, Angola; Feliciano Mazuze, Instituto de Investigação Agrária Moçambique (IIAM), Mozambique; and Juan Carlos Rosas, Escuela Agricola Panamericana-Zamorano (EAP), Honduras. MSU-2

Pulse Value Chain Initiative—Zambia. PIs: Vincent Amanor-Boadu, Tim Dalton. Allen Featherstone and Mahmud Yesuf, Kansas State University; Gelson Tembo, Mukwiti Mwiinga, Rebecca Lubinda, Hamukwala Priscilla, University of Zambia (UnZa), Zambia. KSU-1