CGIAR 94d ago

🌱 Crop diversity from the ICRISAT genebank helped farmers grow chickpea in parts of India 🇮🇳 that were previously considered too warm. By crossing germplasm resistant to Fusarium wilt disease with short-duration varieties, ICRISAT breeders were able to develop varieties that could thrive across central and southern states. The ICRISAT genebank conserves and makes available over 20,000 accessions of chickpea. It is also a major source of diversity for other crops including sorghum, pigeonpea, groundnut and millets. Since 1973, it has distributed over 1.6 million samples to users in 151 countries.