The sorghum Research Initiative initially focused on Mali, where sorghum-growing areas are large and rainfall is getting more and more limited, but the results will be readily applicable to other sorghum-growing areas.
Partners in the project were L'Institut d’économie rurale (IER, Mali), Agropolis–CIRAD, ICRISAT for the IER-led BCNAM project, as well as Syngenta for the CIRAD-led MARS project.
The original plan was to have activities in Ethiopia and Sudan as well for BCNAM and MARS, but due to high staff turnover in Ethiopia, and the political embargo on Sudan at the time the project was to be initiated, this was not possible. It is anticipated that more partners will come on board through the envisioned sorghum community of practice that GCP will establish.
Meantime, Phase II of the stay-green project (2012–2014) led by the University of Queensland, Australia, also brings in more African countries:
- Burkina Faso: Institut de l’environnement et de recherches agricoles (INERA)
- Ethiopia: Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR)
- Kenya: Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI)
- Mali: Institut d'économie rurale
- Niger: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique du Niger (INRAN)
- Sudan: Agricultural Research Corporation (ARC)