Modeling the growth and development of sorghum and pearl millet

This has raised expectations that improved systems of farming will be rapidly adopted by small farmers in developing countries. The agroecological environment of such farms is fragile and the farmers are resource-poor. Therefore, strategies recommended for increasing food production must be ecologically sound and should result in sustainable agriculture. System modeling can greatly expedite the search for improved development strategies. Recent advances in crop modeling have made it possible to simulate yields and growth of several crops under varied soil and weather conditions with different management proactices. This bulletin describes the framework of CERES (Crop Estimation Through Resource and Environment Synthesis) models developed by the International Benchmark Sites Network for Agrotechnology Transfer (IBSNAT) and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). Recent work on the simulation of nitrogen transformation in soils at the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) is discussed. A section on risk analyzes the cost-benefit implications of various inputs for increased crop production. RESCAP - a resource capture model developed at ICRISAT Center is presented. This publication is a cogent source book on the current status of development of CERES and RESCAP models, their data needs, outputs and applications. (Author abstract)