Assessing the Effectiveness of Agricultural R&D for Groundnut, Pearl Millet, Pigeonpea, and Sorghum in West and Central Africa and Eastern and Southern AfricaJNdjeungaauthorKMauschauthorFSimtoweauthorArable land in sub-Saharan Africa is often cultivated during seasonal rains in regions where the supply of rainfall exceeds the demand for rainfall for only 2–7 months of the year. These rainfall supply and demand conditions define rainfed agriculture in the semi-arid tropics (SAT). In 1972, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) was established in India with a global mandate to increase agricultural production in the SAT, thereby enhancing poor people’s welfare in these rainfall-unassured production environments. Technically, the SAT encompassed large areas of Australia, Latin America and Asia, but the geographic focus at ICRISAT was always on peninsular India and sub-Saharan Africa where most rural and urban poor lived. By 2020, the total population of people in Asia’s and Africa’s SAT is projected to be about 850 million, comprising a 70% share for Asia and a 30% share evenly split between West and Central Africa and East and Southern Africa (Walker, 2009). When ICRISAT was founded in 1972, the relative importance of the two continental populations was about 80% for Asia’s SAT and 20% for Africa’s SAT. The total SAT population in 1972 was only about 35% of the projected population in 2020...Agricultural R&DMilletsPigeonpeaGroundnutSorghumAfrican Agriculture2015CGIAR and CAB InternationalBook Section