ABSTRACT
Safflower is a multipurpose crop cultivated in the arid and semi-arid lands of the world. The crop is underutilized, and minor compared to other oilseed crops despite its excellent adaptability to various climatic conditions including drought, salinity, and extreme temperature tolerance. The seeds contain essential fatty acids beneficial to human health. Safflower has a high potential to be an industrial crop for the food, pharmaceutical, livestock feed, textile, and ornamental industries. The objective of this CARP project was to enhance safflower production and product development in Botswana with the goal to mitigate the effects of climate change, improve food security and incomes of farmers, reduce hunger, food imports, and poverty in Botswana. The project has established the optimum plant density that maximizes seed and oil yield and fatty acid composition; the influence of genotypes on seed yield and phenological stages; nutritional content of whole seed and forage for animal feed; nitrogen and phosphorus nutritional requirements; and potential insect pests and beneficial insects of safflower. The project strengthened links between the university and TVET institution, farmers, researchers, extension staff, other universities, farmer co-ops, and other research institutions in Botswana. The project has built capacity in agricultural research through the training of professional staff.
