East and Southern African Regional Root Crop Network (ESARRN) / Phase I Terminal Report

Date

1992-09

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Abstract

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) provided technical assistance at the onset of the project and later the International Potato Centre (CIP) and the International Institute of Biological Control (IIBC) all provided technical backstopping to the East and Southern Africa Root Crops Research Network (ESARRN). All collaborating national programs made efforts to fulfil the objectives of the network; namely: Angola, Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. These objectives were also those of the respective programs. Phase I of the project was executed from June 1987 to September 1992. This document presents the summary of what the network achieved. Three hybridization centres have been established for the purpose of superior population improvement. Three centers, Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia have produced new populations which are having impact on raising yield performance and enhancing other important agronomic traits. These centres will continue to generate new types adapted to the various agro-ecologies of the region. Multiplication and distribution systems are being rap}dly adapted and attracting support from NGO's and other development agencies. This intervention is assisting the delivery of healthy planting materials of improved root crop varieties to farmers. A post harvest development facility has been established in Malawi to investigate improved drying systems which are now at on-farm testing stage. Village level processing constraints are being monitored and interventions developed to address them. Trained manpower in the region has been greatly improved as compared to the situation before the network started. Several hundred technicians and some researchers have been trained. They have also advanced professionally and improved their skills. They now freely exchange scientific and technical ideas among themselves and interact with each other at regular intervals through seminars, meetings, workshops and exchange visits. The overall thrust of transferring technology to NARS and then to farmers through a network of partnerships with extension and adaptive research teams in the national ministries of agriculture, farmers' groups and other NGOs is progressively bearing fruits in many programs. The network's steady success to date is so encouraging that other groups now seek to emulate its strategy.

Description

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Keywords

EASTERN AFRICA, SOUTHERN AFRICA, ROOT CROPS, FOOD SECURITY, PLANT BREEDING, TRAINING PROGRAMMES, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY, TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER, RESEARCH NETWORKS, INSTITUTION BUILDING, CASSAVA, SWEET POTATOES

Citation

DOI