Scientists across Africa and their colleagues in other parts of
the world are meeting with policymakers in Tanzania under the auspices of the
African Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) to discuss the progress made in the last two
years in providing clues to the agronomy of cassava.
The meeting, holding December 11-15, is set to review the progress
made by the ACAI—a project managed by the International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture— and plan for the year ahead.
Addressing participants at the meeting, the Permanent Secretary,
Tanzanian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, expressed optimism
that the ACAI project would provide solutions to some of the problems faced by
cassava farmers in Tanzania and sub-Saharan Africa.
The Permanent Secretary was represented by Dr Geophrey Kajiru,
Assistant Director, Research and Development.
The Tanzanian meeting, which is taking place in Mwanza, will also
include a planning workshop for the ACAI 2018 project activities in line with
the implementation strategy for year 3 of the project. The meeting is thus
organized for planning and setting new goals for the 2018 activities, sharing
roles, and understanding the expectations of each party represented in the
project.
The event is earmarked to set pace for transitioning into the
validation and the onset of dissemination stage of the Decision Support Tools
(DSTs).
Dr Bernard Vanlauwe, Director for Central Africa Hub with the
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), said ACAI would tap
into new opportunities and partnerships to ensure sustainability of the project
and use of the tools developed.
Through extensive research working with development partners, ACAI
has developed the initial version of the decision support tools that will be
showcased at the meeting. This will provide an opportunity for the partners to
examine the tools and offer feedback on how the prototype DSTs can be improved.
ACAI DSTs are developed based on demand and needs identified by development
partners actively engaged in cassava value chain.
ACAI’s Senior Systems Agronomist, Dr Pieter Pypers said the
interaction among project partners would generate concrete ideas that would be
incorporated into the development of the DSTs to make them more useful and user
friendly.
“The tools we have developed must meet the needs of the
development partners, that is why we are planning for the partners to have a
practical feel of the tools in Mwanza and share with us their expectations of
the tools,” Dr Pypers added.
Project team members are making presentations on the progress of
the work under their specific roles in the project. ACAI is structured in
workstreams that inform the project’s critical path through research,
development, to the use and dissemination of the final project tools.
Dr Geoffrey Mkamilo, the National Coordinator for Root and Tuber
Crops, Agricultural Research Institute (ARI) in Tanzania said the project had
made significant gains in 2017 in research especially in meeting the high
demand data in ACAI.
“The trials have performed very well, especially when you look at
cassava response to fertilizer in the field, we are looking to hear about
updates from other project sites,” Dr Adeyemi Olojede, ACAI coordinator at the
National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike said.
The project has achieved significant milestones in 2017, a trend
that the core team and partners will be seeking to further in the new season.
The meeting in Tanzania has more than 60 participants representing
at least 21 organizations partnering with ACAI in Nigeria and Tanzania.
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