July 2011

Source: AVRDC newsletter

AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center participated in the West African Seed Alliance (WASA) Seeds Project 2nd Regional Coordination and Planning Workshop from 12-14 July 2011 at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Samanko, Mali.

Representatives from ICRISAT Mali and Nigeria, the United States Agency for International Development in Mali (USAID), African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA), AVRDC, WASA, and collaborators from Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal met to review activities carried out by WASA-SP over the past three years.

Attendees discussed insights gained and lessons learned that could be applied to other seed system projects. The group also identified strategies for future collaboration to fit into the USAID Feed the Future (FtF) and ICRISAT Innovative Market Oriented Development (IMOD) initiatives.

During the opening session, Eric Shulter, Deputy Team Leader of Accelerated Economic Growth (AEG)-USAID-Mali, Farid Waliyar, director of WCAICRISAT, and Ram Shetty, Chief of Party of WASA-SP spoke on their respective outreach strategies and activities in the WASA program. Team leaders and representatives from other institutions in the regional seed system gave presentations on their contributions to the development of seed systems in their countries.

AVRDC noted its achievements through the Vegetable Breeding and Seed Systems for Poverty Reduction in Africa (vBSS) initiative. The variety catalog  jointly produced by AVRDC and Mali’s National Agricultural Research Institute (IER) was shown to the workshop participants, and many sought copies and seed to disseminate and test in their own
countries.

by Albert Rouamba, Onion Breeder
albert.rouamba@worldveg.org

Website: https://avrdc.org/

Published: July 31, 2011