ICRISAT's AVISA project - Towards sustainable seed systems in Eastern and Southern Africa

Published 2021년 1월 25일

Tridge summary

The Accelerated Varietal Improvement and Seed Delivery of Legumes and Cereals in Africa (AVISA) project, in collaboration with ICRISAT and local partners, has launched a seed systems strategy in Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Uganda to increase the turnover rate of varietals and promote the adoption of improved varieties. The strategy focuses on developing digital seed roadmaps, increasing participation in the private seed sector and community seed producers, innovating digital tools, and building business cases for crops. The Seed Revolving Fund Initiative has also been launched in Tanzania to boost access to quality seeds in rural areas. In Uganda, a digital plan of work has been developed, a data collection tool created to study the brewery industry's impact on the sorghum seed sector, and a seed revolving fund has been initiated.

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Original content

The AVISA project has rolled out its seed systems strategy in Tanzania, Ethiopia and Uganda with an aim to increase ESA’s varietal turnover rate and boost adoption of improved varieties. Digital seed roadmaps, increasing private seed sector and community seed producer participation, innovating digital tools and building business cases for the crops are part of the strategy. High quality seed is a prerequisite for sustainable increase of agricultural production. Quality seed determines the potential of crop yield and return of investment on land, labor and capital. Sustainable access to quality seed of improved varieties remains a major challenge and hinders agricultural development efforts. For decades, more than 80% of smallholder farmers in developing countries, mainly sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and to some extent South Asia (SA), heavily rely on farm saved seed of non-improved varieties. ICRISAT and partners in the Accelerated Varietal Improvement and Seed Delivery of Legumes and ...

Source: Agropages