| Increasing productivity and market opportunities for banana and plantain: A strategy for economic growth for rural communities in Africa |
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Start date
End date
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July 2002
May 2006
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| Total grant |
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| Donor |
USAID - Technology Access Fund for sub-Saharan Africa , USA |
| Location |
Cameroon, Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania |
| Goal |
The goal of this Target project, jointly initiated by the International Plant Genetic Resources (IPGRI) and the Internatioonal Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), is to improve food and income security of small-scale farmers in selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa. |
| Brief description |
The purpose of the project is to transfer improved banana and plantain production and marketing technologies and facilitate their adoption by small-scale farmers. The project aims to:
• Provide improved banana and plantain hybrids to farmers in four countries;
• Train farmers in improved production and marketing techniques for banana and plantain;
• Put a system in place to ensure the continued supply of improved hybrids to farmers within and outside the initial project sites;
• Put in place strategies for increasing rural income through community-level activities focussing on the marketing of bananas and plantains and their products.
64 000 in vitro plantlets of eight improved hybrids will be produced for the project. These will be distributed to 500 farmers in each of the four participating countries in the first year of the project. Each farmer will thus receive 32 plants. The farmers will in turn each provide 32 suckers at the beginning of next planting season to donate to another beneficiary farmer. Thus by the end of two years, 4000 farmers will have received planting materials of improved plantain and banana varieties. During the course of the project, farmers will be trained in improved production and marketing techniques for banana and plantain.
The project involves close partnerships between NARS, CBOs and NGOs and has a strong focus on community development. The project will work towards strengthening the capacity of farmers and the local communities of which they are part, to react rapidly to future changes in the economic and ecological environment. The project also aims to provide opportunities for farmers, NGOS and CBOs to become involved in income-generating activities based on bananas and their products.
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| Partners |
•The project is being jointly implemented by INIBAP and IITA. Collaborating organisations are:
Ghana
• Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR
• World Vision International
Cameroon
• Centre Africain de Recherches sur Bananiers et Plantains (CARBAP)
• Gatsby Trust
Mozambique
• Instituto Nacional de Investigaciao Agronomico
• Extension Department of MARD
• Africare
• University Eduardo Mondlane
• Casa do Gaiato
• CARE
South Africa
• Institute of Tropical and Sub-tropical Crops
Tanzania
• Agricultural Research and Development Institute (ARDI)
• Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA)
• FAIDA
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| Coordination |
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