AATF Inaugural Report - African Agricultural Technology Foundation

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A New Bridge to Sustainable Agricultural Development in Africa and participates in the analysis of problems and opportunities, identification of appropriate partners, negotiation of contracts and licensing agreements, regulatory approval, delivery of new products and general project oversight. The precise nature of the Foundation’s activities varies from one project to the next, and reflects a careful case-by-case decision-making process that is grounded in the organisation’s basic operational strategy. Figure 3 illustrates the kinds of relationships and activities in which the Foundation engages. Problem Areas and Initial Projects During its initial meeting in January 2003, the AATF Board of Trustees agreed upon eight significant problem areas affecting the productivity of agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa: 1) Controlling the parasitic weed known as Striga in cereals; 2) Improving cowpea productivity; 3) Improving the productivity of bananas and plantains; 4) Enhancing the nutritional quality of cereals; 5) Improving drought tolerance in cereals; 6) Reducing mycotoxins in food grains; 7) Increasing the productivity of cassava; 8) Improving insect resistance in maize. Beginning in July 2003, AATF supported a series of small group meetings involving various stakeholders and focused on identifying Technology Licensors Licence Technology/Support in kind Funding agencies Funds AATF Funds Contracts: 1 2 3 4 Partners: Research Institute Research Institute Production & Distribution Company NGO/Private Stockist Farmers Activities: Basic/Strategic/ Adaptive Research Regulatory Consents Production & Distribution Demonstration & Market Development Figure 3: How AATF operates. 22
Building the New Bridge constraints and opportunities associated with several of these problem areas. These meetings led in two cases to the development and implementation of fully-fledged projects aimed at 1) controlling Striga, which adversely affects the production of maize, sorghum and millet; and 2) improving cowpea productivity by strengthening its resistance to insect pests. Other projects in various stages of development include enhancing the productivity of bananas and plantains by increasing resistance to important diseases and insects; improving the nutritional quality of selected cereals, and improving the productivity of cassava through approaches to optimise labour requirements during field and processing operations. New Ways to Facilitate the Transfer of Agricultural Technologies In order to achieve significant improvements in agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa, new ways of doing business are needed. More specifically, new and innovative ways of building partnerships and transferring modern proprietary technologies must be pursued. The Foundation works with a variety of partners in a number of creative, yet practical ways, including the following: • AATF consults with a broad range of African stakeholders to identify priority crops and key constraints for resource-poor farmers; • It consults with potential technology providers, in both the private and public sectors, to identify technologies that can address those constraints; • It negotiates with potential partners to develop project business plans that specify the role of each partner institution, and determine how and where the technology will be used; • The Foundation enters into license agreements to access and hold proprietary technologies royalty-free and ensure freedom to operate for all the components of the technologies; • It sub-licenses partner institutions for further research as required to adapt the technologies to smallholder farming conditions; • It issues sub-licenses to test the adapted technologies for regulatory compliance; • It issues commercial sub-licenses for production and distribution; • AATF staff monitor compliance with the requirements of sub-licenses to minimise the risk of technology failure; • They also facilitate the work of appropriate partner institutions to ensure that links in the value chain are connected, effective and result in products of the technology getting to farmers, and farmers’ surplus harvests getting to market; • And the Foundation creates partnerships within African countries and with external stakeholders that foster the development of necessary indigenous capacities over time. As experience is gained with these activities, new opportunities for facilitating the technology transfer process will come to light and, where it makes sense to do so, be adopted by the Foundation and its many partners. 23
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AATF Inaugural Report - African Agricultural Technology Foundation

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