Annual Report 2012 - African Agricultural Technology Foundation

22 AATF Annual Report 2012
focused on the production of certified IR maize seed and on promotion
of the technology in the country. The Project produced 0.84 tonnes of
breeder seed against a target of 0.5 tonnes and 2.6 tonnes of foundation
seed during 2012.
Kenya and Uganda continued to make significant progress towards
the deployment of the IR maize seed to smallholder farmers.
In Uganda, the Africa 2000 Network and partners promoted the IR
maize Longe 7H variety which was evaluated under the recommended
farmer management conditions on smallholder farms of Eastern Uganda,
one of the areas in the country that is heavily infested with the weed.
This activity also served as an avenue of creating awareness on the
StrigaAway® maize technology among smallholder famers, community
based organisations, seed producers, researchers and policy makers.
The team in Uganda also carried out farmer identification,
installation of over 1,000 trials, data collection, outreach programmes and
documentation of farmer experiences. The outreach saw 30 sensitisation
meetings on Striga management conducted at the sub-county level
reaching over 20,000 farmers and 950 groups.
The above activities were carried out alongside those of getting the
IR herbicide and the IR Longe 7H maize variety registered in the country.
The Longe 7H hybrid has been successfully converted into an IR-maize
hybrid and has been incorporated in the demonstration pack in Uganda.
Richard Obbo at his IR maize demonstration farm in Tororo, Uganda where farmers are evaluating
the IR Longe 7H variety as they await the registration of the IR herbicide that will allow for the
commercialisation of the variety
Deploying agricultural technologies for farmers