Partnerships Issue 10 - African Agricultural Technology Foundation

Partnerships
10
May–Aug
2012
A quarterly newsletter of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation
The Open Forum on
Agricultural Biotechnology
in Africa receives USD 3
million as it marks its 5th
anniversary ...2
Cassava Mechanisation &
Agro-processing Project
set for take-off ...3
Visitors ...7
Dr Kyetere urges support for biotech development
in Africa at 2012 Bio Convention
Dr Denis T. Kyetere
Dr Denis T. Kyetere, the Executive
Director, AATF, has called for
increased partnership between
the private and public sectors in order
to contribute to the development and
delivery of biotechnology tools to
smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan
Africa (SSA).
Speaking at the 2012 ‘Bio International
Convention: the Global Event for
Biotechnology’ in Boston, MA, USA,
in June 2012, Dr Kyetere also said that
smallholder farmers have potential
for the lowest farm production costs
and therefore any investments made
will be visible and impactful. He said
the use of improved technologies will
result in higher and better yields, labour
savings and will also allow for possible
crop diversification and address
production constraints such as insect
and weed pests, drought, diseases,
soil degradation and protection of the
environment. “The greatest impact,
benefit and return on investment will be
realised at smallholder level,” he said.
Dr Kyetere lamented that, while
agricultural biotechnology is making
advances in the developed world,
developing countries are struggling
to keep pace for various reasons
including human and institutional
capacity challenges, lack of familiarity
with the biotech product development
process, and difficulties in navigating
cumbersome regulatory processes.
“To help overcome some of these
challenges, the private sector can
contribute their technologies, knowhow
and even funding. Other key areas include
capacity strengthening in areas such as
stewardship, product development and
deployment and participating in policy
development discussions where they can
share their experience.”
Dr Kyetere also noted that misinformation
and controversy regarding biotech
is a hindrance to public acceptance
of biotech in the region. He said that
debates over agricultural biotechnology
and its application focus mainly
on hypothetical risks and questions
related to value, safety and impact.
Numerous studies and evidence-based
fact finding missions have shown that
biotechnology-derived products have
been proven to be economically viable,
environmentally sustainable and as safe
as their conventional counterparts, but
this does not seem to hasten or smoothly
pave way for acceptance making the
introduction of biotechnology derived
products, especially transgenic crops,
quite challenging.
The process of bringing biotech to
SSA is also riddled with trust issues as
skepticism of private sector involvement
in humanitarian projects through public
private partnerships (PPPs) is expressed.
Distrust has been identified as one of
the major challenges to the success of
PPPs which often result from public
misconception about the intentions of
the private sector’s involvement and
from public and private culture clash
within the partnership.
Dr Kyetere went on to say that
insufficient government funding for
research contributes to slow growth
of biotechnology especially when one
notes that most of the continent is still
battling age-old problems of pests and
diseases and facing new challenges
such as climate change. However,
it is important to note that African
governments are aware of the need to
increase investments in agriculture,
as evidenced in the 2003 Maputo
Declaration, where they committed to
allocating at least 10 percent of national
budgetary resources to agriculture and
rural development.
He said that support for biotech
crop development in less developed
markets like SSA requires nurturing
and initiation of efforts that contribute
towards creation of an enabling policy
environment for the development of
such innovative technologies. Biotech
research programmes require the
support of enabling activities that deal
with intellectual property, licensing,
technology stewardship, regulatory
science, communication and issues
management, market linkages, research
and development, and coordination n
For more information visit
http://www.aatf-africa.org/userfiles/
Press-release_Biotech-in-Africa.pdf
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The Open Forum on Agricultural
Biotechnology in Africa receives USD 3 million
as it marks its 5th anniversary
OFAB Programming Committee members during the review and planning meeting held in Accra, Ghana in May 2012.
The Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa
(OFAB) marked its 5 th anniversary since it was launched
in September 2006. The celebration, which also
saw long-serving country organising committee members
recognised for dedicated service, was held alongside the
Forum’s 2012 annual review and planning meeting in Accra,
Ghana from 1–3 May 2012. The meeting brought together
representatives from the five African countries of Kenya,
Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania and Ghana. The Forum aims to
enhance knowledge-sharing and awareness on biotechnology
and to contribute to building an enabling environment for
decision making on agricultural biotechnology in Africa.
“Biotechnology has delivered substantial benefits to farmers
around the world but Africa still lags behind in exploiting
its potential partly due to lack of an enabling environment
for the development and use of agricultural biotechnology,”
said Hon Sherry Ayittey, Ghana’s Minister for Environment,
Science and Technology who was the guest of honour during
the celebration.
The Minister went on to say that discussions over agricultural
biotechnology and its application are surrounded by
misperceptions due to lack of or conflicting information.
“This is a challenge that decision makers who must make the
right decisions in the face of a rapidly growing population,
declining agricultural productivity and reduced resources
available for agricultural research continue to face,” she
added.
Dr Kyetere, the Executive Director of AATF, said that OFAB
addresses the existing biotechnology information gaps and
concerns by facilitating the interaction of scientists involved
in biotechnology research with journalists, policy makers,
civil society, farmers and other stakeholders.
Partners from the five countries lauded the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation for supporting the program through a grant
of USD 3 million in March 2012. The additional funding will
support the current activities of OFAB in the countries and
also expand activities outside their current monthly meetings
to cover a wider geographical scope and organise targeted
biotech communication events for specific categories of
stakeholders. The Forum will also open another country
chapter in a francophone country before the end of 2012.
Currently, OFAB, an initiative of AATF, operates through
holding monthly meetings in five countries (Kenya, Tanzania,
Uganda, Nigeria and Ghana), where topics of interest in
agricultural biotechnology are presented and discussed.
Lessons and experiences gained during the five years that
OFAB has been in operation point to the potential that OFAB
offers in creating better understanding and appreciation of
agricultural biotechnology in SSA to address biotechnology
information needs of policy makers and the general public n
For more information visit
http://www.aatf-africa.org/news__events/press_releases/en/
http://www.ofabafrica.org/links.php?id=17
or contact Nancy Muchiri (n.muchiri@aatf-africa.org)
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Project updates
Cassava Mechanisation and Agro-processing Project set for take-off
Smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan
Africa (SSA) who produce more
than half of the world’s supply of
cassava are set to benefit from access
to improved cassava varieties and high
quality processing equipment with the
initiation of a new project known as
the Cassava Mechanisation and Agroprocessing
Project (CAMAP) being
implemented by AATF.
One of the constraints to cassava
production in the region is lack of
appropriate machinery for planting,
harvesting and processing, yet the
potential for increasing the productivity
of the crop is huge with over 300
possible cassava products.
The objective of the project is to ensure
food security and poverty reduction
by improving the mechanisation and
agro-processing of cassava along the
value chain by smallholder farmers
in SSA. Cassava production and
processing technologies will contribute
to sustainable improvements in market
access, food security, and enhance
incomes and livelihoods of farmers,
processors, and marketers in the cassava
sector. The project will work with
partners to develop competitive cassava
commodity chains for a reliable supply
of processed products for food and
non-food industrial use by upgrading
and expanding traditional planting,
harvesting and processing techniques
in selected countries in Africa.
The project is set to benefit more than 3.5
million smallholder farmers in Nigeria,
Ghana, Malawi, Zambia and Uganda. The
specific objectives of the project are to;
negotiate access and transfer of cassava
mechanisation and agro processing
technologies for use by smallholder
farmers; increase cassava production
through mechanisation across the entire
value chain and thus reduce post-harvest
losses and demands for intensive labour;
add value to the cassava industry through
value addition and creation of market
linkages by linking smallholder farmers
with agro processing centers; and build
capacity of local entrepreneurs to design
prototypes machines, manufacture,
maintain and repair the necessary
equipment for cassava planting, harvesting
and processing.
Over the last five years, AATF has been
exploring various possibilities towards
improving the viability of cassava
production through mechanisation
and agro-processing. AATF has engaged
with the various cassava processing
equipment manufacturers to work
directly with African entrepreneurs to
produce high quality cassava planting
and processing equipment.
“Manufacturers from Brazil, one of
the world’s leading cassava producers
have agreed to work with AATF to
give farmers access to high quality
cassava processing equipment” says
Mr George Marechera, the Business
Development Manager at AATF. “We
have also engaged with cassava farmers,
processors, government departments
and research organisations in Nigeria
and Zambia, the target pilot countries
A cassava farmer with her produce - the
CAMAP project is set to benefit more
than 3.5 million smallholder farmers in
five target countries of Nigeria, Zambia,
Uganda, Malawi and Kenya.
for the project, to understand the cassava
sector and also identify potential project
partners.”
The cassava equipment being targeted by
the project includes planters, cultivators,
boom sprayers, stem cutters, diggers,
washers and peelers, graters, driers and
among others. AATF will facilitate and
coordinate mechanization at farm level
and link farmers to service providers and
fabricators in the project n
For more information contact George
Marechera (g.marechera@aatf-africa.
org)
Compliance management training for
cowpea and rice projects held
A
training on confined field trials (CFT) compliance
management was held in Accra, Ghana, in July 2012, to
enhance the capacity of teams responsible for managing
the Maruca Resistant Cowpea and Nitrogen Efficient Water
Efficient Salt Tolerant (NEWEST) Rice projects CFTs in Ghana,
Burkina Faso and Nigeria.
The training, which also included the sharing of CFT compliance
management experiences from the Cowpea project in Nigeria
and Burkina Faso, was especially useful to the teams in Ghana,
who are preparing to install the first CFTs for the cowpea and
rice projects as soon as regulatory approval is given by the
country’s National Biosafety Committee. Nigeria and Burkina
Faso are in the process of conducting the fourth and second
Cowpea CFTs respectively n
Participants during the compliance training held in Accra in July
2012
For more information contact Francis Nang’ayo (f.nang’ayo@
aatf-africa.org)
3

PICTURE SPEAK
Hon Sherry Ayittey, Ghana’s Minister for Environment, Science and Technology and Dr Denis Kyetere, AATF
Executive Director, unveil the OFAB logo during the Forum’s 5th Anniversary celebrations held in Accra, Ghana in
May 2012.
Hon Akinwumi Adesina, Nigeria’s Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development (third left) and Dr Denis
Kyetere ( third right) with AATF Nigeria staff in a group photo during a courtesy call paid on the Minister in May
2012 in Abuja, Nigeria.
Participants pose for a group photo during the AATF Strategy Refresh meeting held in May 2012 in Nairobi. The
meeting was attended by over 30 participants who included representatives from USAID, CIMMYT, ASARECA, a
farmer organisation, and Ministry of Agriculture, Kenya.

PICTURE SPEAK
Mr Isaka Mashauri, the Director, Tanseed International talks to journalists at the Imazapyr Resistant maize
demonstration plot in Morogoro in August 2012.
Farmers attending a field day in Tanga, Tanzania read information materials on how to control Striga on their Farms.
Dr Charity Mutegi explains how the aflasafeKE01 biocontrol product works to reduce aflatoxin contamination in
maize to farmers in Embu district, Kenya in June 2012, during the initiation of on-farm trials for the product under
the Aflatoxin Control in Maize and Peanuts project.

Project updates (continued)
Progress and planning meeting held for Bacterial Wilt Resistant Banana project
Partners working on the Bacterial
Wilt Resistant Banana project met
in July 2012 in Kampala to review
progress made and also plan for 2012
and 2013 activities. The project, which
is a partnership between AATF, National
Agricultural Research Organisation of
Uganda and the International Institute
of Tropical Agriculture is developing
banana varieties that are resistant to the
banana bacterial wilt disease from East
African farmer preferred germplasm.
During the meeting, scientists working
on the project reported that their
endeavors have generated several lines
of the apple banana popularly known as
sukali ndizi that have shown resistance to
the disease after being inserted with two
genes extracted from sweet pepper. The
genes have been donated royalty-free for
use in the project by Academia Sinica,
Taiwan through negotiations by AATF.
The Banana meeting participants during a field trip to the Project’s confined field trial
site in Kawanda, Uganda in July 2012.
The lines are undergoing testing under
confined field trials at the Kawanda
research station in Uganda. The meeting
was also attended by participants drawn
from various research institutes involved
in banana research in Kenya, Tanzania,
Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda n
For more information contact Jacob
Mignouna (h.mignouna@aatf-africa.org)
Striga control in maize
project holds partners
meeting and farmer field
days
In an effort to enhance the uptake
and awareness of the use of the
StrigAway Imazapyr Resistant (IR)
maize technology in the control of
the Striga weed, the Striga Control in
Maize project conducted farmer field
days in Kenya in July, and in Uganda and
Tanzania in August 2012 and also held
a strategic partners meeting in Nairobi.
The partners meeting, attended by
representatives from Kenya, Uganda
and Tanzania including seed companies
reviewed the status of the project since its
launch in 2006, identified the challenges
and lessons learnt and possible solutions.
They also shared and discussed plans for
the 2012 short rains season and the 2013
seasons. Plans were also made on seed
production to ensure availability during
the planting seasons.
The farmer field days in Western
Kenya held under the Integrated Striga
Management for Africa project were
attended by over 200 farmers and were
held in six districts. Farmers attending
the field day were taken through the
various Striga control technologies
including the IR maize technology.
Mama Anisia Maiko (center) displays a StrigAway Imazapyr Resistant maize cob at her
demonstration plot during a farmer field day held in, Tanga, Tanzania in August 2012.
In Tanzania, the farmer field day was
held in Muheza in Tanga region. The
field day was attended by over 200
participants including farmers, extension
officers and officials from the Ministry of
Agriculture and partners involved in the
project including Tanseed International
Ltd, International Maize and Wheat
Improvement Center (CIMMYT), BASF
and AATF.
During the field day, two farmers who
had participated in demonstrations
for the IR maize seed variety TAN 222
were given an opportunity to share their
experiences with other farmers. Both
testified that the variety was effective in
reducing the Striga weed infestation on
their farm.
In Uganda, a field day was held to
evaluate the performance of 40 different
IR maize varieties in Osukuru sub-county,
Tororo district. The over 40 participants
representing seed companies, farmer
groups, local government and project
partners identified three varieties as the
best performing in the control of Striga
in the region. These varieties will be
planted again for further evaluation in
the 2012 second season n
6

Meeting to harmonize bio pesticide regulatory frameworks held
AATF together with the United
States Department of Agriculture
(USDA) organized a roundtable
meeting in June 2012 in Zanzibar,
Tanzania to develop a plan on how
to draft a bio pesticide regulatory
framework. The meeting brought
together regulatory experts from Kenya,
Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia
as part of an initiative to harmonise
regulatory frameworks for biocontrol
in Sub-Saharan Africa. The experts
were expected to develop guidelines
for regional registration of microbial
bio pesticides drawing from existing
frameworks. The output from the
roundtable discussions will feed into
the Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in
Africa (PACA) initiative which is a multidonor
and multi-institutional Africawide
partnership that is exploring ways
of how to increase investments and
efforts towards aflatoxin control. n
For more information contact Francis
Nang’ayo (f.nang’ayo@aatf-africa.org)
End of phase I review for WEMA done
The Water Efficient Maize for Africa
(WEMA) Project underwent an
end of phase I review in July 2012.
This follows a mid-term review that was
done in August 2010. The five -year
Phase I of the project started in March
2008 and will end in February 2013.
The review, which was conducted by Dr
Greg Edmeades and Prof Idah Sithole-
Niang on behalf of the project donors,
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
and the Howard G. Buffet Foundations
included meetings with project team
leaders from the five project countries of
Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique
and South Africa, technology donors,
CIMMYT and Monsanto and the project
coordinator, AATF. Emphasis during the
review was on the progress that has been
made since the last review in August
2010, the actions on the 2010 review
recommendations and the project’s
The reviewers Dr Greg Edmeades and Prof Idah Sithole-Niang (left) present the
preliminary findings of the review to the project partners in Nairobi in July 2012.
preparedness for phase II that will focus
on deployment and commercialization
of both the conventional and transgenic
drought-tolerant and insect-protected
maize varieties that the project has been
developing during phase I. Preliminary
indications from the review show
that the project has met the phase I
objectives n
For more information contact Sylvester
Oikeh (s.oikeh@aatf-africa.org)
Visitors
AATF and Kenya’s Ministry of
Agriculture explore linkages
Representatives from the research
liaison division (RELD) of the Ministry
of Agriculture in Kenya visited AATF
in June 2012 and held discussions with staff
to explore common areas of interest that the
two organisations can collaborate on.
One of the objectives of RELD is to establish
and enhance research-extension linkages
for participatory technology development,
packaging and dissemination in an effort to
achieve synergy through harmonized and
coordinated initiatives n
The Ministry of Agriculture (left) officials Agnes Kyalo and Patrick Ochieng, during the
meeting with AATF staff.
7

Bt cotton project team
shares experiences
The Bt cotton project team from
the Kenya Agricultural Research
Institute met with AATF staff to share
their experiences in the development
and commercialisation of Bt cotton in
Kenya and to seek collaboration in the
deployment of the product. The team,
led by Dr Charles Waturu, the project’s
principal investigator, also discussed
matters of mutual interest related to
deployment and commercialisation of
biotechnology tools. Bt cotton is expected
to be commercialised in 2014 and may be
the first GM crop in Kenya n
Dr Charles Waturu, the Bt Cotton Principal Investigator from KARI (5 th left) with
AATF staff and some members of his team.
New staff
Prince Addae – Cowpea Project Manager
Dr Prince Addae has joined AATF as the Cowpea Project Manager based in Abuja, Nigeria.
Prince is an agronomist with a PhD from University of Sydney, Australia, an MSc from University
of Guelph, Ontario, Canada and a BSc (Hons) from University of Science & Technology, Ghana.
Prince began his career working for Ghana Grains and Legumes Board at Kumasi on Ghana/
Canada Grains Development Project as a Senior Development Officer. He was Principal
Research Officer, Horticulture, for the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Fiji. Prince worked
for Monsanto Company at St Louis, USA as Geneticist/Breeder from 1998 to 2006 where he
incorporated insect-resistant and Roundup Ready flex traits into cotton varieties from Burkina
Faso leading to Bt cotton commercialisation. He also worked on biotech cotton as Trait Testing
Manager for Bayer Crop Science in 2011 at Lubbock, Texas. Prior to joining AATF Prince was
an International Consultant for United Nations Industrial Organization (UNIDO), Vienna on
biotech cotton for Ghana to revitalise Ghana’s cotton industry n
Prince Addae
For more information on Prince visit http://www.aatf-africa.org/about_aatf/staff/addae
Daniel Otunge - OFAB Coordinator
Daniel Otunge has joined AATF as Coordinator for the Open Forum for Agricultural
Biotechnology (OFAB) in Africa. Daniel a development communication expert holds a
Master of Arts degree in Philosophy, a Postgraduate Diploma in Mass Communications,
and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from the University of Nairobi. Daniel is waiting
to graduate with an MA in Development Communication from the University of Nairobi.
Daniel worked for six years as Communication Officer with the International Service for
the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA Afri-Center) in Nairobi. Prior to joining
AATF, Daniel was the head of Communication and Advocacy at the African Seed Trade
Association (AFSTA). As Coordinator of the Open Forum for Agricultural Biotechnology
(OFAB), Daniel is responsible for effective and efficient coordination and management of
OFAB activities in Africa n
For more information on Daniel visit http://www.aatf-africa.org/about_aatf/staff/Otunge
Daniel Otunge
Partnerships is a quarterly newsletter published by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) in Nairobi, Kenya.
Contact: Nancy N. Muchiri, Communications & Partnerships Unit, African Agricultural Technology Foundation,
P.O. Box 30709-00100, Nairobi, Kenya. Tel. +254 20 422 3700; Fax: +254 20 422 3701; Via USA: Tel. + 1 650 833 6660 3700,
Fax: +1 650 833 6661 3701.
email: aatf@aatf-africa.org. Website: www.aatf-africa.org.
© 2012. AATF encourages fair use of information in this newsletter provided the source is fully acknowledged.
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