Partnerships Issue 10 - African Agricultural Technology Foundation

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
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