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Neighbors
helping neighbors:
A strategy for
sub-Saharan Africa
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For two decades, many
of Africa’s leading root
and tuber crop scientists
have worked together
through a network
considered to be one of
the developing world’s
most successful research
and development
programs |
In 1988, in an emergency effort
to restart Uganda’s national
potato program, scientists working
in Rwanda under the umbrella
of PRAPACE (the French acronym
for the Regional Network for
the Improvement of Potatoes
and Sweetpotatoes in Eastern
and Southern Africa) supplied
their Ugandan colleagues with
9 tons of high quality potato
seed. At the time, Uganda was
recovering from nearly 15 years
of political upheaval that had
left the country’s once-thriving
agriculture in disarray. Without
an infusion of clean seed stocks
and improved varieties, scientists
feared that Ugandan potato farmers
would be forced to plant deteriorated
seed, all but guaranteeing poor
yields and little return on
investment. The effort was a
success, and Uganda’s
potato program subsequent-ly
recovered.
Rwanda’s generosity was
repaid in 1994 following that
country’s own civil war.
Weeks before the nation’s
farmers began returning from
camps set up across the border
in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo, aid donors began
looking for a source of high
quality potato seed that could
be supplied to thousands of
returning refugees. Uganda’s
National Agricultural Research
Organization—a PRAPACE
member—helped avert a
crisis by providing 20 tons
of quality potato tubers as
part of the CGIAR’s Seeds
of Hope Campaign. As it turned
out, much of the material sent
to Rwanda was derived from the
emergency shipment Rwandan scientists
had sent to Uganda six years
before. |
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A
good-news story
“This is the kind of good-news
story that you don’t hear
much about in the media,”
says PRAPACE Coordinator Berga
Lemaga, “but it’s
not all that unusual either.
In Africa, when problems arise
neighbors try to help neighbors.”
Today, Rwanda produces nearly
three times as many potatoes
as it did 20 years ago, including
large numbers of improved, CIP-derived
varieties that have a broader
genetic background than the
potatoes grown in most industrialized
countries. In Rwanda, as in
much of eastern and southern
Africa, potato is a basic food
security crop and a major income
generator for the poor. In 2001,
per capita potato production
equaled that of some of Europe’s
largest potato producing countries.
German farmers, for example,
produced about 11 million tons,
while Rwanda—with one
tenth of the population and
less than 1 percent of the land—produced
nearly 1 million tons.
Not just potatoes
Originally established as a
potato research network, PRAPACE
now covers sweetpotato as well.
The network invests nearly half
of its US$400,000 annual budget
in sweetpotato research and
development, with highest priority
directed to the distribution
and testing of orange-fleshed
sweetpotato varieties or OFSPs,
which contain high levels of
beta-carotene, used by the body
to make vitamin A. “PRAPACE
has been a key player in our
efforts to promote OFSPs in
the fight against vitamin A
deficiency,” says Regina
Kapinga, Coordinator of the
VITAA
(Vitamin A for Africa) Partnership.
Vitamin A deficiency is one
of Africa’s most widespread
public health problems, and
also one of its most treatable,
she says. For example, a CIP
study presented at a recent
meeting of the International
Vitamin A Consultative Group
concluded that up to 50 million
children under five would benefit
if African farmers switched
from traditional white-fleshed
varieties to improved orange-fleshed
sweetpotatoes.
“We
have been working closely with
PRAPACE to distribute orange-fleshed
varieties to its member countries,
and we expect that the network
will play an important role
in promoting a new generation
of sweetpotatoes that is just
now beginning to reach the region,”
Kapinga says. She notes that
PRAPACE was an early proponent
of orange-fleshed varieties,
and invested significant resources
to demonstrate the feasibility
of using OFSPs to eliminate
vitamin A deficiency among young
children and their mothers.
The early VITAA varieties were
high beta-carotene lines selected
from farmer varieties and genebank
holdings.
CIP plant breeders have produced
a new and improved set of OFSP
materials that not only meet
local market standards for taste
and texture, but also can be
harvested earlier—a factor
that is important for pest control
because it limits exposure in
the field—and produce
higher yields. The new plant
types, which began shipping
from CIP headquarters at the
end of 2002, are the first to
emerge from a six-year breeding
program supported by the German
Government’s Ministry
for Technical Cooperation (BMZ)
and its operating arm, GTZ.
A shared mission
The PRAPACE network, which celebrated
its twentieth anniversary in
2002, supports the region’s
farmers by providing a range
of technical services through
the combined efforts of the
agricultural research and extension
programs of its ten member countries.
PRAPACE membership is not automatic.
To join, a prospective member
must apply formally and then
agree to commit staff and resources
for research in a specific problem
area. Scientists in Burundi,
for example, play a lead role
in integrated disease management
focusing on bacterial wilt,
while researchers in Uganda
and Ethiopia work on varietal
testing and late blight disease
management. In this way, PRAPACE
helps to pool resources and
maximize benefits. Among its
newest members, Tanzania joined
in 1998 followed by Madagascar
and Sudan in 1999.
“We estimate that the
value of the services provided
by PRAPACE members now totals
more than US$1.0 million annually,
roughly four times the amount
provided by our international
sponsors,“ Lemaga says.
PRAPACE receives its principal
funding from the United States
Agency for International Development
(USAID), with complementary
grants from Canada’s International
Development Research Center
(IDRC) and the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO). The network is governed
by a steering committee composed
of the leaders of the national
potato and sweetpotato research
programs of its member countries.
CIP is the project’s executing
agency and provides technical
backstopping.
ASARECA: A strengthening association
While PRAPACE’s overarching
mission is to promote root and
tuber research and development
among its members, the network
members are particularly proud
of their success in supporting
linkages and communication between
a range of different organizations.
Such linkages are particularly
important, Lemaga notes, as
the world globalizes and as
the region’s environmental
problems become more challenging.
“No one nation or group
of nations can go it alone and
be successful,” he says.
PRAPACE partner agencies currently
include four Future Harvest
Centers—CIAT, CIP, ICRAF,
and IITA—and FAO, IDRC,
and two dozen bilateral agencies
and nongovernmental organizations.
Its most important relationship,
however, is with ASARECA, the
Association for Strengthening
Agricultural Research in Eastern
and Central Africa. PRAPACE
operates under the auspices
of ASARECA and is one of its
twelve commodity research and
development networks.
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Originally
established as a potato
network,
PRAPACE now dedicates
about half of its budget
to sweetpotato, in particular
to the new orange-fleshed
varieties being promoted
by the VITAA partnership
(bottom). |
ASARECA,
established in 1993, is a
regional coordinating body
set up to improve the quality
and cost-effectiveness of
agricultural research, support
regional collaboration, and
improve information and technology
delivery. It is considered
one of Africa’s most
important research partnerships
and an essential mechanism
for agricultural development
in the region.
Former USAID project officer
Carole Levin says that her
agency’s decision to
invest in ASARECA was originally
linked to PRAPACE’s
early success and to its Directors
Committee’s willingness
to lobby for a regional organization
that would work with crops
other than potatoes and sweetpotatoes.
“The PRAPACE Steering
Committee laid much of the
ground work for ASARECA by
demonstrating the value of
regional cooperation and the
benefits of pooling national
resources,” she says.
“We are extremely proud
of our early links and our
ongoing association with PRAPACE,”
adds ASARECA Director Seyfu
Ketama. “PRAPACE is
an example of what can be
achieved when countries and
international organizations
work together to collectively
and equitably promote regional
economic growth through agriculture.”
“PRAPACE is also an
important part of our efforts
to promote long-term sustainability
of our natural resources,”
he says. “Maintaining
the land and the water is
not a foreign concept, it
is very much in keeping with
traditional African culture
and traditions. Through PRAPACE
and ASARECA we are working
together to achieve a greater
good by combining our traditions
with science that serves the
public’s greater interest.
We congratulate PRAPACE and
all of its members on its
twentieth anniversary.”
CIP research in sub-Saharan
Africa is broadly supported
by the CGIAR donor community
through nonrestricted funding
and, in particular, by restricted
projects financed by Germany
and the United States. Other
important donors include IDRC,
the McKnight Foundation, and
the UK’s Department
for International Development,
which support research and
development in the areas of
postharvest utilization, peri-urban
agriculture, and genetic conservation.
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Since its founding 20
years ago, PRAPACE has
helped to strengthen networking
for root and tuber
crop development in Africa. |
| PRAPACE
member organizations |
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| Burundi |
Institut des Sciences
Agronomiques du
Burundi (ISAR) |
| DR Congo |
Institut National
d’Etudes et
de Recherches Agronomiques
(INERA) |
| Ethiopia |
Ethiopian Agricultural
Research Organization
(EARO) |
| Eritrea |
Department of
Agricultural Research
and Extension of
the Ministry of
Agriculture and
Extension (DRE) |
| Kenya |
Kenya Agricultural
Research Institute
(KARI) |
| Madagascar |
Centre National
de la Recherche
Appliquée
au Développement
Rural (FOFIFA/FIFAMANOR) |
| Rwanda |
Institut des
Sciences Agronomiques
du Rwanda (ISAR) |
| Sudan |
Agricultural
Research Centre
(ARC), Khartoum
Tanzania Uyole Agricultural
Research and Training
Institute (UARTI) |
| Uganda |
National Agricultural
Research Organization
(NARO) |
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Detecting virus diseases
CIP has used enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay (ELISA)
and nucleic acid spot
hybridization (NASH) techniques
to develop highly effective
detection kits that are
relied upon by PRAPACE
seed producers and tissue
culture laboratories to
detect virus-infected
seed tubers. The simple-to-use
kits can detect, with
high sensitivity and accuracy,
the world’s four
leading potato viruses
and the viroid PSTVd,
which are transmitted
by aphids and mechanically
during tuber handling.
Because African potato
farmers use very little
insecticide, and because
there are few sources
of genetic resistance
to viruses available,
control depends on eliminating
infected seed before it
reaches farmers’
fields. The kits give
seed producers the ability
to detect viruses at high
levels of efficiency,
rivaling the standards
obtained in sophisticated
laboratories in developed
countries. |
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A
question
of seed
Ask any
African
potato or
sweetpotato
farmer what
they want
most and
their response
will be
“high
quality
seed.”
The better
the seed,
the greater
the return
on investment.
Farmers
who use
superior
quality
seed can
easily double
or triple
production.
Since its
inception,
PRAPACE
has invested
heavily
in rural
seed production
projects
in an effort
to move
improved
varieties
to where
they are
needed most.
In 2002,
more than
1.2 million
farmers
working
through
hundreds
of nongovernmental
and community-based
organizations
participated
in PRAPACE
seed programs. |
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In Rwanda,
240 local
seed associations
distributed
nearly
18,000
tons of
superior
quality
potato
tubers,
almost
doubling
the amount
distributed
in 2001. |
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In Burundi,
government
agriculturalists
set rehabilitation
of the
country’s
national
potato
seed program
as priority
for the
period
2002–2004.
Burundi’s
goal is
to produce
10,000
tons of
high quality
tubers
by the
end of
2004 using
CIP/PRAPACE-released
varieties. |
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In support
of that
effort,
government
and private
sector
laboratories
are producing
large
quantities
of “basic
seed,”
a product
that is
virtually
pest-
and disease-free.
Basic
seed,
the highest
quality
seed,
is normally
provided
in small
quantities
to top
seed producers
to produce
seed for
the market. |
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In Ethiopia,
the national
potato
program—a
PRAPACE
affiliate—established
its first
modern
tissue
culture
laboratory.
The new
lab, which
is multiplying
four potato
varieties
for the
Ethiopian
highlands,
has the
capacity
to produce
up to
1 million
ultra-high
quality
plants
per year. |
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To jump
start
potato
breeding
and development
efforts
in Sudan
and Tanzania
PRAPACE,
in cooperation
with CIP,
provided
researchers
in those
countries
with a
series
of new
breeding
lines
that have
proven
successful
elsewhere
in the
region.
The objective
is to
develop
varieties
that are
well suited
to local
conditions
in the
shortest
possible
time and
at limited
expense. |
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Africa and the private
sector
Economists and development
experts agree that one
of the best ways to promote
rural development in sub-Saharan
Africa is for farm enterprises
to tap into local and
international markets.
For African farmers to
take advantage of market
opportunities, however,
they will need to produce
higher quality products
that are delivered on
time and in sufficient
quantity. To link farmers
and markets, PRAPACE encourages
participatory research
involving community-based
organizations, the private
sector, and national research
and development programs.
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In 2002, investments
in postharvest research
by PRAPACE and Uganda’s
National Agricultural
Research Organization
led to the release
of a highly nutritious
porridge by the
Maganjo Millers,
a local food processor.
The new high-protein,
high-beta-carotene
product, known as
Nutri-Porridge,
is made from a combination
of orange-fleshed
sweetpotato, maize,
and groundnuts.
It is reportedly
outselling all of
its competitors
on the Kampala market
and is already in
short supply. |
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A partnership
established with
the Uganda-based
House of Quality
Spices has opened
up new opportunities
for local farmers
to export potato
and sweetpotato
flour to Europe.
The company also
plans to produce
snack foods for
sale to neighboring
countries including
Rwanda, where its
products received
high marks from
the nation’s
President, Paul
Kagame, after he
performed a taste
test. |
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A Rwandan company,
Potato Enterprises,
recently announced
that it would commence
commercial chipping
operations in 2003
using CIP potato
varieties released
through PRAPACE.
The firm’s
long-term strategy
calls for the manufacture
of nearly 5,000
tons of chipped
potatoes during
its first year of
operations, with
a ten-year goal
of 15,000 tons.
Seventy-five percent
of its output is
slated for export. |
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More than 20 Kenyan
companies are currently
involved in production
of frozen potatoes
and snack foods
for the domestic
market. One food
processor, Mugumo
Family Farms, produces
1.2 tons of processed
products per week,
mainly for the hotel
and airline industries.
Farmers who sell
their potatoes to
Mugumo receive twice
the going price
for their products. |
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Researchers working
for the commercial
feed companies UGACHICK
and NUVITA in Uganda
are conducting studies
to determine the
feasibility of using
sweetpotato as a
principal ingredient
in commercial animal
feeds. If successful,
their products will
be sold in Burundi,
the Democratic Republic
of Congo, Rwanda,
Tanzania, and Uganda.
Processors are attracted
to sweetpotato because
of the productive
potential of improved
varieties and because
of their early maturity,
which helps farmers
produce up to three
crops per year.
Many of the new
varieties are also
high in beta-carotene,
an important ingredient
in poultry feed. |
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As Ugandan sweetpotato
production reaches
record levels, Maganjo
Millers in Kampala
has agreed to purchase
all of the orange-fleshed
sweetpotato produced
by farmers in Uganda’s
Soroti and Kumi
districts. The agreement
is expected to remove
a marketing bottleneck
that has limited
the crop’s
potential. |
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Western Kenyan
community-based
organizations in
three districts
are involved in
producing and marketing
weaning foods that
contain orange-fleshed
sweetpotato. The
NGO Appropriate
Rural Development
Agricultural Program,
for example, works
with local processors
to supply charity
homes and midwives
with a product,
attractively packaged
in 1 kg packets,
that they use to
improve the health
of their clients. |
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