Blog Annual Planning Meeting of the ACCELERATE Project that drives agricultural transformation

“This is an excellent opportunity to highlight the importance of collaboration between researchers, the private sector, and civil society to transform agriculture and improve livelihoods. This project has a positive impact, particularly in changing mindsets, which is a crucial step forward. This initiative has shown significant progress, with examples of successful transformation in Nigeria and Zambia, as well as the potential for broader adoption of our models by organizations like Sustainably Growing Africa's Food Systems (AGRA),” said Teshale Mamo, Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT country representative in Tanzania.

TARI Director General Dr. Thomas Bwana, for his part, expressed the importance of this meeting as an opportunity to improve the seed system, both formal and informal, and to ensure that the technologies and knowledge developed reach farmers and generate income and jobs. He stressed the need to:

• Improve Production and Distribution: Ensure that the seeds produced reach farmers.
• Continued Support: Prevent farmers from being left without support after specific programs have ended.
• Job Creation: Ensure that technological and knowledge innovations generate employment and improve the local economy.

The aim of the project is not only to conduct academic research, but to develop knowledge and technologies that directly benefit farmers, improve their productivity and income, and strengthen the seed system in general, the director concluded.

Jean Claude Rubyogo - Director of PABRA and the Team Leader for the Alliance's Bean Program - emphasized: “The essence of the project lies in creating demand-driven systems, driven explicitly by traders. In these systems, traders are informed about new products, their benefits, and how they can improve their businesses and those of their customers. Traders can play a crucial role in disseminating new genetics, leading to higher yields and disease resistance, which benefits farmers and traders by increasing supply"

The project coordinator, Dr. Justus Ochieng, highlighted the importance of each partner providing updates on their implementation efforts, accomplishments, and lessons from Year 2 (2023/2024). They also outlined their work plans for Year 3 (2024/2025). The main goal of the meeting was to produce consolidated work plans for the second year or phase two of the ACCELERATE project, establishing a clear path for continued success and impact.