Toolbox for working with Root, Tuber and Banana Seed Systems
This toolbox contains 11 tools and a glossary of terms for evaluating, gathering data, analyzing, and designing interventions for seed systems of vegetatively propagated crops. It contains tools that are used at all stages of the research design and project execution pathways and includes a user guide listing all intervention points in the research cycle and seed value chain, as well as standardized description sheets and user guides for each of the tools.
In what context is this tool useful?
This tool is designed for researchers, practitioners, and development professionals across all contexts dealing with all aspects of the seed systems of vegetatively propagated crops. The tools have so far been applied on over > 80 crop x context case studies in > 25 countries.
Results
Please see the results section of the website for specific examples including the cassava in Southeast Asia profile, which applied several of the tools. There is also a book chapter which describes the application of the tools, results, and impacts in detail across 76 applications on 10 crops in 26 countries (24 of these applications were for cassava). The tools have been applied in 15 countries in Africa, 7 in Asia, and 4 in Central and South America.
Variations on this method
Although the tools were designed to be used with root, tuber and banana crops, they have already been adapted for use with many other crops that are vegetatively propagated. We used the tools for studying forage seed systems in Vietnam and the Philippines, and they have also been used by other authors on fruit trees, wheat, teff, and forest species. The use of many of the tools is scalable to any type of seed systems.
Contact people
Margaret McEwan (CIP) - [email protected]
Erik Delaquis (Alliance Bioversity-CIAT) - [email protected]
Jorge Andrade-Piedra (CIP) - [email protected]
Additional Resources
- Toolbox for working with root, tuber and banana seed systems: building a better…
- The RTB Toolbox: Building capacities for seed systems development
- The golden eggs that keep on giving
- Breaking through the 40% adoption ceiling: mind the seed system gaps
- Evaluating Seed Systems to Guide Improvement: Variety Diffusion, Disease Manage…
Funders
Funding came from CGIAR-RTB and USAID, and the toolbox was a join product of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, CIP, IITA, Wageningen University & Research, and the University of Florida. Implementing partners were primarily national agricultural research organizations in the > 25 countries the tools have been applied.