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Overall objective
To improve food security and alleviate poverty in Western Kenya
and Uganda by developing and enhancing the capacity to
produce and distribute quality seed of improved varieties of
maize to farmers.
The
specific objectives are to:
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Improve the capacity of NARS to produce breeder and basic seed of
improved maize varieties
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Expose farmers to improved maize varieties through extensive on-farm
variety testing using the mother and baby trial approach
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Allow farmers to evaluate and select suitable varieties for the their
conditions
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Develop effective seed production and distribution systems among farming
communities in collaboration with appropriate public
institutions and private seed companies.
Project progress
By 2003, breeders’ seed production has been enhanced.
Results of multi-location trials and farmer
evaluations from the nearly 200 mother and baby trials in
six districts in western Kenya and two districts in Uganda
indicated that the approach greatly enhanced farmers’
knowledge base and generates information that compliments
the efforts by breeders to develop well-adapted and
acceptable maize varieties. Experiences with farmer
associations (mainly women groups) have showed that farmers
can produce good quality seeds if offered training and
assured of markets for their seeds. Development of farmer
associations producing seeds is going on in Northern Uganda
and western Kenya where these are less developed than in
Eastern Uganda.
Collaborators
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National
agricultural research systems [Kenya Agricultural
Research Institute (KARI) and National Agricultural
Research Organization of Uganda (NARO)
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Non-governmental
organizations
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Farmer
seed cooperatives
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Private
and parastatal seed companies
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CIMMYT
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