AFRICAN INDIGENOUS VEGETABLES SEED SYSTEM (AIVs) PROJECT

Matovu Joseph Project 30 Oct 2017

CHAIN UG LTD and Partners Uganda Christian University (UCU), Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries and Hanze University of applied Sciences received a grant from the NOW/ WOTRO of The Netherlands to support a project entitled ‘Development of a gender responsive commercial seed system for indigenous vegetables in Uganda’. The project leader CHAIN LTD is a business that builds capacity of small holder women and youth farmer groups by deepening their participation in profitable seed value chains (www.chainuganda.org). CHAIN shall spearhead farmer participation in the entire project inception, multiplication, testing and seed production technologies for profitable end markets. CHAIN LTD shall also be responsible for overall administrative work on the project.

Uganda Christian University (UCU; www.ucu.ac.ug) is centre of excellence for AIV research and development. UCU has a robust community centred outreach and engagement program that integrates community food nutrition, experiential learning and localization of scientific knowledge. UCU engages farmer participatory process of identifying and characterising AIVs for seed production, additional information on the use of molecular tools for AIV improvement (http://www.afri-sol.org). Hanze University of Applied Science (www.hanze.nl) is globally known for its cutting edge entrepreneurship program, boasting of business Laboratories in Europe. Hanze shall provide business knowledge on aspects of AIV project. Specifically, Linda shall provide leadership in the development of business models and value chain management that will oversee the whole business system.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) has the mandate of giving oversight on agriculture strategic sector development plans with elements that address input supply especially seeds. MAAIF is responsible for seed inspection and Seed Certification therefore MAAIF brings to the team a wealth of information on inspection, standards and policy dimension of seed sector development in Uganda. The proposed project will help to develop a sustainable gender inclusive and market-oriented African indigenous Vegetables seed system driven by smallholder farmers, ensuring access to quality seed of improved and new indigenous Vegetables varieties. This will help fill the gap left by the absence of seed companies in commercial production of quality African indigenous Vegetables seed. The proposed opportunity presented in this project aims to establish a cost-effective indigenous Vegetables seed delivery system which will increase the quantities, quality, and timely access of affordable quality seed by smallholder farmers especially women and youth. It will thus help to develop a profitable, functional system for production of indigenous Vegetables seed of improved varieties.

Project Objectives

1. Enhanced capacity of 50 women and youth groups for production AIVs seeds
2. Increased utilization of quality assurance services for AIV seed production
3. Developed business models for certified AIV seed production and marketing
4. Optimized scales of production for the AIVs seed system.
5. Increased economic women power and decision making at household and community level because of engaging in profitable sale AIV seed

PARTENERS

• The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF)
• Uganda Christian University (UCU)
• National Agriculture Crop Research Resource Institute (NaCCRI)