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Project 6: Enhanced tissue culture plants for eastern Africa
Project description
Introduction
This project aims to realize the potential of Tissue
culture (TC) for farmers in Eastern Africa, an essential
biotechnological tool for increasing crop productivity,
by adapting it to the conditions encountered in farmers’
fields in the region. TC technology will be focused
primarily on banana, a key staple crop and important
source of income for farmers in the region, and will
utilize a wealth of information from recent research,
which substantially increases the quality of TC material
through enhancement with microbial bio-protectants.
Enhanced banana TC is more robust, durable and vigorous
than non-enhanced TC bananas, which in turn is more
productive than conventional sucker-derived planting
material.
Banana production in the
region is constrained by limited availability of healthy
planting material, while the most commonly used,
conventional sucker-based material, is inherently
infested with seed/soil-borne pests and diseases,
perpetuating the decline of banana productivity. Where
TC is available, limited understanding of the handling
needs and consequent benefits of TC planting material
undermines farmer adoption. Increased availability of
superior, healthy TC planting material, in tandem with a
delivery system that enables the benefits of TC to be
appreciated, is a challenge.
In order to undertake
this, the project will lean on the robustness of high
quality research, the reliability of the experience and
expertise behind the pre-tested on-farm demonstration
plots, and the commercial acuteness of private partners.
This project will deliver the results of sound research,
using knowledge and networks established by
organizations in Kenya and Uganda, in a sustainable and
commercially economical manner, for the benefit of
farmers and consumers.
Goal: To improve
the livelihoods of and generate income for small-scale
farmers in Uganda and Kenya by reducing yield losses and
increasing crop sustainability via improved production
of tissue culture (TC) propagated crops.
Purpose: To develop
enhanced TC technology within a commercial setting to
reduce the impact of biotic and abiotic production
constraints in crops derived from TC planting material,
primarily in banana, but also in other crops, for the
ultimate benefit of resource-poor farmers.
This project was designed
to enhance tissue culture plants for East Africa. The
project is expected to promote use of endophyte
technology as a biopesticide to improve banana
productivity in Kenya, Uganda and Burundi by working
with the private sector institutions.
Project partners
Implementation Status
The technology has been
successfully transferred to Kenya and Uganda. The
process of transferring it to Burundi is underway. The
project has also contributed to the training of
technicians and students at post graduate level. Some of
the trained experts are already working on inoculation
protocols.
The project is implemented by the following partner institutions; Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Agro-Genetic Technologies (AGT), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Volunteer Efforts for Development Concerns (VEDCO), Real IPM (K) Company and Makerere University.
More about Project 6 Research Team Members
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