Posted on September, 18, 2018 at 11:02 am
AATF is a not-for-profit organization that facilitates and promotes public-private partnerships for the access and delivery of appropriate agricultural technologies for sustainable use by smallholder farmers.
Dar es salaam. The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) has received a grant of about Sh4 ($1.8 million) from the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) to promote the use of maize hybrids in sub-Sahara Africa including Tanzania
AATF is non for profit organization that facilitates and promotes public-private partnership for the access and delivery of appropriate agricultural technologies for sustainable use by smallholder farmers
The funding was delivered under the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) program which is the bedrock of the AfDB’s Feed Africa Strategy 2016-2025 Whose overall objective is to scale up with the use of proven and cultural technologies to increase agricultural productivity among smallholder farmers on the continent.
The program has 15 priority intervention areas, including maize, rice, wheat, soybean, pulses, cassava, dairy, and fish production among others according to a statement issued by the foundation yesterday.
“Each of the compact is managed by specifically competent international agriculture organization as selected by AfDB. AATF is the implementing lead of the TAAT maize compact and food programs in Africa that aims to increase maize production by at least 30% and rich at least 2 million households in sub-Saharan Africa by 2020” it stated.
The TAAT maize compact targets 12 countries named Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Benin, Ghana and Cameroon.
In Tanzania, the program aims to work with at least ten seed companies to produce a minimum of 5,000 tonnes of certified maize hybrid from about 10 selected climate-smart maize hybrids for the next three years.
AATF has also partnered with the Tanzania Agriculture Research Institute (TARI) and private seed companies to implement the initiatives in Tanzania.
AATF executive director Dennis Kyetere said the organization will utilize its experience in management of public private partnership and commercialization of technologies to bring the goals of the project into reality.
“AATF is about African farmers and linking them with potential technological solutions for increased agricultural productivity and better livelihoods.
“We are excited to avail our expertise and knowledge to promote climate resilient maize hybrids from various breeding programs in Africa such as the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project, the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA), Stress Tolerance Maize for Africa (STMA) and various others managed by International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and National Research Organizations” said Dr Kyetere adding that with increase the productivity and incomes, farmers can transition into farming as a business.
The AFDB’s Feed Africa Strategy aims to significantly raise agriculture productivity and the move African production higher on the value chain to agribusiness which will include producing and selling processed goods while providing markets for African farmers.
Source: The Citizen