5 research outputs found
Appraisal of some intercropping methods in terms of grain yield, response to applied phosphorus, and monetary return from maize and cowpeas
Meeting: Symposium on Intercropping for Semi-Arid Areas, 10-12 May 1976, Morogoro, TZIn IDL-196
Influence of intercropping on folia NPK contents and yields of maize and cowpeas : summary
Meeting: Symposium on Intercropping in Semi-Arid Areas, 2d, 4-7 Aug. 1980, Morogoro, TZIn IDL-391
Soils research in agroforestry : proceedings of an Expert Consultation ... Nairobi, Mar. 26-30, 1979
Meeting: Soils Research in Agroforestry, 26-30 Mar. 1979, Nairobi, K
Vegetables and Small Private-Sector Interests
Poor farmers in developing countries need access
to affordable high-quality seed of improved crop
varieties to improve their incomes and reduce
malnutrition. Vegetables are vital for balanced
nutrition, particularly in Africa, where production
has been almost static for decades, per capita
consumption is very low and malnutrition is rife.
Vegetables produce much greater income than
staples and farmers are willing to pay substantial
amounts for good seed of open-pollinated varieties
they can later reproduce themselves. Small
local seed firms have a competitive advantage
over multinationals in supplying niche markets
provided by large numbers of smallholder farmers
and in dealing with complex seed distribution
chains, but they need public-sector research
support. AVRDC — The World Vegetable Center’s
vegetable breeding research and the
business expertise of small private seed companies
are delivering improved varieties to
smallholder farmers in developing countries where
there is limited public-sector plant breeding capacity.
Over the last ten years AVRDC has worked
closely to build partnerships with national agricultural
research services and local seed companies
in Tanzania to create effective national seed
systems and to breed and widely distribute a
series of improved tomato varieties, revolutionising
East African tomato production and increasing
farmer incomes by an average of 40%. Similar
close cooperation is successfully commercialising
improved varieties of Africa’s highly nutritious
indigenous vegetables — previously ignored as
food for the poor. International research cooperation
and public–private partnerships also are
increasingly important to vegetable industries in
Australasia and the Pacific as national agricultural
funding priorities change, diseases become more
internationalised, and quarantine alone is insufficient
insurance against transmission