Pasture and Forage Seed Production in Africa and West Asia
Views
0% 0
Downloads
0 0%
Open access
Citation
Grass, L. and M. R. Turner (eds. ). 1998. Pasture and Forage Seed Production in Africa and West Asia. Proceedings of the Pasture and Forage Seed Production Workshop, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 27-31 October 1997. International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Aleppo, Syria. viii + 204 pp.
Abstract
The workshop was organized jointly by ICARDA and ILRI and took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 27 to 31 October 1997. Its purpose was to exchange ideas, look at ways to resolve constraints facing forage and pasture seed production in WANA and Sub-Saharan Africa countries, and suggest guidelines on how to strengthen collaboration within this sector.
Papers were presented during the first three days of the workshop on a wide range of topics, from the arid rangelands of Turkey to the high-rainfall areas of Tropical Africa. The fourth day was devoted to group discussions, in which the key points identified in the previous three days were debated and recommendations prepared. Discussions on the final day centered on formal and informal approaches to seed production. It was agreed that the two must be more closely integrated to increase farmer production and utilization of seed.
The workshop provided a valuable forum for scientists in the region to share experiences gather information on the current status of national seed programs, and identify specific technical and economic problems for further investigation. The latter constitute the cornerstone of proposals for future collaborative research between ICARDA and various national and international seed programs.
In both WANA and Sub-Saharan Africa, research and development on forage issues are essential and on the increase. The workshop concluded that lack of demand is the major constraint to the evolution of better forage and pasture seed supply systems. Recommendations stress the need for participatory research to test and develop the role of forages in farming systems, the need to make the benefits of forage and pasture crops more obvious to farmers, and the need to broaden appreciation of the role these crops play in sustainability issues. Existing activities of ICARDA and ILRI should be maintained and strengthened where possible. In particular, these organizations should assist national governments and NARS by providing training in forage and pasture seed production, coordinating collaborative research in their respective regions, providing consultancy, and addressing weaknesses in the supply system.
These proceedings contain the papers presented and the recommendations from the group discussions.
