Date: 06/05/2014
Introduction:
In December 2013, CTA launched the call for the “CTA Top-20 innovations for smallholder farmers” and received 251 submissions. Key statistics based on pre-screening of submissions received are as follows: 49 countries; five intervention categories – production (123; 49%), extension (45; 18%), post harvest (27; 11%), expanding market options/ new products (24; 9%), land and water management (14; 6%) and miscellaneous (18; 7%).
According to the types of innovation (social, technological, institutional, process) submissions received; 79 were farmer-led, 70 were research-led; 42 were university-led; 19 were private-sector led; 6 were government / ministry-led and three were from private persons. 75 submissions made it past the initial screening which was undertaken by CTA in consultation with a independent consultant.
During the first expert meeting on 28-30 April, CTA staff in consultation with an team of experts from Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific representing research, academia, extension and farmers, selected 30-40 innovations which will be further evaluated by farmers from across the ACP region. The final Top 20 will be endorsed by a high-level panel of international experts (scientists/academicians, extension agents and farmers) and published in various formats for wide-scale dissemination.
More information on this initiative, previously published.