Book launch: Enhancing Smallholder Farmers’ Access to Seed of Improved Legume Varieties Through Multi-stakeholder Platforms

A new book, highlighting successful practices and guiding principles based on 12 years of research and implementation across eight countries in Africa and Asia, has been released. It documents the strides made in providing access to high-quality the achievement of providing access high-quality seeds of improved legume varieties to 25 million farmers. This was under the Tropical Legumes III (TLIII) project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The book offers critical insights into the processes involved in enhancing the performance and competitiveness of legume crops’ value chains, and addresses challenges that need to be overcome to make innovation platforms more sustainable. It lists several practical ideas that can be of use to development workers, technical staff and project managers.

The TL III project consisted of numerous actors, groups and teams; the book describes the key mechanisms they employed to ensure that seeds and other inputs, knowledge and financial services were all made available to the most underserved communities of smallholder farmers in remote dryland regions of the target countries.

Therefore, this book can act as a primer and guide for other scientists and development workers aspiring to similar goals.

Table of contents:

1. General Context of Smallholder Farmers’ Access to Seed of Improved Legume Varieties and Innovation Platform Perspectives (Akpo, Essegbemon et al.)
2. Groundnut Seed Production and Distribution Through Multi-Stakeholder Platforms in Southern Region of Tanzania (Lukurugu, Gerald Alex et al.)
3. An Analysis of Groundnut Innovation Platform Achievements in Brokering Improved Varieties to Communities in TL III Project in Burkina Faso (Miningou, Amos et al.)
4. Kolokani Groundnut Innovation Platform Activities and Achievements Through TL III Project in Mali (Sako, Dramane et al.)
5. Enhancing Access to Quality Seed of Improved Groundnut Varieties Through Multi-Stakeholder Platforms in Northern Ghana (Puozaa, Doris K. et al.)
6. Impact Assessment of Developing Sustainable and Impact-Oriented Groundnut Seed System Under the Tropical Legumes (III) Project in Northern Nigeria (Mohammed, S. G. et al.)
7. Enhancing Chickpea Production and Productivity Through Stakeholders’ Innovation Platform Approach in Ethiopia (Chichaybelu, Mekasha et al.)
8. Organized Farmers Towards Chickpea Seed Self-Sufficiency in Bundelkhand Region of India (Sah, Uma et al.)
9. Developing Sustainable Cowpea Seed Systems for Smallholder Farmers through Innovation Platforms in Nigeria: Experience of TL III Project (Iorlamen, Teryima et al.)
10. Cowpea Seed Innovation Platform: A Hope for Small Seed Producers in Mali (Kouyate, Zoumana et al.)
11. Cowpea Innovation Platform Interventions and Achievements in TL III Project in Burkina Faso (Joseph, Batieno Benoit et al.)
12. Impacts of Cowpea Innovation Platforms in Sustaining TL III Project Gains in Ghana (Yirzagla, Julius et al.)
13. A Cross-Case Analysis of Innovation Platform Experiences in Seven Countries in West and East Africa and South Asia (Monyo, Emmanuel S. et al.)
14. Innovation Platform for Catalyzing Access to Seed of Improved Legume Varieties to Smallholder Farmers (Akpo, Essegbemon (et al.)

The open access book can be accessed here: Enhancing Smallholder Farmers’ Access to Seed of Improved Legume Varieties Through Multi-stakeholder Platforms – Learning from the TLIII project Experiences in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia | Essegbemon Akpo | Springer