IITA South Kivu hosts AID I GLR project evaluation workshop

12 December 2024

The IITA led Great Lakes Accelerated Innovation Delivery Initiative Rapid Delivery Hub (AID-I GLR) project for the dissemination of agricultural innovations in the Great Lakes region, organized a workshop with the project's various implementing partners between 4 and 5 December 2024. The workshop held in the New Riviera Hotel in Bukavu evaluated the project's second year of implementation, drawing lessons from activities, while learning how to improve interventions and plan activities for the first quarter of 2025.

Each partner - RIKOLTO, VSF, Support and capacity-building services for women's self-promotion (SARCAF), SAWBO, ILRI, IRRI, and CIP - presented the various achievements accomplished during year 2024, while drawing up their work plans for the next agricultural season.

Several technologies have been disseminated in the various villages spread over six territories in the province of South Kivu, with the aim of improving yields of food crops (cassava, banana, rice, maize, beans) and market garden crops. These technologies also promote practices such as artificial insemination, the manufacture of lick blocks, and the establishment of high-nutrition forage crops for livestock farmers.

Since inception, the USAID -funded AID-I GLR project has supported seed companies in ensuring the sufficient availability of quality seeds to farming households in South Kivu province while promoting good agronomic practices. Using the village-based agricultural advisor (VBA) approach, the advisors act as intermediaries between seed companies and farming households while passing on to farmers the innovations learned from implementing partners to reinforce this process.

During the workshop, Project Coordinator Dr Jacob Mignouna urged all partners present to redouble their efforts to achieve the objectives set by the project, placing particular emphasis on the quality of data submitted to the project system. Also, IITA Delivery Specialist Dr Léon Nabahungu, suggested that the implementing partners write about their success story at the end of the project.

This initiative will highlight the level of satisfaction of the beneficiaries and demonstrate the impact of the interventions on increasing the agricultural incomes of households in the Zone concerned.

Contributed by Isabelle Buhoro