Background;
MaRCCI originated through an initiative by RUFORUM (Regional Universities Forum for Agricultural Capacity Development) in 2008 to establish regional hubs to provide high quality training in plant breeding as a response to the needs identified through wide stakeholder consultation. Establishment of MaRCCI received major support from the Government of Uganda and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Visit the website: – https://rcci.mak.ac.ug/
Project Design Thinking;
Makerere University Regional Center for Crop Improvement (Marcci) in partnership with Eight Technologies Consults Ltd (8Tech) is developing a technology that will help to improve productivity of farm crops in Uganda with support from Research Innovation Fund(RIF). Therefore the teams conducted a design thinking workshop on 11th November 2021. The workshop was focusing on understanding the farmer needs, the production protocol and the business processes. The selected crops for the study are sorghum and cowpeas. The objectives of the discussion were centered on:-
- Understanding the requirements of the digital Agribusiness ecosystem.
- Designing the digital system to be used by farmers (Mobile App & Web system).
- Establishing the digital platform business processes and model.
The research design discussion session in progress
To improve the high quality of the different seed varieties requires that farmers follow a production protocol throughout the value chain. The production guide is a set of instructions of what a farmer is expected to do while dealing with a particular crop. Right from pre-production, production and post production.
The CEO 8Tech Prof Jude Lubega, CTO 8Tech Dr. Drake P. Miremebe, Director MaRCCI Dr. Richard Edema and Research Leader, Legume Breeder Dr. Isaac Dramadri. Reviewing some of the different cowpeas varieties
Seed storage helps to preserve seed for a long period of time yet maintaining the quality, the seeds can be planted after 10 years of storage and still grow as expected.
8Tech as a development partner knows that to improve crop productivity will require to understand the different activities along the value chain, seed testing is one of them, hence the team at 8tech, with lead from the Director Marcci, CEO 8Tech and CTO 8Tech having a tour at the BIO Tec Lab.
