EAAPP Project
Overview
The East African Agricultural Productivity Programme (EAAPP) was conceived as a Regional Agricultural Research for Development initiative. The EAAPP Programme Development Objective is to: enhance regional specialisation in agricultural research; enhance collaboration in agriculture training, and technology dissemination; and facilitate increased transfer of agricultural technology, information and knowledge across national boundaries. EAAPP is a ten-year programme with two phases. Phase I, approved in 2009, focused on capacity building with the establishment of the Regional Centres of Excellence (RCoEs) through construction/improvement of infrastructure and human resource development; technology generation and dissemination; and improving seeds and breeds availability.
EAAPP is a regional partnership of the governments Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda with ASARECA and the World Bank.
Under EAAPP, the four countries undertook to establish Regional Centres of Excellence (RCoEs) for agricultural research by investing in commodities identified by ASARECA as being of sub-regional importance to mitigate food insecurity. A Regional Center of Excellence is a leading agricultural technology programme with established research, dissemination and training capacity that distinguishes it as a leader in the region and beyond.
Kenya is the centre of excellence for dairy, Uganda for cassava, Ethiopia wheat and Tanzania for rice. The countries have pledged to manage investment in these commodities to benefit the sub-region.
By playing a convening role for EAAPP, ASARECA seeks to enhance collaboration of the National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) to contribute to the AU/NEPAD’s CAADP Pillar I, which focuses on revitalizing, reforming and expanding Africa’s agricultural research, technology dissemination and adoption.
ASARECA uses its expertise in coordinating regional research for development, extension, training and education to facilitate spillovers of technologies and innovations that will be generated through EAAPP. Specifically, ASARECA plays the following roles in EAAPP:
Convening role
ASARECA is facilitates strategic meetings for the four countries to develop operational frameworks for RCoEs; define the responsibilities of each RCoE to the sub-regional stakeholders; define the mode of operation of the RCoEs individually and in relation to others; define outputs and the manner in which they will be shared amongst participating countries and other countries in the sub-region, and facilitates the development of regional strategies for the four commodities.
Policy harmonisation
ASARECA facilitates rationalization and harmonization of policies, procedures and regulations aimed at creating common standards in the participating countries. This is attained by establishing the status of policies and procedures affecting the four commodities; analysing and developing policy options and advocating for and supporting implementation of the options.
Capacity building
ASARECA organizes and facilitates regional training workshops for RCoE managers to equip them with the tools and skills to transform the RCoEs into more effective research institutions.
Technical backstopping
ASARECA has over the years developed in-house expertise for out-scaling agricultural technologies, innovations and best practices; and puts this expertise at the disposal of the RCoEs.
Training role
ASARECA collaborates with institutions and organizations that have expertise for training agricultural extension workers in undertaking the training.
Management and coordination
ASARECA has pledged to ensure the highest level of professionalism in managing EAAPP affairs and resources. EAAPP is like a new baby in the house. ASARECA is paying deserving attention to this new-born. We will do all it takes in collaboration with the RCoEs to see the baby grow and live a complete lifespan.
Networking and information sharing
ASARECA facilitates information sharing platforms to enable sharing of benefits and spillover of technologies and innovations developed by individual RCoEs to other participating countries.
Monitoring and evaluation
Regional M&E activities focus on tracking the extent to which EAAPP is making spillovers happen across the sub-region.
Achievements of EAAPP Phase 1
An external evaluation of EAAPP in early 2015 Titled: End Of Phase 1 Evaluation of the East African Agricultural Productivity Programme – EAAPP. Final Report, noted the following achievements:
- Seventy-five Masters students and 36 PhD candidates have been fully funded under the project. Similar numbers of men and women registered for Masters programmes in Tanzania and Uganda but only 2 in Ethiopia. There were only 7 female PhD students out of 36 across the four countries. A further 50 students have received partial funding from the project.
- 138 new technologies have been developed by the regional centres of excellence. Many are new varieties of cassava, rice, wheat and forage crops. Twenty-three new technologies have been disseminated across national boundaries including: two Tanzanian rice varieties released in Kenya and Uganda, and undergoing National Performance Trials (NPT) in Ethiopia; four clones of Napier grass from Kenya recommended for dissemination in Uganda; botanical seed of cassava with enhanced carotene sent to Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya; assisted reproductive technologies from Kenya sent to the other countries.
- EAAPP M&E surveys show an increase in adoption of new varieties, breeds, and other selected management practices by farmers from 35 percent to 53 percent (2010-2014) in project areas.
- EAAPP M&E estimates of land planted with improved cultivars are 2,755 ha in 2010, increasing to 12,807 ha in 2014. This is attributed to the substantial increase in production of planting material and farmer awareness in EAAPP project areas. Large increases are reported in Ethiopia, Kenya (cassava, rice, wheat) and Uganda (cassava).
- ASARECA has facilitated harmonized NPT protocols for cassava, rice, wheat and pasture seeds under the project. It has coordinated a draft EAAPP intellectual property (IP) rights policy. On livestock, progress has been made in: drafting animal breeding policy and breeding rules in Kenya, now being used as a guide for other EAAPP countries; developing regional guidelines on procedures for movement and trade in heifers and germplasm; drafting a National Animal Breeding Policy in Ethiopia; development of a protocol for import and export of compounded dairy feeds and forages in Tanzania; developing regional guidelines for import and export documentation and procedures for dairy.
- The harmonised Results Framework developed by ASARECA/EAAPP is a very useful tool which focuses on process and output indicators, and tracks progress at national and regional levels. Overall the M&E systems are very well designed and managed, providing timely results for project management.