Healing Wounds
Rebuilding Human and Institutional Capacities
Seed health and testing laboratories are being renovated at each station along with meteorological equipment to provide accurate weather data. According to the Code of Conduct for Seed agreed upon by the Consortium and the Government of Afghanistan, all seed imported into the country must meet good standards to be certified. The Badam Bagh station in Kabul is now fully equipped with seed health and quality testing facilities. It will serve as Afghanistan's national seed testing and seed health laboratory. These standards will foster safe national and global exchanges of seed.
Badam Bagh research station near Kabul before
(above) and after refurbishing (below).
Photos: ICARDA
Rwanda
In Rwanda, the Seeds of Hope project did not have sufficient financial resources to rebuild much of the agricultural infrastructure that had been lost during conflict, but subsequent donor investments greatly assisted the country with this need. SOH was able to help with some of the highest priorities such as the rehabilitation of a tissue culture laboratory at Ruhengeri, greenhouse facilities at Rubona, and a tree center in Ruhande, and the purchase of some second-hand vehicles and computers. ICRAF also helped rebuild a tree seed center at Butare, including both equipment and staffing.
Democratic Republic of Congo
Cassava, the Democratic Republic of Congo's most important staple crop, is vegetatively propagated so disease-free planting material must be used to avoid spreading pathogens. This requires careful phytosanitary procedures using sterile tissue culture facilities and processes that were disrupted by the country's devastating war. IITA is helping the Democratic Republic of Congo re-establish tissue culture facilities so it can introduce and multiply improved, disease-free clones. Seedlings to initiate the multiplication process are being supplied.

Reinvigorating the market chain

Inputs, services and markets are essential for a sustainable agricultural economy. Across the many rebuilding situations involving the CGIAR Centers, a top objective has been to get the private sector moving again—with special emphasis on small-scale local entrepreneurism to ensure equitable, bottom-up development.
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Produced by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and published by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), 2005