Embrapa’s International Actionfocus on MKTPlace

02 to 28 February 2014

Missions

•Eastern Africa:– 02 to 15 February, 4 countries:

• Ethiopia – Addis Abeba; Tanzania – Dar es Salaam; Kenya – Nairobi; Uganda – Entebbe e Kampala.

•Western Africa:– 15 to 28 February, 4 countries:

• Ghana – Accra; Nigeria – Abuja; Benin – Cotonou e Mali – Bamako.

Mission objective and scope• Scope: special Project – “Strengthening of Embrapa's

Internationalization”;

• Objective: raise information, opinions and perceptions of R&D, gov. and IDA institutions in scientific exchange and technical cooperation with Embrapa.

!! – It was neither an individual evaluation of the projects, nor a collection of demands for future

cooperation projects.

Activities

•53 meetings, 6 per country approximately

•22 individual interviews from 30 MKTPlace projects

MKTPlace Projects

ILRI, Ethiopia

Introduction of Napier Grass elite lines for stunt resistance

MKTPlace – Species identification of root-knot nematodes NARS - IITA Tanzania

MKTPlace - Application of DNA-markers for development of drought tolerant potato germplasm – KARI - Kenya

Activity: Embrapa Model system for drought tolerance study

Activity: Construction of hydroponic system for drought tolerance study

Activity: DNA Extraction from potato leaves

Utilization of Hydraulic Ram Pumps for promoting small scale

irrigation

MKTPlace Projects

NARO - UgandaNARO - Uganda

Enhancing rice and maize production by small-holders using bacteria-plant extract biopesticide

MKTPlace Projects

Université des sciences, des techniques et des technologies de Bamako - Mali

Some personal views

•“Marketplace develops projects that fill gaps of major problems.”

•“Small projects are really effective”;

•“It is a partnership more than resources only”

Highlights

• In general, achievement of the expected results• Scientific quality and Embrapa's experience;

• Partnership with Embrapa makes it easier to obtain funds from other organisms/institutions/agencies;

• Peer to peer cooperation;

• Networking closing the gap between african research institutions and Embrapa; and

• Brazilian technology is adaptable to local realities.

Points for Improvement• Language barrier;

• Delay to send genetic material;

• Little dissemination the project knowledge is just among the researchers and the team at the institution;

• Difficulty to find Brazilian partners through the MKTPlace website;

• Project duration is too short;

• Complex pre-proposal selection process

Suggestions• A final workshop to articulate and facilitate the

elaboration of new projects;

• Associate field visits with the Fora and increase staff visits;

• Improve communication of the results within institutions in the countries;

• Improve the 'matchmaking' mechanism;

• Provide documents in other languages, including african ones automatic translation software

Thank you!

Maya TakagiResearcher

Secretariat for International Affairs

maya.takagi@embrapa.br

Adriana BuenoInternational Cooperation Analyst

Secretariat for International Affairs

adriana.bueno@embrapa.br