The Strategic Assessment of research priorities for the main RTB crops – potatoes, sweetpotatoes, cassava, yams, and bananas and plantains – is advancing, and the preliminary results of the expert survey that concluded in June are now available.
At a workshop organized mid-August in Lima, Peru, participants from Bioversity International, CIAT, CIP and IITA reviewed these preliminary results to agree on a list of research options for each crop to be included on an ex-ante analysis of the expected research impacts. The group, comprised of economists, social scientists, and experts in each of the crops under analysis, contributed with their knowledge and expertise to select and assess six to eight technologies by crop that can improve the cultivation, postharvest management, and value chains of the main RTB crops, and to make final adjustments to the economic models to be run for the assessment of these technologies.
“We have to assess these technologies under multiple dimensions, to make sure they can make a significant contribution to poverty reduction and generate benefits for smallholder farmers”, explained Guy Hareau, the leader of the Strategic Assessment task force. This also means adjusting the tools to include gender analysis.
The expert survey on RTB crops was launched in June 2012 and made available online for a year to reach a high and representative number of people. The Strategic Assessment task force has received more than 1,680 responses from different regions of the world. The complete results of the priority assessment will be shared at the RTB Annual meeting at the end of September.
Strategic Assessment Workshop, Lima, 12-16 August 2013