African Indigenous Vegetables Training Kit Shared

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by Duncan Sones

1 April 2017: Our colleagues at the Good Seed Initiative have produced what they call a module training set on the production of 9 African indigenous vegetables and seed. These can be downloaded for free from the ISFM materials library.

African indigenous vegetables contribute significantly to the food security and nutrition of the majority of people in East Africa. They are a major source of livelihood especially for women who sell vegetable at local market for daily income. Production and consumption of indigenous vegetables can be enhanced through addressing the issue of scarcity of seed. The Good Seed Initiative also promotes the consumption of indigenous vegetables with a high nutritive value to complement the staple diet.

See the CABI blog African indigenous vegetables to help fight hidden hunger in Uganda

The training set has a comprehensive training manual called Seed production for African indigenous vegetables. The manual is generic but it is supported by 9 sets of training materials on vegetables and seed production .

For each crop there are eight graphically illustrated flash cards supported by trainers notes on how to use the cards to train in either seed or vegetable production. This is a simple to follow, effective and comprehensive training tool that can be downloaded and used. All exercises are tried and tested and have suggested running times and useful hints for trainers. The anticipated trainees could include community based extension facilitators, lead farmers, and farmers themselves.

Whilst the materials are specific to Uganda (in terms of the institutions referenced) the materials could very easily be adapted to work in other country context.

The 27 resources that support the manual can be downloaded by following the links below:

	Flash Cards	Trainer’s Notes: Vegetable	Trainer’s Notes: Seed	Other names for the crop
1	African eggplant Flash Cards	African eggplant Vegetable Trainer’s Notes	African eggplant Seed Trainer’s Notes	Solanum gilo
2	African nightshade Flash Cards	African nightshade Vegetable Trainer’s Notes	African nightshade Seed Trainer’s Notes	Solanum nigrum
3	Amaranthus (green) Flash Cards	Amaranthus (green) Vegetable Trainer’s Notes	Amaranthus (green) Seed Trainer’s Notes	Amaranthus dubius
4	Amaranthus (red) Flash Cards	Amaranthus (red) Vegetable Trainer’s Notes	Amaranthus red) Seed Trainer’s Notes	Amaranthus blitum (Bugga)
5	Cowpea Flash Cards	Cowpea Vegetable Trainer’s Notes	Cowpea Seed Trainer’s Notes	Vigna unguiculata (Cowpea-Gobe)
6	Malakwang Flash Cards	Malakwang Vegetable Trainer’s Notes	Malakwang Seed Trainer’s Notes	Hibiscus sabdariffa
7	Nakati Flash Cards	Nakati Vegetable Trainer’s Notes	Nakati Seed Trainer’s Notes	Solanum aethiopicum
8	Pumpkin Flash Cards	Pumpkin Vegetable Trainer’s Notes	Pumpkin Seed Trainer’s Notes	Cucurbita maxima
9	Spider plant Flash Cards	Spider plant Vegetable Trainer’s Notes	Spider plant Seed Trainer’s Notes	Cleome gynandra (Jjobyo)

All these resources can also be found in the ISFM materials library. This resource contains 444 information materials for farmers and intermediaries that can be adopted to your specific needs.

Partners in this project were: CABI, the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI) and Mukono Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MuZARDI). The materials were produced with the support of Mango Tree Educational Enterprises Ltd. Financial support was provided by Irish Aid.

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