Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa
Overview of
DONATA
By
Ifidon Ohiomoba
PSTAD Project Manager, FARA
1
Background
PSTAD is a project with Overall
Objective to build Africa’s
agricultural research knowledge
management capacity & support
dissemination & adoption of
improved technologies & good
practices.
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Background cont’d
The dissemination of proven
technologies and good
practices or DONATA is
Component 2 of the PSTAD
project
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Introduction
DONATA:
Dissemination
of New Agricultural
Practices in Africa
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Goal of DONATA
The Goal is:
To Catalyze
agricultural innovations
in Africa along the
value chains
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DONATA to achieve its goal by…
… and thereby facilitate scale
out and up of improved
technologies & good practices
for increased agricultural
production & productivity
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DONATA Objectives
• To analyse constraints in the agricultural value chains
& identify proven technologies to address them and
facilitate wide scale adoption to accelerate
agricultural development.
• To develop toolkits to facilitate targeting of
technologies to fit the prevailing conditions & to
make profitable investments.
• To promote wide adoption of ‘African model crops’
e.g. NERICA rice, improved cassava cultivars, etc for
reduction of hunger and food insecurity.
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DONATA: Present scope of activities
ASARECA
Sweet potato
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Lesotho
Malawi
Mozambique
Zambia
Madagascar
Maize
SADC-FANR
Sorghum
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•
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Kenya
Uganda
Ethiopia
DR Congo
Rwanda
Tanzania
CORAF
Cassava
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Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Congo Brazzaville
Côte d'Ivoire
Ghana
Guinea
Liberia
Mali
Senegal
Sierra Leone
DONATA Activities
• Establishing Platforms to promote technology
spread and utilisation using the IPTA tool
• Providing relevant Inputs & Equipment to
facilitate learning & adoption at the
platforms
• Supporting knowledge & skills acquisition
through long - & short-term training
• Promoting sharing of lessons & success
stories
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Knowledge/Skills Acquisition
Strengthens
Agric Research
Capacity
Facilitates Innovation
Dissemination &
Adoption
MSc Training
in various approved
Universities in Africa
Training of
Extension
Workers @ IPTAs
Short term courses
to improve
researchers’ skills in
NARIs
Training of other
Stakeholders @
IPTAs
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DONATA Strategy
• The innovation platform for technology
adoption (IPTA) is the DONATA tool for
disseminating improved technologies
and innovations to intended
beneficiaries
• IPTA facilitates out- and up-scaling of
innovations
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Understanding Terms*
Scaling-out: ‘horizontal’ spread of
knowledge and uptake of technologies,
processes and practices (e.g. to farmers
or businesses at a similar level) and
cross-site /border learning in a nation,
region or continent.
(*Adapted From Research Into Use Programme, 2008)
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Understanding Terms cont’d
Scaling-up: Influencing ‘higher’ level
decision makers to develop policies which
provide a more enabling environment for
scaling-out i.e. various actors that are
critical to catalyzing agricultural
innovations
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Understanding Terms cont’d
Innovation: new ideas, technologies or
ways of doing things in a place or by
people. Doing new things or old things in
new ways; do things effectively differently.
It enables more goods to be produced or
better services rendered with less
resources; facilitates efficiency.
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Understanding Terms cont’d
Value chain - the full range of activities
required to bring a product or service
from conception, through the different
phases of production to delivery of final
product to the consumer for use and
disposal
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What is DONATA Platform?
A platform is a network of partners
working on a common theme and
using agric knowledge in ways it
has not been used before to
generate goods and services for
mutual benefit of stakeholders.
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Establishing the DONATA Platform
• Follow value chain analysis and mapping
of needs to determine entry point
• The entry point should be the most critical
challenge or need to be addressed
• Selection of entry point, a consensus of
primary stakeholders
• Determine available technology /
innovation to meet the identified need.
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Value Chain Process for
Establishing DONATA Platform
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DONATA Strategy - IPTA
IPTA Innovation
Platform for
Technology
Adoption
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=
Multi-stakeholder platform
for access to knowledge &
skills to adapt technologies
to local settings / needs
What is IPTA?
IPTA is a mechanism, a tool to support the
development and maintenance of a value chain.
It is a strategy for improved dissemination of
innovations horizontally (to primary
stakeholders) and vertically (stakeholders across
the various divides) or more effective service
delivery to value chain actors; it is not the value
chain itself.
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IPTA Methodology
IPTA is a demand-driven participatory
approach & can adopt any or
combination of the participatory
methodologies such as




PLA – participatory learning and action;
PCP – participatory community planning;
FFS – Farmers field school;
Demonstrations; etc
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Technical Backstopping 4 IPTA
• Should be provided by the relevant NARI for
the practice or innovation in focus.
• Priority for National Institutions to ensure
sustainability & institutional capacity building
• An ARI to provide technical backstopping on
cross cutting innovations
• FARA / SRO to also support
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Implementation Progress
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About 70 platforms established in the 3 SROs
Several Demonstrations held
Farmer trainings conducted
Field days and Agric shows organized
Inputs procured, distributed and utilized by
farmers
• 24 students in Universities for MSc Degree
• Mid-Term Review of project conducted
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Lessons & Success Stories from other
sub-regions
• Partnering private sector facilitates technology
adoption and utilisation in the countries - e.g.
Tanseed Int’l makes QPM seeds readily
available for use by farmers promotes
increased production
Tanfeed Int’l uses QPM maize in poultry feeds
production making market available for grains
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Lessons & Success Stories from other
sub-regions
increased value addition enhances product life,
utilisation , consumption & further production
4/13/2015
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25
Lessons & Success Stories from other
sub-regions
QPM maize meals in homes and nutrition centres in
DRC ...
... rescues children from
kwashiokor
4/13/2015
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& improves breast milk
flow of nursing mothers
26
Challenges
• Slow pace of project implementation; by subsidiarity,
FARA Sec only coordinates & NARS & SROs
implement.
• Slow process of procurement of equipment and
facilities to enhance knowledge sharing among
stakeholders
• Understand the project concepts & approaches
• Know your scope i.e. No / Size of activities to carry
on a platform per year.
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Challenges
• Limited Networking Skills of partners
• Reporting activities based on log frame
• Access the available Capacity to implement
IPTA
• Equipment / facilities for value addition &
product development
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