Accelerating Seed Technologies for Agricultural Growth

RAPID Banana - Update ABBB Annual Meeting 20thMay 2021 Aarti Mahajan Uganda Country Project Manager, MEDA amahajan@meda.org Will Rogers Program Director, Context Global Development will.rogers@contextnet.com David Eagle Associate Director, MEDA deagle@meda.org

Desired Impact Breaking the Bottleneck Increased profitability drives investment & increases system capacity Accelerated availability of high-quality seed of improved varieties Improved quality of farmer- saved seed Significantly reduced disease Scope & Approach Multi-dimensional approach focused on technological improvements as well as business (operational and process) improvements 2

Scaling Up New Seed Technologies & Solutions Validation Phase (Pilot Trials) Scaling Phase (Test at Scale) Market Assessment (Ongoing Studies) To Establish: To Develop: To Identify: Multiplication Improvement Cost Reduction Loss Impact (multi-stage) Operational Advantage Improved Business Models Distribution Partnerships Pathways to Scale Farmer Segmentation Production Economics Market Size Enabling Constraints Validation Grants Test at Scale Grants 2020 2021 -2022 3

RAPID Seed System Targeted VC Improvements LABORATORY GREENHOUSE / FIELD MARKET / SHF INITIATION MULTIPLICATION ROOTING ACCLIMATIZATION HARDENING DISTRIBUTION Explant In-vitro In-vivo Un-hardened or Semi-hardened (5cm plantlets) Semi-hardened (5cm) to fully-hardened (20cm) Fully hardened plantlets STAGE Initiation protocols Initiated materials Best practices / quality assurance TIBS Solar Growth Medium SAH LED Lights Jiffy Pots Jiffy Pots Jiffy Pots Macro- propagation Jiffy Pots Order Agg. / Demand Planning TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS BENEFITS Labor Reqd. Multiplication (?) TC Price (?) Materials Easy Mgmt. Logistics Cost Transportability Field Survival Simplicity Adoption (?) Survival Contamination Labor Reqd. Consumables (?) TC Price (?) Contamination Survival Cost (?) Volume Multiplication Labor Reqd. Media Cost Contamination (?) Volume Survival Speed / Cycle (?) Labor Reqd. Materials TC Price (?) OPERATIONAL: Demand Planning (order-taking vs. volume sales) Pre-Payment / Layaway (cash flow mgmt.) ENABLING: Extension (TC best practices, field mgmt.) Awareness (where to buy, TC benefits)

RAPID Seed System Validation Pilot Results SEED PRODUCTION SUPPLY CHAIN KPIs Summary Laboratory Greenhouse / Field Distribution TIBS: show promise in improving rates for recalcitrant varieties (potential for 2-3x rate increase); more research TBD Macro: BAP application resulted in up to 75% increase in multiplication with local players in Uganda and Tanzania Multiplication Rates TIBS: high contamination losses (20%+) require better lab protocols and training to recognize full value Jiffy: hardening improvement along with elimination of nematodes; higher transport survival Jiffy: testing field survival benefits Nurseries: 20%+ hardening survival rate improvement (de-centralized) Contamination & Survival Initiation: large variance Utilities: Solar and LED opportunities Pricing: tiered; reduced structure Jiffy: 80% transport savings; lower per unit materials and labor cost (at scale) Macro: 55% cost reduction per unit Jiffy: better durability in transport Macro: 25-45% lower price vs. TC Nurseries: 7-20% price reduction Operational Costs & Prices TBD: labs experienced challenges sourcing equipment and materials; COVID personnel & production issues Jiffy: less plastic waste with Jiffy; opens export markets, but limited window for sales; simplifies hardening activities Jiffy: simplified path to field Macro: increased affordability Nurseries: increased accessibility Other Benefits: (Cycle time, transport, simplicity, adoption, etc.)

Scaling Stage Grant Categories Embedding technology and process improvements into full operations to test if advantages can be achieved within strong businesses. Large-scale matching grants to strong seed companies. Test at Scale Testing new sales approaches that include order-taking systems and step-down distribution for sales forecasting better and customer links. Large-scale matching grants for partnership models (multi-grantee). New Delivery Models COVID-19 impacts caused some first round grantees to need timeline extension to complete validation trials. Continuation of Validation Phase grants to finalize pilot trial set. Extended Validation These recognize the need for additional pilot tests on select technical areas that can provide research benefits to the wider sector. Small-scale matching grants for pilot trials to seed and research orgs. New Validation Tests

Scaling Stage Projects Portfolio SEED PRODUCTION SUPPLY CHAIN Scaling Solutions Laboratory Greenhouse / Field Distribution Jiffy Pots in TZ (Miti Mingi) TC + Nursery Partnerships (Multi: AJE + Chain + TCs) 1 Test at Scale New Delivery Models Pre-Ordering & Agro-Dealers (Royal Nurseries) Collective Purchase + Macro-Prop (MBADIFA) 2 Extended Validation TIBS Multiplication (Crop BioScience) Jiffy Pots in UG (Senai Labs) 3 New Validation TIBS Multiplication (Tier-1 Intl. Lab) AMF Technology 4 (Multi: NMAIST + TARI + Miti Mingi) TBD TBD TBD EGS Production De-centralized Nurseries CSEs Network

Areas of Continued RAPID & ABBB Collaboration 1. Quality Assurance o Virus indexing service & capacity building of TC labs o Quality Assurance protocols & system evolution 2. Varietal Release Process o Public-Private coordination for release & promotion o Farmer / demo trials (field multiplication experiments) o Varietal TC multiplication protocols & producibility (seed company focused) o Refinement of product profiles (market focused) o EGS production via private sector?

Enabling Environment Quality Assurance CHALLENGE: No formal national certification or QC standards for bananas. ACTIVITY: RAPID facilitated multiple round of discussions in 2020 & 2021 between public and private sector actors to understand the QA process in Tanzania & Uganda. QUESTION: Lessons on balancing development of new seed system without overburdening TC companies?

Enabling Environment Varietal Release Process CHALLENGE: Poor historic public-private engagement to coordinate varietal release. ACTIVITY: RAPID organised sessions with NARO & TARI to share release updates for new and upcoming NAROBAN & NARITA varieties; plan activities with seed companies QUESTION: What is the role of private sector in new introductions (business case validation, EGS production, promotion, demo plots, etc.)?

Thanks