News

[Ouagadougou] - Experts from several regional and international organizations will gather in the Burkinabe capital -Ouagadougou- from February 1 to 5, 2021, for a technical meeting, with the aim of modernizing the electronic data platform of the Regional Catalogue of Plant Species and Varieties of West Africa.

At CORAF's initiative, this meeting will be a crucible for developing the terms of reference (ToR) and establishing a roadmap for modernizing the data platform of the Regional Catalogue of Plant Species and Varieties of West Africa on the one hand, and on the other, to define the modalities for extending the list of plant species to other crops of economic importance and food security in the Regional Catalogue.

As a reminder, the Regional Catalogue of West African Plant Species and Varieties (CREVAO) was developed by CORAF in collaboration with its national and regional partners, and within the framework of the Partnership for Agricultural Research, Education and Development in West Africa (PAIRED). It facilitates access to new certified plant varieties and seed marketing in the ECOWAS-UEMOA-CILSS regional area.

Three (03) main results are expected at the end of this highly technical iteration:

• The technical, user and transaction management constraints of the electronic platform, as well as the needs for improvement, are defined; 
• The detailed ToRs and roadmaps for the two missions to update the electronic platform and define and parameterize the DUS (Distinctness, Homogeneity and Stability) and VAT (Agronomic and Technological Value) data for the additional crops identified have been finalized; 
• A draft protocol between CORAF and the Institut du Sahel (INSAH)/CILSS for co-management of the platform has been drawn up.
  

The current version of the Catalogue has registered 1,496 varieties of the 11 priority crops: rice, maize, sorghum, millet, groundnuts, cowpeas, cassava, yams, potatoes, tomatoes and onions.

The present meeting is considering extending the list of crops of economic importance and food security beyond the 11 mentioned above, to include crops such as sesame, soybean, sweet potato, okra, local eggplant, bissap, etc.

In order to be registered in the Catalogue - as was the case for the 11 crops currently listed - it is imperative that the candidate varieties be approved at national level and meet the three following conditions:

• Recognized as distinct, homogeneous and stable (DHS);
• Be recognized as having sufficient performance in relation to the range of the most widely used varieties and without major defects for users, through a protocol for examining agronomic, technological and environmental value (VATE);
• Be designated by an approved name.

The meeting will be attended by some 15 experts from CORAF, the Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the West Africa office of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), as well as experts in DUS testing - Distinctness, Homogeneity, Stability.