Who We Are
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Working on 4 Vegetatively Propagated Crops (VPCs) in collaboration with more than 25 partners, PROSSIVA engages many scientists and researchers in the 5 implementing countries (Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda).
Project Advisory Committee (PAC)
The PROSSIVA Advisory Commitee meets physically during annual meetings & virtually in mid-year meetings. The commitee consists of the following key members;
- CGIAR Genetic Innovations Senior Director, Strategy, Delivery and Scaling (Ian Barker)
- IITA Director – Development and Delivery Office (Alfred Dixon)
- BMGF Senior Program Officer – Discovery/Crop R&D (Jim Lorenzen)
- Senior Agricultural Advisor, AgDevCo Kenya (Jonathan Moss)
- AGRA Head of Seed Research & Systems Development (Jane Ininda)
- BMGF Senior Program Officer for PROSSIVA (Lawrence Kent)
- Project Co-lead James Legg
- Project Co-lead Delphine Amah
Project Coordination Teams
The PROSSIVA Coordination Teams consist of the BMGF Program Officer (Lawrence Kent), the Project Management team and the Project finance team.
The Project Management team includes the Project Co-leads (Dr James Legg and Dr Delphine Amah, who are also Banana and Cross-cutting component leads), other component leads ( Morufat Balogun, Kwame Ogero and Lateef Sanni) and other important team members including the Monitoring and Evaluation expert and the project administrator.
Below are picture profiles of some members of the Project team;
Iribov is located in the Volta Region in Ghana since 2005 and has a tissue culture laboratory and nursery operation and employs over 150 people. The main activity of the company is propagation of plants for the global market of plant breeders, growers and farmers.
Iribov has been a member of the YIIFSWA II project since 2018 and is now a member of the PROSSIVA project in the role of private seed company in Ghana.
NACGRAB, located in Ibadan in southwest Nigeria, collects and conserves valuable genetic resources for food and agriculture and ensures that they are used sustainably.
Having successfully coordinated Tissue Culture activities at NACGRAB for the YIIFSWA Project, Dr Afolayan presently coordinates NACGRAB’s PROSSIVA activities, including the use of conventional Tissue Culture technology to carry out research activities for improvement of existing protocols and development of new effective protocols for disease elimination, efficient production of in vitro breeder plantlets and tuber and other specified PROSSIVA project activities for NACGRAB.
The mission of RAB is to develop agriculture and animal resources through research, agricultural extension and animal resources extension in order to increase agricultural and animal resources productivity and quality, as well as their derived products.
Sahel Consulting Agriculture and Nutrition Limited is a management consulting firm committed to transforming Africa’s agriculture and nutrition landscape.
At Sahel Consulting, Temi supports the institutional and marketing innovations of the PROSSIVA project by developing streamlined marketing strategies to drive stakeholder engagement in the commercialization of registered and released improved VPC seed varieties.
The mission of the CSIR is to become the force for accelerated social and economic development of Ghana through examining, exploring and creating Science and Technology catalysts for public and private wealth creation.
Dr Appiah-Kubi was involved in YIIFSWA-II and CAY-SEED projects at CSIR-Crops Research Institute (CSIR-CRI), Kumasi. Currently, CSIR-CRI is running two commodities for Program for Seed System Innovation for Vegatatively Propagated Crops in Africa (PROSSIVA) project, namely Yam and Banana/Plantain Components.
SSNL has expertise in the production and marketing of improved seeds of grain crops particularly rice due to its importance in the food and farming systems of Ebonyi state. The company also produces seedlings of root and tuber crops such as yam.
Strategic Seeds Nig Ltd, led by Happiness was one of the seed companies that worked with IITA under the YIIFSWA project and now the PROSSIVA Project.
Da – Allgreen Seeds Ltd (DAGS) is a limited liability company involved in the production, processing and marketing of quality planting materials and industrial raw materials.
DAGS is one of the first commercial companies to accept the “New High Ratio Propagation Technologies (HRPT) on seed yam” and has been in fore-front of most commercial innovations & adaptations from the technology.
National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT), Ibadan with the mandate to conduct research into genetic improvement, production, processing, storage, utilization and marketing of tropical fruits, vegetable, ornamentals, spices, other medicinal and aromatic plants of nutritional and economic importance.
She currently oversees the plantain/banana improvement in NIHORT and she is the focal person of PROSSIVA for NIHORT.
The PPRSD is the Ghana National Institution with the mandate and capacity to organize, regulate, implement and coordinate the plant protection services needed for the country in support of sustainable growth and development of Agriculture.
Mr. Eric Bentsil Quaye is a formal Head of the Ghana Seed Inspection Division (GSID) who supervised the implementation of YIFFSWA I & II project approved for PPRSD. He is the Administrator of the PROSSIVA programme in Ghana.
Resourced is a non-profit organization on a mission to reimagine and redesign resilient food systems for an abundant future. We collaborate with public and private sector partners throughout agriculture and food systems to deploy cutting-edge technology and accelerate innovations that result in meaningful and lasting change.
At Resourced, Will Rogers has led teams on the BASICS-Cassava program in Nigeria and the RAPID-Banana program in Uganda and Tanzania. He supports the technical and marketing innovation areas of the PROSSIVA program by developing strategies and in-field pilots for VPC seed system commercialization and up-scaling.