The association comprises research institutes in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
Participants, who included farmers, plant scientists and private entrepreneurs, asked the association to create a database to produce and store data on crop-diseases. This would help identify which diseases should be tackled first and how many young plants should be grown using TC in the sub-Sahara region.
The network, whose office is expected to be in Kenya or Uganda, would enable researchers, farmers and businesses involved in TC to meet regularly.
ASARECA also pledged to help scientists improve their business skills, and develop intellectual property policies for researchers to enable them to make full use of new agricultural technologies.
The public sector has a duty to empower farmers and support private sector services, said Tilahun Zeweldu, a regional coordinator for the international Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project II.
Source: SciDev.Net
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