São Paulo – Submission of pre-proposal projects of agricultural cooperation between Brazil and African, Latin American or Caribbean countries is open. The Agricultural Innovation Market Place, an initiative created by research organizations to promote the innovation and development of agriculture and animal husbandry in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean by means of partnerships and exchange with Brazil. Proposals will be accepted until the next 4th of January, according to information released on the platform’s website.
Market Place is an initiative of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (Fara) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), with support from organizations such as the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The selected projects will be funded up to US$ 80,000 for their development, for a maximum period of two years.
Individuals representing public or private research organizations from any of the three regions of the world involved in the project are eligible. They will need the partnership of an Embrapa researcher, who will be one of the project coordinators. Proposals can fall under several categories, including productivity enhancing technologies, crop plants adaptation, food storage and processing technologies, climate change adaptation and mitigation technologies, technologies for fighting desertification, water harvesting and management techniques and mechanization for smallholders.
The initiative has funded projects in soil management project in Mozambique, the use of sorghum for ethanol production in Kenya, cowpea production in Ghana, cotton varieties and pest management in Tanzania, the nutritional potential of native food tree species used by local communities in Burkina Faso and the Brazilian Amazon as a food security strategy.
The veterinarian and researcher at Embrapa Pantanal (the corporation’s wetlands division), Raquel Soares Juliano, was granted a fund in 2013 and should complete her project with Cameroon next April. The project is testing the use of alternative foods in substitution of the nutrients found in maize and soy in the raising of laying hens. Raquel explains that these birds basically feed on maize and soy, but those are used as food by the population in Africa and are, therefore, expensive.
The objective was to find replacements among the vegetables available in Cameroon. According to Raquel, they are test-feeding the animals with 25% to 100% ratios of manioc, a source of protein and moringa, a source of carbohydrate. The researcher reports that 90% of the budget was targeted at Cameroon, because, according to her, the idea is to strengthen the institutions of partner countries. Raquel says she was contacted by the African researcher to implement the project, as well as by a researcher from Nigeria whose project was not approved.
One of the selection criteria is that researchers should read and write in English. The guidelines also state that preference will be given to countries with no ongoing conflicts and with innovation-oriented institutions and policies. The projects must be implemented in partner countries and not in Brazil. Applying researchers must submit pre-proposals and then, if selected, a full proposal. The selected researchers will be invited to a forum in Brazil where the projects will be presented and discussed.
Service:
Call 2014/2015– Agricultural Innovation Market Place
Call for pre-proposals closes on the 4th of January 2015 at 5pm Brasília Time
Guidelines: http://www.africa-brazil.org/site/images/documents/Mktplace_Guidelines_pre_proposals_2014-15call.pdf
Website: www.africa-brazil.org
Phones: Embrapa (+55 61 3448-4256) – Fara (233 21 772823) – IICA Brazil (+55 61 2106-5403)
*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça
