Improving Vegetable Production and Consumption in Mali Phase 2 Quarterly Program Performance Report (February 1 – April 30, 2014)

The project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), focuses on the Sikasso region, where farmers face challenges such as soil degradation and limited market access. During the reporting period from February to April 2014, significant progress was made in various areas. On-station testing and evaluation of improved varieties were conducted at the Samanko station, where performance evaluations of AVRDC elite vegetable varieties and new advanced lines/varieties of tomato, pepper, onion, and "Roselle" were ongoing. The objective of this activity was to identify the best lines/varieties for field testing and evaluation in the Sikasso region. The evaluation of 20 local varieties and six introduced onion lines from East-West Seed Company in Thailand was still in progress. The experimental design adopted was the Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The planting density was 20 cm between rows and 10 cm between plants in the row. The seeds for the trials were sown in November and transplanted in December 2013. At the time of reporting, harvesting of the different varieties/lines as well as data collection was in progress. The trend showed that the yield of the 10 F1 hybrid varieties of tomato increased from 6.32 to 27.41 tons/ha (AVTO 1252) against 10.52 tons/ha for the control variety (Xina). The AVTO 1252 was the best in terms of yield followed by AVTO 1333. The F1 hybrid variety of tomato (AVTO 1252) can be tested in farmers' fields in the rainy season 2014. Regarding the assessment of 17 open varieties of tomato, no variety was superior to the control (Xina) in terms of yield during the rainy season. On-station and on-farm seed multiplication of recommended elite AVRDC vegetable varieties recommended for dry and wet season production were also conducted. Seeds of 78 onion lines/varieties were in seed production for regional and multi-location trials mainly in the Sikasso region. These lines included local purified varieties of onion from West Africa and outperformed varieties developed by AVRDC in Taiwan. At the time of reporting, most of the onion seeds were harvested and were at the drying stage before threshing and packaging. Seeds of three improved varieties and one advanced line of tomato, 15 lines of pepper, one variety of sweet pepper, and one variety of "Roselle" were produced and packaged for field testing in the Sikasso region and multilocational trials to be carried out in Mali and West Africa. On-farm activities focused on supervision of seed multiplication of tomato, pepper, and eggplant in the four demonstration sites in the Sikasso region. At the time of reporting, 1.5 kg of pepper seed, 2 kg of African eggplant seed, and 10 kg of okra seed had been harvested from the demonstration plots. Cold dry season experiments with collaborative farmers in the Best Practices Hub (BPH) gardens were also conducted. A participative experiment including four irrigation systems replicated in two blocks (one covered with grass mulch and the other on bare soil) was implemented in each of the four BPH gardens. The objectives of this experiment were to enable farmers to appreciate different irrigation and water conservation methods and to identify the best varieties of vegetable species in competition. The experiment can also assist in determining the possible interaction between factors studied, such as varieties, irrigation types, ground cover, on the productivity of vegetables. The observed irrigation systems included traditional as the control using water cans or gourds, drip irrigation system, "Nafasoro" pump spraying water, and gravity system. The five species evaluated were okra, African eggplant, onion, hot pepper, and tomato, encompassing two improved AVRDC varieties and a check of the farmer of each species. Except for hot pepper, harvesting had been completed for all of the species, and data collection and compilation were in process. Results will be analyzed, discussed, and reported in the next reporting period (August 2014). In addition to these trials implemented in the demonstration sites, 32 other multilocational tests of onion were set up in four sites (Koutiala, Zangasso, and Medina Coura in Koutiala district and Kouoro Barrage in Sikasso district). Thirty-two farmers were involved in conducting these tests on the basis of one test per farmer. The following improved onion varieties; AVON1319, AVON1321, AVON1310, AVON1320, AVON1323, AVON1073, AVON1307, AVON1324, AVON1053, and AVON1325, were compared to the local landraces. For each test, five improved onion varieties were compared to the local landrace. The objectives of these tests were to identify the most productive varieties adapted