NORMATIVE FRAMEWORK

TELEFOOD SPECIAL FUND PROJECT FORMAT

"Establishment of Vegetable Seedling Nursery"

Target group
The primary beneficiaries will be the poor smallholder women's groups in urban and peri-urban areas who raise seedlings for their own use or for sale to other local farmers.

Background and justification
Traditional vegetable production in the poorer parts of urban and peri-urban areas generally requires the active involvement of women farmers as most males in this environment are either employed off farm, or fully occupied in the search for employment in the city economy. Very limited, if any, technical advice is provided to them and in many case studies it has been verified that such women farmers not only transplant seedlings which are not of the recommended cultivar for the particular area or season, but also in the majority of cases plantlets are already infested with diseases (principally viruses) and pests (principally nematodes) at the nursery level. This has several important implications for the subsequent crop, all of which reduce the benefits accruing to these disadvantaged sectors of society specifically:

• higher transplant failure rates, resulting in much lower plant densities than required to give a good yield and ensure efficient utilization of land, labour and inputs supplied to the crop;
• Reduced yield per plant and very much reduced yield pre unit area; from both debilitation of the plant and the unsuitability of the cultivar.

Production of healthy seedlings of suitably adapted cultivars within a healthy nursery environment could be developed as a small-scale specialized activity by a group of farmers, thereby creating valuable income while at the same time ensuring the raising and distribution of healthy plant material as a basic input to the vegetable farming system and eliminating the very deleterious effects of establishing vegetable production plots with diseased and unsuitable vegetable planting material.

Pre-requisites
A number of pre-requisites need to be satisfied before project assistance should be considered, specifically:

• a local willingness to participate in and contribute to the programme both at governmental ad community level;
• an institution (government or NGO) capable of initiating and supervising the programme in the project area, as well as providing other essential inputs not covered by TeleFood;
• Advisors/extension staff trained in horticulture, preferably with experience in vegetable production and marketing, and with a good understanding of the local cultural environment and farming system practices.

Objectives
This project will be instrumental in assisting a group of women farmers to develop small-scale seedling nurseries. It will introduce simple technology including the use of sterilized seeding medium, the use of suitably adapted cultivars and use of high quality seed, combined with the raising of disease-free healthy seedlings for sale to small-scale growers in the urban and peri-urban areas. It will involve the training of a group of women farmers (10-25) and provision of start-up capital equipment, to raise and produce superior vegetable plantlets as a primary input to the vegetable production process.

Duration of the project: Typically one year.

Outputs
Through establishment of vegetable seedling nurseries it is expected that a breakthrough will be achieved in the use of appropriate cultivars suitably adapted to the region and season and with the required pest and disease resistance. Furthermore the use of healthy disease-free vegetable seedling planting material will lead higher transplanting success and consequently higher plant densities at final stand. This results in a more efficient utilization of the available land, reduces marginal costs of production and more efficient utilization of labour. This combined with increases in yield (due to increased plant density and higher individual plant production) and decreases in the use of agrochemicals for the control of pests and diseases, leads to a significant improvement in the return to the farmer. In addition, it will create a source of additional income for the women's group who will be dedicated to the specialized activity of raising high quality disease-free planting material.

Activities
Essentially a selected group of female farmers (10-25) will be organized to jointly implement the production of healthy seedlings of for their own use and sale to other farmers. Depending on the geographical area and agro-climatic zone, basic infrastructure will comprise simple greenhouse or shelter structures, each of approx. 72 m2; construction of benches and installation of a water delivery system.

• Design and construction from locally available material of a simple shelter structure. Depending on the climatic zone, either a greenhouse to raise temperatures and allow earlier production of seedling transplants to enable earlier field establishment, or shade structures to allow safe seed germination in high temperature environment with high sunshine levels.
• Production of sterilized compost to allow germination of seed in a pest and disease-free environment and subsequent pricking off into pots of sterilized compost to ensure good root formation and good field transplanting characteristics.
• Construction of benches to accommodate the young plants away from possible soil contamination and inoculation with nematodes, other soil borne diseases;
• Provision of a starter seed supply of adapted species and improved vegetable cultivars adapted to the local climatic conditions and meeting the requirements of the local market. Provision of small starter packs of specifically adapted crops and cultivars to participants will ensure their successful exploitation of the improved seedling raising practices and ensure a high return to the purchasers of the seedlings. The choice of crops and cultivars will be based on locally available recommendations for tried and tested combinations.
• Construction of simple water reservoirs and supply of irrigation pump, pipes and hoses for water conveyance and better irrigation management. Provision of adequate irrigation on a daily basis is essential for rapid growth and healthy development of seedlings, which due to their relatively small root systems and pot or soil block culture are very prone to desiccation if provision is not made for daily water application.
• Provision of a hand operated soil blocker to allow sustained production of transplant modules with the dependence on externally supplied plastic pots or bags.
• Provision of durable seed trays for initial germination of seedlings prior to pricking off into soil blocks or pots, these seed trays can be sterilized and reused.

Linkages with other (FAO) projects
To be defined in each country.

Inputs/Budget
Assuming an initial target population of 10-25 women farmers in a group arrangement:

Monitoring and Reporting
The national implementing agency will be responsible for providing FAO with quarterly and final reports in an agreed format. The FAO Representation will be responsible for monitoring the progress of the project and ensuring, through independent audit, that the funds are used correctly.