AFRIFARM Engaged AKILIMO For Training Of Trainers.

Between November 2021 and April 2022, Afrifarm & Seeders Limited (ASL) collaborated with various value chain actors and African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) partners to implement a variety of activities. These activities aided in value addition and AKILIMO scaling up in collaboration with other partners as an instrumental approach to expanding market opportunities for cassava roots, while AKILIMO use is also increasing.

One of their various activities took place on the 13th and 15th of December 2021 in Akure. It was a training of trainers for new secondary partners on the use of AKILIMO tools, DSTs content, MEL, and dissemination. There were 12 EAs in attendance. The training was attended by four (4) organizations: Tosmat Foods and Agro-products in Oyo, Afrifarm in Ogun, Ondo State Agricultural Commodities Association (OSACA) in Ondo; and the Nigeria Cassava Growers Association (NCGA) in Ondo. 3666 farmers in Ogun and Oyo were sensitized through the training using video and Arifu.

Kayode Oguntoye and Josephine Fasakin (AKILIMO promoters) walked participants through the details of the Agronomy content of the WMxBPP, FR, IC, and SPHS tools in six steps using a video show, and WMxBPP was further explained using a worksheet. They were shown how to download the AKILIMO app from the Google Play store and how to obtain FR recommendations using the app, with participants following suite to obtain recommendations with their own phones. The participants were shown how to use Interactive Voice Response (IVR) to get intercropping recommendations, and then the Arifu chatbot was used to get planting schedule recommendations.

During the trainer training with secondary partners, it was discovered that using MEL tools directly by partners will go a long way toward alleviating problems with uploading participant lists. As a result, it is critical to train selected partners on how to use ODK/ODK functionalities.