New initiative catalyzes sustainable seed systems from Caribbean to the Atlantic

A new initiative will catalyze seed systems development in Haiti and Senegal and sustainably deliver agricultural research outputs to farmers at-scale.

The ILCI-Caribbean-Atlantic Seed Systems Initiative (CASSi) — led by the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Crop Improvement (ILCI), in partnership with Seed Systems Group, Quisqueya University in Haiti and Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles (ISRA) in Senegal — will strengthen alliances between researchers and farmers to effectively get improved seeds into the market.

Haiti and Senegal are an ocean apart geographically but share two things in common: chronically low crop yields among smallholder farmers and a dependency on rain-fed, smallholder agriculture to supply the bulk of food and income. Climate change has posed additional challenges to delivering staple food security crops, with severe droughts in Senegal and frequent and devastating storms in Haiti.