IHIS -Greater Mbale, a sub grant under the Hortimap project implemented by Techno Serve with support from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands was implemented by a consortium led by Xclusive Biologicals (Bio crop pest and disease solutions) with Dutch Seed Centre as Seed Partner aimed at promoting sustainable vegetable production in the region.

During its implementation period, more than 35 demo sites were established, managed and used as learning centres for training of more than 2500 smaller holder growers who  were trained in the different aspects of  sustainable profitable vegetable production like Good Agronomic Practices, Integrated Pest Management, Post Harvest Handling and Good Soil Fertility Management with focus on 3 crops that is cabbage, carrot and onions.

Further still successful demo sites hosted field days that were attended by the different stakeholders in the sub sector. These included government officials, Agro input dealers, traders, buyers and offset traders to witness the significance of using genuine and environmentally friendly quality inputs like seeds and to attest to the superiority of the consortium products.

For successful adaptation, the need for involvement of all the value chain players is crucial therefore the consortium further engaged  more than 164 agro input dealers in the focus districts in sustainable agricultural production to equip them with the necessary skills and knowledge to provide technical support to the grassroot growers.

By the end of the project Dutch Seed Centre introduced and promoted several cultivars that were tried, tested and proven by their performance in the demo sites to be suitable to the focus districts with resilience against the adverse effects of climate change like drought. These included:

Carrot Norma: a long slender carrot with a deep orange colour, a sweet taste with a strong resilience and perfectly suitable as an import substitute for imported carrots from neighboring countries .

Cabbage Bowie F1: adapted for its friendly price, quick maturity and drought tolerance.

Cabbage Excalibur F1: A black rot resistant cabbage with a big and compact head suitable for transportation.

Onion Red Duke F1: its remarkable deep red colour and resilience during unfavourable condition like during a dry spell gave Red Duke the Premium household name among the growers in the focus districts.

Onion Red Wave: Adapted for its resilience, performance and bulb quality.

The project enabled us to fulfill part of our commitment to them towards their growth.