The SweetGAINS project SpeedBreed and Seed Community of Practice -East and Central Africa meeting was held at Galaxy hotel in Kigali Rwanda from 18th to 22nd February 2020. The theme of the meeting was ‘Towards building synergies between modernized sweetpotato breeding and seed systems for successful delivery of improved varieties in East and Central Africa.

The meeting was attended by 20 participants (7 female 13 male) from 5 different countries (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Peru and Rwanda). The participants were from different NARIs SweetGAINS project partners and CIP. The participants included breeders, agronomists, economists, social scientists, communication specialists, and program manager.

The meeting had several training sessions which covered product profiles, electronic data capture and management, biometrics, type of trials, experimental designs and field layout among other topics. The meeting featured presentations and discussions.

The meeting was officially opened by Dr. Charles Bucagu, the Director General, Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB). In his remarks, he noted that it was great that SweetGAINS project focused on modernizing breeding and the need to have efficient and effective seed systems.

On the last day participants participated in two learning journeys to get first-hand information on seed production activities in Rwanda.