Acclimatization training is being conducted from April 23 to April 26, 2013 at the Holeta Agricultural Research Center. The trainers at this course are an Israeli Small Holder Horticulture (SHH) coordinator and Holeta Tissue Culture laboratory staff. The trainees came from tissue culture laboratories working with SHH program (6 laboratories) as well from private/commercial sectors and two universities (Addis Ababa and Bahir Dar). The training addresses background on Tissue Culture (TC) and characteristics of TC plants, methods, equipment and facilities for TC plants acclimatization and recommended use of TC plants. The training combines theoretical background (morning lectures) with practical training (afternoons).
Background
Plant tissue culture (PTC) is defined as: "the aseptic culture of plant protoplasts, cells, tissues or organs under conditions which lead to cell multiplication or regeneration of organs or whole plants". This technique is currently used at many areas of plant science such as plant physiology, plant pathology and plant molecular genetics.
The main commercial application of plant tissue culture is micro-propagation: propagation of plants in culture vessels under aseptic conditions. The final step in micro-propagation, plant propagation via tissue culture is acclimatization: transfer of plants from tissue culture vessels into greenhouse environment.
Small Holder Horticulture (SHH) Program of USAID-MASHAV-MoA
Over 80% of the Ethiopian population lives in villages and relies on agriculture. Most of the farmers have small areas of 1-2 hectares. Monoculture of field crops creates vulnerability and risk during drought or floods. The USAID-MASHAV-MoA project (established by the governments of the U.S., Israel, and Ethiopia) encourages the cultivation of fruits and vegetables that serve as "insurance policy" for the small holders. Currently most of the fruit and vegetables cultivation is concentrated near the farmer's houses thus giving income source to women and youth.
Most of the avocado and mango trees in Ethiopia are seedlings and thus characterized by immense variability, low quality and low yields. Most of the vegetable varieties used by small holders are open pollinated varieties with low yields and without resistance to biotic and abiotic stress. This situation is changed by the USAID-MASHAV-MoA project that provides large quantities of grafted fruit trees and quality vegetable plants.
USAID-MASHAV-MoA Joint Technical Program activities and achievements:
The project work at 4 regions: Tigray, Amhara, Oromia, and SNNPR. Project sites include: 5 fruit tree nurseries producing avocado, mango and citrus with capacity of 300,000 plants per annum; one nursery for introduction of new fruit trees (zizpus, pomegranate, figs, tamarind, carob); 4 tissue culture laboratories producing 1.5M plants per annum (banana, pineapple, coffee, potato, sweet potato); 2 intensive extension teams that assist farmers on fruit and vegetable cultivation; training of 200 local experts per year on fruits and vegetables, nursery and tissue culture lab management and extension. Sustainability of project activities is achieved through profitable plant sales.