Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
The US$20 million Tropical Legume Improvement II Project aims to improve the livelihoods of more than 300 million smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa through the improvement of crop legume productivity. It involves 3 CGIAR centres: CIAT (PABRA), ICRISAT and IITA. These Centres are working with the national agricultural research systems (NARS), NGOs and Government agencies of 8 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria and Tanzania). The project aims to: (i) exploit the improved germplasm that already exists by using "fast track" evaluation and seed production; (ii) encourage farmer-participatory varietal selection; (iii) develop improved crop cultivars by combining conventional plant breeding with modern breeding tools and techniques; and (iv) strengthen national programmes' capacity for plant breeding.

SDC
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is organised and funded by the Swiss government and operates by financing programmes both directly, and in partnership with other agencies to countries around the world.

USAID
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent federal government agency that aims to further America's foreign policy interests in expanding democracy and free markets while improving the lives of the citizens of the developing world. USAID supports long-term and equitable economic growth and advances U.S. foreign policy objectives by supporting: economic growth, agriculture and trade; global health; and democracy, conflict prevention and humanitarian assistance.

ECABREN, Selian Agricultural Research Institute, Dodoma Road, P.O. Box 2704, Arusha, Tanzania
Tel +255-27-2508557, fax +255-27-2508557, email m.pyndji@cgiar.org

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