抗击木薯病害

You need all the help you can get when you are working with one million farmers across six countries to stem the spread of the cassava diseases so families don't go hungry. The Catholic Relief Services （CRS） leads the Great Lakes Cassava Initiative which was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This initiative deals with diseases decimating cassava plants which is staple food like the potato in the United States located in eastern and central Africa. The project which lasts four years， is helping government agricultural institutions， local partners and farmers to grow， distribute and plant disease-tolerant cassava varieties so farmers can rely once again on this important food source.

But telling approximately one million farmers about the disease symptoms and how they can replant healthy fields is really no easy task. When CRS heard that Cornell University was seeking hands-on learning opportunities for a diverse set of graduate students， a great partnership was born. Over the last two years， Dr. Beth Medvecky and Dr. Terry Tucker of the Cornell International Institute for Food， Agriculture and Development have taught a class that ties into CRS programming. International Agriculture and Rural Development students create short courses called modules for CRS field agents during the school year. They build and improve skills such as： business and marketing， group collaboration and management and family health and nutrition. The modules give field agents a standard base of knowledge which they then use to train groups of rural villagers with the aim of helping villagers to escape their current poverty.

Cornell and CRS developed Computer-based modules to help field agents improve trainings offered to farmers to increase business and agricultural knowledge. From May to July， five students joined Dr. Medvecky on a trip to Africa， where they teamed with three students from Kenyatta University in Nairobi to field-test draft versions of GoCourses for the Great Lakes Cassava Initiative. "We gained a lot of practical experience about things we'd been theorizing about，" explains Tom Archibald， a Cornell student pursuing a master's degree inextension and education. "There's no better way to learn than to really do it. We learned things that could have taken three to four semesters in a classroom."

In Africa， the students worked at a furious pace to field-test various GoCourses in Kenya， Rwanda， Tanzania and Uganda. Collaborating closely with CRS staff， partner staff， field agents and farmers， they used the feedback they gained to fine-tune the computer-based training modules.

The feedback of field agents was very important： paid and volunteer community members assigned to organize and mentor groups of farmers. during regular field visits， these agents share critical data with farmers， including information about disease symptoms， how to plant disease-resistant cassava， and how to market cassava products. The GoCourses make sure that the field agents have the basic knowledge and skills they need to train these farmer groups effectively.

"The introduction of the modules let us move very fast to train our farmers，" says Beatrice Otieno， microfinance unit manager with the Diocese of Homa Bay， a Great Lakes Cassava Initiative partner in Kenya. "Using GoCourse， you prepare as a facilitator and then go to the field."

Project staff and Cornell students come together after field tests to evaluate and plan next steps for the computer-based training initiative.

"It's not a dream. This training initiative has a good impact， and it helps the farmer groups achieve their goals，" adds Celestin Hitimana， a supervisor of the Great Lakes Cassava Initiative for CRS' local partner Rwanda Rural Rehabilitation Initiative.

"The world is moving forward with new technologies. We are in the revolution，" says Sylvain Hakizimana， CRS' program manager for the Great Lakes Cassava Initiative in Rwanda. "CRS' partnership with Cornell University is helping Africans make good use of this technology to improve their lives."

由天主教救济服务组织（CRS）牵头，比尔和梅琳达・盖茨基金会资助的大湖区木薯保护行动历时四年，旨在配合政府农业机构、当地合作方及农民种植和分发能够抵抗病害的木薯品种，使这种重要的食物来源再次成为农民的生活保障。该项目与康奈尔大学合作，由该校两位博士专门开设相关课程，为康奈尔国际农业和乡村发展专业的学生创立现场指导员模块短期培训，使其具备教授村民相关技能的能力，帮助他们尽快脱贫。