The task of dissemination
ProGrOV has a task to disseminate the findings and knowledge from all work done and this would essentially be either as:
a) Scientific writings from the individual MSc and PhD studies in the form of dissertations and/or scientific articles, and/or
b) Joint articles, reports, recommendations and other dissemination products that cuts across the individual studies and can be in the form of scientific or popular writings.

Write-shop activities
During the write-shop the team was divided into the thematic teams (i.e. livestock integration, soil, pest management and value chain governance) in order to work on student supervision, individual and joint articles either scientific and/or popular.

This proved quite fruitful as there are several articles that both student and supervisors came up with some already completed and others in the pipeline. The team was also grouped in national teams i.e. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania and the aim for this was to come up with a comprehensive paper that would focus on the specific country studies and identify what lessons were learnt from the studies that cut across the different themes in each country.

These group sessions were also to identify what recommendations could be extracted from the project and how they could be useful for the development of the organic sector and for the implementation of other organic research projects.

The scientific papers to be produced will mainly be published in scientific journals focusing on organic agriculture. For the popular articles, their form of dissemination will be in different platforms such as blogs, newsletters, pamphlets and policy briefs that could be shared widely to the different stakeholders that they will be targeting.

Sharing of achievements
The annual workshop was also an opportunity for the team to share their achievements so far within the project. At the moment, six students out of the 15 have completed their studies and officially graduated. The recent graduates are Samuel Ndungu and Haggai Ndukhu from Nairobi and Adolf Gerald Saria from Tanzania.

	Samuel Ndungu, a representative of Kenya Organic Agriculture Network, was also a student who studied at Kenyatta University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agribusiness Management and Trade. He graduated in July 2015 with an MSC in Agribusiness Management and Trade. His thesis title was “Economic analysis and Appraisal of Smallholder Organic Vegetable Production System in Kiambu and Kajiado Counties of Kenya”. The Study aimed at establishing the drivers of adoption of organic production system, analysing profitability and establishing the impact of converting to organic production system on farm profitability among smallholder farmers in Kiambu and Kajiado counties of Kenya.
	Haggai Onyango Ndukhu graduated on Friday 4th Sept 2015 with a PhD in Soil Science. He was a student at the faculty of Agriculture, University of Nairobi. His thesis entitled: ‘Evaluating Influence of Organic Amendments and Legume Integration on Soil Chemical Properties and Crop Performance in Central Kenya.’ The general objective of this study was to contribute towards sustainable soil management for enhanced crop performance and adaptation to climate change in small holder farming systems.
	Adolf Gerald Saria was a student in the Faculty of Crop Science and Production Department at Sokoine University of Agriculture. He graduated in November 2014 with a M.Sc. in Crop Science. His dissertation was entitled "Weed Management and Insects Dynamics in Selected Organically Produced Vegetables in Usambara Mountain Valleys, Tanzania". The general objective of this study was to investigate suitable mulching materials for the control of weeds and insects in tomato and sweet pepper. Adolf is currently pursuing his PhD under the ProGrOV project and his study focus is on “Productivity of Selected Vegetables Produced Organically Using Cover Crops and Mulch for Weed and Soil Fertility Management.”

The ProGrOV project partners are very proud of the graduates and are looking forward to the rest of the students graduating in the coming year.

For more information about ProGrOV

Visit project website

Read project leaflet

Contact person:
Esther Waweru
Assistant International Coordinator, ICROFS
Tel.: +45 87 15 80 47
Esther.Waweru@icrofs.org