The past 10 years

Since CPHP began in 1995, we have commissioned some 153 research projects. These address post-harvest constraints and opportunities identified in national agricultural research strategies and through participatory needs assessments funded by CPHP. Project summaries can be viewed via the Projects Portfolio, where you will also find contact details for the teams involved.

The projects have developed and disseminated a wide range of technologies, protocols, strategies and policy recommendations. These can be viewed via our Virtual Library.

They represent an investment of £24 million across five livelihood themes: market access; processing; storage; food safety; and institutional arrangements for technical innovation.

The research has been carried out in Southern Africa (Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Namibia); East Africa (Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya); West Africa (Ghana, Nigeria and Benin); South Asia (India and Bangladesh).

Focus crops, chosen for their importance in the livelihoods of poor producers and/or consumers, are cereals, roots and tubers, legumes, oilseeds, horticultural crops and, to a lesser extent, plantain/banana.

Supporting these projects are four Regional Offices, staffed by a Regional Coordinator and a small support team. In March 2002, they became formally part of the management team with increased responsibilities.

In addition, we have funded activities which add value to research: training, networking, information. Increasingly, these have been commissioned by the Regional Coordinators in response to regional requests.

In 2002, we commissioned 16 new research projects under our Partnerships for Innovation Strategy. This batch of projects aimed to maximise the impact of CPHP's investment in research to date - where possible, adding value to other regional initiatives.

Following DFID’s announcement that the CPHP would be extended by a further year (2005-2006), CPHP developed a new strategic objective for this year. It is to commission research on ways of mobilising existing post-harvest knowledge. A new portfolio will pilot (i) ways of strengthening knowledge markets, (ii) mechanisms for upscaling research results and (iii) innovative technologies for information management. It will generate insights aimed at intermediary organisations in our focus regions who play a knowledge management role in the natural resources sector.