he course was a success. ICARDA's Seed Unit staff  were not surprised; we knew it would be. Titled Processing and Economics of Seed, it was held in Morocco in March 1998. ICARDA's trainers were there, but we were not training the 31 participants. That was the task of colleagues like seed agronomist Mohamed Bouchrifa, of the Moroccan organization Societe National de Commercialisation de Semences (SONACOS).
      ICARDA already knew Dr Bouchrifa from a similar course at its headquarters in Syria the previous year. During that earlier course, which he attended as a participant himself, he demonstrated leadership qualities and the ability to communicate practical matters. Indeed, he had been selected by SONACOS to attend the course with such qualities in mind. He and the other trainers on the course had taken part in the ICARDA Seed Unit's Train the Trainers program.
       The program started in 1990, and has been funded by the Dutch and German development agencies, DGIS and GTZ. The reasoning behind it is simple: why just train 15 people in (say) seed processing at headquarters, when you can instead have the national programs select people with relevant technical skills and aptitude for training, and then not only give the course, but show them how to do so themselves? Then they will return to their home countries and give the course to colleagues.
      Apart from the obvious multiplier effect,

this has four main benefits. First, far more people receive training for the money spent. Second, it allows training to be decentralized to collaborating countries, which is general ICARDA policy--saving worthwhile sums on travel and per diem costs. It was this factor which was the immediate motive for starting this type of training. Third, the skills acquired stay in the target country, even if the individual concerned moves on. Fourth and last, but far from least, it means that training courses, being given in specific countries, can be tailored to their requirements. As an example, one national program may like to emphasize the problems and opportunities of seed-industry privatization; another might be more interested in farmer-run distribution systems. And a course concentrating on diseases needs to have examples there for trainees to see.
     But it is the multiplier effect that concerns us most. There are not nearly enough seed specialists in the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region. Human capacity building through training is one of the most effective means of promoting agricultural productivity in developing countries. The seed industry is unique in this sense, in that it is concerned with local means of feeding people by enabling them to have access to and sow seeds of the right varieties.  This requires knowledge and capacity to build the relevant institutions, select appropriate planting materials, maintain and keep these in the right condition, and disseminate within farming communities.     

     ICARDA has a vital role to play here by coordinating training efforts at regional level, and providing access to international experience and lessons learned in solving particular problems.
     The methodology is simple. Colleagues are selected as potential trainers by their national programs, and sent to attend "mother courses" at ICARDA headquarters. The selection is done well; we have had very few participants at the mother courses who did not have the aptitude to become trainers themselves. Back in their home country, the participants act as trainers initially for a "follow-up" course (the Moroccan course at which Dr Bouchrifa was training was one of these). ICARDA's own trainers attend the follow-up courses but don't do any training there. Their job is to evaluate the follow-up course as an activity in its own right. They do this in collaboration with their national colleagues.
      Part of the Moroccan course saw the participation of the Directors General of the three main seed-related organizations--SONACOS, SOGETA (Societe de Gestion des Terres Agricoles) and INRA (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique), Dr Abdel Aziz Arifi, Dr Mokhtar Bouanani, and Dr Saaoud, respectively.  The course coincided with a period of reorganization of the seed sector in Morocco, since a comprehensive study has just been conducted which has resulted into what is now known as "The National Seed Plan." Constructive discu-