Report on the first virtual seminar for the course on the RTB Toolbox for Working with Root, Tuber and Banana Seed Systems. July 26, 28-29, 2021

Bentley, J.W., Andrade-Piedra, J.L., McEwan, M.A., and Almekinders, C.J.M. 2021. Report on the first virtual seminar for the course on the RTB Toolbox for Working with Root, Tuber and Banana Seed Systems. July 26, 28-29, 2021. Lima (Peru). CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB). Available online at: www.rtb.cgiar.org

This seminar launched the course on the RTB Toolbox for Working with Root, Tuber and Banana Seed Systems, covering 12 tools for studying and documenting these systems (https://tools4seedsystems.org/). The online seminar was held for two hours a day (26, 28 and 29 July 2021) and was attended by between 85 and 134 participants from 26 to 39 countries. The Toolbox originally included a set of 11 tools and a glossary, but in this seminar an additional tool was also discussed (the Cassava Seed Unit Toolkit). The RTB crops are important for food security, and they have unique, vegetative seed, which is challenging to breed, trade, transport and store. Each of the tools is presented briefly, with a link to the PowerPoint and to the video of the recorded presentation. This report emphasizes the question-and-answer session that followed each presentation. This seminar is the first of three phases in a practical course on the Toolbox. Phase 2 is fieldwork using selected tools, and Phase 3 will be a seminar to present the results of those studies.