A delegation comprising 16 representatives of African countries is going to participate in a workshop about the production of forage grass seeds this week at Embrapa Southeast Livestock, in São Carlos, SP, Brazil. The event, which will last until Friday (15), was negotiated by Embrapa in partnership with the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC). The goal is to identify potentials, restrictions and limitations to producing seeds of the forage grasses used in Brazil, with the possibility of intercropping them with cotton crops in fice African countries - Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Togo. The workshop is also going to present and discuss technical alternatives to the production of such grass seeds and elaborate initial planning for seed multiplication in those countries. According to the researcher Francisco Dübbern de Souza, who has been working on the theme with the visitors, the intention is to introduce them to the Brazilian experience in the area. “The idea is that Brazil's experience works as an inspiration to solve their problems with pasture in their countries”, Souza underscored. For Fagaye Sissoko, the expectation from the training is that the group masters the grass seed multiplication technique so that they no longer depend on Brazil. “Pasture seeds have always left from Brazil to African countries. Learning to multiply the seeds is much needed now. We know of the benefits such plants provide to the soil and to cotton crops”, asserted Sissoko, a representantive from Mali. The schedule for the workshop includes visits to Embrapa's fields, labs and experiments. The representatives of each country are going to characterize their local conditions for the cultivation and use of tropical forage grass seeds in their countries. On Thursday afternoon (14), they start groupwork to define seed production planning. The workshop ends on Friday (15), at 11h30 a.m. History The international technical cooperation project "Technological strengthening and dissemination of good agricultural practices for cotton in Togo and Cotton-4 countries" started in 2009. The initiative aims at helping the five African countries develop their cotton sector, by increasing productivity, generating genetic diversity and improving the quality of the cultivated product. Cotton growers in Western Africa have observed increased productivity when they intercropped Brachiaria with the original crop. Embrapa has even sent seeds of the grass to Africa, but the results were not positive due to a lack of knowledge. This capacity-building event is the last stage of the project. Translation: Mariana Medeiros