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PROTA’s second brainstorm workshop was held at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Nairobi, Kenya from 3 to 5 April, 2006.  The objective of the workshop was to translate the information on PROTA commodity group 3: ‘Dyes and tannins’ into a set of 6 special products with recommendations on:

• candidate technologies to be tested or applied in the field,
• development gaps for private enterprises,
• research gaps to provide focus for research institutions,
• thesis subjects for higher education,
• conservation needs aiming at biodiversity conservation organizations,
• policy measures for governments.

The participants of the workshop reviewed the PROTA accounts of dye and tannin-plants and sought to identify plant species and technologies that could be promoted by extension or that require attention from research, conservation or government action. The workshop also provided a forum for sharing experiences and information and exploring opportunities for collaboration. The recommendations on candidate technologies will be the basis for identifying a number of small on-farm development projects.

The workshop was attended by more than 20 ‘dye and tannin’ experts from government and grassroots organizations, academic and research institutions and conservation organizations from Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria and Zambia. 

 Based on the recommendations and conclusions from the workshop, PROTA has published  ‘Special Product 3: Dyes and tannins of Tropical Africa’ in September 2006.

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