AATF pursues its long term objectives following a phased approach as detailed below:

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• AATF continuously undertakes intelligence gathering on technological breakthroughs locally and internationally with a view to generating ideas that can be nurtured into projects for addressing constraints to crop productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa (Phase 0).
• Promising ideas are then discussed and screened for feasibility through consultations with stakeholders leading to the formulation of Project Business Plans (Phase 1).
• For each project, the Business Plan serves as a key document for guiding project implementation and the interactive mechanisms for collaborating partners during research, testing and adaptation of products as well as technologies in target areas (Phase 2)
• It also guides activities critical for product deployment to reach smallholder farmers and other end users (Phase 3).

This approach encompasses implementation of all planned activities, including triggers for project sign-off, also called ‘exit strategy’.

The process of identification, formulation and implementation of AATF projects does not rigidly follow a top-down, linear approach as outlined in the table but is intended to portray a flexible and iterative scheme involving periodic wide-ranging stakeholder consultations with built-in triggers for ‘go' or 'no-go’ decisions. These steps may even be overlapping for specific projects as in the figure below.

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