Announcement: The Agricultural Innovation Systems in Africa or AISA workshop

29-31 May 2013. Nairobi, Kenya. JOLISAA is co-organizing with KARI, the PROLINNOVA network, CCAFS FSIFS-AusAID a small (80 participants expected) international workshop (the Agricultural Innovation Systems in Africa or AISA workshop) during which selected participants from different horizons will share their experiences and reflect on concepts and results about agricultural innovation processes and systems involving African small holders. Another objective will be to engage with policy-makers and other institutional decision-makers about implications and recommendations for policy, research and practice.

aisa2013

25-31 May 2013. The AISA workshop will as part of an international week devoted to Agricultural innovation in Africa. 

 A four-page announcement about this week of events can be found here 

Announcement WAIA events 060213.pdf

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The AISA workshop will tackle the following questions:

• What insights and lessons can be gained from recent experiences and initiatives to promote and support agricultural innovation involving smallholders throughout Africa?
• How are the AIS concepts and approaches being operationalised in Africa? With what successes and challenges? What added value do they bring compared to earlier or current approaches to agricultural research and development?
• What are some of the key implications and recommendations for the way forward in terms of policy, research and practice with regard to supporting agricultural innovation in Africa, and how can the recommendations be implemented concretely in the near future?

To address the, the workshop will be structured in 5 sessions:

• Opening and facilitated participation in the Eastern Africa Farmer Innovation Fair
• Reflecting on conceptual issues / frameworks / approaches for assessing innovation experiences
• Sharing main results and lessons about innovation processes/cases (posters, oral papers, facilitated group and plenary sessions)
• Policy implications and policy-dialogue strategy and messages
• Identifying the way forward (World Café).

Pls note this is a closed, by invitation only, event. Also note that very limited opportunities exist for sponsorship, as most participants are expected to be self-sponsored through their respective programs and projects.

CAAST-NET is now CAAST-NET PLUS

11‐12 February, 2013. CAAST‐Net Plus kick‐off meeting. After five years in operation, the CAAST-Net project came to an end on 31 December 2012. As of 1 January 2013 most CAAST-Net partners, with some new partners, have begun work on a new four year project: CAAST-Net Plus.

CAAST-Net Plus will strengthen cooperation in science and technology between Europe and Africa. Why? To enable both regions to better tackle the global challenges of health, food security, and climate change.

To achieve its goal, CAAST-Net Plus will:

• Inform the bi-regional policy dialogue on science and technology, in the context of health, food security and climate change global challenges;
• Build support for innovative and joint approaches to bilateral research funding;
• Broker the public-private relationship to improve the uptake of research and innovation; and
• Encourage bi-regional research collaboration and partnerships.

The CAAST-Net Plus website will go live during the month of February 2013. The CAAST-Net website and its contents will soon thereafter be integrated into this new website. Registered CAAST-Net stakeholders will also be contacted to refresh their profiles with CAAST-Net Plus. We look forward to keeping you informed and engaged in 2013.

Hereunder is the presentation of the Work Package on Food security. the CAAST‐Net Plus kick‐off meeting was attended by PAEPARD.

Appreciation of CIRAD on the PAEPARD users led process

11 January 2013. Yaoundé, Cameroon. During the PAEPARD communication workshop, Patrice Grimaud - Regional Director if CIRAD for Central Africa Yaounde, Cameroon - was interviewed about his participation to the PAEPARD workshop of 10th – 12th December 2012. Nairobi. LINKING RESEARCH TO APPLICATION WITHIN THE EXTENSIVE LIVESTOCK VALUE CHAIN.

The general principle of the users led brokerage procedure is giving the lead to “research users” partners (especially FO) in the organization of brokerage activities, in particular the organization of “brokerage workshops” around a federating theme that they have themselves chosen.

Patrice Grimaud answered following questions:

1. What is your appreciation of the EAFF report on Pastoralism: Post handling of Extensive Livestock value chains in Eastern Africa with Specific Focus on Kenya and Uganda?
2. What is the advantage of a Farmer Organisation taking the lead?
3. Do you find the PAEPARD approach innovative?

Transcript/ tranlation:

1. The report is well argued,  detailed and complete. The choice of Jean Ndikumana was pertinent. In my former responsabilities in Uganda I already met Dr. Ndikumana several times at ILRI. Now that he is working at ASARECA on livestock. He certainly was the best choice for making this prelimenary report, which earmarks the activities and  priorities in livestock development. 
2. I'm convinced that a well established and legitimate farmer organisation such a EAFF with a strong institutional basis and policy making capacity in the sub region that they are one of the best intermediaries to link needs to research questions as aimed by PAEPARD.
3. It is certainly innovative and unusual for the type of projects funded by the European Commission. I see the weight in Cameroon of the EC in forest management and the production of banana plantain and those approaches are totally different. This approach through a farmer organisation is certainly innovative and I hope FO will be able to give a follow upon the projects developed by PAEPARD.

Experts launch tool for identifying major rice weeds of Africa

October 11, 2012. COTONOU, Benin, /African Press Organization (APO)/ -- A new interactive tool for identifying nearly 200 different weed species of lowland rice in East and West Africa was recently unveiled at the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice). The tool is built on a comprehensive knowledge base that can be accessed online () and offline on laptops and CD-ROMs or as an app on smartphones and tablet computers.

“Weeds are perhaps the most important constraint in rice production, so this is a valuable resource for all those involved in research, training and management of rice weeds in sub-Saharan Africa, where total rice production losses attributable to weeds are estimated at US$ 1.5 billion,” said Dr  Jonne Rodenburg, AfricaRice Weed Scientist.

The weed identification tool is the product of a 3-year project on “African Weeds of Rice” (AFROweeds), which is coordinated by the Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD) and AfricaRice with support from the European Union (EU) Africa, Carribean, Pacific (ACP) Science and Technology Program.

The project which is on the point of completion is carried out in close partnership with national agricultural research and extension systems in sub-Saharan Africa.

FaRMAf - Innovative new project to improve food security in Africa

26 et 27 septembre. Ouagadougou. Le projet FARMAF financé par l'UE, qui porte sur la gestion des risques agricoles en Afrique, a été lancé. Le projet vise à améliorer la sécurité alimentaire et les moyens de subsistance des producteurs agricoles familiaux en Afrique, en renforçant leur accès aux outils de gestion des risques agricoles.

L'atelier de lancement a mis en évidence le fait que la capacité des agriculteurs à anticiper, éviter et répondre aux chocs naturels et économiques était cruciale pour la réduction de la pauvreté et de la sécurité alimentaire en milieu rural. Toutefois, les agriculteurs africains, et les producteurs familiaux en particulier, manquent souvent d'accès à des outils et sont donc directement confrontés aux risques pré- et post- récoltes. Le projet FARMAF vise à renforcer l'accès des producteurs agricoles familiaux à ces outils. Ce faisant, FARMAF contribue à améliorer de façon durable les moyens de subsistance des agriculteurs en Afrique.

Au cours de l'atelier de lancement du projet FARMAF, les expériences du Burkina Faso, de la Tanzanie et de la Zambie ont été présentées et discutées, ce qui a permis de mettre en lumière le fonctionnement de différents outils (assurance, systèmes d'information sur le marché, warrantage et action collective).

Des suggestions ont été faites sur la façon dont ceux-ci peuvent être améliorés et renforcés grâce à la participation des organisations régionales de producteurs agricoles (PAFO, ROPPA, EAFF, SACAU et PROPAC), et des organisations nationales de producteurs agricoles (MWIWATA, CPF et ZNFU) et à la collaboration des instituts de recherche Agrinatura (CIRAD, NRI et WUR).

Selon le représentant de la Plateforme continentale des organisations paysannes (PAFO), Kolyang Palébélé, ce projet vise « à améliorer l’accès des producteurs agricoles aux outils de gestion des risques de manière efficace contribuant ainsi à l’amélioration de la sécurité alimentaire familiale et des revenus des ménages ruraux les plus pauvres ». Comme outils de gestion, il s’agit principalement des systèmes d’assurance agricole, de warrantage et d’informations de marché, a indiqué M. Palébélé.

De son avis, ces outils ont été développés avec succès dans certains pays africains car ayant permis aux producteurs d’accéder à des mécanismes de crédit en milieu rural, à des systèmes de commercialisation plus efficace et d’obtenir des prix rémunérateurs.

Financé par l’union européenne, la FARMAF est mis en œuvre pour compenser les pertes liées aux conditions climatiques, a ajouté le président de la Confédération paysanne du Faso (CPF), Bassiaka Dao. Pour réaliser ses objectifs, le projet cherche à accroître l’éventail d’outils et d’instrument durables que les petits exploitants des pays africains peuvent utiliser pour gérer les risques agricoles.

Ceci devra réduire leur exposition aux chocs baissiers, améliorer leur accès au crédit et leurs capacités à investir dans une technologie améliorant le rendement et à mieux gérer la commercialisation des produits de la ferme, a précisé le représentant de Agrinatura, Paolo Sarfatti.

Lire l'article : La FARMAF, un projet de gestion des risques agricoles en Afrique - Burkinapmepmi.com - le portail des PME / PMI au Burkina Faso

 Flyer FaRMAF-GB

Land Rights and the Land Rush: Findings of the Global Commercial Pressures on Land Research Project

Land Rights and the Rush for Land

Findings of the Global Commercial Pressures on Land Research Project

Author: Ward Anseeuw, Liz Alden Wily, Lorenzo Cotula, and Michael Taylor

Year of publication: 2011

Country: Global

This report, authored by leading land experts, is the culmination of a three-year research project that brought together forty members and partners of ILC, CIRAD and IIED to examine the characteristics, drivers and impacts and trends of rapidly increasing commercial pressures on land.

The report strongly urges models of investment that do not involve large-scale land acquisitions, but rather work together with local land users, respecting their land rights and the ability of small-scale farmers themselves to play a key role in investing to meet the food and resource demands of the future.

The conclusions of the report are based on case studies that provide indicative evidence of local and national realities, and on the ongoing global monitoring of large-scale land deals for which data are subject to a continuous process of verification.

But while research and monitoring will continue, this report draws some conclusions and policy implications from the evidence there is already.

Documents:

Land Rights and the Rush for Land - Full report

Land Rights and the Rush for Land - English summary

Les droits fonciers et la ruée sur les terres - Résumé en français

Los derechos a la tierra y la fiebre por ella - Resumen en español

Policy briefs on how to manage food price instability.

3 policy briefs from CIRAD on how to manage food price instability.

The first one shows that the problem of food price instability calls for different responses depending on whether it concerns domestic markets in developing countries, domestic markets in developed countries, or international markets.

Download the note: Perspective_10_English.pdf

The second note analyzes what the international community can do to help developing countries manage food price instability. This topic is more than ever in the international agenda thanks to the discussions taking place this year in the G20 and in the FAO's Committee on World Food Security (CFS).

Download the note: Note_IC_English.pdf

The third note considers the case of developing countries. It shows that food security and modernization of agriculture require setting up price stabilization policies for staple food products.

Download the note: Perspective_2_English.pdf