Platform for African – European Partnership in Agricultural Research for Development

Monday, June 23, 2014

Agro-sylvo-pastoral systems to feed West and Central Africa


16 au 20 juin 2014. 
Niamey, Niger. Quatrième Semaine Scientifique agricole de l’Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre et Onzième Assemblée Générale du CORAF/WECARD. Theme: Innovations in agro-sylvo-pastoral systems to feed West and Central Africa.

Programme in English

Extract:
Side event on: Contribution of Rice Research in Regional Initiative on Rice (Offensive Riz)

Dr Yamar MBodj, Director of Rural Hub and Dr Mandiaye Diagne of AfricaRice made presentations on the main side event theme.The side event aimed to demonstrate the contribution of research to the success of the Regional Initiative on rice. It examined the contribution of the different poles of rice development to the success of the Regional Initiative on rice and capacity building of stakeholders at national and regional levels. 

Dr Alain Sy Traoré, Director of Agriculture of ECOWAS has made introductory remarks marked by three key points: 
  1. the 15 countries of the ECOWAS region chose rice as a strategic sub-sector which is in line with the Regional Program on Agricultural Investment and ECOWAP. 
  2. He also stressed the need to build national reserves against food insecurity in the sub region to compensate for shortages and damage during critical periods with emphasis on rice. 
  3. Dr Traore noted that AfricaRice is a technical resource center on all aspects of rice production in the sub-region.
Side event on: The private sector and CORAF/WECARD for useful research
The commitment of CORAF / WECARD for this theme comes through: a workshop in November 2013 to raise the mobilization and involvement of the private sector in the implementation of the second operational and strategic plan of CORAF/WECARD; a gender policy involving the private sector in its activities to create favorable incubation conditions for youth and self-employment of women; the implementation of a "Knowledge for employment-based Internet" project on the one hand and on the other UNIBRAIN project to increase the use of the results of scientific research as a source of new jobs for educated youth. Note the need to develop public-private partnerships and strategies for the exploitation of the results of scientific research.

To motivate more private researchers, participants suggested developing market mechanisms of search results. To reverse the situation, the participants of this session invited the CORAF / WECARD fund youth activities in addition to the "knowledge for employment based on the Internet" program and develop public instruments to promote employment youth through the use of technologies and innovations. This is to make agriculture a business and a source of employment especially for young people. Private research is facing enormous challenges, both internally and externally. 

In addition, the potential for private innovation is often not taken into account by conventional
research
. Also, research driven by private is forced to develop its own strategy and make his own plea. It is in this context that fall activities Gisele Lopes Almeida who was able to make an ecological agriculture business profitable by finding biological solutions to input problems. Three types of organic products have been developed by her company: 
  1. the nematicides biodegradeur 
  2. the biocompost and 
  3. the activator nematicide growth. 
All these innovations have the advantage of preserving the health of plants and animals including promoting modern family farming.

Related:
Le Réseau pour la Gestion de l’Information, de la Communication et des Connaissances Agricoles 
Krishan Bheenick, Senior Programme Coordinator for
Knowledge Management, shared details of the
Knowledge Management work CTA and CORAF are
collaborating on, at the official launch of CORAF ReGICA
in a side event organised by the two organisations.
    (ReGICA) est initié par le Conseil ouest et centre africain pour la recherche et le développement agricoles (CORAF) pour répondre à un besoin de gestion des connaissances agricoles des pays membres. 

    En effet, plusieurs initiatives sont en cours ou ont été menées en Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre dans le domaine agricole mais il manque un cadre accessible où les contenus générés par ces initiatives sont agrégés au moyen des outils web2.0 et rendus disponibles à tous les acteurs.

    Objectifs:
    • Faciliter la Collaboration entre les institutions et individus membres en mettant à leur disposition les outils et les capacités nécessaires à un meilleur travail collaboratif dans le domaine de la recherche et le développement agricoles au sein de la zone CORAF; 
    • Renforcer la Visibilité des activités de recherche et de développement agricoles menées par les institutions et individus membres; Faciliter le Renforcement des Capacités des institutions et individus membres dans l’utilisation des outils TIC et de gestion de connaissances dans le domaine de la recherche et du développement agricoles.
    Related:
    17th June 2014. The book ‘Unlocking the Potential for Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D) in the Savannah of West Africa’was launched on  by the Chairman of the 4th CORAF/WECARD General Assembly, Dr Adama Traore, the acting Director General of AfricaRice. 

    This was the third launch of a book documenting the work undertaken to establish a proof the IAR4D approach. 
    1. The first launch was of the book documenting a synthesis of all the work carried out in the three sub-regions. This took place in Durban, South Africa during the 10th CAADP Partnership Platform meeting in March 2014. 
    2. The second launch was for the book summarsing the outcomes of the work carried out in the Southern Africa sub-region. This took place in May 2014, during the 1stCCARDESA General Assembly in Gaborone, Botswana. 
    This book documents the proof of the IAR4D approach. IAR4D was developed by FARA as a means to overcoming the low adoption of agricultural research outputs by end users leading to limited impact of agricultural research on the continent. The research coordinated by FARA under the Sub-Saharan Africa Challenge Programme (SSA CP) has established that IAR4D delivers more benefits (income and food security) than the conventional research-to-development approach. The superior performance of IAR4D is mainly attributed to stronger linkages and interactions among agricultural value-chain actors from commencement of the research onwards.

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