Developing Agricultural Advisory Services for Agroecology in West Africa

27 June 2023. Developing Agricultural Advisory Services for Agroecology in West Africa / Leviers stratégiques pour le développement du conseil en agroécologie en Afrique de l’Ouest by CIRAD

This workshop was linked to the Study Day organized by IRAM on Thursday, June 29 on the theme How to support agroecological transitions in the South?

To share results of an ongoing capitalization and action-research work on the needs, challenges and

potential solutions for transforming agricultural extension and advisory services (EAS) to better support

agroecological transitions in West Africa. A policy brief on the levers to develop EAS for agroecology will be presented and discussed.

About forty participants attended in person and more than a hundred online. The following types of actors attended: policy makers (ECOWAS/PAE, MEAE, FAO...), donors (AFD, EU, GIZ, Swiss Cooperation, IFAD, etc.), farmers' organizations, NGOs, research institutions, networks (GFRAS, RESCAR-AOC).

Session 1: The importance of agricultural extension and advisory services in facilitating agroecological transitions: importance, state of the art and strategic levers

• Importance of Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services (EAS) in facilitating agroecological transitions for sustainable food systems (J. Slaats - GFRAS) 
• State of the art and challenges of EAS for Agroecology in West Africa (C. Rigourd - IRAM) 
• Strategic levers for developing EAS for Agroecology in West Africa (P. Djamen - CIRAD)

Session 2: Interactive panel discussion 

• Moderator C. Jacqmin - Inter Réseaux
• ECOWAS/PAE representative
• farmers' organization representative
• research representative
• donor representative
• RESCAR-AOC representative

Resource:

ACOTAF (2023)  Le conseil en agroécologie en Afrique de l’Ouest : constats et leviers stratégiques pour son développement. NOTE D’ORIENTATION POLITIQUE Mai 2023

Background:

Renforcer le conseil agricole pour accompagner les transitions agroécologiques de l’agriculture familiale en Afrique subsaharienne - ACOTAF
Le projet Acotaf a pour objectif d’améliorer les performances et les impacts des systèmes intégrés de conseil agricole destinés aux agricultures familiales d’Afrique subsaharienne en vue d’obtenir les changements souhaités par les agricultrices, les agriculteurs et les décideurs. De façon spécifique, il s’agit de renforcer la gestion des connaissances et les capacités des acteurs du conseil pour un renouvellement du conseil agricole qui favoriserait les transitions agroécologiques dans cette région.

Related

17/01/2023. Agricultural advisory services and agroecological transitions in family farming: dynamics, challenges and prospects in West Africa