act enhancing access to ca knowledge, information and strengthening collaboration partnerships in...
TRANSCRIPT
The African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT)
Enhancing access to CA knowledge, information
and
Strengthening collaboration partnerships in the promotion of Conservation Agriculture in Africa
Saidi Mkomwa, ACT Executive Secretary
Orientation, GTZ, 22 April 2008
Conservation Agriculture in Africa
{Linking livelihoods, Production and Conservation}
May we bring to your attention:
• The population of sub-Saharan Africa is growing at more than 2% a year and food production will have to double by 2030 to keep pace with demand.
• Instead, Africa remains the only region in the world where per capita food production has declined by 13% over the last 35% years.
..for your attention …. • Sixty five percent of people in Africa derive their
livelihoods from Agriculture. But 20% of the natural resource base suffers from water and wind erosion and 70% from moisture stress. Furthermore, soil fertility is ranked as the single, most important food security constraint in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Prices of cereals have short up drastically (4 fold for wheat). Combined with the high costs of energy for transportation, a new motto of “producing locally for local consumption is needed”
What can CA contribute?
• CA enhances food security through
increased and stabilised productivity and
sustainable land management (SLM).
• Applying CA, farmers can produce more
food, more reliably while gradually
reducing their use of fertilisers and
pesticides (20% in Brazil) and labour
(50%).
…what can CA contribute?...
• Well managed soil cover can increase moisture conservation substantially (by 30%) and assist in flood control. As a result, many CA farmers obtain harvests even in years with irregular rains.
• CA is spreading to many areas of Africa.
• Building on indigenous, scientific knowledge and innovative equipment designs from Brazil, farmers in more than 14 countries are now practicing CA
The African Conservation Tillage Network
Common vision developed at the 1998
stakeholders workshop in Harare
Formal secretariat established in 2000:
Instrumental in this was GTZ (2000 – 2005)
Buildup support from
Building non project driven thrusts with
Governments and Regional bodies
ACT Mission Statement
• …. …. to stimulate and facilitate information and
knowledge empowerment through sharing,
collaborations and partnerships to enhance the
adaptation and adoption of conservation agriculture (CA)
practices in Africa.
• …. contribute to sustainable land-water management,
hence better and stable yields, and ultimately food
security and improved livelihoods and socio-economic
growth
The African Conservation Tillage Network
Core Functions = Information Support Facility =
Knowledge memory “bank” (facilitating learning from our own past)
Stimulate & strengthen networking on CA
CA appraisal and identification of knowledge /skills gaps
Stimulate/facilitate strategic thinking on CA and NRM
Promotion, lobbying and advocacy
Training and training support
ACT
The African Conservation Tillage Network
= Key cross-cutting issues =
Farmer empowerment
Private sector orientation
Food security and income generation
Marginalized (resource poor, vulnerable households)
Regional & pan-African thrust (synergies, comparative advantages)
Knowledge based (rather than input based) interventions
Socio-economic integration (commercialization and value chains)
Membership and setup
• Members – About 900 members in 32 countries
– Composed of Individuals and Institutions
• Setup – Board of Directors
– Governing Framework
– Links to International organizations (technical backstopping and financing)
• Secretariat
– Lean establishment
– Information centre and day to day running
Collaborative Projects • Development of new strategic project
Interventions: SCAP, KENGEN, World Vision K
• ACT is the Implementing Agency for the Tanzania and Kenya project to support CA for SARD, executed by the FAO.
• Annual International CA training courses - Harare
• Publisher, in collaboration with partners, of many leaflets, posters and books including the CA manual, 8 African CA case studies.
• ACT maintains a web-based information support services/databases www.act.org.zw
• Organizer of the successful III World Congress on CA held in Nairobi in October 2005.
ACT and SCAP West Africa Partners
– ACT – KIM, Networking, CA
– CIRAD – CA expertise, backstopping
– ICRAF – Agro forestry aspects of CA, Capacity building to ACT
– IFAD – financing, operational framework
• Host Institutions & Farmer Organisations
– Countries/sites
– Burkina Faso (2 sites); Guinea 1 site; Niger (1 site)
What will SCAP enhance to the
IFAD-Loan programmes?
• Expose and prove the link between CA
and key developmental and environmental
issues
– Food security (stable yields, risk reduction, )
– Poverty eradication and livelihoods (farm
labour constraints, HIV/AIDS, )
– Enhance natural resource resilience (rehab of
degraded lands, carbon sequestration,
combating desertification)
ADD VALUE TO IFAD PROGRAMMES
• Farmer experimentation- social learning
approaches (CA – FFS)
• Integrated and holistic thrust (market
orientation and analytical approaches)
• Provide a basket of CA technological
options
• Link SCAP farmers and stakeholders to
the Africa-wide Network for KIM
What is new/different?
• Increasing acknowledgement that soil is more than just a medium for crop production
• Reduced or no soil disturbance
• Integrated holistic thrust – collaboration and synergistic partnerships
• On-farm (in-situ) development-adaptation of technologies
• New farmer roles and responsibilities -
some CA equipment, systems
SCAP status
• All partners currently meeting at IFAD
Rome (April 7-11, 2008)
• Main grant and attached agreements
under scrutiny of ICRAF and IFAD.
• Development of AWPB in progress.
• Tentatively agreed to launch the SCAP by
May/June 2008
SCAP – ACT – FAO
• Link with FAO pilot sites in Burkina Faso
(Bobo Dioulasso)
• FAO TCP in preparation to assist in
building capacity as regarding equipment
options for CA based cropping systems
• Linkages with FAO/ACT CA-SARD Project
and others in Eastern and Southern Africa
The way forward
• TerrAfrica – SLM and the role of ACT
• Climate change adaptation strategies
• Conservation farming in the context of
emergency and rehabilitation
• Soil Health Initiative (Rome meeting)
THANK YOU
We have the opportunity to make a difference …….
We invite you to join with us
……
Thank you for your attention
www.act.org.zw