Second Annual Ministerial Dialogue on Integrating Research, Extension and Education in the CAADP Country Process for Increased Agricultural Productivity in Africa

18-19 April 2012. FARA Secretariat, Accra, Ghana.

The purpose of the dialogue was to provide a platform for Ministers of Agriculture; Science &; Technology; Education; and other agriculture-related Ministries to examine the topical issues relating to integrating research, extension and education into the CAADP country process for increased agricultural productivity in Africa.

Participants at the 2nd Annual Dialogue included: representatives of the Governments of Algeria, Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Togo, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

Also in attendance were the African Union/NEPAD, the ECOWAS Parliament, the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), ECOBank, Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP/EU (CTA), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Kuffuor Foundation, the First Bank International, the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS), Tertiary Education for Agriculture Mechanism (TEAM Africa) and the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA).

The specific objectives were to:

• Identify issues of strategic importance to integrating research, extension and education in the CAADP country process, stimulate dialogue on them. 
• Identify how to develop strategies for integrating research, extension and education in the CAADP country process. 
• Raise awareness among Ministers and parliamentarians of the need for increased investments in research, extension and education. 

See: ommuniqué

Presentations:

1. Enhancing agricultural development in Africa. Key note address by Pro. Monty P. Jones (FARA) 
2. Integrating research, extension and education in the CAADP country process for increased agricultural productivity. (Ms. Idowu Ejere- FARA)
3. Contribution of pillar IV to the CAADP country process. (Dr. Emmanuel Tambi- FARA)
4. CAADP country process. (Dr. Marcel Nwalozie- AU-NPCA) 
5. Innovation systems for enhancing the value of research, extension and education. (Dr. Adewale Adekunle- FARA) 
6. Funding of agricultural research, extension and education: private sector perspectives. (Mr. Dauda Lawal- First Bank International) 
7. Developing capacities for improving agricultural productivity. (Dr. Irene Annor-Frempong- FARA) Improving agricultural productivity through direct access to knowledge resources. (Dr. Stephen Rudgard- FAO)
8. CAADP Pillar IV strategy and operational plan. (Dr. Emmanuel Tambi - FARA) 
9. Agricultural Advisory Services (AAS) strategy and operational plan. (Dr. Silim Nahdy - AFAAS) Tertiary Agricultural Education (TAE) mechanism. (Prof. Hamidou Boly - TEAM Africa) 
10. Systems for knowledge management. (Mrs. Myra Wopereis - FARA) 
11. Emerging and cross-cutting issues affecting agriculture in Africa. (Dr. Ramadjita Tabo - FARA)

AFAAS SYMPOSIUM and General Assembly

Theme: Going beyond production agriculture for smallholder farmers

12-14 April 2011,  Accra, Ghana. Agricultural extension professionals and managers in Africa have gathered in Accra for an international symposium on innovations in agricultural advisory services. The third symposium of the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS) was under the theme: “Going beyond production, agriculture for smallholder farmers”.

Over 140 delegates from 36 countries in Africa, Europe and USA participated in the forum, which had the purpose of sharing information, knowledge and good practice, stimulate country fora and operationalize AFAAS as a continental institution for linking agricultural advisory service actors.

AFAAS currently works in
16 African countries

Executive Director of FARA, Prof. Monty Jones in a Keynote Address spoke on “Positioning Africa’s agricultural advisory services to effectively contribute to sustainable agricultural development: Issues and required transformation”. According to him the ultimate goal of agric advisory should be to reduce poverty, increase incomes and sustainable use of natural resources, stating that farming should no longer be seen as a way of life.

“Today we should look at farming as a business. Today we should categorize our farmers as business people… advisory services should no longer focus on increasing yields, should no longer focus on reducing risks; they should focus on attaining development impact and development impact calls for us to put more money in the pockets of the farmers”, said Prof. Monty.

AFAAS sees its role as a supporting institution that enhances competency of agricultural service providers, enabling them to better address the needs and demands of various value chain actors. AFAAS Chairperson, Dr. Salim Nahdy, stated “AFAAS will stimulate the process in knowledge sharing and capacity building, organization sharing at both national levels through country chapters but also at continent level through AFAAS and linking up with other organizations like FARA and sub-regional organizations, NEPAD and AU". A General Assembly after the symposium validated the AFAAS operational documents, particularly its strategic plan and its constitution. It defined the AFAAS governance structures.

Related:
Mobilizing the potential of rural and agricultural extension

This paper (FAO, 2010, 58 pages) presents an overview of current opportunities and challenges facing efforts to increase the impact of rural and agricultural extension. The starting point for this analysis is in recognition that the days when agricultural extension was synonymous with the work of public sector agencies are over. The ‘extension services’ described here may just as likely consist of an input vendor advising a farmer about what seed to plant, a television station broadcasting a weather forecast, a supermarket advising traders about what standards are required for the vegetables they purchase or a farmer organization lobbying for research that reflects the demands of its members for new technologies. Mobilizing the potential of extension is about enhancing this broad and complex flow of information and advice in the agrifood sector. The ideas presented in this paper describe how extension systems can contribute to the improvement of the profitability, sustainability and equity of smallholder agriculture within broader innovation systems. Full pdf 1,119kb

Announcement: Third AFAAS symposium

Theme: Going beyond production agriculture for smallholder farmers

12-14 April 2011, Alisa Hotel, Accra, Ghana 

The symposium’s purpose is to share information, knowledge and good practice, stimulate Country Fora, and operationalise AFAAS as a continental institution for linking AAS actors. It will build on previous symposia organized by AFAAS in 2004 and 2006 that brought together over 400 participants from different countries on the continent. After the symposium, AFAAS will hold its General Assembly on 14^th April 2011 to strengthen its governance and institutional structures.

Theme and subthemes of the Symposium

1.      Market-oriented agricultural advisory services (MOAAS)

2.      Value chain approach to agricultural development and implications for AAS

3.      Mainstreaming gender issues in advisory services

4.      Climate change as an emerging issue  and its implications for AAS

5.      Use of information and communications technology (ICT) in advisory services

Specific objectives

1. Share country experiences and innovations in AAS delivery
2. Analyze emerging issues and innovative approaches in the identified thematic areas and their implications for AAS
3. Streamline AFAAS institutional structures and governance to become more responsive to the continental demands and emerging issues.

Expected Outputs

• Lessons and experienced shared and concrete evidence presented to  a wide array of AAS actors and policy makers.
• Emerging issues and innovation approaches in identified thematic areas and their implications to AAS analysed.
• Strategies on how to respond to continental demands and emerging issues in AAS identified and defined.

Participants

Participants are expected from within and outside Africa. The symposium will target primarily extension practitioners from public, private and civil society organizations, farmers and representatives of farmers’ organizations and commodity associations, policy makers, the research and development community, academia, the media and development partners.

For further information contact: AFAAS Secretariat:  Kampala, Uganda, Tel: +256-31 2 313400 Email: mailto:afaas@afaas-africa.org, copied to: molupot@afaas-africa.org Website:  / www.fara-africa.org/www.afaas-africa.org

Africa Alliance of sub-regional Farmer Organizations (AAFO)

8 – 9 October, 2009. Accra, Ghana. Promoting Inclusiveness of Farmers Organizations in
African Agricultural Research Agenda: a FARA –PAFFO (Pan African Farmers Forum) Collaborative Initiative.

In order to further consolidate the achievement recorded by FOs, FARA convened a 2-day multi-stakeholder consultation that aimed to catalyze the participation of FOs in African ARD. During the meeting, stakeholders identified some of the stumbling blocks to FOs’ participation in ARD. These include weak human and institutional capacity, poor governance, poor linkage and access to research outputs and outcomes, and poor market access and infrastructure.
List of participants (excluding FARA):

1. Dr. Stephen Muchiri, Chief Executive Officer, East African Farmers Federation EAFF, Nairobi
2. Mr. Ewole Gustave, Chargé de Programme, PROPAC, Cameroon
3. Mr. Alangeh Romanus Che, Executive Bureau Member, PROPAC, Cameroon
4. Dr. Ndiogou FALL, President, Réseau des Organisations Paysannes et des Producteurs Agricoles de l’Afrique de l Ouest, ROPPA, Senegal
5. Dr. Mohamadou MAGHA, Coordinator , Réseau des Organisations Paysannes et des Producteurs Agricoles de l Afrique de l Ouest, ROPPA, Burkina-Faso
6. Mr. Motsepe Ramotse Donald Matlala, Vice President, SACAU, South Africa
7. Mr. Benito Odala Eliasi, Capacity Development Advisor, SACAU, South Africa
8. Mr.Mahaman Bader M.Dioula, Regional Coordinator for Africa, IFAP, France
9. Mr. Jacques Bonou, Vice President, IFAP, Benin
10. Dr. Sidi SANYANG , Manager of the Capacity Strengthening and Knowledge Management Programs, CORAF/WECARD, Senegal
11. Mr. Moses Oremo, Programme Assistant, ASARECA, Uganda
12. Mrs. Lydia Sasu, National Women’s Leader , F.O.N.G, Ghana
13. Mr. Max Olupot , Coordinator ASS/ Program Assistant, AFAAS, Uganda
14. Dr. Clesensio Tizikara, ICART project coordinator, SADC-FANR/ICART, Botswana

15th Annual Meeting of the Neuchâtel Initiative

18 - 22 September 2009. The 15th Annual meeting of the Neuchâtel Initiative (NI) was held near Assisi, Italy.

The meeting was organized by the Research and Extension Division of the FAO. The Objectives of the NI meeting were:

• Review the process of the MOAAS proposal
• Review the role and coordination needs in extension to deliver development impacts at scale in the new framework of Agricultural Research and Development (input to GCARD, March 2010
• Evolution of NI: Towards a Global Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (GFAAS)
• Elaborate a joint program for 2010
• Exchange, learn and network A preparatory meeting took place in Steinfurth/Germany on 23 and 24 July 2009 to discuss a renewed international effort to promote a global think tank for agricultural advisory services (AAS).

Following organizations were involved: African Forum of Agricultural advisory Services (AFAAS), Swiss Association for the Development of Agriculture and Rural Areas Agridea, Danish Agricultural Advisory Services (DAAS), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), Global Forum for Agricultural Research (GFAR), German Development Cooperation GTZ, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) and the World Bank.

References:

• The draft programme
• Engineers withouth borders posting from Italy: see below extracts:

Paul Van Mele works for CGIAR as a program leader on learning and innovation systems. His great passion (apart from rice, the value chain he directly works in all throughout west africa) is new media for extension services. He has been studying the possibility to offer effective radio and video extension, based on farmer to farmer exchanges. The videos are being translatetd into local languages and showed on market days after a radio broadcast has advertized for them.His main challenges: media people don't really have incentive to cover farmer innovation stories. They're not hot and juicy news like a car accident would be. So they ask for money to record things, and that slows down the diffusion process...

Max Olupot works for AFAAS, the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services. It's basically a network of African practitionners of extension services to farmers. It's really exciting, because to my knowledge, all those networks so far have been western driven and donor "stirred". This one isn't! The guy is amazing, a great listener, and has shown tremendous tenacity. It's been 3 years that the funding they have been promised by the european union should have come through and every month it's going to be next month. They are setting up country chapters where information and best practices on AAS will be shared. It's an initiative that ties nicely into what Sarah and I are doing in our respective strategies. So we've made contact with him and said we'd do our part to make it happen in Ghana and Burkina!

Access of the poor to agricultural services: the role of farmers’ organizations

The Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) has published a dossier on the role of rural producers' organizations in inclusive innovation systems; it focuses on the role that farmers’ organizations play in enhancing the poorest farmers’ access to agricultural advisory services such as research, training, advice and extension.

Farmers’ organizations can play a key role in agricultural innovation, since they have the capacity to pool, aggregate and disseminate knowledge and information. Moreover, they are increasingly positioned in both service networks and supply chains to coordinate activities and promote an enabling environment for innovation.

The services that are being provided to members, whether by farmers’ organizations themselves or by third parties, include knowledge services such as agricultural research, advisory (extension and technology dissemination) and other types of farmer training.

The dossier presents an analytical framework, and the findings and recommendations from a case study.It also outlines KIT's involvement, and provides resources, a glossary, and news.

Related Links: KIT dossier - "Social Inclusion"

Support to farmers' organisations in Africa

Participants at the Start-up workshop in Johannesburg

17-19 June 2009 Johannesburg, South Africa. Start-up workshop of the programme “Support to Farmers’ Organisations in Africa”. The workshop was hosted by SACAU on behalf of the four regional farmers’organisations in Sub-Saharan Africa, namely EAFF, PROPAC, ROPPA and SACAU.

PROPAC

The Programme in support of African Farmers’ Organisations (FOs) is the result of a dialogue started two years ago between African Leaders of regional and national FOs and the European Commission (EC) as to find ways to increase direct support in the EC programmes aimed at strengthening FOs’ capacities support.

The Programme follows the endorsement in 2007 of the Communication 'Advancing African Agriculture' (AAA), by the European Council and the Parliament whereby the European Commission included support to farmers’ organisations as a critical element of its approach for the development of agriculture and rural development.

There are four sub-regional FO networks in Africa: ROPPA in West Africa, EAFF in East Africa, SACAU in Southern Africa and PROPAC in Central Africa. Each of the four FO networks has a unique position as structures representing the national FO´s and their membership base at regional level.

The Programme will be implemented over three years and its cost will be of 5, 365 million euros; 5 million euros contributed by the EC and 365 000 euros by IFAD.

Related blogpost:

Interview with Stephen Muchiri of the East Africa Farmer Federation (EAFF)
Stephen Muchiri comments NAFIS: the National Farmers Information Service which was launched as a pilot project in Kenya begin of May 2008. He was interviewd during a workshop held at FARA between 9 – 11/06/2008. This workshop was organised together with the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS) & the Neuchatel Initiative. The National Farmers Information Service (NAFIS)enables farmers and other interested parties to receive timely agriculture information through their mobile phones in national languages.

First Common Framework on Agricultural Extension for the Neuchatel Initiative

The first Common Framework on Agricultural Extension (June 2008, 44 p.) for the Neuchatel Initiative suggests a new pluralistic approach to extension delivery, which breaks away from earlier focus on technology transfer. This includes an increased emphasis on private suppliers of services and a change of attitude towards agricultural producers, who are seen as clients capable of demanding the services they need, rather than being mere beneficiaries.

This common framework provides policy guidelines on how best to support development of demand driven agricultural advisory services and also on the appropriate roles of the different actors.

Agricultural advisory services are defined as services that make new knowledgeavailable to farmers and assist the farmers to develop their farming and management skills.

The services may include:

• Dissemination of information
• Training and advice of groups of farmers or individual farmers
• Testing new technologies on-farm
• Development and dissemination of farm management tools

The future of Agricultural Advisory Services (AAS) in Sub-Saharan Africa,

Meeting of FARA – AFAAS - Neuchâtel Initiative, Accra, 9 – 11/06/2008.

The general objectives of the meeting were:

• to identify and prioritize issues, ideas and activities for collaboration
• to determine thematic scope of the consultation
• to develop a list of selected AAS stakeholders, key informants, networks and processes (meetings, events) for later consultation activities in different African countries
• to develop a joint agenda for the consultation process
• To check the results of the discussions (identified issues and developed ideas) with a broader range of actors from within Ghana.

Interview with Silim NAHDY of the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS).

He explains why it is imperative that advisory services get more support. The Neuchâtel Initiative (a group of donors who support extension services in Africa), AFAAS and FARA are joining efforts. This will to collaborate came before the present food crisis but is now even more urgent. The major challenge is to elaborate a common framework for working together in relation to the country chapters.

Interview with Dr. Desire Porquet - Ivory Coast - ANOPACI & ROPPA, Farmers organisation.

He explains why the concept of leadership is important for farmer organisations. The biggest challenge is to face bureaucracy of research institutes and have a close follow up of the farmer to continue to motivate him at the field level.

Participants:

Dr. M. Silim Nahdy, Chair AFAAS ICC/ Executive Director, NAADS-Uganda, Kampala/Uganda
Mr. Max Olupot, Coordination Assistant , African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS), Kampala/Uganda
Mr. Stephen Muchiri, CEO, Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF), Nairobi/Kenya
Mr. Benito Odala Eliasi, Capacity Building Advisor, Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU), Pretoria/South Africa
Mr. Désiré Porquet, 1er Vice-Président, Réseau des Organisations Paysannes et ROPPA, Abidjan/Côte d’Ivoire
Mr. Guy Gustave Ewole Medjeme, Chargé de Programme, PROPAC, Yaoundé/Cameroon
Prof. Richard Mkandawire, Agricultural Advisor, New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), Johannesburg/South Africa
Mr. Daniel Roduner, Consultant – Trainer – Facilitator , AGRIDEA , Switzerland
Dr. Agnes Gerold, Consultant, GTZ/Neuchâtel Initiative, Frankfurt/Germany
Ms. Sanne Chipeta, Senior International Adviser, Danish Agricultural Advisory Service (DAAS), Aarhus/Denmark
Mr. Martin Bwalya, Sustainable Land Management Specialist, New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), Johannesburg/South Africa
Mr. Felix Hammond, Municipal Director of Agriculture, Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Accra/Ghana
Mr. John Nortey, Senior Agric. Economist, Ministry of Food and Agriculture – Statistical, Research & Information Directorate (MOFA(SRID)), Tema/Ghana
Mr. Theophilus Osei Owusu, Metropolitan Director, Tema, Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Accra/Ghana
Mr. Mawuli Asigbee, Ag Manager, Fairtrade Fruits Project, CARE International (CARE GoG), Accra/Ghana
Mr. Gabriel Owusu, Senior Agricultural Officer, Ministry of Food and Agriculture; Directorate of Agricultural Extension Services (MOFA-DAES), Accra/Ghana
Ms. Lydia Sasu, Executive Director, National Coordinator, Women leader, Development Action Association, Farmers Organisation Network in Ghana, Accra/Ghana
Mrs. Prospera Anku-Okrah, Assistant Agricultural Officer, Ministry of Food and Agriculture – Directorate of Agricultural Extension Services, Accra/Ghana
Mr. Charles Ofori Addo, Development manager, Technoserve, Accra/Ghana
Dr. Emmanuel Dormon, Assistant Director, Ministry of Food and Agriculture – Directorate of Agricultural Extension Services, Accra/Ghana
Nii Quaye-Kumah, Director, Ministry of Food and Agriculture – District Agricultural Development Unit, Dangme West District, Dodowa, Accra/Ghana
Mr. Felix Kenyah, Assistant Director, Ministry of Food and Agriculture , Accra/Ghana
Dr. Jean-Claude Legoupil, French Technical Assistant, FARA, Accra/Ghana
Dr. Aggrey Agumya, SSA CP Programme Officer, FARA, Accra/Ghana
Dr. Wale Adekunle, Director NSF5 and SSA CP Coordinator, FARA, Accra/Ghana
Dr. Gloria Essilfie, SSA CP Resource Person, FARA, Accra/Ghana
Dr. Sidi Sanyang, Director- Regional Policy and Markets, FARA, Accra/Ghana
Mr. Dady Demby, RAILS Programme Officer , FARA, Accra/Ghana

Related:

African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services : blogpost of 15/01/2008
Demand Driven Agricultural Advisory Services : blogpost of 10/01/2008

Outsourcing agricultural advisory services: enhancing rural innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa
Posted: 16 Jul 2008 03:15 AM CDT
2008/07 - Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) [Bulletin, 380]

African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services

A round table discussion between FARA (the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa) and AFAAS (African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services) was held in FARA Secretariat, Accra, Ghana, on 10 and 11 January 2008.

The objectives of the meeting were to arrive at a consensus on (a) how FARA, AFAAS and other continental bodies that contribute to FAAP relate to each other, (b) what the contribution of AFAAS to FAAP should be, and appropriate institutional arrangements for this, and (c) currrent strategic orientation of AFAAS.

The FTC (Framework for Technical Cooperation), an instrument supporting the FAAP, funded this meeting, and offered ongoing support to AFAAS start-up through targeted activities and interventions that can facilitate the inception phase of AFAAS.