1st African Congress on Conservation Agriculture

13 March 2014
Content from a Premium Partner
African Congress on Conservation Agriculture (Nairobi)
press release

The spread of conservation agriculture has been on a steady increase both in and out of Africa.

Spearheaded by both regional and global organizations and institutions among others ACT, CIMMYT and FAO, conservation agriculture is a technology globally promoted majorly in response to the ever-increasing food insecurity and environmental challenges occasioned by extensive unsustainable farming and intensification practices. In support therefore of a farmer-centered Conservation Agriculture (CA) adoption, the 1st African congress on Conservation Agriculture is a convention organized by the African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT) in partnership with NEPAD, COMESA, NORAD, CIMMYT and FAO under the theme “Conservation Agriculture: Building entrepreneurship and resilient farming systems”.

The Congress

The congress is scheduled to take place from 18th to 21st March, 2014 in Lusaka, Zambia and aims at Sharing and Exposing experiences and lessons by farmers and practitioners. The main aim of the congress is to facilitate alliances to eliminate hindrances to expanded and scaled-up adoption of conservation agriculture especially among the smallholder farming systems and related industry in Africa. The key Note Speakers during the official opening of this event will be top government, business, and academia leaders from across Africa, including ministers and CEO’s of leading organizations, as well as Farmers and leading Conservation Agriculture practitioners.

Over 300 key CA stakeholders, including farmers and their organizations, practicing farmers from community and national level, smallholder (commercial/semi-commercial) farmers and regional Farmer Organizations will be represented.

The First Africa Congress for Conservation Agriculture (1st ACCA) under the theme: “Conservation Agriculture: Building entrepreneurship and resilient farming systems” opens at 8:30 on Tuesday 18th March 2014 at the Intercontinental Hotel. The session will commence by Welcome and Introductory Remarks including field briefing followed by the session’s Keynote speaker initial address.

The plenary session will feature six presentations by distinguished speakers. Pat Wall, Consultant, Conservation Agriculture, will give the key note address, Dennis P. Garrity, UN Drylands Ambassador will be the 2nd speaker and he will start off with the initial theme on Growing more with less.

The initial plenary discussion theme will be CA for sustained wealth creation followed by Weather-proofing agriculture as Key Note and plenary. Lastly, there will be a panel discussion on the theme of Food Sovereignty.

The concurrent sessions of the 1st ACCA will start on Wednesday 19th March, 2014 and will feature case studies and special working groups (thematic parallel session). These will cover a wide range of topics that fit into the focal areas of the 1st ACCA programme. The 1st ACCA will also organize field visits for the participants on Thursday March 2014 before concluding the congress on Friday 21st March 2014.

Expected Outputs

The expected outputs from the 1st ACCA will contribute to the 6th World Congress on Conservation Agriculture, expected to take place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, giving a consolidated reflection of different perspectives of Conservation Agriculture in Africa. Other outputs include:

  • Information/data/experiences and lessons highlighting issues and circumstances that enhance, and hinder effective CA dissemination and adoption shared.
  • Increased awareness and interest in conservation agriculture even among those not directly interested or working in agriculture.
  •  Statements that highlight key principle issues and areas of concern in widespread promotion and adoption of CA worldwide shared.
  • Congress Participants motivated to play their role (within their communities of practice) in the development and promotion of sustainable natural resource management linked to high yields.
  •  Access to information that would help in future formal and informal contacts and liaison/partnership in promotions of conservation agriculture.
  • Establishment of a permanent continental CA knowledge hub – facilitating networking and information sharing on Conservation Agriculture.

About African Conservation Tillage Network

ACT is registered as a pan-African not-for-profit membership organization that was initially commissioned with geographical focus on Southern, Central and East Africa. The Network was initiated following a Stakeholders’ Workshop on "Conservation Tillage for Sustainable Agriculture" held in Zimbabwe in 1998 organized by Zimbabwe Farmers Union, German Development Cooperation (GTZ), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Agricultural Research Council of South Africa (ARC). 1ACCA will be the main platform where Conservation Agriculture (CA) in Africa will be assessed. The CAADP process and the recently launched Climate Change Initiative by the COMESA, EAC and SADC are among many African initiatives that are working to improve food security in Africa. Conservation Agriculture programs provide climate smart options for African governments in addressing the food security situation.

ACT’s core functions have been key in enabling the farmers, entrepreneurs, policy makers, researchers, learners, academicians and other stakeholders access and share information, and knowledge on Conservation Agriculture therefore contributing to better, more appropriate policies and programs in the efforts to scale-up Conservation Agriculture in Africa. It is currently concentrating its efforts on:

Networking, Knowledge and Information management; Documentation and dissemination of Conservation Agriculture information materials; Lobbying, advocacy and public awareness;

Learning through education and training and through research for development support.

Released by ACT

For more information about this congress or ACTN, please contact:

ACT Congress Secretariat

KARI NARL Compound, Waiyaki Way

P.O. Box 10375-00100, Nairobi, Kenya

Tel: +254 20 2331648; +254 720883848

Cell: +254 710 505 194

Email: helpdesk@act-africa.org, Web: http://www.africacacongress.org/; http://www.act-africa.org

Tagged:
Copyright © 2014 African Congress on Conservation Agriculture. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

AllAfrica publishes around 400 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.