18 - 21 March 2014, Lusaka, Zambia
Call for Condensed Papers
Theme:
"Conservation Agriculture: Building entrepreneurship and resilient farming systems"
Deadline 10th January 2014
Background
The African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT) in partnership with NEPAD, COMESA, NORAD, CIMMYT, FAO and CIRAD invites you to the 1st Africa Congress on Conservation Agriculture (IACCA) to be held from 18th to 21st March 2014 in Lusaka, Zambia. The aim of IACCA is to share and expose experiences and lessons and facilitate alliances to unblock hindrances to expanded and scaled-up adoption of conservation agriculture especially among the smallholder farming systems and related industry in Africa. The Congress will specifically put a spotlight on experiences and lessons from interventions and practices e.g., political, policy, technical and financing that have worked in triggering and enhancing sustained adoption and expansion of CA. Hence, it will contribute to enhancing the promotion and adoption of CA as a way to improve farm productivity, improve resilience in the ecosystems, and optimise both short and long term productive-ability of the land-water systems. Adoption of Conservation Agriculture by a critical mass of farmers is also desirable in realising the core mitigation-adaptation benefits of farming in the face of climate change and variability.
A call for condensed papers is extended to all authors relevant to the congress theme and any specific sub-theme as below. Authors should indicate whether they want to do oral or poster presentations. Specifications for the posters are 90 cm wide, 120 cm high, with letter sizes readable from 2 m and with a good mix of photos, diagrams, tables and maps.
Theme: The theme of the congress is "Conservation Agriculture: Building entrepreneurship and resilient farming systems".
Sub-themes:
1. Growing more with less - the future of sustainable intensification
2. Weather proofing agriculture - the adaption of farming practices to address climate variability and change
3. CA for sustained wealth creation - unlocking barriers to entrepreneurship along the value chains
4. Food sovereignty - integrated CA based systems and family farms
5. Effective research, inclusive of socio-economic challenges, and targeting strategies for enhanced CA adoption
6. Harnessing the power of collaboration - networking, partnerships and communities of practice
7. Increasing CA adoption - how innovative technology, approaches, infrastructure support and policies can drive greater adoption of conservation agricultural systems in Africa
Template for Condensed Paper submission to IACCA
This MS Word.doc file has been formatted using the style-sheet required for your condensed paper. Use the styles as presented in this template or follow the formatting instructions below or in the annexed ‘sample paper’.
Important notes to all authors
In the normal course, editors will not accept more than one opportunity for revision. Condensed papers are limited to a maximum of 3 pages including of text, tables and or figures. The Title should be brief but specific to the subject of your paper. The condensed papers should be structured in the following sections: Introduction, Methods, Results & Discussion, References, Graphs and Tables (though variations might be accepted). Authors’ names and addresses should be shown below the title, as specified under Author’s names and Author’s addresses below. A selected number of the best condensed papers will be identified for the publication of full papers in a range of high impact scientific journals.
Language
Condensed papers must be in either English or the French language.
File name
Name your completed Word document as follows:
IACCA2014underscore last name plus initials.doc (e.g., 1acca2014_mkomwas.doc). Use all lowercase.
Text
Use "Times New Roman" for all text including headings. Left align all text, images and tables. Use the Normal style for all text (style-normal) where possible in preference to "Body text" styles. Normal text should be 12 point with single line spacing. Do not indent the first line of a paragraph. Leave one blank line between paragraphs and before new section headings. Authors’ email and web addresses may be hyperlinked. Hyperlinks to external web references should be placed in the References section, rather than in the body of the paper. Use List Bullet or List Number styles where appropriate for dot point or numbered lists.
Headings and sections
Paper title: 14 point, bold, sentence case (capitals for proper nouns only). If the title extends to a second line, do not use "enter" to break the line. Leave one blank line below the title. Authors' names: 12 point. First name initials should come after the family name for each author. Highlight the presenting author in bold. Use superscripts to indicate different addresses. The Email address of the corresponding authors should be provided below the affiliation. Section Headings: 12 point, bold, not italic for Headings 1, and 11 point italic for Headings 2.
Use descriptive names for Section headings where appropriate but Introduction, Material and Methods, Results and Discussions and References. Keywords heading: 11 point, bold. Keywords: (style-keywords) 11 point, not bold. Up to five key words not used in the Title. Leave one blank line below the key words. References: A simplified form of the Harvard system (also known as the author-date scheme) with minimal punctuation is suggested (see also attached example).
Figures and images
No colour printing will be available in the book of abstracts, so make sure that your graphs, symbols and figures are readable in a black and white print. Figures and images should be placed in the additional page following the references. Figures and images should be self-explanatory e.g. should include caption description. Figures copied from graphic applications should be pasted into the Word document using Edit>Paste Special>Picture. Images in either colour or black and white are acceptable. Images files can be inserted using Insert>Picture>From File. Suitable formats include JPG, GIF, BMP and TIFF. Images should be cropped and reduced where possible using Photoshop or an image editor to produce a file size before inserting into Word of around 300kb or less. Outline boxes (such as frames) should be avoided. Do not allow images to "float" over text. Use Format>Picture>Layout>In line with text. A table with borders removed can be used to arrange two or more images or figures side by side. If the drawing tool is used to create a diagram, group the objects using the Select Objects arrow on the Drawing toolbar and then choose right-click>Grouping>Group. Right-click over the toolbars area to access the drawing toolbar. Captions for Figures and images (style-Caption) should be 11 point, left aligned, placed below the image.
Symbols
As far as possible use Insert>Symbol and select a character from the "normal-text" font set at the top of the Font drop-down list rather than the "Symbol" or "Wingdings" font set.
Tables
Use tables, do not use tabs or spaces to align images and text. Remove borders from tables and insert horizontal lines only as illustrated (Table 1) using Format>Borders and shading. Use the Insert Table button on the Standard toolbar and left align tables. Keep formatting simple. Captions should be placed above the table using the same Caption style and 11 point. Data columns should generally be centered or left aligned.
Page Layout
Margins should be set at 2 cm all round. Do not indent paragraphs.
The papers will be studied in strict confidence by pre-selected members of the scientific committee. In case of acceptance, the author will be notified of the acceptance of the paper and/or any requested adjustments. All contributions will be summarized in a book in French and English versions, which will be distributed to participants before the beginning of the congress. The best contributions will be selected and authors requested to refine their texts into full papers for publication.
Paper submission
Submit condensed papers for consideration to the following address: cacongress@act-africa.org
A number of selected distinguished posters and videos will be honoured during the Congress.
Calendar and key deadlines
30th November 2013: Early bird registration deadline 10th January 2014: Deadline for submission of abstracts 2nd February 2014: Deadline for submission of reviewed and revised papers 18th - 21st March: Congress and field tour
The Congress process will consist of : Plenary Sessions; Case Studies; Special working groups (thematic parallel sessions); Field Visits; Poster/video sessions; Open time and information kiosks; Special Farmers’ Session and Special meetings around key issues/ groupings.
For further information on the congress visit:www.act-africa.org
