African Conservation Tillage Network's Ethiopia Mission, July, 2018.
African Conservation Tillage Network’s (ACT) Executive Secretary and Strategy and Policy adviser visited different stakeholders in Ethiopia from July 9-13, 2018. The objective of the visit was to discuss on the CA Centre of Excellence (CoE) partnership, invite stakeholders for the upcoming Second African Congress on Conservation Agriculture (2ACCA) in October 2018 and the Conservation Agriculture Awareness workshop in Ethiopia in November 2018. During the mission, the team managed to meet and discusses several issues with different stakeholders as follows;
1.0. Visit to Haramaya University; ACT Network - CA CoE partnership signed
The Executive Secretary, Engineer Saidi Mkomwa and the Strategy and Policy adviser, Meaza Melkamu, visited Haramaya University on July 9, 2018. The objective of the meeting was to hold a discussion on the CA CoE implementation modality and partnership agreement. Participants of the meeting representing Haramaya University were professor Nigussie Dechassa, Dr Bobe Bedadi, Ato Girmachew Adugna, Dr Tesfaye Lemma and Dr Abebe Aschalew. Eng. Saidi made a brief presentation on the concept of CA CoE and its implementation modality to the meeting participants. Following his presentation, participants raised questions around CA and its implementation status in Ethiopia. Following that, partnership agreement was signed between the two institutions to promote CA research, training and outreach.
The CSA team in Haramaya university showed interest to get connected with CFGB supported partners implementing CA in Ethiopia to learn from their experiences at the grassroots level.
2.0. Courtesy visit to the Deputy State Minister, Dr Eyasu:
A courtesy visit was made to the Deputy State Minister, Dr Eyasu, on July 11, 2018. The purpose of the visit was to appreciate the strong leadership and commitment of the Ministry on CA institutionalization and make a follow up on the progress of CA implementation strategy approval. Dr Eyasu highlighted the benefit of CA towards ensuring sustained productivity and resilience to the impacts of climate change. He stressed that he is supportive of CA and promised to review the document for approval. ACT has also requested him for participation in the upcoming CA workshop and the 2ACCA. Dr Eyasu confirmed his participation to both activities.
| Plate 2: Courtesy visit to the Deputy State Minister at his office |
3.0. Visit Sustainable Land Management Program (SLMP II):
SLMPII staff were visited to understand their progress towards mainstreaming CA within their Sustainable Land Management Program and share the idea of conducting a stakeholder’s workshop on CA. Eng. Saidi briefed SLMPII team about NORAD’s request to ACT to organize a knowledge sharing and networking workshop for SLMP II implementing districts and partners implementing CA in the country. SLMPII team updated their work around CA such as procurement of modified Maresha for CA promotion, application of mulch and crop rotation. They mentioned that they have been promoting CA within their program and have also tried to promote Payment for Environmental Service (PES) within their watershed program. The team also mentioned that they are ready to participate in the upcoming workshop to learn from other stakeholders in the country around CA. They showed their willingness to facilitate the process.
On the same day, other departments such as mechanization, Soil fertility, Crop development and Research Directorates were also visited. Both Mechanization and Soil Fertility Improvement departments were ready to promote CA while the crop directorate was reluctant on CA’s applicability. Though the Deputy State Minister is willing to incorporate CA, the executing department was not convinced and are requesting for evidence.
4.0. Visit to the research center mechanization team:
The same invitation was given to the research team for attending the 2ACCA. The research team expressed the need for effective consultations with the extension department to mainstream CA in the country. In addition, it was reported that their Mechanization project has trained CA service providers in Machakel district and the service provider is providing support to CA farmers. Thus, the farmer is included in the list to be visited during the upcoming workshop in September.
5.0. Visit to the Norwegian Development Fund:
On July 13, 2018, the team visited Norwegian Development Fund staff and discussed on areas of collaboration around CA Scale up and the upcoming workshop and the 2ACCA conference. The Norwegian Development Fund has interest on CA work in the country and expressed their interest to work with ACT. They mentioned that they have developed a mechanised CA proposal with ACT and waiting to see the donor’s response. In addition, they were working in partnership with CIMMYT, Jijiga University and Haramaya University on CSA research and program. Hence, linkage was created between these institutions and the CA CoE at Haramaya University.
6.0. Visit Agri-profocus:
On the same day, ACT team met Agri-profocus and discussed on Agri-profocus showed interest to meet with ACT and we discussed with them, amongst other, on market linkages. There is an initiative on organic farming and we wanted to learn how to improve marketing for CA products.
7.0. Meeting with FAO and regional CSA team:
| Plate 3: Participants of the CSA meeting |
The ES and policy adviser attended the regional CSA meeting from July 10-12, 2018. FAO organized the meeting and regional CSA team had agreed on the establishment of the regional CSA platform and networking with IGAD, East African Community (EAC), UNECA, AGRA, EAFF, ASARECA and other stakeholders including EAC and IGAD member states (Ethiopia, and Uganda).