2nd Conservation agriculture association (CAA) thematic meeting held in Lusaka, Zambia
7 September 2010
The second thematic meeting of the Conservation Agriculture Association (CAA) was held on 1 September 2010 in Lusaka at Pamodzi Hotel. The meeting which was themed Conservation Agriculture as a business was attended by over 60 participants from various public and private sector organization in agriculture in Zambian. Golden Valley Agriculture Research Trust (GART), Research Into Use (RIU) Zambia and Conservation Farming Unit (CFU) co-facilitated the meeting during which seven presentations from private sector actors, research and other stakeholders were made and discussed.
The second thematic meeting of the Conservation Agriculture Association (CAA) was held on 1 September 2010 in Lusaka at Pamodzi Hotel. The meeting which was themed Conservation Agriculture as a business was attended by over 60 participants from various public and private sector organization in agriculture in Zambian. Golden Valley Agriculture Research Trust (GART), Research Into Use (RIU) Zambia and Conservation Farming Unit (CFU) co-facilitated the meeting during which seven presentations from private sector actors, research and other stakeholders were made and discussed.
In an interview with the National Agriculture Information Services (NAIS), RIU Zambia Country Coordinator, Victor Makasa, called for support to private-public sector partnership models in the promotion of conservation agriculture in order for the gains being made in scaling up use of CA to be sustainable. The interview was aired on the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) TV news on 2nd and 3rd September 2010.
And making the presentation during the meeting, RIU Zambia National Programme Officer, Frank Kayula, stressed that the voucher system for Draft animals that is enabling farmer entrepreneurs to provide min-tillage services with additional herbicide spray services to other small scale farmers near them at a fee is ensuring timeliness in land preparation/planting and weed control which, combined, account for about 70% increase in yield, according to research results.
Among the policy issues identified and discussed was the need to zero-rate identified implements that are used in conservation agriculture (that meet minimum standards) but are not currently listed so that these could be considered for tax exemption in the next national budget. Once accepted this would make imported conservation agriculture equipment more affordable among small- scale farmers and improve supply by the private sector.
The representative from the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MACO), Martin Shishekanu, , expressed happiness about the meeting. He indicated that the meeting was important and would help the Ministry to complete compilation of the list of key conservation agriculture stakeholders/ actors (both private and otherwise) so that coordination, information and experience sharing can be enhanced in order to effectively scale up use of conservation agriculture technologies and practices among small scale farmers.
And making the presentation during the meeting, RIU Zambia National Programme Officer, Frank Kayula, stressed that the voucher system for Draft animals that is enabling farmer entrepreneurs to provide min-tillage services with additional herbicide spray services to other small scale farmers near them at a fee is ensuring timeliness in land preparation/planting and weed control which, combined, account for about 70% increase in yield, according to research results.
Among the policy issues identified and discussed was the need to zero-rate identified implements that are used in conservation agriculture (that meet minimum standards) but are not currently listed so that these could be considered for tax exemption in the next national budget. Once accepted this would make imported conservation agriculture equipment more affordable among small- scale farmers and improve supply by the private sector.
The representative from the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MACO), Martin Shishekanu, , expressed happiness about the meeting. He indicated that the meeting was important and would help the Ministry to complete compilation of the list of key conservation agriculture stakeholders/ actors (both private and otherwise) so that coordination, information and experience sharing can be enhanced in order to effectively scale up use of conservation agriculture technologies and practices among small scale farmers.
This report is raising several interesting developments: The Ministry og Agriculture seems willing to take over the brokering role for CA a happy development if funding implications are taken into account. At the local level Frank's research seems to be suggesting that RIU activities are changing the ways in which things are done 'dispruting' the old ways of doing things yet promoting a form entrepreneurship. Did you have any issues for follow up at thematic level identified?
Elias Madzudzo, Lilongwe RIU
Posted by: Elias Madzudzo | 10/05/2010 at 12:10 PM
I feel that, this meeting took many decisions which is favor for agriculture. Nice and Informative article. Thank you for sharing this useful information.
Posted by: website domain registration | 05/17/2011 at 01:45 PM