AFAAS Madagascar country forum, Forum du Conseil Agricole (FCA) is working with the national Taskforce on conservation agriculture which is now led by the Ministry of Agriculture in Madagascar to pledge for the effective integration of CSA in the national policy. Most of FCA members are involved in this NTFCA since its creation in 2009.
This year FCA convened a CSA policy dialogue that brought together key stakeholders and discussed the need to integrate CSA into national policies within the different government organs. During this meeting, FCA members presented different achievements on CSA. Some examples are the presentation of a study by the Ambositra Institute of Technology on the impact of climate change on agricultural practices. This made the assistance aware of the need to access climate information.
Different AEAS approaches using tablets and videos were also show regarding CSA technique dissemination, an ICT based approach particularly useful during the lockdown.
FCA invited the general secretary of the National Taskforce on Conservation Agriculture at the Food and Agriculture Organisation representation to talk about the goals, activities and the FFF (Forest and Farm Facility, a project funded by FAO). The speaker called FCA members who are not yet involved in the task force to join effort. FCA leaders took the opportunity to show FAO people and those from the Ministry of Agriculture about the achievements of FCA concerning CSA. “The Country has a CSA strategy but it is not yet implemented” CF focal person, Noroseheno Ralisoa, said, emphasizing that CSA is a critical adaptation tool vis-à-vis of climate change especially for Madagascar. “We are working with the Ministry of Agriculture to promote CSA, and the extension and advisory services are critical in the implementation of CSA as they work with farmers,” Seheno continued.
Samuel Andrianjafy, CIKM Facilitator said the promotion of CSA was part of several initiatives that extension workers were promoting in Madagascar to help adapt to the impacts of climate change. The FCA has taken to using social media to reach out to various stakeholders, following trainings on ICTs skills.
“Before we embarked on the CAADP XP4 project, our organisation was sleeping on the job in terms of using social media effectively, but now we have been trained on the ICT skills and we are now able to produce e-digital content which we are using to share and reach more people.” Samuel said. He added that despite the capacity building and the tangible progress, FCA is still facing some challenges in the area of project management, administration and finance, and resource mobilization.
Actually, FCA is developing and using videos and champions are putting in place demonstration sites to scale up CSA techniques among its members who in turn train farmers.