English

Background

The Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA) is a Subsidiary organisation of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). It was established in 2010 by Member States of SADC, and tasked with the mandate of coordinating agricultural research and development in the region. CCARDESA’s mandate is aligned to the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan, the SADC Regional Agricultural Policy and its investment plans, the CAADP/Malabo Declaration Commitment as well as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). CCARDESA works closely with regional and international partners to facilitate generation and use of essential agricultural technologies and management practices. It also supports the exchange ofinformation and technology among Member states. 

Assignment

The operations of CCARDESA are guided by its strategy and an operational plan. The current Medium Term Operational Plan (MTOP), which provides details of the technical focus of the organisation for a period of 5 years, will elapse on 31^stDecember 2018. The organisation therefore needs to develop a new Strategic Plan which will provide the priority boundaries of operation of CCARDESA for the next 10 years. The content and orientation of the CCARDESA strategy will be based on the available regional strategic priorities, current topical issues and envisaged trends of interest to the agricultural sector. The Strategy will be accompanied by an MTOP, which will articulate the operational details for the next 5 years. The MTOP is therefore the action guiding tool for achieving the objectives and targets of the Strategy. 

CCARDESA is therefore inviting applications from qualified and experienced individuals to carry out the task of developing its 10 year Strategy and a Medium Term Operational Plan for 5 years. This is one assignmet but requires the services of two experts. Therefore it is applicants are required to submit their bid as a pair of two experts with profiles indicated in the Terms of Reference.

Details of the assignment are contained in the attached TORs. 

Falling prices of cotton, normally referred to as ‘‘white gold’’ is not good news for small- scale farmers in Eastern province, as the crop has been a source of livelihoods to them for many years. A significant decrease in the number of small-scale farmers currently growing cotton in the province has resulted in an increase in poverty levels. This has exposed small-scale farmers whose livelihood is derived from farming to much more challenging survival mechanisms.

Fleming Chookole, 49, of Mwiinga village in Chinkankata district in Zambia has returned to farming after abandoning it for blacksmithing for several years. Today, he is a lead farmer and inspirational Conservation Farming Unit (CFU) farmer among villagers- thanks to the Agricultural Productivity Programme for Southern Africa (APPSA) which introduced the crop and soil improvement programme to Fleming and his community.

The Agricultural Productivity Programme for Southern Africa (APPSA) embarked on an effort to promote sustainable value-addition to commonly grown food legumes and increase incomes among smallholder farmers in Zambézia and Niassa Provinces (Guruè, Lichinga, Cuamba, Muembe and Chimbonila Districts). About 913 small-scale farmers (610 females) were trained in legume grain selection, packaging, sealing and labelling. Forty (40) Extension staff were also trained so that they could train other farmers not reached by the project. APPSA introduced new agro- processing technologies of legumes in the same five districts, where the farmers were trained in processing of the legumes into different legume products. Farmers applied the agro-processing skills they learnt to improve food security and generate income through sales of their products.

Le Programme de productivité agricole de l'Afrique australe (APPSA) est une initiative conçue sur six ans (2013 à 2018) pour améliorer la production et la diffusion des technologies entre les pays participants en Afrique australe. Le programme est financé par le mécanisme de prêt de la Banque mondiale à hauteur de 30 millions de dollars US pour chaque pays participant. L'APPSA a été lancé avec la participation des trois pays suivants: Malawi, Mozambique et Zambie. D'autres pays de larégion de la SADC devraient s’y joindre au fur et à mesure de l'évolution du projet.

Agricultural productivity in the region is far below potential. Although productivity has increased in recent years within Southern Africa, most of the growth has come from bringing previously unculti- vated land into production, rather than from inten- sification made possible by technical change. Southern Africa offers attractive opportunities for regional research. Groups of countries within Southern Africa share similar agro-ecological zones and farming systems, suggesting that there is potential for finding shared solutions to common problems. Although technology spillover is already occurring within the sub-region, significant poten- tial remains for expanding spillovers.

The Agricultural Productivity Programme for Southern Africa (APPSA) is a six year (2013 –2018) initiative to improve technology generation and dissemination within and among participating countries in southern Africa. The Programme is funded by the World Bank loan facility to the tune of US$ 30 million for each participating country. APPSA has been launched with the participation of three countries—Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia. Other countries in the SADC region are expected to join as the project evolves.

This progress report describes key achievements during the project implementation period from 1 January to 31 December 2017. The project was in its 4th year of implementation.

In 2016, the Agricultural Productivity Programme for Southern Africa (APPSA) was in its third year of implementation in the three countries (Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia). CCARDESA provided the regional coordination role. The aim of APPSA is to strengthen and scale up regional cooperation in generation of technologies, capacity building, and knowledge sharing in food legumes, rice and maize. The project has three key components: (1) Technology Generation and Dissemination; (2) Strengthening Regional centres of Leadership; and (3) Coordination and Facilitation.

Madagascar occupe actuellement le 5ème rang mondial des pays les plus exposés aux risques dus au changement climatique et le 1er pays exposé en Afrique. Durant 30 ans depuis 1980, des aléas naturels notamment des sécheresses, tremblements de terre, épidémies, inondations, cyclones et températures extrêmes, ont causé des dommages économiques de plus de 1 milliard USD à Madagascar et le secteur agricole est parmi les secteurs durement touchés. Et selon les projections, ces risques devraient s’aggraver dans le futur. Face à cela, la FAO avec un financement du marché commun de l’Afrique Orientale et Australe (COMESA) en collaboration avec la communauté de l’Afrique de l’Est (EAC) et de la Communauté de développement de l’Afrique australe (SADC) a mis en œuvre le programme intitulé : « Programme sur l’adaptation et la mitigation au changement climatique dans les régions est et Sud de l’Afrique ». L’objectif de ce programme est d’appuyer la mise à l’échelle de l’adoption des techniques d’Agriculture Climato-Intelligente afin de renforcer les moyens de subsistance et d’assurer la sécurité alimentaire des petits producteurs dans les régions de l’Afrique de l’Est et Australe dont Madagascar.