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Ecoagriculture Roundtable in Zambia
Dear Friends:
The Environmental Capacity Enhancement Project is a Canadian funded
project in Southern Africa. The Head Office is located at the
University of Guelph in Ontario Canada. The Field Office is located
at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.
ECEP is sponsoring a Roundtable meeting on Ecological Agriculture in
Zambia in late May 1997. We hope to present at that meeting some
of the basic principles of ecological agriculture as well as present
some of the current research and practical work being undertaken in
the region on ecological agriculture.
The Roundtable will be inviting about 30 participants currently
working on small holder agriculture in the region. In general these
participants will not be very familiar with ecological agriculture
although sympathetic with some of the principles. In addition we
will be inviting a number of resource persons, primarily active
researchers from the region, to lead sessions on a variety of issues
on soil management, crop selection, farming systems, farm
organization, international funding support, and so on.
We are looking for resource persons for the roundtable - experienced
Africans very familiar with - and interested in spreading the word on
- ecological agriculture. Any suggestions with e-mail or fax numbers
that subscribers to sanet can suggest will be appreciated.
The text of our brochure follows:
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Environmental Capacity Enhancement Project
Roundtable on Ecological Agriculture for the Small Holder in
Southern Africa
Siavonga, Zambia
28 May - 4 June 1997
Background
Sustainable agriculture has gained increasing attention
over the past decade as a policy goal. Yet general acceptance of the
goal of creating agricultural systems that will remain productive
over the long run has not foreclosed debate over the most appropriate
strategies to be adopted. Many conventional agricultural
technologies are now being repackaged as contributions to
sustainable agriculture. Proponents of ecological agriculture
regard these developments with concern.
Ecological Agriculture Defined
Ecological agriculture refers to
methods, techniques and technologies that preserve the productivity
and biodiversity of agricultural production systems while minimizing
the use of external inputs such as pesticides, chemical fertilizers,
and genetically manipulated varieties. The use of ecological
methods, techniques, and technologies tends to be time and site
specific and thus requires familiarity with and adaptation to local
environmental and biological conditions and cycles. Ecological
agriculture provides an opportunity for the creative integration of
local knowledge systems with disciplined scientific research.
The Aims of the Ecoagriculture Roundtable
The roundtable is premised on the principle that there now exists a
significant level of expertise on ecological agriculture in the
southern Africa region. The purpose of the roundtable is to bring
together practitioners in government, non-governmental organizations,
private sector firms and researchers to exchange information and
plan future activities in support of the development of ecological
small holder agriculture in southern Africa. The roundtable also
seeks to support the strengthening of existing national and regional
ecoagricultural networks.
Organization
Roundtable Sessions
The roundtable will be organized into a series of discussions on
critical ecoagricltural topics each combining formal presentations
with open discussion of case materials and participant experiences.
Suggested Topics
Negative Environmental, Health and Economic Impacts of Conventional
Agriculture
Soil Management (Fertility, Tillage,Pest Control, Weed
Control,Moisture Retention, Composting)
Crop Selection (Grains, Legumes, Root Crops, Vegetables,
Green Manure, Silage)
Livestock Management
Farming Systems
Postharvest Systems (Processing and storage of products
Commercialization of products
Energy Supplies Animal, Solar, Wind, Water,
Hydrocarbons -Wood,Petroleum, Methane, Coal
Farm Families Decision Making for Options
Risk perception of Ecoagricultural Options
Managing Transitions from Conventional to Ecological Agriculture
Support Systems Government Extension Services, Cooperatives,
Farmers' Associations, Nongovernmental
Organizations, Research Institutes, Networks
Developmental Aid for Ecological Agriculture
The range of topics to be addressed will be dependent to some degree
upon the selection of participants and resource persons.
Field Studies
The roundtable sessions will be supplemented with field trips around
Siavonga.
Who is Invited?
The roundtable will welcome two categories of invitees.
Participants
Participants will be 30 to 35 mid-career policy analysts, program or
project planners and managers from government, private firms,
non-governmental organizations who have a working involvement with
small holder farms and wish to learn more about ecoagricultural
concepts and practices. If you would like to attend as a
participant, please contact the ECEP Training Programme Officer at
the address given and request an application form.
Resource Persons
Resource persons will be analysts, planners, managers and
researchers with a working knowledge of ecoagricultural topics.
Resources persons will be selected on the basis of their experience
and formal papers offered for presentation. If you are interested
in attending as a resource person please send a curriculum vitae and
an abstract to the ECEP Training Programme Officer.
ECEP Training Programme Officer
C/O EEU, University of Cape Town
Rondebosch, 7700
South Africa
Tel. +27-21-650-2987
Tel: +27-21-689-7489
Fax: +27-21-689-7490
E-mail: ecep@enviro.uct.ac.za
Expenses: ECEP will bear all paticipant and resource person expenses
related to attendance at the
roundtable.
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If you have any suggestions please contact me directly at the address
given below.
Thanks,
John Devlin
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John F. Devlin
International Project Coordinator,
University School of Rural Planning and Development
Assistant Director, Environmental Capacity Enhancement Project
Room 016 Johnston Hall, The University of Guelph
E-Mail: jdevlin@oac.uoguelph.ca
Tel: 519-824-4120 Ext.3773 Fax:519-821-9904
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