Conservation Agriculture Conference organised by Landell Mills recognises the achievements of the Sudan Food Security Programme – Rural Smallholders Component
Landell Mills organised a three-day Conservation Agriculture Conference in Khartoum to share lessons learnt from the EU-funded Sudan Food Security Programme-Rural Smallholders Component (SFSP-RSC), and map out the next steps to take conservation agriculture forward in Sudan.
The event attracted over 90 participants, many of whom were directly involved in the Programme including NGOs, smallholder farmers, state and federal government staff, private companies, financial institutions and insurance companies. The presence of a wide variety of organisations reflected the successful partnerships established under the programme, which contributed to achieving its objectives.
The first day of the conference focussed on sharing the achievements of the programme and opened with a speech from His Excellency Ambassador Jean Michel Dumond, Head of Delegation of the European Union to Sudan. The following two days were made up of technical workshops and focussed on four themes: research and technology development; extension, technology transfer and farmers' associations; private sector engagement; and the role of financial institutions. For each theme, the participants agreed on a set of key recommendations in order to continue the practice and development of conservation agriculture among smallholder farmers in Sudan. Landell Mills will produce conference proceedings that will share the recommendations.
Landell Mills' Chief Technical Advisor, Abdul Hamid Rhametalla giving a presentation
A number of presentations were given by participants, including Landell Mills' Chief Technical Advisor, Abdul Hamid Rhametalla, as well as the four lead NGO implementing partners, World Vision, SOS Sahel, ZOA and Welthungerhilfe. Other presenters included Professor Lotfie Abdel Rahman from Agricultural Research Corporation; Abdalla Abdalla, Director of Technology Transfer and Extension Department, Blue Nile; Professor Mamoon Daw Elbait from CTC Group, and Ahmed Yousif from the Agricultural Bank of Sudan.
SFSP-RSC has improved food security and livelihoods for rural smallholders in Kassala, Gedaref and Blue Nile states by focussing on rain-fed agricultural production using improved technologies of rain water harvesting and conservation agriculture. In Red Sea State, the programme supported the development of the horticulture and fisheries sectors. The programme, which has a total budget of €24,850,000, has been supported by Landell Mills through a technical assistance contract since April 2013 and will come to an end in November 2019.
Find out more about SFSP-RSC:
https://www.landell-mills.com/news/2018/4/11/sowing-the-seeds-for-better-livelihoods?rq=Sudan
