Study Tour for Farmers on Coping with Climate Change through Livestock - KwaZulu-Natal, Province, South Africa. 26-28th October, 2016

During 2015 and 2016 Southern Africa experienced the driest rainfall season in the last 35 years. FAO (2016) noted that during this period, 634 000 drought-related livestock deaths have occurred in the region, estimated at US$ 220 million. While grain farmers stand to recover in the next season or two, experts believe it will take significantly longer for livestock farmers to recuperate from the drought. In addition to emergency relief measures, efforts to build the resilience of livestock farmers and to learn from one another are increasingly important.

Diversifying farmers livelihoods through livestock and adoption of good practices to manage livestock stock during drought and uncertain weather scenarios are key options to help farmers cope with the effects of climate change. Some good practices are being practised in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province of South Africa.

The Farmer to Farmer Livestock Field Study Visit is organised by the ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), in collaboration with the Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU), Heifer Project South Africa (HPSA) and Mdukatshani Rural Development Project (MRDP) who are partners in the Goat Agribusiness Project.

The field tour will enable up to 20 smallholder farmers in Southern Africa learn from fellow farmers in KZN. The aim is to strengthen the capacity of farmers towards diversified livelihood option through practical "Farmer-to-Farmer" sharing of knowledge; the specific aim is to learn from on-the-ground actions taken by local farmers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

The farmers in KZN will host their counterparts, accommodate them in their own village for intensive interaction, and identify best management practices for livestock during drought, including the production of nutrient blocks and fabrication of the block-making tools as a job-creation mechanism for youth.

Follow #CSAFSA @CTAflash and check www.cta.int for updates

Comments

You Think Youths are Useful Idiots? Hold your tongue- We are Innovators.

"Youths are jobless and them developing Apps is just something to fulfill their hobbies.” Can you imagine? That's the comment that came from one of the Delegates at the ICT4Ag 2013 International Conference, Kigali, Rwanda. Put yourself in the shoes of the the youth, sit your self on that chair, and imagine listening to a respected person, a leader and credible consultant utter those words in the full presence of the youth. Like a sharp double edged sword, they would pierce in your heart, like a sharp stick accidentally plucking your ear they would resonate. This is just an example of many other humiliations youths undergo as they struggle to achieve their career goals. Youths are usually perceived as not so serious folks, who have no direction or clearly set goals. In many cases they are used as rubber stamps, just as some useful idiots not so important. Seemingly, not so important that the world can do without them. Yet, the youth are in the fore front of the gre...

The struggle is real: Schools need help to deliver ICT education in Zambian schools

My heart bleeds, so this Teacher called me, he narrated how challenging it is for him to teach ICT to hundreds of grade nine students - it is an examination class and he has other subjects to handle, his colleagues are not yet up to the desired level in practical. So the burden is on him. He was trying to find out if we will offer Teaching Support in ICT at their secondary school, this year. First, I helplessly felt tears running down my cheeks, knowing exactly what he is going through (I cant hold my emotions when it comes to such issues), knowing how eager the children/students are to learn, yet in so difficult circumstances, knowing the struggle the school management embrace to mobilize computers and other essential logistics just to build the future for children in this suburb . I took a deep breath and gave him the good news. "Mr.X, do not worry, things will work as planned earlier. This year, we will assign 2 Teaching Support Volunteers to your school..." I could ...

satnet-to-upscale-its-support-to-telecentres-in-southern-africa

Over the years community based telecentres, rural service centres, ICT resource centre and others that share similar synonyms have been yearning for technical and management support to enable their organizations provide required services and operate sustainably. Equally many of the southern African countries need collaborative efforts to ensure that telecentres share and inform each other on key issues that affect respective development agenda. The advent of Southern Africa Telecentre Network and emerging telecentre networks in countries of the region is proving to give hope to a number of national telecentre practitioners to mobilize themselves into formidable service delivery national organizations. Strong and viable regional and national organisations will provide opportunities for fostering information sharing and capacity development for the work of community telecentres and generally integration of ICTs in areas of agriculture, health, education and other social and economic sect...

Kamukwape's Diary

Search This Blog