Report from Azania; YoBloCo Awards Prize Giving | IAALD Africa 2012 Conference

by Ras Benaiah

Two weeks ago, between 20^th and 23^rd May 2012, the long-awaited ARDYIS YoBloCo Awards Prize giving ceremony and IAALD conference on “e-Agriculture for Improved Livelihoods and food security in Africa" took place in Johannesburg, South Afrika.

The four days we spent in Johannesburg were marked by extensive networking, sharing of experiences, knowledge and other resources, all this in the framework of the series of conferences held. In attendance was a cross-section of players in the ICT and agricultural sectors of development from various countries around the globe. Amongst the participants of the above events was a group of around twenty agricultural bloggers, I being one of them, who were sponsored by The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA). I earned this sponsorship by virtue of being the author of this blog which emerged the runner-up in Eastern Afrika region in the 2011/12 YoBloCo Awards blog competition.

I give thanks to the CTA for granting me such a precious opportunity to meet and share with fellow youth who indeed are the strength of the nation and thus the hope for a developed Afrika, Asia and Pacific. We acknowledge the youth population as the vehicle through which Afrika’s aim of self-sufficiency in food can be realized. We, at Shiriki Organization invest in empowering the youth in rural areas who are partaking in agricultural and environment conservation activities. We also clearly recognize the fact that agriculture is the backbone of our nation’s economy. 

For a comprehensive report on the IAALD Africa 2012 Conference and ARDYIS activities

Johannesburg, 20 to 23 May 2012, including the presentations papers made, it’s my pleasure to direct you all to my fellow blogger’s excellent compilation; Nawsheen’sWorld>’ Highlights: 3rd IAALD Africa Chapter Conference and YoBloCo Awards -20-23 May, Johannesburg, South Africa’. Ms Nawsheen was the proud winner of the 1^st Prize in YoBloCo’s Individual category, congratulations!

Nevertheless, I wish to share some of my own observations and experiences for I feel our readers should take pride in this prestigious visit and may contribute their views based on this report. I cannot forget the role you played during the ARDYIS YoBloCo Awards blog competition voting season last December, which contributed to us becoming the runner-up in the Eastern Afrikan region. 

 

36,000 FEET HIGH IN THE AIR

My recent trip to Johannesburg was a first-time experience in the air. I therefore had eagerly waited for this day when I would scale to heights and behold the land of my ancestors. 

It is incredible how man has been able to convert the wisdom of JAH into today’s science and technology such that a vessel as heavy as an aircraft can float in the air 36,000 feet above the sea level. It makes me wonder how, with an array of such technology, still we have people in the world that can’t access even their daily basic human needs and this is not out of their fault but due to the greed of a few.

In the KQ vessel, I sat next to a window, where I would explore the scenes and sights from the heights thus giving me a pleasant feeling. Our route would be southwards cutting across Tanganyika, then into Malawi, Zimbabwe before entering Azania. While in the airs of the Tanganyika land, we flew west of the greatest and snow-capped mountain upon this land, Kilimanjaro.

Kilimanjaro from the plane.

However, realizing the role transport & communication sector plays in the development of a nation, I clearly noticed a disproportion where only a small percentage of native Afrikans, who inherently have the duty of developing their own nation, get to travel around their land. This is as compared to our brothers and sisters of other origins who traverse Afrika and know every nook and cranny of the continent. 

CONFERENCE; CAPACITY ENHANCEMENT

In a nutshell, for me to participate in the ARDYIS/IAALD activities was a vital opportunity that has left me more empowered in the area of ICT and agriculture than before. For instance prior to this, I was typically using the organization’s Facebook and Blogger pages to highlight our activities and to communicate externally but being oblivious of how to professionally employ Web 2.0tools for effective communication. But courtesy of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which was represented in the IAALD conference, I was glad to receive a set of Information Management Resource Kit (iMARK), an e-learning programme in agricultural information management which incorporates a course in Web 2.0 and Social Media for Development. 

In addition, several other organizations and agencies that took part in the IAALD Conference were kind enough to give us, the participants, knowledge in form of printed magazines and pamphlets as well as in soft copies. I learnt of an essential source of knowledge for us in the field of disseminating agricultural information– i.e. The Essential Electronic Agricultural Library, (TEEAL), an offline, entirely self-contained compilation of the most important journal literature in agriculture and related fields. 

CTA WORKSHOP, IAALD CONFERENCES

Our first sitting was a consultative workshop on ‘Using ICT to strengthen youth opportunities in agriculture and rural areas’ organized by the CTA under the ARDYIS Project. Participants of this workshop were drawn from the Afrika, Caribbean & Pacific (ACP) and European Union (EU) countries. After we became acquainted to one another, we had a welcome note from CTA’s Mr. Ken Lohento who is the ICT4D (ICT for Development) Programme Coordinator. 

Mr. Giorgio Bellinzas; ARDYIS YoBloCo Awards.

Also in the opening remarks was Mr. Sebastian Chakeredza of African network forAgriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources Education (ANAFE). Mr. Chakeredza is also a member of the advisory committee for the CTA’s ARDYIS Project.

Following that was the presentation of selected blogs among the award-winning ones. They included;

1.“Technology4Agri-Anextension of the Agribusiness of UWI”; – presented by Keron Bascombe (Agribusiness Society of the University of the West Indies)

2.“Nawsheen’s World”; - presented by the blog author Ms Nawsheen Hosenally from Mauritius

3.“Riziculteurs du Mono etdu Couffo”; - presented by Emmanuel Anago Codjo from Benin.

As one of the constituents of the ARDYIS Advisory Committee, Yam Pukri Association’s (Burkina Faso) Mr. Sylvestre Ouedraogo briefly shared with the participants on their experience in working with the CTA.

In the consequent IAALD conferences, we had an array of PowerPoint presentations of researches highlighting how different players in the ICT sector have been contributing towards gathering, compiling and disseminating agricultural-related information. 

The vastness and versatility of the ICT world allows for a myriad ways and levels of applying the tools thereof in strengthening the agricultural sector.  Well, at Shiriki, we can at least use some of the Web 2.0 tools such as this blog which you are perusing right now. Some individuals and organizations that are well established in ICT have databases with masses of agricultural information. Such a database is run by Biovision Africa Trust. This is a non-profit organization that promotes sustainable agriculture through bridging the digital divide and removing information barriers facing smallholder farmers. It supports dissemination of information on Organic Farming in 4 Health pillars – Plant Health, Animal Health, Environment Health and Human Health. The organization is also involved in the Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) Initiative for Africa, a flagship project for promoting EOA in Africa which is in its pilot phase. Biovision Africa Trust disseminates their information digitally, in magazines, radio programs and through their rural-based Information Resource Centre.

In Kenya, according to a presentation made by Mr. Oliver Kirui of International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre, M-Pesa technology built by Safaricom is an example of an ICT tool that impacts on farmers’ lives by providing telephone banking and easy sending and receiving of money in the agricultural value chain. 

COMMUNITY RADIOS EFFECTIVE

On a case study done in Benin, a paper was presented on how the local radio stations contribute toward empowering rice farmers, this being done under the framework of institutional contracts with the Ministry Agriculture. 

The fact that a reasonable proportion of rural folks are illiterate qualifies community radios as an extension tool that can reach millions of illiterate farmers and provide them with information relating to all aspects of agricultural production, processing and marketing in a language they understand. All that the radio stations need to do, therefore, is to first bring in expertise from the various disciplines of agriculture and rural development. Then, according to the targeted farmers’ concerns, there should be designed radio programs meant to satisfy the farmers on their queries and also to dish out new ideas and facts of help to the audience. When combined with mobile telephony, this will enable listeners to phone in during interactive radio programs and present their questions or contributions. Short Text Messaging for the literate ones is also a quite cheap service at the farmers’ disposal which can be employed as a two-way communication with experts in the radio stations.

Educational Agricultural Videos

Another effective ICT tool is the use of videos. Simple demonstration videos constitute educative narrations and visual expressions on a given subject. The combination of audio and visual creates a synergy in imparting knowledge to the farmer and in turn leaves him in a better position to practically apply his lessons.

Thanks to my interests in video production, I was fortunate to meet a brother who introduced me to 'Integrating Low-Cost Video into Agricultural DevelopmentProjects: A Toolkit for Practitioners'. The toolkit, published by the USAID-funded FACET project, is a practical guide to using low-cost video—providing an up-to-date summary of everything you’ll need to consider—from messaging to production and dissemination. When it comes to exhibition as part of video production, I would propose big screen public filming of the videos in local centres. 

Kenya’s Ministry of Communication has, for years, been running such kind of public filming around the rural centres but not necessarily disseminating agricultural information; I think this is high time the Ministry stopped slacking and started working with youth organizations in broadcasting informative agricultural films for development.

All who attended the IAALD Africa 2012 Conference in Johannesburg were representing the rural folks of their respective origins and each presented the issues that we think can be tackled by infusing ICT tools. It is the peoples of the ACP countries that will definitely fall under the system’s classification of those ‘living-at-less-than-a-dollar-a-day’... But when I see such big names as FAO(of the UN), FARA, CTA, ITOCA, INFITA, EFITA, ANAFE, congregate in a conference, the next scene should be a sustained Afrika! How come today, while each nation of the world is boasting great technological advancements in information, we have more ignorant, hungrier and sicker peoples not to mention the wars which hinder national developments? It is my strong hope that these international organizations will take their full responsibility that they have upon the human race.

Yes we are!