CCARDESA Diffuses Agricultural Best Practices in the SADC Region

A Regional Information, Communication and Knowledge Management (ICKM) meeting held on 18-19 September 2019 brought together the national ICKM focal point persons and other participants from the SADC region to among others share best practices from their respective countries. Alongside the National Focal point team, were representatives from the GIZ-Strengthening National & Regional Linkages (SNRL) project, the SADC secretariat (Public relations unit), Zimbabwe Agricultural Knowledge Information System (ZAKIS) and the South Africa Agricultural Research Council (ARC).

The national ICKM focal point person for Botswana, Ms Lorato Bailang shared how Botswana is using various communication channels such the radio and social media to share agricultural Information with the farmers so that they can make informed decisions. The ministry of agriculture in Botswana has partnered with the private sector to sponsor programmes which are aired on national radio in a radio programme called “the Bread Basket”. One all-weather partner for the past six years has been Haskins Ltd that sponsors these programmes on radio. Additionally, Ms Bailang also engages young farmers on Facebook where she triggers discussions around farming topics which she later turns into radio programs that are listened to by wider audiences.

Ms Dorcas Kabuya, the National Focal point person for Zambia also shared how her country through the department of National Agricultural Information Services (NAIS) in the Ministry of Agriculture works with farmers to identify their urgent needs which are then packaged into a 25 minutes long Television programme dubbed “Lima Time”. The NAIS also gets information from the farmers and conveys it to the researchers and vice versa. They bridge the gap between the farmer and the researchers. Lima Time is aired on the Zambia National Broadcasting Services (ZNBC) every Sunday evening. This programme acts as an agricultural dissemination forum where most farmers have acquired unmeasurable amounts of knowledge which they have applied in their daily farming journey and have in turn seen positive results.

The Zimbabwe Agricultural Knowledge Information System (ZAKIS) which is an organization based in Zimbabwe also shared the strides they are making in the knowledge sharing initiative. The Project Director, Mr Waddilove Sansole, one of the participants intimated that ZAKIS works with the ministry of agriculture in Zimbabwe to collect information from researchers and avail it to farmers. They have information echo systems in the agricultural sector where there is a free exchange of information from extension workers to the farmers. These systems also allow the farmer to access information from various sectors so that the farmer can access information from various sources of information. The extension worker then acts as a facilitator of information. ZAKIS is also working towards creating agricultural centres of excellence. These are places or physical points that have a demonstrated link between the Extension, Education and Research for the ultimate benefit of the farmer.

These and many other examples were shared at the CCARDESA Regional ICKM meeting for national focal point persons demonstrates the importance of providing information to farmers. The meeting was very informative and facilitated learning among participants. The adage that says “Two heads are better than one” was proved true because of the wealth of experience, information exchange and learning that transpired to overcome barriers to sharing information. This team left the meeting rejuvenated and inspired to push the information sharing agenda forward with more determination.

The meeting was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and SADC through the Adaptation to Climate Change in Rural Areas in Southern Africa (ACCRA) programme that the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) and CCARDESA are co-implementing in the SADC region.