A new kid in Southern Africa

Big plans are underway for agricultural research in Southern Africa.

Congratulations, a new kid was born in July 2011 at the Center for the Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development in Southern Africa (CCARDESA). The new kid is also exhibiting at the 6^th General Assembly of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), held during the 6th Africa Agriculture Science Week in Accra, Ghana, and has proved to be a force to reckon with in the pursuit of improved food security and rural livelihoods in Africa.

CCARDESA is one of the youngest not-for-profit Sub-Regional Organisations (SRO) that seeks to address agricultural research & development issues in the South African Development Community (SADC) region. It’s headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana and aims to sustainably reduce food insecurity and extreme poverty in line with the Millenium Development Goals.

CCARDESA’s strategic objective is to increase smallholder productivity and competitiveness through the implementation of Pillar 4 of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Plan (CAADP) for the SADC region based on the Framework for African Agricultural Productivity (FAAP), spearheaded by FARA.

CCARDESA has 5 thematic research areas, namely:

1. Farmer empowerment and market access.
2. Research and technology generation and farmer demand driven advisory services and innovation systems.
3.  Knowledge, information and communication.
4. Institutional development and capacity building.
5. Establishment and strengthening of CCARDESA as an effective SRO.

In CCARDESA’s quest to achieve their goal(s), they work very closely with the following partners

• The African Development Bank
• FARA
• ASARECA
• CORAF
• CTA
• The World Bank
• USAID
• European Union

However, all of us out there are welcome to work with CCARDESA with a common vision of eradicating extreme hunger and poverty in Southern Africa and enabling vibrant rural livelihoods. CCARDESA will be coordinating agricultural research and development in the SADC region through strong collaborations and synergies with national agricultural research systems (NARS), NGOs, the private sector, universities and all other relevant stakeholders.

Blogpost by Armwell Shumba, a social media reporter for AASW6.

Photo: T. Samson (CIMMYT)