ACTESA Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa
Newsletter
ISSUE # 20 / Date: 26th September2011
Seed trade harmonisation underway
in COMESA,” Dr. Mwila said. “The agreement will define common field and laboratory standards, the role of the National Seed Authority of COMESA States, the use of labels and certificates for seed production according to agreed principles and pest control.” Meanwhile COMRAP also hosted a Training of Trainers workshop on rural finance and weather indexed insurance in Lusaka from September 14-18, 2011. It was officiated by Zambia Ministry of Agriculture PS, Mr. Banda, represented by Mr. Green Mbozi and ACTESA Acting CEO, Dr. Mwila. The Zambian Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperative Permanent Secretary, has said regional markets in Eastern and Southern Africa can become commercially viable if constraints to seed trade are eliminated through harmonization of regulations. Officially opening the COMESA Regional Agro-inputs Programme (COMRAP) Seed Harmonisation Technical Agreement Regional Validation workshop on September 14, in Lusaka, Ministry of Agriculture Permanent Secretary, Abedanigo Banda, said he hoped the conclusion of the COMESA seed harmonization agenda in December 2011, would lead to an increase in the use of improved quality seed within the region from the current 23 per cent. “With these efforts, we are beginning to move towards a tri-partite agreement on seed harmonization by COMESA, SADC and EAC,” he said. Mr. Banda thanked the European Union
for their financial support and expressed his gratitude to IOWA State University and the African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA) for their technical expertise in running the workshops. COMRAP is implemented by the Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa (ACTESA) and funded by the European Commission (EC). Acting ACTESA Chief Executive Officer, Chungu Mwila, said the seed harmonization would build on what the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and East African Community (EAC) had harmonized. He noted that the Technical Agreement under discussion during the workshop would validate seed certification, variety release and COMESA quarantine pest list. “The Technical Agreement on seed certification will encourage the use of consistently high quality seed
AAMP wraps up; receives commendation from World Bank
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he Africa Agriculture Markets Programme (AAMP) on August 31, 2011 wrapped up its activities in the COMESA region and received commendation from the World Bank for the policy dialogue and policy analysis training it brought to the region. World Bank representative, Dr. Josef Leoning presented an evaluation report of the AAMP, which came to end on August 31, 2011, after three years of implementation. The report commends the AAMP, which, was implemented by the Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa (ACTESA), a Specialized Agency of COMESA. It was financed by the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID), through the World Bank. Michigan State University (MSU) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) provided technical support. The report was presented to COMESA Assistant Secretary General for Programmes, Mr. Stephen Karangizi, acting ACTESA CEO, Dr.
Stand # 20849, Corporate Park, Alick Nkhata Road, Lusaka - Zambia. Tel: +260 211 253572 /www.actesacomesa.org / info@actesacomesa.org
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research and analysis on topics related to agricultural market development, as part of the World Bank’s agenda to support increased investments in agriculture. This element was led and managed by the World Bank.
Chungu Mwila and AAMP Policy Coordinator, Dr. Jones Govereh, at the COMESA Secretariat. Dr. Leoning noted that AAMP, achieved its main objective to enhance regional capacity, policy dialogue, and coordination on agricultural input and output markets in seven countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, namely, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The evaluation report noted that AAMP was highly effective in delivering planned outputs and succeeded in facilitating policy dialogue and enhancing knowledge. It further stated that AAMP had been effective in strengthening the institutional and technical capacity of COMESA to facilitate policy dialogue on agricultural input and output markets in the region in a sustainable manner. Since its launch in September 2008, AAMP supported three main activities: 1. Through a series of policy seminars on the most important topics for regional market development, AAMP created a regional policy network of Members of Parliament, including, Agriculture Committee Chairs, Permanent Secretaries and directors from Ministries of Agriculture, Trade, and Finance together with regional organizations, private sector leaders, civil society representatives, and leading researchers. The seminars became a platform for exchanging knowledge and ideas on key regional issues and promoting dialogue between the public and private sectors; 2. Specialized training for senior technical staff from ministries, the private sector, civil society, and universities in the region on the fundamentals of staple food markets complemented the policy seminars. The AAMP also supported two special workshops for journalists working in Eastern and Southern Africa, to increase their understanding of the contribution of agricultural markets and how government policy impacts on markets;
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3. AAMP
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country-specific
In total, AAMP hosted six major events incorporating 12 individual trainings, policy seminars and workshops, and three investment discussions. About 367 people
participated in AAMP hosted events. In addition, 35 published outputs have been produced under the AAMP program including, 5 policy briefing notes, 6 meeting reports, 3 topic synthesis papers, 14 background and 7 country specific papers. Further, a training curriculum based on the 5 topics of the training workshops was developed. All the papers and presentations are available on the World Bank, ACTESA, IFPRI, and MSU websites.
Final Zambia agro-dealer training held
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he twenty first and final COMESA Regional Agro-inputs Programme (COMRAP) agro-dealer training in Zambia took place in Mongu, Western Province, with 78 participants. The trainings, which have seen a total of 1 300 agro-dealers and agents trained in Zambia, were carried out to strengthen the agro-dealer network in the region. COMRAP, implemented by ACTESA and funded by the European Commission (EC) Food Facility, has also carried out similar trainings in seven other African countries namely, Burundi, Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda, Swaziland, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Officiating during the opening of the training, Western Province Provincial Agricultural Officer, Dr. Simainga Simainga represented by Mr. Peter Kamusaki, said the training would lead agro-dealers to great achievements in their sector as they would offer better services to farmers. Dr. Simainga said through COMRAP, farmers would have access to improved agricultural services and inputs. He urged the participants to put to practical use, the lessons from the training. And ACTESA Acting Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Chungu Mwila, represented by Dr. Jones
Govereh, said ACTESA was happy with the completion of the trainings in Zambia and noted that through the trainings, high expectations had been placed on the participants to offer better services to farmers throughout the country. The opening was also attended by the COMRAP National Coordinator from the Zambian Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Grey Mwale who expressed his happiness that all the COMRAP trainings in Zambia had maintained an equal gender representation. Representatives from IFDC, Zambia National Farmers Union and COMESA SME Tool Kit also were also present. The overall objective of the COMRAP project is to contribute to improving rural food security and livelihoods in the COMESA region through training and capacity building of national and regional input providers. The strengthening of the agro-dealer component of COMRAP aims to increase agricultural productivity through enhanced access and trade in agro inputs. It therefore supports the establishment, expansion and strengthening of agro-dealer networks in the eight pilot countries in order to facilitate the flow of inputs.