Description du projet
L’agriculture durable en Afrique de l’Est et de l’Ouest
Les terres marginales sont des terres qui ont peu de valeur agricole parce que les cultures qui y seraient produites vaudraient moins que tout loyer payé pour y accéder. Un objectif clé du projet EWA-BELT, financé par l’UE, est de contribuer au développement de ces zones en Afrique. Le but est de promouvoir l’intensification durable de la production agricole dans les systèmes de culture et d’élevage biologiques, agroforestiers et mixtes de 38 zones d’étude situées dans six pays d’Afrique de l’Est et de l’Ouest. Le projet permettra d’améliorer les connaissances scientifiques actuelles sur l’adaptation des cultures traditionnelles nouvelles et améliorées dans différents agroécosystèmes et sur les impacts des pratiques agricoles traditionnelles sur la santé des sols.
Objectif
The EWA-BELT project aims at developing SI of agriculture productions in organic, agroforestry and mixed crop and livestock farming systems in 38 study areas of 6 countries belonging to East (Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania) and West (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Sierra Leone) Africa. The research activities, carried out in Farmer Field Research Units (FFRU), will address areas including marginalized and/or abandoned lands and existing agricultural lands to increase their yield potential. Through integrated participative researches, innovative tools (FFRU, ICT, Integrated Pest Disease Management - IPDM) and identification and dissemination of best practices, all countries will be linked into an interregional East-West African BELT able to reinforce SI in agriculture.
The project will enhance the current scientific knowledge on the adaptation of new and improved traditional crops in different agroecosystems and the impacts of traditional agricultural practices on soil health in terms of nutrients, water retention and organic matter content. EWA-BELT will also investigate the introduction of innovative and appropriate plant protection technologies in the IPDM for key crops and the identification of a set of indicators to be used in the assessment of the SI approach impacts taking into account environmental health and, synergically, economic and social aspects.
The project will introduce highly innovative cost-affordable technologies, to be easily used in the field by unskilled personnel. Technical benefits provided by all implemented techniques will be then evaluated for their economic effect on farmers and along the value chain.
EWA-BELT will address gender issues and empowering women at every stage of the process. Finally, to maximize the impact, project results (in progress and final achievements) will be yearly disseminated during the “Infopoverty U.N. Conference”, one of the U.N. highest-level initiatives to elaborate strategies and design solutions towards SI.
Champ scientifique
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RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinateur
07100 Sassari
Italie