1. Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
(CTA)
Sharing Knowledge Improving Rural Livelihoods
CTA’s experience in ICM and Knowledge
sharing
for integrated water management
November 24, 2010
Johannesburg, South Africa
By Oumy Khaïry Ndiaye,
Manager, Communication Services Department

2. Outline
Why information , communication and
knowledge sharing matter in agriculture and
rural development ?
Bridging the knowledge divide and building
capacity for integrated water management :
CTA’s experience :
The way forward : CTA’s SP 2011-2015

3. Why information and communication matter in agriculture
and rural development?
CTA currently serves 79 ACP countries, population 940 million ~70%
live in rural areas
Food insecurity and poverty are major problems (food crisis, energy
crisis, climate change issues)
Knowledge across the food production – consumption chain needs is
not disseminated through the range of actors
A little share of the results of agricultural research and the
improvements allowed by science, technology and innovation reaches
the poor farmers
Investment in agriculture is low – < 6% GDP in the ACP region
Policy infrastructure is weak
Rural communities in developing countries are battling for positive
social and economic changes

4. Why information and communication matter in agriculture
and rural developments?
In brief : poor infrastructure, lack of services, poor
access to agricultural inputs, poorly functioning
markets and institutions, poor knowledge flows and
access to information, high transaction costs
An important element in CTA’s working
environnement : the ICT revolution and the
increasing opportunities in information,
communication and knowledge producing and
sharing

5. Why information and communication matter in agriculture
and rural development?
Information and communication have an important role in engaging the
actors of changes namely :
The rural communities themselves /Farmers organizations
Policy makers ie all stakeholders involved in policy making processes
Researchers
Academics
Civil society activists
High officials in Public Sector
NGOs
Development partners
Media (Journalists, Media services, Print, TV, Radio, Rural radios
« New media » users (bloggers, twitterers)

6. Main beneficiaries of CTA programmes and
examples of communication channels
Farmers, rural population ;
 rural radio (RR), GSM, community level information services,
practical guide series, training, study tours
Extension services, governmental and research institutions,
universities, agricultural libraries;
 audio material, print media (books, Spore), QAS, CD-R,
Databases, web 2.0 tools
Wider public, mass media and journalists;
 websites, print publications, audio material, Video/TV
Policy makers
 RR, TV, conferences, symposia, websites, policy briefs

7. Main beneficiaries of CTA programmes and
examples of communication channels
Farmers, rural population ;
 rural radio (RR), GSM, community level information services,
practical guide series, training, study tours
Extension services, governmental and research institutions,
universities, agricultural libraries;
 audio material, print media (books, Spore), QAS, CD-R,
Databases, web 2.0 tools
Wider public, mass media and journalists;
 websites, print publications, audio material, Video/TV
Policy makers
 RR, TV, conferences, symposia, websites, policy briefs

8. Bridging the knowledge divide and building capacity
for integrated water management
Séminaires, study tours
Print, online and multimedia publications
Use of Participatory GIS
Combination of various knowledge sharing
tools and opportunities : the case of the
Agricultural Innovation in Dryland Africa
(AIDA) Project

9. Seminars, study tours
Managing water equitably, efficiently and sustainably for
agricultural and rural development in sub-Saharan Africa and
the Caribbean, CTA Seminar 1999, Seminar, Cordoba, Spain
Study tours : Water harvesting and eco-sanitation, 2006, with
CREPA, Burkina Faso
Co-seminars : land and water management in Southern Africa ,
2006, in collaboration with SADC and the European
Commission
Seminar on Soil management, 2003
Seminar on the impact of Climate Change on sustainable
agriculture, 2008, section on water management in the session
on Cultural Systems
Seminar integrated water management : closing the knowledge
gap , 2010

10. Print, online and multimedia publications
Around 30 titles on various
aspects of integrated water
management distributed to ACP
experts through the credit point
system
Agrodok n°27, 43 (EN, FR,
Portuguese)
Practical guide on « Rainwater
harvesting for increased pasture
production »
Spore, ICT update (n°12, 53
Irrigation)
Rural Radio Resource Packs :
Rainwater harvesting, Small-
scale irrigation and water
management

14. Print, online and multimedia publications
RSS feeds from the News4Dev portal
Brussels portal
Dossiers in the Knowledge for Develoment website
(e.g. : Mitigating economic water scarcity to boost
agriculture by Maimbo Malesu, Alex Oduor, ICRAF
Water: the need for appropriate resources
management, by Gerd Förch - Universität Siegen,
Research Institute for Water and Environment

15. Participatory Spatial
Information Management
and Communication (PGIS)
Participatory 3D
Modelling (P3DM)
Enabling non experts to generate, organise, display and
manage spatial information, add authority to local
knowledge and efficiently communicate
Participatory GIS

16. Participatory GIS
Elaboration of a PGIS training Kit with funding
from IFAD and participation of UNEP,
GEF,WWF and other institutions – English
(released) Spanish (close to completion)
French in preparation

17. Agricultural Innovation in Dryland Africa (AIDA)
Project (2007-2009)
AIDA’s objective was to generate knowledge about long-term
trends and innovations in agriculture and environment in Africa
Drylands
Comprehensive and critical assessment of existing initiatives
Identification of the drivers for success or critical analyses of
failures
Propositions for policy options
A consortium of 8 national and international institutions
implemented the project : CIRAD, University of Nairobi,
Agrhymet, Ruforum, Bunda College Malawi, Wageningen
University, FARA and CTA

18. Agricultural Innovation in Dryland Africa (AIDA)
Project
Generation and dissemination of knowledge through
selected case studies
e.g. Water harvesting : a bottom-up approach
towards sustainable productive land management
systems in Malawi ; Farmer’s participation in
improved soil and water management technologies –
Tanzania ; Office du Niger large-scale gravity
irrigation, Mali ; small scale valley bottom irrigation
with shallow pumping, Nigeria

19. Agricultural Innovation in Dryland Africa (AIDA)
Project
A session on “Apprentissage Production et
partage d’Innovations” was organized back to
back with the CTA seminar 2008 on the
impact of climate change on sustainable
agriculture
Posters and parallel session during the CTA
seminar 2009 on the Role of media on
agriculture and rural development

20. Agricultural Innovation in Dryland Africa (AIDA)
Project
Articles in Spore
Linking websites
Policy briefs, e.g. Why invest in Africa’s
drylands ?
Radio, TV

21. The way forward : CTA’ Strategic Plan 2011-2015
For the period 2011-2015, CTA will focus on 3
strategic goals :
Conducive agricultural policies in ACP
regions
Profitable smallholder value chains
Enhanced ICM capacity of ACP organisations

22. The way forward : CTA’ Strategic Plan 2011-2015
The challenges posed by Climate Change have
imposed further integrated water management in
CTA’s programs
The final beneficiaries of products and services
focused on the topic is broadened and it includes
the media (training of journalists on climate change,
for example)
The recommendations from this Seminar will be the
basis for selection of critical programmes and
projects associated to the 2 strategic goals under
SG1 and SG3

23. Thank you for your attention