De : Anton Immink <a.j.immink(a)stir.ac.uk> Date : 29 septembre 2009 18:22:19 UTC+08:00 À : sarnissa-african-aquaculture Mailing List <sarnissa-african-aquaculture(a)lists.stir.ac.uk Objet : Rép : [Sarnissa-african-aquaculture] EU project Répondre à : sarnissa-african-aquaculture(a)lists.stir.ac.uk Dear members. Thank you all for your enthusiastic responses to my inquiry about partners for an EU project. I was lucky enough to attend the Africa Information Day at the EU in Brussels and it was quite clearly indicated that aquaculture was not a focus of any call. For water and soil it is most likely that large projects looking at the management of irrigation systems (dams, reservoirs, canals) and the impact of that water management on soils (fertility, structure and erosion) will be funded. Otherwise perhaps a project where drought is a real issue. I think there is scope for the multiple-use of irrigation water to produce fish, but that probably only leaves opportunity for one or two of us fishy people in any proposal from a larger, agriculture-focused consortium. At the moment I do not know of any larger agriculture (soil and water) proposals, so I will keep looking. One thing that was clear from the Information Day was that these calls were requested/developed by the African Union Commission/ NEPAD, so what you could do is lobby your minister of agriculture or fisheries to push for an aquaculture proposal in the next round of funding. Then we will all have the opportunity to develop proposals in the future … either together or as competing bids ... to ensure aquaculture production is a key element in Africa's future. No need to respond to this message - there are too many to read already on Sarnissa - I am just writing to thank you for your interest and to provide a bit more information about the outcome of the information day as I understood it. Regards Anton _____________________________________________ From: Anton Immink Sent: 03 September 2009 16:10 To: sarnissa-african-aquaculture Mailing List Subject: EU project Dear members We are interested in an EU call relating to agriculture sustainability in Africa, particularly in relation to the management of water and soils. We are trying to identify suitable African countries with good examples of integrated watershed management approaches, perhaps including large and small-scale irrigation, intensive vegetable production, rice and urban/waste water use. At present we do not have a finalised project idea, or even a list of countries that would have suitable systems on a larger scale. If we can develop those ideas with anyone on the list then we may be able to develop a project together. Any project is likely to require larger organisations working on agriculture more broadly, so I think the 'aquaculture systems' component will be quite small, but critical. Regards Anton Anton Immink, Stirling Aquaculture. a.j.immink(a)stir.ac.uk -------------- Call: FP7-AFRICA-2010: Sustainable water resources management and Soil fertility conservation for food production in Africa - SICA (Africa) Inappropriate management of irrigation water contributes to erosion of top soil, loss of organic matter, salinisation, decrease of soil fertility and pollution of ground and surface fresh waters. Research efforts are necessary to allow a more sustainable exploitation of water and soils by African farmers, and support the increasing demand for locally produced food. More sustainable food production strategies and techniques for irrigated farms need to be studied, developed and implemented, which can revitalise the natural regenerative capacities of agricultural soils, reduce fresh water pollution and ensure healthy and resilient environments. Methodologies, devices and indicators, adapted to specific African situations, will be developed for monitoring and assess risk factors for soil health and fertility, as well as for safe fresh water resources, in irrigated areas. Adapted innovative techniques to improve WRM and keep soil fertility at farm level need to be investigated and field-tested. The prevailing technical/scientific part of the project should be complemented by a true participatory approach by involving local stakeholders at different levels, such as farmers, local NGOs, relevant governmental organisations, as to make better and suitable use of existing potentialities and local knowledge, as well as to facilitate an easier implementation/ adoption of the project's selected strategies. Studies on social processes and farmers’ rationales for implementing, adapting, innovating or rejecting the proposed strategies, should also be part of the project activities, as to ensure their acceptability by the end users (farmers and policymakers) and thus producing the expected impact. With the aim of increasing research capacities in the participating African countries, the project should include tailored training activities, such as the organisation of training programmes in loco and exchanges of researchers. Expected impact: Effective soil and water management strategies will allow African farmers to produce sufficient food crops and achieve sustainable use of irrigation water, conservation of soil fertility and reduction of fresh water reserves pollution. Wise use of water resources at farm level, coupled with adequate soil management practices, will help slowing down, and eventually stop, loss of soil fertility and counteract decline and pollution of natural resources. _______________________________________________ Sarnissa-african-aquaculture mailing list Sarnissa-african-aquaculture(a)lists.stir.ac.uk http://lists.stir.ac.uk/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sarnissa-african-aquacultu…