Ministry of Agriculture backs RIU findings in Zambia
19 May 2011

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The Zambian National Innovation Coalition (NIC) chairman, Mr Joseph Nkole, recently paid tribute to the RIU Zambia country team for their tireless efforts, good results and lessons coming from the Conservation Agriculture programme. This is especially impressive given the short period that RIU has been operating in Zambia.

Mr Joseph Nkole said:

"It is worth noting that the platforms that have been created and the ripping service entrepreneurs that have been developed have scored tremendous success in a short time. We only wish RIU would be extended to have greater and sustained impact".

He challenged the 21 stakeholders at the NIC meeting in Lusaka on 7 April 2011 to share the good news with many others as sharing the lessons with other key stakeholders, for the benefit of the poor, was part of the essence of the RIU programme.


NIC stakeholders during the 7 April 2011 meeting at Cross Roads Lodge in Lusaka

During the meeting the RIU team had shared the experiences from programme implementation process and also made recommendations for consideration at policy/strategic level in order to scale up use of Conservation Agriculture technologies and practices. They also drew lessons from the RIU Zambia Rice Intensification Programme.

In his presentation, Victor Makasa the RIU Zambia country coordinator, urged the members to consider supporting innovative approaches to help increase the use of Conservation Agriculture technologies among small-scale farmers. He highlighted the RIU innovation of promoting commercialization of ripping and weed-control (using herbicides) services as having a significant potential in increasing the use of conservation agriculture technologies among the small-scale farmers.

Victor also noted that efforts to 'crowd-in' the private sector in the promotion of Conservation Agriculture technologies and practices were cardinal in making a sustainable impact. He called for influential public sector and non-state actors involved in supporting small-scale farmers to factor in local contractors providing Conservation Agriculture services and agro-dealers. He proposed this can be achieved by using tested and proven private sector-friendly mechanisms such as the voucher systems.

Other lessons RIU Zambia suggested that policy stakeholders should adopt included:

• Using innovation platforms as fora for sharing experiences, knowledge, lessons and for improved coordination, collaboration, functional business linkages and harmonization of extension messages and activities in Conservation Agriculture
• the use of community media (local radio stations) to produce and broadcast innovative radio programmes, such as interactive and drama shows, to complement conventional programmes such as recorded and short radio features, and encourage partnerships with private sector
• supporting value chain approaches such as RIU Zambia's rice value chain project which has proved that it helps to spur demand and use of research outputs and better practices among end-users
• lobbying for inclusion of System of Rice Intensification (SRI) technology to the rice extension package going by the promising results its yielding
• supporting social enterprises that subscribe to business principles in their quest to deal with social practices that pose a threat to the environment and therefore contribute to addressing climate change concerns.

The meeting welcomed the strategic/policy level recommendations presented by the RIU Country Coordinator.

The guest of honor, Mr Martin Sishekanu (chairman of the Conservation Agriculture Task Force at the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives), said that he agreed with the recommendations.


Martin Sishekanu, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (centre); Victor Makasa, RIU Zambia country coordinator(left) and Joseph Nkole, NIC chairman (right)

And in his remarks, Mr Martin Sishekanu said;

"As the chair of the Conservation Agriculture National Task Force I feel that fora such as the NIC were very important. The NIC provides an excellent opportunity for collaboration and coordination therefore we are pleased with RIU's brokerage as it has provided the ground full of experiences that can be utilized. There is need for sharing lessons emerging from the RIU Zambia so that these efforts can be replicated to enhance Conservation Agriculture adoption in the country."

Stakeholders listening to the presentations at the NIC meeting on 7 April 2011