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21 Dec 2011
CASCAPE was officially launched on December 9 by Dr. Edmealem Shitaye, deputy director of the extension directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture. The project, funded by the Royal Dutch Embassy, aims to contribute to the efforts of the Ethiopian Government (especially the Agricultural Growth Programme) to increase agricultural productivity.
Since January 2011 Alterra and the Wageningen UR Centre for Development Innovation have been developing the CASCAPE approach, which can be characterised by participatory action research, collective innovation through collaboration of stakeholders (research, government, farmers, extension, business) and the active use of the integrated farming system concept. Five regional Innovation Teams, consisting of researchers from Ethiopian Universities & Research Institutes, were trained in May 2011 to roll-out CASCAPE activities such as identifying, documenting and disseminating best practices in agricultural production.
The December Launch was marked by taking a soil sample at the lawn of the Hilton Hotel in Addis Ababa. Not less than 40 people representing international organisations such as the World Bank, IFAD; government departments, both national and regional; NGOs and the various universities and research institutes participating in the project attended the ceremony.
Dr. Eyasu Elias, the national coordinator of CASCAPE, chaired the meeting. Other contributions came from Geert Geut, representing the Embassy of the Netherlands, Prof. Martin Kropff, Dean of Wageningen University and head of the CASCAPE Advisory Board, and Dr. Yihenew G. Silassie of Bahir Dar University. The last person represented the five coordinators of the regional Innovation Teams. Furthermore, Prof. Tekalegn Mamo chaired a very lively discussion which concluded the official start of the CASCAPE project.
For more information about CASCAPE, please visit the website: www.cascape.info
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