Bulletin

AccessAgriculture

Access Agriculture Panorama
No. 34 - May 2023
Community seed banks
New videos from Access Agriculture :
1. Community seed banks
Available languages : Bangla | English | French | Hindi | Kannada | Marathi | Oriya

2. Controlling wilt disease in pigeon pea
Available language : English | French
Welcome to our monthly news update with
‘Access Agriculture Panorama’
This monthly e-newsletter gives a bird’s eye view of all the exciting updates from Access Agriculture, a world-leading organisation for quality agricultural training videos in international and local languages, working across the Global South.
The links to different language versions are given below each section.

If at any time you wish to unsubscribe, please use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the newsletter.

EcoAgtube
Agroecology Coalition kicks off its project site on EcoAgtube
Agroecology Coalition kicks off its project site on EcoAgtube
The Agroecology Coalition (or AE Coalition for short) has launched its project site on EcoAgtube with its video “Agroecology Coalition- Who we are.”

The AE Coalition was created in 2021 at the margins of the UN Food Systems Summit to accelerate the transformation of food systems through agroecology. It has over 100 members, including countries and organisations, that are committed to making agroecological transitions a widespread reality.

Find out more about the mission of the AE Coalition by watching this video! More videos from the AE Coalition members are on the way.

If you are involved in ecological agriculture and sustainable rural and urban development, please do register on EcoAgtube and upload and share your own video clips in any language to inspire and empower interested people across the world. No other platform than EcoAgtube is better positioned to connect you with the agroecology community.

You can always get in touch with us at: support@ecoagtube.org

Give wings to women entrepreneurs in rural India
Your support needed to empower the changemakers
We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of our donors, as two of the six young women entrepreneurs whom our campaign targets, have successfully embarked on their journey to bring knowledge to other women of their farming communities.
Please be one of the wonderful people to make a donation at GlobalGiving and share this opportunity with your friends.
New videos added in April
38 new videos - 01 Bangla, 10 Chitonga/Tonga, 02 English, 02 French, 01 Hindi, 10 Kiswahili, 01 Quechua, 01 Spanish, and 10 Wolof - have been posted on our platform www.accessagriculture.org. They are freely downloadable as video (mp4), audio (mp3), mobile (video format 3gp) along with a one-page fact sheet with contact details for more information.
Most viewed video in April
Producing healthy plantain and banana suckers
Producing healthy plantain and banana suckers
Instead of planting suckers directly, you can grow many new healthy plants from each bulb. Learn how to disinfect the bulbs using a natural solution and place them in moist sawdust in a germination box. From one bulb you can get at least 50 healthy suckers that are ready for planting in less than 2 months.
FROM OUR CHANGEMAKERS
ERAs@work
ERAs@Work across Africa
Benin
  • In response to a request from the manager of Capital Farm located in Sirarou, N'dali (470 km from Cotonou), Clémence Assongba (ERA associated with Access Agriculture-GIZ KCOA project), who is working with the A4D Consulting company facilitated the screening of two videos - Human urine as fertilizer and Neem seed kernel extract – for participants from the farm. The video screenings were followed by enriching discussions, where the participants appreciated the videos, and decided to implement the practices they learnt from the videos. A4D promotes organic farming and agroecology in Benin. (See photos in A4D Consulting Facebook)
Egypt
  • Knowledge Exchange Write Workshop: As part of the GIZ-funded project on ‘Innovation for smallholder resilience’ (iNashr) that Access Agriculture is implementing in Egypt, in partnership with the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and the Agricultural Research Center (ARC) of the Ministry of Agriculture, a Knowledge Exchange Write Workshop was conducted in March. The ERAs associated with this project participated in the workshop to share and document their knowledge and experiences in strengthening farmers’ capacity by screening farmer-to-farmer training videos. These will eventually form a portfolio of the project’s success stories. (See photos in Access Agriculture Facebook)
  • Donor visit: A delegation from GIZ accompanied by members of the implementing organisations of the iNashr project, visited project sites to see the activities of ERAs associated with this project and meet with the beneficiaries. The aim of the ‘Innovative Small-holder Agriculture Resilience’ (iNASHR) project is to help address Egypt’s water scarcity and soil quality and to improve food security for smallholder family farmers. The efforts made by ERAs to introduce improved practices through videos, using the smart projectors, were appreciated by the delegation. (See photos in Access Agriculture Facebook)
Malawi
  • Precious Hassan, a team member of Chrissy Awali (ERA associated with Access Agriculture-GIZ KCOA project), helped victims of Cyclone Freddy in Mangochi, in the southern part of Malawi, by screening videos on simple food processing, such as Making groundnut oil and snacks and Making fresh cheese for 211 refugees, including 142 young women, in St Augustine 2 Cyclone Camp, Mangochi. More than 1,000 people were killed in the onslaught of Cyclone Freddy in Malawi, particularly in the southern region, where incessant rains caused severe flash floods, destroying buildings, displacing households and washing away crops.
Mali
  • Mamadou Diarra, ERA associated with Access Agriculture-GIZ KCOA project, who is passionate about farming and livestock, and is the co-founder of Expert Élevage Consulting in Mali, conducted a training course for 12 farmers on cattle feeding. As part of this course, he showed the videos on Hydroponic fodder and Silage from maize at the Centre Guy Bert School, in Bamako, Mali. (See photos in Access Agriculture Flickr)
Uganda
  • Members of four Access Agriculture ERA teams, associated with Access Agriculture-GIZ KCOA project (Canary Ahabwe and Azaria Kasiime; Rebecca Akullu; Martha Kyokuhaire; and Teddy Nabwire, Abdallah Sseryazi and Moses Birungi) gathered together on 20 April for the Uganda National ERA Meeting to build links for market opportunities and share experiences. Representatives from Self Help Africa, Kulika Uganda, Mercy Corps and Farm Radio International, among others, also attended. ERAs associated with FAO in Uganda participated virtually in the meeting. The meeting recommended that ERAs should map potential clients and assess their needs, create markets for their services by supporting farmers in income-generating activities and engage with Farm Radio International for greater reach. (See photos in Access Agriculture Facebook)
Zambia
  • Luckson Banda, ERA associated with Access Agriculture-GIZ KCOA project, who runs a poultry and goat farming business, organised two video shows for 71 participants, mostly young women and schoolchildren, in Lilanda, Lusaka. In addition to videos on poultry farming, he showed the video on Making yoghurt at home, which was well appreciated. (See photos in Access Agriculture Flickr)
BLOG POSTS
A love for nature
When you ask 5-year-old kids what they want to be when they grow up, many respond veterinarian, pilot, football player, ballerina, or firefighter, depending on where in the world you ask the question. Fortunately, some also say they want to become a farmer, as a young father in Bangalore told me his inspiring story on my recent trip to India.
Naresh N.K. works as a senior administration assistant at the University of Trans-Disciplinary Health Sciences and Technology (TDU), a private university with a unique focus that I have never seen anywhere else in the world. TDU uses modern sciences such as ethnobotany, food technology, medical and veterinary sciences to optimally understand and integrate ancient Indian Ayurvedic wisdom into human and animal health practices, products and policies.
Audio podcast of Paul Van Mele speaking with Naresh. Listen here ...
MEET OUR AMBASSADOR
Francois Regis Hakizimana
Francois Regis Hakizimana
Francois Regis Hakizimana has a bachelor’s degree in agricultural sciences from University of Rwanda. Currently he is working with Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) for 3 years as agriculture extension officer, focusing on maize and soybean crops. Prior to that he did an internship on sustainable agriculture at Israel/agro studies for one year and participated in fruit and vegetable growing activities. With his more than five years of experience with national and international organisations, Hakizimana is determined to promote effective agricultural training videos for the benefit of farmers and rural businesses as an Access Agriculture ambassador.