'Access Agriculture' Panorama
No. 52 - November 2024 |
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Hands-on learning prepares rural youths for e-advisory services in Madagascar | | |
| To promote youth entrepreneurship in digital agricultural extension and advisory services in the Menabe region in Madagascar, 12 young men and women belonging to six Entrepreneur for Rural Access (ERA) teams were equipped with digital tools and skills by Access Agriculture and its partners, 15-18 October 2024, in Morondava, Madagascar. The training was conducted as part of the ‘Global Programme for Small-scale Agroecology Producers and Sustainable Food Systems Transformation (GP-SAEP), which aims to support over 1,500 farming households in transitioning to agroecology in the Menabe region. Read more ... | | |
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| New videos from Access Agriculture | | |
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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. |
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Spotlight on a young changemaker |
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| Spotlight on a young changemaker: Elphas Masanga from Kenya | | |
| Elphas Masanga, Advocacy, Networking, and Communications Officer at Slow Food Kenya, is deeply committed to initiatives that foster resilience and sustainability at both local and global levels. He has participated in advocacy workshop for future food leaders from the Indigenous Terra Madre and the Slow Food Youth Networks (SFYN). From 2021 to 2023, Elphas helped establish 65 new community and school gardens and taught agroecology to nearly 660 school children, and more than 2,550 adults. By showing videos using the smart projector he received as an Entrepreneur for Rural Access (ERA), Elphas convinced the local farming communities that food sovereignty starts with becoming guardians of traditional crop varieties. His video screening has inspired the creation of 24 community seed banks in Kenya. Elphas has shared his experience as ERA through live dialogues and on EcoAgtube. “Videos are powerful tools that go beyond training—they engage farmers emotionally, motivate change, and create a ripple effect of knowledge.”
Elphas has been featured in Access Agriculture’s book “Young changemakers". . Click here to read the full story.
Click here to download a free e-version of the book. To help Access Agriculture install additional teams of young entrepreneurs across India, you can support its crowdfunding campaign, by clicking this link. | | |
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| Donate to Support young changemakers in India | | |
| Through this project, we anticipate the growth of a network of empowered young women entrepreneurs in rural India. They will not only provide for themselves and their families but will also bring to the local women farmers, a wealth of new ideas from around the world to improve their lives. This will contribute to the transformation of the food system in the local communities, leading to healthier diets, sustainable livelihoods and a reduction of agriculture's environmental impact.
Please be one of the wonderful people to make a donation at GlobalGiving and share this opportunity with your friends.
Help us raise funds for our current campaign!
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New videos added in September |
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| Reviving soils with mucuna | | |
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| | Entrepreneurs for Rural Access (ERAs) at work in Madhya Pradesh, India (Under the GIZ-Support to Agroecological Transformation Processes – SuATI project) - ERA team members, Devendra Kumar and Vivek Dwivedi, who are associated with Abhyuday Sansthan NGO, were very happy to see the immediate impact of screening the video "Herbal medicine for mastitis” in Bari Gram Panchayat, Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh. Chhoti Bai, a woman farmer from the village Shyamara of Gram Panchayat Bari, reported that earlier she and the other farmers in her village did not know about the mastitis disease, due to which they lost many of their cows. But after watching the video, she learnt to identify the mastitis symptoms in her own cow and got her treated immediately. When the ERA team shared her comment through a social media post, the team received several requests for screening such Access Agriculture videos in other villages. The state Deputy Director of Animal Husbandry and Dairy Department (DDA) praised this effort and expressed interest in conducting an awareness camp with the help of the ERA team to screen livestock videos.
The ERA team facilitated 10 video shows during August-October 2024 in Bari, Khabari, Haraii, Bardoha Kalan, Shyamara, Padwaha, Majhaguwan and Gowrari villages in Chattarpur district, Madhya Pradesh state, for 223 participants, including 143 women participants. The ERA team showed the following videos: Herbal medicine against fever in livestock, Preparing low-cost concentrate feed, Growing azolla for feed, Natural ways to keep chickens healthy, Root and stem rot in groundnut, Managing tomato leaf curl virus, Drip irrigation for tomato, Good handling of tomatoes, Harvesting and storage of green gram, Harvesting and storing sesame, Making chilli powder, Helping women recover after childbirth, and Inspiring women leaders, among others. (See photos in Access Agriculture Facebook). Members of an Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) Anganwadi association, frontline health workers, requested the ERA team to show the women-related videos to about 50 members.
The ERA team was able to earn Rs 500 (Euro 5.60) from CMS Foundation by conducting video shows during the ‘Swachhta Diwas Pakhwada’ programme – an initiative to promote cleanliness and sanitation. (See photos in Access Agriculture Facebook)
- ERA team members, Khushboo Singh and Rajendra Singh, who are associated with Population Services International (PSI) NGO, conducted seven training sessions with videos during August-October 2024 in Pateria, Surara, Ghutehi, Chunguna, Siharan, Bilpura and Sonmaukala in Panna district, Madhya Pradesh state, for 150 participants, including 102 female participants. The videos shown included Neem seed kernel extract, Good storing and conserving maize grain, Staking tomato plants, Drip irrigation for tomato, Effective weed management in rice, Growing azolla for feed, Pure milk is good milk and Village savings and loan associations, among others. (See photos in Access Agriculture Facebook).
- ERA team members, Mahindra Singh and Rishikesh, who are associated with SRIJAN NGO, organised six video shows during July 2024 in Khandela, Kankarkuiya, Sagonikhurd, Jaishinagar, Patha Gram and Kanera villages in Sagar district, Madhya Pradesh state, for 126 participants, including 64 female participants. The following videos were featured: Rice transplanting, Taking care of okra, Good shelling, sorting and drying of maize, Silage from maize, and Harvesting and storing onions, among others. The ERA team reported that their Bio-Input Resource Centre (BRC) sales increased by raising awareness of natural farming using the smart projector (See photos in Access Agriculture Facebook).
- ERA team members, Bhuri Ahirwar and Mamta Patel, who are associated with PRADAN NGO, organised two video shows during August-October 2024 in Tikuri, Pawan Nagar, Kachhiana and Pahadihiraju villages in Chattarpur district, Madhya Pradesh state, for 70 participants, including 51 female participants. The following videos were featured: Herbal medicines against mastitis, Preparing low-cost concentrate feed, Making balanced feed for dairy cows, Deworming goats and sheep with herbal medicines, Managing aphids in beans and vegetables and Scouting for fall armyworms, among others. (See photos in Access Agriculture Facebook)
- ERA team members, Manisha Lodhi and Shivani Vishwakarma, who are associated with Manav Vikas Seva Sangh (MVSS) NGO, conducted five training sessions with videos during August-October 2024 in Papet and Rurawan villages in Sagar district, Madhya Pradesh state, for 47 participants, including 11 female participants. The videos shown included, Healthier crops with good microorganisms, Drip irrigation for tomato, Harvesting maize in a good way and Making a vermicompost bed, among others. (See photos in Access Agriculture Facebook)
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| | Farmers may doubt the worth of an innovation, until they meet other people who have tried the idea on their own land. In 2015, the village of Korelach in West Pokot, Kenya, was suffering. The land was so eroded and degraded that it was getting difficult to raise crops. Many people were leaving the community. Then they got some help from researchers at the nearby University of Eldoret, who were looking for a community with challenging soil erosion problems. The researchers soon realised that the immediate culprit was sand extraction. Brokers from the city would come and load a lorry with sand in the dry river bed. A crew of local men could earn 3000 shillings ($30) for shovelling the truck full of sand, but no other villagers benefited. The sand would be sold in nearby cities for up to 60,000 shillings ($600), to use for construction. Read more ....
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| | Romuald Ulrich Assogba holds a Master of Arts degree in Rural Economics and Extension and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Agricultural Extension and Advice from the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences at the University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin. He is currently working in the area of promotion of organic and ecological farming. Passionate about agricultural advice, more specifically organic farming, he is also responsible for the Monitoring and Consulting Agency in Organic and Ecological Agriculture (ASCABE) and is a founding member of the Benin Association of Agricultural Extension and Consulting Professionals (ABPVCA). By agreeing to be an Access Agriculture ambassador, Romuald wishes to promote agricultural training videos on organic and ecological farming to producers and agricultural extension services both nationally and internationally. |
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