About Prolinnova

PROmoting Local INNOVAtion in ecologically oriented agriculture and NRM  

VISION:    A world where women and men farmers play decisive roles in agricultural research and development for sustainable livelihoods

FaReNE writeshop in Mali to document 3 years’ experience

The Farmer Research Network (FaReNe) project is a joint project of Prolinnova partners in Burkina Faso and Mali with financial support from the McKnight Foundation and technical support from the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), host of the Prolinnova international secretariat. It looks at how best to organise and use farmer-led innovation approaches, such as Participatory Innovation Development (PID), Local Innovation Support Facility/Fund (LISF) and farmer networking, and how these can contribute to agro-ecological intensification. Approaching the end of the current funding cycle, key members of the partner organisations from the two countries – NGO staff, researchers and farmer organisation representatives – met for a writeshop to document their three years of experiences, share and analyse these together, and work towards well-written papers.

African farmer innovation in biopesticides against fall armyworm

Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda, FAW) has recently appeared in Africa, where it is threatening food security, as it infests maize, which is a staple crop in many countries. Farmer innovators in Ethiopia and Tanzania (among surely many others) are trying out different ways to combat this new pest. The 4-page report “Towards farmer-led bio-management of fall armyworm in Tanzania” describes how a group of small-scale farmers in Tanzania has been trying out a sugar solution, pig fat oil and palm oil as substances to attract ants as a bio-control agent in maize infested with FAW. The 4-page report “Biopesticide to control fall armyworm: local innovation by Gebreyesus Tesfay” describes how a small-scale farmer innovator in northern Ethiopia developed a biopesticide against FAW.

Seeking external evaluator of Proli-FaNS project!

The Association of Church-based Development Projects (ACDEP), the Ghanaian NGO that is coordinating the implementation of the project “Promoting local innovation for Food and Nutrition Security” (Proli-FaNS), is seeking the services of a consultant to conduct an end-of-project evaluation. The terms of reference, deadline and procedure for submission of expression of interest are indicated here.

The expression of interest should be submitted to the Project Coordinator, Mr Joseph Nchor at nchor@acdep.org or nchor@yahoo.com by 17.00 GMT on Friday, 18 January 2019.

Farmer-led innovation promoted at FAO symposium

Subregional taskforce leaders in Africa

As part of the process of regionalisation of the Prolinnova network, subregional taskforces have been created in Eastern & Southern Africa (ESA) and in West & Central Africa (WCA). These taskforces recently agreed on who will coordinate the interaction within each taskforce and with the respective subregional coordinator, Amanuel Assefa and Georges Djohy, in order to agree on subregional and regional strategies and activities in Africa and to help set up subregional “oversight groups” that will eventually replace the taskforces. These are thus interim governance bodies of the network in Africa. Brigid Letty from the Institute of Natural Resources (INR) in South Africa has been elected as the chair of the ESA taskforce, while Do Christophe Ouattara from World Neighbors in Burkina Faso will chair the WCA taskforce.

West & Central Africa coordinator’s contribution to Proli-FaNS Year 2

In the 2nd year of implementing the “Promoting local innovation for Food and Nutrition Security” (Proli-FaNS) project, the Prolinnova Platform for West and Central Africa (WCA) played its part in seeking to achieve the overall objectives of the project. In this annual report in French and English, the Subregional Coordinator (SRC) for WCA recalls the SRC’s main tasks and responsibilities; his achievements in terms of policy dialogue and networking, documentation, M&E, South–South backstopping and fundraising; lessons learned; and challenges and perspectives for Year 3 of the project.

Lionel Vigil from Peru named to Prolinnova Oversight Group

In May 2018, the Prolinnova Country Platforms in Bolivia and Peru named Lionel Vigil as the Andes representative in the Prolinnova Oversight Group (POG).

PROLINNOVA–KENYA ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Prolinnova–Kenya (PK) reports on its activities in 2017, which mainly revolved around the project “Promoting Local Innovation for Food and Nutrition Security” (Proli-FaNS), in its second of three years. This builds on experiences of PK over previous years, e.g. in the FAIR and CLIC–SR initiatives under the Prolinnova umbrella, to show the value of an alternative approach to agricultural research and development (ARD) – an approach that starts with recognising and valuing community assets, especially small-scale farmers’ creativity in their own efforts to experiment and innovate so as to deal with new problems or opportunities. Other actors in agricultural research, extension and education are thus motivated and encouraged to support farmers’ initiatives in ways that strengthen local capacities to innovate and adapt.

Link to Kenya report 2017 (PDF file; 852 KB)

Proli-FaNS + African Regional Meeting in Nairobi

Participants in African Regional Workshop of Prolinnova partners, Nairobi, May 2018 (Photo: Loren Cardeli)

As part of the regionalisation of Prolinnova outlined in the network’s 2016–20 strategy, the focus in 2018 is on strengthening the subregional and regional networks. On 22–23 May 2018, the five African Country Platforms (CPs) that are involved in the Proli-FaNS (Promoting local innovation in Food and Nutrition Security) project held their annual sharing-and-learning meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. The programme for these two days was organised by Joe Nchor, Proli-FaNS coordinator based at ACDEP in northern Ghana.

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