SPEAR

In the framework of LEAP-Agri-Research on Innovation for Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture in Africa and Europe, funded in Senegal by the Directorate of Funding for Scientific and Technological Research (DFIRST) of the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, the Institute of Food Technology (ITA) will host an end-of-project workshop for  “Empowering small scale livestock farmers: towards the SDGs through participatory, innovative, and sustainable livestock value chains” (SPEAR).

SPEAR,  coordinated by the Norwegian Institute for Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO), in collaboration with project partners: ITA (Senegal), KALRO (Kenya), STEPRI (Ghana) and UPM (Spain)  has been focusing on the livestock and poultry value chain by targeting technology and food security. The areas studied also concern rural development and agricultural economics. A participatory and systemic approach was used for the analysis of the value chain, technological development and impact assessment in the interventions.

Partners from Ghana, Senegal and Kenya, as well as two European countries: Norway and Spain will be present at the event. The workshop will take place in Dakar, Senegal, on May 05, 2022, at the Institute of Food Technology.

The event will be livestreamed on facebook.

Today, at CSIR-STEPRI (Accra, Ghana), key stakeholders gathered to discuss, explore, and make sense of the situation of the poultry sector in Ghana to thus identify potential pathways for its transformation. Discussions and reflections made during the workshop were informed on a diagram that shows how different elements that explain the problematic situation behave together, impacting the competitiveness of domestic poultry meat and the livelihoods of people involved.

The workshop was facilitated by UPM electronically and CSIR-STEPRI in person. It counted with the active participation of 24 stakeholders, including poultry farmers, farmers’ associations, researchers, government authorities and public officers, NGOs, inputs suppliers and distributors, among others.

Two break-out sessions were organized to promote an active engagement of the participants for validating the poultry system diagram, reflect on potential pathways for its transformation and propose interventions in that regard.

Main results from the workshop so far point out an enhanced poultry system model – considering the feedback from stakeholders – which would allow us to provide policymakers with evidence-based strategies to enhance smallholders’ ability to compete in the poultry meat markets.

Today, at ITA (Dakar, Ghana), key stakeholders gathered to discuss, explore, and make sense of the situation of the poultry sector in Southern Senegal to thus identify potential pathways for its transformation. Discussions and reflections made during the workshop were informed on a diagram that shows how different elements – concerning poultry production, animal welfare and health, political and economic conditions, and farmers’ access to educational resources and improvements – behave together.

The workshop was facilitated by UPM electronically and ITA in person. It counted with the active participation of 12 stakeholders, including poultry farmers, farmers’ associations, researchers, government authorities and public officers, among other agents from the value chain.

Three break-out sessions were organized to promote an active engagement of the participants.

The first aimed to reflect on the desired transformation of the poultry system, acknowledging different points of view. In that regard, stakeholders agreed on expecting from the poultry system to provides decent livelihoods to poultry farmers and other agents involved in poultry-related activities through job generation and by increasing family incomes, increasing, in turn, the availability and accessibility of quality protein for improving food security and nutrition in Senegalese households. The second focused on validating the poultry system diagram and its underlying narrative. Finally, the third aimed for participants to reflect on potential pathways for its transformation and propose interventions in that regard.

Main results from the workshop so far point out an enhanced poultry system model – considering the feedback from stakeholders – which would allow us to provide policymakers with evidence-based strategies to ensure decent livelihoods to poultry farmers and contribute to food and nutrition security in Senegalese households.

See our Sp3ar movie here:

Today at CSIR-STEPRI in Accra Ghana, relevant actors within the livestock and poultry value chain gathered to discuss the issues that the poultry and livestock food systems face in Ghana in order to reduce the import gap and support small farmers in improving their livelihoods through an increased quality of the meat produced at a competitive price. All this supported by policy regulations and market incentives.

Twenty six input providers, producers, processors, retailers, marketers, customers and researchers got together to collectively co-define the challenges that SPEAR need to respond to and design ways forward while exchanging experiences and knowledge between Ghana and Senegal researchers on protein-based feed improvements for livestock and poultry feeding.

UPM and NIBIO facilitated the workshops while CSIR-STEPRI moderated the panels and successfully led the full agenda for this first day.

Main results from the workshop so far point out at policy regulations supporting the local market, increased awareness of consumers, and improved quality of poultry feed as the main levers for change that need to be further explored under the SPEAR project.

We will keep you all posted.

All 27 LEAP-Agri projects participated in the Kick-off Meeting from October 8 to 10, 2018 in Bari, Italy, organized by CIHEAM. With an average of three members per project, 22 funding agencies (of the 24) were represented during the meeting. Furthermore, there were three European Commission representatives from DG Research, DG DEVCO and DG Agri.

The main objective of the seminar was to build a platform strengthening the LEAP-Agri community in order to have a common focus.

During the event, all projects had the opportunity to present their project, combining a pitch presentation, a poster session and an information note. Other activities included:

• Discussions between projects teams and their funding agencies, to facilitate interaction and to solve ongoing questions if needed.
• Networking sessions in cluster groups to share concerns within projects and to create research teams’ networks.
• Session on the projects’ Monitoring and Evaluation and Impact Pathway (M&E), for reaching impact beyond the project level.
• Presentations by EC representatives related to the EU-AU Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture (FNSSA) and renewed energy, and the LEAP-Agri global context.

The two-day meeting was very productive and created a real LEAP-Agri spirit. The event ended with the formation of an “FNSSA Funders and Research Alliance”.