French govt gives boost to regional agro-ecology

A memorandum of understanding was signed in Vientiane this week between the director-general of the Laotian Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s Department of Agricultural Land Management, Khamphone Rasachack, and the president and managing director of the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (Cirad), Michel Eddi.
The ceremony was attended by Laotian Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Bounkhouang Khambounheuang and French Ambassador Claudine Ledoux along with ministry officials and Cirad representatives.
The project is aimed at promoting agro-ecological principles and practice in the Greater Mekong Subregion countries of Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam.
It is expected to provide institutional and operational backstopping to the Conservation Agriculture Network for Southeast Asia (CANSEA) while enlarging its scope to cover the whole field of agro-ecology, with conservation agriculture being one component of the diversity of practices found under the term agro-ecology, Khamphone said.
The project will also assist the actors of agro-ecology in the region to increase their visibility and impacts along the value chain including farmers, research and development agencies, companies, donors and policymakers.
The degradation of agricultural resources is a major concern, in particular soils, he said. To address this issue, scientific collaboration on agro-ecology needs to be carried out to address the problems with the most accurate and environmentally friendly solutions.
“Therefore, this agreement could serve as a solid basis for our fine continuing cooperation,” he said.
Of the 2.7 million euros committed, 2.5 million euros will be provided by Rural Development and Agriculture and 200,000 euros by Cirad, according to the project’s specific MoU.
Nearly 14 per cent of the cost components directly under its responsibility are distributed at a ratio of 1.2 million euros for the Agro-ecology Learning alliance in Southeast Asia component, Professionals for Fair Development and 1.5 million euros for the Coordination and CANSEA component.
This estimate is of the direct costs arising from implementing the project and does not take into account the travel and other expenses of all participants other than the members steering and managing the project.
A major part of this project will be in the contractual area involving payments to service providers, operators and partners under grants.
The project does not intend to provide compensation for work involved in establishing certain aspects of the network and this may result in significant expenditure for all participating institutions.
Cirad also participates through providing expertise and taking responsibility for some logistical aspects through Cirad funds for the CANSEA network.