CCARDESA Facilitates the First APPSA Scientific Conference in Lesotho

The Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA) facilitated the first Scientific Conference under the Agricultural Productivity Program for Southern Africa (APPSA) on the 17th of September 2021, in the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho. The conference was aimed at providing scientists implementing APPSA R&D sub-projects in Lesotho with a technical discussion forum to share research results as well as stimulate knowledge exchange.

APPSA is a World Bank funded program currently implemented in Angola and Lesotho with regional coordination by CCARDESA. Angola is establishing the Regional Centre of Leadership (RCoL) on cassava and cassava-based farming systems whereas Lesotho is focusing on horticulture and horticulture-based farming systems.

The Conference, which focused on accomplishments from implementing R&D sub-projects including challenges and limitations, was attended by among others, Mr Nchakha Makara, the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in the Kingdom of Lesotho and the Director of Agricultural Research, Dr Lefulesele Lebesa.

The R&D regional approach is instrumental on program priorities, on leveraging expertise for program priorities not available internally within the partner centres, particularly regarding exploring new scientific approaches and tools as well as on promoting cross-Centre collaboration, value for money, the potential for scaling-up across the SADC region, and sustainability.

APPSA is currently running eight R&D sub-projects adapted from the previous arrangement that included Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. However, Angola and Lesotho are co-implementing five on specific commodities of interest. For the remaining three, Angola is jointly implementing with previous APPSA countries.

The Scientific Conference also discussed the awarding of other regional R&D sub-projects following the approved project development process. Aligned to this, in August 2021, APPSA issued the first formal Call for Concept Notes covering six thematic areas and, about 10 proposals are currently under review.

Overall, in this Conference, scientists reported on the following ongoing APPSA R&D sub-projects:

• LG-P01-2020: Performance of bean genotype under multi environments in Lesotho and Angola
• LG-P02-2020: Characterization of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) genotypes using morphological and molecular markers.
• MC-P01-2020: Drivers to Technology Adoption and Profitability-Dissemination of improved technologies maize and beans in Lesotho and Angola.
• MC-P02-2020: Collection, characterisation and conservation of Cassava, Peach trees and indigenous leafy vegetables germplasm in Angola and Lesotho.
• SG-P01-2020: Strengthening the sorghum seed delivery systems in Lesotho and Angola.

The Scientific Conference concluded with a session where participants were introduced to the CCARDESA Mobile Learning App. This is a mobile-based tool that hosts 57 technical briefs, quizzes on 7 value chains and a discussion forum for Scientists, Extension officers, Academia and other stakeholders, allowing them to share agricultural information with their peers from across the region. The CCARDESA Mobile App is available for download in both Apple Store for iPhone and Play Store for android devices.