On 10 -12 April, 2017, the Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA) convened regional stake holders to promote the roll out of the Science Agenda for Agriculture in Africa (S3A) in Lilongwe, Malawi. Representatives comprising mainly of Chief Directors of National Agricultural Research Institutes from 10 SADC countries (Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe) as well as NGOs, farmer organisations, CG Centers and universities of agriculture participated in the meeting.
The S3A is a set of guiding principles to help the continent take charge of the science for the transformation of its agriculture. The S3A envisions Africa as a hunger-free continent, a global player in science and innovations, and the world’s breadbasket by 2030. The S3A, amongst other objectives, advocates for a doubling of public and private sector investment into agricultural research for development by 2020.
As part of its mandate to spearhead the implementation of the Science Agenda, CCARDESA convened a Regional Consultative Workshop for Chief Directors of the National Agricultural Research Institutes and other stakeholders aimed at initiating the development of country driven action plans aimed at catalysing and guiding the implementation of the S3A in the SADC region. The S3A contributes to National Agricultural Investment Plans with respect to attainment of Science Technology and Innovation (STI) preparedness towards the delivery of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP)-Malabo targets.
Countries were challenged to think about what has to change and how to bring about the desired change to the status quo and monitor the proposed interventions, i.e. (to craft a Theory of Change and its associated Result Framework, emphasizing national science priorities, needs and baselines and expected change resulting from mainstreaming of the Science Agenda at National level).
