The second phase of the ENPARD South Support Programme (ESSP II) was launched on the 19th of October 2015 in Egypt, at a seminar co-organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation of Egypt and CIHEAM-IAMM.
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The meeting was inaugurated by Dr.Issam FAYED, the Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, in the presence of Dr. Dina AL-KHISHIN, the Head of the Department of External Agricultural Affairs at the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation and focal point of ENPARD within the Ministry. An attendance of 25 people was taken, ranging from different categories of stakeholders, such as representatives from the Ministries, researchers, NGOs, syndicates, agriculture cooperatives and others.
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Throughout the exchange, the same themes that were mentioned in the preparatoy meeting in September 2015 were discussed and accepted as the main issues for the think tank to focus on for the year to come:
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Good Agricultural Practices and preservation of the environment ;
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Contract farming ;
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Extension services.
The participants have agreed on the importance of producing information and documenting the traditional local knowledge through NGOs working directly with the farmers. There is a need for proper coordination and documentation and in this frame, there was a broad consensus on the relevance of learning and benefiting from previous experiences. The methodology of the first workshop was presented and agreed upon.
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During his speech, the Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation insisted on the strategic importance of developing agriculture in Egypt. After he recalled the results of the first phase of the ENPARD initiative, he presented the goals and challenges of rural development and agriculture in Egypt and thereby the priorities of ESSP II.
The first workshop of ESSP II in Egypt will be held on the 6th and 7th of December 2015 in Cairo at the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation and will have Good Agriculture Practices as its main theme. The first workshop of ESSP II in Lebanon will be held on the 4th and 5th of December 2015 at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Beirut and will also have Good Agriculture Practices as its main topic. Finally, the first sub-regional Mashreq seminary will be held on the 8th and 9th of December 2015 at the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation. The aim of the sub-regional seminar, which will unite participants from Lebanon and Egypt, will be to identify and deepen the regional dimension of Good Agriculture Practices and to define a protocol to develop and implement an adequate policy.
For further information, refer to the programmes of the national workshop in Lebanon and Egypt along with the Mashreq sub-regional seminary programme.
