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| Courtesy of Seychelles Nation |
On Thursday 10th March 2011, the Agricultural Extension Services Section and the Crop Research and Development Section of the Seychelles Agricultural Agency (SAA) jointly organised a workshop for farmers at the Anse Royale Community Centre in which the preliminary results of on-farm trials carried out in 2010 were presented and discussed. Also present were Minister Peter Sinon, Mr. Antoine Marie Moustache, the Chief Executive Officer of the SAA, Mr. Gilbert Port-Louis, the Principal Officer of the Agricultural Extension Services Section, Mr. Georgie Belmont, the Head of the Seychelles Agricultural Horticultural Training Centre and the farmers’ association representatives. The event was covered by the Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation and the Seychelles’ Nation.
The presentations were given by officers from the Research and Development, and the Agricultural Extension Services Sections.
Topics covered included:
-Evaluation of layer and broiler chicken manure and cattle manure in Chinese cabbage in red soil under open field condition (Val D’endore ‘West’ Mahe);
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| Extension, Research & Farmers collaboration |
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| Transplanting on the farmers field |
- Evaluation of four different modes of bio-pesticides for the control of leaf miner in tomato (Port-Glaud ‘North West’ Mahe);
- Evaluation of four different types of bio-pesticides for the control of leaf miner in Chinese cabbage (Anse Royale ‘South’ Mahe);
-Evaluation of different rates of broiler chicken manure in banana on red soil (Barbarons ‘West’ Mahe);
-Evaluation of Lucin-lure and Wota to control eggplant shoot and fruit borer under open field condition (Grand-Anse, Praslin & La Digue);
Issues/ topics of concern except for the pheromone trap (Lucin-Lure) trial were identified during a series of workshops carried out by the Agricultural Extension Services Section’s staff with small groups of farmers to get them to identify and prioritise the problems they were encountering on their farms. Following that, the Agricultural Extension Services Section and the Research and Development Section’s personnel got together and transformed the farmers’ problems into these above mentioned on-farm research trials.
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| Farmers prioritizing their needs |
It is good to note, that the idea of grouping the farmers to identify and prioritise their needs is in response to their demands during the Stakeholders Information Needs Assessment during which they wanted their actual problems be researched into and under the conditions and environment in which the farmers themselves are working under, hence the on-farm research.
Meetings were organised during which Agricultural Extension Services Section and Research and Development Section’s officers and farmers discussed the protocols for the trials and agreed on everyone’s responsibilities while the trials were in progress.  |
| Farmers involvement from the start |
At different development stages of the trials, farmers themselves were brought on site to see the progress and at the same time media were invited for wider coverage, hence whoever could not make it to the field visit, could be kept informed.
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| Farmers visiting on field trial |
The results of trials carried out were communicated through the workshop. This was also a request by the stakeholders themselves who wanted the results to be given in meetings by research and agricultural extension or on television or radio.
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| Presentation of trial results |
The meeting has been a fruitful one and was also well appreciated by the stakeholders present. Minister Peter Sinon stressed on the importance of such workshop/ meeting which promotes interaction between research personnel and the farmers which also encourages the farmers to as much as possible to apply the research findings in their daily production undertakings on the farm.
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| Mr. Moustache addressing workshop participants |
On the other hand, Mr. Moustache urged the farmers to continue the collaboration especially to offer space on their land and their time for the on-farm trials. He also supported the proposal of the Principal Officer of the Agricultural Extension Services Section that the event becomes an annual one.
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| A farmer contributes in the discussion |
The farmers themselves showed lots of interests and participated actively in the discussions. It was good to note, that the farmers on whose farms the trials were carried out, were eager to promote the most effective treatment used. Some also proposed amendments to the protocols to achieve better results as well as lay out more plots on their land. The meeting also served as a platform on which the farmers started to exchange indigenous knowledge among themselves as well as on better ways to get good yields all year round.
For a first, the meeting has been a successful one. It was a small step towards responding to the real need of the stakeholders, with the aim of achieving a higher national food security.
Rendez-vous is for March 2012, when research trials being carried out at the research station will also be presented along with the final results.
Contributed by:
Gilbert Port-Louis (Principal Officer Extension)
Sandra Sinon (Research Assistant, Research & Development)
