3RD Biennial Conservation Agriculture Symposium and 1st

Climate Smart Agriculture Forum 2015

Department of Land Resources Conservation
May 26-28, 2015
Cross Roads, Lilongwe, Malawi
Government of Malawi

Scaling up Conservation and Climate Smart Agriculture for

Resilient Agricultural Systems

Ministry of Agriculture Irrigation and

Water Development

Announcement

About the symposium

The Conservation Agriculture (CA) Symposium is a research, development oriented and
interdisciplinary conference. It provides a platform for conservation agriculture research and
development stakeholders in Malawi to network, share experiences and lessons learning
towards enhanced capacity for implementing a CA innovation systems approach that results in
biophysical, social, economic, institutional and policy impacts for agricultural and socioeconomic
development in Malawi.
In order to leverage on the new developments from research carried out to generate an evidence
base for Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) as well as the current developments from the CSA
Africa Alliance which aims to leverage existing CSA initiatives and the strengths and capacities
of each Alliance member to deliver results at scale and drive policy reform, the conference will
serve as the 1st Forum for CSA in Malawi in order to share findings from studies carried out in
Malawi as part of the CSA-readiness for the country. The findings represent critical inputs into
policy responses and programming essential to building resilience or adaptation in the countrys
largely rain-fed agricultural sector.
The 2015 3rd biennial CA Symposium and 1st CSA Forum, which was initially planned to be held
in December 2014 but postponed to May 2015, is jointly organized by the National Conservation
Agriculture Task Force (NCATF) and the Department of Land Resources Conservation in
collaboration with stakeholders and development partners who support the Task Force.
Who should attend?
The CA/CSA Symposium invites scientists, students, graduates, farmers, the private sector,
development experts, media, funding organizations and their various international partners.
Young scientists are particularly encouraged to present their CA research results.
The 2015 symposium/forum theme is: Scaling up Conservation and Climate Smart Agriculture
for Resilient agricultural systems
Sustainably producing crops for food and industrial use in the face of land degradation, climate
uncertainty, population growth and changing labour demography requires innovative production
systems that ensure adaptation of, or builds resilient agricultural systems. Keynote addresses,
poster and theatre presentations will be used to facilitate dialogue along seven sub themes on
issues that impact the development and scale up of CA in Malawi and going forward, CSA.
Sub - Theme 1
Sub - Theme 2
Sub - Theme 3
Sub - Theme 4
Sub - Theme 5
Sub - Theme 6
Sub Theme 7

: Putting farmers needs first: Tailoring the CA Packages.

: Understanding CA value chain.
: Availing appropriate tools and equipment for CA farmers a realistic
strategy for Malawi.
: Policy environment as it affects CA and recommendations for increased
CA adoption.
: Effective research and innovative strategies for enhanced CA
adoption.
: The role of CA in ecosystem based adaptation.
: Climate-Smart Agriculture readiness.

The symposium will receive contributions in form of scientific papers, case studies and posters
specifically based on work in Malawi that:
i.
Discuss and explore ways of dealing with emerging issues in food and livelihood
security and enhance national cooperation with CSA/CA as the response pillar;
ii. Share, document and discuss biophysical, social and economic impacts of current

CA/CSA investments in food and livelihood security as well as existing opportunities

and challenges;
iii. Discuss drivers and enablers for CA/CSA in ecosystem based adaptation;
iv. Share and document experiences on CA/CSA scale up approaches and impacts and
the role of innovation systems in scaling up adoption of CA/CSA;
v.
Identify appropriate mechanisms to enhance collaboration and networking for
effective engagements among stakeholders towards institutional and policy
innovations for CA/CSA scale up;
vi. Identify priorities and suggest ways for enhancing human resource development and
capacity building for CA/CSA;
vii. Identify practical, innovative, integrative funding and investment opportunities for
CA/CSA in Malawi;
viii. Identify market opportunities for CA/CSA adopters.
Symposium outputs
It is expected that the Symposium will yield the following outputs:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.

Information on the biophysical, social and economic impacts of conservation

agriculture and climate-smart agriculture practices in Malawi shared and
documented;
Experiences on CA/CSA scale up approaches and impacts shared and documented;
Key areas for research and development for conservation agriculture and climatesmart agriculture scale up identified; and
Key areas for institutional and policy innovations for CA/CSA scale up identified.

Symposium structure and procedure

The 2015 CA Symposium and CSA Forum is organized for three full days inclusive of a field visit on
the second day of the symposium. Keynote speakers, oral presentations, guided poster sessions
and a number of displays will address major issues of the symposium. It is expected that a farmers
forum will be arranged to host a panel discussion with farmers selected by partner institutions of
the NCATF to interact with the symposium delegates. Interested stakeholders should contact the
Secretariat for further information on the farmer participation.
Symposium location and costs
The 2015 Conservation Agriculture Symposium/ Climate-Smart Agriculture Forum will be
held at Cross Roads Hotel in Lilongwe.
The symposium will cover costs of refreshments, lunches, venue and materials for all
participants. Participants will however be required pay a registration fee of MK50,000 to
cater for the costs above and will have to finance their own accommodation, transport and
dinner.
Contacts
All enquiries should be sent to:
The Secretariat
National Conservation Agriculture Task Force (NCATF)
Department of Land Resources Conservation
P. O. Box 30291
Lilongwe 3
Tel.: 01755049/01755048
e-mail: gkambauwa@gmail.com and macmwinjilo@yahoo.com.