Develop exchanges between professionals of agricultural establishments in the area, this is the goal of the young professionals network of agricultural establishments in Southern Africa and Indian Ocean (REAP AAOI).
After the first conference held in South Africa in October 2012, the second meeting of REAP AAOI took place on the island of Reunion on 27-31 October 2013.
The number of participants has grown since the first conference with delegates from thirty institutions came from La Réunion, South Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Mayotte, Comoros and France to participate in 4 days of work .
The theme for this meeting was ‘Vocational training and agricultural research, two tools for sustainable development of smallholder agriculture’.
After an official opening by the Regional Council of La Reunion, the program took place between plenary presentations, discussions and farm visits. Exchanges showed that small farmers of the areas concerned are facing various problems, implying a diversity in terms of training opportunities.
The agricultural colleges of Madagascar, initiated and accompanied by Fifata and Fert since 2002, and the Cneap, also partners of agricultural colleges, took part in this event.
Coordinator for agricultural colleges, Misaina Randriamampianina, who attended the conference was an opportunity to network with other institutions in the sub-region, but also to show to the Malagasy authorities (Ministry of Agriculture…) and international (Ifad/ Formaprod project) also present, the interest in agricultural colleges (4 colleges, 300 trainees, a professional pilot, an insertion device … ) with other players in vocational training.
The conference ended with the signing of a Framework Agreement between the members and the official launch of the blog network. A third conference REAP AAOI is planned to Madagascar in 2014.
