On March 6, 2025, the GP-SAEP Madagascar team participated in the Inter-Regional Sharing Workshop organized online with Costa Rica. This event followed the February 6 workshop, which brought together Uganda and Ecuador.
The primary objective of these exchanges is to share experiences, skills, best practices, and country-specific approaches to collectively promote the adoption of agroecological techniques within the project.
A Nationwide Mobilization
For Madagascar, all Rural Advisory Service Facilitators (RAS) of the AERAS/GP-SAEP project gathered in district capitals to participate in this virtual workshop, ensuring optimal knowledge dissemination and discussions at the field level.
Three Specific Features of the Madagascar Project
The Malagasy team highlighted three key aspects of the GP-SAEP project in Madagascar:
1️- The « Agroecological Block » Initiative
Madagascar stands out for Components 1 and 2, implemented by NGO AIM and NGO CTAS. Their goal is to establish agroecological production zones and structure marketing channels for these products. The aim is to create a model where communities apply agroecological principles and sustainable practices in an integrated manner, develop agroecological product markets, promote bio-input markets, and form agroecological consumer groups.
2️- The Farmer Field School (FFS) Approach
For AERAS implementation in Madagascar, FCA chose the proven Farmer Field School method. This approach provides farmers with a collaborative framework to experiment, analyze local challenges, and adopt tailored solutions. It strengthens agroecological practice dissemination by involving beneficiaries directly in co-learning and co-creation.
3️- Innovative and Convincing Best Practices
The AERAS team shared successful best practices adopted by local producers, despite being entirely new to their routines :
- Using a marker wheel for more effective crop planting and weeders in rain-fed crops to limit weed proliferation.
Producing and applying bio-pesticides and organic fertilizers (compost) as alternatives to costly, environmentally harmful chemical inputs.