AfricaRice trains extensionists in the use of Cropping Calendar Construction (CCC) tool

Participants from the training workshop on the use of Cropping Calendar Construction (CCC)

A one-day training workshop on the use of Cropping Calendar Construction (CCC) tool was held on 2 November 2018 at the AfricaRice Saint Louis Training Center, Senegal.

Twenty-six participants from the extension services of the Senegal Agricultural Research Institute (ISRA) and the National Society for Development and Exploitation of the Senegal River Delta Lands (SAED) attended the workshop.  From AfricaRice, Dr Kazuki Saito, Mr Adin Bloukounon and Dr Mandiaye Diagne participated in this workshop as trainers.

The CCC is an Excel-based tool developed by AfricaRice, which can help to investigate intensification options and optimize cropping calendar for irrigated rice-based systems (van Oort et al. 2016). The participants learned how to run this tool, optimize cropping calendar, and interpret results.

As next step, the participants are expected to identify promising calendars for their target zones in the Senegal River Valley (SRV), and these calendars will be assessed in coming years. Furthermore, feedback from the participants will help improve the functionality of this tool.

At the end of the workshop, the participants expressed their gratitude to AfricaRice for developing such a tool that will help tackle the crucial issue of managing the rice cropping calendar in the SRV.  AfricaRice thanked ISRA and SAED for their collaboration, and the trainees for their active participation and commitment to take ownership of the tool for the benefit of rice growers.

The workshop was supported by the project ‘Fostering the Impact of Rice Technologies for better Livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa (FIRITEL), funded by the Belgium Development Cooperation.  The FIRITEL aims to generate knowledge that facilitates informed and effective decision-making by the various rice stakeholders to support the growth of the rice sector in African countries to achieve food security and better livelihoods. The FIRITEL is being implemented in Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal during the period 2018-2021.