Herds and Clans Project

This project (which finished June 2010) aimed to raise awareness in Scotland of the importance of small-scale farming in east Africa and the challenges that farmers there face. This was achieved by working with Scottish farmers and crofters, as well as agriculture and vet students.

Since October 2008, we worked with students from the Scottish Agricultural College (Aberdeen, Ayr & Edinburgh campuses) and veterinary students from Edinburgh University and the University of Glasgow. VETAID staff ran lively seminars and debates with the students.

At the same time, we worked with agriculture and vet students from Sokoine Agricultural University in Tanzania. Student were introduced to farming in Scotland and the challenges which our farmers experience.

We looked at issues affecting day-to-day farming in Scotland and in east Africa, such as the escalating price of fertilisers, climate change, land-rights, and government policies affect both east African and Scottish farmers.

African producers often find themselves disadvantaged by international trade rules. For example, they cannot export processed goods such as chocolate, or are forced to lower their selling prices in order to compete with surplus produce ‘dumped’ on them by the developed world. Therefore we will also look at the bigger picture of agricultural production.

The students had the opportunity to communicate with each other via video conference and will also take part in exchange visits in order to further their knowledge of farming in the exchange country. Being exposed to new ideas and farming methods helped the students come up with innovative solutions to some of their own problems.

We held 2 conference (In November 2008 and January 2009) attended by farmers, crofters, and others who were interested in learning about farming as a way of life in Africa.

The project was run in partnership with Veterinaires sans Frontières (VSF) in France, Italy and Belgium.

For further information please contact VETAID on 0131 445 6241 or mail@vetaid.org