Herds and Clans Project
This project aims to raise awareness in Scotland of the importance of small-scale farming in east Africa and the challenges that farmers there face. This will be achieved by working with Scottish farmers and crofters, as well as agriculture and vet students.
Since October 2008, we have been working with students from the Scottish Agricultural College (Aberdeen, Ayr & Edinburgh campuses) and veterinary students from Edinburgh University and the University of Glasgow. VETAID staff are running seminars and debates with the students.
At the same time, we are working with agriculture and vet students from Sokoine Agricultural University in Tanzania. They are being introduced to farming in Scotland and the challenges which our farmers experience.
We are looking at issues affecting day-to-day farming in Scotland and in east Africa. Challenges 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 will have 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. It is hoped that being exposed to new ideas and farming methods will help students come up with innovative solutions to some of their own problems.
We are also planning conferences in Scotland for farmers, crofters, and anyone who is interested in learning about farming as a way of life in Africa.
Conferences dates:
Friday 21st November 2008, Dingwall Mart. 11am-1pm with coffee & registration from 10:30am.
Friday 23rd January 2009, Moredun Research Institute, Edinburgh. 11am-1pm with coffee & registration from 10:30am.
The project is run in partnership with Veterinaires sans Frontières (VSF) in France, Italy and Belgium.
For further information or to get involved in this project, please contact John on 0131 445 6244 or john@vetaid.org
