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InfoAgrar announces training opportunities for agroforestry practitioners


InfoAgrar, the agricultural information and documentation service of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, is announcing the following training and workshop opportunities that agroforestry practitioners can avail themselves of:

Agriculture and the environment: practices and processes in soil and water

The Center for International Agricultural Development Cooperation (CINADCO) is offering this course for researchers and academic personnel of agricultural research institutes and universities. To be held 8-11 November 2005, the course will cover irrigation with marginal waters (saline and treated sewage), recycling sewage sludge, soil-pesticides interaction, hydrology of dissolved contaminants, soil microbial ecology and interactions in the root, and soil and water conservation. For more information, visit http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH020d0 or e-mail the CINADCO Training Officer at [email protected].

Participatory appraisal workshop

The School of Geosciences of the University of Edinburgh is offering this course from 5 to 9 September 2005. Participatory appraisal enables local people to share information, identify their own priority programs and make their own decisions regarding their future.

The course will enable participants to perform practical applications of participatory appraisal in such areas as natural resource management, programs for the poor, health and food security in both rural and urban situations. For more information, visit http://www.lifelong.ed.ac.uk or send inquiries to [email protected].

Participatory learning and action for community development (PLA-CD) for agricultural systems development (ASD)

The Agricultural Systems Cluster of the University of the Philippines Los Baños College of Agriculture is offering this course for development workers, extension and research staff members from government agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and people's organizations.

To be held 17-28 October 2005, the course will discuss the concepts of agricultural systems, community development, participatory learning, community action, the changing roles of development facilitators, participatory learning, and action-participatory rural/rapid appraisal. It will also discuss methods in PLA-PRA, the organization of PLA-PRA and the formulation of community-based action plans.

Aside from attending lectures, participants will also conduct field work, community validation, information processing and report writing. For more information, contact the Agricultural Systems Cluster, College of Agriculture, University of the Philippines Los Baños, College, 4031 Laguna, Philippines at e-mail [email protected].

An introduction to agroforestry

The Centre for Arid Zone Studies of the University of Wales is offering a six-week course from September to December 2005 for professionals in agriculture, forestry and related disciplines in natural resources working in the government, university, NGO and charity sectors.

Participants will tackle two modules - agroforestry systems and practices, and the ecophysiology of agroforestry. Discussions will focus on the evaluation of agroforestry practices in temperate and tropical environments, agroforestry's role within the farming and forest systems, evaluation of key ecological, economic and social principles that can be used to design agroforestry interventions and mechanisms of ecological interactions among the plant components of agroforestry systems.

Participants will also be taught how to predict outcomes of species combinations through appropriate measurement and modeling activities, and discuss the role of animals and microorganisms and the role of trees in improving soil fertility and reducing soil erosion.

For more information, contact the Training Officer of the Centre for Arid Zone Studies, University of Wales, Thoday Building, Bangor, LL57 2UWW Gwynedd, UK through e-mail [email protected] or visit http://www.cazs.bangor.ac.uk.

Certificate in community-based resource management

The Coady International Institute is offering this course from 12-30 September 2005 to individuals occupying mid- and senior-level positions in community-based organizations, people's organizations, government agencies and NGOs.

Topics to be discussed include participatory approaches to community-based education and research, balancing economic and ecological imperatives, capacity building and institutional development, governance and policy development, role of people's organizations and NGOs, international linkages and globalization and issues concerning the use of community-based resource management approaches.

For more details, contact the Training Officer, Coady International Institute, PO Box 5000, B2G 2W5 Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada at e-mail [email protected] or visit http://www.coady.stfx.ca.

International course on computer models in irrigation and drainage (CMID)

The International Institute for Land Reclamation and Improvement is holding this two-week course from 31 October to 11 November 2005 for individuals interested in learning irrigation and drainage software for sustainable agricultural water management.

Participants will learn how to use computer software and models to analyze data, and design and operate irrigation and drainage systems. The training will focus on the selection and application of appropriate models to analyze water and salt conditions in the soil and their effects on crop production. They will choose from five selected computer software packages that cover crop water requirements, surface irrigation, drainage and salt and water management.

For more information, contact the Training Officer, International Institute for Land Reclamation and Improvement, PO Box 45, 6700 AA Wageningen, the Netherlands through e-mail [email protected] or visit http://www.ilri.nl.

Land restoration to combat desertification: innovative approaches, quality control and project evaluation

The Instituto Agronomico Mediterraneo de Zaragosa (IAMZ) will offer this course 19-25 September 2005 to interested professionals who wish to be updated on the latest scientific and technical advances in land restoration to combat desertification in arid, semi-arid and dry-subhumid conditions.

Topics will include the innovative aspects in planning, implementing and monitoring land restoration efforts, and the criteria and procedures for the quality control of the processes involved in forest restoration.

For more information, contact the person-in-charge at e-mail [email protected] or visit http://www.iamz.ciheam.org.

(Compiled by Leah Arboleda and Ana Papag)


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