Our journey has started: the first day at AgKnowledge ShareFair

The Ethiopian horn blower was at it again at the beginning of the first formal day of proceedings (see report on Day Zero) of the AgKnowledge Africa Share Fair, calling us all to order to get the day underway. Participants were 300 strong for the opening session on the campus of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The session began with a welcome speech by Bruce Scott (ILRI’s Director of Partnerships and Communications), who talked about the importance of small-holder farmers having access to the knowledge necessary to support and boost the agricultural sector in Africa.

Then Lamourdia Thiombian, the representative from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), talked about the importance of gatherings like the Share Fair to facilitate knowledge sharing across all levels. “Knowledge sharing is not only about sharing, it’s about people networking and working together,” he said.

Koda Traore from the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) highlighted the importance of sharing knowledge and allowing it to flow freely, horizontally and vertically.

Then Roxanna Samii (International Fund for Agricultural Developemnt – IFAD) gave us a bit of a history lesson when she talked about the origins of the Share Fair and the impact it has had on many organizations.

Owen Barder, the Director of Aidinfo – a program of Development Initiatives that aims to make information about aid more easily accessible – gave a compelling talk entitled “Is agriculture the key to development?”

Read the full post on the ICT-KM blog