Origin of CIEPCA
At the initiative of the International Development Research Center (IDRC),
a regional workshop, organized by Sasakawa Global 2000 (SG 2000), the International
Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA),
and the Ministry of Rural Development of Benin, and entitled
Cover Crops and Green Manure in Sustainable Agriculture in West Africa:
Constraints and Opportunities was held in Cotonou, Republic of Benin,
from October 1-3, 1997. The workshop, funded by IDRC and SG 2000, was attended
by 50 researchers and development agents from 10 African countries and elsewhere.
During this workshop, participants identified the lack of information on cover
crops and the lack of seeds as two major bottlenecks to the development and
adoption of cover crops in African production systems.
The participants of the workshop recommended the creation of a nonbureaucratic
body that would facilitate information and seed exchange between West African
countries. This led to the inception of CIEPCA, which was set up to facilitate
information flow on research, development and seed availability of cover crops
in sub-Saharan Africa. The original idea for CIEPCA included a recommendation
for a publishing a biannual newsletter to disseminate information on many
aspects of cover crops. The first newsletter was published in October, 1997
and the final one in November, 2001.
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