Third Africa Congress on Conservation Agriculture (3ACCA)

The Third Africa Congress, held in Rabat, Morocco, 5–8 June 2023, was jointly organized by the African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT), the Kingdom of Morocco, the African Union Commission, the NEPAD Agency, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the UN, INRA Morocco, and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), in collaboration with the Hassan II Agronomic and Veterinary Institute (IAVH2), the Moroccan Association of Conservation Agriculture (AMAC), the National School of Agriculture of Meknes (ENAM), and other classified sponsors. Its objective was to bring together and enable experts, practitioners, and policymakers across different sectors and interest groups at all levels of agricultural development from the public, private, and civil society sectors to share and exchange information and knowledge about best practices that expand the Africa-wide adoption of CA and SAM as a basis for building resilience to climate change amid the increasing food and energy prices and disruptions in distribution.

The 3ACCA Congress was founded on the theme “Building a Resilient Future in Africa through Conservation Agriculture and Sustainable Mechanization" and was organized under four thematic areas of focus. Key demanded services from this congress were under the four sub-themes. The monumental African hybrid event, which combined in-person attendance with virtual attendees and presenters via live stream, attracted 557 participants from 50 countries. The categories of these participants were as follows: 216 physical delegates, 21 physical speakers, 9 physical exhibitors, 294 virtual attendees, 12 virtual speakers, and 5 virtual exhibitors.

At the end of the Congress, a 3ACCA Rabat Declaration was drawn, adopted, and promulgated as a part of the closing ceremony. Participants declared that African countries must revitalize and/or establish joint CA and SAM institutional focal points and network coordination to support locally relevant partnerships and innovation platforms that can engage with government, development partners, and the business sector. Indeed, to achieve widespread implementation, African countries must use CA and SAM diagnostic, agronomic, and participatory on-farm research, as well as model simulations that provide outputs and outcomes that simultaneously meet farmers' short-term aims while boosting the provision of socioecological dividends. 

Therefore, the congress facilitated the development of more effective and coherent forward steps as the Rabat Declaration geared towards helping the most vulnerable populations cope with the devastating impacts of climate change, furnishing African countries with strategies to increase agricultural productivity in the implementation of the Malabo Declaration’s Vision 25 x 25 and the Agenda 2063, and consolidating the African position on CA and SAM and enhancing effective participation at the 9th World Congress on Conservation Agriculture (9WCCA) to be held in South Africa in July 2024.

Rabat Declaration is available in English, French, and Portuguese at http://www.africacacongress.org