Tropical challenges, tailor-made solutions
In tropical regions, producing sustainably means facing major challenges: diseases, pests and invasive weeds are omnipresent. However, practices are evolving. Overseas farmers are gradually reducing their dependence on phytosanitary products, driven by rising environmental and societal expectations.
Bruno Robert, first vice-president of the Chamber of Agriculture of Reunion Island, recalled: “The agroecological transition is essential for everyone, but it must respond to our regional specificities”. It is this subject that occupied the participants of the EcophytoDOM seminar. They were able to learn about the content of the future Ecophyto 2030 Plan and its adaptations to overseas realities, which will result in particular in targeted actions such as support for agroecological practices, cooperation between territories, or the promotion of local know-how.
Agricultural practices deployed thanks to creativity
To transform agricultural practices and deploy them to farmers, the organizers have relied on innovative approaches. Interactive workshops offered by the national RITA organization explored original ways of transmitting new ways of producing. Thus, mini-plays, role-playing games, and a “transfer fresco” stimulated minds. The latter, inspired by the famous collaborative frescoes like the Climate Fresco, and the basis of numerous discussions, made it possible to rethink the dissemination of agricultural innovations to producers.
Read also: The impact of projects and their evaluation and All on stage to transfer differently
Inspiring practices in the field
Delegations from Guyana, Mayotte and Guadeloupe also went to meet Reunion farmers. From Saint-Joseph to Saint-Philippe, they discovered ingenious techniques such as managing the grass cover of cane fields through rational mulching or even agricultural diversification projects. These visits offered concrete examples of successful adaptations to tropical constraints.
RITAs, a driver of innovation for overseas
After two days of sharing, the guests of the Ecophyto-DOM seminar were invited to extend their fruitful discussions during the RITA Végétal regional steering committee, a real progress point on the flagship RITA projects in Reunion. Thus, work on HLB, a harmful bacteria for citrus fruit production, or the SA’IRA project (Alternative and Integrated Solutions against Pests in Reunion Island) have attracted attention. A living illustration of the dynamics of RITA, this program will mobilize for the next 5 years a consortium of local stakeholders – Armeflhor, CIRAD, Coccinelle, and ARIFEL – to develop alternatives to pesticides, such as the use of bioauxiliaries. , these insect allies of crops
Next meeting: the RITA 2025 Conference
To continue this momentum, all stakeholders will meet at the RITA national conference on February 28, 2025, during the International Agricultural Show in Paris. This event will be an opportunity to share progress and further strengthen synergies between overseas territories.
| Focus on the RITAs: overseas agriculture looking to the future Anchored in the specificities of each territory, the Agricultural Innovation and Transfer Networks (RITA) are a pillar for overseas agriculture. True transmitters of innovation, they connect producers, researchers and agricultural stakeholders for technical solutions adapted to local realities. RITAs are present on all three oceans. |
