Technical partners

Food and Agricultural Research Extension (FAREI)

The FAREI is a strategic parastatal institution which has the reonsibility to conduct research in non-sugar crops, livestock, forestry and to provide an extension service to farmers in Mauritius.

The activities of the FAREI are divided in different sections :

Reseach : it aims at the establishment of sustainable production systems and the development of new cropping technologies. It focuses on the development of novel varieties through breeding programmes (biotechnology, optimal resource management and value addition through agro-processing).

Extension : aims at increasing farmers’ knowledge and skill to improve their productivity and income.

Training : increasing the knowledge and competencies of the farmers, ease the introduction of innovative practices.

FAREI is the intermediary who is more present on the field with the farmers ensuing thus the linkage between the agricultural strategies of the Mauritian government and their implementation. The administrative structure of the FAREI gives it the autonomy in terms of agricultural advice : entomology, pathology, research and field experience

Centre de Coopération International en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD)

The CIRAD is the French technical scientific partner who has been present since the start of the Smart Agriculture project.
With 1800 agents, among which more than 800 researchers, the CIRAD partners with more than 90 countries on different programmes. With its 35 research units, the CIRAD has developed a set of research tools which is accessible to partners in the South and Europe.

It focuses mainly on 3 research areas :

Biological systems : Understanding the biological systems from the molecular level to the ecosystem.

Production systems and tropical production transformation : Analysing the practices and the performances of agricultural systems, from parcels to large scale farming.

Environments and societies: Accompanying the urban, rural and global key players.

The CIRAD brings to this project its expertise in the agro-ecological sciences on the cultivation system level : introduction, adaptation and initiation to different techniques and innovative biotechnologies, training and deepening the discussions on the research enterprises in Mauritius by the FAREI.