Issue #12

We hope that this past week has been a good one for you – both in the broadcast booth and in your personal lives.

This week, we are pleased to bring you more of the faces of African agriculture. We have a story that looks at the constant vigilance of the Ivorian cocoa farmer guarding her crops against disease, and another that reveals the innocent joy of children snacking on wild fruits (perhaps not knowing that the sweet treat is good for them). A story about the use of maize in Rwandan beer also reminds us of the complex market system that grain farmers must navigate.

We thank all those readers who have taken the time in the past few weeks to tell us about the experiences of farmers in your area. We are working to follow up on your story ideas in hopes of featuring them in future editions of FRW!

As the month of March is fast approaching, we would like to remind you of two upcoming opportunities. March 15 is the deadline for submitting entries to the CTA-DCFRN scriptwriting competition “African Farmers’ Strategies for Coping with Climate Change” (http://scriptcompetition.net/). Remember, the top 15 submissions will be shared with the DCFRN network, and each of the 15 winners will receive a high quality digital audio recorder!

There is also time to make a contribution to next week’s special edition celebrating International Women’s Day. We would love to hear examples of how your radio organization has worked to raise the profile of women farmers and their issues. Please send a short description to hmiller@farmradio.org and we will present it in next week’s DCFRN Action section.

And finally, please remember to check out the Farm Radio Weekly website (http://weekly.farmradio.org/) for audio and video clips, and other content not found in this plain text e-mail.

Happy reading!

-The Farm Radio Weekly Team

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African Farm News in Review

1.Africa: Vitally-important wild fruits on the decline (National Research Council)

2. Ivory Coast: Fighting the Swollen Shoot Virus (Various Sources)

3. Rwanda: 5,000 farmers contracted to grow maize for beer (The East African)

Upcoming Events

-March 16: Deadline for submission to SEED Awards

Radio Resource Bank

-Youth Radio for Peacebuilding: a guide

DCFRN Action

-Introducing to the African Farm Radio Research Initiative

DCFRN Script of the Week

-The Importance of Security Crops

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In parts of Western and Central Africa, the Icacina plant is known as a living grocery store. Growing wild and untended in woodlots and plains, the shrub is sought out by those who know its bounty.When the dry season comes to an end, the shrub comes into bloom. Small, bright red fruits appear in abundance. Huge edible roots known as “false yams” are available all year round.

The Icacina plant was described in a report on “Lost Crops of Africa” produced by the American National Research Council. The 14 wild fruits that the report examines are not lost to locals, who know where to find them when food is scarce. However, they are virtually unknown to agricultural scientists who preserve and propagate only a small number of high-value fruit crops.

And the research suggests that, unless these fruits are recognized and protected, they could disappear entirely.

Since colonial times, commercial fruit production in Africa has focused on imported varieties from Asia and the Americas. For the most part, these imported fruits have been carefully cultivated and mass produced.

At the same time, local populations have quietly continued to supplement their diets with wild fruits. Children are most vulnerable to malnutrition, but the simple childhood pastime of collecting fruits from the forest provides essential vitamins. And when staple crops fail, wild fruits are absolutely vital.

Mark Dafforn is a researcher with the National Research Council who directed the “lost fruits” research. He explains that wild fruits are characteristically hardy. Unlike imported fruits, wild fruits do not require fertilizer and are naturally resistant to many pests. They have adapted to local climates, withstanding years of flood and drought. The Icacina, for example, can survive up to four years without water.

But in the push to develop the most commercially successful fruits, wild fruits are losing the conditions they need to survive. As forests are lost, so are many wild fruits. Other fruit trees are simply torn up in favour of fields.

Mr. Dafforn suggests that recognizing the importance of wild fruits is the first step towards their preservation. The report suggests that individual farming families could improve their nutrition by maintaining wild fruit trees on their land. It also suggests that many African fruits could enjoy commercial success if they received more attention from agricultural science.

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When a coffee pod is healthy, it resembles an oblong melon — golden or reddish in colour with multicoloured speckles. A coffee pod affected by the swollen shoot virus is smaller, rounder, and not suitable for sale.

The disease, also known as “cocoa shoot oedema,” is spread from plant to plant by mealybugs. It attacks the leaves and pods of the cocoa plant and eventually causes the stems and roots to swell.

According to the World Cocoa Foundation, cocoa shoot oedema is a serious threat to cocoa production in West Africa. In severe cases, the disease can kill a cocoa plant in two or three years.

Ivorian cocoa growers have been fighting the swollen shoot virus for five years. It has already destroyed more than 8,000 hectares of cocoa plantations. Now farmers will finally receive some assistance in coping with the disease.

The National Agricultural Research Center has launched a campaign aimed at 700,000 cocoa farmers in thirteen regions of the Ivory Coast. The campaign will communicate the effects of the disease, how farmers can detect it, and how they can develop disease-resistant hybrids.

No foolproof method has been found for managing the swollen shoot virus. However, the World Cocoa Foundation recommends several methods for combating its spread. For example, it advises farmers to cut down any infected cocoa plants and tell neighbouring farmers to be on alert. If more than 100 plants in a plot become infected, all plants within 15 metres should be cut down.

Another alternative is to use hybrid cocoa plants that are resistant to the swollen shoot virus. Researchers in Ghana recently discovered such a hybrid. In addition to resisting the swollen shoot virus, the hybrid plant matures more quickly, without compromising the quality of the cocoa pod.

This alternative is more expensive, though, and may not be affordable for the small-scale farmers who produce more than 80 per cent of the world’s cocoa.

Tiemoko Yo is the Director of the National Agricultural Research Center. He notes that the Ivory Coast produces more cocoa than any other country in the world. Therefore, a problem for cocoa in Ivory Coast is a problem for the global chocolate industry.

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The maize growing in Rwanda’s fields today may be enjoyed in its bars tomorrow.

The brewers of the country’s favourite beer recently announced plans to use locally-produced maize in its recipe. In fact, Bralirwa brewery has already contracted 5,000 farmers to grow maize.

The move comes at a time when the government is encouraging local farmers to produce more grain. And it is likely to drive up the price of maize.

Bralirwa is Rwanda’s only brewery. Though multinational beer-maker Heineken owns the majority of the company, the Rwandan government also owns a share.

Anastase Murekezi is Rwanda’s Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources. In an unrelated announcement, he noted that local maize production is on the rise. The government says it is distributing maize seeds and fertilizer countrywide. As a result, it expects that Rwanda will import less maize from neighbouring countries this year.

For its part, Bralirwa says it chose to include local maize in its beer in response to the rising cost of ingredients, such as malt, yeast, and sugar. Most of these ingredients are imported.

Maize will now be substituted for some of the malt used in a beer called Primus.

The brewery has acknowledged that by purchasing maize for beer production, it will likely drive up the price of maize.

Local grains have long been used in traditional beer production. Now, there seems to be a trend towards large East African breweries doing the same. Major breweries in Uganda and Kenya are now using up to 80 per cent local inputs, including sorghum and barley.

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The information in this story comes from the National Research Council of the United States’ recent publication Lost Crops of Africa, Volume III: Fruits. The organization previously published similar volumes of research on grains and vegetables. The most recent volume examines both commercial and wild fruits that have failed to attract the attention of agricultural scientists, horticulturalists, and even nutritionists. The researchers observed that even rural people who enjoy wild fruits as snacks and rely on them in lean times often undervalue their importance. As a result, the researchers argue, the potential value of wild fruits has not yet been explored. The research volume examines a total of 14 wild fruits for their current and potential contributions to nutrition and food security, as well as to fostering rural development and promoting sustainable landcare. The entire report on fruits, along with the reports on grains and vegetables, is available here:
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11879.

You may consider hosting a call-in show to ask people about their experiences with wild fruits, and explore their value in your area:
-What sorts of wild fruits do people eat and where do they find them?
-What sorts of traditional dishes can be prepared with wild fruits?
-Do people simply enjoy the wild fruit as snacks, or do they also harvest and/or store them?
-If they have wild fruit plants on their land, do they take care to preserve them?
-Have they ever relied on wild fruits at a time when food was scarce?

You may also consider using the following related scripts:
-Rehabilitating Degraded Land: Planting Trees in Pits (Package 68, Script 3, September 2003), a script that talks about one farmer’s efforts to rehabilitate her land while improving her family’s access to wild fruits.
http://farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/68-3script_en.asp
-The Importance of Security Crops (Package 73, Script 6, January 2005), which talks about the value of resilient food-producing plants (also featured as this week’s Script of the Week).
http://farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/73-6script_en.asp

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The Ivorian cocoa industry has suffered several blows over the past year. There has been scandal after scandal around the misappropriation of funds in the coffee and cocoa industry (see the report by Global Witness on conflict and cocoa in the Ivory Coast: http://www.globalwitness.org/media_library_detail.php/552/en/hot_chocolate_how_cocoa_fuelled_the_conflict_in_co); a drop in cocoa production, and a drop in the price of cocoa. All of these economic problems were accompanied by the ongoing problem of plant disease. In the end, it was the small-scale cocoa farmers who suffered the consequences.

For more information on the problems facing the Ivorian coffee and cocoa industry, see the following articles (available in French only):
http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN22107osontoacacu0
http://fr.allafrica.com/stories/200802040296.html

As well, here is the transcript of a conversation with the director of the World Cocoa Foundation and an American journalist who investigated practices within the Ivorian cocoa industry:
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/2/14/chocolates_bittersweet_economy_cocoa_industry_accused.

When it comes to protecting cocoa plants from disease, swollen shoot isn’t the only virus that farmers must guard against. Other diseases affecting the cocoa plant include: black pod, witches’ broom, monilia, and Vascular Streak Dieback. To learn more about cocoa plant diseases, see the section “Major pest and disease problems of cocoa” in this document about sustainable cocoa production:
http://www.pan-uk.org/Internat/IPMinDC/pmn12.pdf.

You may also be interested in the cocoa farming training manuals produced by the World Cocoa Foundation:
http://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/info-center/document-research-center/training_manuals.asp.

If you broadcast in an area where cocoa is grown, you may wish to ask local farmers about their experiences, with questions such as:
-What do you do when your cocoa plants show signs of disease?
-Do you know effective ways to combat the diseases that affect cocoa plants?
-Do you grow crops other than cocoa? If not, how do you cope when you have a poor cocoa harvest? If so, which other crops do you grow, and what role do they play in your family’s food security?

Finally, here are some interesting facts about cocoa:
-Total amount of cocoa beans produced in the world each year: 3 million tonnes
-Percentage of the world’s cocoa produced in West Africa: 70
-Number of cocoa growers in the world: 5-6 million
-Number of people in the world whose survival depends on cocoa production — including growers, sellers, distributors, processors, and their families: 40-50 million

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A quick Internet search revealed to us that the use of maize in beer is nothing new. It seems that, for generations, cultures in all parts of the world have been using maize – and just about any other available grain – to make beer. In fact, this is Bralirwa brewery’s second experiment with using a local grain in its product. (It had previously used sorghum, but found the supply of this grain was unreliable.)

However, the Bralirwa brewery cites a new and emerging issue in its decision to use locally-available grain and reduce its dependence on imported products. Prices for inputs are on the rise, it notes, especially because the growing bio-fuels industry is increasing global demand for bio-mass, such as sugar and grains, which can be converted to fuel.

You may wish to invite representatives from local farmer organizations and/or economics experts for an on-air discussion about how the growing demand for grains by non-food industries affects small-scale farmers. Questions to ask may include:
-How has the demand and price for grain products changed in the last five years? How is it expected to change in the next five or 10 years?
-What are the opportunities in your area for growing grains for non-food uses?
-Have farmers in your area changed their practices in response to changes in demand for grain? What are some of the factors they should take into account before altering their crop distribution?

For more information on how the Rwandan government and Bralirwa brewery are responding to the dynamics of grain demand, you may refer to the following reports:
-Maize imports to reduce (The New Times), a news report of the Rwandan government’s announcement that it plans to support farmers to increase maize yields:
http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200802120250.html
-Bralirwa brewery to install bio-power plant to dispose of brewery waste (Global Malt), a report on one of the brewery’s other innovations in response to higher input costs:
http://www.globalmalt.de/joomla1011/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=327&Itemid=64

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The SEED Initiative (Supporting Entrepreneurs for Sustainable Development) has called for submissions to its 2008 Awards. According to SEED, the award program is designed to support locally-led, innovative, entrepreneurial partnerships in developing countries, which have the potential to make real improvements in poverty eradication and environmental sustainability. Five winners of the award will receive support services, valued at $25,000, to assist with scaling up a new and promising program. One of last year’s winners was the Tiwai Island Health and Fitness Center in Sierra Leone, a health facility created through the partnership of a traditional healers’ association, an academic research institute, and local communities.
For more information on the award, including information on how to apply, visit:
http://www.seedinit.org/mainpages2/awards/what/index.php.
For more information on last year’s winning partnership in Sierra Leone, visit:
http://www.seedinit.org/mainpages2/awards/2007/sierra.pdf.

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Radio for Peacebuilding, Africa, a project of the United States-based NGO Search for Common Ground, has created a practical guide to producing radio programming by and for youth. It includes guidance for adults working with young people on radio programs for peacebuilding, and tools to help young producers participate in creating radio for peacebuilding. It covers the production process from developing partnerships and devising a program goal, through determining a target audience and delivering messages.
This guide, and others produced by Radio for Peacebuilding, Africa, can be found online at:
http://www.radiopeaceafrica.org/index.cfm?lang=en&context_id=3&context=manuals

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In April 2007, DCFRN launched an action research project known as the African Farm Radio Research Initiative (AFRRI). With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, this 42 month initiative will discover and document best practices for using radio-based communications to enhance food security in Africa. In particular, it will answer:
-How and in what ways is radio most effective in enabling smallholder farmers in Africa to address the food security challenges that they face?
-How can new communication technologies such as cell phones, satellite radio and MP3 players increase the effectiveness of radio as a sustainable, interactive development communication tool?

AFRRI’s main offices are in Accra, Ghana, and Kampala, Uganda, with project offices in Mali, Malawi, and Tanzania. In each of these five countries, five radio partners have been chosen. Each partner will be supported in developing and broadcasting a variety of innovative radio programs, using a wide range of formats that engage farmers in addressing food security priorities. By comparing farmers’ knowledge and farming practices before and after the programs are broadcast, project participants will learn how radio and other communication technologies can best be used to meet farmers’ food security objectives.

To view updates on the progress of AFRRI, and eventually the full results of the initiative, please visit our website:
http://www.farmradio.org/english/programs/affri.asp.
If you have any questions about the project, please contact AFRRI Program Officer Sheila Huggins-Rao at shrao@farmradio.org

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In different ways, all of this week’s news stories touched on a question that all farmers face – what amount of available resources should be spent on cash crops versus family food crops? The story about the role of wild fruits and the story about swollen shoot virus in cocoa plants both remind us of the dangers of investing in cash crops alone. At the same time, the story about the use of maize in beer reminds us of the ever changing economics of agriculture that push farmers towards different production priorities.

This script talks about the importance of survival crops – or crops that can provide food in times of hardship, even when farmers are unable to purchase fertilizer or poor climate causes crops to fail.

This script, from Package 73, January 2005, can be found online at:
http://farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/73-6script_en.asp.

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