African Farm News in Review

African Farm News in Review

1. Madagascar: Improving soil health and fertility with agroecology (by Armel Gentien, FAO, for Farm Radio Weekly, in Madagascar)

2. Uganda: Mountain dwellers value their donkeys (by Emily Arayo, for Farm Radio Weekly, in Uganda)

3. Global: Fighting banana wilt with green peppers (IITA, IPS, Syfia Great Lakes)

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The Moïse family in Nosibe, Madagascar, used to grow only rice and cassava. Mr. Moïse says, “We were tired of working without obtaining anything. Thanks to the new technique, the yield is higher, and we sell the surplus on the local market.”

As part of their new farming technique, the family plants flemingia on the contour lines which cross their sloping land. They grow a variety of crops between the lines of flemingia, a plant known in some regions as crotolaria. These hillsides are known as “agroecological sites,” or sites de production intégrés in French.

Mr. Moïse lives in the Fénérive region of eastern Madagascar. Since 2004, he and many other farmers have been working with the Program for Promotion of Rural Income. The program is run by IFAD, the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

The land here is hilly, with little flat land. Farmers cultivate their crops on the slopes. They typically practice slash and burn, known locally as tavy. A farmer in Anjahambe explains slash and burn, “We clear the land, then we sow the crops. When the soil doesn’t produce more, we will look for another piece of land. We will leave the land as set-aside for five to six years before coming back to cultivate it again.”

But habits are changing. One farmer from Namantoana says, “Slash and burn cultivation doesn’t bring anything. It is the tradition, but the soil becomes hard and uncultivable.” Another farmer, Mr. Bezoky Pierre, adds, “It’s a bad habit inherited from our ancestors.”

Governments have enacted laws against slash and burn over the last 50 years. But farmers change their practices slowly.

The agroecological sites are an alternative. They improve both soil fertility and farmers’ quality of life. Mr. Raherilalao is an agronomist. He explains, “These sites are set up on the slopes. We control erosion by planting a strip of flemingia along the contour lines.”

The flemingia is pruned twice a year. The prunings are applied to the soil as mulch. This adds organic matter and nutrients to the soil. Flemingia also contributes to better soil structure through the action of its roots. Mr. Raherilalao continues, “We rotate vegetable crops, like bean, cucumber and onions. On lower and upper slopes we plant clove and coffee.” Farmers grow eucalyptus or acacia at the top of the slopes to keep the soil in place. These trees can also be used for firewood and construction.

A farmer in nearby Anjahambe states that his yield is ten times higher than before. He uses guano, an organic fertilizer which comes from bat droppings. He says, “A traditional cassava plant usually produced between three to five kilograms on this land. Now with the advice of the project, the organic fertilizer, and better fertility and grafting, the yield of this plant has reached up to 50 kilograms!”

Now that farmers protect their soils and add organic matter and nutrients, soil fertility has increased. Farmers can settle in one area. Many have stopped practicing slash and burn.

With a greater variety of food and higher yields, families eat well and sell their surplus on the local market. Mr. Bezoky says, “The difference is huge!” He explains that his annual income was around 200,000 Ariary (about 80 Euros or 95 American dollars). But today he earns two million Ariary a year (800 Euros or 950 American dollars). He acknowledges that without advice from the program, his income would never reach this figure.

However, some problems remain. The Moïse family indicates that, “Fertilizers are expensive. Without the project funding, we could never buy it.” In addition, Mr. Moïse says, “These techniques require more work, even though they bring a higher income.”

The project ends in 2012. It is not clear what farmers will do then. They are dependent on the project to buy improved seeds and fertilizer for them. There are no input suppliers nearby. But the project is planning to establish a seed and fertilizer supplier in the area. It will also connect farmers to microfinance institutions. Then the system of farming agroecological sites can continue.

The farmers believe in the future. An Anjahambe farmer says, “When you see the yield difference thanks to the agroecological site, you can be totally impressed. I’m satisfied with the project and I will continue this technique for the rest of my life!”

For more information and resources on compost and soil fertility, please refer to the Soil Health Issue Pack, July 2010: http://farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/91-9script_en.asp.

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Life in Kapchorwa District, Uganda is incomplete without donkeys. Donkeys have become a prime asset for many families. Farmers rely on them for transport, security and farming. The animals can even predict changes in the weather.

Tiyoy Solomon is a 65-year-old smallholder farmer and donkey trainer. Donkeys have been part of his life since he was a child. Mr. Solomon lives in Kwosir village, Binyiny sub-county. The village borders the conservation area around Mount Elgon. This is a hilly and rocky area. Its fertile soils make it the food basket of Uganda.

Mr. Solomon explains some of the tasks donkeys perform in Kapchorwa. “Without a donkey we cannot carry luggage downhill. We use the donkeys to carry as much firewood as we can because we can only go to the forest once a week. Our women use the donkeys a lot for domestic chores.” A donkey can carry up to one third of its own weight and can walk uphill for 15 kilometres.

But donkeys are not only used to carry things. They have become items in the bride wealth used for traditional marriage ceremonies. Jafari Kamwaina, a local resident, confirms the importance of a donkey to the community. “My father-in-law asked me to offer him a donkey as part of the bride wealth,” he recounts.

Chepkrui Immaculate owns a herd of seven donkeys. She watches her donkeys carefully for signs that the weather is changing. She notices that when a donkey drinks lots of water and passes little urine, the dry season is approaching. When donkeys raise their ears in the direction of the wind, “This is a sign that the rains are near,” says Ms. Immaculate.

Donkeys plough fields just like oxen. Ms. Immaculate says, “In fact, the donkeys are faster and swifter than bull oxen, which sometimes drag themselves because of the heavy body weight.”

Donkeys also alert villagers to strange movements or unwelcome visitors. They stamp the ground or make shrill braying noises. Mr. Solomon finds this useful: “At night they can alert [us that] strangers are coming to a homestead.”

Useful as they are, donkeys require good treatment, just like any livestock. Simon Nyangas is an agricultural extension officer in Kapchorwa District. He says, “They require de-worming just like goats, spraying against ticks, loading with appropriate weight and good feeding. They do well with shrubs and ample drinking water.”

Above all, a donkey needs to be trained. “Donkeys that are not well trained … get angry and kick their victims,” says Mr. Nyangas. He explains that once a donkey has been loaded with luggage and directed down a specific track, it does not need to be directed for the second time.

In this hilly region of Uganda, donkeys are invaluable. Says Ms. Immaculate: “There is no household that does not use a donkey. If they do not have one, they borrow from their neighbours.

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The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, also known as IITA, recently announced that it has made a “significant step” towards engineering resistance to bacterial wilt in bananas.

Scientists transferred genes from green peppers into bananas. The transformed bananas have shown strong resistance to bacterial wilt in the laboratory and in screenhouses.

Dr. Leena Tripathi, a biotechnologist with IITA, warns that while this is a breakthrough in the fight against bacterial wilt, there is still a long way to go before farmers can plant the transgenic bananas.

Bacterial wilt was first reported in Uganda in 2001, then spread to East and Central Africa. The disease causes the plant to wither and rot. In North Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, banana production has dropped by 90%, according to Action Against Hunger, an international aid organization. Millions of farmers in the Great Lakes region depend on bananas as their staple food and as a significant part of their livelihoods. Since 2001, scientists have been trying to find a variety of banana which is resistant to wilt.

The Ugandan National Biosafety Committee has granted approval for field trials of the transformed banana in Uganda. Scientists from IITA, the National Agricultural Research Organization of Uganda, and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation will soon begin confined field trials.

There is, however, some opposition to the development and use of such genetically modified crops. Friends of the Earth Nigeria takes a strong stance against genetically modified organisms in Africa. Mariann Bassey coordinates the organization’s Food Sovereignty and Agrofuels program. She says that ecological agriculture has fed mankind for thousands of years, and improvements have been achieved through knowledgeable handling of seeds. The organization believes that seed diversity and sustainable farming are key to meeting food needs. They maintain that genetically modified organisms are a direct threat to the environment and run contrary to the goal of African food sovereignty. Ms. Bassey states, “We do not want GMOs under any form or guise. Africa can feed itself.”

Dr. Tripathi says that there are presently no commercial chemicals, biocontrol agents, or resistant varieties that could control the spread of wilt. She emphasizes that developing a resistant banana through conventional breeding would be extremely difficult. It would take years, even decades, given the sterile nature and long gestation period of the crop.

Farmers can take steps themselves to help control the spread of bacterial wilt. They can sterilize their tools with bleach or fire. They can also remove the male bud, known as de-budding. Farmers should uproot and destroy infected plants and their suckers. Any new infections should be reported. These practices have also been found effective in preventing the disease.

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We’d like to extend a warm welcome to our new subscribers for this week:
Richard Shengang, from Ocean city radio Kumba, in Cameroon; Egwel Gilbert, from Kubere Information Center, in Uganda; Joseph Akiiso, from Etop Radio, in Uganda; Shema Clement, from Farm Radio –Malawi/FVR, in Malawi; Nkrumah Yaw, from AFRRI, in Ghana; Steven Kamponda, from AFRRI, in Malawi; André Kameni from Cameroon; Mamadou Samassekou, from Radio Tabital PULAAKU, in Mali; Oumou Coulibaly, from Radio Fanaka, in Mali; Foly Akoussan, from FIDAfrique, in Senegal; Abou Gaye, from Lewlewal group, in Senegal and Emery Patrice Kipoupa Mandilou, from DRTV, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

This week we present the first of our specially commissioned news stories on soil health. These stories complement the latest script package, Package 91, which is now available online. Over the next few weeks, the stories will cover a range of topics related to soil conservation and fertility. They highlight farmers’ voices, experiences and opinions. We’d like to say a special thank you to The McLean Foundation for supporting the soil health package of scripts and news stories.  In the first story, farmers from Malawi talk about how they learned to feed the soil with organic manure. 

In other news this week, we pass on a warning from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) about an outbreak of locusts in Madagascar. FAO is working to control the locusts before they swarm, and to prevent a serious plague. Farmers can assist by checking for locusts, and informing the relevant authorities of what they find.

Human urine is not often a topic of conversation. But this week we hear from farmers in Rwanda who have used it to improve their tomato crops. Human urine is usually disposed of as waste.  But it is free and readily available, so it is a resource which, when used carefully, can be of great benefit to farmers. Maybe we should talk about it more often!

Don’t forget to scroll down to the Action section this week where you can read an excerpt from an interview with Bartholomew Sullivan. Bart is the regional ICT officer for Farm Radio International’s AFRRI project. He has been looking at ways to increase audience participation in radio. In the interview, he talks about AFRRI’s experiences with the Freedom Fone in Ghana and Tanzania.       

Happy reading!

-The Farm Radio Weekly Team

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Joseph Ole Morijo lost his entire herd of 152 goats and sheep after he fed them spiny cactus. So he was baffled to hear researchers proclaim recently that cactus can be used as animal fodder during a drought.
Mr. Ole Morijo is from Laikipia in the northern drylands of Kenya. He says, “It is a dangerous plant. I know it well and I have seen it ruin our livestock. It has to be eradicated completely.”

Experts from the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, or KARI, studied the potential of cacti with the scientific name of Opuntia as a fodder crop. In May, they released a report which shows that if the right species of spineless cacti are selected, they offer much needed nutrition for livestock during extreme dry seasons.

Mr. Ole Morijo is not convinced that the spineless species exists, and that it is safe as fodder for his animals. “I cannot believe it until I see it,” he says.

John Kang’ara is one of the lead researchers at KARI. “There are two main types of Opuntia: those with spiny fruits, and the spineless type. Though both of them have similar nutritional value, the spiny type poses a challenge to the farmers,” he explains. “It means that if the spiny types are to be used as animal fodder, then farmers must take their time to remove the spines by burning or scraping them with a machete before feeding them to animals.”

Farmers in Chidzinja village, Thyolo district in Malawi, often get low maize yields. They claim this is because they only have small areas of land to cultivate. But Bulton Bwanali, a farmer from the nearby village of Nangumi, says they cannot blame their hunger on lack of land. Instead, they need to look at the health of their soils.

Mr. Bwanali has more than tripled his yield by paying attention to his soil. One of his gardens occupies a tenth of a hectare. He used to harvest about three 50 kilogram bags of maize from this land. Then he learned about manure from the Story Workshop, a local NGO. He says, “The Story Workshop told me how to make good and nutritious manure and encouraged me to feed the soil and not only the plants with organic nutrients.”

In June 2010, The Story Workshop organized a food festival called Mwana Alirenji, which means “food self-sufficiency” in Chichewa, a national language of Malawi. Mr. Bwanali was invited as a model farmer. He shared his success story with fellow farmers in Chidzinja village.

Mr. Bwanali offered more details about the manure: “The compost manure was made from animal droppings mixed with grass and some ashes and cured for a month. I turned it every week. I then supplemented my maize with liquid manure 22 days after the first shoots appeared. As a result I harvested 14 bags from the same land.”

But Mr. Bwanali’s success was not only due to the manure. He also made contour ridges on his sloping land. He said, “I realigned all my ridges at the same level across the slope and applied organic compost manure as advised.”

Tobias Chova is one of the farmers from Chidzinja who is learning about these techniques. He said that he was happy to learn that soil rehabilitation does not end with making contour ridges, but also includes feeding the soil with more nutrients. He has already built contour ridges on his land. He will now start adding organic manure to his garden.

Mary Phoya is the village headwoman in Chidzinja. She said that this information will go a long way towards reducing hunger in her village. Many people farm about half a hectare of land but harvest less than four 50 kilogram bags of maize. She will continue encouraging the community to conserve the soil with contour ridges and add nutrients with organic manure.

Nani Lazaro is the agriculture field adviser for the area. He emphasized that farmers need to feed the soils with compost even if they can afford inorganic fertilizers. He says that farmers usually add fertilizers to planting holes as they plant the seeds. This first application of fertilizer helps roots to develop and get nutrients from the soil. But he wonders, “Where will the plants get the nutrients from if we are not feeding the soil?”

For more information and resources on compost and soil fertility, please refer to the Soil Health Issue Pack, July 2010:  http://farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/91-9script_en.asp.

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Madagascar is at risk from a plague of locusts, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Agency, or FAO. The government of the island nation estimates that the locust outbreak could affect 460,000 rural families.

In early August, a team from FAO travelled to Madagascar. Together with national authorities, they confirmed that the situation is serious.

FAO says that Malagasy migratory locusts are usually restricted to the southwest corner of the country. However, an unknown number of immature swarms have formed and begun to spread east and north, as far as Maintirano on the central west coast.

Annie Monard is a locust officer with FAO. She explains that there were already swarms in the southwest at the end of the previous rainy season, and “…due to the fact that a number of them escaped this area − for us it’s a good indication that locusts are becoming a very dangerous pest.”

Madagascar is currently in its dry and cool season. Such weather is unsuitable for locust breeding. But in mid-October the rainy season begins. Locusts breed rapidly in the wet and hot rainy season. They can produce a new generation roughly every two months and up to four generations per year.

There are many different kinds of locusts. Ms. Monard says that Malagasy migratory locusts can be particularly hungry and destructive. The locusts form what are called “hopper bands” of young, wingless locusts. When these bands begin to swarm, “… they are able to eat everything. And of course in particular rice crops and all kinds of cereals.”

Alexandre Huynh is FAO’s Emergency and Rehabilitation Operations Coordinator in Madagascar. He says, “When there is a locust infestation, Malagasy farmers do not even sow any more as they know that their harvest will be destroyed.”

FAO estimates that about 15 million American dollars are needed to mount a major control effort. They are currently preparing to start the campaign. It will cover half a million hectares by ground and by air. FAO aims to prevent the locusts from “reaching plague proportions.”

Ms. Monard says, “They [the locusts] should be controlled as soon as … the first groups are observed.” She says that the pesticides they will spray are “less harmful for the environment than they were in the past.”

Mr. Huynh agrees there is no time to waste, saying, “We have to start operations by mid-September. If the response is delayed, food production will be directly impacted and the necessary anti-locust campaign would be much more costly and would spread over several years.”

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Eugene Habiyaremye used to be one of the poorest farmers in the village of Shyogwe, near Muhanga in southern Rwanda. But since he began using a mixture of human and cow urine on his tomatoes, he has become very successful. “I started in 2004, after hearing on the radio that diluted urine could be a good fertilizer,” he said.

Mr. Habiyaremye explains, “You see these big calabashes? I put the urine of cows in this one and human urine in the other. I cover them for two weeks. Then I pour a certain amount into the tanks, according to the water it already contains.” This method ensures that he dilutes the urine with the right amount of water in the tank. He filters the mixture. Then he waters the tomatoes with it.

Emile Mbaraga is an agronomist. He explains, “The urea in the urine contains 60-80% nitrogen, which, if used undiluted, will burn the roots of many plants.” He recommends that farmers add four litres of water to one litre of urine for watering vegetables. For bananas, dilute one litre of urine with one litre of water. And for maize, add two litres of water to one litre of urine. These proportions work during the dry season. Mr. Mbaraga says that in the rainy season, you can add less water to the urine. This is because “ … the rainwater dilutes the urine which fertilizes the plant.”

In Rurama, a village in the Eastern Province, farmers have used urine fertilizer to start cultivating bananas again. Sylvie Uzamukunda is a community worker, trained by a local NGO. She says, “Not only were the banana plants old, but combined with [the] lack of fertilizer and water in the region, we expected them to die out.”

The farmers from Rurama received training on using urine, and visited other communities who use urine in their fields. Ms. Uzamukunda says, “We collect the urine in small buckets and then put it in jerry cans. We cover it to stop the bad smell and the flies, and store it in a safe corner.” They managed to save their bananas. Ms. Uzamukunda says, “We strongly recommend that the members of our cooperatives imitate the farmers who use the cow and human urine.”

Eugene Habiyaremye inspired his neighbour Faustin Uwanyirigira. “I am a welder and bricklayer,” explains Mr. Uwanyirigira. “But I became interested in tomatoes. I now grow tomatoes in this plot. I never miss money in my pocket now. My family and my neighbours also eat these tomatoes.”

Eugene Habiyaremye sells his tomatoes to a supermarket in Kigali. He points to the other side of the mountain, where he grows pineapple, and says “Those pineapples also earn me a lot of money.” He can now support his family of six, and send his two children to school.

Emile Mbaraga says that Rwandans are generally ashamed to use human wastes as fertilizer, while cow urine is no problem. “There is still a lot of work to be done to change people’s attitudes to this resource. Human wastes are readily available and can be useful for maintaining kitchen gardens, for example.”

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Joseph Ole Morijo lost his entire herd of 152 goats and sheep after he fed them spiny cactus. So he was baffled to hear researchers proclaim recently that cactus can be used as animal fodder during a drought.

Mr. Ole Morijo is from Laikipia in the northern drylands of Kenya. He says, “It is a dangerous plant. I know it well and I have seen it ruin our livestock. It has to be eradicated completely.”

Experts from the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, or KARI, studied the potential of cacti with the scientific name of Opuntia as a fodder crop. In May, they released a report which shows that if the right species of spineless cacti are selected, they offer much needed nutrition for livestock during extreme dry seasons.

Mr. Ole Morijo is not convinced that the spineless species exists, and that it is safe as fodder for his animals. “I cannot believe it until I see it,” he says.
John Kang’ara is one of the lead researchers at KARI. “There are two main types of Opuntia: those with spiny fruits, and the spineless type. Though both of them have similar nutritional value, the spiny type poses a challenge to the farmers,” he explains. “It means that if the spiny types are to be used as animal fodder, then farmers must take their time to remove the spines by burning or scraping them with a machete before feeding them to animals.”

Interest in cactus as a potential fodder plant grew after the 2008-2009 drought. Farmers in the Central Province of Kenya fed their dairy cattle on spineless cactus paddles. “Paddles” is the name for the large, leaf-like parts of the plant. The farmers did not lose any of their animals. Their cattle produced milk and bred normally.

In contrast, residents of Laikipia North say that most of their livestock that fed on spiny cacti developed internal wounds, especially in the mouth, which caused them to starve to death.

Mr. Kang’ara said that during their study, “…we noted that most farmers in Central Kenya were practicing zero grazing, making it easier for them to select safe species of the cacti for their animals. But in Laikipia where the animals were herded on the rangeland, they fed on any cacti plants they came across, including the prickly ones.”

Both spineless and spiny cacti can survive harsh climatic conditions. They multiply naturally, but in some circumstances are viewed as an invasive weed.

The researchers suggest that farmers should embrace the spineless Opuntia species. But few spineless species remain in the country. And they are getting scarcer due to high demand.

The researchers say that using plants that grow naturally in dryland areas is one of the best methods to adapt to the changing climatic conditions. Mr. Kang’ara says, “Having cacti for animal feeds will save our animals from starving to death during droughts. Sheep, for example, can survive on cacti for 500 days without supplementation of any other pasture or even water.”

KARI is funding training for farmers and extension officers on the benefits of cacti as fodder. Mr. Kang’ara says, “We need to educate communities that have already given up on cacti after the bad experience with the spiny species.”

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When good rains finally fell, Catherine Mngomezulu was hopeful that she would reap a bumper harvest this year. Then the rats appeared. “I don’t even have maize meal because the rats ate all the maize,” she says.

Like many others in Swaziland’s arid Lavumisa region, Mngomezulu and her family have survived on food aid since a prolonged drought hit in 1992.

At the start of the rains in September 2009, Mngomezulu and her family planted more than two hectares of maize, beans, groundnuts, sweet potatoes and cotton.

But instead of the expected 500 kilos of maize, the family harvested just 50. An invasion of rats devoured the rest.
Dr. George Ndlangamandla is the national director of agriculture. He says the government is willing to assist the people of Lavumisa to get rid of the rats. But there is no budget. “We sent officials to inspect the situation and we do appreciate that we have a problem in the affected areas,” he says. He advised the community to use traps to kill the pests.

Philip Mntshali grows vegetables nearby. He says that Dr. Ndlangamandla’s advice is like prescribing a cough mixture to a TB patient. “We’ve tried setting up traps but these rats are so many it makes no difference.” He is now placing poisonous pellets around his garden to kill the rats. But he knows that the poison might kill the birds of prey which feed on the dead rats.

“There is nothing I can do,” says Mr. Mntshali. “Government is not helping us even with technical advice on how to deal with this problem, let alone money.”

According to Nimrod Dlamini, an environmental health officer, free poisonous pellets are available at a local health centre. Mr. Dlamini says the pellets are sufficient to kill a rat. Chickens would have to eat several rats to be poisoned.

Judging by the volume of crops, clothes and other materials eaten by the rats, farmers are not exaggerating the seriousness of the problem. The many rat holes in homesteads and fields give a clear picture that rat populations are higher than usual.

Sarah Sihlongonyane is a traditional healer. “I tried to poison them using weevil tablets and while I was able to kill a few of them, the chickens ate the dead rats and died,” she says. “I stopped killing the rats and now they do as they please in my home.”

Mrs. Sihlongonyane has decided that even her indigenous knowledge cannot overcome the rats. Having a cat in the family is one method to chase them away, but Sihlongonyane said even cats are now “tired of these pests and just ignore them.”

Dr. Themba Mahlaba is with the University of Swaziland. He says that the rats may have been attracted to the area because good rains resulted in abundant food. “Rats also reproduce very fast, which is why now they are eating everything ? because they are competing for food.”

Dr. Mahlaba advised the community against the use of pesticides. He said people could end up killing other creatures and damaging the environment. “The people need to be trained on how to make community traps so that they can kill as many rats as possible,” he says.

Catherine Mngomezulu can’t quantify her loss in dollars, but said she had planted enough to sustain her family. She and her community are locking their valuables in metal trunks and gloomily anticipating another year relying on food aid.

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President Ernest Bai Koroma has launched the Smallholders Commercialization Programme, or SCP, in Sierra Leone. The SCP is a nationwide initiative to increase the productivity of Sierra Leone’s agricultural sector. “We want agriculture to take the lead in development in Sierra Leone; thus we must move agriculture forward because most of our people are farmers,” he stated.

The Smallholders Commercialization Programme will run from 2011 until 2014. President Koroma said that under the SCP, farmers will be fully empowered. He wants farmers in Sierra Leone to be able to live a “very comfortable life.”

The SCP will provide good road networks, fertilizer, markets, training and extension services to farmers. The Farmer Field School extension approach will be adopted, in which farmer’s knowledge and experience are used as the basis for learning.

The government will support the formation of 2,750 farmer-based organizations. They will also set up 150 Agricultural Business Centres across the country. The Centres will be equipped with cassava graters, rice mills, drying floors and telephones. Farmers will be able to use these services, and access market information.

In addition, the Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute has been reformed and expanded. Research is now conducted with the involvement of farmers. This ensures that innovations are developed and made available in line with farmer’s needs.

President Koroma disclosed that his government is investing almost 10% of the national budget in the agricultural sector. He urged farmers, especially the youth, to take full advantage of the opportunity to turn around their situation. ”The provision is a real motivation to help ourselves as individuals and our country,” he added.

The full government press release on the launch of the SCP can be read here: http://www.statehouse.gov.sl/test2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=698&Itemid=1.

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Almost half the people in Niger are suffering from malnutrition. On average, 6,000 children are registered in therapeutic feeding centres each week, according to UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Across the Sahel, aid organizations provide emergency relief. They also promote food security, plus initiatives on water and nutrition in the region.

In Burkina Faso, health workers train women on the nutritional value of local foods. Koné Blandine is a midwife and nutrition trainer with an NGO called Eau Vive. In Gorom-Gorom, northern Burkina Faso, she shows local women how to make porridge fortified with local foods such as tamarind, soumbala (a local bean), fish and baobab fruit. The women in turn teach fellow villagers. Communities who know the nutritional value of local food and can conserve and use it, are far less vulnerable.

Juste Hermann Nansi is Eau Vive’s country director in Burkina Faso. He believes that promoting local foods is a way to combat dependence. “The Sahel region regularly faces drought, water shortages and malnutrition, and this has meant almost perpetual outside assistance. That affects people’s mentality,” Nansi says. “If our approach proves effective, people will have less need for outside help to fight malnutrition.”

Across the Sahel, lack of water affects agriculture, hygiene and nutrition. Lack of water is caused by the climate as well as by poor infrastructure. Drip irrigation is one technique for using water more efficiently.

Helen Keller International, or HKI, is an NGO which plans to distribute household drip irrigation kits to 300 families in eastern Burkina Faso. These families are planting gardens to grow nutritious vegetables. Drip irrigation is not widely used in individual gardens, but is common in commercial ventures.

“… given the water shortages, we are introducing this technique for home gardens to continue encouraging families to grow and eat nutritious foods,” says Olivier Vebamba from HKI. Drip irrigation also conserves water. It uses 40 litres of water per day to irrigate a garden of 20 square metres. Mr. Vebamba says that the watering cans normally used by villagers would consume 240 litres for the same area.

Smallholders in Senegal have had success with drip irrigation kits. “With the watering cans, we couldn’t do more than one harvest per year. With this innovation, we can do as many as three, so our earnings are multiplied by three,” says Yamar Diop, a 73-year-old father of ten.

In Niger, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, or ICRISAT, recommends fertilizer micro-dosing to improve yields during droughts.

Farmer Seydou Boubacar and his wife Zaina use the technique. They apply a good pinch of fertilizer directly to the plant roots. Since using the method, Mr. Boubacar has almost tripled his harvests and increased his wealth. “When I started micro-dosing in 2000, I had only two sheep, but today I have 20 sheep, 20 goats, two cattle and 10 donkeys,” he says.

Jupiter Ndjeunga works with ICRISAT. “If only one quarter of Niger’s farmers had practiced fertilizer micro-dosing in 2009, the grain shortfall could have been prevented,” he says.

Dov Pasternak is head of the Sahel program at ICRISAT. He says that food relief in Niger “… will cost millions, but how much is being spent on agriculture? I have a gut feeling the ratio is huge in favour of food relief,” he says.

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Land disputes are common in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, commonly known as DRC.  Under the 1973 Land Act, the state owns all land. But most land in DRC is allocated by chiefs, who administer it under customary law.

In DRC, the power of traditional chiefs over land is recognized legally. Chiefs have the right to sell land without the consent of the owner. That’s what happened to a farmer in Lubero, who wishes to remain anonymous. “I come from an appearance at the High Court of Butembo. I came to solve the problem of my field that our chief has sold. But the chief simply replied to the judge that he had to leave him alone because he is old and waiting for his death. The judge was left with no choice but to leave my field in the hands of the buyer.” These kinds of disputes arise every week.

In the villages near Butembo in North Kivu province, people hope that the new policy of decentralization will help settle land disputes. Decentralization will mean that chiefs no longer have influence over land.

Mr. Gilbert Kyatsinge is a Legal Adviser in the Ministry of Decentralization and Regional Planning. He says that “… laws will soon clarify the situation. Decentralization will perhaps help us to end this system which is neither customary nor administrative.” He states that decentralization is already underway, but it may be some time before it is effective at the local level.

Chiefs see decentralization as simply a way to steal their land. Jacques Mukosasenge represents the chiefs of Bamat. He says that for them, “Decentralization is an attempt to end their customary courts, which were recognized by the Congolese constitution.” But the new legal status of traditional leaders in relation to the government has yet to be clarified by parliament.

This complex situation awaits the tens of thousands of Congolese Tutsi refugees who are preparing to return to North Kivu.  More than 53,000 refugees have been living in Rwanda for more than a decade.

“Land issues are going to be one of the major hurdles to [their] return,” says Masti Notz, from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) office in North Kivu. Almost 800,000 people are internally displaced in this province. Continuing ethnic and political tensions further complicate the situation for returning refugees.

Dieudonne Kanyamugengu, from Rutshuru district, came back from Rwanda with his brother and his cows. He says he came in search of “food and peace.” He returned to his village, but fought with his Hutu neighbours over land. “I’m not safe there,” he says. The brothers  returned to a camp for the internally displaced.

Jules Mbokani coordinates a Norwegian Refugee Council project in DRC. He has received many reports of returnees in limbo. “People have been returning since September 2009 but many haven’t arrived back in their original villages, because of conflicts over land and security.”

Analysts say that other mechanisms are needed to  address land disputes. For example, UN-HABITAT, the UN Human Settlements Programme, thinks mobile land mediation teams are one solution. These teams would assist refugees and internally displaced persons. Since September 2009, a team of six mediators has dealt with 450 cases in North Kivu alone – about 20 per cent of which have been resolved. Camilla Olson works with the organization Refugees International. She says, “If we can be proactive, we can set the stage for positive returns.”

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Stem rust has been confirmed in South Africa. It had been controlled for decades, but is back and spreading.

Stem rust is a fungus which kills wheat. Resistant wheat varieties were developed and planted widely. But the fungus mutated. In 1999, a new strain named Ug99 was found in Uganda.

The strain quickly spread to Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Yemen, Iran and South Africa. New forms of Ug99 that infect rust-resistant wheat have been identified in some of these regions. Professor Zak Pretorius is a wheat pathologist at the University of the Free State in South Africa. “It was alarming for us that one of the resistant genes was not effective anymore,” he says. Smallholder wheat farmers are at risk, as scientists race to develop varieties that are resistant to the new strain of Ug99.

Stem rust can be identified by rust-coloured patches on the stem and infected parts of the plant. It is spread by spores that are usually transported by wind. Spores can survive harsh winters. They germinate in warmer conditions. They can be carried on clothing and can travel long distances, including between continents.

Fungicides can control Ug99. But they are often too expensive for small-scale farmers. Peter Njau is a research scientist at the Kenya Agriculture Research Institute. He says that during the 2003 epidemic, an anti-fungal chemical was recommended, with hopes that the pathogen would be eradicated.

“But instead, it worsened” says Njau, “…because most farmers, especially smallholders, could not afford it.” The chemical cost 37 dollars a litre. It had to be sprayed three times a season.

Aston Kirui is a Kenyan wheat farmer from Katakala village in Narok. He lost most of his crop in 2009 to Ug99. His field escaped this year. But his neighbour was not so lucky. “I have a neighbour who is going to lose everything this year. His farm looks like a field in an arid area during drought,” Mr. Kirui says. “I am shocked that you are telling me that there is a new strain that has more resilience. I did not know about it.”

Ayichiluhim Mojo is a wheat farmer in Ethiopia. He has frequently lost his harvest to wheat stem rust over the past decade. “But I don’t know anything about the new types of wagg,” he says, using Ug99’s local name. Negussie Gemechu is Head of the Wereda Agriculture Bureau. He said he has not yet heard about the mutant Ug99 and there have been no major wheat losses recently. Mr. Gemechu says, “The sowing season for wheat is yet to come. But in the incident of any wagg, we will alert our farmers.”

So far, wheat rust has not caused the disaster that scientists fear. The safest way to prevent that disaster is to continue to develop varieties that are resistant to stem rust. “We will now have to make sure that every new wheat variety we release has iron-clad resistance to both Ug99 and the new races,” says Ravi Singh, senior scientist in plant genetics and pathology at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre.

The next challenge is to get the new varieties into small-scale farmer’s fields quicker than Ug99 can spread.

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Thompson Tembo served three prison sentences for poaching elephants in Luangwa Valley, in the Eastern Province of Zambia. But now he has handed over his once-prized gun. Today, Mr. Tembo makes more money from his 43 beehives and his cash crops than he ever made from poaching.

Not long ago, you could hear guns firing at wild animals across Luangwa Valley almost every day. Just as deadly but silent were the thousands of snares set for the same purpose. Behind each gun and trap was a family struggling to survive.

Without alternatives, poachers would continue their actions. Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO) is an ambitious initiative to help them find other ways of making a living. COMACO aims to reduce human poverty while protecting wildlife.

The organization asks farmers to give up poaching and adopt farming methods that improve their soils. In return, the farmers benefit through an assured market which pays top prices. They also learn new farming skills. New income-generating activities include raising small livestock, beekeeping, gardening and carpentry. Over 650 poachers, like Mr. Tembo, have joined COMACO. This has silenced more than 1,800 firearms.

COMACO operates six regional processing centres. The centres store and process commodities from 57 community trading depots. Area extension managers are based at these depots. They coordinate the work of over 650 lead farmers, who help train farmers, assist with the formation of producer groups, and help distribute inputs. This network connects over 35,000 small-scale farming families that live in remote areas near wildlife.

COMACO offers a higher price to farmers who grow organically and use conservation farming techniques. Dale Lewis is executive director of COMACO. By targeting hard-to-reach farmers who live near protected areas, Mr. Lewis says, “We’re trying to turn things around.” He says that when farmers “…comply with COMACO, they see benefits.” This includes improvements in food security and health.

Jairos Phiri failed as a farmer. So he turned to trapping. Mr. Phiri was the proud owner of 111 snares, supplementing his meagre crop yields with the few animals he killed. Yet after years of exchanging meat for maize, he has now surrendered his snares. Today he sells his surplus maize to COMACO. He can now send his children to school.

In 2009, COMACO purchased more than 2300 tonnes of products from farmers like Mr. Phiri. They paid out over five billion Zambian kwacha (around 100,000 American dollars). Since COMACO started operations, food security has improved and household incomes have more than doubled. Wildlife populations have stabilized and many species show signs of increasing.

In many supermarkets in Zambia, you will find food products labeled with COMACO’s “It’s Wild” brand. Items such as peanut butter, rice, honey and groundnuts are grown by the farmers linked to COMACO. Many products are organic.

Next year, COMACO plans to export its products to Botswana. The organization is trying to handle product distribution itself as much as possible, so that profits stay with the farmers.

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Mavis Svinurai found packets of dried vegetables on the shelves of the supermarkets in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. “I remembered this as something our parents used to prepare for us and decided that if it can be found on supermarket shelves, then I can as well do this from my own backyard,” she said. She now sells dried vegetables in Bulawayo’s high-density townships.

The vegetables are known locally as umfushwa. Urban consumers previously shunned umfushwa, thinking it was suitable only for unsophisticated rural people. But now, consumers in the city view dried vegetables as an affordable, nutritious convenience food. For some people, it evokes nostalgia. This resurgence of interest has opened up a market opportunity for women entrepreneurs.

Thelma Dube has been selling fresh vegetables for years, but made umfushwa only for her household. Now she finds that selling dried vegetables is more profitable. They have a longer shelf life than fresh vegetables. Mrs. Dube sells dried pumpkin leaves, bean leaves and okra. These are indigenous foods with high nutritional value.

But producing large quantities of sun-dried vegetables is a time consuming affair. “It is a cumbersome process as I have to cut the vegetables, boil them, then lay them out in the sun to dry,” Mrs. Dube said. “Some customers have complained that the dried vegetables are gritty. But this is to be expected as we dry them in the open.”

Local communities have used this method for generations, but Mrs. Dube and Mrs. Svinurai are anxious to find a more hygienic system, so they can expand production.

Solar dryers have been available on the Zimbabwean market for many years. But small-scale producers complain they lack the technical know-how and need financial assistance to sell more hygienic food on a larger scale.

Bulawayo businesswoman Naomi Mthupha tells a different story. She processes traditional vegetables and makes dried fruit and raisins. She sells her produce to local supermarkets and bakeries.

Mrs. Mthupha dries her products with electric driers or kilns that she bought ten years ago. Much of her produce is grown on a farm she received through the government’s land redistribution programme. “This kind of business has its advantages in that you are certain that you have no major losses to speak of during the post-harvest stage as drying gives these otherwise perishable products a longer shelf life,” Mrs. Mthupha said.

Growing awareness of the importance of a healthy diet has contributed to a rising demand for umfushwa. According to the Zimbabwe chapter of the Association for Health Education and Development, health professionals are increasingly recommending dried vegetables for HIV and AIDS patients.
Mrs. Dube believes that the renewed interest in dried vegetables has had another effect. Both urban and rural women farmers have increased their production of vegetables like pumpkin leaf, bean leaf and okra. Farmers, consumers and entrepreneurs all stand to benefit from this rediscovery of a traditional food.

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Weevils used to nibble away at poorly stored seeds in the Cabo Delgado Province of northern Mozambique. But now, farmers are busy weaving bamboo strips together to form cylindrical storage silos coated with brown clay. The structures are called Tethere silos. They have two openings: one at the top to fill it with seeds, and one at the bottom, to empty the seeds.

In the Maririni village of Cabo Delgado province, Gilberto Tethere is lovingly called “Velho Tethere” (old Tethere in Portuguese). Mr. Tethere invented what is now being called the “Zero Emissions ‘Fridge’ for Rural Africa” (ZEFRA) or Tethere silo. The idea came to him after attending a workshop on using metal silos to store seeds. Finding the metal silo too expensive, Mr. Tethere reconstructed the silo with local materials and traditional building techniques.

The Swiss NGO Helvetas first introduced metal silos to farmers. “We tried to introduce a metal silo in northern Mozambique which was quite successful in Central America, but it proved to be too expensive because of the material and transportation costs. Gilberto Tethere liked the design and decided to rebuild the silo using local materials,” explains Christian Steiner, regional coordinator of Helvetas Mozambique.

The silo has many advantages. It can help subsistence farmers and their families adapt to the extended “hunger period.” This is caused by the drought which usually lasts from October to January in northern Mozambique. Mr. Tethere’s silo has all the features of the original and more expensive metal storage facility, but is affordable for poor farmers. On average, a Tethere silo that can store 250 kilograms costs about 430 Mozambican meticals (about 10 Euros or 12 American dollars) for materials and labour. By contrast, the materials for a metal silo that stores 200 kilograms cost about 4800 meticals (about 106 Euros or 137 American dollars).

The clay frame of the Tethere silo creates an almost airtight seal. This increases the effectiveness of the herbal repellents produced from ashes, eucalyptus tree and other local plants. The repellents prevent rodents and insects such as the granary weevil from consuming stored grains.

Mr. Steiner says that, because the silo is covered in clay and placed under a grass roof, it keeps stored grains much cooler than the outside temperature. The Tethere silo is used mainly to store beans, maize, ground nuts and sesame, but can also be used for rice, millet and sorghum.

Ernesto Molid is a farmer who uses the silo. Mr. Molid says that, before having a ZEFRA silo, he depended on other people for seeds. This dependence was especially problematic when it was time to sow his field. Now that he has his own silo, he depends on no one. The low-cost, improved silo allows him to store his seeds properly and save them for the next planting season.

So far, more than 800 silos have been built and used, each of them benefiting an average of 10 families. Currently, Helvetas is upscaling the project to eight districts in the northern provinces of Nampula and Cabo Delgado. Mr. Steiner says they hope to build 2000 silos for individual use and 90 community seed banks.

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Joséphine Enoce Bouanga walks around her two-room house in a suburb of Pointe-Noire, in the Republic of the Congo. Cassava, sorrel and plantains thrive outside in her garden. Her home is also the site of an innovative small-scale business named Enoce Bio. Mrs. Bouanga, a rural development engineer, set up her company in 2006.

Normally, people eat the flesh of pumpkins and squashes and throw away the seeds. Mrs. Bouanga believes this is a waste. Squashes are commonly grown in Congo. After studying the nutritional value of squashes, and taking a food processing course, she experimented with making milk from pumpkin seeds. She says the drink is full of nutrients. She also believes it tastes better than soya milk.

In 2008, she exhibited her products at the national fair. The Pointe-Noire Industrial Association donated space on their stand. This association supports small and medium-sized enterprises. Didier Mavouenzela Sylvester is president of the association. He says, “Josephine promotes local products and creates opportunities for farmers who grow squash, a product linked to our culture.” She buys seeds from farmers in Bouenza and Lékoumou, in southern Congo.

In 2008, Mrs. Bouanga obtained a patent from the African Intellectual Property Organization for making milk from pumpkin seeds. The pumpkin seeds are shelled by hand. Mrs. Bouanga then soaks and grinds the seeds. She filters the juice and bottles it. Mrs. Bouanga avoids explaining the details of the process to protect her patent.

Mrs. Bouanga employs a number of staff. The business also makes other products, including nutritional flour made from soya bean and maize, and garlic syrup. “My products do not contain chemical additives. They can be stored between six and twelve months,” she says.

In 2009, she met Rodolphe Adada, the Minister for Industry. He told her “Madame, you are a gold mine without knowing it.” These encouraging words gave her the strength to continue developing her enterprise. There are few agro-processing businesses in Congo. Mrs. Bouanga’s production capacity is limited. But she is full of ideas. She is already planning to produce a flour made from plantain as an infant food.

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The East African Community Common Market came into effect on July 1 this year. It covers Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.

The Common Market imposes high import taxes on key products. For example, the import tax on maize brought in from outside the Common Market will be 50 percent. For milk it will be 60 percent, while sugar attracts a tax of 100 percent. This makes importing these products very costly. The measure aims to protect small-scale farmers and ensure good prices for their produce.

Farmers are exempt from these taxes when trading within the five countries. Yet they still need to be able to reach the markets in East Africa before they can fully benefit from the new trading regulations.

Samuel Ojeku is a farmer and coordinator of the Soroti District Farmers Association (SODIFA) in Eastern Uganda. He says farmers were losing money and sales because imported produce was cheaper than local produce. The new regulations will change this situation. SODIFA members live close enough to western Kenya to enjoy good access to markets there. “Market access goes a good long way to promote production, and as farmers we are very happy about this,” says Mr. Ojeku.

In Kibaale district, in the west of Uganda, the Kisita Area Cooperative Society includes more than 4500 farmer members. Members store their maize collectively. They wish to sell direct to the market, avoiding middlemen. But the farmers cannot find a market and are stuck with over 500 metric tonnes of maize.

Nathan Were, a market specialist from The Microfinance Support Center in Uganda, worries that the Ugandan farmers are about to harvest another 650 tonnes of maize, but have no space to store it. He calls on the UN’s World Food Program to purchase the maize. He suggests that Kenya is a good place to distribute Ugandan maize. Kenya needs maize, yet imports it from outside the region.

The Uganda National Farmers Federation says the Common Market is a good idea for the region. But improvements in infrastructure are needed. Charles Ogang, the federation’s vice-president, believes that railways and roads need improving, to link poor farmers to the big markets in the region.

However, Mr. Ogang thinks that many farmers are not yet fully aware of how the Common Market will operate. The federation is using regional agricultural trade fairs to promote its benefits to farmers.

Download the Common External Tariff Handbook as a pdf file from this page: http://www.eac.int/customs/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=41:common-external-tariff-handbook&catid=3:key-documents&Itemid=141.

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The new International Cocoa Agreement was successfully negotiated in June. Fifty-three countries attended this year’s UN Cocoa Conference in Geneva.

The agreement takes effect in 2012, and will last for ten years. It is the seventh International Cocoa Agreement. It will bring improvements to the cocoa industry and ensure better prices for small-scale cocoa farmers.

According to the International Cocoa Organization, the official body that administers the agreement, the accord introduces some major innovations. For example, it recognizes the need to secure fair cocoa prices for both producers and consumers. Data from private and public sources will be collected, processed and shared to enhance market transparency. The agreement will also strengthen cooperation between exporting and importing countries, civil society and the private sector.

Guy-Alain Emmanuel Gauze is Ivory Coast’s ambassador to the United Nations (UN) in Geneva and president of the UN Cocoa Conference. He regards the new agreement as “objective and balanced.” He believes it puts measures in place to achieve fair prices for all parties involved.

Ghanaian officials express similar sentiments: “I am happy and satisfied,” said Anthony Nyame-Baafi, minister/counsellor at the permanent mission of Ghana to the UN in Geneva. “The concerns of producing countries have been taken into consideration. And, very importantly, it enhances market transparency.”

The final text of the International Cocoa Agreement 2010 can be downloaded from this page in English, French, Spanish or Russian: http://www.icco.org/about/press2.aspx?Id=u2111634.

Download the full press release from ICCO here: http://www.icco.org/Press%20Release%20-%20United%20Nations%20Cocoa%20Conference%20_2_JUNE2010.pdf.

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