IITA and ILRI to work together to tackle hunger challenge in Africa

By Ochieng’ Ogodo

Journalist -Kenya

[NAIROBI] The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) have decided to step up collaboration in tackling the challenge of hunger.

The two major centers in Africa that are part of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), intend to build synergies that would unleash the power of crop and livestock improvements to address poverty and malnutrition in Africa.

Director General of ILRI, Dr Jimmy Smith and his IITA counterpart Director General, Dr Nteranya Sanginga are currently in ongoing discussion on how this can be effected.

At a dinner held in honor of Smith on Saturday May 5 in Ibadan, Nigeria, Sanginga said he foresaw a closer partnership of the two institutes.

He reiterated that IITA alone could not solve all of Africa’s problems, hence the need for partnership with institutes with similar vision as IITA.

The two institutes have in the past joined forces in bringing benefits to African farmers in projects such as ‘Promoting Sustainable Agriculture in Borno’ or PROSAB.

That project which was implemented in northern Nigeria helped raise incomes by 81 percent among participating households and also improved the nutrition of beneficiaries.

 “We need to work more closely to help farmers get benefits,” Sanginga said in a press release.

The Director General,  (IITA), Dr Nteranya Sanginga (left) in a tête-à-tête with the 

Director General of  (ILRI), Dr Jimmy Smith (right), in Ibadan, Nigeria

Smith said he envisioned IITA and ILRI harnessing their strengths for the betterment of farmers.

 According to him, the presence of a ‘crop and a livestock’ research partnership in Africa provided an opportunity for the continent to mine.

The Kenya headquartered ILRI has as its mandate improvement of the productivity of livestock while IITA based in Nigeria works towards improvement of sub-Saharan’s major staples such as cassava, yam, maize, soybean, cowpea, cocoa, banana and plantain.  Both institutes operate Africa wide, and have over the years signed an agreement to maintain offices on each other’s campus.

Dr Iheanacho Okike, ILRI’s Country Representative in Nigeria, said the collaboration between IITA and ILRI was a step in the right direction that would create a major impact in sub-Saharan Africa. “It is a perfect alignment,” he added.

He noted that the discussion for greater partnership between the two institutes was at an opportune time when the CGIAR through its reform agenda is fostering greater collaboration among centers.

EU 8 Million Euro grant for response to climate change in Africa

By Ochieng’ Ogodo

Journalist-Kenya

[NAIROBI] ClimDev Africa initiative has received a financial shot in the arm from the European Union through an 8 Million Euro grant to support Africa's response to climate variability and climate change by developing African policy capacity.

The grant agreement is part of the Global Climate Change Alliance funding, a programme in which the European Union and the most vulnerable Developing Countries are working together to tackle climate change.

The grant is expected to enhance the capacities of the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) at ECA and the Climate Change and Desertification Unit at AUC to carry out their activities under the ClimDev Africa programme for three years.

 It was signed at the United Nation Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) by Hamdok Abdalla, Deputy Executive Secretary of UNECA and Gary Quince, Head of EU Delegation to the African Union in the presence Rhoda Tumusiime, AU Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture on April 27.

ECA, he said, considers this grant agreement very important because it will help address one of the greatest global challenges of the 21st century –climate change.

Tumussime said the agreement came at a time when increased attention is being paid to climate change issues in Africa and when the African Union is trying to mobilise all its partners to this effect.

She thanked the EU for the comprehensive capacity building assistance it has provided to the Commission within the framework of the Africa-EU partnership.

Quince noted that a great deal of climate information already exists but that it is not in a format that is easily digestible to users, particularly to decision makers and planners, and at the other end of the spectrum, to farmers and investors.

The challenge, he said, lies in developing a mechanism to make available user-friendly information that is understood and used widely in Africa. He said that the ClimDev programme has a key role in coordinating these efforts, and in developing synergies with relevant environment, climate and security programmes.

ClimDev Africa, he sad, was one of the flagship initiatives under the Africa-EU Partnership on Climate Change and Environment.

ClimDev Africa is a tripartite initiative between the African Union Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank. Under the political leadership of the AUC, the programme’s three partners together deliver an African strategic approach to climate change and sustainable development.

The three components of the programme include the Climate Change and Desertification Unit (CCDU) of the AUC. CCDU will coordinate the African strategic policy on climate change and desertification, both severely affecting economic developments in Africa.

The African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) of the ECA has a strong analytical core of expertise and leads many programmatic activities supporting the improvement and use of information in climate change and development decision making through knowledge generation and sharing, advocacy and consensus building, and technical cooperation. It is also the Secretariat of the Programme.

The ClimDev Special Fund (CDSF) is managed by the AfDB and is a demand-led fund that pools resources to finance investment activities on the ground across Africa for the generation and use of climate information for climate-resilient development at all levels. CDSF grants will be implemented by national and regional organisations on the continent.

ClimDev Africa programme has been mandated by African Heads of State and Government, as well as Africa’s Ministers of Finance, Planning and Environment, to respond to the urgent challenge that climate change poses to the advancement of Africa’s development objectives.

Ghana: Pesticides misuse endangering farmers health and food

By Ochieng’ Ogodo

Journalist-Kenya

[NAIROBI] Misuse of pesticides in northern Ghana is affecting the health of farmers, sometimes with fatal consequences, and contaminating crops, a new survey has revealed.  Some of the pesticides used have been banned

In the survey, Christian Aid partner Northern Presbyterian Agricultural Services found that over a quarter of the farmers interviewed had suffered from directly inhaling pesticides while many had also spilt the chemicals on their skin.

The pesticides are often kept near food stores – a practice believed to have caused the deaths of 15 farmers in late 2010 through seepage. Farmers also regularly put the wrong pesticides on crops, use stocks that are past their expiry date, and spray too close to harvest time.

The survey, Ghana’s Pesticide Crisis, The Need for Further Government Action, revealed that seven banned or restricted pesticides appear to still be in use in Ghana.

The government has also failed to act despite ‘numerous academic studies show alarming levels of poisoning" among farmers and the public. The situation calls for better training and routine health checks for farmers, as well as monitoring of the chemicals used, and routine testing of the food produced.

The Ghanaian government should also move away from reliance on pesticides in farming and invest more in more sustainable ways of farming.

Although the survey covered nearly 200 farmers in 14 villages is in the Upper East region of Ghana, its findings are common to many developing countries according to Kato Lambrechts, Christian Aid’s senior advocacy and policy officer for Africa.

‘The report underlines how difficult it is for governments in the developing world to monitor properly the pesticides used and the way they are applied by farmers,’ she said.

‘It highlights the need for governments to make concerted efforts to support farmers to move away from intensive farming techniques towards more sustainable methods that don’t require the use of lots of chemicals.

‘At present the pesticide trade in Ghana is so lucrative that advertising is prominent and there are now as many as 50 importers, some of them bringing in illegal supplies. These are passed on to unscrupulous dealers who double as agricultural advisers to the farmers because government extension services are inadequate.’

According to the report, farmers misusing pesticides risk cancer, birth defects and damage to the central nervous system. But the most common problems include skin irritations, headaches, general body weakness, difficulty in breathing and dizziness.

The report released on April 19 raises suspicions that 15 deaths that may have occurred in 2010 from pesticides leaking into food stocks might be just a glimpse of a bigger problem, with some senior health officials believing some ‘natural’ deaths might also be attributable to pesticide use.

It is proposing various sustainable agriculture practices alternatives such as organic farming – involving no use of chemical pesticides – and integrated pest management (IPM) – which reduces but does not usually reject entirely the use of chemicals.

Organic approaches can also involve crop rotation, intercropping, and planting of trap plants and plants that serve as habitats for beneficial insects. If preventive measures are insufficient, insecticides derived from natural plant extracts, natural soap or minerals or plant extracts such as neem can be applied.

The report says organic farming approaches can be successful in northern Ghana, and are often more productive and cost-effective than reliance on chemical pesticides.

However, these are not being widely pursued due to lack of knowledge among farmers and the government’s promotion of pesticides.

Report here: http://www.christianaid.org.uk/images/ghanas-pesticide-crisis.pdf

Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa has a new president

Ochieng’ Ogodo

Journalist-Kenya

[NAIROBI] Jane Karuku is the new president of the Nairobi headquartered Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

She was appointed to that position by Kofi Annan who is the organization’s chair on April 10 . Karuku took over from Dr Namanga Ngongi who is retiring after five years at the helm.

She joined AGRA from Telkom Kenya, a subsidiary of France Telecom-Orange where she has been Deputy Chief Executive, after an exhaustive international search process.

“Hundreds of thousands of poor rural households in Africa have already benefited from AGRA’s work and under Karuku’s leadership we can look forward to continued success in moving African farmers along a path to prosperity and ensuring food security,” said Annan in a press release.

Karuku has a career spanning over 20 years, most of which has been spent in the agricultural sector holding senior positions in a number of successful international corporate entities including Farmers Choice and Cadbury Limited where she served as the managing director with responsibility for 14 countries in the East and Central African region.  .

“Smallholder farming is a way of life in Africa, full of challenges and equally full of huge opportunities. I am very excited and feel privileged to be part of the journey to transform the lives of millions of smallholder farmers, and look forward to when we can look back and celebrate this transformation as a ‘gift’ to the people of Africa and its future generations,” said Karuku.

Annan also acknowledged the tremendous work done Ngongi in establishing AGRA as a leading African agricultural organization.

“I would like to thank Dr Namanga Ngongi for his role in building AGRA into a widely recognized and effective organization. Under his leadership, AGRA has made significant achievements and is already firmly on track to achieve its mission of catalysing the achievement of a green revolution in Africa.”

Founded in 2007 with initial funding and technical support from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, AGRA has since added numerous other international foundations, donor agencies, multilateral financial institutions, corporate donors and banks. AGRA and its funding partners work closely with governments in Africa, farmer organizations and smallholder farmers in a formidable alliance to develop and nurture an African green revolution.

AGRA has been working to enhance the economic empowerment of African smallholder farmers and improving food security and has contributed towards efforts to address critical challenges affecting agriculture in Africa.

So far, the organisation’s key achievements include the development of strategies to turn key African countries into breadbaskets that can feed the whole of the African continent.  It has also supported advanced education of the next generation of plant and soil scientists and has sponsored nearly 100 MSc and PhD students in several African universities.

It has also supported the establishment and strengthening of 60 new local African seed companies and is helping to develop markets in Africa and works with farmer associations to ensure that smallholder farmers meet quality standards and effectively manage contractual agreements with large buyers. 

In collaboration with several major financial partners, AGRA has established risk sharing facilities that are leveraging millions of dollars in affordable loans for smallholder farmers and small to medium-sized agribusinesses across Africa.

US$12 Million to Boost Yam Productivity in Ghana and Nigeria

 Ochieng’ Ogodo

Journalist-Kenya

AN ambitious effort to boost production of orphan crops like yam has been launched in Ghana and Nigeria.  The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and a host of partners announced the landmark new initiative to dramatically boost yam productivity and double the incomes of three million yam farmers in West Africa on April 2.

The project, Yam Improvement for Income and Food Security in West Africa (YIIFSWA), supported by a US$12 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will be led by IITA in collaboration with the governments of Ghana and Nigeria, the UK’s Natural Resources Institute (NRI), the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and Catholic Relief Services (CRS).

The project will focus on increasing yields through better seed tuber supply and improving markets for this underground, edible tuber—some of which are as small as a fist, others as tall as a man.

About 7,000 years ago, yams were first domesticated by African farmers and today 48.1 million tons of the crop is produced annually across 4.4 million hectares of land in West Africa’s known as the “Yam Belt.” It extends from Cote D’Ivoire to Nigeria, accounting for over 90 percent of the global production.

Yams provide the most important source of dietary calories in Nigeria and Ghana. And for many people in the region, they rank above meat as a source of protein.

The project is aimed at addressing a variety of pests and diseases that have now depressed yields to a mere 14 percent of potential harvests. Scientists at IITA and the national researchers are already developing a host of new yam varieties that can address these challenges and are confident that with additional investments, there is tremendous potential to rapidly boost production and income from yam.

“Right now, most farmers cultivate yams mainly for household consumption, but if we can increase yields, while also improving marketing conditions, then many of these farmers should be able to earn a steady income from growing yams,” said IITA’s Director General Dr. Nteranya Sanginga.

“Yam prices have been rising in recent years because there is a strong demand for the crop in Africa, and even in places like Europe and the United States, where rapidly growing West African immigrant communities still have a big appetite for their traditionally preferred staple.”

The YIIFSWA project is a multifaceted five-year effort aimed at doubling the incomes of three million small-holder farming families. The initial focus of the project is on 200,000 smallholder farm families in Ghana and Nigeria—90 percent of whom cultivate less than two acres. Priority will be to ensure that affordable pest and disease-free seed yams are available to farmers, along with storage and handling technologies that can reduce post-harvest losses.

Yam breeders will develop and widely disseminate new, higher-yielding, disease-resistant varieties while private sector partners are expected to play a key role by providing certified seed and working closely with efforts to link small-holder farmers, particularly those in remote areas, to markets where a strong and steady demand for yams should allow them to realize the economic benefits of increased productivity under the stewardship of AGRA’s Farmer Organization Support Centre in Africa (FOSCA) program.

Indigenous crops In Africa like yams that are better adapted to soil and climate conditions often are referred to as orphan crops because, despite being vital staples for millions of people in West Africa, there are no major investments in improving yields, compared to major global “commodity” crops like maize, wheat and rice.  Yam yields, therefore, fall below potential.

Successful efforts to boost yields are, therefore, likely to be more sustainable and have a greater impact on food security by enhancing the preferred crop staple with good untapped potentials. According to IITA studies in Nigeria, yam cultivation remains a lucrative enterprise. It was found that, with a potential rate of return of 78 percent, each dollar invested in yam research generates US$52 worth of additional food for the poor, relative to US$124 for all households.

Stagnant production

This new project is coming at a critical time as over the last decade, yam productivity per hectare has been stagnant or declining in the Yam Belt due to a number of factors, and researchers warn that this trend, coming in the midst of rapid population growth, could be “catastrophic” without efforts to revive the crop.

Fungal diseases such as anthracnose that literally turns a field black, along with the yam beetle, nematodes, plant viruses, declining soil fertility and stresses caused by climate change are some of the most serious problems facing yam production in West Africa

There are also post-harvest diseases such as tuber rot that can claim up to 40 percent of a crop.

When these types of problems occur in mainstream crops like maize, rice or wheat, there is a vast global network of plant breeders available to develop new crop varieties that can withstand such stresses.

However, in West Africa today there are fewer than six yam breeders and fewer than 50 other researchers across the ECOWAS region limiting both the level of breeding and efforts to preserve its diversity.

IITA has the world’s largest collection of yam varieties and in 2010 it partnered with the Global Crop Diversity Trust and national researchers in the region in an effort to collect yams grown by farmers, some of whom still routinely domesticate wild tubers from the forests of Benin and Nigeria.

In the least 5 percent of yam germplasm is lost yearly, but new techniques needed required more funds.

Already, IITA has developed new varieties that yield 50 to 100 percent more than existing varieties that include improved yam varieties of which 19 were officially released in Nigeria and are yet to be massively multiplied for distribution to growers.

Targeting both the field and markets success

IITA yam project will not only be aimed at improving yield and outputs in the field but also bridge the missing market access for smallholder farmers. Majority of yams in the region are smallholder farmers but IITA research findings has shown that those benefiting from the domestic, regional and global market for yams are mainly medium to large-scale producers.

A combination of higher yields in the fields, reduced production costs through improved seed tuber supply, and better market access for smallholder growers will not only improve incomes for farmers, but also increase the affordability and consumption of yams in both rural and urban areas according to IITA.

“Yams are a very important crop to smallholder farmers in Africa, and if these farmers can grow more, and have better access to markets, it can make a real difference in their lives,” said Dr. Regina Kapinga, a program officer for the Agricultural Development initiative at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

 “Women will be actively engaged in this project, in part because they play an important role in yam production and marketing. We want to reach a stage where robust yam seed production techniques will use parts of the yam plant other than tubers, thereby releasing an additional 30 percent of the crop to food ware tubers.”

There are lucrative export opportunities to meet the demand of West Africans living abroad. Nigeria, for instance, exported US$27.7 million worth of yams to the USA in 2011.

Meeting set to discuss unending cycle of drought and food insecurity in Africa

By Ochieng’ Ogodo

Journalist-Kenya

[NAIROBI] Experts and leading thinkers in agriculture, climate change and the environment will gather in Nairobi from April 10-13 at the World Agroforesty Centre.

They will review innovative ways to tackle Africa’s unending cycle of drought and food insecurity. The meeting, Beating Famine, comes in the wake of another food crisis sweeping across the Sahel region of Africa, through Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mauritania.

The conference, a joint initiative by World Vision and the World Agroforestry Centre, will bring together policy-makers from across Africa, leading agriculture/food security/environment experts, international NGOs, donors, academia, practitioners and the media.

“The world watched as millions suffered from famine in the Horn of Africa last year and now that suffering is spreading to parts of West Africa,” said conference organiser Rob Francis. “These crises are calling for a long-term sustainable approach to food insecurity and famine, and we believe the answer lies with a greater emphasis on the environment and better agricultural practices.”

It will focus on practical, low cost and proven techniques to reverse land degradation and deforestation, lift incomes, adapt and mitigate against climate change, and ultimately prevent famine.

 According to Dennis Garrity, UN Drylands Ambassador and senior fellow at the World Agroforestry Centre, “The national planning segment of the conference will be particularly significant. Governments and NGOs throughout the East African region are now partnering to implement national scaling-up programmes to create an evergreen agriculture based on smallholder adoption of trees for enhanced soil fertility, and fodder, fruit and fuelwood production. Accelerating the widespread use of these practices would have an enormous impact.”

“In essence, we hope to spark a regreening movement that transforms thinking across the world,” said World Vision East Africa climate change and environment specialist Assefa Tofu. “Governments, development organisations and also the community must learn to see the power of simple, effective environmental techniques as a new way of tackling hunger.”

Various presentations will be made at the conference by high level delegates, as well field trips and demonstrations.

A demonstration of Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) will be conducted by FMNR pioneer Tony Rinaudo on Friday April 13 in Kijabe, Kenya. FMNR has helped make great advances for the food security and economic sustainability of farmers in eight countries across Africa and three in Asia.

Small-holder farmers in Côte d’Ivoire to receive IFAD’s US$22.5 million grant

Ochieng' Ogodo

Journalist-Kenya

[NAIROBI] Small-holder farmers in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, especially rural young people and women will receive US$22.5 million from The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD to help improve food security and incomes.

The grant agreement for the Support to Agricultural Production and Marketing Project was signed in Rome on 16 March 2012 by Janine Tagliante-Saracino, Ambassador of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire to Italy, and Kanayo Nwanze, President of IFAD.

About two-thirds of the population in Cote d’Ivoire is engaged in farming, forestry and fishing sectors. Agriculture contributes to about 24 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product with rice, maize, cassava, plantains, yams grown as staple foods, while cocoa, coffee, timber, rubber and palm oil are for export.

The country’s economy is still highly dependent on agriculture despite increasing importance of oil and gas production.  The poor rural people particularly small producers without access to appropriate technologies, services and markets have been left vulnerable by a long period of civil conflict and the new IFAD-supported project is expected to provide sustainable rural development in the context of a post-crisis environment in Savanes, Bandama Valley and Zanzan regions in the North.

To improve food security and household incomes in these regions, the project will enhance farm production by helping small producers to access improved seeds and mechanized equipment for tillage and harvesting.

The project, Cofinanced by the government of Côte d’Ivoire, will also support local processing of agricultural products through improved infrastructure and marketing, and will emphasize training and empowerment of smallholder farmer organizations. It is expected that the project will help smallholders move towards profitable, market-influenced farming, in which the market determines the investment strategy and production choices.

This new project will be implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and benefit more than 25,000 poor rural households, including women and young people.