African countries now going for integrated water resources management

By Ochieng’ Ogodo

 
[Cairo, Egypt] More than seventy-five percent of the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) member countries are implementing national water laws with nearly half are executing national plans for integrated water resources management in line with the Africa Water Vision for 2025

The finding is contained in a new survey by the United Nations launched during the 8^th General Assembly of AMCOW May 14-18.

Based on data collected from 40 member countries by UN-Water to determine progress towards sustainable management of water resources using integrated approaches the survey “2012 Status Report on the Application of Integrated Approaches to Water Resources Management in Africa”  found that 18 of those countries have integrated water resource management (IWRM) plans under implementation.

This is a marked increase from a similar study conducted in 2008 that found 5 countries, out of the 16 that responded had IWRM plans or were in the process of developing them.

According to the new survey, several respondents had improved performance in water resources management providing direct benefits towards their national social and economic objectives.

“I am encouraged by the progress that has so far been made with integrated approaches to water resources management, which establishes a solid foundation for development and peace,” said immediate former AMCOW President, Hon. Edna Molewa, Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs of South Africa

She said in a press release, “It is crucial that we increase our efforts to implement past declarations on water and sanitation to advance the well-being of Africa’s people, environment and economy. This is in the spirit of the Africa Water Vision 2025.”

But despite the progresses made so far, the report said, there were still many challenges and a great deal more, in terms of commitment and resources, was required to assure food and energy security, as well as access to safe drinking water and sanitation to a growing population.

Top among these challenges are flooding, droughts and pollution that threatens Africa’s water resources and it is feared these could become more severe due to climate change and variability.

The survey recommends targeted action to intensify efforts and opportunities for country-to-country knowledge sharing, especially on disaster preparedness and water risk management as a means to increase resilience to climate change. 
Financial constraints, institutional capacity gaps and weaknesses in coordination mechanisms between sectors and government departments have also been highlighted in the report as key challenges to integrated water resources management in Africa.

Delegates at the 4th Africa Water Week in Cairo

It emphasises the need to carry out far reaching reforms aimed at strengthening the capacity of relevant institutions for managing trans-boundary water systems, as well as the capacity of local river basin organisations and national apex bodies.
“Water resources are an essential ingredient in the advent of a green economy in Africa,” says AMCOW Executive Secretary, Bai-Mass Taal. “All nations must create transparent and integrated approaches to prioritise wise and efficient allocation of water. The outcomes of the survey should be utilised as a first step towards the development of a permanent reporting mechanism on each country’s progress towards that goal.”

The report produced jointly by the African Union Commission (AUC) and AMCOW, the AUC’s Specialised Technical Committee on Water and Sanitation, pointed out that detailed documentation of these benefits, including better and more consistent indicators, could increase government commitment and financing for water management and infrastructure.

It recommends that a more rigorous reporting system on progress in water management in Africa is initiated by AMCOW to provide a better basis for informed decision making at the national level.

And in efforts aimed addressing the twin challenges of water security and climate change AMCOW also launched The Strategic Framework for Water Security and Climate Resilient Development during the Global Water Partnership and partner Climate Development  Knowledge Network, the framework is designed to  help senior professionals and decision-makers to identify and develop “no or low regret” investment strategies, to integrate these into planning processes, and to influence future development activities so they become more resilient to climate change and variability.

It will also contribute to the implementation of climate change related commitments that were made by African Head of States in 2008 in the Sharma el Sheikh declaration on water and sanitation. 

Molewa said that the increased frequency of droughts and floods in Africa are sober warning of future climatic changes introducing new risks and treats viability of African development.

Farmers in six African countries to benefit from US$7m commercial products project

 By Ochieng’ Ogodo

Journalist-Kenya

[NAIROBI] Farmers in six African countries will benefit from Phase II of the Commercial Products (COMPRO-II) project, said Dr. Bernard Vanlauwe, Director for Natural Resource Management and Central Africa with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture today.

The six, Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Uganda, and Tanzania will benefit from the COMPRO-II project, a US$7m grant from the Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation aimed at institutionalizing quality assurance mechanisms and facilitation of the rapid dissemination of top quality agricultural commercial products for increased yields and food security of smallholder farmers in the region.

IITA that will lead the project will work with the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa – Soil Health Program (AGRA), Farm Input Promotions (FIPS), the Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Research Area of the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (TSBF-CIAT), the Centre for Agricultural Bioscience International (CABI), and universities, national research organizations, extension organizations, and quality control entities in the different target countries.

“The plan is to raise awareness among over two million smallholder farmers on effective and profitable commercial products by 2016 through public-private partnership,” according to Dr. Nteranya Sanginga, IITA Director General on April 20.

Of these households, 420,000 will have tested at least one effective commercial product and at least 50 percent of these will have adopted the technology and achieve a 15-30 percent yield increase with substantial impacts on food security and income.

“The key expected outcome of the project is the institutionalization of screening and approval of commercial products,” said Prem Warrior, Senior Program Officer with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Sub-Saharan Africa in the last decade, has witnessed economic growth amid population increases and rising demand for food. Consequently, investments in soil fertility have become indispensable to increase agricultural productivity, and access to agricultural inputs is required to achieve this goal.

Whereas it’s important to have an access to inputs, quality assurance of agricultural inputs was of utmost significance to protect farmers, retailers, wholesalers, and importers, and to minimise health and environmental hazards.

For instance, new biofertilizers, biopesticides, and chemical agro-inputs have been commercialized, but these products are often insufficiently evaluated for quality and efficacy due to weak national and regional regulatory systems, says Vanlauwe.

Scientists have been working under the first phase of the Commercial Products project, also known as COMPRO I, in the past three years and have identified three effective commercial products out of the over 100 products evaluated that enhance yields by 15-30 percent.

The products include Rhizobium inoculants for legumes, mycorrhizal inoculants for bananas, and seed coating of for maize.

“COMPRO-II will leverage on the gains earlier made in phase one, which covered Kenya, Ethiopia, and Nigeria,” said Vanlauwe.

Phase II of the project proposes to:

• transit these technologies into Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda,
• institutionalize regulatory and quality control processes,
• disseminate effective products through public-private partnerships,
• develop communication tools, and
• strengthen human capacity.

At the end of the project, more farmers are expected to confidently use these products because their safety, efficacy, and quality will be ensured through institutionalized regulatory and quality assurance mechanisms.

The COMPRO-II project will be officially launched on 16 and 17 May 2007 in Dar-es Salaam, Tanzania.

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.