Developments
News items relevant to the policy dialogue on S&T for Development.
Integrated seed sector development (issd) in africa: practices, programmes and policies for seed entrepreneurship
As part of its contribution to the multi-partnership ISSD project, CTA is supporting African universities to undertake assessments of their role in integrated seed sector development to enhance their contribution to policy processes governing seed systems in Africa.On March 08, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) (LUANAR) will host its national university seminar to share the results of the study on their university’s role in seed sector development in Malawi. The university representative focused on three projects to analyze their contribution to seed sector development. The bean seed multiplication project was a typical multidisciplinary research project which included releasing varieties, providing support on seed production and engaging and empowering farmers in the process. The second mushroom project includes oyster mushroom seed multiplication, and technical backstopping for farmers and farmer groups in production, training and marketing. The third project involves the contribution of an economist from the Centre for Agricultural Research and Development, in evaluating the use of vouchers in ISSD. The analysis showed that there is need for greater focus on basic research, policy research, and more advocacy/briefing notes.The results will be discussed during the national seminar. More about ISSD: http://www.wageningenur.nl/en/show/Integrated-seed-sector-development-in-Africa.htm
7/03/2013
CTA/WUR/ACP Universities launch Food Security Audits
The CTA/WUR project on “Mainstreaming Tertiary Education in ARD Policy Processes” is gaining momentum. Food security audits of university programmes to determine how they are aligned with food security policies and programmes have begun. Professor Arjen and Drs. Bello, Wageningen University and Research centre in collaboration with Dr Newton Nyairo, Kenyatta University conducted the first audit at Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya in early February. The AISHE tool that was co-developed by CTA, WUR and partner universities and networks, was used for undertaking the audits. Dr Nyairo said “In my opinion and in the opinions of our guests, it was a successful event. We managed to gather both students and lecturers and we had good facilitation in carrying out the self-assessment”. Audits were also conducted at Sokoine University, Tanzania and The University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago during the month of Ferbruary. The audit of the University of the South Pacific’s curriculum, research and outreach programme will take place in Fiji in early March 2013. Earlier: http://knowledge.cta.int/en/Dossiers/CTA-and-S-T/Developments/CTA-WUR-ACP-Universities-begin-audits-Mainstreaming-tertiary-education-in-ACP-ARD-policy-processes-Increasing-food-supply-and-reducing-hunger
7/03/2013
Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES): a new earth observation initiative in Africa
The Monitoring of Environment and Security in Africa (MESA, 2013-2018) will bridge the African Monitoring of Environment for Sustainable Development (AMESD) programme (ending June 2013) with the follow-up Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative. MESA will address the needs for improved management of natural resources and environmental security towards sustainable development in Africa, at continental, regional and national levels. Monitoring of soil and water conditions for agriculture, tracking desertification, providing information to policy makers about the effects of climate change and reducing the risks of natural disasters are all areas where MESA will bring added value. http://au.int/amesd/home/144-mesa-a-leap-forward-for-earth-observation-applications-in-africa-.html (AMESD, 21/02/2012)
7/03/2013
The Scinnovent Centre launches its Strategic Plan for the next five years (2013–2017)
The emphasis of the Scinnovent Centre is on understanding the barriers to the adoption and use of science, technology and innovation (ST&I) knowledge for wealth and employment creation. Its work focuses on three possible barriers namely: (i) Policies and legal frameworks that shape the incentive structures for the application of ST&I: (ii) Institutions including the rules, norms, attitudes, habits and mindsets that shape how people view and respond to science, innovation and entrepreneurship; and (iii) Capabilities (the technical, organisational and managerial skills required to turn ST&I into businesses and social enterprises).In its first inaugural newsletter, the Centre details its strategic plan for 2013-2017, the objectives of which are: (i) to generate evidence to support policymaking and implementation: (ii) to strengthen skills and shape attitudes and mindsets, and (iii) to facilitate interactive and joint learning, networking and dialogue.(Scinnovent, 11/2012)
11/02/2013
Global database on the Implementation of Nutrition Action (GINA)
The Global Database on the Implementation of Nutrition Action (GINA) is an interactive platform for sharing standardized information on nutrition policies and action, i.e. what are the commitments made and who is doing what, where, when, why and how (including lessons learnt). Users can apply this tool to: Map nutrition policies and action; Link policies and action to nutrition status indicators; Monitor implementation of key nutrition action; Identify overlaps and gaps; Share experience on implementation practices. The GINA policy section tracks commitments to ensuring good nutrition demonstrated in policy documents. The documents are sometimes specific for nutrition, e.g. national nutrition policies or vitamin A strategies, other times they have a broader scope, e.g. health or agriculture sector strategies, development plans. They include policies, strategies, action plans and legislations. Visit GINA’s website.
11/02/2013
Feedipedia: an online encyclopaedia of animal feeds
Feedipedia replaces the FAO's AFRIS website and supplements the work done by the Association Française de Zootechnie (AFZ) and INRA on composition and nutritive value tables for raw materials intended for livestock. This online database is intended for anyone researching animal feeds. It provides: (i) quality information, with references (description, distribution, constraints on use, environmental impact, etc.) as well as; (ii) quantitative information (composition and nutritive value tables) on feeds. 201 sheets describing the different products obtained from a given plant or raw material and providing up-to-date information on more than 600 feeds and fodder types, are available. The information has been compiled by more than 25 researchers and engineers from the AFZ, CIRAD and INRA, based on bibliographical references from the scientific and technical literature. Visit Feedipedia’s website.(via CIRAD, 21/11/2012)
11/02/2013
Vertical farming sprouts in Singapore
Vertical farming systems are meant to service urban centres where arable land is scarce. This particular method requires more energy and technical skills than the average ‘horizontal’ greenhouse. However, vertical farming or, at the least, some of its most basic principles could be adapted to small scale urban farms in developing countries, when space becomes scant.(NPR, 6/11/2012)
11/02/2013
Research4Life publishers extend open and low-cost access partnership through 2020
Over 6,000 institutions in more than 100 developing countries will continue to benefit from free or low cost access to peer-reviewed online content from the world’s leading scientific, technical and medical publishers. Research4Life is the collective name for four public-private partnerships; Access to Research Initiative (HINARI, WHO), Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA, FAO), Online Access to Research in the Environment (OARE, UNEP), and Online Access to Research for Development and Innovation (ARDI, WIPO) which seek to provide the developing world with access to critical scientific research. In November 2012 the Research4Life partners announced that they had agreed to extend their partnership through 2020.(Research4Life via AIMS, 14/11/2012)
8/02/2013
Phytotracker: an information management system for easy recording of plants, seeds and plasmids
A large number of different plant lines are produced and maintained in a typical plant research laboratory, both as seed stocks and in active growth. These collections need careful and consistent management to track and maintain them properly, and this is a particularly pressing issue in laboratories undertaking research involving genetic manipulation due to regulatory requirements. Phytotracker is a laboratory management system/software designed specifically to organise and track plasmids, seeds and growing plants that can be used in mixed platform environments. It utilises the cross-platform Filemaker relational database, which allows it to be run as a stand-alone or as a server-based networked solution, to provide cataloguing and search functions for plasmids, seed batches, seed stocks and plants growing in pots or trays, and allows tracking of each plant from seed sowing, through harvest to the new seed batch and can print appropriate labels at each stage. The software was developed at Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, UK by Jeroen Nieuwland and colleagues. Learn more about the software here.(Plant Methods 2012, 8:43; 13/10/2012)
8/02/2013
Poorer quality wheat when carbon dioxide levels in the air rise
AlphaGalileo reported that researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden found that rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have a negative impact on the protein content of wheat grain and thus its nutritional quality. The results are unequivocal: ‘Elevated carbon dioxide levels often increase the size of the grain yield, but also lead to a reduction in quality in the form of lower protein content’, says Håkan Pleijel, Professor of Environmental Science at the university’s Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences.(via AlphaGalileo, 10/12/2012)
8/02/2013
Can genomics boost productivity of orphan crops?
This opinion piece by Rajeev K. Varshney of ICRISAT and colleagues in Nature Biotechnology explains why the availability of advanced tools to support genomics-assisted breeding, should not be an issue anymore in developing orphan crops, mainly staples. However they note that the ‘magnitude of the breeding effort for those orphan crops and the capacity of adopting modern technologies is extremely variable across developing countries and generally directly related to the health of the national economy’. They believe that ‘centralized service facilities for high-throughput sequencing and genotyping, together with access to genomics and analytical breeding tools, should enhance implementation and adoption of molecular breeding in developing countries’. They recommend that ‘continued training of breeders and geneticists in modern genomics and molecular breeding approaches and their retention in developing countries coupled with adequate institutional and governmental support will be critical for the sustainable and effective integration of genomics-assisted breeding in crop improvement programmes for ensuring food security in developing countries’.Nature Biotechnology 30, 1172–1176 (2012).
8/02/2013
Farmers in East Africa not consulted on draft policy for Plant Variety Protection
East African farmers petitioned the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO), following the latter’s proposed draft of a regional harmonised policy and legal framework on plant variety protection. The draft policy will make it mandatory for small-scale farmers in East Africa to buy all their seeds from multinational firms and stop using seeds from past harvests. The farmers’ group faults the process used to develop the draft policy and the negative impact its adoption would have on small-scale farmers, food security and on agricultural biodiversity. The draft policy will give powers to ARIPO regional offices to grant and administer breeders’ rights on behalf of all the contracting states. It also paves the way for the African Union (AU) to start discussions on the cultivation, import and export of genetically modified crops in Africa at the next AU summit to be held in January 2013. Observers and civil society representatives have criticized these developments as they have had little access to the negotiation table and are asking ARIPO to undertake comprehensive consultations with all relevant stakeholders and desist from rushing governments into adopting the draft legislation.(IP-Watch, 5/11/2012 and The East African, 16/12/2012)
8/02/2013
Study details essential role of trust in agricultural biotech partnerships
In a special supplement in the UK-based journal Agriculture and Food Security, a research team from the Sandra Rotman Centre at the University Health Network and the University of Toronto, after a four year study into what built or undermined trust in scientific collaboration, concluded, that within agricultural biotechnology projects there were six key determinants: honesty, transparency, capability, accountability, solidarity and generosity. The body of work examined this issue in depth, using more than 80 interviews with stakeholders in eight African ag biotech projects spanning seven countries – Burkina Faso, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.(Physorg, 1/11/2012)
8/02/2013
Nigerian universities to develop hybrid sugarcane
The Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria received two concurrent proposals on production of hybrid sugarcane varieties, one from the University of Ilorin and one from the Usmanu Danfodiyo University. To optimize its investment, the Council merged the two projects. The researchers have been scouting the country collecting samples of local varieties with high sugar and alcohol potential to characterize their genetic profiles and to create a genotype for the commercial production of ethanol. The researchers hope to be able to contribute to breaking the cycle of poverty and also provide advice to governments.(AllAfrica, 28/11/2012)
8/02/2013
Guide to good practices for university open-access policies
The Harvard Open Access (OA) Project has released version 1.0 (10/2012) of a guide to good practices for university open-access policies. The guide is based on policies adopted at Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and several other institutions around the world. It includes recommendations that should be useful to institutions using other approaches and those that are interested in considering implementing an OA policy.(Harvard University, 17/10/2012)
8/02/2013
European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) brings together higher education institutions, research centres and businesses and aims to build Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs, a type of cross-border public-private-partnerships). To date, three KICs have been created, focusing on sustainable energy, climate change and information and communication society. The EIT should set up a KIC in 2014 on ‘Food for the future’ that will examine sustainable supply chains. Click to visit the EIT’s website(EIT, 7/11/2012)
8/02/2013
CTA / WUR / ACP Universities begin audits – Mainstreaming tertiary education in ACP ARD policy processes: Increasing food supply and reducing hunger
CTA, Wageningen University and Research centre (WUR) and ACP partner universities will begin audits of ACP university teaching, research and outreach programmes as part of the joint project Mainstreaming Tertiary Education in ACP ARD Policy Processes: Increasing Food Supply and Reducing Hunger which was launched in 2012. The audits will take place in February 2013 in Kenya, Tanzania, Fiji and Trinidad and Tobago. These will be followed by audits in Burkina Faso, Niger and Senegal in March/April.The project-team comprising experts from WUR and the ACP partner university will carry out the institutional analysis, using the Auditing Instrument for Sustainability in Higher Education (AISHE) which the team members have developed. This includes a review of the curriculum that supports ARD policy objectives as they relate to food security. This will also provide an overview of events and trial and error activities that have been occurring in the past. The following questions will be answered: What is being done within the university to address the increase of food supplies and the reduction of hunger? What portfolio of activities and provisions (including, policies, capacity development efforts, existing curricula with courses, modules, research programmes, community outreach, etc.) are already in place for trying to achieve the prioritized ARD goals?
8/02/2013
Documents: Expert Consultation 'Agricultural Innovation Systems' CTA / COS-SiS February 2013
On this page, you will find all the documents (presentations and draft papers) produced for the CTA/CoS-SIS Expert Consultation on Innovation Systems: 'Towards more effective theories of change' 04-06 February 2013, CTA Headquarters, the Netherlands. The programme and concept note of the event can be downloaded here.Scroll down to find the presentation(s) or paper(s) you are looking for.
6/02/2013
Report: Adding value to local foods for food and nutrition security: the role and impact of state marketing boards and agencies (CTA/CCST/ NCST/CARDI/UWI workshop)
Find the draft report below.The Caribbean region is a net importer of food. According to the Regional Food and Nutrition Security Policy (RPNSP), the Caribbean imported US$ 3.5 billion in both fresh and processed foods, primarily from outside the region and this is trending upwards. Changing dietary patterns and more sedentary lifestyles over the years have contributed to the high prevalence of non-communicable chronic nutrition related diseases such as diabetes, cancers and hypertension. However, pockets of malnutrition and under-nutrition still exist in some countries, particularly Haiti and Jamaica. Within the last 20 years or more, marketing boards and small and medium-scale food processing enterprises have expanded but they face several challenges; technological, logistical and financial, in accessing and processing locally grown foods e.g. root crops, fruits and vegetables, dairy, fish, poultry and other livestock. At the same time, consumers have been confronted with higher food prices for local and imported foods.In 2010, the Caribbean Research Innovation and Entrepreneurship Network (RIENet – www.rienet.net) was launched following a joint CTA/CCST workshop in Jamaica in 2009. It presently comprises over 400 members and includes an online facility. About 50% of the content on the website is generated by network members from the small and medium scale enterprises, industry and public sector associations and the research and academic community. The goal of this present initiative is to leverage the RIENet and its alliances to act as a catalyst for strengthening value-addition capability and improving the food and nutrition situation in the Caribbean.Download the programme, and the presentations on cassava alternative products and on the role and impact of marketing boards.
7/12/2012
India puts GM food crops under microscope
Developing countries are currently building their capacity in food-/biosafety standards and procedures while also looking into the legal frameworks that would best address and tackle the potential risks posed by new, untested technologies like genetic modification of food crops. While West Africa (ECOWAS) is drafting a strategic biosafety document, and South Africa is being criticised internally for not having a well-thought-out biosafety legislation (according to the Africa Biosafety Centre), India has decided to impose a moratorium on GM food crops cultivation in the country until its own scientists have conducted the necessary tests and analysis and established whatever there is to establish about GM food crops.IPS News reports on India’s move (27/10/2012)
23/11/2012
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