Developments
News items relevant to the policy dialogue on S&T for Development.
New CABI database drives mobile delivery of agricultural research
Sauti ya Mkulima, Swahili for voice of the farmer, will deliver agricultural information to farmers through their mobile phones. Approximately 250,000 small-holder farmers in Kenya will receive up-to-date, reliable agricultural information to help them increase the productivity of their yields and improve their incomes. In addition to delivering key information the project will also help create a farmer community to share experiences and exchange information about social gatherings, events, and job opportunities. Initially, Sauti ya Mkulima will focus on small-holder Kenyan farmers engaged in maize, banana, mango, rice, beans and horticulture (tomato and black night shade) crops. Information on more crops will be added on a quarterly basis.(CABI ezine, 10/2012)
23/11/2012
Putting farmers first: reshaping agricultural research in West Africa
How agricultural research is funded, organised, controlled and practised can have a huge impact on small-scale producers in the global South. In many countries, such research is driven by external funds, priorities and technological fixes, such as hybrid seeds, which can erode crop diversity. But food producers across the world are beginning to raise their voices to ensure that agricultural research better meets their needs and priorities. This briefing authored by Michel Pimbert, Research Director at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), explains how a series of farmer assessments and citizens’ juries in West Africa has helped farmers assess existing approaches and articulate recommendations for policy and practice to achieve their own vision of agricultural research.(IIED, 01/2012)
23/11/2012
GCARD 2 breakout session 'Innovations for Better Livelihoods'
A diversity of approaches grounded on participatory action research have been developed including notably the concept of Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D). Despite the conceptual agreement around these approaches and the promise they hold, there are also concerns, not only regarding how these approaches can have impact, but also how they can they do so at scale. Participatory approaches to agricultural research have often been judged to be slow and costly 'boutique solutions' confined to the sites where they work directly. As a result their impact on poverty is considered by some to be marginal when compared with commodity research targeting many millions of people. This link loads a webpage prepared by PAEPARD that list all the presentations given during the GCARD 2 breakout session on 'Innovations for Better Livelihoods', including 'Direct investment by farmer-led research' by Ann Waters-Bayer of the Prolinnova Secretariat, 'Establishing effective livelihood research partnerships for impact at scale' by Patrick Dugan of CGIAR's Aquatic Agricultural Systems research programme, and 'Working with national innovation pilot learning sites and inter-regional innovation platforms' by Wale Adekunle, Director, Partnerships and Strategic Alliances, at the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA). Click to browse all the presentations produced for the GCARD 2 conference.(PAEPARD, 6/11/2012)
23/11/2012
GCARD 2 Briefing paper: ‘Learning and the Empowerment of Youth and Women’ [GCARD 2 Breakout session C2.2]
In 2012, GFAR and partners launched a new mechanism ‘Gender in Agriculture Partnership 2 (GAP2)’ while continuing to provide support to the Young Professionals Platform for Agricultural Research and Development (YPARD). In Africa for example, there are several programs e.g. the ANAFE-SASACID, FARA UniBRAIN, TEAM Africa, AWARD, and USAID’s Borlaug Fellowships, which aim to build up a cadre of professionals who are sufficiently well-prepared, committed and motivated.More specifically, the expected outcome of the session was to agree on collective action and measures to attract, inspire and empower young people and women for transformative agriculture including AR4D systems and agri-enterprise development. The guiding questions were the following: What are the success factors for empowering youth in ARD? And for empowering women in ARD? How different or similar are these factors? What tools can be used for tracking progress? What programs, projects and networks could be linked to help ensure the greatest degree of learning, and impact? What two to three collective actions should we propose for 2012- 2014? What changes and results do we want to share when we return to GCARD in two years’ time? Through a series of presentations this session detailed a number of answers, in the form of lessons and innovations, for moving the GCARD youth and women agenda forward and, therefore, strengthening the foundations for transformative agriculture. It was chaired by Vicki Wilde, AWARD and facilitated by Judith Francis, CTA.Click to read the briefing paper.
23/11/2012
‘Delivering the change together’ – Reflections on GCARD2 by Mark Holderness, GFAR Executive Secretary
The GCARD2 has specifically explored the practical implications of partnership and pathways to impact around the themes addressed by the new CGIAR Research Programmes, helping CRP leaders to now reshape their programmes to meet the needs and expectations of partners. This has led to a range of new commitments to partnership, capacity development and foresight in the CGIAR, as voiced by Frank Rijsberman, CGIAR Consortium CEO.Through the GCARD2 participants have, among others: Considered how AR4D systems can align with major development policies being drafted by the G8, G20 and the post-2015 objectives. Repositioned women farmers’ needs firmly at the centre of AR4D processes. Directly engaged the voices of youth into consideration of the issues involved. Developed and agreed collective actions that will bring together diverse foresight analyses, particularly exploring the future for smallholder farming. Brought a range of innovative agricultural research-for-development agendas to centre stage: household nutrition, gender-based needs, attracting young people into agriculture, meeting the needs of communities shattered by protracted crises, linking farmers to markets, adapting to climate change impacts and fostering community-centred innovation were all addressed as key agendas alongside actions generating productive, sustainable and resilient agricultural production systems. Set out what is required for solid actions to track and stimulate investments and returns and make these more effective and comprehensive, linking public, private and civil mechanisms. Agreed practical concerted actions to develop required capacities at national, regional and global levels, providing a launch pad for a wide range of new partnerships and collective actions to deliver change, including the CRPs, the Tropical Agriculture Platform of FAO and partners, the Global Confederation of Higher Education Associations for the Agricultural and Life Sciences, the Gender in Agriculture Partnership and the New Extensionist focus of GFRAS. Click to read the reflections by Mark Holderness.
23/11/2012
East African Community (EAC) countries challenged to support science research
East African Community (EAC) countries have been challenged to invest more resources in science, technology and innovation to enable scientists to carry out research aimed at enhancing economic development. Scientists who met in Kampala during the 3rd Scientific Conference on Development Innovations said if science research and innovations are supported, it will reduce pressure on the Lake Victoria basin. According to Professor Shaukat Abdulrazil, the Executive Secretary of National Council for Science and Technology Kenya, science technology and innovation play vital roles towards economic development for the community. He argues that less support has been provided by the member states despite having many institutions that can carry out research development and innovations.(AllAfrica, 29/10/2012)
23/11/2012
Institutional Repository Development: A case study of KARI and KAINet
This presentation illustrates the advantages of the employment of AgriDrupal and AgriOceanDSpace for the two repositories: KAINet (Kenya Agricultural Information Network) and the institutional repository of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). KAINet is a national repository of scientific publications with a focus on agriculture and forestry. It was modelled on WebAGRIS and includes around 35,000 records from which most documents are not openly available. The initial problems with the setup, the service provider server and limited functionalities could be solved by the implementation of secure and manageable tools such as AgriOceanDSpace and AgriDrupal that are available on the AIMS platform. For this reason KAINet was moved to AgriDrupal and the KARI repository was facilitated by the implementation of AgriOceanDSpace. The KAINet team also faced challenges during the implementations, for example, the absence of institutional policies that support open access and the low awareness of copyright issues within the organisation. Another obstacle was the absence of appropriate information management skills. As a preparation for other organisations who want to implement a repository, the speaker underlined the importance of system comparability, technical ICT skills and collaboration within the organisation.
23/11/2012
Opening access to agriculture research products: the experience of CGIAR
This presentation, given during the AIMS Open Access Week (October 2012) identified the current barriers to opening access faced by the CGIAR consortium. The main ones are: Lack of common and consistently-applied standards, too few specialised professional staff, inadequate technical infrastructure, and too few incentives to curate and share data and knowledge. The key activities that led the consortium to start opening access to its data and knowledge products included the CGIAR Principles on Management of Intellectual Assets, which provided a good legal framework and enabling environment. This policy recognised the CGIAR research outputs (including data and data sets) as international public goods. The Triple-A framework (Availability, Accessibility and Applicability of the CGIAR Research Outputs) provided a strategy of making CGIAR research available widely, with a certain success.(via FAO AIMS, 23/10/2012)
23/11/2012
Access barriers relegating Africa to invisible research contributor
Talking to Engineering News Online, the South African Minister of Science and Technology, Derek Hanekom, at the Berlin 10 Open Access Conference, in Stellenbosch said that the growth of research in Africa and the ability to find solutions to the continent’s problems will remain limited if African academic libraries continue to have restricted access to official research information. The expense of many academic journals, particularly in science and medicine, limited countries’ access to essential research information. ‘Access barriers sometimes even result in critical, relevant knowledge and research outputs generated in Africa being published in journals overseas, journals that are not affordable to African academic libraries’. He believed that the adoption of open access principles to allow scientific information to be more freely available on the Internet and by removing the financial barriers to accessing scientific information ‘is one of the most progressive ways of growing and showcasing African research’. Read the complete article on this webpage.(Engineering News Online, 8/11/2012)
23/11/2012
Research Uptake: The role of the university communicator
The DRUSSA programme (Development Research Uptake in Sub-Saharan Africa) makes the case for an enhanced role for the communications office in universities, with a focus on this capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Author Lynda Cilliers argues for adding activities such as research, research management, extension and community outreach to the mandate of the ‘university communicator’ (the term is used to encompass a broad category of university communication services). Enhanced communication offices are to make sure a university’s research is communicated far and wide to achieve as much research uptake as possible. Effective research uptake relies on research getting to the public via traditional (print and broadcast) and new media (online and mobile channels), publications and events. Communicating the significance of research to the right policymaker (whether at local, provincial, national or regional level), or to targeted NGOs or international agencies, at the right time, in the right manner and style, and with appropriate policy recommendations, can hold profoundly significant implications for African communities (the ultimate beneficiaries are the public). To learn more about research uptake management, visit DRUSSA.
23/11/2012
Launch of the Pacific Islands Universities Research Network (PIURN)
CTA, UNESCO, USP, UNPG and PACENet hosted a three day workshop at the University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji, between 5-7 November 2012 entitled 'Pacific Islands Regional Universities Network and Science Policy Dialogue: Networking universities and defining a regional science policy framework'.Click to read the programme. Download the communiqué below.
23/11/2012
Experts launch tool for identifying major rice weeds of Africa
A new interactive tool for identifying nearly 200 different weed species of lowland rice in East and West Africa was recently unveiled at the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice). The tool is built on a comprehensive knowledge base that can be accessed online (http://www.afroweeds.org/idao/) and offline on laptops and CD-ROMs or as an app on smartphones and tablet computers.http://www.africarice.org/warda/newsrel-afroweed-oct12.asp
21/11/2012
Agri-ProFocus (APF)
Agri-ProFocus (APF) is a partnership with Dutch roots that promotes farmer entrepreneurship in developing countries. The partnership was founded in 2005 with the aim of rallying together professionals, expertise and resources around a joint interest in farmer entrepreneurship. The Agri-ProFocus network members are organisations and companies that gather, train, connect and provide inputs and credit to farmer entrepreneurs and producer organisations.The network operates both at a Dutch (-based) level and at a developing country level, the latter in so-called Agri-Hubs. By promoting entrepreneurship and connecting producers with national and international markets, Agri-ProFocus members aim to both open up market potential for business in developing countries.http://www.agri-profocus.nl/
20/11/2012
Evaluating the impact of the Vavilov-Frankel Fellowship Programme
This brief from Bioversity International evaluates the impact of the Vavilov-Frankel Fellowships (VFF), which is awarded twice annually to young scientists in developing countries to carry out research plant genetic resources. It reveals that the VFF Programme has met its stated goals of contributing to the scientific capacity of the Fellows and their home institutes, and of fostering the conservation and use of PGR. The evaluation also indicated ways in which the Fellowship Programme could be improved: focus on priority topics, increase engagement with Fellows and increase monitoring of results.(Bioversity, 2012)http://www.bioversityinternational.org/index.php?id=19&user_bioversitypublications_pi1[showUid]=7059
20/11/2012
Pesticide Stock Management System (PSMS)
The Pesticide Stock Management System (PSMS) is a web-based database developed by the FAO designed to facilitate the collection and sharing of information on pesticide stocks, movements and registers of permitted products. It was developed with significant input from national counterparts and is now active in several African and Caribbean countries. Pesticides are regulated by legislation that addresses human health, environmental protection, agricultural practices, international trade, border controls and commerce among other topics. In many countries, legal provisions are outdated and incomplete.FAO has published a Legislative Study and Guidelines on Pesticide Legislation to provide governments with up-to-date advice on pesticides management in agriculture and public health. An important agreement was signed between FAO and the Comité de Liason Europe- Afrique-Caraibes-Pacifique (COLEACP) to promote sustainable strategies on plant protection of horticultural products, pesticide management and good agricultural practices in ACP countries. Follow this link to learn how pesticides management contributes to MEA implementation in ACP countries.(ACP MEAs Newsletter, 06/2012)http://www.acpmeas.info/feature9.asp
20/11/2012
Extended abstracts of the 2012 RUFORUM Biennial Conference
The main objective of the RUFORUM Biennial conferences was to provide a platform for agricultural research for development stakeholders in Africa and beyond to actively exchange findings and experiences, while at the same time learning lessons for improving performance of the agricultural sector and ultimately, people’s livelihoods.The conference brought together a rich diversity of stakeholders in agriculture. It was especially dedicated to graduate students and their supervisors, grantees in RUFORUM member universities and alumni. It also served as a platform for peer review, quality control, mentorship, networking and shared learning. The third Biennial Conference was attended by 657 participants on 24-28 September 2012. Follow this link to access the first of two lists of extended abstracts submitted by participants.(Ruforum, 29/10/2012)http://www.ruforum.org/documents/third-ruforum-biennial-conference-2012-extended-abstracts-part-1-2
20/11/2012
Research shows legume trees can fertilize and stabilize maize fields, generate higher yields
Inserting rows of ‘fertilizer trees’ into maize fields can help farmers cope with the impacts of drought and degraded soils, according to a 12-year-long study by researchers at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). They conducted three coordinated experiments, starting in 1991 in Malawi and Zambia, and found that farms that mix nitrogen-fixing trees and maize have consistent and relatively high yields year after year. In Malawi, the highest average maize yield was found in fields that combined both fertilizer trees and inorganic fertilizers, but applied at just half the standard recommended amounts.Maize mono-crops grown with inorganic fertilizers may have higher yield in some years but the yield is less reliable in the long run. Mono-cropping without replenishing soil nutrients in any way – the de facto practice of resource-poor maize farmers – was the least productive and most unpredictable of all.EurekAlert has the report (14/10/2012).http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-10/bc-rsl101112.php
20/11/2012
Controlling the coffee berry borer using integrated pest management
The ‘Plantwise’ initiative, led by CAB International and its partners, has updated its website blog with a post on integrated pest management techniques (developed in Colombia) being established in Papua New Guinea to control the coffee berry borer pest (Hypothenemus hampei, a tiny beetle). Coffee berry borer can potentially be successfully managed using an integrated approach with minimal input of broad spectrum insecticides, providing there is some initial investment for added labour costs involved with monitoring and harvesting the crop.The challenge now is to demonstrate to farmers and land managers how the IPM techniques work and to continue improving the techniques. The initial study, conducted in Colombia, which the PNG project follows, produced the paper (open access) ‘Implementing an Integrated Pest Management Program for Coffee Berry Borer in a Specialty Coffee Plantation in Colombia’. The blog post also lists several other relevant links to IPM and coffee.(CABI Plantwise, 6/11/2012)http://blog.plantwise.org/2012/11/06/bean-and-gone-controlling-the-coffee-berry-borer-using-integrated-pest-management/OA paper: http://dx.doi.org/10.1603/IPM11006
20/11/2012
Cook Islanders grow sustainable food using 'aquaponics'
SciDev.net reports on a recent pilot aquaponics experiment underway in the Cook Islands. The project combines aquaculture (raising aquatic animals like fish in tanks) and hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in symbiosis, a strategy that can be replicated in other island nations. The project's long-term objective is to give Pacific islanders – who are facing climate-related issues such as drought and fish poisoning – a way to sustainably grow crops using minimal water and no pesticides.This aquaponics project is a great example of successful partnership: it is the brainchild of Pacific Islands Trade and Invest, the business arm of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, which has teamed up with the New Zealand and Cook Islands governments to make it happen.(SciDev.net, 26/10/2012)http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/farming-practices/news/cook-islanders-grow-sustainable-food-using-aquaponics-.html
20/11/2012
Scientists aim to sustainably outsmart 'super weeds'
Researchers at Cornell University are working on a long-term solution to ‘super weeds’ – those resistant to the herbicide glyphosate – as these weeds are cutting crop yields and raising costs for farmers, who have to spray more and with different chemicals. Three new glyphosate-resistant (GR) weed species have been documented since January 2012, for an overall total of 24.The agrichemical industry has responded by developing new transgenic crops that are resistant to multiple herbicides. Matthew Ryan, an assistant professor of crop and soil sciences, and Thomas Bjorkman, an associate professor of horticultural sciences, say this response is not a long-term solution. ‘The industry's solution doesn't get at the problem of using a single tactic for weed management. It's not just herbicides. Overusing any one method of weed management, even hand weeding, can create selection pressure on weeds to build resistance’, said Ryan.Instead, the two scientists are promoting integrated weed management (IWM) strategies, which include tactics such as cover cropping, mechanical cultivation, mowing, mulching, crop rotation and targeted herbicide application. Prevention is, however, a tough sell, says Ryan, for those farmers who aren’t currently battling GR weeds.(Cornell Chronicle summarised by Meridian Institute, 22/10/2012)http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Oct12/CALSWeeds.html
20/11/2012
E-mail Newsletter
Interact with us
Contact us
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feeds
Members
- AFAAS Agricultural Extension Week 2013
- March 2013 K4D Newsletter
- Mitigating the impacts of drought in the Caribbean
- Synthesis Workshop on Integrated Seed Sector Development ISSD - Project phase II
- Top 20 finalists of the 3rd Africa-wide women and young professionals in science competitions
- Small ruminant geneticist
- Research associate (yam breeding)
- Research on pastoral meat value chain
- Call for submissions on the Water-Energy-Food Security Nexus
- Call for project proposals 2013 - Resources for thesis research
- Scientific and technological exchange 2013
- Global Forum on Innovation and Entrepreneurship
- International Conference on Science and Technology for Economic Diversification INSCITED 2013
- International Conference on Global Food Security
- Africa Climate Conference 2013
Links
