Developments
News items relevant to the policy dialogue on S&T for Development.
World crop diversity survives in small farms from peri-urban to remote rural locations
As much as 75% of global seed diversity in staple food crops is held and actively used by a wide range of smallholder farmers, with the rest in gene banks. This is the conclusion of a study by Karl Zimmerer, Steven Vanek and colleagues from the GeoSyntheSES (Geographic Synthesis for Social-Ecological Sustainability ) Lab at Penn State University, USA. They looked at new census data from 11 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America and combined the data with field observations to develop an understanding of who is farming what and exactly where. Knowledge of potential problems faced by these farmers and plans for responses to potential disruptions of agriculture are important to preserve diversity and improve food security.(EurekAlert, 13/02/2015)
9/03/2015
Subsoil phosphorus loss: A complex problem with no easy solutions
In its March–April 2015 issue, the Journal of Environmental Quality will include a special section containing papers on ‘Phosphorus Fate, Management, and Modelling in Artificially Drained Systems’. The articles will be published online in mid-March at www.soils.org/publications/jeq (journal subscribers) or http://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/jeq (Digital Library subscribers). (CSA News, 03/02/2015)
9/03/2015
Recent progress of hyperspectral imaging on quality and safety inspection of fruits and vegetables
Hyperspectral imaging (HSI), a rapid, non-destructive, and chemical-free method, is now emerging as a powerful analytical tool for product inspection by simultaneously offering spatial information and spectral signals from one object. This paper focuses on recent advances and applications of HSI in detecting, classifying and visualizing quality and safety attributes of fruits and vegetables. First, the authors describe the basic principles and major instrumental components of HSI, and summarize commonly used methods for image processing, spectral pre-treatment and modelling. Most important, the authors provide morphological calibrations that are essential for non-flat objects as well as feature wavebands extraction for model simplification. Second, in spite of the physical and visual attributes (size, shape, weight, colour and surface defects), the paper reviews applications from the last decade categorized according to textural characteristics inspection, biochemical components detection, and safety feature assessments. Finally, it discusses the technical challenges and future trends of HSI. (Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, 20/01/2015)
9/03/2015
Reducing post-harvest losses in South Asia's mango orchards
The biocompound hexanal – an artificially synthesized version of a natural substance produced by injured plants, could be used to reduce post-harvest losses. Scientists from Canada, India and Sri Lanka have tested the biocompound by spraying small concentrations in mango orchards and found that ripening of the fruits was delayed by three weeks, enabling farmers to earn up to 15% more for their crop. Once the crop is harvested, hexanal-sprayed mangoes also have a much longer shelf life—up to 26 days in cold storage and 17 days at room temperature. In another test, fruits retained their quality for much longer when packed in boxes of hexanal-impregnated banana fibres. (IDRC, 17/01/2015) Download the publication
9/03/2015
On-farm system turns rice plants into biofuel and fodder
Japanese researchers at the National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences and National Agricultural Research Organization have successfully developed an efficient on-site ethanol production system with non-sterilized whole rice crop round bales. The solid-state fermentation system produces biofuel and animal feed at the same time without any off-site processing. The technology involves wrapping rice plants grown to feed livestock along with yeast, enzymes and bacteria into a bale covered with a plastic film, and capturing the ethanol produced by the resulting fermentation. (Biotechnology for Biofuels, 30/01/2015) Read also SciDev’s commentary.
9/03/2015
Sugarcane bioproducts: research priorities
CIRAD is now investigating how special types of sugarcane could be used to generate electricity on a large scale. This type of cane, called ‘fuel cane’ and ‘keeps mills turning’, could also become a major source of electricity in future in countries such as Réunion, Guadeloupe and Martinique. It corresponds to high-biomass varieties that produce much more biomass than traditional varieties grown for their sugar. This could foretell a new ‘fibre cane’ supply chain, alongside the traditional cane-sugar-rum chain. (CIRAD, 27/01/2015)
9/03/2015
70 top African women agricultural scientists from 11 countries chosen
On 18 February 2015, the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) announced the winners of its 2015 fellowships: 70 top African women agricultural scientists from 11 African countries. AWARD fellowships are granted on the basis of each scientist’s intellectual merit, leadership capacity, and the potential of her work to improve the livelihoods of African smallholder farmers, most of whom are women. This year’s winners were selected from among an impressive cadre of 1109 applicants and will benefit from AWARD’s two-year career-development program that is focused on accelerating agricultural gains by strengthening their research and leadership skills. (AfricanBrains, 18/02/2015)Download the list with the AWARD 2015 Fellowship Laureates
9/03/2015
The Ethics of Innovation in Agriculture: Inclusivity and Reflexivity
By Kristal Jones, Research Associate, National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, University of Maryland, USA Kristal Jones asks whose values and which ethics should drive innovation in agriculture and makes the case for an ethic of innovation in agricultural development that is built on the foundation of inclusivity and reflectivity.
8/03/2015
Innovation and Inclusive Development
By Lynn Mytelka, Professorial Fellow, UNU-MERIT, France While many small changes that collectively modify products and processes may open up opportunities for including smallholders in the innovation process, Lynn Mytelka anticipates that there are challenges in developing capabilities, strengthening linkages and building a support infrastructure at the local level.
8/03/2015
Research on Higher Education and Science and Innovation Policy: Policy Implications
By Merle Jacob, UNESCO Chair, Lund University, Sweden Merle Jacob recommends that in the pursuit of providing broad-based education – primary, secondary and tertiary – policy makers should not sacrifice quality, even though the demands, expectations and the diversity of options for higher education in ACP countries have shifted.
8/03/2015
Governance of science, technology and innovation for food security in Africa: A conceptual framework for developing indicators
By John Ouma-Mugabe, Professor Science and Innovation Policy, University of Pretoria, South Africa John Mugabe believes that despite the increasing importance of the governance of science, technology and innovation, there are no conceptual tools or empirically tested indicators – quantitative or qualitative – to provide the evidence base given the complexity of science–technology–society interactions.
8/03/2015
Seed systems, science and policy in East and Central Africa - Online
This unique CTA publication provides insights into the various seed systems, the policy and science environment and the challenges faced by governments, universities, the private sector, farmers and other stakeholders in their efforts to ensure the availability of quality seeds, and to ensure that Africa increases its share of the global seed trade. The publication is the direct output of the CTA/ASARECA Seed Science and Policy ‘learning writeshop’, which was held in conjunction with the 2nd ASARECA General Assembly and Scientific Conference in Burundi in December 2013. The workshop built on the outcomes of CTA’s interventions aimed at increasing the engagement of universities in agricultural and rural development policy processes with a primary focus on the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme in Africa and supporting selected universities to analyze their contributions to the development of an integrated seed sector. It includes the CTA/ASARECA policy brief. The printed version of the publication is also available and the digital version can be accessed here.
8/03/2015
E-version of the Auditing Instrument for Food Security in Higher Education (AIFSHE) tool
The CTA/WUR/ACP Universities Auditing Instrument for Food Security in Higher Education (AIFSHE) is an open source tool that is now available online. In 2013, CTA embarked on a collaboration with the Education and Competence Studies Group and the Centre for Sustainable Development & Food Security of Wageningen University and Research Centre, ten universities in Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific, the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and African regional university networks (ANAFE, RUFORUM, TEAM Africa) to develop the AIFSHE open source tool. In 2014, the draft version of the AIFSHE tool was used by the ACP universities to audit their food security programmes and determine their vision for the future. Since then the tool has been updated, endorsed by several vice-chancellors, principals and deans in regional fora in Africa and the Caribbean, and has been translated into French. The tool is an adaptation of the Auditing Instrument for Sustainability in Higher Education (AISHE), which enables universities to undertake their own self-assessments and to monitor changes over time based on 20 criteria used in the AIFSHE assessment protocol. If you would like to have access to the online tool please send an email to cta@cta.int reference AIFHSE tool, attention Judith Francis.
8/03/2015
ACP Roadmap for unleashing STI for food and nutrition security: Outputs of the CTA international forum, October 2014
The road map to unleash science, technology and innovation (STI) for Food and Nutrition Security (FNS), with a special focus on African, Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) countries, is the direct output of the CTA 2014 international forum on this theme. The forum addressed four strategic issues: novel pathways for agricultural innovation; optimizing resources (human and physical); the enabling policy and institutional environment; and (iv) identifying the way forward for addressing the global FNS challenge.
8/03/2015
CTA/FARA CD-Rom – ‘Feeding 1 Billion in Africa in a Changing World’: Contributions from the 3rd Africa-wide Women and Young Professionals in Science Competitions
This CD-ROM is a compilation of the research of 40 African scientists who participated in the 3rd Africa-wide Women and Young Professionals in Science competitions Feeding 1 Billion in Africa in a Changing World organized by CTA, FARA and partners. The papers provide insights into the research being undertaken by these highly motivated African scientists aimed at resolving Africa’s challenging food and nutrition security situation and the channels they use to communicate their results to influence policy and practice.
8/03/2015
When all models are wrong
More stringent quality criteria are needed for models used at the science–policy interface say Andrea Saltelli of the EC’s Joint Research Centre and Silvio Funtowicz at the University of Bergen, Norway. They argue that simple models could enable scientists and stakeholders to understand how assumptions and outputs are linked and that complex and often over-parameterized mechanistic models should be used only for more speculative investigations outside the policy realm. They present a seven-rule checklist to aid in the responsible development and use of models. These are: (i) use models to clarify, not to obscure; (ii) adopt an ‘assumption-hunting’ attitude; (iii) detect pseudoscience; (iv) find sensitive assumptions before they find you; (v) aim for transparency; (vi) don’t just ‘do the sums right,’ but ‘do the right sums’; and (vii) focus the analysis, don’t do perfunctory sensitivity analyses, merely changing one factor at a time. (Issues in S&T, 30/01/2015)
8/03/2015
Joint EIARD–SCAR working group on agricultural research for global challenges: Policy principles
The Joint EIARD–SCAR Strategic Working Group on Agricultural Research for Global Challenges (ARCH) has recently updated the main Agricultural Research (AR) and Agricultural Research for Development (ARD) policy principles and the linkages between them. It is argued that AR and ARD are increasingly interlinked due to the global scale of challenges such as climate change, food and nutrition security and access to natural resources. This action by the Joint EIARD–SCAR Strategic Working Group ARCH was considered necessary in moving from the Millennium Development Goals towards the Sustainable Development Goals, so as to create sustainable policy alliances on research for global challenges. (PAEPARD, 25/01/2015)
8/03/2015
The Political Economy of Official Statistics: Implications for the data revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa
‘Big data’ has become a topical issue and the recent technological solutions offered by the ‘data revolution’ to improve the capacity of statistical organizations and systems should be stepped up. In this ECDPM policy paper, F. Krätke and B. Byiers note that the ‘data revolution’ rhetoric has so far largely ignored political economy factors, such as historical factors, formal and informal institutional setups and actor incentives. They argue that to make a difference, work towards a ‘data revolution’ must explicitly acknowledge the real political economy challenges on the ground and aim to work within these constraints to improving data, and/or aim to alter the current incentives for producing and using good official statistics. (ECDPM, 12/2014) Read ECDPM’s Policy Brief More information is available on the Informing a Data Revolution website
7/03/2015
Responding to crop failure: Understanding farmers’ coping strategies in Southern Malawi
Farmers are not responding directly to climate variability, but to crop failure, which is influenced by climate stress, as well as other constraints, such as poor soil fertility and lack of agricultural inputs and technologies. This is the conclusion of a study examining farmers’ coping strategies for crop failure and the determinants of their choices using household level data from rural southern Malawi. The study found that coping strategies adopted by households are mostly ex-post measures. The main determinants of the adoption of coping options appear to be education, the gender of the head of household, soil fertility and the frequency of crop failure. The study concludes by recommending that policies for the more efficient communication of climate change threats should emphasize the risk of crop failure. Furthermore, initiatives to assist households to better cope with climate change should take into consideration the local context of decision-making which is shaped by multiple stress factors. (Sustainability, 03/02/2015)
7/03/2015
New tools to breed cereal crops that survive flooding
Increasing the tolerance of cereal crops to low oxygen during flooding is a key target for food security. Scientists at the University of Nottingham, UK, have identified the mechanism used by plants under stress conditions to sense low oxygen levels that could lead to the introduction of advanced breeding techniques to developed cereal crops that are better able to tolerate flooding and other waterlogged conditions. They achieved this breakthrough in their work on barley but it could be applied to other cereals. (University of Nottingham, 05/02/2015)Download the article
7/03/2015
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