PAEPARD

Stakeholder Workshop on Tracking Investments in Agricultural Research for Development

2012-02-10T09:26:00.000-08:00

January 20, 2012. Berlin. With clear recognition by the international community that, given the complexities of agricultural research for development (AR4D[2]), each current system of monitoring investments in AR4D only provides part of the overall picture, a technical workshop on tracking investments in AR4D was organized by GFAR in Berlin at GIZ headquarters.

A group of experts from the diverse monitoring systems presently operating, including representatives of the civil society, met to discuss this topic, to identify possible improvements that could be recommended at donor or recipient levels and to integrate and increase coverage and efficiency of the systems and mechanisms in place for tracking information on AR4D programmes and investments.

GFAR worked with the European Initiative on Agricultural Research for Development (EIARD) to develop the background concept for this meeting, which was supported by funds provided by EIARD under its EC-FSTP supported program. GFAR and others are also active in the Research Working Group of the Global Donor Platform (GDPRD) and took advantage of the GDPRD Annual General Assembly in Berlin, 17-18 January 2012 as a timely opportunity to bring together technical specialists, representatives of regional organizations and donors actively involved in GDPRD & EIARD.

Further references

summary_report_stakeholder_workshop_on_tracking_investments_in_agricultural_research_for_development.pdf
eiard_1.4_donor_support_to_caadp_pillar_4_-_phase_1_appendices_with_eu_logo.pdf
eiard_1.4_donor_support_to_caadp_pillar_4_-_phase_1_report_with_eu_logo.pdf
eiard_1.4_donor_support_to_caadp_pillar_4_-_phase_2_report_with_eu_logo.pdf

First PAEPARD Partnership Inception workshop for the Mauritius Breadfruit sector

2012-02-10T07:49:00.001-08:00

9th and 10th February 2012. The first PAEPARD Partnership Inception workshop for the Mauritius Breadfruit sector consortium was held. The PowerPoint Presentatations presented during the workshop can be viewed below:

PAEPARD PIW1 (Mauritius) - Presentation1

PAEPARD PIW1 (Mauritius) - Presentation 2

More information will be posted on the paepardmauritius-wiki

The Steering Committee meeting of PAEPARD

2012-02-07T06:27:00.000-08:00

6th February, Brussels. The Steering Committee of PAEPARD is the highest organ of the project which decides and approves the policy of the PAEPARD platform proposed by the co-managers and endorsed by the MTM. Its composition is balanced between African and European partners on one hand and between researchers and non-researchers on the other.

The following member institutions of the PAEPARD Steering Committee were represented by their head.

Africa: FARA (Prof.Monty Jones), RUFORUM (Adipala Ekwemu ), SSA-NGOC (Sylvie Mbog from Odeco), PAFFO (Elisabeth Atangana, excused) and PanAAC (Lucy Muchoki).
Europe: EFARD (Ann Waters-Bayer from ETC/Prolinova), AGRINATURA (Dr. Andrew Westby of the Natural Resources Institute/UK), CSA (Marek Poznanski), COLEACP (Catherine Guichard), CTA (Judith Francis)
The European Commission was represented by David Radcliffe (DevCO ARD, Senior Policy Officer, Agricultural Research for Development) and Danila CHIARO (DevCo, programme officer Research in Africa)
Invited: Hans ERICKSSON Mirabel Development Consulting
PAEPARD management and coordination: Dr. Adewale Adekunle, Dr. Jonas Mugabe, Francois Stepman

The Steering Committee of PAEPARD debated:

the PAEPARD Technical and financial report of year 2
the Work plan of the different work packages of PAEPARD for year 3
the Mid Term Review Briefing by the principal evaluator Hans Eriksson

The overall feeling was that PAEPARD's impact has improved considerably in its 2 years of existence. According to David Radcliffe, PAEPARD would gain credibility if consortia supported by PAEPARD would be selected in a call for proposals. 3 out of 19 consortia presently supported by PAEPARD have submitted their research proposal to a call.

It was recommended that in the future final and not draft versions of the technical report are presented to the Steering Committee. All the indicators of the initial logframe should be revisited against their progress to improve the results based reporting.

PAEPARD on Prezi

PAEPARD: ARD funding opportunities

2012-02-05T04:05:00.000-08:00

A G R I C U L T U R E

Ref: HRST/ST/AURG/CALL2/2012/EuropeAid/132-331/M/ACT/ACP
The African Union Commission is seeking proposals for research focusing on the following thematic priorities articulated in Africa’s Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action (CPA) and its Lighthouse Projects: (a) Post-harvest and Agriculture, (b) Renewable and Sustainable Energy, and (c) Water and Sanitation in Africa. The programme is financed through the Financing Agreement between the European Commission and the ACP Group of States under the ACP Research for Sustainable Development Program of the 10th EDF Intra-ACP Envelop. The full Guidelines for Applicants, Application form and other supporting documents are available for downloading from the following Internet Sites:
1. http://www.africahrst.org/stict/rgp
2. http://www.au.int/researchgrant
3. http://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/online-services/index.cfm?do=publi.welcome
The deadline for submission of proposals is April 20, 2012.

Africa-Brazil Agricultural Innovation Marketplace
Third Call for Proposals. The objective of this initiative is to enhance agricultural innovation for development in Africa through partnerships between African and Brazilian organizations. Themes include productivity enhancement; natural resources management; advances in policies, institutions, and markets; and approaches targeted for poverty alleviation. Applications are invited from public and private organizations in Africa in partnership with one or more of Embrapa's centers in Brazil. Projects should be planned and implemented in Africa; proposals should be prepared in English. The priority is for projects in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda. Grants are up to US$80 thousand for projects of up to two years. The closing date for pre-proposals is 29 February 2012.

Agropolis Foundation (France) and CAPES (Brazil)
Research in Agricultural Sciences 2012. The Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES) and the Agropolis Foundation invite proposals for Franco-Brazilian research in agricultural and related sciences. Priority is for integrated and interdisciplinary approaches that bring together biological, engineering, and social and human sciences. Requests for funding should not exceed €100 thousand, with a maximum contribution of €50 thousand from the Agropolis Foundation, for projects of up to two years. Research themes and eligibility criteria are included in the call for proposals. The application deadline is 10 February 2012.

European Commission (EC) - Diversifying Farm Income in Malawi.
The Farm Income Diversification Project (Phase II) for Malawi seeks to improve the livelihoods of rural households through conserving natural resources and strengthening smallholder agriculture. The current call for proposals focuses on post-harvest storage and processing; increasing and diversifying agricultural productivity; and promoting agri-business. Eligibility for grants is open to nonprofit organizations in the EU, the European Economic Area, and EU candidate countries; ACP and least-developed countries (including Malawi); and inter-governmental organizations. Grants will range from €900 thousand to €1.0 million, subject to co-financing requirements. Reference EuropeAid/132284/M/ACT/MW. The closing date for concept notes is 06 February 2012.

Projects in Sub-Saharan Africa 2012-2013.
The Scottish International Development Team announces calls for proposals through the Malawi Development Program and the Sub-Saharan Africa Program (focusing on Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia). Priority areas of support include food security, renewable energy, climate change, and water. Grants are up to £400 thousand for three years in the Malawi program; and an average of about £1.3 million for three years in the Sub-Saharan Africa program. Applicants must have a Scottish presence. The closing dates for applications are 06 February 2012 in the Malawi program, and 02 March 2012 in the Sub-Saharan Africa program. Link Malawi Program Link Sub-Saharan Africa Program

Innovations Against Poverty.
"Innovations Against Poverty" makes grants to private companies that supply services, products, or processes that benefit people living in poverty. Eligibility for grants extends to enterprises that are based in or operate in developing countries in any sectors, e.g., agriculture, energy, natural resources, and all others. Small matching grants are up to €20 thousand (50% of project costs) to explore innovations or new markets. Larger matching grants up to €200 thousand (50% of project costs) support companies to put development projects to market tests, or to adapt existing products to be affordable and accessible by the poor. Applications for large grants require prior submission of concept notes. The third round of applications closes 30 April 2012

Australia-Africa Community Grants 2011-2012.
The AACGS supports community-based activities across Africa. Funding is open to NGOs for projects that promote sustainable economic and social development. Thematic areas include agriculture and food security; environmental awareness; and conservation of natural resources (among others). Grants range from AUD30 thousand to AUD75 thousand (in rare cases, the AACGS will consider requests for larger amounts). The program is managed at Australia's diplomatic missions in Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, and South Africa. Applicants should check the websites of Australia's diplomatic missions in those countries to locate the correct contact and application materials for the AACGS. Applications are accepted throughout the year (i.e., through 31 December 2012).

B I O D I V E R S I T Y

Fondation Ensemble - Programs Fund 2012.
The Programs Fund supports projects in renewable energies, sustainable agriculture, alternative waste management, biodiversity, and others. The Fund makes grants for a minimum of €50 thousand per year for at least two years, up to a maximum of €250 thousand -- limited to 50% of total project costs. Eligible countries are in Africa are: Benin & Mozambique.. The deadline for applications (French or English) is 12 February 2012.

AXA Research Fund - Calls for Proposals 2012.
The AXA Research Fund supports research to help understand risk management and prevention, including risks related to natural disasters and climate change. The Fund calls for Projects applications. Applications can be submitted by pre-registered research institutions in EU member states and collaborating countries in the FP7 research program (including a number of developing countries). Closing date: 08 March 2012.

New England Biolabs Foundation -- Grassroots Conservation.
The Foundation makes grants to grassroots and charitable organizations to support conservation of biological diversity; ecosystem services; community food security; and marine environment. The geographical scope focuses on selected countries of the Gulf of Honduras; the Andean region; and West Africa (in addition to Papua New Guinea, Tanzania, Nicaragua, and El Salvador). Maximum grant size is US$10 thousand, but most grants are smaller. The next deadline for letters of inquiry is 15 February 2012.

C L I M A T E C H A N G E

Global Development Alliance, Annual Program Statement 2011.
The Global Development Alliance is a program to leverage resources for development in a ratio of at least 1:1 with USAID. The current Annual Program Statement (APS) includes priority themes in agriculture and livestock, water resources, and climate change (among others). USAID invites partnership proposals from private businesses, social entrepreneurs and investors, foundations, private philanthropists, diaspora communities, and other non-governmental organizations in the USA and worldwide. Matching resources can be cash and/or the value of in-kind contributions. The deadline for concept papers has been extended to 29 February 2012.

French National Agency for Agricultural Research (L'ANR)
Agrobiosphère 2012. The ANR's research in "Agrobiosphère" focuses on the relationship between agriculture and ecosystems in the context of global warming, threats to biodiversity, and related issues. France's AIRD (Agence inter-établissements de recherche pour le développement) makes grants to co-finance research teams from developing countries to participate in Agrobiosphère. The closing date to apply is 22 March 2012.

Workshop on information & communication management for PAEPARD

2012-02-01T06:53:00.000-08:00

31st of January - 1 February 2012. Montpellier. PAEPARD organised a workshop on information & communication management for the partners. The objective was to understand the different stakeholders’ tools and needs in terms of communication and information in partnerships & to adapt the existing PAEPARD tools to the stakeholders’ needs.

The main tools built by WP3 of PAEPARD are:

Website. Ready to be used but need discussion on content and how to feed it.
PAEPARD blog
D-groups. Are currently used by PAEPARD and by some subgroups to discuss thematic and share documents.
Matching tool on the PAEPARD website (wiki). The objective is to match different stakeholders around specific thematic of interest by using a database (based on previous mapping) and key words. The database would contain information about organizations (identity, thematic of interest/work, etc.). This tool is ready but the database is to be completed and the modalities of use are to be defined (types of data, privacy

The results of the workshop are:

A simple methodology is applicable to all categories of stakeholders represented at the workshop: farmers' organizations, NGOs, private sector, research
A tool to collect and interpret data gathered from this methodology.
A comprehensive and precise overview of the intentions, the opportunities and the constraints of the participants on the development of multi-stakeholder partnerships
Recommendations to strengthen partnerships and to circumvent bottlenecks.
A practical approach to assess the practices and tools used in the partnership process
A synthetic vision at each category of stakeholder of existing partnership mechanisms and tools used to implement.
Recommendationson improvingpracticesand tools already implemented.
A good knowledge and understanding of the tools developed in the project PAEPARD and their potential usefulness in the context of earch and development partnership
The possible selection of new tools not yet implemented at different levels (central level or at the stakeholder level)
Requests for modification of the tools currently in use so that they meet expectations
An initial mastery of tools ensuring an autonomous use by participants of these tools after the workshop
The exhaustive list of tasks to be done to implement the recommendations of the workshop.
Prioritization of these tasks according to the constraints of the participants
The development of a realistic road map for a first level of early implementation of the recommendations.
The selection of information to be disseminated
A selection of tools for communication and information within the project team
A clear procedure for the implementation of a strategy of information and communication within the project team
A consensus view on the topics discussed and proposals for implementation.
These proposals were forwarded to the Communication Working Group of Work Package 3

Growth and Productivity in Agriculture and Agribusiness: Evaluative Lessons from World Bank Group Experience

2012-02-01T05:51:00.000-08:00

Enhanced agricultural growth and productivity are essential if we are to meet the worldwide demand for food and reduce poverty, particularly in the poorest developing countries. Between 1998 and 2008, the period covered by this evaluation, the World Bank Group provided $23.7 billion in financing for agriculture and agribusiness in 108 countries (roughly 8 percent of total World Bank Group financing), spanning areas from irrigation and marketing to research and extension. This was, however, a time of declining focus on agricultural growth and productivity by both countries and donors.

The cost of inadequate attention to agriculture, especially in agriculture-based economies, came into focus with the food crisis of 2007–08. The crisis added momentum to an emerging renewal of attention and stepped-up financing to agriculture and agribusiness at the World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC), as well as at several multilateral and bilateral agencies. World Bank financing rose two and a half times from 2008 to 2009, although this increased lending seems to have been accompanied by a decline in analytical work, which this review finds valuable in achieving results. This evaluation seeks to provide lessons from successes and failures in the Bank Group’s activities in the sector to help improve the development impact of the renewed attention. More >

Agricultural Innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa: experiences from multiple-stakeholder approaches

2012-01-25T04:51:00.000-08:00

Agricultural innovation in sub-Saharan Africa: experiences from multiple-stakeholder approaches.
Adekunle AA, Ellis-Jones J, Ajibefun I, Nyikal RA, Bangali S, Fatunbi O and Ange A.
2012.
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), Accra, Ghana
ISBN 978-9988-8373-2- 0 (print)
ISBN 978-9988-8373-2- 4 (pdf)
160 pages

The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) has promoted the integrated agriculture research for development (IAR4D) approach based on an innovation
systems framework. This brings together multiple actors along a commodity value chain to address challenges and identify opportunities to generate innovation. The approach creates a network of stakeholders or partners who are able to consider the technical, economic, social, institutional, and policy constraints in an environment. The network facilitates research and learning that not only generates new knowledge, products or technologies, but also ensures the use of research products.

The IAR4D approach is being tested at three pilot research sites across SSA: in Eastern and Central Africa around Lake Kivu (Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda); Southern Africa (Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe); and West Africa (Niger and Nigeria). This has involved the establishment of 36 stakeholder innovation platforms thus: creating functional linkages between farmers, the private sector, and service organizations; integrating productivity, natural resource management, markets and policy; establishing effective mechanisms for organizing and learning processes for farmers; and ensuring action research oriented toward problem-solving and impact. There are strong indications that IAR4D is an effective concept, applicable across a broad spectrum of agricultural systems.

This review examines the experiences of 21 case studies covering a wide range of African farming systems over broad geographic and historical landscapes. Each case study was reviewed by accessing and analysing existing data sources, published material and grey literature. It also involved important consultation with stakeholders in each country.

Commodity associations: a tool for supply chain development?

2012-01-25T04:42:00.000-08:00

Commodity associations: a tool for supply chain development?
Les associations interprofessionnelles sont-elles un outil de développement des filières?
by
Andrew W. Shepherd
Rural Infrastructure and Agro-Industries Division (now value chain expert at CTA Wageningen)
Jean-Joseph Cadilhon
Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
and
Eva Gálvez
Rural Infrastructure and Agro-Industries Division
FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 2009, 53 pages

Commodity associations are organizations that bring together a wide spectrum of interest groups related to a particular commodity or sector (such as horticulture) in a particular country, whether the commodity is for export, for the domestic market or for both. Such associations can draw membership from individual farmers or their associations, from crop buyers, processors, distributors and exporters, as well as from suppliers of support services. Sometimes government agencies are also members.

Drawing on a literature review and case studies of relevant associations in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the paper explores the role of commodity associations in improving supply chain performance. There have been significant donor efforts to promote commodity associations recently, although some have encountered problems. Thus donor organizations may find the paper to be of use.

FARA hosts seminal meeting on capacity building

2012-01-20T02:23:00.000-08:00

A stakeholder consultation & project inception workshop on Scientific and institutional capacity building to improve agricultural production and food security in partner countries in sub-Saharan Africa was held at the FARA Secretariat 9-12 January 2012. Opening presentations were delivered by Dr David S Jackson, Associate Dean & Professor, and Prof Thomas Hoegemeyer, Professor of Practice University, both of the University of Nebraska; Prof SK Offei, Provost of the College of Agriculture & Consumer Sciences, University of Ghana – Legon; and Dr Ramadjita Tabo, Deputy Executive Director, FARA.

With a view toward addressing food security needs and escalating food prices by providing good education for current and future African agricultural scientists and producers, FARA is partnering with the University of Nebraska and the University of Ghana-Legon to pioneer a capacity building project to strengthen agricultural education and training in African countries. Click here to read the Concept Note.

AFRICAN UNION RESEARCH GRANTS: OPEN CALL FOR PROPOSAL 2012

2012-01-20T00:51:00.000-08:00

AFRICAN UNION RESEARCH GRANTS
OPEN CALL FOR PROPOSAL 2012 : DEADLINE 20 APRIL 2012 at 1700H (+3 GMT)

The African Union Commission is seeking proposals for research focusing on the following thematic priorities articulated in Africa’s Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action (CPA) and its Lighthouse Projects: (a) Post-harvest and Agriculture, (b) Renewable and Sustainable Energy, and (c) Water and Sanitation in Africa. The programme is financed through the Financing Agreement between the European Commission and the ACP Group of States under the ACP Research for Sustainable Development Program of the 10th EDF Intra-ACP Envelop.

The full Guidelines for Applicants, Application form and other supporting documents are available in ENGLISH and in FRENCH

WIPO's World Intellectual Property Report 2011

2012-01-07T08:03:00.000-08:00

WIPO's World Intellectual Property Report 2011 focuses on the Changing Face of Innovation. It describes key trends in the innovation landscape - including the increasingly open, international and collaborative character of the innovation process; the causes of the increased demand for IP rights; and the rising importance of technology markets.

Against this background, the Report explores the ways in which economists' views of the IP system have evolved. Finally, it takes a closer look at collaborative innovation models, analyzing how best to balance private collaboration and competition, and how best to harness public research for innovation.

Feeding the Next Generation: Science, Business, and Public Policy

2012-01-06T05:27:00.000-08:00

Discussion Paper 2011-09, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

December 2011

Authors: Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa, Josh Drake, Former Belfer IGA Fellow 2009-2011, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, L. Val Giddings

Today, three of ten people on the planet rely on others to grow their food and 900 million remain chronically food insecure. By 2050 the global demand for agricultural production is expected to double. Half of the global population will live in cities and will need to be fed through market channels. Meeting these demands will require significant increases in agricultural productivity. Modern, science-driven farming including genetically modified crops represents the best chance of generating the increases in agricultural productivity necessary to feed our future.

This paper's overall conclusion is that genetically modified crops can and should play a critical role in agricultural productivity. It is offers a roadmap for those interested in objectively evaluating both the risk and benefits of biotechnology in agriculture.

Inventory of Foresight Thinking in Agriculture

2012-01-04T03:39:00.000-08:00

Through the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), an inventory by means of electronic media is now being launched. This inventory aims to identify and record forward-thinking activities that have been developed, in a systematic and documented way, on issues related to agriculture, rural development and farming systems for the next 10-20 years.

This inventory should help identify a) individuals and organizations that are or have recently been engaged in such forward-thinking activities and b) what future scenarios were envisaged. It is open to anyone who has engaged in this type of activity over the past five years.
The objectives of this inventory are to inform: i) whether and how these activities have helped to change the research and innovation in agriculture and rural development and ii) what the major challenges are for the future.
This inventory will contribute to the operation of the Global Foresight Hub which will enable all those engaged in forward thinking to share experiences, advances, to exchange with others on tools and methods, and to get linked with decision makers (see http://www.egfar.org).

Participation in the implementation of this inventory is thus an opportunity to share work, publications and interact with other professionals. Select the link in your preferred language.(English)(French)(Portuguese)(Spanish)(Arabic)(Russian)(Chinese). The survey link is accessible from 07 December 2011 to 15 January 2012.

Blog post on African foresight capacity:

A virtual foresight Academy for Africa?

31 Mar 2010. Parallel session "Thinking forward: better predicting and adressing future needs"on 30th of March at the GCARD conference in Montpellier. Interview with Ralph Von Kaufmann (FARA) "Without their own foresight capacity, GFAR developing regions cannot properly assert their perspectives in discussions and consultations on international agricultural research in which they have the greatest vested interest.

Other relevant postings:

Conference on Scientific Support for Food Security and ... Oct 12, 2011. The European Commission's Joint Research Centre and the UK Government Office for Science (Foresight) co-organised on 30 March 2011 in Brussels a High Level Seminar
Role of food and agriculture research at the UN high level meeting Sept. 7, 2011. Presentation by Tim Lang, City University London, at the IFPRI Policy Seminar
Leveraging Agriculture for Improving Nutrition and Health February 10 - 12, 2011 IFPRI 2020 conference at a glance : Leveraging Agriculture for Improving Nutrition and Health
The Future of Food and Farming: Challenges and ... Feb 01, 2011. 'The Future of Food and Farming: Challenges and choices for global sustainability' report by the British government’s Foresight think tank
PAEPARD: Agrimonde. Scenarios and Challenges for Feeding the ... Jan 14, 2011. A book summarizing the report on the Agrimonde foresight study initiated by CIRAD and INRA on global agriculture and food between now and 2050.
Assessments/Projections/Foresights on Agricultural research for Development 25th-26th February. 2010 Second workshop of the Assessments/Projections/Foresights Seminar
The pro business approach to agricultural development 26th of February 2010. Interview with professor Michel Petit (ex World Bank) (CIHEAM-IAMM) at the Foresight meeting held at CTA
Interview with Hans Herren on innovative partnerships 26th of February 2010. Interview with Hans Herren at the Foresight meeting held at CTA

Announcement: Innovation System Perspective in Agriculture and Rural Development for smallholder farmers

2012-01-04T03:23:00.000-08:00

The eleventh regional conference of the Southern and Eastern African Association of Farming Systems Research-Extension (SEAAFSRE) will be held on 19-21 November 2012 in South Africa. The conference, whose theme is ‘Innovation System Perspective in Agriculture and Rural Development for smallholder farmers’ is intended to share experiences and best practices in moving agriculture from subsistence to commercial among resource-constrained farmers in the region. In particular, the conference will share practical experiences on the role innovation, agricultural training, research and extension can play in enhancing a value chain orientation in smallholder agriculture.

Call for papers
Papers are invited on research and other experiences on the above theme. Those working, or have worked, on these issues are particularly encouraged to submit their papers. While conceptual papers will be considered, preference will be given to papers based on practical experiences. Papers will be considered under the following sub-themes:

Innovation systems in smallholder farming
Farmer level value chain orientation
Value chain oriented policies
Capacity building

The deadline for submitting abstracts is 31st March 2012 and the deadline for submitting full papers is 30th June 2012. Details on venue, etcetera, will come with the second announcement end of April 2012.

African nations look to India for seeds, farm inputs

2012-01-04T02:32:00.000-08:00

Participants of the 2^nd Africa-India Agricultural Economic Mission
during the Business to Business (B2B) meeting in Hyderabad

11-16 December 2011. Hyderabad, India. 2nd India-Africa Economic Mission laid groundwork for South-South collaboration. It was organized by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Brussels-based EMRC International.

The 25-member mission from Nigeria, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Chad, Malawi and South Africa comprised of academicians, planners and strategists, top executives and technical directors of private firms brought together by the economic need and the desire to ensure sustainable development in Africa.

In addition to the discussions, the field visits and the knowledge sharing, several Business to Business (B2B) meetings allowed the participants and their Indian counterparts to get down to business and forge partnerships.

KK Sharma of ICRISAT and Idit Miller
of EMRC International at the B2B meeting.

“It was an eye opener for me. During the B2B, I explored various business opportunities in India. Our population is far less than that of India but still lots of people sleep hungry. I want to use the technologies of India and implement them in our country,” says Mr Muhammed Nurallah Abubakar, Executive Director, Livestock and Fisheries Development and Marketing Company, Federal Ministry of Nigeria. “This was a great initiative by ICRISAT and EMRC. I have been in touch with the ICRISAT office in Nigeria since 10 years to understand various agricultural technologies. Setting up an agribusiness platform in Nigeria will be a great help to our country,” he added.

“B2B meetings are essential and one of the main reasons for taking part in these economic missions. One needs to be introduced to the most fitting business partner,” explains Idit Miller, EMRC International’s VP and Managing Director. “This mission emphasizes the need for private and public sector dialogue and partnerships”.

Related:
8 dec 2011 EMRC supports AFRICA. Video debate on Voxafrica TV with Mr Weinberger who works for the Enterprise and Industry Directorate General of the European Commission in Brussels and with Idit Miller of EMRC. They talk about the promotion of SMEs in Africa.
[the video is 24 minutes but a technical error occurred: the debate is repeated a second time to 47 minutes]

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Criteria missing from climate investments

2012-01-03T08:35:00.000-08:00

DECEMBER 28, 2011. POSTMEDIA NEWS. The International Development Research Centre, that is distributing millions of dollars of the climate funding, said that research is the first step toward identifying credible projects and ensuring federal dollars are spent well.

``This is really kind of a critical priority because in my view, there's a whole lot of noise around (adaptation issues), but not that many effective projects,'' said Mark Redwood, a program leader on climate change and water at IDRC.

IDRC chose seven research projects in Africa, working with local stakeholders that deliver development projects on the ground to find the most effective investment options.

``One thing that they observed and which I also noted is that there are many, many adaptation projects that would not pass basic criteria for a development bank or a private investor,'' said Redwood, who specializes in urban and environmental planning. ``The benefits are difficult to identify, sometimes with climate change adaptation. The field is still sorting itself out a little bit, so basically there's a disconnect . . . between those projects and the number of projects that a development bank could fund.''

Fast-start funding, a key commitment by developed countries in recent international climate change negotiations, was supposed to build a foundation for a global green climate fund, worth about $100 billion per year by 2020, to help developing countries cope with escalating impacts of global warming on their economies and way of life. But lacking any tools to measure the value of dollars spent, the proposed fund is different from the Clean Development Mechanism and other provisions under the Kyoto Protocol that allow private companies or countries to invest in projects that measure and track the level of emissions reductions.

``There's no standardized reporting format (to evaluate the value of fast start funding announcements by countries) and either you believe it or you don't,'' said David Waskow, climate change program director of Oxfam America. ``We don't have those measurements and so we have countries putting out their own numbers and their own formats . . . without any clarity.''

Background:
On November 25, 2011, Canada's Environment Minister, the Honourable Peter Kent, announced funding for seven winning projects from across Africa. Also in attendance at the Ottawa announcement were two of the AARC recipients: Saïd Hounkponou from Benin's Initiatives pour un Développement Intégré Durable and via video from South Africa, Lindiwe Majele Sibanda from the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Network.

AARC supports seven centres of excellence across Africa to enable each to conduct research and strengthen organizational capacity in the field of climate change adaptation. Its goal: to improve the ability of African research centres to deliver scientific advice to decision-makers that will inform national adaptation strategies and investment decisions.

The initiative is a three-year, CA$10 million project managed by IDRC’s Climate Change and Water program and funded through the Government of Canada’s $400 million Fast-start Climate Financing, announced in 2010 as part of Canada’s commitment under the Copenhagen Accord. It builds on the accomplishments of the Climate Change Adaptation in Africa program, a six-year initiative (2006-2012) jointly funded by IDRC and the UK’s Department for International Development.

AARC Research Projects
The AARC initiative supports seven projects across Africa in:

Benin, to build resilience in rural communities threatened by food insecurity and rural poverty due to climate change (led by the NGO Initiatives pour un Développement Intégré Durable);
Burkina Faso, to reduce the risk of food insecurity to farmers in the Sahel, a region that has experienced a decline in rainfall and a high degree of variability to the start of rainy seasons (led by the Institut International d’Ingénierie de l’Eau et de l’Environnement);
Ghana, to inform adaptation strategies that protect the health, livelihoods, and food security of people living in the urban, coastal township of Ga Mashie in Accra (led by the Regional Institute for Population Studies, University of Ghana);
Egypt, to establish an adaptation research centre for the Nile Delta, an area that is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change (led by the University of Alexandria);
Kenya, to investigate climatic risk, vulnerability, and appropriate adaptation strategies in the food crops and livestock production sectors in arid and semi-arid lands (led by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute);
Horn of Africa, to measure the impacts of climate change on agriculture and water resources and recommend feasible adaptation options in Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, and Tanzania (led by the Sokoine University of Agriculture);
Southern Africa, to conduct assessments of household vulnerability and encourage research-based food security policies by linking researchers and policymakers in South Africa, Malawi, Lesotho, and Swaziland (led by the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network).

Emerging Policies and Partnerships under CAADP

2012-01-03T06:53:00.000-08:00

December 2011. IFPRI Discussion Paper 01145. Emerging Policies and Partnerships under CAADP Implications for Long-Term Growth, Food Security, and Poverty Reduction.

The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) is one of the main components of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). CAADP is an initiative launched by the African Union Commission (AUC) in 2002 to serve as a continent-wide framework to facilitate faster agricultural growth and progress toward poverty reduction and food and nutrition security in Africa. CAADP seeks to promote policies and partnerships and raise investments in Africa’s agricultural sector and achieve better development outcomes.

This paper (December 2011, 32 p.) examines the new policy and investment planning and the review, dialogue, and partnership modalities and evaluates their likely impact on future growth and poverty-reduction outcomes.

The emerging trends are encouraging and point in the right direction: growth in the agricultural sector is being sustained; funding levels are rising; the quality of policy and planning documents is getting better; the availability of analytical tools, data, and capacities is improving; and strategic dialogue and partnerships around the agricultural sector are getting stronger and more inclusive.

South Sudan joins ASARECA

2012-01-02T06:02:00.000-08:00

14-16th December 2011. Entebbe, Uganda. The world’s newest country was unanimously accepted to become the 11th member of the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in East and Central Africa (Asareca) during its first general assembly.

According to Harvard professor Calestous Juma, who gave the keynote address, South Sudan will play a key role in developing agriculture in the region by providing opportunities to apply the latest technologies on untested ground.

“South Sudan is lucky because it will get started with the latest and best agricultural technologies as it embarks on developing its economic base,” he said adding that since agriculture is the most viable industry the country can tap into and reap substantially because of being endowed with unfarmed soils and plenty of irrigation water from the Nile, it has potential to feed the region and generate more for selling into a food deficit world.

1st ASARECA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

By an interesting coincidence, a young Sudanese researcher who is studying in Kenya at the Kenyatta University’s department of biotechnology, Rashar Omer, has made history by developing the first drought-resistant maize gene that was unveiled at the conference and named Asareca gene. Slated for commercialisation in 2018, the gene is being touted by scientists who are excited by the breakthrough as having the potential to finally lead Africa to an agrarian revolution that has evaded the continent for decades.(source: The East African 28/12/2011, South Sudan - Africa's Next Farming Frontier)

The Need for Educated People to Take Up Farming

2012-01-02T05:44:00.000-08:00

28 December 2011. allafrica.com. Joseph Nkandu, executive director of Nucafe (National Union of Coffee Agribusiness and Farm Enterprises), believes that for as long as farming is shunned by the well educated people, it will continue to be largely conceived as an occupation for the poor. He says there is a need for a new generation of farmers capable of blending scientific knowledge and entrepreneurial skills for farming to become a paying venture.

"Even in school, agriculture is regarded as a science subject," he says, "and indeed that's what it is. So it must be practiced by well educated people who look at farming with an entrepreneurial mind and are capable of broadening it beyond the farm; by taking the commodity value chain approach, mapping and judging at what level they can make more money."

Educated breed of farmer

Nkandu is a breed of agricultural scientists and social entrepreneurs with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture degree from Makerere and a Masters of Business Administration Degree in Social Entrepreneurship and Management from the Catholic University of Milan, Italy, and despite the fairly prestigious qualifications he holds, he is continuing with coffee farming. He has 60 acres of land at Bunjakko village, Buwama Sub-county in Mpigi District most of which is now already under coffee. He says the market for any form of coffee is not our biggest challenge but rather Africa's entrepreneurship and institutional deficit.

"There is need to institutionalise entrepreneurship especially in the agricultural enterprises beginning with families so that generations after generations go on producing agricultural products, amassing experience and expertise, a practice that has not been here in Uganda and Africa as a whole," Nkandu further says. "The first institution should be the family and the business rotating around the family before expanding it to the community."

Ever since he got that land in Bunjakko, Nkandu and his wife Eva, who is a medical doctor, have been encouraging neighbouring farmers to grow coffee. "That's how the entire village has now become an island of coffee," he said proudly.

A well educated farmer is in a better position to practice scientific farming practices which is key to getting bigger yields. He is likely to keep book records and to search for better markets for his commodity. Governments in Africa must create an environment that fosters a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship among farmers.

Nkandu's advice for educated people in well paying jobs is that they should use their savings to acquire land and become farmers because, according to him, the economic future of our country lies in promoting agricultural innovation and entrepreneurship.

Related:
19-21/03/2012, Accra, Ghana. Conference on “How can farming be made more attractive to young people?” toward a broader analysis of the opportunities and challenges for different categories young people in different situations associated with on-going and likely future changes within the broader agri-food system. Such an analysis should take account of changes not only in food production, but also in processing and transformation, marketing, retail, governance and so on.

The conference will be co-hosted by the Future Agricultures Consortium (FAC) based at the Institute of Development Studies and the Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER).

Climate Analogues: Finding Tomorrow’s Agriculture Today

2011-12-27T08:47:00.000-08:00

Scientists have issued an analysis of East Africa’s future climate as the first step in a new programme that will help farmers grow crops that will best thrive in the changed weather conditions 20 years from now, a new study has shown.

“Climate change will significantly alter growing conditions, but in most places the new farming environment will not be novel in the global context,” said Julian Ramirez, a scientist based at the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture in Colombia and a lead author of the study.

The report is compiled by the Consultative Group on International on International Agricultural Research programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security.

Titled, Climate Analogues: Finding Tomorrow’s Agriculture Today, the report forms the platform of a global programme to exchange knowledge between communities on current agriculture practices that can help maintain productivity in the future, despite potentially dramatic shifts in growing conditions.

Related:
Under Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), researchers have developed a software-based tool that offer farmers a glimpse into their future by identifying places where growing conditions today match those expected in their fields in two to five decades’ time. The tool can be used to link climate and crop models with agricultural technologies, including improved varieties and agronomic practices, by matching sites that could offer ideas for adaptation to shifting climate patterns.

The software offers two interfaces developed for different user groups. The first, known as an R-library - a free software environment for statistical computing and graphics - is targeted at those with some background in programming and statistics. The second is an online interface that draws from the R-library, built for scientists working in agriculture but with more limited technical skills.

The tool uses a series of statistical functions applied onto future and current climate data, as well as input from the user (target-site location and some tool-specific parameters) to find out where the analogue areas of a particular site’s future or current conditions are located. Hence it answers the very important question: how will my site look in 30 or 50 years?

The CCAFS programme will also fund a series of farmer exchanges between South Asia (involving India, Nepal, and Bangladesh) and East Africa (covering Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya). This initiative, called “Farms of the Future”, is being coordinated by social and agro-climate scientists, and aims to evaluate farmers’ responses to changing climatic conditions. The key idea is to use the climate analogue tool to acquaint farmers with their possible climate futures via physical farm visits in different regions of the world.

China's food security challenge: what role for Africa?

2011-12-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

Africa will in the next decade increasingly play an important role in China’s long-term food security agenda as demand for food in the world’s most populous nation threatens to outstrip its supply, according to Standard Bank research analysts Simon Freemantle and Jeremy Stevens.

In their latest paper “China’s Food security challenge: What role for Africa?” published in November 2011 (13 pages), Mr Freemantle and Mr Stevens write that China is facing serious strains on both the demand and supply side of its agricultural sector and will in the next few years have to look externally to supplement its sources of food supply.

Who will feed China? Malthusian concerns around the world’s ability to provide sustenance for a rising population have often, as now, centered on China. With unrivalled agricultural potential, Africa too has been thrust to centre stage. Emotionally-fuelled estimations of China’s agricultural ambitions in Africa too often miss the mark. This paper assesses where (if at all) Africa fits into Beijing’s long-term food security agenda.
Food demand is rising rapidly in China. Rising incomes and urbanisation are leading to dramatic increases in food consumption in China. China now consumes the second most food in the world, behind the United States. It is expected that, by 2015, China’s total food expenditure will double to over USD1 trillion (tr).
Meanwhile, China is facing increasing strains on agricultural supply. Urbanisation and industrialisation are swallowing up farmland, and diminishing water tables. Between 1996 and 2006, China lost 9 million (mn) hectares (ha) of farmland.
Boosting domestic sources of supply will be Beijing’s core response to these challenges. Agriculture’s broader role in maintaining social harmony in China is profound. Fortunately, China has the propensity and ability to boost domestic production. China is a net exporter of food and has enormous stockpiles of most soft commodities. Given pointed state support, China’s agricultural output is expected to swell by 26% to 2019.
However, clear demand overhangs exist, meaning that China will have to seek external sources of nutrition. Two principle channels exist:
First, China will look to enhance trade ties with food exporting nations. Between 2001 and 2010 China’s imports of soybeans rose ten-fold, from USD2.8 billion (bn) to over USD25 bn, and rubber imports from USD2 bn to USD17 bn.
Africa is a bit player in China’s agricultural trade prospectus. 99% of China’s soybean imports come from the Americas, and three-quarters of rubber imports from the rest of Asia. In 2009, China-Africa agricultural trade was just USD4 bn, less than 4% of total trade. A disconnect exists between African agricultural export and Chinese agricultural import dynamics. That said, recent trade growth in certain commodities, such as cotton, has been impressive.
Second, China will align aid and outward investment in agriculture to access new opportunities. Here, Africa’s role is pronounced. While cooperation remains developmental, signs of commercialism and strategic intent are clear. In general, state-owned farming groups carry out Beijing’s agricultural investments in Africa. As of 2009, China had carried out over 200 agricultural projects in Africa. Increasingly, these projects are run on a for-profit basis.
Estimations of Chinese “land grabs” in Africa are overstated. Gulf States, as well as private investors from throughout the developing and advanced world have led the thrust of recent land acquisitions in Africa. Beijing, alarmed by local sensitivities, has remained cautious.
Africa desperately requires capital and skills to elevate food security. Managed well, partnerships with China can be meaningful. However, domestic food security must be placed first. Then, and leveraging Chinese aid, crops suited for China’s demand dynamics can and should be emphasised. Increasingly, green technology will provide cogent opportunities.

AFR-Brazil Ag Innovation Marketplace - third call for proposals

2011-12-27T07:00:00.001-08:00

The Marketplace aims to benefit primarily smallholder producers. The objective of this initiative is to enhance agricultural innovation for development on the African continent through the establishment and strengthening of partnerships between African and Brazilian organizations.

The Marketplace focus on agricultural innovation thus potentially engaging the full range of actors involved in the generation of agricultural knowledge (research, academia, extension, private sector, NGOs, producers, policy makers.

This initiative lead to the generation of concrete and productive partnerships between agricultural research and development organizations in Africa and Brazil, initially through Embrapa, supporting smallholders. Ultimately, it will support the development of a mutually agreed framework for sustainable Africa-Brazil collaborations. The Marketplace will open a new source of expertise to Africa to identify and target pro-poor, smallholder-based projects utilizing Brazilian innovation research.

Key dates
Dec 12th 2011 - Feb 29th 2012 - Call for pre-proposals
Mar 01st 2012 - Mar 12th 2012 - Pre-proposal evaluation and selection
Mar 12th 2012 - Mar 15th 2012 - Announcement and invitation of selected pre-proposals for submission of full proposals
Mar 15th 2012 - Apr 09th 2012 - Submission of full proposals
Apr 09th 2012 - Apr 16th 2012 - Full proposal evaluation and selection

Technology and Innovation Report 2011: Powering Development with Renewable Energy Technologies

2011-12-27T01:42:00.000-08:00

The Technology and Innovation Report (TIR) 2011 [PDF, 179 Pages, 2360Kb] analyses the important role of technology and innovation policies in expanding the application and wider acceptance of renewable energy technologies (RETs), particularly in the context of developing countries. Technology and innovation policies can promote and facilitate the development, acquisition, adaptation and deployment of RETs to support sustainable development and poverty reduction in developing countries and LDCs.

Four current trends lend a new urgency to the need to explore how far and how easily RETs could serve energy needs worldwide.

First, ensuring universal access to conventional energy sources using grids entails high costs, which means that developing countries are unlikely to be able to afford the costs of linking additional households, especially those in rural areas, to existing grids.
Second, the climate change debate has injected a greater sense of urgency into searching for newer energy options, as a result of both ongoing policy negotiations and the greater incidence of environmental catastrophes worldwide.
Third, from a development perspective, the recent inancial and environmental crises have caused major setbacks in a large number of developing countries and LDCs, resulting in their further marginalization from the global economy. The LDCs and many developing countries suffer from severe structural vulnerabilities that are a result of their patterns of integration into the global economy. The international community needs to promote low-carbon, climate-friendly development while fostering inclusive economic growth in these economies as a matter of urgency.
Lastly, there are extreme inequalities within developing countries themselves, and lack of access to energy affects the poorest of the poor worldwide, impeding their ability to enjoy the basic amenities of modern life that are available to others at the same level of development.

European Development Days 2011

2011-12-23T05:57:00.000-08:00

15-16 December.Warsaw. Seminar "Preventing a New Famine in the Horn of Africa: The role of the EU in building resilience"

This seminar aimed at casting the spotlight on the globally malfunctioning food system that does not respect the right to food of millions of people. To address this systematic failure, the panelists, compounded of practitioners and policy-makers, discussed how to prevent another crisis of this scale and the role that the EU can play in reaching long lasting sustainable solutions.

Panel composition:

Mark Breusers, Project officer responsible for food security development programmes in the Horn of Africa with Caritas Belgium International and lecturer at Leuven University, on economic anthropology, cultures and development representing Caritas Europa via Caritas Belgium
Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response
Fran Equiza, Regional Director - Horn, East and Central Africa, Oxfam GB
Ann Waters-Bayer, Senior advisor, ETC EcoCulture
Nazanine Moshiri, Moderator of the panel, Al Jazeera English
Ricardo Cortés Lastra MEP, discussant and opener of the debate

Watch the replay video of the panel: "How to Prevent Another Famine in the Horn of Africa"

Inventory of African and European CSOs involved in agricultural research for development (ARD) in sub-Saharan Africa.

2011-12-23T05:15:00.000-08:00

19 November 2011. Nairobi. An international consultation meeting was held to discuss the findings of the inventory of African and European CSOs involved in agricultural research for development (ARD) in sub-Saharan Africa. The meeting was attended by about 30 people from research institutions, NGOs and FOs.

The study identified the formal and informal linkages between CSOs and other stakeholders involved in ARD, as well as potentials and blockages in the ARD system to realising a greater participation of CSOs in prioritising, formulating and carrying out ARD. The study also looked into resource allocation for ARD in sub-Saharan Africa, and how and where and by whom the decisions for such allocation are made.

This study was planned to contribute to:

Designing and implementing a consultative mechanism that allows various CSO representatives to participate meaningfully in African, European and international deliberations on ARD;
Triggering the necessary change in direction of the ARD system toward a more demand-led, grounded and smallholder-focused research and innovation system; and
Stimulating greater resource flows to research involving small-scale farmers.

Next steps:

INSARD will finalise the “CSO-in-ARD” mapping study report and make it widely available. INSARD will develop a short strategy paper on possible CSO consultation and coordination mechanisms.
INSARD will develop a policy paper to provide a basis for engaging with the GCARD (Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development) roadmap, including issues of governance reforms and alternative approaches to ARD.
INSARD will contribute to the regional consultations for GCARD in Africa and Europe in early 2012 by informing NGOs and FOs in these regions about the international ARD process, so that they understand how they can engage in ARD decision-making, in a similar way as was done during the time of the NGO Committee (NGOC) of the CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research).

Resources:

Mapping EU-SSA Agricultural Research for Development, CSO Engagement and Resource-Allocation Processes, Mutizwa Mukute and Tafadzwa Marange, 7 December 2011, 77 pages.

INSARD Mapping Study Consultation Workshop on Coordination Mechanisms and Fund Flows in ARD. 19 November 2011. 20 pages

Boosting Agricultural Higher education into CAADP

2011-12-23T01:37:00.000-08:00

28th to 30th November 2011. Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resource Education (ANAFE), ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Development Cooperation (CTA), Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), the NEPAD Coordinating Agency, CORAF-WECARD and the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) held a Sensitization workshop for Engaging French Speaking African Higher Agricultural Education Institutions into CAADP.

Other key partners of the organization are the University of Ouagadougou, University of Abomey Calavi (Benin), the Association of African Universities (AAU), the African and Malagasy Council for Higher Education (CAMES), the Conference of rectors of Universities of Francophone West Africa, Central and Indian Ocean (CRUFAOCI), the Network of Institutions of higher Education in
Fishing (Afri-FishNet), the European Alliance on Agricultural Knowledge for development (Agrinatura) and the French consortium Agreenium.

During the three days conference, a number of papers were presented, followed by debates and discussions, and propositions made. This led to the following results:

An increased awareness about the objectives, the constants and the expected outputs of the CAADP;
A better understanding of the role to be played by Universities and other agricultural higher education institutions in cooperation with their supervisory ministries and those in charge of agriculture;
The massive presence at the meeting of Universities, other higher education institutions and technical and financial partners, is a testimony of their willingness to be involved in actions undertaken for the attainment of the CAADP objectives;
Important activities were formulated which will lead to a stronger involvement of agricultural training institutions;
Concertation frameworks were proposed with CAADP, ANAFE, RUFORUM and FARA which will be able to serve for interaction between Universities and Agricultural training institutions.

Resources:

Interview with Agricultural Innovation Facilitators

2011-12-20T06:41:00.000-08:00

Interview with GLINX Laurent, General Secretary of the National Platform for Innovation in the Agricultural Sector in Benin (PNISA-Bénin). GLINX Laurent participated previously at the first European multi stakeholder consultation of PAEPARD (7-8 March 2011), Florence, Italy. He participated at the Workshop for Agricultural Innovation Facilitators which was held in Entebbe (28/11-02/12/2012).

Transcript of the interview:

I'm currently secretary general of the platform for agricultural innovation in Benin. This platform wants to create trust between research, universities, the private sector, NGOs and Farmer Organisations to create innovation with multiple actors and perspectives. This involves the technical aspects with the institutional, organisational and political aspects. The workshop which just ended is important because I could update myself on the role of a facilitator. What are the required competencies to play an efficient role? An important aspectfor me is the self-reflection. This means: asking if we are in the right direction? Content-wise and process-wise: what worked and what could be improve? As General Secretary of the National Platform for Innovation in the Agricultural Sector in Benin I will be able to add value to all what I learned here for the benefit of multi stakeholders partnerships. As potential facilitator for the Concept Note on Soja for Benin, I will immediately be able to put my knowledge and acquired capacities into practice. Not only for this consortium but eventually also for other actors in Benin.

David Suale is Country Coordinator of the DFID-UK Research Into Use Sierra Leone Programme. He participated at the Workshop for Agricultural Innovation Facilitators which was held in Entebbe (28/11-02/12/2012). As Country Coordinator, he facilitated the establishment of a platform called Partnership in Agricultural Innovation for Development in Sierra Leone – a self-organizing network for planning, policy and practice. He participated in several partnership building or multi-stakeholder training courses including, design and management of interactive learning rural innovation; and facilitating pro-poor value chain development and actor empowerment facilitated by ICRA and KIT respectively.

Interview with Sylvie Mbog from ODECO, a non governmental organisation in Cameroon. Sylvie Mbog was nominated by PROPAC to be part a the training of Agricultural Innovation Facilitators.

Transcript of the interview:

My name is Sylvie Mbog. I'm coming from Cameroon. I work for an ong in Cameroon and I was nominated by PROPAC to participate in this AIF workshop in Uganda. During 5 days we have reviewed all the processed of PAEPARD which has allowed me to better understand PAEPARD and in particular the role of facilitators from farmer organisations: myself and 3 colleagues. At the end of this workshop I'm very satisfied because I know what I have to do, with whom I have to do it, how I have to do it and when I have to do it. I will have a technical meeting next Monday with the representatives of PROPAC to give a feedback of the workshop, to tell them what I expect from them, their responsibility in the process and what are my responsibilities and how we can join our effort to improve partnerships and have a significant role in PAEPARD

Farmers’ organizations and agricultural research for development in Africa: roles, complementarity with others stakeholders and partnerships institutionalization

2011-12-20T03:26:00.000-08:00

In the frame of the PAEPARD project , the CSA organized on September 27, 2011 a workshop in Brussels about: « Farmers’ organizations and agricultural research for development in Africa: roles, complementarity with others stakeholders and partnerships institutionalization ». The workshop report is now available on the CSA website in ENGLISH and in FRENCH.

This workshop gathered European NGOs and agri-agencies, African farmers ‘organizations, researchers and private sector’s representatives. It included presentation of experiences and debates.

The workshop was organized around two main questions:
1. What role for FOs and what complementarity with others stakeholders for:
2. How to formalize partnerships between FOs and others stakeholders inside agricultural research institutions, at level of
funding and governance mechanisms and the choice of research topics.

Related blog post: PAEPARD/CSA internal consultation for European NGO and FO

Agriculture innovation systems: An investment sourcebook

2011-12-20T00:57:00.000-08:00

Forthcoming on February 17, 2012.
Agriculture and Rural Development Series
English; Paperback; 696 pages; 8.5x11
Published February 17, 2012 by World Bank
ISBN: 978-0-8213-8684-2; SKU: 18684
Price: $49.95
Book ordering information

The long-awaited agriculture innovation systems sourcebook is going to be published by the World Bank early in 2012.

According to some pre-materials, “the agricultural innovation system (AIS) approach has evolved from a concept into an entire subdiscipline, with principles of analysis and action, yet no detailed blueprint exists for making agricultural innovation happen at a given time, in a given place, for a given result. This sourcebook draws on the emerging principles of AIS analysis and action to help identify, design, and implement the investments, approaches, and complementary interventions that appear most likely to strengthen innovation system and promote agricultural innovation and equitable growth.”

It is “targeted to the key operational staff in international and regional development agencies and national governments who design and implement lending projects and to the practitioners who design thematic programs and technical assistance packages. The sourcebook is also an important resource for the research community and NGOs and may be a useful reference for the private sector, farmer organizations, and individuals with an interest in agricultural innovation.”

Key messages of the sourcebook are:

Agricultural development depends on innovation. Innovation is a major source of improvedproductivity, competitiveness, and economic growth throughout advanced and emerging economies, and plays an important role in creating jobs, generating income, alleviating poverty, and driving social development.
If farmers, agribusinesses, and even nations are to cope, compete, and thrive in the midstof changes in agriculture and economy, they must innovate continuously.
Investments in science and technology are a key component of most strategies to improve and maintain agricultural productivity and innovate.
Research, education, and extension investments are necessary components but have not been sufficient for agricultural innovation to occur. Other conditions and complementary interventions are needed.
In addition to a strong capacity in R&D, components of effective agricultural innovation are collective action and coordination, the exchange of knowledge among diverse actors, the skills, incentives and resources available to form partnerships and develop businesses, and enabling conditions that make it possible for actors to innovate. These conditions and complementary interventions have not been consistently addressed to date.
Innovation and business development by different stakeholders does not occur without complementary investments to create a supportive environment. Enabling conditions in a given context depend on a (innovation) policy mix, innovation governance, a diverse set of regulatory matters and other investments with synergistic effects.
The agricultural innovation system (AIS) investments must be context specific and respond to the stage of and vision for development in a particular country and agricultural sector. Given the resource limitations, investments need to be assessed, prioritized, sequenced, and tailored to the needs, challenges, and resources that are present.

THE ROLE OF AGRICULTURAL R&D WITHIN THE AGRICULTURAL INNOVATION SYSTEMS FRAMEWORK

2011-12-20T00:40:00.000-08:00

This paper (40 pages) traces the evolution of the innovation systems framework within the agricultural sector in Sub-Saharan Africa, and presents a conceptual framework for agricultural innovation systems. The difference between innovation ecology/ecosystems and intervention-based innovations systems is highlighted, given that these two concepts are used at different levels in promoting and sustaining agricultural innovations. The role of open innovation, innovation platforms, and innovation intermediaries in catalyzing, enhancing, and facilitating the innovation process are discussed, as is the role of R&D in the innovation process.

The paper goes on to consider the interconnectedness of the innovation systems perspective and value-chain analysis in agricultural R&D processes, before summarizing the current status of agricultural R&D in Sub-Saharan Africa, lessons from past experience, and implications and key challenges confronting development practitioners in institutionalizing the agricultural innovation systems concept within the agricultural R&D in the region. Finally, some key conclusions and areas for investment are presented.

Related blog post:
AGRICULTURAL R&D: INVESTING IN AFRICA’S FUTURE

Scaling up impact in smallholder agriculture

2011-12-16T02:44:00.000-08:00

Small farmers, big change: Scaling up impact in smallholder agriculture

Edited by David Wilson, Kirsty Wilson and Claire Harvey
Published by Practical Action publishing
Website: www.developmentbookshop.com
2011, 140pp, ISBN 978 1 85339 712 7(Pb), £14.95

Taking agricultural projects from the research or pilot phase to the next level, to achieve substantial gains for a large number of people, is an exciting and often complex challenge. The eight case studies in this collection, compiled through a partnership between Practical Action and Oxfam, demonstrate the central importance of bottom up processes in influencing policy and investment decisions.

For example, until five years ago, the region of Western Honduras was the most isolated and least supported in the country, with no civil society representation at national level. But a ten year programme of building civil society institutions, as well as training and credit support to smallscale farmers, has enabled the area to develop its own Poverty Reduction Strategy, and successfully bid for millions of dollars to implement it. As a result, the contribution of women to household income has doubled, and in five years the percentage of women in the region engaged in agricultural businesses has risen from 1 per cent to 31 per cent.

Other studies in the collection include joint action by fishing communities in India to regain control over pond resources, strengthened links between farmers and city markets in Colombia, and new systems of cooperation by cotton producer groups in Mali. Each study is concisely and clearly presented, pulling out key lessons from the scaling up activities and offering considerable food for thought for development practitioners and policymakers.

Land Rights and the Land Rush: Findings of the Global Commercial Pressures on Land Research Project

2011-12-16T02:29:00.000-08:00

Land Rights and the Rush for Land

Findings of the Global Commercial Pressures on Land Research Project

Author: Ward Anseeuw, Liz Alden Wily, Lorenzo Cotula, and Michael Taylor

Year of publication: 2011

Country: Global

This report, authored by leading land experts, is the culmination of a three-year research project that brought together forty members and partners of ILC, CIRAD and IIED to examine the characteristics, drivers and impacts and trends of rapidly increasing commercial pressures on land.

The report strongly urges models of investment that do not involve large-scale land acquisitions, but rather work together with local land users, respecting their land rights and the ability of small-scale farmers themselves to play a key role in investing to meet the food and resource demands of the future.

The conclusions of the report are based on case studies that provide indicative evidence of local and national realities, and on the ongoing global monitoring of large-scale land deals for which data are subject to a continuous process of verification.

But while research and monitoring will continue, this report draws some conclusions and policy implications from the evidence there is already.

Documents:

Land Rights and the Rush for Land - Full report

Land Rights and the Rush for Land - English summary

Les droits fonciers et la ruée sur les terres - Résumé en français

Los derechos a la tierra y la fiebre por ella - Resumen en español

Online forums to further develop the “ICT in Agriculture” Sourcebook

2011-12-16T02:09:00.000-08:00

The World Bank and the e-Agriculture Community are collaborating in a series of online forums to further develop resources for the recently launched “ICT in Agriculture” Sourcebook (www.ictinagriculture.org).

These discussion forums, available to all e-Agriculture community members, will be vehicles to inform the World Bank of other projects/programmes that e-Agriculture members are carrying out and that could complement the research of the World Bank.

The ICT in Agriculture Sourcebook offers practical examples and case studies from around the world. A compilation of modules related to 14 agricultural subsectors, each module covers the challenges, lessons learned, and enabling factors associated with using ICT to improve smallholder livelihoods. Its aim is to support development practitioners in exploring the use of or designing, implementing, and investing in ICT enabled agriculture interventions.

Resources and the forum archives for these discussions are brought together in one convenient location.

A first discussion is ending today about Strengthening Agricultural Marketing with ICT

5-16 December 2011

This forum followed module 9, beginning with the need for and impact of ICT in agricultural marketing from the perspectives of producers, consumers, and traders. It continues to look at mobile phones as a marketing tool; evidence that ICT is changing logistics and transaction costs; the use of ICTs for market research (both for acquiring immediate market information and acquiring market intelligence over time); and the use of ICT to make input supply and use more effective.

Nutrition Advocacy Landscape in Europe

2011-12-13T07:48:00.000-08:00

In September 2010 the Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation commissioned the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine to conduct a landscaping study focused on European stakeholders engaged in addressing undernutrition. Developing an understanding of the European donor and partner landscape for nutrition is needed to inform an evolving nutrition advocacy agenda and identify potential opportunities to scale investments and develop new and effective partnerships.

Project Aims

This report aims to map the landscape of European actors that are engaged in addressing undernutrition in low- and middle-income countries, and to provide a high-level roadmap for scaling-up advocacy activity around the issue. The research objectives of this project are:

To understand how a range of European organisations/institutions address undernutrition;
To assess the strengths and challenges facing organisations and sectors to address undernutrition;
To assess stakeholder receptivity to engage, scale-up activities and work with others; and,
To analyse the enablers and barriers to engagement across sectors and stakeholders.

Key Findings

Multilateral Organisations are making nutrition a strategic priority. Many agencies are increasing their financial commitments and strategic focus on improved nutrition outcomes. There is also a growing emphasis on integration and understanding how food security and rural development initiatives can best support nutrition outcomes. The European Commission represents a significant source of funding and has been increasingly operational in its nutrition programming across development priorities, although there remains a need to increase and protect these investments within institutional policy. In general, there is still a need for stronger leadership and coordination across multilateral organisations and the wider nutrition community.

Nutrition is becoming a more prominent focus on the European bilateral donor agenda. A common emerging pattern is the extent that bilateral donors are integrating nutrition across programmes and placing high priority on results-based frameworks. France, Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom emerge as leaders in terms of strategic focus on nutrition. At present it is difficult to gain a clear picture of financial flows for nutrition given that nutrition funding sits within and across several development sectors. Mechanisms to maintain or increase nutrition programming and funding from bilaterals can come through harnessing existing high-level momentum around food security and maternal and child health and necessitates working within political parameters.

NGOs are increasingly engaged in nutrition advocacy. NGOs have strong commitment to addressing undernutrition and bring valuable technical expertise and field knowledge into informing evidence-based policies at both national and international levels. NGOs can be constrained by funding parameters, which can deter collaboration and comprehensive strategic planning.

Private sector industry is increasingly interested in its role in addressing undernutrition. Preferred mechanisms for engagement are through core business and expanded market presence and through public-private partnerships. The private sector brings a diversified functional and technical expertise and an inherently entrepreneurial approach. Private sector involvement in addressing undernutrition is enhanced if there is a sustainable business model which is often challenging given variable return on investment metrics. Although, broadly speaking, the private sector is aware and interested in solutions to undernutrition; there remains a level of distrust between private and public sectors and a sentiment that the private sector is often not considered as part of the response to undernutrition. There remains a need to clarify goals and understanding of where the private sector can add value and also a need for robust evaluation of health and nutrition impacts of private sector initiatives.

Private funders for nutrition in Europe are few. Funders are generally inhibited by a perceived complexity of the nutrition problem and a lack of understanding of how and where their funds may achieve impact. There is potential to increase funding from this sector through developing targeted, clarified advocacy messages and utilising the convening power of membership bodies.

Several interrelated themes are evident across sectors. These include an awareness of industry as an important partner coupled with simultaneous distrust between public and private sectors, a growing interest in integrating responses to undernutrition across the spectrum of agriculture, health, food security and direct nutrition interventions, an acknowledgement of the need for further impact evaluation and a broad sentiment that the nutrition agenda needs stronger messaging and goals.

Resources:
Click here to see the final public report
Click here to see the quantitative analysis of funding flows conducted by Development Initiatives
Click here to see a summary report of the joint European and LSHTM landscape prepared by LSHTM and CCS

Related:

Masset E, Haddad L, Cornelius A and Isaza-Castro J (2011),
A systematic review of agricultural interventions that aim to improve nutritional status of children. London: EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London.

The review is based on a systematic search of the published and unpublished literature. The search was broken down by interventions of the following types: biofortification interventions; home gardens; aquaculture and small fisheries; dairy development; and animal source food promotion. During the search we found more than 7,000 studies, but only 23 qualified for final inclusion based on the exclusion criteria set.

For a summary in a policy brief, see: Evidence Matters

EFARD Steering Committee Meeting

2011-12-13T04:08:00.000-08:00

8th December– 9th December 2011. Agropolis International. Montpellier, France. EFARD held it's Steering Committee Meeting during two days. EFARD’s main aim is to meet the following strategic objectives, referring to European, global and inter-regional perspectives:

To encourage dialogue between European ARD stakeholder groups promoting awareness, innovative approaches, and partnerships in order to build a more efficient and impact focused ARD.
To support global ARD initiatives within the framework of GFAR and the GCARD process
To promote inter-regional partnerships and collaborative ARD activities for joint research initiatives, capacity strengthening and greater impact, particularly in developing countries.

Action 1 Europe: Encourage dialogue between European ARD Stakeholder groups promoting awareness, innovative approaches and partnerships
a. Development of a new strategy
b. Development of a new EFARD Website
c. Development of publicity material
d. Broaden & strengthen EFARD’s stakeholder base

Action 2: Global. Support Global initiatives within the framework of GFAR and GCARD
a. Support the planning and implementation of GCARD II
b. Coherence in Information in ARD (CIARD & CIARD RING)
c. Strengthening RAIS/RAILS
d. Support the implementation of the GCARD Road Map
e. Support and participation to other initiatives e.g. European Rural Development Forum

Action 3 Inter-regional. Promote inter-regional partnerships and collaborative ARD activities for joint initiatives, capacity strengthening and greater impact
a. Partnership Platforms - PAEPARD
b. Partnership Platforms – FORAGRO and APAARI
c. Partnership Platforms - AARINENA
d. Partnership Platforms - CACAARI
e. Collective Foresight actions

Action 4 Management and Coordination.
a. Management Team meetings
b. Steering Committee meetings
c. Maintenance of the new website
d. Advocacy

Action 5 Representation
a. GFAR activities
b. Representation at various meetings

PAEPARD 5th Management Team Meeting (MTM)

2011-12-08T22:10:00.000-08:00

6 and 7th December 2011 in Montpellier (France). PAEPARD 5th Management Team Meeting (MTM)

The MTM was set up during the Brussels inception meeting of 11-12 February 2010 and is composed of work package leaders, co-leaders and the two co-managers. The periodicity of MTM meetings was fixed at six months with the possibility of extraordinary meetings whenever the need arose. So far, four MTMs have taken place.

The first meeting was held in Accra 27-28 May 2010.
The second (an extraordinary meeting) was held during the FARA General Assembly in Ouagadougou on 20 July 2010 to validate the Guidelines for Innovation Partnerships formation.
The third meeting was held in Dakar 2-3 December 2010 to validate the first year report and plan for the Year 2 activities.
The fourth meeting took place in Accra on 5-7 October 2011 to agree on the innovation partnerships process and other bottlenecks. The meeting did not deeply discuss the planning and financial issues. Members decided to call another meeting in December. Participants agreed on the dates of 6 and 7th December 2011 in Montpellier (France).

The main objective of the MTM is to validate a common planning for year3 and the related budget of the Project. This comprises:
• Administrative issues
- Implementation of the Year 3 work plan and the budget
- Amendment/revision of the budget
- The reports for year2 (deadline for report and supporting documents)
• Next Steering Committee meeting: time and venue?
• AOB

AGRICULTURAL R&D: INVESTING IN AFRICA’S FUTURE

2011-12-07T00:37:00.000-08:00

05-Dec-2011 to 07-Dec-2011. ASTI, together with the International Food Policy Report Institute (IFPRI), where ASTI is based, and the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), convened a conference on agricultural R&D in Africa.

The conference focused on the following themes:

Conference Objectives: Agricultural R&D: Investing in Africa’s Future 5-7 December 2011

View more presentations from ASTI

Brussels Briefing: Food price volatility

2011-12-07T00:20:00.000-08:00

30 November 2011. CTA in partnership with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), the European Commission (DG DEVCO) the ACP Secretariat, Concord and various other partners discussed the main challenges in food price volatility and give a summary of the key policy issues discussed at the G20 meeting which have implications for ACP countries.

It focused on the effects of food price volatility on the ground by bringing various experiences from different actors. The new Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) was one of the key items discussed

Among the speakers were Hafez Ghanem, deputy director general of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Máximo Torero, Director of the Markets, Trade and Institutions Division in the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Mamadou Cissokho from the Réseau des Organisations paysannes et de Producteurs de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (ROPPA), Chris Moore from United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), representatives of the French and Mexican governments and others.

PAEPARD Agricultural Innovation Facilitators' Workshop

2011-11-30T22:21:00.000-08:00

28 November - 2 December 2011. Entebbe. PAEPARD Agricultural Innovation Facilitators' Workshop.

The Platform for African-European partnership for Agricultural Research for Development (PAEPARD) in collaboration with The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) has organised a five-day facilitators' Inception Workshop of the PAEPARD Project. The main objective of this workshop is to familiarise participants with their potential role as facilitators of "agricultural innovation partnerships" established with the support of the PAEPARD project.

The workshop is daily documented by one of the participants (Nawsheen Hosenally from Mauritius)

Day 1 – Monday 28th November 2011: Introduction to PAEPARDThe theme for the first day of the workshop was “Introduction to PAEPARD”.

The question of the open space was "You have been selected as a 'facilitator of multi-stakeholder innovation processes: Which theme do you think is essential to discuss - from your experience with ARD multi-stakeholder innovation processes in - in a sub-workshop?"

The 8 sub-workshops were on the following topics:
1. How to identify relevant partners within a multi-stakeholder partnership?
2. How to balance/manage power imbalances within a consortium?

3. How can we reinforce capacities to work in partnership?
4. How can we manage stakeholders in a team? Divide roles and overcome mistrust
5. How can we keep ourselves relevant and in demand by the partnership?
6. How do we harmonise our work methods when we are driven by different ideologies?
7. How can we maintain neutrality in our facilitation?

8. How can we share financial and information resources in a sustainable partnership?

Day 2: Tuesday 29th November 2011: Facilitation of ARD Partnerships
The theme for Day 2 was "Facilitation of ARD Partnerships" and the aim was that all participants know about the role of a facilitator in a multi-stakeholder partnership.

Day 3 - Wednesday 30th November 2011: Facilitation Tools
Role Play
The first session of Day 3 was a role-play by Janet Achora and Monica Kapiriri Namumbya (both from Uganda), whereby Monica had to approach Janet (consortium) as the Agricultural Innovation Facilitator by PAEPARD.

Moderation, Coordination, Facilitation and Leadership
This session discussed the differences between Moderation, Coordination, Facilitation and Leadership.There were 3 boards in front, on each one there was a question, written on a card of different colours:
Green Card: Achieve the task (Common objectives)
Blue Card: Manage the team and avoid conflict
Pink Card: Promote learning by partners
Research Questions
The last exercise for the day was about Research Questions. Each country pair had to work together on their respective concept notes and had to generate 5 research questions and 3 sub-questions for each of the selected concept notes of the Second round of the PAEPARD call ARD proposals

Day 4 - Thursday 1st December 2011: Designing a partnership facilitation process

Presentation on PAEPARD Inception Workshop - June 2011
The objective was for participants to have an idea about how an inception workshop was organised by PAEPARD in the past and the points to keep in mind while planning and implementing the workshop. There are 4 steps which are involved for a concept note to become a formal proposal and the example given was from the PAEPARD First Call:

Original proposal to PAEPARD
Concept Note (Draft) drafted as a result of the PAEPARD Inception Workshop
Complete Concept Note
Draft Proposal Write-shop to generate formal proposal (submission)

Individual plans
Each country pair was asked to design a timeline of 3 months on the type of activities they will organise with respect to their respective consortium and also the specific output/milestone achieved for each proposed activity.

Video Projection
Mrs. Habiba Hassan Wassef of Egypt, talks about how Africans should be aware of their Intellectual Property Rights before sharing their views with Europeans.

Financing ARD
To understand about how ARD can be financed, a document from ICRA, which contained key concepts on how to finance ARD were given to the participants, who were asked to read the document. Then there was a brainstorming session to find the possible finance sources at National Level, Sub-Regional Level (Africa) and International Level.

Presentation by ASARECA
To get a better idea of how ARD are financed in Africa, there was a presentation by Mr. Joseph Methu from ASARECA. He explained about how ASARECA does the coordination work regarding financing of ARD in the East Africa Region.

Statements from World Bank

This session was a presentation on a report from the World Bank: IMPLEMENTING AGRICULTURAL INNOVATION FUNDS: Lessons from Competitive Research and Matching Grant Projects.. From that Report, different statements were taken and presented to the participants.

Statement 1: The more a call is competitive – and selective, the less facilitators will be asked to play an intermediation role, as the investment will have less chances to lead to a return.
Statement 2: Competitive grants strengthen the strongest actors and do not reduce the disparities between the strong and the weak.
Statement 3: Mainly the growing rhetoric’s among the agricultural research and development partners to become more accountable to the beneficiary and other stakeholders has necessitated the need for partnerships and new funding schemes
Statement 4: Only organizations which have a minimum budget , a critical mass of staff and a research and innovation management capacity can compete in competitive grants

Proposal formulation
The last session for Day 4 was about the proposal formulation. Participants were given a document on points to be taken into consideration while doing a proposal formulation.

Participants:

Achora Janet Cox
Senior Programme Officer

Women of Uganda Network

ADIMOU Jean – Baptiste

Coordonnateur du Groupe d’appui, d’Encadrement et de Recherche en Milieu rural – GERME

ADJEI-NSIAH Samuel

Senior Research Fellow, Forest and Horticultural Crops Research Centre. Kade
College of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences
University of Ghana

Babatunde Musibau Adetunji

Lecturer, Department of Economics,

University of Ibadan

Bernardin Toto

Secrétaire Permanent de la Plateforme Nationale des Organisations Paysannes et de Producteurs Agricoles du Bénin,

PNOPPA, Benin

BIGIRIMANA Jean Claude

Chercheur à l'institut des sciences agronomiques du Burundi dans le Programme de Production des Semences et les Ressources Phytogénétques.

BONKOUNGOU Joachim

Directeur exécutif de l’ONG

« Initiatives pour un Développement Intégré Durable du Burkina Faso

BUKENYA Christopher

Technical Service Manager at the NAADS Secretariat

COULIBALY Aminata

Chargée de communication et marketing

à la Fédération agricole Nian-Zwé

DIBI Amlan Béatrice

Organisation Non Gouvernementale EMMANUEL

DIOMANDE Daouda

Directeur Général de la Coopérative des commerçantes de vivriers de Cocody
(COCOVICO)

EGESSA Patrick

NAADS COORDINATOR, BUSIA DISTRICT

Agricultural Economist

GLINX Laurent

Secrétaire Général

de la Plate-forme Nationale pour l’Innovation

dans le Secteur Agricole au
Benin (PNISA-Bénin)

Gunesh Toolsee

Manager, Farmers Service Corporation

Mauritius

KATUNGISA Kenneth

Project Manger – Support Farmer Organizations in Africa Project (SFOAP)
Uganda National Farmers Federation

MBOG Sylvie Christel
Local Development Ressource at ODECO
Cameroon

Monica Kapiriri Namumbya
Independent consultant
Uganda

NAWSHEEN Hosenally
Sales Coordinator
Meaders Feeds Ltd

NDIMANYA Patrice
Lecturer at the department of rural Economics, university of Burundi

Nketiah Joseph

Lecturer Methodist University College Ghana,

Faculty of Agriculture

SHEI WILLIAM KANJO
Rural Development Consultancy (RDC) Ndop,

North West Region, Cameroon
Coordinator and lead consultant

SUALE David

Country Coordinator
Research Into Use
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security

VUTSORO Roger
Chargé de communication et information
Fédération des Organisations des Producteurs Agricoles du Congo

ICT in Agriculture e-Sourcebook

2011-11-30T22:18:00.000-08:00

ARD and infoDev kindly announce the release of the:

ICT in Agriculture e-Sourcebook
Connecting Smallholders to Knowledge, Networks and Institutions
Click Here to Access the PDF
(http://bit.ly/ICTinAg)

The ICT in Agriculture e-Sourcebook is designed to support development practitioners exploring, designing, implementing, and investing in information and communication technology (ICT)-enabled agriculture interventions. The book is a compilation of resources related to 14 agricultural subsectors. Each module covers the challenges, lessons learned, and enabling factors associated with using ICT to improve smallholder livelihoods in these subsectors. Over 200 examples and case studies from five regions are presented in the text. The e-Sourcebook and website was made possible through the Creating Sustainable Businesses in the Knowledge Economy program and generous funding from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland.

Also announcing the ICT in Agriculture Website: http://www.ictinagriculture.org

A central goal of the sourcebook is to expand knowledge on the nexus between ICT and agriculture, and to generate discussion on how to use ICT effectively to improve the sector and reduce poverty. The Agriculture and Rural Development Department (ARD) and infoDev of the World Bank invites you to participate in this discussion. See the website above to access to sourcebook and for additional information and resources on ICT in agriculture.

We are also hosting a series of forums on ICT in agriculture with FAO's e-agriculture community. The first forum, on ICT and Strengthening Markets, will be held from December 5th-16th. Please visit the website to learn how to participate.

If you would like to receive occasional newsletters on ICT in agriculture from the World Bank, please click here to send an email (ictinag@worldbank.org).

Work Programme for agriculture at the climate talks in Durban

2011-11-30T22:14:00.000-08:00

A group of 15 leading agricultural organisations (including three United Nations agencies, the World Bank, the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), the World Farmers' Organisation, CTA, FANRPAN and the International Food Policy Research Institute) have jointly endorsed a letter to the COP17 climate negotiators with a specific call-to-action, namely to approve a Work Programme for agriculture at the climate talks in Durban [under the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA)] .

Agriculture is the low-hanging fruit for a deal at the climate talks this year, and this letter represents a strong consensus from key actors in agriculture on how negotiators can make progress this year -- both to mitigate agriculture's current level of emissions but also to help farmers adapt to changing growing conditions. The letter calls on negotiators to "take early action to determine the long-term investments needed to transform agriculture to meet future challenges."

The letter comes ahead of Agriculture and Rural Development Day, which takes place in parallel to the COP17 climate talks this Saturday, 3 Dec in Durban.

You can also read a Wall Street Journal article about the letter just published today:

http://blogs.wsj.com/source/2011/11/28/agriculture-orgs-up-pressure-ahead-of-durban-climate-talks/

Meeting for Coordinators’ of projects funded by the Coordinated Call for Africa

2011-11-30T22:07:00.000-08:00

November 28th, 2011. The European Commission, Directorate E – Biotechnologies, Agriculture, Food, in partnership with CAAST-Net held a meeting of coordinators of projects funded via the Coordinated Call for Africa. The meeting explored possibilities for cooperation between the Africa Call Food Security projects in order to exploit the natural synergies of the projects. This meeting created a framework for future cooperation, identifying needs, opportunities, and priorities for areas of cooperation.

Objectives:

The creation of a network of Food Security projects funded by the Africa Call and projects relevant to the Africa Call;
Mutual sharing of project aims, activities, etc;
The creation of an international contact point for each project to facilitate cooperation;
A framework for future cooperation.

Africa Call Food Security Project Abstracts
EAU4Food
EAU4Food seeks to address the need for new approaches to increase food production in irrigated areas in Africa, while ensuring healthy and resilient environments. Potential pitfalls of introducing innovations in local farming systems, like limited adoption by farmers and trade-off effects to other (environmental) systems are overcome by, respectively, i) utilizing a true trans-disciplinary approach, which involves the active participation of all stakeholders in all relevant disciplines, and ii) by determining and respecting so called sustainable production thresholds. EAU4Food is executed in four irrigated areas in Africa, viz. Southern Africa (Mozambique and South-Africa), Tunisia, Mali and Ethiopia to fully benefit from the potential of cross distributing promising strategies and innovations.

Waterbiotech
Natural biological treatment systems include lagooning, land treatment, phytodepuration, or constructed wetlands systems. They can be applied as secondary or tertiary purification treatment, allowing the removal of pathogenic microorganisms and the degradation of the organic pollutants, so that waste water can be recycled for irrigation and domestic use and hence reduce the pressure on the hydric resources. Other biotechnological techniques to be taken into account within this proposal are bio-filtration, membrane bioreactors and algae and other aquatic crops application for wastewater purification.

SUNRAY
SUNRAY has seven work packages: WP1 optimises communication and coordination within the Consortium. WP2 maps current nutrition research activities in sub-Saharan Africa, and examines the operating environment. WP3 analyses the views of stakeholders. WP4 examines the impact of environmental changes on nutrition. WP5 builds consensus on research priorities through workshops in three African regions. WP6 develops a strategic framework for future research in the form of a roadmap. WP7 disseminates project outputs. The SUNRAY Consortium has four African and five European institutions and an Advisory Group of six external experts with complementary expertise. The total budget of 968,972 Euros is for a period of 18 months

INSARD
The main aim of this project is to facilitate the participation of a broader range of European and African civil society organizations in the formulation and implementation of ARD. It will do so by:
1. Designing a structure for coordination and communication between European and African CSO’s involved in influencing policies and practices around ARD.
2. Define policy influencing strategies, including thematic priorities, target groups/individuals and tools.
3. Lobby key African and European research organizations and donors.
4. Working towards defining research priorities which draw on interaction between researchers and CSOs.

PAEPARD
The Platform for African – European Partnership in Agricultural Research for Development (Phase II) is to build joint African-European multi-stakeholder partnerships in agricultural research for development. PAEPARD II nurtures partnerships to increase the quantity and quality of joint proposals (leading to more funded initiatives). PAEPARD II not only focuses on FP7, but includes other European Commission (EDF, EC Budget through the FSTP) and bilateral funding instruments supporting ARD that might be mobilized for emerging ARD partnerships.

Second African Diaspora Marketplace

2011-11-28T09:00:00.000-08:00

November 21, 2011 – The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) a leader in global payment services, the Western Union Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched the second African Diaspora Marketplace (ADM), an initiative which encourages sustainable economic growth and employment by supporting U.S.-based African diaspora entrepreneurs with ideas for start-up and established businesses in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Through this collaboration, Western Union and USAID are helping to tap the economic potential of the 1.4 million Africans living in the U.S., bringing more direct investment to the continent. The African Diaspora Marketplace will strengthen and help satisfy demand for locally-produced products and services by leveraging diaspora capital and resources.”

The number of grants awarded will be determined based on grant pool and program need, and is likely to be in the range of 15 to 30 businesses. The matching grant size is expected to be up to US $50,000, with an additional supplement of US $25,000-$50,000 in technical assistance.

African Diaspora Marketplace (ADM) related to agriculture/agribusiness: See PAEPARD blog post 23/05/2011.

Enhancing partnerships between African and US scientists for collaborative GEC research

2011-11-25T05:53:00.000-08:00

2012 Research Partnership Enhancement Awards

Announcing five Awards of $5,000 each to develop and/or enhance partnerships between African and US scientists for collaborative GEC research.

START is offering five grant awards to enhance partnerships between African scientists and US scientists who are currently engaged in Global Environmental Change (GEC) research.

1. Who is eligible?

Applications will be accepted from individual scientists from Africa who are based at an institution in Africa. The African scientist must have an established contact with a counterpart scientist based at an institution in the United States.

2. Why are the grants being offered?

START sponsors a number of programs to build capacity for GEC research and outreach by scientists in Africa. (http://start.org/programs) Over the years, START has received many requests to provide funds to allow face-to-face visits of scientists from the US and Africa. The Research Partnership Enhancement Awards are being offered as a way to enhance collaborative US/Africa projects for research, training, joint scientific publications and the development of communication products. The awards are part of START’s overall goals to:

· increase the number of scientists in Africa who are working on global environmental change issues;

· enhance communication at the interface of science, policy and practice;

· encourage research that contributes to understanding global environmental change in the context of regional and national development priorities; and

· strengthen scientific networks by fostering collaborative relationships across disciplines, institutions and countries.

Training program on agribusiness incubation for SSA

2011-11-25T04:59:00.000-08:00

Dr Ralph von Kaufmann, Technical Coordinator,
UniBRAIN-FARA, in a discussion with Dr Dar and others

21-24 November. Aiming to promote agribusiness ventures in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) through value-chain based agribusiness incubators, ICRISAT’s Agri-Business Incubation (ABI) program under its
Agribusiness Innovation Platform (AIP) organized a training program on “Strengthening the capacity of UniBRAIN – Agribusiness Innovation Incubation Consortia (AIIC) members” at ICRISAT-Patancheru.

The training program primarily aimed to strengthen the capacity of AIIC members in incubator planning and management, in view of UniBRAIN’s plan to set up an African Business Incubators Network (AFBIN) similar to the Network of Indian Agri Business Incubators (NIABI) of India. The training was focused on incubator management, planning for incubation operations, client selection, setting up systems and processes, and other key aspects of setting up successful business incubators to promote entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa.

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU)

Twenty six participants from the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), Universities, Business and Research in Agricultural Innovation (UniBRAIN), Pan African Agribusiness and Agro Industry Consortium (PanAAC), Agro forestry and Natural Resources Education (ANAFE), Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in East and Central Africa (ASARECA), Conseil Ouest et Centre Africain pour la Recherche et le Développement Agricoles (CORAF) and SADC joined the training program at Patancheru, which had 30 resource persons from infoDev, ISBA, STC, Trec-STEP, Technopark, Villgro, etc. who provided and shared their vast and rich experiences in agriculture and agribusiness.

The training was continued at the Business Planning and Development (BPD) units of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore and Ooty.

Background
UniBRAIN is a program of FARA supported by the Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DANIDA). It is facilitated by a team of partner institutions comprising FARA Networking Support Function for Capacity Strengthening (FARA-NSF4) and its associated sub-regional organizations – ASARECA, CORAF, Centre for Coordinating Agricultural Research and Development in Southern Africa
(CCARDESA), African Network for Agriculture, ANAFE, PanAAC, and ICRISAT Agri-Business Incubator (ABI).

12 ways how mobile technology can boost African agriculture

2011-11-22T03:47:00.000-08:00

In a recent report, titled Connected Agriculture, Vodafone and Accenture identified 12 opportunities for mobile phone technology to increase agricultural income and productivity. Some of these platforms are already widely used in Africa, while others are still in the early stages of implementation.

1. Mobile payment systems
Mobile payment systems give farmers without access to financial services an inexpensive and secure way to transfer and save money using their mobile phones. By allowing smallholder farmers to save small amounts of money, receive payments quickly in times of need and pay for agricultural inputs via their phones, mobile payment systems replace costly traditional transfer services and the need to travel long distances to collect funds. They also provide a secure means for employers to distribute wages to agricultural workers, and for governments and NGOs to ensure agricultural subsidies go directly to farmers.

2. Micro-insurance systems
Mobile micro-insurance systems can safeguard farmers against losses when bad weather harms their harvest, encouraging them to buy better quality seeds and invest in fertiliser and other inputs. This can improve productivity and boost farmers’ livelihoods as well as enabling suppliers to expand their market among smallholder farmers. Delivering micro-insurance via mobile avoids challenges with conventional channels that can make insurance expensive. Remote monitoring of weather avoids the need for insurers to make farm visits. With mobile micro-insurance systems, farmers also benefit from quick, secure payouts using money transfer services.

3. Micro-lending platforms
Micro-lending platforms could connect smallholders in Africa with individuals elsewhere willing to provide finance to help the farmers to buy much-needed agricultural inputs. Mobile access to micro-lending platforms provides a free and secure way for rural borrowers to be matched to potential investors and gives existing microfinance providers access to those who need loans the most. Mobile payment records can be used as proof of credit history.

4. Mobile information platforms
Through mobile information platforms, farmers receive text messages with information that help to improve the productivity of their land and boost their incomes. Governments and agricultural support organisations can use the platforms to distribute information about available subsidies and programmes.

5. Farmer helplines
Farmers call a helpline and speak to agricultural experts who can provide answers to agricultural queries. The experts and researchers can use information on the issues raised to improve their understanding of agricultural trends and the challenges encountered by farmers in Africa.

6. Smart logistics
Smart logistics uses mobile technology to help distribution companies manage their fleets more efficiently – reducing costs for farmers and distributors, cutting fuel use and potentially preventing food losses. Devices in trucks communicate with a central hub via machine-to-machine (M2M) connections, providing information on truck movements. Logistics companies supporting input providers, agro-dealers or processors can combine this with information about delivery schedules, loads, trips planned, routes and number of pick-ups to minimise truck movements.

7. Traceability and tracking systems
Mobile technology can be used to track individual food products through the supply chain from grower to retailer. Detailed tracking improves supply chain efficiency and helps smallholder farmers, food distributors and retailers provide the traceability that is increasingly demanded by consumers. It can also help reduce food spoilage. Mobile phones can be used to log the location, quality and quantity of food items at key points in the supply chain. Agents buying products at a farm and workers at distribution centres can use mobile camera phones to scan product barcodes providing details of the items. This information is sent to a central system to give retailers, exporters and distributors a detailed view of product movements. This could help open access to new markets by meeting the requirements of the European Union, for example. Farmers can use the data to comply with certification standards such as Fairtrade and organic, and potentially charge higher prices for produce that complies with such standards.

8. Mobile management of supplier networks
Food buyers and exporters can use mobile phones to manage their networks of small-scale growers and help field agents collect information. Managing large numbers of small farms and growers requires networks of field agents, auditors and technical staff to gather a wide range of information. They carry out farm audits, check the quality and quantity of harvests, and report problems. Keeping detailed paper records for this information is inefficient, can be erratic and can lead to delayed decision making. Equipping field agents with mobile phones improves the supplier management process, providing a reliable, quick and cheap way of creating electronic records in a central database. Field agents visiting farms can use their mobile phones to input data on farmers’ locations, crops and expected yield. Farmers could also use mobiles to send information about their likely harvest date and other key indicators to food buyers and other organisations. Buyers and distributors could use this information to collect fresh food items more promptly and get them to market as soon as possible, reducing food waste and increasing agricultural incomes.

9. Mobile management of distribution networks
Distributors of farming inputs such as seeds and fertiliser could use mobile technology to gather sales and stock data, improving availability for farmers and increasing sales. It can be difficult for companies supplying agricultural inputs to monitor and manage their wide network of rural retailers. Communications and transport difficulties lead to information gaps. Retailers could record sales using a mobile camera phone to scan the barcode, sending this data straight to a central system for analysis. Building up a digital record of sales across a region could help distributors avoid supply gaps. Improved understanding of supply and demand could also help identify new market opportunities and tailor products to local needs.

10. Agricultural trading platforms
Linking smallholder farmers directly with potential buyers through a mobile trading platform could help them to secure the best price for their produce. Mobile trading platforms could help dealers locate new sources of food when supplies are limited and could help companies fulfil their commitment to sourcing from smaller and more diverse businesses.

11. Agricultural tendering platforms
Online platforms for submitting and bidding on tenders for food distribution, processing and exporting could make the agricultural supply chain more competitive and efficient. There are many distribution, processing and export agents in Africa and poor communications make it difficult to achieve competitive business contracts and tenders. Using mobile phones to access online tendering platforms could help users reach a wider supplier base and promote competition. For example, a food aggregator could advertise a tender to a processing facility. Distribution companies could browse tenders and submit their offers.

12. Agricultural bartering platforms
Mobile could help agricultural workers in rural areas exchange goods and services and improve communities’ livelihoods. For rural people with little or no disposable income, exchanging goods, services and skills with community members is an important part of their livelihoods. Using mobile, people could access an online bartering platform via their mobile phone, significantly extending the network of people to barter with. Users could register their location and the goods, services or skills they are offering, along with details of what they need in return. SMS adverts could be sent to subscribed users, prompting them to respond. Transient agricultural workers could also use the platform to advertise their skills and find work. Farm managers and owners could find workers at short notice, for instance when they need to harvest crops early to stop them being ruined by bad weather. Farmers could barter their surplus food items after a harvest so that food reaches community members in need, rather than spoiling in poor storage.

Australia International Centre for Food Security (AICFS)

2011-11-22T00:22:00.000-08:00

28 October. The Australian government will establish an international food security centre to offer research and technical expertise to willing governments and institutions in Africa.The Australia International Centre for Food Security (AICFS) will be established in the second quarter of next year.

It will be set up at a cost of around US$37 million and be hosted by the Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR). Under the scheme African scientists will be linked to top Australian research bodies and tertiary education institutions to access solutions to the challenges of farming in tropical and sub-tropical environments.

Australian researchers will also train African scientists in the technology the country uses to cope with many of the environmental challenges it shares with Africa, such as its extreme climate, soil infertility and climate change.

Gabrielle Persley, adjunct professor at the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland in Australia, said the centre will help African scientists develop drought-resilient crop varieties, an area where Australia has made great strides.

The centre will also develop vaccines for livestock diseases and conduct joint research programmes with African counterparts.

"Developing the capacity of African scientists and other experts in areas such as developing market access for smallholder farmers, and deploying Australian advanced technology in helping farmers cope with impacts of climate change will be major facets of this initiative," said Persley.

The building of the centre will be preceded by an international conference on African food security, in the first half of 2012. The conference will bring together Australian and African researchers to identify opportunities for cooperation.

The centre will eventually have a branch in an as-yet-unidentified African country. The priority of AICFS will be to achieve food and nutritional security but that it will in future phases move towards the commercialisation of smallholder agriculture.

Bio of Gabrielle Persley

Dr. Persley received her doctorate in microbiology at the University of Queensland, Australia. Her work is focused on the role of biotechnology in developing countries. She has published widely and is editor of a CAB International (CABI) published series of books on Agricultural Biotechnology. Her most recent publications are Meta review for the International Council for Science (ICSU) “New Genetics, Food and Agriculture- Scientific Discoveries—Societal Dilemmas” and “Biotechnology and Sustainable Development: Voices of the South and North”.

Dr. Persley spent several years in Washington DC as the biotechnology advisor to the World Bank, where she managed a number of biotechnology projects, in support of the applications of biotechnology in emerging economies. She is presently a member of the Steering Committee of the African Biosciences Facility, a NEPAD-sponsored center of excellence in biosciences, established on the campus of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi, Kenya.

Innovations in Extension and Advisory Services

2011-11-21T03:11:00.000-08:00

15-18 November 2011, Nairobi, Kenya. Over 400 academics, researchers, extension agents, farmers´ representatives, media experts, policy makers and representatives from international organizations and donors met in Nairobi to discuss innovations in extension and advisory services for food and livelihoods.

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA), the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS), the New Partnership for Africa’s Development Planning and Coordinating Agency (NEPAD Agency), the International Centre for development oriented Research in Agriculture (ICRA) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in collaboration with several national, regional and international partners including the African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources Education (ANAFE), Biovision, the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), the Ministry of Agriculture – Kenya, the European Initiative on Agricultural Research for Development (EIARD), the University of Nairobi, the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the University of the South Pacific (USP) organised this an international conference to take stock of current policies, thinking and practice, successes and failures of ongoing and past reforms in extension and advisory services and build a coalition moving forward to specifically address meeting the future needs of small-holder farmers, marginalized communities, women and youth in a sustainable and cost effective manner. This conference integrated the GFRAS 2nd annual conference.

“With the global population approaching nine billion by 2050, we need widespread adoption of farming practices that can sustainably increase yields in a changing climate to feed more people, while also creating new job and market opportunities to address high unemployment and poverty,” Michael Hailu, executive director of the Netherlands-based Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation, was quoted as saying in a statement by the organisation, which organised the conference.

“Smallholder farmers - particularly women - produce the bulk of food in developing countries, often under difficult circumstances,” he added. “National governments and international donors must redouble their efforts to boost smallholder agricultural production if we are to reverse persistent food insecurity and rural poverty.”

Some relevant presentations on multi-stakeholder consortia on ARD:

Farmer-managed innovation funds drive multi-stakeholder learning processes.
Ann Waters-Bayer is an agricultural sociologist with ETC AgriCulture in Leusden, Netherlands. She specialises in social and institutional aspects of research and development, especially innovation processes that enhance local capacities to adapt to change.

She is also team member in two European Community-funded projects: JOLISAA (Joint Learning in Innovation Systems in African Agriculture), which operates in Benin, Kenya and South Africa; and INSARD (Including Smallholders in Agricultural Research for Development), which involves NGOs and farmer organisations in Africa and Europe. She has (co-)authored several books and articles on pastoralist development and on innovation processes involving smallholders in Africa.

Empowering smallholder farmers in markets: experiences in collaborative research with national farmer organisations to improve pro-active advocacy for smallholder market access.

by Giel Ton, LEI Wageningen UR, Agrinatura

Extension, advisory services and capability building along the value chain: Do partnerships between farmers and exporters lead to learning and innovation?

Maurice Bolo, African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS)

Outcome of the selection of Agricultural Innovation facilitators

2011-11-16T01:13:00.000-08:00

Profile of the applicants

PAEPARD launched its call for Agricultural Innovation Facilitators (AIF) applications on first of August 2011. The applicants were asked to submit their application with a short C.V. by August 31, 2011.

Geographical origin (country)

The AI Facilitator Workshop was initially scheduled for September 26th - October 1st 2011 in Kampala. The applicants were informed on September 12th that due to « technical problems » the workshop of Uganda was postponed. The selected candidates would be informed later of the new dates.

The PAEPARD Management Team Meeting of 5-7 October in Accra decided the Agricultural Innovation Facilitators’ Inception workshop will be held in Entebbe between 28th November and 2nd December 2011. 25 participants have been selected.

The screening of the 203 CVs was based on the geographical origin (country) and the profile of the applicant (research, farmer organisation (FO), private sector, nongovernmental organisation (NGO), ministry, consultant or other). The CVs have been evaluated on the relevant experience of the applicant with brokerage; identifying funding opportunities; facilitating inception workshops and facilitating learning.

Impact of the breakthrough pigeonpea genome mapping on poor farmers

2011-11-15T08:16:00.001-08:00

The International Crops Research for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and several partners, including China’sBGI-Shenzhen, have mapped the genome of the pigeonpea. The pigeonpea, or toor dāl in India, is an important food for millions of small farmers in semi-arid regions of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Often dubbed “poor man’s meat,” pigeonpeas are high in protein and amino acids, and flourish in dry, hot regions. The new knowledge of its gene sequence will be used to breed more productive, disease- and drought-resistant varieties of pigeonpea. This video from ICRISAT elaborates on the breakthrough and some of its implications.

Guidelines for Non State Actor participation in CAADP processes

2011-11-11T08:05:00.000-08:00

The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme’s Development Partners Task Team (CAADP DP TT) Non-state actors range from anyone from farmers, donors, consultants, NGOs and other groups taking action to implement the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

The paper by Ian Randall, “Guidelines for Non State Actor participation in CAADP processes” proposes structures and processes to ensure how non-state actors can participate and contribute fully in CAADP and the growth of African agriculture at the country, regional and continental level to boost participation from all parties involved in the process of agricultural improvement.

Another paper, “Creating Strong Stakeholder Engagement in Feed the Future: Suggested Strategy and Guidelines,” highlights the need to engage civil society in all stakeholder dialogues, in order to enhance resource mobilization and the efficiency and effectiveness of all development outcomes.

Reference:

Guidelines for Non State Actor participation in CAADP processes (2011; 1.31MB) These guidelines are written for all stakeholders committed to building broad and effective coalitions to lead the transformation of African agriculture. This includes Non State Actors themselves, Government bodies, and Development Partners.

French version>>>
Recommended Interventions to boost Non State Actor participation CAADP processes (2011; 214KB) Companion Document to the Guidelines for Non State Actor participation in CAADP processes.
French version>>>
“Creating Strong Stakeholder Engagement in Feed the Future: Suggested Strategy and Guidelines,”
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This brief is in response to a State Department request for civil society input on methods and mechanisms for stronger stakeholder engagement in the Feed the Future Initiative. It is part of an ongoing exchange on Feed the Future (FtF) topics between the InterAction community and officials at the State Department and USAID

Related:

10th November 2011. A dialogue platform bringing together stakeholders involved in Kenyan Agriculture, mainly drawn from Non Governmental Organisations, Civil Societies and Private sector to engage Kenyan government develop and harmonise agricultural pilicies in Kenya.

Video-mediated farmer-to-farmer learning for sustainable agriculture

2011-11-07T00:13:00.000-08:00

From June to September 2011, Agro-Insight conducted a scoping study for SDC, GFRAS and SAI Platform on the production, dissemination and use of farmer training videos in developing countries, with a focus on sustainable agriculture. Literature was consulted, the internet screened, experts and users consulted and a global on-line survey launched in English, French and Spanish.

The survey was announced via various listservs, websites and blogs (Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education; CTA; eRAILS; PAEPARD; FARA-net; FFSNet; KIT; LinkedIn Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development; Prolinnova E-group; Swiss Forum for Rural Advisory Services; and various regional farmer platforms such as ROPPA, PROPAC, EAFF).

The on-line survey, with more than 500 respondents, indicated that research institutes, universities and NGOs are better linked to professional networks and hence more easily reached through the internet than extension services, radio stations and farmer organizations. Although feedback from the food industry was relatively low, most SAI Platform members were represented.

There is a general consensus that farmers need good agricultural training videos, but they do not browse the web in search of them. For watching videos they rely mainly on outside agencies.
Farmers would watch videos on their own with their family or neighbours if video disc distribution mechanisms were in place. And they are willing to pay for video discs and video shows.

Only about 20% of all respondents have never used video to train farmers and have never searched the web for agricultural videos. Many of those didn’t know where to look for videos, hadn’t found videos on the right subject or hadn’t found videos in their local language.

“I have viewed many agricultural videos in YouTube no doubt they were interesting. But I found that they were not relevant to the conditions of the farmers where I am involved in capacity building.” A. Thimmaiah, National Organic Program, Bhuta

About 85% of the respondents found local languages very important for farmer training videos. To ensure that videos are sharable and of use to the global community of extension service providers and farmers, producing many poor quality local language videos is not cost-effective. The zoomingin, zooming-out (ZIZO) approach shows how to make regionally relevant and locally appropriate videos. Organizations are willing to translate and use videos made in other countries if they are relevant and of good quality, and if video scripts are available. Lower quality videos serve intermediaries only and are rarely used to actually train farmers. The five priority areas for new video productions are: crops and trees, water management, plant health, soil health and farmer organizations.

The report compares the pros and cons of key models of farmer-to-farmer video production and dissemination, and discusses the implications for future capacity building and how each model could contribute content to a global web-based platform.

Most (82%) public and private service providers are keen on the idea of a new web-based platform devoted to agricultural training videos only. Many people opposed including advocacy and opinion sharing, but suggested a type of a discussion forum for users of the platform to exchange experiences on video production and use.

To reach farmers with agricultural videos, a new web-based platform is required, but not sufficient. Efforts to link people with different professional backgrounds and to establish regional and national communication, translation and video disc distribution mechanisms have to be established.

A new not-for-profit organization, called Access Agriculture, is proposed to facilitate content creation and sharing of agricultural training videos through its web-based platform and an evolving network of linkages and experts. Institutional set up and operational models for Access Agriculture have been discussed with SDC, GFRAS and SAI Platform, but are not included in this report.

Innovation with Impact: Financing 21st Century Development

2011-11-05T03:25:00.000-07:00

4 November. Gates presented his “Innovation with Impact: Financing 21st Century Development” report (pdf) to world leaders in Cannes attending the G20, outlining the steps that should be taken to bring about a fairer, more equal planet.

Outlining the value of international aid, and the lives saved by advances in innovation, he said:

“In the past 50 years, a billion people were saved from starvation by advances in agriculture. Health has improved in stunning ways, thanks to innovations like vaccines. In 1960, 20 million children under the age of 5 died. In 2010, fewer than 8 million children under 5 died. The world population more than doubled during this time, which means the rate of death has been cut by over 80 percent.
“Aid generosity has played an important role in these successes.”

On the importance of aid and the need for governments to maintain Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) in straitened times, he added:

“Times, some people will say rich countries should cut their ODA. They should not. Not only because they have made promises, but also because important pieces of the development agenda won’t be addressed without assistance. ODA spurs innovation by funding pilot projects that poor countries would not undertake themselves…

On innovation:

“Key innovations like new seeds and vaccines – and new ways to deliver them to the poorest – can multiply the impact of the resources we’re already devoting to development. We’ve made a big difference, but we can improve the basic tools of development by making them cheaper, easier to use, and more efficient – or by inventing wholly new tools.
“One of the newest resources for development – and potentially one of the most transformative – is rapidly growing countries’ capacity for innovation. Countries like Brazil, China, India, and Mexico are in a great position to work closely with poor countries because they have recent experience in reducing poverty, as well as enormous technical capabilities.”

The inspirational, life-saving examples of innovation and international cooperation cited by Gates in the field of agriculture include:

• A new variety of rice, specially bred to survive underwater, being grown by farmers in flood-prone areas of India where crops are regularly wiped out by standing water. In the next six years, up to 20 million farmers will plant the new varieties.
• Going back three decades, Brazil has been working with Japan to help poor farmers inMozambique grow soybeans.
• China has recently launched the “Green Super Rice” partnership, to help develop adapted varieties of rice with 15 poor countries in Africa and South Asia. Africa already accounts for approximately one-third of global rice imports and demand is growing – so helping African farmers increase rice production is critical for food security on the continent.

Gates concludes his report by saying:

“Scientific and technological innovations will allow us to solve problems that cause significant misery and hold societies back. A malaria vaccine, for example, would change the economic outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa. Better seeds for the crops that poor people rely on – cassava, maize, millet, rice, and sorghum – would feed billions, improve nutrition, and guarantee food security for the world.
“Another kind of innovation – a fundamental shift in the way we think about development – will provide amazing opportunities. It used to be that the world was, roughly speaking, one-third rich and two-thirds poor. Now, the absolute number and the proportion of dynamic, healthy, highly educated countries are much higher.
“That has been good for everybody, because it means a more prosperous and stable world. It also means that there are now more countries that have more to give to development. When I see the mix of countries around the G20 table, I am excited about our ability to capitalise on this… We can do much more to promote innovation for development.”

Tigray: Then and Now

2011-11-05T03:01:00.000-07:00

1 nov 2011. Salim Amin, son of legendary Kenyan videographer Mo Amin, ventures to Tigray Ethiopia -- the place hardest hit by the 1984 famine; the place his dad captured his most iconic footage; and the place that has since been the site of smart, long term investments by governments, donors, and local communities. Drought is still a fact of life in Tigray - but famine is not. These programs have built resilience to drought and put communities on a path out of poverty. Salim meets locals who survived the 1984 drought, but are now successful farmers utilizing better techniques and infrastructure. Tigray is living proof of what long term agricultural programs can accomplish and show that famine does not have to be an inevitability.

Increasing Agricultural Productivity and Enhancing Food Security in Africa: New Challenges and Opportunities

2011-11-03T07:17:00.000-07:00

The November 1–3 conference “Increasing Agricultural Productivity and Enhancing Food Security in Africa: New Challenges and Opportunities,” was co-organized by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the African Union Commission (AUC), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), and the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA). Speakers and participants showcased opportunities to improve agricultural productivity and explored how they can be effectively implemented through the framework of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme.

Experts at the conference also examined issues related to:

science, technology, and innovation in agriculture;
rural services and access to inputs;
markets, trade, and regional integration and value chains;
investments, institutions, and policies for supporting agriculture;
agriculture, nutrition, and health linkages;
agriculture and climate change mitigation and adaptation;
capacity development for agriculture through education and training; and
the nexus of agriculture and the rural nonfarm sector in growth and poverty reduction

The keynote address - ‘harnessing the potential of science and the numbers’ was given by FARA’s Monty Jones. He emphasized the need for ‘radical approaches’ and ‘radical actions.’ Africa should come up with its own unique interventions, he said, and listen to the voices of the 600 million African farmers.

Stephen Muchiri of the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation said:

“The major challenge in increasing agriculture productivity in Africa is low agro investment, markets are not well developed, there are market restrictions, farmers can’t easily access the market, and they don’t have power to have their own markets. If there is no access to markets, the entire value chain will be affected. Markets are the way to boost research, input, credit facilities and risk mitigation. When farmers are involved in value chains they are going to be able to access market information that helps them prepare their production in ways that suit market demand.”

Keynote Speech by Yusuf Abubakar, ARCN. Strengthening capacity for agricultural science and technology in Africa

Keynote Speech by Namanga Ngongi, AGRA. Delivering African agricultural productivity and food security through a Green Revolution: prospects and challenges

Soil Fertility Management in the tropics

2011-10-28T05:35:00.000-07:00

The clip is an executive summary of a 95 minutes film we made on participatory soil fertility management in Africa. It is a fiction film based on real life stories of African farmers trying to realize their dreams. Improving the ways of managing their soil, but also collective storage and marketing of agricultural produce and negotiation for inputs and credit are part of farmers' strategies to be competitive. The film makes clear that interactive learning is the drive for local innovation and adaptation, and for realizing farmers' dreams.

Global Conference on Climate Smart Agriculture

2011-10-27T03:45:00.000-07:00

Alain Ange of FARA

24-26 October. Ede, The Netherlands. “Scientists and technology have a critical role to play if we are to achieve food security in the context of climate change,” said Sir John Beddington, Chair of the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change at the opening of the Global Science Conference on Climate-Smart Agriculture in Ede, The Netherlands. He urged the participating agricultural experts from governments, international agencies, and universities to think about smart ways for farmers to produce enough food while managing and adapting to climate change.

The talk included a foretaste of the soon to be launched recommendations from the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change. The Commission, made up of thirteen experts from around the world, has been collecting evidence to synthesizing the evidence to develop practical actions to support sustainable agriculture in the context of climate change. The summary will be aimed for policy makers and launched in time to be fed into the discussions in Durban.

COP 17 - a unique opportunity to put agriculture on the climate change agenda

Sir John urged scientists to contribute to the global challenge of moving the world into a ‘safe operating space’ in which agriculture can meet global food needs while reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. He highlighted how the scientific evidence base can contribute to policy action. Beddington also proclaimed COP17 in Durban in December as a unique opportunity to put agriculture on the climate change agenda.

Sir John said that the agricultural potential in Africa is substantial and existing technologies can be used to create the necessary transformations. Farmers need to produce more food without further encroaching on sensitive ecosystems in order to contribute to a food system that is sustainable and climate safe. Climate-smart agriculture, he said, has to both appeal to and benefit the rural farmer while not undermining livelihoods. Sir John will deliver the Commission's full recommendations at Agriculture and Rural Development Day on 3 December, in Durban.

Lindiwe Sibanda, CEO of FANRPAN attended
the Global Science Conference on Climate-Smart Agriculture in
Wageningen 24-26 October. Photo: C. Schubert (CCAFS)

Lindiwe Sibanda, CEO of the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), and member of the International Science Panel of the CGIAR climate program (CCAFS), said that Africa, a vulnerable continent to climate change, needs to improve its productivity in a climate smart manner. And this is where climate-smart agriculture becomes imperative, since CSA puts people and food first. Sibanda underlined that women are driving agriculture in Africa, which is why “we need to follow women – in everything”.

The 2011 meeting was co-organized by the World Bank and supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO). [Press Release on Global Science Conference on Climate-Smart Agriculture] [Global Science Conference on Climate-Smart Agriculture Website] [The Wageningen Statement]

PAEPARD: ARD funding opportunities

2011-10-27T03:11:00.000-07:00

A G R I C U L T U R E

FP7 KBBE 2012.

The European Commission invites research proposals in the theme of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnology. All topics are open to third-country (non-EU) participation, including with International Cooperation Partner Countries. Cooperation with developing countries is foreseen for research on zoonotic diseases, biowaste, insect protein, global food safety, etc. (Identifier: FP7-KBBE-2012-6-singlestage.) The closing date for applications is 15 November 2011.

Africa specific slides, aim to provide researchers working in Africa with a brief overview of the content of the FP7 2012 work programme and the current calls, and highlight some specific topics which may be of particular interest.

West African Agricultural Productivity Research and Development (WAAPRD)
Dissemination and adoption of agricultural technologies across countries in West Africa (DATWA). The World Bank, within the framework of its Action Plan for “Scaling-up Support for African Agriculture” is supporting the ECOWAS conceived West Africa Agriculture Productivity Program (WAAPP). This competitive grant call therefore calls for project concept notes that innovatively link research and development in order to accelerate the dissemination and adoption of agricultural technologies and innovations across countries in West Africa. Submission of Project Concept Notes (PCN): Deadline is 13th November, 2011 See call in FRENCH and ENGLISH

Nutrition Third World
The present call aims at supporting research to optimize local food sources. This could be applying conservation techniques and developing new food items that can be used to improve the diet. The objective is to find ways to improve overall dietary quality. Deadline: 25 January 2012

EC - Food Security, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The European Commission invites proposals for its food security program in the DRC, organized into three components. The program aims to: (i) build capacity of local production and marketing of agriculture, livestock, and fisheries to supply urban markets; (ii) improve the nutritional status of children; and (iii) develop and expand agroforestry for charcoal production, carbon sequestration, and other environmental benefits. Eligibility extends to non-governmental organizations in the EU, its candidate countries, the European Economic Area, and DRC and other developing countries -- and to inter-governmental organizations. Projects will range from €1.5 million to €10 million (variable by component). Reference EuropeAid/131530/L/ACT/CD. The application deadline is 17 November 2011.

EC - Food Security, Madagascar.
The European Commission is open to proposals for its food security program in Madagascar. The main objective is to improve agricultural productivity and diversification, with an emphasis on vulnerable populations. Eligibility extends to non-governmental organizations in the EU; its candidate countries; the European Economic Area; and Madagascar and other developing countries -- and to inter-governmental organizations. Projects will range from €800 thousand to €1.5 million. Reference EuropeAid/131530/L/ACT/CD. The application deadline is 15 November 2011.

Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER)
PEER is a joint program of USAID and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to support scientists in developing countries in research and capacity-building. Topics of interest include food security (agriculture, fisheries, and plant genomics), and environment (e.g., water sustainability, hydrology, ocean acidification, climate process and modeling, environmental engineering, disaster mitigation, biodiversity, and renewable energy). In addition to these thematic programs, PEER has country programs for Indonesia, Lebanon, and the Philippines. PEER is open to institutions in developing countries that partner with an NSF-funded collaborator at a U.S. institution. The deadline for applications is 30 November 2011.

BREAD 2012.
The National Science Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are partners in BREAD (Basic Research to Enable Agricultural Development). Projects in BREAD must connect the outcomes of the research and its relevance and potential application to agriculture in the developing world. Especially encouraged are proposals that address constraints to the productivity of crops important to smallholder farmers, or on the development of novel and efficient production practices. Full proposals are due 22 November 2011.

African Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF)
Three Active Funding Windows. The AECF offers grants and loans to support businesses in Africa working in agriculture, financial services, renewable energy, and technologies for adapting to climate change. AECF announces three current funding competitions: (i) Agribusiness Africa; (ii) Renewable Energy and Adapting to Climate Technologies (REACT) -- Round 2; and (iii) South Sudan. Eligibility extends to for-profit businesses anywhere in the world if their activities are carried out in Africa (specifically South Sudan in the third case). The application deadline for each of the funding windows is 15 December 2011.

Partnerships in Higher Education & Research for Development 2012.
The Austrian Partnership Program in Higher Education & Research for Development (APPEAR) aims to strengthen institutional capacities in higher education, research, and management. Thematic areas include water supply and sanitation, rural development, energy, environment, and natural resources (among others). Partnerships are prepared collaboratively between institutions in Austria with institutions in Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kenya, Mozambique, Nepal, Nicaragua, Palestinian Territories, Senegal, and Uganda. Partnerships are for up to two years. The deadline for submissions is 31 December 2011.

International Foundation for Science -- Re-Opens for Applications.
The IFS has re-opened for applications, following a period of programmatic review. IFS makes grants of up to US$12 thousand for research projects of 1-3 years in the sustainable management of biological resources (e.g., agriculture, soil science, forestry, biodiversity, environmental chemistry, natural products, food science, animal husbandry, veterinary medicine, aquaculture, and marine resources). Applications are invited from citizens of developing countries who are less than age 40 (with some exceptions, by world regions); at the beginning of their research careers; and who have at least a university master's degree. The next deadline is 29 January 2012.
Awards, Courses, and Training 2012-2013.
The French-language universities of Belgium will award 150 scholarships and 70 training grants in 2012-2013 to applicants from developing countries through Belgium's University Commission for Development (CUD -- Commission universitaire pour le Développement). Subjects include aquaculture; tropical animal and plant resources; environmental management; management of natural hazards; and others. Eligibility requirements are defined by age, previous education, and nationality. The application deadline is 13 February 2012.

B I O D I V E R S I T Y
FP7 ENVIRONMENT 2012.
The European Commission invites research proposals in the theme of Environment (including Climate Change). The emphasis is on research to improve the protection and management of natural resources (land, water, air, and marine resources). All topics are open to third-country (non-EU) participation, including with International Cooperation Partner Countries. The closing date for applications is 15 November 2011

Bioversity International -- Fellowships in Agricultural Genetic Resources 2012.
The Vavilov-Frankel Fellowships support young researchers in themes of conserving and using genetic resources in agriculture. Applicants are researchers in low and middle-income countries who are under age 35. Funding is up to US$20 thousand for research projects lasting up to one year. The closing date for applications (English, French, or Spanish) is 06 November 2011.

Land Deal Politics Initiative (LDPI)
Call for Applications 2011-2012. The LDPI offers small grants to carry out original field research, provide follow-up to ongoing initiatives, and write papers on subjects related to the "global land grab." The research should be original, relevant to policy, and be based on detailed and case-specific field studies. Grants are up to US$3 thousand. The application deadline is 15 December 2011.

2011 Young Environmental Journalist Award for Africa.
UNEP makes awards to young African journalists who provide new insights, challenge established thinking, and enhance public understanding of the environment in Africa. The competition is open to African journalists -- between 21 and 35 years old -- who are based in Africa. The winner receives a trip to the USA to meet other journalists, environmental organizations, scientists, and others. Applications are due 16 December 2011.

New England Biolabs Foundation -- Grassroots Conservation.
The Foundation makes grants to grassroots and charitable organizations to support conservation of biological diversity; ecosystem services; community food security; and marine environment. The geographical scope focuses on selected countries of the Gulf of Honduras; the Andean region; and West Africa (in addition to Papua New Guinea, Tanzania, Nicaragua, and El Salvador). Maximum grant size is US$10 thousand, but most grants are smaller. The next deadline for letters of inquiry is 15 February 2012.

C L I M A T E C H A N G E

New Zealand Fund for Global Partnerships in Livestock Emissions Research
The Fund is aimed at accelerating global research into mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from pastoral livestock farming. The Fund is open to international scientists, and it is hoped that multi-stakeholder/country consortia bids will be put forward. Deadline for Expressions of Interest: 7 November 2011.

Research on Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Livestock.
The New Zealand Fund for Global Partnerships in Livestock Emissions Research is an international research fund set up by New Zealand to support the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Gases. Project leaders can be from New Zealand or another country of the Global Research Alliance; projects should include at least one researcher from New Zealand. The international participants need to contribute co-funding. Specific themes of the research are outlined in the grants announcement. In Round 1, projects are expected to be in the range of NZ$1-4 million over four years. Expressions of interest should be submitted by 07 November 2011.

Climate Change Research 2012.
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation offers International Climate Protection Fellowships for one-year research projects in Germany on climate protection and resource conservation. The program is open to prospective future leaders in academia, business, and administration in non-European threshold and developing countries (listed in the announcement). The Foundation aims to make 20 grants per year. In the current cycle, the closing date for applications is 15 December 2011.

Development Research 2012.
Denmark's Ministry of Foreign Affairs funds research on climate change adaptation and mitigation in developing countries (among other themes). Research projects are managed by collaborations of Danish and South-based research institutions, with a priority on institutions in Africa. Applications must be submitted by organizations based in Denmark. Grants will range from 5-10 million DKK per project. The deadline for Phase I applications is 12 December 2011.

International Climate Initiative.
Germany's BMU (Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety) funds the International Climate Initiative (ICI) to support international projects on climate change mitigation, adaptation, and biodiversity projects with climate relevance. Projects target carbon sinks with high levels of biodiversity (e.g., Amazon region, Congo Basin, and South-East Asia). Outlines for projects beginning in 2012 may be submitted to the Programme Office until 9 January 2012.

Echoing Green
Echoing Green helps emerging social entrepreneurs with grants of seed capital and technical assistance to support their start-up organizations. Past grants include several that address renewable energy, waste management, smallholder farming, and other societal challenges of developing countries. Applicants can be citizens of any nationality, and their organizations can be based in any country. The fellowships are US$60 thousand for individuals (and US$90 thousand for 2-person partnerships) over two years. Applications are submitted between 05 December 2011 and 09 January 2012.

2nd Joint Stakeholder Conference of the EDULINK and the ACP Science and Technology (ACP S&T) programmes

2011-10-27T02:44:00.000-07:00

From 26 to 28 October 2011, the 2^nd Joint Stakeholders Conference of the ACP-EU EDULINK and Science & Technology Programmes is organised in Brussels. As the 1^st Joint Stakeholders Conference in October 2010, the event is being held in the ACP House, Avenue Georges Henri 451, 1200 Brussels, Belgium.

The conference topics are related to the two programmes and of interest to primarily participants from granted projects of these programmes, but also to other interested parties. The event is set up in three days and covers various thematic sessions, in an interactive way, with presentations from project participants and invited speakers followed by open discussions:

the first day is dedicated to EDULINK themes.
the second day addresses common themes shared by the two programmes.
the third day focuses on specific ACP Science and Technology Programme issues.

Bilateral meetings between the Management Units of the two programmes, the European Commission and the representatives of the beneficiary projects is arranged during the whole conference. The conference allows project participants from the ACP-EU collaborative programmes EDULINK and the ACP Science and Technology Programme to meet each other and to exchange experiences and information.

Le COLEACP-PIP et la FAO signent un accord de collaboration

2011-10-27T02:38:00.000-07:00

Le 20 octobre 2011, l'Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'Alimentation et l'Agriculture (FAO) et le COLEACP-PIP ont signé un accord de collaboration qui permettra de développer des actions et stratégies conjointes et/ou complémentaires dans des domaines d'intérêt commun relevant de leurs compétences, objectifs et mandats respectifs.

Par l'action du PIP auprès de la filière horticole des pays d'Afrique, des Caraîbes et du Pacifique, le COLEACP fait en sorte que les importants progrès réalisés par l'horticulture d'exportation bénéficient aux productions destinées aux marchés locaux et régionaux, contribuant ainsi aux Objectifs du Millénaire pour le Développement (OMD), parmi lesquels l'allègement de la pauvreté, la sécurité alimentaire et la protection de l'environnement.

Par ce nouveau partenariat, le COLEACP-PIP et la FAO affirment leur volonté d'inscrire leurs actions dans une perspective de plus grande efficience en :

évitant toute duplication
réalisant des économies d'échelles grâce au partage et à la mise en commun des ressources et du savoir-faire

Pour des programmes de courte durée tels que le PIP, ajoutons enfin que collaborer avec des organisations telles que la FAO ou d'autres organisations internationales permet d'élargir les publics cibles initiaux et ce, à un coût marginal. Dans les prochains mois, le COLEACP-PIP continuera à oeuvrer pour le rapprochement d'autres programmes, organisations ou institutions afin de partager son expertise et rendre accessibles au plus grand nombre les outils développés en faveur de l'industrie horticole des pays ACP.

The when and where of research in agricultural innovation trajectories

2011-10-25T08:21:00.000-07:00

The when and where of research in agricultural innovation trajectories : evidence and implications from RIU's South ASIA PROJECTS

Vamsidhar Reddy, T.S.; Hall, Andy; Sulaiman V., Rasheed

This paper examines the efforts of the DFID‐funded Research Into Use (RIU) programme that sought to explore the agricultural research‐into‐use question empirically.

Two key analytical principles are used to find how research is actually put into use: (1) the configurations of organisations and their relationships associated with innovation; (2) understanding innovation as a path-dependent, contextually shaped trajectory unfolding over time.

The paper suggests new modes of financing to support the undertaking of research AND use together and not as sequential steps. It also confirms the importance of roles played by different types of agencies in the innovation process, which requires adopting capacity building agendas in a system sense rather than technology transfer agendas.

The paper then highlights the important roles played by the pivotal agencies of the innovation process —that have pro‐poor agendas — to steer innovation trajectories in order to achieve poverty reduction objectives.

From here on, the paper is organised as follows. Section 2 presents a framework for exploring the location of research in agricultural innovation. Section 3 presents the case studies that are then discussed in Section 4 to bring out key issues regarding the nature of agricultural innovation trajectories and the use of research within these. The paper ends with policy implications for putting research into use in Section 5.

Financing agricultural value chains in Africa : a synthesis of four country case studies

2011-10-25T08:02:00.000-07:00

This 87 pages report Financing agricultural value chains in Africa : a synthesis of four country case studies represents the synthesis of a series of studies into agricultural finance in Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia, and Burkina Faso, with a view to identifying strategies and tactics which would improve such access for commercially oriented agricultural value chains.

The policy recommendations will represent the African voice in the international community as a primary input for the international G20 policy paper on agricultural finance. In order to ensure this programme is realised in time for the G20 summit in Cannes in November 2011, African representatives, G20 members and development partners are stepping up their collaborative effort in order to reach consensus on the best policy recommendations in agricultural fi nance, both in Africa and internationally.

It represents the synthesis of a series of studies into agricultural finance in Africa sponsored by German development cooperation. The aim was to examine access to finance for agriculture in Africa, with a view to identifying strategies and tactics which would improve such access for commercially oriented agricultural value chains. These recommendations will be used as input
for the pan-African and G20 task forces and to inform policy development by government and development agencies, both at country level and for the continent as a whole.

Outcome of the Call for Concept notes of PAEPARD

2011-10-24T03:53:00.000-07:00

PAEPARD launched on 31^st May, 2011 a second call for applications for support to the development of multi-stakeholder partnerships that promote demand-driven agricultural innovation and research. PAEPARD partners were asked to disseminate as much as possible the call through their respective channels.

Per 15/07/2011, 69 Concept Notes (CNs) were submitted,
18 Applications did not fulfill the set criteria
There were 55 New Applicants and 14 CNs are re-submission
There were 55 Anglophone Applications against 14 Francophone Applications
2 Applications were led by European stakeholders: one by Italy and another one by Switzerland
In the second call 65 % are led by non researchers while in the first call 49%
51 Concept Notes (CNs) were evaluated.

During its Management Team Meeting of 7th October 2011 in Accra, PAEPARD ranked the priority list.

Selected concept notes:

African Applicant Country	Title of the proposal
Ghana	Control of Angular leaf spot disease of Citrus in Ghana
Burundi	Développement participatif des technologies de la culture pomme de terre et promotion des innovations sensibles au genre et à la conservation de l’environnement au Burundi
Uganda	Extensive Collection and Characterization of African Solanaceae Plants
Mauritius	Micro propagation and cultivation of in vitro breadfruit plants and development of novel products from Breadfruit as an alternative source of carbohydrates in Mauritius
Uganda	Enhancing soybean and cowpea value chains for increased productivity, incomes and nutritional security of smallholder farmers in East and Central Africa
Burkina Faso	BIOPROTECT-B, un groupement d’intérêt économique pour la protection biologique des cultures et la fertilisation organique des sols pour une agriculture saine et durable au sahel
Benin	Appui a la sécurité économique des ménages ruraux par la production, la commercialisation et la transformation du Soja au Benin
Nigeria	Low cost and high quality livestock feed production knowledge delivery to Nigerian poultry industry (NIPOFERD)
Cote d'Ivoire	Agriculture pour l’éducation (A.P.E) des enfants en âge scolaire (5 – 15 ans) en milieux rural et périurbain
Cameroon	Innover pour l’intensification, la diversification et la transformation de l’agriculture familiale en Afrique Centrale à travers la recherche – action en partenariat : cas de CNOP-CAM dans la région du Centre Cameroun

The support of PAEPARD to new partnerships consists of:

[A] sponsored participation of key partners in Partnership Inception (PI ) workshops
[B] subsidized participation of some of the key partners together with administrative staff of their organizations in Write-shops.
[C] Follow up with the funding opportunities

A) Partnership Inception workshop:
A workshop of about 5 days of the key partners:
Expected results of the Partnership Inception workshop:

Result 1: Demand-driven, balanced ARD consortia are consolidated with clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the non-research and research partners and African and European partners and with a clear agreement on the principles of African-led joint governance. Where relevant, missing actors and their required contributions have been identified.
Result 2: Each ARD consortium has developed an action plan defining the complementary development activities to address the common challenge/ theme around which each consortium is mobilized and the main elements of a research proposal to be further elaborated at a write-shop.
Result 3: Memoranda of Agreement have been signed between the partners in each partnership, between each partnership and its AI-facilitator and between each AI-facilitator and the PAEPARD Work Package 4 [Capacity Building] leaders.
Result 4: The collective and individual capacities of all consortium members to function as a team, taking stock of specific needs of non-research partners and mobilising their specific complementary contributions to the innovation process, have been strengthened.

Between the Partnership Inception workshop and write-shops, the AI-facilitators, with help from PAEPARD, assist their partnerships to formulate a first rough draft of a research proposal based on the main elements defined during the PI-workshop.

B) Write shops.
Expected results of the Write shop

Result 1: Consortium members are aware of the procedures and formats required by the identified funding source to which their research proposal will be submitted and are able to use these formats and apply these procedures.
Result 2: Each consortium has fully developed its proposal following the specified format by the identified funding source

C) Follow up with the funding opportunities
Expected results of the follow up on the funding opportunities

Research proposals from different consortia that participated in the process of inception workshop and write-shop are submitted to the targeted funding sources

Facilitating pro-poor business

2011-10-24T00:41:00.000-07:00

Facilitating pro-poor business

Why advice goes further when it’s backed by investment

M. J. Boomsma
Anna Laven
Bart de Steenhuijsen Piters eds.
In development cooperation there is a trend that the private sector is seen as an integral part of the solution to reduce poverty. As a result pro-poor businesses emerge, involving actors such as private businesses, the public sector, farmer organizations and NGOs. There are some challenges in bringing these different actors together in a social enterprise.

Generally, there is a need for a facilitator to align interests, bridge cultural differences, fill in gaps in skills, and deal with power differences, wrong expectations and prejudice.

The five cases in this bulletin (ginger in Sierra Leone, tuna in Ghana, organic cocoa on the Dominican Republic, biodiesel in Mali and a trade house in Mali) illustrate that each type of facilitating role has its advantages and disadvantages, and that there are many factors a good facilitator needs to take into account when bringing together the public and private sector and civil society to form a pro-poor business.

Policy briefs on how to manage food price instability.

2011-10-18T10:47:00.000-07:00

3 policy briefs from CIRAD on how to manage food price instability.

The first one shows that the problem of food price instability calls for different responses depending on whether it concerns domestic markets in developing countries, domestic markets in developed countries, or international markets.

Download the note: Perspective_10_English.pdf

The second note analyzes what the international community can do to help developing countries manage food price instability. This topic is more than ever in the international agenda thanks to the discussions taking place this year in the G20 and in the FAO's Committee on World Food Security (CFS).

Download the note: Note_IC_English.pdf

The third note considers the case of developing countries. It shows that food security and modernization of agriculture require setting up price stabilization policies for staple food products.

Download the note: Perspective_2_English.pdf

FAO and IFPRI reports for the World Food Day 08/10

2011-10-18T09:15:00.000-07:00

The State of Food Insecurity in theWorld 2011, FAO, October 2011

This year’s report focuses on the costs of food price volatility, as well as the dangers and opportunities presented by high food prices. Climate change and an increased frequency of weather shocks, increased linkages between energy and agricultural markets due to growing demand for biofuels, and increased financialization of food and agricultural commodities all suggest that price volatility is here to stay.

See also: UN says Food Prices to Remain High, Financial Times, October 10
The jump in prices for grain and other staples led to riots during the 2007-08 food crisis and more recently central banks in Asia have tightened monetary policy to combat food inflation.

The International Food Price Research Institute (IFPRI) has released a report titled "2011 Global Hunger Index: The challenge of hunger: Taming price spikes and excessive food prices volatility."

The report underscores that, though global hunger has declined since 1990, it remains at a serious level, with the highest hunger scores in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. The report describes progress in Angola, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger and Viet Nam.

See also [IFPRI Press Release] It notes the negative impacts of rising and volatile prices attributing the price changes to increasing use of food crops for biofuels, extreme weather and climate change, and increased volume of trading in commodity futures markets. In particular, it underlines that concentrated export markets leaves food importing countries dependent on just a few countries. The report suggests addressing price spikes and volatility by revising biofuel policies, regulating financial activity on food markets, and adapting to and mitigating climate change.

AAAPD Side event at World Food Prize & Mobilization of the African Diaspora

2011-10-14T09:03:00.000-07:00

14 October, 2011. Africa is Ready for Business: Agriculture Development, Food Security & Wealth Creation. Event sponsored by Iowa State University, African Association of Agricultural professionals in the Diaspora & Partnership to Cut Hunger & Poverty in Africa. In Collaboration with: Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) / African Union/NEPAD Coordination & Planning Agency (AU/NCPA) / Swedish University of Agriculture Sciences (SLU).

Round Table Discussion on African Agriculture: Key Issues, Challenges and Prospects

Iowa State and African Agriculture: Finding a Match – David Acker, Dean – Faculty of Agriculture
CAADP Implementation: Support for Agricultural Development in Africa – Dr. Richard Mkandawire, AU/NCPA
Fostering Africa-US Public & Private Partnerships in Agricultural Research; Extension Investments – Dr. Monty Jones, FARA
Harnessing African Diaspora in Africa’s Agricultural Development through teaching, research and extension – Dr. Peter Jeranyama, AAAPD
Trans-Atlantic Cooperation for Africa’s Agriculture & Food security - Prof Lisa Forsse, Vice-Chancellor, Swedish Agriculture University

Public Forum on “Africa is Ready for Business: Agriculture Development, Food Security & Wealth Creation

Panelists:

Hon. Jumanne Maghembe, /Minister of Agriculture – Republic of Tanzania
Hon. Florence Chenoweth, /Minister of Agriculture – Republic of Liberia
Hon. Aghatam Alhassane, Minister of Agriculture – Republic of Mali
Hon. Pacheco, Minister of Agriculture – Republic of Mozambique
Hon. Sally Kosgey, Minister of Agriculture – Republic of Kenya
Dr. Monty Jones, Executive Secretary – Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa
Dr. Richard Mkandawire - //Head of Partnerships, Resource Mobilization and Communication, AU/NPCA

USAID and Impact Investors Capitalize new Equity Fund for East African Agribusiness

2011-10-14T03:40:00.000-07:00

September 28, 2011. A new fund has been set up by a group of impact investors and a US government agency to drive growth in East Africa’s troubled agricultural sector. Already, $25 million has been invested into the African Agricultural Capital Fund (AACF) by the US Agency for International Development (USAid) and impact investors, who include Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation, the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Pearl Capital Partners, a Kampala-based specialised African agricultural investment fund manager, will be responsible for investing the funds in at least 20 agriculture-related small and medium-sized enterprises in East Africa over the next five years.

“The AACF will catalyse the growth of small and medium agribusinesses in East Africa,” said Julie Sunderland, the director of programme-related investments at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She added that since they work with smallholder farmers across the agricultural value-chain, these businesses are important for the sector’s sustainable development.

However, according to the managing partner of PCP, Tom Adlam, a funding gap exists for small-cap agricultural businesses across East Africa, between large-scale commercial banks and microfinance institutions.

“This new fund will help to address this gap, providing long-term capital to entrepreneurs who are building businesses in the agriculture sector while delivering quality financial returns for investors,” Mr Adlam added.
In fact, there is optimism that the establishment of the fund could signal a change in fortunes for the businesses.
“We are optimistic that the success of AACF and the individual businesses within its portfolio will encourage additional capital investment in enterprises employing, purchasing from, and providing inputs and services to smallholders,” said Ms Sunderland.

The CEO of the Global Impact Investing Network, Luther Ragin, Jr, concurred that collaboration between the diverse investors would result in increased capital to the sustainable African agricultural sector.

Besides targeting positive financial returns, the fund is also interested in having significant social impact through provision of employment, secure markets and improved products for smallholder farmers across East Africa.

German Marshall Fund of the United States launches Initiative to Strengthen Food Security in Africa

2011-10-14T02:47:00.000-07:00

October 10, 2011. The German Marshall Fund recently launched the high-level Transformational Partnerships in Food Security in Africa: A Transatlantic Experts Group, whose American, European, and African members will identify and propose partnerships that drive positive change and lead to scalable food security programs, based on a shared vision among public and private sector actors. The group is co-chaired by GMF Senior Transatlantic Fellows Jim Kolbe and Jean-Michel Severino.

Click here to view all members of the Transatlantic Experts Group.

Under the guidance of the co-chairs and with input from group members, GMF will conduct consultations and hold workshops with government officials and experts in East Africa, the United States, and Europe to formulate recommendations on transformational partnerships to increase food security on a meaningful scale. At the group’s initial meetings in Brussels and Washington, members from think tanks, civil society, multilateral organizations, and government agencies, including The World Bank, USAID, UNDP, Wal-Mart, and the European Commission, debated the challenges and opportunities facing African food security partnerships and outlined an agenda for the coming months.

A final report will be released in Stockholm in early 2012, with shorter policy briefs and recommendations to be released in the interim.

2011 Borlaug Dialogue

2011-10-13T03:53:00.000-07:00

October 12-14, 2011 – Des Moines, Iowa. The 2011 Borlaug Dialogue international symposium gathered the top minds and foremost leaders in global agriculture, food and development. The World Food Prize celebrates its 25th Anniversary of bringing hunger issues to the forefront.

The "Next Generation" theme asked several critical questions:

What are the most pressing future challenges that the global community will face in fighting hunger and poverty?
Who will be the next generation of leaders to confront such challenges and how do we best prepare and develop these leaders?
What are the next generation of technologies, methodologies, models and solutions to overcome such challenges?

Beginning Wednesday, Oct. 12, this three-day dialogue addressed the questions above by exploring the following:

Empowering youth through education and economic opportunities
The role of private investment in smallholder capital to spur innovation and entrepreneurship
The coexistence of high-tech agriculture and agro-ecology in promoting sustainability
New technologies and practices in improving agricultural ecosystems and environmental resource management
Improving efficiencies along the agricultural value chain and its effect on development, nutrition and health
Leveraging markets and trade on the macroeconomic level between high-income and developing countries
Changing demographics and the impact of population and dietary shifts, urbanization and aging
Maximizing the potential of women and girls in fighting hunger and poverty
Enhancing communication and collaboration across sectors and among all stakeholders to increase awareness and participation at all levels of advocacy.

African Dryland Alliance for Pesticidal Plant Technologies

2011-10-13T03:39:00.000-07:00

ADAPPT is a project supported by a European Union grant through the ACP Science and Technology Programme to establish a network of scientists and agricultural technicians, from NGOs, agricultural institutes, ministries and universities from Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom with a focus on pesticidal plants* as environmentally benign and safer alternatives to synthetic pesticides. The specific partners are listed on the Partners page of the website. ADAPPT will:

Establish an intra-African network with linkages to international networks,
Build capacity to assess research needs to facilitate the formulation and implementation of research policies associated with pesticidal plants and to prepare and submit project proposals for new funding opportunities, and
Enhance the research capacity and incentive of the network partners and so increase the quality and impact of research results and disseminated outputs.

Grant: FED/2009/217064

Project duration: 36 months(from 10/11/2009 to 09/11/2012)

EC funding: EUR 989,204.00

Total budget: EUR 1,163,769.00

10th African Crop Science Society Conference

2011-10-13T03:16:00.000-07:00

October 10 – 13, 2011. Maputo, Mozambique. The 10th African Crop Science Society Conference emphasized the role of research in providing new and improved livelihood opportunities for farmers in Africa, thus improving their income and food security. The event provided a dynamic learning environment, with opportunities to interact and learn from one another, and to open and broaden horizons. The conference covered the following thematic areas:

agronomy, crop physiology, and cropping systems
horticulture
crop genetics and improvement
crop protection
biotechnology
integrated crop and livestock systems
soil and water management
agricultural extension and education
agricultural economics
environment and climate change effects on agriculture

At the 10th African Crop Science Society Conference, four Council Awards were presented to outstanding scientists:

Prof. Monty Jones (FARA;Sierra Leonean)
Prof. Kasem Zaki Ahmed (Minia University, Egypt)
Prof. Joyce Kikafunda (Makerere University, Uganda)
Dr. John S Tenywa (Makerere University, Uganda)

Regional Workshop of African and European Research Area programme managers for agriculture research for development

2011-10-13T01:31:00.000-07:00

11-13 Oct 2011 Uganda. ERA-ARD II together with FARA co-organized a workshop of the African and European Research Area programme managers for agriculture research for development (ARD).

The concept was to create a working mechanism for a real demand-driven co-ordination and alignment of joint research and training activities in Sub-Saharan Africa region especially in developing human and institutional capacities.

The aim of the workshops was to identify regional research demand expressed by African ARD stakeholders and to match it with the available resources from the European programs. The workshops established an integrated approach of programming from various sources to contribute to an effective research, training and education in Africa.

The outcome of the workshop are:

identification of priority themes that could be supported using available resources from Africa and Europe. A call for proposals will be launched in the following months. Further details are described in the below concept note, "Sub Sahara Africa - Regional ARD-Alliances".
experts/stakeholders present their concepts on specific aspects of "Sustainable agricultural intensification through increased productivity and commodity value of crops".
This was followed by an exchange of views with government official delegates and European program managers.

Uganda Workshop - Background (pdf)

Uganda Workshop - Agenda (pdf)

This film is about the RUNetwork question and answer service for farmers in Africa.

It describes how vouchers are used to esablish a constructive dialogue between the farming and the scientific community. It is not just farmers that get answers from science to solve their production problems but also science that gets access to farm level data for a better understanding of the dynamics of local farming systems. Information from farmers about upcoming problems is also used for early warning. The approach was successfuly tested in 5 different countries and scaled up to 14 communities all over Uganda. It is presently introduced in another 15 African countries in a collaborative project between the forum for agricultural research in Africa (FARA) and the ferderal office for agriculture and food (BLE Germany) with financial support from the Afircan development Bank.

PAEPARD MTM in Accra

2011-10-12T07:59:00.000-07:00

5-7 October 2011. Accra. FARA. The PAEPARD project activities have reached cruise speed with the first and second calls for applications and suggestions concerning the organisation and scheduling of consortia, inception workshops, write-shops, multi-stakeholder consultations in Florence (Italy) and Nairobi (Kenya), and the Leeds meeting that adopted the capacity strengthening strategy. To put flesh on the bones of these suggestions, a MTM was needed.

The agenda consisted of:

Bottlenecks identified by the respective partners
Discussion on Vision/outcomes/outputs/assumptions (linked to the M&E strategy)
Challenges encountered by the respective work packages
Communication
Financial update
Selection of the Call 2 Concept notes (WP5 expert group) + Selection of the Agricultural Innovation Facilitators (WP4+WP5)