First Conference of African Ministers of Fisheries and Aquaculture

15th to 23rd September 2010. Banjul. First Conference of African Ministers of Fisheries and Aquaculture. Organised by the NEPAD Secretariat. The conference discussions covered three broad themes as follows:

• Five years after 2005 Abuja “Fish For All” Summit
• Options and context for fisheries policy and governance reform in Africa
• The role of African fisheries and aquaculture in the CAADP (Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme)

Background:


In 2005, African States signed the Abuja Declaration on Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture in Africa, which stresses the need to:

• ratify and implement international conventions for the sustainable use and protection of marine resources and the marine environment;
• implement the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, in particular through: improving governance of fisheries; ensuring the environmental sustainability of fisheries; examining means to progressively replace “open access” to fisheries resources with “limited access regimes” and introducing rights-based fisheries;
• take steps to control fleet and fishing capacity
• equitably balance resource allocation between small-scale and industrial fishers;
• empower communities, civil society and stakeholder organisations to effectively participate in policy making, planning and implementation.

Press articles:

Senego.com, 16 September 2010 (FR)

Le Quotidien de Nouakchott, 19 September 2010 (FR)

Senego.com, 22 September 2010 (FR)

Le Soleil, 22 September 2010 (FR)

Africajet.com, 23 September 2010 (EN)

AllAfrica.com, 23 September 2010 (FR)

APS, 26 September 2010 (FR)

Afriquehebdo.com, 26 September 2010 (FR)

Daily Observer, 27 September 2010 (EN)

Blog "CAMFA2010" (EN)

Blog REJOPRAO (FR)

Press releases:

NEPAD (EN)

ICSF (FR)

OCEAN2012 (EN)

BIO CIRCLE Common Round Table

15/09/2010. Brussels. BIO CIRCLE Common Round Table. During this event, Each Third Country representative gave a short presentation to emphasize its main research priorities.

European Commission representative summarized DG RTD priority lines for the upcoming Work programmes.

Knowledge Based Bio-Economy towards 2020 Conference

Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science
Máire Geoghegan-Quinn

14/09/2010. Brussels. Knowledge Based Bio-Economy towards 2020 Conference.

The aim of this conference was twofold: to take stock of the progress made since 2005 (the first KBBE conference) and the forward look towards 2020, contributing to the new vision and action plan for a Sustainable Bright Green Bio-Economy.

Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn (Ireland) said: "The bio-economy has the potential to address many of the things Europeans care most about: food security, reducing the environmental impact of agriculture and industry, providing healthy food at affordable cost, supporting coastal and rural development, reducing and recycling of bio-waste.


However, research policy in this area is fragmented between Member States and some industrial technologies are subject to increasing competition from overseas. The European Commission wants to increase coherence at both European and national level, with a stronger engagement of end-users, so that new ideas can be brought more rapidly to the European marketplace and so that societal challenges are better addressed." See: Máire Geoghegan-Quinn_Bio-economy for a better life (202.87 Kb)

Dr. Patrick Cunningham
(Chief Scientific Advisor to the Irish Government, Ireland)

Dr. Patrick Cunningham  (Chief Scientific Advisor to the Irish Government, Ireland) presented the major Grand Challenges for the KBBE:
See: Power Point Presentation Patrick Cunningham_Setting the Perspective (1.16 MB) 
•The impact of the social and demographic development on agriculture
•The impact of changes in lifestyles and eating habits
•The threat of climate change
•The growing pressure on water
•The limited resources of fossil fuel
•The need for sustainable development
•The demand for safer and healthier foods
•The prevention of epizootic and zoonotic diseases
•Etc.

General
–Need to balance economic, social and environmental issues in land and water use
–From a sectoral approach towards a more integrated approach of the KBBE
–Need for a public debate on the public acceptability of modern technologies (e.g. GM, animal cloning, synthetic biology, etc.)
Feedstock
–Obtaining a worldwide food security, as well as security for feedstocks for a sustainable bio-based industry
–An intelligent and new discussion on Food-versus Non-Food-Crops.
–Handling the feedstock competition on biomass for energy versus industial material use.
–Deployment of existing technologies in agriculture, and increasing research in agronomic sciences and breeding technologies (incl. green biotechnology).

Food

–Research in health, food and diet-related diseases is both complex and fragmented
–Authorisationfor novel food products: long procedures and costly (in particular for SMEs)
–Need for new communication tools to increase trust in the food chain
–Optimisingand increasing technology transfer towards SMEs
Bio-based Products
–Development of new innovative bio-based products is costly and R&D intensive

Parralel session 2 on innovative biobased products

Chairs: Wim Soetaert-UGent &  Sirpa Pietikainen-MEP (ENVI) 

Panel members: 

Gunter Festel-Festel 

Capital ; 

- Iris Anderson, Dept. of 

Energy and Climate  Change, 

UK

- Luis Mora-PharmaMar

- Christophe RuppDahlem  

Roquette

- Steven Devlin-Biopreferred 

Program, USDA

–US, Brazil, China and others are supporting large scale demonstrators in which many European companies already participate. What about Europe?
–In contrast to biofuels, there is currently no European policy framework to support bio-based materials
–Lack of widely accepted schemes to assess and confirm sustainability is a significant barrier to consumer and government confidence.


After the opening session of the conference, parallel sessions were organised around three topics: feedstocks for the bio-economy, innovative biobased products and innovative food production. Policy makers, academics, industry and civil society representatives jointly assessed the present achievements and the future needs of the bio-economy.

Parralel session 1. Feedstocks for the bio-economy. Prof. Ivan Ingelbrecht of the Gent University (Belgium), Department of Plant Biotechnology and Genetics, gave a presentation on

• Feedstocks for the KBBE: role for ‘Developing Countries’ in EU strategy? 
• the The International Industrial Biotechnology Network IIBN

- ‘Developing countries’: wide variety in level of development, resource base, etc among less industrialized nations
* emerging economies: BRICs
* next emerging economies: Mexico, Nigeria, …
* others are following – matter of time
- Renewable plant biomass resources mainly in the Southern hemisphere (cf fossil fuels): more land area, higher biodiversity, more favorable climatic conditions for agricultural biomass production

- BRICs take on increasingly leading role in agricultural R&D globally set on path towards innovation:
Brazil is quickly surpassing other countries in food production and exports (The Global Farm. Nature. 466, July 2010)
China – a cleantech giant: China’s investments in clean energy outstripped those of the USA in 2009 and is set to overtake Europe’s in 2010 (Insight Capricorn. Sept 2010)
China – Learning to innovate: China pieces together a drug discovery system (Biotech in China. Jan 2010)
Over past decade more rapid economic growth of emerging economies


See Power point Ivan Ingelbrecht - presentation parallel session 1: Feedstocks for the KBBE (317.7 Kb)

In the final part of the conference conclusions were drawn and policy recommendations were formulated.

Madam Maive Rute, the Director of Biotechnologies,
Agriculture and food Directorate,
Research DG, European Commission.
 

Madam Maive Rute (Director of Biotechnologies, Agriculture and food Directorate, Research DG, European Commission) talked about the EU Bio-Economy towards 2020 policies, research and innovation. She said that the bio-economy is the sustainable production and conversion of biomass, for a range of food, health and industrial products and energy. Renewable biomass encompasses any biological material to be used as raw material. 


Background:
The Commission is investing about €2 billion in European Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnology research through the 7th Research Framework Programme (FP7). The current call for proposals to help build the Knowledge Based BioEconomy is worth €240 million.


The knowledge based bio-economy generates sustainable growth by using renewable biological resources from land and aquatic environment as inputs to sectors such as the food and feed industries, chemicals, detergents, paper and pulp, textiles, bio-fuels and biogas. Progress in the biosciences helps “green” industry,
reduce waste, and enhance consumer protection and well-being. It encompasses established economic sectors such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries, aquaculture, food and chemicals and energy which, in many cases, benefit from a whole chain approach to production and processing.




Related: Information Day and Brokerage Event on Call FP7-KBBE-5-2011
13/09/2010. Brussels. The European Commission organised a European Info day for the upcoming call for proposals under the 'Food, Agriculture and Fisheries and Biotechnology' theme of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).

The afternoon programme consisted of a Brokerage Event for the 2011 call, organised by the BIO CIRCLE project. During this Brokerage Event, researchers from Europe and Third Countries had the opportunity to discuss opportunities to collaborate on proposals for topics in the 2011 KBBE Work Programme.

20th Brussels Development Briefing was on 'Financing agriculture'

13/09/2010. Brussels.The 20th Brussels Development Briefing was on ‘Financing agriculture’ and took place on the 15th of  September 2010 at the Borschette Center . As an input to the UN Summit on MDGs to be held in New York on 22-26 September 2010, issues related  to financing development in the context of agriculture and rural development were discussed. 


This included issues such asAid and ODA , taxation (Domestic tax revenues), private investment (new donors), revenue generation. Speakers included: Centre for Environmental Policy at  Imperial College in London, the  Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa in the US, CONCORD, OECD, African Development Bank, Caribbean Development Bank, YARA, African regional framers organizations.


Here are a number of interviews with key note speakers:

Mr. Rajesh Behal is Principal Investment Officer at International Finance Corporation, The World Bank. In his feedback, Mr. Behal outlines what the World Bank does to facilitate access to credits for small scale farmers.


Ms. Julie Howard is Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa, an NGO based in the USA. In her feedback, she presents the activities of her organization and gives insights about the increased attention of the US government towards African agriculture.


Sir Gordon Conway is a Professor for international development at the Imperial College in London. In his feedback, Sir Conway recalls the highlights of the discussions during the Briefing.


Additional information:

• Programme
• Selected resources
• Concept Note
• Biodata of speakers and discussants
• List of participants
• Evaluation Form
• Reader

African conference on agriculture, food security and climate change

6 to 8 September 2010. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. More than 100 researchers and policymakers met this month to try to articulate a common African position ahead of the United Nations climate change conference due to take place in Mexico in December.

In 2009 at the thirteenth African Union summit, heads of state tasked the African Union Commission (AUC) and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) to develop an agriculture-based climate change mitigation and adaptation framework, which is apparently still under progress.

The September meeting was meant "to make sure that Africa will benefit from the climate change discussions'' and to ensure that agriculture was not ignored in negotiations, according to a statement released by Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, the African Union's Uganda-born commissioner for rural economy and agriculture since 2008.

"Food security, agriculture and climate change… are all inextricably linked with significant consequences for us if they are not carefully managed," she said.

Tumusiime urged researchers to consider how Africa could benefit from carbon gas trade arrangements like the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

She noted that only two percent of CDM's market-related projects come from Africa. The fifty-sixth meeting of the CDM executive board takes place from 13 to 17 September 2010 in New York, USA.

At the climate change meeting in Cancún, Mexico, at the end of 2010, African negotiators will focus at sustainable land management, which they argue has the potential to mitigate climate change and strengthen the economic resilience to the impacts of global warming.

The seventh African Development Forum will meet from 10 to 15 October 2010, on the theme of Acting on Climate Change for Sustainable Development in Africa, at the United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The forum is a collaboration between by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in partnership with the AUC and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Links
African Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change Holds in Addis Ababa
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
African Union
NEPAD

CGIAR Livestock Fish Mega Program stakeholder consultation meeting

24 and 25 August 2010. Addis Ababa. CGIAR Livestock Fish Mega Program stakeholder consultation meeting.

Steve Hall, Director General of the WorldFish Centre reflects on the CGIAR Livestock Fish Mega Program stakeholder meeting. Reflecting on the role of the emerging CGIAR, Steve Hall, Director General of the WorldFish Centre outlines three ‘BBC’ roles that the CGIAR needs to take on. These are: ‘Bridging’ really good research into action; ‘Brokering’ the relationships needed for our research to really be applied and taken up; and ‘Catalyzing’ the changes that are needed, through advocacy and dialogue. These are the important roles, “much more than just doing science at the front end.”


Value chain focus of Livestock and Fish Mega Program provides opportunity for future impact. CIAT’s Brigitte Maass found the discussions to be a “wonderful opportunity to open an avenue for future research” with different partners. In terms of the Mega Program proposal, she foresees that focus on value chains will allow the partners to get away from a “very limited focus on a particular technique or technology but rather really the larger integration along a value chain.”


Tom Randolph from ILRI introduces the essential features of the proposed CGIAR Livestock Fish Mega Program. The new elements for the CGIAR are basically the ways the Centers work with partners and how they focus their research. "Instead of doing our work everywhere, in bits and pieces, we are trying to focus it now into a few selected value chains in a few selected countries around the world, and we are going to commit to transforming those value chains and to work with development partners in large scale interventions as the research knowledge partner, in real time, helping them to have impact on a large number of smallholders, producing a greater amount of animal source foods for poor consumers."


Pour N'Guetta Bosso, du Bureau Interafricain des ressources animales (UA/BIRA), présent à la récente consultation sur le méga programme élevage et pêche du GCRAI tenue à Addis Abeba les 24 et 25 août 2010, le programme aura un impact visible s’il implique les populations bénéficiaires et que les barrières, c’est-à-dire les politiques mises en place, l’accès au marché, la diffusion des technologies et les questions de genre, soient levées.


David Nyagaka from Novus International argued that the private sector has an important role to play: Once it gets hold of technologies, it can convert them into something tangible which the farmers would be able to use. However, care is needed in approaching the private sector.


World Bank consultant Cees de Haan reflects on the proposed CGIAR Livestock Fish Mega Program. What he found new in this workshop is the whole emphasis on the value chain, the focus on marketing and processing for what the consumers want; in the past, the focus of CGIAR research was more on production systems. He suggests that the main challenge will be to extrapolate results from a single value chain to larger universes and audiences.

The Agricultural Guarantee Fund Scheme

The Agricultural Guarantee Fund Scheme, a partnership between Standard Bank, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), Kilimo Trust, Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) and Millennium Development Authority, seeks to offering the right kind of finance to its farmers and agricultural businesses.

This fund for Africa’s smallholder farmers, initiated in March 2009, is operating not only in Uganda but also in Ghana, Mozambique and Tanzania. The loans have been provided by Standard Bank with support from AGRA, The Kilimo Trust and OFID. These partners have provided Standard Bank with a 1st loss guarantee/50% risk sharing agreement.

Jacques Taylor, director of agricultural banking, Standard Bank Africa says, “Ultimately the Agriculture Guarantee Fund Scheme aims to reach around 750,000 small farmers and small/medium sized enterprises (SMEs) over a three year period with businesses such as Pe Yero Millers benefitting across the African continent and ultimately contributing to Africa’s green revolution.”

The African Green Revolution forum

4th September 2010. The African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) ended on September 4, 2010, with concrete resolutions to transform African agriculture and tackle issues of food security. Closing the forum in Accra, Ghana, AGRF Chair, Kofi Annan, praised efforts by public and private institutions, development organisations, donors and farmers to accelerate the African green revolution.


This week I saw something I have never seen before. The bankers for Africa were in attendance. The CEOs of Africa were in attendance. And they stayed for three days! This is something you never hear of on this continent. Friends said this is the first time they have ever seen such a group of top bankers and CEOs at an agricultural event. This is excellent news. We are finally getting the message across. Agriculture pays. Agriculture is a business. And we are ready to run it as one, for millions of smallholder farmer. I saw African scientists this week who are at the forefront of developing Africa’s own solutions to unlock agricultural productivity. I saw our women – from farmers to scientists, policy makers to owners of agri business – rallying behind the movement. This is encouraging for only they know, better than anyone, that the green revolution is first and foremost about them. Africa’s women will lead the change. I saw civil society organizations that are critical to the movement step up with renewed commitment. I was particularly delighted to see the cream of Africa’s parliamentarians join us. They carried a unique message. “We represent our constituencies, the majority of whom are farmers.” They pledged to step up to the plate and make sure the green revolution happen, to transform their people’s lives. Of course we had African political figures come out in force. The Prime Minister from Tanzania. The Vice President of Ghana. And the indefatigable presence of the former President of Nigeria, His Excellency Obasanjo. These gracious, impassioned leaders threw their political weight behind this shining moment of transformation for Africa. So you can feel my heart beat, for I know that we have arrived at the tipping point. We have converted words to action. We have launched ourselves on a trajectory toward taking the green revolution to scale.


A lack of adequate infrastructure, particularly access roads, has been identified by African farmers as one of the major obstacles hindering them from getting their crops to markets. They said that the high cost of transporting their produce to market made them reluctant to even consider increasing the size of their farming operations.

Lydia Sasu, leader of the Farmers Organisation Network in Ghana and second vice president of the Réseau des Organisations Paysannes et de Producteurs de l'Afrique de l'Ouest, (ROPPA), said

Africans will be able to feed themselves if they can all work together and collaborate in the production of a range of crops. She cited the example of Ghana where not only rice, but a number of other crops such as yam, cocoa, plantain and cassava are also widely enjoyed.

"If we continue to propagate all those crops and put more innovation into them as researchers have been showing us, we can produce more, eat more but not only one crop. We can also diversify; in Ghana we have many - maize and others," she said.

Sasu also insisted that the voices of rural women need to be heard at all levels. She noted that women are the ones who normally keep whatever it is that requires keeping. Women are able to nurture so that even if something has been destroyed, they are able to bring it back to life. There is therefore, a need to collaborate with rural women to enable them learn more about agricultural methods which they can improve on and reach a level where new techniques can be applied and play a role in the green revolution.

Sasu appealed to women to put their house in order by coming together and taking part whenever there is something to discuss about agriculture, "because it concerns us more than any other thing in the community, we need to be involved. It is only when we know what is going on that we can be part of it".

Press Releases

September 4, 2010 AGRF Closes with Concrete Outcomes to Transform African Agriculture

September 3, 2010 Parliamentarians Back Call To Action for Green Revolution

September 3, 2010 AGRF Daily News Snapshot (Day 2)

September 2, 2010 AGRF Daily News Snapshot (Day 1)

September 2, 2010 Kofi Annan Receives Borlaug Medallion at African Green Revolution Forum

AGRO2010 The International Scientific Week around Agronomy

August 29th-September 3rd. International Scientific Week around Agronomy AGRO2010. Inventer une nouvelle agriculture conciliant respect de l’environnement et satisfaction des besoins alimentaires et énergétiques. C’est autour de cette question centrale que se sont réuni 550 chercheurs en agronomie de 52 pays dans le cadre d’Agro2010, à Montpellier. Une manifestation co-organisée par Agropolis International, les organismes de recherche et d’enseignements agronomiques français et l’Association française d’Agronomie (AFA).

"Lors d'Agro 2010, le grand congrès international de la société européenne d'agronomie, presque toutes les communications portaient sur l'agroécologie", confirme Michel Griffon, directeur adjoint de l'Agence nationale pour la recherche. Utiliser les processus biologiques, associer cultures, arbres et élevage dans l'agroforesterie, jouer sur la diversité des cultures pour se protéger des ravageurs, développer la fumure organique plutôt que chimique : tels sont les principes mis en avant par l'agronomie, qui ne veut plus se reposer sur l'amélioration des semences et l'augmentation de l'usage des engrais et pesticides.

Cette nouvelle démarche est reprise par un acteur important de la Révolution verte des années 1960 : le Groupe consultatif pour la recherche agricole internationale (CGIAR), qui met en avant l'expérience du "jardin potager africain" développée au Bénin et au Niger. Elle associe technologie d'irrigation au goutte-à-goutte, cultures de légumes combinées avec des arbres fruitiers, partage communautaire des frais engagés.

On day 4 (Thursday 4th of September) a seminar was organised around "Innovation and decision support in agriculture: Which Roles and Partnership for Research?": This symposium illustrated and analysed how research in agronomy can contribute to a sustainable agricultural progress, in both African and European contexts, through various types of deliverables and through diverse modes of interaction between research, farmers and their organizations, extension services and agro industry.

Parallel session “Africa”:

• Entrepreneurship as driver of a 'Self-Organizing System of Innovation': the case of NERICA in Benin (Dalohoun Daniel Nougbegnon, Africa Rice Center, Benin)
• From Labs to Farms: Agronomic Research Outcomes Transfer (Marie Chave, INRA, French West Indies)
• Systems of vegetable growing in periurban area of Mahajanga. Determinants of agricultural practices of organic fertilizer for technical innovation (Heriniaina Ramahefarison, Laboratoire des RadioIsotopes, Madagascar)
• Opportunities for enhancing crop yield in drought-prone south-east Zimbabwe (Chrispen Murungweni, Wageningen University, The Netherlands)

References:
Le Monde 03/09 L'agriculture africaine veut faire sa révolution verte
AGRO2010 website The International Scientific Week around Agronomy

Africa investor Agribusiness Investment Awards

September 1, 2010. Casablanca, Durban, Nairobi, Lagos, Beijing, London; 31 August 2010: Africa investor (Ai), a leading international investment research and communications group, announced the winners of its prestigious 2010 Africa investor Agribusiness Investment Awards to the global agribusiness investment community.

The Awards are the first of their kind to formally recognise Africa’s agribusiness players who are changing the landscape for the continent’s agricultural sector by promoting innovative investments across the main agribusiness and finance sectors in Africa.

The Awards winners represent some of the most important institutions within Africa’s agribusiness industry. The Africa investor Agro-Processing Initiative of the Year category was awarded to Nestlé and the Department of Agriculture, Environmental Affairs and Rural Development, KwaZulu-Natal, while Biofuels Initiative of the Year went to the Presidential Initiative on Banana Industrial Development, for their innovative technology and effective application of bio-gas programmes in Uganda.

Using the value chain approach for innovative partnerships in cassava

2nd September 2010. Windhoek Namibia. Interview PART 2 with Pheneas Ntawuruhunga at the fourth day of the FANRPAN regional meeting. He is the coordinator of SARRNET  (Start date: 2007 September, Planned end date: 2010 August) following his presentation of the SARRNET platform on Improving Rural Livelihoods in Southern Africa through Root and Tuber Crops. He explains how to link post harvest research to the new market potential of cassava

Linking post harvest research to the new market potential of cassava

2nd September 2010. Windhoek Namibia. Interview with Pheneas Ntawuruhunga at the fourth day of the FANRPAN regional meeting. He is the coordinator of SARRNET  (Start date: 2007 September
Planned end date: 2010 August) following his presentation of the SARRNET platform on Improving Rural Livelihoods in Southern Africa through Root and Tuber Crops. He explains how to link post harvest research to the new market potential of cassava

SARRNET is a SADC Network, implemented by IITA in collaboration with CIP and NARS.
From 1994 it focused on cassava and s/potato, covering 12 of the 14 SADC countries. Phase I

• From 1999 it concentrated in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, South Africa and Zambia; funds on competitive grants basis; shift from production to demand-led R4D, with bias on private sector participation, income generation and food security. Phase II
• Since 2004, Cyinyanja Triangle and Angola led by different consortiums
• From 2005 ; activities were expanded to include yam, cocoyam and Irish potato.

The goal of SARRNET is to facilitate synergistic regional complementarities to research, production and marketing to improve food production and increase rural incomes by generating technologies that will address common constraints in Southern Africa region through research for development (R4D) of root and tuber crops: (a) Cassava, yam and cocoyam - IITA, (b) Sweet potato, Irish potato - CIP.

Post harvest technologies developed in collaboration with C-to-C engineering Services, Malawi are: Heavy-duty graters, chippers, Presses, Solar driers and Cassava peeler. Application: 3t/hour, for commercial purpose, eliminate contamination, for medium processors

Innovations:

• Cassava silage: Potential to economically utilize the bulk of cassava foliage after harvest which currently is put to waste.
• High Quality Cassava Flour: Promoting use of cassava flour in the region for baking to reduce on cost of wheat flour

On going regional activities:

• Assessment of processed cassava products for fungal and mycotoxin contamination
• Development and testing of processing technologies-peeler machine
• Evaluation and selection of cassava varieties for high beta carotene content
• Screening cassava varieties for cold/frost tolerance
• Investigations into agronomic practices for sustained competitiveness

Information exchange, backstopping/coordination

• Over 100 scientific papers by SARRNET scientists in various publications: ROOTS News, African Crop Science Journal, Proceedings (including ISTRC-AB), etc
• Workshops, meetings, etc.
• Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) meetings
• Funds leveraging– 3 projects for Malawi, 1 for Angola, one for Zambia

Third day of FANRPAN regional meeting: field visit

The participants of the FANRPAN regional meeting visited on 1st September the Water Banking/Windhoek Aquifer and the Farm Krumhuk.

The Windhoek Aquifer is located to the south of the city extending northwarts from the Ausa Mountains for 20 to 25 km as far as the city center. Local water resources are very limited and most of the city’s water supply is obtained from surface impoundments located at a distance of tens to hundreds of kilometers from the city.

Large fluctuations in annual rainfall aggravate the situation. The lack of water has led to direct recycling of reclaimed waste water and the implementation of water demand management. During the droughts of 1996, a decision was taken to investigate the feasibility of storing surplus surface water underground through the artificial recharging of the Windhoek aquifer. As the recharge water will be injected directly into the aquifer without seeping through the unsaturated zone it was concluded that the injection water quality needs to conform at least to drinking water requirements.

A cost plan that was drafted up until 2025 shows that the total cost of recharging the aquifer by the Windhoek municipality is estimated at Namibian dollars 88,5 million. The Windhoek Aquifer is bounded by impermeable formations on all sides. Windhoek aquifer was the most feasible option currently available for augmentation of water supply to the central areas of the country, which would secure water for Windhoek, Okahandja, Karibib and the Navachab gold mine. The purpose is to store annually some 8 million liters of water in the aquifer. This should reduce from 8 to 2 years the period of recovery and increase the capacity to overcome drought periods.

Remote sensing and geologist should determine whether similar conditions prevail in other African countries for similar approaches to water conservation to cope with climate change. The participants/visitors of the FANRPAN workshop noticed the present use of fuel for the pumping system and the high cost for introducing alternative sources of energy for the artificial water refill installation (like solar and wind energy). Investments in such infrastructure are still searched for.

The Farm Krumhuk is situated 25 km south from Windhoek Namibia. It is owned by the Voigts family since 1898 and the current owner is Mr. Ulf-Dieter Voigts. The “21 Krumhuk” partnership, an umbrella organization for different projects on the farm includes the Agricultural Training Centre Krumhuk, the ARIS farm school, the Farm Kinder Garten and in the future a retirement project for farmer labors. Some 70 persons presently life from the farm.

The farm is 8,540 ha in size and situated in the 360 mm long term annual rainfall zone. Since August 2010 it is certified as an organic producer. Farming enterprises include beef cattle, dairy, game management, meat processing, milk processing, vegetable and herbs (2,600 km2), fodder production for the dairy (1,5 ha), house hold processing for a weekly bio market, trophy hunting, tourism and bee keeping. Challenges when started in 1980 include droughts, erosion, no perennial grasses, high inflation rate, apartheid, etc. Through a holistic approach most of these challenges were overcome the last 25 years. Current challenges include no skilled labor on farms, therefore low productivity, high input prices for production, water shortages, too high water run-off from the farm during raining season, social challenges in a big community.

These challenges are met by cost control and book keeping; try to reduce run off of water, conduct experiments with rain water catchments. There are community events like some festivals, singing and eurhythmy and regular palavers with the community.

PAEPARD @ the FANRPAN meeting

31st August 2010. The PAEPARD project was presented during the second day of the FANRPAN Annual High Level Regional Food Security Policy Dialogue 2010.

Objective: To build joint African-European multi-stakeholder partnerships in agricultural research for development.
Expected results:
Durable and equitable African – European Partnerships
The European ARD agenda better reflects African needs and priorities;
Greater and more equitable participation of African research stakeholders in ARD projects
Increased capacity of all African – European ARD stakeholders

Innovation funds aim to support innovators and their links to public institutions, private entrepreneurs, and other actors (such as groups of rural producers). They are tools that create platforms for innovative activity by providing incentives for collaboration.

“Partnerships are vital in the current era of development to align different institutions to achieve synergy”.

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.

 “Getting a network of actors isn't an easy process; it takes time”.

Different organizations with different interests and motives have to be brought around the table to contribute and benefit. It needs great facilitation skills and negotiating skills which are not very often core competences of researchers. Partner organizations need much support and mentoring.

”Linkages don't happen automatically: they need a facilitating or broker organization to create them”. 
Partners frequently discount the need for brokers and third party actors, but often they are needed, not only to manage collaboration but to reduce competition between sectors. Brokers and third-party actors can limit the failures that occur when different interests and conflicting agendas frustrate initiatives designed to foster partnership