The agribusiness pineapple and rabbit cluster in Benin - 2SCALE project

Published on 16 Mar 2015
Pineapple agribusiness in Benin involving an agribusiness cluster with the champion juice processor. The role of the agribusiness coach is clearly outlined.

Published on 16 Mar 2015 Agribusiness cluster on the rabbit value chain in Benin. The role of the agribusiness coach is clearly outlined. 

New sensor system sniffs out mycotoxins in wheat

23 March 2015. The EU funded MYCOHUNT project developed a system that can sniff out mycotoxins in wheat almost immediately. It is expected to be on the market within two years.

Automatic sampling
In an attempt to speed up the detection process, theMYCOHUNT project developed an innovative rapid biosensor for deoxynivalenol (DON) in wheat. DON is a mycotoxin most commonly formed in wheat, barley, oats, rye, and maize. Traditional detection methods – usually performed off-site – rely on the sampling of the wheat grain and require human intervention, which leaves greater room for error. The MYCOHUNT system automatically samples the dust of the wheat grain on-site during harvesting or transfer.

Results within 30 minutes
Connected to the transportation pipes or purifying units of the wheat processing facility, the device collects dust samples from each lot and forwards them to the measuring unit. This unit contains a highly sensitive biosensor with specially developed DON-detecting antibodies. Calculated on the basis of this correlation, the computer-based control and monitoring unit shows the results within 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the amount of wheat. Traditional methods can take days. This enables traders, millers or growers to monitor crop quality more quickly and efficiently.

Route to market
Testing of the prototype under laboratory conditions and in the field, as well as the training provided to the participating SMEs, went well. Additional tests are now necessary before the finishing touches can be introduced to the system to make it market-ready. They are hoping to introduce the working industrial unit to the market within two years of project completion.
Background:
The MYCOHUNT project aims at increasing the competitiveness of a large group of SMEs by developing a cost-effective method to detect infection of DON in wheat grains, a major threat to the food and feed sector of the European industry. A group of SME Associations, covering the two sectors and representing vast number of SMEs, have put together this project in order to gain knowledge and resources to further exploit the results of the novel technology proposed by providing a thorough sampling and measurement method of grain.

Members of the consortium
Project Coordinator:

• ATEKNEA Solutions Hungary Limited Liability Company

Project Partners:

• Hungarian Grain and Feed Association
• Greek Associations of Traders and Exporters of Cereal By-products and Feeds
• Confederacion Espanola de Fabricantes de Alimentos Compuestos para Animales
• Associación Espanola de Fabricantes de Masas Congeladas
• Synagra
• Union of Agricultural Cooperatives of Rethymo
• Impuls
• OSV
• Dunagabona
• Dimitriaki
• Hogeschool Gent
• Universiteit Gent
• Lunds Universitet
• Evaluation technologique, Ingénierie et Applications
• Bioforum S. A.
• Electrochemical Sensor and Technology Ltd.

Progress of the Soybean Milk processing technology project of Benin

8 April 2015. Cotonou, Benin. The project Re-engineered Soybean “Afitin” and Soybean Milk processing technologies in South and Central Benin (ProSAM) held in Steering Committee meeting.

The objective of this PAEPARD supported consortium is to increase the food security ( quality and productivity of products) and the
food security (quality and  and household income through improved food chain of soybean derived products (milk and afitin).

It has 4 main activities:

1. to draft an inventory of existing soybean processing technologies
2. to assess and document the nutritional value, safety and microbial composition , consumer preference of Soya Milk and Soya Afitin
3. develop and adapt Soya Milk and Soya Afitin processing technologies
4. improve the technologies, skills and knowledge and disseminate it to the consortium members and stakeholders

See full report (in French)

Partners of the consortium:

Association for the development of soybean in Benin (SOJAGNON-NGO). SOJAGNON is sensitising processors to get involved and participate to the re-engineering of soybean milk and soybean Afitin technologies. Therefore, soybean processors spread over the production areas are identified by SOJAGNON for the inventory of the traditional technology, express their constraints and approach of solutions, and be closely link-up to researchers to develop appropriate and improved technologies. SOJAGNON developed dissemination tools (flyers on soybean derived products, flyers on pleading procedures, illustrated technical sheets on soybean cheese traditional production) and builds on this experience to manage the dissemination of the outputs of the current project to stakeholders. 

Farmers Union Federation (FUPRO-Benin). one of FUPRO missions is to seek and provide for its members sustainable solutions for the production, processing and marketing of crops and animals products. Through this soybean value link project FUPRO has access to more efficient soybean processing technologies which it can disseminate to soybean processors.

University of Abomey-Calavi, Faculty of Agronomic Sciences (UAC/FSA) Benin. The development of an improved technology for the production of Afitin from another leguminous grain, such as soybean, is the result of a high pressure on African locust bean supply market. It offers also an opportunity to diversify the production of this highly important commodity. Moreover, it opens a market for the valorisation of soybean which is increasingly produced in Benin. This exotic crop which is gaining importance in West Africa needs to integrate the daily food habits of Benin and West African consumers. The production of a good quality Afitin is a way to achieve such integration.

National Agricultural Research Institute (INRAB) Benin. The ProSAM project constitutes a good opportunity for the processors of soybean in the sense that the activities to implement within ProSAM permit to develop a better technology for a good quality soy milk production with acceptable yield. Moreover the output of the project help small processors to grow up to the level of micro - enterprise of production of soy milk through training and capacity building on improved technologies developed.

Wageningen University/Food Quality and Design (WU/FQD) the Netherlands. Though joint research had been done in the past on leguminous grain (cowpea) by WU/FQD and UAC/FSA, studying soybean food chain with an African perspective is a novel path to explore.  The ProSAM project offers to WU/FQD another possibility to spread its integrative approach (technological, economic and managerial factors) to optimise food quality throughout the food chain.

Tropical Research Institute [Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical] (IICT) Portugal. IICT has a history of collaborative research and knowledge transfer with mainly with African Portuguese Speaking Countries (Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Angola and Mozambique), with emphasis on i) food transformation and processing using culturally adapted and low input technologies, ii) food quality lab analyses, including for local products and iii) population surveys on food security and gender issues. Soybean is a novel crop to explore. This collaboration with Benin stands for a challenge and an opportunity to for networking in new partnerships.

Progress report of ProSAM to the Steering Committee 

World Resources Report 2013-2015: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

9 April 2015. Brussels. Lunch-time Conference External Cooperation Infopoint.

Introduction: Mr Jean Pierre Halkin Head of Unit, DEVCO C1 - Rural Development, Food and Nutrition Security 

Presentation: Mr Timothy D. Searchinger Senior fellow of World Resources Institute and research scholar at Princeton. Down load the Power Point Presentation (in PDF format) here.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) dedicates its next flagship World Resources Report (WRR), Creating a Sustainable Food Future, to exploring how we can achieve the "Great Balancing Act." They have rolled out a series of working papers that sets the foundation for and culminate in the World Resources Report 2013-2015: Creating a Sustainable Food Future.

Each installment of the WRR takes a detailed look at a potential solution that could help achieve a sustainable food future, creating a “menu” of practical, scalable strategies. Some menu items reduce projected growth in consumption, such as decreasing food loss and waste.

Other menu items increase food production, such as restoring degraded lands back into agricultural productivity. No item on the menu can achieve a sustainable food future by itself, and the relevance of items will vary between countries and food chains. But the combination of solutions should help feed the world while contributing to poverty reduction, gender equity, ecosystem conservation, greenhouse gas emission reductions, and sustainable freshwater management.

The world is on a course to need 70% or more crops, wood and milk and meat from grazing land – and some advocate devoting large land areas to bioenergy – even as the world also needs to protect natural ecosystems and their carbon and reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions.

A series of reports by the World Resources Institute explores how that might be possible:

1. Installment 9: Avoiding Bioenergy Competition for Food Crops and Land shows that any dedicated use of land for growing bioenergy inherently comes at the cost of not using that land for growing food or animal feed, or for storing carbon. It recommends several policy changes to phase out forms of bioenergy that use crops or that otherwise make dedicated use of land.
2. Installment 8 : Wetting and Drying: Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Saving Water from Rice Production explores the potential to improve water management in rice production. 
3. Installment 7: Crop Breeding: Renewing the Global Commitment explores improvements in crop breeding that have the potential to boost yields.
4. Installment 6: Indicators of Sustainable Agriculture: A Scoping Analysis explores the methods and analysis of a scoping exercise to identify a preliminary list of indicators.
5. Installment 5: Improving Productivity and Environmental Performance of Aquaculture explores the potential role of aquaculture in meeting global fish demand in 2050
6. Installment 4 : Improving Land and Water Management examines the role of four improved land and water management practices.
7. Installment 3 : Achieving Replacement Level Fertility. This paper examines the nature of the population challenge globally and the effect of population growth on food demand in Sub-Saharan Africa.
8. Installment 2 : Reducing Food Loss and Waste. This paper examines the implications of this amount of loss and waste, profiles a number of approaches for reducing it, and puts forth five recommendations for how to move forward on this issue.
9. Installment 1 : The Great Balancing Act. How can the world adequately feed more than 9 billion people by 2050 in a manner that advances economic development and reduces pressure on the environment?

Related:

Dr Tim Searchinger spoke at the 3rd Global Conference on Agriculture, Food and Nutrition 3 - 5 December 2013 / Johannesburg, South Africa

Reducing antibiotic use in dairy farming

26 March 2015. Addis Abeba. E-Motive exchange India/Ethiopia/Uganda -NL on reducing antibiotic use in dairy farming.

As part of the E-Motive Exchange visit (Exchange project between Netherlands and Ethiopia/Uganda on cattle breeding for resilient dairy farming and improved milk quality) a Dutch delegation of dairy experts visited the State Minister of Livestock Development in Ethiopia. The State Minister proudly presented the Ethiopian Livestock Master Plan for the next 15 years. This plan aims is to stimulate the commercial dairy sector in 3 major areas: crossbreeding, improved animal health and feeding.

The aim is to have 5 million crossbreds milk cows for the milk supply of the cities. The government has decided that only Holstein Friesian (HF) or Jersey breed (sperm or cows) may be imported. The State Minister:

“A lot of milk has to be produced because the need for dairy is large and everything is imported now. People need money and food to survive. Milk products can bring in that money. And we cannot do without antibiotics. We are aware of the risk of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, but first we go for quantity and later for more quality”.

Related PAEPARD blogpost:
April 2014. Indian-Dutch exploration on ways to reduce antibiotics in dairy farming

Related:
21 October - 1st of November 2014. Indian experts on medicinal plants visiting the Netherlands.  A group of Indian experts on the use reduction of antibiotic use in dairy farming will be visiting the Netherlands. This includes veterinarians, herbal plant experts, the president of the Kerala Vetyerinary Association, as well as the director Animal Health of the Karnataka Milk Federation in Bangalore – India’s second largest dairy cooperative with 2.5 million members.

This film presents the exchange project between Dutch and Indian experts in dairy farming on ways to reduce antibiotic use. In innovative ways the expertise from India on medicinal plants is combined with expertise from the Netherlands on farm management and milk quality control.

GREEN ANTIBIOTICS from Katrien van't Hooft on Vimeo.

Water-Smart Agriculture in East Africa

Water-Smart Agriculture in East Africa.

Resource guide. March 2015, 356 pages
CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystem (WLE) hosted by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), together with the CARE Global Water Initiative – East Africa,

Water-smart agriculture is an approach to farming that balances water availability, access and use across the range of water sources, according to principles of socioeconomic, environmental and technical sustainability. It seeks to maximise returns for farmers while protecting ecosystems and ensuring more equal outcomes within farming communities. Central to the concept is continuous learning through which farmer experience is increasingly part of action research approaches that feed back into decision-making at local and national level.

The resource book includes several case studies on building resilience, sustaining landscapes, managing water, conserving soils, and addressing learning and complexity, including policy issues. Although there is a lot of the language of “diffusion”, “outscaling”, “adoption” and “uptake” of “innovations”, there are also some cases that give explicit attention to farmers’ own innovation initiatives and to multi-stakeholder processes of joint innovation.

14 April 14, 2015. Gyeongu, Korea. The Sourcebook on Water-Smart Agriculture in East Africa will be officially launched at the 7th World Water Forum. (12-17/04/2015)

Related:

Smart phone for Water Smart Agriculture – Early experience

GWI EA, together with Wild Dog Limited, a film and multi-media production company in the UK, is examining how the use of smart phone technology can enhance the development and implementation of Water Smart Agriculture (WaSA) in areas of high rainfall variability and, hence, farmer vulnerability. 

The approach taken is user-centric, with smart phone technology focusing on information flows, problem solving and farmer-level support. This is focused on farmers throughout the crop production process, right from the decision on when and what to plant to when and how to get their produce to the market.

Video

In this short film, Ugandan Science Journalist William Odinga travels back to Otuke in Northern Uganda to find out what changes have occurred in the rural farming communities that struggle to subsist in variable climate when rainfall is unpredictable.

More Chances, More Change: Water-Smart Agriculture in East Africa from Andy Johnstone - Wild Dog Ltd on Vimeo.

Sustainable intensification revisited

Sustainable intensificationrevisited

Seth Cook, Laura Silici, Barbara Adolph

4 pages

March 2015. Sustainable intensification is receiving growing attention as a way to address the challenge of feeding an increasingly populous and resource-constrained world. But are we asking too much of it? 

Nearly 20 years after the concept was developed, this briefing revisits the term and asks what sustainable intensification is — a useful guiding framework for raising agricultural productivity on existing arable land in a sustainable manner; and what it is not — a paradigm for achieving food security overall. 

The paper summarises the history of and controversy surrounding the term, its main assumptions and risks, as well as its value for the future. It calls for a rerooting of sustainable intensification as one key element of a sustainable food system situated within a green economy.

Data Revolution in Africa

27 March 2015. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A two-day High Level Conference for policy-makers and community leaders on setting the scene for a sustainable development agenda powered by a Data Revolution in Africa.

Hosted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Union Commission, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Conference tackled key questions including 

1. What areas in Africa have the most critical lack of data and what needs to be done about it?, 
2. How has the data ecosystem changed and where is it heading to?, 
3. What role will “African” data play in the Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs?, 
4. What lessons can be learned from existing data innovations in Africa?, 
5. How can the IEAG recommendations be implemented at the national level?, 
6. What other data revolution principles and concrete actions should Africa adopt?

Led by the World Wide Web Foundation, fifty African civil society organisations, open data advocates and technology pioneers came together to take the first steps towards establishing a groundbreaking new policy and investment framework to open up government data in Africa. Following the UN's call for a Data Revolution, this coalition of organisations agreed on concrete next steps to unlock the potential of open data across the continent, which experts agree could help beat corruption, spark innovation and improve government services.

See the agenda of the meeting and the list of participants.

"We're working to open up government data in Africa to deliver real improvements to the day-to-day lives of African people through improved government services, and greater accountability and transparency. Home-grown solutions to thorny challenges such as appropriate models of innovation, education and capacity building that can support community and government-led initiatives must be developed. Sustained leadership and investment are additional key success factors." Jose M. Alonso, Open Data Programme Manager at the World Wide Web Foundation

Following on from the sister Regional Agenda Setting workshop for open data in Asia in Jakarta last month, the open data workshop had a similar aim of understanding the state of open data, this time in Africa rather than Asia, and scoping future research and lab opportunities. 

• As with the Jakarta workshop, this workshop was supported by the IDRC-funded Harnessing Open Data to Achieve Development Results in Africa and Asia project and organised by the Web Foundation. 
• The workshop also had another aim – it formed part of 17 data communities who were invited to form an African Data Consensus and present it to the High Level Conference (HLC) on Data Revolution in Africa. 

The open data community’s workshop agenda was packed and the room full with almost 60 participants from civil society, academia, government and private sector across Africa, including representatives of African Development Bank, USAID, ActionAid, Africa Freedom of Information Centre, Tax Justice Network Africa, Code for South Africa, IDRC, Social Justice Coalition, Friends of Lake Turkana, iHub Kenya, the Pan African Parliament, Ethiopian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology and many more.

The press release of the African Data Consensus emphasised open data, states...

“African governments should acknowledge open data provided by recognised communities as sources that complement the work of national statistics offices for better decision making, service delivery and citizen engagement, concluded a group of data activists today in the Ethiopian capital”.  

... and the final adopted Data Consensus clearly states that official data should be open by default.

Further background on the current state of Open Data in Africa

The initiative has been informed by the release of the Web Foundation's Open Data Barometer, a review of the global state of open government data and right to information.

• The study found that African countries lag behind other developing countries in regions such as Asia and Latin America. Only a small number of African countries such as Kenya and Ghana have established open government data initiatives, but these remain highly dependent upon a limited network of leaders and technical experts. 
• Across the continent, only Ghana and Kenya publish data on government spending that could help uncover corruption and enhance service delivery, but that even this data is not provided in a format that can be easily used by members of the public. Similarly, only Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Rwanda, Kenya, and Ghana publish data that could help improve health outcomes, although these are also in formats that are hard for members of the public to make use of. 
• The study cited limited government, civil society or private sector capacity; limits on affordable widespread Internet access; and weaknesses in digital data collection and management in Africa as the main challenges that must be overcome. 
• Support for the Open Data Barometer report was provided through IDRC Grant 107075 (www.idrc.ca). The 2013 report, and much of the methodological development, was also supported by the Open Data Institute.

About Open Data

• Open data has been described as "content can be freely used, modified, and shared by anyone for any purpose".
• Accessible - by being proactively published, and being made available without charge.
• Machine-readable - by being published in file formats and structures that allow computers to extract and process the data: sorting, filtering and searching through the contents.
• Re-usable - by being made available under legal regimes or explicit terms that place a minimum of restrictions on how the data may be used. At most the publisher can specify how the source should be acknowledged.

About the World Wide Web Foundation
The World Wide Web Foundation was established in 2009 by Web inventor, Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Mission? To advance the open Web as a public good and a basic right. The work of the WWWF on open data covers:

1. Research - As part of the Open Data for Development Network, WWWF supports research and research capacity building across three continents. From 2013 – 2015 the Open Data in Developing Countries project has been exploring use and impacts of open data, and a new phase of this project will commence in early 2015, supporting regional research agendas in Africa and Asia. WWWF also produces the Open Data Barometer (see 3, below)
2. Innovation - including building the first Open Contracting Data Standard, aimed at putting the $9 trillion that governments spend annually on procurement into the public domain. The project puts the values and research of WWWF into practice, developing the standard through an open and inclusive approach, and keeping a focus on the participatory potential of open contracting data.
3. Training and capacity building - The Web Foundation's Open Data Labs are experimenting with how open data can make a real difference in the Global South. By trying out new approaches, WWWF wants to accelerate progress and ensure open data rapidly becomes a vital tool to tackle practical problems in developing and emerging economies. The first Open Data Lab of WWWF is now open in Jakarta, and WWWF will be announcing more soon.
4. Engagement - To encourage and support more governments to open up their data to citizens, WWWF is co-chairing the Open Data Working Group of the Open Government Partnership, which brings together 80 governments and 120 civil society organisations to share practical know-how and promote good practices.

The WWWF managed the 2014 Open Data for Development Research Grants - Call for Proposals

Resource:

27/03/2015 All Africa. African Technology and Data Pioneers Gather to Spark Open Data Revolution

Chinese Agricultural Engagement in Africa: Policy Briefs

30 March 2015. The SAIS China-Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University, has now published the latest (and last) in a series of policy briefs focused on Chinese agricultural investment and other engagement in Africa.

These policy briefs provide original, fieldwork-based insights and information that is not available anywhere else. The papers on which they are based were presented at the 2014 SAIS-CARI conference on Chinese agricultural investment: 'Land Grabs' or 'Friendship Farms'?

• Policy Brief 01/2014: The Political Ecology of Chinese Investment in Uganda: the Case of Hanhe Farm, Josh Maiyo.
• Policy Brief 02/2014: Chinese Agricultural Investment in Mozambique: the Case of Wanbao Rice Farm, Sérgio Chichava.
• Policy Brief 03/2014: Chinese Training Courses for African Officials: a “Win-Win” Engagement?, Henry Tugendhat.
• Policy Brief 04/2015: Chinese Agricultural Engagement in Zambia: A Grassroots Analysis, Solange Guo Chatelard and Jessica M. Chu.
• Policy Brief 05/2015: Chinese Agricultural Entrepreneurship in Africa: Case Studies in Ghana and Nigeria, Yang Jiao.
• Policy Brief 06/2015: Assessing the Impact of Chinese Investment on Southeast Africa’s Cotton: Moving up the Value Chain?, Tang Xiaoyang.
• Policy Brief 07/2015: Neither ‘Land Grab’ nor ‘Friendship Farm:’ Chinese Agricultural Engagement in Angola, Zhou Jinyan.

Related:

20 March, 2015. Beijing, China. The environmental impacts of China's agricultural production affect not just China, but also the global environment. IIED and China Agricultural University hosted a workshop to explore examples and models that could help promote sustainable agricultural practices in China. The workshop brought together 30 practitioners, researchers, government officials and NGO staff working on sustainable agriculture. The results of eight case studies on sustainable agriculture were shared and the feedback gathered on the case studies will be incorporated into a research report due out later this year.

The Agricultural Research Response to the Sustainable Development Goals

Published on 2 Apr 2015

Farming First TV spoke to CEO of CGIAR, the world largest agricultural research partnership, on how it will respond to the Sustainable Development Goals that are being finalised at the United Nations between now and September 2015.

 

 Related:
In the fourth instalment of the International Food Policy Research Institute’s annual reporton food policy, launched on 18th March 2015, authors report on the major developments that have happened at a global, regional and national level in 2014 but also, and for the first time, discuss the challenges to tackling food insecurity we face in the near future.

Looking to the past, the report highlights achievements as well as setbacks. For example, achieving the Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty by 2015, of 64 countries meeting the MDG of halving the number of hungry people since 1990, of global undernourishment having fallen from 19% to 11% in the past 2 decades, the commitments made at the Second International Conference on Nutrition in Rome to end malnutrition, the African Union committing to end hunger by 2025 and membership in the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement continuing to grow.

Smallholder Agribusiness Development

24th March 2015. Sourcing from smallholders: Models for poor rural communities to engage effectively, sustainably and at scale in African agribusiness. Organised by the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Agriculture and Food for Development. (APPG )

The APPG on Agriculture and Food for Development brings together Parliamentarians concerned with agriculture, nutrition and food security in the developing world. The APPG was established in October 2008 in response to growing concerns over the heightened Food Crisis and a chronic underfunding of agricultural development by bilateral and multilateral organisations and national governments. Chaired by Lord Cameron of Dillington, the APPG is a cross-party initiative drawing members from both Houses of the UK Parliament.

On 24/03/2015 members of the APPG met with Sylvia Banda from Zambia and Kola Masha from Nigeria – two inspirational African agribusiness entrepreneurs whose visit to Parliament coincided with the second roundtable in our Smallholder Agribusiness Development inquiry.

The afternoon roundtable, chaired by Jeremy Lefroy MP and Lord Boateng, included presentations from Sylvia and Kola as well as 2degrees, Diageo, Mars, Farm Africa, TechnoServe, Farm Africa, Self Help Africa and Agriculture for Impact., Partners for Food Solutions and the Ethical Tea Partnership.

A much more detailed write up of the event is available here and notes of the first roundtable on 'Government support for smallholder agribusiness development' are available here.

Consensus on the Basics
In both sessions, it was striking to hear how much consensus there seemed to be on the basic forms of support which smallholders needed to participate in the agricultural value chain. Many of the panel speakers discussed some combination of four items:

• Credit, to buy farm supplies and invest in value-addition activities
• Training, not only in the form of agronomic extension but also entrepreneurship skills and support in forming farmer cooperatives
• Inputs, such as improved seeds and fertilizers, both to boost productivity and also to improve resilience
• Market services, such as real-time pricing and weather information, micro-insurance, storage, transport and commodity exchanges

Sir Gordon Conway of Agriculture for Impact calls this basic list “a modest proposal for feeding Africa” because these are all already well-known needs. What sparked more discussion in the sessions, however, was on how and by whom these basics could be delivered most efficiently and sustainably, and at scale.
This inquiry will continue in the next Parliament with roundtables focused on innovative finance and catalysing the business ecosystem in the summer of 2015.

• Sylvia Banda is the Managing Director of Sylva Food Solutions in Zambia. Since 1986 Sylvia has created small businesses like Sylva Professional Catering Services Limited, which offers courses in hospitality and food processing and production and has trained over 16,000 students since its inception. Her businesses have successfully created markets for local farmers and emphasised local cooking methods. Her innovations include the 'Sylva Solar Dryer' for processing traditional vegetables, fruits and other food products, and the 'Matebeto Mobile Kitchen' – a kitchen on bicycle wheels. Sylvia founded Sylva University, the first and only university offering courses in catering south of the Sahara. Sylvia is an Ashoka Fellow and was awarded the Fellowship in recognition of innovation and intelligent methods of promoting nutrition in Zambia food through Post Harvest Training workshops. Earlier this year Sylvia was appointed as a Board Member of the Industrial Development Corporation by the President of the Republic of Zambia.
• Kola Masha is the Managing Director of Doreo Partners in Nigeria, an impact-investing firm focused on the African agriculture sector. Doreo invests in early stage businesses that increase the profitability of smallholder agriculture, which in turn creates market forces that attract young people into agriculture, thereby unlocking millions of jobs. Doreo's flagship investment, Babban Gona, is an innovative Agricultural Franchise model that works to de risk smallholder farmers. This de-risking enables Babban Gona to deliver sustainably priced, low-cost, and long tenure credit, with repayment rates of over 99.5% to finance a value chain traditionally considered too risky to finance. Formerly a Senior Advisor to the Nigerian Minister of Agriculture, Kola has been recognised for his leadership in driving positive change on the African Continent, having been awarded the Eisenhower Fellowship and Rainer Fellowship.

Related:

2 February 2015. APPG hosted the launch of the Global Panel Biofortification Policy BriefAPPG joined forces with the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition and HarvestPlus to launch the Global Panel's Biofortification Policy Brief. The event included presentations from a distringuished panel followed by a lively Q&A. The policy brief lays out the technical evidence and arguments for supporting biofortification as one element of a nutrient-sensitive national agricultural research and investment strategy.

Agriculture and Agrometeorological Services

Increasing Agricultural Production and Resilience Through improved Agrometeorological Services.

March 2015. World Bank. Washington, DC.
82 pages

The study recommends investment in early warning systems for weather and investment in climate-smart agriculture to help farmers mitigate effects of harsh weather. The report by World Bank cites a ranking by Centre for Global Development which places Kenya at position 71 out of 233 in terms of overall vulnerability to climate change. It notes that Kenya's meteorological systems are outdated and need to be upgraded to be useful to farmers in providing accurate information.

In this document, the author refers to the creation of financially sustainable weather observation networks in Guinea and the Philippines that are likely applicable to many developing settings, including those of East Africa and the Horn of Africa. The author also addresses a practical imperative that is familiar to virtually every initiative that achieves a new level of investment and commitment by central governments allocating scarce public resources. This is the need to prove its worth quickly and decisively early on. Agricultural meteorology needs to generate and to demonstrate significant impacts to persuade higher levels of government such as finance ministries and executive leadership that public financial commitments are good investments.

National Cereals and Produce Board operations manager
Ernest Ogwara (right) and Kenya Meteorological
Services specialist Bernard Chanzu,
during the launch of the World Bank report
Nairobi on March 31, 2015

The World Bank, through its agroweather tools for climate-smart agriculture project, is trying to strengthen the Ministry of Agriculture to prepare and implement priority measures to provide for smart production. The system enables growers to get advisories through SMS, interactive voice response system, community radio and agroweather bulletins and has already been deployed in Nakuru, Kitale and Machakos.

Related:
31 March 2015. The World Bank urged Africa to increase its public expenditure on agriculture in order to increase food security during the launch of the World Bank's report on Increasing Agricultural Production and Resilience through improved Agro- Meteorological Services.

Low investments in agriculture have made Africa's agricultural sector vulnerable to climate change. These challenges can be overcome through more investment in instruments such as the Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA)," World Bank Group Senior Natural Resources Management Specialist Ademola Braimoh 

The World Bank is stepping up mitigation, adaptation, and disaster risk management work and the financial institution will increasingly look at all projects business through a climate lens. The World Bank is currently implementing the Agro-weather Tools for Climate-Smart Agriculture project that aims to increase the adaptive capacity of farmers through improved access to weather forecasting and climate-smart practices. It delivers relevant weather information and advisories to farmers individually through the mobile phone, community radio and agro-weather Bulletins. World Bank Kenya Country Director Diarietou Gaye

Related:

Published on 1 Mar 2015 This documentary is part of agroweather tools for climate smart agriculture pilot project undertaken by Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research and the World Bank over Ada'a District of Ethiopia. It is aim aimed at sensitizing the farming community on benefits of tailored and ICT supported climate services for farm level decision making.

Apps4Aflatoxin meeting

23-26 March 2015. Nairobi, Kenya. A small group of actors gathered in Nairobi to work on a proposal on how mobile phone applications (apps) can be used against aflatoxin contamination (awareness raising, linking sms alerts to sensors in storage facilities, etc.). This goes beyond existing Smartphone Apps which offer Cheap Aflatoxin Tests.

• The invited experts in aflatoxin and its hazards made very good efforts to bring everyone to a competent level of understanding the causes and effects of aflatoxin contamination. By the end of the first day the participants were well conversant with aflatoxin and the thinking behind the write shop.
• On subsequent days, the group was guided on the expectations of the proposal call and had the benefit of presentations from KALRO (the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation) and the BecA-ILRI hub (the Biosciences eastern and central Africa-International Livestock Research Institute) to bring a practical perspective on how aflatoxin has been handled in Kenya and the wider African region. There were guests from CTA (the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU), AccessAgriculture, FAO and other practitioners in agriculture who shared their insights and thoughts on how technology could be incorporated to facilitate agriculture and aflatoxin management.



Dr. Harvey Jagger of ILRI

• The visits to IHub and the BecA-ILRI hub opened the eyes to how technology has been used to improve agriculture service delivery and widen the scope of knowledge on it. 
• The visit to IHub was particularly informative as it brought up many useful IT applications like:

• M-Farm mobile: M-Farm gives up-to-date market information, link farmers to buyers through our marketplace and current agri-trends

• Icow: iCow is an Agricultural Information Service with a variety of products available as a subscription service through *285# to help farmers enhance productivity

• Soko Text: Soko text uses the power of text messaging to aggregate demand for food and unlock wholesale prices for small entrepreneurs in urban slums.

• Horizon: 5,000 automatic weather stations will be installed at new and existing mobile network sites throughout Africa over the coming years, aiming to increase dissemination of weather information via mobile phones that can reach the continent’s most remote communities.

• Ensibuuko: Ensibuuko is championing a new model of microfinance by leveraging on innovations in mobile technology to bridge the gap between financial service providers and the rural poor

• The BecA-ILRI hub is a shared agricultural research and biosciences platform that exists to increase access to affordable, world-class research facilities. Located at and managed by ILRI in Nairobi, Kenya, the BecA-ILRI Hub provides a common biosciences research platform, research-related services and capacity building opportunities to eastern and central Africa and beyond.

Comments of participants:

The writeshop was very useful for me in that it brought experts from various disciplines (Agriculture, Research, ICT, Engineering and Private sector - App developers, Consultants ….). This was a very rare opportunity one could not afford to miss and I think this is what made it possible for everyone to attend despite the short notice and the busy schedules for most of us! Abel Atukwase, Makarere University, Uganda

The visits to IHub and ILRI opened our eyes to how technology has been used to improve agriculture service delivery and widen the scope of knowledge on it. The visit to IHub was to me particularly informative as it brought up many useful IT applications like “M-Farm mobile”, “Soko Text, “Horizon” and “ensibuuko” which have made great strides in improving agricultural effectiveness and which we can refer to in our work, publications and engagements. Peter Githinji Regional Programs Coordinator East Africa Grain Council

Background:
Aflatoxin Apps are related to health, the environment (climate change), livestock and agriculture. There is an increased and urgent concern of contaminated food and feed from African Governments, the African Union, Regional bodies, donors, private sector actors, researchers, farmer organisations, mobile phone apps developers. Two years ago IFPRI has published some excellent briefs.

Dr. Charles Ngonge of KALRO

In developing an app to manage aflatoxin contamination, the challenge is to understand the practices especially of smallholder farmers to determine the most beneficial and cost effective entry point. Exploring the triggers and responses across the entire value chain using the intended apps; from varietal selection to harvesting, drying and storage and the impact on controlling aflatoxin level such that the levels are within the limits to meet national/regional and international standards, is interesting research. In the interim, consideration should be given to intensifying the training to support the adoption of good agricultural practices and the requisite equipment for evaluating moisture content and aflatoxin level in the dried product.

• One of the challenge is to introduce Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Points (HACCP) into the peanut production chain, and maize feed storages. This would require the development of a dedicated mobile phone application (apps). HACCP can identify procedures and practices along the value chain that are likely to expose crops to mycotoxin contamination. Once these have been pinpointed, Critical Control Points (CCPs) can be set up at specific stages of the chain so as to eliminate or reduce the risks. CCPs for peanut production may include checking procedures at various stages, such as seed selection, planting, harvesting, drying, sorting and storage. 



Visit of Beca Hub at ILRI

• The use of wireless sensor networks in storage facilities can help mitigate aflatoxin contamination problems, but also to facilitate research activities in crucial scientific areas such as storage monitoring and energy management. There is a need for technology research and application development in the area of Wireless Sensor Networks for Development: WSN4D. 

Another major challenge is to be able to cluster datasets to provide an evidence base, tools and tailored information for aflatoxin apps and to organize and make available a broad set of data and information tools to inform the development and deployment of the apps, sensors and other tools. 

• Aflatoxin contamination is a pervasive and dynamic problem, driven by a combination of genetic (host crop, pathogen), environmental (rainfall, relative humidity, pests, temperature,…) and management (tillage, fertilizer, intercropping,…) factors. 
• In order for interventions and information to be deployed to successfully reduce risk of aflatoxin contamination, and to respond to aflatoxin hotspots when they emerge despite best efforts, the growing body of information needs to be assembled and made available to researchers, policymakers, farmers and other stakeholders. 
• Some initiatives are creating databases of ongoing projects, however a portal to access the technical data and dynamic maps and predictive models is required to fully empower the research for development community to address this problem in East Africa and beyond.

The issue of aflatoxin is only one example of how the need of farmer organisations and apps developers can be brought together. The facilitation of co-creation is the broader purpose of this partnership.

Published on 29 Mar 2015

Interview with Ms. Mugethi Gitau, Community Manager, iHub | Research | UXLab | Consulting

Related:
16/03/2015. With iCow and M-Farm, smartphones reboot African agriculture
26/03/2015. EAX Supports Rwandan Farmers better manage their Post Harvest The processing of the grains this way will address the serious post-harvest challenges that farmers face, particularly higher moisture content which could result in storage losses as well as the farmers’ ability to attract a good price at the point of sale.
11/02/2015. Open data: how mobile phones saved bananas from bacterial wilt in Uganda
Related videos:

Producing clean banana planting material of banana

30 March 2015. A new illustrated guide developed by Bioversity International and partners, summarizes the key practices for producing clean banana planting material of banana with a high-yield potential.

The guide – available in English, French, Spanish and Arabic – also provides useful information to better planning the propagation of planting material for rural development and disaster relief projects. A summarized version of this manual, specifically targeting smallholder producers, is available in the form of illustrated field sheets with photographs. Descriptions and explanations of the different methods can be translated in the local languages or dialects.

The development and production of this guide was supported by the Austrian Development Agency, the Common Fund for Commodities, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas, and USAID through the TARGET project.

Download the guide here

Rice Science in Africa gets a new Director General

15 March 2015. Cotonou, Benin. Dr. Harold Roy-Macauley, new Director General of AfricaRice, doesn't want to just improve rice science for Africa, he wants to make the continent a world leader in it.

The rice sector in Africa is going to be “evidenced-based and therefore very solid and powerful,” he said. At a time when the developed world agonizes over the value of science, Africa sees an opportunity to grab a lot of market share by using science to improve their food production and become a next exporter, and then the rest of the world can play catch up.

“Rice is global and it is big business,” said Macauley,a Sierra Leonean national, in his first speech to the AfricaRice staff in Cotonou, Benin. “It is the white gold of the future. We at AfricaRice should consider ourselves fortunate to be in big business already”.

Roy-Macauley outlined his first priorities as:

• Rendering partnerships more efficient around rice science and sector development
• Strengthening capacity for rice science and sector development
• Improving access of small-holders rice producers to markets
• Reintegrating rice science in the policy agenda of countries
• Increasing investments in rice science and sector development

11th CAADP Partnership Platform

NEPAD and FAO launched the rural youth project

25-26 March 2015. Johannesburg, South Africa. 11th CAADP Partnership Platform. Hundreds of people including farmer organisations, agriculture government officials and African Union representatives gathered in Johannesburg this week for the 11th Partnership Platform (PP) on Africa's policy framework for agricultural transformation - the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

This is the first Partnership Platform since the Malabo Declaration was agreed by African Union Heads of State and Government in 2014. The Declaration is a set of ambitious concrete goals for agricultural growth and transformation in Africa to be reached by 2025. See concept note

Its theme this year was "Walking the Talk: Delivering on Malabo Commitments on Agriculture for Women Empowerment & Development". The overall objective was to shape how the Malabo ambitions and new specific commitments will be translated into action, results and impact; focusing on the systemic institutional and policy changes that are being targeted to increase the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of CAADP efforts.

1. Sub-theme 1: Walk the Talk: Ending Hunger by 2025
2. Sub-theme 2: Walk the Talk: Inclusive Agricultural Growth and Transformation
3. Sub-theme 3: Walk the Talk: Boosting Intra-African Trade
4. Sub-theme 4: Walk the Talk: Building Resilience to Reduce Vulnerability
5. Sub-theme 5: Walk the Talk: Mutual Accountability to Actions, Results and Impacts

"Regional Economic Communities (RECs) should have a stronger role in CAADP implementation. RECs are better positioned than continental institutions in helping Member States in their own CAADP processes. And they have another advantage, they can learn from each other on designing and implementing the regional compacts and investment plans that are crucial complements to the national CAADP plans. Capacity strengthening for RECs themselves is key, both to strengthen their national level support and for the implementation of regional CAADP investment plans (including more policy enforcement capacity for regional decisions)." Francesco Rampa, Head of the European Centre for Development Policy Management's Food Security programme

Audio Gallery
Walking the Talk 11th CAADP PP (UBC Radio) 26 Mar 2015
11th CAADP PP Keynote Address (UBC Radio) 25 Mar 2015