CGIAR Project Launched to Boost Rice Production in 20 African Countries

Apr 18, 2013. The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) has launched an Africa Development Bank (AfDB) supported project to boost rice production in 20 African countries by atleast 20% in three years.

The project, “Multinational - CGIAR Support to Agricultural Research for Development of Strategic Crops in Africa (SARD-SC)" was launched in Tanzania. It is being implemented in 20 African countries which are mostly dependent on rice imports to meet growing demand for rice. The countries are: Benin Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

About $63.24 million will be used for the implementation of the project with the aim to increase rice yield by at least 20% by 2016, improve the income of smallholder's household cash income from the current $370 to $600; and increase food security to 84% from the present 73% in the African countries.

Experts involved in the implementation of the project said that the project will help improve productivity of rice by promoting good farming practices and mechanization to help farmers benefit from the high-yielding rice varieties which have been developed in research institutes in Africa.

Livestock market access & trade issue in the Horn of Africa

Market Access and Trade Issues Affecting the Drylands in the Horn of Africa
Author/Corporate author: Aklilu, Y., Little, P.D., Mahmoud, H., and McPeak, J. / FAO / CGIAR

This technical brief (40pp) “Market access and trade issues affecting the drylands in the Horn of Africa” was prepared by Yacob Aklilu, Peter Little, Hussein Mahmoud and John McPeak for the Technical Consortium for Building Resilience to Drought in the Horn of Africa, hosted by the CGIAR Consortium in partnership with the FAO Investment Centre.

 It addresses the rationale and priorities for investment in trade in livestock and other agricultural commodities, e.g. market development and access, cross-border trade, and sanitary and food-safety standards. It notes that livestock markets function reasonably well in the Horn. Trade in livestock and livestock products in Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan equals about USD 1 billion in foreign exchange in many years, and probably 5–6 times that amount in local currencies.

Live animal and meat exports, especially from Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, have increased rapidly as has domestic trade centred on key urban markets such as Addis Ababa, Khartoum, Mombasa and Nairobi. The brief describes actions that can be taken to ensure that producers in the lowlands of the Horn benefit from the growing trade opportunities.

It brings best-practice examples of markets and market agents who successfully adapt to new opportunities and changes. Key challenges are reconciling marketing objectives with the production goals of pastoral producers, who hold more female than male animals in their herds given their production objectives; increasing competition for the natural resources by other alternative uses; dealing with livestock diseases and related quarantines; and overcoming a lack of value-adding techniques. Land tenure, production and marketing issues are interrelated priority areas that support trade from the lowlands, and policies need to be integrated that work in all three domains. Policies are proposed for improving regional mobility of livestock, pastoral production and cross-border livestock marketing.

Related
Guidelines for Innovation Platforms: Facilitation, Monitoring and Evaluation
Populations of endemic ruminant livestock (ERL) in West African countries represent unique diverse genetic

resources, which are under increasing threat of genetic dilution. The project on ‘Sustainable management of globally significant endemic ruminant livestock of West Africa (PROGEBE)’, being implemented in 12 project pilot sites in four countries (Guinea, Mali, Senegal, and The Gambia), seeks to analyse the barriers to in situ conservation and sustainable management of three priority endemic ruminant livestock species—N’Dama cattle, Djallonke sheep, and the West African Dwarf goat (ILRI 2011).

This document, although has been written for PROGEBE project staff at the site, national and regional levels, it is believed to have wider relevance beyond this specific project and specifically applies to projects which have a similar structure. It provides guidelines for innovation platforms (IPs) facilitation and the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of IP processes and outcomes.

The collaboration between GIZ and BMGF to support African agribusiness

10 April 2013, Brussels. During the European Agribusiness in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges Workshop, panel 2 discussed Methods and Instruments: Approaches and Challenges: How to elaborate a new strategic, sector wide approach between Public and Private Partners in agribusiness".

PAEPARD interviewed Albert Engel, Deputy Director General, German Agency for International 

Cooperation (GIZ). He answers following questions:

1. What is the collaboration between GIZ and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation?
2. What is the comparative advantage of GIZ to collaborate with BMGF to support African Agribusiness?
3. Have European agricultural SMEs a role to play?
4. How important is it for small holders to integrate the agricultural value chain?

Patient capital to support African agribusiness

10 April 2013, Brussels. During the European Agribusiness in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges Workshop, Kandeh K. Yumkella, Director General of UNIDO presented the UNIDO Study "Agribusiness Development as Path to Africa's Prosperity" and mentioned the importance of Patient capital to support African agribusiness.

Patient capital is another name for long term capital. With patient capital, the investor is willing to make a financial investment in a business with no expectation of turning a quick profit. Instead, the investor is willing to forgo an immediate return in anticipation of more substantial returns down the road.

PAEPARD interviewed Paul Frix, the Director ad interim of the Centre for the Development of Enterprise (CDE). Paul Frix answers following questions:

1. What is the importance of a guarantee fund to encourage banks to invest in agribusiness?
2. The Gates Foundation supports agribusiness by guarantee funds?
3. What is the role of the Centre for the Development of Enterprise?
4. Which other actors can play a role in the support to African Agricultural Small and Medium Enterprises?
5. Is there a need for more research about guarantee funds which support African Agribusiness?
6. What do you mean by patients funds?
7. Do Rabobank and Ecobank have a good approach?

Related:
APPELS A PROPOSITIONS - Agroindustrie & TIC - Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Sénégal

La date limite de soumission des demandes est fixée au 30 Avril 2013

CALLS FOR PROPOSALS - Agroindustry and Fisheries - Ghana &Nigeria

The deadline for submission of applications is April 30, 2013

Assessing the effectiveness of multistakeholder platforms

April 2013. International Food Policy Research Institute: IFPRI Discussion Paper nr. 01258.

Agricultural and rural management councils in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Authors:  Badibanga, Thaddée; Ragasa, Catherine ; Ulimwengu, John

In 2008, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) established multistakeholder platforms in the agricultural sector known as agricultural and rural management councils (CARGs). The aimof CARGs is achieving a decentralized governance of the agricultural policies and strategies through a large participation of stakeholders of the sector in the design and implementation of agricultural policy processes. Multistakeholder platforms are institutional arrangements intended and used for learning, policy dialogue, and priority setting, but they are rarely evaluated.

This paper analyzes the effectiveness of local-level (territory) multistakeholder platforms using data from 55 CARGs in 23 randomly selected territories in three provinces (Bandundu, Bas-Congo, and Kinshasa) of the DRC. The first CARG was established in 2008, and the survey was conducted three years later, from August to October 2011.

 The results indicate that the effectiveness of the CARGs has been rather limited.

• Fifty-one percent of the surveyed CARGs achieved results consistent with at least one of the main goals of their processes. 
• However, 45 percent have not yet achieved any tangible output, whether consistent or not with their main goals, while 4 percent achieved output outside their objectives. 
• The results also show that the capacity to generate and sustain support for CARGs and their multistakeholder process is an important determinant of their effectiveness. Strategies aimed at improving CARG capacity are likely to improve their effectiveness.

The results are also consistent with the findings in the literature suggesting that financial support is extremely important for participatory and multi stakeholder platforms, especially at their early stages of setup and implementation. Strengthening capacity to mobilize resources among members and external partners should be among top priorities. 

General and broad-based multi stakeholder platforms have a tendency to tackle many different activities and functions and sometimes to deviate to other unplanned activities, but given limited resources and efforts, the focus should always be on the specific goals and objectives set and what the platforms are meant to do, rather than on spreading their wings too thinly.

Announcement: ICT for sustainable agriculture in Africa

Ist africa 2013.workshop-agenda(1) from Karel Charvat

What’s wrong with the food system in America?

17 april 2013. Chicago. U.S. The new Food Tank, a nonprofit think tank, tackled the question at “We Can Change the Food System!”.

The program discussed potential solutions to today’s food issues. Food Tank co-founder Danielle Nierenberg and more than a dozen Chicago-area food policy analysts, chefs, food activists, entrepreneurs, and others shared their perspectives on food, nutrition and agricultural issues.

Speakers included: Cortney Ahern, Slow Food Chicago;Roland Calupe, Spiaggia;Stephen Clark, Kitchen Community; Greg Christian, Green Chef; Lisa Eakman, Chicago Council on Global Affairs; Allison Forrer, Cooking Matters; Shayna Harris, MARS; Todd Jones, Every Last Morsel; Karen Lehman, Fresh Taste;Felipe Tendick Matesanz, Restaurant Opportunities Center (Chicago); Sheelah Muhammed, food activist; Dan Schnitzer, Academy for Global Citizenship; Alan Shannon, U.S. Department of Agriculture; and Claire Tinley, Real Food Real Jobs.

Related: On April 22nd, the world will celebrate Earth Day. Sustainable food and agriculture systems can play a big role in preserving the environment by helping to improve soil health, protecting biodiversity, and mitigating climate change. Food Tank made 13 recommendations for ways to support the future of food, health, and agriculture:

Malawi: ICRISAT and NASFAM: Partnership for Impact

Published on 10 May 2012. ICRISAT and NASFAM: Improving lives of smallholder farmers in Malawi through access to fair trade markets and through improved seeds and aflatoxin management.

 

Flemish government to pump K14 billion in Malawi’s agriculture sector

Kris Peeters, Minister-President of the Flemish Government 

in Belgium in Malawi and Dr Joyce Banda

4 -5 April 2013. President Dr Joyce Banda requested the Flemish Government to earmark the next cycle of assistance towards the agriculture sector. The President made the request at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe after signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on agriculture between the Government of Malawi and Government of Flanders. The next cycle of assistance amounting to 25 million Euros (about K14 billion) has been pledged towards this course.

The Minister-President of Flanders, Kris Peeters officially opened the Lisasadzi training centre in Kasungu which has been rehabilitated with financial support from his government. The centre will assist in the training of extension workers in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

Peeters said the implementation of the MoU will be for the next five years and will help Malawi in agriculture sector to ensure that the country remains food sufficient. The Flanders Government adopted Malawi as its third country partner in January, 2007.

Powering Africa Through Feed-In Tariffs

16 April 2013. Powering Africa Through Feed-In Tariffs. Energy scarcity and the high environmental costs of fossil and nuclear power production in Africa demand that energy production should not only increase but be based on renewable resources.

To this end, Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) have already proved successful in several African countries. In order to evaluate the effects of the implementation of FITs, the World Future Council and the Heinrich Böll Foundation, with additional support provided by Friends of the Earth UK, have conducted an extensive field study with several researchers across Africa.

The findings are presented and analysed in the book "Powering Africa through Feed-in Tariffs - advancing renewable energies to meet the continent's electricity needs". Download the full study.

An executive summary can be downloaded here.

Related: The Frankfurt School – UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy Finance, offers a Sustainable Energy Finance Summer Academy with a strong African focus, this time in Mombasa, Kenya (20 - 25 October 2013). This Kenyan course addresses the rising demand for innovative financing for climate friendly solutions on the African continent.

For further information and to apply online, please visit:www.frankfurt-school.de/summer_academy or www.fs-unep-centre.org

Fly repellents reduce tsetse bites by more than 90%

The collars are being trialled just outside the Shimba Hills game reserve in Mombasa. Photograph: ICIPE

4 April 2013. A new tsetse repellent technology, developed through a partnership between ICIPE – and the EU, reduces tsetse bites by more than 90% and has the potential to considerable increase the standard of living of East-Africa pastoralists. 

 
The tsetse control innovation consists in repellent collars fitted on the neck of cattle. The collars have a dispenser containing odors of animals avoided by tsetse (like the waterbuck, a big antelope species that is common in tsetse-infested areas of Eastern Africa). 

These fly repellents reduce tsetse bites by more than 90%. The consequent reduction in animal infection can lead to an increase in the average cattle weight, a can determine up to a two-fold increase in the production of milk and the price with which animals are sold. 

 
The technique is especially suitable for pastoralists like the Maasai of eastern Africa, who move from one place to another, and do not gain much from using traps (located usually in the nearby of settlements).
The technology has been developed over the last twelve years, and is currently in the process of validation trials, process which will involve 300 pastoralists and more than 1,500 cattle over the next ten years. Several dispenser models have been developed and tested and ICIPE is working to find business partners in order to mass-produce the prototype repellent collars into commercial products.

15/01/2013 The Guardian How the stink of a waterbuck could prevent sleeping sickness

07/11/2012 Global times ICIPE's develops tsetse fly repellent collar for livestock farmers

Botswana hosts CCARDESA

Prof T.E.Simalenga 

Executive Director 

CCARDESA

12 April 2013. The government of Botswana is hosting Southern Africa’s Agricultural research regional offices at the Ministry of Agriculture headquarters.

The Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA) mandate is to coordinate agricultural research and development in Southern Africa.

Dr Enos Shumba, CCARDESA Board Chairperson, applauded the government for their noble gesture and implored them to use the presence of the centre as a springboard for research in livestock. Shumba said although CCARDESA is a subsidiary of the SADC organisation with full autonomy, it maintained a formal linkage to SADC on policy related issues. He said its autonomy helps in ensuring accountability by the organisation.

CCARDESA which was established in 2011 addresses agricultural issues in the region by amongst others, facilitating collaboration among stakeholders of the national agricultural research and development and promote public-private partnerships in regional agricultural research and development.

The strategic goal of CCARDESA is to among others, make significant contribution to the reduction of food insecurity in the region with a population of 250 million people, in support of SADC’s Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) and the Dar-es-Salaam Declaration on Agriculture

The Economics of Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought

Executive Secretary  UNCCD 

Luc Gnacadja. 

9 - 12 April 2013. Bonn, Germany. The international community is losing vast amounts of agricultural production due to the effects of continuing land degradation such as desertification, a new United Nations study has warned, adding that without sustainable land management, development initiatives the world over will be stymied.

Presented at the opening session of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification’s (UNCCD) 2nd Scientific Conference, The Economics of Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought (UNCCD, 2013, 56 pages) paints a dire picture of the planet’s current state, noting that up to five per cent of global agricultural gross domestic production (GDP) is being lost due to deteriorating land quality.

“Business as usual is no longer an option,” UNCCD Executive Secretary Luc Gnacadja told the opening session of the conference.

The report – the first economic evaluation of its kind in over twenty years – shows that up to 12 per cent of Africa’s agricultural GDP is being lost due to environmental degradation. The Background Document is also available in: English |French |Spanish|Arabic |Russian |Chinese

Ghana: Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Programme

Hon. Clement Kofi Humado
Minister for Food and Agriculture
of Ghana cited a PPP like the
Sorghum Value Chain Development
Project which was being sponsored
by the European Cooperative for
Rural Development with Guinness
Ghana Breweries Ltd (GGBL) as the
Private Sector and TechnoServe as
the implementing partner. He said
the overall goal was to develop a
stable and high-quality sorghum
supply chain that would increase
incomes of farmers and enable
GGBL to substitute imported grains
with locally produced sorghum.

15 April 2003. Accra, Ghana. Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Programme To Strengthen Skills And Competencies Of Ghanaian Agribusiness Professionals. The Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) are partnering together to launch a four-week Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Programme, from April 15-May 10, 2013.

Dr Joseph Taabazuing, 

Course Co-ordinator

GIMPA

The four-week long programme will use conventional learning techniques for principles of good business practice and case studies as problem-solving tool. The curriculum comprises 11 modules covering all aspects of modern management techniques and practices.

It includes five case studies of local agribusiness firms in Ghana to bring location-specific content into the course curriculum, and includes field trips and class projects to enable participants gain practical experience in managing agribusiness.

The University of Ghana, The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore helped with curriculum development and programme delivery. The program is residential, with participants staying at the Executive Conference Center at the campus of GIMPA.

The sponsors of the program believe that good practice in agribusiness is vital for an efficient commercial agriculture and an efficient functioning of the food and fibre sector. It is the hope of the sponsors that the program will contribute to successful implementation of the Food and Agriculture Sector Development Policy and the Medium-Term Agriculture Sector Investment Plan of the Government of Ghana.

Foire Africaine 2013

5 - 7 avril 2013. La 2ème édition de la Foire Africaine s'est tenue, au Palais des Congrès Paris-Est-Montreuil.

La manifestation a attiré 20 000 VISITEURS et 200 EXPOSANTS. Elle consistait de 3 jours d'exposition-vente sur 15 espaces : Gastronomie - Tourisme - Emploi - Mode - Artisanat - Beauté - Musique - Maison & Equipement - Banque & Transfert d'argent - NTIC - Import / Export - Entreprises - Institutions - Associations - Espace enfants.

• Des rencontres entre visiteurs et exposants 
• un village solidaire pour les associations, les coopératives et les porteurs de projets 
• Un forum emploi dédié à l'Afrique -Animations, conférences, défilés de mode, concert 
• Un cocktail et dîner de gala

Un stand vendait une boisson a base de bissap. La Boisson à base de bissap est commercialisée en Suisse par KERIDAM à partir du concentré produit par l’ITA (Institut Technologies Alimentaires/Dakar).  

Keridam est une société à responsabilité limitée crée en juin 2012. Keridam a pris le pari de proposer le bissap, utilisée dans la pharmacopée Africaine car, dans son état naturel, il regorge de vitamines C, de calcium et il a des vertus antioxydants. 

Briques bissap TetraPak de 1 litre

Les vertus thérapeutiques du Bissap sont Antispasmodique, Antimicrobien, Antioxydant, Diurétique et antiseptique urinaire, Hypotenseur sans effets surajoutés.

La boisson fabriquée par Keridam à Genève et dont la matière première provient du Sénégal, Afrique de l'Ouest, est naturelle, sans additifs et sans conservateurs. Elle est conditionnée dans des briques en carton TetraPak de 1 litre. Sa date limite de consommation (DLC) est de 4 mois. Keridam a l'entière responsabilité du développement, du marketing et de la commercialisation de son produit. Les recettes de fabrication sont et restent la propriété exclusive de Keridam selon le contrat signé avec la société Nutrifrais SA. L'infrastructure de production est mise à la disposition de Keridam par la société Nutrifrais SA. (voir Plaquette)

Hunger, Nutrition, Climate Justice: Dublin 2013

15 April, 2013 - 16 April, 2013.  Dublin, Ireland. The Dublin Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Climate Justice has been coorganised by CCAFS, Irish Aid, the Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice, and the World Food Programme. It brought together key policy makers and global thought leaders with local

Mrs. Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, 

President,Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice

people and practitioners facing the realities of rising food prices, failed crops, under nutrition and voicelessness.

The objective was to facilitate a dialogue and learn from practical experience and robust evidence to inform a new approach to addressing hunger, nutrition and climate justice, in the context of the new international development agenda. 

The aim was not simply be to adopt an outcome document, but to inspire new ways of thinking about global development challenges and to invigorate and broaden the debate, at all levels, listening to and learning from the experiences of local people, and rooting future thematic policy approaches in their lives and their efforts to cope.

15.04.2013
Joyce Banda speech
President of Malawi
See video

Conference Documents
HNCJ Conference Provisional Agenda(PDF)
HNCJ Conference Papers, including full case studies (PDF)
Case studies: For a full list of case studies click here

The Conference is livestreamed on www.eu2013.ie/press-centre

Sustainable pastoralism and the benefits of drylands production systems

9 April 2013. Last month Pablo Manzano, Global Coordinator of the World Initiative for Sustainable Pastoralism (WISP), sat down with Moffatt Ngugi of USAID’s Bureau for Food Security to discuss sustainable pastoralism and the many benefits of drylands production systems. Pablo was in Washington to speak at the World Bank Sustainable Development Network Forum during the session on "Drylands Development: Emerging Opportunities and Challenges."

Summary of the challenges and benefits of mobile pastoralism

WISP is a global initiative that supports the empowerment of pastoralists to sustainably manage dryland resources, and is a program of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

According to WISP, mobile pastorlism can promote poverty alleviation and ecosystem integrity, increase biodiversity, and improve animal genetic resources, all by managing grazing patterns to account for the sparse vegetation and relatively low fertility of dryland soils.

Despite the many potential benefits of mobile pastoralism, negative perceptions persist and pastoralist communities are often socially and politically marginalized. Many aid programs attempted to move away from supporting “antiquated” visions of mobile herds in the 1970s and 80s to a more modern vision of livestock agriculture modeled on the production systems practiced in developed countries. These sedentary systems more often promote overgrazing and the destruction of drylands ecosystems than their mobile counterparts.

WISP advocates for mobile pastoralism as a viable, sustainable livelihood by promoting laws, civil society organizations and the dissemination of best-practices and technical information. WISP also serves as a catalyst for partnerships between pastoralists, governments, NGOs, donors, and the private sector to support sustainable dryland pastoralism.

You can watch a video here to learn more about pastoralism in Kenya, or read a post about WISP's Knowledge Management Practices here.

European Agribusiness in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges Workshop

From left to right: Kandeh K. Yumkella, DG UNIDO; Dacian Ciolos Commissioner Agriculture and Rural Development ; Loretta Dormal-Marino Deputy DG DG Agriculture and Rural Development; Andris Piebalgs Commissioner Development and Cooperation

10 April 2013. Brussels. This workshop was organised by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development in collaboration with the Directorate-General Development and Cooperation – EuropeAid.

The objective of the workshop was to assess the potential of Africa-EU business cooperation to support the development of agri-food

enterprises in Africa as a means of strengthening food security and creating wealth in rural communities across the continent.

Agri-food chains in Africa need to be upscaled, but in order to achieve this the right framework conditions need to be in place. In this context the workshop looked at the various components of agriculture food chains – from enhancing productivity at farm level, to upgrading value chains by empowering farmers' organisations and integrating them in strategic partnerships. It looked at how to respond to local, regional and international demand by adding value to commodities and at the roles of research, technology and innovation in the food chain, as well as access to finance, models of Public Private Partnerships, and the state of the (rural) infrastructure.

The workshop brought together stakeholders from Africa and Europe, representing Governments, the
private sector, civil society and academia and think tanks.

Kandeh K. Yumkella, DG UNIDO presented the UNIDO Study "Agribusiness Development as Path to Africa's Prosperity"

Dr. Ababacar Sadikh Ndoye, Executive Director, Institute of Food Technology Dakar [2 MB] presented VALORISATION DE RESULTATS DE RECHERCHES AGROALIMENTAIRES AU SENEGAL : TRANSFERTS REUSSIS POUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT. He was suggested as speaker to the conference organisers by PAEPARD. [see below video interview]. The presentation included a slide (slide 27) about "Valorisation non alimentaire de la mangue" which was the result of "l'atelier multi-acteurs tenu à Dakar du 11 au 14 mars 2013 organisé par le COLEACP avec le soutien de PAEPARD".

Resources:

Watch the video recording of the workshop
Go to the programme  [4 MB]

Read the opening speech by Commissioner Dacian Cioloș (in French)
See the presentations

Related:
March 4, 2013–World Bank report “Growing Africa: Unlocking the Potential of Agribusiness”

Reuters 10/04/2013 EU urges investment drive in African farm sector
Related: 
Hereunder is a video with Dr Ababacar Sadikh NDOYE, Directeur général Institut de Technologie Alimentaire - ITA, about the export of bisap in powder and packaged in 25 grams bags. The producers are represented by women groups, an NGO has given training on how to improve production and conservation techniques, the researchers come from the Institut de Technologie Alimentaire, and a private compagny Valdafrique and Sodobio have taken up the purchase of an industrial atonomiseur (to produce hibiscus in powder form).

He was inteviewed by PAEPARD during the second CAAST-Net Stakeholders' Conference on Africa-Europe S&T Cooperation, Dakar, 24-25/04/2012.

Transcript:
Bisap has become a national commodity in traditional festivities and ceremonies. The Senegalese authorities have recoginzed the importance of the bisap value chain in its policy of agricultural diversification. When did the multi stakeholderexperience started? It started in the nineties with research leading to a bisap concentrate. A local company realised it could make a beverage in tetrepack out of it. We developed a partnerhship in 2001 with the company which now sells the tetrapack in the warehouses. We also had a partnership with the University of Gembloux, the University of Dakar and my institute ITA. We developed drying technologies in 1996 and in particular the Diaspora found it bulky to transport bisap leaves. We started thus to research bisap in powder form. We have managed to develop a formula for a stable atomisation and  keeping its red color. We adopted this for other commodities and wanted to improve it. The evaluator of the Walloon (Belgian) funding recommended to create a pool of the 3 institutes involved in drying. The company "Developpement des biosense" was thus created in 2007 under the leadership of ITA. The private cie Oasis got interested and while our market was increasing we managed to sell to Japan, got the interest from Nestle and Sodobio. We could not remain at a pilot stadium when the entreprise ValAfrique asked for "atomisation"tests around acacia gum. In due course they have purchased an high quantity atomisation equipment. We concluded a partnership with them to extend the use of this equipment to other products like bisap. What we initially sold to Japan can no more be compared to the present product of Valafrique. Looking backwards there was no difference between a sack of seeds and our powder beverage! 

New funding opportunity for the development of a consortium with both agricultural and nutrition expertise

The Agricultural Development and Nutrition teams at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a new funding opportunity for the development of a consortium with both agricultural and nutrition expertise, with the mandate of“Improving Nutrition Outcomes through Optimized Agricultural Interventions” in Africa.

Through its members, the consortium must have strengths in program design, implementation, and rigorous monitoring and evaluation---with a strong focus on providing these services as technical assistance.

• This grant opportunity is open until 7 June 2013. 
• Full descriptions of the grant opportunity and application instructions are available at this link. Please note that the description of the grant opportunity is available in English and French, but applications will be accepted in English only.
• See also the brief blog on Impatient Optimists announcing this opportunity at this link.

Regional Workshop to Mainstream Climate Change in the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme

2 - 3 April  2013. Niamey, Niger. Regional Workshop to Mainstream Climate Change in the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme.

The book  'West African Agriculture and Climate Change' was presented which is a collaboration between IFPRI, CCAFS, and the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF/WECARD). 

• 'West African Agriculture and Climate Change' uses sophisticated modelling and available data to develop future scenarios exploring the range of climate change consequences for agriculture, food security, and resource management and offers recommendations to national governments and regional agencies.
• It offers, for the first time, country-by-country climate data and analysis for 11 of the countries that make up West Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leon, and Togo.
• "This book is greatly needed in the West Africa region. It fills a major gap in the availability of up-to-date scientific information on the vulnerability of the agriculture sector to climate change in countries and in the region," said Robert Zougmoré (see video at the bottom), regional programme leader, West Africa, CGIAR Research Programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). "This monograph will help regional and national decision makers and other stakeholders make better-informed decisions."

[IFPRI Press Release] [Publication: West African Agriculture and Climate Change]

Launch of the book "West African Agriculture and Climate Change: A Comprehensive Analysis" at the WAAPP regional workshop on climate change and improvment of forms of agriculture taking into account climate considerations.

Robert Zougmoré, who is the West Africa Regional Program Leader for the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), discusses the climate-related challenges farmers in West Africa face, and how forecasts and other types of information can improve decision making.