Africa and Brazil to collaborate
on agricultural research

Brasilia: The Africa-Brazil Agricultural Innovation Marketplace -- a collaboration initiative between the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the Brazilian Organisation for Agricultural Research (Embrapa) was launched on 10 May at Embrapa´s headquarter in Brazil's capital, Brasilia.

The launch was part of the Brazil-Africa Dialogue on Food Security, Combating Hunger, and Rural Development organised by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations.

There were 300 participants in the Marketplace launch including African ministers from 35 countries and their cabinet officials. Other participants included representatives of international and multilateral organisations and Brazilian officials.

The launch included an oral presentation by FARA and Embrapa followed by questions, comments, and suggestions from the audience in which the African ministers participated.

For the programme details: http://www.africa-brazil.org

Farmers desperate as virus
ravages cassava crops

By Donald G Mcneil of the New York Times reporting from Mukono Uganda, 31 May

A brown streak-infected Cassava. Photo/Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Kampala: Brown streak virus -- named for the marks it leaves on the plant stem -- is now ravaging cassava crops in a great swath around Lake Victoria, threatening millions of East Africans who grow the tuber as their staple food.

Although it has been seen on coastal farms for 70 years, a mutant version emerged in Africa’s interior in 2004, “and there has been explosive, pandemic-style spread since then,” said Claude M. Fauquet, director of cassava research at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Centre in St. Louis, Missouri. “The speed is just unprecedented, and the farmers are really desperate."

Dr. Fauquet fears brown streak will cross the Congo Basin to Nigeria, the world’s biggest grower, because farmers sell cuttings to one another and border controls are nonexistent or can be evaded.

Read more: www.nytimes.com

East and West Africa in 10-year research on food security

By Cosmas Butunyi in the East African, Nairobi, 24 May

A well tended maize farm. East Africa will be part of a global research programme on food and conservation.

Nairobi: East Africa and West Africa have been earmarked for a global research programme that seeks to strike a balance between food production and environment conservation.

Faced with the new threat of climate change, the Consultative Group on International and Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP) will spearhead the 10-year challenge programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) starting this year.

The programme will bring together different scientists and research institutions from all over the world to tackle the three issues that are of global concern.

Read more: www.theeastafrican.co.ke

Second Green Revolution
taking root in Africa

By Charles W. Corey, US Information Service, 24 May 2010

Washington: A second Green Revolution is starting to take root in Africa, says Cameroon-born agriculture specialist Dr A. Namanga Ngongi. And that is important, he says, because agriculture is the largest private sector occupation in Africa and could fuel economic growth and development across the continent.

Speaking to the Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security in Washington on 20 May Ngongi, who is president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), said African farmers must take a private sector and collaborative approach to their vocation, working with nongovernmental organisations, governments and banks to help solve their problems -- which often involve scarcity of credit.

Read more: www.allafrica.com

For download

CAADP Day

The second annual CAADP Day will be held on 21 July in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso during Africa Agriculture Science Week with the theme: Post-Compact CAADP implementation: the African private sector and investments in agriculture.

Click here for more information: www.caadp.net
Or download a brochure here: www.caadp.net/pdf/CAADP%20brochure.pdf

Sythesis Report of a parliamentary dialogue

A team of African parliamentarians together with agricultural experts from across Africa and beyond has reviewed evidence on past agricultural successes, made assessments of future challenges, and engaged in detailed discussions of African budgetary processes.

They have come up with a shared statement of findings identifying priorities for future actions necessary to engage and support parliamentarians in pursuing the CAADP agenda and ensuring sustained agricultural growth in Africa.

Read the full report here: www.caadp.net/library-reports.php

2009 CAADP Annual Report

The CAADP Annual Report for 2009 is now available for download at:
www.caadp.net/pdf/CAADP_AR2010_WEB.pdf

UNEP e-learning course on climate change

There are still some places available on the next UNEP FI online course on “climate change: risks and opportunities for the finance sector” scheduled from 7-28 June.

The objective of this course is to equip representatives of financial institutions, including banks, insurers, and fund managers, as well as other stakeholders with the necessary knowledge and skills to address climate change. More than 300 institutions have been trained since 2007. The flexible time commitment is two hours per day on average from Monday to Friday.

For more information: www.unepfi.org/training/climate_change/

Invitation to online debate

The World Bank Africa Environment and Natural Resources Unit and the Water Resources and Watershed Management Thematic Group invite you to participate in an interactive online debate on watershed management and climate change that will run from 2-25 June.

For more information: www.africawatershed.org

Why crises persist in West Africa

Report from the Daily Trust, 1 June

Abuja: The Nigerian Federal Government links the unabated food, energy and financial crises in the ECOWAS sub-region to haphazard implementation of agreements reached by member states. according to Dr Aliyu Idi Hong, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, in a speech on 31 May at the 64th session of the Council of Ministers of ECOWAS in Abuja.

Hong said the haphazard implementation of the 1979 ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, Goods and Services and the Right of Residence and Establishment was retrogressive.

"Despite efforts and structures put in place to fast track the integration process within the sub-region, the lack of political will by member states to implement this agreement has further undeveloped us,” he said.

Read more: www.allafrica.com

EAC to approve 11 cassava,
potato standards

By Joseph Olanyo in East African Business Week, 5 June

Different types of potato.

Kampala: Standards for cassava and potato products in the five East African Community (EAC) countries have been recommended for approval for implementation.

The process towards regional root crops standards, focusing on cassava and sweet potato, was spearheaded by the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) in 2006.

Read more: www.busiweek.com

Livestock farming unattractive in Africa

By Tina A. Hassan in the Daily Trust Abuja, 25 May

Kampala: Livestock farming is not attractive to African farmers, according to agriculture ministers. Nigeria's Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development Najeem Adewale blamed it on current policies and institutional environments in the animal sector.

He was speaking at the 8th conference of African ministers of agriculture in charge of animal resources held in Kampala, with the aim of improving access to markets for African animal resources for economic growth and poverty reduction.

Read more: http://allafrica.com

Fisheries and aquaculture:

Fishermen on Lake Victoria will be required to pay a levy to allow them conduct business. Photo/Daily Nation

COMESA in deal to boost food output

By Kennedy Senelwa in the Daily Nation, 24 May

The project will alleviate constraints faced by smallholder farmers in accessing seed, fertiliser, and financing in order to increase staple crop production. Photo/Anthony Kamau

Nairobi: Rural households in the COMESA region are to benefit from a Sh2 billion agreement to improve their food security.

Sindiso Ngwenya, the secretary general of COMESA, said the 20 Million Euro pact with the European Union for a project known as COMRAP will increase food stocks and improve livelihoods in the region through enhancing access to finance, fertilizer, and seed.

“Over the next two years, the project will improve smallholders’ access to agro-inputs and the regional legal frameworks to increase agricultural productivity,” he said in a statement.

Read more: http://www.nation.co.ke

Financial skills key to
Kilimo Kwanza success

By Alvar Mwakyuse in The Citizen, 29 May

Dar es Salaam: For the ambitious Kilimo Kwanza (agriculture first) programme to be successful, the Tanzanian government must improve infrastructure and train farmers in financial skills, a member of South Africa's Free State provincial legislature, Abrie Oosthuizen, told journalists shortly after meeting members of Tanzania's Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Water and Livestock in Dar es Salaam on 28 May. He noted that the poor state of infrastructure in Tanzania was an obstacle to agricultural development.

Read more: www.thecitizen.co.tz

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Disclaimer:  The views expressed in CAADP News are the responsibility of the respective authors. They are not official AU or NEPAD views or views supported by the AU or NEPAD.