http://www.agfax.net AGFAX Radio - providing an update of news and developments in tropical agriculture.en-gb Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:23:54 +0000 Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:23:54 +0000 Copyright: (C) WRENmedia, http://www.wrenmedia.co.uk s.thorp@wrenmedia.co.uk (Susanna Thorp) webmaster@wrenmedia.co.uk (AGFAX webmaster) http://www.agfax.net/design/agfax-rss.gif http://www.agfax.net 144 90 AGFAX Radio RSS feed In western Kenya, the Real IPM company is developing a bio-pesticide to fight the Striga weed. Striga is a very destructive weed in cereal crops such as maize, sorghum and millet, and has been extremely difficult for small-scale farmers to control. But a combination of soaking the seeds overnight in a nutrient-rich solution, followed by treatment of the seed with a bio-pesticide, could be an effective and affordable answer. The approach has recently been given funding by the Research into Use programme's Best Bets initiative. 01/03/10 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=317&s=r AGFAX March 2010 www.agfax.net-audioId317 Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT Distributing food aid or farm inputs is normally an expensive and lengthy process. In addition, it doesn't usually support local suppliers and businesses. But in Zambia a different approach is being trialled by several organisations, including the World Food Programme. Instead of being given food, beneficiaries receive an electronic voucher, in the form of a scratchcard - similar to one used for topping up mobile phone credit. By taking the card to a local agent, they are able to redeem it for the food or other input that they are entitled to. Mike Quinn of the Mobile Transactions company, which has created the system, explains more to Chris Kakunta. 01/03/10 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=318&s=r AGFAX March 2010 www.agfax.net-audioId318 Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT Now four years old, the Gambia is Good (GIG) fresh vegetable marketing company has supported around 1000 small-scale vegetable growers in becoming commercial farmers. Moving from subsistence production has meant learning new ways of farming for a new set of crops. The rewards are high though - over US$200 per month for some growers. Ismaila Senghore talks to GIG advisor Adama Bah and two GIG farmers about a project that is now supplying up to five tonnes of fresh vegetables every week to the country's hotels, restaurants and supermarkets. 01/03/10 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=319&s=r AGFAX March 2010 www.agfax.net-audioId319 Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT In Uganda, the Coffee Research Institute is using tissue culture to clone thousands of coffee plants that are resistant to coffee wilt disease. The disease, which is caused by a fungus, is now a major problem for coffee farmers in many parts of DRC, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia. Scientists fear it could spread to West Africa and Kenya unless strong action is taken. But shortage in funds is slowing down the multiplication of resistant plants. Wambi Michael reports. 01/03/10 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=320&s=r AGFAX March 2010 www.agfax.net-audioId320 Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT Recent field trials in central Malawi suggest that using a half-half combination of organic and chemical fertilisers in maize production gives higher yields than using entirely one or the other. This is potentially good news for farmers who only have limited quantities of organic manure and cannot afford to buy sufficient chemical fertiliser for their cropping area. Crop scientist Moses Munthali describes the trials and maize farmer Pansipowuma Ngoni talks about her experience of combined fertiliser use, with George Kalungwe. 01/03/10 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=321&s=r AGFAX March 2010 www.agfax.net-audioId321 Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT Following three years of drought and food shortage, Malawi defied international advice and implemented a radical system of subsidies on seed and fertiliser. Harvests have increased dramatically, but poverty continues to blight millions of lives. Now the government has a new approach to agricultural extension, and is promoting belts of production by clusters of small farmers, in order to further boost production and introduce commercial farming. 27/01/10 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=312&s=r AGFAX February 2010 www.agfax.net-audioId312 Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT Small scale farmer groups from Livingstone in southern Zambia are using drip-irrigation to grow high quality vegetables on a year-round basis. The vegetables are supplied to two 5 star hotels at Victoria Falls, a major tourist attraction. A farmer, an extension officer and the hotels' executive chef describe how this has come about, and the benefits it has brought. 27/01/10 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=313&s=r AGFAX February 2010 www.agfax.net-audioId313 Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT In Apac district in northern Uganda, an information centre and a local radio station are working together to supply farming groups with advice and tips on how to grow, add value to, and market their produce. For those living beyond the reach of radio signals, the programmes are recorded onto audio cassette; when listeners' questions arise, the same cassettes are used to bring back answers from the experts. Pius Sawa meets the farmer groups, the information providers and the local agricultural authorities, to find out how and why it is so successful. 27/01/10 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=314&s=r AGFAX February 2010 www.agfax.net-audioId314 Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT In Ghana, Blue Skies Ghana Ltd recycles large quantities of waste from its fruit processing operation, to make compost. Dorothy Duodo gives a guided tour of the process, from where the fruit peelings and pineapple crowns arrive, to the end product - sweet smelling, soil-like compost. On the way, she offers tips and hints for compost makers of all sizes. 27/01/10 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=315&s=r AGFAX February 2010 www.agfax.net-audioId315 Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT Since 2003, Farm Input Promotions Africa (FIPS) has been working with small-scale farmers to improve their crop production. One key strategy has been making improved, high yielding seed available in small packets which even very poor farmers can afford. Recently, FIPS won funding to expand this work into Uganda and Tanzania. Eric Kadenge reports from Kisumu in western Kenya, where he meets a FIPS trainer and some farmers who are benefiting from the affordable inputs. 27/01/10 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=316&s=r AGFAX February 2010 www.agfax.net-audioId316 Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT Utiang Ugbe, West African coordinator for RIU Best Bets, describes the criteria the judges will be using to choose the Best Bet technologies. He goes on to describe how the initiative will encourage private sector involvement in getting research into use. At 1 minute 12 seconds, this item would be suitable for use in a longer news report or short feature. 11/01/10 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=310&s=r AGFAX January 2010 www.agfax.net-audioId310 Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT Utiang Ugbe, West African coordinator for RIU Best Bets, describes the criteria the judges will be using to choose the Best Bet technologies. At 39 seconds, this item would be suitable for use in a short news report. 11/01/10 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=311&s=r AGFAX January 2010 www.agfax.net-audioId311 Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT The Global Cycle Solutions organisation finds ways to use bicycles as an alternative source of power. In Tanzania, they have adapted a maize sheller so that it can be powered by bike, which greatly speeds up the process of removing maize grain from the husk. For those wanting a small business opportunity, the maize sheller can be pedalled from village to village. Other devices use bicycle power to grind maize into flour and charge mobile phone batteries. 22/12/09 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=307&s=r AGFAX January 2010 www.agfax.net-audioId307 Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT Joyce Ashietey, development officer for Ghana's Blue Skies fresh fruit company, describes how the company ensures its pure, unpasteurised pineapple juice maintains consistently high quality. Rejecting over-ripe fruit is one factor. Paying meticulous attention to hygiene in the production line is also key. She describes a flow-through system, whereby nothing is allowed to return to any earlier stage in the process, so as to avoid contamination. The lessons apply equally well to small-scale food processors as to large. 22/12/09 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=308&s=r AGFAX January 2010 www.agfax.net-audioId308 Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT Every year, as many as 60,000 people in Africa die of sleeping sickness, a disease that passes between and among humans and animals through the bite of tsetse flies. Livestock such as cattle act as a reservoir for the disease, so treating cattle to cure them, and preventing re-infection through insecticide spraying, helps to reduce human cases. In Uganda, such a programme is now being carried out, with private vets heavily involved. This is a new approach for livestock disease control, which has previously been the responsibility of government veterinary services. 22/12/09 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=309&s=r AGFAX January 2010 www.agfax.net-audioId309 Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT Most commercial seed companies source their product from large scale farming operations. But in Kenya, small-scale farmers are also getting involved in growing crops for seed, rather than for food. Julius and Ruth Kamula, for example, grow maize for seed, which earns them around three times what they would get for growing it as a food crop. Eric Kadenge meets maize technician Joel Mbithi, and then travels to the Kamula's farm, to learn more about the process of growing maize for seed, and the rewards it brings. 21/12/09 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=304&s=r AGFAX January 2010 www.agfax.net-audioId304 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT The leaves of the Faidherbia albida tree are rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients. Plants that grow beneath the trees benefit from their annual leaf fall, which fertilises the soil and counteracts soil acidity. In Zambia, the Conservation Farming Unit is encouraging farmers to plant 100 of the trees per hectare, at 10 metre intervals, as a long term means of boosting soil fertility. Over 160,000 farmers have already begun to do so. 21/12/09 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=305&s=r AGFAX January 2010 www.agfax.net-audioId305 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT Cooking banana, known in Uganda as matooke, has a relatively short shelf life - too short for fresh bananas to be easily exported and sold in Europe. But in a new initiative, a Ugandan company has begun to export peeled, vacuum-packed matooke, which can last for up to a month. This is an exciting way of adding value to a crop which occupies nearly 40 per cent of Uganda's arable land. Wambi Michael talks to banana experts, an exporter and a consumer about the new innovation. 21/12/09 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=306&s=r AGFAX January 2010 www.agfax.net-audioId306 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT