http://www.agfax.net AGFAX Radio - providing an update of news and developments in tropical agriculture.en-gb Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:47:29 +0000 Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:47:29 +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 Home to 300 million people, and spanning 10 countries, the Nile river basin has its share of troubles: poverty, environmental degradation, water scarcity and conflict are daily realities for many in this region. The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), founded in 1999, offers a framework for regional cooperation, focussing on the protection and sustainable use of resources and wider economic development. In Powerful connections on the Nile Former Executive Director of the NBI, Audace Ndayizeye, and Project Manager for one of the subsidiary basin management projects, Mohammed Badaza, describe some of the exciting progress that is being made, for example in electricity provision, urban infrastructure and agriculture. 04/11/08 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=196&s=r AGFAX November 2008 www.agfax.net-audioId196 Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT The global community has set itself the target of halving the number of people suffering from hunger by 2015. But how can this be done? One way, according to Sheila Sisulu, Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), is through school feeding. Evidence shows that providing one free meal a day to school aged children greatly increases school attendance and performance. In particular, it improves attendance rates among girl children, reducing the frequency of early marriage and contributing to better maternal and child health. The WFP has recently innovated to improve its work, sourcing food from local farmers and beginning to provide meals during school holidays. See Top marks for school feeding. 04/11/08 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=197&s=r AGFAX November 2008 www.agfax.net-audioId197 Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT Deforestation is one of Africa's most serious problems, both in terms of environmental destruction and loss of livelihoods. The Gambia, which has some 400,000 hectares of forest, is leading the way in participatory forest management, giving local communities responsibility to protect forests from burning and destruction, while also allowing them to benefit from forest resources. The programme has proved hugely successful, promoting social integration and economic development among the forest communities, and allowing the government to divert funds to other needs such as health and education. In Community forest management - a Gambian success story, Kebba Sonko, head of the Community Forest Management Programme, reveals the secrets of that success. 04/11/08 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=198&s=r AGFAX November 2008 www.agfax.net-audioId198 Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT The Arborloo is a simple, fast way for villagers to turn human toilet waste into highly fertile soil, suitable for tree planting, vegetables or whatever they choose to grow. Using full pit latrines for planting trees is common in parts of Africa. The Arborloo, which can be easily built using local materials and at very low cost, refines the concept. Arborloo pits are shallower and easier to dig. Adding soil or ash after using the toilet dramatically speeds up the transformation from toilet waste into fertile compost. Within 3-6 months a family may start a new pit, and the old one will soon be ready for planting. In The Arborloo: speeding up nutrient recycling Alex Oduor and Peter Morgan, passionate advocates of the Arborloo, explain all. 04/11/08 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=199&s=r AGFAX November 2008 www.agfax.net-audioId199 Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT In times of food crisis, people may be forced to ask for handouts. But begging for food damages our self-respect - it is not what anyone wants. The Africa Invest project has a different approach: it arranges finance for smallscale commercial farming as a profitable investment for lenders. The project is currently working with farmers in Malawi, who are now growing a number of high value crops, such as herbs and spices, and the benefits to the farming communities have been very impressive. In Investment opportunity - smallholder farming, Jon Maguire, who founded the project, and Jones Kampezeni who manages the Malawi outgrowers, explain why this new approach has been so successful. 04/11/08 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=200&s=r AGFAX November 2008 www.agfax.net-audioId200 Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT The rising cost of food is exacerbating poverty and stretching the resources of relief organisations like the World Food Programme (WFP). But what measures are needed in the short, medium and long term to address the food crisis, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa? Sheila Sisulu, deputy executive director of the WFP, and Adewale Adekunle of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa offer their views on the challenges ahead, and where governments should be focussing their attention, in order to feed the hungry and build food security in the future. 30/09/08 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=177&s=r AGFAX October 2008 www.agfax.net-audioId177 Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT For farmers growing matooke - Uganda's plantain banana - effective marketing of their crop can be difficult. Prices paid by traders are highly variable and it is common to see bananas rotting on the tree as farmers fail to find a buyer. Recently, however, the government has launched an initiative to support banana processing. Farmers are being taught how to dry their fruit, so that they can be made into flour, and this is now beginning to replace wheat flour in local diets. Pius Sawa talks to the director of the initiative, to a food processor, a chef, and to people on the street in Kampala, about this exciting development for banana growers, and tries some matooke-flour soup. 30/09/08 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=178&s=r AGFAX October 2008 www.agfax.net-audioId178 Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT Potato is one of the most important food crops in the world and is grown in many parts of Africa. But climate change means farmers will have to change the way they produce this much-loved staple. The effects of climate change on potato production are already being felt in Africa and beyond. So what exactly is happening and what can be done to protect the potato? Potato experts from Kenya and Mauritius discuss the pressures facing the crop and an agricultural meteorologist gives his perspective on what needs to be done. 30/09/08 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=179&s=r AGFAX October 2008 www.agfax.net-audioId179 Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT In much of Africa, farmland soil degradation is threatening agricultural livelihoods. Meanwhile in Africa's cities, sewage treatment is unable to cope with the volumes of waste being produced. Is there a way that urban human wastes could be recycled back to the rural fields, in a safe and acceptable way, thereby killing two birds with one stone? Maimbo Malesu, of the World Agroforestry Centre's water management unit offers his opinion on this controversial, but increasingly important priority. 30/09/08 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=180&s=r AGFAX October 2008 www.agfax.net-audioId180 Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT Human faeces and urine contain nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, the same ingredients as chemical fertilisers and animal manure. And while human defecation is a taboo subject in many areas, farmers in parts of Burkina Faso are learning that human manure is actually a rich resource. Under a pilot project in Ouagadougou, households have been given specially designed toilets which separate the solid and liquid elements of human waste. These are collected by a private sector organisation and converted into a safe, affordable fertiliser which is now proving popular with farmers. The pilot scheme may be extended across the country, and could also be introduced in Benin and Mali. 30/09/08 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=181&s=r AGFAX October 2008 www.agfax.net-audioId181 Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT For vegetable growers in the developing world, selling produce to lucrative European markets can sound like a dream. Buyers demand very high standards of production and large volumes are needed on a regular basis for international trade. Could small-scale farmers ever hope to get involved in the export business? Yes they can, says Joseph Tontoh of the Vegetable Producers and Exporters Association of Ghana. The Association of 200 farmers, including 130 small scale outgrowers, exports chillies, aubergines and other vegetables to wholesale vegetable markets in Europe. Many of the outgrowers are school leavers just starting their farming businesses. Hear their story in Stronger together - Ghana's vegetable exporters. 02/09/08 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=128&s=r AGFAX September 2008 www.agfax.net-audioId128 Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT Mabira forest in Uganda receives rainfall that supplies five major rivers, and helps maintain water levels in Lake Victoria and the Nile basin. Recently, the Ugandan government has been hoping to use up to a third of the forest area for sugarcane production, threatening both the environmental services the forest provides as well as the resources it offers to local people. However, the National Forestry Authority, which has been encouraging forest protection and replanting by local communities, has opposed the plan. In Protecting forests - local voices a parish chief and a farmer give their views on the importance of forest protection. 02/09/08 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=129&s=r AGFAX September 2008 www.agfax.net-audioId129 Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT In Accra, Ghana, 80 per cent of salad vegetables served in market restaurants and roadside stalls are grown within the city. They are typically irrigated using wastewater - a mixture of rainwater and sewage, containing high levels of human waste and some industrial effluent. This creates health risks, both for those who grow the vegetables and those who eat them. Given water scarcity, use of wastewater for irrigation will continue, and may become even more important in the future. So how can it be made safer, for farmers and consumers? In Urban horticulture - reducing health risks Accra-based water expert, Pay Drechsel, offers some practical answers. 02/09/08 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=130&s=r AGFAX September 2008 www.agfax.net-audioId130 Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT Agriculture and agro-industry form the backbone of the African economy in terms of GDP, employment, food security and trade. And, as African business conditions become more favourable, producers, processors and traders are increasingly making an impact in exporting to Europe. At the Agribusiness Forum 2008, Mamadou Djite received the EMRC Agribusiness Award for his success in exporting fresh fruit and vegetables from Senegal to Europe. In Senegal's award-winning agribusiness Mamadou talks about the secrets of his export success, and Idit Miller, Vice President of the European Marketing Research Centre, explains why he was given the award. 02/09/08 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=131&s=r AGFAX September 2008 www.agfax.net-audioId131 Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT Global food price rises have made governments think seriously about boosting agricultural production. But what kind of agriculture offers the best way forward for developing countries? The industrialised model, which depends heavily on fossil fuels for chemical fertilisers and powered machinery? Genetically modified crops that can thrive in harsh conditions? Or should farmers be adopting organic agriculture, to restore degraded soils and reduce their dependence on external inputs? In Organic agriculture - a mainstream option? Jordan Gama, Executive Secretary of the Tanzania Organic Agriculture Movement, makes the case for an organic agricultural future. 02/09/08 http://www.agfax.net/link.php?i=132&s=r AGFAX September 2008 www.agfax.net-audioId132 Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT