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Perspectives in 'Agriculture, veterinary science, nutrition and natural resources' (call for papers, deadline 1 September 2008)
CTA | Knowledge for Development 08 07 2008 CAB plans to publish a special issue on the subject ‘Causes and Consequences of the Food Crisis’, and invites papers for publication in this special issue. Our main interest is in papers that will concentrate on the impact of the crisis on individual or regional groups of developing countries and on the policy measures that they have implemented in order to help their poor population. The plan is to publish a selection of the papers that will be included in this issue in a book entitled ‘The Food Crisis’, to be published by CAB International. Papers should be submitted to David Hemming at d.hemming@cabi.org.
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Barnier: EU has made enough concessions on agriculture
CTA | Brussels office | Web log 08 07 2008 The EU has gone to "the extreme limit" of the concessions it can make to reach a deal at the World T...
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Climate change threatens global food and water supply
CTA | Brussels office | Web log 08 07 2008 Scientists from all over the world representing some of the most prestigious national academies of s...
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The pelagic fishery in Mauritania
CTA | Brussels office | Web log 08 07 2008 In the context of the 2006-2012 fishing agreement between the EU and Mauritania, the CDE (Centre for...
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New issue of "Partnership", CDE's electronic newsletter
CTA | Brussels office | Web log 07 07 2008 The last issue of Partnership, the electronic newsletter of the Centre for the Development of Entrep...
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President Barroso at the G8 summit in Japan
CTA | Brussels office | Web log 07 07 2008 For the fourth time, President Barroso will represent the Commission as full member of the G8 summit...
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Guinea-Bissau/EU: renewal of the fisheries agreement
CTA | Brussels office | Web log 07 07 2008 'The new fisheries agreement between Guinea-Bissau and the European Union must, from now on, take ac...
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Kiribati signs regional tuna fisheries Agreement
CTA | Brussels office | Web log 07 07 2008 Kiribati has signed the Nauru Agreement 3rd Implementing Arrangement. This sub-regional arrangement ...
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New West Africa site
CTA | Brussels office | Web log 07 07 2008 The main aim of the new West Africa website is to provide more direct links with everyone involved i...
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Solutions to the food crisis must be sought at EU level
CTA | Brussels office | Web log 07 07 2008 France is taking over the reins of the EU this week and the French Agriculture Minister Mr Barnier i...
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Trade between the EU and poor countries
CTA | Brussels office | Web log 07 07 2008 At the request of Nicholas Sarkozy, the MP from Guyana answers four questions taken as chapter headi...
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Rice in Africa
CTA | Brussels office | Web log 07 07 2008 On Monday 2 June in Paris, Gérard Matheron, the director general of Cirad, Marion Guillou, the presi...
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French EU Presidency monitoring programme
CTA | Brussels office | Web log 07 07 2008 During the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2008, Coordi...
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EU trade policy: approaching a crossroads
CTA | Brussels office | Web log 07 07 2008 In an important shift, inspired partly by drift in the Doha Round negotiations, the EU announced in ...
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Africa's Scientific Renaissance Day
CTA | Knowledge for Development 07 07 2008 The next 30th of June 2008 in Africa will be the day reserved to celebrate Science, Technology and Innovation for Africa's Industrialisation. All AU Member States (53 States!), upon solicitation by the AUC Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology, will take initiatives to raise the attention of the concerned specific actors and public via different actions. Media, education and research structures are between the first actors to be mobilised.
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The African Agricultural Technology Foundation approach to IP management
CTA | Knowledge for Development 07 07 2008 Richard Y. Boadi & Mpoko Bokanga, 2007. The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) addresses the Intellectual Property (IP) challenges in agriculture by negotiating access to proprietary technologies and facilitating their delivery to smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. This chapter addresses the IP issues and partnership arrangements associated with the access, development, and deployment of agricultural technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa by AATF. The model developed by AATF incorporates the acquisition, development, and deployment of new technologies from private sector partners, to try to address the agricultural needs of resource-poor smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa - Intellectual property policy and implementation guidelines
CTA | Knowledge for Development 07 07 2008 Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), 2007. The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) is committed to enhancing and adding value to the effectiveness and efficiency of agricultural research systems in Africa. Its policy is that publication, disclosure and open access to its data plus sharing of information and knowledge with stakeholders, partners and donors shall be pursued. FARA’s vision is to reduce poverty in Africa as a result of sustainable agricultural growth and livelihoods particularly for smallholder and pastoral enterprises. To further this end, it is FARA’s practice to treat all products generated from research under its hospices as international public goods. This is to ensure easy availability and accessibility of these resources to the public for their use and benefit.
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Reforming the approach to “demand-driven” research
CTA | Knowledge for Development 07 07 2008 David Dickson, 2008. In “demand-driven” research, potential users of research are in the driving seat. An evaluation of Dutch-funded research programmes in developing countries raises questions about the concept of local "ownership". It highlights several projects where having potential users of research results in the driving seat undoubtedly had a beneficial effect. Projects in Bolivia, South Africa and Tanzania, for example, proved to be highly successful, notably because they included a strong focus on research capacity building. But the evaluation also identifies cases where projects failed. Understanding the reasons for this failure provides important indicators to the components of success.
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The origins and implications of using innovation systems perspectives in the design and implementation of agricultural research projects: some personal observations
CTA | Knowledge for Development 07 07 2008 Andy Hall, 2007. A typology of restrictive/supportive attitudes and practices affecting (pro-poor) innovation processes and relationships in agricultural research projects is presented. In recent years, there has been an increasing recognition of the potential of the innovation systems concept to provide new ways of making more effective use of agricultural research and improve its impact on socially desirable outcomes. This paper documents the experiences of a group of researchers in India who experimented with this framework and tried to operationalise its principles in project design. The paper comments on some of the implications of using this approach and the challenges it presents for implementers of agricultural research projects in developing countries.
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Pro-poor innovation systems - Background paper
CTA | Knowledge for Development 07 07 2008 Julio A. Berdegué, 2005
A pro-poor innovation system is a multi-stakeholder social learning process, that generates and puts to use new knowledge and which expands the capabilities and opportunities of the poor. The innovation systems framework is outlined, focusing on rural development work. Important trends and changes in rural innovation systems are discussed, from the perspective of rural poverty reduction and agricultural development. Opportunities for pro-poor innovation are highlighted, based on a framework that takes into consideration the heterogeneity of rural poverty.
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Integrated confinement system for genetically engineered plants - A comprehensive approach to biosafety for confined field trials
CTA | Knowledge for Development 07 07 2008 Mark E. Halsey, 2007. A country that is setting out to explore the benefits of modern agricultural biotechnology for national development must be prepared to do so in a safe, systematic and transparent manner. In a Confined Field Trial (CFT), researchers are able to safely evaluate genetically engineered plants in the natural environment by following simple procedures of biological confinement and good management practices. Planning for biosafety procedures in the conduct of a CFT requires a comprehensive approach that foresees all the individual steps required to perform a field trial, from initial planning through trial conduct and oversight, post-harvest management, and final reporting.
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Expert advises African farmers to return to old farming practices
CTA | Knowledge for Development 07 07 2008 Poor yields in farming can be blamed on imbalance of traditional and modern farming methods. According to Chido Makunike, a Zimbabwean researcher currently based in Senegal, farmers need to be informed on the importance of mixing both traditional and modern technologies to better yield hence prevent hunger. According to Mr. Makunike, foreign ideologies and innovations that are not modified to meet the local’s demands are of no help at all. Depending on many local variables, new ways of farming that take into account the farming and other social aspects of local life have the best prospects of bringing about long-lasting change. Furthermore, it has been proven by science that traditional methods of farming that are seen to be backward and not helpful in this day and age still do have their own benefits. Makunike noted that farmers do not have control over prices but have control over traditional techniques and therefore, for the kinds of farming practiced by most of Africa’s smallholders, and taking into account the economic environment in which they operate, those who are able to find a good mix of traditional and modern methods have considerable advantages over those who are stuck with one or the other type of farming. Source: Nyambati M. Kwamboka, African Science News Service, 23 May 2008.
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PROLINNOVA: building partnerships to promote local innovation processes
CTA | Knowledge for Development 07 07 2008 Ann Waters-Bayer, Chesha Wettasinha & Laurens van Veldhuizen, 2007. The international programme PROLINNOVA seeks to build partnerships among major stakeholders in agricultural research and development to enhance processes of farmer-led participatory innovation. It starts with identifying innovations developed by farmers in order to give recognition to their creativity and to serve as entry points to genuine partnership in local-level research and development. The stakeholders involved in participatory innovation development (PID) reflect on how this differs from the way they conventionally work. They consider whether and how it leads to better results, above all, to strengthening the capacity of farmers and other actors to continue to innovate and adapt to changing conditions. They identify what institutional and policy changes are needed to enhance PID. Based on their joint analysis and on-the-ground PID experiences, they engage in policy dialogue to bring about these changes. This paper describes the origins of the PROLINNOVA initiative and the concepts behind it, the structure of partnerships at different levels - field, national and international - to promote local innovation, and the experiences made in establishing them. Particular attention is given to the role of NGOs in facilitating these multistakeholder partnerships. The numerous challenges faced and PROLINNOVA partners’ attempts to address them are a source of mutual learning.
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West African farmers switching to biopesticides
CTA | Knowledge for Development 07 07 2008 The problems caused by the misuse of chemical insecticides have driven scientists, policy makers including donors and development institutions to promote the production of biological cotton in northern Benin. According to a report from a research project funded by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), and presented at a conference for smallholder farmers in Nairobi that farmers’ perceptions and willingness to pay for a biopesticide developed from Metarhizium anisopliae a fungi have increased. Both organic and conventional cotton producers have expressed a significant interest in the use of Metarhizium to control Helicoverpa on cotton. Until recently, the available pest control method was many sprays of chemical insecticides against a variety of insect pest species that attack cotton (aphids, bugs, whiteflies and mites). Today this biopesticide represents about 2.5% of the overall pesticide market, and is expected to grow to about 4.2% by 2010. Source: Nyambati M. Kwamboka, African Science News Service, 24 May 2008.
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The Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) Project
CTA | Knowledge for Development 07 07 2008 The Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Project is part of the DTMA Initiative and is supported by the B&MGF to accelerate drought tolerant maize development and deployment in 11 countries in SSA. Maize is life to more than 300 million of Africa’s most vulnerable. It is Africa’s most important cereal food crop. When recurrent droughts in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) ruin harvests, lives and livelihoods are threatened, even destroyed. Experts say that the situation may become even worse as climate change progresses. Developing, distributing and cultivating drought tolerant maize varieties is one highly relevant intervention to reduce vulnerability, food insecurity and the damage to local markets accompanying food aid in SSA.
The vision of the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) Project is to significantly scale-up efforts to reach a greater number of poor farmers in SSA with maize varieties that have increased levels of drought tolerance. Indeed, over the next ten years our ambitious goal is to generate maize varieties with 100% superior drought tolerance; increase productivity under smallholder farmer conditions by 20-30%; and reach 60-75 million farmers in SSA.
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