Workshop participants confirm capacity gaps on cassava, maize, rice and cattle farmers - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

Participants at a three-day workshop by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) rose affirm that there are capacity gaps on cassava, maize, rice and cattle farmers, reports NaijaAgroNet.

They also reaffirmed FARA readiness to leverage Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) programme to support the African Development Bank and the Regional Agricultural Transformation Programmes supported by the World Bank, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This is in addition to partnership mapping of FARA’s Holistic Empowerment for Livelihood Programme (HELP), describing it as an opportunity matrix on available partnerships and training opportunities in Brazil, Cuba, Egypt & India, will be used to develop HELP country-based approach capacity building and innovation network that feed into the larger initiatives.

Speaking at the workshop, the Executive Director of FARA, Dr Yemi Akinbamijo, declared that the march towards a food secure Africa and meeting the overarching developmental targets requires holistic capacity development approach to strengthen individual, organizational and systemic capacities.

FARA he said, recognizes the South-South collaboration framework as an important vehicle, stressing that the philosophy behind HELP is the promotion of triangular collaboration involving the private sector, universities/research centres and policy makers among African countries and their counter parts in the so-called South, based on solidarity that breaks the traditional donor-recipient relationship, under a win-win situation.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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DTMA, CIMMYT partner to produce drought-tolerant maize

NaijaAgroNet:

The Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) partnership with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), has produced a drought-resistant maize NaijaAgroNet reports.

Other partners and funders who will on Monday convene in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to take stock of the score-card, as a marathon maize project winds up after eight years include Consultative Group for International Research (CGIAR), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and the Consultative Group for International Research (CGIAR).

DTMA  work in Africa on improved drought-tolerant maize, NaijaAgroNet gathered, was to help maize farmers in sub-Saharan Africa mitigate drought as well as contribute to a stronger food system in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, through more than 200 improved maize varieties aimed at helping farmers cope with climate change and low-fertility soils through collaboration.

A release copied to Ghana News Agency said DTMA has benefited from, and drawn on, rich partnerships with private and public institutions with concerted efforts by national research organisations, seed companies, including CIMMYT, IITA and CGIAR.

The DTMA partnership has released more than 200 drought-tolerant maize varieties that perform significantly better under moderate drought compared to varieties already on the market, while yielding at par with – or better – than these existing varieties when there is no drought.

The 13 DTMA target countries, NaijaAgroNet learnt, are Ghana, Angola, Benin, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.According to the release, more than two million farmers have acquired and grown the new drought-tolerant varieties in DTMA target countries.

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WFP predicts food shortage in South Africa

 NaijaAgroNet

The World Food Programme (WFP) has predicted an acute food shortage in South Africa in a couple of months due to a severe drought in the 'maize belt' of South Africa, where a lack of rain had caused crop failure rates of over 50 per cent, NaijaAgroNet reports.

WFP’s Food and Nutrition Security Working Group’s April assessment states, "The rains experienced in late March and early April provided some relief to livestock farmers but arrived too late for both staple food and cash crops."

Last month's outbreak of anti-foreigner riots in South Africa, in which at least seven were killed and thousands more forced to flee, NaijaAgroNet gathered,  might also lead to a drop in remittance flows from Africa's most advanced economy, adding to the problems of nearby countries, the WFP said.

The WFP said maize production was estimated to have dropped by a third compared with last year, putting it on track for a harvest of 9.665 million tonnes, its worst in eight years,  

Besides South Africa, which produces more than 40 per cent of regional maize, NaijaAgroNet learnt, the drought was also likely to hit harvests in southern Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Malawi and Madagascar, the U.N. agency said in a report.

The problems in landlocked and impoverished Malawi were compounded by heavy rains and flooding in early January which destroyed crops and roads, it added.

.Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE
 
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World cereal production may decline----FAO

NaijaAgroNet

Indications are that world cereal production may decline by  1.5 per cent from what it was  last year due mainly to the reduced acreage planted with maize, even though the effect will be mitigated by "exceptionally high" levels of existing stocks, according to the latest forecasts in FAO's biannual Food Report published May 7, 2015, reports NaijaAgroNet.

FAO's first forecast for global cereal production in 2015, assuming normal weather conditions for the remainder of the season, amounts to 2.509 billion tonnes, a bit down from last year's record but nearly 5 per cent above the average of the past five years.  

The report, NaijaAgroNet further gathered, stated that the modest decline in output would require running inventories down by around 3 per cent in the new season (2015/16), with faster drawdowns for coarse grains and rice than for wheat

"The world food import bill is forecast to reach a five-year low in 2015", the report say, mainly driven by a decline in international prices, low freight rates and a strong US dollar. Import volumes of the various food components of the bill were little changed or even rising. Low income countries are also expected to benefit from lower import bills. 

Several years of solid harvests and stockpiling mean most basic food commodities are in surplus. As a result, the projected drop in cereals output is not expected to impact availability of food for consumption.

Dairy production trends are poised for further steady growth of around two percent in 2015, with lower international prices buoying imports in Africa. The abolition of the European Union's milk quota system is likely to boost output and was one of the main drivers of the 6.7 percent monthly drop in the Dairy Price Index, NaijaAgroNet learnt.

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AGRA, Mozambique boost smallholder farmers with maize, sweet potato varieties

NaijaAgroNet:

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) is collaborating with the government of Mozambique, to boost small holder farmers with maize, sweet potato varieties through the Umbeluzi Agriculture Research Centre in Maputo.

This was revealed during a field visit by participants at the just ended 2013 African Green Revolution Forum organized by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

NaijaAgroNet recalls that the forum was in collaboration with the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) of NEPAD with some staff joining in the field visit penultimate Tuesday, September 3, 2013.

Also gathered by NaijaAgroNet was that the maize and sweet potato breeding projects centre visited by were projects supported by AGRA at Umbeluzi Agriculture Research Centre.

Leading the participants into the project, Dr Pedro Fato, who has been breeding maize for over 20 years, said that his work at Umbeluzi entails breeding maize that is tolerant to multiple constraints such as down mildew, and pests that are prevalent both in the field and in storage.

Dr Fato equally said that down mildew is especially prevalent in low lying areas in Mozambique, hence the importance of this project in Mozambique that has a high number of areas that often get water logged.

Dr Fato further elucidated that down mildew is carried on through seeds, and the maize breeding project has so far produced twelve maize varieties. 

According to him, the focus of this breeding project is small scale farmers who make up 90 per cent of maize growers in Mozambique, even as the project has so far released five hybrids into the market since 2002.

He stressed the varieties are now producing better yields per hectare as testified by local farmers.

Commenting, AGRA representative, Mr Richard Mwanza, pointed out that AGRA supports programmes in 16 countries across the continent.

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Pix: Mr Richard Mwanza of AGRA

Global food prices drop by four per cent in May

A woman removing straw from rice with a broom in 

Kamangu, Democratic Republic of Congo.

The global food prices have dropped sharply to four per cent in May as a result of the generally favourable supplies and strengthening of the United States (US) dollar.

The May edition of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisaiton Food (FAO) Price Index shows a sharp drop in international prices of food commodities by four per cent.

FAO informed NaijaAgroNet in a press statement that May food prices dropped to 204 points from 213, which is, 9 points down from April and the lowest level since September 2011; about 14 per cent below its peak in February 2011.

Abdolreza Abbassian, a grain analyst at FAO said crop prices have come down sharply from their peak level but still remain high and vulnerable due to risks related to weather conditions in the critical growing months ahead.

FAO's latest forecast for world cereal production in 2012 stands at a record level of 2.4 billion tonnes, 3.2 per cent higher than 2011 record.

A higher percentage of the increase, NaijaAgroNet gathered is expected to originate mainly from maize in the United States amid an early start of the planting season and prevailing favourable growing conditions.

However, with planting still to be completed and much of the crop at very early stages of development, the final outcome will depend greatly on weather conditions in the coming months.

The forecast of global rice production in 2012 is firmer and points to a 2.2 percent increase from 2011, to some 490 million tonnes, mostly reflecting larger plantings in Asia.

For wheat, latest indications point to a contraction of about 3 per cent in production in 2012, to 680 million tonnes, still well above the average of the past five years.

The global cereal utilization is predicted to expand by at least two per cent in 2012-2013 season; to 2 376 million tonnes, with feed utilization growing by 3.8 per cent, while food consumption is expected to increase by just over 1 per cent, thereby largely keeping pace with world population growth.

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