SADC: Zambia, Tanzania announce surplus cereals

NaijaAgroNet

The Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations to the Zambian President, Edgar Lungu,  Amos Chanda, has said that only Zambia and Tanzania had a surplus reserve of cereals in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Chanda was addressing Journalists after the SADC Heads of State’s summit, Monday, where they discussed the danger of starvation due to cereal deficit, poor rainfall pattern during the 2014/2015 farming season and the required interventions in terms of relief in the form of maize and cereal supplies..

"When an analysis of food security was done in the SADC region, only Zambia and Tanzania were found to have positive food balance sheet, in terms of cereal surplus," he said.

He also said SADC chairperson and Botswana President Lieutenant General Ian Khama expressed concern over the power deficit in the region and called for non-hydro based sources of energy, even as the 35th SADC summit ended with a call from the chairperson to implement agreed priorities in strategic plans in order to improve the well-being of citizens,  
NaijaAgroNet gathered.

In his closing remarks, Gen Khama said the summit adopted important decisions that cut across sectors which were necessary to implement in good time saying that he recognized the continued support of the regional developmental cooperating partners (ICPs) for their immense contribution and urged them to continue with their support towards regional industrialization.

According to a communiqué released after the summit, member states signed legal protocols among them to continue implementing the regional agriculture policy and relevant protocols in order to improve agricultural production and food security.In area of climate change, summit underscored the need for the region to continue to work with all progressive partners and strive to build consensus on a continental basis.

The summit, NaijaAgroNet learnt, also noted the significant improvement in the security situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo and also called upon the Government of Madagascar and all political key stakeholders to safeguard achievements made in the nation building and reconciliation by fully implementing the SADC roadmap.

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Pix: The Zambian President, Edgar Lungu, 

Papaya mealybug attacks Tanzania

 NaijaAgroNet

The papaya mealybug, also called Paracoccus marginatus, has been detected in Tanzania’s coastal areas and in Zanzibar island; consequently igniting alarm among the region’s scientific and agriculture community, NaijaAgroNet.

 

Experts at the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Tanzania fear that the endemic pest could put food security and the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of farmers in jeopardy.

“The climates of coastal West Africa and coastal East Africa are similarly tropical and humid, and these conditions clearly favour the pest.”

James Legg, an entomologist with the IITA in Tanzania, who is leading the pest control initiative, toldSciDev.Net in a chat which was also monitored by NaijaAgroNet said “It is most likely that the insects that came to Tanzania arrived from South Asia, since their occurrence has not been recorded in central African countries and there is significant trade between Asia and coastal East Africa.

 

He added: “It is true, however, that the climates of coastal West Africa and coastal East Africa are similarly tropical and humid, and these conditions clearly favour the pest.”

According to Legg, who first detected the pest in Tanzania, the insect could spread to other parts of the East African coast, including the Kenyan coast in the coming two years.

Another expert, Douglas Miano, a lecturer at Kenya-based University of Nairobi’s Department of Plant Science and Crop Protection,NaijaAgroNet, suggested a way to help control the pest, which attacks the leaves, branches and fruits of the target plant: “Inspecting plant material would greatly help to control the spread of the pest,” Miano says.

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Zambia benefits from DuPont’s investments to increase farmers’ productivity

NaijaAgroNet

One of the world’s foremost agricultural businesses, Dupont Pioneer, recently in Zambia, opened a new warehouse and office facility which will increase maize storage capacity and meet farmers’ demand for both local and export markets to Kenya, Tanzania and other markets in Africa, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Worede Woldemariam, East and South Central Africa senior business manager of DuPont Pioneer stated, “Zambia could emerge as the breadbasket for southern Africa provided an enabling agricultural environment is fostered.”

“The warehouse will allow DuPont Pioneer to develop and produce more seed locally as well as enhance the global competitiveness of the maize industry. Better quality seeds and more advanced farming practices can improve nutrition, the standard of living, and overall agricultural productivity,” says Woldemariam.

NaijaAgroNet further learnt that the country currently has an average maize yield of about 2.4 metric tons per hectare, which is slightly above the average 2 metric tons per hectare of maize yields in Africa and 10 tons per hectare in the U.S.

 Zambia produces excellent seed quality, and the new facility will ensure world class quality standards are maintained in the region. The latest investment is part of ongoing efforts by DuPont Pioneer to invest in resources and infrastructure in Africa.

DuPont (NYSE: DD),  NaijaAgroNet learnt, has been bringing world-class science and engineering to the global marketplace in the form of innovative products, materials, and services since 1802. The company believes that by collaborating with customers, governments, NGOs, and thought leaders solutions could be found to such global challenges as providing enough healthy food for people everywhere.

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Climate change mars coffee production in Tanzania

 NaijaAgroNet

Farmers in Tanzania have abandoned the production of coffee and cotton due  mainly to changes in local climate and resorted to the planting of more lucrative vegetables and flowers as temperatures rise and rainfall becomes less predictable, reports NaijaAgroNet

Ludovick Meela, a farmer from Tanzania’s northern Kilimanjaro region told reporters that “Coffee beans are no longer as profitable, as my harvests keep on falling, I need fast-growing crops I can sell for a quick income,” he stated.

"When my children were growing up, coffee was everything to me," he told journalists "I got a lot of income from it, which enabled me to gain economically, but all that is history." 

Information reaching NaijaAgroNet showed that in Tanzania, scientists have attributed the drop in arabica coffee yields to a rise in nighttime temperatures in recent decades.

The strain to Tanzania’s cash crops is the latest sign that climate change is altering how and where food is produced around the world.

In Honduras, banana farmers are seeing yields decline amid fierce cold snaps and erratic rain patterns. India’s wheat and rice crops are suffering from hotter weather, and in the U.S. West, enduring drought has caused the beef-cattle herd to shrink to its lowest level in more than 60 years, NaijaAgroNet learnt.

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Koffi Annan leads speakers for Green Revolution Forum

Koffi Annan, former UN Sec. Gen.

The former United Nations' Secretary General, Mr. Koffi Annan has been confirmed as one of the key speakers at the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) 2012 slated for 26th through 28th September 2012 in Tanzania.

Melinda Gate, wife of Microsoft's Bill Gate is also one of the key speakers for the forum while Tanzanian President, Jakaya Kikwete and African Development Bank (AfDB) President, Dr Donald Kaberuka are expected to grace the forum.

Other confirmed speakers include International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD's) President, Dr. Kanayo Nwanze, Tanzanian Minister of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, Eng. Christopher Chiza.

The forum would discuss appropriate ways to boost investments and innovations for sustainable agriculture growth and food security alike.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the future of agriculture development in Africa will also form part of the discussions at the forum following the fact that food security now tops global agenda and leaders are beckoning on the continent's agriculture for the rescue.

AGRF 2012 will also have in attendance African heads of state, ministers, farmers, private agribusiness firms, financial institutions, NGOs, civil society and scientists, to deliberate on the right ways to scale up investments and innovation for sustainable agricultural growth and food security.

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