FAO Film Documents Seed Diversity and Climate Adaptation in Ethiopia

November 2012: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has released a short film that documents the ways Ethiopian smallholder farmers recognize and use seed diversity in their local farming practices to build resilience into their fields.

FAO's documentary, titled "Seeds of Diversity," gathers information on the kinds of seeds that farmers prefer and helps to create a greater understanding on the importance of preserving genetic diversity in seeds.

IFAD Supports EAC’s Efforts to Be Food Self-Sufficient

7 November 2012. East African Community Secretariat.  The president of the Rome-based International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) Mr. Kanayo Nwanze has assured the East African Community of full support in its efforts to fight hunger and become food self-sufficient.

He said that EAC would be their top priority in 2013 adding that his senior officials would be dispatched to discuss areas of co-operation in revamping food production in the region.

“EAC is exemplary in its integration programmes and I fully endorse opportunities to work with the region”, stated Mr. Nwanze during discussions with EAC Secretary General Amb. Dr. Richard Sezibera at IFAD headquarters in Rome, Italy, 6 November 2012.

Amb. Sezibera informed the IFAD President that EAC has developed an Action Plan to reverse the region’s persistent food insecurity.

“The region is frequently affected by food shortages and pockets of hunger although it has capacity to produce enough food for local consumption and surplus for export to the world market,” the EAC Secretary General said.

He added that the five-year Action Plan was adopted by the 9th Extra-Ordinary Summit of EAC Heads of State, the highest decision making body, mid this year.

The aim of the Action Plan is to significantly increase production of strategic food security commodities through access to inputs and promotion of cross border production in the region.

The EAC is also establishing early warning system for monitoring food shortage, said Amb. Sezibera.

Also present during the courtesy visit were Amb. Deo Rwabita from Uganda, the outgoing Dean and Chair of EAC Ambassadors in Italy, and Amb. Renovat Ndayirukiye, Burundi’s Ambassador to Italy.

Film on food sovereignty: Crops of the Future (French)

On November 8th 2012, the screening of this film was organized by SOS Faim at the European Parliament with the support of three MEPs: Charles Goerens (ALDE), Mariya Gabriel (EPP) and Bart Staes (The Greens). 

The Crops of the Future is Marie Monique Robin latest documentary, which completes her trilogy after The world according to Monsanto (2008) and Our daily poison (2011). Ms. Robin shows that is possible to tackle the food crisis together with the environmental and climate crises. 

Prioritising and supporting small-scale farmers must be the core of future policies that aim at tackling energy, climate, poverty and biodiversity issues. By exploring agro-ecological practices from different continents, the film demonstrates that another type of agriculture is possible and shows how revisiting farmers’ practices and rethinking the agricultural production system can help to meet the most important challenges of our time.

Comment nourrir les 9 milliards d'habitants annoncés en 2050 ? Une émission de télévision a convaincu Marie-Monique Robin de poursuivre ses investigations sur l'urgence de produire autrement.

Vers l'entretien avec Marie-Monique Robin
Galerie photo : "En voyage pour Les Moissons du futur"
Remerciements de l'auteur

Related: 

Comment les produits chimiques qui contaminent notre chaîne alimentaire sont-ils testés, évalués, puis réglementés ? Notre Poison Quotidien est une grande enquête de Marie-Monique Robin (Le monde selon Monsanto) qui démontre de manière implacable comment l'industrie chimique empoisonne nos assiettes.

Note: Ce film a uniquement été uploadé dans un but éducationnel. En aucun cas je n'ai l'intention d'en tirer avantage. Tous droits réservés à ARTE.

China to build agricultural research centre in Angola

5TH NOVEMBER, 2012. Angola and China have signed a cooperation deal for construction of an agricultural research centre in Mazozo, Luanda province, around 40 kilometres from the centre of the Angolan capital.

The Angolan Secretary of State for Agriculture, Amaro Tati, and China’s deputy Trade Minister, Li Jinzao, signed the agreement, which will make it possible to test rice and wheat varieties in different regions of Angola.


Tati said the agreement was very important as the agricultural testing and research centre is essential for agricultural growth.

14 such projects are supported by China in Africa and China’s Centre for Agricultural Research and Technology Transfer in Mozambique, located in the district of Boane, Maputo province was the first to be finished.China is currently also building a centre for agricultural research and technological demonstration near Bamako, Mali, to carry out experiments and technical training, and to contribute to the development of sustainable agriculture in the country

Biosciences for Farming in Africa

Biosciences for Farming in Africa (B4FA) is a programme specifically designed to encourage informed discussion about the potential application of biosciences and genetics for farming in Africa. Can recent advances help bring about a positive change on farms and in communities in Africa and create a vibrant, sustainable and diverse agricultural sector? A change that would also mean Africa could play a role in helping feed the world.

The aim of this project is to encourage dialogue and to promote a better understanding of the available options for improving agricultural productivity in four African countries – Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria and Uganda. The project aims to work in three general areas:

1. Opinions and Ambitions. Production and dissemination of a scholarly publication which synthesizes information and views from opinion leaders about the potential benefits, concerns, application and consequences of new technologies for farming in Africa.
2. Communication and Dialogue – a Media Fellowship Programme. We will run a series of Professional Development Fellowships for media professionals, focusing in particular on the science of plant breeding. Journalists and editors from radio, television, newspapers and journals will be enrolled, by competitive application, in a programme that will offer technical training combined with field-visits, mentoring and support, and long-term networking opportunity among the Fellows and with the research community in their country.
3. Strengthening and Enabling Implementation. Studies of how to strengthen extension services that deal with the application of the new technologies and processes. Extension agents play the crucial role of linking research institutions to the intended end users of agricultural research products and technologies – farmers. 

This project was made possible through the support of a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

ICT and producer organizations - online forum 12 to 23 November

ICT and producer organizations - online forum 12 to 23 November

From 12/11/2012 to 23/11/2012 

Location: Online

Producer organizations play an important role in tackling the systemic causes of poverty, because they give farmers—men and women—a legitimate voice in shaping pro-poor rural policies.  Producer organizations can function more efficiently by using information communication technologies (ICT) to attract and retain a wider membership, generate more funds, and provide better services to their members. Documented benefits of ICT include improved connections to members, better accounting and administration, and stronger collective voice (From ICT in Agriculture Sourcebook module 8).

As the United Nation's International Year of the Cooperative comes to a close, join the e-Agriculture community and our subject matter experts in a discussion on the key issues that make ICT important for producer organizations, and the challenges that limit their full potential.

 

 Subject matter experts:

• Marie-Hélène Collion
• Alexander Flor, University of the Philippines Open University
• Riikka Rajalahti, World Bank
• Pierre Rondot, CIRAD
• John Rouse

This online forum will discuss the role ICT plays in producer organizations, from improved efficiency to networking to transfer of technical knowledge. Aware that organizations face limited resources, the discussion will look at priority areas for investing in ICT.  They will look for examples of whether ICT empowers or marginalizes women and smallholders in producer organizations, and the group will discuss the role of the public sector in supporting producer organizations’ uptake of ICT.

http://www.e-agriculture.org/forums/current-forum

Value chains for transforming smallholder agriculture

6–9 November 2012. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Over 500 private sector representatives, government officials, donors, civil society representatives, farmer organisations and academics have come together at “Making the Connection: Value Chains for Transforming Smallholder Agriculture”, an international conference that will discuss the future of agricultural value chains and how to incorporate smallholders in them to promote agricultural and rural development.

Hosted by the ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), with the support of many other organisations, the conference takes a novel, market-based approach to solving the challenge of how smallholder farmers can continue to play a major role in meeting consumer demand at domestic, regional and international levels.

This unique four day event brought together international experts and practitioners to:

CTA director Michael Hailu and 

Jethro Greene, Caribbean Farmers Network

• discuss how best to incorporate smallholders into value chains to promote agricultural and rural development,
• debate how to transform smallholders into entrepreneurs,
• identify conditions necessary to create a broader and more solid knowledge base for the promotion of sustainable value chains,
• identify training and information-sharing needs.
• share the floor with key experts and debate how best to incorporate smallholders into value chains and help foster entrepreneurship. 
• discover best practices and lessons learned from leading organisations around the world in a dynamic environment. 
• play your part and join representatives from the private sector, government, civil society, and farmer organisations in discussing ways of promoting sustainable agricultural value chains.

Michael Hailu, Director of CTA, said: “This is the first event of its kind to bring all sectors together to specifically explore agricultural value chain development from the perspective of the smallholder farmer. Giving smallholders the resources, entrepreneurial skills and knowledge they need has the potential to increase global food production and offers farmers a chance to work themselves out of hunger and poverty.”

Web streaming

2012 - Value ChainsFull details and download