First Pesticidal Plant conference

21st to 24th January 2013, Nairobi, Kenya. The International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology is hosting the first Pesticidal Plant conference at their main campus. 

This conference is organised by the African Dryland Alliance for Pesticidal Plant Technologies: A network for optimising and promoting the use of indigenous botanical knowledge for food security and poverty alleviation in Africa.

ADAPPT is a project supported by a European Union grant through the ACP Science and Technology Programme to establish a network of scientists and agricultural technicians, from NGOs, agricultural institutes, ministries and universities from Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom with a focus on pesticidal plants* as environmentally benign and safer alternatives to synthetic pesticides. The specific partners are listed on the Partners page of this website.

Subthemes:

1. Bio-prospecting: Product development, Bio-safety, Standardization and Commercialization
2. Environmental conservation and climate change: synthetic biology and biotechnology
3. Access and benefit sharing: Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation, Advocacy and Policy
4. Culture and indigenous knowledge

Subject areas:

1. Stored product protection
2. Field crop pests
3. Livestock and human disease vectors
4. Plant disease control
5. Weed management
6. Bio-fertilizers and biopesticide technologies
7. Propagation and conservation
8. other pesticidal plant research

Advancing a Science and Technology Agenda for African Agriculture

15 January 2013. Ababa, Ethiopia,  – In an event that highlights continued progress towards African agricultural sustainability, African Union Commission (AUC) Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, H.E. Rhoda Peace Tumusiime and Chief Executive Officer of the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR Consortium), Dr. Frank Rijsberman signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on behalf of the two organizations.

The MoU describes a strategic partnership under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) of the AUC and CGIAR Consortium to facilitate, “enhanced coordination, collaboration, and alignment between CGIAR Consortium members and initiatives and those of African agricultural research and development organizations at the country, sub-regional, and continental levels with regard to their respective priorities, objectives, and programs for increased agricultural productivity in Africa.”

The MoU calls for joint actions to guide implementation of alignment of programs and support activities for CAADP, including: 

1. a research alignment plan that coordinates research programs with CAADP National Investment Plans; 
2. a Science and Technology Agenda for African Agriculture; 
3. a joint plan to support regional and sub-regional research activities; 
4. the development of joint African and CGIAR technology platforms; 
5. technical support; 
6. and joint sharing of information and knowledge.

Building ICM strategy development skills of agriculture and rural development organisations in ACP countries

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) has published the “Information and Communication Management (ICM) - Strategy Development: (i) Faciltators’ Manual and (ii) User's Guide”.

The Guide and Manual have been developed to meet a need expressed by agriculture and rural development organisations in African, Pacific and Caribbean (ACP) countries highlighted in the needs assessment studies conducted from 2003-2012 by CTA.

The Guide & Manual primarily aim to meet the need for building ICM strategy development skills of agriculture and rural development organisations in ACP countries. These organisations range from small NGOs to medium-sized organisations, to large government departments or research institutes. The suggestions the publications contains can be adapted to local conditions.

Download the Facilitator’s Guide:
http://publications.cta.int/publications/publication/1726/
Download the User’s Manual:
http://publications.cta.int/publications/publication/1727/

Multi-Stakeholder Platform Meeting Sustainable Livestock Agenda

22-24 JANUARY 2013 NAIROBI, KENYA. 3rd Multi-stakeholder platform meeting. The Global Agenda of Action towards sustainable livestock sector development1 (GAA) has embraced the concept of improving “natural resource use efficiency”2 (NRUE) by means of new technologies to meet the world’s growing demand for livestock products while also reducing the environmental costs of the sector.

A policy brief entitled "Capitalizing on pastoralism to feed people and achieve livestock sector sustainability", signed by the CELEP coalition and initiated by the League of Pastoral Peoples, IIED, the Life Network, et al. proposes an alternative approach to increasing livestock sector output without adding to environmental externalities: enhanced and more efficient use of the biomass in arid and remote areas by means of strengthened and modernized pastoralist production systems. 

This policy brief was created on the occasion of the GAA, now renamed Sustainable Livestock Agenda, that was launched on 22/01/2013 in Nairobi.

see www.livestockdialogue.org for more information.
Download the agenda of the meeting here

EU Food Facility Final Evaluation Report

The EU Food Facility programme came to an end in 2011. The action was implemented in 49 countries through 179 contracts and agreements covering 232 projects executed through International Organisations, Regional Organisations, International and National NGOs and beneficiary Governments. All funds allocated to the Food facility have been committed. 

The monitoring and evaluation system adopted to follow the implementation was particularly careful and comprehensive: 176 projects have been monitored using the Results-Oriented Monitoring (ROM); all project progress and completion reports have been assessed by the Commission staff at Headquarters and EU Delegations; independent evaluations have been undertaken at project level, at implementing partner level and at global level. 

The present report is the evaluation of the Food Facility instrument, carried out in 2011 and 2012 following the Evaluation Methodology of the Commission. It concludes that the Commission has been efficient and effective in implementing the Food Facility, the interventions were relevant and projects had a clearly positive effect on beneficiaries. However a longer implementation period and a narrowed geographical scope would have allowed a greater impact.

Food Facility: Final Evaluation
Executive Summary
Annexe 1 - Terms of Reference
Annexe 2 - FPC context and international response
Annexe 3 - Intervention Logic
Annexe 4 - Answers to the Evaluation Questions, and Hypothesis.
Annexe 5 - Grid Analysis of the Desk Phase
Annexe 6 - Country Notes
Annexe 7 - People interviewed
Annexe 8 - Bibliography

Tri-lateral Partnership US-Kenya-India addresses African Food Security

Alexander Kahi (seated), dean at Egerton University, signs a document related to the new tri-lateral agreement. From the left is B. Bebe, Egerton faculty member; Mark Erbaugh of Ohio State, and Gusharan Singh, of India's Punjab Agricultural University.

Jan 10, 2013. The U.S./India/Africa Tri-lateral University Partnership Program for Food Security will combine the strengths of PAU with Ohio State's expertise in agricultural capacity-building to address poverty and hunger issues in Kenya and throughout Africa.

The program is a joint effort of the U.S. government and the government of India. It is run under the auspices of the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service.

The tri-lateral project was one of just two funded by the U.S. government. The other is a partnership between Michigan State University, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University in India, and the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources in Malawi.

Engaging the domestic and international private sector for smallholder farmers

January 9, 2013. London. Prorustica, advisors on agribusiness partnerships, and africapractice, a Pan-African strategic advisory and communications consultancy, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate and foster agricultural partnerships in Africa  The combined skills and expertise of Prorustica and africapractice will help to develop agricultural partnerships that create value for governments, investors, and rural communities.

The partnership has also joined Farming First, a multi-stakeholder coalition, working on practical, actionable policy recommendations to further sustainable agricultural development worldwide representing the full agricultural value chain, with a focus on the farmer – particularly smallholder farmers. Through Farming First, Prorustica and africapractice will engage with public and private sector stakeholders to strengthen their approach and collaboration.

Marcus Courage, Managing Director of africapractice said: “Agriculture investments throughout Africa have been characterized by too much failure, either because they don’t deliver adequate returns for investors, or because they fail to accommodate the needs of local communities and regulators. Many factors are at play, ranging from licenses and permits, to labour and technology, infrastructure and tax regimes. In many cases, there’s a lack of transparency and an absence of dialogue, which leads to misaligned expectations and a breakdown of trust, resulting in project failure. “