Professional Documents
Culture Documents
for agricultural
development
in ACP countries
Number 81
JUNE 1999
IN BRIEF
LINKS
10
PUBLICATIONS
11
BETWEEN US
14
VIEWPOINT
16
Website: www.cta.nl
Nature conservation
PAGE 1
The UA equation:
six ifs and a but
Photo Periscoop
Sugar
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Pho
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The economies of ACP island States, just as all other ACP States, depend largely on
trading agreements with Europe and other Northern countries. Their economic
vulnerability is compounded by their isolation, minuscule areas of available land,
limited domestic market, lack of proper transport infrastructure, and, for many,
vagaries of the climate. Island States in the ACP Group are buffeted by the gales of
globalisation and the winds of change raised by the renegotiation of the Lom
Convention, which is apparently the only counterbalance available to the governments of these
countries. Such is their plight that they are forced to look for alternative strategies and crops.
For some, time has ground to a halt; for others, change is at hand.
Diversified agriculture,
or a fishing miracle?
No island is an island,
just the land above
a changing waterline,
as here in the Bahamas
of a small category of products that benefit from lower transport costs and strong
demand from other regions. The Lom
Convention already caters for support to
such intra-ACP trading; one logical step
might be to extend it to trade with other
neighbouring. There are, however, several roadblocks, which have to be removed
on the way to diversified products and
markets through interregional and international trade, and tourism. They include
customs barriers, lack of information,
and, above all, poor infrastructure. In
this, most ACP islands share the same
problem. Sound infrastructure is a precondition for development (see Spore 76).
But in the islands, airport services are not
Diversify exports
reliable (poor flight frequency and inadequate safety of goods and passengers), nor
do they have any competitive advantage
to become profitable, either in trade or
in tourism. The distance between the
islands and the continents is long; much
remains to be done to bridge it.
SPORE 81
PAGE 5
In brief
Organic agriculture opens
up new markets, says FAO
Photo CTA
Biotechnologies demand
caution, observes FAO
again
Long-term affairs
Finding ways of sustaining interest in community initiatives is a
question faced daily by thousands of
groups involved in agricultural and
rural development. Often, after an
initial surge of activity and success,
they find that energy drops, interest
fades, and funds run out.
Not so with the Set Setal group of
women in This, Senegal, whose
work on the collection and management of household waste recently
won them the Grand Prix from the
President of Senegal. Set Setal, which
means be clean, make clean in
Wolof, aims to improve local hygiene
by collecting much of the 65% of
household waste that is not gathered
by local authorities. Using small carts
bought with a start-up grant from
the United Nations Development
Programme, Set Setal teams take the
waste to a composting site, which
supplies local farmers and a nursery
(annual output of 12,000 trees).
SPORE 81
PAGE 6
Off to
the fair
Two international fairs on agriculture and animal resources will
be held in West Africa soon. SARA
(for the Salon international de l'agriculture et des ressources animales) will be held by the Ministry
of Agriculture in Abidjan (Cte
dIvoire) from 12 to 19 November
1999. From 8 to 18 December, the
FIARA 99 fair will be organised in
Dakar by the federation of farmers
associations (CNCR) and the association of rural council chairmen
(APCR).
Comit SARA'99
Ministre de l'Agriculture
et des Ressources animales
BP V 82 Abidjan
Cte dIvoire
Fax : +225 21 19 93 / 21 46 18
FIARA 99
c/o CNCR, BP 249, Dakar RP
Dakar, Senegal
Fax: + 221 827 4101
Email: cncr@metissacana.sn
In brief
Local seed shortages
addressed
A KenyanGerman seed
programme is improving
farmers access to seeds in
Kenyas Mwingi District. Poor
infrastructure and recurrent
seed and food shortages
encouraged the German agency
for technical cooperation GTZ
to introduce a new scheme.
Through this scheme, selected
farmers are given the
responsibility of producing
quality seeds in bulk to ensure
sufficient supplies.
GTZ/IESP, P Croll
PO Box 41607, Nairobi, Kenya
Fax: +254 2 57 50 89 or 56 26 70
Email: gtz-kenia@ke.gtz.de
Training on integrated
conservation and
development
826 November 1999
This 3-week course focuses on
planning and implementing
ICDPs (integrated conservation
and development programmes)
in and around protected areas.
It serves as an introduction to
strategies for community-based
natural resource management.
Dr Kengue Joseph
Executive Secretary, ASANET
BP 2067
Yaound
Cameroon
Fax: +237 237 571
Email: irad@camnet.cm
Farmer-led extension
22 November10 December
1999
The course is designed for rural
development extension
managers and officers.
Participants will review and
present various approaches in
agricultural extension and
analyse them from the
perspectives of both farmers
and development workers.
Strategies and methods used in
farmer-led extension will be
examined to develop field
validated and recommended
strategies.
Photo Periscoop
PAGE 7
In brief
The International Association
of Agricultural Information
Specialists (IAALD) will hold
its 10th world congress - its
first in Africa - in Dakar,
Senegal, 24-28 January 2000
on Challenges Facing the
Community of Agricultural
Information Professionals in
the Third Millennium.
Djibril NDiaye, Centre de Suivi
Ecologique, BP 15532 Dakar,
Senegal.
Email: djibril@cse.sn
Website:
http://www.lib.montana.edu/
~alijk/IAALD.html
Pesticides: children at
risk!
In Benin, a study on pesticide
users showed that more than
three-quarters are young
people, who do not yet know
the nature of the products
they are using, nor the
content of the instructions on
the labels. In fact, almost half
the farmers in Benin take
useless precautions and
virtually all pesticide
containers end up being reused in the household.
Reason enough for a
programme of information
and awareness building, as
well as training of trainers in
rural areas.
Photo IRD
PAGE 8
In brief
Photo CTA
Strength in numbers
Bananas to everyones
liking
After the introduction of the
Kimalindi banana variety and
the revival of the Taveta
Banana Co-operative Society in
1995, banana has become the
main cash crop in the Taveta
subdistrict of southern Kenya.
The cooperative was
particularly useful in
organising the transportation
of the produce to Mombassas
Kongowea market. The
bananas are now in high
demand and fetch good prices.
SPORE 81
PAGE 9
Links
vice on such items as packaging, marketing, product processing, and market outlets, as
well as organisations providing
technical assistance and support
in project design. TPA also has
a Website, with links to information by subject and by product as well as to related sites.
Another aspect of TPAs networking activities is the develFor further information
TPA Network, c/o GRET
211-213, rue La Fayette
75010 Paris, France
Fax: +33 1 40 05 61 10
Email: tpa@gret.org
Website: www.gret.org/tpa
National network points
Benin
Rseau TPA, c/o Maison Abel Assi
Carr 573, Quartier Akpakpa
Cotonou, Benin
Email: zasatch@hotmail.com
Madagascar
c/o Vincent Durruty and Hary Lala
Rakotonaivo
PAGE 10
Publications
Taming globalisation
Publications
Adding value to cereals, roots and tubers
pasta lies mainly in the urban markets, which need to be understood.
The study did much to orient CTA
down the road of market forces and
market information studies.
It is a daunting task to
improve agricultural productivity with due consideration
to environmental protection and
traditional practices. Hugues
Dupriez and Philippe De Leener
made an outstanding contribution to this challenge through
their five titles in the CTAMacmillan Land and Life series.
SPORE 81
PAGE 11
The process of
globalisation is high on
many peoples agendas, but
little work has been done
on its social costs; or on the
relationship between it, the
information society, and the
information superhighway;
or on the marginalisation of
people from the least
developed countries.
Development and the
information age covers all
these aspects, and draws on
the actual experiences and
opinions of people in Africa,
South Asia, Southeast Asia,
West Asia, and Latin
America. It explains whybut
not howglobalisation has
to be tamed, if its social
costs are to be minimised.
Development and the
information age.
IDRC. 1998. 65 pp.
ISBN 0 88936 851 1
Free from IDRC,
PO Box 8500, Ottawa, ON,
Canada KIG 3H9.
Geographical
Information Systems
and Remote Sensing as
Tools for Rural
Development in SubSaharan Africa
Proceedings of a
CTAITC seminar,
Enschede, The Netherlands,
2326 September 1997.
262 pp. ISBN 92 9081 1986
CTA No 908, 40 credit points
Caribbean newsletter
launched
PROCICARIBE, the
Caribbean agricultural
networking organisation,
published its first newsletter
in December 1998. The
organisation is an umbrella
of various regional thematic
and commodity networks
on, for instance, fruit, rice,
integrated pest
management,
biosystematics, and plant
genetic resources.
PROCICARIBE News is
published three times a year.
PROCICARIBE Secretariat
c/o CARDI, UWI Campus,
St Augustine, Trinidad.
Fax: +1 868 645 1208
Email: procicaribe@cardi.org
Publications
Proceedings of a CTA
workshop,
Wageningen, The
Netherlands, 2729 January
1998.
1998. 111 pp. ISBN 92 9081
1994
CTA No 911, 10 credit points
Investment Strategies
for Agriculture and
Natural Resources
Investing in
Knowledge for
Development
Edited by GJ Persley
1998. 316 pp.
ISBN 0 85199 280 3
49.95 (e 81.80) $90
CABI Publishing, Wallingford,
Oxon OX10 8DE, UK.
Fax: +44 1491 833 508
Email: cabi@cabi.org
Reducing poverty
through agricultural
sector strategies in
eastern and southern
Africa
Summary report of
a workshop,
Wageningen,
the Netherlands,
23-25 November 1998.
EC and CTA, 1999. 56 pp.
ISBN 92 9081 2079
CTA No 924, 10 credit points
PAGE 12
Publications
Biotechnologies in developing
countries: present and future,
Volume 2: International Cooperation.
A Sasson. 1997. 764 pp.
ISBN 92 3 1034602 FFR 280 (e43)
Unesco Publishing
7 place de Fontenoy,
75007 Paris, France
SPORE 81
Experiences in
Community-Based
Land-Use Management in
sub-Saharan Africa
Summary report of
a CTA seminar,
Bamako, Mali, 9-14
November 1998.
The book describes several hundreds of familiar and exotic varieties, their origin, growth habit,
cultivation, nutritional value, multiple uses, and cautions. An
appendix lists over 1500 additional
species reported to have edible
leaves. A useful book for all those
Edited by CL Delgado, J
Hopkins, and VA Kelly
IFPRI Research Report 107.
1998. 140 pp.
ISBN 0 89629 110 3
Single copies of IFPRI
publications are free of
charge.
International Food Policy
Research Institute, 2033 K
Street, NW, Washington, DC
20006-1002, USA.
Fax: +1 202 467 4439
Email: IFPRI-info@cgiar.org
Agricultural Growth
Linkages in SubSaharan Africa
Triops
Hinderburgstrasse 33
D-64295 Darmstadt
Germany
Fax: + 49 6151 314 048
Email: triops@triops.de
Website: http://www.triops.de
PAGE 13
Livestock development
policies in sub-Saharan
Africa
Summary report of
two CTA/OAU-IBAR
regional seminars. West and
Central Africa: Abidjan,
Cte dIvoire, 5-9 February
1996; East and Southern
Africa: Mbabane, Swaziland,
28 July 1 August 1997.
C Hoste. CTA, 1999. 27 pp.
ISBN 92 9081 2001
CTA No 919, 5 credit points
Tropical Agriculture
A double issue of Tropical
Agriculture, the journal of
the Faculty of Agriculture at
the University of the West
Indies (UWI) carries the full
proceedings of the 11th
symposium of the
International Society for
Tropical Root Crops (ISTRIC).
The symposium was
supported by CTA, the
International Potato Centre
(CIP-Lima) and DFID (UK).
Not available from CTA
Tropical Agriculture Journal,
UWI, St Augustine,
Trinidad and Tobago
Fax: +1 868 645 3640
Between us
Mailbox
Twenty tonnes of books - and more than 150,000 copies of Spore are shipped each year by CTAs distributors, VADA in Wageningen
Contact
BP 6577
Yaound, Cameroon
Fax: +237 319 845
Email: Ahanda-59@yahoo.com
Guinea fowl
Mr E T Takagi, a project engineer with
MB Chiweshe Associates (PO Box 176
Gokwe, Zimbabwe), is looking for information on guinea fowl. Helmeted
guinea fowl, domesticated by Tonga people, run around the veld in the daytime,
come back to the homestead in the
evening, and spend the night on tree
branches. When attacked, they easily fly
up. They do not catch Newcastle disease.
But a hen only lays about 160 eggs a year,
from mid-October to the beginning of
April. If hens from other parts of the continent lay their eggs in other months and
ing its own wholly-organised seminars, coseminars, third-party seminars, and study
visits. Of the beneficiaries, 42% came
from the research community, 20% from
planning, 12% from decision-making,
and the remaining from NGOs (25%),
community groups, and farmers (5%). All
beneficiaries expressed a high degree of
satisfaction and professional enrichment
as a result of their participation.
The evaluators commented mainly on
the need to make better use of the opporSPORE 81
PAGE 14
tunities these events provide for information exchange. Although most beneficiaries keep contact with new friends and colleagues they meet at the events, they could
do more to share information with their
community and peer group. The evaluators proposed that in future each participant should be asked to submit a proposal describing how they will share their
experiences after the event.
As described in CTAs latest Annual
Report, the 1998 programme to promote
Between us
are brought here, people can enjoy their
eggs throughout the year. Those who
know the characteristics of these birds,
please inform us.
A question of state
security?
Samuel Zeleke of Gambella, Ethiopia,
refers to the article on information and
communication technologies (ICTs), A
Remarkable Revolution (Spore 79). I
strongly support the idea that privatisation plays a great role in ICTs progress.
However, I doubt whether attention is
given to privatisation in most ACP states,
especially in Africa, where telecommunications are under state control. Native
individuals or especially foreigners who
have huge amounts of capital are not
allowed to invest for the sake of national
security. This restriction of investment is
a hindrance to ICTs spreading in Africa.
Governments must revise their investment policies, otherwise it will take time
to get what we expect from ICTs.
PAGE 15
Viewpoint
Nature conservation
Solving dilemmas
through
experience
Endangered species, decreasing biodiversity, threatened wetlands,
and lakes that are running dry are widely acknowledged
problems. Many policymakers and experts are convinced that
they will find the one way forward to nature conservation. This
claim is ridiculous. The right way forward is a process of trial
and error. We should acknowledge that now.
people living in the areas do not feel in
control. In countries such as Angola, Zambia, and Mauritania, most parks and protected areas exist only on maps. They were
designated by experts and approved by
national parliaments but the people on the
spot had no real say in this. Numbers of
animals were overestimated with no systematic counting. Animal numbers also
decreased due to poaching for meat, ivory,
and rhino horn, and the civil wars in various African regions. The people were left
disillusioned. Tourists stayed away, since
there was nothing left to see.
Successful game ranch
management
Victoria, scientists discussed the introduction of large fish, which would feed on
smaller species. Local fishermen would
then need to catch few large fish rather
than the small species. The Nile perch was
found to have entered the lake anyway!
The perch increased in numbers and eliminated most of the smaller fish, although
these were of great value to the regions
socioeconomy. Other wetlands experienced similar impacts. Some were
destroyed and so too the lives of people
who subsisted on them.
In the wetlands livelihoods are intimately linked to the environment. Fishing, bird
trapping, crop cultivation, and harvest of
raw material for producing mats and boats,
all form part of the local economy. But
water is also used for supplying water and
electricity to towns and for irrigation.
Construction of dams is another serious
threat. The interests of local people are
never a priority. Informed debates among
stakeholders and trials are essential. Con-
PAGE 16