• Contributing to the work on Banana-Legume Integration
• Finalize tthe work on AMF innoculation for Banana Tissue Culture Plants
• Carrying out Plant and Soil Analyses in the context of the above

CIFOR in partnership with ICRAF will undertake this assignment whose aims are to enhance the livelihood security of rural communities and the sustainable management of forests shaped by Chinese investment in Africa, and enhance the contribution of Africa’s forests and raw materials to meaningful economic development.

The project’s purpose is to advance understanding of the social, economic and environmental impacts of Chinese investments in commodities or sectors affecting forests and livelihoods in Africa (e.g. timber, mining, oil palm), and to strengthen the capacity of decision-makers in government, civil society and the private sector to enact reforms to leverage more equitable nd sustainable outcomes.

The project intended outcomes are as follows.

1. Macro-level analysis of Chinese trade and investment trends in commodies affecting the Congo Basin forests and southern African woodlands, and Chinese policies and corporate strategies shaping these activities and associated impacts.

2. Targeted analysis of the implications of identified patterns of forest-related trade and investment for national economic development, local livelihoods and forest condition/sustainability for prioritized countries and commodities.

3. Assessment of the effectiveness of governance instruments at diverse levels in shaping outcomes and of opportunities for leveraging more sustainable and equitable outcomes.

4. Dissemination of findings (trade-offs, governance assessment), policy recommendations and institutional options, with a focus on enhancing the capacity of key decision-makers to make socially, economically and environmentally responsible decisions.

Financed mainly by the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) through the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO), the work aims to contribute towards greater diversification of cocoa markets through the identification and characterization of high quality cocoa origins. It will benefit cocoa producers, through increased opportunities to be rewarded for producing high quality cocoa beans. Operators in the supply chain will also benefit from increased awareness on high quality cocoa origins, as well as the consumers; by having access to better and more diverse cocoa products. Mars Inc., Barry Callebaut, Belcolade, The World Cocoa Foundation and CIRAD have also provided support.

In preparation for the official start of the grant, a pilot event was staged in 2009, involving 20 countries submitting 152 cocoa samples from a wide diversity of cocoa origins. 40 of these samples (from Latin America and the Caribbean) were selected, processed and judged for an award entitled Cocoa of Excellence (COE), in the 2009 Salon du Chocolat in Paris. The results confirmed the reputation of Venezuela, Ecuador and Trinidad as producers of fine cocoa.

For its 2010 edition  the Salon du Chocolat of Paris invited the general public to attend the International Cocoa Awards, showing consumers how their chocolate consumption can improve the lives of the smallholder farmers who grow most of the world’s cocoa production, and in the process contribute to the conservation of cocoa diversity.

Of the 148 cocoa samples received and analysed, 50 made it through the Cocoa of Excellence selection process and competed in their geographic area of origin: West Africa, Central America and the Caribbean, South America, or Southeast Asia and the Pacific. The jury of professionals and connoisseurs assembled for the occasion scored the cocoa/chocolate, sweet, floral, fresh fruit, brown fruit, nutty, spicy and woody notes of each sample.

Fifteen of the nineteen participating countries were represented at the award ceremony. Entries that best represented the three dominant flavour categories of their region were singled out for recognition, provided by individual producers from:  West Africa (Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana); South America (Brazil, Colombia Ecuador); Central America and the Caribbean (Jamaica Trinidad and Tobago) and South-East Asia and Oceania (Madagascar PNG)

An invitation to participate in the Cocoa of Excellence (CoE) celebration 2011 has just been announced (deadline for sample submission 31 March 2011)

Proposed Outcomes: Deliver a series of databases, tools, analyses, and syntheses designed to improve strategic investment and policy decisions. “Bottom-line” deliverables are spatially (and socio-economically) explicit estimates of the potential welfare benefits of a range of interventions (e.g., at on-farm, market and national policy scale) aimed at improving the production and profitability of specific crops and cropping systems. These materials (maps, tables, graphs, and text) provide information of direct relevance to agricultural development investors and policymakers.

The project will also build on recent advances in digital soil mapping, infrared spectroscopy, remote sensing, statistics and integrated soil fertility management to improve the way that soils are evaluated, mapped and monitored, while significantly reducing the costs to do so, and to disseminate innovative soil management methods such as the combination of inorganic fertilizers with organic inputs that improve crop yields while enhancing the environment. Dissemination and training will make the project’s outcomes highly accessible to farm communities, public and private extension services, national agricultural research and soil survey organizations, the fertilizer sector, project and local planners, national and regional policymakers, and scientists. The efforts in Africa are part of a wider, global effort to digitally map the world soil resources, and this project will help catalyze the global effort. This project falls under the “Develop and Apply New Technologies” of the Grant making Priori-ties for Agricultural Development.

The project has five objectives as follows. 1. Establish the Global Digital Soil Map Consortium 2. Create data management systems for the Internet-based African Soil Information Service and the Global Soil Information Service by expanding existing Cyberinfrastructure for the global effort 3. Develop digital soil maps and a establish soil health surveillance system in SSA 4. Provide evidence-based, spatially explicit soil management recommendations 5. Build capacity, serve end users, monitoring and evaluation, and management support.

The initiative has established successful collaborations with numerous regional and subregional organizations in Africa as well as Asia, Middle East, and Latin America to facilitate the initiation of national surveys. Since 2001, ASTI has published a broad set of country briefs and regional synthesis reports, which have been cited widely in national and international agricultural research policy documents. See the ASTI website at www.asti.cgiar.org