• To avail to partners a set of previously tested soil, crop, and water management options for maize-based farming systems with potential for sustainably intensifying agricultural production and reducing climate-related risk in the target areas

• To identify land degradation hotspots and soil health constraint envelopes and their implications for crop response characteristics to fertilizer application and soil improvement
• To evaluate the availability to smallholder farmers of inputs required to implement above options in the target areas
• To assess the conduciveness of the political, extension, and economic environment for the dissemination of tested soil, crop, and water management options

The project will provide an improved evidence base on the value of ecosystem services for food security and health, leading to the development of better policies and practices to manage ecosystem services and food security, in turn leading to healthier, more food secure indigenous people who are better able to contribute to economic activity, thus reducing poverty.

• Increased and gender equitable utilization of improved and marketable bean varieties, new crop management techniques and micro-nutrient rich bean based products
• Increased trade by men and women farmers in an equitable manner
• Increased evidence-based response to bean sector demands and influencing bean policy in a gender equitable manner.

 Objective 1: To enhance market opportunities, policies and partnerships along the legume value chain to increase income and nutritional security of smallholder farmers in drought-prone areas of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and SA.

 Objective 2: To enhance groundnut productivity and production in drought-prone areas of SSA and SA.

 Objective 3: To enhance cowpea productivity and production in drought-prone areas of SSA.

 Objective 4: To enhance common bean productivity and production in drought-prone areas of SSA.

 Objective 5: To enhance chickpea productivity and production in drought-prone areas of SSA and SA.

 Objective 6: To enhance pigeonpea productivity and production in drought-prone areas of SSA and SA.

 Objective 7: To enhance soybean productivity and production in drought-prone areas of SSA.

 Objective 8: To develop sustainable seed production and delivery systems for reaching smallholder farmers in drought-prone areas of SSA and SA.

Objective 9: To manage implementation of the project, including periodic meetings, reporting, data management and dissemination, and developing a revised logframe and milestones based on the Foundations’ Strategy.

Specific activities to be undertaken are as follows:
1. Collect and analyse “information on Agroforestry Policy and Decision Making” in general for Africa and Asia, specifically in Brazil, Cameroon, China, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Philippines, Tanzania and Zambia

2.Carry out and report on “Intervoes” among at least 10 policy and decsion making specialists related to agroforestry in India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi, Peru and Zambia

3. Carry out at least 4 “National Case Studies” in India, Indonesia, Kenya and Malawi and if possible, China and Brazil too

4. Provide advice to FAO for the 2 National Case Studies in Tanzania and Zambia
5. “Peer review the draft guidelines” to be formulated by the international consultant in line with the peer review process

6. Produce 2 policy briefs on the case studies realized to be distributed by ICRAF and FAO through existing research and development newsletters, journals and networks

7. Participate in the Institutional collaborative task force through virtual communications, when needed and when requested by FAO

1. Which form of CAWT with fertilizer trees can improve maize productivity and other benefits?
2. Does a combination of conservation agriculture and fertilizer tree have a synergistic effect on maize productivity?
3. What components of conservation agriculture with trees do smallholder farmers most prefer?

Project objectives include the following:
1. Provide technical backstopping on agroforestry and CAWT related technologies for integration in the smallholder production systems
2. Identify suitable tree species and develop nurseries for seeds and seedlings production
3. Train extension staff and lead farmers in best fit CAWT practices
4. Document and disseminate information widely generated on CAWT.

Specific obligations of ICRAF
• ICRAF will provide technical backstopping on CAWT related technologies for integration in the smallholder production systems
• ICRAF will identify suitable tree species and encourage tree nurseries for seeds and seedlings production
• ICRAF will train extension staff and lead farmers in best fit Conservation Agriculture with Trees practices

Project Outputs
• Knowledge on best-bet CAWT generated and applied;
• Suitable tree species for CAWT identified and germplasm available
• Capacity of extension and partner staff built
• Information on CAWT documented and disseminated

Project Outcome
1. Knowledge of farmers and partners on the practice of CAWT increased
2. Increased availability and use of quality tree germplasm for CAWT
3. Increased capacity of extension staff
4. Evidence-based information on CAWT available

Funding: United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

The project facilitates and helps to build cross-basin and cross-sectoral natural resources management and planning policy for climate change throughout the basin. Researchers also work to improve household and enterprise capacity to adapt.  Through improved forest management and governance, the project will contribute to mitigation of the effects of climate change. The Malawi Government recently approved the National Adaptation Programme of Action for climate change. The efforts of the WorldFish Center and partners would be complimentary to the efforts of the national government.

The WorldFish Center would provide technical support in these efforts, help to identify fisher-folk for the study, support social science research capacity building for work in fishing communities, and liaise with fisheries departments and other policy stakeholders.

Uganda Virus Research Institute is the project coordinator

Project objectives include: 1. Create sustainable Fish PROS training program; 2. Develop affordable, soy-based feed that is produced using appropriate technology and local manufacturing; 3. Improve tilapia fingerling production and distribution; 4. Develop credit systems for C-Fish program participants; 5. Improve tilapia production, market access and transportation to urban and peri-urban markets; and 6. Increase percentage of women fish producers PCI is the lead agency and fiscal agent in the C-FISH project, and will coordinate all project activities and the work of our partners, including WorldFish Center (WFC). PCI will participate in all technical interventions of the C-FISH project, including the training of Fish PROS extentionists, mobilization and coordination of partners, community members, beneficiaries and other stakeholders. PCI will also coordinate the development of related aquaculture value chains, in cooperation with the other project partners, stakeholders and funders. WFC will work with PCI to oversee and coordinate many of the technical aspects of the C-FISH Project, including: assisting private sector partners in the production of fish fingerlings, assisting in the development of the soy-based fish feed; and in the training of for-profit aquaculture extentionsits (Fish PROS).

The aim of this project isto develop the state-of-the-art legume and rhizobial inoculant technologies will be used by African smallholder farmers to triple the inputs of free atmospheric nitrogen by biological nitrogen fixation, thereby improving crop and livestock productivity, human nutrition and farm income, while enhancing soil health.

The expected project outcomes include the Diversification of N₂-fixing legume species that are integrated into smallholder farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa;Expansion in cultivation of grain and forage legumes, greater productivity in legume-based farming systems, and enhanced family incomes; Selection of efficient rhizobial inoculant strains and improved grain legume varieties with enhanced BNF capacities adapted to various environmental stresses; Establishment of a state-of-the-art laboratory and culture collection of elite strains of rhizobia for target legumes; and Establishment of rhizobial inoculant production in countries of West, East and Southern Africa, through partnership with the private sector.

Objectives

1. Improve national, sub-regional and regional capacity for evidence-based risk assessment approaches to enable rapid response for HPAI.
2. Improve national surveillance and reporting capacity.
3. Increase sub-regional cooperation and coordination, with regional support to undertake HPAI investigations, report disease and manage HPAI relevant information.

Summary of activities

The project objectives are addressed through a series of activities for each project location.  While the project activities have been tailored to each location, they contain a number of common elements as follows:

1. Rapidly assess existing HPAI surveillance systems
2. Develop, disseminate and train in the use of effective tools for targeting HPAI surveillance resources
3. Train in HPAI surveillance techniques, tools and approaches, including outbreak reporting and data analysis
4. Develop linkages with sub-regional and regional surveillance, disease investigation and learning networks

Expected outputs

1. HPAI surveillance systems assessed and training needs identified
2. Effective evidence-based tools for targeting HPAI surveillance resources based on risk developed
3. HPAI surveillance practitioners trained in surveillance techniques, tools and approaches
4. Knowledge base with regard to HPAI expanded through regional and sub-regional linkages

The objective of the project is to strengthen and sustain African researchers capacities to harvest, generate, document, share and apply knowledge and skills in ISFM practices, fertilizer recommendations and cropping systems management in order to improve the sustainability of food production and the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Sub Saharan Africa.

Project aims to generate and promote new interventions for managing sustainable crop production with tangible economic benefits for smallholder farmers through on-farm participatory research and validation, designed to test and support adoption by farmers of resource-efficient practices, together with improved post harvest handling and diversification of production systems with high value crops.

The overall objective of the study is to contribute to increasing water and nutrient use efficiencies in production of maize in the Shire Valley through improved management of irrigation water, improved understanding of the interaction between nutrient and water use efficiency, and application of both conventional and isotopic techniques to partition transpiration and evaporation.

This project will use the new, holistic Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) approach that embraces the full range of driving factors – biological, physical, chemical, social, economic and political – to evaluate and promote conservation agriculture. To overcome serious gaps in technology adoption, the project will use farmer participatory, multidisciplinary and gender oriented approaches at the watershed level. Moving away from traditional plot level approaches to a watershed approach enhances understanding of the interactions between hydrological, social,physical, chemical and biological soil-related processes. A maize-based benchmark site, Lilongwe Agricultural Development Division (ADD) with unimodal, medium rainfall has been identified for this study.

Efficient water and nutrient use in cereal grains systems in market-based Conservation Agriculture systems

The Programme comprises two sub-regional projects, one in East and Southern Africa (with learning sites in Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Lake Victoria and DR Congo) managed by the WorldFish Center, one In West Africa (with sites in Benin, Cameroon and Nigeria) managed by FAO. WorldFish Center Zambia is responsible for overall coordination, and research-for-development activities are grouped around three technical focus areas:

1)        Options for reducing vulnerability along the fish marketing chain.

Assessment of socio-economic and health trends among target groups and an analysis of contributing risk factors including the dynamics of mobility in different fisheries contexts. These assessments form the basis of pilot projects in selected learning sites along key ‘development corridors’ that will identify viable options for wider investments targeted at key constraints and development opportunities.

2)        Enhancing nutrition benefits from small-scale aquaculture and fisheries.

Analysis of the nutritional value, accessibility and potential health impact of common local fish products available to poor people affected by HIV/AIDS.  A range of target groups have been selected, including urban poor, small-holder aquaculture households, people living with HIV and on ART.

3)        Stimulating institutional change to increase investment in viable support options.

Analysis of institutional opportunities and constraints in the context of decentralization, national HIV/AIDS and fisheries policy formulation and food security planning in order to generate lessons for improving integration of fisheries, HIV/AIDS and wider health policy processes.

Learning and models generated under the Programme are being shared widely and used to inform policy and development efforts in the African region and beyond. A Policy Advisory Group (PAG) comprising senior representatives of national governments, Regional Economic Communities, AU/NEPAD and leading technical agencies in the region, has been established to advise the Programme on regional linkages for policy impact and direction for expansion and dissemination of Programme results.

Program components

IMPROVED QUALITY AND RANGE OF AVAILABLE VARIETIES

The focus of this component is on breeding a wide range of varieties with the combinations of traits suited to agro-ecological conditions and to consumer and producer demands. The point is to create an integrated breeding system akin to the one that exists for cereal breeding, but focused on the producer and consumer preferences of resource-poor women and children.

BREEDING WEEVIL-RESISTANT SWEETPOTATOES

This component draws on biotechnology to develop weevil-resistant sweetpotato varieties for Sub-Saharan Africa. Sweetpotato weevils are the most important sweetpotato pest in the world – responsible for crop losses ranging from 60 to nearly 100% during pronounced drought. This situation may be critical during dry periods when sweetpotato is sometimes the only food available. With climate change predictions of an expanding dry season in Sub-Saharan Africa, the urgency of developing resistance to weevils will likely intensify.

DEVELOPING SUSTAINABLE SEED SYSTEMS

The access to and maintenance of quality planting material is a struggle for smallholder farmers. This component involves developing and testing strategies to ensure effective multiplication, dissemination, and exchange of disease-free vines from which new plants will be propagated. It involves strategies to more efficiently link farmers with public sector distribution programs and integrate those with for-profit nurseries. It will examine which strategies assure women the best access to vines and whether women are as successful as men at commercially-oriented vine production.

PROOF-OF-CONCEPT PROJECTS

This series of projects will examine broader institutional or market level issues affecting crop production, markets, potential market expansion (e.g., use of sweetpotato as animal feed), and scalable approaches for improving nutrition with sweetpotato. These projects will evaluate options that influence the capacity to scale up and achieve the outcomes on poverty and nutrition that are planned for the years following SASHA, in the longer, ten-year initiative.

Objective 1: Assess the potential for the implementation of the metal silo approach within the ESA maize belt (Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe)

Objective 2: In two countries, select pilot areas for the implementation of metal silo manufacturing to assess scale-out potential of the technology

Objective 3: Identify in-country lead organizations (NGO, private sector) to implement training of instructors/manufacturers and manufacturing of silos in pilot areas

Objective 4 : In collaboration with SDC, support South-South knowledge transfer from Central America to pilot areas

Objective 5: Assess the economics of maize storage and storage pest control measures in pilot areas

Objective 6: Assess micro-economics of metal silo production (among manufacturers) and purchase (among farmers) in pilot areas

Objective 7: Advise on scale-out potential of technology to other areas and countries in ESA

Running from 2009–2013, this phase is funded by the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, and will focus on developing and deploying conventional maize that is resistant to field and storage insect pests, for East and Southern Africa (ESA).

Objective 1: Develop insect resistant maize varieties for the major Kenyan production systems and insect pests;
Objective 2: Establish procedures to provide insect resistant maize to resource- poor farmers in Kenya;
Objective 3: Assess the impact of insect resistant maize varieties in Kenyan agricultural systems;
Objective 4: Transfer technologies to and Kenya to develop, evaluate, disseminate, and monitor insect resistant maize varieties; and
Objective 5: Plan, monitor, and document project processes and achievements for dissemination to other developing countries.

The project will concentrate on ESA countries where insect pests have the greatest impact on maize production, food and income security, and livelihoods. It will give a relative greater emphasis of post-harvest pests (70%) over stem borers (30%) and will focus on the major maize producing countries with significant areas in affected zones. Of particular interest are Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. These countries have a total population of more than 190 million people, which is projected to rise to 230 million by 2015.

• Institutional innovations for improving markets and reducing transaction costs for small holder farmers
• Market-preferred low-risk varieties and complementary management practices
• Institutional innovations for improving access toand utilization of quality seeds of improved varieties and complementary inputs
• Decision support tools for better targeting of improved varieties and management practices
• Capacity strengthening for service providers and agro-enterprises to better utilize legume innovations

(i)       Develop capacity of existing and potential local seed companies;

(ii)      Improve the policy environment for seed trade;

(iii)    Strengthen the commercial distribution network for improved seeds, complementary inputs, and resulting crop outputs.

We will expand the implementation of Objective One in the Central and Northern Regions of Malawi, and to initiate collaboration with the AGRA-funded Malawi Agro-dealer Strengthening Program (MASP) being implemented by the Citizens Network for Foreign Affairs (CNFA) through their local affiliate Rumark to strengthen the commercial distribution network for improved seeds and complementary inputs.

For existing and potential local seed companies to market improved high-quality seed they need to access breeder and/or foundation seed of improved varieties. The project will expand the production of both classes of seed of beans, groundnuts, pigeonpeas and rice using the funds already allocated to the seed revolving fund in the first year of the project and from additional funds made available from savings in year one. The project will also facilitate the production of certified seed by the National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi (NASFAM) that will be made available to the Malawi Input Subsidy Program (ISP) in 2010 through the seed traders association of Malawi (STAM) network. To increase the number of seed companies in the country, the project will identify and support selected agro-dealers interested in marketing improved high-quality seed.   First by creating demand through demonstrations in the 2009/10 season and then to market certified seed produced by seed growers under contract to the identified agro-dealers in 2010. The project will establish an umbrella brand to assist existing and new seed companies in seed marketing.To ensure seed quality standards are adhered to the national seed service will be supported to undertake training of seed growers, and to carry out independent inspections of all seed classes to assure seed quality.

Finally the project will undertake a research study on existing seed use and seed management practices employed by smallholder farmers in the country. This research will also focus on legume seed pricing by traders and farmer preferences for different legume seed varieties by agro-ecological zone The results of this research will be used to inform the Government of Malawi and other key stakeholders and help to come up with a policy that will help smallholder farmers access certified legume seed within short distances and at prices they can afford.

This will involve developing cultivars tolerant to drought and the major pests and diseases using modern plant-breeding techniques such as marker-aided selection (which will be developed under the Tropical Legumes I Project supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation). A major thrust will be to develop and operationalize sustainable seed production and delivery systems in project countries, to enhance the access of farmers, especially those who are resource-poor, to improved cultivars.

Social science research will be used to analyze and provide advice concerning the social and cultural environments that influence the sustainable adoption and spread of promising varieties, technologies and innovations, and the scaling-up and scaling-out work done amongst farm communities. Social science inputs will also support research developments in breeding through a feedback process, policy dialogue, and by identifying lessons learnt for technology dissemination. Ensuring capacity building and infrastructure development among national program partners involved in breeding and seed delivery systems will be a major activity, in order to ensure the sustainability of legume breeding efforts in the project countries.

Mixed crop-livestock systems are very dynamic and are evolving rapidly in response to external drivers such as demographic pressure, development of urban markets and increased demand for crop and livestock products, climate variability and change. In addition, the recent interest for bio-fuel production exacerbates further the pressure on biomass in production systems.

This study aims at better understanding the tradeoffs in crop residue uses in cereal based systems in four regions: millet, sorghum, maize based systems in West Africa; maize based systems in Eastern and Southern Africa; and wheat/rice based systems in South Asia. The major tradeoff in most systems is the short term benefits of using crop residues to feed livestock versus leaving the crop residues in the field to improve soil productivity (nutrient balance, erosion control, and soil health).

The study focuses on the decision making processes at the farm/household level and will capture the diversity/contrasts and recent changes in CR uses at various scales in order to better target technical, institutional and policy options to improve livelihood without compromising long term system sustainability.

Furthermore, the objective of this project is three-fold: (a) to disseminate information on the theory of traditional and modern methods of risk management, (b) draw lessons from experiences with both types of risk management methods by conducting country case studies, and (c) support the World Bank-managed training course on modern risk management to be carried out by Julie Dana under separate funding. The training will concentrate on the use of futures contracts, warehouse receipts systems, and weather-based insurance. 

The proposed outcomes are: a)  an effective monitoring and impact assessment system established and operational; b) impacts assessed and published; and c) results from monitoring and impact assessment used to improve SSACP and other research programs  

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 overall objective is to sustainably increase the productivity of selected maize-legume systems in eastern and southern Africa by 30% from the 2009 average for each target country by the year 2020.and at the same time reduce seasonal down-side risks by 30%.

The specific objectives are:

Objective 1: To characterize maize-legume production and input and output value chain systems and impact pathways, and identify broad systemic constraints and options for field testing.
Objective 2: To test and develop productive, resilient and sustainable smallholder maize-legume cropping systems and innovation systems for local scaling out.
Objective 3: To increase the range of maize and legume varieties available for smallholders through accelerated breeding, regional testing and release, and availability of performance data.
Objective 4: To support the development of regional and local innovations systems.
Objective 5: Capacity building to increase the efficiency of agricultural research today and in the future.

The charitable purpose of the project is to decrease hunger and increase food and income security of resource-poor farm families in sub-Saharan Africa through the development and dissemination of drought tolerant, well-adapted maize varieties.

Developing, distributing and cultivating drought tolerant maize varieties is one highly relevant intervention to reduce vulnerability, food insecurity and the damage to local markets accompanying food aid in SSA.

The project pursues nine objectives for maximizing impact from drought tolerant (DT) maize:

Objective 1: Optimized pipeline for identifying new sources of drought tolerance – Identify new DT sources and develop molecular markers for DT genes of major effect.

Objective 2: New tools and methodologies for drought tolerance breeding – Develop and invest in technology-assisted tools and improved breeding methodologies that greatly enhance the speed, cost effectiveness and precision of breeding progress for drought and complementary traits for smallholder conditions.

Objective 3: Focused and effective product development – Generate DT hybrids and open-pollinated varieties (OPVs) adapted to the main drought-affected agro-ecologies and small farmer production conditions in SSA, in particular the mid-altitude and lowland ecologies.

Objective 4: Involvement and capacity building of breeders from NARS and seed companies – Enhance the success of public national agricultural research systems (NARS; particularly those supported by the Gates Foundation through PASS) and private sector breeders for developing their own DT maize varieties with good performance and acceptance under smallholder farmers’ conditions.

Objective 5: Variety testing and release – Improve and accelerate the variety testing and release process for new DT varieties through NARS, seed companies and regulatory agencies.

Objective 6: Scale up seed production – Increase the capacity of local seed companies to disseminate DT maize varieties to a greater number of farmers in SSA.

Objective 7: Advocacy and promotion – Inform policy makers and farmer support groups about new DT varieties, and support interventions which increase smallholder farmers’ learning about and access to DT maize.

Objective 8: Impact assessment and targeting – Assess and draw lessons from past impact and project activities. Inform investors of the payoff of DT maize research and distribution strategies for greatest impact on poverty reduction of smallholder farmers in drought prone zones of Africa, and assess trends and changes in adoptions and livelihood impacts.

Objective 9: Project management and communication – Effectively implement and review project objectives with appropriate stakeholder representation, while keeping stakeholders, the public and policymakers in both south and north informed about project progress.

Groundwater is vastly underdeveloped across SSA and there exist large untapped reserves that can contribute significantly towards offsetting the effects of CC and MDGs. Development of groundwater requires key policy and technical constraints that first need to be identified and addressed.  This study seeks to address the key challenges and plug some of the major gaps.

 General objectives 

1.      Develop and stimulate the use of maize varieties with increased productivity, nutritional value and acceptance under the stress-prone conditions of resource-poor farmers in southern Africa.

2.      Strengthen stakeholders’ cooperation in the maize seed sector to work towards a more diverse and more stable seed industry that is responsive to resource-poor farmers’ needs.

Project Mission 

NSIMA is a network of multi-stakeholder National Coordinating Units (NCU’s) in SADC working together to strengthen the maize seed value chain so as to contribute to improving the livelihoods of resource-poor small-holder maize farmers. This is achieved through:

1.      Provision of improved germplasm, technical backstopping, training and coordination for the activities of partners through NCU’s.

2.      NCU’s will identify bottlenecks and opportunities in the seed value chain of their respective countries and, together with relevant partners, establish and facilitate activities to overcome constraints and enhance development of the seed sector based on Outcome Challenges.

3.      NCU’s will facilitate capacity building of partners and farmers relevant to the seed value chain.

4.      NCU’s will advocate for appropriate policies, partnerships and promotion activities that enhance the development of the seed value chain.

The specific objectives are to: (1) Demonstrate pilot up-scaling of integrated soil fertility management by promoting the use practice of Evergreen Agriculture model in three selected districts;

(2) Develop the knowledge base and capacity necessary for supporting future scaling-up of Evergreen Agriculture in the Malawi situation;

(3) Demonstrate the use of Evergreen Agriculture with smallholder farmers, and share relevant technical experiences and lessons learning among stakeholders from pilot sites; and

(4) Document key recommendations that would inform into future investment and programme direction.

The  project intends to bring the IR-maize technology to the point where a greater number of IR-maize varieties (OPVs and hybrids) have been released and a wider range of seed companies are engaged in IR-maize seed production, essentially for the technology to successfully be devolved to in-country capacities of selected target countries, in particular Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda (IR-maize pilot countries).

Objective 1: Support interested NARS and seed company breeders to evaluate and register adapted IR-maize varieties and hybrids in SSA countries where Striga is endemic, leading to their commercialization

Objective 2: Develop, package and disseminate information on Striga management using IR-maize technology for use by seed producers, farmers and farmers support groups (stockists, NGOs, extension, community based organizations)

Objective 3: backstop NARS and seed companies on handling, quality control and general management of IR-maize technology.

]]> http://ongoing-research.cgiar.org/factsheets/deployment-of-ir-maize-technology-for-reduction-of-striga-infestation/feed/ 5 130 English Kenya Malawi Tanzania Uganda http://ongoing-research.cgiar.org/factsheets/quantifying-weather-and-climate-impacts-on-health-in-developing-countries-qweci/ http://ongoing-research.cgiar.org/factsheets/quantifying-weather-and-climate-impacts-on-health-in-developing-countries-qweci/#comments Tue, 06 Apr 2010 11:47:41 +0000 kensimon munene http://or-test.cgiar.org/?post_type=or_fact_sheet&p=323 One of the most dramatic and immediate impacts of climate variation is that on disease, especially the vector-borne diseases that disproportionately affect the poorest people in Africa.  Although we can clearly see that, for example, an El Nino event triggers Rift Valley Fever epidemics, we remain poor at understanding why particular areas are vulnerable and how this will change in coming decades, since climate change is likely to cause entirely new global disease distributions.  This applies to most vector-borne diseases. At the same time, we do not know currently the limit of predictability of the specific climate drivers for vector-borne disease using state-of-the-art seasonal forecast models, and how to best use these to produce skilful infection-rate predictions on seasonal timescales. The QWeCI project thus aims to understand at a more fundamental level the climate drivers of the vector-borne diseases of malaria, Rift Valley Fever, and certain tick-borne diseases, which all have major human and livestock health and implications in Africa, in order to assist with their short-term management and make projections of their future likely impacts.  QWeCI will develop and test the methods and technology required for an integrated decision support framework for health impacts of climate and weather.  Uniquely, QWeCI will bring together the best in world integrated weather climate forecasting systems with health impacts modelling and climate change research groups in order to build an end-to-end seamless integration of climate and weather information for the quantification and prediction of climate and weather on health impacts in Africa.

The objectives of ICRAF’s input in this study are:

1. Generate data on propagation criteria for pesticidal plant materials that are sought after, rare and/or commonly used by people living in the Caesalpinioid woodland eco-regions;

2. Develop improved harvesting protocols for wild-collected plants at risk of over collection;

3. Carry out cultivation trials for promising pesticidal plants with commercial potential; and4. Develop improved methods of collecting pesticidal plants that optimizes bioactivity. In this project, ICRAF will deliver the following research activities: 1. Acquiring information about indigenous use of pesicidal plant species and determining current diversity of pesticidal plants in Caesalpinioid woodland and particularly the prevalence of uncommon species. Additionally, ICRAF will help prepare a policy document on sustainable economic potential of Caesalpinioid woodlands as a resource for pesticidal plants.

2. Conducting farmer participatory rural appraisal of commonly used pesticidal plant control strategies under farm conditions using standardized comparative methodologies.

3. Collecting data data on propagation criteria, developing improved harvesting protocols that optimize activity and carry out cultivation trials for promising pesticidal plants with commercial potential.

4. Enabling the marketing of pesticidal plants as a cash crop for small-scale farmers living in Caesalpinioid woodland eco-region.

5. Helping to build capacity at NARS to evaluate, develop and promote use of botanical pesticides. This project targets to deliver: guidelines on collecting and cultivating pesticidal plants that are not presently cultivated and are threatened; protocals produced for sustainable harvesting and effective preparation of pesticidal plant material; farmer and NGO workshops to infom the wider farming community about sustainable use of pesticidal plants and their cultivation; policy document on sustainable use of pesticidal plants and conservation of Caesalpinioid woodland habitats across the region.

The projects purpose is to build a platform for establishment of sustainable supply of germplasm based on the CATS Banks (Community Agro-forestry Tree Seed Banks) necessary as support to development organizations involved in large scale promotion of demonstrated agroforestry innovations.

The project’s primary objectives are to:

1. Apply a suite of agroforestry interventions for generating multiple streams of livelihood impact for smallholder farmers;

2. Apply the CATS Bank approach for building stronger platform for wider farmer testing and out-scaling of proven agroforestry portfolios customized for use by development agencies in pilot sites;

3. Building Capacity of communities in nursery production, tree establishment and management, and facilitating community groups on CATS Banks in the pilot sites.

The project’s proposed outputs are as follows.

1. Scaling up platform built generating multiple streams of impact from a range on integrated agroforestry portfolios and multipurpose tree interventions developed and tested (scaling up);

2. A framework for sustainable supply and diffusion of tree germplasm developed and pilot experiences documented and lessons learnt disseminated to policy makers and development agencies (Germplasm); and

3. Capacity of farmers and development partners in CATS Banks model and tree management built for achieving large-scale impacts on climate change, land restoration and livelihood security (capacity).

Additionally, the project will apply four strategic levers to improve livelihoods and generate multiple income streams for smallholder farmers by building long-term farm-based assets and ensuring skills to utilize and manage agroforestry trees for meeting wood, food and seed requirements of farmers. These include:

1. increasing small-holder farmers’ capacity to effectively manage diverse agroforestry innovations in an integrated way;

2. Increase farmers’ knowledge and skills in managing agroforestry trees to obtain multiple products and services;

3. Increase farmer access to information, technology and training; and

4. improve market links for farmers to effectively commercialize tree seeds/seedlings and engage in new farm-related enterprises.

The agroforestry options that will be promoted to achieve the above include:

1. Fertilizer tree systems for boosting crop yields (e.g. intercropping of perennial Nitrogen fixing trees and crops, fallows, and biomass transfer;

2. Fruit tree systems for income and nutrition;

3. Fodder tree and shrub systems for livestock feeding; and

4. woodlots for fuel wood and timber production using fast-growing (native and exotic)including Nitrogen-fixing trees.

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