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 Fundraiser for CCARDESA – Gaborone Botswana-Individual Consultant Selection

TORS: REVISION OF THE CCARDESA LONG-TERM STRATEGY AND MEDIUM-TERM OPERATIONAL PLAN

Rural labor markets in Africa are frequently characterized by underemployment, with farmers unable to fully deploy throughout the year one of their most important assets—their labor. Using a nine-year panel data set on 1,407 working-age adults from rural Malawi, we document changes in rural underemployment over this period and how they are associated with urbanization. Nearby urban growth results in increased hours worked in casual labor (ganyu) and in non-agricultural sectors, at the expense of work on the household farm. Improved ur-ban access is also associated with a small increase in wage labor and, at the intensive margin, with hours supplied in household enterprises. We draw lessons from these results for policies, investments, and interventions to leverage urban growth for rural development.

Africa: a new frontier for tree invaders?

Bemisia tabaci is an important vector of cassava brown streak viruses and cassava mosaic begomoviruses, the causal agents of cassava brown streak disease and cassava mosaic disease (CMD), respectively. A study was carried out to determine the genetic variability of B. tabaci associated with cassava and the occurrence of CMD in Zambia in 2013 and 2015. Phylogenetic analysis showed the presence of only the sub-Saharan Africa 1 (SSA1) genetic group in Zambia. The SSA1 population had three population subgroups (SGs): SSA1-SG1, SSA1-SG2 and SSA1-SG3. All three SSA1 population subgroups occurred in Western Province. However, only SSA1-SG3 occurred in Eastern Province, while only SSA1-SG1 occurred in North Western and Luapula Provinces. Adult B. tabaci were most abundant in Western Province in 2013 (11.1/plant) and 2015 (10.8/plant), and least abundant (0.2/plant) in Northern Province in both 2013 and 2015. CMD was prevalent in all seven provinces surveyed, with the highest incidence recorded in Lusaka Province in both 2013 (78%) and 2015 (83.6%), and the lowest in Northern Province in both 2013 (26.6%) and 2015 (29.3%). Although SSA1-SG1 occurred at greater abundances than the other subgroups, there was no direct association demonstrated between whitefly subgroup and incidence of CMD. Establishing which B. tabaci genetic groups and populations are associated with CMD and their distribution in the country is a key factor in guiding the development of CMD control strategies for cassava-dependent households.

The article is about the initiative taken by the government of Lesotho through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, whereby Intebsive Crop Production through formation of blocks is practised in order to increase production. This is done in an effort to attain Food Security.

This article is about the team building exercise that the Managment of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition undertook to "self introspect". The reasoning behind this training was the lack of coorination between the Ministry's Departments and its Donor Funded Projects which has led to the Minstry's clients suffering due to limitted and sometimes poorly provided services. The engaged consultant was able to creat awareness to the Managers on the dangers of the "silo mentality" and encouraged them to work together for the benefit of Basotho farmers. The participation of the Minister, PS and DPS gave participants moral and encouragement that the decisions and plans made during this traning will be implemented with full supoort from these three offices. 

Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is an important food crop across subSaharan Africa, where production is severely inhibited by two viral diseases, cassava mosaic disease (CMD) and cassava brown streak disease (CBSD), both propagated by a whitefly vector and via human-mediated movement of infected cassava stems. There is limited information on growers’ behavior related to movement of planting material, as well as growers’ perception and awareness of cassava diseases, despite the importance of these factors for disease control. This study surveyed a total of 96 cassava subsistence growers and their fields across five provinces in Zambia between 2015 and 2017 to address these knowledge gaps. CMD symptoms were observed in 81.6% of the fields, with an average incidence of 52% across the infected fields. No CBSD symptoms were observed. Most growers used planting materials from their own (94%) or nearby (<10 km) fields of family and friends, although several large transactions. over longer distances (10 to 350 km) occurred with friends (15 transactions), markets (1), middlemen (5), and nongovernmental organizations (6). Information related to cassava diseases and certified clean (diseasefree) seed reached only 48% of growers. The most frequent sources of information related to cassava diseases included nearby friends, family, and neighbors, while extension workers were the most highly preferred source of information. These data provide a benchmark on which to plan management approaches to controlling CMD and CBSD, which should include clean propagation material, increasing growers’ awareness of the diseases, and increasing information provided to farmers (specifically disease symptom recognition and disease management options).

The pangs of climate change are real coupled with the rampant deforestation that is happening due to increased land pressure. This is an inspirational video where Mr. Andrew Goodmans is advocating for farmers to grow Giant Bamboo. Bamboos can cater for household and community needs in less than five years. The household only needs 10 bamboo seedling at afordable price.

This video demonstrates a new cost effective and innovative approach of in-Country Research Teams to conduct a phytosanitary and other assessments of their produce, capture them on a video and send it to the potential market.  In turn, the potential buyers watches the video and make a recommendation and approves whether to open their market to the seller/producer or not. Consequently, the market players saved a lot of time and financial resources for a team of deligates was supposed to travel from the South Africa to Malawi. This Video resulted in the opening up of the South African Market to Malawian mangoes, Right now (since 2023), Malawi is exporting Mangoes to South Africa.

NPPO-Malawi compiled two videos of pre-harvest and post-harvest handling processes that were inspected at Malawi Mangoes Limited in Salama. The video shows how the client complied with the requirements for the export markets including South Africa. NPPO-Malawi conducted the field inspections in three stages as outlined on the Import Permit: 1) Flowering; 2) Fruiting and 3) Harvest and post-harvest stages. This is Part 1 of the videos.