Curated Content

Aims: To determine differences in maize yields, optimal nitrogen (N) rates, and profitability on contrasting soil types and no-till and till management.
Study Design: Randomized block design field trials involving no-tillage and tillage practices were conducted on contrasting soil types (vertisols and inceptisols) to investigate the effect of N fertilizer rates on maize (Zea mays) grain yield.

Place and Duration of Study: Mohale’s Hoek District, Maphutseng, Lesotho over the 2012/2013

The Adaptation Network will be offering a series of training courses during 2016 that aim to cater to for different levels of adaptation knowledge and practice. The courses provide a broad foundation that  enable practitioners, officials and activists to gain greater insight into climate science and facilitate effective adaptation processes for members of vulnerable communities.

Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) describes agricultural practices, approaches and systems that sustainably and reliably increase food production and the ability of farmers to earn a living, while protecting or restoring the environment.

CSA aims to build the food and nutrition security of the rural poor so that farm families have access to enough nutritious food at all times, even in the face of a changing climate.

CSA practices enable farming communities to:

sustainably and reliably increase agricultural productivity and incomes;

adapt and build resilience to extreme weather events and a changing climate; and

where appropriate, contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and concentrations.

Within the framework of the MANITATRA project implementation on COMESA funding which consists in scaling up the dissemination of agro ecological techniques and /or Climate Smart Agriculture[1] in the Middle West and South East regions of Madagascar, a field day dedicated to Climate Smart Agriculture was planned in each intervention area. The Field Day in the Middle West was held in March 2015 and was a real success.

The department has, over the years, continued to make a notable contribution in creating employment and skill development opportunities through implementation of the environment sector employment programmes broadly. In all 12 priority government outcomes, job creation features as a priority output. In the context of this imperative and the departmental mandate on ensuring benefit from environmental assets which, presents an opportunity to contribute significantly to job creation, social inclusion and the low carbon green economy; the department is responsible for the implementation of environmental Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) and the National Green Fund projects among others.

Instruction handbook for manual drilling teams on hydro-geology for well drilling, well installation and well development

This programme requires an institutional mechanism to undertake the programme. After extensive stakeholder consultation within the region, and a review of regional and international experience, a semi-autonomous sub-regional organisation (SRO), linked to the SADC Secretariat through a formal memorandum of understanding has been determined as the most appropriate structure for such an agency.

SADC MAPP is designed as a comprehensive 15-year programme of change, arranged around three 5 year phases. The overall programme goal is to bring about pluralistic and strengthened agricultural technology generation and dissemination, together with strengthening linkages among agricultural institutions in the SADC region in order to accelerate smallholder productivity. The result will be market- and smallholder-responsive and accessible agricultural technologies which will create agricultural growth, and increase incomes especially amongst the rural poor. In the first phase, SADC MAPP will focus on two major objectives:

• strengthen SADC R&D institutions in their efforts to become more pluralistic, responsive to updated regional priorities, and to participate in priority R&D activities in the SADC region, and,
• make a significant contribution to enable farmers, especially smallholders, to have improved access to, and to increase the early adoption of productive, profitable, and ecologically sustainable technologies, as well as enhanced access to markets.

Video of APPSA Project

Various crop alternatives can be used as vegetative cover (grains, legumes, root crops and oil crops) in conservation agriculture (CA) and are of great benefit to the soil. This entry discusses in particular the use of leguminous crops as vegetative cover in crop rotation. It provides detailed advice on when to introduce legumes and provides criteria for the selection of the most appropriate legumes. For that purpose a list of almost 80 leguminous cover crops is attached ordered according to the environmental and climatic conditions they can be used under (e.g. humidity, fire, drought, shade, fertile soils, flooded area or cold conditions).
This technology is part of a series on conservation agriculture.

Energypedia is a wiki platform for collaborative knowledge exchange on renewable energy, energy access, and energy efficiency topics in developing countries.

Today one in five people worldwide lack access to electricity, while every third person cooks on unhealthy fireplaces. First-hand knowledge on modern and sustainable energy solutions often only exists locally or in fragments and thus is difficult for individuals to access. Therefore, there is a great need to facilitate and expand the diffusion of these technologies in developing countries through knowledge exchange and collaboration