1.Land disputes at the root of African wars

2.For farmers in Kenya, jatropha reality fails to live up to the hype

3.Scientists work on new, more nutritious sorghum as maize farming declines

4.Scientists, donors blast Ethiopia's biosafety law as extreme, anti-biotechnology

5.Egypt leases land in Uganda

6.Nigeria annually spends $700 million to import rice from Thailand

7.Yam research in West & Central Africa gets EU funding support

Land disputes at the root of African wars

by Jina Moore

In the 1970s, the government eliminated the country's native administration – a quasi-government and colonial holdover of traditional elders – and rejected traditional land rights, depriving Darfur's pastoralists of access to grazing lands. When famine exacerbated disputes about land in the 1980s, violence broke out. Land grievances were never resolved, and in 2003, a rebel movement made up in part of disenfranchised former landholders revolted against the Sudanese government, which retaliated by arming bands of camel herders known as janjaweed to repress the rebellion – and promising them hefty tracts of the land, emptied in the course of the violence the militia unleashed.

The Democratic Republic of Congo

Often called Africa's most deadly conflict, violence in parts of the northeast started over grazing cows in1999, when Hema herders evicted Lendu farmers after purchasing their land. Eviction grievances led both tribes to pick up weapons. As violence spread, the value of other mineral-rich lands contributed to the chaos in which 5 million people have died.

Ethiopia and Eritrea

A 1998 dispute over the dusty border town of Badme turned into all-out war, with 80,000 deaths in two years. The town became the flash point of an older argument over the border between the two countries. Both sides saw Badme as a symbol of their real economic concern: power over the port of Assab, the Red Sea trade gateway. Despite international court rulings, the countries consider the border dispute unresolved – and their presidents often rally support by threatening to resume the fight.

Kenya

Many indigenous tribes lost rights to traditional lands when the British privatized land holdings. When Joseph Kenyatta, the first postcolonial president, sought land redistribution, he gave the most fertile to his Kikuyu tribe. In a later backlash, many Kikuyu were pushed off their pastures. This created ethnic land grievances that have inspired violence during Kenya's elections since the 1990s, most recently after President Mwai Kabaki, a Kikuyu, was accused of stuffing ballot boxes in 2007.

Rwanda

The 1994 genocide may have been catalyzed as much by land scarcity as by ethnic tension. Africa's most densely populated country found itself nearly without enough land to make farmers trust that they and their children could support themselves. Though the slaughter of minority Tutsis was also ethnically motivated, land fears played no small part in the violence.

Zimbabwe

Land grievances helped fuel the 12-year war that led to independence in 1980. But recent violence stems from land reform efforts. In the name of economic fairness, President Robert Mugabe seized white farms and turned them over to blacks, primarily government officials who knew little about farming. As a result, agricultural production plummeted, food became scarce, and inflation spiked. Mugabe held power in a 2008 election only with violent intimidation of Zimbabweans.

Combustible land disputes that could erupt in conflict:

Burundi

The past decade brought the return of more than a half-million refugees who'd fled violence that began with independence in 1963. Many found their homes occupied – and because laws give ownership to anyone who has peacefully occupied land for at least 30 years, many refugees lost their homes and livelihoods. Experts fear the grievance could spark renewed conflict.

South Africa

At the 1994 transition to democracy, the government planned to redistribute 30 percent of white-owned farms to blacks within 20 years. Transfers are behind schedule, and more than half have failed. After an outbreak of racial violence last year, observers fear the status quo – with expectations so high, progress so slow, and livelihoods at stake – is combustible.

Southern Sudan

The 2005 peace agreement that ended a 20-year fight for the south didn't resolve tensions between the nation's two land systems. Private property reform implemented in the north was rejected in the south, which continues to use traditional rules. Danger of a potential clash between parallel systems is amplified by what's at stake: The south is oil-rich.

Uganda

After 20 years of violence in the north, peace is bringing people home – and disputes are erupting over who owns property. Eighty percent of Ugandans have property claims based on the traditional land system, but a generation of conflict has weakened the traditional authority, of elders to resolve disputes or enforce land rules. As the government steps in to fill the power vacuum, experts fear a backlash.

Zambia
White farmers forced off land in neighboring countries, found fertile soils here, and were initially welcomed by the government (five years ago). The tone changed as some immigrant farmers agitated locals by putting down roots on traditional lands. New arrivals, especially those fleeing Zimbabwe, are closely scrutinized. Observers fear deepening tensions.

Christian Science Monitor

For farmers in Kenya, jatropha reality fails to live up to the hype

by George Omondi and Jacob Ng’etich

Biofuel has been touted as the panacea to the world’s perennial energy crisis, a silver bullet that would quench the growing global demand for oil with limited negative impact on the environment — a major topic the world over.

As the international oil price rallied towards $150 a barrel in 2008, the developed world turned its attention to idle land in Africa, with numerous European NGOs introducing oil plants like jatropha to farmers saying it could be the continent’s next big thing – a likely principal export and an alternative fuel that could improve the speed of industrialisation.

Such was the excitement in Majiwa, a remote village in the outskirts of Bondo town in Nyanza Province when the international NGOs came knocking in 2006.

With the encouragement of Mr Tor Steiner Rafoss, one of the international bio-diesel agents, the villagers formed the Nam Lolwe Jatropha Caucus for the purpose of pooling resources to promote cultivation of the hitherto foreign oil plant. Mr Rafoss donated seeds to start the jatropha project.

Years since, the hope for a better life among the farmers is fading. They are asking about the promised “ready market” for the wonder plant.

Mr Joseph Odembo of the Nam Lolwe group and a member of the lobby, Action Resort for Change (ARC), the local NGO that invited the international agents, the waiting for the promised “ready market” for the trees is taking too long.

Farmers who abandoned cotton in the 1980s because of delayed payments readily embraced the bio-diesel producing plant.

“We have not been able to find a market for the trees which have been ready for the last two years but farmers are still optimistic that one day a good deal will come and they will be able to see the fruits of their labour,” Odembo said. He Odembo says the 100 members of Nam Lolwe have 6,000 Jatropha plants which have given very good yields but have been keeping the seeds due to lack of a proper market.

“After two years, Mr Rafoss came and bought the seeds at Sh2,000 per kilo and the farmers were so excited, but after that not much has been sold,” said Mr Odembo.

The Majiwa case cuts across the country, especially for those farmers who abandoned their traditional cash and food crops for the untested oil plants.
International NGOs encouraged Africans to turn to oil seed production, sometimes running into problems with the food security campaigners.

In 2008, food policy analysts blamed high food prices partly on the large scale conversion of American corn and soybeans, French sugar beet, Brazilian sugarcane and peanuts from Benin to biofuel.

In Kenya, the farming fraternity rejected the 2008 proposal by Agriculture minister William Ruto to put some 500 acres of Agricultural Development Corporation farms to jatropha production.

The ministry has since declared a policy that restricts biofuels development to arid and semi-arid lands (Asals) where they cannot pose direct competition to food crops.

Mr Benard Muok, a researcher with African Centre for Technology Studies, says about 80 per cent of the total land mass in Kenya is categorised as Asals, where communities dependent on livestock production with semi-sedentary farming, yet most of these lands are suitable for Jatropha production.

“Biofuel production has a great potential to change the face of our Arid and Semi Arid areas because it has a return of Sh66,000 per acre compared to the Sh40,000 per acre from maize fields,” said Mr Isaac Kalua, the founder and chairman of the Green Africa – one of the NGOs that promote oil plant production in the country.

Over the years, the oil fuel bubble has burst with the international petroleum prices tiptoeing at affordable ranges - hitting the rock bottom level of $36 dollars per barrel in 2009 before rising steadily to $83 this week.

To jatropha farmers, the waning global interest in oil plants comes at a time that poor storage of the harvested seeds in the worm-infested region has been blamed for causing losses to farmers

“If a proper market is found for the oil plants (jatropha) then our farmers who have invested in it will be able to benefit from the farming,” said Dr Manase Wasuna the Manager of ARC Kenya.

But even as they wait endlessly for the biofuel money, the Majiwa farmers say interspersing jatropha with crops such as maize or beans have improved their food crop yields. They also experimented with the Jatropha oil for medicinal purposes, with claims it eliminates jiggers.

More importantly, the farmers have found out that the oil is a suitable substitute for paraffin in its raw form.

“It burns two to three times longer than paraffin, and has very little fire hazard,” says Mr Richard Oduor, a farmer from Asembo, 15 kilometres from Majiwa

Industrially, apart from producing bio-fuel, the plant offers glycerin, a raw material for soap-making, while the seed cake is used to make cattle feeds.

Studies show the plant is the most promising for bio diesel due to minimum requirements for inputs and ability to grow in dry land. A report titled, Towards Sustainable Production and Use of Resources: Assessing Biofuels, released by the United Nations Environment Programme last year indicates that while each country has varying needs and impact of biofuels programmes that should guide policy makers, the experiences of Brazil and Malawi is that food and biofuel production can take place in tandem.

Business Daily Africa

Scientists work on new, more nutritious sorghum as maize farming declines

by Halima Abdallah

Kenyan scientists are trying to enhance the nutritional value of sorghum, a cereal that is likely to replace maize — which continues to suffer effects of erratic climate — as the country’s staple food.

“We know maize has more protein and is easily digestible but we want to make sorghum to be even better than maize,” said Dr Joel Mutisya, molecular biologist working on sorghum at Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute (KARI).

According to the scientists, 70 per cent of Kenya is now unable to produce maize as former growing areas are turning into semi arid areas conducive for growing sorghum, a drought-resistant plant.

Sorghum is low in essential amino acids, vitamins A and E, and low zinc and iron. A diet based on sorghum alone is not adequate to meet the nutritional needs of children and the sustenance of adults.

In an effort to include the missing nutrients that people get from maize, the scientists are working on getting the nutrients into sorghum by adding zinc, iron and protein. They are cross-breeding the local sorghum variety with maize hoping for a more nutritionally enhanced variety.

“Sorghum is not rich in essential amino acid. We are improve this alongside the availability of iron and zinc — the two minerals that are very essential in our health but at the moment these are minute in the sorghum. We want to make them more available,” Dr Mutisya said.

Sorghum is poorly digested making one feel full most of the time after eating, thanks to the grain’s ‘binding’ compounds. The scientists are using genes from maize which can reverse the production of these compounds in sorghum seed. This will ease digestion and absorption of all the nutrients when eaten.

The final product is to be available to the farmers in the next five years. “We are more than 50 per cent done and everything is on track,” said Dr Mutisya.

Agricultural organisations are now supporting countries to enhance the use of sorghum.

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, through a programme, Harnessing Opportunities for Productivity Enhancement of Sorghum and Millet received $18 million from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help small-holder farmers in moisture-deficient areas of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia increase their yields of sorghum, pearl millet, and finger millet to improve food security and increase the income of farmers.

However, Kenya is not abandoning maize production; it is making efforts through long term projects like Water Efficient Maize for Africa to develop drought-tolerant maize varieties.

Maize is the staple food in Kenya. However, reports indicates that more than four million Kenyans will face an acute shortage of their staple food starting April due to shortages in the last two crop season resulting from erratic weather conditions. This will leave the country highly dependent on imported maize.

The East African

Scientists, donors blast Ethiopia's biosafety law as extreme, anti-biotechnology

by Peter Heinlein

Scientists and farmers are urging Ethiopia to reconsider a new biodiversity law they say restricts agricultural research and could hamper delivery of urgently needed food aid. The law has prompted foreign donors to cut off funding to Ethiopian scientific research institutions.

Ethiopia's government held a two day forum in early February to hear objections to a Biodiversity Proclamation approved by parliament last July, on the final day before summer recess. The law's stated objective is to protect biodiversity, as well as human health and animals, from 'the adverse effects of modified organisms.'

But critics say the proclamation chokes off research into improving crop production in a country suffering chronic food shortages. Tilaye Feyisa, assistant professor of plant biotechnology at Addis Ababa University says anyone involved in studying genetic engineering is subject to strict government regulation.

"It is an excellent proclamation to prevent research in plant genetic engineering," said Tilaye Feyisa. "If you break this proclamation, even unintentionally, you can be put in prison for one to three years."

Tilaye says funding for research on genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, has dried up since the law went into effect.

"The money we get is from outside sources," said Tilaye. "We write proposals, when the country is against GMOs, having this proclamation, we don't get any money for research from foreign donors. It is killing scientific research."

Tilahun Zewelde is a former plant scientist at the Ethiopian Research Organization. He now work at Uganda's Agriculture Biotechnology Support Program. Speaking at this week's meeting, he charged Ethiopia's law was written by environmental extremists and adopted without review by a parliament that had no idea of its consequences.

"We can't even teach students life science and biotechnology," said Tilahun Zewelde. "It was drafted by very biased people. They believe biotechnology is bad, genetic engineering is bad and multinationals are going to take over everything, control the seed business. And the actual technology users were not involved in the drafting process. So it's one sided, not good for the country."

Biotechnology experts from other African nations came to the forum to express concerns about the Biosafety Proclamation. Togolese scientist Jacob Mignouna is Technical Director of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation. He says the law rejects conclusive evidence about the safety of genetically modified organisms in common use.

"There's no need to reinvent the wheel," said Jacob Mignouna. "The world has moved on. This technology has been proven. This is the message our colleagues from Ethiopia should understand.We must look carefully and see how we can move forward to embrace new technology while at the same time protecting biodiversity."

But Minister of State for Agricultural Development Abera Deresa says Ethiopia is not convinced by available evidence that GMOs are safe. The Agriculture Ministry was a sponsor of the forum, but Abera says the government has a duty to protect the public until the scientific community does more to prove GMOs pose no threat to health or to Ethiopia's biodiversity.

"Among scientists there is a division," said Abera Deresa. "A certain number of scientists who are not for GMO, a certain number of scientists who are for GMO. So we have to assess why this is happening." He says the government is reviewing the Biosafety Proclamation, and may ask parliament to make changes.

Meanwhile, aid donors say the law could restrict shipments of food intended for more than five million Ethiopians facing malnutrition.

The United States provides nearly 80 per cent of Ethiopia's food assistance. Among the U.S. supplies currently on the way is roughly 30,000 metric tons of corn-soy blend and vegetable oil, which are typically produced from bioengineered corn and soy. The Ethiopian government has issued a waiver to allow the products to come in to the country, but the waiver is due to expire at the end of February.

VOA

Egypt leases land in Uganda

by By Rachel Pollock

The Egyptian government announced February 1st that it would be sending a committee to assess farmland in Uganda to grow wheat to then import back into Egypt.

Egypt is the leader in wheat consumption and has historically relied mostly on imports. According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, Egypt consumes 14 million tons of wheat a year but is only able to produce 8 million tons.

Egypt has also been interested in formalizing agreements with the Ugandan government, since September of last year. While this has brought up ethical questions of exploitation, another concern is how this arrangement will impact earth changes and food security in the future.

According to a study conducted by the Uganda Journal of Agricultural Sciences in 2006, wheat production has remained stagnant since its introduction to the districts of Kabale and Kisoro during the rainy seasons of 1999.

In another report on organic agriculture development in Uganda by the Ministry of Agriculture and the United Nations Development Programme, Uganda was reported to hold 35 percent of the total share of the organic market in Africa. While 85 percent of Uganda’s population is engaged in agriculture, 80 percent of the earnings are due to exports. The report states that maximizing wheat productivity has been a problem because of little investment in organic agriculture, limited research, and a lack of small holders being able to meet the demands of a high volume market.

Last year, Egypt sent a team of specialists to conduct studies on the farmland in Uganda, as well as collect data on exporting grain. Laboro, in the Gulu district, was found to be the most suitable environment to grow wheat, and the Egyptian specialists have since identified several other locations.

Egypt has also acquired land in May of 2008 in Sudan for the same purposes, cultivating 2 million acres near the border town of Wadi Halfa, according to Amin Abaza, Agricultural Minister of Egypt.

Egypt currently operates three farms in African countries: a rice farm in Niger, a vegetable farm in Tanzania, and a corn farm in Zambia. Egypt intends on providing training for small-scale farmers, equipment, and employment for the rural communities.

According to a report of the International Food Policy Research Institute, wheat production will fall by 22 percent in the next 40 years due to overpopulation and climate change.

Media Global

Nigeria annually spends $700 million to import rice from Thailand

by Nhozi Sams

Nigeria imports one million tonnes of rice, valued at $700m, from Thailand every year.

This was disclosed by Prasit Damrongshitama, the Chief Executive Officer of Chareon Pokphand, CP, Group of Thailand, who led a team of Thai businessmen on a courtesy visit to the Abuja office of the Executive Secretary of Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC) in January.

He said the investors are in Nigeria to explore possible investment opportunities in the nation's agriculture sector, saying that trade volume between Nigeria and Thailand is now valued at $800million.

He said the group is promoted by Thailand's Board of Investment and is a leader in the premium rice sector in processing and packaging high quality rice for the domestic and overseas markets. The company's rice processing plants according to him are capable of producing 360,000 tonnes a year.


He said Nigeria is the second largest importer of Thai rice in Africa and is qualified for further investment. "Every year Nigeria imports one million metric tonnes of rice from Thailand which is about $700million. We import oil and gas from Nigeria, and last year it was put at $10 million for oil and $20million for gas. The total trade volume between us is $800milion."

Mr. Damrongshitama said the prospects of good economic growth and friendly investment climate necessitated the decision to explore more opportunities for investment in Nigeria, saying the Thai company is considering setting up a seed company in Nigeria to grow rice and maize.

The huge population of Nigeria which is almost two times bigger than Thailand, according to him, is a good bait for any prospective investor. "We want to bring rice to grow in Nigeria. Nigeria's land is good for agriculture like ours. We are good partners and have experience in seed business and looking at potential for tropical seeds production. Nigeria has all it takes," he said.

The team interacted with various agencies of government involved in seed production and sales in a bid to have access relevant information, and get samples of Nigerian soil to know which specie of grains to bring into the country, consider the procedure for acquisition of land and registration processes involved in setting up the company.

The Executive Director of the Nigeria Seed Company, Olasukanmi Sobowale, told the Thai investors that the country is willing to accept their investment proposals and will allow them bring in their grains for the first four years before they can go into full scale local production. "There are facilities in place for you to establish a Nigerian seed company," he said, adding that plans are underway to review the seed law of Nigeria to further protect all forms of investment.

The Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Investment Promotion Council, Mustafa Bello, hinted at the government's plan to adopt sector specific policies to attract investment in all sectors of the economy. This will boost investment since information relevant to every sector will be made available.

He said it is a good idea that the Thai group is not only going to grow maize and rice in Nigeria, but will also conduct integrated agricultural research which will be relevant for other investors in the sector. He said expectations are high that with the full execution of Thai's agenda, prices of grain will be reduced in Nigeria.

Next

Yam research in West & Central Africa gets EU funding support

Research to improve and promote yam in West and Central Africa (WCA) has received a €750,000 (about US$1 million) grant from the European Union-African, Caribbean and Pacific Science and Technology Program (EU-ACP). The program will benefit six WCA countries: Cameroon, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo.

The support comes amidst renewed global interest on yam as a vital income and food security crop in Africa.

The research project tagged, “Strengthening Capacity for Yam Research-for-Development in Central and Western Africa (SCYReC)” aims to improve the capacity for yam research-for-development in the region.

The project will help find sustainable solutions, through science and technology, to the challenges facing the crop and exploit its tremendous potential for food security and poverty alleviation.

IITA will manage and implement the project in collaboration with a team of national partners in 13 research institutions in the six countries.

“This is something good for the region where yam plays an important role in nutrition and economic well-being of the people,” says David Annang, IITA-SCYReC Project Coordinator. “We are hopeful that the project will tackle the many challenges facing increased yam production,” he adds.

Despite its contribution to food security, yam faces a plethora of limitations among which are high costs of planting material and of labor, decreasing soil fertility, inadequate yield potential of varieties, as well as the increasing levels of field and storage pests and diseases associated with intensification of cultivation.

The labor requirements in yam cultivation for mounding, staking, especially in the forest zone, weeding, and harvesting exceed those for other starchy staples such as cassava. These account for about 40% of yam production costs while 50% of the expenditure goes to planting materials. The seed yams are also perishable and bulky to transport. If farmers do not buy new seed yams, they must set aside up to 30% of their harvest for planting the next year.

The EU-ACP-funded project, therefore, seeks to tackle these challenges by helping in the development of a framework for yam research-for-development in WCA. It will also build and increase the capacities of partners, and provide a platform for increased documentation and dissemination of information from yam research and development.

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14.Poor rains dash farmers' hopes in Zimbabwe

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17.How rampant mining is destroying the farms in South Africa's breadbasket

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IITA to conduct training on banana diseases, January 2009, Rwanda

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) will conduct a training on disease surveillance and control methods to help build the capacity of national partners to combat deadly banana diseases that are wreaking havoc across sub-Saharan Africa and threatening the livelihoods and food security of over 70 million people.

The training, though covering all the major banana diseases in the region, will especially focus on the Banana Bunchy Top Disease (BBTD). Staff from national research institutions and government bodies from Burundi, DR Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia will be trained on recognition of disease symptoms in the field and disease confirmation using biotechnology tools in the laboratory.

Participants will also be trained on spatial disease surveillance methods using Geographical Positioning Systems (GPS) and the development of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) maps showing the presence and spread of the diseases. Hein Bouwmeester, IITA Geographical Information Systems (GIS) expert based in Tanzania, will facilitate this section of the training.

The workshop will also forge links between ongoing and planned surveillance activities for Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW), another deadly disease, to create a regional disease surveillance network.

Dr Fen Beed, IITA Plant Pathologist and coordinator of the training, says that BBTD and BXW are of great concern because they are easily transmitted through infected planting material and certain insects. As no banana varieties are known to be resistant to the diseases, all familiar banana types - cooking, juicing, dessert and plantain - are in danger of being wiped out if urgent action is not taken.

Beed adds that the training concentrates on the seven countries because there have been reports of the presence of BBTD or they are at high risk of contracting the disease from neighboring countries. For instance, he says, southwest Uganda is in danger of getting BBTD as the disease is present in northern Rwanda and eastern DR Congo.

"Where a disease is not yet present but is likely to be introduced, an effective surveillance system increases awareness of the disease symptoms and the chances of the disease being reported by farmers and their representatives when it does arrive" he explains. "Early detection permits destruction of infected plants to prevent disease establishment and spread."

He adds, "where a disease has been reported and confirmed, the use of GPS-linked spatial surveillance helps to specify its presence across a targeted region. It determines whether only a single plant is infected, or one small area, or across the region."






BBTD is a viral disease that results in narrow bunched leaves and stunted fruitless plants, which eventually die. It is very difficult to identify in newly infected plants and is often missed by farmers and government agencies in the region resulting in its unabated spread. Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW) is a bacterial disease that causes yellowing and wilting of the leaves, uneven and premature ripening of the fruits and eventually, the plants rot to their death. The symptoms are often confused with those of the panama disease and nutrient deficiencies.




The training is organized by IITA in collaboration with the Rwanda Agriculture Development Authority (RADA) and the Rwandan Agricultural Research Institute (Institut des Sciences Agronomiques du Rwanda - ISAR), and funded by the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It will be held from 25 to 29 January 2010 in Kigali, Rwanda.

Following the training, the participants will carry out a series of targeted surveys to establish the distribution of BBTD, funded by FAO.

###

For more information, please contact:

Dr Fen Beed, f.beed@cgiar.org
Plant Pathologist (East, Central and Southern Africa),
IITA-Uganda

Catherine Njuguna, c.njuguna@cgiar.org
Corporate Communications Officer (Eastern and Southern Africa)
IITA – Regional hub for East and Southern Africa
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Jeffrey T. Oliver, o.jeffrey@cgiar.org
Corporate Communications Officer (International)
Communication Office
IITA - Headquarters
Ibadan, Nigeria