Hello, and welcome to a new edition of the IFPR-Kampala’s USSP news and research digest!
As
usual, this collection of recent news articles related to agriculture
is compiled from online news sources. We also include links to recent
publications on agricultural and policy-related research topics
pertinent to Uganda and the wider region.
This week, we report on Uganda’s women, youth look to secure land tenure and on East Africans plead with govts to raise agriculture budget. We also have news articles on how climate change is making soils saltier, forcing many farmers to find new livelihoods and link to the 2018 Global Nutrition Report.
Under research, we provide links to:
- Grain markets, disaster management, and public stocks: Lessons from Ethiopia
- Maize–Legume Intercropping and Push–Pull for Management of Fall Armyworm, Stemborers, and Striga in Uganda
- What factors explain women’s empowerment? Decision-making among small-scale farmers in Uganda
- Fairness and Efficiency in Smallholder Farming: The Relation with Intrahousehold Decision-Making
-
Nutrition-sensitive
agricultural interventions, agricultural diversity, food access and
child dietary diversity: Evidence from rural Zambia
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Happy reading
News:
For ten months, World Agroforestry (ICRAF) has worked in the refugee areas of Northwest Uganda and the long dry stretches have been tough. “We planted at the right time. But we immediately faced a month and a half with no rain,” according to Lawrence Aziruku, a Field Technician with ICRAF based in the region. “Some trees did not survive. It was bad luck.”
Armed with coffee, Uganda’s women, youth look to secure land tenure
Reuters
Since March, officials have been recruiting and training staff, and
talking to communities, said Sam Viney, communications officer for Farm
Africa, a charity involved with the project. The goal is to put
coffee-farming in the hands of 3,600 young people. It will do that by
encouraging land-owning farmers to let younger family members use some
of their land for growing the bean.
East Africans plead with govts to raise agriculture budgets
The Citizen
Presenting the petition to regional leaders on November 8, 2018, the
chairman of the agriculture committee of the EAC Legislative Assembly,
Mr Kasamba Mathias, urged governments to honour the declaration they had
made in 2014 on ensuring agricultural growth and food security across
the continent.
Parliament approves GMO Bill
Parliament of Uganda
Parliament has finally passed a Bill intended to provide a regulatory
framework that facilitates the safe development and application of
biotechnology in Uganda. The Bill, formerly called the National
Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill, 2012 has now been renamed the Genetic
Engineering Regulatory Bill 2018 following a recommendation by the
President, who declined to assent to the proposed law raising 12 issues
that required improvement. Parliament initially passed the Bill in 2017.
Tanzania: Shock as government bans GMO trials
The Citizen
An
air of resignation characterised reactions yesterday to the
government’s surprise ban on all genetically modified organism (GMO)
trials in the country
High expectations from cluster project
Monitor
The
Agriculture Cluster Development Project is a six-year-project funded by
the government of Uganda, the International Development Agency and the
World Bank, and its aim is to raise on-farm productivity, and marketable
volumes of selected agricultural commodities in specified districts.
Academic wins prize for work on turning coffee waste into power
Coffee and Cocoa
A University of Surrey academic has been awarded the 2018 Newton Prize
for research into potential uses of coffee waste. Dr Claudio
Avignone-Rossa, Reader in Systems Microbiology at the University,
received the accolade in recognition of his work transforming coffee
waste into electricity.
Huge Brazilian crop and prospect of a surplus weigh heavily on prices
Coffee and Cocoa
After a small surplus in the global coffee market in 2017/2018, a much
larger surplus is expected in 2018/2019, primarily as a result of a
large crop in Brazil. Sufficient rain ensured favourable conditions for
flowering, and production of Robusta coffee is expected to recover
further.
2018 Global Nutrition Report
Global Nutrition Report
The 2018 Global Nutrition Report shares insights into the current state
of global nutrition, highlighting the unacceptably high burden of
malnutrition in the world. It identifies areas where progress has been
made in recent years but argues that it is too slow and too
inconsistent. It puts forward five critical steps that are needed to
speed up progress to end malnutrition in all its forms and argues that,
if we act now, it is not too late to achieve this goal. In fact, we have
an unprecedented opportunity to do so.
Making value chains climate-smart
Spore
Climate-smart agricultural (CSA) practices are increasingly adopted as a
means to both adapt to a changing climate, and to mitigate
agriculture’s negative environmental impacts. Increasing emphasis is
placed on a systems approach to CSA, where climate-smart interventions
seek to address the entire value chain.
Climate change is making soils saltier, forcing many farmers to find new livelihoods
The Conversation
As
sea levels rise, low-lying coastal areas are increasingly being
inundated with saltwater, gradually contaminating the soil. These salts
can be dissipated by rainfall, but climate change is also increasing the
frequency and severity of extreme weather events, including droughts
and heat waves. This leads to more intensive use of groundwater for
drinking and irrigation, which further depletes the water table and
allows even more salt to leach into soil.
From scooter to slaughter: Angola’s go-to app for delivering live goats to your door
The Economist
In the West many people fret that the gig economy encourages insecure
work. But in sub-Saharan Africa, where the informal economy is
equivalent to more than a third of GDP, about twice that in rich
countries, it may do the opposite. By opening bigger markets for
vendors, technology may help them grow richer, one goat at a time. No
kidding.
Research into action: speaking up: gender (in) equality in agricultural development
University of Illinois
Various studies on African smallholder farmers have shown that women are
less likely to adopt improved crop varieties and management systems due
to the lack of access to both productive and information resources. As a
result, their agricultural productivity levels range between four and
25 percent lower compared to men. Social norms and culture
(institutions) have also been shown to promote gender-based
discrimination, slow access to resources, information, and opportunities
for gender equity
GMO 2.0: Genetically modified crops and the push for Africa’s green revolution
Canadian food studies
Africa
in particular has emerged as the “final frontier” in the global debate
over GM agriculture, and a key component of the broader push towards
Africa’s Green Revolution (Karembu, Nguthi, & Abdel -Hamid, 2009).
The debate over the potential for GM crops to transform African
agriculture is an important test for proponents who claim that
agricultural biotechnology can play a crucial role in alleviating
poverty and hunger. This paper aims to survey the current state of GMO
2.0 in Africa and identify the key trends, critiques and questions that
are shaping this contentious debate.
Research:
Grain markets, disaster management, and public stocks: Lessons from Ethiopia
S Rashid, P Dorosh, D Alemu – Global Food Security
Ethiopia has made remarkable progress in addressing food insecurity over the past two decades. Unlike many developing countries, the country has managed to improve productivity, enhance market efficiency, and introduce effective safety net programs without large scale price stabilization programs. Public food stocks play only a minor role in the current food system, but the institutions that manage food stocks and emergency relief have grown increasingly effective in addressing crises. Nonetheless, since it remains susceptible to drought, the country will continue to need well-functioning institutions to maintain or surpass the improvements in food security it has achieved over the recent years. Policy evolution, along with recent changes, is evaluated, and implications and lessons for other developing countries are discussed.
Maize–Legume Intercropping and Push–Pull for Management of Fall Armyworm, Stemborers, and Striga in Uganda
G Hailu, S Niassy, KR Zeyaur, N Ochatum… – Agronomy Journal
Maize (Zea mays L.) production in Africa is constrained by several biotic and abiotic factors. The recent occurrence of fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (JE Smith) a new invasive pest in Africa, has escalated the problem. Push–pull technology (PPT), proven to be effective for stemborers (Chilo partellus Swinhoe and Busseola fusca Fuller) and the parasitic weed striga (Striga hermontica Delile) management in Africa has been shown to provide good control of FAW. This study investigated if intercropping maize with edible legumes can also reduce the abundance of FAW. Six treatments including (i) climate-smart PPT, (ii) conventional PPT, (iii) maize intercropped with bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), (iv) maize intercropped with soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], (v) maize intercropped with groundnut [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] and, (vi) mono-cropped maize were evaluated on farm in six districts of Uganda in the 2017 short rains season. Data collected included FAW, stemborer, and striga infestation symptoms, and severity of infestation. Climate-smart PPT performed best in reducing stemborer, FAW, and striga infestation followed by conventional PPT over all the phenological stages of maize. Intercropping of maize with leguminous crops also provided significant reduction of stemborer and FAW compared to mono-cropped maize, especially in the early growth phases of the maize up to tasseling. However, intercropping of maize with edible legumes was not very effective for striga management as compared to PPT. Hence in addition to PPT, intercropping of maize with edible legumes could also be an alternative FAW management option when integrated with other sustainable management measures.
What factors explain women’s empowerment? Decision-making among small-scale farmers in Uganda
M Sell, N Minot – Women’s Studies International Forum
Evidence from studies on women’s empowerment suggests that when women have a larger role in decision-making, household well-being improves. Understanding patterns influencing women’s empowerment in rural areas is therefore important. We use gender-disaggregated survey data from rural Uganda to explore individual and household characteristics associated with women’s empowerment. We find links between empowerment and age, education, proximity to a paved road as well as the marketed share of crop production. Age and education are associated with higher empowerment, but equality in education between the spouses is more important than the average level of education. Remoteness is associated with lower women’s empowerment, as is greater commercial orientation in crop production. This may be due to the fact that men are more involved in cash-crop activities, giving them an advantage through higher income. One policy implication is that education needs to target both girls and boys, especially in remote areas, putting special focus on girl’s involvement in value added activities.
Fairness and Efficiency in Smallholder Farming: The Relation with Intrahousehold Decision-Making
Els Lecoutere & Laurence Jassogne – Journal of Development Studies
Agricultural households face collective action dilemmas when making
decisions about investments in their common household farm and the
allocation of resources and benefits derived from it. We relate
intrahousehold decisions, as measured in a lab-in-the-field experiment
conducted with spouses in agricultural households in western Uganda,
with actual investments and intrahousehold resource allocation.
Intrahousehold decision-making that supports cooperation and equitable
sharing is associated with greater investment in the intensification of
cash and food crop production, and more equitable access and control
over income. Freeriding behaviour by husbands is associated with the
intensification of cash crop production, but not with equitable sharing.
Nutrition-sensitive
agricultural interventions, agricultural diversity, food access and
child dietary diversity: Evidence from rural Zambia
Adam M. Rosenberg, John A. Maluccio, Jody Harris, Marjolein Mwanamwenge,
Phuong H. Nguyen, Gelson Tembo, Rahul Rawat – Food Policy
We study a nutrition-sensitive agricultural program in low-income rural Zambia between 2011 and 2015. Using a pre-post design with a control group, we measure program effects along established pathways connecting agriculture to nutrition: diversity of agricultural production, crop sales, household food access and child and maternal diets. The program increased diversity in crops grown and the number of months in which various food groups were harvested. In particular, the program substantially increased the percentage of households producing three nutritious crops it promoted (groundnuts, rape and tomatoes). As a consequence there were modest increases in household access to diverse food groups. Despite modest increases in the proportion of children consuming pulses, legumes and nuts, ultimately there were no significant improvements in the overall dietary diversity of young children or their mothers. A nutrition-sensitive agricultural program can increase diversity in agricultural production and to a lesser extent access to nutritious foods, but this may not always be sufficient to improve child diets or nutrition.
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