IFPRI Kampala newsletter week of June 3rd, 2019

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.

In the news this week, we report on the sugar zoning politics and on residents in Jinja using ARVs to fatten pigs. We also have news articles on Why people in Senegal pay a fortune for fancy sheep and on iron-rich GM wheat which is set to undergo field trials.

Under research, we provide links to:

Note that newsletters are archived on http://ussp.ifpri.info/.

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Happy reading

News:

Behind the sugar zoning politics
The Independent

Ugandan sugar millers, cane farmers and the government have for sometime been at loggerheads over a proposal to introduce zoning in the sugar cane growing areas. The proposed Sugar Bill, 2016, seeks to limit establishment of new sugar processing firms in the already existing ones within a radius of 25 kilometres. It also seeks to force sugar cane farmers or out growers to supply their cane to the sugar processing firm within their zone.

Agriculture budget passes Ugx 1 trillion mark
The Independent

The budget allocation for the agriculture sector will in the next financial year pass the 1 trillion Shillings mark for the first time in what officials say will cater for research, fertilizers and coffee strategy. The allocation to the sector will grow by 300 billion to 1.2 trillion Shillings in 2019/2020 financial year.

Residents in Jinja using ARVs to fatten pigs
Nile Post

Pig farmers in Kayunga district have adopted a vice of using ARVs to fatten pigs.  This was revealed by the authorities during a stakeholders meeting that was organised by the National Drug Authority to sensitise veterinary doctors in Kayunga and Mukono.

Museveni’s GMO law dilemma
The Independent

Six months since Parliament passed a revised Genetic Engineering Bill, 2018, that included demands by President Yoweri Museveni, he has not signed it into law. But he has also not written to Parliament to explain why. This is the latest saga over a Bill that started out seven years ago as the National Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill, 2012. Since then, although almost everyone wants a biotechnology law, there has been tension between those for and against specific provisions in the Bill.


Job creation: agriculture’s potential to mitigate youth migration
Spore

We have most of the necessary resources, like land and fertile soil, which we can utilise to take up market opportunities in the global food industry,” says Kisseka Samson, 22-year-old co-founder and managing director of Hello Mushrooms U Ltd in Uganda.

Kenya signs agreement to export avocados to China
The East African

Kenyan farmers will now export hass avocados to China following a trade deal signed when President Uhuru Kenyatta recently met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing.  It is estimated that when the agreement is fully implemented, the Chinese market will take in more than 40 percent of Kenya’s avocado produce, making it one of the largest importers of the fruit.
Why people in Senegal pay a fortune for fancy sheep
The Economist

People in Senegal adore sheep. Not only are they delicious, they can also be status symbols. Every year during Tabaski, a religious festival, hundreds of thousands of them are sacrificed (and then gobbled up). Poorer families often take out crippling loans to buy one so they don’t lose social standing.  

What can our increasingly mobile world learn from pastoralists?
Pastres

A recent PASTRES seminar at the Robert Schuman Centre at the European University in Florence discussed mobility, and how lessons from pastoralists might be important for thinking about policy themes such as international migration and cross-border trade.

A coffee shop in San Francisco offers a $75 cup of coffee
BBC

Klatch Coffee in San Francisco is offering a $75 cup of coffee made from award-winning beans grown in Panama. The beans – called Elida Geisha Natural – sold for $803 per pound and hold the record for the most expensive coffee in the world.

With the help of ancient grains, gluten-free beer is saving the environment and local farmers
Food Tank

Millets and sorghum are nutrient-rich grains, high in protein and antioxidants. And they’re drought-resistant, making them reliable crops in dry, hot conditions. But over the past 50 years, The International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics estimates that these ancient crops have largely been forgotten as more farmers are prioritizing maize, wheat, rice, and soybeans. Now, a rather unlikely industry is taking advantage of millets and sorghum: gluten-free craft beer.  

Reinventing the tomato for survival in a changing world
New York Time

Mr Gates believes that the tomato’s survival and continued deliciousness depend on the plant’s diversity, and he considers breeding hardy, cold-tolerant and heat-tolerant varieties an essential part of his work — not just to provide food, but also to expand the number of places where the plant can flourish.

Biodiversity collapse: the wild relatives of livestock and crops are disappearing
The Conversation

Humans are relying on a narrowing base of species for food, using more and more commercially-bred livestock and crops while losing the wild relatives – the reservoir of genetic diversity. These genetic resources may become increasingly important for feeding some nine billion people by 2050, in a world shaped by climate change and all the knock-on effects this will have for agriculture.

Iron-rich GM wheat set to undergo field trials
John Innes Centre

The John Innes Centre got the green light from the UK government to perform field trials of genetically modified wheat biofortified to produce high-iron white flour.  

Coffee is good for your health – but don’t exceed six cups a day, study says
Coffee and Cocoa

While the pros and cons of drinking coffee have been debated for decades, new research from the University of South Australia shows the point at which excess caffeine can cause high blood pressure, a precursor to heart disease.

Burger King’s new plant-based burger now available in Sweden, soon in Asia
The Spoon

Burger King is now offering a new plant-based burger in Sweden. The new burger is a version of the Impossible Whopper, which is made with the popular plant-based pink meat introduced by California-based startup, Impossible Foods. In early April, the Impossible Whopper was released in St. Louis and will eventually be available in all Burger King stores worldwide.  The special ingredient in the new plant-based burger which makes it pinkish-like bleeding meat and tastes like meat is called heme.

Policy notes, research briefs and discussion papers:

Gender in agricultural risk management: analytical framework and operational guidelines
PARM

This PARM guidance note explains how to integrate a gender lens into agriculture the risk assessment and management tools’ implementation process. It builds on existing analytical work and experiences of IFAD, FAO, World Bank and many other development agencies.

Research:

Genome analysis of African yam backs Niger River as cradle of African agriculture
Scarcelli N, Cubry P, Akakpo R, Thuillet AC, Obidiegwu J, Baco MN, Otoo E, Sonké B, Dansi A, Djedatin G, Mariac C. – Science Advances, 2019

While there has been progress in our understanding of the origin and history of agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa, a unified perspective is still lacking on where and how major crops were domesticated in the region. Here, we investigated the domestication of African yam (Dioscorea rotundata), a key crop in early African agriculture. Using whole-genome resequencing and statistical models, we show that cultivated yam was domesticated from a forest species. We infer that the expansion of African yam agriculture started in the Niger River basin. This result, alongside with the origins of African rice and pearl millet, supports the hypothesis that the vicinity of the Niger River was a major cradle of African agriculture.

Development pathways toward “zero hunger”
Jennifer Blesh, Lesli Hoey, Andrew D. Jones, Harriet Friedmann, Ivette Perfecto – World Development, 2019

Globally, industrial agriculture threatens critical ecosystem processes on which crop production depends, while 815 million people are undernourished and many more suffer from malnutrition. The second Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 2), Zero Hunger, seeks to simultaneously address global environmental sustainability and food security challenges. We conducted an integrated literature review organized around three disciplinary perspectives central to realizing SDG 2: ecology and agricultural sciences, nutrition and public health, and political economy and policy science. Within each discipline we first draw on a wide range of literature to summarize the state of knowledge on effective pathways to achieve food security while ensuring the sustainability of food systems. We then conduct a comprehensive review of articles in each of these disciplines that discuss SDG 2, using the pathways we outline initially to frame our analysis. In particular, we ask whether the framing of SDG 2 is appropriate given current understandings of transitions to sustainable food systems. By applying a food systems lens, our review identifies several limitations in the way SDG 2 is applied by researchers including a productionist perspective, limited attention to ecological processes on farms, a definition of food security that lacks a food systems perspective, and a lack of attention to historical and structural factors that shape opportunities for equity and food security in different contexts. Finally, we consider possibilities for expanding the research agenda and associated implications for development practice. We argue that the pathway to achieving Zero Hunger should center on place-based, adaptive, participatory solutions that simultaneously attend to local institutional capacities, agroecosystem diversification and ecological management, and the quality of local diets. Two conceptual frameworks – social-ecological systems and sustainable diets – offer systems-based lenses for integrated analysis of agriculture and food security, which could inform the development of effective policies.

Pastoral community coping and adaptation strategies to manage household food insecurity consequent to climatic hazards in the cattle corridor of Uganda
M Mayanja, C Rubaire-Akiki, J Morton, JD Kabasa – Climate and Development, 2019

Establishing short and long term measures that pastoral and agropastoral households use to ensure they have access to food in periods of climate extremes could provide insights into ways to support households in similar conditions. Using semi-structured elicitation, 15 purposively selected participants from case households and 13 community leaders, in the central cattle corridor of Uganda were interviewed in January to February 2013. Thematic analysis revealed four coping strategies: harvesting immature food crops, selling off cattle, searching for alternative water sources and using alternative non-production-based means to access food. Three adaptation strategies identified were: diversifying livelihood activities, changing agricultural practices and investing in alternative water sources. Several strategies were related to incremental crop system changes, to maintain the existing way of practice. However, some were transformational, like formerly specialized livestock keepers taking on crop farming. Some strategies presented environmentally erosive effects; which could be curbed by evaluating the opportunity cost of diversification and transformative practices in relation to incremental adaptation. Insights gleaned could assist researchers to consider aspects for in-depth adaptation analysis and inform on how policies and institutions in Uganda could be used to facilitate, rather than undermine, pastoralists’ coping and adaptation; and thus guide interventions to strengthen food security.

Impacts of integrated soil fertility management on yield and household income: The case of Tamale (Ghana) and Kakamega (Kenya)
IS Adolwa, S Schwarze, A Buerkert – Ecological Economics, 2019

Integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) has been widely promoted by research and philanthropic organizations as well as governments to increase crop yields and improve livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Africa. Therefore, it is surprising that there is still scant information on its impact on crop yields and household income. This paper uses a counterfactual model to assess ISFM impact on yields and total household incomes using farm household data from Tamale (Northern Ghana) and Kakamega (Western Kenya). The analyses reveal that ISFM adoption leads to an increase in maize yields by up to 27% in Tamale and 16% in Kakamega. Increasing the number of ISFM components, however, does not improve yields. Despite the effect on yields, adoption of ISFM does not increase total household incomes at both locations. Some implications for future research are discussed.

Food Security Measures in Sub-Saharan Africa. A Validation of the LSMS-ISA Scale
O Bertelli – Journal of African Economies, 2019

Despite the international community’s emphasis on the need to achieve food security, there is still much debate surrounding its measurement, due mainly to its multidimensional aspects. This paper investigates the capacity of a new type of measure, food security scales, to capture dimensions of food security that other measures, such as food expenditures, caloric availability and food diversity, may miss. Drawing on nationally representative household panel data from Malawi, Nigeria and Tanzania, I find that the scale is a useful complementary measure to standard measures. Cross-section and panel analysis shows that the scale provides further insights into food vulnerability and coping strategies characteristic of food insecurity, dimensions not captured by the standard measures.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this email and references to online sources is provided as a public service with the understanding that IFPRI-Kampala/USSP makes no warranties, either expressed or implied, concerning the accuracy, completeness, reliability, or suitability of the information. Nor does IFPRI-Kampala/USSP warrant that the use of this information is free of any claims of copyright infringement. The views and opinions expressed in this this email and references to online sources do not necessarily reflect official policy or position of IFPRI, IFPRI-Kampala or USSP or should not be taken as an endorsement.

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