By: Américo Humulane, Justin Cishugi Murhula, Mosili oa Motaung
Johannesburg, South Africa – The Regional Research to Extension (R2E) Training Workshop, an event spearheaded by the Center for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA), successfully concluded its four-day engagement in September 2023. Delegates from ten Southern African nations, including South Africa, Eswatini, Botswana, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and the Kingdom of Lesotho, gathered in Johannesburg to fortify the bridge between agricultural research and extension.
The workshop was heralded for its hands-on approach, which concentrated on leveraging social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, alongside video production, to amplify the reach of agricultural research findings to extension services. Paulo Atsu, a prominent facilitator at the event, navigated the discourse on social media, unraveling its significance and outlining strategies tailored for rural producers to boost agricultural productivity and income through knowledge dissemination.
In parallel, Adri Raso, an expert in multimedia, steered discussions on harnessing short video production to enhance agricultural extension services. The workshop's practical segment involved delegates creating thematic videos, with a standout piece on the quality control of medicinal plants. This segment included an interactive visit to the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), South Africa’s leading scientific institution in agricultural research.
The work team collected images and recorded videos from researchers of the Division of Vegetable, Industrial, and Medicinal Plants, regarding the work done on Quality control of medicinal plants. The information collected pointed out that South Africa is a blessed country with regard to plants, with rich plant biodiversity, having over 24,000 local plants, which make up about 10% of all higher plants on earth.
The country is rich in traditional knowledge about the use of medicinal plants and there is an expansion of the trade in medicinal and industrial plants with many collected plants from natural forests; There are signs that this practice is unsustainable because many species of medicinal plants have become over-exploited, threatened or extinct, and their cultivation is a necessary and viable intervention to meet the demand, conservation of biodiversity and poverty alleviation.
Dr. Dashnie Naidoo-Maharaj, the senior researcher at ARC, explained that the use of medicinal plants is crucial to ensure the quality of plants and products resulting from their treatment or processing which requires control of its quality. Therefore, analytical studies and biological activities are conducted for raw materials, plant extracts, plant ingredient mixtures, etc. Chemical analyses are also conducted to determine, for example, the amount of vitamins, and beta-carotene contained in plants. In addition, in vitro biological tests are also performed to determine whether plants have some characteristics such as anti-oxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, antidiabetic, etc. The characterization of medicinal plants is crucial to determine the medicinal components contained in plants and their quantities, which helps to prevent situations of human or animal poisoning in case of use. It also allows the study of aspects of plant adaptation, among others.
Dr. Dashnie Naidoo-Maharaj
“It should be noted that the ACR has a medicinal plant Genebank that serves as a resource base for research & and development, with more than 170 accesses from over 60 medicinal plant species, which include species of the genera Alepidea, Artemisia, Boophane, Bulbine, Dichoma, Euomis, Hypoxis, Leonotis, Merwilla, Moringa, Opintia, Pelargonium, Pentanisia, Rumex, Ruta, Scouxus, Siphonochilus, Sutherlandia, Xysmalobium.” said Dr. Dashnie Naidoo-Maharaj
In order to ensure verifiable data, the medicinal plants research team has infrastructure and analytical equipment, as indicated in the low images.
ARC works in partnership with various organisms such as communities, farmers, and universities to ensure that the technologies developed reach that last mile in the value chain.
The workshop marked a significant step in ensuring that research not only reaches the field but also fosters biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation across the region. The knowledge attained in this workshop will enable CCARDESA ICKM Officers to transfer technologies in video format to the farmers.
The authors are CCARDESA focal point persons from Lesotho, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
