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The Government of Mozambique will invest around US$50 million in agricultural research over the next three years. This feat was announced by His Excellency Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, President of the Republic of Mozambique in his opening speech of the First Agricultural Research Symposium held in KaTembe, Municipality of Maputo, from 31 August to 1 September 2022. The investment aims to stimulate and improve agricultural research in Mozambique through the improvement and operation of research and vaccine production laboratories, reinforcement of the multiplication of pre-basic and basic seeds, support in the operationalization of the Rice Research and Leadership Center and impact assessments of agricultural production.

The Resilient Agriculture and Market Activities Project in the Beira Corridor (RAMA_BC) in partnership with the Centro Zonal Centro (CZC) of the Institute of Agricultural Research of Mozambique (IIAM) has been introducing and promoting various practices of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) aimed at reducing the vulnerability of small producers and dealing with climate change and its impact.

APPSA Lesotho Celebrates Women In Science and Leadership.

Lesotho Agricultural College [LAC] is committed to providing professional education and training, promoting research and community outreach, providing guidance on commercialized agriculture, through combining quality theory, practicals and research methodologies. The College strives to remain relevant, forward-thinking, industry-related in developing graduates who are thinkers and practitioners. The College programmes involve practicals and theoretical knowledge facilitated by highly skilled academic professionals by ensuring that students are well equipped to enter the world-of-work confidently upon graduation.

With this intent, through the Department of Crops [CPD], LAC is engaged in collaborative partnerships with other Government ministries and Departments, NGOs, and commercial farmers to create a platform for internship. Through this initiative, the CPD placed the first group of students of Diploma in Agriculture (General) and Diploma in Agriculture (Crop production) for an internship at the Department of Agricultural Research [DAR] and to thirty-two (32) farmers who are actively engaged in horticulture enterprises in Lesotho. These enterprises and farms were selected based on their accessibility to the students. The internship ran from the 27th June 2022 to 22nd July 2022.

This article is about the worshop that was held for the diffent stakehoders in Lesotho to present the diagnostic report on the work done for the development of the National Agricultural Policy for Lesotho. 

The Agronomy section and the Socio-Economics & Extension Division of the Department of Agricultural Research are collaboratively implementing the Lesotho Adaptation of Small-Scale Agricultural Production project (LASAP) activities with farmers in five districts of Lesotho.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in Lesotho though the Department of Agricultural Research (DAR) recieved funding to participate in the  Agricultural Productivity Programme for Southern Africa (APPSA) for six years (2020-2025). The objective of APPSA is to increase the availability of improved agricultural technologies in participating countries in the SADC region.  One of the  components of APPSA talks about supporting technology dissemination activities (extension, strengthening of innovation systems), hence the DAR felt it imperative that the differnt stakeholders within the agricultural sector in Lesotho needed to be made aware of the existence and operations of APPSA in Lesotho. This article gives a summary of the sensitzation campaigns that were held in all ten districts of the country.  

This is a brief report on the survey that Lesotho through its Department of Agricultural Research did as one of its activities under APPSA Project. The same survey was undertaken in countries that first took part in the APPSA Project. The data is currently being processed and the results will be published for consumption of different audiences. 

WAMPP is national in scope covering all of 10 Lesotho’s administrative districts, with a focus on the rangelands that cover more than two thirds of the country’s surface.  The project pays special attention to poor rural women and young people with more emphasis on the foothills because there are more incidences of food insecurity.  

This article is about a meeting that was converned for the Lesotho National Conservation Agriculture Task Force. It was a revival meeting that was last held about two years ago. The importance of such a meeting is to bring stakeholders in the agricultural sector in Lesotho to deliberate on the issues of Conservation Agriculture and how it can be supported and strenghened in order to address this "monster" called climate change.