Unknown

The timeliness and quality of land preparation are critical to ricenproduction. NERICA varieties are no exception. Good soil tillage practices generally enhance efficient fertilizer-use, soil porosity and aeration and then have positive impacts during germination, seedling emergence and stand establishment stages of plant growth, in addition to weed control.

This manual has been written with the intention of providing technicians and extension workers with practical guidelines on the implementation of water harvesting schemes. However it will also be of interest to a wider audience, such as rural development specialists and planners.

Solar-powered irrigation systems (SPIS) are a clean technology option for irrigation, allowing the use solar energy for water pumping, replacing fossil fuels as energy source, and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from irrigated agriculture. The sustainability of SPIS greatly depends on how water resources are managed.

This guide was prepared as a result of training sessions conducted between May
and August 2012 in Kenya and Tanzania for extension agents from the Ministry of Agriculture, Landcare and World Vision in Kenya; and from the Ministry of Agriculture
& Food Security, Division of Forestry & Beekeeping, Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism in Tanzania as well as those from World Wildlife Fund (WWF). These agents work in partnership with the IFAD funded EverGreen Agriculture (EGA)project areas of Machakos County in Kenya, and Mbarali District in Tanzania. It is expected that they will be able to stay in touch and support farmers with knowledge gained at these trainings, to increase the adoption of Conservation Agriculture (CA) and Agroforestry (AF) as well as participation in Landcare approaches.

This publication provides practical and comprehensive information to IPM workers in rice fields throughout tropical Asia. It briefly discusses rice plant structure and growth stages and stresses their relation to pest management. There are separate sections on cultural control of rice pests, resistant rice varieties, natural enemies of rice insect pests, and pesticides. The biology and management of the major groups of rice pests — insects, diseases, weeds, and rodents — are discussed in separate sections. Finally, integrated control measures for the entire rice pest complex and the implementation of IPM strategies at the farmer level are described.

CABI and FRI’s Upscaling Technologies in Agriculture through Knowledge and Extension (UPTAKE) project uses SMS messages to increase awareness and adoption of agricultural technologies in maize value chains. The project seeks to strengthen the adoption of improved maize varieties. Continuous learning and improvement of the SMS campaign strategy is at the foundation of the success of the project. Lessons from farmers, extension agents and the entire maize value chain are being incorporated in the system regularly.

There are rich communities of beneficial insects, spiders, and diseases that attack insect pests of rice. The beneficial species often control insect pests, especially in places where use of broad-spectrum pesticides is avoided. Without these beneficial species the insect pests would multiply so quickly that they would completely consume the rice crop.

Pests have high reproductive capacities to offset the naturally high mortality that they face in nature. For example, a brown planthopper female produces many offspring, but because of the action of predators, parasites, and diseases, only about 1 or 2 will survive after one generation. It is not unusual for 98-99% mortality to occur; otherwise, a pest population explosion can be expected.

Natural enemies also have enemies of their own. Parasites and predators each have predators, parasites, and pathogens. Most predators are cannibalistic, a behavior which ensures that, in the absence of prey, some will survive.

The natural balance between insect pests and their natural enemies is often disrupted by indiscriminate use of chemical insecticides. Although insecticides are needed in some cases, they must be used judiciously to save these vulnerable natural control agents.

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), a joint international institution of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the European Union (EU), launched a call for papers on failed information and communication technologies (ICTs) for agriculture (ICT4Ag) projects/initiatives – projects that showed early promise and received third-party support (from governments, donor agencies, or private sector investors) but did not reach fruition. What resulted was the stories in this booklet, which stress the importance of understanding the intended users, ensuring economic viability, fully promoting the service, and making sure the technology offered is the right solution to the problem.

The main purpose of Tsetse Plan is to provide a computerised simulation of the interactive help that would be available if farmers, an NGO or general veterinarian were able to chat with a tsetse control specialist on-site, to assess the situation in their area, draw up the strategy for bait control, identify technical specifications prepare a budget and provide general notes on implementing the plan.

This manual is intended to support trainers who are helping Farmer Organisations (FOs) and their members in Sub-Saharan Africa to improve the quality of their grain. In so doing, it is expected that the income earning opportunities and the food security of the learners’
households will be increased. Learning how to supply quality grain to WFP and other buyers is a corner stone of the capacity building activities provided by the Purchase for Progress (P4P) initiative. P4P is a partnership of many actors and stakeholders spanning the sectors of smallholder development, market development and food assistance brought together around the WFP food demand platform. By developing the capacity to sell to an institutional buyer such as WFP, smallholder farmers through organizations can acquire the knowledge, skills and confidence needed for engaging with formal markets.
To date, PHHS training for P4P has not been standardised across countries, and only limited opportunity has been taken to capitalise on best practice for both the method of delivery or for training material content. For this reason, WFP had a vision of a core training package
that could be used across P4P countries but would at the same time retain sufficient flexibility to cater for local variations, local languages and the specific needs of different FOs.