Best Practice

Comme les femmes fournissent, en moyenne, plus de 40% de la main-d'œuvre agricole mondiale, cette monographie souligne que les femmes sont la clé du développement rural. Cet échantillon de fiches d'information traite des sujets suivants :

Brochure 1 : Genre et développement rural ;

Brochure 2 : Genre et vulgarisation agricole ;

Brochure 3 : Genre et accès à la terre ;

Brochure 4 : Genre et sécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle ;

Brochure 5 : Genre et pêche et aquaculture ;

Brochure 6 : Genre et production animale ;

Brochure 7 : Genre et chaînes de valeur

As women provide, on avergage, more than 40% of the agricultural labor force worldwide, this monography stresses women as key for rural development. This sample of factsheets talks about the following topics:

Brochure 1: Gender and Rural Development;

Brochure 2: Gender and Agricultural Extension;

Brochure 3: Gender and Access to Land;

Brochure 4: Gender and Food & Nutrition Security;

Brochure 5: Gender and Fischeries & Aquaculture;

Brochure 6: Gender and Livestock Production;

Brochure 7: Gender and Value Chains

Small holder farmers in the semi-arid areas have not been able to utilize seasonal climate forecasts in making crop management decisions due to limited exposure as well as failure to interpret it. Three participatory meetings were held with farmers in Lower Gweru and Lupane Districts of Zimbabwe soon after the release of the 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 seasonal climate forecast in September of each season. This was done to solicit for farmers’ prediction of the coming rainy season and come up with field test crop management practices. Farmers have their sets of indicators that they rely on to forecast seasonal rainfall which are based on generations of past experience that include environmental, biological, and traditional beliefs. There is however, need to investigate how their indicators compare with the scientific forecast in making farming decisions. Farmers claimed that the rains were starting later and finishing earlier whilst analysis of the rainfall record showed that starting rains have been later by 5 to 10 days in the last five years. There was an increase in the number of dry spells in the rainy season in the last five years compared to the period 1980 to 2008. Adding recommended amounts of fertilizers resulted in yield increases of 40% compared to adding half the recommended amounts. Growing long season varieties resulted in higher yields (22%) than growing short season varieties in the 2009/2010 wetter season while growing of shorter season variety had yield advantage (36%) over the long season variety in the 2009/2010 which was relatively dry. Frequent weeding resulted in about 8% increase in maize yields compared to weeding once in a season. The study demonstrates that knowledge of the coming season assists smallholder farmers in coming up with adaptive strategies for climate variability and change.

Colocasia esculenta L. Schott belongs to the family Aracea and is grown for its edible corms as a staple food throughout subtropical and tropical regions of the world. Amadumbe (the Zulu name for Colocasia esculenta) is consumed by and holds an important place in the diet of local rural people in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. Three Amadumbe phenotypes were evaluated for their nutritional qualities. Like all known tubers, the locally grown Amadume contained high carbohydrate levels, adequate protein and low lipid content. Essential fatty acids (linoleic and linolenic) were identified as components of the Amadumbe lipids. Amadumbe was generally low in mineral content, apart from potassium and magnesium levels that were relatively high. Some anti-nutrients (protease inhibitors, lectin, phenolic compounds, alkaloids, oxalates, phytates, cyanogens and saponin) present in Amadumbe were also identified and quantified. The anti-nutrient levels were generally low and thus may not pose an immediate effect on the health of consumers. Reduction of the anti-nutrients through processing (cooking, frying, roasting) was observed to enhance the nutritional value of these tubers. However, their presence suggests that a steady consumption may lead to toxic levels. Two proteins (Al and B2) with a-amylase inhibitor activity, and a steroidal saponin (gamma-sitosterol) were extracted and partially characterised. The a-amylase inhibitors were extracted and partially purified through ammonium sulphate precipitation and chromatographic fractionation on diethylaminoethyl (DEAE)-Sephacel and Sephadex G-100. The molecular weights of the two inhibitors were estimated to be 17 000 and 19 000 dalton, respectively. The inhibitors were fairly heat-stable, with optimum activity at 40° C? pH 6.0. Both inhibitors showed activity against mammalian a-amylases, but were devoid of activity against fungal amylases. Inhibitor A also showed activity against plant amylases. The steroidal saponin extracted from Amadumbe was characterized through TLC, HPLC, GC-MS, IR and NMR spectroscopic analysis and identified to be gamma- sitosterol, an isomer of beta-sitosterol which is known to have a variety of high biological activity. Studies of the effect of beta-sitosterol on absorptive and digestive enzymes in Sprague-Dawley rats revealed that oral administration of beta-sitosterol had no apparent gross or microscopic lesions in the liver, kidney or small intestine. The administered p-sitosterol significantly decreased serum aspartate aminotransferase (ALT) and alanine aminotransferase (AST) levels. Na+/K -ATPase and intestinal disaccharidases activities were also significantly reduced in beta-sitosterol fed rats. These results do suggest that even though Amadumbe is a neglected crop in South Africa, it is a highly nutritional crop; the consumption of it could be beneficial to diabetic and hypertensive patients.

The Adaptation Network will be offering a series of training courses during 2016 that aim to cater to for different levels of adaptation knowledge and practice. The courses provide a broad foundation that  enable practitioners, officials and activists to gain greater insight into climate science and facilitate effective adaptation processes for members of vulnerable communities.

Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) describes agricultural practices, approaches and systems that sustainably and reliably increase food production and the ability of farmers to earn a living, while protecting or restoring the environment.

CSA aims to build the food and nutrition security of the rural poor so that farm families have access to enough nutritious food at all times, even in the face of a changing climate.

CSA practices enable farming communities to:

sustainably and reliably increase agricultural productivity and incomes;

adapt and build resilience to extreme weather events and a changing climate; and

where appropriate, contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and concentrations.

The department has, over the years, continued to make a notable contribution in creating employment and skill development opportunities through implementation of the environment sector employment programmes broadly. In all 12 priority government outcomes, job creation features as a priority output. In the context of this imperative and the departmental mandate on ensuring benefit from environmental assets which, presents an opportunity to contribute significantly to job creation, social inclusion and the low carbon green economy; the department is responsible for the implementation of environmental Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) and the National Green Fund projects among others.

Video of APPSA Project

Energypedia is a wiki platform for collaborative knowledge exchange on renewable energy, energy access, and energy efficiency topics in developing countries.

Today one in five people worldwide lack access to electricity, while every third person cooks on unhealthy fireplaces. First-hand knowledge on modern and sustainable energy solutions often only exists locally or in fragments and thus is difficult for individuals to access. Therefore, there is a great need to facilitate and expand the diffusion of these technologies in developing countries through knowledge exchange and collaboration

Crop residues consist of dead plant parts, or stover, that remain from previous crops, including green manure cover crops, and may be supplemented with dried weeds or other imported plant material.
Soil cover is one of the most critical factors in ensuring the success of conservation agriculture (CA). In conventional agricultural systems, residues are usually fed to animals, taken off the field for other uses, incorporated or burned. In many places communal grazing rights are observed, and protecting the residues on the fields from free roaming animals can entail considerable conflicts. However, farmers managing CA systems derive huge benefits from surface residue retention, which makes keeping them on the fields very worthwhile, and some communities have found ways to overcome the problems of communal grazing rights.