Report

In 2016, the Agricultural Productivity Programme for Southern Africa (APPSA) was in its third year of implementation in the three countries (Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia). CCARDESA provided the regional coordination role. The aim of APPSA is to strengthen and scale up regional cooperation in generation of technologies, capacity building, and knowledge sharing in food legumes, rice and maize. The project has three key components: (1) Technology Generation and Dissemination; (2) Strengthening Regional centres of Leadership; and (3) Coordination and Facilitation.

This technical progress report covers the period from 1 January to 31 December 2015, and is intended to provide an update on key achievements during the reporting period. Implementation of the project activities at national and at regional level followed the three components, namely, (a) Technology Generation and Dissemination, (b) Strengthening of Regional Centres of Leadership and (c) Coordination and Facilitation. Regional coordination and facilitation activities were elaborated in the annual work plan that was developed by CCARDESA and endorsed by the implementing countries. The key activities in the work plan included Regional Review and Strategic Meetings, Technical backstopping and Networking, Monitoring and Evaluation, Facilitation of Information-sharing Platforms, Trainings and Workshops, Policy Harmonization and Advocacy. The country work plans were approved by the respective national steering committees.

This is the first technical progress report for the project and it covers the period from 1 July 2013 to 31 December 2014. The report is intended to provide an abridged update on key deliverables during the reporting period. Sequential reports will follow the agreed reporting cycle, i.e. semi-annual reports covering the activities of each semester (Jan to June and July to December).

The PROIntensAfrica project demonstrates the potential of the diversity of pathways for sustainable intensification in agri-food systems. It identifies future challenges for science and innovation to address. It documentates the salient characteristics of a successfull bi-continental research and innovation partnership, and drafts an outline for such partnerships.

The CCARDESA 2015 Work plan devoted attention to driving activities initiated in previous years, particularly 2014.The operational momentum of activities was built up throughout 2014 with the awarding of CCARDESA supported research grants and implementation of a total of 69 projects. Therefore, the focus in 2015 was on accelerating the implementation of these activities including those identified as quick wins or low hanging fruits in the CCARDESA Medium Term Operational Plan (MTOP)

This report highlights the key achievements for CCARDESA in 2015. It is organised around the four thematic areas and cross-cutting themes that are of priority to the region. These four thematic Areas are: (1) Farmer Empowerment and Market Access; (2) Research and Technology Generation and Farmer Demanddriven Advisory Services and Innovation Systems; (3) Knowledge, Information and Communication; and (4) Institutional Development and Capacity Building. Under a resource-constrained environment facing R&D institutions globally, emphasis in 2015 was strategically directed at innovative implementation of regional activities across all the thematic areas.

CV format for submission of credentials for registration as a CCARDESA expert.

This resource is a regional report giving a general status of how agricultural information is being communicated in the region. It synthesizes reports which were developed by 12 SADC member states. The status is an attempt to inform development initiatives which are meant to support agricultural information communication and knowledge management in the region.

In this article the term ‘African leafy vegetables’ was adopted to refer to the collective of plant species which are used as leafy vegetables and which are referred to as morogo or imifino by African people in South Africa. Function is central in this indigenous concept, which is subject to spatial and temporal variability in terms of plant species that are included as a result of diversity in ecology, culinary repertoire and change over time. As a result, the concept embraces indigenous, indigenised and recently introduced leafy vegetable species but this article is concerned mainly with the indigenous and indigenised species. In South Africa, the collection of these two types of leafy vegetables from the wild, or from cultivated fields where some of them grow as weeds, has a long history that has been intimately linked to women and their traditional livelihood tasks. Among poor people in remote rural areas the use of these types of leafy vegetables is still common but nationwide there is evidence of decline, particularly in urban areas. Cultivation of indigenous or indigenised leafy vegetables is restricted to a narrow group of primarily indigenised species in South Africa. Seven groups of indigenous or indigenised African leafy vegetables that are important in South Africa were given special attention and their local nomenclature, ecology, use and cultivation are discussed.