Training and Conference Materials

In this webinar recording, Graham Clarkson, University of Reading, presents the initial results of PICSA (Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture) in Ghana, Rwanda, Malawi and Tanzania. His presentation is followed by questions and answers by the participants.

In this webinar recording, Peter Dorward, University of Reading, presents the PICSA (Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture) approach. His presentation is followed by questions and answers by the participants.

En RDC, l’activité agricole vise à améliorer les performance de production. La ferme Kitoko Food est calquée sur le modèle israélien des kibboutz, un concept intelligent et novateur.

The 2013 AAEA & CAES Joint Annual Meeting in Washington, DC will offer AAEA members, CAES members, and other applied economists a chance to interact and learn over the course of the three day meeting on August 4-6. This year’s meeting features a large amount of educational content including:

More than 150 educational sessions

Over 200 posters on display, with opportunities to interact with their authors

Multiple plenary sessions each day, featuring high-profile speakers

Common research topics include:

International development

Climate change

Biofuels

Linkages between food and health

The Farm Bill

Land use and water resource issues

Regional economics

Business economics

Behavioral economics

The meeting will also feature a number of chances for attendees to connect and network at the welcome and closing receptions, receptions for specific Sections of AAEA, and evening gatherings organized by universities and government agencies.

The Validation Workshop for the draft Climate-Smart Agriculture Manual brought together senior technocrats in the Government of Zimbabwe Ministries: Agriculture, Mechanization and Irrigation Development and Environment, Water and Climate, with other approved experts to give the final input to the draft Manual.

The work funded by the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) and with the lead implementer, United Nations Environment Programme – Technical University of Denmark, has brought to the forefront issues that concern agriculture and climate change to the attention of all stakeholders in Zimbabwe.

The draft Manual was approved (with amendments) by the senior technocrats in the Government of Zimbabwe and stakeholders represented. What follows next, is the official launch of the Climate-Smart Agriculture Manual for Agricultural Education in Zimbabwe, followed by the Training of Trainers and concluding work to the year-long Technical Assistance to Zimbabwe.

The main aim of the Conference was to have a dialogue on matters relating to climate change as it affects agriculture in Southern Africa, to share lessons and progress made. The first part of the conference dealt with presentations from a number of countries in Southern Africa on their experiences and coping mechanisms, and this was followed by a session primarily dedicated to South African experiences.

This report presents the proceedings of the Climate Proofing and CSA Training in Cape Town in October 2016.

Bambara nut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc) is a nutritious legume, however, its production is characterised by use of landraces, which have been maintained by farmers. Lack of improved varieties has contributed to low yields. This re– search was done to identify potentially high yielding and farmers’ preferred genotypes for improved production of Bambara in Malawi. A completely Randomised Block Design experiment with eight genotypes (181CR, 181RD, 194, 137CR, 137RD, 317, 2762 and 2768) and four replicates was implemented at Chitedze, Chitala and Mbawa Research Sta– tions to identify high yielding genotypes. In addition to the yield, farmers’ criteria based on plant vigour, ability to fully bury its pods in the ground (mounding), yield at harvest, maturity period, seed colour, grain size, taste of boiled dry grain and taste of fresh pods were used to identify farmers’ preferred genotypes. Significant yield differences were identified between genotypes (P < 0.0001), sites (P < 0.001) and interaction between genotypes and sites (environment) (P < 0.001). Yield means across sites show that genotype 181CR yielded highly (1322 kg/ha) followed by 2768 (1066 kg/ha), 181RD (1064 kg/ha) and 2762 (841 kg/ha). In contrast to the high yielding genotypes, genotype 137RD gave the lowest yield (485 kg/ha) followed by 194 (573 kg/ha), 317 (617 kg/ha) and 137CR (620 kg/ha). Mbawa Research Sta– tion showed significantly high yields with site mean of 1177 kg/ha compared with Chitedze and Chitala with site means of 703kg/ha and 530 kg/ha respectively. Farmers ranked the eight accessions in order of importance as follows: 181RD, 181CR, 2768, 137CR, 194, 137RD, 2762 and 317. Combination of yield and farmers’ preference identified three geno– types (181RD, 181CR and 2768) as potential varieties for production in Malawi. Accessions 181RD and 2768 were specifically selected for relish unlike 181CR, which has been selected for use as snack. However, further research on nutrition, value addition and marketing needs to be conducted on the identified genotypes.

The Green Choice Alliance (GCA) developed a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Framework to measure the conservation and socio-economic gains of projects that are being implemented using sustainable land use best practice methods and located within the biodiversity hotspots of South Africa as shown on the map.

This presentation contains information on the institution CCARDESA and its famework. It covers:

• realities of climate change in SADC
• CCARDESA mandate and ICKM actions
• the ACCRA project and the ICKM component
• the SAAIKS platform (conception and development)
• Lessons learnt
• Way forward