Curated Content

In this second edition of the Sustainable Agriculture Production Program (SAPP) Success Stories, we present achievements of smallholder farmers who have adopted various sustainable good agriculture practices with the support from SAPP.SAPP is being implemented in six districts in Malawi namely; Blantyre, Chiradzulu, Balaka, Lilongwe, Nkhotakota and Chitipa. In all those districts the programme has made significant differences in farmer’s lives in the areas of farmer adoption of sustainable good agriculture practices as well as in adaptive research and seed certification.In this second edition, you will get a picture of how farmer’s lives have changed since the introduction of the programme. Topical areas that have been covered include; seed multiplication of ground nuts, chicken production, agribusiness and nutrition, rocket stoves, conservation agriculture, other farming technologies and crop diversification.We hope our selection of success stories will inspire you to adopt and practice sustainable good agriculture practices which will in turn improve the country’s economic growth.

BACKGROUND:Thispaperdocumentsfarmerperceptionsandmanagementpracticesforfallarmyworm(Spodopterafrugiderda J.E.Smith),providingabaselineforthedevelopmentofsustainablepestmanagementstrategies.
RESULTS:91%offarmerscorrectlyidentifiedfallarmyworm,andreporteditasthemostimportantmaizepestduring2016/2017 cropping season, affecting nearly half of cultivated area. Estimated maize yield loss during the season, attributed to fall armywormwas28%.Amajorityoffarmers(60%)usedpesticidesforfallarmywormcontrol,alongwithothercultural/physical practices – handpickingandcrushingeggmasses/caterpillars(36%),andapplicationofash/sandinthefunnel(19%).Farmers usedvariouspesticideactiveingredients,andprotectivemeasureswereinadequate;>50%offarmersdidnotuseanyprotective measures while spraying. Significantly more male than female farmers used pesticides (P=0.05), and the reverse was true for culturalpractices.Significantmaizeyielddifferences(P=0.001)wereobservedbygender,attributedtodifferencesinutilization of production inputs/practices. At least 77% of farmers received and shared agricultural advice, which can be optimized to spreadinformationonfallarmywormmanagementoptions.
CONCLUSION: Increased use of pesticides to manage fall armyworm poses health and environmental risks, besides the high cost for farmers and governments. Research into cultural and indigenous practices used by farmers will offer opportunities for alternative and sustainable management practices. Research efforts should pay attention to gender differences in access to resources and inputs. Tackling fall armyworm at the farm level, and averting yield losses will require integrated messaging addressingotherproductionrisks. 

The Sector Project Sustainable Agriculture in cooperation with GIZ Philippines and the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) conducted RISE analyses with the objective to compare different production systems in the Philippian provinces Leyte and Southern Leyte.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS) in Lesotho held a one-day Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Second Malabo Declaration Biennial Review (BR) Report Validation Workshop for all stakeholders in the agricultural sector. CAADP is Africa's Policy Framework for Agriculture and Agriculture-led development. It is aimed at reducing poverty and increasing food security in the continent through at least 10% public budget allocation to the sector in order to achieve at least 6% agriculture annual growth rate.
The Principal Secretary (PS) of MAFS, Mr. Malefetsane Nchaka officially opened the Workshop and thanked the participants for their attendance. He encouraged them to own the CAADP process as a sector and should not only be the responsibility of MAFS as the leading Ministry. He also acknowledged the presence of Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS) at the validation workshop The PS mentioned that the first BR report was presented in January 2018 at the AU Ordinary Session, and Lesotho’s score was 3.7 out of 10 which did not reflect well on the country. The PS further encouraged the sector to do more in whatever may be required by asking the participants to provide with data as required so that when this current BR report is presented, Lesotho should have a better score than the 2018 score. 
  
The Lesotho CAADP Focal Person, Mr. Khesa presented the report on the results of the first Biennial Review where among the seven commitments, Lesotho scored an overall of only 3.7/10. Based on this score, the following were the recommendations that the country needs to consider in order to achieve a far better score in the next biennial review reporting. The recommendations were:
•    Lesotho should increase public agriculture expenditure as share of total public expenditure in line with the Malabo Declaration commitments, and stem the decline in the area of irrigated land.
•    The country should do more to integrate the youth and women in agricultural value chains.
•    The country should strengthen agriculture data collection and management systems (monitoring and evaluation) to ensure that missing under and unreported indicators are reported in the next round of the Biennial Review. Data was not available on the following areas: 
I.    Post-Harvest Loss;
II.    Farm Pastoral and Fisher Households that are resilient to climate change and weather related risks; and
III.    Participation of women in agriculture with access to finance.

The next Biennial workshop will be held in 2021. 
 

Maize is a third important cereal crop in the world after wheat and rice. In Zambia, it is an important staple crop. Its production is however hampered by both biotic and abiotic factors. Among the abiotic factors, Aluminum (Al) toxicity causes high yield losses and is directly linked to acidic soils. Application of lime can ameliorate this problem, but it is expensive for small scale farmers.
Developing maize varieties that are tolerant to Al toxicity is cheaper and feasible for small scale farmers. The purpose of this research was to investigate the type of gene action conditioning tolerance to aluminum toxicity in tropical maize. Eleven inbred lines were mated in an 8 male (4 moderately tolerant and 4 susceptible) x 3 female (resistant) North Carolina Design II. Results revealed that general combining ability (GCA) effects due to both males and females were highly significant (P≤ 0.001) for root biomass. The shoot length GCA effects due to both male and female respectively were significant (P≤ 0.01). Similarly, the GCA effects due to females and males for root length were significant, P≤ 0.01 and P≤ 0.05 respectively. The genotype CML 511 had the most desirable significant GCA effect value (1.40) for root length among the male lines while CML 538 had the most desirable significant GCA effect value (0.92) among the female lines. The baker’s ratio for root length was found to be 0.49 implying that both additive and non-additive gene action were important in conditioning aluminum toxicity tolerance in tropical maize.

The term vulnerable has become both a noun and verb, and now overshadows the significance of the term, vulnerabilities. For some time now, the term vulnerable has been used to refer to almost everything, yet vulnerabilities refer to the inability to withstand the effects of the hostile environment, while vulnerable refers to the possibility of being attacked, harmed – either physically or emotionally.

At the heart of the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho lie the highlands. Sitting between 2000 and 3500 metres above sea level, they channel water into the OrangeSenqu River which winds its way from Lesotho through South Africa and Namibia, with tributaries stretching as far as Botswana. It is a key source of water for Southern Africa’s most economically active region, supporting large-scale irrigation, industrial activities, hydropower, urban demand, and small-scale rural activities. South Africa’s highly developed economy draws most of the water, with Gauteng deriving over 32% of its water directly from Lesotho. This paper is a discussion of this resource base.

The brief discusses the key messages that transpired during the Conference on Scaling held on 29─30 November 2018 at the Melia Hotel in Hanoi, hosted by CCAFS SEA, co-hosted by ACIAR and GIZ, and funded by a CCAFS Small Grant Cross-CRP Networking. The conference main points include: scaling up agricultural innovations takes place in complex systems of agricultural transformation, and sustainable scaling should build into “sustainable change at scale”.

This booklet presents a collection of previously unpublished or ongoing research and interventions related to climate-smart agriculture (CSA), with emphasis on experiences in Eastern and Southern Africa. The visual material contained herein offers researchers, development workers and policy-makers teaser insights into new tools, methodologies and data to support CSA scaling efforts. The 35 contributions in this booklet answer to five key questions that currently obstruct the efficient and effective implementation of CSA agendas.

In an effort to serve as a 'one stop shop' for climate-related information, data, and tools, the World Bank created the Climate Change Knowledge Portal (or CCKP). The Portal provides an online tool for access to comprehensive global, regional, and country data related to climate change and development.