Youth Marker 0

WAMPP is national in scope covering all of 10 Lesotho’s administrative districts, with a focus on the rangelands that cover more than two thirds of the country’s surface.  The project pays special attention to poor rural women and young people with more emphasis on the foothills because there are more incidences of food insecurity.  

According to the 2017 Nutrition in WHO African Region report, the prevalence of malnutrition in Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia is very high, and this has been attributed in part to limited dietary diversity. Biofortification represents the most cost effective and sustainable intervention to address micronutrient deficiency malnutrition in Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia compared to commercial fortification and nutrient supplements.

This article is about a meeting that was converned for the Lesotho National Conservation Agriculture Task Force. It was a revival meeting that was last held about two years ago. The importance of such a meeting is to bring stakeholders in the agricultural sector in Lesotho to deliberate on the issues of Conservation Agriculture and how it can be supported and strenghened in order to address this "monster" called climate change.

This article summarizes the findings of a research paper entitled “Problems Faced and Strategies Adopted by Farmers for Adapting to Climate Change in Xai-Xai District, Gaza Province” undertaken by researcher  from the Agricultural Research Institute of Mozambique (IIAM) under a project called "Managing Climate Related Risk to Improve Livelihood Resilience and Adaptive Capacity in Agricultural Ecosystems in Southern Africa", for the districts of Xai-Xai and Chicualacuala, Gaza province, Mozambique. 

Pesticides are essential for the control of infestation of disease, insect pests and weeds on different crops. Due to wide usage of synthetic pesticides which may lead to increased exposure and associated environmental and health risks among small-holder farmers in Zambia, a study was undertaken to understand how knowledgeable farmers are on pesticide use and practices. A total of 418 small scale farmers were randomly sampled from Mkushi, Mpongwe, Luangwa, Mbala, Solwezi, Chipata and Kalomo Districts of Zambia. Data pertaining to types of pesticides use, handling, storage and disposal was solicited using structured questionnaires. The data collected was analyzed using SPSS. Findings revealed that of the sampled farmers 43%, 30%, 25% and 17% used Glyphosate, Dicamba, Paraquat and Atrazine respectively as herbicides in Maize. 21% and 14% used Cypermethrine and Monocrotophos respectively as insecticides in both Maize and Soybean. 81% of the sampled farmers used empty containers for either storing drinking water or salt while only 15% wore protective clothing when applying pesticides. Pesticide mishandling occurred regardless of the amount of experience a farmer had using pesticides. 68% of the sampled farmers had never received any formal basic training in pestic ide use, hence a clear knowledge gap. The fact that receipt of basic training was the main predictor of a farmers’ level of knowledge on pesticide use, a farmer who had received basic training in appropriate chemical pesticides use, as opposed to one who had not, had a better chance of using chemical pesticides safely and in the right quantities.

Neste panfleto, poderá encontrar três novas variedades de amendoim, lançadas recentemente em Moçambique pelo IIAM (Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique) no contexto de um projecto financiado pelo APPSA, liderado pelo Dr. Amade Muitia. No geral, essas variedades são tolerantes a secas, manchas precoces / tardias e roseta e produzem cerca de 2,5 toneladas por hectare. Os nomes das variedades são Mapupulo-018, Amena-018 e AMM-018.

In this flyer you will find 3 new groundnut varieties recently released in Mozambique by IIAM (Mozambique Agricultural Research Institute) under an APPSA funded project led by Dr. Amade Muitia. Overall, these varieties are tolerant to droughts, early/late leaf spots and rosette and yield around 2.5 tons per hectare. The names of the varieties are Mapupulo-018, Amena-018 and AMM-018.

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. 
 

This poster highlights the work that CCARDESA with the support from GIZ has done in Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe in implementing climate-smart agriculture practices which saw improved and increased yields in 19 pilot farms.