International Research Institutions

Smallholder farming in much of Sub-Saharan Africa is rain-fed and thus exposed to rainfall variability. Among the climate variables, rainfall is projected to decline and have an overriding effect on crop productivity. With little opportunity for supplementary irrigation for the majority of farmers, a plausible strategy to maintain crop production under water-limited conditions includes balanced nutrient management for enhancing efficiency of use of limited soil water. Co-application of judicious rates of organic and mineral nutrient resources, particularly including the use of phosphorus (P) on P-limited soils, will facilitate development of an extensive crop rooting system for efficient exploration and capture of soil water, especially at a depth > 0.8 m. This chapter explores case studies across Eastern and Southern Africa where various soil water conservation and nutrient management approaches have been used to gain ‘extra miles’ with limited available soil water. Firstly, an approach is described that varies nitrogen (N) fertilizer application across growing seasons, by adjusting N application rates to match current season rainfall trends. The approach offers opportunities for farmers to increase crop productivity to > 6 t ha-1 in high agro-potential areas, compared to a ceiling of 4.5 t ha-1 for the fixed fertilization model, while minimizing economic losses due to investments in N fertilizer during drought years. Secondly, we deal with the subject of fertilization across nutrient gradients, where a poor agronomic N use efficiency of < 18 kg grain kg-1 of applied N is demonstrated for soils with < 0.4% organic carbon, compared with > 35 kg grain kg-1 of N applied when soil organic carbon > 0.5%. Thirdly, the conservation agriculture (CA)-nutrient management nexus is examined, where maize yields in farmers’ fields with CA alone were barely 0.5 t ha-1 compared to an average of 2.5 t ha-1 for CA combined with fertilizers. Fourthly, a novel system that involves intercropping two legumes with contrasting phenology for enhanced cropping system functioning is described. Finally, an approach that can be used for co-learning with farmers on soil fertility management principles for risk management is presented. The data lead to the conclusion that the ‘doubled-up’ legumes system results in reduced fertilizer requirements for cereal crops grown in sequence, which benefits yield stability over time. Variable use of N fertilizer according to season quality and more tailored targeting of nutrients are vital for profitable investments in fertilizers in Africa. The Africa RISING project in Eastern and Southern Africa is currently harnessing some of these principles as vehicles for intensification of smallholder farming systems.

Plant Quarantine and Phytosanitary Service (PQPS-ZARI)

Disease Surveillance on some farms in Mkushi District of the Central Province of Zambia

A multi­stakeholders meeting, jointly hosted by the Office of the President and Cabinet and the UN System in Zimbabwe, held today called for scaling up of humanitarian assistance to address the immediate needs of 2.8 million (30% of the total population) drought-­affected people.

Addressing over 170 senior representatives from Government; Diplomatic Corps; Development and Humanitarian Partners; Civil Society Organizations; Non­Governmental Organizations; Private Sector; and the Media; the UN Resident and UNDP Resident Representative, Bishow Parajuli emphasized that “the drought conditions in many parts of the country have been unprecedented and have severely increased the vulnerability of the poor depriving them of their livelihoods including livestock and agricultural production as well as access to water, nutrition, health and education services”.

Like many parts of Southern Africa region, Zimbabwe has been hard­hit by the effects of El Nino, with harvests devastated. The current rainfall season has so far been the driest in the last 35 years rendering over 28 million people food­insecure in the region. The late onset of rains in Zimbabwe apparently reported to be below normal, coupled with higher than average temperatures, has severely affected the prospect of 2015/2016 crop production, livestock and rural livelihoods.

Mr Subhash Palekar gave a public talk on talk on Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) on 28.07.16 at the Farmer Training School of the Food and Research and Extension Institute in Mauritius. “Zero Budget spiritual Farming means for all the crops, the production cost will be zero. In the Zero Budget Natural Farming nothing has to be purchased from the outside. All things required for the growth of the plant are available around the root zone of the plants.” …. Read more on his website.

This publication is a report of the outcomes of the workshop convened by His Excellency, Lt. General Dr. Seretse Khama Ian Khama, President of Botswana and Chairperson of SADC in May 2016 on Food Security and Poverty Eradication to exchange ideas on how to address several food and nutrition security challenges in Southern Africa.

The Cape coastline faces into a turbulent ocean. Climate change will make this naturally stormy sea all the more formidable. Cape Town has inherited a complex space to manage: land reclaimed from the sea for forts and harbour walls; towering residential flats lined with cemented promenades; economically critical ports and railway lines; ecologically sensitive beaches, dunes and river mouths; and a legacy of dispossession of black South Africans, and privileged access for wealthy whites.

Increasingly stormy seas and higher sea levels are beginning to show up the existing fault lines in the engineered, social and institutional strata of this complex coastline. People working within the City of Cape Town (CoCT) today are making decisions about how to manage these vulnerable spaces – decisions that future generations will have to live and work with.

Short-term, piece-meal, opportunistic responses to the threat of stormier seas will only increase how vulnerable the built city, its inhabitants, economic activities, and the natural environment are. The City, lead by its Environmental Resource Management Department, is developing a rigorous coastal policy and management framework that will enable politicians, managers and residents to respond consistently and appropriately as they are confronted with an uncertain, dynamic, climate-altered future.

This booklet presents research done by the University of Cape Town’s African Centre for Cities, the Stockholm Environment Institute and partner institutions, working closely with the City of Cape Town, to explore ways to manage changing coastal risks

An advert to engage a wheat consultant in southern Africa

Namibia, being a semi-arid country could potentially increase food security at a household level through conservation agriculture. Hence, there is a need for mind shifting among subsistence farmers from conventional farming to Climate Smart Agricultural (CSA) practices such as CA. Climate Smart Agriculture entails technologies aiming at transforming and reorienting agricultural systems into a sustainable agricultural efficiency in support of food security under climate change mitigating interventions. CSA is not only about new farming technologies, but a combination of traditional indigenous knowledge with common agricultural practices and appropriate agricultural technological developments. In addition, CA tend to be successful when combined with other climate smart strategies such as the use of drought tolerant and short maturing crops varieties. The Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry (MAWF) of the Republic of Namibia strives towards attaining food security at both household and national levels through the deployment of efficient and sustainable food production practices. For this reason, MAWF had launched a Comprehensive Conservation Agriculture Programme for Namibia (2015-2019) in an attempt to educate and support subsistence crop farmers on new farming interventions aiming at addressing problems of food insecurity and mitigating the effects of climate change.

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.

Ce rapport évalue les évolutions des investissements, du capital humain et des résultats dans la recherche agricole en Afrique. Le rapport fait ressortir les grandes tendances transversales et les défis qui se dégagent des données nationales. La présentation de l’information est structurée selon quatre axes thématiques, à savoir la capacité de financement, le capital humain, les produits et résultats de la recherche, et la configuration institutionnelle.