National Research Institutions

Fleming Chookole, 49, of Mwiinga village in Chinkankata district in Zambia has returned to farming after abandoning it for blacksmithing for several years. Today, he is a lead farmer and inspirational Conservation Farming Unit (CFU) farmer among villagers- thanks to the Agricultural Productivity Programme for Southern Africa (APPSA) which introduced the crop and soil improvement programme to Fleming and his community.

Le Programme de productivité agricole de l'Afrique australe (APPSA) est une initiative conçue sur six ans (2013 à 2018) pour améliorer la production et la diffusion des technologies entre les pays participants en Afrique australe. Le programme est financé par le mécanisme de prêt de la Banque mondiale à hauteur de 30 millions de dollars US pour chaque pays participant. L'APPSA a été lancé avec la participation des trois pays suivants: Malawi, Mozambique et Zambie. D'autres pays de larégion de la SADC devraient s’y joindre au fur et à mesure de l'évolution du projet.

Agricultural productivity in the region is far below potential. Although productivity has increased in recent years within Southern Africa, most of the growth has come from bringing previously unculti- vated land into production, rather than from inten- sification made possible by technical change. Southern Africa offers attractive opportunities for regional research. Groups of countries within Southern Africa share similar agro-ecological zones and farming systems, suggesting that there is potential for finding shared solutions to common problems. Although technology spillover is already occurring within the sub-region, significant poten- tial remains for expanding spillovers.

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.

Madagascar occupe actuellement le 5ème rang mondial des pays les plus exposés aux risques dus au changement climatique et le 1er pays exposé en Afrique. Durant 30 ans depuis 1980, des aléas naturels notamment des sécheresses, tremblements de terre, épidémies, inondations, cyclones et températures extrêmes, ont causé des dommages économiques de plus de 1 milliard USD à Madagascar et le secteur agricole est parmi les secteurs durement touchés. Et selon les projections, ces risques devraient s’aggraver dans le futur. Face à cela, la FAO avec un financement du marché commun de l’Afrique Orientale et Australe (COMESA) en collaboration avec la communauté de l’Afrique de l’Est (EAC) et de la Communauté de développement de l’Afrique australe (SADC) a mis en œuvre le programme intitulé : « Programme sur l’adaptation et la mitigation au changement climatique dans les régions est et Sud de l’Afrique ». L’objectif de ce programme est d’appuyer la mise à l’échelle de l’adoption des techniques d’Agriculture Climato-Intelligente afin de renforcer les moyens de subsistance et d’assurer la sécurité alimentaire des petits producteurs dans les régions de l’Afrique de l’Est et Australe dont Madagascar.

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.

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 impacts of climate change  are reducing the capacity of natural resources to sustain the demand of the increasing population.

Tanzania, an East African country, is endowed with important land and water resources that have a high agricultural potential. Agriculture is a key sector of Tanzania’s economy, as it accounts for 24.1 percent of GDP and is the source of livelihoods for more than three-quarters of the population. Majority of the population still live in rural areas although urbanization has increased in the last three decades to reach 38 percent.

The United Republic of Tanzania which comprises of the Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar islands is located south of the Equator in East Africa between latitudes 1o – 12o South and longitude 30o – 40o east. It is bounded to the North by Uganda and Kenya, on the East by the Indian Ocean, to the South by Mozambique and Malawi, to the South West by Zambia, and to the West by the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda. Tanzania is mainly an agrarian society with agriculture, the mainstay of its economy, employing more than 80 percent of the total rural population  and accounting for 26.5 percent of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with over 21% contributed by the crop’s sector. In recent years, Tanzania has attained self sufficiency in food production with annual surpluses, probably a reflection of enhanced capacity for the sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) situated in the context of a series of functioning farming systems.