NGOs Operating at Farmer Level

The Government of Mozambique will invest around US$50 million in agricultural research over the next three years. This feat was announced by His Excellency Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, President of the Republic of Mozambique in his opening speech of the First Agricultural Research Symposium held in KaTembe, Municipality of Maputo, from 31 August to 1 September 2022. The investment aims to stimulate and improve agricultural research in Mozambique through the improvement and operation of research and vaccine production laboratories, reinforcement of the multiplication of pre-basic and basic seeds, support in the operationalization of the Rice Research and Leadership Center and impact assessments of agricultural production.

The Resilient Agriculture and Market Activities Project in the Beira Corridor (RAMA_BC) in partnership with the Centro Zonal Centro (CZC) of the Institute of Agricultural Research of Mozambique (IIAM) has been introducing and promoting various practices of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) aimed at reducing the vulnerability of small producers and dealing with climate change and its impact.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of age at weaning of calves on non‐ esterified fatty acids (NEFA) and reproductive parameters of beef cows. Animals (n = 65) were randomly assigned to three treatments after calving: hyper‐early weaning (W30) at 32 ± 0.89 days, early weaning (W75) at 77 ± 0.95 days, and conventional weaning (W180) at 183 ± 0.82 days. Body weight (BW) and body condition score (BCS) were evaluated at parturition (AP) and at 30, 45, 64, 81, 100 and 115 days postpartum (dPP). Blood samples were collected to analyze NEFA levels and progesterone (P4) at 30, 45, 64 and 81 dPP. Higher BW and BCS were observed from 64 to 115 dPP in W30 cows than W180 ones (p < 0.05). Cows subjected to W30 condition had higher levels of NEFA at 30 dPP compared to 64 and 81 dPP (p < 0.05). We also observed that cows from W180 group showed decreased levels of NEFA at 30 dPP compared to 45 (p < 0.01) and 64 dPP (p < 0.05). The highest P4 level was observed at 64 dPP in W30 cows compared to W75 and W180 (p < 0.05). We also observed higher CR of W30 (86%) compared to W180 (47%) at 45 dPP (p < 0.05). The overall pregnancy rate (PR) was higher for W30 (95.5%) than W180 (73.9%). In addition, higher BW at calving and P4 levels at 30 dPP were positively correlated with the possibility of pregnancy (p < 0.05). Improvement in BW and BCS were observed in cows subjected to hyper‐early weaning management. However, levels of NEFA decreased as the postpartum period progressed. We concluded that cows who weaned calves hyper‐early have greater chances of increasing cyclicity and PRs.

Climate change is now known to be a key threat to achieving sustainable development and poverty reduction targets, as well as attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in Africa. Climate change is altering rainfall patterns, water availability, and sea levels; it is increasing droughts and the frequency of bushfires, and increasingly impacting on human health, agricultural productivity, forests and biodiversity. In this way, climate change will negatively affect the social, economic and environmental dimensions of human livelihoods in Africa.

Lesotho Agricultural College [LAC] is committed to providing professional education and training, promoting research and community outreach, providing guidance on commercialized agriculture, through combining quality theory, practicals and research methodologies. The College strives to remain relevant, forward-thinking, industry-related in developing graduates who are thinkers and practitioners. The College programmes involve practicals and theoretical knowledge facilitated by highly skilled academic professionals by ensuring that students are well equipped to enter the world-of-work confidently upon graduation.

With this intent, through the Department of Crops [CPD], LAC is engaged in collaborative partnerships with other Government ministries and Departments, NGOs, and commercial farmers to create a platform for internship. Through this initiative, the CPD placed the first group of students of Diploma in Agriculture (General) and Diploma in Agriculture (Crop production) for an internship at the Department of Agricultural Research [DAR] and to thirty-two (32) farmers who are actively engaged in horticulture enterprises in Lesotho. These enterprises and farms were selected based on their accessibility to the students. The internship ran from the 27th June 2022 to 22nd July 2022.

Study on Improving Existing Policies to Support Cross Border Trade in Agricultural Inputs and Commodities and National Trainings on Agricultural Innovation System Policy Practice Index in the SADC Region Inception Report

Regional Knowledge, Information & Data Capture Guidelines Regional Training Workshop Report:

SADC Futures: Developing Foresight Capacity for Climate Resilient Agricultural Development Final technical report

CCARDESA is a key player in Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D) activities and wants to take the AR4D agenda forward by ensuring that Agricultural Transformation embraces digitalization because it has the potential to provide productivity and sustainability gains for the whole agricultural sector. Significant changes in agricultural systems are anticipated because of the convergence of new digital technologies which have the potential to change farming along whole value chains. The demand for region-specific digital technologies for agricultural innovations, coupled with a conducive enabling environment, calls for a systematic assessment of levels of availability of relevant digital systems and the extent to which such technologies are accessible in each of the SADC countries.

Success in fighting poverty in Africa will largely depend on the extent to which rural poverty is reduced as it is largely a rural phenomenon. By examining the rural development strategies of the East African Community, Economic Community of West African States and the Association of South East Asian Nations, the purpose of this study was to determine their relationship to rural poverty reduction. The Rural Development Strategy Soundness Model and Rural Web Model tools were used to examine the soundness and cohesiveness of implementation, respectively. The results showed that rural poverty declined where a rural development strategy had both been sound and cohesively implemented. We concluded that a positive correlation exists between a sound and cohesively implemented rural development strategy and rural poverty reduction. We deduced from this that the former is a missing link in Africa’s fight against rural poverty