Dec 28, 2008

Uganda clones stronger cassava



Daily Monitor - Kampala,Uganda

Ugandan researchers have developed cassava clones resistant to cassava brown streak disease. The clones developed from 20,000 cassava seeds at the National Crop Resources Research Institute were imported from Tanzania early this year. “So far out of the 116 clones, 15 may be tolerant to the disease,” said Dr Titus Alicai, a cassava scientist at Namulonge Research Centre. (HEALTHY: Researchers have developed cassava clones resistant to cassava brown streak disease. FILE PHOTO)


“Farmers should not start demanding these clones, they need to give us time to study them before we start multiplying them,” he said.

The disease initially reported in two districts in 2004 has spread to over 25 districts, including Arua, Gulu, Apac, Mubende, Hoima, Kasese, Kumi, Busia, Pallisa, Mukono, Wakiso and Luweero.

Dr Alicai has warned farmers and some NGOs against transporting planting materials from the affected districts. He, however, regretted that transportation of planting materials of vegetatively propagated crops like cassava, bananas and sweet potato vines could not be easy to regulate as in the case of livestock.

“In the crop sector, nothing is done that is why the disease initially reported in two districts has rapidly spread in over 25 districts,” he lamented.

Adapted from Africa Science News Service

Dec 25, 2008

Fuel for the rich or food for the poor?

Fraser Nelson
Spectator.co.uk - UK

Is biofuel a cause worth dying for? Or, more specifically, is the West so sold on the idea that we’re willing to let the poor starve as we fill our cars with the grain it would take to feed a man for nine months? This FAO report from the United Nations counts the damage: 75 million more in undernourished this year as a result of higher crop prices. And, as we now know, from a leaked World Bank report, biofuel production is responsible for three quarters of these price increases.


The UN is in a tricky situation here, as it also organises the IPCC – a collection of the world’s environment departments. So while not apportioning blame, the UN report does name environmentalism as an aggravating factor:-

The emerging biofuel market is a significant source of demand for some agricultural commodities, such as sugar, maize, cassava, oilseeds and palm oil. The stronger demand for these commodities caused a surge in their prices in world markets, which in turn has led to higher food prices.

Biofuel demand is likely to continue its rapid growth, partly driven by high oil prices and government policies partly by slow developments in widespread adoption of second generation biofuels and technologies…. The proportion of the world’s arable land devoted to growng biomass for liquid biofuels could triple in the next 20 years.

People are starving on this small planet of ours, and the rich world grows crops to put into our cars. Britain should have nothing to do with this, but we don’t have control. A 2003 EU Directive commits us to having 5 percent of petrol and diesel sold come from biofuel by December 2010. This directive was agreed before it was clear the harm that biofuels does to the world’s poor. Gordon Brown actually understands the biofuel and poverty issue. He wants to pick a fight with Europe next year, this one has his name written all over it.

Lampung builds special school to support bioenergy program

Oyos Saroso H.N.,
The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung Dec.23, 2008

The Lampung provincial administration is building an integrated biofuel school in Central Lampung regency as part of its plan to become a national bioenergy center. Construction of the special school in Sulusuban village, Central Lampung, is expected to cost Rp 216 billion (US$19.6 million), funded by the central government (50 percent), province (30 percent) and regency (20 percent). Construction work commenced in the middle of the year and is scheduled for completion in 2017.


Head of the Lampung office Development Planning Board, Suryono S.W., said the school would be located within the compound of the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) in Sulusuban village in Seputihagung district.

"The budgeted Rp 216 billion will be used to build the school, from elementary to university levels. A vocational school will be built in the initial phase, followed by a polytechnic," Suryono said recently.

"Both schools will focus on the field of bioenergy. The integrated school will also be associated with BPPT's large-scale projects."

According to Suryono, the Lampung provincial administration is serious about turning the province into a center for renewable energy. It is also actively seeking to attract investors in building cassava- and jatropha-based biofuel plants, as well as supporting and empowering farmers to cultivate the crops.

"A number of investors from South Korea and China have currently signed memorandums of understanding with the Lampung administration to build bioenergy plants. BPPT in Sulusuban has also spearheaded bioethanol development in Indonesia," Suryono said.

"So it's very timely that the administration is working with the BPPT in setting up and developing the special school."

He said the potential for bioenergy in Lampung was very promising because of the area's vast cassava plantations and a number of bioethanol plants in Central and North Lampung regencies.

"They should be supported by skilled workers in the field of bioenergy. That's why we have built the integrated bioenergy school," he added.

The cooperation with BPPT, said Suryono, took the form of land use and provision of teaching staff.

"BPPT has provided 317 hectares for the school, and construction commenced this year," he said.

A number of investors have been building bioethanol factories in Lampung since 2006. PT Medco, for instance, has invested $40 million in North Lampung in developing renewable bioethanol at an output capacity of 60 million liters annually.

The plant also produces biogas to feed boilers, 33,000 metric tons of liquid carbon dioxide, 13,000 metric tons of organic fertilizer and 118,000 liters of fusel oil.

In Central Lampung, PT Medco has built a biodiesel plant based on crude palm oil at a cost of around $6 million, deriving raw materials from palm oil farmers.

For raw materials, PT Medco has developed a partnership program encompassing six districts in Central Lampung over a total of 7,901 hectares: Pubiam (1,773 ha), Padang Ratu (1,939 ha), Selagai Lingga (1,178 ha), Sendang Agung (972 ha), Anak Tuha (1,662 ha) and Anak Ratu Aji (377 ha).

PT Madu Lampung Indah has also set up a bioethanol plant with an output capacity of 50 million liters annually. It is currently using about 1,600 hectares of cassava farms and expects to be able to manage 4,000 hectares of cassava farms in partnership programs with farmers in East and South Lampung regencies.

The Lampung BPPT office has been developing bioenergy fuel since the 1980s, with the arrival of equipment bought with the assistance of the Japanese government. Researchers at BPPT have conducted further studies on other raw materials for bioethanol, such as sugarcane, corn and other crops.

Earlier, Lampung BPPT researchers developed raw material for bioethanol from molasses at a 20.5 percent sugar content. However, sugarcane supplies were limited at the time because of the demand from the food industry.

One BPPT researcher, Arief Yudiarto, said that, according to Lampung BPPT's estimates, Indonesia would have to set up 50 new bioethanol-processing plants by 2010 if the entire petroleum demand in Indonesia were replaced by gasohol, which has an ethanol content of 10 percent (Gasohol BE-10).

"That is if Indonesia wants to be serious about developing renewable energies," Arief said.

Dec 18, 2008

Uganda: Disease-Resistant Cassava Cloned at Namulonge

(Photo from Hoang Kim: Some of Scientists of the NCRRI and Africa at Gent, 2008)
Ronald Kalyango

AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA, 16 December 2008

Kampala — SCIENTISTS at the National Crop Resources Research Institute in Namulonge, Wakiso district have developed cassava clones resistant to cassava brown streak disease.The clones were developed from 20,000 cassava seeds, which were imported from Tanzania early this year. "So far out of the 116 clones, 15 may be tolerant to the disease," said Dr. Titus Alicai, a cassava scientist at Namulonge.


"Farmers should not start demanding these clones, they need to give us time to study them before we start multiplying them," he said.

The disease initially reported in two districts in 2004 has spread to over 25 districts, including Arua, Gulu, Apac, Mubende, Hoima, Kasese, Kumi, Busia, Pallisa, Mukono, Wakiso and Luweero.

Dr Alicai warned farmers and some NGOs against transporting planting materials from the affected districts. He, however, regretted that transportation of planting materials of vegetatively propagated crops like cassava, bananas and sweet potato vines could not be easy to regulate as in the case of livestock.

"In the crop sector, nothing is done that is why the disease initially reported in two districts has rapidly spread in over 25 districts," he lamented.

The workshop which was organised by Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) was aimed at enhancing cassava production.

The FAO country representative Percy Misika called for team work to save a food crop that ranks second to bananas in terms of production.

Why cassava?
It is drought-resistant.
It can do well in acidic and poor soils
Farmers can esaily harvest it whenever there is a need.
It is vegetatively propagated thus making it easy to maintain and multiply it.
It requires low levels of production inputs.

USES OF CASSAVA
Cassava tubers can be eaten as food.
Tubers can be milled into flour.
Cassava leaves are eaten as vegetables, especially in times of food scarcity.
Manufacture of starch for use in brewing, textiles, paper industries and making of livestock feeds.

Dec 14, 2008

Nigeria has potential to be self-reliant in food production



By Seye Adeniyi
Nigerian Tribune - Ibadan,Nigeria

Dr. Alfred Dixon "I feel sad anytime I see people complaining about food shortage or lamenting about increasing food prices. But the truth is that the nation has one of the best agro-ecology in the entire globe to grow any crop in almost every part of the country.”These were the words of Dr. Alfred Dixon, a senior researcher in agriculture who recently disengaged from the services of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan after many years of meritorious service and research work in the country.


According to the cassava geneticist, Nigeria is one nation in Africa that should not be complaining of food shortage when considering the agriculture–friendly weather in every part of the nation, as well as the array of agriculture experts that are contributing to the development of agricultural sector of the country.

The cassava expert said he was very happy that the country is still occupying the number one position on global agricultural map especially in the area of cassava production, adding that this is a reflection of good things, hard work, comprehensive research work and the commitment of the government to the development of the agricultural sector.

He also gave kudos to farmers, especially those are at the rural area for their efforts at making food surplus and cheap despite neglect by the government, and when considering the insensitivity of many local government administration to the plight of farmers even though the local government area councils are close to majority of peasant farmers.

On what make cassava prominent and popular in Nigeria when compared to some other countries in the African continent, as well as rest of the world, Dr. Dixon who has been called upon by Sierra-Leone government to come and serve his fatherland, explained that cassava is basically grown in every part of Nigeria and the tuber crop is not a sub-regional crop like some other crops.

Apart from this fact, cassava plant can be said to be in love with Nigeria weather and the large production of the tuber crop in every nooks and cranny of the country is also the unique likeness of Nigerian farmers for the crop because it is one of the crops suppling the masses of this country their staple foods.

On how the country can maintain its number one position in cassava production globally, he advised both states and local governments leaders or administrators to help farmers by highly subsidising farm-inputs because greater percentage of Nigerian farmers are into cassava production, an attestation to the fact that the crop is even number one crop in the country.

He however declared that one of the reasons why agricultural sector has not regained its rightful position as a major source of income for the country’s economy is because many states and local governments are only paying lip service to agricultural development, deceiving people that they are helping farmers whereas, majority of farmers are living in abject poverty, while some are existing merely on bank loans with “cut-your-throat” interest.

Dr. Dixon however advocated for a reasonable subsidy for farm inputs and working tools, adding that the question they need to ask some governors and local government chairmen is that: What has farm implements or inputs got to do in government house and offices, and even in many states of assemblies? He also stressed that these are implements and farm inputs that needs to be distributed to farmers during the planting season to increase food production, but which has now become one of the major political weapons to silence the opposition and to woo people who are not even practising farmers into their political parties.

The researcher further appealed to the Federal government to call local government chairmen to order in the way and manner they waste their monthly allocations on unprofitable ventures. “Rather they should invest heavily on agriculture in order to make food not only surplus, but also cheap in the country.

Nigeria: Cassava earns global awards

Kent Mensah, AfricaNews editor in Accra, Ghana
AfricaNews - Netherlands

A major break though in cassava processing has earned global awards for a Nigerian institution. The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture won two awards for in-depth researches into cassava and cocoa that helped in fighting hunger and poverty in Africa. A statement to the Ghana Office of AfricaNews from Godwin Atser, Corporate Communications Officer (West Africa) of IITA said the awards included “Outstanding Agricultural Technology in sub-Saharan Africa and Outstanding Communications.” The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research instituted the award.


Dr Lateef Sanni Oladimeji of the University of Agriculture in Abeokuta, Nigeria, who is also IITA’s Postharvest Specialist received the 2008 CGIAR Regional Award for Outstanding Agricultural Technology in sub-Saharan Africa, the statement said.

The CGIAR is a strategic alliance of members, partners and international agricultural centers that mobilizes science to benefit the poor. According to CGIAR at its annual conference in Maputo, Sanni’s expertise in drying technologies has contributed to considerable income and employment gains for numerous small and medium scale enterprises in Nigeria and several other West African countries.

The statement added: “Sanni initially designed a rotary dryer that increased production of cassava flour to 300 kilograms (kg) every 8 hours. It was then disseminated to cassava processing facilities in southwest and southeast Nigeria. More recently, within IITA’s Integrated Cassava Project, he assembled a team of engineers that has designed a “flash” dryer capable of drying 250 kg of cassava flour per hour.”

“His work has helped to increase the use of locally-manufactured flash dryers in Nigeria from two units before 2003, to over 60 units today. Sanni was presented the award after a short video showcasing his excellent work,” the statement said.

Communication category

On the other hand, Dr. Soniia David, IITA’s Technology Transfer Specialist, and her team at the Sustainable Tree Crops Program received the 2008 CGIAR Science Awards - Outstanding Communications Category for training farmers in West African countries to use digital video cameras as a way to share knowledge of sustainable cocoa production. By setting up Video Viewing Clubs (VVC), the team got together groups of farmers to watch and learn from the videos.

To date, 450 farmers in Ghana have participated in VVCs. Farmers who adopted the crop and pest management practices promoted by the YouTube videos are likely to increase yields by 20-40 per cent and decrease pesticide use by 10-20 per cent.
Dr Paula Bramel, IITA’s Deputy Director-General Research, received the award on behalf of David.

IITA's work on banana in Uganda was also extensively featured in the winning entry for the broadcast journalism category of the CGIAR-FARA 2008 Award for Excellence in Agricultural Science Journalism in Africa.

Patricia Oyella, editor and reporter at WBS TV in Uganda, received the award for her broadcast feature, “Saving the Cooking Banana,” shown on WBS TV and on Business Africa, a program broadcast on a network of more than 45 African and five European partner channels. The feature demonstrated the importance of this food crop in Africa, the problems faced by banana farmers, and the solutions offered by researchers.

Manary named Helene B. Roberson Professor of Pediatrics


By Beth Miller
News from Washington University in St. Louis - Saint Louis,MO,USA Dec. 10, 2008

Mark J. Manary, M.D., has been named the Helene B. Roberson Professor of Pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "Mark Manary is an outstanding choice for the Helene B. Roberson Professor of Pediatrics," said Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. "Dr. Manary has developed innovative approaches to improving the lives of children in Africa. He is a credit to his field and most deserving of this generous honor supported by an endowment gift from Helene B. Roberson."


"Mark is an internationally recognized expert and advocate for severely malnourished children whose pioneering clinical studies reshape our approach to this profound health issue," said Alan L. Schwartz, Ph.D., M.D., the Harriet B. Spoehrer Professor and head of Pediatrics. "Further he is an outstanding clinician, educator, citizen of Washington University and colleague."

"I am very, very honored to receive the Roberson chair," said Manary, professor of pediatrics and a specialist in emergency medicine at St. Louis Children's Hospital. "Mrs. Roberson's vision is about having a better future for children, which is coincident with what we have going on in our Department of Pediatrics as well as the kind of work that I embrace. We want to not only offer the very best to the kids with whom we have contact everyday, but to those who will never come to our facility or to St. Louis."

Manary has spent several years devoted to researching the effectiveness of a simple yet revolutionary peanut-butter mixture with severely and moderately malnourished young children in the sub-Saharan African country of Malawi, where malnutrition affects 70 percent of children. Several times a year, Manary visits the African nation, often accompanied by students from the School of Medicine.

After completing a Fulbright Scholarship in Africa, Manary developed improved, peanut-butter based foods to address the malnutrition epidemic in Malawi. The therapeutic feeding program uses the nutrient-rich mixture, called Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), which contains peanuts, powdered milk, oil, sugar, and added vitamins and minerals. It has been remarkably successful in promoting recovery among severely malnourished children in Malawian clinics in which Manary works.

Produced in a Malawian factory, the spoil-proof concoction is given to the mothers of the malnourished children to feed at home. In the last five years, Manary's feeding projects alone have directly helped an estimated 20,000 children. The project is looking toward significant growth as it is now in all 25 districts in Malawi.

The extraordinary recovery of malnourished children with RUTF has caught the attention of other organizations working to fight malnutrition across the globe. Thanks in part to Manary's work, UNICEF, the United Nations Systems Standing Committee on Nutrition, the World Health Organization and the World Food Program issued a joint statement last year endorsing RUTF as the standard of treatment for severely malnourished children worldwide. Manary has also designed curriculum for the University of Malawi College of Medicine and influenced the Malawi Ministry of Health to include RUTF in the national treatment protocol.

Manary was recognized for his work last year with the 2007 World of Children Health Award, which recognizes individuals who make a difference in the lives of children. He was also honored with the School of Medicine's Distinguished Alumni Faculty Award in 2007.

Manary is also working with plant scientists at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center to boost the nutrition in cassava, a starchy root that is a diet staple of 200 million of the poorest Africans and the third largest source of carbohydrates for human food in the world. The scientists have improved the protein, iron and Vitamin A content in the cassava, which will soon be tested in fields in Nigeria and Kenya.

Manary earned a medical degree from the School of Medicine in 1982 and completed an internship and residency at St. Louis Children's Hospital. After spending four years as a medical officer in Tanzania and on an Indian reservation in South Dakota, he joined the School of Medicine faculty in 1989 as an instructor. Since 1994, he has also been a senior lecturer in pediatrics at the Medical College of Malawi, and in 2001 became an associate professor of pediatrics (voluntary faculty) at the Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

A lifelong supporter of the arts, education and health care, Roberson established this professorship in 2000. A native St. Louisan, Roberson graduated from Mary Institute and attended Washington University's School of Art, now the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. During World War II she worked for the American Red Cross in the Motor Corps division and as a nurse's aide volunteering at Barnes and Jewish hospitals. Her desire to support research grew from these experiences.

Roberson owned and operated Daytona Budweiser Inc., an Anheuser-Busch wholesaler in Port Orange, Fla., where she served as its chief executive officer and president for more than 35 years before retiring.

Roberson has served on the Washington University Regional Cabinet for the Gold Coast of Florida. She has been a sponsor of the London Symphony's biennial appearance in Daytona and a former director of the Rehabilitation Center of Greater St. Louis. She is a past trustee of Florida Hospital Ormond Memorial in Ormond Beach, Fla., and of the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., and is a member of the Museum of the Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Committed to "do something for the children," Roberson supports the Boggy Creek Gang in Eustis, Fla., one of the camps for seriously ill children co-founded by the late Paul Newman and Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf.

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Washington University School of Medicine's 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked third in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.

Plan B needs cassava initiative

by Linda Hutchinson-Jafar Special Correspondent
Trinidad News - Port of Spain,Trinidad and Tobago
Thursday, December 11 2008

The Caribbean desperately needs a food plan that must be able to produce 50 percent of its supplies by 2015, if it wants to reduce its US$3.5 billion annual import food bill, said Dr Chelston Brathwaite, director-general of Inter-American Institute for Cooperation and Agriculture (IICA), who observed that this figure is likely to increase if no sustained effort is made to increase food production.


Clearly the time has come for us to exploit the nutritional value of our own tropical crops such as cassava, sweet potato, bananas, yams and many others as a source of daily nutritional requirements,” he said.

He also stressed the need for the Caribbean to become food secure, citing one of the major problems as “food vulnerability” – since the region only produces 15 percent of what its population consumes.

“There should be no more delay, there should be no more talk without action, there should be no more dreams about reviving the old models of preferences for our products in international markets. The food and agricultural sector of our countries should become a development priority,” he told journalists in Trinidad during a seven-day visit last week.

“I refer to the Caribbean because I am convinced that no country in the region can obtain an acceptable level of food security on its own but together with the right policies, integration mechanisms and support facilities, a reasonable level of food security can be obtained.”

IICA is a specialised agency of the Inter-American System whose aim is to encourage and support the efforts of its member states to achieve agricultural development and well-being for rural populations. The Costa Rica-based institute is also responding to new mandates issued by the Heads of State and Government of the Americas, the General Assembly of the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the ministers of agriculture of the Americas to reposition itself so that it can meet both the new challenges facing agriculture and the requests for support it receives from its member countries.

On his call for a Caribbean food plan, he said it must be developed and implemented within the context of the Caribbean Single Market (CSM) and must also build on the Jagdeo initiative by Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo, who has lead responsibility for agriculture in the region.

The Caribbean should also develop a Caribbean Agricultural Development Fund to finance the plan, he added.

Investment in agriculture

The Jagdeo Initiative — “Strengthening Agriculture for Sustainable Development” — is a strategy to alleviate some of the binding constraints to the development of the sector and to create the enabling environment which will encourage a resurgence of investment in agriculture thus facilitating the transformation process.

The plan seeks to promote joint actions to take advantage of national comparative advantages such as land, water and markets and based on a strategic partnership between the governments and the private sector. To achieve food security, Dr Brathwaithe said the region needs leaders who recognise that food and agricultural sector is a strategic sector of the economy and farmers who recognise their farm as a business enterprise. “We need the political will and leadership to make food security a priority in the development agenda of the country,” he asserted.

The IICA director-general said that by focussing on food security, countries produce more of the food consumed, create employment and opportunities in the food services sector and contribute to a reduction in unemployment and poverty.

“Isn’t it strange that here in the Caribbean, we have rejected the Privy Council and have developed our own legal/judicial system, we have established our own university and our own educational system, we have developed our own health system but we have left the production and supply of our food, the most basic of human needs in the hands of others,” he asked.

Sharing components of the proposed Caribbean food plan, Brathwaite said regional enterprises in livestock, poultry, cereals, legumes, tropical fruits, root crops and vegetables should be established within the content of a regional agricultural policy linked to the Caribbean economy.

“I am convinced that we need a new development model that can unleash the talent, the energy and the enterprise of the people of the Americas, so that the agricultural and rural sectors can compete internationally,” according to Dr Brathwaite. He also identified six major challenges to developing sustainable agri-food systems in the tropics. (See box)

One of those challenges is feeding a growing population in developing countries and increasing agricultural production, without destroying the natural resources or contaminating the environment.

In addition to food, agriculture is called upon to produce products for the supply of sustainable energy such as ethanol and bio-diesel from corn and sugarcane and other agricultural commodities, while poverty in the tropical world is increasing as a result of global increases in the price of food.

Additionally, Dr Brathwaite noted that while the hemisphere had 90,000 of the 250,000 species of plants in the world, the Americas depended only on five for its nutrition. The lack of attention to other crops with the potential to feed people may also result in their disappearance from the world’s biodiversity bank.

Dec 6, 2008

Chinese firm eyes cassava plant in Mati City

BusinessWorld Online - Quezon City, Philippines
Vol. XXII, No. 95 Friday, December 5, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES

DAVAO CITY — A unit of a Chinese state corporation is setting up a P1.5-billion cassava processing facility in Mati City, Davao Oriental, local government officials said.


Davao Governor Corazon N. Malanyaon, said Yuca Corp. Philippines, a unit of Guangxi State Farm, has committed to help the province develop its cassava industry. "[The Chinese firm] also intends to put up its own seaport here," said Dashiel P. Indelible, Ms. Malanyaon’s consultant on economics and agriculture.

He said the Chinese company is choosing two areas where it will build the processing plant — Mati City and the municipality of Banaybanay.

BusinessWorld could not confirm the information since Yuca Corp. does not have local representative. Provincial officials said Yuca Corp. has started organizing farmers who will grow cassava in at least 1,000 hectares in the near term.

The target is to develop 8,200 hectares in the next five years, said Mr. Indelible, a former director of the Agriculture Department’s upland development program covering the Davao region and other parts of southern Mindanao.

Last month, Ms. Malanyaon went to China to meet with officials of Guangxi State Farm and other investors to discuss commitments. Davao Oriental is a mineral-rich area, but the governor said her administration would focus more on the agriculture sector, the province’s economic backbone.

Ms. Malanyaon said her administration has started programs that will rehabilitate the coconut industry and expand rice and corn production.

The province is among the largest producers of coconut in the country. The governor also said the local government was looking at cashing in on banana, the Davao region’s biggest export.

Mr. Indelible said the Chinese company is looking at signing contracts to grow cassava or profit-sharing deals with landowners.

For the lease, the company is dangling an P8,000 per hectare annual rent with a promise that landowners will be employed in their farms.

Aside from being a staple and a source of starch, cassava is also identified as a raw material for ethanol. It is also used to make textiles, plywood and veneer. — Carmelito Q. Francisco

Dec 3, 2008

Farmers distraught over cassava losses

Viet Nam News - Hanoi,Vietnam 02-12-2008

HCM CITY — The death of over 1,000 ha of cassava plants has affected hundreds of farmers in southern Dong Nai province.

Tran Thi Thu Sau of Dong Nai province’s Vinh Cuu district painfully said that due to the plant’s high profits and low spendings, her family had cut 4 ha of cashew to grow cassava. However, since May, her family’s crop of cassava plants had been dying.
"My family is now 15 million (VND) in debt. We have to sell an ox to pay it back", she said.


According to Nguyen Cong Luat, chief of Vinh Cuu district’s Economic Office, Dong Nai province contains about 20,000 ha of cassava with an output of 400,000 tonnes per year.

Cassava plants had previously brought high profits to farmers, earning them VND25 million (US$1,347) per crop. Many farmers, like Tran Thi Thu Sau’s family, abandoned other crops to reap the rewards of cassava plants.

"1,200 ha of cassava have died in this crop," Luat said. He added that Vinh Cuu district co-operated with the Dong Nai Plant Protection Department to find the causes of the plant’s death. But the answer remained elusive.

Farmers in Vinh Cuu district think that the cassavas have died because the old variety of the plant has degraded. Moreover, they say that cassava was planted on soil that lost many of its nutrients, and that insects and rain have affected the current crops.

Farmers in the districts of Xuan Loc and Long Thanh, however, have a different theory. They think that Vedagro fertilizer manufactured by Vedan Viet Nam Enterprise Corp. Ltd eliminated nutrients in the soil, causing the cassava plants to die.

Tran Anh Tuan, chairman of Xuan Loc District, said that the district had been testing Vedagro fertilizer to determine whether it had had any effect. — VNS

Dec 2, 2008

EMPRES Plant Pest and Disease – managing new transboundary threats



FAO, December 1, 2008

New migratory plant pests are raising concerns about their potential impact on livelihoods, food security and global markets. EMPRES has started to address other invasive plant pests, adopting the successful Desert Locust management model to mitigate these other transboundary threats.

Following a decision of FAO Governing Bodies, the Emergency Prevention System for Transboundary Animal and Plant Pests and Diseases (EMPRES) was established in 1994 with the goal of enhancing world food security and fighting transboundary animal and plant pests and diseases, in particular Desert Locust and Rinderpest.



Locusts
The plant health component of EMPRES has focused primarily on the Desert Locust, strengthening the preventive Desert Locust management capacity of 18 locust-affected countries in Africa and the Near East to minimize the risk of Desert Locust plagues. The EMPRES Desert Locust programme is reinforced by FAO’s Desert Locust Information Service, which monitors locust and environmental conditions on a daily basis and provides forecasts, alerts and early warning to member countries.

The core principles of the EMPRES programme are: early warning, early detection, contingency planning, early reaction, promotion of environmentally sound control technologies and close collaboration and partnership with affected countries, national and international agricultural research centres and other international institutions.

Although the Desert Locust is the best known migratory pest - because of its fast movement, large swarms and potential for devastating crops - new and re-emerging migratory plant pests have raised concerns about their potential impact on livelihoods, food security and global markets. EMPRES is starting to address other invasive plant pests, adopting the successful Desert Locust management model to mitigate these other transboundary threats.

Recent locust outbreaks in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and Central and Southern Africa involved other locust species such as Migratory Locust, Moroccan Locust, Italian Locust and the Red Locust. In the Caucasus and Central Asian countries, outbreaks are compounded by other threats such as water shortage that affects the region’s ability to feed itself. Some areas suffer from recurring locust infestations as a result of abandoned agricultural land favouring locust breeding. Uncoordinated locust management among the affected countries can also worsen the problem. A particular problem is indiscriminate used of chemical pesticides using outdated control techniques, contributing to considerable ecological damage. In Uzbekistan for example more than 1.5 million ha were treated against the locusts in the past five years with chemical pesticides and in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, more than 300,000 ha of land were treated.

To address the root causes and avert food crises in this region, EMPRES is introducing a preventive pest management approach, to stimulate regional cooperation, and to develop less environmentally-harmful locust management systems.

Wheat Stem rust
Another cross-border plant threat emerged in 1999 when a new virulent strain of a fungal disease, wheat stem rust (Ug99) was first characterised in East Africa. This strain is virulent to over 80% of all wheat varieties grown globally and could cause devastating crop losses if its spread is not prevented. Since its emergence, it has been reported in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Yemen, and in late 2007, in main wheat growing areas of Iran. The rust spores are wind-borne and are affected by climatic conditions that are similar to those that influence locust outbreaks and migration. Therefore, similar monitoring mechanisms can be applied to Ug99. The regions of Eastern Africa, the Near East, and Central and South Asia at immediate risk account for some 37% of global wheat production.

Through its Wheat Rust Disease Global Programme (WRDGP) initiated in 2008, FAO is promoting global action to reduce the world’s vulnerability to emerging wheat rust diseases and facilitate a sustainable international system to reduce the threat of these diseases.

The Programme reinforces and compliments the activities of the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative, a research and partnership programme lead by Cornell University with ICARDA, CIMMYT and FAO. Through this programme, the Organisation is taking the lead in supporting national governments and the international community in their preparedness to manage Ug99 and for mitigation of potential future threats.

The WRDGP covers 29 countries in East and North Africa, the Near East, and Central and South Asia. The Programme is focusing on supporting national policy for preparedness and contingency planning, surveillance and early warning, improved national wheat registration programmes for release of resistant varieties, seed multiplication and distribution systems of resistant varieties, and on improved wheat rust management at the field level through farmers’ training.

Other transboundary threats
FAO is currently helping countries respond to other transboundary plant pest and disease emergencies in a number of situations in Africa. Staple crops in East Africa are threatened by serious banana and cassava diseases, spread by farming practices, movement of planting materials, and in some cases insect vectors.

A banana bacterial banana wilt (BBW or BXW) has threatened production in Uganda and neighbouring countries from 2002 onwards. Real progress has been made in understanding the transmission and management of the disease, and farmer field schools have greatly contributed to the control of disease spread and the rehabilitation of banana plantations in many areas of the country.

Cassava Mosaic and Brown Streak virus diseases threaten this key food security crop throughout the Great Lakes region of East Africa. Emergency programmes have attempted to multiply planting materials of disease-tolerant cassava varieties, but the combination of the diseases together is still proving problematic. EMPRES geo-spatial analytical tools and approaches again make a major contribution, while the partnership with local agricultural research systems and large NGO partners (such as Catholic Relief Services and the Great Lakes Cassava Initiative) is also key.
In both the cases - of banana and cassava diseases - work is ongoing to learn lessons and improve early warning and risk assessment, develop monitoring and surveillance programmes at community level, and build rapid response capacity. The aim is to ensure that the production system for these staple crops is more resilient and able to respond to the next pest or disease threat.

CMC-Food Chain
In the effort to address the challenges of large-scale emergencies emanating from transboundary pests and diseases more effectively and to provide better coordinated and more timely assistance to affected countries, FAO created a new Crisis Management Centre along the Food Chain (CMC-FC). EMPRES Plant Pest and Disease will have a primary role in emergency prevention, early warning and risk assessment, and in stimulating synergy with the other EMPRES components.

UN to Invest $50m in Cassava Processing

THISDAY - Apapa,Lagos,Nigeria
From Chinwe Ochu in Abuja, November 30, 2008

International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) has revealed plans to invest $50 million to improve the processing of cassava in the country and increase market accessibility of the product.

Furthermore, plans are underway to diversify the huge focus on cassava and spotlight other crops that would better the lives and livelihood of small scale rural farmers.

The body is a specialized financial agency of the United Nation (UN) focusing exclusively on poor farmers and rural communities with the aim of reducing poverty in the rural areas.

Perin Saint Ange, Regional Portfolio Adviser for IFAD in Nigeria, who made the disclosure at an interactive session in Abuja, was responding to criticisms directed at the agency for over emphasizing on cassava production to the neglect of market accessibility and other crops.

The IFAD official said that after a lot of propaganda to increase the cultivation of cassava in the country last year, farmers were left with enormous harvests of the produce with no market to dispose them, off adding that this led to the farmers incurring huge losses of which many are yet to recover from.

Ange acknowledged that the group had indeed focused all of its energy in improving the production capacity and quality of the cassava crop to the neglect of the processing system and marketing of the crop, noting that the huge emphasis being laid on cassava is because it is the bread basket of a large part of the country with about 26 states of the nation cultivating the product.

He however explained that so far a little over $200 million had been devoted to complete the yet-to-be implemented programmes in Nigeria of which $100million is still left, adding, "About $50 million is still in the envelope to address as a priority the processing and marketing of cassava in particular and others which could be yams that would add value."

IFAD is hailed for its role in the 70's when the nation's cassava production sector was challenged by cassava mosaic and is also credited for revolutionalising the cassava production industry.

The agency would today begin a national roundtable workshop of Nigeria's Country Programme Evaluation (CPE) in Abuja. The workshop is geared towards discussing the key issues and conclusions emerging from the CPE, one of which is for IFAD and Nigeria to intensify efforts in the agriculture sector, aiding small farmers to access markets for their produce.

IFAD boost agric with $200m

Vanguard - Apapa,Lagos,Nigeria

Written by Chinyere Amalu
Thursday, 27 November 2008

The International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) has earmarked the sum of $200 million to strengthen and step up agricultural sector in Nigeria.Of this amount over $100 million has been disbursed for on-going projects on agriculture between the Federal Government and IFAD, while $50 million would be invested in improving and processing cassava in the country.


IFAD is a specialized financial agency of the United Nations (UN) focusing exclusively on poor farmers and rural communities with the aim to reduce poverty in the rural areas.

Vice President and Programme Management Divison IFAD, Mr. Kelvin Cleaver, who is in Abuja with other principal officers of IFAD, for a 2-day National Round Table workshop on evaluation of the development activities in Nigeria , disclosed this to journalists yesterday in Abuja at a pre-press briefing for the workshop.

According to him, the grants is for IFAD and government of Nigeria to intensify development of agricultural sector in the country, suggesting that there should be future collaboration between the two parties to assist small farmers in processing, production and marketing of their products and have access to loan facilities.

“IFAD is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN). We have budgeted $3.5 billion grant for disbursement worldwide, but $6.50 million grant is earmarked for this year. Out of this Nigeria got $200 million.

“Our main collaborator is Government, but we can partner with private sectors whose fundamentals are to assist small farmers, but a large grant goes to the Federal Government for now”, he explained.

Buttressing more on the grants budgeted for Nigeria , the Regional Portfolio Adviser and CPM Nigeria, Perin Saint Ange, explained $200 million $100 million has been disbursed, $50 million earmarked for processing of agriculture, while million is still awaiting further projects.

On why IFAD is more into cassava production, he said about 26 states in Nigeria especially from the East is into cassava farming, adding that this gives a fair coverage and needed concentration to achieve a meaningful development.

“Majority of people from this area have indeed focused all of its energy in improving the production capacity and quality of the cassava crop to the neglect of the processing system and marketing of the crop.

“About $50 million is still in the envelope to address as a priority the processing and marketing of cassava in particular and others which could be yams that would add value.

“IFAD is hailed for the huge part played in the 70’s when the nation’s cassava production sector was challenged by cassava mosaic and is also credited for revolutionalizing the cassava production industry”, he explained.

He pointed out that apart from cassava produce that has dominated their scope; IFAD has concentrated in artisan fisheries, which according to him would bring benefits to small farmers.

On why IFAD is not directly into business with private sectors, he explained that all the small handlers they work with are private sectors, adding that 75% of all IFAD resources go to private sectors who work with disadvantaged groups the rural communities.

On the objective of the workshop, he said it is aimed at discussing key issues emerging from Country Programme Evaluation (CPE) and to provide inputs for the preparation of CPE’s agreement at completion points.

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From ship to chips: Snacks replacing banana exports at Jamaica Producers


Jamaica Gleaner - Kingston,Jamaica

Carl Gilchrist, Gleaner Writer, November 30, 2008

Jamaica Producers (JP) Group says it is already seeing weekly sales of 900,000 bags of banana chips locally and is looking to build out similar markets for its cassava chips, launched on Wednesday. (photo by Carl Gilchrist)


The company, just months ago, decided to make a strategic shift from exporting bananas, on which its business was originally built, to tropical snacks.

The cassava chips are being marketed under the 'St Mary's' brand. JP says it will be adding new lines for plantain, breadfruit and sweet potato chips as it expands its snack business.

competitively priced

"We expect it (cassava chips) to perform very well. We're satisfied the pro-duct is competitively priced. It is consistent with the taste profile that the Jamaican consumer loves," chief executive officer Jeffrey Hall told Sunday Business following the product launch at the company's Agualta Vale office in St Mary.

The company's banana crops were wiped out by five hurricanes over a four-year period between 2004 and 2008. The results are stark on the company's bottom line, with its most recent earnings report indicating losses of $1.5 billion over three quarters of this year.

Government, for now, has lost the battle to keep JP in banana export, but evidence that there were no hard feelings has come from agriculture minister Christopher Tufton.

Tufton, who participated in the launch, congratulated JP on its new plans, saying it was a good example of an investor willing to change with the times.

JP decided in September to refocus its business, giving rise to JP Tropical Foods, which was also launched Wednesday.

"It's a new name for a division that handles the combined banana production, other tropical production, the snack-food business and the produce selling to the local market," said Hall.

"The emphasis of Jamaica Producers has shifted from commodity banana export to value-added tropical snacks and domestic banana production, and so, Jamaica Producers Tropical Foods, we think, correctly represents our current focus."



recognised brand

He said the St Mary's brand is already recognised because of the banana chips, a product, he said, that was doing well on the market, based on its sales.

Hall was quite upbeat about the prospects for cassava chips on the local market, saying the product is high on calcium and vitamin C and contains no cholesterol or trans fats.

The product is already on the market and available in regular and barbecue flavours.

Hall said over the years, JP had not spent any money on advertising and promotion of the St Mary's brand, launched over six years ago, but that this would change.

"I think you're going to see a significant transformation. We have on board a team that has deep experience in the marketing side of the snack-food business," he said.

"JP has started to focus on the production side of business and now what we're trying to do is to integrate our strength in production with market opportunities that exist for our products. We're also exporting now into the United States and we see that as a growth opportunity for us."

Hall shied away from disclosing how much money the company had pumped into the snack side of its operations, saying only that it was significant.

"The way we are doing our business now is we see it as a vertically integrated agro-business, and by that we mean we're investing in growing, manufacturing and in selling, and the total investment in that is quite significant," he explained.

business@gleanerjm.com

Cassava - Google News