ENGLAND UK. Balita.org - Minsterley, October 23, 2008 7:45 pm by pna
Herminio Teves, whose family has embarked on projects involving the planting of jatropha and cassava in the valley. According to Lawas, Teves has assured to ...
DUMAGUETE CITY, Oct. 23 – Plans are afoot for the establishment of a civilian armed auxiliary in the lush Tamlang Valley in Negros Oriental to boost peace and order in the area where a massive bio-fuels project is being implemented.
The development comes following at least two incidents of burning of farm tractors in the area in recent months by the New People’s Army (NPA) which is opposing the project.
P/Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, provincial police director for operations, said the idea was raised by former 3rd district Rep. Herminio Teves, whose family has embarked on projects involving the planting of jatropha and cassava in the valley.
According to Lawas, Teves has assured to provide funding and other forms of support in the training and organization of the civilian auxiliaries.
The group would be trained as armed auxiliaries of the Philippine National Police (PNP).
Lawas said Teves has also pledged to erect a building to house the armed auxiliary group at a strategic location in Tamlang Valley.
During a meeting Thursday in Siaton town, about an hour’s drive south of here, Teves confirmed the planned creation of an auxiliary group.
He said he still has to see the proposed plan for the building to house the auxiliaries before he can allocate funding for it, and for the possible procurement of firearms for the group.
The meeting was held to thresh out issues and concerns in Tamlang Valley amid complaints by a farmers’ group that at least 30 people were allegedly disenfranchised by the entry of large corporations that have embarked on wide-scale jatropha and cassava planting. (PNA)
Oct 25, 2008
Saraki gets food science institute award, pledges more for agric
Written by Emmanuel Edukugho
NIGERIA Vanguard - Apapa,Lagos, 23 October 2008
Three cassava processing factories and sixteen micro processing centres have been established across the state, to add value to cassava for maximum ...
Kwara State Governor, Dr. Bukola Saraki, at Ogbomoso, received the Presidential Award of the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST) for Excellence in Agriculture and Food Security Initiatives at its 32nd Conference/AGM, holding in Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), which began on Tuesday and ended on Thursday, 16th October, 2008.
Kwara State Governor, Dr. Bukola Saraki, Food scientists and technologists drawn from universities and polytechnics in the country, scholars, food manufacturers, ministries of agriculture, agencies, research organisations and students are attending the three-day conference, declared open by Osun State Deputy Governor, Erelu Olusola Obada, representing Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola.
“National Sovereignty cannot be guaranteed unless we are able to harness all our resources to feed ourselves without importation from any country. Food is an important factor that guarantees sustainable peace in any nation.
The effort we are making in Kwara State is to encourage massive production of all crops and to also produce meat, milk and fish to improve protein intake of our teeming population,” Saraki said.
He explained that he was receiving the award not for personal reasons but because of seeing the road to Nigerian food security as a collective task before us all. Also that the effort of Kwara State government which he is privileged to head is one of the many contributions required from all and sundry.
Saraki paid tribute to the efforts of the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology “whose interest is not only to harness the abundance of talents and knowledge among food professionals in Nigeria towards food security and safety, but also to serve as Vanguards for discouraging all forms of food adulteration and smuggling.”
He recalled how he started the back to farm programme because the only resources in abundance in Kwara was land and the able bodied unemployed youths.
Saying the most important lesson got from the programme was that it was more profiting to encourage private sector participation rather than investing government funds in direct provision, “this vision took me to the commercial agricultural project, using the experience of our Zimbabwean partners as the launching pad.”
The Kwara governor disclosed that commercial agricultural project had proved itself to be a viable option for sustainable growth. In all, 13,000 hectres of land is dedicated to the first phase of the project, achieving massive crop production on annual basis.
“Both skilled and unskilled workers are being employed by the farmers and this is gradually uplifting the living standards of the people at the rural areas. Out of the thirteen farmers, there is no single farmer that has less than 50 workers in is employment.”
To secure the future, Integrated Youth Farm Centre has been established in which the youths are trained on the modern techniques of mass crop production and empowered eventually to become medium scale farmers.
Three cassava processing factories and sixteen micro processing centres have been established across the state, to add value to cassava for maximum advantage to farmers and check cassava glut.
Saraki said the award of Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology will spur him to do more as agriculture holds the key to our national growth.
Dedicating the award to “our young successor generation farmers across the nation, our hope for the future,” the Commissioner for Agriculture, Kwara State, Professor Isa Mohammed received it on behalf of the governor.
In her welcome speech, Osun Deputy Governor, Erelu Olusola Obada promised government maximum support to the institute, assuring that they should count on Osun government for financial assistance.
Outgoing National President of Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology, Mrs. O.A. Adesokan, said she has consulted with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole on giving a charter status to the institute. The Speaker promised to fast track the Bill for the charter.
She drew attention to the fund raising efforts of the institute in which Oyo State has made donation and appealed to other states to do same.
Adesokan named Professor Ngoddy as the first Fellow of the Institute and commended Dr. Adewale Obadina, a lecturer in Bells University of Technology, Department of Food Technology for being one of the seven young scientists chosen from all over the world to the 14th World Congress of Food Science and Technology in China.
Professor Bamidele Solomon, Director-General, National Biotechnology Development Agency, Abuja, delivered the keynote address on the conference theme: “Challenge of Research and Development for Food/Nutrient Security and Agro-Industrialisation”.
Vice Chancellor, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Professor B. B. Adeleke, is host of the conference, while chairman of the Governing Council was represented by Chief Adeyemo.
Oyo State Commissioner for Education, Professor Lawore, represented Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, the chief host.
Prof. Isaac A. Adeyemi, Vice Chancellor, Bells University of Technology, Ota, 1st National Vice-President will assume leadership of the institute after the conference.
Certificates were given to some private companies including UAC Foods, Nutricima, Tasty Fried Chicken, for their support and contributions to the food industry.
NIGERIA Vanguard - Apapa,Lagos, 23 October 2008
Three cassava processing factories and sixteen micro processing centres have been established across the state, to add value to cassava for maximum ...
Kwara State Governor, Dr. Bukola Saraki, at Ogbomoso, received the Presidential Award of the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST) for Excellence in Agriculture and Food Security Initiatives at its 32nd Conference/AGM, holding in Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), which began on Tuesday and ended on Thursday, 16th October, 2008.
Kwara State Governor, Dr. Bukola Saraki, Food scientists and technologists drawn from universities and polytechnics in the country, scholars, food manufacturers, ministries of agriculture, agencies, research organisations and students are attending the three-day conference, declared open by Osun State Deputy Governor, Erelu Olusola Obada, representing Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola.
“National Sovereignty cannot be guaranteed unless we are able to harness all our resources to feed ourselves without importation from any country. Food is an important factor that guarantees sustainable peace in any nation.
The effort we are making in Kwara State is to encourage massive production of all crops and to also produce meat, milk and fish to improve protein intake of our teeming population,” Saraki said.
He explained that he was receiving the award not for personal reasons but because of seeing the road to Nigerian food security as a collective task before us all. Also that the effort of Kwara State government which he is privileged to head is one of the many contributions required from all and sundry.
Saraki paid tribute to the efforts of the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology “whose interest is not only to harness the abundance of talents and knowledge among food professionals in Nigeria towards food security and safety, but also to serve as Vanguards for discouraging all forms of food adulteration and smuggling.”
He recalled how he started the back to farm programme because the only resources in abundance in Kwara was land and the able bodied unemployed youths.
Saying the most important lesson got from the programme was that it was more profiting to encourage private sector participation rather than investing government funds in direct provision, “this vision took me to the commercial agricultural project, using the experience of our Zimbabwean partners as the launching pad.”
The Kwara governor disclosed that commercial agricultural project had proved itself to be a viable option for sustainable growth. In all, 13,000 hectres of land is dedicated to the first phase of the project, achieving massive crop production on annual basis.
“Both skilled and unskilled workers are being employed by the farmers and this is gradually uplifting the living standards of the people at the rural areas. Out of the thirteen farmers, there is no single farmer that has less than 50 workers in is employment.”
To secure the future, Integrated Youth Farm Centre has been established in which the youths are trained on the modern techniques of mass crop production and empowered eventually to become medium scale farmers.
Three cassava processing factories and sixteen micro processing centres have been established across the state, to add value to cassava for maximum advantage to farmers and check cassava glut.
Saraki said the award of Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology will spur him to do more as agriculture holds the key to our national growth.
Dedicating the award to “our young successor generation farmers across the nation, our hope for the future,” the Commissioner for Agriculture, Kwara State, Professor Isa Mohammed received it on behalf of the governor.
In her welcome speech, Osun Deputy Governor, Erelu Olusola Obada promised government maximum support to the institute, assuring that they should count on Osun government for financial assistance.
Outgoing National President of Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology, Mrs. O.A. Adesokan, said she has consulted with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole on giving a charter status to the institute. The Speaker promised to fast track the Bill for the charter.
She drew attention to the fund raising efforts of the institute in which Oyo State has made donation and appealed to other states to do same.
Adesokan named Professor Ngoddy as the first Fellow of the Institute and commended Dr. Adewale Obadina, a lecturer in Bells University of Technology, Department of Food Technology for being one of the seven young scientists chosen from all over the world to the 14th World Congress of Food Science and Technology in China.
Professor Bamidele Solomon, Director-General, National Biotechnology Development Agency, Abuja, delivered the keynote address on the conference theme: “Challenge of Research and Development for Food/Nutrient Security and Agro-Industrialisation”.
Vice Chancellor, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Professor B. B. Adeleke, is host of the conference, while chairman of the Governing Council was represented by Chief Adeyemo.
Oyo State Commissioner for Education, Professor Lawore, represented Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, the chief host.
Prof. Isaac A. Adeyemi, Vice Chancellor, Bells University of Technology, Ota, 1st National Vice-President will assume leadership of the institute after the conference.
Certificates were given to some private companies including UAC Foods, Nutricima, Tasty Fried Chicken, for their support and contributions to the food industry.
Ghana cuisine: the making of futu
Debrah Ameyaw,
GHANA. AfricaNews - Netherlands
VoicesofAfrica mobile reporter in Accra, 23 October 2008
Fufu is a common staple food across West Africa and some parts of Central Africa. There are variations in the preparation methods from region to region. In Ghana, fufu is mostly made from boiled cassava and plantain although it can also be prepared pounding cocoyam or yam.
In preparing traditional fufu, the cassava and plantain are peeled and boiled together till they are well cooked. The cooked cassava and plantain are allowed to cool for a while before pounding with a large stick (pestle) and bowl (mortar). They are pounded separated into starchy components and later pounded together.
When the preferred level of softness is attained, the fufu is skilfully collected into a ball with the help of water and then served into a bowl or a traditional bowl known as 'Asanka'. A ball of fufu is eaten with light (tomato) soup, palm nut soup, groundnut (peanut) soup or other types of soups with vegetables such as Kontomire (cocoyam leaves).
Soups are often made with different kinds of meat and fish, fresh or smoked. Currently fufu powder/flour is available on the Ghanaian market. The powder/flour can be mixed with hot water to obtain the final product hence eliminating the arduous task of pounding it in a mortar and pestle.
However, most Ghanaian prefer the traditional method because the feel that the processed form doesn't have the same consistency and taste as the traditional fufu.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GHANA. AfricaNews - Netherlands
VoicesofAfrica mobile reporter in Accra, 23 October 2008
Fufu is a common staple food across West Africa and some parts of Central Africa. There are variations in the preparation methods from region to region. In Ghana, fufu is mostly made from boiled cassava and plantain although it can also be prepared pounding cocoyam or yam.
In preparing traditional fufu, the cassava and plantain are peeled and boiled together till they are well cooked. The cooked cassava and plantain are allowed to cool for a while before pounding with a large stick (pestle) and bowl (mortar). They are pounded separated into starchy components and later pounded together.
When the preferred level of softness is attained, the fufu is skilfully collected into a ball with the help of water and then served into a bowl or a traditional bowl known as 'Asanka'. A ball of fufu is eaten with light (tomato) soup, palm nut soup, groundnut (peanut) soup or other types of soups with vegetables such as Kontomire (cocoyam leaves).
Soups are often made with different kinds of meat and fish, fresh or smoked. Currently fufu powder/flour is available on the Ghanaian market. The powder/flour can be mixed with hot water to obtain the final product hence eliminating the arduous task of pounding it in a mortar and pestle.
However, most Ghanaian prefer the traditional method because the feel that the processed form doesn't have the same consistency and taste as the traditional fufu.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Uganda: Rains Ravage Southwestern Districts
The Monitor (Kampala)
Alfred Tumushabe and Otushabire Tibyangye Isingiro
USA AllAfrica.com - Washington, 22 October 2008
In Bwongyera and Kibatsi sub-counties, banana plantations, cassava, beans, potato gardens and livestock have not been spared by the torrential rains. Local leaders say many homes have been going without food until recently when the Disaster Preparedness Ministry intervened with 180 bags of maize flour and 80 of beans.
The torrential rains that have hit the southwestern districts have left thousands of locals staring hunger in the face following the destruction of their crops. The rains, which started in September, are also likely to force many of the residents to seek alternative accommodation since many homes have been destroyed.
In Isingiro and Mbarara districts, over 3,000 homes lost their gardens of beans, cassava, Irish potatoes and bananas in a series of stormy rains that hit Kabuyanda and Mwizi sub-counties.
Isingiro South Member of Parliament Alex Byarugaba (NRM) last Friday delivered 200 bags of maize flour and 100 bags of beans to the victims. "This is not enough but that is what we have managed to get. You will share it as it is," Mr Byarugaba told resident of Kanywamaizi Parish.
Residents said the lack of food is likely to interfere with the class attendance as pupils cannot go on empty stomachs. In Ntungamo; Kajara, Rushenyi and Ruhaama counties are the worst hit. Roads, bridges, houses and a school have been destroyed by the rains, which according to the minister of water and environment are not about to relent.
"Do not think that this region is safe from floods. You should prepare yourselves, so that when the disaster strikes, you can handle it," Ms Maria Mutagamba said during her visit to the region.
In Bwongyera and Kibatsi sub-counties, banana plantations, cassava, beans, potato gardens and livestock have not been spared by the torrential rains. Local leaders say many homes have been going without food until recently when the Disaster Preparedness Ministry intervened with 180 bags of maize flour and 80 of beans.
Delivering the relief items on Monday at Bwongyera Sub-county, area MP Steven Tashobya (NRM) called on the affected homes (about 800) to focus on increasing production. "Do not lament but focus on how to come out of this tragedy," he said
Alfred Tumushabe and Otushabire Tibyangye Isingiro
USA AllAfrica.com - Washington, 22 October 2008
In Bwongyera and Kibatsi sub-counties, banana plantations, cassava, beans, potato gardens and livestock have not been spared by the torrential rains. Local leaders say many homes have been going without food until recently when the Disaster Preparedness Ministry intervened with 180 bags of maize flour and 80 of beans.
The torrential rains that have hit the southwestern districts have left thousands of locals staring hunger in the face following the destruction of their crops. The rains, which started in September, are also likely to force many of the residents to seek alternative accommodation since many homes have been destroyed.
In Isingiro and Mbarara districts, over 3,000 homes lost their gardens of beans, cassava, Irish potatoes and bananas in a series of stormy rains that hit Kabuyanda and Mwizi sub-counties.
Isingiro South Member of Parliament Alex Byarugaba (NRM) last Friday delivered 200 bags of maize flour and 100 bags of beans to the victims. "This is not enough but that is what we have managed to get. You will share it as it is," Mr Byarugaba told resident of Kanywamaizi Parish.
Residents said the lack of food is likely to interfere with the class attendance as pupils cannot go on empty stomachs. In Ntungamo; Kajara, Rushenyi and Ruhaama counties are the worst hit. Roads, bridges, houses and a school have been destroyed by the rains, which according to the minister of water and environment are not about to relent.
"Do not think that this region is safe from floods. You should prepare yourselves, so that when the disaster strikes, you can handle it," Ms Maria Mutagamba said during her visit to the region.
In Bwongyera and Kibatsi sub-counties, banana plantations, cassava, beans, potato gardens and livestock have not been spared by the torrential rains. Local leaders say many homes have been going without food until recently when the Disaster Preparedness Ministry intervened with 180 bags of maize flour and 80 of beans.
Delivering the relief items on Monday at Bwongyera Sub-county, area MP Steven Tashobya (NRM) called on the affected homes (about 800) to focus on increasing production. "Do not lament but focus on how to come out of this tragedy," he said
Keeping it organic
Ephraim Kasozi
UGANDA. Daily Monitor - Kampala, 23 Oct 2008
Dr Bua who is also a specialist in developing high yielding cassava varieties, says the products that would be generated from laboratories like cassava disease resistant varieties will be disseminated and promoted to the local farmers.
Farmers working to boost food security and improve their livelihoods in terms of incomes from the produce will now move their minds from the use of chemicals to natural organisms.
Research carried out indicates that in order to maintain food security in the country and the world over, farmers have been boosted by biological control measures of pests and diseases. Mr Kamayombi Bulegeya, a crop protection specialist says farmers can now focus on environmentally friendly methods other than the use of chemicals.
“Pesticides like ambush and dursban are hazardous to the environment and humans unless they are safely handled,” he said. Mr Bulegeya, also the commissioner in the Ministry of Agriculture, animal Industry and Fisheries, says one such biological control method of pests is the use of fungi.
He says farmers can control pests and diseases like banana weevils, variegated grasshoppers, locusts and some types of termites by applying metarhizium specie and Bauveria specie fungi. Mr Bulegeya adds, “These two types of fungi are naturally occurring when applied appropriately to kill pests.” “You extract fungus from the soil, purify and multiply it on artificial medium in the laboratory to get the quantities needed.
When you apply the fungi on pests, then spores germinate on them and enter the insect bodies to multiply further to kill the pests,” he added. The amount of fungi increases as long as pests come together and the spores spread more when the pests start dying.
“For those pests that aggregate like weevils spread to the spores easily,” Mr Bulegeya said. However, he added that the use of fungi is a delicate and new technique that cannot be used by subsistence farmers.
“To calculate the dose and ensure the right environment for survival of fungi and to have the quantity and purification requires financial and technical inputs. These are still high,” he says. Mr Bulegeya’s revelation adds value to the recent development made at the National Crops Resources Research Institute where new high yielding varieties are being tested and the start of a cassava biotech capacity project for agro-biodiversity and biotechnology (Agrobio) programme.
Dr Antony Bua, an Agric-Economist and Team Leader for National Cassava Programme said such initiatives would build capacity to perform very high and advanced science which we normally borrow from Europe and America, adding that intervention would build local human capacity in using the advanced science facilities rather than relying on developed countries, as has been the case.
Mr Bulegeya said the fungi could be accessed from research stations and international bodies and farmers who use high technology and producers of high value crops. “Such organisations have got laboratories and skilled manpower with support to maintain the fungi, which can be kept for six to eight months under appropriate temperature,”
The crop protection specialist says that flowers for instance have biological control agents such as wasps; “It is the same principle like beetles used to control the water hyacinth on Lake Victoria.” Mr Bulegeya says about six strains of coffee have been developed through research to address coffee wilt disease because “they exhibited resistance to any disease.”
“The challenge now is to multiply these strains to get sufficient quantities to supply the farmers,” he says. For matooke management, Mr Bulegeya recommends, “Good management, where you remove all the infected plants and burry them, fertilise the plantation and remove all the male buds as soon as the last finger of a bunch has formed.”
He says that another strategy has been developed where by some areas have been mapped in the northern region where cassava plants are still free of diseases to get seeds while a comprehensive research is going on to develop a disease-resistant variety. “We must aggressively promote agricultural produce either natural or organic to ensure food security, increase production and productivity and income of farmers who constitute over 80 per cent of our population,” Mr Bulegeya says.
Dr Bua says, “It will also be cost effective and cheap for Uganda to develop local technologies using locally based facilities. Uganda would also have a comparative advantage in the East and Central African region to conduct advanced research for regional countries.”
Dr Bua who is also a specialist in developing high yielding cassava varieties, says the products that would be generated from laboratories like cassava disease resistant varieties will be disseminated and promoted to the local farmers.
UGANDA. Daily Monitor - Kampala, 23 Oct 2008
Dr Bua who is also a specialist in developing high yielding cassava varieties, says the products that would be generated from laboratories like cassava disease resistant varieties will be disseminated and promoted to the local farmers.
Farmers working to boost food security and improve their livelihoods in terms of incomes from the produce will now move their minds from the use of chemicals to natural organisms.
Research carried out indicates that in order to maintain food security in the country and the world over, farmers have been boosted by biological control measures of pests and diseases. Mr Kamayombi Bulegeya, a crop protection specialist says farmers can now focus on environmentally friendly methods other than the use of chemicals.
“Pesticides like ambush and dursban are hazardous to the environment and humans unless they are safely handled,” he said. Mr Bulegeya, also the commissioner in the Ministry of Agriculture, animal Industry and Fisheries, says one such biological control method of pests is the use of fungi.
He says farmers can control pests and diseases like banana weevils, variegated grasshoppers, locusts and some types of termites by applying metarhizium specie and Bauveria specie fungi. Mr Bulegeya adds, “These two types of fungi are naturally occurring when applied appropriately to kill pests.” “You extract fungus from the soil, purify and multiply it on artificial medium in the laboratory to get the quantities needed.
When you apply the fungi on pests, then spores germinate on them and enter the insect bodies to multiply further to kill the pests,” he added. The amount of fungi increases as long as pests come together and the spores spread more when the pests start dying.
“For those pests that aggregate like weevils spread to the spores easily,” Mr Bulegeya said. However, he added that the use of fungi is a delicate and new technique that cannot be used by subsistence farmers.
“To calculate the dose and ensure the right environment for survival of fungi and to have the quantity and purification requires financial and technical inputs. These are still high,” he says. Mr Bulegeya’s revelation adds value to the recent development made at the National Crops Resources Research Institute where new high yielding varieties are being tested and the start of a cassava biotech capacity project for agro-biodiversity and biotechnology (Agrobio) programme.
Dr Antony Bua, an Agric-Economist and Team Leader for National Cassava Programme said such initiatives would build capacity to perform very high and advanced science which we normally borrow from Europe and America, adding that intervention would build local human capacity in using the advanced science facilities rather than relying on developed countries, as has been the case.
Mr Bulegeya said the fungi could be accessed from research stations and international bodies and farmers who use high technology and producers of high value crops. “Such organisations have got laboratories and skilled manpower with support to maintain the fungi, which can be kept for six to eight months under appropriate temperature,”
The crop protection specialist says that flowers for instance have biological control agents such as wasps; “It is the same principle like beetles used to control the water hyacinth on Lake Victoria.” Mr Bulegeya says about six strains of coffee have been developed through research to address coffee wilt disease because “they exhibited resistance to any disease.”
“The challenge now is to multiply these strains to get sufficient quantities to supply the farmers,” he says. For matooke management, Mr Bulegeya recommends, “Good management, where you remove all the infected plants and burry them, fertilise the plantation and remove all the male buds as soon as the last finger of a bunch has formed.”
He says that another strategy has been developed where by some areas have been mapped in the northern region where cassava plants are still free of diseases to get seeds while a comprehensive research is going on to develop a disease-resistant variety. “We must aggressively promote agricultural produce either natural or organic to ensure food security, increase production and productivity and income of farmers who constitute over 80 per cent of our population,” Mr Bulegeya says.
Dr Bua says, “It will also be cost effective and cheap for Uganda to develop local technologies using locally based facilities. Uganda would also have a comparative advantage in the East and Central African region to conduct advanced research for regional countries.”
Dr Bua who is also a specialist in developing high yielding cassava varieties, says the products that would be generated from laboratories like cassava disease resistant varieties will be disseminated and promoted to the local farmers.
Scientists prepare to fight cotton disease and pests
Lominda Afedraru
UGANDA. Daily Monitor - Kampala, Oct. 22, 2008
According to the scientists, this genetically modified cotton will reduce the frequency of spraying cotton from six times to two to three times depending on the availability of secondary pests thus reducing on environmental pollution and health issues. Genetically modified Cotton is now grown in nine countries worldwide with the three leading countries as China, India and US. Studies from the World Bank indicate that if countries adopt the genetically modified cotton, they stand to benefit more than they would with the conventional cotton under the Initiative of the World Trade Organisation. Genitically modified cotton is one of the upcoming seeds with others being maize, banana, sorghum and cassava.
Scientists in Uganda will soon begin testing the genetically modified cotton in their laboratories to prove whether they are resistant to cotton wilt and other related cotton diseases, which has been destroying the conventional cotton plant.
The government recently gave a go ahead for scientists to carry out the above research just as they have been doing to other crops such as the East African Highland banana and cassava.
However, according the Regional coordinator for the Bio-safety System programme, Dr Thereza Sengoba, scientists will carry out this test in their laboratories and later confined filed trials will be conducted at two sites, in Western Uganda at Mubuku and Eastern Uganda at Serere.
This is because the two regions are considered to be representing major cotton growing areas with different agro- ecologies. Dr Senbgoba said this while presenting a paper at the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa (OFAB) on the topic, Evolution of agro- biotechnology and the challenges of seed system in Africa.
The British introduced traditional Cotton to Uganda in 1903. It quickly established itself as Uganda’s export crop and became the main foreign exchange earner.
According to scientists, cotton production in Uganda is mainly by peasant farmers and it is affected by a number of factors ranging from poor management of insects, pests, weeds, diseases and soil. This is the reason why scientists are trying a research on the genetically modified cotton hoping it may give yields compared to the traditional cotton.
According to data information by the scientists, in 1994 the government under the Economic recovery programme decided to revive and support cotton production so as to diversify sources for foreign exchange earnings and avoidance on coffee.
Structural changes were put in place and the Cotton Development Organisation was charged with overseeing production and marketing. The Cotton industry was also liberalised and services were privatised. This created conducive atmosphere, which enabled growth of the private sector such as Uganda Ginners and Cotton Export Association, Oil Millers and Textile millers.
Despite this heavy investment in the cotton industry, research has shown that cotton production has stagnated at about 200,000 metric tones in the past several years. There are a number of constraints still affecting cotton production and these include among others, pests such as bollworms, weeds and soil fertility.
The traditional cotton requires farmers to carry under the cotton plantation five to six times which farmers find tedious.
In view of the above constraints, scientists have been looking for options to solve them in a bid to achieve the targeted amount of cotton production.
This is the reason why they are venturing into research in the genetically modified cotton and one of the biotechnologies they have identified is the Ball guard11, which will be used to evaluate the modified cotton varieties by crossing the genes extracted from a soil bacterium called B. Thrugiensis to control the bollworms.
According to the scientists, this genetically modified cotton will reduce the frequency of spraying cotton from six times to two to three times depending on the availability of secondary pests thus reducing on environmental pollution and health issues.
Genetically modified Cotton is now grown in nine countries worldwide with the three leading countries as China, India and US. Studies from the World Bank indicate that if countries adopt the genetically modified cotton, they stand to benefit more than they would with the conventional cotton under the Initiative of the World Trade Organisation. Genitically modified cotton is one of the upcoming seeds with others being maize, banana, sorghum and cassava.
UGANDA. Daily Monitor - Kampala, Oct. 22, 2008
According to the scientists, this genetically modified cotton will reduce the frequency of spraying cotton from six times to two to three times depending on the availability of secondary pests thus reducing on environmental pollution and health issues. Genetically modified Cotton is now grown in nine countries worldwide with the three leading countries as China, India and US. Studies from the World Bank indicate that if countries adopt the genetically modified cotton, they stand to benefit more than they would with the conventional cotton under the Initiative of the World Trade Organisation. Genitically modified cotton is one of the upcoming seeds with others being maize, banana, sorghum and cassava.
Scientists in Uganda will soon begin testing the genetically modified cotton in their laboratories to prove whether they are resistant to cotton wilt and other related cotton diseases, which has been destroying the conventional cotton plant.
The government recently gave a go ahead for scientists to carry out the above research just as they have been doing to other crops such as the East African Highland banana and cassava.
However, according the Regional coordinator for the Bio-safety System programme, Dr Thereza Sengoba, scientists will carry out this test in their laboratories and later confined filed trials will be conducted at two sites, in Western Uganda at Mubuku and Eastern Uganda at Serere.
This is because the two regions are considered to be representing major cotton growing areas with different agro- ecologies. Dr Senbgoba said this while presenting a paper at the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa (OFAB) on the topic, Evolution of agro- biotechnology and the challenges of seed system in Africa.
The British introduced traditional Cotton to Uganda in 1903. It quickly established itself as Uganda’s export crop and became the main foreign exchange earner.
According to scientists, cotton production in Uganda is mainly by peasant farmers and it is affected by a number of factors ranging from poor management of insects, pests, weeds, diseases and soil. This is the reason why scientists are trying a research on the genetically modified cotton hoping it may give yields compared to the traditional cotton.
According to data information by the scientists, in 1994 the government under the Economic recovery programme decided to revive and support cotton production so as to diversify sources for foreign exchange earnings and avoidance on coffee.
Structural changes were put in place and the Cotton Development Organisation was charged with overseeing production and marketing. The Cotton industry was also liberalised and services were privatised. This created conducive atmosphere, which enabled growth of the private sector such as Uganda Ginners and Cotton Export Association, Oil Millers and Textile millers.
Despite this heavy investment in the cotton industry, research has shown that cotton production has stagnated at about 200,000 metric tones in the past several years. There are a number of constraints still affecting cotton production and these include among others, pests such as bollworms, weeds and soil fertility.
The traditional cotton requires farmers to carry under the cotton plantation five to six times which farmers find tedious.
In view of the above constraints, scientists have been looking for options to solve them in a bid to achieve the targeted amount of cotton production.
This is the reason why they are venturing into research in the genetically modified cotton and one of the biotechnologies they have identified is the Ball guard11, which will be used to evaluate the modified cotton varieties by crossing the genes extracted from a soil bacterium called B. Thrugiensis to control the bollworms.
According to the scientists, this genetically modified cotton will reduce the frequency of spraying cotton from six times to two to three times depending on the availability of secondary pests thus reducing on environmental pollution and health issues.
Genetically modified Cotton is now grown in nine countries worldwide with the three leading countries as China, India and US. Studies from the World Bank indicate that if countries adopt the genetically modified cotton, they stand to benefit more than they would with the conventional cotton under the Initiative of the World Trade Organisation. Genitically modified cotton is one of the upcoming seeds with others being maize, banana, sorghum and cassava.
Oct 21, 2008
For ‘fufu’ in Freetown, this African diner’s the place
By Jina Moore
USA. Christian Science Monitor - Boston, MA, 22 Oct 2008
http://features.csmonitor.com/backstory/2008/10/20/for-fufu-in-freetown-this-african-d
The ground nut and cassava leaf stews so common in this part of the world are full of an ingredient that make weight watchers wary: oil. Palm oil is the foundation of many stews here; the oil is tapped in the countryside and brought to town, sold in plastic water bottles, a liter or two at a time. A rich orange in the bottle, the oil turns deep brown when it mixes with cassava leaves, making a stew that looks held together by chocolate syrup. In ground nut stew, a dish colored by the thin purple skins, the oil turns almost pink.
Freetown, Sierra Leone
You might not recognize Sadia Pratt in the early morning. She wears a long house dress and an apron, orange in places where palm oil has soaked in. Her hair is wrapped in a pastel cloth, and her glasses fog up when she stands over the stove just outside her front door. On a Monday morning, she’s stirring ground nut stew in a dimpled metal pot over the hat. A chicken weaves in and out of her legs as she cooks.
Later in the afternoon, she’ll be prim again, in fresh pressed clothes and small gold earrings. She’ll leave the grueling kitchen heat and preside over her cozy wood-paneled restaurant, laughing as often as she speaks, her round, young face betraying only mirth. Everyone will greet her with what has become, by now, her real name: Mama.
In a city where entrepreneurial spirit is the only abundant resource, Mama’s restaurant has a small following, and an even smaller menu. Mama runs Kieman’s, a small lunch-and-dinner spot off the beaten track here. In the wood-paneled dining room, before a bar with empty shelves, the stews she serves are more than meals; they’re a little piece of history in a country whose capital pulses with the energy of recovery.
Mama opened Kieman’s in 2000, the year Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war techically ended, but few knew whether the peace would last. The restaurant is named after her sons – Aki and Emmanuel – and in the eight years since it opened, Kieman’s has become a favorite of the intrepid tourist. You won’t find it in the growing tourist literature for travelers here, but Mama has a loyal following abroad. Britons, Americans, and Germans who’ve happened upon her Fort Street spot sing its praises on Internet message boards and chat rooms.
“If you tell her in advance that you’re coming … she truly prepares a FEAST for a bargain price,” one Australian tourist wrote. When told about the Australian, Mama said, “Ah, she’s always sending me people.”
In a post-conflict city full of aid workers and other expats, escaping mediocre “continental cuisine” and finding gems of local dining can be a challenge. The free advertising means Mama’s place is one of the few local eateries foreigners know when they hit Freetown, a destination for native dishes like cassava leaf or ground nut stews. They’re also among Mama’s favorites. “I love tasty foods,” she says. “Can’t you see I’m fat?”
Tasty Sierra Leonean foods give no pause for caloric considerations. The ground nut and cassava leaf stews so common in this part of the world are full of an ingredient that make weight watchers wary: oil. Palm oil is the foundation of many stews here; the oil is tapped in the countryside and brought to town, sold in plastic water bottles, a liter or two at a time. A rich orange in the bottle, the oil turns deep brown when it mixes with cassava leaves, making a stew that looks held together by chocolate syrup. In ground nut stew, a dish colored by the thin purple skins, the oil turns almost pink.
It may be the hints of cinnamon, or a special spice her German friends send – even Mama doesn’t know what it is – but her ground nut stew tastes like more than a thick peanut soup. It’s her mother’s recipe, Mama says. “But I improved on it.”
Food here is, of course, about more than improvisation. To explain its diversity, Americans are fond of using the metaphor of the melting pot. In Sierra Leone, where 16 ethnic groups with different languages and traditions share a country the size of South Carolina, the melting pot is literal. In fact, in West Africa, the cassava leaf and other staples cross not just provincial but national boundaries.
“These are native foods that were brought here when slaves came through,” says Hindolo Trye, Sierra Leone’s minister of culture and tourism. “Freetown was for freed slaves, and when they came here, each one from [a] different place … they started making what they’ve known before.”
Cassava is a case in point; it is the dietary staple of 250 million Africans. A root with a mild taste, it can be fried like a potato, or ground into a sticky pudding eaten with the fingers, called fufu. The leaves are chopped and turned into a stew.
Food is as much about ritual as it is about history, of course, and in Sierra Leone, cuisine has a place in ceremony. Beans are served at weddings or naming ceremonies, but not on the daily dinner table. Forty days after the death of a loved one, a celebration is held, marked with olele, a bean dish, Mr. Trye says is otherwise hard to find these days.
And then there is the ritual of routine.
“We have a culture of eating certain foods on certain days. On Saturday, the main diet is fufu,” says Tileima Yilla, principal of the Women’s Vocational and Training Center in Freetown. Like most food here, fufu is a dish prepared by the matriarch of a home. “Those who are single … they will have to go to a restaurant.”
That gives Mama’s place an important social role – and customer base. She prepares two dishes a day, usually stews. Though many Freetownians these days work in offices, they retain a preference for heavy, saucy meals made in the provinces most of them have come from, where men working outdoors needed a hefty meal to get them through the day. On a Monday afternoon a few months ago, the only locals in the restaurant were men. They wish there were more meat in the stew, they say, but otherwise, the day’s menu tastes pretty much the way food should. “Like it used to,” one man says.
It’s easy to forget, in a place like this, that there were ever good old days. In the brutal, decade-long civil war women were raped, boys kidnapped into rebel groups, who punished resisters by chopping off their arms.
But there was a before, even for Sierra Leone. In the old days, when Mama was a girl, there was electricity and water, two commodities that often disappear even before government rationing shuts them off. There were jobs, and with them, the disposable wealth of a middle class. There were department stores with fashionable clothes, and small drug stores filled with comic books that doubled as spelling primers. “Now, if you ask the kids, ‘Spell me ‘Wow!’, they wouldn’t know how,” Mama sighs.
And there were toys, not the improvisations that fill poor villages across Africa today – tiny wooden or wire replicas of bicycles, or the simpler hoop and wheel – but the toys of a prosperous British colony. Mama’s brothers had toy cars; she and her sister had dolls – white dolls. “We didn’t like the way they were making the black dolls,” she remembers. “Always with the big cheeks, red eyes. Sometimes we are afraid of them. We don’t look like this.”
There was choice. Mama studied to be a secretary, but the pay was less than she thought she could earn making traditional cuisine. So she saved, gave up her office job, and built a compound on Fort Street, with a restaurant in front and a home in back. In those days, Fort Street was busy, and she had hopes of attracting clients from the nearby Paradise Hotel.
Then the war came and food shortages: Most of the cassava, potatoes, and ground nuts that made up Mama’s menu were grown in the provinces. When the violence reached the city, Fort Street became a dangerous place. Mama and her family fled, and her little compound was spared from rebel-set blazes by the iron bars and windows.
Peace has brought a flood of international organizations to Freetown, and now secretaries make far more than they imagined they ever could when Mama gave the profession up. But the people they work for don’t usually dine in restaurants like Mama’s. Mostly, her clientele is a loyal, but small, group of locals who love her food.
She gives little thought either to what might have been, if she’d kept her office job, or to what might still be, if she’s able to retire. The past and the future are full of different difficulties, she says, and “life must go on. Who will give you what you need?” She sighs. “So you have to do something.”
USA. Christian Science Monitor - Boston, MA, 22 Oct 2008
http://features.csmonitor.com/backstory/2008/10/20/for-fufu-in-freetown-this-african-d
The ground nut and cassava leaf stews so common in this part of the world are full of an ingredient that make weight watchers wary: oil. Palm oil is the foundation of many stews here; the oil is tapped in the countryside and brought to town, sold in plastic water bottles, a liter or two at a time. A rich orange in the bottle, the oil turns deep brown when it mixes with cassava leaves, making a stew that looks held together by chocolate syrup. In ground nut stew, a dish colored by the thin purple skins, the oil turns almost pink.
Freetown, Sierra Leone
You might not recognize Sadia Pratt in the early morning. She wears a long house dress and an apron, orange in places where palm oil has soaked in. Her hair is wrapped in a pastel cloth, and her glasses fog up when she stands over the stove just outside her front door. On a Monday morning, she’s stirring ground nut stew in a dimpled metal pot over the hat. A chicken weaves in and out of her legs as she cooks.
Later in the afternoon, she’ll be prim again, in fresh pressed clothes and small gold earrings. She’ll leave the grueling kitchen heat and preside over her cozy wood-paneled restaurant, laughing as often as she speaks, her round, young face betraying only mirth. Everyone will greet her with what has become, by now, her real name: Mama.
In a city where entrepreneurial spirit is the only abundant resource, Mama’s restaurant has a small following, and an even smaller menu. Mama runs Kieman’s, a small lunch-and-dinner spot off the beaten track here. In the wood-paneled dining room, before a bar with empty shelves, the stews she serves are more than meals; they’re a little piece of history in a country whose capital pulses with the energy of recovery.
Mama opened Kieman’s in 2000, the year Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war techically ended, but few knew whether the peace would last. The restaurant is named after her sons – Aki and Emmanuel – and in the eight years since it opened, Kieman’s has become a favorite of the intrepid tourist. You won’t find it in the growing tourist literature for travelers here, but Mama has a loyal following abroad. Britons, Americans, and Germans who’ve happened upon her Fort Street spot sing its praises on Internet message boards and chat rooms.
“If you tell her in advance that you’re coming … she truly prepares a FEAST for a bargain price,” one Australian tourist wrote. When told about the Australian, Mama said, “Ah, she’s always sending me people.”
In a post-conflict city full of aid workers and other expats, escaping mediocre “continental cuisine” and finding gems of local dining can be a challenge. The free advertising means Mama’s place is one of the few local eateries foreigners know when they hit Freetown, a destination for native dishes like cassava leaf or ground nut stews. They’re also among Mama’s favorites. “I love tasty foods,” she says. “Can’t you see I’m fat?”
Tasty Sierra Leonean foods give no pause for caloric considerations. The ground nut and cassava leaf stews so common in this part of the world are full of an ingredient that make weight watchers wary: oil. Palm oil is the foundation of many stews here; the oil is tapped in the countryside and brought to town, sold in plastic water bottles, a liter or two at a time. A rich orange in the bottle, the oil turns deep brown when it mixes with cassava leaves, making a stew that looks held together by chocolate syrup. In ground nut stew, a dish colored by the thin purple skins, the oil turns almost pink.
It may be the hints of cinnamon, or a special spice her German friends send – even Mama doesn’t know what it is – but her ground nut stew tastes like more than a thick peanut soup. It’s her mother’s recipe, Mama says. “But I improved on it.”
Food here is, of course, about more than improvisation. To explain its diversity, Americans are fond of using the metaphor of the melting pot. In Sierra Leone, where 16 ethnic groups with different languages and traditions share a country the size of South Carolina, the melting pot is literal. In fact, in West Africa, the cassava leaf and other staples cross not just provincial but national boundaries.
“These are native foods that were brought here when slaves came through,” says Hindolo Trye, Sierra Leone’s minister of culture and tourism. “Freetown was for freed slaves, and when they came here, each one from [a] different place … they started making what they’ve known before.”
Cassava is a case in point; it is the dietary staple of 250 million Africans. A root with a mild taste, it can be fried like a potato, or ground into a sticky pudding eaten with the fingers, called fufu. The leaves are chopped and turned into a stew.
Food is as much about ritual as it is about history, of course, and in Sierra Leone, cuisine has a place in ceremony. Beans are served at weddings or naming ceremonies, but not on the daily dinner table. Forty days after the death of a loved one, a celebration is held, marked with olele, a bean dish, Mr. Trye says is otherwise hard to find these days.
And then there is the ritual of routine.
“We have a culture of eating certain foods on certain days. On Saturday, the main diet is fufu,” says Tileima Yilla, principal of the Women’s Vocational and Training Center in Freetown. Like most food here, fufu is a dish prepared by the matriarch of a home. “Those who are single … they will have to go to a restaurant.”
That gives Mama’s place an important social role – and customer base. She prepares two dishes a day, usually stews. Though many Freetownians these days work in offices, they retain a preference for heavy, saucy meals made in the provinces most of them have come from, where men working outdoors needed a hefty meal to get them through the day. On a Monday afternoon a few months ago, the only locals in the restaurant were men. They wish there were more meat in the stew, they say, but otherwise, the day’s menu tastes pretty much the way food should. “Like it used to,” one man says.
It’s easy to forget, in a place like this, that there were ever good old days. In the brutal, decade-long civil war women were raped, boys kidnapped into rebel groups, who punished resisters by chopping off their arms.
But there was a before, even for Sierra Leone. In the old days, when Mama was a girl, there was electricity and water, two commodities that often disappear even before government rationing shuts them off. There were jobs, and with them, the disposable wealth of a middle class. There were department stores with fashionable clothes, and small drug stores filled with comic books that doubled as spelling primers. “Now, if you ask the kids, ‘Spell me ‘Wow!’, they wouldn’t know how,” Mama sighs.
And there were toys, not the improvisations that fill poor villages across Africa today – tiny wooden or wire replicas of bicycles, or the simpler hoop and wheel – but the toys of a prosperous British colony. Mama’s brothers had toy cars; she and her sister had dolls – white dolls. “We didn’t like the way they were making the black dolls,” she remembers. “Always with the big cheeks, red eyes. Sometimes we are afraid of them. We don’t look like this.”
There was choice. Mama studied to be a secretary, but the pay was less than she thought she could earn making traditional cuisine. So she saved, gave up her office job, and built a compound on Fort Street, with a restaurant in front and a home in back. In those days, Fort Street was busy, and she had hopes of attracting clients from the nearby Paradise Hotel.
Then the war came and food shortages: Most of the cassava, potatoes, and ground nuts that made up Mama’s menu were grown in the provinces. When the violence reached the city, Fort Street became a dangerous place. Mama and her family fled, and her little compound was spared from rebel-set blazes by the iron bars and windows.
Peace has brought a flood of international organizations to Freetown, and now secretaries make far more than they imagined they ever could when Mama gave the profession up. But the people they work for don’t usually dine in restaurants like Mama’s. Mostly, her clientele is a loyal, but small, group of locals who love her food.
She gives little thought either to what might have been, if she’d kept her office job, or to what might still be, if she’s able to retire. The past and the future are full of different difficulties, she says, and “life must go on. Who will give you what you need?” She sighs. “So you have to do something.”
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