Aidah Nanyonjo
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA 6 January 2009
"We developed 12 cassava resistant and high yielding varieties. Unfortunately the ten have been attacked by cassava mosaic and brown stem diseases. The two remaining varieties have stood the test and we want to put them into the field to test their performance," Baguma said.
Kampala — LABORATORY experiments for the genetically modified (GM) cassava have been completed and the National Crops Resource Research Institute (NCRRI) Namulonge has sought permission from the National biosafety committee to transfer the genetically modified cassava from the green house to the field.
"We are through with the laboratory work. If our application gets a favorable consideration by committee, we shall have the first genetically modified cassava in the field. We have all the tools that can be used to genetically improve the type of cassava we have today in the country,"Dr. Yona Baguma, a researcher said.
One of the roles of the national biosafety committee is to ensure safe conduct and safety of the biotech products to human beings and the environment. The cassava plants shall be subjected to various tests. Recently, the research institute came up with crop materials that combine resistance to both cassava mosaic and cassava brown stem disease.
Researchers have used the technology to impart genes of resistance to cassava mosaic, which is caused by a double stranded virus and cassava brown stem that is caused by the single stranded virus.
"We developed 12 cassava resistant and high yielding varieties. Unfortunately the ten have been attacked by cassava mosaic and brown stem diseases. The two remaining varieties have stood the test and we want to put them into the field to test their performance," Baguma said.
He said to come up with best cassava varieties Ugandans have to use of biotechnology best approaches. According to him, if the field trial succceds, the products that would be generated will be disseminated to the local farmers.
Baguma said famine maybe felt in some areas of the country due the extinction of most staple foods caused by the pest and diseases.
He said that cassava has been invaded by the mosaic and brown stem while black sigatoka and banana weevils are a threat to East African highland bananas.
According to the scientists, cassava mosaic and cassava brown streak disease are the most important constraints affecting cassava production in Uganda and most parts of Africa.
The research aims at improving CMD resistance genes while retaining the superior storage root traits. Baguma was speaking during a workshop on biosafety and biotechnology held at Imperial Royale Hotel on Thursday
Jan 7, 2009
Rethinking the food situation in Zambia
By Mingeli Palata
Lusaka Times - lusaka,Zambia, Jan. 6, 2009
I will give you an example of Cassava, a crop I am most familiar with because my grand mother in Kapompo grows the crop. Cassava is cheap and convenient to grow; it is rich in carbohydrates and will not let you down should your basal metabolic rate be higher than the average Zambian. Yet it is very drought resistant, doesn’t need fertilizer and can grow in various soils with minimum supervision. The advantages that Cassava has over maize are immense and I see no reason why it should not be promoted as a staple food of choice.
It’s only natural that the issue of food is on top of the mind for most people and certainly for me. I fail to perform to expected levels when my stomach is not tightly gripped. I choose to believe that most of you share this view. You many not really understand the food crisis in this country until like me you meet the likes of Justin Mwemba, a taxi driver in Lusaka whom I met the previous week. Aside from struggling to make his cashing markup, I got to learn that Justin is also a father to two and a husband of one wife who lives with his family in Bauleni compound. The man vividly put the deteriorating hunger situation in the country, describing the cost of living and the price of mealie meal in particular as unattainable for most average Zambians.
True to the word, in the past year, the issue of mealie meal prices has been one of great interest to most Zambians and it was only a few weeks ago when we were told that Zambia will experience a poor harvest this year, alarming isn’t it? Yet this is the order of the day- year after year. The price of mealie meal is negatively affected by mismanagement of food administration and low agriculture output, as much as it is affected by weather patterns.
I need not overstate the fact that Zambia has a special God-given capacity to feed itself and its neighbors.Despite countless efforts made to urge government to put agriculture in the center stage of their undertakings for both internal food security and foreign exchange purposes, there has been little done in this area. Today agricultural news is still rocked by unattainable fertilizer prices and maize grain price scandals. It is obvious that the system being used to make these much needed agricultural inputs available is not working. This is not only embarrassing but detrimental to aspirations of ensuring sustainable food security and making Zambia the ultimate food basket in Africa.
Firstly there is a lot of mismanagement, low innovation and lack of priority that characterizes operations at the FRA. In frantic efforts to know what the problem is, I was shocked to learn that both commercial and subsistence farmers find it more profitable to sell the maize to opaque beer brewers or foreign nations rather than the government simply because alcohol brewers for instance offer to buy the grain at double the price. Why can’t government rectify this anomaly? I suggest that deliberate regulation be effected to woo farmers to vend the grain to the FRA by offering attractive prices and terms.Smart economic measures such as high taxation and regulation should be effected to discourage farmers from selling their maize to ‘opaque beer brewers’.
Secondly, Government needs to take a more deliberate action other than relying on selfish private commercial farmers, who would rather sell their maize grain to the Congo than the FRA. I suggest that the state identify key farmers so as to equip and position them in strategic locations for the sole purpose of achieving food security in our beloved country. These strategic state aided farms should be equipped with state of the art farming equipments, inputs, an all season irrigation system that enables winter farming (tapped from the numerous mighty rivers we are endowed with) and objective government supervision to ensure that food shortages and crazy mealie meal prices are a the thing of the past.
Lastly, Zambia also suffers from a self inflicted addiction to maize- somehow we believe that the only thing worth being called food is maize meal- nshima. This should notbe the case.There are other foodstuffs like rice, cassava, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, that can supplement maize as the staple food. Government needs to take deliberate action to fight this stereotype and promote other foodstuff to combat hunger in this country. I will give you an example of Cassava, a crop I am most familiar with because my grand mother in Kapompo grows the crop. Cassava is cheap and convenient to grow; it is rich in carbohydrates and will not let you down should your basal metabolic rate be higher than the average Zambian. Yet it is very drought resistant, doesn’t need fertilizer and can grow in various soils with minimum supervision. The advantages that Cassava has over maize are immense and I see no reason why it should not be promoted as a staple food of choice.
We need to see more inspiring deliberate action and more government innovative regulation to ensure that the country has maximum food security so that Justin Mweemba and his family are well fed. This in my view is the government’s primary responsibility and there is no room for excuses.
Jan 4, 2009
BIO-EARN promoting biotechnology in Ethiopia
Walta Information Center - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Saturday, 03 January 2009
Addis Ababa, January 3 (WIC) – BIO-EARN, an East African regional network for the development of Biotechnology, announced that it is working toward promoting the application of biotechnology in agriculture, industry, and environmental management in order to contribute for the sustainable development of the country.
BIO-EARN project and research coordinator, Shumu Teferra told WIC that the project is working to develop a network of excellence that will significantly contribute to improve food security, sustainable environment management, industrial production and enhanced livelihood in Ethiopia.
He said the organization, together with the Addis Ababa University and the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Institute, is undertaking various researches in Ethiopia including development of biotechnologies to improve biotic and abiotic stresses in Sorghum.
According to the coordinator, the project is also working to release virus-resistant cassava and sweet potato varieties and innovate seed delivery system for sweet potato and cassava at the Awash Melkasa research institution.
Development of improved technologies to utilize industrial and agricultural waste with a view to producing bio-energy and value-added chemical is also underway, he indicated.
He called upon government and other pertinent bodies to exert efforts on research and technology development in a bid to improve industrial productivity and create science-based business enterprises.
BIO-EARN is an East African regional program and research network working for biotechnology, bio-safety and biotechnology policy development in Uganda Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania.
Addis Ababa, January 3 (WIC) – BIO-EARN, an East African regional network for the development of Biotechnology, announced that it is working toward promoting the application of biotechnology in agriculture, industry, and environmental management in order to contribute for the sustainable development of the country.
BIO-EARN project and research coordinator, Shumu Teferra told WIC that the project is working to develop a network of excellence that will significantly contribute to improve food security, sustainable environment management, industrial production and enhanced livelihood in Ethiopia.
He said the organization, together with the Addis Ababa University and the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Institute, is undertaking various researches in Ethiopia including development of biotechnologies to improve biotic and abiotic stresses in Sorghum.
According to the coordinator, the project is also working to release virus-resistant cassava and sweet potato varieties and innovate seed delivery system for sweet potato and cassava at the Awash Melkasa research institution.
Development of improved technologies to utilize industrial and agricultural waste with a view to producing bio-energy and value-added chemical is also underway, he indicated.
He called upon government and other pertinent bodies to exert efforts on research and technology development in a bid to improve industrial productivity and create science-based business enterprises.
BIO-EARN is an East African regional program and research network working for biotechnology, bio-safety and biotechnology policy development in Uganda Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania.
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.
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.
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.
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