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Promoting Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development

noreply@blogger.com (Agro impact) — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 19:05:00 +0000

14.1. By the year 2025, 83 for every penny of the normal worldwide populace of 8.5 billion will be existing in advancing nations. Yet the limit of accessible assets and advances to fulfill the requests of this developing populace for sustenance and other horticultural items remains unverifiable. Farming needs to meet this test, for the most part by expanding processing ashore as of recently being used and by maintaining a strategic distance from further infringement ashore that is just possibly suitable for growth. 14.2. Major conformities are required in horticultural, ecological and macroeconomic approach, at both national and worldwide levels, in improved and also advancing nations, to make the conditions for practical farming and rustic improvement (Sard). The major goal of Sard is to build nourishment processing in a supportable manner and upgrade sustenance security. This will include training activities, usage of monetary motivations and the advancement of fitting and new advances, accordingly guaranteeing stable supplies of nutritiously sufficient nourishment, access to those supplies by defenseless aggregations, and preparation for businesses; job and salary era to reduce destitution; and regular asset administration and ecological insurance. 14.3. The necessity must be on keeping up and enhancing the limit of the higher potential agrarian grounds to uphold a stretching populace. Be that as it may, saving and restoring the common assets on more level potential terrains with a specific end goal to uphold economical man/land degrees is additionally vital. The principle apparatuses of Sard are arrangement and agrarian change, support, salary expansion, arrive preservation and enhanced administration of inputs. The triumph of Sard will depend generally on the backing and support of provincial individuals, national Governments, the private part and worldwide participation, incorporating specialized and logical collaboration. 14.4. The accompanying programme zones are incorporated in this section: (an) Agricultural arrangement survey, arranging and joined customizing in the light of the multifunctional part of horticulture, especially with respect to sustenance security and manageable advancement; (b) Ensuring individuals' interest and pushing human asset improvement for supportable horticulture; (c) Improving ranch preparation and cultivating frameworks through enhancement of homestead and non-ranch occupation and base improvement; (d) Land-asset arranging data and instruction for agribusiness; (e) Land preservation and restoration; (f) Water for supportable nourishment creation and maintainable provincial improvement; (g) Conservation and maintainable use of plant hereditary assets for sustenance and economical farming; (h) Conservation and supportable use of creature hereditary assets for feasible farming; (i) Integrated vermin administration and control in agribusiness; (j) Sustainable plant nourishment to expand sustenance creation; (k) Rural vigor move to improve profit; (l) Evaluation of the impacts of ultraviolet radiation on plants and creatures brought on by the consumption of the stratospheric ozone layer. Programme Areas A. Rural strategy audit, arranging and reconciled programmes in the light of the multifunctional part of horticulture, especially concerning nourishment security and maintainable advancement Groundwork for activity 14.5. There is a need to incorporate maintainable improvement contemplations with agrarian strategy investigation and arranging in all nations, especially in improving nations. Suggestions may as well help specifically to advancement of reasonable and operational medium- to long haul plans and programmes, and consequently to solid activities. Uphold to and observing of usage may as well take after. 14.6. The nonappearance of a lucid national strategy system for economical farming and country improvement (Sard) is across the board and is not constrained to the improving nations. Specifically the economies on the move from wanted to market-turned frameworks need such a system to join ecological contemplations into financial exercises, incorporating horticulture. All nations need to survey thoroughly the effects of such approaches on sustenance and agribusiness segment execution, nourishment security, provincial welfare and worldwide exchanging relations as a methods for distinguishing fitting balancing measures. The major push of sustenance security thus is to achieve a huge expand in farming creation in a maintainable manner and to attain a considerable change in individuals' privilege to satisfactory nourishment and socially suitable sustenance supplies. 14.7. Sound approach choices relating to worldwide exchange and capital streams additionally require movement to
succeed: (an) an absence of mindfulness of the natural expenses brought about by sectoral and macroeconomic arrangements and subsequently their risk to practicality; (b) deficient abilities and experience in consolidating issues of manageability into approaches and programmes; and (c) deficiency of devices of examination and screening. 1/ Destinations 14.8. The destinations of this Programme region are: (a) By 1995, to survey and, where suitable, secure a programme to coordinate natural and reasonable advancement with strategy investigation for the sustenance and horticulture segment and pertinent macroeconomic arrangement examination, definition and usage; (b) To keep up and advance, as suitable, operational multisectoral arrangements, programmes and strategy measures, incorporating programmes and measures to upgrade economical sustenance generation and nourishment security inside the schema of feasible improvement, not later than 1998; (c) To look after and improve the capacity of advancing nations, especially the minimum improved ones, to themselves supervise arrangement, modifying and arranging exercises, not later than 2005. Exercises (a)

Why Youths Have to Start Thinking Agriculture

noreply@blogger.com (Agro impact) — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 13:10:00 +0000

Members of DoTheDream Youth Development Initiative planning for DoTheDream Agriculture Conference for Youth

GENERAL FACTS ABOUT AGRICULTURE

Twenty two million American workers produce, process, sell and trade the nation's food and fiber. But only 4.6 million of those people live on the farms-- slightly less than 2 percent of the total U.S.Population. Consumers spend $547 billion for food originating on U.S. farms and

ranches. Of each dollar spent on food, the farmer's share is approximately 23 cents. The rest are for costs beyond the farm gate: wages and materials for production, processing, marketing, transportation and distribution.

On average, every hour, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, around $6 million in U.S. agricultural products--grains, oilseeds, cotton, meats, vegetables, snack foods, etc., will be consigned for shipment for export to foreign markets. It all means more jobs and higher wages across the nation. U.S. agricultural exports generate more than $100 billion annually in business activity throughout the U.S. economy and provide jobs for nearly 1 million workers.

Agricultural land provides habitat for 75 percent of the nation's wildlife. Deer, moose, waterfowl and other species have shown significant population increases during the past several years.

Ethanol and new bio-diesel fuels made from corn and other grains are beneficial to the environment and promote energy security.

Today's Farmer and Farm Family

Nearly two million people farm or ranch in the United States. Almost 90 percent of U.S. farms are operated by individuals or family corporations. And American agriculture provides jobs—including production agriculture, farm inputs, processing and marketing, along with retail and wholesale sales--for 15 percent of the U.S. population. A recent survey of America's young farmers and ranchers revealed that 97.2 percent planned to farm and ranch for life. And 90 percent said they would like their children to follow in their footsteps. This provides strong incentive for today's farmers and ranchers to protect and preserve he natural resources on their property. Not only is the land and its resources a farmer's lifeblood today, it represents the future for his family and its business. America's farmers and ranchers are true professionals. Most farmers and reachers are trained and certified in the use of agricultural chemicals. And farmers test and evaluate the soil before administering fertilizers. Farmers and ranchers don't spend hard-earned money on costly fertilizers and nutrients unless they absolutely safe to do otherwise doesn't make good business sense. Nearly 30 percent of today's farmers and ranchers have attended college, with over half of his group obtaining a degree. A growing number of today's farmers and ranchers with four-year college degrees are pursuing post-graduate studies.

Today's Modern Farm

Thanks to modern farming techniques, America's farmers and ranchers are producing more food on fewer acres, leaving more open space for wildlife habitat. Modern farming practices free up millions of acres of wildlife habitat. Modern farming practices free up millions of acres for wildlife to live and thrive. Precision farming practices boost crop yields and reduce waste by using satellite maps and computers to match seed, fertilizer and crop protection applications to local soil conditions. A recent survey of young farmers and ranchers reveals that computers are used on 83 percent of America's farms. Nearly 75 percent of today's young farmers have a cellular telephone, and nearly one-third have access to the Internet, up from 10.5 percent from last year.

source:do the dream ydi

Youth engaging youth in agriculture

noreply@blogger.com (Agro impact) — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 20:18:00 +0000

Africa has the youngest population in the world; over 200 million people are between ages 15 and 24 and the African Economic Outlooks expects this number to double by 2045. It is easy to see why youth have become such an important part of Africa Agricultural Science Week (AASW), which is taking place right now in Accra, Ghana. This year’s theme is ‘Africa Feeding Africa Through Agricultural Science and Innovation’.

How can we make agriculture an attractive option for youth? Photo: CGIAR Climate on Flickr

For Africa to be able to feed itself, agriculture needs to become a more attractive option for youth. Otherwise, the current trend of young people migrating out of rural agricultural areas and into cities in search of bigger, better jobs will leave Africa with a shortage of farmers. As Maureen Agena proposes, “agriculture must be made ‘sexy’ and profitable to the youth.”
But just how can this be accomplished? Some clues might be drawn from examining one channel that has enjoyed widespread popularity amongst youth attending this week’s event. At AASW, there is a team of over 165 social reporters, the majority of whom are young Africans, actively working to take the messages and discussions occurring at AASW and transmit them to millions of people around the world. Halfway through the conference, the buzz and excitement is clear. By the end of day 2, over 2,800 tweets had been sent out by 275 people, reaching almost 800,000 people. 87 blog posts had been published on the AASW blog, generating over 300 comments.
Social media is sexy. It has the power to reach millions. It’s measurable. And it has gained a quick following among youth with access to the appropriate technologies.
Young people are attracted to the instantaneous nature of communications and fast changing technologies—keeping pace with these exciting innovations is our addiction. Information is at our fingertips and we have the ability now to share it beyond those sitting next to us and out into the world at large. So why don’t we figure out a way to link this with agriculture?

Africa has the highest number of youth in the whole world, and some of the most fertile soils – the two combined could be a force to promote agricultural development!

Actively engaging youth in social media might be a good entry point for finding the best way to engage in agriculture. We tend to see eye-to-eye on certain matters like the lure and attraction of technology.

Let’s see what the AASW social media reporters have to say…

In Margaret Bulamu’s blog post, I am young: agriculture is not for me, she highlights three of the main challenges facing youth, particularly young women, in agriculture: limited access to land, credit and information – and arguably the desire to join the face paced, more advanced lifestyles that cities offer. Moses Owiny writes that in Uganda, “agriculture has become an especially unattractive sector, due to a combination of youth attitudes and perceptions, lack of investment from the government and inability to incentivize the involvement of a younger generation.”
Others such as Rivaldo Kpadonou propose strengthening higher education in agriculture; “African universities continue to produce several thousands of young graduates every year in law, economics or political science. Only a few dozen, poorly equipped students graduate from agricultural and health and nutritional schools.”
Technological innovation provides cost effective options of extending information and education to those who are not attending school. Owiny proposes the use of information and communication technology (ICT)-based agricultural training in these instances—especially among women with fewer opportunities to attain higher education. Technology can also be a driver for change in agriculture—offering young people a range of opportunities: socialization and network-building, employment and research, among others.
Aside from these suggestions, perhaps youth need to do a better job of getting a seat at the table, “If youth want a seat at the table, they need to start making room for themselves” writes Grace Wanene.

But the question is, do they really want a seat at the table? Bulamu points out:

Young, ambitious people have never looked at agriculture as a source of income and livelihoods. It is hard to involve them in activities related to agriculture because they think it is meant for the old and does not make a good living. Even if they did want to enter into the profession, they would not have access to the land they need. These young people are instead dreaming of going to cities and towns and landing a big job, leaving the elderly to tend to crops. Yet Africa has the highest number of youth in the whole world, and some of the most fertile soils – the two combined could be a force to promote agricultural development!

So “under what condition will they [youth] live in a rural community?” Robin Bourgeois of GFAR asks his children. Bourgeois tells social reporter Bunmi Ajilore that:

Youths want access to power, telephones, digital television and other information and communication technologies that are sadly missing or not really functional in many rural communities especially in Africa. Besides, youths do not want to practice agriculture the way of their fathers but in a modern way, with an appropriate image that speak to their aspiration as natives of the digital age – where the media have a great influence on perceptions and aspirations.

The synergies between young social reporters at AASW and among young farmers may be stronger than we think. Let’s put our heads together and find an attractive way to engage youth in agriculture, information dissemination, and technological innovation.

source: cigar

How ICT tools are improving efficiency of agricultural development

noreply@blogger.com (Agro impact) — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 20:54:00 +0000

Kenyan rancher sending a quick message

A Kenyan rancher sends a quick message to enquire about the most recent maize costs from her maize field in Thigio, close Nairobi. Photo: Antony Njuguna/reuters

Information accumulation and screening and assessment (M&e) are a crucial part of advancement work, as the effects figure out where open administrations are most wanted, and what approaches demonstrate successful.

Customarily, pen and paper have been utilized to gather information in the field and for observing and assessment of tasks in country ranges. Be that as it may, this approach is lengthy and helpless to human failure that may influence profit and exactness. Data and correspondence innovations are presently being utilized generally with exceptional positive comes about to perform these undertakings in farming advancement ventures.

In a later worldwide exchange organised by the World Bank and e-Agriculture, specialists from different fields and organisations far and wide imparted their encounters and talked over the courses in which they were utilizing Ict – mobilephones, tablets, requisitions and programming – to gather information in the field, and to perform M&e being developed activities, while additionally working nearly with country neighborhoods and taking their sentiment. The talk has been summarised in an arrangement concise and traces the profits of utilizing Ict for information accumulation. Numerous cases of theapps were likewise showcased in the examination, around those:

iformbuilder

An ios versatile information accumulation stage that characteristics a provision that requires no paper or association and is accessible worldwide. This requisition is, no doubt utilized for information gathering within over 110 nations and it permits continuous information transfer and disconnected from the net information accumulation, while instantly sending any overhauls to a versatile workforce with server duty. Catholic Relief Services utilized iformbuilder to enroll and convey vouchers to beneficiaries throughout a seed reasonable in Central African Republic, and they were equipped to recover over a week of preparatory work and decrease staff by half.

Cropster

Cropster is an activity that tries to back supportable horticulture by engaging agriculturists with access to key data and guaranteeing information transparency. It empowers them to settle on educated choices, and likewise underpins individuals and groups whatsoever levels of production network. This application offers a M&e device that expedites information gathering and also the trade of data inside maker aggregations, Ngos and business accomplices in Latin America. This instrument furnishes decentralised following, ongoing data, and the capability for clients to customise information and confirm info.

Episurveyor

A honor winning versatile application that lets clients make a record, outline shapes, download them to their portable telephones, gather information and send it to a server. As per a World Bank report, in 2010, nine information authorities utilized Episurveyor to question beneficiaries within 25 regions in an optional overview (the first, directed in 2009, utilized paper and pen) in a World Bank Conditional Cash Transfer task in Guatemala. Digitisation cut the expense of a meeting by 71%, expanded the example measure from 200 to 700 beneficiaries, and decreased the singular question time by 3.6%.

Specialists who took an interest in the e-gathering likewise coincided on critical components that ought not be neglected:

• Technology itself is not sufficient, an overall prepared group is likewise needed: research endeavors show that putting exclusively in innovation won't guarantee solid execution of Ict requisitions; it is important to put resources into a group that can adequately perform M&e undertakings, and in addition to put resources into limit improvement of the finish clients who can guarantee the supportability of the venture.

• Complex Ict or complex stages are possibly fundamental: advances recently being utilized by agriculturists ought to be thought seriously about. Case in point, Usaid's Feed the Future venture utilizes a synthesis of accepted instruments to gather essential information in the field, which is then recorded in Excel sheets and accordingly imparted free of expense to potential purchasers continuously through Drop Box.

• Contextual components: neighborhood elements, for example the absence of sufficient assets must be considered already (eg power, sexual orientation issues, restricted system scope and low data transfer capacity, nearby dialects). Execution methodologies need to distinguish the particular needs of the proposed clients by working in a joint effort with them. There is not one single result that fits all anticipated: setting, approaches, showcasing endeavors and motivators are all key variables to guarantee investment from group parts.

• Data respectability and security must be guaranteed all around the undertaking and when utilizing Ict requisitions. Specialists concurred that leveraging area information and other metadata with distinct records helps keep up honesty.

There are striking cases of different advancement organizations as of now utilizing Ict for information gathering and M&e in the

Dr Akinwunmi Adeshina: Why you need to vote for this man for the forbes man of the year

noreply@blogger.com (Agro impact) — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 20:42:00 +0000

Before President Goodluck Jonathan released the list of his ministerial nominees in early July Nigerians were anxious to see which technocrats he was bringing on board to help deliver on his promise of national transformation especially in key national sectors. His nomination of Dr Akinwumi Adesina – agricultural economist, academic, development thinker, entrepreneur, research consultant and international icon – for the strategic agriculture ministry drew positive attention in various quarters. And by the time Adesina appeared for screening before the Senate, his expertise, achievements and vision for agriculture in Nigeria left no one in doubt that this was a perfect choice.. Educational/Professional Background
Akinwumi Adesina began his agricultural journey in the 1970s at Obafemi Awolowo University- then University of Ife- where he studied agricultural economics. Nigeria’s oil era was already underway, and agriculture was losing its place as the mainstay of the economy. In an era when industrialization and modernization had become the buzzwords, agriculture was considered retrograde and students of agriculture were sometimes derided as “old school”. Yet, Adesina’s unwavering passion for agriculture kept him focused. His dedication and hard work paid off when he graduated with a First Class Honours. He went on to earn a PhD in agricultural economics from Purdue University, USA.
An agricultural economist by discipline, young Adesina particularly explored and thrived in the world of agricultural research. He held various research positions at the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA), and the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA). Combining his expertise as a researcher and an economist, he also actively engaged the international development world as an Africa spokesperson in the field of agriculture, serving as a senior scientist for the Rockefeller Foundation, and later leading the agri-entreprise program at the foundation, aimed at raising the incomes and improving the practices of rural farmers.
The Model
Over the years, Adesina has proven himself to be a great model not only to those seeking a career in agriculture but to many Nigerians – young and old – in pursuit of great dreams. Possessing strong leadership qualities, he has demonstrated remarkable leadership in different fields, distinguishing himself as part of Africa’s Cheetah Generation.

Innovation: Adesina’s dedication and commitment to the agricultural sector has made him not only a learner and a worker but also an innovator and a bonafide leader, leveraging resources and expertise, combining existing practices with novel ideas, taking risks, identifying problems and transforming them into boons. He was one of the big brains behind the Africa Fertilizer Summit, which sought to

Build consensus around the key issues that affect fertilizer use in Africa.
Agree on a strategy to develop an Africa Fertilizer Action Plan, which would be the roadmap for improving access, affordability and incentives for fertilizer use by millions of poor African farmers.

He played an important role in designing the soil health policies that were adopted during that Summit by the African Union (and individual African States), the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and various other international bodies.
In 2010, Adesina was appointed along with prominent figures such as Michelle Bachelet, former President of Chile; Jeffrey Sachs of the Columbia Institute; Ted Turner, Founder of CNN; Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft; and Mohammed Yunus, founder of the international renowned Grameen Bank to the seventeen-man United Nations MDGs Advocacy Group. According to Ban Ki-Moon, the appointees were people “who had shown outstanding leadership in promoting the implementation of the MDGs.” As a member of the group, Adesina was tasked with the responsibility of leading a think tank on MDG 1- to eliminate extreme poverty and hunger.
Communication and Collaboration:
In much of his work, Adesina has underscored the importance of partnerships and dialogue. As Vice-President of Policy and Partnerships of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, he made the promotion of dialogue among the different stakeholders in agriculture a key objective of his work. He emphasized the need for all stakeholders in the public and private sectors to engage in conversation about best practices and develop a better understanding of the needs and challenges in agriculture. He has organized various symposia and summits at international and local levels to create awareness and promote dialogue in agriculture. At many of these fora, he has advocated, consistently and compellingly, an Africa-driven agenda for a green revolution.
Expertise:
Dr. Adesina’s decades of experience and excellence in the fields of agriculture, development policy and rural development have earned him distinction not only as a development worker but also as a trusted authority in Africa’s agricultural development. Thus, international governmental organizations, such as the World Bank and the African Development Bank (ADB) continually seek his expert advice on several issues. His opinion are trusted because he has lived and worked at both international and grassroots levels.

Laurels:
Given Dr. Adesina’s distinguished career and impressive achievements, it is no surprise that he has been acknowledged and honoured in local and international circles. Among the many accolades he has received is the Yara Prize for African Green Revolution, awarded for his innovative work in agricultural enterprise which gave millions of farmers access to farm inputs through stable agricultural nodes and networks. Adesina also been honoured with the prestigious Purdue University’s College of Agriculture Distinguished Agricultural Alumni Award “for his inspiring leadership in spearheading transformative change in African agriculture.”

Tasks ahead

With his new appointment to President Jonathan’s cabinet, Adesina faces an enormous challenge. He has been tasked with the responsibility of revamping Nigeria’s agricultural sector. This is one sector of Nigeria’s economy that has fallen outrageously short of its awesome potential, a scar on the face of the country and, in more ways than one, her biggest development disappointment.

At his inaugural meeting at the headquarters of the Ministry of Agriculture in Abuja, he revealed with dismay that “the Federal Government spent over N99 trillion on food importation between 2007 and 2010”, importing in 2010 alone, “wheat worth N635 billion, spent N356 billion on importation of rice, N217 billion on sugar and N97 billion on fish.” He recalled with nostalgia and deep regret, the glory days of agriculture when Nigeria was a leading exporter of cocoa, palm oil, groundnut, groundnut oil and other major cash crops. The financial implications of this troubling trend were not lost on the new minister: he pointed out that the current trend was not sustainable and poses fiscal challenges for Nigeria’s fast growing economy; he added that this trend was destroying the local industry and eroding the real incomes of poor and rural farmers.

Paradigm Shift in Agriculture
Moving right on from the troubling figures, Adesina affirmed his commitment to the cause of transforming agriculture in Nigeria and outlined his course of action towards that goal. Two outstanding quotes revealed his determination to get things done:

“I will never let Nigerian down. As minister of Agriculture, working closely with the Minister of State, we will never let the farmers of Nigeria down. We will revamp the agricultural sector. We will accelerate food production in clear and visible ways that will impact the lives of our people, and we will begin the hard work of restoring the lost glory of agriculture in Nigeria.”
“We must accelerate domestic rice production and improve on processing to meet quality standards. We must tap into all the resources of our farmers across our nation and deliver a green revolution for rice that will make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice production.”

In this day and age of social entrepreneurship, where sustainable business models are seen as key to economic growth, Dr. Adesina- as an agricultural economist- has expressed that this is also true for agriculture. Calling for a paradigm shift from treating agriculture as a development or social service field to treating it as a basket of opportunities and a field of vast potential, he maintains that agriculture is a business and must be structured, developed, resourced and financed as such.” We will develop and transform the sector as a business that works for small farmers, medium and large scale farmers, that will unlock wealth and allow Nigeria to meet its food needs, while becoming a major player in global food markets, to help diversify income for the nations”, he promised.

Challenges and Prospects
As Dr. Adesina sets out to fulfill the towering task before him, he would do well to remain firm, disciplined and transparent in all his activities. In a system that has been mired in corruption, greed, inefficiency and lethal power politics, numerous factors and interests will conspire relentlessly to subvert the minister’s vision and firmness in agricultural policy. As Niccolo Machiavelli observed about change in his classic, The Prince, “all those who profit from the old order will be opposed to the innovator, whereas all those who might benefit from the new order are, at best, tepid supporters of him”. Adesina’s ability to achieve his goals will depend on how well he is able to manage and overcome these challenges, while working in constructive partnerships with all actors and stakeholders in the agricultural sector, including farmers, retailers and consumers.
All in all, the appointment of such a distinguished fellow, remarkable Nigerian and great role model is great news for Nigeria and for all stakeholders in the agricultural industry. Innovator, economist, development thinker, international consultant, public speaker, rural activist, Akin Adesina is more than competent to lead the Green Revolution in Nigeria. It is our hope that Dr Adesina will continue to stand out as an agent of agricultural change and a symbol of genuine transformation in the Nigerian government.

"Kindly vote for our very own Honorable Minister of Agriculture & Rural Development, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina as Forbes African person of the Year. He deserves it, vote and encourage others to do so.
To vote please click on the link below. Thank you and God bless you as you vote.
http://forbesafrica.com/person-of-the-year/voting.html
Voting closes 4th of November 2013."
Why you should Vote:

Dr Akinwunmi Adesina is repositioning Nigeria Agriculture into a Global powerhouse. Transforming Agriculture into a business, where our youth will be proud to be addressed as Agribusiness Men & Women. He has proven just how serious he is about getting 110million youths working in the Agriculture Industry by 2020 with the launch of the Youth Empowerment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP) at the just conclude NES 19 by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Dr Goodluck E. Jonathan.

Need more reasons to vote? Kindly follow the link below.

http://www.fmard.gov.ng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=214:score-card&catid=144:score-card&Itemid=435

Vote and encourage others to do so. Click here to votehttp://forbesafrica.com/person-of-the-year/voting.html

Presentation of Ministerial Scorecard (2013)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3htvI0V-A94

Growing Nigeria: A Rice Revolution

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-ChQUAmuNaI&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D-ChQUAmuNaI

Keynote Address at Columbia University (Sept. 2013):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGlgv25eNwA

CNBC Panel Discussion at World Economic Forum Africa (May 2013):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vQgoKMhbMU

Thank you and GOD bless you.
source: The young achievers group

Taking advantage of Opportunities in Agribusiness Industry

noreply@blogger.com (Agro impact) — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 15:08:00 +0000

Agribusiness is normally a vertical assembly holding numerous operations that can incorporate, yet not constrained to cultivating. Ademola Alawiye composes on the most proficient method to bring home the bacon from the segment

There is a mixture of business exercises included in getting agrarian process to shoppers. The exercises incorporate the developing of the sustenance, its handling, bundling, its appropriation and advertising. The term agribusiness includes the organizations discovered in any of these exercises.

With an amazing ascent in urban populaces the nation over, the need for crisp nourishments to provide food for these individuals is inexorable. Slants to industrialisation have left fewer enterprisers to focus on nourishment processing. It is, along these lines, an exceptional area for one to make benefit, while in the meantime helping the planet's nourishment supply.

The ascent in sustenance costs and the expanded interest for consumables have made suitable chances in the rural area. Agriculturists say insightful business people can profit in cultivating business. They note that cultivating salaries will climb drastically in the following not many decades, speedier than those in most different commercial ventures.

This, they say, is on account of the ascent in the costs of agrarian produce and the business for such things. Specialists say the present day economy does not require more investors, yet more individuals in the agribusiness part. As per them, the planet has got a genuine sustenance issue and the main true approach to unravel it is to get more enterprisers again to horticulture.

They demonstrate that agribusiness opens a ton of chances for enterprisers who wish to put resources into the division. These chances can help ambition people to make riches and furnish employments for the unemployed. Specialists say engineering, administration employments and money have been the support of the economy for over 20 years. They support that cultivating is turning into what might as well be called most areas that drive any specific economy.

On how the agriculturist can serve to make employments, masters say there is a conceivable renaissance in ranch towns. Consistent with them, the stream of cash in agribusinesses will incite agriculturists to look for where to contribute. A speculator in the part, Mr. Wale Ashiru, says ranchers will put their cash in new commercial ventures that will make utilizes for their harvests, for example biodegradable plastics, different sorts of biofuels or comparative farming items.

He says, "When this is carried out, you might make sure that the finished outcome will be more occupations. Agribusiness is a dynamic division and it is the most discriminating story in our economy and has the possibility to influence what's to come for the planet decidedly."

Underneath are some paramount steps that will help an enterpriser to profit in the agribusiness area, consistent with specialists:

Make your own dissimilar market

Masters say it is paramount for an enterpriser to make a corner for himself in the offer of a specific produce. They note that the ambition person might as well draw in a corner market with the harvests that he decides to offer. For example, they say that the business person could offer natural produce and vegetables and additionally elusive assortments of edibles to nearby supermarkets. He could additionally offer some of these produce to restaurants as crisp or canned items. As per specialists, this doesn't suggest that the enterpriser must develop leafy foods on ranches, however can have a nursery on his property, where assortments of vegetables and different yields are planted.

The point when clients realize that they can dependably get some chose generate from you, they will dependably patronise your homestead, masters say. This will accelerate expanded returns and will give the ambition person enough reserves.

Supply new produce

Adigun notes that you can offer a new produce wicker bin a few times month to month. This, he says, could be sold as a membership administration. The thought is to have the produce crisp and engaging to your clients. Masters say your membership administration ought to be loaded with a mixture of the products of the soil you develop on your homestead.

They note that you can charge your clients a rate of the membership expense forthright and the equalization amidst your developing or harvest season. For additional pay, specialists say the ambition person can additionally offer comparative membership administration with new cut blooms from his ranch and additionally different things of investment to his clients.

Give space for mixed bags

Permitting clients to visit your homestead and pick their decision foods grown from the ground at particular costs will additionally expand your salary as an ambition person. Masters say the costs ought to be reasonable and the produce must be new and alluring. Generate to be sold might incorporate vegetables, leafy foods few tuber harvests. Offering clients free boxes or packs to convey their things will additionally charm them to you and will make them need to visit at whatever point you open your entryways.

Furnish great and reasonable produce

This is crucial for the accomplishment of any rural business, masters say. The capability to give quality transform for the business will lure purchasers. Be that as it may, the produce must be reasonable; any other way, you will give purchasers the alternative of searching somewhere else for options.

Improve your abilities

Enhancing your aptitudes in cultivating is additionally crucial. You may as well know the present chemicals and fertilisers that will help creation. This may not be not difficult to know unless you enhance your abilities. Masters note that business people in agribusiness must overhaul themselves with current abilities in the business.

They likewise note that the business person may as well offer occasional tours of his ranch for an expense, as this will additionally build his profit. They say he may as well think about incorporating a show and nourishment as a feature of the pack

Family Farming: The Key to Alleviating Hunger and Poverty

noreply@blogger.com (Agro impact) — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 11:42:00 +0000

After decades of fizzled endeavors to annihilate appetite, improvement offices, universal exploration establishments, non-benefit associations, and the subsidizing and giver groups now see family ranchers as key to easing worldwide destitution and craving. Later gauges show that as of now, 1.2 billion individuals on the planet live in amazing destitution, and no less than 870 million head off to mattress eager each night. As the planet designs up for the International Year of Family Farming in 2014, Food Tank: The Food Think Tank and the U.n. Nourishment and Agriculture Organization (Fao) are highlighting viable approaches to furnish family agriculturists the apparatuses they have to truly support the planet.

Fao's High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (Hlpe) reports that more or less 96 percent of all the farming property in Africa measure less than ten hectares. Fao Agricultural Census information demonstrates that around 80 percent of rural property in sub-Saharan Africa and 88 percent of the aforementioned in advancing nations in Asia measure less than 2 hectares.

Family ranchers assume a critical part in determining planet appetite, yet they're additionally those well on the way to succumb to yearning and neediness. An expected 800 million individuals living underneath the worldwide destitution line work in the rural part. In China and India alone there are separately 189 million and 112 million smallholder ranchers with plots measuring less than two hectares.

Then again, smallholder agribusiness has incredible potential to diminish in general national destitution levels. Consistent with a milestone World Bank report, an expansion of one percent in rural Gdp decreases neediness by four times to the extent that the same rate build in non-farming Gdp.

Sustenance Tank: The Food Think Tank is working with the U.n. Nourishment and Agriculture Organization (Fao) to highlight the critical part that family agriculturists play in the sustenance framework. Throughout the following two years, the both associations will work to sparkle a focus on how family cultivating can upgrade soil health, ensure water supplies, enhance sustenance, and increment salaries. Minor scale, family-run ranches not just shape the base of provincial neighborhoods in both the improving and advanced planet and furnish countless, yet they are additionally at the inside of manageable creation.

"The vast majority of the planet's agriculturists are smallholder and family ranchers. In any case their information and practices are not getting about the exploration and financing they require. Policymakers and business have concentrated on amount over quality and have disregarded the critical part family cultivating can play in enhancing nourishment," says Danielle Nierenberg, Food Tank fellow benefactor.

Minor scale agriculturists can help fundamentally to the change of agribusiness by administering land and water dependably, ensure water supplies, safeguard and improve biodiversity, and help environmental change adjustment and alleviation. An expansive study looking at smallholder farming by the Department of Biological Sciences and Centre for Environment and Society at the University of Essex secured 286 tasks, in excess of 37 million hectares in 57 advancing nations, and discovered that when manageable agribusiness was received, normal yield yields expanded by 79 percent.

"By working with family ranchers to expand their learning in the improvement of economical farming practices, we can enhance strength in the sustenance framework incorporating flexibility to environmental change, nourishment cost stuns, clash, and regular catastrophes," says Barbara Gemmill-Herren, Programme officer at FAO.

5 Ways Family Farming Can Alleviate Global Poverty

noreply@blogger.com (Agro impact) — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 11:37:00 +0000

As improvement offices, universal examination foundations, non-benefit associations, and subsidizing and contributor groups press on to hunt down approaches to annihilate worldwide neediness and appetite, numerous now accept that the response might lie in family cultivating. Of the 1.2 billion individuals living in great destitution, an expected 800 million work in the agrarian division, and the greater part own exceptionally minor plots of area. The U.n. Sustenance and Agriculture Organization (Fao) has a High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (Hlpe), and the board has inferred that 96% of all rural possessions in Africa measure less than ten hectares. In China and India alone, there are 189 million and 112 million smallholder ranchers individually with plots measuring less than two hectares.

These smallholder family cultivates assume an essential part in securing nourishment for their neighborhoods. As per a World Bank report, an increment in one percent in horticultural Gdp diminishes destitution by four times to the extent that the same rate build in non-farming Gdp. These families, then again, are additionally some of the aforementioned most at danger of yearning and neediness, and there must be a coordinated exertion to uphold their homesteads and the farming business in question.

Throughout the following two years, The Food Think Tank and the Fao will work together to highlight the essential part of family famers, and sway different associations to help family famers enhance their working conditions by improving soil health, securing water supplies, enhancing nourishment and expanding wages. Here are five routes, introduced by Food Thank and Fao, that Ngos and different associations can help family famers ease worldwide neediness.

1. Push feasible agribusiness strategies.

To expand yields, new cultivating techniques might be utilized, for example agroecology or natural increase. Consistent with an examination of 40 undertakings and programs, African smallholder agriculturists have encountered expanded yields because of reasonable strategies, for example agroforestry and soil preservation.

2. Help family famers in adjusting to environmental change and fleeting atmosphere variability.

As environmental change presses on to influence the farming business, family ranchers additionally exposed the weight of natural effects. Consistent with the Ifad, In Africa alone 75 million to 250 million more individuals will experience expanded water stretch by 2020 on account of environmental change. By supporting systems that instruct reasonable practices in area and water administration, associations can help minimize the impacts of year-to-year atmosphere variability as dry spell or flooding.

3. Elevate strategies to give smallholders lawful titles to their territory.

In excess of 1 billion destitute need secure rights to land; by getting lawful rights, agriculturists can expand profit, speculation in area and family pay.

4. Build access to nearby markets.

Since family famers process on a minor scale, they require chains of suitable scale. Associations, for example Community-Supported Agriculture (Csa) can give stages from which family ranchers have the capacity to offer their items straightforwardly to customers.

5. Shut the sexual orientation hole.

Right now, ladies don't have equivalent access to credit, land, inputs, and expansion administrations when contrasted with their male partners. By shutting the sex hole, 100 million to 150 million individuals could be lifted out of craving.

Family Farming: The key to alleviating poverty

noreply@blogger.com (Agro impact) — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 11:29:00 +0000

After decades of failed attempts to eradicate hunger, development agencies, international research institutions, non-profit organizations, and the funding and donor communities now see family farmers as key to alleviating global poverty and hunger.
Recent estimates show that currently, 1.2 billion people in the world live in extreme poverty, and at least 870 million go to bed hungry every night. As the world gears up for the International Year of Family Farming in 2014, we're working with the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to highlight effective ways to provide family farmers the tools they need to really nourish the world.

FAO's High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) reports that approximately 96 percent of all the agricultural holdings in Africa measure less than ten hectares. FAO Agricultural Census data shows that around 80 percent of agricultural holdings in sub-Saharan Africa and 88 percent of those in developing countries in Asia measure less than 2 hectares.
Family farmers play a crucial role in resolving world hunger, but they're also those most likely to fall victim to hunger and poverty. An estimated 800 million people living below the global poverty line work in the agricultural sector. In China and India alone there are respectively 189 million and 112 million smallholder farmers with plots measuring less than two hectares.
And yet, smallholder agriculture has great potential to reduce overall national poverty levels. According to a landmark World Bank report, an increase of one percent in agricultural GDP reduces poverty by four times as much as the same percentage increase in non-agricultural GDP.
Food Tank: The Food Think Tank is working with the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to highlight the important role that family farmers play in the food system. Over the next two years, both organizations will work to shine a spotlight on how family farming can enhance soil health, protect water supplies, improve nutrition and increase incomes. Small-scale, family-run farms not only form the base of rural communities in both the developing and developed world and provide a large number of jobs, but they are also at the center of sustainable production.
Most of the world's farmers are smallholder and family farmers. But their knowledge and practices are not getting nearly the research and funding they need. Policymakers and business have focused on quantity over quality and have forgotten the important role family farming can play in improving nutrition.
Small-scale farmers can contribute significantly to the transformation of agriculture by managing land and water responsibly, protect water supplies, preserve and enhance biodiversity, and contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation. A large study examining smallholder agriculture by the Department of Biological Sciences and Centre for Environment and Society at the University of Essex covered 286 projects, over 37 million hectares in 57 developing countries, and found that when sustainable agriculture was adopted, average crop yields increased by 79 percent.
"By working with family farmers to build on their knowledge in the development of sustainable agricultural practices, we can improve resilience in the food system -- including resilience to climate change, food price shocks, conflict, and natural disasters," says Barbara Gemmill-Herren, Programme Officer at FAO.
Food Tank and FAO present five effective ways for NGOs, the funding and donor communities, and policy-makers to invest more effectively in family farming:

1. Promote sustainable agriculture methods
New farming methods, such as agroecology or ecological intensification, increase yields while reducing environmental impacts. In an analysis of 40 projects and programs, sustainable techniques like agroforestry and soil conservation were found to increase yields for African smallholder farmers. The Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC) has partnered with Farmer and Nature Network (FNN) to promote the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), which has been shown to increase yields and improve soil fertility while reducing the use of chemicals and maintaining local ownership of seeds.
2. Assist family farmers in adapting to climate change and short-term climate variability
Climate change will have large-scale effects on agriculture everywhere, and particularly on poor farmers in developing countries. According to IFAD, in Africa alone, because of climate change 75 million to 250 million more people will experience increased water stress by 2020. Year-to-year climate variability in the form of drought or flooding already has large-scale effects on food security today. Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, Farmer Field Schools teaching smallholder farmers sustainablepractices in land and water management have proven highly effective in managing input such as pesticides more effectively while increasing yields and incomes

3. Promote policies to provide smallholders with legal titles to their land
At least one billion poor people lack secure rights to land. Securing legal land rights for family farmers can increase productivity, investment in land, and family income. Landesa works with countries to design and implement land rights programs, and has helped 100 million farmers obtain or secure ownership over their land.

4. Increase access to local markets
The small-scale production volumes of family farmers require value chains of appropriate scale. Farmers markets or Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) can provide a great venue for family farmers to sell their products directly to consumers. For example, the organization GrowNYC manages 54 markets in New York, providing a sales channel to 230 farms and fishermen.

5. Close the gender gap
Women farmers do not have the same access to credit, land, inputs, and extension services as their male counterparts. According to FAO, closing the gender gap in agricultural inputs alone could lift 100-150 million people out of hunger. The Latin American and Caribbean Center for Rural Women (Enlac) serves as an organizing voice for marginalized, rural women, calling for equal access to land rights, and, boosting access to clean water, and conserving native seeds.
If public and private sectors direct funding toward family farmers and research that would support them, smallholder agriculture can get the push it needs to nourish both people and the planet.

source: huffing

Impact of HIV/AIDS on agriculture

noreply@blogger.com (Agro impact) — Thu, 31 Oct 2013 20:16:00 +0000

This Chapter presents the findings on the impact of HIV/AIDS on agricultural production. The impact of HIV/AIDS is analysed on the basis of the 3 categories (i) crop farming, (ii) livestock farming, and (iii) fishing. Most studies, which have been carried out on the impact of HIV/AIDS on the economy in general, have tended to focus on crop farming with less attention on livestock farming. In this study attempts were made to analyse the impact of HIV/AIDS on livestock farming.
The socio-economic dynamics in fishing communities unlike in crop and livestock farming communities make them more susceptible to HIV infection, and the impact of the epidemic. The impact of HIV/AIDS on fishing can, first and foremost, be appreciated by examining the basic characteristics of household members involved in fishing in the lake.

4.1. Impact of HIV/AIDS on crop farming

The impact of HIV/AIDS on the agricultural sector is quite visible in districts that have been hard hit by the epidemic. This has far reaching implications since agriculture accounts for 43% of GDP, 85% of export earning and 80% of employment. In addition, 85% of the estimated 22 million Uganda's total population live in rural areas and depend mainly on agriculture (GoU, 2000). Since most agricultural activities take place in rural areas, where farmers mainly using labour intensive techniques live, and have been much vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, it has resulted into decline of agricultural production in general, and food production in particular. Many communities whose source of income, food and general livelihood is agriculture have registered negative growth due to HIV/AIDS. In this study, empirical data on the impact of HIV/AIDS on agricultural production is analyzed.

Type of crops

In all the 4 districts, farmers were small landholders, majority owning less than 8 acres of land, and using labour intensive techniques in their cultivation; a hoe, pang and axe. Most of the households were growing crops on small portions of land, while big portions of land were not cultivated. Most of the crops both for food and sale were labour intensive crops, most susceptible to HIV/AIDS.
Tubers such as cassava, yams, sweet potatoes etc, which seem not to be much labour intensive such as bananas (matooke) were the dominant food crops in all districts except Mbarara. Legumes such as beans, groundnuts, peas were the second dominant crops followed by cereals. In areas of Mbarara and Rakai, which are matooke growing areas, it is becoming evident that HIV/AIDS has had its toll as only less than a half of the households in respective areas reported matooke as their dominant food crop.
In the four districts, there were no marked cash crops. The food crops doubled as crops for sale, but also among few households. Most households, which, sold off crops mainly cereals (rice, millet, and maize), were in Lira and Iganga. In the districts of Mbarara and Rakai very few households had crops to sell.
As a proxy indicator of the impact of HIV/AIDS, respondents were asked whether there were certain crops, which they used to grow, but were no longer growing in the last 10 years preceding this study. Several households (64.8%) indicated that there were certain crops, which they used to grow in the past, but were no longer growing. Most of these households (i.e., over a tenth, 12.8% had stopped growing cereals such as millet, sorghum, maize etc. The dominant reason for not growing such crops was cited to be lack of labour in almost a fifth of the sampled households (19.2%). In a few households it was as due to pests and diseases as a result of poor management, infertile soils and lack of market.
In a situation where there are small landholders, it would be expected that much if not all the land would be under cultivation in crop growing communities. However, the study findings revealed that a big proportion of the households (60.1%) had unused land or gardens that had reverted into bush due to lack of manpower. When this was cross tabulated by districts, majority of such households were in Lira (82%) and Rakai (64%) districts.
Social maps drawn by community members in Lira indicated a number of households than had been affected by HIV/AIDS related deaths, with gardens that had reverted to bush. Households with unused land that was formerly under cultivation attributed it to lack of labour, lack of money to hire labour and conversion of cultivable land into grazing pastures etc.

Trend/pattern of agricultural production

Household respondents were requested to comment on the household's agricultural production in the last 10 years so as to link with possible effects of HIV/AIDS. Majority of the household respondents (76.9%) revealed that their respective households had experienced decreased agricultural production in the last 10 years.
A number of factors, all related with HIV/AIDS explain the general pattern/trend of decreased agricultural production such as depletion of labour force and increased workload due to increased dependency burden, loss of skills and knowledge, and income disruption.
Several studied households (66.9%) mentioned shortages of labour to be behind decreased agricultural production in their households. In almost a fifth of the sampled households, labour shortages were directly linked to HIV/AIDS related deaths.
Accordingly, AIDS undermines agricultural systems, affects the nutritional situation and food security of rural families. Families face declining productivity as well as loss of knowledge about indigenous farming methods and loss of assets (Focus, 2001). FAO estimates that in the 25 most-affected African countries, AIDS has killed seven million agricultural workers since 1985. It is forecasted that 16 million people will die of AIDS in the next 20 years. Labour intensive farming systems with a low level of mechanisation and agricultural input are particularly vulnerable to AIDS. Given the fact that AIDS is concentrated among the 15 - 45 years old, who are most able bodied, then agriculture suffers most in terms of production and market for the accruing products.
For women who are the main producers generally shoulder the burden of caring for the sick. This diverts their energies from agricultural production and general work that would provide income. The result is household food insecurity, declining nutrition and health. Thus, the decline in women's contributions to agriculture, as a result of their own illness or that of family members, reduces agricultural productivity and household food security. This is especially devastating given women's key role in the agricultural work force and in the production of most subsistence food crops.
Labour loss and depletion as a result of HIV/AIDS partly occurs due to high dependency burden, coupled with structural changes in family structure. Situations where frail grandparents are increasingly assuming roles of able-bodied persons to care for the children of their late sons and daughters are common. In such households, food production declines, and the family becomes perpetually food insecure. A household case in Ngara area, Nyakayejo illustrates the point.

Case 1: Food Insecurity in a Grandfather Headed Household
Paulo, a widower aged 80 years old lives in Ngara village, Nyakayejo Sub-county in Mbarara district with 5 grandchildren who are orphans aged 5,7,8, years who were left behind by his daughter and a son who died of AIDS. Paulo narrates, "I used to be self-reliant, hardworking, supplemented my little income from farming with carpentry work, but when my children died, leaving behind children and nobody else to take them up except me, my life changed. I am not only a grandfather to these children, but a father and a mother at this advanced age.... I am now sick and cannot afford to dig or to do carpentry work any more after an operation I underwent, coupled with old age. It puts me in great pain, for I don't know what will happen to these children once I die as they all depend on me".
The old man has a banana plantation, but the biggest part is overgrown with weed due to lack of enough manpower. Together with the orphans, they cannot carry out meaningful cultivation even though the orphans are not attending school. There has been sharp reduction in food for consumption available for the family as the old man continued narrating, "even now when I am still alive, we do not have enough to eat...you can see that young one (pointing to the youngest orphan) is gloomy not because he is sick or has been punished, but because he has not eaten anything since morning". As a coping mechanism, the household feeds on one meal (supper) a day, and take some local porridge for lunch.

The above case illustrates how HIV/AIDS has changed the family structure, with frail grandparents assuming responsibilities of "fathers and mothers", but yet cannot meaningfully execute such roles of fending for the family. The case also points to occurrences of food insecurity among HIV/AIDS affected households and psychological trauma. When the grandparent is preoccupied with "what will happen" to his grandchildren after his death, it points to, among others, the need for psychosocial support, and deliberate programmes to help such families.
The relationship between change of family structure as a result of HIV/AIDS and reduction in agricultural production is more evident in this study as all households headed by grandparents or children themselves, reported decreased agricultural production.
Declined agricultural production and consequently food insecurity were markedly prevalent in grandparent and child headed households than in other households. A case of a grandmother headed household illustrates the trend of agricultural production in such households.

Case 2: Declined agricultural production and food insecurity in a grandmother headed household
Agellina, a widow and grandmother aged 65 years old lives in Kakuto Parish, Kigayaga village, Rakai district. In a small mud and wattle iron roofed house, lives 10 people (4 males and 6 females), 8 of whom aged below 14 years old. All the nine other members of the household are her grandchildren who were orphaned by AIDS. Agellina had produced 4 children, three of whom died of HIV/AIDS related illnesses in 1990s together with their spouses, leaving behind 9. Six of her grandchildren including the eldest who is 14 years old have dropped out of school partly due to lack of other school necessities (i.e., save for tuition, which is covered under Universal Primary Education), and to supplement the grandmother's failing input on the small banana plantation.

The family depends on a small plantation for it food requirements and beans grown in the banana plantation. The family has some land of 2.5 acres reserved for cultivation, but can only cultivate less than an acre. According to Angellina "the family does not have labour to tend to both the plantation and the garden of beans", and hence have been exposed to weevil and pest infestation.

The family has witnessed declined food production and consumption as well. The children playing in the courtyard looked hungry and malnourished. The grandmother in touching emotions observed, "we only have one meal a day, and also not adequate...we let the small ones first eat...a type of life that they were not used to".
Angellina is planning to sell part of 2.5 acres of land so as to raise some income for meeting the basic necessities including food for the family.

The above case shows how changes have occurred in family structure due to HIV/AIDS and the attendant consequences of decreased agricultural production. This finding is supported by findings from secondary sources. For instance, according to UAC (March 2001), Uganda has the highest proportion of AIDS orphans in the whole world. By the end of 1999 UAC estimated that over 1.7 million children below 15 years had lost one or both parents to AIDS.
However, a dimension in the above case that did not feature in the case of Paulo in Mbarara is weevil/disease infestation due to poor management of gardens. Some of these diseases were as a result of poorly or unattended gardens/banana plantations due to labour depletion resulting from of HIV/AIDS. Some of the diseases and pests included banana steak virus mainly in Kyotera county, coffee wilt, beans bacterial, fungal and viral, sweet potato caterpillars and cassava green mites etc. Cassava mosaic which used to be a problem in most areas was reported to be on the decrease due to the introduction of new resistant/tolerant varieties from the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO). Also in the above case, a new dimension of selling the family property such as land in order to cope with the new demands arising from HIV/AIDS emerges.
A lot of literature points to similar situations in several parts of the country that have been hard hit by HIV/AIDS. For instance, FAO (2001) summarised the impact of AIDS on a once wealthy rural agricultural community of Gwanda in Rakai district. HIV/AIDS was reported to have resulted into loss of labour, poor land use, increased pests and plant diseases, livestock decline and food insecurity. All these put together have resulted into massive poverty, and undermining of sustainable development. Apart from reduction in incomes accruing from the agricultural sector, decline in food production which, culminates into food insecurity has adverse impact on PLHA in particular. Decline in production of local foods implies that the nutritional requirements for PLHA are not met, which affects their life span.
Further, the affected and afflicted family, and the wider community feel the impact of HIV/AIDS through reduced agricultural production. Culturally, when death occurs in most parts of Uganda, community members take off time for burial and in some instance observing the mourning period i.e., not attending to their gardens. Eeven in majority households where a member had not died in the last 10 years, reported decreased food production.
Both quantitative and qualitative data revealed that as a result of HIV/AIDS, crop-farming households were faced with the following:

Loss of time
Labour shortages
Selling household property
Loss of knowledge and skills
Exhaustion of funds
Land and property grabbing
Increased dependants

It was reported in some communities in all the 4 districts that in situation of poverty, orphans and widows have been dispossessed of their properties by the relatives of the deceased father/husband. Lack of awareness of property rights, corruption and lack of money by orphans and widows pose barriers for them to seek justice. An in-depth case study of the widow, Sarah explains the point at hand.

Case 3 - Property rights, agricultural production and food security.

Sarah aged 39 years and living with HIV/AIDS lost her husband in May 2000 over HIV/AIDS related illness. She lives in Senkoma village, Kyebe Sub-county with her 3 children; the youngest aged 3 and the oldest 12. Narrating her situation to the researcher, Sarah contends that the family used to be rich before the onset of AIDS. Together with the late husband, they struggled to put up a 3 bed-roomed permanent house after realising that they were HIV positive. The couple jointly made the bricks, but in the evening Sarah would leave for the market to trade in smoked/dried fish so as to supplement the family income. Sarah narrates that all the property that the family had was jointly worked together, although the relatives of the late husband were trying to grab the family property.

Sarah revealed that as much as the husband knew that he had HIV/AIDS, he did not make a will, despite the constant pleas of the wife. In may 2000, the husband passed away without making a will. When the husband became critically ill, with no hope to recover, her mother in-law and sister in laws started apportioning blame on her that she was responsible for the disease that had afflicted her husband. Sarah narrated that this was to lay a background and a pretext for grabbing the family property upon the deaths of her husband. Indeed, when the husband passed away, during the period of mourning, the mother in-law and her daughters succeeded in grabbing part of the family property, and dispossessing her of the small banana plantation, claiming that the late son had not been given the banana plantation officially. The in-laws were now threatening to evict her, in her words; "evicting me from the very house I built with my husband". The plantation, which was taken away from her exhibited all indications of not being attended to; overgrown weed, banana trees that were not pruned and attacked by weevils..

Sarah whose health had started failing and having lost one of the children possibly over HIV/AIDS related illness with another child very sick, found herself with no money to seek legal redress having spent all that she had on medical bills and feeding. She conceded that it was doubtful that even if she had money to seek redress in the courts of law she would succeed as she was not married legally. She tried to take the case to the local committee, but the case was yet to be put on the agenda. As she was not in a legal marriage she has met a lot of difficulties for her case to be heard by the local council, where it has been on for a while. Even if her health was not failing her, the widow has no land to cultivate and only survives on petty trading, though it can not generate much income.

The children no longer go to school due to lack of money as the little she earns is meant for covering medical bills and food. As to why she doe not take advantage of Universal Primary Education, she answered, do not have money to buy uniforms and other scholastic materials, and also children are giving a hand in looking for food for the family by hiring their labour.

Critical issues that need attention in the fight of HIV/AIDS and mitigation of its impact, which arise from the above case and which could be focused on in mainstreaming HIV/AIDS into agricultural extension include:

Importance of making a will
Sensitisation about widow and orphan property rights
Types of marriage and their implications
Implications of coping mechanisms that can impoverish the children in future such withdrawing them from school to supplement dwindling family labour.

Impact of HIV/AIDS on various agricultural aspects

Respondents in crop farming communities were asked to comment on the effects of HIV/AIDS in their own households as well as other households in the community. A number of agricultural aspects were formulated and view sought from respondents. The findings, which largely indicate adverse impact, are shown in Table 3.
Table 3: Effects of HIV/AIDS on aspects of crop farming

	Effects of HIV/AIDS of farming aspects
	Respondent's household				Other households in community
Aspect of crop farming	Decreased %	Increased %	Same %	Can't Tell %	Decreased %	Increased %	Same %	Can't tell %
Food crops grown	66.3	13.5	20.2	0.0	65.1	21.9	13.0	0.0
Cash crops grown	71.2	9.4	19.4	0.0	67.5	17.8	14.7	0.0
Amount of food consumed	52.1	32.8	15.1	0.0	42.1	43.7	14.2	0.0
Sale of agricultural produce	64.9	21.5	13.6	0.0	58.9	33.7	7.4	0.0
Farm labour	67.0	15.2	17.8	0.0	63.3	22.3	14.4	0.0
Income from crops	85.1	8.0	6.9	0.0	77.3	15.7	7.0	0.0

Both in the respondents' households and community, the effects were adverse with income from crops being most affected. HIV/AIDS leads to income disruption and eventually cessation as able-bodied people in society succumb to the epidemic, while others have their productive time diverted from farm production to attend to the sick or burials and funerals. At the same time, household expenditures rise to meet medical bills and funeral expenses. As reported by FAO (2001), while the number of productive family members decline, the number of dependants grow. These realities endanger both short-term and long-term household food security.

Loss of skills and knowledge/technology transfer loss

HIV/AIDS has been documented to be eroding the skills and knowledge acquired as people die in their prime age before passing on knowledge and expertise to the next generation. The impact of HIV/AIDS on this aspect is well illustrated in a household headed by a 19-year-old male who started assuming family headship when he was around 16 years old.

Case 4: Food Production and Security in an Orphan Headed Household
At 19 years old, John who is an orphan residing in Nyakayojo, Mbarara District has been a family head for the last 3 years, although the family members are not his wife and children, rather his two sisters aged 17 and 14, and the young brother aged 11 years. Their father and mother died in 1996 and 1998 respectively. They stay in a small mud and wattle iron roofed house. With financial assistance from a relative, the older sister goes to a nearby secondary school as a day student. Both the young sister and brother are in primary school. After the death of their mother, John who was in secondary school stopped schooling so as to attend to his younger sisters and brother. The family owned 4.5 hectares of land where they grew basically food crops for home consumption and a little surplus for sale. In addition, they had some animals; cows and goats. The father who became ill first, and without responding to modern medication suspected the cause of his ill health to be witchcraft related resulting from a of a land dispute with his neighbour, and hence opted for traditional treatment. To meet the exorbitant charges of the various traditional healers, he depleted all the little savings the family had. When this was not enough, he sold off the family animals as well as offering some to the traditional healers as a form of payment.

Finally, he passed away in 1996 leaving the family with almost nothing. The little that was remaining was spent on an elaborate burial and funeral ceremony as he had willed.

Almost two years after, the widow started developing ill health. Without any source of income, the family sold off 1.5 out of 4.5 hectares of land to meet household needs including medical costs of the ailing widow and mother. In 1998, she passed away, again leaving the household more impoverished. After the death of his mother, John started selling off the remaining animals until there was none to sell, while the banana plantation and gardens had reverted into bush as much time had been spent nursing their late father and eventually their mother.

The family was facing severe shortages of food having opted to grow less labour intensive crops such as cassava. Thus, apart from shortages of food, the quality of the food taken by the household had tremendously declined. John summarised the quality of food consumed, "...we are lucky that we do not have a small baby here, otherwise it would suffer from kwashiorkor as we only feed on cassava and posho unlike in the past when we had a balanced diet". To cope with the situation, John is making bricks for sale where he spends most of his day, but still this does not generate sufficient income to cover household needs. The communal cultivation group which together with some youths in the village had formed as a way of coping with labour shortages and to increase food production collapsed after members realised that the whole venture was not profitable.

John does not know what the future holds for the family if he failed to get an income generating project that provides sufficient income unlike the brick-making project that he was involved in. He summarised the predicament:

"I do not know how I can get capital to start up some retail trading which can generate some income. If the situation remains like this we shall definitely starve more, and as funding for the tuition for my sister in secondary is not certain, she will drop out, while the youngest sister and brother will not continue with education after their primary schooling as there is no Universal Secondary Education as yet".

In the above case, some lessons, which can guide mainstreaming HIV/AIDS messages into agricultural production, are evident. These are:

First, the parents died at a time when the children were very young i.e., at a time when the parents had not passed farming knowledge and skills to them.
Second, denials of the HIV/AIDS problem and attributing the condition to witchcraft depletes the family resources
Third, the elaborate burial and funeral ceremonies leave affected households in a difficult situation that they might not recover from

A man feeding goats in Uganda, © FAO

4.2. Impact of HIV/AIDS on livestock farming

Types of livestock kept

The type of animals kept by the 53 households studied included cattle, goats, sheep and pigs. Slightly over a tenth (13.2%) of the households in the pastoral communities reported to have no cattle at all as all the cows had either been sold off to meet family needs resulting from HIV/AIDS, died due to poor management or stolen after the death of able-bodied household members. The distribution of households by animal kept is shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Type of animals kept

In households where cows were no more, members were keeping other animals such as pigs (basically in Rakai), goats and sheep. These animals were, however, being kept in small numbers as they were the basic source of income for the household, and hence were constantly being sold off to meet family needs.

Problems faced by livestock farmers as a result of HIV/AIDS

Like in crop farming communities, livestock farmers faced a range of problems as a result of HIV/AIDS. In households that had been afflicted and affected by HIV/AIDS, the impact was severe as 17 households (32%) reported it involved uncontrollable selling of animals in order to meet the emerging needs such as medical care.
In over a quarter of the households (26.4%) reported death of livestock was attributed to lack of care and poor management practices that arise as a result of members' sickness and death. The situation was reported to be more severe in a household where the breadwinner is having HIV/AIDS or died of related illness. The case of Maria, a widow in one of the pastoral communities of Mbarara explains the point at hand.

Case 5: Effects of HIV/AIDS on livestock farming
Maria, a young widow of 35 years, lives in a pastoral community of Katerananga in Rubaya Sub-county, Kashari county, Mbarara District. Her husband died of AIDS related illness in March 1999. She is survived by five orphans, the last being twins, born two months after the death of her husband. The twins could be infected with HIV, as they have been sickly ever since they were born, and look as if they are few months old.

Maria narrates that the family was quite prosperous before the husband fell sick and eventually died. They had several cows and a shop in the nearby Biharwe Trading Centre. As business flourished, the husband relocated to Kampala while Maria stayed behind to supervise the herdsmen who were looking after cattle. Maria says that while in Kampala, her husband entered a partnership with a businesswoman, with whom they developed a sexual relationship, and "possibly with many others". Maria believes that it was when the late husband relocated to Kampala that he possibly got infected with HIV.

Maria and her children live in a semi-permanent house with corrugated iron sheets. Three of the children are in primary school, while the twins whose health is declining consume much of Maria's time attending to them. At the time of her husband death, the family was left with 52 heads of cattle, which have reduced to 26 not as a result of selling, but deaths due to lack of care and management. Maria cannot engage the paid herdsmen who the husband employed, as she has no money to pay, while she is confined at home looking after the small children.

Maria is attending TASO clinic in Mbarara town. She complains of having little means of survival as the source of household income i.e., cattle are getting depleted over death and sales. She laments with tears; "It is strange for a family that was once self-sustaining in crop, animals, and business, to start begging for food and money from neighbours, friends, and few relatives".
Maria looks up in deep thoughts thinking about the future of her children, and remarks; "even if at the time of my death I leave cows and land to my children, they will be grabbed by the relatives or get stolen as the children are still young, and above all, I am very weak now to work for the family, and constantly traumatised about what will happen next to my small children".

Apart from the above problems, livestock farmers faced other problems, which coupled with the effects of HIV/AIDS, were making the situation worse. Thieves were reported by 23 households (43%) to be on rampage, and often the victims were reported to households headed by widows or where a family head was absent.
Labour as a problem faced by cattle keepers was mentioned in over a third of all the sampled households (34.0%). However, it was only in about a tenth (9.4%) of the cattle keeping households that lack of labour was directly linked to HIV/AIDS. Instead, majority of the households (22.6%) linked labour shortages to the mandatory policy of Universal Primary Education, whereby families are obliged to send children to primary schools that would otherwise be attending to cattle.

Mobility and HIV/AIDS

Unlike in crop farming communities where people do not move and spend days away while cultivating, the situation is rather different in pastoral communities. This mobility can contribute to HIV infection as people might seek sexual relationships in the absence of their partners. In slightly over a quarter of the sampled pastoral households, some household members were reportedly spending several days away grazing animals without returning home especially during the dry season. Most of the household members who were engaged in grazing animals away from home were mainly men and unmarried. These findings point to challenges that can be encountered by extension staff to disseminate HIV/AIDS information and messages to the biggest proportion of males who are always away especially during the dry season, and the unmarried community members.

Arriving on the landing site, ©FAO

The impact of HIV/AIDS on fishing will be covered in the next section (4.3).

4.3. Impact of HIV/AIDS on fishing

Household members involved in fishing

Majority of the 67 respondents who were involved in fishing on the lake were aged 18-30 years old (n=53, 80%), which is an age category vulnerable to HIV infection. 49.3% of the people involved in fishing were married and 46.3 had never been married.
The age and marital statuses of people involved in fishing greatly expose them to HIV infection as majority spend most of their daytime in recreation and merriment, waiting to go fishing at night. In all landing sites and fishing communities, several community members especially young men seemed to be redundant, spending most of the day in drinking sprees. In relatively stable fishing communities, fishing was combined with cultivation, and hence a sizeable proportion (29.1%) affirmed that they spent their day working in their small gardens, while night was for fishing.
In over a half (53.3%%) of the households in fishing communities, household members were reported to be spending several days away from home on fishing activities ranging from a week to over a month. This type of life involving either being away at night or spending days away from one's home can be sexually tempting, consequently leading to the spread of HIV/AIDS. On the other hand, women not involved in fishing on the lake were reported to be involved in a number of activities, most of which exposed them to sexual advances by men such as majority selling in bars and hotels. In Table 5, 14.7% of the respondents noted that some women in the landing sites were involved in prostitution.
Table 5: Role of women in fishing communities

* Reported Role	%	n
Crop farming	23.5	16
Smoking fish	25.0	17
Selling food stuffs	32.4	22
Shop attending	5.9	4
Working in bars/hotels	45.6	31
Prostitution	14.7	10
Household related chores	16.2	11
Others	1.5	1

* Multiple answers allowed

The above findings were corroborated by observations by the study team in the landing sites where people lead an "urban" type of life. In such situations, intensive HIV/AIDS campaigns need to be mounted.

Effect of HIV/AIDS on Fishing

HIV/AIDS in Uganda was first identified among the fishing communities/landing sites of Lukunyu and Kasesero in Rakai district. Given the nature of the fishing activity which involves seasonal migration and a lot of mobility, it enhances the possibilities of HIV infection. In all key informant interviews, it was revealed that death among fishermen has been common in landing sites as one key informant put it:

Fishermen have died in big numbers, which has paralysed fishing...The rest migrate to other landing sites where they spread the infection or get infected. [Iganga]

On the other hand, there were general reports pointing to reduction in fish catch as a result of HIV/AIDS morbidity and mortality. Like in farming and pastoral communities, availability of labour is critical for the survival of the activity. More significantly, in fishing using traditional gear or equipment demands a lot of energy, which an infected person might not have. A key informant had this to say:

Fishing, mongering and processing are all related, and these activities are so demanding such that people infected with HIV/AIDS give up as their health starts deteriorating. AIDS hits the target group who go fishing. To make matters worse, majority of the fishermen fail to afford treatment after exhausting the little income they have saved over time on the sickness [Bwonndha Landing Site]

It was also found out that often a number of young men are employed to carry out fishing by rich individuals who own fishing equipment/gear. In the event that the employer dies, all the employees lose jobs as adduced in one focus group discussion:

When the owner of the boats and nets dies of AIDS, all his employees lose jobs...and also all the properties get lost mysteriously. Consequently the formerly employed youths if they fail to get another rich man to employ them, they end up getting involved in taking marijuana, raping girls and general thuggery, which contribute to the spread of HIV [Male, Kasensero village]

Like in crop farming and livestock farming communities where surviving relatives take on orphans of deceased relatives, and hence affecting the agricultural production in various ways, fishing communities are also not free of such effects. A case of Abdullah in Bukagabo illustrates the point.

Case 6: Cessation of Fishing Activity and Need for Modern Fishing Equipment.

Abdullah aged 27 years resides in Bukagabo Landing site in Malongo Sub-county, Mayuge district. Abdullah at 27 years old is in a polygamous relationship (i.e., has 2 wives) with whom they have a number of children. Two years ago the family size witnessed an unprecedented increase. Abdullah's brother died of AIDS leaving behind five children with their mother. The widow (Abdullah's sister in law) for a few months after the death of her husband stayed with the children, but as life became difficult she decided to abandon the children with their uncle (Abdullah), and her whereabouts have been unknown.

Faced with the big size of the family, coupled with overwhelming household demands, Abdullah's main source of income; fishing using traditional gear/equipment failed to generate sufficient income. He opted to leave fishing, start up some retail business, while the rest of the family members got involved in small fish processing activities such as washing fish,in exchange for token payment either in kind i.e., getting fish in turn or some little money.

Abdullah labours greatly to ensure that the family survives. He believes that if he had his personal fishing equipment especially motorised boat, he would be in position to earn sufficient income and look after the expanded family.

In the case of Abdullah fishing using traditional equipment was no longer sufficient to earn him a living and take care of his expanded family. According to a key informant, there were many fishermen who had abandoned fishing either due lack of energy required of using traditional fishing equipment or their families overwhelming the income accruing from fishing.

Type of Fishing Gear/Equipment

Almost all the fishing households covered in this study were using traditional fishing equipment/gear, which included local boats (without engines), baskets, buckets, hooks and spears. According to the Commissioner of Fisheries in the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, many of the fishermen in Uganda are undercapitalised. It is estimated that fishermen on Lake Victoria alone have 15,000 boat units, out of which 11,000 are traditional requiring muscle power to propel them. The implication here is that they cannot go into the far off waters with the small canoes. Even when the fishermen change locations and go to distant spots, they still concentrate along the shorelines. All people using traditional gear/equipment associated it with the following problems:

Lack of durability
Low catch
High exposure to fatalities
Use of excessive energy
Exposure to thefts

Using traditional gear especially canoes is dependent on one's health. Thus, in situation where a fisherman is faced with failing health due to HIV/AIDS, then fishing suffers.
In light of what has been noted above, it can be seen that whereas the impact of HIV/AIDS on crop farming and livestock farming can easily be discerned, that on fishing is not easy to analyze. It can generally be inferred, as applying statistical analysis is possible over a long period.

source: Fao

What Effect Did Agriculture Have on the Way of Life of the Early People?

noreply@blogger.com (Agro impact) — Thu, 31 Oct 2013 20:08:00 +0000

The effect that agriculture had on the way of life of the early people is that it gave them more time to do their crafts such as pottery. They also had more time to study astronomy. what your view? drop your suggestion and answer. thank you

THE CHALLENGE TO AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICES

noreply@blogger.com (Agro impact) — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 16:47:00 +0000

There is already ample evidence that the epidemic has changed the very fabric of the farming population, bearing implications for agricultural extension services. Apart from the routine difficulties faced in daily work in rural areas by agricultural extension staff in developing countries, the challenges that most agricultural extension services face are mostly of a technical and logistic nature. Some examples are insect pest invasions, outbreaks of serious diseases, locust attacks, severe climatic effects, natural disasters, or intensive campaigns for an increase in agricultural production. The challenge currently posed by the HIV/AIDS epidemic to agricultural extension organizations in sub-Saharan Africa, however, is quite unusual as it affects both staff and clientele and involves human emotions to a depressing degree, that is, in addition to technical aspects. This challenge has at least three major dimensions. First, the very nature of the extension work; second, the impact of the epidemic on the extension organization itself and its staff; and third, the impact of HIV/AIDS on the clientele of extension services. A brief analysis of these three dimensions is in order.
Nature of the extension work

Since most of the population of the countries, hardest hit by AIDS, lives in rural areas, a large number of people affected by HIV/AIDS in sub Saharan Africa are, directly or indirectly, engaged in farming. The workers, who have the most frequent contact with the small-scale farmers, are the field extension agents. The extension services, by their very mandate and character, are supposed to deal with traditional, mostly illiterate rural households, in order to provide them with technical advice not only on agricultural technologies but also on relevant subjects like farm input supply, credit, marketing and farm management. Most of the extension staff themselves have their genetic roots in rural families. They travel frequently in rural areas, many times spending nights away from home, and being offered “hospitality” in villages due to their status. Also, they are in touch with so many widows forced into farming because of their husbands’ death, who need extension advice. Thus, the extension workers have ample opportunities of getting involved with multiple sex partners. All these factors expose the extension staff to the maximum risk of HIV infection, especially with their very limited knowledge of the epidemic.
Impact on extension and partner institutions

Effects on extension workers as individuals

Extension staff apart from being more exposed to the risk of contracting the HIV infection due to their frequent visits to HIV/AIDS infected rural areas, are themselves suffering from the pandemic in many ways. Many of them are sick, some chronically. A number of their colleagues have already become victim to the disease, and more bad news is feared almost every day. The talk of colleagues’ demise is common in office meetings more than ever before. Then, they have the unbearable burden, in terms of time, money and energy, of taking care of their close sick relatives and visiting sick neighbours. Some of them have lost their spouses, thus leaving them not only grieved but also with the responsibility of taking care of minor children. The situation has forced some workers to pull their children out of school. Unlike in the past, the attendance of funerals is now a frequent thing, and it involves heavy costs due to ceremonies such as slaughtering of precious animals and serving meals to large number of persons. Low morale, depression, economic worries, and less productivity are now common in extension organizations due to HIV/AIDS. Extension workers who by training are required to motivate farmers to try and adopt new agricultural technology are themselves depressed and frustrated, and this affects their output.

Reductions and disruptions in staff

Discussions with government extension service officials reveal that their capacity for delivering satisfactory services is being affected by HIV/AIDS. This is due to disruptions in their programmes caused by deaths, protracted sickness and frequent absences of staff. For example, in Uganda, between 20 and 50 percent of all working time of extension staff is lost due to the attendance of funerals of AIDS victims and for the caring of sick relatives. A considerable number of skilled and experienced persons have died of AIDS. In the Central Province of Zambia, during the period 1991 to 1998, as many as 66 staff died due to HIV/AIDS-related causes, representing almost 20 percent of the loss of staff due to different illnesses. The same is true for many other provinces. In Malawi, where there has been a freeze on staff recruitment since 1995, a considerable number of vacancies have resulted from the death of front-line staff, worsening the already unsatisfactory extension agent to farmer ratio. For example, in one district, a Field Assistant is required to cover an area of about 400 square kilometers where 4 000 farm families live. The organizations, including public and non-public, are faced with time-demanding tasks of identifying, recruiting and training of new staff. The result of delays in replacing the deceased and very sick staff is that the reduced number of staff are not only psychologically depressed due to the loss of colleagues but they also have to handle a far heavier workload both within the office and outside in the field. This situation is bound to adversely affect the performance of agricultural extension organizations.

D. Deber/FAO/14519

Elderly people are back into farming as HIV/AIDS has killed young relatives

Increased organizational costs

Both public and private extension organizations and some relevant institutions have reported increased costs due to HIV/AIDS. The additional expenditure is related to payments for treatment of sick staff and their relatives, funerals of dead staff, compensation, salary advances, early retirements, recruitment and training of new staff, and for buying insurance coverage. According to the estimates provided by different private organizations engaged in extension work in Malawi, the cost of a funeral per death, depending on the status of the deceased staff members, could range between MK 1 000 and MK 50 000 (One US$ = approximately 70 MK). The increased costs are bound to affect the performance of public extension departments as most of them already suffer from very low operational budgets. The frequency of visits to the field will dwindle further and the few in-service training opportunities the staff have will also disappear.

Established technical practices going obsolete

The years old administrative, strategic, policy and operational practices of almost all relevant organizations, including public, private and NGOs, seem to be outdated due to drastic changes in the social structure including, income levels, patterns of life, and types of clientele, all caused by HIV/AIDS. Extension services, whether government, semi government, private, or NGOs, are linked to many other institutions and organizations such as those responsible for providing credit, technology packages, marketing facilities, land tenure, and plant protection. These organizations will also be affected in their operations and practices due to the effect of HIV/AIDS on the farming population. For example, there are now applications for agricultural credit from orphan- and widow-headed households, which are often not eligible according to the existing criteria for the approval of credit applications. The extension staff who, in general, are supposed to support the applications for rural credit, feel lost in the absence of the new criteria needed for this new clientele. The staff of rural credit institutions may be faced with a dilemma of their own since the applications for credit cannot be approved unless a revised policy is in place and a new set of criteria is available for the applicants to qualify. Similarly, the organizations and firms responsible for recommending farming systems and manufacturing farm equipment would soon find themselves wondering whether their recommendations and products are still as useful and in demand as they were before the epidemic hit.
Emergence of unexpected clientele and extension-demand environment

Drastic change in the composition of clientele

The epidemic is changing the traditional composition of the clientele for extension services. In the areas of high HIV prevalence, the category of healthy and able-bodied men, women and youth, in the late adolescence to middle age range, is the one that has been most affected by high levels of morbidity and mortality. One finds more women, children and elderly persons now engaged in farming due to prolonged illness and/or death of their spouses, parents, guardians and other members of the family. Paradoxically, the struggle for feeding a large number of children left behind by their parents who have died young, has forced many very old persons back into farming who had retired from active farming long ago. The emerging target population for extension services increasingly includes more physically weak, sick, and elderly persons, widows and young orphans. For example, according to UNAIDS estimates, in 2001, the number of AIDS orphans in Mozambique was 420 000, and by 2010, was expected to jump to one million. Zimbabwe currently has 700 000 AIDS orphans. These newcomers, who even though they are exposed to farming due to living in rural areas, have relatively less experience in agronomic practices, as compared to their elders, and have limited physical and technical capacities for the use of heavy tools, farm machinery and animal-drawn farm equipment.

FAO/19970

Elderly men are indirect victims of the epidemic

Change of this magnitude in the type and character of the clientele is bound to render the existing extension strategies and methods outdated unless they are adjusted in line with the new extension clientele and their needs. The public extension organizations, however, are not yet prepared to cope with the situation.

Distraction from farming activities

While travelling by road in the rural areas of the sub-Saharan African countries hardest hit by HIV/AIDS, the scenes of funerals are quite common. Both men and women, who should normally be busy in farming activities, are now forced by traditional customs, to frequently spend considerable time on attending the funerals and relevant ceremonies. These funerals are not only attended in their own villages but also in the surrounding villages for which they have to cover large walking distances. The situation does not only cause serious distraction from their normal farming operations, but also results in reduced contacts with the extension agents, and less participation in technology demonstration and training activities. The farms are being ignored and so are the contacts with extension staff.

Farmers’ increasing queries on HIV/AIDS

The notoriously persistent denial and “conspiracy of silence” about HIV/AIDS, common among rural communities, is gradually giving way to relative openness. The stigmatism, denial and secrecy are still prevalent, but so many and so frequent deaths occurring in the area among relatives and friends can no longer be simply ignored. The escape from HIV/AIDS has understandably become as important a priority for farmers as the once eagerly sought technical advice on increasing agricultural production. The farmers’questions are no longer limited to farming. There are so many queries related to HIV/AIDS. However, the extension staff who know little about the epidemic and have not received any special training in this subject, feel helpless and embarrassed in front of the farmers. They are not in a position to offer any useful information or meaningful advice.

Worsening supply of farm labour, food insecurity, and poverty

According to UNAIDS, HIV/AIDS infections are highest amongst adults aged between 20 and 40, who account for about three-quarters of all AIDS cases. The emerging households, where the men and women of most productive age have either died or are disabled by prolonged sickness, are now headed by orphans, adolescents, the elderly, and quite often weakened and sick adults, and have fallen deeper into poverty and food insecurity. This is because fewer family members can now spare the energy and time for earning wages in rural and non-rural employment. According to a study done in Ethiopia, AIDS-afflicted households spent 50 to 60 percent less time on agriculture than those not afflicted.

In the United Republic of Tanzania, researchers have found that women spent 60 percent less time on agricultural activities because their husbands were ill. In addition, infection rates are rising among African women, who account for 8 out of 10 of Africa’s small farmers, and who traditionally provide the vital coping skills needed in times of food crisis. The latest statistics shows that women now make up 58 percent of Africans already infected. At present, 14.4 million people risk starvation in six Southern African countries where about 15 million are HIV positive and 1.1 million were lost to the disease in 2001. AIDS has been identified as one of the causes of this famine and the single most important cause of vulnerability in the region.

By one estimate, approximately two person-years of labour are lost by the time one person dies of AIDS, due to his/her weakening and the time others spend giving care. According to FAO, AIDS has killed about 7 million agricultural workers since 1985 in the 25 hardest-hit countries in Africa, and it could kill 16 million more before 2020. The loss in the agricultural labour force through AIDS in the nine hardest-hit African countries, for the period 1985-2020, may be projected as follows: Namibia 26 percent; Botswana 23 percent; Zimbabwe 23 percent; Mozambique 20 percent; South Africa 20 percent; Kenya 17 percent; Malawi 14 percent; Uganda 14 percent; United Republic of Tanzania13 percent (FAO, 2001).

K. Dunn/FAO/17372

HIV/AIDS has created a large number of orphan children

This trend could have at least four serious implications. First, deepening and expanding poverty due to loss of income; second, an increasing shortage of farm labour required for production tasks such as land preparation, ploughing, sowing, weeding, harvesting, and post-harvesting activities; third, drastic food shortages; and fourth, increased vulnerability to the epidemic due to increased poverty and food insecurity. This is a vicious circle beginning with the start of the HIV infection of some persons and ending with the infection of many more persons.
Some countries in sub-Saharan Africa, in addition to having public extension departments, have a number of semi-government bodies, private companies, and NGOs, which provide extension services. The HIV epidemic has not only affected these organizations in terms of reduced capacity due to loss of staff but it has also created new institutional, technical and operational challenges for the organizations. Presently, there are no extension programmes and strategies to improve agricultural skills of inexperienced young farmers including a large number of women and orphans who have suddenly become clientele of the services The notoriously weak linkages between extension, research and other relevant agencies are no help in addressing the need for developing new technologies and equipment suitable for the new situation. The technical content of extension messages remains strictly confined to agriculture. Most serious of all, the extension staff themselves are ill equipped to cope with the situation because of their lack of knowledge on AIDS.

The remedial measures will obviously require additional human, financial and physical resources, appropriate training of staff, development of proper extension strategies, partnerships with relevant institutions, and above all, appreciation of the new situation and the establishment of fresh working relationships with the clientele. The crucial issue is how extension organizations that are used, for decades, to conventional, routine extension tasks and clientele, and which are suffering from shortage of staff, finance and morale due to HIV/AIDS, would be able to successfully handle the new challenges.
source: Fao

What challenges does agriculture face today?

noreply@blogger.com (Agro impact) — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 16:38:00 +0000

This Synthesis Report catches the many-sided quality and differing qualities of farming and Akst [agricultural Knowledge Science and Technology] crosswise over planet locales. It is based the worldwide and five sub-worldwide reports that give prove for the reconciled examination of the primary concerns important to accomplish improvement and maintainability objectives. It is formed in two parts that address the essential invigorating address: in what manner can Akst be utilized to decrease appetite and neediness, enhance country occupations, and expedite evenhanded naturally, socially, and financially reasonable advancement? The eight cross-cutting subjects incorporate: bioenergy, biotechnology, environmental change, human health, Nrm [natural Resource Management], exchange and markets, conventional and neighborhood learning and group based advancement, and ladies in agribusiness and is composed in two substantive parts. In the first part we recognize the present conditions, tests and alternatives for activity that shape Akst, while in the second part we concentrate on the eight cross-cutting subjects.

The International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (Iaastd) reacts to the broad acknowledgment that notwithstanding critical logical and innovative accomplishments in our capability to expand horticultural profit, we have been less mindful to a portion of the unintended social and natural outcomes of our accomplishments. We are currently in an exceptional position to consider these results and to framework different approach alternatives to meet the tests ahead, maybe best described as the need for nourishment and occupation security under progressively obliged ecological conditions from inside and outside the domain of farming and globalized financial frameworks.

This prevailing acknowledgment is interfaced straight to the objectives of the Iaastd: how Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology (Akst) might be utilized to lessen yearning and destitution, to enhance provincial occupations and to expedite evenhanded naturally, socially and monetarily feasible advancement. Under the rubric of Iaastd, we distinguish the significance of Akst to the multifunctionality of horticulture and the convergence with other neighborhood to worldwide concerns, incorporating misfortune of biodiversity and environment administrations, environmental change and water accessibility.

The Iaastd is novel in the history of agrarian science appraisals, in that it evaluates both formal science and engineering (S&t) and neighborhood and accepted learning, addresses creation and benefit as well as the multifunctionality of horticulture, and distinguishes that various viewpoints exist on the part and nature of Akst. For numerous years, rural science kept tabs on conveying part advances to build ranch level benefit where the business and institutional plans put set up by the state were the essential drivers of the reception of new innovations. The general model has been to enduringly develop, decrease homestead door costs and externalize costs. This model drove the remarkable accomplishments of Akst in streamlined nations after World War Ii and the spread of the Green Revolution starting in the 1960s. However, given the new challenges we go up against today, there is expanding distinguishment inside formal S&t associations that the present Akst model requires amendment. The usual order of things is no more extended an alternative. This prompts reconsidering the part of Akst in attaining improvement and manageability objectives; one that looks for additional serious engagement crosswise over different perspectives and perhaps conflicting methodologies in ways that can illuminate and propose procedures for movements empowering to the numerous capacities of horticulture.

With a specific end goal to address the assorted requirements and engages that shape human life, we require an imparted approach to maintainability to neighborhood and cross-national joint effort. We can't escape our quandary by essentially pressing on to depend on the accumulation of unique decisions, to attain practical and evenhanded aggregate conclusions. Motivations are required to impact the decisions people make. Issues, for example neediness and environmental change additionally require aggregate concurrences on coordinated movement and administration crosswise over scales that head off past a speak to singular profit. At the worldwide, provincial, national and nearby levels, chiefs must be intensely aware of the way that there are various challenges, different hypothetical structures and advancement displays and an extensive variety of alternatives to meet improvement and maintainability objectives. Our observation of the tests and the decisions we make at this crossroads in history will verify how we secure our planet and secure our destiny.

Advancement and supportability objectives ought to be put in the setting of (i) momentum social and investment inequities and political questionable matters about war and clashes; (ii) lacks of determination about the capability to reasonably generate and access sufficient sustenance; (iii) lacks of determination about what's to come for planet nourishment costs; (iv) changes in the mass trading of fossil based vigor use; (v) the development of new contenders for characteristic assets; (vi) expanding endless infections that are mostly an outcome of poor sustenance and poor nourishment quality and also sustenance wellbeing; and (vii) changing natural conditions and the developing attentiveness to human avocation regarding the upkeep of worldwide biological community administrations (provisioning, controlling, social and supporting).

Today there is an universe of hilter kilter improvement, unsustainable common asset use, and proceeded provincial and urban neediness. Usually the unfavorable outcomes of worldwide progressions have the most critical impacts on the poorest and most powerless, who truly have had constrained privileges and chances for development.

The pace of formal innovation era and appropriation has been remarkably uneven. Performing artists inside North America and Europe (Nae) and rising economies who have caught critical economies of scale through formal Akst will press on to command.

The main challenges for AKST posed by multifunctional agricultural systems include:

How to improve social welfare and personal livelihoods in the rural sector and enhance multiplier effects of agriculture?
How to empower marginalized stakeholders to sustain the diversity of agriculture and food systems, including their cultural dimensions?
How to maintain and enhance environmental and cultural services while increasing sustainable productivity and diversity of food, fiber and biofuel production?
How to manage effectively the collaborative generation of knowledge among increasingly heterogeneous contributors and the flow of information among diverse public and private AKST organizational arrangements?
How to link the outputs from marginalized, rain fed lands into local, national and global markets?

How to Grow Soybeans in Nigeria

noreply@blogger.com (Agro impact) — Thu, 24 Oct 2013 17:10:00 +0000

Soybeans is one of the shoddiest wellspring of protein and is extremely fundamental for support of both grown-ups and kids. Soybeans is extremely simple to develop and does well in most dirts in Nigeria. We need to examine How to develop Soybeans in Nigeria however before then, we should take a gander at the regale and benefit potential of soybeans generation in Nigeria.

Soyabean-Farm-in-Nigeria

Soybean Farm in Nigeria

Soybeans is a vegetable that has been being used hundreds of years back and as of late picked up passage into the Nigeria cultivating ring. Every twelve-months, an exceptional number of the planet's sum soybeans handling are prepared into diverse sorts of soybean dish and oil. These dishes and oils are extremely key for youngster and mature person health much the same. It is all over the place in the business sector and offers in millions.

Separated from human utilization, soybeans is utilized for the generation of nutritious creature bolsters of various types in the business sector. Pretty nearly 98 percent of the soybean dish that is pounded is further transformed into creature nourish with the equalization used to make soy flour and proteins. Of the oil portion, 95 percent is depleted as palatable oil; the rest is utilized for modern items, for example greasy acids, cleansers and biodiesel.

Why is soybeans so handy? Soybeans is one of the few plants that furnishes a complete protein as it holds each of the eight amino acids crucial for human health. Soybeans holds the most noteworthy measure of protein that could be discovered in any vegetable or grain. Soybeans additionally holds nice measure of starches, fat, dietary strand, minerals, and vitamins. It is just as utilized for medicine of numerous endless sicknesses.

Soybeans is for sure the powerhouse of goodies and developing it means growing great sustenance and influential drug for human and creatures. Nobody who take part in such cultivating that wouldn't grin home with riches.

Soybeans is one of the item you can send out and make dollars yet tragically, Nigeria is not yet sending out this profitable item notwithstanding being the most astounding maker of this harvest in Africa. The excuse for why is since we are not yet handling enough. The planet showcase for soya is about $42 billion and Nigeria is as of now transforming soya worth of $86 million, would you be able to now see the hole.

Assuming that an agriculturist could take it to the following level and start to homestead this item in an exceptionally expansive amount, he will have enough to fare and make outside cash from the over $40 billion worldwide yearly advertise. Regardless of the possibility that you choose to offer generally, there is tremendous advertise for it in Nigeria as well. Numerous items in the business sector are continuously made with soybeans, for example soya milk and soya vegetable oil.

Cost of soybeans in Nigeria for every metric tonne is about N100,000. Provided that you handle 20 metric tonnes in a season in Nigeria, you will be making N2,000,000. You can process 20 metric tonnes of soybeans in Nigeria with N700,000. That means in a season you will be making N1.3 million naira from the humble speculation of N700,000! In this way, how would you begin with soybeans cultivating?

Instructions to Plant Soybeans in Nigeria

Pick the right veriety of soybeans seed for your planting assuming that you needs an exceptional harvest. Selecting just the right seed guarantees that you use less in administering and harvest more.

Soybeans-Seeds

Soybeans does great in most part of Nigeria. Nonetheless, the development of this item is still impacted by soil attributes and atmosphere conditions. Soybean is accepted to performs well in the Middle cinch, South East, South, and South West locale of Nigeria where precipitation is more than 700 mm.

Yet brief time assortments additionally flourish in the much drier parts of the North when sown early and with an even dissemination of precipitation all around the developing period. Having these as a primary concern, you move ahead to pick your homestead area.

Clear all vegetation before area planning. The seedbed may be ready physically with a digger or creature drawn actualize or tractor Well-ready arrive guarantees exceptional germination and decreases weed infestation. You can plant on edges or on a level seedbed.

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How to Cultivate Hybrid Maize in Nigeria

noreply@blogger.com (Agro impact) — Thu, 24 Oct 2013 17:04:00 +0000

I'm set to be composing progressively on Farming this month since we are in the season of planting, how about we perceive how we could exploit this period to profit through cultivating. What's more Hybrid maize development shows feasible chance for might be maize Farmer to profit in Nigeria this season.

Maize, otherwise called Corn is a standout amongst the most functional grain trim in West Africa, sustenances made out of maize is exceptionally nutritious as It is a significant wellspring of carbohydrate, protein, iron, vitamin B, and minerals, and is known to process quite rapidly. Most Africans have a tendency to devour maize basically as a starchy base in a wide mixture of porridge, glues, corn meal, and brew. The Green newly collected maize cob is consumed either cooked or bubbled.

In numerous Western nations like the Usa, maize is utilized fundamentally for mechanical items transforming and for assembling of creature encourages or as straight Livestock bolsters. Whichever way it is utilized, maize is the most paramount oat trim in Africa with rice and wheat which make up the three most significant grain trims on the planet.

Corn-Maize

Maize is exceptionally easy to grow, simple to look after, far less fragile that Rice, and take less capital as well. Like rice, maize develops exceptionally quick, inside 2-5 months of planting the product is primed for harvest, contingent upon which arrange you need to collect your yield.

Maize develops in a more extensive run of soil sort than rice, just about all aspects of Nigeria can develop maize on their dirt. With the utilization of Hybrid Maize and automated arrangement of cultivating, yield of maize can arrive at up to 10.2 tonnes for every hectare, with accepted African sort of development, generation is 2.1 tonnes for every hectare which isn't too terrible in any case.

Here are straightforward things you have to invest place to develop, reap, and offer maize in your general vicinity this season; and if conceivable, grow and offer in vast amount to profit.

1. Get Spacious Land -

Like I said in the recent past, maize could be developed in all terrains in Nigeria yet it performs better in a decently emptied fruitful loamy soil. Search for area that is dominatingly dirt, assuming that you can lay your involved timberland land, that will be exceptionally exceptional since I've directly seen corn perform obviously better without manure on woodland grounds. The explanation for why may be because of the decayed leaves from the woods trees.

Clear the area utilizing unskilled workers or mechanical methods, the primary concern is to uproot the weeds and keep the dirt detached for legitimate maize seedbed and guarantee the safeguarding of the topsoil .

Verify you plant your maize seed when you clear the dirt to permit the maize develop in front of weeds. Defer in planting will uncover the mixtures maize to rivalry with the weeds.

2. Get Improved Maize Variety -

Assuming that conceivable, search for Recommended Verities of maize to enhance your yield.

For Early Season Planting, Look for:-

Yellow Open Pollinated Varieties. Western Yellow 1: Tzsr-Y-1 (Streak Resistant)

Dmr-Lsry (Downy Mildew & Streak Resistant).

Yellow Hybrids Varieties: 8425-8; 8329-15

White, Open Pollinated Varieties: Tzpb (Farz 27); Tzb (Farz 34); Tzsr-W-1;

Zpbsr (Streak Resistant); Dmr-Lsrw (Downy Mildew & Streak Resistant).

Dmr-Lsrw (Downy Mildew & Streak Resistant).

White Hybrids: 8321-18; 9022-19; (Striga Resistant).

For Late Season :-

Maize-Farm

Plant unanticipated developing, streak or fleece mold safe mixtures.

Yellow Open Pollinated Varieties: Tzesr-Y; Dmr-Esry (Downy Mildew and

Streak Resistant).

White, Open Pollinated Varieties: Tzesr-W; Dmr-Esrw (Downy Mildew and Streak Resistant)

Popcorn: White Pop: Yellow composite.

Get any of these seed mixtures from your State and Institution's Agric offices or anyplace you can find them, just ask individuals.

Give space of in the ballpark of one feet to one and half feet from and between every plant. Planting is best by March outcome to the first week of April, now and again up to promptly May, contingent upon how early the drizzle began and the force.

3. Apply Fertilizer and Control The Weeds -

You may not require compost if the dirt is very rich. Notwithstanding, the requisition of compost will support the yield to yield more.

For Open Pollinated Maize Varieties:

Backwoods fallows 10 years or more. Apply 200 kg (4 packs) of Npk 25-10-10 for every hectare at planting as band or telecast requisition.

For Hybrids Corn Varieties:

For each high yields maize, you'll have to apply 600 kg (12 packs) of 25:10:10 for every hectare in two parts that is, at planting (200 kg) and 5 to 6 weeks in the wake of planting.

Manual Weeding:

Begin the first weeding on your maize cultivate from 15days in the wake of planting and not later than 25days or when you start to perceive the development of weeds in your homestead. A second weeding may not be important soon after the second provision of compost (if there is need for second requisition of manure) numerous agriculturists don't matter manure twice.

Herbicide Application:

Apply Atrazine preemergence at the rate of 3kg ai/ha on a clean seed mattress.

After all these has been carried out, next is to sit tight for the development of your corn for the harvest to start. I would prefer not to stress on the benefit of maize produce on the grounds that you and I knows there is enormous benefit and profits in each ranch produce.

The importace of agriculture

noreply@blogger.com (Agro impact) — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 12:43:00 +0000

Agribusiness normally assumes a basic part in the economy of each country that exists. Not just for the explanation for why that it has a tendency to food the whole populace of a nation additionally in the admiration that horticulture corresponds and communicates with all the identified commercial ventures of that nation. A nation is normally acknowledged to be a social and politically stable country provided that it has an exceptionally stable horticultural foundation.

A stable rural industry guarantees a nation of nourishment security. Nourishment security is acknowledged to be one of the essential necessities of any country. No country can viably develop with a stable farming base while harboring a country of "eager individuals", as these ravenous individuals can do nothing what-so-ever towards helping improve their nation. Nourishment security averts starvation which has customarily been thought of one of the biggest issues being encountered by the minor advancing countries. Most nations hinge on farming items and identified commercial enterprises for their major wellspring of salary. Indeed, the recently improving nations will uncover that they rely on and can profit extraordinarily from their rural industry.

Aside from the harvests and creatures that are transformed by the ranchers who make up a nation farming area the horticultural field speaks to the principle wellspring of vocation inside generally nations. The bigger ranches normally find it important to contract extra turns in which to solidly grow the terrains and to deal with the identified ranch creatures. A large portion of these huge ranches have handling plants placed in close-by offices for settling their rural items and improving the by-items. It goes without saying that these sub-commercial ventures utilize respectable labor inside their operations. The vast majority of the current ranches and horticulture identified commercial ventures make exceptional utilization of today's advanced supplies and also the standards of science and innovation.

The utilization of innovations in cultivating is confirms by the ability of the different agriculturists towards adapting to these headways identifying with the advances. The nation's agriculturists who can use the cutting edge advances included with cultivating can guarantee an exceptional preparation of their items which profits their nation in general. Present day cultivating advances might be pointless if the ranchers are not equipped enough to utilize any of the innovation that they have accessible to them.

The greater part of the more seasoned industrialized refers to have started their development essential through the advancement of farming. These urban areas have finished well on a farming premise before they completely started to grip the industrialization transform. A large portion of the standards right now being used inside our up to date organizations have their roots stemming from the standards of farming. Mass assembling is one of the practices that have been designed from the prepared gathering frequently discovered in the range of farming practices. This strategy has spared numerous old urban communities from pulverization throughout times of sickness and dry spell. Throughout the old times the nations collected harvests which were not just utilized for instantaneous utilization however were frequently reaped and archived for future utilization. The same thing is honed inside the advanced business methods to guarantee its security.

Farming is typically normal in provincial territories which have the most arable grounds, however with the advanced advances included in cultivating rural exercises are completely conceivable even in the urban regions. These exercises could be finished to maintain individual or family needs or indeed, for business purposes.

Why We Should Encourage Agriculture Studies At Private Colleges

noreply@blogger.com (Agro impact) — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 12:37:00 +0000

The worldwide sustenance emergency was the subject at the Northwestern University Conference on Human Rights that I went to this previous weekend. Yet, just about the greater part of the 40+ agents hailed not from our country's rural schools — reputed to be land stipend schools—however from private colleges. To me, that raised a basic concern: in what manner would we be able to go past area stipend universities and join farming systems into our top private organizations?

The 2008 nourishment emergency that pushed millions into the ranks of the ravenous, and which triggered uproars in over 30 nations, served as a wake-up call about the delicate state of worldwide horticulture. Today's people will be called upon to address this issue. Yet, if our top schools and colleges aren't educating horticulture, then how we urge their graduates to enter this field?

For sure, the precise multifaceted nature of the present sustenance scenario underlines the vitality of carrying agribusiness into schools outside the area award framework. Battling planet yearning isn't simply about expanding yields, a myth I scatter in my later Policymic section. Rather, its about distinguishing the social changes connected with specific sorts of farming frameworks, particularly how certain frameworks increment the defenselessness of the planet's poorest individuals. There is scarcely an improved approach to address these social variables than by incorporating farming projects into human sciences, geology, and human science divisions.

Case in point, one of the greatest issues with the 1960s Green Revolution—which deflected starvation in India and Latin America—is that its bundle of capital-concentrated harvest advances relocated minor agriculturists who couldn't bear the cost of the inputs. Yet, the U.s. Organization for International Development, the Gates Foundation, and the World Bank are pushing this very approach in Africa. Furthermore as Northern Arizona University political researcher Carol Thompson said at the Northwestern gathering, the World Bank's story about longtime disregard of agrarian advancement is misdirecting. In all actuality, such absence of speculation came about because of the Bank's consider plan of business sector driven advancement.

Basic social hypothesis disciplines give the key way to testing the World Bank's, Usaid's, and the Gates Foundation's ideological dominion over improvement, most obvious in their stress on Green Revolution edit innovations and neoliberal financial arrangements.

Supplementing the social sciences, science branches can instruct the agro-biological methodologies integral to empowering ranchers to stay on their territory. Agro-environment depends not on concoction inputs yet on the utilization of nitrogen-preparing products that serve as a compost substitute.

Building scholastic projects concentrated on agribusiness will establish the framework for facilities wide engagement on nourishment issues. A year ago, Dartmouth held a discussion on hereditarily adjusted products, uniting top specialists for an energizing level headed discussion. Also the later Northwestern gathering was loaded with a slate of powerful masters in rural improvement.

An alternate plausibility for grounds inclusion is college eating administrations to buy all the more generally developed nourishment. This might help learners comprehend the impeding healthful results of expansive scale mechanical horticulture, and additionally show them how government arrangements have since a long time ago supported modern nourishment frameworks at the cost of modest ranchers.

For sure, the late Norman Borlaug, champ of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize and the father of the Green Revolution, was greatly heartfelt about youth contribution in battling planet yearning. As a feature of the World Food Prize—a yearly honor to distinction an individual who has made an extraordinary commitment to worldwide horticulture Borlaug made the Youth Institute since he needed to rouse adolescent individuals to captivate with discriminating worldwide nourishment issues. Borlaug's partners have said that the Youth Institute was his most beloved part of the whole World Food Prize symposium. Hence, to captivate more American understudies on farming improvement issues would be to answer Dr. Borlaug’s call.

The Agricultural Cliff: Farmers Are Aging, and Young People Have to Step In

noreply@blogger.com (Agro impact) — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 12:31:00 +0000

There's been a mess of talk in these weeks trailing the presidential race about the approaching monetary precipice. Surely, its vital. Then again, its trying that no consideration has been paid as of late to an alternate and ostensibly more imperative bluff this nation is ready to succumb to: the farming precipice.

Here are some over of-the-napkin numbers dependent upon reports from the Epa. There are somewhat more than 2 million ranches in this nation. Of the aforementioned 2 million ranches, around 1 million of them are non-commercial/non-processing habitations. The remaining 1 million are true "cultivates"—lands claimed or worked by individuals who claim "cultivating" as their key occupation.

Here's the issue: The normal period of American agriculturists has been relentlessly on the ascent since 1910. All around the early years of the twentieth century, agriculturists matured 65 years or more senior represented less than 10 percent of the cultivating populace. Today—one hundred years after the fact people over the age of 65 record for more than 30 percent of the country's agriculturists. Consistent with the latest agrarian statistics information we have (2007), for each six agriculturists that are over the age of 65 in this nation, there is stand out rancher under the age of 35.

Today, the normal period of the American agriculturist is 55 years of age. Accordingly, approximately 500,000 U.s. agriculturists 50% of the country's farming makers are ready to resign inside the following 10 years. ... furthermore youthful individuals are not venturing up to fill the hole. This is the farming precipice.

In the event that we do nothing, and we lose half our agriculturists, we can need these four undesirable things to happen in fluctuating degrees:

1. Modest ranches will be bought by extensive homesteads. Like has happened in numerous different commercial enterprises in the course of the last one hundred years (handyman shops, motion picture theaters, inns, restaurants, and so forth.), combining and aggregation will happen in cultivating. Generally, merging has implied more consideration paid to benefit and less consideration paid to laborer health, item quality, and natural practicality.

2. Modest homesteads will be obtained by land engineers. Ranchers with no cultivating beneficiaries, and no bigger cultivating operation in the range (the vast majority of the Northeast), will be constrained to turn to less-alluring choices to stay away from chapter 11. This, shockingly, regularly means offering their farmland to land designers. A few investigators are hypothesizing that an alternate lodging blast is just over the skyline, and assuming this is the case, (conceivably) 500,000 ranches going available to be purchased all on the double in the nation could make some exceptionally excellent arrive extremely modest.

3. Modest homesteads will go bankrupt. Cultivates without ranchers won't survive. Indeed, overall supplied and once-gainful homesteads will cave in under the weight of holding up a homestead without an unfaltering stream of income. Regardless of the fact that specialists are let go, domesticated animals is sold, and the business is closed down, the expense of administering a ranch property charges, property upkeep costs, and the agriculturist's close to home living liabilities is excessively for any one (non-fence stock investments supervising) retiree to back.

4. Sustenance preparation comes to be even less supportable. Little ranches serve (and make) neighborhood sustenance economies. Expansive homesteads boat sustenance around the country. Provided that any consolidation of the three outcomes above happen, nearby nourishment economies will endure less neighborhood cultivating, less oversight, included miles for every calorie, more petroleum utilized, and so on.

These are startling prospects, to make certain. In any case, fortunately, there is a hint of something to look forward to.

The prevalence (and productivity) of the supportable sustenance development plus the smothering nature and work unreliability of corporate work—is heading junior individuals to think about undertaking the assignment of cultivating. The obstruction to passage is high, notwithstanding, as cultivating is exorbitant (area, gear, crops, work, and so on.) and the present era of youthful individuals is as of now suffocating in Visa and instructive obligation. In this manner, we—as a country must do everything we can to make it as simple as could reasonably be expected for these might be youthful agriculturists to move into the nation's cutting edge of sustenance makers.

Here are a few thoughts:

1. Rent open terrains to adolescent ranchers. The once-flourishing factory town of Windsor, Vermont is improving an arrangement to open up more or less 900 sections of land of unused and open previous ranch land—now claimed by the state's Department of Corrections—for the reasons of developing sustenance. This move is intended to recover farmable area, reinforce the nearby nourishment handling framework, and urge neighborhood youth to take the rural plunge.

Accompanying Windsor's model, towns and urban areas around the nation could rent unused and openly claimed terrains to new ranchers in a rent-nature's turf. This move might build town income without raising charges, give adolescent ranchers competitive area, and support neighborhood nourishment frameworks.

2. Bring down the galactic cost of purchasing farmland. A protection easement is an understanding between an area possessor and either a legislature figure (city, town, state, and so forth.) or a qualified area assurance association, (for example an area trust) that confines the advancement of a property. Basically, an area possessor will offer or give the right to expand his or her territory to a preservation association who will then secure that land from anticipated improvement. The ranch should legitimately remain a homestead.

Ranchers taking this track make their own property unusable to designers and in this manner less fiscally significant. Both the twelve-month property charge bill and deal cost of the area drop breathtakingly and making the prospect of a youthful rancher purchasing the area more conceivable.

3. Support the resurrection of apprenticeship. Our present model of government funded instruction is intended to process proficient laborers in the corporate planet. The understudy model of training is everything except dead.

Reexamining and reintroducing the apprenticeship model of education through Farm-to-School agricultural learning programs—wherein kids regularly work on local farms, plant and tend crops, harvest the fruits of their labor, and then eat that food in their cafeteria—could teach a new generation of kids, who were raised on microwave meals, about real food.

Within just a few years, this country will have a bunch of farms with no farmers and a bunch of farmers with no farms. In order for our nation to sustain and build the clean, healthy, real food movement, we will need to make conscious efforts to entice more young people into farming and lower the barriers for those would-be young farmers who are already waiting in the wings.

You can get started today by supporting the work of organizations such as the National Young Farmers’ Coalition and their efforts to make sure we don’t go sailing off an agricultural cliff.