Africa newsletter 2011

www.cabi.org

KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE

AFRICAAlso in this issue Farmers forecast armyworm outbreaks 02Kenyan kale innovation 03Brassicas that resist Black Rot? 03Healthy soil for healthy farms 05NERICA adoption to bring relief 06Credit for coffee 06

Controlling Parthenium in Kenya 05

Parthenium poses one of the most serious threats to biodiversity

CABI in

Plantwise takes root

Nancy Kargbo, a farmer in Bendu, Sierra Leone, visited the plant clinic in Bonthe one day. She had travelled 34 miles, as she’d heard there was good advice available at the clinic. She had a problem with pests on her cassava, and was on the verge of giving up on her crop. Because the attack was so severe, the plant doctors at the clinic, Abu A. Kalokoh and Amadou Alami-Bangura, recommended that she use a homemade insecticide. She agreed to give it a try and the clinic helped her prepare the mixture, which she took home and applied on her cassava the next day. The plant doctors later heard that the treatment had been successful, and that Nancy’s cassava crop was saved from further damage.

Abu and Amadou are just two of many CABI-trained plant doctors working in Africa today.

The plant doctors run clinics in rural locations, such as market places where farmers congregate to buy and sell their products. Farmers bring samples of their sick plants and in discussion with the farmers, the doctors diagnose the problem. They then offer advice on what the farmers can do to restore their plants’ health.

The clinics are part of a wider CABI-led initiative called Plantwise which aims to provide the knowledge farmers need to feed their families and lift themselves out of poverty. There are already clinics in DR Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Uganda, and more are being

started in 2012.

Plant clinics are giving new hope and encouragement to many rural farmers

An outbreak of jaundice prompted testing for aflatoxins

...continued on back cover

newsletter 2011/12

Developing food safety capacity 04

2 KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE

Information to fight invasive species

The ISC is an online, comprehensive encyclopaedic reference work covering recognition, biology, distribution, impact and management of the world’s invasive plants and animals.

Developed with support from a consortium of partners, it is the most extensive and authoritative compilation on the subject in the world. Thousands of experts wrote the peer-reviewed information, backed up by existing compilations of knowledge and research on invasive species. It offers global coverage of all invasive species, from every taxonomic group except human pathogens, with fast navigation between text, images, maps and databases.

In Africa, many invasive species have been introduced both intentionally and accidentally and are now damaging natural and man-made ecosystems including unique wetlands, lakes and rivers. This has led to a loss of biodiversity and is affecting the local fishing and tourism industries. Terrestrial ecosystems are also being affected and agricultural production and food security are under threat. So the ISC is an important tool for resource managers, extension workers, policymakers and researchers in the areas of agriculture and the environment.

For more information, go to: www.cabi.org/isc

CABI’s new Invasive Species Compendium (ISC) is freely available to all on an open access basis and it will be maintained, enhanced and regularly updated into the future

Farmers forecast armyworm outbreaks

Traditionally, forecasting for the black caterpillars known as armyworms has been done by the government in Kenya and Tanzania. But this system hasn’t always allowed for effective targeting and timing which has resulted in the continued losses of cereals to the armyworm in the region.

Now there is a way that farmers can forecast for armyworms themselves. CABI has trained democratically elected farmers as community armyworm forecasters. The forecasters disseminate forecast information to fellow farmers through local communication channels, enabling farmers to take action to protect their crops.

Farmers are now taking their own initiative through community action to complement government actions with the former now viewing the governments as their partners in armyworm control rather than the sole controllers of it. CABI has also improved the supply chain of safe and affordable armyworm control tools by encouraging private-public partnerships. The Governments of Kenya and Tanzania are now working with Russell IPM, Elgon Kenya Limited and Bajuta International to increase access to the armyworm forecasting tools.

For more information, please contact Richard Musebe: [email protected] hyacinth

3KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE

Kenyan kale innovationKinale and Tosha are two new varieties of kale developed by a CABI-led team working with farmers in Lari District of Kenya Seeds of the Lari farmers’ kale landraces are popular and in high demand, but to be made available commercially, landraces have to be developed into registered varieties.

First the team conducted distinctiveness, uniformity and stability (DUS) tests. Once that was done, the varieties had to be multiplied to produce a stock of breeder seed. To keep the lines pure, the seeds were produced in screenhouses, shutting out the natural pollinators. So to ensure a good seed crop, beehives were placed in the screenhouse, and the bees fed regularly to make them fit and strong to do their vital pollination work.

The Minister for Agriculture officially launched the new varieties on 19th July 2011, at a ceremony in KEPHIS Headquarters, while members of the team from KARI, Lagrotech,

KEPHIS and CABI proudly looked on. Now that the varieties are gazetted, the door is open for commercial production and marketing of Kinale and Tosha kale.

For more information, please contact Duncan Chacha: [email protected]

CABI in Africa 2011/12

Brassicas that resist Black Rot?Kale and cabbage are popular in Kenya but their production is limited by pests and diseases which attack the plants. One of the major diseases is black rot, caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris. The pathogen is very variable which makes breeding for resistance problematic. In addition, no sources of resistance to this disease have been identified in Brassica oleracea (C genome), the most important in Kenya, but resistance has been identified in the A genome (B. rapa).

A project to accelerate breeding of black rot resistant Brassicas for the benefit of East African smallholders has been funded by BBSRC and DFID under their flagship initiative “Sustainable Agricultural Research for International Development” (SARID). Two of the major objectives of this project, which are being addressed by CABI in collaboration with Harper-Adams University College, KARI, and the University of Warwick, are to understand the variability of X. campestris pv. campestris in East Africa and the basis of quantitative resistance of Brassica rapa to this pathogen The ultimate aim is to introduce resistance to the Brassica oleracea species through introgression techniques and continued studies on the basis of quantitative resistance.

For more information, please contact

Joseph Mulema: [email protected]

Black rot on cabbage plant

More trade, safer tradeEvery shipment of food or agricultural products from one country to another, risks carrying stowaway pests and diseases of plants and animals. Worse still, microbes capable of causing sickness or even death might be lurking, quietly multiplying during the journey.

Sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards are designed to manage these risks, and thus the ability to comply with the standards is an entry ticket to international trade. Countries and their farmers who cannot comply lose markets and revenue.

CABI has been working with various national and regional partners to develop capacity to comply with SPS standards. It has recently supported COMESA in developing their SPS programme, including training on equivalence. It has also done a study for FARA on compliance with SPS measures in Malawi

and Tanzania, and finalized the setting up of a Centre of Phytosanitary Excellence (COPE) in Kenya, led by Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (KEPHIS) and University of Nairobi. In 2011 COPE has put on several courses with participants from East, Central and Southern Africa.

More trade contributes to development, but only if countries can trade safely, so CABI’s SPS work is aiming at more trade and safer trade.

For more information, please contact Roger Day: [email protected]


Sweet smell of success

This is due to a forward-looking move by the Pest Control Products Board (PCPB). New protocols recently adopted by PCPB make registration quicker and easier for a whole range of products based on chemicals that affect insects’ behaviour.

One such product is the laboratory version of the scent produced by female moths to attract males – known as a sex pheromone. Artificial sex pheromones can be used to monitor pests such as the dreaded armyworm, so farmers know when the pest is about to attack. They can also be used in control, by trapping the males or confusing them, so that the females never mate. Many of these pheromones have been researched, but in Kenya and other African countries they have not become commercial products.

PCPB, CABI and other experts from Ethiopia, Tanzania and UK have successfully developed the new protocol with funding from DFID’s Research into Use (RiU) programme. The protocols ensure products are safe and work well, but are practical for companies wishing to market the products.

Another category of product that the new registration protocol covers is insect food attractants, used in fruit fly monitoring and control. Given the havoc caused by the oriental fruit fly Bactrocera invadens, this is good news for fruit farmers, and several companies have already applied to register products under the new protocol.

For more information, please contact Roger Day: [email protected]

Developing food safety capacityAn outbreak of jaundice in Makueni, Eastern province in early 2004 prompted food testing in the area that revealed high levels of aflatoxins in local maize. This continues to be a menace in the agricultural and health sectors, contaminating not only maize but other grains such as groundnuts.

Two students specializing in food science and microbiology from Moi University and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), were recently hosted in the CABI laboratory. Lucy Karanja and Dr. Maina Wagacha from the University of Nairobi took them through the process of isolating and identifying Aspergillus species (Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus) which cause aflatoxin contamination in maize and groundnuts.

The nuts and maize samples are taken from farms, supermarkets and informal markets and then ground to powder. The levels of aflatoxins are determined using ELISA analysis and various aflatoxin types (B1, B2, G1 and G2) are determined. Studying the level of aflatoxins and fungal contamination in foods and identifying the toxigenic fungi is an important indication of the food quality and the future contamination potential due to the presence of mycotoxins.

With the help from relevant government departments results of such tests could aid in structuring policies to guide standards set for acceptable levels of aflatoxins, thus minimizing toxins in grains and reducing risks to consumers. The results of these tests also highlight the need for farmers to have access to training on appropriate ways of storing their produce in order to prevent fungal contamination.


Lucy Karanja: [email protected]

Bactrocera invadens

Lower risk pest control products will soon be hitting the market in Kenya

Sowing the seeds for a home-grown dinnerFarmers growing indigenous vegetable seeds for private seed companies in Kenya are now earning US$ 4,500 annually, thanks to a project coordinated by CABI. Through the initiative, farmer-led indigenous vegetable seed enterprises are being developed and analyzed. This not only benefits the farmers producing the seed, but is making quality seed available for growers.

The consumption of African Indigenous Vegetables (AIVs) in eastern Africa has greatly increased over the last decade. But meeting the growing demand for these vegetables is difficult because of the lack of good quality seed available to grow them. Most farmers are buying seed at their local open air market but the seeds have problems of purity and low germination.

The Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in East and Central Africa (ASARECA) is funding efforts to counter these problems. The team is evaluating different models for the seed enterprises,

as well as training the farmers on technical aspects of seed production, processing, seed regulation and marketing. In Kenya we are working with Kenya Seed Company, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (KEPHIS) and Technology Adoption Through Research Organisation (TATRO). Similar work is going on in Tanzania in collaboration with Horticultural Research Institute-Tengeru (HORTI-Tengeru), INADES Formation Tanzania, Tanzania Official Seed Certification Institute (TOSCI) and the World Vegetable Centre (AVRDC).


Daniel Karanja: [email protected]

5KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE

This noxious weed, which was accidentally introduced to Ethiopia in the 1980s, is rapidly spreading throughout Africa, including Kenya, where the population has exploded in the last 3-4 years.

In November 2010, a number of plants were discovered in the Masai-Mara National Reserve, posing a significant threat to biodiversity, particularly the annual wildebeest migration, and pastoralism. With funding from the Australian High Commission a survey of the whole Masai-Mara ecosystem was undertaken to identify and map all known parthenium infestations. Parthenium was largely confined to the south of the Masai-Mara National Reserve, to the west and east of the Mara Bridge.

An inventory of other invasive plant species in the ecosystem, including exotic plants in the lodge gardens, was also compiled. Other than parthenium the most prolific invasive plant species in the Masai-Mara National Reserve, both within and outside of lodge properties were found to be Lantana camara, Tithonia diversifolia, Passiflora subpeltata, Opuntia monocantha, O. ficus-indica, various Tradescantia species, Anredera cordifolia, and Pistia stratiotes.

The parthenium eradication programme commenced in May 2011. More than 60 local Masai pastoralists were employed over a 2-month period to physically remove parthenium plants. Visible plants from all known infestations, mainly along roads and jeep tracks, were removed at least twice during the exercise.

The programme managed to ‘eradicate’ Parthenium from known infestations in the Masai-Mara National Reserve and also increased awareness amongst communities and Kenya Wildlife Service staff on the threats posed by parthenium. As a result of these efforts, the impact of parthenium is reduced and biodiversity and pastoralism enhanced at least for now.

Efforts need to continue until the seed bank is depleted. It is also important that an integrated management plan be developed and implemented at national level to reduce the spread of this weed, with bio-control featuring prominently.

For more information, please contact Arne Witt: [email protected]


Cotton farmers in Kenya and Mozambique are beginning to see the benefits of a project aimed at improving the efficiency of cotton production. A study by the project identified agronomic practices as a key area for improvement, with farmers’ access to knowledge and inputs being critical.

Farmer field schools (FFS) in both countries are expanding farmers’ knowledge and crop management skills, and additional information on good practice for the Integrated Crop Management (ICM) of cotton has been collected and used to refine the FFS curriculum for the coming season. The curriculum forms the basis of a manual that the project is publishing.

Improving access to inputs requires various approaches, as in Mozambique cotton is produced and purchased through a concession system, while in Kenya the market is more

liberalized. In Kenya an innovative credit facility is being established involving the bank, the farmers, extension, regulators and the input suppliers, which will enable farmers to buy the inputs at the right time. In Mozambique the project is working to improve the efficiency of the concession system through which farmers obtain their inputs.

For more information, please contact Daniel Karanja: [email protected]

Parthenium hysterophorus poses one of the most serious threats to biodiversity, agriculture and human health in Africa Eradication of Parthenium weed

Controlling Parthenium in the Masai-Mara, Kenya

The economies of most African countries are based on agriculture, but production and productivity in sub-Saharan countries remains low mainly because of low inherent soil fertility. The Africa Soil Health Consortium (ASHC) project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and coordinated by CABI, aims to improve knowledge on Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM). The aim is to improve knowledge at all levels of society in both public and private sectors, from policy makers to university lecturers, extension workers, input suppliers and the farmers themselves, so that Integrated Soil Fertility Management can contribute to improving livelihoods.

One of the key objectives of the Africa Soil Health Consortium is to use a peer review based approach to the collation and synthesis of existing knowledge and materials from other ongoing initiatives to make recommendations on how to improve the quality and distribution of high quality, effective materials to farmers. Each of these materials will be carefully planned as part of a broader scale-up strategy to ensure it achieves targeted goals. At the end of the process, the project aims to leave behind better trained institutions, with the knowledge and skills to produce high quality extension materials on soil health.

For more information, please contact George Oduor: [email protected]

Healthy soil for healthy farms

Kenya and Mozambique cottoning on to cotton


NERICA adoption to bring reliefThe New Rice for Africa (NERICA) has good drought tolerance, some resistance to pests and diseases and a short growing period of between 90-120 days. It offers a higher rate of return to investment than maize and sorghum and is an attractive proposition for farmers, so it is well suited to the post-conflict areas of Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan.

ASARECA is funding work to create innovation platforms for the adoption of the NERICA technologies in these countries, promoting information flow between different actors in the rice value chain, and fostering alliances and joint action that will lead to the up scaling of NERICA.

In addition, the NERICA seed value chain will be strengthened by supporting formal seed supply and distribution systems in which farmers are contracted to produce the seed.

The project will also concentrate on best practices, experiences and lessons learned on up scaling NERICA adoption, and aim to provide gender specific information that will inform up scaling of NERICA elsewhere. Already posters, a communication strategy and a rice production manual have been disseminated.

CABI is working on the project with National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI) of National Research Organisation (NARO), Uganda, Action Africa Help International (AAH-I), Uganda and South Sudan, Farm Inputs Care Centre (FICA), Uganda and South Sudan, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Republic of South Sudan.

For more information, please contact Noah Phiri: [email protected]

A launch workshop for the project ‘Sustainable Credit Guarantee Scheme to Promote Scaling up/out of Enhanced Coffee Processing Practices in Ethiopia and Rwanda’ took place on August 5, 2011 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The project, which will run for the next five years, aims at improving access to finance for coffee producers in the two countries. It will also build the capacity of farmers, cooperative societies and banks to undertake their roles in the coffee supply chain more efficiently and effectively. The forum was used to enlighten the various stakeholder groups on the goal and objectives of the project.

Honourable Ato Mitiku Kassa, Minister for Agriculture, who officially opened the workshop, advised that the improved extension services and capacity building activities proposed in

the project should be targeted at enhancing coffee tree management, harvesting, drying and storage at the farm level. He noted that the activities are in line with the government’s development policies and strategies which encourage scaling up of best practices.

Dennis Rangi, CABI’s Executive Director of

International Development echoed the Minister’s words, underscoring that farmers need access to affordable credit so that they can use the technologies that will enable them to survive in the global market.

For more information, please contact Charles Agwanda: [email protected]

In July 2011, Trevor Nicholls and Dennis Rangi, CABI CEO and Executive Director for International Development respectively, made visits to 5 CABI Africa member countries – Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. Then in November they visited 2 more - Ghana and Sierra Leone.

The objective of the visits was to update the member countries on CABI’s development strategy and ongoing initiatives aimed at fulfilling its mission, particularly the Plantwise initiative. Plantwise is a new global plant health initiative led by CABI, which aims at improving

food security by ensuring that farmers grow more and lose less of their produce to pests and diseases. Plantwise activities will include provision of advisory services to farmers through Plant Clinics and a Knowledge Bank. In addition, the meetings sought to learn first-hand about activities taking place in member countries in CABI’s thematic areas and identify ways in which CABI could support and further strengthen collaboration with its member countries.

For more information, please contact Jane Frances Asaba: [email protected]

Trevor and Dennis having lunch during one of their visits

Visiting the family!

Credit for coffee

7KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE


Communicating ASARECA

CABI recently ran a two week Master Class on Plant Health which showed how new technologies can help extensionists quickly and accurately diagnose plant health problems and identify suitable solutions for farmers, with help from scientists. It was a great opportunity for scientists and extensionists to test technologies together and learn how they can be put to best use in the practical context of community-based extension.

Through a hands-on approach participants were taught how to use distance diagnostics using remote microscopy, rapid soil testing tools, rapid diagnostic tests for particular pathogens, communication through mobile phones – sending photos and exchanging information, high quality

digital photography, and taking and sending samples for further identification.

’The Master Class was run by CABI staff, lead diagnostic experts from the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for National Plant Biosecurity (CRCPB), staff from the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). Participants were drawn from 10 African countries – Zimbabwe, Cote d’Ivoire, Mozambique, DRC, Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Kenya and Uganda and it was all made possible with funding from the Australian Government and The Crawford Fund.

For more information, please contact Florence Chege: [email protected]

Master Class trains scientists

The CABI-led team visited ASARECA’s stakeholders in Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya, and listened to views on what communication work ASARECA already does well, and areas that could be improved. ASARECA publications were analyzed for gender sensitivity, ease of reading, and brand consistency.

CABI then facilitated a one day workshop for ASARECA’s senior staff to review the draft strategy and implementation plan.

The new strategy has seven areas, including targeted dissemination

of research results, corporate communications, and international communication with the secretariat, as well as a new website, a database of project data, a program management information system and a document management system.

Thanking CABI for their work, ASARECA Deputy Executive Director Dr. Eldad Tukahirwa pledged full support for implementing the strategy.

For more information, please contact Roger Day [email protected]

WelcomeNew team members who have joined us this year

Congratulations to Collins Abuga on completing his MSc in Research Methods at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. Collins was attached to CABI for his project work.

Martin Macharia and Linda Amondi are doing their MSc projects with CABI, attached to the African Soil Health Consortium and Plantwise respectively.

Student congratulations

When ASARECA needed a new Communication and Knowledge Management Strategy, they selected CABI to help them develop it

Joseph Mulema Research Fellow

Rodney Lunduka Research Fellow, Policy

Abigael Mchana Communications

Assistant

Lydia Wairegi Research Fellow,

Cropping Systems

Alphonce WerahFinance and

Administration Manager

Caroline Nyakundi Communications

Specialist

Linda Likoko Office Manager

CABIICRAF Complex, United Nations Avenue, Gigiri, PO Box 633-00621, Nairobi, KenyaT: + 254 (0) 20 7224450 E: [email protected]

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UK Overseas Territories

CABI improves people’s lives worldwide by providing information and applyingscientific expertise to solve problems in agriculture and the environment.

CABI Member Countries

Member countries as of January 2007

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Sierra LeoneRwanda South Africa Tanzania Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe

Five new clinics have been established recently in Kamonyi, Huye, Busogo and Kicukiro districts. Noah Phiri and Peter Karanja have been working closely with colleagues from the Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) to train plant doctors to run the clinics.

The plant clinics generated a lot of interest among farmers even as they were being set up in market places. Farmers came rushing over to see what was happening, and later returned to get help for their crops, having

discovered that diagnosis and advice on plant health problems was free of charge. Some very important plant health problems were identified, such as bacterial wilt of white potatoes, banana fusarium wilt (Panama disease), and late blight of tomatoes. The Rwandan team running the clinics is already planning to establish more clinics, so that many more farmers can have access to plant health advice.

For more information, please contact Noah Phiri: [email protected]

Plant clinics in Rwanda

CABI scientists at the plantwise training workshop in Naivasha, Kenya

Plantwise takes root

Growing demand in Kenya’s countiesIn Kenya, around 7,000 farmers are benefitting from plant clinics. There are now 24 clinics in eight counties across the country, which have seen farmers bring over 40 different crops with all manner of diseases and insect pests for diagnosis.

All sorts of ways are being used to publicize the clinics: church announcements, Chiefs’ barazas (administrative meetings convened to address community issues), county agricultural shows, local radio, farmers’ field days, schools, posters, banners, farmer group meetings and other exhibitions. Different clinics use the best approach for their area.

In August CABI’s Lucy Karanja and Peter Karanja set up a plant clinic at the Jacaranda Hotel in Nairobi; not to advise farmers but to raise awareness of the Plantwise initiative during an event organized by African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) of which Lucy is a member.

Guests from 11 countries as well as local and international media were intrigued by the display, and suggested clinics are a good way of addressing plant health issues resulting from climate change.

For more information, please contact Peter Karanja: [email protected] Website: www.plantwise.org

...continued from front cover

Documents

Africa newsletter 2011