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October-December 2004
n o i t c A f a r Co
QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER
FOR
RESEARCH
AND
AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
T
development of innovative meth-ods for attracting funds, creation of an environment adapted to research, promotion of functional partnerships and strategic alliances, these are the first four lessons of the ten-year agricultural research strategy for the development of Africa (2002-2012) as “memorized” by the leaders of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa. (See
No. 33 AND
CENTRAL AFRICA
Staff at Headquarters Is Strengthening
In the thirty-first edition is initiated publication of a series of articles on the ten-year strategy for agricultural research for development in Africa (2002-2012) of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA). Here is the third. MENTS,
WEST
CORAF/WECARD
In Agriculture Also, End Justifies Means 3
HE DIVERSIFICATION OF INVEST-
IN
the sharing and exchange of knowledge, of stimulating the de-velopment and dissemination of new technologies and methods, and of supporting agricultural policies and market development. The fifth lesson to be applied is accelerating the sharing and exchange of knowledge. For this, the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa intends to reinforce its communicational equipment and its data mana-
Jean-Rostand Jiadiais Kamga, the first Administrative and Financial Manager of CORAF/ WECARD.
F
OR NEARLY MORE THAN TEN YEARS
the previous issue of Coraf Action). The last lessons, which are — in fact like the first ones — the resources for this strategy, consist of accelerating
gement system, to encourage the use of analytical systems approaches,
now, there has been a flurry of changes and activities at C O R A F / WECARD. And there are good reasons for this when one is responsible for the implementation of the strategic Plan of agricultural cooperation (SPARC) that traces the future for West and Central Africa over one and a half decades, that is to say 19992014. Well, this requires a lot of things, including new blood, and this is what the Executive Secretariat, based in Dakar, has just done in utmost transparency (call for applications, selection, and interviews) by recruiting a new senior Staff member following that of the Chief accountant. Jean-Rostand Jiadiais Kamga, the
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RESEARCH ECHOES Sweet Potato Gaining Strong
T
VALLEY OF the Senegal River, possessing perimeters around the Guiers Lake area, generally devote themselves to garden crop farming, especially that of sweet potato, given the advantages presented by its soil, its climate, and its water in this area. It is cultivated on one-third of the arable lands, and this area is becoming famous because of the quality of its sweet potato: confirmed nutritional potential and dietetic and medicinal virtues. All of these contribute to increasing consumption by the Senegalese and to diversifying its modes of using, especially since almost the entire production, which is particularly consumed in the form of vegetable, is imported into Mauritania. Since 2002, this has been the ambition exposed by the Projet sur la valorisation de la patate douce dans la vallée du Fleuve Sénégal (Project on HE PRODUCERS IN THE
the use of sweet potato produced in the valley of Senegal River). The Project originates from a partnership between the Institut de technologie alimentaire (ITA) (Institute of Food Technology), the Project Coordinator, Institut Sénégalais de recherches agricoles (ISRA) (Senegalese Institute of Agricultural Research), Société d'aménagement et d'exploitation des terres du delta du Fleuve Sénégal et des vallées du Fleuve et de la Falémé (SAED) (Society for Regional Development and the Use of the Lands of the Delta of the Senegal River and Valleys of the River and the Falémé), and Conseil national de concertation de la filière patate douce et tubercules (CNCFDP) (National Coordination Council for the Sweet Potato and Tuber Sector). The Project started with studies on the agronomic and socioeconomical aspects of the zone, before going on to the reconstitution and multiplication of the collection of different sweet potato varieties. It has also conducted studies on the improvement of the technical guide for producing and conserving the tubers. Finally, the Project tackled the creation of recipes and sweet potatobased products: marmalades, sugar slices, bread-making products, biscuits, cakes, fried products, etc. This Project, which is a few months away from the end, scheduled for March 2005, would not have deceived the hopes placed in it by producers in
Sweet potatobased.petits fours.
Tasting sweet potato-based food during a project reporting session, at Ngnitt on the western bank of the Guiers Lake.
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2
the area, Development Partners, and Fonds national de recherches agricoles et agroalimentaires (FNRAA) (National Agriculture and Food Research Fund). In actual fact, the results that are already available will enable significant progress to be made towards a better utilization of this crop to the benefit of producers, consumers, restaurant owners, smalland medium-scale enterprises and industries, economic interest groups, and groups for the promotion of women and research scientists.
Contact: Ndèye Thi Tinh Ndoumouya ITA, BP 2765, Dakar, Senegal Tel.: +221 859 07 07 Fax: +221 832 82 95 E-mail: ndoumouya@ita.sn
Coffee and Cacao: Leaguing Together Against Price Fall
“
ONE SHOULD NOT PUT ALL OF ONE'S eggs in one basket”. It is the lesson learned by south Cameroonian farmers following the heavy fall of producer prices for coffee and cacao. However, with the good coming out of every unfortunate event, they are diversifying their agricultural production by dedicating greater importance to food crops. Nevertheless, this has been neither followed by an adequate increase in production, nor an improvement of their standard of living. Hence this question arises: can one sustainably improve the operations of family farms? The reply demands in-depth research in various fields and between various partners that envisage assuming the Pôle de competence en partenariat (Pole of competence in partnership). Recognized as the great south, the targeted areas include the Central, Eastern, Western, and Southern pro-
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RESEARCH ECHOES vinces. The research activities, that are carried out in support of the management of family farms in the tropical agroforestry system of the great south, include diversification, intensification, and integration—innovative techniques in multicropping-livestock systems, optimization of production and risk management sys-tems, conservation of innovations, and dynamic changes—, social and territorial resetting,—land management and environmental impact in the new agricultural areas, organizational dynamics, making these farms professional and local development—, marketing, commercialization, processing and product quality—competi-tiveness of the food sector in the national and subregional markets. Rallying research scientists, academics, and development stakeholders
from various institutions from the South and the North around the issue of developing a given area, this Pole is initiated in 2003 by the Institute for Agricultural Research and Development, National Institute of Cartography (INC), Universities of Dschang, Yaounde 1, and Yaounde 2, Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI), African Centre for the Research on Bananas and Plantain (CARBAP), Farmers' Professional Organizations, and NonGovernmental Organi-zations.
Contact: Bertrand Tailliez IRAD-CIRAD, BP 2067, Nkolbisson Yaounde, Cameroon Tel.: +237 222 33 62 Fax: +237 223 35 38 E-mail: iradpnva@iccnet.cm
Is Air an Enemy of Water?
R
ICE CULTIVATION IS A LARGE CONsumer of water, notably when it is submerged. And that is where the problem lies! In certain regions, it has been observed, for over many years, that stagnant water does not have the tendency of infiltrating deeply into the soil. This atypical behaviour, until now unknown by scientists, is becoming a problem in rice plantations in arid regions, due to its effects capable to creating the risk of soil degradation. How is this possible? The absence of deep infiltration of water causes the accumulation of mineral salts in the root zones, of plants that then become sensitive to water stress and suffer from limited growth or decay. How does one then explain such poor drainage? Scientists of the Institut de recherche pour le développement (Institute of Research for Development) and University of Pencambuco of Brazil have established a water balance system in farmers' rice plots in the valley of the Senegal River and resorted to the use of mathematical models to determine the behavior of water in the soil. Rice fields, developed on clayey soils, are located above a water table situated at a depth of between 15 and
20 meters. During the 1-hundred or so days of the crop cycle, the scien-
tists have recorded the entries and exits of waters that led them to the following observation: most of the water is consumed by the plants and the average infiltration rate – less than 0.1 millimeter per day – is very low. They then have done other measures of the tension and capillary pressure of water in the soil, water content, and depth of the water table that have showed that irrigation water does not infiltrate practically below 40 centimeters below the soil surface. In actual fact, it exists a zone, located between 40 and 50 centimeters depth that is not saturated by water, calculations of infiltration flow having revealed that
3
water supply to the table is coming from leaks from the base of the irrigation canal. Finally, what is the limiting factor? A Trouble Making Air Cushion Based on these results, the scientists have suggested that the problem is linked to a cushion of isolating air layer existing beneath the rice fields, this moreover has been rapidly confirmed by electronic models. Until now, most of the underground soil water transfer models, such the Hydrus model, considered that air freely escapes and does not affect water infiltration, but what is valid for a good number of situations in the field has been shown to be invalid in the case of this study. Based on a model that takes into account the presence of air, scientists have shown that the air contained in the soil would have in fact been trapped between the wet infiltration front from the surface and wet deeply table. This air cushion would have perturbed this penetration, under the circumstances where it enables evacuation of that air by virtue of the
porosity of the soil, such that the water, in turn, would replace it. In the end, planting practices that would provide a remedy to poor drainage and to the accumulation of mineral salts, could be envisaged.
Contact: Claude Hammecker IRD, 300, avenue Emile Jeanbreau Montpellier Cedex Tel.: +04 67 14 90 26 Fax: +04 67 14 90 68 E-mail: Claude.Hammecker@imsem .univer-montp2.fr
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such as modelling and geographic information system, and to support the development of networking national agricultural information centers. Similarly, it intends to guaranty the maintenance and improvement of research and supporting infrastructure for the production of technologies of Subregional Organizations and the NARS, so as to attracting high-level personnel and enabling them to provide scientific results of international calibre, and encouraging partnerships with new agricultural stakeholders include Non-Governmental Organizations, Producers' Professional Organizations, the Private Sector, and Agricultural Universities working in the area of evaluation and transfer of technologies.
guard and improvement of biodiversity by supporting research, employing classical and biotechnological methods. That is why, its members
State of Knowledge in Biotechnology These intentions, however strong, need to be seriously backed by strong government policies. This is within the context of perfecting communication systems, new regulations, and the qualification of personnel in management, science, engineering, and computer science. This is be-cause Africa, left behind in the frantic race for information and communication dominance, has fewer telephones than the city of Tokyo, represents less than 15% of the world population but possesses only 2% of the main telephone lines and 1% of the Internet services, accounts for 17 (35%) of the 49 developing countries the least developed in telecommunications, and has the lowest annual growth rate in telecommunications among developing countries. The sixth lesson, that concerns stimulating development and the dissemination of new technologies and methods, first of all consists of managing genetic resources and biotechnology. What does it aspire to? Given that the last decade has been significantly marked by the progress in genetic improvement, the Forum envisages supporting the efforts of gene exploitation, that leads to a better understanding of the problems linked to selection of varieties of the main food crops, contributing to the safeCORAF ACTION NO. 33
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will be assisted to acquire the capacity in using various approaches on issues related to the establishment of the state of knowledge on biotechnology, needs in technological applications, regulations of biodiversity and phytosanitary structures, capacity for resorting to intellectual property rights, sources of knowledge and information dissemination. This lesson will then culminate in natural resources management—food crops, useful plants, animals, soils, etc.—which are in abundance in African forests: the greater majority of the world reserves of genetic material, 8,000 species of phanerograms (higher plants), world's main sources of gold, diamond, copper, tin, bauxite, manganese, uranium, and crude oil. Yet, the continent looses a little more than 0.5% of its forests each year, witnesses the degradation of 65% of its arable land and 30% of its pastures. Consequently, integrated soil fertility management will be anticipated, farmers will be assisted in decisionmaking based on the combination of their own knowledge and that of research, sustainable production systems will be encouraged, geographical information systems and modelling-based systems will be developed, and the determination of the potential impact of climate change on the performance of the African ecosystems will be encour-aged. State-of-the-Art Agricultural Technology Finally, this lesson concerns the strengthening of human capacity, for which training in research, production and agricultural management will be encouraged notably the funds required for NARS scientists pursuing Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in specific areas, links created between the NARS and Universities teaching new approaches in genetic resources, natural resources, biotechnology, new information and communication technologies, social sciences, agricultural economy, etc., researchers and technicians who will be provided with assistance when they register with institutions of excellence here or elsewhere to acquire new skills. The provision of the means that encour-age high technology agri-
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C ORAF ♣WECARD cultural re-search systems (state-ofthe-art technology) to Subregional Organi-zations will also be encouraged. The seventh and last lesson of this ten-year strategy, that concerns stimulating agricultural policies, and development of markets, encourages the Forum to focus on the impact of agricultural technologies on the means of existence of farmers, in other words to know how these laters make decisions and how the gender phenomenon influences the development and adoption of technologies; on impact of Aids on agricultural development, in other words, the effects on the most productive bracket of the population (between 15 and 49 years), development of work-saving technologies and production systems with low labour manpower and added nutritional value, on strengthening competitiveness and cost-effectiveness of agriculture through perspectives of competition, export mechanisms offering abundant agricultural products and at competitive prices, characterization of selected national agricultural economies, analysis of quality management during the marketing process of the products; on promotion of agricultural input markets such as fertilizers, seeds, plants, foods, and agricultural equipment, on back-up services to warehouse works, distribution, transportation on collaborations between public and private institutions, notably in farms that can render the sector apt to take up the challenges of globalization and freedom of agricultural trade.
Contact: Armand Faye CORAF/WECARD, BP 48 Dakar RP CP 18523, Senegal Tel.: +221 825 96 18 Fax: +221 825 55 69 E-mail: armand.faye@coraf.org Internet: www.coraf.org
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Administrative and Financial Manager, of Cameroonian origin, is a member of the senior Staff in addition to the Executive Secretary, Scientific Coor-dinator, and Information and Commu-nication Manager. He is
Graduate Diploma in environmental sciences from Federal Poly-technic School of Lausanne, in Switzerland, in 2001. Kassalo Bamazi, Project Assistant, of Togolese origin, is responsible for assisting in the development, monitoring, and evaluation of projects
Massata Ndao, the first Program Assistant of CORAF/WECARD.
Kassalo Bamazi, the first Project Assistant of CORAF/WECARD.
employed to ensure the administrative management of the personnel, financial and accounting management of the re-sources and funds belonging to the Subregional Organization. He is a high-level official, since holding a Master Business Administration in Financial management and another in marketing and gaining thirteen years of administrative, financial, and accounting experience spent at the Institut africain pour le développement économique et social (INADES) (African Institute of Economic and Social Development) in Côte d'Ivoire, where for seven years, he occupied the position of Deputy Secretary General responsible for administration and finances. Massata Ndao, Program Assistant, of Senegalese origin, is engaged to support the Staff in developing, monitoring, and managing programs, and writting technical reports. He holds a Master in animal biology (DEA) obtained from the University of Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar in 1979, another in aquaculture (DESS) from University of Liege in Belgium in 1997, and a Post-
pertaining to information and communication, collection, treatment, and formatting of documentaries, information technology, and statistical data, and management of the library and archives. With the Diploma in archives management and a Master of science in information and communication under his belt obtained respectively in 1994 and 2001 from the School of Library, Archives, and Documentation (EBAD) in Senegal, he has accumulated more than seven years of professional experience at the West African Bank of Development, Agency for the Safety of Aerial Navigation, and Ministry of Technical Education and Professional Training in Togo, then at the National Society for Low Cost Housing, at Aid Transparency Organization, and at West African Museum Program in Senegal.
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Contact: Dady Demby CORAF/WECARD, BP 48 Dakar RP CP 18523, Senegal Tel.: +221 825 96 18 Fax: +221 825 55 69 E-mail: dady.demby@coraf.org CORAF ACTION NO. 33
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A series of articles is dedicated to the agricultural component of the New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD). The first article was published in the thirtieth edition. Here is the fourth.
“
PREPARES
FOOD
TO
SELL
prepares to eat”. Since Africa con-sumes almost everything it produces, this idea seems to guide the West Africa Intergovernmental Orga-nizations (IGOs) that decided, in 2000, to ensure food security and improve access of agricultural products to regional and international markets. In examining the action Plan of Yamous-soukro (thirty-first issue of Coraf Action) geared towards defining the priority programs of the agricultural component of NEPAD, they aim at realising the global objective of the later, which, to remind us, is the devel-opment of an agriculture contributing to economic growth and poverty alleviation. The IGOs, development partners, and organizations of the civil society have committed themselves to identifying sustainable funding mechanisms, strengthening the capacity of agricultural stakeholders, defining sustainable natural resource management strategies and desertification control strategies, diversifying agricultural and food production, establishing a regional market, and ensuring the competitiveness of agricultural products at the regional and international levels. For this to happen, they are determined to intervene in the areas of water, soil, biodiversity, fishery, forestry, and pastures resources, natural risks, and calamities—early warning systems—, power resources— domestic and alternative—, and of rural land ownership. In the same vein, they will take into account the creation of a development aid fund, a mechanism for risk management, of mobilization of private and public funds—including the endogenous resources of the rural environment—, of development of new agricultural sectors, agro-industrial infrastructure, small and medium processing works HARDLY
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Priorities of NEPAD 4
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and small and medium processing industries, of elaboration of agro-industrial policies and strategies, production and protection of intellectual property, and diversification of markets. Finally, other activities, such as the convergence of policies and national strategies, improvement of the competitiveness of products and the ca-pacity for effective negotiations at international events, harmonization of norms, development of regional information systems and trade strategies, support to all types of organizations, reform
and harmonization of cooper-ative legislations, development of subregional research, training, information and communication.
Strategic Plan
African Council for Agricultural Research and Development and its Partners, scrutinize the next fifteen years (1999-2014) of the life of the subregion. The chronicle, which commenced in the thirty-first issue, narrates the “ups and downs”.
Future conjugated to present 3 The idea of restructuring launched at N'Djamena in 1997, it made its way to becoming a strategic vision on transiting Accra in 1998, it then took the form of a strategic Plan for agricultural research and development cooperation in West and Central Africa on arrival at the terminal of Dakar in 2000. Within the framework of this plan, the West and Central
6
Contact: Armand Faye CORAF/WECARD, BP 48 Dakar RP CP 18523, Senegal Tel.: +221 825 96 18 Fax: +221 825 55 69 E-mail: armand.faye@coraf.org Internet: www.coraf.org
D
WEST AND Central Africa: food requirements will triple over the next three decades; arable lands per head of inhabitant will probably be reduced by half; sustainable development will depend on the achievement of a growth rate of approximately four percent of the agricultural production. Despite the efforts made by governments and Scientific and Technical OUBT IS PROHIBITED IN
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C ORAF ♣WECARD Partners for products, factors, and production systems diversification, very limited impact on the economy has been achieved based on research results; research institutions are in a full blown financial crisis due to the reduction of budgetary allocations and external subsidies. How then can it be otherwise when subregional coo-peration is hindered by the absence of strategy for the use of the meagre available resources, of holistic or global approach involving all stakeholders, of cohesive research efforts presenting duplications, of coordi-nation of research networks, and the lack of sustainable funding mechanisms? To avoid such serious problems, the fantastic mobilization of all agricultural stakeholders has led to the conception of a strategic Plan for agri-cultural research and development cooperation in West and Central Africa (SPARC) under the coordination of CORAF/WECARD. With regards to the vision of the future of the subregion for the next one and a half decade (19992014), the SPARC aims at contributing to the accession of food security, improvement of agricultural productivity, and fight against poverty preserving the environment. There is no way other than that of taken by all of them to prepare this future by presently putting all the aces on their side: know-
ledge of research priorities on the issue of agricultural and rural cooperation, availability of a framework for negotiation and dialogue between them, and proposal of a sustainable funding mechanism. Thus adopted in 2000, in Dakar, the SPARC is implemented through the triennial or five yearly financing action plans. How is this arrived at? To begin with, the guiding principles has been defined in these terms: “Subregional cooperation must assist in promoting a more efficient and effective use of resources; the NARS must be considered as base structures; subregional cooperation should support and not replace the efforts made by the NARS”. Following this, the subregion has been divided into the sudano-sahelian zone of West Africa, sub-humide wet zone, known as the coastal zone of West Africa, and wet central zone of Central Africa, Taking into account these agroecological zones, the research priorities have been clearly defined based on two approaches. The thematic approach has revealed the privileged importance of certain annual crops—cotton, grain legumes, maize, rice, millet, sorghum, banana, plantain, fruits and vegetables, roots and tubers—, some perennial crops— oil palm, coffee, cacao, rubber, wood—
LIFE
, certain food products—meat, milk, fish, fruits, and vegetables—, and other areas-genetic resources man-agement, biotechnology, biometrics, technology transfer, information and communication. The system approach has revealed the privileged importance of rain-fed crops—cereals and cotton— irrigated crops, periurban agri-culture, agropastoralism, and agro-forestry. Finally, all of this work is the fruits of a process, which started with the organization of coordination meetings or national, zonal, and subregional workshops charged with making the SPARC substantial, carried out in the most participative manner possible, notably by the involvement of agricultural stakeholders of the civil society as well as Scientific and Technical Partners, and Financial Partners.
Contact: Paco Sérémé CORAF/WECARD, BP 48 Dakar RP CP 18523, Senegal Tel.: +221 825 96 18 Fax: +221 825 55 69 E-mail: paco.sereme@coraf.org Internet: www.coraf.org
Maize Storage: Difficult But Not Impossible
I
T IS DIFFICULT TO STORE, ITS ENEMY, THE weevil, Sitophilus Zea mays Motsch, being prone to “genocide”. Misfor-tune never arising simply, the chem-ical control is costly and complex. To what witchdoctor will the Congolese farmers of the so-long dry season region of Bouenza turn to? Fortu-nately, there had more frightened than hurt, because the direction régionale de l'environnement of the Délégation générale à la recherche scientifique et technique, based in Madingou, is supporting them by recommending physical and cultural
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IN THE FIELDS storage meth-ods they can afford. What are these methods? First, the direction recommends farmers to use air-tight metallic barrel to store the dry grains, since tremendous results can be achieved through their effort. Then, if the farmers want to store small quantities of maize, it is preferable they use one meter and half high grenary built over a stove whose smoke hardens the grains on the cob and protects them against the insect pests. The direction, disposing of more than one tip also recommends to leave the maize on the cob in the field or to store with its spaths (dog-eared leaves) in open-air grenary, quite sim-
ply made with local material and a roof, walls enabling maximum ventilation, a shelf placed at one meter above the floor. Finally, these farmers can use the following insect resistant maize varieties—Zea mays indurata (flint maize), Zea mays everata (popcorn), and Zea mays identata (dent maize). Moreover, in the absence of a chemical treatment of the maize, farm-ers are recommended not to bag it.
Bayelsa State
3 times in the year, one can say that the forecasts for rice production can only be very optimistic, in as much as that area is saturated with arable land, corresponding to almost 5 million hectares for rice production. Already, 50 youths work on the project, which has contributed to reducing unemployment.
Discovery: a Small-Rice Processing Factory
O
NE OF THE REACTIONS OF THE GO-
vernment and of Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) to eradicate poverty and to industrialize the rural world in Burma, in the Nigerian State of Bayelsa, has been the creation of a small-rice processing factory. The whole project is funded by the NAOC which is responsible for the construction of infrastructures by building contractors in the community. The National Cereals Research Institute of Badeggi handed the factory to them keys-in-hand. The factory has the capacity to convert three tons of paddy rice into approximately two tons of de-husked rice. This is the case after its inauguration, on 11 September 2001. But from where do they obtain the amount of raw material needed? In the geographic belt of the delta Niger River, that should not be a problem, the project was well structures: 50 hectares of agricultural farm land should have been exploited by the end of 2003; about 5 hectares of land have been cultivated and the rice has been harvested and locally processed since the first growing season of JulySeptember 2001. If one adds to that the chance to be able to sow 2 to CORAF ACTION NO. 33
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Contact: Jean Moukouyou DRE, B.P. 32, Madingou, Brazzaville, Congo
Harvest, transportation, and milling of rice.
8
With regards to processing per se, the equipment is made up of 1 rice thresh-ing, 1 reciprocatory winnower, 3 rice perboliers, 2 rotary dryers, 4 rice mills, and a pneumatic cleaner. The grains are soaked and vaporized. They are dried to remove 14.5% of their humidity. This later operation is conducted in two phases with 3 to 4 hours interval. Twelve hours after the second drying phase, they are de-husked and polished or whitened. The whitening rice is subsequently ridded of sand, stones, and other impurities, before packaging. However, the route that leads to attaining the objective of the State of solving the annual importation of five and a half million metric tons, which is a little over ninety percent of the needs, will be long. Contact: Agidi Gbabo, A.A. Ochigbo NCRI, P.M.B. 8, Bida, Niger State, Nigeria Tel.: +234 66 46233 Fax: +234 46 46234 Contact: Daniel Pertorelli, S.E.A. Akele NOAC, Port-Harcourt, River State, Nigeria
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IN THE FIELDS A Photo on Cassava But Not on Sweet Potato In the thiry-first issue of Coraf Action, we have joined by error joining a photo on sweet potato to Maria Alexandra Barreiros Jorge's article entitled ''To Come to Cassava's Rescue". For that, we really beg the author's pardon as well as readers'. Then, we feel thankful of your comprehension.
Get in Funds Against Poverty
A
GRICULTURE AND BREEDING ARE
lifeblood of the strategy for poverty reduction of the Cameroon government adopted, in the year 2000, within the context of the multilateral initiative for reducing the debt of heavily indebted poor countries. This strategy is based upon the diversification and process-ing of agricultural products, consolidation of the funding mechanism of the rural environment, implementation of a national system of social protection, and development of adapted infrastructures. In 2002, scientists of the Institute of Agricultural Research for Development submitted for fund-ing the Project on the creation of maintenance units for pre-base seeds and production of base seeds in Cameroon, aimed at annual crops, perennial crops, and animal and fish productions. Thus, in the year 2003, this triennial Project will secure more than three billion CFA Francs that will serve to reactive and strengthen the maintenance structures of pre-base seeds of the varieties developed by the Institute, the production of base seeds, their transfer to multipliers, and production of alevins. The training of these seed multipliers will be ensured by the Project, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Livestock, fisheries and animal industries, and Faculty of agroTHE
nomic sciences of the University of Dschang.
Center for Agronomic Research) of Côte d'Ivoire.
Contact: Thé Charles, Tagne Apollinaire IRAD, BP 2067, Yaounde, Cameroon Tel. and fax: +237 223 30 22
Contact: Sylvestre Aman CNRA, 01 BP 1740 Abidjan 01 Côte d'Ivoire Tel.: +225 23 47 24 01 Fax: +225 23 47 24 24 E-mail: cnra@aviso.ci
Scientists and Farmers on Same Bench...
B
REAKING UP WITH ITINERARY AGRIculture is not easy for the producers, the same goes for getting profit their farms by researchers. Since there is a solution to any problem these ones can have as a solution, research on the stalling of crop systems that enables judicious use of local resources. For that to occur, it is necessary to learn and apply the new active research and planning method, the MARP. The MARP is based on the principle that the actions for change of an environment must be identified and implemented in collaboration with the population beneficiaries. It consists of fundamental principles, methodological concepts, tools and techniques, pre-diagnostic, participative diagnostic, and post-diagnostics. Thus, in the village of Tchêdjelet, in northern Côte d'Ivoire, it has pratically served scientists and producers who succeeded in determining advantages and the constraints of the village farms, to place the constraints in hierarchy, and to propose hypoth-eses to translate them either into actions or into development projects. To scientists who master it, this method encourages the performance of their interventions in rural environment (global participative diagnos-tics) and of their research—analysis, monitoring, programming, and planning of activities. To the producers who have assimilated it, it will encourage better involvement and a greater efficiency in the definition and classification of their needs. The University catholique de Louven (Catholic University of Louven) in Belgium has supported the initiative of the Centre national de recherche agronomique (CNRA) (National
9
Gwagwalada
Soybean Provides Livelihood for Its Wife
P
RESENTLY, SOYA CHEESE IS MORE
cost-effective than a plate of rice. This being the case, the female processors of soybean pay more attention to their hygiene and to that of the product, to the cleanliness of their environment, particularly where the soybean-based foods are processed and products packaged. These female processors are members of a Cooperative, with several economic aims, coming from Tunga Maje, at Gwagwalada, within the territory of the town of Abuja. They are the first beneficiaries of the Project on the dissemination of improved technologies on soybean and commercialization of soybean-based products in CORAF ACTION NO. 33
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IN THE FIELDS West Africa of the National Cereals Research Institute of Badeggi, in which coopes the agricultural development Project in Abuja. In the light of this, this low-funded Project provides the community with certified seeds of the improved variety, the TGX 1448-2E, which constitutes an income generating activity. To the point where, when the yield of the local variety was at 450 kilograms per hectare, that of this introduced improved variety was at 1 metric ton per hectare on farmers' fields. In one go, the producers have been able on 3.5 hectares to produce nearly 50 sacks weighing 75 to 80 kilograms, in 2002. A family head pock-eted the equivalent of 185,000 CFA francs by selling 8 sacks from his harvest, which has money served to meet the school fees of his children. As a result of the expected profits, the availability of improved seeds and birth of a sense of awareness, the community reserves more land to this crop. Those female producers are then trained in improved technologies for the production and use of soya, as a prelude to the establishment of a small business that is capable of improving the quality of their staple food and generating income. Furthermore, a kiosk has been opened and stocked with cheese soya snacks, soya chin-chin, soya doughnuts, soya milk drinks, and soya kumu produced by the Cooperative which provide extra-market opportunities. Before the start of the Project, the women processed into cheese soya three mudu – a unit measurement – of soya grains per week, which could not be compared to 5-7 mudu per day that they produce at the end of the Project, with a sure income of 6,000 to 9,500 CFA francs per week. This Project has been funded by the Semi-Arid Food Grain Research and Development, United States Agency for International Development, and Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Nigeria.
Let Us Quench Our Thirst With Red Sorrel The consumption of products such as ginger, tamarind, mango, paw paw, and red sorrel (bisaap in Wolof) is a serious problem in Senegal. What should be done? One of the solutions proposed by the Institut de technologie alimentaire consists in processing these products in beverage, syrup, jam, and marmalade. Here is the first recipe. To make 30 liters of bisaap drink, you need the following: 1 kilogram of a mixture of dried bisaap composed of “ordinary” calyx and Vimto type calyx 30 liters of water 150 grams of sugar per liter 1 bowl 1 sieve Cotton wool Thick polythene bags sized at least 80 microns or other packaging materials 1 heat-sealing machine Once you are ready and steady, then you go: soak 1 kilogram of dried bisaap in the bowl containing 30 liters of water for 3 hours. cover the bowl. The quantity of water can be increased or reduced depending on the quality of the raw material (colour) and the consumer's taste. collect the liquid in the bowl and sieve it to remove the calyx. filter the liquid through cotton wool to remove residues (sand, small debris) and increase the clarity of the drink. add 150 grams of sugar to each liter and let the product boil for a short period. avoid adding various flavoring products as they “mask” the natural taste of the product. heat seal the bags as soon as they are filled. slightly shake the bags to sterilize the air above the drink, in the case of drinks meant for immediate consumption. Let then the bags cool down for 10 minutes. pasteurize the sealed bags for 10-15 minutes, by dipping them in boiling water, in the case of drinks to be stored for more than 2 weeks. rapidly cool down the bags in a bowl of cold water to avoid any alteration of the taste and colour, opening, bursting or loss of shape of the bags.
Contact: Ademola A. Iowu NCRI, P.M.B. 8, Bida, Niger State, Nigeria Tel.: +234 66 46233 Fax: +234 46 46234 E-mail: ncri@skannet.com
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MY HUMBLE OPINION Agrifood
Quality requirements for African Products: Case of Senegal Announced in the twenty-third and twenty-fourth issues of Coraf Action, this new column of thought, debate, and proposal has started in the twenty-fifth edition. Emile N. Houngbo sacrificed to the tradition by being the first to deliver his reflection on “Benin, Sustainable Agriculture: a Matter of Access to Resources”. Maty Ba Diao is the second to deliver her point of view on the “Improvement of Dairy Production: Contribution of Artificial Insemination”. Uche C. Amalu, the third, delivers a defensive plea called “Let's Remember Soil”, while Karamba Mané, the fourth, launches
a strong and pathetic appeal “Will Palm Tree Just die?” The fifth, Paco Sérémé, discloses his beliefs in “CORAF/WECARD and Stakes of New Century”. The sixth, Babacar Ndir, also believes that the “Fermentation of netetu: Technology Is Not that New”. The sevenths, Awono Cyprien and Havard Michel, want you to really pay attention to their wandering ”AgricultureLivestock. Does Integration Rest on Cattle?” The eight, called Amadou Tidiane Guiro, hereby ends up making his convictions a matter public through "My humble Opinion"". Debate.
T
HE INSTITUT DE TECHNOLOGIE ALI-
mentaire (Institute of Food Technology) possesses chemistry, microbiology, phytosanitary analysis, and mycotoxin laboratories. The establishment disposes good quality human resources that confers upon it the independence that has to fulfill its mission with total objectiveness. The mycotoxin laboratory has been chosen by the Conseil national interprofessionnel de l'arachide (CNIA) (National Interprofessional Groundnut Council) to carry out quality control of edible groundnut destined for export. What is important to know is a better competitiveness and a better life depend on the quality. Quality is linked with norms and imperatives; it has a cost, but non-quality is yet more costly. The quality process is an eternal combat against the dysfunctions in works and artisan workshops. It is, in respect of all of this, that these laboratories continue to carry out anal-yses to respond to the needs of the Institute itself, but also and especially for industries, artisan workshops, and households, to assist and to provide advice to private promoters, to sell analytical expertise, to conduct applied research on request, and to supervise several end-studied degrees trainees and students. Thus, thousands of analyses of food
Pr. Amadou Tidiane Guiro, nutritionist, is the Director Generals of the Institut de technologie alimentaire (ITA) (Institute of Food Technology) of Senegal.
composition have been conducted; pathogen micro-organisms indicators of product quality, heavy metals contaminating food, aflatoxins present in groundnut, cereal, milk, and ochratoxin present in coffee have been assayed. Without respite, scientists and technicians have also evaluated the quality of stocked foodstuff, identified the insects responsible for the deterioration of stocks, and treated these latters with phytosanitary products. This work of quality control of production and products are so indispensable that presently the extensive opening up of markets, consecutive to the standardization – sanitary norms and no longer the norms of customs – of the world economy, ferocious external competition, recrudescent demands of competition, emergence of new consumers who are aware of their rights insist on eco-
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nomic entities to take into consideration quality norms in all of the activities of the production and consumption chain. Those exactly are the reasons why the national mechanisms, which guaranty scrupulous observations, must be created. Has the ITA, which is accepted as being the national champion of food quality control, properly “cleaned its own door step, before…”? In actual fact, it is in the process of doing better, by sending its men “to work”, by deploying its resources, but also and especially by initiating within itself “the quality approach”, all of this leading to obtaining the certification of the Institutes activities by ISO 9001 version 2000, accreditation by ISO 17025 of its analytical laboratories. The creation of a “quality label” ensures that products
Coraf Action Quarterly Information Newsletter of the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development Director of Publication Paco Sérémé Editor-in-Chief Armand Faye Contributions to this issue from National Coordonators: Odile Tahouo, CNRA, Côte d’Ivoire Ekindi-Mbonga Rose, IRAD, Cameroon Emile-Victor Coly, ISRA, Senegal Editing and Distribution CORAF/WECARD Documentation Omar Bougaleb, ISRA, Senegal Translation Harold Roy-Macauley French language version available CORAF/WECARD, BP BP 48 Dakar RP CP 18623, Senegal Tel.: +221 825 96 18 Fax: +221 825 55 69 E-mail: paco.sereme@coraf.org E-mail Coraf Action: coraf.action@coraf.org Internet: www.coraf.org ISSN: 0850 5810 Printers: Imprimerie Saint-Paul, Dakar
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READING NOTES manufactured in Senegal will be cred-ible and will share the profits in internal market – it needs that too –, and even in the external markets. The First and Second Milestones Only, such toolbox of product and quality certification requires laborious fundamental work. Reliable and acknowledged analyses, targeted training of processors, healthy food, hygiene measures, packaging and labelling, nutritional value of products, respect of the environment, sensitization of industrialists and legal studies constitute the first milestone. The second landmark comprises strengthening partnership between the Institute and renowned Association sénégalaise de la normalisation (ASN) (Senegalese Association of standardization), training of qualified technicians in order to strengthen their capacity and maintain the best production standards of works, adapting exporting works to international norms—ISO, AFNOR, and others—, notably to those of the European Union, the main export market of Senegal, support of the Institute to works mainly focusing on the world market, because, ultimately, these two types of works should be in readiness to accommodate the other milestones anticipated in the strategic development Plan of the ITA. In support of the Program on the quality of the Union économique et monétaire Ouest africaine (UEMOA) (West African Economic and Monetary Union), the Institute applies its own Program of continued quality improvement (PACQ) CORAF ACTION NO. 33
aiming at improving the relationship between the services, reduce cost of non-quality, increase technical competence and selfconfidence of employees, motivate them, and add value their work, discourage bad work practices, develop a mind frame of quality and a true business attitude. Externally, this Program intends to render the image that the partners and public have of the Institute more credible and also render more effective services offered to clients, etc. Contact: Amadou Tidiane Guiro ITA, BP 2765, Dakar, Senegal Tel.: +221 859 07 07 Fax: +221 832 82 95 E-mail: ita@ita.sn
exchange, information and communication, creation of virtual workshops, valorization of the National Agri-cultural Research Systems, identification of the needs and providers of information, promotion of partnerships,multi-country agricultural productivity Program (MAPP), African Biosafety Initiative, promotion of partnership through the hosting of programs at FARA, workshop organized by the FARA on the Regional Agricultural Information Systems (RAIS),
integration of North African countries to FARA. Sénélevage: The quarterly bulletin of information, issue 5, July 2004, of LNERV reviews on its first anniversary, the strengthening and best management of fodder resources, livestock support Project, valorization of milk in the Senegal River Valley, cattle rearing in the groundnut basin, the new thermo- stable vaccine, Rift Valley Fever and Bilharziasis, Marek
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS CORAF/WECARD Meetings qThe stakeholders of the CORAF/WECARD planning
process for biotechnology and biosecurity meet in Abuja, from 18 to 20 October 2004. qThe editorial commitee of the future biotechnology and biosafety Program for West and Central Africa meets in Accra, from 18 to 21 November 2004. Joint Meetings q The AFSAT and Crop Life, International Fertilizer
Nouvelles du FARA = FARA News. The bulletin, volume 2, issue 1, March 2004, of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) addresses several subjects of major interest to readers. Monty P. Jones, co-laureate of the world food price, objectives of the millennium de-velopment, Advocacy and strengthening at grassroots level, third FARA General Assembly in June 2005, mobilization of resources for agricultural research in Africa, African agricultural scientific and technological centers of excellence, improvement of information
OCTOBER-DECEMBER
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Development Centre, and CORAF/WECARD meet in a workshop in Dakar, from 9 to 11 November 2004. q The International Trypanotolerance Centre, Centre international de recherche-développement sur l'élevage en zone sub-humide, and Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation are organizing an international conference on the contribution of livestock to the improvement of livelihoods, reduction of poverty, food security, and to preservation of the environment : the results of the past twenty-five years, future challenges, and perspectives will be very closely examined in Banjul, from 8 to 12 November 2004. Other Meetings qThe Ministers responsible for science and Technology within the Economic Community of West Africa States meet in Abuja, on 4 November 2004. The experts' meeting precedes this meeting at the same premises, on 1 to 3 November 2004. q A CORAF/WECARD delegation has participated in the statutory meetings of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research, in Mexico, from 22 to 25 October 2004, which preceded its annual general Meeting held, form 25 to 29 October 2004.