Volume 8. Issue 1 January/ February 2020
Locust Invasion East Africa under threat
Inside... Contract farming in Kenya P04 Supporting pastoralists to wrestle climate change P20 Agriculturist of the year and fruit quality expert for Woordfees.P28
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CONTENTS
Volume 8. Issue 1 January/ February 2020
Volume 8. Issue 1. January/February 2020
Editor’s Note
News Locust Invasion East Africa under threat
AFA suspends avocado exports from Kenya indefinitely...........02 Kenya facing the worst desert locust outbreak recorded
Inside... Contract farming in Kenya P04 Supporting pastoralists to wrestle climate change P20
since 1950...............................................................................................................03
Agriculturist of the year and fruit quality expert for Woordfees.P28
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Malawi’s President Mutharika officially launches US $95m
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Executive Editor Nita Karume editor@farmersreviewafrica.com Writers Silimina Derick, Bertha M. Contributing Writers Nqobile Bhebhe Zimbabwe Oscar Nkala Botswana South Africa Bertha M Nita Karume Kenya East Africa Advertising Executives Ken Tobby, Paul Amimo, M. Cherono Project Manager Victor Ndlovu sales@farmersreviewafrica.com Graphic Design & Layout Faith Omudho Art Director Augustine Ombwa austin@arobia.co.ke Correspondents - Isabel Banda zambia@farmersreviewafrica.com Sales & Marketing Gladmore. N gladmoren@farmersreviewafrica.com Mandla M. mandlam@farmersreviewafrica.com Kholwani. D kholwanid@farmersreviewafrica.com Polite Mkhize politem@farmersreviewafrica.com leslien@farmersreviewafrica.com East African Liaison Arobia Creative Consultancy Tel: +254 772 187334, 790 153505 arobia@farmersreviewafrica.com eastafrica@farmersreviewafrica.com Published by : Mailing Times Media +27 11 044 8986 sales@farmersreviewafrica.com
AGCOM project................................................................................................03 Contract farming in Kenya............................................................................04 Rwanda pilots revolutionary hybrid potatoes from Solynta......06 Solidaridad partners with EU to implement US $4M COVADEP in Liberia........................................................................................07
Product & Technology Bobcat Equipment South Africa offers a ‘tyre and service’ special.......................................................................................................................08 Petlas makes a solid addition to its forklift tire line.........................10 John Deere announces enhanced Features of exciting New Application Controller......................................................................................12
Welcome to a new year! Here we are again, at the beginning of another year. It’s time to make those resolutions and really stick to them this time. Farmers Review Africa has made, among others, a resolution to not only increase our reach, but also engagement and enlightenment of the masses with matters agriculture. The new century brings with it a promise of increased productivity levels even as more and more agriculture sectors embrace technology and its perks. Data and tenure are now the topics of the day in agricultural circles. Agriculture 4.0, which is slowly but surely taking the world by storm, is driven by (big) data harvested by sensors, drones, probes and all manner of other technological innovations. It is the great hope for the future, enabling greater efficiency and precision at reduced cost. Unfortunately, the locust menace that has not been heard of in well over 50 years is back, with East Africa as the most affected. The locusts, which were first sighted in Somalia have since spread to neighbouring countries. Unfortunately, and according to FAO, widespread hatching and band formation will occur in the coming weeks in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. There remains a risk of a few small swarms appearing in northeast Uganda, southeast South Sudan and perhaps northern Tanzania in the coming days. Catch the latest news across Africa as is the norm, with additional features on the latest technology and equipment in Agribusiness. Moving forward, we would love to hear from you on issues you would like highlighted in any of our issues as well as any comments you may have on published pieces.
Opinion Optimistic outlook for agriculture.............................................................14
Cover Story East Africa under threat of unyielding locust invasion.................17
Feature Supporting pastoralists to wrestle climate change..........................20 Bayer Welcomes U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
Finally, we recognise and appreciate our stakeholders and advertisers alike for trusting us enough to relay amazing stories on this platform. Let this year be no different even as we forge ahead in our mission to inform while ensuring that you, our reader gets all information pertaining Agribusiness in Africa.
Reaffirmation that Glyphosate Is Safe to Use....................................27 Agriculturist of the year and fruit quality expert..............................28 Ivory Coast selects IGN FI to Modernise its Land Administration System.....................................................................................30
Nita Karume
editor@farmersreviewafrica.com
Saai submits commentary on amendments to the Constitution...........................................................................................................31
Mailing Times Media (Pty) Ltd makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of the contents of its publications, but no warranty is made as to such accuracy and no responsibility will be borne by the publisher for the consequences of actions based on information so published. Further, opinions expressed are not necessarily shared by Mailing Times Media (Pty) Ltd
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NEWS
AFA suspends avocado exports from Kenya indefinitely
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he Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) has suspended the export of avocado fruits indefinitely. This comes as a huge blow to avocado farmers especially since the suspension comes just months after President Kenyatta signed a deal with President Xi Jinping to allow Kenya to export frozen avocado to China. In addition to China, Kenya’s other overseas markets include European Union and Middle East countries which account for 42% and 28%-respectively. The demand for the fruit in
the international market rose steadily last year by between 50 and 80% compared to the previous season with more customers demanding full containers of avocado monthly. The suspension, according to media reports, has been attributed to pressure from some of the companies to their contracted farmers to harvest premature fruit in a bid to rake in millions of shillings from the huge Chinese market. In a notice signed by interim head of Horticultural Crops Directorate Bernard Ondanje dated
EU grants Zimbabwe $ 8m to improve livestock production and market competitiveness
January 23, 2020 the move to suspend the export was meant to safeguard quality. He further revealed that a number of companies and individual farmers have broken the rules of exporting the fruit. Kenya exports approximately 51,507 tonnes of the fruit, earning the country nearly Sh8 billion while South Africa exports 43,492 tonnes, annually the country produces an average of 191,000 tonnes of avocado per year. that the programme conformed with national policies. Moreover, farmer registration had been done and a verification exercise was underway. Last week, the team was in Mashonaland West Province for verification of names. Farmers can join the project and choose the area they want to specialize in, either goat or piggery rearing. Mr Mudanga said plans to construct an abattoir in Selous, Mashonaland West Province, were afoot. The abattoir, he explained, would be used for slaughtering the pigs and goats.
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he European Union (EU) has loaned out US $8m to the Pig Producers Association of Zimbabwe (PPAZ) in Zimbabwe. These funds will go towards improving livestock production and market competitiveness. PPAZ chairman Mr George Mudanga said the funds will be channelled to 56 000 piggery farmers and 800 000 farmers in goat production
2 | January - February 2020
by 2023. He further added that the programme was part of the Zimbabwe Agricultural Growth Programme (ZAGP), which is aimed at improving food security. He also clarified that the programme is for commercial livestock rearing, not poverty alleviation. According to media reports, all projects are being done with guidance from the Government to ensure
Meanwhile, more abattoirs are set to be constructed in all provinces. Action Aid team leader for the ZAGP Mr. Newton Chari said the project sought to capacitate farmers through improving the agribusiness environment. He explained that the pork value chain is aimed at providing pork for markets in Bulawayo and Harare and we have created production corridors in Matabeleland North and South for Bulawayo and Mashonaland East and West (provinces) for the Harare market.
NEWS spraying. Additionally, approximately US $70m is needed for this venture. However, this might not be easy, as some countries like Somalia has parts of it under threat from the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group. The severity of the situation cannot be emphasized more than as put by Jens Laerke of the UN humanitarian office in Geneva; a small swarm of the insects can consume enough food for 35,000 people in a single day. Meanwhile, farmers in the affected areas are vulnerable and afraid to let their cattle out for grazing. Their millet, sorghum and maize crops lie on the destructive paths of the locusts. At the moment, about 70,000 hectares of land in Kenya are already infested.
Kenya facing the worst desert locust outbreak recorded since 1950
K
enya is facing the worst desert locust outbreak recorded since 1950. The outbreak has seen swarms of the insects invade the east African nation from Somalia and Ethiopia. The locust invasion on the already vulnerable land is destroying farmland and threatening the local residents with devastating hunger.
Moreover, and according to the United Nations, the onset of the rainy season in March will bring with its growth of new vegetation, which will in turn result in an increase of the fast-breeding locusts to almost 500 times their current numbers. The only effective way to combat the locust menace, according to the UN, is through use of pesticide
Regional authorities have warned that a single swarm can contain up to 150m locusts per sq km of farmland, an area the size of almost 250 football fields. Mitigation measures Kenya and Ethiopia both have four planes with spraying equipment. However, they might need A changing climate has contributed to “exceptional” breeding conditions, said Nairobibased climate scientist Abubakr Salih Babiker.
Read the Main article about desert Locust outbreak on page 27
Malawi’s President Mutharika officially launches US $95m AGCOM project
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country. As such, the main objective is to increase commercialization of agricultural value chain products.
resident Peter Mutharika has officially launched the US $95m Agriculture Commercialization Project (AGCOM) project in Malawi. The funds, which were acquired as a loan from the World Bank, will be used to service the nationwide project that is projected to run until 2023. According to media reports, the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development will be charged with the implementation of the funds. President Mutharika said AGCOM is aimed at transforming the agricultural smallholder subsector from currently subsistence to commercial orientation. He further added that the project will go a long way towards changing the country’s current situation whereby most Malawians lack adequate capital to invest in agriculture while those that are able to lack access to markets, in addition to poor storage
The project, according to the minister, is being implemented through supporting the incorporation of small-scale and emerging farmers into value chains. This, he further added, will be accomplished by improving their capacity to finance and execute investments that will enhance their productivity. This is while enabling them to respond to the requirements of endmarkets and buyers. and processing systems and poor transportation network. The Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development, Kondwani Nankhumwa, said AGCOM is aimed at increasing productivity and diversifying both the food and export base of the
He also added that AGCOM will train and build smallholder associations into vibrant cooperatives in order to establish and enforce a business mindset. Nankhumwa said implementation of the project has already started and there is good progress so far.
January - February 2020 | 3
NEWS
Contract farming in Kenya
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mallholder farmers often face difficulties in production and marketing of their produce. They usually sell their produce individually at to middlemen or on local markets at set prices. This thus reduces farmers to price takers irrespective of the production costs incurred in the production and marketing process. Furthermore, they are forced to bear the high risk of being unable to market their entire produce. Similarly, processors are often unable to procure the quantity and quality of the product they are looking for. Contract farming is a possible solution to such a situation; it involves production by farmers under agreement with buyers for their outputs. This arrangement can help integrate the smallholder farmers into modern agricultural value chains, providing them with inputs, technical assistance, and assured markets. As such, the venture enables the farmers to raise their farm income especially for high-value crops. Whereas critics argue that contract partners may subject farmers to abuses, available literature on the subject shows that in fact contract farming can raise farm income. However, this is only the case for high-value crops. Contract farming is also seen as a solution to a number of constraints that limit the productivity and income of smallholder farmers in developing countries, including lack of credit, limited information about production methods, market risk, and poor market linkages. In this view, contract farming can help farmers move from subsistence production of low-value staple foods to commercial production of higher-value crops, allowing them access to the wider economy and raising their income.
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Countering the favorable view of contract farming, there are concerns that firms may exclude smallscale farmers, preferring to work with a smaller number of larger farmers, thus exacerbating rural income inequality. Other analysts argue that where companies work with smallholders, the imbalance of power and information between them enables agribusiness firms to impose contract terms on small farmers, manipulate quality standards to reduce payments to farmers, and renege on agreements if market conditions change Reliable figures are not yet available on the number of farmers in developing countries participating in contract farming. Informal estimates suggest that as many as one-quarter of Kenyan farmers may be on contract. But rates in most countries are probably much lower. The prevalence of contract farming varies widely by type of buyer, destination market, and commodity. Contracting firms are almost always relatively large processors, exporters, or supermarket chains. Small-scale traders and wholesalers rarely offer farmers pre-planting contracts. This is largely attributed to the large fixed costs associated with contracting. As such, firms must establish a network of trained field agents who recruit farmers, provide advice, monitor compliance, and organize collection of the harvest. Contract farming arrangements are often created for markets willing to pay a premium for specific product attributes. Export markets and supermarket chains establish quality standards and demand products of a certain size, color, maturity, and flavor. In serving these markets, processors often need products to meet requirements in terms of
uniformity and chemical characteristics. Seed companies require that their growers multiply seed under carefully controlled conditions to avoid contamination with seed from other varieties or crops. In these situations, it is easier to communicate and enforce quality requirements if the buyer contracts farmers to grow the product. Conversely, there is less incentive for buyers to contract farmers when the product will be sold as a staple food for price-sensitive consumers. The prevalence of contract farming differs substantially across commodities. Contract farming is relatively common in the case of fruit and vegetable product ion for export or sale to domestic supermarket chains, as is the case in Kenya, Madagascar, and Senegal. Many traditional agricultural export crops such as tea, oil palm, and rubber are often grown on “nucleus estates,� company-owned plantations surrounded by independent growers who produce under contract. The Kenya Tea Development Agency, a private firm, has one of the largest contract farming networks in the world, with more than 500,000 small-scale growers. Commercial poultry production is often carried out under contracts in which a firm provides chicks, feed, and other inputs to the farmers and commits to buying the chickens when grown. Contract farming is rarely used in the production of staple cereals, roots, and bean crops. This is presumably because buyers are less quality sensitive, and markets are widespread, so spot markets are able to coordinate supply and demand without the additional costs associated with contract production. Exceptions include barley for largescale breweries, grain seed production, and niche products such as organic rice.
NEWS due to poor crop production, disease outbreaks, shortage of chemicals and high cost of inputs among others. Unfortunately, experts are also predicting another bad 2019/20 rain season, characterized by low rainfall patterns. The CBZ Bond will be under the commercial contract farming programme that is being spearheaded through the CBZ Agro Yield (Pvt) Limited. In released statement, CBZ Bank explained that they intend to issue a series of 270day bond instruments to finance the procurement of farming inputs for maize and soya bean that are not available on the local market for the 2019/20 farming season under the commercial contract farming.
Central Bank of Zimbabwe issues US $50m bond to finance upcoming agriculture season
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he Central Bank of Zimbabwe (CBZ) has issues a US $50m bond for purposes of financing the 2019/2020 agriculture season. According to the bank, the bond instruments will finance the importation of farming inputs specifically for maize and soya bean. This, they said, is towards improving the production of the two essential food crops.
Agriculture financing remains one of the major challenges facing the sector that is inarguably the backbone of the Zimbabwe economy. Moreover, foreign currency shortages for the importation of inputs that are not locally available has but only worsened the situation. According to media reports, 2019 was tough for the sector
Over the past two decades, funding for agriculture has been a challenge especially for the resettled farmers following the land redistribution programme as banks required loan applicants from the sector to provide collateral in the form of immovable assets to access funding. There was still uncertainty on laws surrounding land tenure, which made it difficult for creditors to predict how long the farmers would be entitled to the allocated land. Stakeholder consultations, however, saw the 99-year leases being amended to include a transferability and bankable element in order to improve access to funding for the sector.
January - February 2020 | 5
NEWS
Rwanda pilots revolutionary hybrid potatoes from Solynta
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he Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) is running a pilot on True Potato Seeds, hybrid potatoes which are produced by Solynta, a Dutch firm. The true Potato Seeds are collected from the berries or fruits of the potato plant. As such, one of the benefits of such seeds is that as opposed to using 2,500 kilogrammes or 2.5 tonnes of perishable potato-tubers per one hectare, farmers will be able to plant only 25 grammes of seeds on the same size of land. If adopted, the new Irish potato breeds will reduce the cost that farmers incur and increase their access to seeds. Solynta and RAB bolstered their collaboration in a bid to increase farmers’
access to hybrid potato seeds over the last month of 2019. Through their collaboration, they seek to supply a combination of True Potato Seeds and hybrids to local farmers. True Potato Seed, officials say, are resistant to diseases, easy to transport and store. Solynta further added that the technology makes it possible to commercialise new varieties in just two years instead of seven years as compared to potato tubers. Hein Kruyt, CEO of Solynta says that; “Collaboration is critical to addressing global challenges to economic and food security.” RAB Director-General, Patrick Karangwa expressed his excitement on their involvement in piloting
the innovation. Meanwhile, Placide Rukundo, the Potato Programme Leader at RAB said that this technology is still under evaluation at [RAB research] station level, not yet at farm level. He further added that only after showing promise will the seeds be moved to on-farm trials. During every growing season, Rukundo said, potato is grown on between 50,000 and 60,000 hectares in Rwanda. Irish potato production in the country is estimated at 916,000 tonnes every year and is the third staple food crop in Rwanda after Cassava and Sweet potato based on the volume of production.
GCB Bank
invests US $66m in Ghana’s agricultural sector
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CB Bank has invested approximately US $66m in Ghana’s agricultural sector. Of the total amount, US $65m was channelled into the cocoa industry in what the local media have revealed to be overdrafts, term loans and seed fund guarantees for the funding of cocoa purchases to licensed buying companies. The remaining funds were utilised in funding the purchase of over 40 vehicles, tractors and other farming machinery like heavy-duty trucks. These will be used for the transportation of cocoa from the surrounding areas to the various ports. The
6 | January - February 2020
Managing Director of GCB, Mr Anselm Ray Sowah, when making the announcement, gave the assurance that in this coming year the bank will work towards extending its support to fish farming and poultry. Speaking at GCB’s encounter with its corporate clients in the cocoa and agriculture sectors in Accra, the MD further revealed that the bank has partnered with some vehicle dealerships with over US $2m to set up a franchise for reputable vehicle brand. Mr. Sowah also added that in line with the agreement, they have developed flexible credit
facilities to enable individuals to purchase brand new vehicles. The bank has also integrated its systems to make transactions more fluid and convenient. This, in turn, has made significant gains in the insurance and financial services industry by integrating its systems to make transactions more fluid and convenient. The Acting Head of Corporate Banking Department of the bank, Nana Antwi Boasiako, said that this year the bank will be looking to offer superior products and excellent services, adding that GCB offers stability and liquidity for corporate businesses
NEWS
Solidaridad partners with EU to implement US $4M COVADEP in Liberia
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olidaridad West Africa has partnered with the European Union (EU) to facilitate the implementation of the US $4m Cocoa Value Chain Development Program (COVADEP) in Liberia. Of the total amount, Solidaridad will provide US $1m. According to local media reports, the agreement will run over the course of a 4-year intervention that seeks to increase incomes, improve livelihoods and the resilience and competitiveness of the Liberia Cocoa sector in a bid to reduce poverty. The Program Manager of Solidaridad, Boima Bafaie, said that the COVADEP program comes just after the two years implementation of the Liberia Cocoa Sector Improvement Program (LICSIP) by Solidaridad’. LICSIP aims to create a vibrant, competitive and profitable cocoa economy within a robust national regulatory and institutional framework. Under this partnership with the European Union, the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and COVADEP will implement and build on LICSIP by including more cocoa farmers, processors, associations and communities.
BMG-AGR23102019 - Farmers Review Wednesday, 23 October 2019 2:03:19 PM
Further and according to Bafaie, the organization will work with local partners and companies that are involved in the production and processing of cocoa in Liberia over duration of the program. He also stated that the program will focus on young Agriculture graduates at various universities and colleges. This, he emphasized, is with a view to equipping them with the necessary knowledge to become entrepreneurs will.
The COVADEP program is projected to set up 10 additional Centers for Cocoa Development (CCDs) by 2023. This will serve to allow more cocoa farmers and allied groups to access several support services to improve productivity and produce sustainable and certified cocoa.
January - February 2020 | 7
NEWS
‘Agriculture is the most important business in the world,’ African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina tells students
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Adesina said the African Development Bank was spearheading efforts to feed Africa and was investing $25 billion over a ten-year period to transform the continent’s agriculture sector. What Africa does with food will determine the future of food, given that 65% of the arable land left to feed the world is here, Adesina said.
frican Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina reminded students of the important role they have to play in the continent’s economic development, as he was conferred with an honorary doctorate in his homeland. The Doctorate of Science was awarded by the Federal University of Agriculture in Abeokuta, Nigeria, on Tuesday, in honor of Adesina’s work in agriculture and food security across the continent.
“I am delighted to see so many of our young people engaged in agriculture arising from the Youth Employment in Agriculture initiative launched when I was minister to get the youth into agriculture as a business. From their innovations in the use of drones, food processing, packaging, transport and logistics and marketing, they are already unlocking the opportunities in agriculture,” he said.
Lauding the choice of Adesina as the institution’s 2020 awardee, the Chancellor, Edidem Ekpo Okon Abasi-Otu, described him as a global household name whose exploits in promoting value chain addition in agricultural produce have remained unparalleled. In his acceptance speech, Adesina commended the Nigerian government’s efforts to promote agriculture and agribusiness in Nigeria. “Agriculture is the most important profession and business in the world,” Adesina said. The Bank head pledged to continue the work of transforming Nigeria’s agriculture sector.
“The size of food and agriculture in Africa will rise to $1 trillion by 2030. The population of Africa, now at 1.2 billion, will double to 2.5 billion by 2050. They all must eat. And only through food and agribusiness can this be achieved,” he added.
He urged agricultural universities to optimize their role in linking research, innovations and technologies to farmers and the food and agriculture industry. “Africa’s youth must become leaders to help feed our world,” he advised.
Bobcat Equipment South Africa offers a ‘tyre and service’ special
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he beginning of the New Year is often the ideal time for busy companies to take stock of their equipment, and to carry out any maintenance that is required. In order to help companies take advantage of this period and maximise their uptime, Bobcat Equipment South Africa has launched a ‘tyre and service’ special.
8 | January - February 2020
The special offer forms part of the essential aftermarket service that Bobcat offers its loyal customers. “The market is pricesensitive at the moment due to business being down, which is why quality service has never been more important in order to differentiate us.”
If a customer purchases four solid or pneumatic tyres, they also receive a free 250-hour service kit, in addition to a reduced labour rate, National Aftermarket Manager Arina van der Westhuizen highlights. The special is available only while stocks last.
Bobcat National Parts Manager Clinton Schultz stresses that it is essential to always fit genuine parts, especially in terms of the lowest cost of ownership. “We feel very passionate about our machines, and want to ensure that our customers receive the best technical expertise.”
“This time of the year is an ideal opportunity for customers to ensure their machines are running optimally. Our latest special allows them to bring their machines in to have new tyres fitted if need be, while a qualified technician can evaluate the machine, and inform the customer of any issues that need to be attended to,” van der Westhuizen explains.
Using imitation or fake parts in OEM equipment poses a major risk to the health and safety of machine operators, in addition to being hugely detrimental to the overall performance of the equipment. For example, Bobcat has designed specific filters for its machines. Non-genuine filters cannot handle the same throughput, or last as long, which poses a significant risk to equipment.
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�ypical speci�ca�ons of a �yro�A� airborne gamma-ray s�r�ey? Spe��rome�er da�a re�ordin� a� 1 �z �appens e�ery � �0 or �0 m alon� ��e �i��� pa�� �or air�ra� speeds o� 100 and 1�0 �m/�r respe���ely� �li��� lines �an be any��in� �rom 10 �o 50 m apar� dependin� on ��e re��ired resol��on o� ��e s�r�ey and s�r�ey �ei���� T�e �eld o� �ie� o� a �amma�rays spe��rome�er �or in o��er �ord ��e �ro�nd �oo�prin� o� i�s meas�remen�s� �or an air�ra� �yin� a� 20 or �0 m a�l is abo�� �0 and 100 m radi�s respe���ely� So� ��ere is o�erlap o� samples alon� a �i��� line� and e�en��ally small �aps be��een samples on ad�a�en� �i��� lines b�� only i� ��e line spa�in� is sele��ed �oo �idely� �yro��� �i��� pa�� are �o�e�er desi�ned �o ens�re 100� �o�era�e �see �ia�� b�� How is gamma-ray spectrometry related to soil types? �adioa���e elemen�s o���r na��rally in ��e �rys�als o� par���lar minerals in soils� T�e ab�ndan�e o� minerals ��an�es a�ross ��e ear���s s�r�a�e �i�� �aria�ons in soil �ypes� �e�a�se ��e ener�y o� �amma�rays is rela�ed �o ��e so�r�e radioa���e elemen�s� ��ey �an be �sed �o meas�re ��e ab�ndan�e o� ��ose elemen�s in a soil� So� by meas�rin� ��e ener�y o� �amma�rays bein� emi�ed in a �arm land� �e �an in�er ��e presen�e o� par���lar minerals in ��e ear���s s�r�a�e and ��ara�� �erise ��e spa�al �ariabili�y o� soils� 1
GyroLAG data processing algorithms follow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recommendation.
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10 | January - February 2020
The cushion layer ensures that toughness does not lead to compromises on operator’s comfort or the forklift’s service life. Forklift operators will benefit from the smoothing effect of this layer by feeling less tired at the end of the day. Besides, this layer also contributes to the service life of the tires by decreasing heat build-up. Under the inner layer of hard natural rubber with staple fibers, lies the hard base compound with four embedded steel wires that ensure integrity by providing secure rim seating. All these features come together to convey a significant improvement in operating efficiency
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John Deere announces enhanced Features of exciting New Application Controller
T
he new John Deere application controller, available as a ‘bolt-on’ or ‘after-market’ kit and compatible with a host of existing machinery, enables enhanced Active Implement Guidance (AIG), Distance Trip and iGrade. Maintaining the best crop quality is often compromised by cropping practices that require multiple passes through fields. Each pass during the production cycle puts the crop at risk. With the new upgraded John Deere AIG, “producers no longer have to worry about the final crop quality as both the machine and implement are operating on the A-B line,” says Wayne Spaumer, Product Specialist for Precision Agriculture, Sub-Sahara Africa at John Deere. Moreover, AutoTrac™ assisted steering system paired with AIG allows operators to be more productive by allowing them to focus on tasks other than steering. Using AutoTrac and AIG together greatly reduces the strain on the operator because the system accurately guides the implement to execute optimum passes, or accurately distribute seed or fertiliser by placing, “industry-leading implement control at the operator’s fingertips,” says Spaumer. In addition, passive AutoTrac Implement Guidance allows machinery to travel off guidance lines, “meaning that no steering mechanism is needed to keep the implement on the intended path,” says Spaumer. This system is optimal for first-pass applications like pre-season nutrient dressing, tillage, planting and seeding, or strip-tilling. At the end of the season, the results are better crop quality and improved yield. Other operator benefits of John Deere’s enhanced AIG include: • Closer monitoring of parts, enabling
12 | January - February 2020
• •
proactive - rather than reactive maintenance. Freeing the operator to look for obstacles such as rocks, washouts, or holes caused by broken tile lines. The ability to turn the implement steering mechanism manually in tight spaces through simple fingertip controls.
All of these benefits result in, “more uptime for the equipment - and an operator who is more alert throughout the day,” says Spaumer. Risk is also minimised when seed is planted with AIG. Precise seed placement provides a straighter path for subsequent passes throughout the season. Compaction and crop disturbance are also reduced as AIG keeps the implement and tractor on the same guidance path. From November 2019, both the John Deere Application Controller 1100 and Application Controller 1120 were replaced with a new version of the hardware. This new hardware has resulted in improvements to several software applications. Key improvements to Application Controller 1100 include: • Automation of machine guidance as well as hydraulic controls, unlocking multiple solutions via a StellarSupport™ portal activation. • The ability to perform land levelling and distance-based operations through automated hydraulic control enabled by iGrade™ and Distance Trip. • Location and precise tracking of implements via John Deere AIG and Plow Steer. • Removal of the need for external valves. • Key changes to AIG enables: • Plow Steer to adjust plow width, maintaining a selected centre point between
•
guidance lines. Vision cameras and specialty hitch designs to move cultivators in row crops.
Key changes to iGrade™ and Distance Trip include iGrade compatibility with up to three scrapers with elevation and slope control. The John Deere enhanced AIG also enables Distance Trip to; create headland furrows in ditch irrigation, equidistant post holes for fencing operations, and plot-based alignments for seeding and spraying operations based on segment length. The new functionality also, “provides up to ten user-defined patterns with associated reference points including grid (90-degree, equilateral triangles, alternating rows, integrated angels), parallel lines, fence posts and plot pattern,” says Spaumer. Patterns may also use, “manually entered guidance line track spacing to synchronise application controller spacings,” he adds. Furthermore, yield documentation enables producers to record harvest information from onmachine weight-based, harvesting operations. Typical uses include harvesting potatoes, onions, and beetroot. Thereafter, “data can be easily transferred to John Deere Operations Center via Wireless Data Transfer (WDT), JDLink or USB for further analysis around yield and agronomic impacts for nutrient removal and residue levels,” explains Spaumer. “AIG is available for all John Deere and nonJohn Deere tractors with either an open or closed-centre hydraulic system, “by merely adding an external suction control valve (SCV) and SCV switch available at any John Deere dealer,” concludes Spaumer.
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OPINION
Optimistic
Oforuagriculture tlook Comment by Paul Makube The latest forecast released by South Africa’s Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) points to a somewhat optimistic outlook for the agricultural sector as seasonal conditions turned positive. The current estimates point to a sharp recovery in output of summer crops with the total maize planted area coming in up 10% year-on-year (y/y) at 2.54 million hectares (ha) and a potential 13.64 million tons using an average of 5.4 tons per ha for a relatively good season. Not only is this positive from a GDP perspective, the estimated supplies may help tame food inflation which has been relatively contained below 3% for the better part of 2019. The 2019/20 agriculture production season began on a negative note with delays in Spring rains and concerns over the weather outlook as forecasts indicated potential dryness across the board.
Agriculture performance was also weak as the sector fell into recession following three consecutive quarters of negative growth of 16.8%, 4.2%, and 3.6% respectively in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd quarter of 2019. Optimism in the sector was subdued and another bad season was going to be catastrophic for the whole value chain and the country as food inflation was likely to breach the double-digit level. Fortunately, this was avoided as good rains replenished both soil moisture and dam levels although dryness persists in parts of the Eastern Cape and Northern Cape. The rebound in production conditions afforded farmers to plant more area relative to the previous year and the summer grain and oilseed crops are in good shape though more follow-up rains are needed in some areas to ensure a good finish.
Paul Makube is a Senior Agricultural economist at FNB Agri-Business The current crop estimates if realised together with a carryover stock of about 1.67 million tons could bring supplies beyond April 30, 2020 to 14.31 million tons. This is obviously bearish for prices with maize futures for Jul-2020 delivery already softer prior to the announcement at R2,399/t and R2,484/t respectively for white and yellow maize. The bullish crop outlook with increases in planted area for sunflower (+7% y/y), soybeans (+3,6% y/y), groundnuts (+85% y/y) will help offset the impact of the poor winter crop harvest on agriculture GDP particularly wheat which accounts for 78% of the total. The 2019 wheat harvest came in down by 14.4% y/y at just 1.60 million tons according to the Crop Estimates Committee’s fifth estimate report. This would meet the country’s import demand but nonetheless South Africa remains a net importer of wheat. The agriculture outlook remains increasingly weather dependent and we are likely to finish the season on a positive note if the growing conditions retain the current momentum. It is however important to note that severe drought conditions have placed significant pressure on producers in the Eastern and Northern Cape provinces.
14 | January - February 2020
REGENERATING NATURAL SOIL
FERTILITY IN WEST AFRICA
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he management of soil fertility is a crucial issue for the African continent. Population growth and soil degradation factors, which are particularly strong in the intertropical zone, exacerbate the challenge. Integrated fertility management, soil regeneration, and the stimulation of their natural fertility are essential pathways to achieving satisfactory levels of agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa. This is the price to pay to ensure food and socio-political security in the coming decades. This is why Fertilux has teamed up with soil fertility management experts in Côte d’Ivoire: BBM Trading. This Ivorian company promotes the integrated management of soil fertility throughout the country and the subregion : by rationally combining the factors that improve fertility (mineral inputs, prebiotic supplement, organic matter and soil-building crops). BBM Trading contributes to the achievement of the key objectives for local agriculture : significantly improve producers’ incomes and restore natural soil fertility. The integrated management of soil fertility promoted by BBM Trading encourages the spread of eco-friendly alternative farming and the expansion of fertilisation practices.
Maize and cocoa crops play a vital role in the Ivorian and sub-regional economy. It was therefore natural for Fertilux to partner with regional research organisations, and in particular with the National Centre for Agronomic Research (CNRA - Centre National de Recherche Agronomique) in Côte d’Ivoire, to carry out trials on various crops, particularly cocoa and maize. After three work campaigns, the regularity of the measured results has established the effectiveness of an integrated fertility management programme : the fertilisation routes including BIOSOL produced by Fertilux make it possible for producers to earn 30% additional income. These results can be explained by the multiple effects of the complete BIOSOL solution on the regeneration of soil self-fertility : Better delivery of mineral nutrients Development of the root system – fight against water stress Balance between mineral fertility and biological fertility Synergy between the plant and soil microorganisms
BIOSOL is thus undoubtedly a promising avenue for the expansion of a productive, ecological and smart agriculture in West Africa in the years to come. Thanks to these natural nutrients, and its prebiotic complex that promotes soil life, BIOSOL and the Calkorium® solutions developed by Fertilux, are the eco-friendly alternative way that will enable to move forward towards a fertility that enhances mineral inputs and to cultivate on living
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FEATURE
Growers and scientists call on president to prevent food catastrophe by upholding pest control law
M
ove to ban pesticides being used to curb locusts and Fall Army Worn will lead to crop devastation, warn growers
Agricultural and industry organisations have today called on the government of Kenya to intervene to secure due process in the country’s pesticide regulation, amid warnings that a current initiative by four NGOs could wipe out the country’s food production within months. A move to secure a ban by parliament of 262 pesticides approved for use in Kenya would slash the country’s maize production by 70 per cent, create a ballooning locust problem and lead to the collapse of the agriculture sector, warned the growers and scientists. The calls come in response to a petition to parliament seeking the banning of the products that are currently being used to prevent the
infestation of Kenyan maize by Fall Army Worm and to curb the locust invasion in northern Kenya. The petitioners want the pesticides banned following a change in the European pesticide regulation, which has seen the EU abandon risk assessment as a basis for approving pest control products. Instead of considering the safety of products when they are used in pest control, as elsewhere in the world, the EU now approves products only where they are non-hazardous in all circumstances, meaning, for instance, that consumers could safely drink them. “The consequences of changing our pesticide approval criteria, by default, without changing our current laws, without scientific assessments, and as an appeal to elected members of parliament who have no background on pesticide approvals, will be literally catastrophic,” said Fresh Produce
Consortium CEO, Ojepat Okisegere. “We lost 70 per cent of our maize production in 2017 to Fall Army Worm, which is now restored due to pest control. If we now ban the pesticide, we shall move back to crop devastation, in an environment where pest infestation is skyrocketing across our agricultural production,” he said. The pest infestation rate for cabbages would move to around 98 per cent, tomatoes to 24 per cent, produce such as flowers, French beans and soybeans, to around 66 per cent, and 40 to 80 per cent on wheat and other crops, he said. “Pest such as Tuta absoluta, which is notorious in attacking tomatoes can wipe out 100 per cent of the yields within days, and attacks whenever the host is available. Female pests can produce up to
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COVERSTORY
East Africa under threat of unyielding locust invasion
E
ast Africa is under threat of unyielding locust invasion. This seems to be the case after reports have been made about billions of desert locusts which have been swarming across eastern Africa in the recent weeks. The countries that are heavily affected are Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia. However, experts warn that the locusts are likely to spread further. The swarms are massive; one of the largest in Kenya is about 37 miles long and 25 miles wide. The swarms, which are dense enough at times to block out the sun, are the worst to hit Ethiopia and Somalia in 25 years, and the worst in Kenya in 70 years. Desert locusts eat all the vegetation they encounter, with the consumption rate of an amount equal to their body weight each day. Each square kilometer of swarm can include 40 to 80 million locusts and eat as much food as 35,000 people, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). In addition to destroying crops in a region where nearly 20 million people face food insecurity,
swarms also consume the vegetation on cattle grazing land in a matter of hours. To manage the insects, Kenya and Ethiopia are spraying pesticides from airplanes. The countries have about five planes each, but as the locusts spread, there are more of them than the local systems can handle. According to the local agriculture officer in Kenya’s Isiolo county-one of the affected areasthey have managed to decimate around five swarms in Samburu and Isiolo. He however adds that the current measures are no match for the reproductive rate of these insects. Aerial pesticide spraying is the only effective way to combat desert locust swarms, according to the FAO, which is seeking US $70m in aid to support additional efforts to contain the pests. The swarms have been attributed to cyclones that rained on the deserts of Oman last year. Furthermore, the recent increase in cyclone frequency in the Indian Ocean could be to blame, according to FAO officials.
The next rainy season in Eastern Africa is set to begin in the next month, bringing with it a new wave of vegetation growth and locust breeding. Female locusts only lay their eggs when the ground is damp. While swarming, which is also called their “gregarious” phase, the locusts lay egg pods of about 80 eggs that usually hatch within two weeks. Factoring in hatching and survival rates, each pod leads to about 16 to 20 adult locusts, which mature in two to four months and start the cycle again. By the time the weather dries up again in June, the FAO estimates that the current population of desert locusts could multiply by a factor of 500. The swarms have already entered Ethiopia’s Rift Valley, according to the FAO’s most recent report, and they are approaching Uganda and South Sudan. Meanwhile, in Uganda, which neighbours Kenya to the West, the government has set aside US $4Bn to support the Ministry of Agriculture in efforts to prevent the invasion of the locusts. Furthermore, the public was urged to stock up on food reserves as a precautionary measure.
January - February 2020 | 17
COVER STORY
260 eggs in 21 days, while stem borer, FAW and cutworms have been the famous pests attacking our maize crops cutting our yields by almost half,” said Ojepat. The ban would leave farmers grappling with pests like Aphids, Whiteflies, Thrips, Moths, and Spider mites, weeds and fungi’s that farmers, as well as locusts, which have now spread in Wajir, Marsabit, Samburu, Garissa, Isiolo counties and are already depleting northern Kenya’s food supply. Locusts can cause 80 to 100 per cent crop losses, leaving behind barren land. “The organic farming methods being pushed with the pesticide ban petition cannot beat a locust invasion such as this one: we need pesticides to fight them and salvage the little food that still exists,” said Ojepat. Currently, through the Ministry of Agriculture’s consultation with FAO, the government is fighting the locusts with pesticides such as Fenitrothion, which is in the petitioners proposed list of pesticides to be banned. “If we ban the use of insect pesticides such as Fenitrothion used to eradicate desert locust, close to Sh22bn worth of food produce such as wheat, maize will be lost this year alone,” said Dr Evelyne Samita, a member of the Entomology Society of Kenya. Overall, the ban would affect crops and livelihoods in five agriculture producing regions, with Rift Valley and Central set to be the hardest hit, followed by Western, Eastern and the Coast. “Just 10 of the pest control products in the list are used in over 20 crops spanning maize, French
18 | January - February 2020
beans, flowers, beans, cabbage, wheat, potatoes, tomatoes, soy beans, onions, rice, bananas, and fruits among others. Banning these pesticides means production of these crops would be slashed,” said Joel Mutai Regulatory & Liaison Manager, Agrochemicals Association of Kenya Speech by Eric Kimunguyi, CEO of the Agrochemicals Association of Kenya, given to the media on 23rd January 2020, on the launch of case studies demonstrating the impact of banning safe pesticides in a ‘back door’ overturning of Kenya’s Pest Control Products Act. Ladies, gentlemen, members of the press, I should like to start by thanking you for joining us today to present some of the details of the potential food crisis that faces us, and the grave and serious need for due process in our pesticide regulation. I think you may all be aware that Kenya has long-standing and best-in-class legislation covering the regulation of pesticides, which is set
“The consequences of changing our pesticide approval criteria, by default, without changing our current laws, without scientific assessments, and as an appeal to elected members of parliament who have no background on pesticide approvals, will be literally catastrophic,”
out in the Pest Control Products Act and which is applied by the Pest Control Products Board. It is worth beginning today by stating clearly that the PCPB is staffed by many excellent scientists and that the legislation and regulatory structure we have only allows pesticides to be approved for use in Kenya where they have been subjected to the most thorough international testing and approved for use by leading testing regimes, such as the US and Australia. Thus, we do not venture into accepting pesticides for use that are deemed or classed as a risk to health or the environment elsewhere. This is despite the fact that we face many pests that are not found in the northern hemisphere, or which Europe may never have to grapple with, such as locusts, for instance. There are no locusts in Europe. Yet, as we now battle our biggest locust invasion in 25 years, our strongest line of attack in curbing the scale of the locust swarms and slowing their breeding are limited approved insecticides such Fenitrothion, which the government is now air spraying in an effort to save billions of shillings worth of crops and to prevent a serious famine in our lands. I mention Fenitrothion because it is just one of 262 active ingredients that several proponents wish to see banned in our country. These products have been banned nowhere else in Africa. They are approved for use and in use in the US, in Australia, and very widely across the globe. But there are two things that have prompted these groups to seek the exclusion for Kenya alone in
Africa from using pesticides such as the ones we are using to curb the locusts, and such as the pesticide we are using to control Fall Army Worm on our maize. As a result, for us, alone, they would rather that Fall Army Worm went untreated, as it did in 2017, when we lost 70% of our maize harvest as a result. Their first reason for wanting this is that they are committed to organic farming and against all pesticide use as a matter of principle. We respect the commitment of all organisations to organic agriculture and have no issue whatsoever with the development and application of organic methods and products, indeed, we laud such efforts. But to take that commitment to the level that we must settle down for a barren year of harvests destroyed by locusts, or accept the loss of our maize and staple crops to the Fall Army Worm, even where that generates famine and many thousands of deaths from starvation: this we cannot support. Where we have pesticides that have been through testing that typically takes six to nine years, to establish that they are safe to use for pest control, safe to human health and safe to the environment, and those products can maintain our maize harvest in the face of the Fall Army Worm, it is a very grave matter indeed to ban that protection and we need a solid reason, a surety that all those Kenyan deaths will be worth it, in order that we condemn so very many Kenyans to hardship and absolute destruction. The NGOs have, in this regard, claimed that these pesticides are giving us cancer and affecting our reproduction and have recently been banned in Europe as a result. This is not true. In fact, what has happened is that Europe, and Europe alone internationally, has changed its rules on all pesticides. It has moved to a regime that is called hazard assessment, whereas the rest of the world applies risk assessment.
its pesticides as a follow-on to Europe’s new regulation. Yet, in Kenya, the NGOs have petitioned parliament to ignore our own scientists, the US approvals, everything, and end our own approval regime, which approves pesticides only for uses that do not harm human health or the environment, in order to adopt the European regime instead. They want it done without due process too. They do not care for our legislative process or raising a Bill of Law for all authorities to assess. They do not care for the impact assessments that are obligatory for our legislation. And, it seems, at this stage, that they do not care for the impact of such a move. So, just to fill in a gap left by these petitioners, like letting Kenya by laid waste by locust and ending our maize production in the face of uncontrolled Fall Army Worm, we are here today to share some details with you on the impact of making Kenya a first in the world, as a country that ran a legal risk assessment regime but banned the majority of its pesticides anyway, because it was asked to by organic NGOs. In fact, they have not made the same case in Tanzania, or Uganda, so maybe we can buy our maize from our neighbours who will still be able to protect their corps from the FAW. In truth, this banning will wreck Kenya and all our lives. It will push us all into near instant food insecurity and an extreme famine. It will fell our horticultural industry and a huge swathe of our exports. So let us take such matters seriously. We have legal processes. If we want to change the way we approve pesticides then we can debate that, follow the prescribed procedures, and assess the impact too.
It is, in our view, beyond unacceptable that there are many thousands of Kenyans alive and well today who are likely to die this year, in 2020, if a single effort by a tiny group of NGOs is allowed to co-opt our entire regulatory system and due process, and make us a lone and single country in Africa without the tools left to defend our food yields or our agricultural exports. As even a single act in the 262 bannings requested, it is a decision of huge gravity to throw away our pest control on the Fall Army Worm. The same is true on locusts. So we are today asking the President to take note of this debate too, before we descend into absolute relative poverty in Africa, moving ourselves from a leading position economically on our continent to a position at the bottom of the league in feeding our people and earning our livelihoods. Agriculture is the core of our economy. No one is asking that we stop using organic methods or promoting them in every possible way. But we are asking that we stay with the Constitution, with the law, with due process, and ensure that the impact of all our approvals is fully assessed by scientists and organised to ensure the fewest deaths and best possible lives for all Kenyans. Health matters. These products undergo tests that cost approximately Sh23bn to ensure they are safe for the uses they are proposed for. There is nothing safe about starving to death in a move to ignore all those test results. On which note, let me thank you, again, for your time today, and pass the floor to Okisegere Ojepat, CEO of the Fresh Produce Consortium, to give us the perspective of growers from across our nation.
Under hazard assessment if a chemical can do any harm in any way, for instance, if you drank a bottle of it, then it is a hazard, and will no longer now be considered for use in Europe. If Europe applied the same rules to all its household cleaning products, almost all of the current cleaning products would be banned - few are safe for a child to drink instead of milk or water. The decision by Europe to reject all chemicals except safely consumable ones has been controversial in Europe and globally and is a dispute playing out elsewhere. But while that happens, no country anywhere in the world has been prompted a ban most of
January - February 2020 | 19
FEATURE
Pastoralists of Marsabit, rural Kenya. Feb 2018. Photo: Kandukuru Nagarjun / Flickr
Supporting pastoralists to wrestle climate change
T
oday, pastoralists in Africa are grappling with various challenges that are threatening their very existence. These problems range from population explosion and associated pressures, decreasing mobility, overgrazing, water scarcity, food shortages/high food prices, livestock theft, and global climate change that are leading to prolonged droughts, intense floods and desertification. Long held stereotypes, prejudices and myths about pastoralism have impacted negatively on their socio-economic development. They have led to failed (and failing) policies meant to develop herding societies in Africa and elsewhere.
20 | January - February 2020
Yet, according to the National Livestock Policy released in February 2019, the livestock subsector directly contributes around 42% to the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) and 12% to the national GDP in Kenya. It employs about 50% of the country’s agricultural sector labour force. About 60% of the livestock population is found in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) where the sub- sector employs nearly 90% of the population. In the ASALs, there is diminishing availability of palatable and quality forage species due to overgrazing, invasive plant species, declining
soil health, changing climate patterns, competing land use for settlement and crop development, inadequate supply of forage planting materials, as well as low commercialization of fodder production. The International Centre for Tropical Agriculture states that continuous overgrazing and overstocking not only affect soil physical (compaction, breakdown of aggregates) but also chemical (soil pH and salinisation, nutrient leaching, diminishing organic matter content), and biological properties. These decrease rangeland production potentials. However,
the capacity of pastoralists to improve pasture production. Yet more still needs to be done. There is a need to increase more investment through building of community resilience by increasing pasture production, conservation and diversification of pastoral livelihoods, and promotion of climate-smart technologies and innovations in the rangelands. Access to extension services offers pastoralists basic and technical skills and knowledge on fodder production. Here, a convergence between conventional and traditional livestock production approaches is ideal to enable pastoralists to grapple with the unique circumstances of Kenya’s ASALs such as difficulty by conventional extension officers to reach those in hard-to-reach areas. Recognition of traditional knowledge by the extension service providers can help improve the participation of indigenous communities in improving pasture. This knowledge should be reinforced by the modern scientific knowledge. Documentation of traditional knowledge is essential to ensure safeguarding of the rich source of information. For example, use of P3DM maps to develop the national adaptation plans and strategies; methodology for pastoralists and large transhumance zones; and more shared learning are valuable.
numerous strategies to arrest and remedy rangeland degradation, such as rangeland revegetation through direct seeding/reseeding, water harvesting, surface scarification, livestock/ grazing management, use of controlled fires and control of bush encroachment are available. Additionally, pastoralists need to adapt to reseeding as one of the modern ways to improve forage condition. However, adoption the rate has remained low over the years for reasons not well understood. Other remedies include natural pasture improvement; range pasture establishment; pasture seed production; processing and storage; range fodder/pasture utilisation; conservation and preservation. In addition to sensitisation on techniques for natural pasture improvement, pastoralists can learn more through exposure fora such as field days, visiting champion pastoralists and also group setting training to enable them to replicate the scenarios they learn, albeit adapted to their contexts in order to improve their livelihoods. There are promising endeavors towards achieving this objective. For example, the County Government of Kajiado is already investing in Pastoral Field Schools with the aim of building
Due to myriad negative impacts of current climate change and extreme weather events on pastoralism, the implications of climate change must be taken into account to ensure longer-term survival and sustainability of pastoralist livelihoods through strengthening of climate–risk awareness programmes and early warning systems. The efforts made by the Kenyan Meteorological Department (KMD) to decentralise its services to the county level are commendable. The Department should share their weather updates periodically with the pastoralists but in formats that are preferred and usable by this target group. Creating an enabling environment for policy formulation and implementation will help in strengthening adaptive capacity of actors to respond to recurrent droughts and environmental constraints, facilitate mobility, promote conflict resolution, provide incentives for livelihood development and diversification, infrastructural development, and review policies that hinder development of pastoralism. The quest for water Floods lead to severe loss of life (human and livestock) and property, destruction of infrastructure, disruption of the communication networks and large losses to the pastoral economy in ASAL areas. They also cause land degradation, thus affecting pasture. On the other hand, drought-events are often spatially extensive
and/or prolonged, and they usually trigger and/or intensify water shortages, ecosystem denudation, resource conflicts, livestock mortality, and/or food-crises. This constitutes a disruption to the proper operation of pastoralism. These are likely to intensify as the climate continues to change. As part of the strategies to mitigate climate change, the Centre for African BioEntrepreneurship (CABE) is implementing the Managing Scarcity and Plenty: Towards ClimateSmart Pastoral Innovations in Kenya, a project targeting pastoral counties of Kajiado, Marsabit and Turkana. The aim of this project is to enhance the capacity of pastoral communities to influence decision making with respect to climate smart pastoral innovations for improved livelihoods and food security in Kenya. The project is building the capacity of pastoral communities to embrace best practices in effective management of pasture in times of plenty and scarcity-taking into consideration indigenous technical knowledge and documenting lessons learnt for scaling up. The project also aims to sensitise pastoral communities to participate in county budgetary processes to advocate for supportive investments in pastoralism and related services and also the review of policies that hinder uptake of climatesmart innovations for ASALs in Kenya. It is hoped that these raft of interventions will help restore the luster of pastoralism in Kenya. Mercy Nduati is the Communications Officer at Centre for African BioEntrepreneurship (CABE). ABOUT CABE The Centre for African Bio-Entrepreneurship (CABE) is not-for-profit making organization established under the Non-Governmental Co-ordination Act of 1990 of Kenya in 2004 and is located in Nairobi, Kenya. CABE was established as a knowledge sharing organization that works to enhance the skills of smallholder farmers, women and youth entrepreneurs in Africa, Kenya to advance their meaningful participation in agriculture and agribusiness activities. The uniqueness of CABE is its focus on agroentrepreneurship, market linkages, business development, research, innovations and policy process. The technical team at CABE and its consulting unit, CABE Africa Limited (CAL) is multi-skilled and multi-disciplinary covering diverse agricultural value chains in Kenya and beyond.
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FEATURE
The Africa Agri Council (AAC) to host the 4th Agri-Food Tech & Innovation Summit (AFTI EA 2020) in Nairobi.
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peakers will explore the upsurge in new thinking and the game changing developments in agri practices and technology and what is needed to truly scale these innovations to reach smallholder farmers and agribusinesses, with a focus on what it will take to get the developing world’s. We have the technology and the innovations to make a difference for smallholder farmers to try these products. Importantly, what would it take to get them to buy these products again and again. AAC MD, Ben Leyka says ‘We have the technology and the innovations to make a difference, yet these innovations aren’t reaching the smallholder farmers who need them most – they lack access to the right information at the right time.’ Michael Hailu, Director, CTA states that ‘With the right policies, innovation and investment, the continent’s agriculture could be transformed into a powerhouse not only to feed a growing population but to create decent employment for millions of young people.’ AFTI EA 2020 will take a look at the challenge of scaling: Why aren’t more market-based solution models scaling? What barriers do they face? How to overcome lack of awareness of new products, and appreciation of their benefits? Where market-based solutions have achieved scale, how has this been achieved? What needs to happen to spur sustained adoption? Better farming techniques, improved seeds, demand for organic and fair trade products and the integration into global supply chains have the chance to lift hundreds of millions out of poverty. Delegates will hear from a number of entrepreneurs who are trying, and succeeding, in reaching these farmers, in building businesses that both create a profit and help farmers work
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their way out of poverty. Innovative firms, industry facilitators and leveraging of partnerships will get better tools into the hands of farmers, reduce the barriers between farmers and markets, and strengthen policies that help farming families become more a part of a functioning private-sector agricultural and food system. For many of the 2.5 billion people living at the base of the pyramid and relying on agriculture for their livelihood, adopting these innovations could improve their lives and the lives of future generations. A superb partnership example will be presented by speaker Neil Ashworth of social enterprise Natural Extracts Industries (NEI) working with nearly 5,000 farmers in Tanzania providing the technical guidance, inputs and best practices to grow premium vanilla crops. AFTI EA 2020 will bring together a diversity of stakeholders and partners who all play an essential role in building thriving inclusive markets,
including investors, foundations, aid agencies, policymakers, corporates, intermediaries, multilateral development agencies, impact investors, host governments and companies. Delegates will acquire valuable information relevant to their business and the agriculture and food production sector, designed to add value to strategic business planning, and meet potential business partners and new opportunities. Site visits will provide delegates with firsthand interaction directly with farms or fields of contracted smallholders farmers and experience ag-tech and innovations in action. The AAC hosts 3 African agri events each year: The above Agri-Food Tech & Innovation Summit (AFTI EA 24-25 March 2020); Market Access Africa (MAA 18-20 July, Durban, South Africa) the global meeting place for food and agriculture buyers and sellers; and their flagship African Agri Investment Indaba (AAII 18-20 Nov 2020) with a focus on agri finance and investment.
HOW DIGITALIZATION OF THE SUPPLY CHAIN WILL REDUCE GLOBAL FOOD WASTE By Bjorn Thumas, VP Bus. Dev. & Prod. Mgmt. Food Sorting & Marcom Food at TOMRA Food
The scale of the global food waste problem is staggering. According to reports, 1.6 billion tons of food are lost or wasted every year, equating to a total value of $1.2 trillion being wiped from the supply chain. With one-third of the total amount of food produced globally being misused, the industry needs to look towards innovation and digitalization to combat this ever-growing trend. Through embracing technology and digitalizing the food supply chain, a move can be made towards reducing the amount of food waste and loss within the industry. Not only that, but it can also help ensure there’s enough resource to sustainably support the future global population. With the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals setting a target of halving food loss and waste by 2030, I’ve looked at how the digitalization of the supply chain could help decrease global food waste.
THE NEED FOR INNOVATION TO REDUCE WASTE Although food waste is evident across the entire supply chain, the vast majority comes at the very beginning (during production) and at the very end (during consumption). The former of these is more common within developing countries, where the infrastructure is of a poor standard and cannot handle the food thus creating waste, whilst the latter is more pronounced in developed countries with waste being caused by both retailers and consumers. According to the Boston Consultancy Group (BCG), the amount of food waste created in the supply chain is set to rise 1.9 per cent from 2015 to 2030. You may think this is
a small rise, but when put into perspective with the current 1.6 billion tons wasted every year, this figure will increase by 30.4 million tons. To combat this increase in waste, the food supply chain needs to go under a digital transformation. From production and processing to the retailers themselves, systematic changes are required in food supply chain management to help everyone utilize this precious resource more efficiently and cut back on the amount of waste we’re creating as a society.
UTILIZING IOT IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN Through having better levels of communication across the supply chain, the amount of food waste produced can be reduced. Each aspect of the supply chain must be in constant contact with one another to ensure our resources are managed efficiently. This is where the Internet of Things (IoT) can support and improve supply chain efficiencies. Based on having interconnected and interrelated systems and processes, IoT allows each aspects of the food industry to have access to key data around the supply, production and management of produce, which can help reduce the amount of waste created. Without the wider adoption of IoT in the food supply chain, the levels of food waste could increase by 50-90 per cent as a result of several combined factors, such as the increase in food demand due to the ever-growing population.
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By allowing all stakeholders within the supply chain access to key data shared across integrated systems, processes can be optimized further along in the chain to maximize how the produce is handled. For example, a bad batch of apples with a high percentage of internal browning would require a specific equipment set up and would need to be fine-tuned to ensure the maximum value can be extracted from the apples. It is believed having this connectivity could save the supply chain up to $60bn in waste. Through having this pre-warning of any information regarding a batch of produce, farmers can not only optimize their yields by reducing the risk of waste, but the other stakeholders can also plan accordingly to try and prevent the cause of waste. Having this ability to share data through IoT can also help reduce waste from a consumer standpoint. Retailers could use the real-time data in stores to showcase when the produce was harvested or picked and offer insights into the projected “sell by date”. This can educate consumers further on how long they have to eat the produce, thus helping reduce food waste through the implementation of technology.
USING INNOVATION TO IMPROVE CURRENT INFRASTRUCTURE As well as utilizing IoT, the supply chain can also use digitalization to help improve the infrastructure it currently has in place. Cold chain plays a huge role in the food industry creating waste, mainly due to poor infrastructure – in India, for example, $14bn is lost every year through poor cold chain facilities. However, implementing innovative and efficient systems can go a long way in addressing the food waste issue – particularly in developing markets. By deploying more advanced cold chain solutions within the emerging markets, which share the data across the supply chain through IoT, it could prevent large-scale food loss and waste. The conditions can also change in cold storage, and temperature affects many sorting technologies, so the ability to link cold storage sensors to packing equipment can enhance performance.
But this is nonexistent in many emerging markets, creating poor food storage and transportation conditions early in the value chain that lead to large-scale food loss. Deploying more-advanced supply chain solutions — including cold chain in developing markets — could reduce the problem by $150 billion annually. Investing in efficient sorting and grading systems is a key approach in helping the supply chain reduce the food waste created earlier in the supply chain.
We want to know everything about the produce. Everything from the weight and size through to the external properties and defects, and even the internal chemical composition to predict ripeness and longevity. But there are only two points when you can gather information on individual pieces of fruit: when it’s picked and when it is sorted. These are the critical data acquisition points. KPIs need to be based around understanding the types of defect types and classes/grades per batch, to help create a complete map and total view of the produce. This, in turn can help build up big data, meaning every batch gives you new insights and allows you build a bigger picture, creating the ability to make even more informed data-driven decisions. Where appropriate, data can be shared and augmented to ‘context’, such as weather data or geo-tagging. The final step is to layer artificial intelligence to start to understand previously unseen patters and even more efficient ways of working. Although these KPIs tend not to be designed to help limit the amount of waste produce, utilizing sorting and grading technology can automatically support a waste sensitive environment by recovering any produce and reusing it for another purpose, such as cattle feed or pet food. This means that rather than creating food waste, an alternative, more suitable use is found. Lower quality fruits can be used for juices or pulped to become products such as guacamole or apple source, whilst starches can be used for medical purposes. All of these help us reduce waste and put the lower quality produce to better use.
GOING DIGITAL TO FIGHT FOOD WASTE With the ever-rising stats around food waste, now is the time for the industry to adopt a more digitalized approach across the supply chain. Implementing integrated and innovative systems will allow all key stakeholders, from field to fork, to efficiently manage food and reduce the risk of waste at loss. Digitalization won’t just help from a sustainability aspect, but also help businesses drive their own profitability by improving processes and efficiencies. It becomes the answer to the push-pull paradox for commercial benefit and combating global food waste. At TOMRA, we’re committed to creating sensor-based sorting and grading systems to help the supply chain win the battle against food waste. Through our systems, we aim to help food businesses maximize yields and ensure any produce can be recovered and reused, increase productivity with high capacity sorting and provide consistent high-quality food assurance. We also understood that we must take the next steps. TOMRA Insight is our answer to connect our sorting and grading systems, extract valuable information on the sorting performance and the produce, and make it transparent to the food businesses. Incorporating this further into a digitalized supply chain will help to close the link from farm to fork in the future.
About TOMRA Food TOMRA Food designs and manufactures sensor-based sorting machines and integrated post-harvest solutions for the food industry, using the world’s most advanced grading, sorting, peeling and analytical technology. Over 8,000 units are installed at food growers, packers and processors around the world for fruits, nuts, vegetables, potato products, grains and seeds, dried fruit, meat and seafood. The company’s mission is to enable its customers to improve returns, gain operational efficiencies, and ensure a safe food supply via smart, useable technologies. To achieve this, TOMRA Food operates centers of excellence, regional offices and manufacturing locations within the United States, Europe, South America, Asia, Africa and Australasia.
TOMRA Food is member of the TOMRA Group that was founded on innovation in 1972 that began with design, manufacture and sale of reverse vending machines (RVMs) for automated collection of used beverage containers. Today TOMRA provides technology-led solutions that enable the circular economy with advanced collection and sorting systems that optimize resource recovery and minimize waste in the food, recycling and mining industries. TOMRA has ~100,000 installations in over 80 markets worldwide and had total revenues of ~8.6 billion NOK in 2018. The Group employs ~4,000 globally and is publicly listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE: TOM). For more information on TOMRA Food visit www.tomra.com/food
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FEATURE
Bayer Welcomes U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Reaffirmation that Glyphosate Is Safe to Use, Not Carcinogenic
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ayer said today that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s favorable conclusion about the safety of glyphosate in its Interim Registration Review Decision, based on the agency’s expert review over a 10-year period, reaffirms that the extensive body of science continues to support the safety of herbicides containing glyphosate and that this active ingredient is not carcinogenic. In its Interim Registration Review Decision, EPA concluded that it “did not identify any human health risks from exposure to glyphosate.” “EPA’s latest decision on glyphosate-based herbicides adds to the long-term evaluation of leading international health authorities that these products can be used safely, and that glyphosate is not carcinogenic,” said Liam Condon, member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG and President Crop Science Division. “Glyphosate-based herbicides are one of the most thoroughly studied products of their kind, which is a major reason why farmers around the
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world continue to rely on these products not only for effective weed control, but also to minimize tillage farming practices, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, preserve more land for native habitats, and provide enough food to meet the needs of a growing population worldwide. EPA’s science-based, in-depth assessment by its expert team reflects a gold standard for scientific rigor that is respected by regulators and scientists across the globe.”
The EPA had already confirmed its position on glyphosate earlier this year. Together with the U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of the U.S. government, EPA filed an amicus brief in the Roundup Litigation in the Hardeman appeal. In this brief both authorities are supportive of the company’s arguments. In August 2019 the EPA sent a letter to glyphosate registrants, which stated respectively that a cancer warning on products containing this active ingredient would be “inconsistent with the agency’s scientific assessment of the carcinogenic potential of the product” and would be a “false and misleading statement.” The EPA also said in its Interim Registration Review Decision that “it used the most current science policies and risk assessment methodologies to prepare a risk assessment in support of the registration review of glyphosate. The EPA thoroughly assessed risks to humans from exposure to glyphosate from all registered uses and all routes of exposure and did not
identify any risks of concern.” EPA also reiterated its conclusion that “glyphosate is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans”, its most favorable rating. Glyphosate-based products are the most widely used herbicides in the world, and today’s EPA announcement is just the latest instance of a regulatory agency reaffirming that glyphosate is not carcinogenic.
“left no stone unturned” and “had access to all relevant data and information from federal and provincial governments, international regulatory agencies, published scientific reports and multiple pesticide manufacturers.” As part of Bayer’s Transparency Initiative, the company has committed to enabling access to all of the in-depth glyphosate safety and other crop
protection studies submitted to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) that Bayer has permission to disclose on its transparency platform. Bayer remains committed to offering more choices for growers and announced last year an investment of approximately 5 billion euros to develop additional methods to combat weeds over the next decade.
Since IARC’s assessment in 2015, regulatory and scientific bodies that have reaffirmed their conclusions about the safety of glyphosatebased products and that glyphosate is not carcinogenic include the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), German BfR, and Australian, Canadian, Korean, New Zealand and Japanese regulatory authorities, as well as the Joint FAO/WHO Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR). In January 2019, Health Canada concluded: “After a thorough scientific review,” concerns about glyphosate safety “could not be scientifically supported when considering the entire body of relevant data.” Health Canada also noted that the 20 scientists who conducted the review, who had not been involved in its 2017 re-evaluation of glyphosate,
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FEATURE
Agriculturist of the year and fruit quality expert for Woordfees.
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outh Africa’s favourite apple and pear brand, Tru-Cape, hosts a presentation in Afrikaans about the history of apples and the latest new varieties at the Toyota US Woordfees with industry colleagues Hortgro and Agri-Expo.
People attending the session at the Woordfees will learn about The Witte Wijnappel, the first apple picked in the Cape in 1662 and the journey to bring it back to South African soil and how the apples of today have progressed over the years.
The presentation will be held in Die Khaya in Ryneveld St, Stellenbosch Central on Friday, March 13 at 12 noon for 90-minutes.
The story weaves past Adam and Eve (who definitely didn’t have apples) to Kazakstan where still today forests of apple trees grow wild. Nel visited Almaty in Kazakh, known as the Father of Apples, in Kazakstan recently.
Tru-Cape’s New Variety Specialist, Buks Nel, is the 2019 Agriculturist of the Year and the author of Apples in the Early Days at the Cape together with Henk Griessel, Tru-Cape’s Quality manager. With the quality of well over a billion pieces of fruit each year under his control, Griessel is a busy man. Nel is no slouch either. He has just completed his second book on apples due to be published this year. Apples in the Early Days at the Cape will be gifted to attendees. Nel acquired Plant Breeders Rights for Bigbucks, the fruit of which is trademarked as Flash Gala - the newest improved Gala apple with a gorgeous full-red colour.
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These industry experts will share their tips how to optimally store your fruit, a little science trick with an apple and mouthwash to dazzle your friends and a proper explanation why if you plant a Granny Smith seed you most likely will not get a Granny Smith apple. And, of course, lots to taste and enjoy too. Tickets are R130 each from Computicket or R150 at the door. https://woordfees.co.za/en/
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FEATURE
Ivory Coast selects IGN FI to Modernise its Land Administration System Development and the Ministry Delegate to the Prime Minister responsible for Budget and the State’s Portfolio.
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vory Coast has faced difficulties in administering property rights for many years. Manual processing of requests and complex procedures have been leading to delays and errors, undermining the effectiveness of administering and securing property rights for citizens. In order to address this state of affairs the Ivory Coast’s Ministry of Construction, Housing and Urban Development (MCLU) signed a contract on 20 December 2019, in the context of French
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President Emanuel Macron’s visit to Ivory Coast, for the implementation of a project to simplify urban land administration and convert it to digital form. The project is organised around nine interdependent components, which will eventually lead to the setting up of an Integrated Urban Land Administration System (IULAS). This will form a common basis for the various public authorities involved in the land administration chain – The Ministry of Construction, Housing and Urban
Over time, the project will result in: • Speeding up the process of issuing administrative documents; • Making land registry information secure, thereby reducing the number of claims and legal disputes; • Increasing direct and indirect revenues for the State; • Improving the business climate in Ivory Coast. For the first stage of implementation, which will cover Greater Abidjan and Assinie, the simplification and digital conversion project will benefit from financing amounting to approximately eighteen billion CFA francs (a little over 27 million euros) from the French Public Investment Bank (BPI), guaranteed by the French Treasury.
FEATURE
Saai submits commentary on amendments to the Constitution
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aai – an organisation that protects the interests of family farmers – submitted commentary on the amendment to the Constitution that would allow for expropriation without compensation. Saai is planning a strong international awareness campaign for 2020 on expropriation without compensation and farm murders. The first leg of the campaign comprised a visit to the Hungarian government and the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) held in Berlin, Germany. Almost 80 countries’ ministers of agriculture were present, and Dr Theo de Jager, Chairperson of Saai’s Board of Directors and President of the World Farmers Organisation, had to answer many questions about the South African expropriation issue. South Africa’s Minister and Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Land reform and Rural Development did not attend the meeting that was held with other ministers. “There is major cynicism on why the Constitution needs to change. Thanks to the Motlanthe Report and the evidence from the Zondo Commission the world knows that the greatest hurdle in land reform remains capacity shortage and corruption in the Department. At the myriad of meetings that I attended at the World Economic Forum in Davos people talked openly about state capture and especially the lack of prosecution of implicated people with political connections,” De Jager says.
“In the eyes of foreign governments and investors, the ANCs drive for expropriation without compensation is but an extension of a culture of state pillage, nepotism and other offences under the ruling elite. They view South Africa as an investment risk,” De Jager continues. Saai is opposed to any changes to the Constitution that would allow for expropriation without compensation. The commentary that it submitted focuses on the international legal aspect and matter of zero compensation. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and various other international treaties such as the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (1986) and the European Convention on Human Rights Protocol (1953) both acknowledge the right to property, as well as the fact that property may be expropriated under certain conditions. Expropriation of property is always subject to certain conditions, however. One of these is the payment of fair and reasonable compensation. According to the ANC, the purpose of the amendment to the Constitution is to make explicit that which is implicit. Saai’s request is that South Africa commits itself to the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as to the principles included in its commercial agreements. Saai also requests that the Constitution should pertinently specify that it cannot be expected of one person to carry the cost of a national responsibility.
Saai is inundated with queries from abroad about the ANC’s decision to avoid the courts in the process and to give the executive authority the power to determine compensation payable. Minister Thoko Didiza had to abandon the same idea in 2008 when it was then found it would have been unconstitutional. There are few elements of the debate that deter
investors more than this proposal, and it comes at a time when South Africa’s economy cannot afford it. The nature of Saai’s commentary on the amendment to the Constitution will also be a central component in the legal action to be launched if the amendment were to go ahead
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