African farming News | Agriculture XPRT

Four degree rise `would scupper African farming`

A widespread farming catastrophe could hit Africa if global temperatures rose by four degrees Celsius or more, according to a study that calls for urgent planning for a much warmer future and investment in technology to avert disaster. In most of southern Africa the growing season could shrink by as much as a fifth, according to scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) ...

Nov. 29, 2010

By SciDev.Net

International crop breeding programme needed for African farming

Climate change poses a large threat to African agriculture, but there is little research on how to respond. A recent study indicates that traditional adaptation methods are not enough and international collaboration is needed in 'planned adaptation' by collecting and conserving certain crops for the future. A large proportion of the African population - mainly the poor - depend on agriculture ...

Oct. 15, 2009

By Science for Environment Policy - European Commission DG Environment News Alert Service

Nitrogen fixation helps double some African farm yields

A large-scale research and development project has shown that giving farmers resources and advice on nitrogen fixation through legume plants can double yields and boost incomes in Africa. But not all farmers are benefiting from this practice due to a lack of access to inputs, such as fertilisers says Ken Giller, the leader of the N2Africa project, as a second phase to widen access to the ...

Nov. 5, 2013

By SciDev.Net

Unique Acacia tree`s promise to revive African soils

Scientists said at the 2nd World Congress of Agroforestry that a type of acacia tree with an unusual growth habit-unlike virtually all other trees-holds particular promise for farmers in Africa as a free source of nitrogen for their soils that could last generations. With its nitrogen-fixing qualities, the tall, long-lived acacia tree, Faidherbia albida (Mgunga in Swahili) could limit the use of ...

Aug. 31, 2009

By ScienceDaily

Fertiliser trees prove a hit in southern Africa

Hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers in southern Africa are adopting fast-growing trees and shrubs to fertilise their fields naturally, for improved yields and incomes, according to a study. Scientists at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), a non-profit research organisation in Kenya, analysed two decades-worth of efforts to bring 'fertiliser trees' to African farms and announced ...

Nov. 3, 2011

By SciDev.Net

West-African livestock farming offers opportunities for Dutch industry

By investing in livestock farming, Dutch industry can help improve food safety in West Africa. Taking a flexible and creative approach, and working alongside local partners, there is considerable potential in this respect. This is the conclusion of an analysis by Wageningen UR Livestock Research and La Ventana Consulting for the Ministries of Economic Affairs and Foreign Affairs. The analysis ...

Apr. 7, 2014

By Wageningen University and Research Centre

Mixed crop-livestock farming could help adaptation in Africa

According to new research, African farms with both crops and livestock could be more resilient to climate change than farms that only grow crops. The research suggests that policy makers should support farmers in making the switch to integrated farming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has indicated that agriculture in tropical under-developed countries is the most vulnerable ...

Mar. 24, 2010

By Science for Environment Policy - European Commission DG Environment News Alert Service

Tanzanian Agriculture and Livestock ministers at opening of Agribusiness Congress East Africa in Dar es Salaam

Tanzania’s ministers of Agriculture Food Security and Cooperatives, Honourable Eng. Christopher Chiza,and of Livestock and Fisheries, Honourable Dr. Titus Kamani Mlengeya, will address the opening session of the upcoming Agribusiness Congress East Africa in Dar es Salaam on 28 January. Some 800 agriculture experts are expected at the conference and exhibition to focus on finance, best ...

Jan. 16, 2015

By Spintelligent (Pty) Ltd - part of Clarion Events

Smartphone app offers cheap aflatoxin test for farmers

A smartphone application could offer a cheap way for African farming communities to manage cancer-causing toxins produced by a fungus that grows on crops while building a ‘big data’ set to assist research on outbreaks. The Lab-on-Mobile-Device (LMD) platform can detect aflatoxins as accurately as a laboratory test, but can be carried out anywhere at a fraction of the cost using a ...

Nov. 4, 2013

By SciDev.Net

Africa’s youth key to strengthening agricultural economy

Getting more African youth involved in agriculture and boosting support for the region's vulnerable family farmers will be pivotal to improving food security and economic well-being in the years to come, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva told participants at the Organization's Regional Conference for Africa. He also named water scarcity, low investment and conflict as being ...

Mar. 27, 2014

By Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Soil Association´s new independent Standards Board now complete

The Soil Association has announced the appointment of Rob Haward, operations director at Riverford Organic Vegetables, as grower representative on its standards board, following an open recruitment process. This appointment completes the Soil Association’s new, independent standards board. Rob Haward, operations director of Riverford Organic Vegetables, said: “I am delighted to have been ...

Aug. 11, 2008

By Soil Association

Africa lays foundations for commercial GM crops

African nations should support proposed regional policy guidelines on GM technology, says an editorial in Nature. Under the new proposal from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), a trade bloc of 19 African nations, the bloc would carry out science-based risk assessments on growing commercial GM crops in any of the bloc's countries. If COMESA finds the crop safe for the ...

Oct. 15, 2010

By SciDev.Net

Divine chocolate celebrates international women’s day by investing in women cocoa farmers

In celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8, Divine Chocolate, the only farmer-owned, Fair Trade chocolate brand, encourages chocolate lovers to use a $1 coupon to treat themselves to a bar of delicious Divine Chocolate. For every coupon redeemed, Divine will invest a dollar into Kuapa Kokoo’s Women’s Fund in support of small-scale cocoa farming communities in Ghana. ...

Mar. 7, 2011

By 3BL Media

Switch to organic farming may boost yields and incomes

Switching to organic and resource-conserving methods of farming can improve smallholder crop yields, food security and income, a review study has found. But a more-extensive evidence base founded on rigorous and consistent research methods is needed before the findings can be generalised to other situations, according to the study published in the current issue of the International Journal of ...

Oct. 1, 2013

By SciDev.Net

UN to assist African farmers threatened by climate change

Some 10,000 farmers in five African countries, where crops are expected to be badly affected by climate change, are to receive help from the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in the form of low-cost rain gauge equipment and roving seminars provided by agricultural experts. With the help of Spain, WMO will distribute the rain gauges to volunteer farmers in Burkina Faso, Mali, ...

Apr. 29, 2008

By United Nations

Large South African presence at Agritech Expo in April indicates strong interest in Zambia’s agri sector

“Zambia is an exciting market to explore, not just for South African suppliers to the agriculture sector, but also for South African farmers” says Liam Beckett, commercial director for the upcoming Agritech Expo Zambia. The award-winning event is owned by the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) and returns to Chisamba for the fourth time this year from 27-29 April. He adds: ...

Mar. 2, 2017

By Spintelligent (Pty) Ltd - part of Clarion Events

Slow Food youth gardens in Africa promote nutrition and sustainability

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva lauded the planned expansion of a Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity gardening project for young Africans, saying it was part of a much-needed "paradigm shift" to place more importance on family farming, sustainable food and agriculture systems, and the transfer of traditional knowledge from one generation to the next. "Food gardens produce ...

Feb. 17, 2014

By Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Ecosystem-based farming comes of age

A new FAO book out today takes a close look at how the world's major cereals maize, rice and wheat - which together account for an estimated 42.5 percent of human calories and 37 percent of our protein - can be grown in ways that respect and even leverage natural ecosystems. Drawing on case studies from around the planet, the new book illustrates how the "Save and Grow" approach to agriculture ...

Jan. 18, 2016

By Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

We have the tools to prevent another famine in Africa

Long-term investments in agriculture and a focus on helping smallholder farmers with existing tools are crucial for avoiding another food crisis on the scale of that seen in the Horn of Africa, argues Sam Dryden, programme director for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Famines are not forces of nature, he says, but complex events rooted in factors that can be controlled, such as ...

Oct. 4, 2011

By SciDev.Net

Anvil Knitwear becomes first US-based company to join cotton made in Africa initiative

Anvil Knitwear, a leading apparel brand, has become the first US-based apparel manufacturer to join the Cotton made in Africa (CmiA) initiative. The CmiA initiative is a public-private partnership project to promote sales of sustainably grown cotton from Africa, overseen by the Aid by Trade Foundation, an organization that aims to reduce poverty and promote economic development through ...

Feb. 1, 2011

By CSRwire - Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire

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