Issue 23

Newsletter of the Sasakawa Africa Association

Inside

NERICAs – promoting better technology

page 4

Egg production with QPM

page 7

Potatoes grown under micro-irrigation

page 11

Wooden winnower avoids drudgery

page 17

Feeding the Future

July 2007

Celebrations of the twentieth anniversary of the Sasakawa-Global 2000 programme(SG 2000) in Africa, in Bamako, Mali, last November were marked by an

international symposium, organised by the Geneva-based CASIN (Centre for AppliedStudies in International Negotiations) aimed at ‘developing a roadmap to empower thesmall-scale farmer to become an effective commercial farmer’.

Twentieth Anniversary Celebrations

New strategies foraccelerated growth

Mali’s President Amadou Toumani Touré hosted a specialanniversary event at the Presidential Palace, Koulouba, at whichhe conferred Mali’s highest honour – the Medal of theCommander of the National Order of Mali – on both YoheiSasakawa and Norman Borlaug.

In his address at the ceremony, President Touré emphasised thepivotal role that he intended agriculture to play in the Malianeconomy. “With immense land resources, and with the NigerDelta as one of the largest flood plains in the world, we aredestined to become an agricultural power,” he said.

Speaking at the symposium,which was attended by

ministers of agriculture from SG 2000 project countries, seniorrepresentatives from internationalorganisations and foundations,research institutes and agri-business organisations, YoheiSasakawa, Chairman of TheNippon Foundation, paid tribute tohis late father, Ryoichi Sasakawa,former US President Jimmy Carterand Nobel Laureate, Dr NormanBorlaug, for coming together twodecades ago ‘to try and find aviable solution to Africa’sagricultural problems.’ Thus wasformed the Sasakawa AfricaAssociation (SAA), the

management organisation of SG 2000.

To date, The Nippon Foundationhas invested US $150 million infinancial support to SG 2000activities in 14 African countries.Now the emphasis will be onsupporting a progressive andprosperous smallholdercommercial class as SAAconcentrates its resources on fourAfrican countries – Mali, Nigeria,Ethiopia and Uganda – over thenext four years.

In the 20 year history of SAA,new strategies have beendeveloped to achieve greaterimpact in helping African

governments and smallholderfarmers accelerate growth inagriculture. Low-cost, small-scale irrigation schemes to helpdiversify farm enterprises –including livestock and dairyoperations – withinsmallholder farming are beingintroduced. There has, too,been a change of philosophyfrom the prime concern ofincreasing the production ofstaple foods to improvingfarmer livelihoods.

Market demandEffective farmer associationsare now crucial for thedevelopment of linkages withtraders and agro-industries.Building integrated foodsupply chains, raisingproduction and post-productionquality standards to meetconsumer requirements, whileincreasing the sensitivityamong smallholders to marketdemand signals, are alsoessential in getting commercialagriculture moving in Africa.

It was noted at the symposiumthat substantial new resourcesare being made available tohelp encourage Africa’s elusive‘green revolution’ – such as thealliance between the Gates andRockefeller foundationsannounced last September.

For Dr Norman Borlaug, inclosing the symposium, changecould not come soon enough.“Don’t wait for perfectconditions or the perfect seedvariety. Use whatever isavailable – and get on with it.”

The signing of the World Bank MOU with John McIntyre (left)and Dr Norman Borlaug

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Dr Norman Borlaug, SAApresident, and John McIntyre, aWorld Bank agriculture director,signed agreements in Bamako, 1November last year, to support aFramework for TechnicalCollaboration (FTC), a trust fund tobe managed by the Forum forAgricultural Research in Africa(FARA). The new FARA, WorldBank, SAA partnership, seeking toincrease effectiveness and efficiencyof agricultural advisory serviceprovision, is now ready forimplementation.

Dr Michael Abu Foster (alsopictured), Country Director inUganda and principal advisor forthe FTC, writes that the “FTC willcomplement SAA’s overall efforts totransform the productivity of small-scale producers in Africa to improvefood security and rural livelihoods.”

“The FTC can add value toagricultural reform processes underway by improving the design andimplementation of nationalagricultural extension advisoryprogrammes and increaseopportunities for exchange ofinformation and skills amongproject planners, managers andpractitioners,” comments MarcoQuiñones, SAA Director General.

The FTC will be housed at FARAheadquarters and will receive multi-donor support for itsimplementation. Through thetransformation of nationalagricultural advisory services,FARA hopes to contribute to theachievement of the New Partnershipfor Africa’s Development (NEPAD)Comprehensive African AgriculturalDevelopment Programme(CAADP).

SAA has played a central role inconceptualisation andimplementation of the FTC, whichis being mainstreamed withinFARA. Abu Michael Foster hasbeen seconded to FARA forprogramme oversight, which

officially began in June 2007. Initialactivities will include a consultativeprocess with stakeholders toformulate a five-year project planwith priority areas for action,beginning in Mali, Ghana, Nigeria,Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania.

Collaboration with JICAJunko Nakaji, a Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer (JOCV) withthe Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), has beenseconded by JICA to the SG 2000 project in Uganda – the first timethat JICA has seconded a volunteer to an NGO. She expects to bewith the project for two years.

Trained by JICA in Japan in agriculture and livestock breeding, Junkospent her initial weeks in Uganda assimilating local culture. She wasthen given the task of monitoring the impact of a new mobile ricemill project, funded jointly by JICA and SAA.

“Milling rice is a big problem for local farmers,” she says. “They findit difficult to transport rice to the stationary rice mills which are fewand far between. Many farmers keep paddy rice in their homes.”

A visiting mobile rice mill could therefore be the answer – andalready 2.7 mt has been milled in farmers’ fields. Junko, who is basedin the One Stop Centre at Zerobwe, says that the project is still at thetrial stage and must cover a large area to be viable.

SAA, World Bank, and FARAforge new partnership

Partnerships

SAA board newsSAA has announced two appointments to the board of directors –Katsumi Hirano and Masa Iwanaga.

Mr Hirano is Executive Director of JETRO (JapanExternal Trade Organisation) Johannesburg, a positionhe has held since 2004. He has long experience ofSouthern Africa in both the diplomatic and academicfields. From 1999 to 2004, he was a member of theCommittee on the Southern Africa Region, establishedby JICA and, previously, a board member of the JapanInternational Volunteer Centre (JVC).

Mr Iwanaga has been Director General of theMexico-based International Maize and WheatImprovement Centre (CIMMYT) since 2002.Previously Director of the Biological ResourcesDivision of JIRCAS (Japanese International ResearchCentre for Agricultural Sciences), he has spent 25years working for four international centres which arepart of the Consultative Group on InternationalAgricultural Research (CGIAR) – CIP, CIAT, IPGRIand CIMMYT. He has a special interest in technicaland policy issues affecting biodiversity andbiotechnology.

G Edward Schuh, a SAA board member for morethan 15 years, has officially retired as RegentsProfessor at the University of Minnesota. Dr Schuhrecently held the Orville and Jane Freeman Chair inInternational Trade Policy at the Humphrey Institute ofPublic Affairs. Last May, a symposium in his honourwas held in Minneapolis with an impressive array ofspeakers making outstanding presentations – amongthem Ann Krueger, until recently Deputy ManagingDirector of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

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Editorial

SG 2000’s new prioritiesand directions

Traditional agriculturalextension in Africa has

focused on increasing production,improving yields, training farmers,and transferring technology.Extension activities have beensupply driven and usuallycommodity based. Mostgovernment extension efforts havetended to favour smallholderfarmers who, under normalclimatic conditions, are food-secure and better positioned toadopt productivity-enhancingtechnologies. Historically,government organisations haveprovided the bulk of smallholderextension services although thecoverage has been limited in mostcountries to probably no morethan 10 per cent of all smallholderfarmers.

Extension visionOver the past 10 years, a vision ofextension services has crystallised,one that goes beyond technologytransfer and farmer training toinclude assisting farmer groupformation, dealing with marketingissues, and partnering with abroader range of service providersand agencies. These include: i)traditional public systems whichdeliver research and extensionservices and focus on farmertraining using a large pool ofgovernment employed extensionstaff frequently limited in servicedelivery by poor publicfacilitation; ii) recently initiated

public/private partnerships whichuse public funds to hire privateservice providers to deliverdemand-driven advisory services;iii) private extension services bycommercial firms that addresssingle-commodity cash crops andprovide technical and productionservices to contract farmers; andiv) various NGOs, which provide abroad scope of farmer training invarious aspects of ruraldevelopment, but are quitelocation- and target-group specific,and relatively high cost per farmerserved.

Regardless of the extension modelsbeing promoted in the four SG2000 focus countries, governmentand non-government extensionservice providers tend to actindependently with very weak co-ordination. Linkages betweenpublic research organisations andthe various extension serviceproviders are weak. Virtually noextension services are on offer tothe extremely poor, who face aplethora of resource constraints –financial, physical, environmental,health and educational. Moreover,government extension organisationsare not well-equipped to supportmarket-led smallholder agriculturaldevelopment, which requireorganisational development offarmer associations, marketintelligence information, andadvisory services in post-production technology and qualitycontrol.

Different needsTo treat smallholder farmersearning less than $2 per day as anundifferentiated mass is a mistake.In fact, farmers below thiseconomic threshold are at differentstages of development, facedifferent socio-economiccircumstances, and have differenttechnology needs. At the lowestlevel agriculture is not aneconomic activity but rather a cost– a pure subsistence functionwhere all output is consumed.Only once basic subsistence foodneeds are met does farmingbecome an economic activity andeventually reach the thresholdabove which it becomes acommercial business.

Thus, the nature and type ofsupport extension services foreach of these smallholder

About Sasakawa-Global 2000Agricultural projects of Sasakawa-Global 2000 are operated as jointventures of two organisations – Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA)and the Global 2000 programme of the Carter Center in Atlanta.SAA, whose president is Dr Norman E Borlaug, serves as the leadmanagement organisation for the SG 2000 projects in Africa.Working through the Carter Center’s Global 2000 programme, formerUS President Jimmy Carter and his advisers provide policy advice tonational political leaders in support of programme objectives.Funding for SG 2000 projects comes from the Nippon Foundation of Japan whose Chairperson is Yohei Sasakawa and President Takeju Ogata.

There are approximately 67 million smallholder farm families in sub-SaharanAfrica, comprising 400 million people. One-fourth of them reside in the four

SG 2000 focus countries and project areas, namely, Ethiopia, Mali, northern Nigeria,and Uganda. At least half are food insecure farmers who experience hunger at sometime each year. Most remaining smallholder farmers, although nutritionally andfinancially better off, have yet to achieve significant productivity and livelihoodimprovements. This has constrained agriculture from becoming the engine of economic growth that it can and must become.

categories must also vary, and betailored to the circumstances andneeds of distinct client groups. SG2000 work plans today reflect thisunderstanding. Today, there is aclearer realisation that technologyrecommendations need to besegmented so that they are moresuitable for different categories ofsmallholder – from the severelyresource-constrained to theemergent commercial farmers.Such segmentation includes agro-ecological conditions andbiological yield potential, but italso considers financial andphysical resource endowments,level of connectivity to markets(infrastructure), and foodproduction objectives. All thesefactors influence farmers’willingness and ability to adopt anew technology.

Dr Norman E Borlaug,SAA President

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Regional Rice Programme

Maintaining qualityEnsuring that these new seed typesare of the highest quality is a vitalRRP activity. Support starts at theresearch level, where carefulattention is paid to the provisionof good breeder and foundationseeds. This support is thenextended to the level of farmergroups and trained private seedproducers to make sure that high-quality, certified seed is produced.

In 2006, the RRP supported theproduction of over 1,460 mt ofimproved seed in the fourcountries, while 2,075 ha wereplanted as a seed source for 2007.Mozambique and Guinea’s veryactive seed productionprogrammes are also beingsupported by SG 2000.

Achieving high-quality productionis not just a result of seed quality,but also of the techniques used toachieve it, so demonstration andtraining activities are high-profilecomponents of the programme.Over 10,000 farmers in the fourcountries have been able to use thefull range of productiontechnologies through RRPsupport. Pivotal to this effort havebeen the 37 field days held in2006 to showcase improvedtechnologies not only to farmers,but also to the wider public and,crucially, local decision makers.

RRP-backed training introducesPromoting productivity enhancing technologies

Underpinned by the motto“from plant to plate”, the

RRP aims to achieve these goalsin its target countries of Ethiopia,Uganda, Mali and Nigeria byimproving activities right alongthe rice production chain fromgenetic and agronomic aspects tomarketing and end use.

The programme, which formallystarted in 2005, is now entering itssecond phase, with a focus onpromoting better technologiesamong small-scale farmers and thedevelopment of value-addedagroprocessing operations.

In its first year of operation, theRRP has made a number ofadvances, high among them beingthe introduction of 295 of thelatest and elite lines of rice to allfour countries. These were sourcedfrom the Africa Rice Centre(WARDA – formerly the WestAfrican Rice DevelopmentAssociation) and the InternationalRice Research Institute (IRRI), aswell as from two other ricegrowing nations, Guinea andMadagascar. The introductionsincluded both irrigated and rain-fed varieties and those suitable for

upland and lowland growing. In Ethiopia, cold and salt-tolerantvarieties were also used.

Bringing in the New Rice forAfrica (NERICA) has proved aparticularly interestingundertaking, says Berhe. From thefirst generation of NERICAs (1-7),NERICA 4 had already beenreleased in Mali and Uganda andNERICA 1 had been used inNigeria. Now a number of newvarieties have been added.NERICAs 3 and 4 were releasedin Ethiopia during 2006, withNERICAs 1 and 2 underverification for release there.Meanwhile, NERICA 1 has beenintroduced in Uganda and at leastfive lowland/irrigated varietieshave been introduced in Mali.

The second generation of rain-fedupland NERICAs (8-18), togetherwith 60 lowland and irrigatedNERICAs, are also under testingin the four countries. The cold-tolerant varieties introducedto Ethiopia from IRRI and salttolerant varieties, introduced fromthe WARDA Sahel Centre inSenegal, are also showingpromising results.

farmers to improved agronomicpractices, such as timely plantingand weeding, the correctapplication of fertiliser and bestwater management practices. Theprogramme provides support forresearch into the development ofthese technologies at a nationallevel and to national extensionprogrammes to promote their useby farmers. The RRP alsosupports the practical applicationof improved technologies throughdemonstration and seedproduction plots.

At the postharvest stage, SAA’sAgroprocessing Programmecollaborates with the RRP toprovide demonstrations, trainingand promotion of improvedtechniques. As part of this, 518postharvest and agroprocessingmachines, including threshers, ricemills, par-boilers, sieves andcleaners, have been distributed andsold in 2006.

Nigeria leads the way here,followed by Mali and Uganda.Mozambique and Guinea werealso active in promotingpostharvest and processingtechnologies. Mali, Uganda andEthiopia carried out severalpostharvest and processingdemonstrations and training in theproduction of different foodrecipes from rice.

Supporting the maintenance, production and availability of goodseed from improved varieties

“One of the main reasons that African nations have toimport rice is because locally produced rice is of muchpoorer quality in terms of colour, taste, smell and thepresence of foreign materials,” says Tareke Berhe, Directorof SAA Regional Rice Programme (RRP). “However, bothquantity and quality can be improved if better seed stock isused and improved practices are applied.”

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• Promote postharvest andagroprocessing technologies;

• Help the development ofenterprises dealing withstorage, marketing andincreased utilization of rice;

• Support the training ofyoung rice scientists andfield technicians;

• Develop strong linkages andworking relationships withpartners;

• Lobby for favourableagricultural policies.

• Identify, introduce andsupport the evaluation ofnew, improved and adaptedrice varieties from WARDA,IRRI and other sources;

• Support the maintenance,production and availabilityof improved varieties ofgood seed in collaborationwith National AgriculturalResearch and ExtensionEstablishments;

• Promote productivity –enhancing technologies;

Under its broad-based strategy, the initiative aims to:

Regional rice programme goals

continued

Encouraging rice as an African staple

Close collaboration with the agroprocessing programme

Farmer co-operationAssisting farmers to organisecollective storage facilities is afeature of SG 2000 activities inMali, where the process is knownas Warrantage, and Uganda, wherethe facility is called the One StopCentre. In both cases, farmers owna common storage centre wherecleaned grain of good quality canbe stored, processed and then soldat a date when market prices areattractive. The farmers involvedare also trained in how to addvalue to the process by developingcollective marketing strategies, aswell as pre- and postharvesthandling techniques.

By end-2006, eight centres hadbeen established in Mali and six inUganda, with more due to open in2007. This approach has provedsufficiently successful for plans tobe drawn up to extend the idea toEthiopia and Nigeria.

Building capacityBerhe views the need to buildcapacity within countries toimprove research and train thepersonnel who will form thebackbone of future educationalefforts as being just as important asthe more obvious developmentalaspects of the RRP.

This training takes many forms,whether it be theoretical orpractical, done on-the-job, at a localpoint or further afield. In somecases, training is done regionally, aswas the case when researchers and

technicians were sent betweenEthiopia, Uganda and Kenya onexchange visits. Experts are alsosometimes brought in from outside,such as when two WARDAscientists and two postharvest andprocessing machinists from thePhilippines helped train Ethiopianexperts on a course held in AddisAbaba in February 2006. In anotherexample, Ethiopian machinemanufacturers travelled to Ugandaand trained machinists there.

Strong linkagesCollaboration has been essential tosuccess at both national andinternational levels. All SG 2000country projects have developedexcellent working relationshipswith others, providing foundationsfor the Regional Rice Programmeto build on.

Working closely with partnersbrings many advantages, such aspooling financial and managementresources, better co-ordination ofprojects and access to a wider poolof expertise.

At the country level, SG 2000’spartners are national institutions,such as research and extensionbodies, colleges and universities,farmers’ organisations and otheragricultural institutions.Internationally, WARDA and IRRIprovide the sources for the bestrice varieties and elite lines, whilethe Japan InternationalCooperation Agency (JICA),USAID and others provide finance

the Minister of Agriculture andVice-President in Uganda, and theMinister of Agriculture andDeputy-Prime Minister ofEthiopia, among other influentialofficials.

In Ethiopia, successful lobbyinghas pushed rice high up thepolitical agenda. In 2006, rice wasreclassified as a fourth “NationalFood Security crop” – after wheat,maize and the country’s traditionalstaple cereal crop tef – in a movethat favours rice research andpromotion. Meanwhile, inUganda, high tariffs imposed bythe government on imported riceensure local rice growers receive agood price for their crops.

and training and others in projectcountries.

Collaboration also extends into therealm of politics, wheresympathetic implementation ofprojects and careful lobbying havehelped generate policies thatfavour high-quality riceproduction. In particular, apreparedness to tailor the RRP’swork to tie in with domestic goalsand a willingness to let nationalsrun projects where practicable canpay big dividends.

Such moves tend to engender goodrelations with political authorities,making it much easier to lobby forfavourable agricultural policies. In2006, these efforts producedeffective contacts between theRRP and the President of Mali,

“The complexity of achieving ourgoal of replacing conventionalmaize with QPM is hard tooverstate,” says Dr Wayne Haag,SAA Director for the QPM/SeedProgramme. “There are a numberof very successful conventionalvarieties and hybrids currentlybeing grown by African farmers;replacing them will require thatthe new QPM materials be highlycompetitive – and not only interms of yield.”

For any new materials to stand achance of replacing widely grownconventional hybrids and OPVs,they will have to meet or exceedexisting postharvest standards forstorage and processing, as well asgain the acceptance of consumerswho have well-establishedpreferences for grain colour,

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SG 2000 Regional QPM/Seed Programme

hoped that this work will lead toreleases that can benefit othercountries where yellow maize iswidely accepted, such as Mali,Nigeria and Ivory Coast.

In Malawi, the new QPM OPVSussuma is under large-scale seedproduction and the release processshould come to fruition in 2007.In addition, four very promisingQPM hybrids from CIMMYThave been identified by the Malawinational programme as candidatesfor release. In 2006, Zimbabwereleased its first QPM material,CZH01021, a hybrid of CIMMYTorigin. Kenya’s nationalprogramme recently released twoQPM hybrids, KH-501Q and KH-502Q, and a private Kenyancompany – Western Seeds – hasreleased an OPV tagged as WS-104Q. This variety is also beingtested regionally by the company.

Collaboration is key Success in achieving the SG 2000goal for QPM will ultimatelydepend on strong collaborationamong and between many differentnational, regional and internationalpublic and private partners. In2006, the SG 2000 RegionalQPM/Seed Programme continuedto work closely with researchers ina number of national programmes,including Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya,Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria,Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda.

Replacing conventional maize hybrids and varietiesgrown by African farmers with significantly more

nutritious Quality Protein Maize (QPM) materials remainsthe primary focus of the SG 2000 Regional QPM/SeedProgramme. Intensive maize breeding work is resulting in anew generation of QPM hybrids and Open-PollinatedVarieties (OPVs) that have the potential to yield as well as,or better than, conventional maize. The International Maizeand Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) in Mexico, theInternational Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) inNigeria, and a number of African national agriculturalresearch programmes have worked together for the past fiveyears to produce the new QPM materials. In 2006 thesematerials moved from the protective confines of the researchplot to large-scale field testing, and the best of them are nownearing commercial release in target countries.

texture and flavour. Thesestandards and preferences varywidely from country to country,which means that no single QPMhybrid or variety is going to fit thebill in all project countries.Instead, maize breeders –especially those working innational programmes – must tailortheir efforts to meet localopportunities, needs andpreferences. This in turn meansthat progress towards the SG 2000goal for QPM is going to varyfrom country to country, and behighly influenced by national andlocal conditions.

For example, in Ethiopia the majorchallenges are to identify asuperior version of the currentintermediate maturing QPMhybrid BHQ-542 and develop a

QPM hybrid that can competesuccessfully with the country’spopular long season normal hybridBH-660. In Uganda, the need is toidentify QPM hybrids that privateUgandan seed companies can taketo market, building on thesuccessful OPV, Longe-5. In Mali,the white QPM OPV, calledDenbenyuma, competes wellagainst conventional white maizematerials. However, yellow maizeis also important in the localmarket and yellow QPM materialsstill need to be identified that cancompete with the popularconventional maize variety,Sotubaka. In Nigeria, the QPMOPV Sammaz-14 is being adoptedat a rapid rate, but because there isan active private seed sector in thecountry, there is a need to identifyand promote the release ofadditional QPM hybrids thatprivate companies can thencommercialise.

Despite the variability incircumstances from country tocountry, notable progress is beingmade towards the SG 2000 QPMgoal. In Ghana, three new OPVsand three new QPM hybrids havebeen identified as candidates forrelease, to complement the QPMworkhorse, Obatanpa. Ghana’sQPM breeder at the CropsResearch Institute (CRI), DrManfred Ewool, is leading theeffort to develop competitiveyellow OPVs and hybrids, and it is

QPM farmer discussing his poultry production with extensionsupervisor in Uganda

Alpha Diallo of CIMMYT – Kenya’s breeder with fellow breederand their new QPMs in Kenya

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The Programme’s efforts werefurther leveraged by partnershipswith such far-reaching sub-regionalorganisations as ASARECA andCORAF, and by drawing on theexpertise of researchers workingfor CIMMYT, IITA, and theInternational Centre for Researchin the Semi-Arid Tropics(ICRISAT). SG 2000’s efforts toestablish and/or support local seedenterprises in Mozambique andother countries have beenstrengthened by partnerships withthe Rockefeller Foundation, andnow with the joint Rockefeller/Gates initiative in support of cropimprovement and seed systems inAfrica. At the request of the UNMillennium Village Project, the SG2000 Programme and its partnersbrought QPM and No-Tilltechnology to a newly establishedMillennium Village in Bonsasso,Ashanti.

Strengthening seed systems The first link in any effective formalseed system involves the productionof high-quality breeder seed (BS)that underpins the eventualmultiplication and delivery tofarmers of commercial certifiedseed. The objective is thatbreeders/research maintain theirmaterials and produce the first seedused for further multiplication.While the quantities needed are

relatively small, great care must betaken to ensure the integrity of thevarieties and lines with which theywork.

“The good news,” says Haag “isthat breeder seed systems are in theprocess of getting into pretty goodshape in the countries where we’reworking. In general, the properquality controls are in place,assuring the maintenance andavailability of high-quality BS forpublic- and private-sector producersto use. However, more problemsarise when it comes to theproduction of foundation (FS) andcertified seed (CS).”

For the most part, there areadequate stocks of FS beingproduced, though productionsystems are in need of additionalrefinement in several countries. The foremost challenge ismaintaining quality controls once anumber of small-scale seed growersand companies become involved inthe process. This is especially truewith respect to the production ofthe CS eventually marketed tofarmers. To address this challenge,in 2006 the SG 2000 QPMProgramme organised a number of joint field visits with certifyingauthorities, companyrepresentatives, seed growers andresearchers.

These visits made clear to all that,in addition to making sure the usualguidelines are followed for

Eggs with QPM produced by former leprosy sufferers at Sebu-Seri village in Ethiopia

Kano State Co-ordinator (left) with farmer demonstratingSammaz-14 seed production in Nigeria

Barbara Tembo and Texas A&Mgraduate student Anette Kuteesa,and work will commence in 2007.The QPM-Malt intervention workin Ghana that was conducted in2006 by Ghana Health Servicesand the Self Help Foundation willcontinue during 2007. In Ethiopia,the QPM study underway at Sibu-Sire, the results of which willsoon be available, will continue in2007. And as part of the HarvestPlus initiative and in collaborationwith CIMMYT and SG 2000,Purdue University graduatestudent Nilupa Gunaratnacontinues her thesis work oncompiling evidence andstrengthening the case for QPM.

QPM labs and quality analysis As reported last year in thisnewsletter, significant progress hasbeen made towards establishingfunctional QPM labs in selectedAfrican countries. The problemremains one of sourcing the properglacial acetic acid needed toconduct reliable quality tests.CIMMYT is currently providinglimited back-up testing at its labsin Mexico, but more importantlyhas developed and is working toverify a new testing protocol thatsubstitutes the more readilyavailable glyoxilic acid for glacialacetic acid. If the effectiveness ofthis protocol is borne out in 2007,the QPM labs in Africa will bemuch closer to achieving theirgoal of providing reliable localquality analysis.

producing CS – such as using onlyfoundation seed and properlyisolating production fields to avoidcontamination – other steps shouldbe taken. For example, work isneeded to ensure that certified seedfields are planted using goodagronomic practices, both as aquality-control measure and to helpadvertise the potential of the seed.In that same vein, fields should beclearly labelled, and producersshould clear a 1.5 – 2.0 metrewalking path around each field toallow for more effectivepresentations during field days, andmore importantly, to facilitate thework of certification inspectors. Asthe number of certified seedcompanies grows, there is a need tostrengthen their own fieldinspection and certificationcapabilities. In Uganda, forexample, each company must nowhave their own inspectors, dulytrained and certified by the nationalauthorities, who also regularlymonitor their work withunannounced field visits andassessments of company inspectionprocesses.

QPM nutrition research continues Despite years of research andmounting evidence of the clearnutritional advantages of QPM,some policy makers still need tobe convinced. Research on humanand animal nutrition relative to theuse of QPM is therefore on-going.In Uganda, plans are in place for anutrition intervention project usingQPM involving nutritionist

continued

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Agroprocessing

This untapped potentialprompted SAA to develop an

Agroprocessing Programme(SAA-AP) in the mid-1990s,aiming to improve the viability ofrural agroprocessing and toestablish better links betweenfarmers and their markets.

In general, food production inSSA has been graduallyincreasing, due to technologicalimprovements and betterapplication of technology, as wellas an increase in the amount ofland under cultivation. However,the growth in food production hasfailed to match the growth in theregion’s population over the lasttwo decades, so a pressing need toboost output remains.

This picture is not universal, ofcourse. The diversity of climate,soils and farming systems acrossthe SSA region ensures that manyareas do not face perpetual foodshortages. Variations in rainfallpatterns and the varying fragilityof farming environments canproduce vastly differing situationseven within the same country andacross the year.

Farmers counteract suchimbalances by preserving andprocessing their products, perhaps

selling them to provide funds totide them over in more difficulttimes and provide stability. Sosmall-scale agroprocessingactivities have long been commonpractice.

“Increasing population and theassociated growth in urbanisationacross the continent is creatingnew challenges for the agriculturalsector, including small farmers,who stand to gain enormously ifthey can meet the rising demandfor value-added, high-qualityproducts from the more affluentparts of African society,” saysToshiro Mado, Director of SAA’sAgroprocessing Programme(SAA-AP). “The shift towardsvalue-added agriculture is makingsome headway, but it remainsfragile in many countries, sosupport for the sector is vital atthis stage.”

The channels along which goodsmust pass from rural farmers tomajor cities are long, complex andhindered by a lack of adequateinfrastructure. Producers’ controlover quality usually decreases asgoods move further downstreamalong the marketing chain, whichmeans ensuring their standard ismaintained by the time they arrive

at the end-consumer – essential forsuccessful sales – is no easymatter. By helping farmers withprocessing and pre-packaging,SAA is helping to remove many ofthese uncertainties.

SAA-AP activities Active since the mid-1990s, theSAA agroprocessing programme’searly focus was on Ghana andBenin, where the associationcollaborated with the InternationalInstitute of Tropical Agriculture(IITA) on a project bringingimproved postharvest andagroprocessing technologies tosmall-scale farmers. Having madeconsiderable progress in Ghana,Benin and other countries (seeFeeding the Future 22), theprogramme is now primarilyfocused on Ethiopia, Mali andUganda.

SAA-AP covers four majoractivities:

• Research and development foragroprocessing technology incollaboration with localmanufacturers;

• Training manufacturers toproduce improvedagroprocessing equipments;

• Field demonstration ofimproved agroprocessingtechnology in collaborationwith the agriculture ministriesand local manufacturers;

• Development of agroprocessingenterprises in collaborationwith farmers’ co-operatives andprivate agroprocessing serviceproviders.

“Threshing is the vital first step inconverting a harvested crop into avalue-added, quality product, soSAA’s programme has been veryactive in developing improvementsat this stage,” comments Mado.

In 2001, the SAA-AP projectintroduced a multi-crop thresherdeveloped by the IITA, initially foruse with rice in Guinea. Morerecently, Sasakawa has beensupporting the development ofmulti-crop machines to thresh tefin Ethiopia. Around 100 threshershave been bought by Ethiopianfarmers and private serviceproviders – a figure that can makea big difference given that onethresher can be used by more than150 farmers in a season. The SAAprogramme is now trying todevelop a new type of multi-cropthresher with both threshing andcleaning functions.

Using a threshing machine offershuge savings in time and labourover conventional processing,given that the latter involvesperhaps three or four labourersand half a dozen oxen – animalsthat could be freed up forploughing. The machine is alsoable to separate grain from soiland sand much more efficiently,while the rapidity of the processimproves the chances of gettingthe threshing done before thegrain gets wet and deteriorates inthe rainy season.

Other benefits also emerge rapidly.In the Ethiopian region ofShashemeni, for example, local tefhas come to be regarded as a high-quality product, since farmers

The agroprocessing sector is uniquely positioned to driveeconomic development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

However, this potential is still not widely recognised andpolicy to direct resources towards agro-industry is weak inmany countries. Partly as a result of this, the gap betweenthe sector’s contribution to African economies and that ofmanufacturing industry remains wide.

Private tef threshing service provider: this multi-crop thresherwas made by a local manufacturer

Agricultural market channel

Market access for rural farmers“Linking rural farmers to themarket” has been one of the majorissues for agricultural developmentin SSA. Farmers have to face severalchallenges in order for theiragricultural products to go downthe entire market channel and reach consumers.

Good crop husbandry. On-time harvest. Proper handling and transport.

Farm

ers’

con

trol

ove

r pr

oduc

t qu

ality

?

Hig

h /L

ow

Apply storage, processing andpackaging practice

Locally produced products

Target local community and townsLocal marketing strategy

Apply threshing and cleaning practiceCollect to have tradable volume

Trading with local buyers andtransporters from major cities

Major city traders trade larger volume for food industry

in urban cities

Retailers’ trading with urban consumers

9

SAFE

“Our goals are to open doors toleadership positions for mid-careerextension workers throughadvanced training, to link coursesmore closely to the real world ofAfrican farmers, and to helpuniversities keep abreast of therapid changes taking place in ruralareas”, says SAFE Director DeolaNaibakelao. “Over 1,100 peopleseeking mid-career extensiontraining had graduated from SAFEcourses and scholarship schemes byFebruary 2007, with a further 771students under tuition at that time.”

At a well-attended tenth SAFEAnniversary StakeholderWorkshop held by Haramaya

Third year students at Bunda College in Malawi discussing amaize project by one of the students

Now in its 14th year of operations, the Sasakawa AfricaFund for Extension Education (SAFE) is working to

address the deficit of tertiary education among Africa’sextension workers, five sixths of whom do not haveuniversity degrees. Existing SAFE-backed agriculturalextension courses have been expanding and are beingreinforced by new programmes, launched to meet increasingdemand for training.

(formerly Alemaya) University ineastern Ethiopia, employersexpressed satisfaction with thesuccess of the decade-old mid-career programme there. Theyrequested that similar programmesbe developed for other disciplines,such as agricultural economics.Graduates from the university nownumber 215 students, following the graduation of 24 more in July 2006.

Also in Ethiopia, the new SAFEprogramme at Hawassa (formerlyDebub) University in Awasa, to thesouth of Addis Ababa, admitted itsfirst batch of 24 students, includingthree women, in October 2006.

They were selected only fromOromiya Region and SouthernNations Nationalities PeoplesRegion (SNNPR) during this firstround. The university has nowestablished a fully-fledgedDepartment of AgriculturalExtension and recruited two newstaff, both graduates of the SAFEprogramme at HaramayaUniversity.

At Makerere University in theUgandan capital Kampala, aproposal for a new SAFE-typedegree programme has beenpresented to the universitymanagement for approval and isset for launch in the 2007/08academic year. This part-timedegree will cater for new privateextension service providers unableto allow full-time study.

The Agroprocessing Programme supports the less fortunate insociety in Ethiopia – such as those who have suffered from leprosy.One hundred members of the Ethiopian Association of Ex-LeprosyPatients were invited to Selam Vocational Training Centre – SAA’slocal collaborator – during their annual meeting. SAA is providingthem with technical support to improve their agroprocessing/income generating opportunities.

started using a private threshingservice. This means it attracts apremium from local traders, whooffer 10 per cent more formechanically threshed tef.Shashemeni’s farmers are noweager to extend their reach alongthe processing chain by seeking theuse of a grain cleaner, which willadd further value to their products.

Building manufacturingcapacity Most farmers and groups involvedin small-scale agroprocessingwork manually or withrudimentary mechanicaltechnology. In most SSAcountries, there is insufficientlocal capacity to produce anddistribute agro/food processingequipment at reasonable prices.

“So one important strand of SAA-AP is identifying potentiallocal manufacturers and offeringthem technical support andpractical training on how to

produce good qualityequipment,”adds Mado. “Thesemanufacturers can then sell torural customers and provide anafter-sales maintenance service,forging a link between industryand agriculture.”

Most small-scale metalmanufacturers face two majorconstraints: a lack of access togood machine design anddifficulties in holding on to skilledstaff. The project addresses theseissues by providing a design forrelatively cheap, multi-functionequipment tailored for farmerswith limited funds and for theseasonal nature of agriculture inthe region.

Food productdevelopment Capacity to process high-qualityfood products is still low in muchof SSA – a factor that meansagriculturally rich countries stillfind themselves importing large

amounts of processed foods. The SAA programme encourageswomen farmers to use locallyavailable harvested products toproduce marketable food productsbased on their own traditionalrecipes, suitable for both the localcommunity and for citypopulations.

Home economists providetechnical advice on improving thenutritional value and hygiene offoods, which are often based onhousehold recipes, to help makethe end products more marketable.

In the Babile district of Ethiopia,

the success of added-value productssuch as groundnut butter andground nut-based cake has had theadded benefit of pushing upgroundnut prices by 20 per centsince the farmers’ co-operativestarted production. This SAA-supported scheme shows howa farmers’ group can move up thevalue chain by targeted use ofagroprocessing technology andmarketing. In addition, thesewomen are now accumulating theexperience and know-how to enablethem to broaden their involvementin agribusiness in the future.

continued overleaf

continued

10

SAFE

PhD training fellowshipsOne of the most critical challenges facing all SAFE programmes isthe lack of qualified teaching staff at PhD level to nurture and sustainthe SAFE programme. To help rectify this, SAFE has provided threePhD fellowships to train lecturers from the University of Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso, Hawassa and Haramaya Universities inEthiopia, and two Masters’ degree fellowships for lecturers fromIPR/IRFA in Mali. The Department of Agricultural Economics andExtension at UCC has agreed to assist in the training of these PhDfellows in Agricultural Extension from August 2007. Thesefellowships add to the Masters’ degree fellowships that SAFE offersto qualified candidates in SG 2000/SAFE programme countries.

SAFE websiteSAFE has now launched its website (www.safe-africa.com).Content is in the process of being developed to make the site more functional.

Women enrol The new Technical Diploma levelSAFE programme at the SamankoAgricultural Training Centre, closeto Mali’s capital Bamako, took inits first crop of 25 students inOctober 2006. The ten women whoenrolled represent the largest femaleenrolment in one batch since theinception of the SAFE initiative.The programme is affiliated toIPR/IFRA.

Meanwhile, the University ofAbomey-Calavi in Benin admitted31 students, including one woman,in 2006. This brought the totalnumber of students enrolled in theprogramme to 56. Students enrolledin the SAFE programme finallyrelocated to a new permanent site atSekou, about 40 km from the maincampus in Cotonou.

UCC, Ghana (BSc)

KAC, Ghana (Dip)

Haramaya, Ethiopia ( BSc)

Hawassa, Ethiopia ( BSc)

Makerere, Uganda (BSc)

Sokoine,Tanzania (BSc)

IPR/IFRA, Mali (Maîtrise)

Samanko, Mali (Dip)

Ahmadu Bello, Nigeria (BSc)

Abomey-Calavi, Benin (Licence)

Bobo-Dioulasso,Burkina Faso ( Licence)

Bunda, Malawi (BSc)

Sub total

Diploma

BSc

MSc

PhD

Sub total

TOTAL

Mid-career BScand Diploma Courses Graduated Current Total

Scholarships Graduated Current Total

SAFE statistics, February 2007

246

231

215

-

130

233

15

-

16

-

-

-

1,086

55

77

98

24

41

190

91

25

45

56

24

23

749

301

308

313

24

171

423

106

25

61

56

24

23

1,835

-

26

51

3

80

1,166

6

5

10

3

24

773

6

31

61

6

104

1,939

At a regional level, the

SAFE programmes in East

Africa region recently held

a very successful workshop

at Sokoine University in

Tanzania. It was attended

by 25 participants drawn

from universities and

ministries of agriculture in

Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania

and Uganda. Participants

discussed their experiences

and recommended that a

newsletter be introduced to

facilitate networking

between SAFE partner

institutions.

At Malawi’s Bunda College, theSAFE programme admitted 18new students in October 2006,bringing the total to 23, of whichsix are women. Bunda hassignificantly strengthened linkageswith the Ministry of Agricultureafter a slow start due to frequentchanges among senior ministrystaff. The ministry has already paid fees to finance ten candidatesfor the academic year startingAugust 2007.

Under a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MOU) between theUniversity of Cape Coast (UCC) in Ghana and Ahmadu BelloUniversity (ABU) in Nigeria, UCChas sent a lecturer from theDepartment of AgriculturalEconomics and Extension in theSchool of Agriculture, to ABU tocontinue his PhD studies. As wellas teaching part-time, he is alsoproviding support to the SAFEprogramme at ABU, includingteaching and planning supervisedenterprise/experience projects(SEPs). Meanwhile, two seniorstaff of ABU are currentlyspending sabbatical leave in theSchool of Agriculture at UCC.

At Kwadaso Agricultural College(KAC) in Ghana, 50 diplomastudents from the UCC-affiliatedSAFE programme graduated in

October 2006. This brings thenumber of graduates there to 232,including 44 women. Ghana’sMinistry of Food and Agriculturehas renovated several facilities atKAC, such as classrooms, thelibrary, hostels, the water supplyand telephone lines, to ensuresmooth implementation of theSAFE programme.

In Nigeria, 16 of the 19 SAFEstudents who enrolled in theprogramme in 2002 graduated inFebruary 2007. Three of themgraduated with First ClassHonours and nine with SecondClass Honours. There are currently45 students enrolled on theprogramme. As part of scaling-upactivities, the second SAFEprogramme in Nigeria will belaunched at Bayero University,Kano, in August 2007, wherepreparations are at an advancedstage.

At the Polytechnic Institute forTraining and Applied Research(IPR/IRFA) in Katibougou, Mali,the first batch of 15 studentsenrolling in 2002 completed theirprogramme in December 2006.The Technology Village atIPR/IFRA is now fully operational,offering practical training andeducation programmes for bothstudents and farmers.

continued

11

Since then, the SG 2000initiative has grown into an

innovative public/private ventureinvolving the Ethiopian Federal andState Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development (MoARD), theEthiopian Institute of AgriculturalResearch (EIAR), the InternationalLivestock Research Institute(ILRI), and two large farmers’co-operative unions, representingthe interests of 120 farmers’primary societies co-operatives andsome 125,000 Ethiopian Rift Valleyfarm households.

“We provide technical support and the initial revolving creditneeded by farmers to constructsmall-scale water harvesting andmicro-irrigation systems,” says Dr Aberra Debelo, SG 2000’sProject Co-ordinator, Ethiopia.“The systems are designed toprovide enough water to sustainagricultural activity year-round onindividual 1000m2 plots. We also

work with farmers to diversifytheir operations, bringing cashcrops, livestock and dairy into their traditional staple cropproduction systems.”

The partnership provides improvedlivestock (on credit), as well assuperior forage materials, fruit andvegetable seeds and seedlings, andhigh-quality seed of staple crops.Farmers are trained in waterharvesting and drip irrigationtechniques, livestock management,dairy operations, the production offruit and vegetable cash crops, andpostharvest agroprocessingactivities that add value to farmoutputs. Beyond that, thepartnership helps farmers learnhow to access and respond torapidly changing input and outputmarket information.

“The impact of this initiative hasbeen dramatic”, says Dr MarcoQuiñones, SAA Director Generalfor Africa. “The average annualincomes of participating farmersand farm households haveincreased significantly, from lessthan US$500 to about US$2000.They’ve been able to achieve thisbecause having water readilyavailable allows them to grow cashcrops and include livestock anddairy in their operations. They’realso able to intensify their farmingoperations, using land, labour andcapital on a year-round rather thanseasonal basis.”

Regular monitoring of theinitiative also shows that decisionmaking by participating farmershas become much more sensitiveto changing input and outputmarkets, and that they have

broadened in order to ensuresustainability of the initiative overtime and to involve more farmhouseholds. As the number offarm households increases, theavailability of revolving creditthrough participating farmer co-operatives will also need toexpand. As the activities of thepartnership grow, there will beopportunities to scale out theproven practices to other water-stressed agricultural areas inAfrica. “Our current geographicfocus is the semi-arid EthiopianRift Valley,” notes Dr Quiñones“but the approaches we’vedeveloped and shown to be veryeffective there will be equallyuseful in countless other areas inAfrica where the lack of waterlimits agricultural productivity.”

become much more entrepren-eurial in their behaviour. Farmhouseholds involved in the projecthave enjoyed major improvementsin food security, nutritional status,and general family health. Theynow have more options for healthcare and for educating theirchildren, and many have alsoinvested in improved familyhousing.

Efforts are underway now to scaleup the activities of the partnership,which will require both anintensification of the EthiopianGovernment’s participation as wellas additional external funding.There is a need to fully integratesocio-economic assessments intothe work so as to more accuratelymonitor and evaluate impacts. The participation of farmer co-operative unions needs to be

Spurred by devastating cyclical droughts, the EthiopianGovernment initiated in 2002 what would become a

large-scale water harvesting programme aimed at protectingthose hardest hit when the rains fail – resource-poor farmersin the semi-arid areas of the Ethiopian countryside such asthe Rift Valley. SG 2000 joined in this effort in 2003,working initially with 30 farmers to establish small-scalewater harvesting systems coupled with proven micro-irrigation techniques that make optimal use of scarceharvested water. These early systems were situated instrategic locations where farmers, extension officers andpolicy makers could see first hand how the technologies candramatically increase the incomes and improve the foodsecurity of very poor farmers in dry areas.

Water harvesting and micro-irrigation

Water storage under construction

Potatoes grown under micro-irrigation

12

Ethiopia has reported four straight years of strong harvests,underpinned by healthy rainfall levels. The main meher

harvest for 2006-2007 has shown an estimated five per centproduction increase on the already robust levels of theprevious year. The rains have been especially good forhighland crops, and should support the secondary belg harvestwhich runs from March to May, accounting for around 10 percent of overall cereal output. Cereal production rose from 10 million mt in 2002 to 14 million mt in 2005, jumping to 19 million mt in 2006.

The improved BBM implement in operation

Conversely a combination ofnatural and man-made factors

has resulted in serious and growingfood insecurity in many parts of thecountry. To counter this, thegovernment has put in place foodsecurity programmes within theframework of a ‘Plan forAccelerated and SustainedDevelopment to End Poverty(PASDEP).’ This plan has beenunder implementation in most ofthe chronically food insecureworedas (districts) since 2003. Theoverall objective is to increase foodavailability and access at householdlevel through improved livestockand crop production and access toincome generating activities.

Ethiopia possesses about 13 millionha of heavy, black-clay soils(vertisols), of which about 2.5million ha are under cropproduction. The rest are used

mostly for natural grazing.Seasonally flooded vertisol areasare left as waste land for communalgrazing. Vertisols are mainlylocated in the highlands, 1,500metres above sea level and aredifficult to work since they getsticky when wet and crack badlywhen dry. Above all, they remainwaterlogged during the main rainyseason (June-September). As aresult, water logging is one of themajor constraints to cropproduction in vertisol areas.

In order to overcome the adverseeffect of water-logging, farmershave been trying differenttraditional methods such as handtools and the traditional ploughcalled ‘maresha’. For the mostpart, the methods are inefficient orrequire hand labour that subjectsthe farm family to the drudgery ofhard work. Consequently, the

planting of crops like wheat onsuch soils is delayed until the rainyseason starts tapering off in earlySeptember. Often, this exposes thecrop to moisture stress later in theseason, thereby resulting in lowgrain yield. With improved soildrainage, vertisols have goodpotential for crop production.However, they are still generallyregarded as marginal soils by mostEthiopian farmers.

In an effort to change perceptionsabout vertisols, SG 2000 has beenconducting on-farm demonstrationson the use of the Broad Bed Maker(BBM), a locally manufacturedsimple farm implement, in specificvertisol areas of the country -mainly in Oromiya region. BBM is used in making raised beds inorder to drain excess water fromwater logged soils and improve soil drainage so as to allow earlyplanting of wheat and provide anopportunity to increase yield. At the outset, training on how and when to operate the BBM was provided to both the field staff and the farmers in theintervention areas.

Improved implementThe new and improved BBM farmimplement, which is lighter thanearlier versions, is based on thetraditional Ethiopian plough – butin addition has two separate mouldboard-shaped wings made from 3 mm thick sheet metal that areattached to the traditional woodenframe. As a pair of oxen pulls theBBM through the soil, it makestwo parallel furrows, each about 80cm apart, 15 cm deep and 40 cmwide that are controlled by theoperator. During the fieldoperation, the mould board-shapedwings scoop the soil towards themiddle, forming heaps, while thechain attached at the back of themetal wings spreads the soil evenlyand also covers the seeds. Thisresults in raised seed beds, wherethe two furrows located on eitherside of the beds serve as outlets fordraining excess water.

The BBM implement is onlyeffective when the soil is friable –easily crumbled – and not when itis very wet. The optimum time foroperating the implement istherefore short and ranges from

Ethiopia

country profilesSG 2000

* Shaga is a better method of the traditional practices used by farmers in vertisol areas.

Region Number of plots used for scaling upBBM Traditional (Shaga) *

Oromiya 7,779 147,338

Amhara 5,036 92,735

Southern 147 Data not available

Total 12,962 240,073

Number of 0.25ha wheat plots involved in scaling up theBBM technology in vertisol areas of Oromiya, Amharaand the Southern Regional States 2006 crop season.

continued

Wheat planted on raised beds prepared using BBM

* Numbers in brackets indicate number of plots used in calculating average yield of wheat/ha/year of the respective District.

10-15 days after the start of themain rainy season. In order for thedrained water to leave the fieldeasily, it is imperative that the fieldhas some slope and that thefurrows are not laid down theslope and cause soil erosion byforming gullies. BBM offers anumber of other benefits tofarmers: it drains excess water;allows farmers to plant early andharvest early; and to sell theproduce at a higher price beforeother crops reach the market. Incases where the first crop is earlierin maturity, it also allows thepossibility of double cropping.

Planted earlier BBM demonstrations conductedon farmers’ fields in various areasof the country during the last fewyears have conclusively provedthat wheat can be planted at leastone month earlier than thetraditional planting date used bythe farmers of the area. The yieldof improved wheat varieties grownon raised beds, using BBM, alongwith recommended agronomicpractices, was found to be farsuperior to that traditionally grownon flat beds as indicated in thetable opposite.

Although the advantage of BBMtechnology over traditionalpractices is evident, its adoptionrate by farmers has been slow.Farmers have given a variety ofreasons for the slow uptake rate,notably the high cost of theimplement and inaccessibility ofcredit to buy it. Aware of theproblem, the government decidedto carry out a pilot ‘scaling up’ ofthe technology in the 2006 cropseason, by making availablethousands of BBM implementsthrough its Rural AgriculturalTechnology Centres. These weredistributed on credit, throughfarmers’ organisations (unions), toa substantial number of farmers invertisol areas of Oromiya, Amhara

and the Southern Regional States,where demonstrations on the useof BBM have been carried out bySG 2000. Prior to dispersal of theimplements, the farmers’organisations were briefed on themanagement of the credit system.Additional training was also givento field extension staff and farmerson how to get best results out ofBBM technology. The numbers of

13

plots in use for scaling up BBMtechnology in the above regionalstates are shown in the first table.

Superior yieldsYield data of wheat, comparingBBM and the traditional practice(shaga), are not yet available.However, according to farmerswho attended field days as well as

Region Zone District Year * Average grain yield (tons/ha)Traditional BBM

Oromiya Southwest Shewa Becho 2000 (25) 0.5 2.3

2003 (10) 0.5 1.9

2004 (26) 1.8 2.6

Dandi 2000 (20) 0.5 2.5

2003 (10) 0.5 2.6

Alemgena 2000 (20) 0.9 2.4

2003 - -

Illu 2000 (10) 0.8 2.2

2003 - -

Ambo 2000 (10) 0.5 1.4

2003 - -

Northwest Shewa Yayagullelle 2000 (30) 0.5 2.7

2003 (10) 0.5 1.5

Bereh Aleltu 2000 (10) 0.6 2.9

2003 - -

East Shewa Akaki 2000 (10) 0.8 2.7

2003 - -

Gimbichu 2000 (10) 0.8 3.4

2003 - -

Average grain yield of wheat obtained using BBM as compared to the traditional practice (flat bed) in specific Districts of Oromiya Regional State,2000, 2003 and 2004 crop seasons.

preliminary field assessments, it appears that wheat yields on theBBM plots are still superior to theones grown using the traditionalpractice. BBM technology is set toexpand in the coming season –and farmers now see theadvantages over the oldcumbersome model.

14

Mali

A purchase contract is exchanged between Traoré M Diallo,co-ordinator of 17 cereal security stocks of Yiromadio(Bamako), and Bakary Togola, President of Niamala CerealProducers’ Co-operative

“The past 20 years of SG 2000activities in sub-Saharan Africahave demonstrated that, givenscience-based technologies,farmers can produce better resultsand contribute towards a modernagricultural economy,’ says MarcelGaliba, Country Director for Mali.“Here in Mali, where SG 2000started in 1996, production hascertainly increased over the lastten years – with a surplus in theyears when there was goodrainfall. The weakest link hasalways been at the downstreamlevel with postharvest, processingand marketing.”

Gross grain production figuresindicated that the trend wascontinuing with over 3.4 millionmt for the 2006-07 period. Thiswas 16 per cent higher than thefive year average and one per centhigher than the previous year.While the food situation is stable,Mali’s food imports will reach146,700 mt, made up of rice (112,300 mt), wheat (4,590 mt) andcoarse grains (3,560 mt). Food aiditself will provide 13,470 mt ofrice and 7,670 mt of wheat.

The grain balance sheet for 2006-07 shows a net surplus of 264,300mt in which coarse grains (millet,

sorghum, maize and fonio)represent 79 per cent of the total.Per capita food availability standsat 253 kg, up 8.4 per cent over the previous period and 18 percent above the officialconsumption standard of 214 kgper person a year.

“Grain is in good supply in localmarkets. Price levels are lowerthan last year and below the five-year average for the same time ofthe year. Rice is still the best cropin terms of profitability in themarket-place,” says Galiba.

Income opportunities Last year, SG 2000 launched afive-year Market Oriented andCommodity Based Programme ForFarmers’ Organisations. Designedas a new approach for promotingpostharvest, agroprocessing andmarketing, to ensure food securityand reduce rural poverty, it wastested as a pilot project in 2005.

Now given the acronym MAP(marketing programme), itsprincipal objective is to increasethe income-earning opportunitiesfor its stakeholders – the farmers’organisations.

“If farmers are to have access tomarkets and be competitive, they

must be organised,” says Galiba.“MAP can only be a realitythrough strong producers’ groupsand group empowerment – whichwe call GEM. We know that thesegroups are the foundation ofsustainable agriculturaldevelopment. But we also knowtheir weaknesses – such asilliteracy, poor management, lackof negotiation skill and littleaccess to information.”

Each village in the scheme willhave a development centre knownlocally as Niet@Kene – meaningspace or environment for all tomove forward.

“We see Niet@Kene as centres ofexcellence for rural development,”says Galiba. “Stakeholders willlook at all aspects of developmentand the opportunities that can beprovided. They must keep in mindtwo points – prosperity anddurability. They must be made toimprove their income withoutmining their soils or jeopardisingtheir habitat. Farmers’organisations will be registered ateach development centre by 2008.”

As part of this programme, andwith the objective of linking

Mali’s 2006 rainy season was erratic, compared to 2005when rainfall was good throughout the country and

an increase over the previous year. A dry spell in Junepushed many farmers to extend their planting time up toearly August but with the rains continuing until October,many plots completed their cycle.

producers to markets, a cerealstock exchange (Bourse deCéréales) was established inMarch last year in partnershipwith the National Department ofAgriculture, the PermanentAssembly of Chambers ofAgriculture, and Afrique Verte (aninternational NGO). Fivecommodities were auctionedamounting to 815,976 mt – with60 per cent being sold forUS$162,000. The Bourse broughttogether producers and buyers.Galiba described it as “rich inlearning.” Farmers wereencouraged by the results – andagreed to hold a similar auction inSégou in April.

Earning potential As an indication of the amount of money now going into theempowered farmer groups throughMAP, 454 producers haveearmarked 529 ha of their land for marketing purposes. This isexpected to provide 1,373 mt ofmaize, millet and rice seed – with the potential of earningfarmers more than US$366,975.

Two training sessions for MAP

Table 1: Rainfall (mm) in 2006 compared to 2005 (A)and the period 1971-2000 (B)

Regions

Year

July

August

September

2006

612

675

333

463

A

-196

-90

32

48

B

-24

-88

0

-13

A= 2006 rainfall – 2005 rainfall B= 2006 rainfall – (1971/2000) mean rainfall

continued

15

took place in Bamako, the first inJanuary 2006, and the second inSeptember. Supported by SG 2000’s RegionalAgroprocessing Programme, localequipment manufacturers weretrained in the use and developmentof maize sheller and grainwinnower machines. These havenow been placed in villages in theregion of Sikasso.

In partnership with the Marketingand Processing Project (MPP),financed by USAID-West Africaand monitored by Dr John Sandersof Purdue University/ Intsormiland Dr Ouendeba Botorou, formerMillet Network Co-ordinator, thevillage of Tingoni was selected tocrop 50 ha of millet for themarket. To improve yield, a newcultural practice – tied-ridges –was included in the technologicalpackage. The use of fertilisers andtied-ridges gave average yields of1,314 kg/ha, nearly doubleprevious yields. SG 2000 wasable to bring two agroprocessingenterprises, Danaya and MamCocktail, to meet with the Tingoniproducers and come to anagreement to buy the millet.Twenty tons were sold at 100 CFAfrancs/kg – this included apremium of 20 CFA francs abovethe market price.

Galiba describes the twentieth

anniversary celebrations of theSG 2000 programme in Africa andthe Symposium on ‘StimulatingAfrican Smallholder CommercialAgriculture’ held in Bamako (seepage 1) as an excellentopportunity to showcase Mali’sagriculture.

Optimal productivity President Amadou Toumani Touréagain expressed his commitmentto agricultural intensification withsupport for an ‘agriculturalorientation law’ which will offer“the tools and guarantees requiredfor the emergence of a modernagricultural economy based onhigh production targets andoptimal productivity”. ThePresident stated that he wouldencourage “the mobilisation ofprivate investment for the

development of agriculture in thebroadest sense – from productionto processing.”

Under the CSLP (StrategicFramework to Fight Poverty)adopted since 2002, theGovernment has launched itsNational Programme for FoodSecurity (PNSA), covering theperiod 2006-10. The budget ofnearly US$228 million will covereight sub-programmes dealingwith natural resourcemanagement, crop intensificationand diversification, marketing andagroprocessing, health andnutrition.

“At the present time theagricultural sector remainssubsistence agriculture – despiteits impact on the economy. Itprovides employment and incomefor more than 80 per cent of thepopulation, approximately 40 percent of the GDP and around 60 per cent of public earnings,”says Galiba.

“Mali is constrained by limitedand erratic rainfall, low control of water, poor soils, a low level of agricultural inputs supply, and a low level of access toagricultural equipment. There ispressure on land, a lack ofinfrastructure and a lack oforganisation of stakeholders in the farming sectors.”

Galiba, however, also points to thepotential – 2,500,000 ha of landsuitable for irrigation, a young andvigorous population, the strongemergence of producers’

organisations, considerable localresearch achievements, aninstitutional environmentfavourable to private investment inthe farming sector – and the newlaw of agricultural orientation, asmentioned by President Touré.

“We at SG 2000 believe,” he says,“that through pilot villages and theMAP GEM – the commoditychain approach oriented towardsthe market – farmers’organisations and producers canimprove their incomes and takethe road of relative prosperity.

“It is important for Mali and itsagricultural industry that thishappens. Subsistence agriculturecan never be an engine of growthfor the economy.”

Constructing a Niet@Kene at Niamala – a future centre ofexcellence

A good harvest in Niamalaproduction area

Table 2: Cereal Stock Exchange (CSE) of March 2006

Cereal

Maize

Sesame

Millet

Rice seeds

Soybean

Total

530,803

215,000

53,165

14,316

2,685

815,976

Quantity (kg)

221,200

215,000

53,165

-

-

486,365

110

250

135

-

-

-

Unit cost(CFA)

24,332 000

53,750 000

7,177 275

-

-

85,259 475

46,435

102,576

13,697

-

-

162,708

Presented SoldTotal cost

CFA $

16

Nigeria

“The promotion of crop-basedextension packages has led to asubstantial increase in crop yields,”says Ahmed Falaki, SG 2000project co-ordinator. “We are alsopromoting the New Rice for Africa(NERICA) amongst uplandfarmers and QPM for betternutrition. We encourage farmers touse conservation tillage – to reducethe drudgery of constant weedcontrol. We introduce laboursaving agroprocessing technologiessuitable for micro-enterprisedevelopment.”

Nigeria’s farmers – as with mostsmall-scale farmers in Africa – aredependent on the rains and, lastyear, a prolonged dry spell afterthe start of the rains in mid-April,caused some anxiety. However, therains stabilised, were uniformlydistributed and lasted up to mid-October, instead of stopping bymid-September.

on NERICA and QPM, the 2005wet season was the last forsupporting Management TrainingPlots (MTPs) under the SG 2000programme. The average yield was2.1 per cent higher than theprevious season at 4.6 t/ha – andhigher than the national average.Across the states, the highest yieldrecorded for the season was 7.4t/ha in Kano State. The averagecost of production per ha wasUS$386 with the net income atUS$728. The net income tofarmers for the season was 21 per

A farmer working with SG 2000 posing with his children andgrandchildren at Rogo village, Kano State

This is the 15th year of the SG 2000 programme inNigeria which started modestly in two states, Kaduna

and Kano, and with two crops – maize and wheat. Since that time well over 100,000 farmers have benefited from theprogramme, which has expanded into 12 core and six facility states. The crops involved include maize, rice, millet, sorghum, wheat, cowpea, soybean, sesame, cassavaand cotton.

Generating income by growing watermelons off-season assists SG 2000 Kangarwa famers ofJigawa State to expand their production of food and cash crops

cent higher than the previousseason – US$376.

During the 2005/6 dry season,some 385 wheat MTPs wereestablished in Jigawa and Kanostates. In this case, the averageyields at 3.7 t/ha were lower thanthe previous season (3.9 t/ha). The reason for this was thattemperatures had remainedconsistently high during the early growth stage of the crop,contributing to a decline in yields.The national average yield was 1.2 t/ha during the same seasonwith the average production costper ha at US$1,734 – the averagenet income being US$1,091, 30per cent higher than the previousseason.

Joining hands Meanwhile, through the riceregional programme, a number ofpartners joined hands to supportSG 2000’s work with NERICA.These included WARDA, USAID-Markets, the Presidential Initiativeon Rice, the MultinationalNERICA Rice DisseminationProject and PrOpCom.

“The rice season has faced majorproblems,” says Falaki, “includinga lack of competitiveness resultingfrom low and uneconomicproductivity, poor quality ofproduce in meeting marketspecifications, a failure in qualitystandards, and little or no emphasis

Confidence “This gave us confidence toaccelerate the transfer ofprogramme ownership andresponsibility to states and localgovernments,” comments Falaki.“They are now scaling up thetransfer of crop-based technologiesto their own farmers – using theirown resources to provide inputs oncredit, establish training plots and build the capacity of theirfrontline staff.”

Bauchi, Kano and Zamfara stateshave been particularly effective inthis area with maize demonstrationplots (see table). The states alsorecruited additional frontlineextension staff, trained them, andprovided motorcycles for extensionvisits to farmers. Over 44,000target farmers were trained andprovided with loans for inputs bythe governments of the three states.

With SG 2000 now concentrating

continued

17

testing a new technology – highdensity planting – doubling theplant population from 53,333 to106,666 per ha, the fertiliser rateper ha, and use of herbicide fortotal weed control. This hasproduced dramatic results. Insteadof the 4 to 5 t/ha usually obtainedby farmers, the results from 60demonstration plots indicatedyields of an average 11 t/ha.

“We look forward to the reactionfrom farmers at our field days!”says Falaki.

A number of farming communitieshave shown appreciation to SG 2000. Africa Director MarcoQuiñones had traditional titlesconferred on him at separateceremonies by two respectedtraditional leaders, the Emir ofGumel in Jigawa State and theEmir of Akko in Gombe State.

“It is a great honour for me,”commented Quiñones, “but theachievement belongs to thefarmers who are now receiving agood return for their efforts.”

on encouraging private sectorparticipation.”

Working with SG 2000’s RegionalRice Programme, which producedsome NERICA foundation seed,SG 2000 Nigeria produced 25 mtof seed during the 2005 wetseason – which doubled in the2005/06 wet season, using farmercontract growers.

Around 1,965 MTPs of NERICAand rice were established underthe supervision of extension staffwhile 8,915 additional plots wereset up by state governments, withinput loan packages provided tofarmers to be paid back afterharvest.

Major problems “If the main problem of the ricesector is the availability of seed,”says Falaki, “the second mostserious problem is postharvest andthe processing of rice in order tomeet the stipulated qualitystandards and demandspecifications to attain aguaranteed market for thecommodity at competitive prices.”

SG 2000 is already promoting asmall-scale village level riceparboiler made by a SAFEgraduate at Ahmadu BelloUniversity. This has led to severalwomen’s groups parboiling andpolishing rice to an acceptablestandard for local markets.

On a larger scale, SG 2000 – inpartnership with an indigenousfabricating company calledHanigha – is supplying processingmachines (parboiler, cleaner/ de-stoner, dryer and polisher) througha revolving loan package to ricegrowing communities in Magaryavillage (Jigawa state) and Gombe(Gombe State).

Through SG 2000’s RegionalQPM/ Seed Programme, 250 mt ofcertified seed has been sold tofarmers. This also providedsupport for breeder and foundationseed production with certified seedbeing produced by private sectorcompanies and local farmingcommunities.

Quality checks “The QPM quality checks arekeeping pace with production,”says Falaki. Extension agents and anumber of skilled farmers havebeen trained and provided withlight boxes to ensure that quality ismaintained at field level while thelaboratory at Ahmadu BelloUniversity is shortly to start QPMquality and analysis. More thantwo QPM villages have beenestablished in the six SG 2000operational states and a pilot QPMnutrition education programme hasbegun in collaboration with theState Ministry of Health atMuntsira village in Kano State.

Agroprocessing, too, is making amark – the main focus being riceprocessing, threshing/ winnowingof field crops and oil extraction.

“These technologies have provedto be efficient, acceptable andaffordable,”comments Falaki,“including a wooden winnower, amulti-crop planting marker and avillage-level oil extractor.”

Field days held across the SG 2000states have demonstrated the valueof QPM and NERICA,agroprocessing, and waterharvesting and drip irrigationtechnologies – particularly in themarginal rainfall areas for growinghigh value crops and raisinglivestock to generate betterincome. Farmers were interested,too, in a new millet variety calledZativ. Developed by ICRISAT,Zativ is an early maturing, highyielding, drought resistant millettolerant to most pests and diseases.

National level At a national level, the FederalGovernment has launched aprogramme entitled “Doublingmaize production”, to meet thenational demand for maize byindustry – flour mills, breweries andfeedmills – as well as for humanand animal consumption. Theprogramme has a three-year targetperiod and is run on SG 2000maize production technology lines.

For its part, SG 2000 has been

A wooden winnower developed through KNARDA/South-Southco-operation is being disseminated to farmers by SG 2000 tocurtail the drudgery involved in winnowing of grains

State No. of No. Yield Averagefarmers of ha range (kg/ha) yield (t/ha)

Bauchi 763 190.80 2,060-6,572 4.2

Gombe 1,852 463.00 1,370-7,147 4.8

Jigawa 493 123.30 3,715-6,678 5.0

Kano 676 168.93 2,818-7,413 4.8

Katsina 112 28.01 2,716-6,642 4.2

Kaduna 256 64.00 4,776-5,542 5.1

Total 4,152 1,038.04 - 4.7

Maize/QPM MTPs during 2005 wet season

Year StatesBauchi Kano Zamfara

2004 3,260 2,500 6,368

2005 4,800 15,250 20,720

2006 5,245 16,300 22,526

Scaling up maize MTPs (ha) by some SG 2000 states

18

Uganda

“High maize prices reflectshortages of production inTanzania and Kenya,” saysCountry Director Michael AbuFoster. “In Uganda, a maize cropof over 700,000 mt was harvestedwith another 600,000 mt expectedat the end of the year. Areas underrice are also expanding. Theproduction areas under NERICAhave grown to 20,000 ha from10,000 ha in 2004. The approachhas shifted from increasingdemonstrations within nationalprogrammes to scaling upcommunity interventions that helpdevelop value chains ofcommodity crops.”

In early 2006, Uganda experiencedless favourable weather conditionsnationwide – particularly drought –resulting in a decline inperformance in the agriculturalsector. However, the weatherimproved in the latter part of theyear with heavy rainfall across thecountry until December. On thewhole, internal food sources wereadequate and Uganda provided asignificant share of food forInternally Displaced People (IDPs)in camps in Northern Uganda.

Agricultural reforms Uganda’s agricultural investmentsare guided by the Plan forModernisation of Agriculture(PMA) – a sector-wide policyframework that focuses onincreasing productivity andintegrating agriculturalprogrammes to build synergiesacross various sectors. The impactof the PMA has helped to createnew institutional arrangements thatsupport production, agroprocessingand marketing more effectivelythan the previous single focusprojects. National AgriculturalService Institutions (NASI) such asthe National Agricultural AdvisoryServices (NAADS), the NationalAgricultural Research Services(NARS) and farmers’ organisationscontinue to implement newprogrammes in the context ofinstitutional reforms – and the newemphasis, by NAADS, onestablishing higher level farmerorganisations is seen by SG 2000as a major opportunity for scalingup the impact of agriculturalinnovations.

Sasakawa has been assistingNAADS in this area, using

Uganda remains a net food exporter and principal sourceof food security in the Great Lakes and East Africa

region. The World Food Programme (WFP) purchased170,000 mt of maize and beans last year – eight per cent ofits total food donations – with US$40 million bought fromsmall-scale farmer groups. It intends to increase this to 20per cent because of improved standards of maize quality – a result of the joint efforts of various partners, of which SG 2000 is one.

experience gained from its ownOne Stop Service Centres (OSSC)– the community-based approachproviding rural populations withaccess to agricultural servicesthrough farmer-owned and farmer-managed associations. A newresearch initiative, through NARS,is now ready to roll outprogrammes after extensivereorganisation to permit a moreactive private sector involvement inproviding research services.

In July 2006, the previous NationalAgricultural Research Organisation(NARO) was restructured as NARSto make the country’s researchsystem more effective and demanddriven. There are now six nationalresearch institutes for research ofnational strategic importance andsix zonal agricultural researchinstitutes (ZARIS) undertakingzonal adaptive research.

Targeting communities The One Stop Centre Associations(OSCAs) will be used as aplatform for launchinginterventions focusing ondeveloping value chains forcommodity crops to meetcommercial demand for farmers’produce. SG 2000 interventionswill involve a targeted number ofrural communities over a five-yearperiod so that tangible results andimpact can be adequatelymeasured.

The year 2006, therefore, saw thestart, by SG 2000, of a move awayfrom a general national extensionprogramme to targeting specificrural communities. Greaterresources were allocated toestablish farmers’ organisations ofspecialised producer groups on aformal basis. The challenge fornational programmes will be toreplicate the commodity valuechain approach in othercommunities through specificpartnerships supported byadditional resources. SG 2000Uganda, the Japan InternationalCooperation Agency (JICA) andNAADS have been key partners inthese initiatives – working to scale up the impact of technologyapplication and integrateinnovations into the nationalagricultural service system.

Four additional OSCAs havetherefore been set up which areenabling 11 farmers’ associationsto provide services to 8,800members and their neighbours in14 districts. Value chains forupland rice and Quality ProteinMaize (QPM) have been

Loyce Ogoola – a ground farmer of TMATA One Stop Centrein Tororo attending to her field

Table 2. Summary performance of QPM block farming – 2006

District

Bugiri

Busia BABTA

Iganga RAPTA

Mpigi NABTA

Mukono BAMTA

BAMTA Wakisi

Nakasongola

Luwero ZAABTA

Kamuli

Total

2.044

0.82

1.312

3.608

4.985

1.64

0.82

0.492

0.492

16.213

Value of inputs UGX

Millions

14

5

8

22

30.4

10

5

3

3

100.4

Area planted hectares

49

17.5

28

77

106.4

35

17.5

10.5

10.5

351.5

EstimatedProduction

(MT)

6.8

2.7

4.3

12

30.6

5.4

2.7

1.64

1.64

60.98

5.3

2.0

1.6

9.0

24.0

4.0

1.2

1.6

1.2

49.9

78

74

37

75

78

74

44

98

73

70

Recovery (MT)

Expected Actual Per cent

* Average yields at 3.5 MT/HA.

continued

established and scaled-up throughthe use of 671 demonstration plotsat these OSCAs.

Other interventions have includedadding value through postharvesttraining at 78 sites on grainthreshing, drying, milling andgrinding, improving access tomarkets through training oncollective marketing at 24 sites, andintegrating SG 2000 and NAADSmethods to assist with institutionaldevelopment in four districts.

“There was also a need,” says SG 2000’s Project Co-ordinatorEmmanuel Kayaayo, “todisseminate NERICA productiontechnologies in two selecteddistricts beyond the project areaand 787 seed multiplication plotswere established. This was done inpartnership with JICA.”

Kayaayo feels that progress isbeing made, not least in thatresponsibility for maintainingservices is being transferred torural communities.

“There is increased access toservices for production,postharvest and marketing. Bysetting up One Stop Centres in thefour additional districts of Bugiri,Kamuli, Nakasongola andKyenjojo, the project area forservice centres has been greatlyenlarged from 35 sub-countries inseven districts to 46 sub-countriesin 11 districts.”

Kayaayo reports, too, that “therewas increased membership offarmers’ associations from 24 percent in the previous year to 86 percent of the intended target. Allassociations have seen improvedmanagement and organisationalcapacity. Some 46 executives and280 farmers’ leaders were trainedin these areas of professionalactivity – a high proportion ofthem being women.”

Seven of the more matureassociations have completed a five-year strategic plan and producedannual work plans for 2006 whilefinancial and administrativecontrols were also put in place.Seven centre managers weresupported and trained, on aninterim basis, to manage theassociations. Savings weremobilised at group and associationlevel and the most developedassociations audited by EPSEDEC,a partner organisation. More than

19

produced at this site alone, with afurther 17 sites established topromote poultry through the QPMmaize value chain.

The availability of QPM seed hasbeen assured by previousinvestment in private-publicpartnerships for seed productionand distribution. Nalongo seed isnow sold on a commercial basis byat least six seed companies. Itcontinues to be the most widelyavailable maize seed variety on themarket with 3,875 mt of seed soldover the past four years.

In rice, 305 mt of NERICA seedwas produced in ten districts on497 multiplication plots of one acreeach, totalling 103.5 ha, of which14 mt was maintained in a seedbank by participating farmers.

Block farms totalling 13 haproduced over 40 mt of NERICA4 grain. A total of 44 operators

Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, HilaryOnek, at a closing ceremony for training fabricators

1,500 farmers were trained, thusstrengthening their contribution tothe maize and rice value chains.

Poor farmers were helped withvoucher assisted demonstrationkits, enabling them to adopttechnology and receive income,and subsequently register for theassociations. Progressive farmerswere assisted to scale upproduction on 1 to 5 ha plotsthrough a co-investment scheme for block farming on a cost-recovery basis.Complementary postharvest andmarketing training activities wereundertaken to add further value toeach maize and rice crop.

QPM value The maize QPM Longe 5 (Nalongo)was planted on over 100 ha in blockfarms. First season yields averaged3.5 t/ha and ranged from 2.3 t/ha to4.1/ha. Nine associationsparticipated in block farming ofQPM with 49.9 mt sold throughcollective marketing. Seventy percent of allocated funds wererecovered through effective OneStop Centre AssociationManagement. SG 2000 will slowlychange the emphasis fromdemonstration plots to blockfarming as the organisational andmanagement capacity of farmers’associations increases.

SG 2000, in collaboration withWFP and Uganda Grain TradersLimited (UGTL), jointly trainedOSCA farmers in collectivemarketing. Secondary levelprocessing of maize grain to flour isplanned in two associations. AtBusia OSCA (known as BAMTA),a maize-grinding mill is beinginstalled to process maize flour forhuman consumption. Farmers atBuwagajo BAMTA – anotherOSCA – have installed a feedprocessor for preparing poultry feed.

Pig losses An outbreak of African swine fevercaused severe loss in piggery forfarmers across the country. Manysubsequently turned to poultryproduction – using QPM for feed.In one of the associations, farmersproduced tertiary products, eggs andimproved cross-bred local birds,thus strengthening the QPM valuechain. A total of over 310 birds andseveral thousand eggs have been

Disaggregated cereal production trends in Uganda (1996-2006). Major cereals production trends 1996.

1400

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

01996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

MT

(“0

00”)

Source: Uganda Bureau of Statistics

MaizeSorghum

were trained on the safe use ofherbicides while yield trials onfarmers’ fields confirmed thatNERICA 4 continues tooutperform other types of availablerice varieties.

A total of 78 farmers were trainedon rice postharvest technologies.Field days last year attracted over540 farmers and 40 artisans weretrained in 13 training sessions tomanufacture and operate a varietyof equipment for drying andcleaning rice.

As part of the agroprocessingprogramme, equipment used fortraining purposes included apowdered feed mill, a manual feedmixer, maize shellers, a maize milland polisher, cassava graters,powdered chippers, a screw press,motorised and multipurpose riceprocessing threshers and amotorised ground nut paste grinder.

BeansRice

20

41

SG 2000 publications and videos

Publications

Videos

For copies please contact Raitt Orr & Associates Ltd in London

Feeding the Future is produced for SAA by Raitt Orr & Associates Ltd, London SW1and designed by B-Creative.

Other publications available:

New publications (2006):

1. Setting the Grassroots on Fire – Norman Borlaug and Africa’s Green Revolution (1999)

2. Ethiopia, My Hope . . . My Future . . . The ‘Green Revolution’ in Ethiopia(1998)

3. Breaking the Mould. Bringing African Universities into Development (1997)

• Fulfilling the Promise. How nutritionally-improved maize can alleviatemalnutrition in maize-dependent countries (1997)

• Facing the Future. The SG 2000 Programme for Agricultural Development in Africa (1996)

• You Can’t Eat Potential. Breaking Africa’s Cycle of Poverty (1996)

1 2 3

2. SAA Annual Report 2003/04 3. SAA Annual Report 2002/034. Proceedings of Workshop 2002: From Subsistence to Sustainable Agriculture

in Africa

1. Improving Postharvest Systems - Promoting Agro-Industrial Development in Africa

2 3

For further information contact:JapanMasaaki Miyamoto, Secretary General, Michio Ito, Senior Programme OfficerSAA, 4th Floor, The Nippon FoundationBuilding 1-2-2, Akasaka, Minato-kuTokyo 107-0052Tel 81 3 6229 5460Fax 81 3 6229 5464E-mail miyamoto@spf.or.jp

ito@spf.or.jpsaa@spf.or.jp

MexicoNorman Borlaug, SAA President Chris Dowswell, SAA Director of CommunicationsCIMMYT, Apdo. Postal 6-641, Delegacion CuauhtemocCP 06600 Mexico DFTel 52 55 5 804 2004 Fax 52 55 5 804 7558/9E-mail cdowswell@cgiar.org

SwitzerlandJean Freymond, Director, CASIN7 bis, avenue de la PaixPO Box 1340, 1211 Genève 1Tel 41 22 730 8660Fax 41 22 730 8690E-mail freymond@casin.ch

United KingdomPatrick Orr, Information ConsultantRaitt Orr & Associates Ltd2 Vincent Street London SW1P 4LDTel 44 (0)20 7630 9778Fax 44 (0)20 7630 5067E-mail patrick@raittorr.co.uk

USAP. Craig Withers, JrDirector of Program SupportGlobal 2000 of The Carter CenterOne Copenhill, 453 Freedom ParkwayAtlanta, Georgia 30307Tel 1 404 420 3830Fax 1 404 874 5515E-mail cwither@emory.edu

MaliMarcel Galiba, Country DirectorSasakawa Global 2000Kanu-MagnambougouRue 6885, BP E3541, BamakoTel/Fax 223 220 5834E-mail m.galiba@cgnet.com

NigeriaAhmed Falaki, Project Co-ordinator Sasakawa Global 2000KNARDA Building, Hadejia RoadPO Box 5190, KanoTel 234 64 645369Fax 234 64 649224E-mail sg2kano@ecnx.net

amfalaks@yahoo.com

UgandaAbu-Michael Foster, Country DirectorSasakawa Global 2000Plot 15A Clement Hill RoadRuth Towers, NakaseroPO Box 6987, KampalaTel 256 41 345497/31 261180Fax 256 31 264180E-mail amfoster@cgnet.com

sguganda@starcom.co.ug

Or visit the SAA website at:

www.saa-tokyo.org

Regional headquarters:

EthiopiaMarco Quiñones,SAA Director General for AfricaDr Aberra Debelo, Project Co-ordinatorTel 251 11 5525809/10Fax 251 11 5528507E-mail m.quinones@cgnet.comE-mail ADSG2000@ethionet.et

Regional Programmes

AgroprocessingToshiro Mado, Director E-mail tmado@pd5.so-net.ne.jp

RiceTareke Berhe, DirectorE-mail T.Berhe@cgnet.com

SAA EthiopiaGurd Sholla, Daminarof Building, 4th Floor, Bole Sub-City, Kebele 13PO Box 24135, Code 1000Addis Ababa, EthiopiaTel 251 11 6477667Fax 251 11 6477666

SG 2000 Ethiopia Ministry of AgricultureAgricultural Extension DepartmentPO Box 12771Addis Ababa, EthiopiaTel 251 11 5525809/10Fax 251 11 5528507

QPM/SeedWayne Haag, DirectorQPM/Seed, Sasakawa Global 2000Parque Oasis Bloco-BAvenida Vladimir Lenine, 3071CP 4247, Maputo, Mozambique Tel 258 1 414493Fax 258 1 416182E-mail w.haag-t@cgnet.com

SAFE

EthiopiaDeola Naibakelao, Director Gurd Sholla, Daminarof Building, 4th FloorBole Sub-City, Kebele 13PO Box 24135, Code 1000Addis Ababa, EthiopiaTel 251 11 6477667Fax 251 11 6477666E-mail N.Deola@cgnet.com

MalawiDr Jeff Mutimba, SAFE Co-ordinatorDepartment of ExtensionBunda College of AgriculturePP Box 219, Lilongwe, MalawiTel 265 9425 077E-mail jeffmutimba@africa-online.net

The title of this biography, The Man Who Fed the World, is indeed appropriate. My good friendNorman Borlaug has accomplished more than any other one individual in history in the battle to endworld hunger . . .

Since 1986, I have had the distinct pleasure of working with Norman Borlaug in sub-Saharan Africawhere, in spite of AIDS, endemic malaria and other maladies, populations are increasing faster thanfood supplies. I have witnessed first-hand the reverence that thousands upon thousands of Africanshave for Dr Borlaug’s untiring efforts to relieve their hunger.

Norman Borlaug’s scientific achievements have saved hundreds of millions of lives and earned him thedistinction as one of the 100 most influential individuals of the 20th century. I commend Leon Hesserfor making more people aware of the remarkable life and achievements of this American hero.

Former US President Jimmy Carter in his foreword to the book. For copies see www.amazon.co.uk

All videos are available in English, French and Japanese. Video formats are PAL, Secam and NTSC.

Sasakawa Africa Association 20th Anniversary Report.Latest publication available now.

Other videos available: