The new agreement comes after promising results from early stage clinical trials showed that the GSK TB vaccine candidate known as M72/AS01_E^* has an acceptable safety and reactogenicity profile and demonstrated an immune response.

This novel research and resource-sharing agreement between the largest non-profit TB vaccine biotech and one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies marks advancement in the race to develop new vaccines against TB, a global infectious disease killer.

“This partnership signals our commitment to building innovative collaborations to develop and deliver new TB vaccines,” said Jim Connolly, President and Chief Executive Officer of Aeras. “We will never reverse the spread of the global TB epidemic without new vaccines as part of the solution.”

“When considering the massive public health impact and costs to society of neglected diseases including tuberculosis, global financing for R&D remains critically low in this area,” said Jim Connolly.

“Working in partnership with GSK – sharing resources, capabilities and know-how – affords us the opportunity to conduct this pivotal, multi-country proof of concept trial, getting us that much closer to potentially one day having a TB vaccine that could protect adolescents and adults from one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases.”

TB continues to kill 1.4 million men, women and children annually, despite the widespread use of the currently available TB vaccine, Bacille Calmette-Guèrin (BCG), in TB endemic countries. BCG prevents some forms of TB in infants but does not prevent pulmonary TB, which accounts for the majority of infections and deaths among adolescents and adults.

The GSK vaccine candidate developed under this new agreement is being designed to be used in addition to BCG.

AUTHOR: Henry Neondo
URL: http:// www.africasciencenews.org
E-MAIL: neondohenry [at] yahoo.com

Yoweri Museveni

Thousands of Ugandans filled the Independence Ground at Kololo Airstrip just outside Kampala to mark the country’s Golden Independence Jubilee Anniversary. Uganda is celebrating 50 of Independence from British colonial rule which took stretched from 1894 to 1962.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who has made history himself by leading the country half of that time, was the guest of honour together with his wife Janet Museveni. Heads of state from Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Ethiopia, graced the pompous ceremony. British rule over Uganda came to an end on October 9, 1962 with the Union Jack being replaced with the Uganda National flag which was handed over to then Prime Minister Milton Obote during Independence Day on 9 October, 1962. His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent who 50 years ago presented the country’s independence to Dr Obote, was in Uganda for the first time since 1962 to represent Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

In his speech to mark the occasion, President Museveni, who shot his way to power after overthrowing the regime of Gen Tito Okello Lutwa and having fought against the regime of Milton Obote before that, again predicted that the country which has suffered several dictatorship since independence including an army take-over by Gen Idi Amin in 1971, is on course to achieving a first-world status.

Having started his reign in 1986 with a ten-point programme, Mr Museveni seemed to have come out with yet another ten-point programme which he this time named ‘10 key bottlenecks’. Mr Museveni who this year won a consecutive fourth five-year term in office, said these bottlenecks were: fighting ideological disorientation, eliminating sectarianism, improving education to refine human resources, facilitating private sector-led economic growth, developing road, rail and electricity infrastructure, market expansion through regional cooperation, pursuing industrialization for exports, developing the service sector to create jobs, modernizing agriculture to increase household incomes and deepening democratic governance.

When he first came to power, President Museveni’s earlier 10-point programme included democracy, security, the consolidation of national security, the elimination of all forms of sectarianism, defending and consolidating national independence, building an independent, integrated and self-sustaining economy, restoring and improving social services and rehabilitating war-ravaged areas, eliminating corruption and the misuse of power, redressing errors that had resulted in the dislocation of the population and improvements of others, cooperating with other African countries in defending human and democratic rights of ‘our brothers’ in other parts of Africa and following an economic strategy of mixed economy.

While Ugandans and mostly regime supporters were celebrating at Kololo, the country’s opposition leader was under house arrest at Kasangati on the Gayaza Road where armed police have put up a strong show of force to stop him from leaving his house and exercising his right to freedom of movement and speech. Dr Kizza Besigye, who is the leader of the country’s largest opposition party, the Forum for Democratic Change, has been under preventive house arrest for the last two weeks. His house is surrounded by hundreds of riot, regular and anti-terrorism police to stop him from leaving it.

Military and anti-riot police were on Tuesday deployed heavily in Masaka Municipality, south of the capital Kampala, to prevent any planned demonstrations by members of the opposition. The opposition threatened to go on streets and demonstrate while the country was celebrating the Independence Golden Jubilee.

According to the Southern Regional Police Commander, Mr. Simon Peter Wafana, police were deployed to maintain peace as Ugandans mark the Independence Golden Jubilee. It is reported that suspected groups of youth from Masaka distributed anti-government leaflets on streets with messages saying that Uganda has had ‘50 years of bondage and suffering under dictatorial rulers’ and that this period was not worth celebrating.

Political analysts and opposition parties in Uganda say that for more than half a century, the government of Uganda has still not made the necessary transition to genuine democracy. Many Ugandans who did not join the celebrations say they are not yet independent and are unsure about their future. They say true independence celebrations should have been based on the release of falsely accused political prisoners, the restoration of human rights, the declaration and implementation of zero tolerance to corruption, economic freedom for all, security, quality infrastructures like roads, and the freedom of speech to all Ugandans. Many Ugandan journalists continue to be harassed by the army and police for airing views of the opposition either on private radio and TV stations or in the newspapers.

In Karamoja, northern Uganda where his wife Janet is Minister for Karamoja, locals were angry that they had been denied the right to take part in the golden jubilee celebrations after the government ordered that all district celebrations be done after yesterday’s ceremony to enable district leaders to attend the Kololo ceremony. The decision angered locals who suggested that the government could have allowed the districts also to celebrate the independence since the districts have deputy Regional District Councillors (RDCs) and the vice chairpersons and Assistant chief Administrative officers.

“We have never seen Independence day being postponed. This is not NRM day or Labour Day. If the president was interested [to have top district leaders with him at Kololo] then it would have been better to leave the districts to conduct celebrations because deputy RDCs and their vice chairpersons, and Chief Administrative officers would pass us a national message,” said John Teko a resident of Katanga in Moroto Municipality. Peter Loputh a resident of Nakapiripirit district described the government move of postponing the Independence Day as selfishness. “Now it has called the RDCs, LCV chairpersons and CAOs to Kololo. Are those the only Ugandans?” he asked.

AUTHOR: Nangayi Guyson
URL: http://www.thelondoneveningpost.com
E-MAIL: n.guyson [at] yahoo.com

According to Dr Daniel Ichangi, the Chairman of APSEA said the recent discoveries of oil, coal, titanium and other minerals necessitate the need to have an overriding law.

Currently, the country has separate laws governing various sectors of the natural resources. There is law on forestry, wildlife, water and land.

But the situation, according to Dr Ichangi, the situation does not augur well for the country.

“What is needed is a coordinated management of natural resources,” he said.

Benjamin Washiali, the vice chairman of the parliamentary committee on natural resources said the MPs are aware of the sensitive of the Chapter 5 of the constitution which deals with land and natural resources and plan to engage with each other over the matter.

Dr Ichangi said the APSEA is engaging MPs knowing that the efforts are coming late given that each key sector of the natural resources have their own laws, which at times appear contradictory to one another.

“Kenyans are yet to benefit from the abundant natural resources because of lack of proper laws,” he said.

At the meeting in Mombasa, the APSEA chairman said unless the laws are harmonized, the country may not avoid resource-related conflicts that have bedeviled man African countries.

He attributed resource-based conflicts to poor management formula.

John Kioli, Chairman of the Kenya Climate Change Working Group said it is a good thing for the APSEA to initiate the process at the time before the country comes up with another law governing climate change.

He said his organisation’s presence at the meeting was to offer lessons learned from their efforts to develop the Climate Change Bill but supported the need to have a consolidated law that would govern these cross-cutting issues.

Last week, Dr Wilbur Ottichilo, MP for Emuhaya tabled in the Kenya’s Parliament the Kenya Climate Change Authority Bill. The bill seeks to establish an authority to handle issues on climate change.

The Association of Professional Societies in East Africa (APSEA) is an Association that brings together professional bodies of diverse disciplines.

Currently, the Association has thirty three (33) corporate members in Kenya constituting all major professions in the country including medicine, law, accounting, engineering, geology, architecture, food science, public and corporate administration, veterinary science, planning, procurement, and marketing among many others.

AUTHOR: Henry Neondo
URL: http:// www.africasciencenews.org
E-MAIL: neondohenry [at] yahoo.com

The Project Incubator Award highlights African initiatives and spotlights the importance of local and regional partnerships. The Project Incubator Award is critical as it sheds light on potentially lucrative business ideas and projects and most importantly encourages partnership opportunities across Africa.

2011 winner, Everlyne Cherobon head of Emeden Kenya, was determined to win the award to change the course of her business. “Winning the prize was a defining moment for me and my business. It is difficult to put in words, exactly how I felt when my project emerged the winner. It means a vote of confidence on what I hope to do with smallholder farmers in the dry-lands of Kenya. It means there is business sense in working with smallholder farmers in Africa. It means a lot of attention needs to be focused on them.”

The Award’s sponsor, Rabobank Foundation, has been involved since the project’s inception. A global Dutch bank with branches in Africa, it endeavours to provide access to funds for those with innovative and sound projects and especially those that truly make an impact on economic development and food security at the local, national or regional levels, whereby value chain partners can be integrated.

“This prize will incite the future competitiveness of women and men entrepreneurs because the presentations set a tone and generate enthusiasm from a large number of participants to better invest in their businesses and projects,” Maria Odido of Bee Natural, Uganda, winner of the 2010 Project Incubator Award testifies.

The 2009 winner, COOGES, Coopérative Générale de Sepingo, a cashew nut cooperative from Côte D’Ivoire decided to enter the Project Incubator Award for a simple reason: “It was in line with one of our business needs – to gain industry exposure – and we knew that even if we didn’t win, the increased awareness of our business would make it worthwhile and reduce our need to advertise ourselves through other channels. Anyone from Africa that wishes to launch or improve a project, anyone who wants to have confirmation that their business idea is viable and who wants feedback from the business community should be involved in the AgriBusiness Forum”.

The annual pan-African AgriBusiness Forum will be held this year in Dakar, Senegal from 25-28 November 2012 under the official patronage of the Government of Senegal.

Entitled “Boosting Africa’s Agriculture through Partnership, Investment and Technology”, the UNDP (UN Development Program) is a co-organiser for the second year running in addition to PanAAC (Pan African Agribusiness & Agroindustry Consortium) joining forces this year.

The forum is also taking place in collaboration with FAO and Rabobank, bringing together the sector’s leading figures, renown experts, industrialists, financiers, donors, SMEs, small hold farmers as well as multinationals and civil society partners.

Parallel to the forum there will be the Agricultural Exhibition and B2B sessions guaranteeing an environment conducive to launching new partnerships.

Interested candidates are invited to register for the AgriBusiness Forum and to submit their business ideas that embody the inherent entrepreneurship and innovation of the African continent.

AUTHOR: Henry Neondo
URL: http:// www.africasciencenews.org
E-MAIL: neondohenry [at] yahoo.com

This call was part of the deliberations made after a three days capacity building for small miners that was organized by three NGOs namely Policy Forum, HakiMadini and Interfaith Standing Committee for Economic Justice and Integrity at the Ubungo Plaza.

Listening to various experiences from best practices namely from Ghana and South Africa they resolved that they will find ways so as to strengthen their organizations and face their challenges more professionally.

From Ghana was Ms Hanna Koranteng from Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM) who said even in her country the relationship between small miners and that of the central government is that of mutual suspicion and constant conflicts

There are constant evictions of small miners to the extent that human rights lawyers and activists have always come for their rescue.

“Prior to forming strong unions of small miners in order to promote their rights the tendency was that large scale miners could use arbitrary laws not only to erode the benefits of small miners but also to humiliate them,” she commented.

With an intervention of human rights lawyers there are positive developments not only of inhibiting arbitrary arrests and detention of small miners but also protection against environmental destruction and pollution caused by mining activities.

She revisited a nasty experience in her country in 2006 when various NGOs revealed that military brutality had even led to the death of some small-scale miners. This then led to the formation of a formal partnership with the Ghana Armed Forces and the Ghana Police Service in September 2008.

She acknowledges that this experience generated great concern for how artisanal miners would be treated. However she admits that this was after a bitter struggle after the common citizenry complained that they were not seeing direct benefit to their lives due to big scale mining.

“My people complained that big scale mining did not only deny them land for agriculture but also meat that they used to get freely from the wild forests which now were taken for mining purposes.

Moreover even water was no longer safe for use after spill of cyanide in Dumasi and surrounding villages which occurred on June 16, 2006. In another incident cyanide was spilled in Bogosu Gold new tailings dam and it washed into the Ajoo stream,

This was the only stream that was left in the community. The deadly chemical killed fish, crabs and lobsters and polluted the stream, which is the source of drinking water for the Dumasi community and its environment.

Dumisani Mngandi from South Africa gave an experience in South Africa and said the associated problems apart from causing land grabbing were capital flight, natural replenishment and corruption.

He said that instead of job creation the reverse has always been the case citing the ongoing crisis now in his country, to the extent that there is job loss and in many cases under invoicing as a strategy to evade tax.

For his side Bishop Dr Stephen Munga from the Interfaith Standing Committee for Economic Justice and Integrity said that the small miner groups have so far done a recommendable job after having pressurized for mining companies to use local content than imported ones as it used to be previously.

“Let me congratulate all groups be it in Mara, Arusha, Morogoro, Tanga, Geita, Mnyara and Singida, the language has always been the same that small miners opinion must be taken into serious consideration and that the government interaction with them,” he commented.

For his side Zephania Mgaya from small miners in Manyara said that in almost all mining sites in Tanzania it is the small miners who detect them but once the Government come to know this it always kick them out without giving them deserving compensations.

”We need to have solidarity and how the Government has treated small miners during their eviction. We must ensure that there are contracts of how the indigenous people will benefit from the big scale investments,” he commented.

He lamented that small miners are always treated as intruders although the Government collects tax from them. “We make direct contribution to this country, but big scale miners take resources away and they send them abroad,” he added.

A prominent lawyer and lecturer Prof Chris Peter Maina said that one problem with the Government in Tanzania is that it enters into contract without conducting first proper evaluation processes.

“It is strange that today Corporate Social Responsibility is taken as if it is a favour, in reality this is a lawful payment, Tanzanians are accustomed to begging in situations that they should be negotiating,” he concluded.

Representative of the Government Mr Ally Samaje, Acting Commissioner for minerals from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral said that the Government has enacted various laws including the Mining Act of 2010 in order to accommodate artisans and small miners.

AUTHOR: Elias Mhegera
URL: http://mhegeraelias.blogspot.com
E-MAIL: mhegeraelias [at] yahoo.com

Congo rebel M23 Colonel Sultani Makenga

East African countries have been urged to utilize their regional body in order to curb a wave of intra-conflicts and terrorism which are detrimental to economic development, peace and stability.

The call was made in a telephonic conference at the US Embassy on Monday this week by Ambassador Johnnie Carson who is the US, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of African Affairs.

Carson who has a vast experience in the diplomatic circle and African affairs said that Kenya and the Democratic Republic are in dire need of assistance from their neighboring countries in order to resolve ongoing problems in these countries.

He pinpointed the East African Community to be an important body in resolving problems in the DRC which is facing severe internal strife and M23 while Kenya is troubled by the spillover effect of its neighbouring country of Somalia.

“By lacking a strong central command for two decades now Somalia is prone to have the problems that it is facing now, by lacking a national security people are likely to miss basic services like water, food and even micro credits hence the turmoil,” he said.

With a span of 37 years of diplomatic career a good number of those having been spent in Africa, he said that without peace in Kenya or the DRC business activities will not go smoothly in other neighbouring countries.

He however was positive that there are good signs that the Somali question will be resolved due to the fact that for the past 18 months there are positive signs that this country is progressing towards harmony with a minor exception of few events of peace disruption.

“I praise the recent developments where by concerted efforts of various players led by the Kenya Defence Forces alongside Amisom have taken control of Al Shabaab stronghold and headquarters of Kismayu in Somalia,” he commented.

Apart from Kenya and the DRC Carson also discussed the turmoil in Mali, Sudan and Southern Sudan and said that all these problems demand an immediate intervention by regional bodies like the EAC, and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in West Africa.

Ambassador Carson said that the dramatic improvement of peace in Somalia has been a product of a joint effort by the AU, IGAD, EAC, under the auspice of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), all meant to sweep away the Al-Shabaab militants.

He stood by the UN position which condemns Rwanda for having been involved in the creation, arm and support of the M23 rebels, a view strongly backed by Congo’s government. Rwanda has been denying any involvement instead it blames Congo for the upsurge in violence.

Responding to various questions from Tanzania, Rwanda and South Africa, the seasoned diplomat denied that the US has any vested interests in Africa including allegations that it wants to register military presence through its involvement in the conflicts.

“The US does not intend to settle in Africa that is why even the United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM or AFRICOM) is headquartered at Kelley Barracks, Stuttgart, Germany,” he concluded.

AUTHOR: Elias Mhegera
URL: http://mhegeraelias.blogspot.com
E-MAIL: mhegeraelias [at] yahoo.com

The forum will spotlight the financing of Africa’s agriculture, with a session entitled ‘How to Finance African Agriculture’.

Public-private partnerships are imperative for leveraging the needed funds; sharing the risks of investments; and working together in partnership.

“African bankers will join to discuss these issues. To ensure that the African private sector is engaged in Agribusiness and Agro-industry, it must be organised and mobilised. This is why the Pan African Agribusiness and Agro-Industry Consortium (PanAAC) has been created in 2007 in Johannesburg,” explains Moussa Seck, PanAAC Chairman.

Furthermore, developing private-public partnerships can strengthen democratic institutions of governance, open markets, mobilize and use development resources more effectively.

With over 400 professionals expected to attend, the AgriBusiness Forum 2012 is spotlighting issues that affect countries throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.

“Public-Private Partnership is the most significant step that can be taken to ensure sustainability, which has always been part of EMRC mantra. This year’s forum will be an extension of last year’s, where we witnessed Prime Ministers, multinationals, civil society and farmers discussing and envisioning the future of their continent together,” explains Idit Miller, VP & Managing Director at EMRC International.

“We are also highlighting three key issues, which must be considered in order to find real success. Partnership, investment and technology bring much needed funds, expertise and cooperation which no country, region, continent can do without,” adds Caterina Giuliano, EMRC Sr Programme Manager.

Considered one of the meetings of the year in Africa, the Forum is an important opportunity for businesses to share their ambitions for Africa’s Agri-Food sector. Africa contains some 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land.

Through the fostering of the private sector Africa has the potential to double its cereal yields and grow an extra 100 mln tons of food a year.

This would be roughly equivalent to adding another US corn belt to world food production, helping moderate world food price increases, allowing Africa to become a region of food surplus and helping eradicate hunger and poverty.

The forum will begin on the November 25 and ends three days later. It will bring together the sector’s major figures, renown experts, industrialists, financiers, donors, SMEs, small hold farmers as well as multinationals and civil society partners to address “Boosting Africa’s Agriculture through Partnership, Investment and Technology”.

Co-organised by UNDP, co-organisers of AgriBusiness Forum 2011 in Johannesburg, PanAAC and EMRC, and in collaboration with FAO and Rabobank, AgriBusiness Forum 2012 provides a pan-African platform for private, public sector and civil society representatives to present their visions and goals in addition to the Agricultural Exhibition and B2B sessions guaranteeing an environment conducive to launching new partnerships.

AUTHOR: Henry Neondo
URL: http:// www.africasciencenews.org
E-MAIL: neondohenry [at] yahoo.com

Students attend the launching of a book on Climate Change for Secondary Schools in Tanzania

Servants of God through their network of Faith Based Organizations, the Inter-Religious Council for Peace Tanzania (IRCPT), have resolved to find a common ground in matters of Climate Change.

Behind this initiative was the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), which has sponsored not only the conference that took place at Kebby’s Hotel in Mwenge on Thursday last week, but also has sponsored similar gatherings on the subject and the publication of two books in the topic.

During the opening session Stephen Reith the Resident Director of KAS said that religious leaders are closer to their congregations which make it easier to disseminate the message on Climate Change.

“We are proud that through KAS now clerics can deal with the subject more confidently, the IRCPT have brought people from different religious affiliation even more closely,” remarked Rev Sistus Mallya from the Pentecostal Churches of Tanzania (PCT).

Eelier KAS sponsored the publication of a book on Climate Change for secondary schools and the second one was this for the Faith Based Organizations.

The conference not only expanded knowledge to the servants of God, but also it proved that serious pertinent issues could replace divisive sentiments which are always calculated to work for a certain political agenda.

During the conference it was decided that there was a need to prepare a special curriculum that will be used to disseminate knowledge on Climate Change by the clerics to their congregations.

Six people were appointed to determine what should appear in the curriculum and they represented the different religious sects namely Baahai, Muslims, and Christians.

Representative of the Roman Catholic Church Fr Benedict Shemfumbwa who represented the Tanzania Episcopal Council (TEC), said his church has deiced to’ walk the talk’ by embarking on a major tree planting scheme.

We have started by planting trees at Segera Senior Seminary because all priests must undergo training through such an institution which means many people will benefit from this education,” he commented.

Sheikh Ali Saidi Mosse from the Ahmadiya-Tanzania Islamic wing said that there was a need to standardize the curriculum of the education that will be provided to Christians and Muslims because in essence they do share goals on this topic.

A senior official from the KAS Mr Erasto Ndeuka warned that there must be a balance between planting of trees for Climate Change purpose and the cultivation of food crops.

Coincidently Tanzanian journalists, policy makers and researchers obtained week long training in Climate Change at White Sands Hotel in Dar es Salaam, starting from Sunday last week.

The training was convened by FANRPLAN in collaboration with the Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF), and it brought together farmers, the private sector, experts in agriculture and policy makers and journalists across the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).

Standing for Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network, it has conducted training for various groups from inside and outside Tanzania meeting to share matters of mutual concern on this matter.

Before attending the training scribers underwent one day training from Mr Ben Rootman from South Africa who coached them on getting the right angles of the stories to be covered.

In cooperation with Mr Martin van Niekerk also from South Africa, they exposed journalists to the various strategies to communicate messages in Climate Change through print, electronic, online, and social media.

Introducing the subject matter to journalists the Chief Executive Officer and Head of Mission Dr Lindiwe Majele Sibanda said that it was important that scientists, journalists and other experts work together in order to attain food security.

An expert in food and bio-fuels Dr Wyanand van Walt said that there were many benefits of biofules all there one cannot deny the requirement of large portions of land.

Expertise in Climate Change started with Dr Amy Sullivan who discussed on how strategies to adapt Climate Change and agriculture must be balanced so that people gets to know how they can mitigate and adapt for the same.

“It is important to acknowledge the fact there are many associated factors to the extent that all must be given due consideration, otherwise the communities might end up in unending conflicts,” she commented.

Dr Sullivan said that the subject entails the components of resource management, but also taking into consideration protection of water sources and food production for the communities.

Moreover journalists and other attendants in the workshop were exposed to various methods targeted at Strengthening Evidence-Based Climate Change Adaptation (SECCAP). The discussion was based on the Limpompo Basin as a case study.

Mr Kudzai Ndizadzano discussed the potential threats and resources variations caused by Climate Change including HIV/Aids spread due to demographic shifts as well as possible conflicts due to the fight for resources.

For his part Nkulumo Zinyengere warned that it was important to analyze a combination of facts like which kind of crops are more applicable, and the kind of fertilizers to be used when the land become warmer and warmer.

AUTHOR: Elias Mhegera
URL: http://mhegeraelias.blogspot.com
E-MAIL: mhegeraelias [at] yahoo.com

The grant, awarded by Sida, will be directly channeled to the African Agribusiness Window of African Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF), a fund hosted by AGRA. Administered by the AECF, the grant will enable Africa-based entrepreneurs to submit new and innovative business solutions to accelerate the development of the agricultural sector in Africa.

Between 10-12 winners will be selected and provided with funding to develop their ideas into practical projects that are both commercially viable and will have a broad developmental impact on the rural poor. The projects will have a significant focus on the empowerment of women and environmental sustainability.

The grant is part of SIDA’s program area focused on inclusive business and pro-poor economic growth, with investments that must significantly contribute to poverty reduction and rural development. The grant is expected to benefit at least an additional 60,000 households (300,000 people) with extra income, employment, market access and transfer of know-how.

“We know that a more effective and professional agriculture sector can make a real difference for millions of people living in poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, “said Henrik Riby, SIDA. “By sharing the financial risks of private investments in agribusiness, we hope to encourage new sustainable ways of raising rural incomes.”

“The African Enterprise Challenge Fund is an important contributor to AGRA’s goals and strategy, and its impact will be enhanced with this grant from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency,” said Jane Karuku. “These projects benefit millions of Africa’s rural poor in very practical ways such as jobs, increased income, knowledge transfer and market access.”

Henrik Riby, Representative, Sida and Jane Karuku, President of AGRA formalized the agreement this week in a signing ceremony at the African Green Revolution Forum in Arusha.

AUTHOR: Henry Neondo
URL: http:// www.africasciencenews.org
E-MAIL: neondohenry [at] yahoo.com

Jakaya Kikwete

The Christian Holy Book talks of use of ox-plough several times both in its Old and New Testament but for Jakaya Kikwete, President of the United Republic of Tanzania, nothing testifies of the backwardness of African agriculture than the continued urging of farmers to switch from using hand hoe to ox-ploughing.

“It is now over 2000 years since Jesus of the bible walked on the earth and Africans are still being urged to switch to a technology that is now over 2000 years,” he said adding that on the contrary time was ripe for agricultural experts told Africans on their face to mechanise their farming to achieve food security.

Speaking while officially opening the second African Green Revolution Forum in Arusha, Tanzania, President Kikwete said despite abundance of water and other natural resources, Africa is still incapable of feeding her population because its agriculture remains backward due to application of inappropriate technologies which include traditional farming and dependence on rain.

Coupled with small farm sizes, low fertilizer and pesticide and herbicide use, poor skills and a lack of access to financial services, President Kikwete said it is not surprising that the 80 per cent of who produce food eaten by African population is also the poorest living on less than a dollar a day.

According to research, on average a small-scale farmer in most rural Africa holds less than 2.5 hactares of land and uses less than 8kg of fertilizer per hectare and uses only 10 per cent of the global fertiliser usage.

The continent is also the least irrigated at only 5 per cent compared to Asia at 37% and Latin America 14%.

Kofi Anan, former UN Secretary General and Chairman of the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa said no one can talk of revolutionizing African agriculture without addressing challenges faced by small-scale farmers, 80 per cent of who are women.

Melinda Gates, co-chair, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said tthinking about investment in farming is by building strategies around the small-scale farmer, often a woman…and seeking ways to better things for them taking into account different contexts within which they live.

Jane Karuku, President of AGRA agrees. She said small-scale farming is the business and governments must create enabling environment that would help these farmers realize their potential.

“We can’t increase food production without mobilizing small-scale farmers…their needs and aspirations must be brought at the center of discussions,” added Kofi Anan.

In a global food system under rising pressure, added Anan, Africa is the continent most affected by sharp rises in food prices. Yet it is also the continent, with its abundant land resources with 60 per cent of untapped land, where long-term solutions to global food and nutrition security can be found.

At the 2010 Forum, Mr Annan said a “tipping point” had been reached in the challenge of scaling up Africa’s Green Revolution.

Much had been achieved over the last two years, proving that investments in agriculture work.

African governments must in turn, uphold their end of the bargain.

Agricultural investment must rise to at least the 10 per cent levels of national budget pledged under the 2003 Maputo Declaration. The right policies are also needed to increase public and private investment.

Larger farms also have a critical role to play, particularly in testing and disseminating new technologies and providing opportunities for aggregating smallholder production for market.

Anan asked developed countries and private sector organisations to keep promises of increased support for Africa’s agriculture, despite the uncertainty and fiscal challenges.

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), set up six years ago now operates in 17 sub-Saharan African countries where it is assisting governments and farmers.

Thanks to its activities, farmers have received over 330 new crop varieties developed by AGRA grantees. More than one million smallholder farmers have directly benefited through training on improved storage systems and better post-harvest handling.

According to Anan, the legacy of chronic underfunding in agriculture still remains a challenge for the realisation of the dream of a more prosperous and equitable future for all Africans.

AUTHOR: Henry Neondo
URL: http:// www.africasciencenews.org
E-MAIL: neondohenry [at] yahoo.com