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

Two years ago Linda Kwamboka, a Business Information Technology graduate teamed up with former colleagues at the Strathmore University in Kenya to start M-Farm Ltd, a software solution and agribusiness company with the hope of changing small scale farmers attitude towards farming and link them to markets.

Jamila Abbas and Susan Ogoya who had studied computer related courses offered their programming creativity to create a tool for farmers where they simply SMS the number 3555 to get information pertaining to the retail price of their products, buy their farm inputs directly from manufacturers at favorable prices, and find buyers for their produce.

Speaking ahead of the Forum which kicks off on Thursday, Kwamboka says that sustainable supplies has been the bane of most buyers as inconsistent supplies from farmers always works against their businesses.

Kenyan farmers, she says are plagued with problems which affect farm productivity and livelihood.

“The scenario has distorted farming in Kenya and works against small scale farmers. Big buyers with money do not find structured environment to trade with small scale farmers instead opt to work with either large scale farmers or turn to foreign markets,” she says.

The result is that small scale farmers get fall prey to middlemen who only offer meager prices for their produce. When they opt for state agencies such as the cereal board, they also face delayed payments and fail to offset cost of crop production.

“All these disillusions farmers who with time begin to fall behind production and lead to food insecurity,” she says.

Kwamboka says for Kenya and indeed Africa to be assured of food security, small scale farmers must be made to change their attitude and outlook on farming. “They must be made to look at their activity not just as supplying food to consumers, but as entrepreneurs or people in serious business,” she said.

M-Farm has slowly begun to do this by connecting them with each other and buyers in a virtual space. With M-Farm, farmers not only get affordable farm inputs but also are able to sell collectively out of discredited, politicised and scandal-riddled cooperatives societies.

M-Farm offers smallholder farmer with three services: price information, collective crop selling, and collective input buying. They are currently collecting wholesale market price information on 42 crops in five markets in Kenya.

Pricing information is collected weekly through independent data collectors using geocoding to ensure that the prices are being collected from wholesale traders actually located in each market.

“We collect wholesale prices of the commodities using data collectors employed to this in five key towns of Mombasa, Nairobi, Kisumu, Eldoret and Kitale and list the information on our price page,” she said.

M-Farm Android App on Samsung App Store

M-Farm partnered with Samsung, a partnership that sees them release their mobile application, which is available on both Android and Samsung’s based phones.

The application, she says is free. One just hits download and gets real time crop prices from M-Farm. “We have a selection of 42 crops to start and prices from the towns and farming regions.

The application delivers the latest prices for over the past five days of the week. “We collect prices Monday to Saturday. One only needs to download and start making deals based on current market prices based on the nearest market we are reporting from,” she says.

This enables the farmer to make informed economic decisions on what to plant when, how to price his produce and where to sell.

How the system works

Farmers join by subscribing to M-Farm by sending and SMS to 3555 “Join FirstName LastName Location” format. The subscription helps them sell their products through M-Farm marketplace.

They tell an M-Farm aggregator employed to oversee an area what crops they are planting, the acreage, when they expect to harvest.

Such an arrangement, she says help M-Farm to aggregate a group of farmers planting the same kind of crop together and help them market their crop as a group to assure buyers with quantity.

With this information, the M-Farm then begins to seek for buyers, using the information some subscribed buyers have entered to link them to farmers who have planted the crop they may need.

Equally, anyone can get crop prices from M-Farm by sending and SMS to 3555 “Price cropname location” format or sell products by subscribing to M-Farm by sending and SMS to 3555 “Sell cropname weight price” format in which case, the seller will also include the product, quantity, and cost per kilogramme of their produce which could be used to help buyers see how best to bargain with the farmers.

Mentorship

M-Farm was launched after winning the IPO48 competition — a 48 hour boot-camp event aimed at giving web/mobile start-ups a platform to launch their start-ups. Of the 37 initial ideas, M-Farm took away the €10,000 prize as capital investment.

As such, M-Farm has from the beginning been linked up with both local and international advisors and consultants in various areas they feel such is needed.

It has partnered with community radio stations across key production regions of Kenya through which they create awareness of their existence and tell farmers and buyers of farm produce of their existence and service. They have also partnered with the Kenya Television through which they pass the market prices across key towns to viewers during the 1 pm news bulletin.

Currently, 5000 farmers, mostly horticultural producers who mostly face storage problems for their perishable goods are hooked to M-farm services.

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

“In response I felt convicted that Gods’ call is for us to be caring over all that he has given us according to his wisdom and that our failure (sin) has lead to destruction, poverty and death of many. We therefore, as God’s children, must arise to our God-given responsibilities.”

Further north, the Ugandan Muslim Youth Assembly has concentrated on forest and tree planting, with 50,000 trees planted in the past two years, and more than 700,000 trees planned for the next two.

Immam Ibban Iddih Kasozi explained that people are cutting down trees for construction, furniture, and fuel: “Wood is the biggest fuel source in Uganda,” he said. “The only way of ensuring there is wood for the next generations is to do this programme.”

“Our community believes in community work. All is jama, all is congregation: we believe that everything that we do is a prayer: this is why we have undertaken this plan.”

Elimringi Abraham Maringo from the Northern Diocese of the Lutheran Church of Tanzania said a whole generation had grown up never planting a tree and they were the ones cutting the trees down. That is why all faith groups should engage young people in nurturing the care of trees so that this generation loves trees and sees them as their responsibility. The church plans to plant 8.5 million trees.

In Kenya, SUPKEM, an umbrella body of all Muslim organsiations, societies, mosque committees and groups with around six and a half million members across Kenya in over 4 thousand groups committed itself to launch a long-term programme of training for sheikhs, imams and madrasa teachers on the importance of environmental conservation from an Islamic perspective. It commits to getting that message out through local religious FM stations and through Friday prayers and through schools.

It will promote widespread tree planting activities, as tree planting is one of the greatest virtues in Islam- and start work on an educational kit on environmental conservation for use in madrassas.

A similar body in Nigeria, Qadiriyyah Movement, with an estimated 15 million followers, 1500 full time imams and it runs 118 primary schools, 34 secondary schools, two theological colleges and has 8000 mosques committed to develop tree nurseries to supply the schools with seedlings.

At the schools to grow food organically for sale through kiosks in Kano city.

To organise weekly collections of the polythene water bags with up to 120,000 children every week collecting 100 each. These will be recycled or used as tree sapling bags.

To Green the Kano pilgrimage which brings up to 4 million pilgrims to the city and is a commitment as part of the Green Pilgrimage Network launched last year by ARC.

Not to be left behind is the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church with 43.5 million followers in 70,000 parish churches with 6.5 million children in Sunday Schools and 3000 monasteries.

45% of parish churches have forests and 75% of its monasteries are surrounded by faith protected forests. The church and monastery has traditionally been centres for protection of indigenous biodiversity as well as the centre for faith based respect for nature.

Their commitments include creating a full inventory of Church owned forests and developing a protection and management plan for them all.

Create within each monastery a centre for improved technology and skills for sustainable land management.

Install biogas digesters within all monasteries.

In Southern Africa, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa with 10 million believers and around 1000 clergy with 5000 parishes and mission centres in 53 countries committed to establish a new Environmental Centre in Johannesburg as the Church’s main training centre.

All churches will keep September 1 a day of prayer and action on the environment.

The Church will also advocate that no industrial products are brought to Africa and no waste discarded here if the country of origin would not itself accept such products or waste.

The Bhumi Africa, of the Hindu Council of Africa based in Nairobi, Kenya committed to conduct green audits on their buildings and land to be followed by environmental certification which will guide the Hindu community in creating environmentally buildings, manage the environment well and achieve sustainable development.

There are 1.7 million Hindus in Africa with 35,000 in Nairobi itself making up 1% of the city’s population. Between them they have set up 27 temples, 40 social, cultural and sports facilities, 22 schools, 9 medical facilities and 10 written and radio media outlets.

Hindu festivals add colour to our heritage and lives. However celebrating some of these festivals significantly contributes to pollution and waste. As part of their commitment Hindu communities will be encouraged and assisted to green these events by greatly reducing waste and pollution.

They will also phase out the use of plastic bags by introducing Bhumi bags, durable bags made from hemp to be promoted by Hindu temples, schools and shops.

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

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has intervened into the mater and has directed the police to take steps for attaching, through courts, properties of companies that ran emu farms and repaying the amounts invested by thousands of depositors.

Emu birds are imported from Australia and are members of the ratite family of birds. They stand about 5 ft tall and are known for their grunting and hissing sound. Emus have three forward pointing toes; the underside of each is flat with a broad pad that makes their legs strong for running.

Emu birds are very costly. Its eggs cost about Rs. 1200 to Rs. 1500 and meat sold for 500 rupees per kilo. Emus oil has anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties. It’s because of all these attractions; emu farming is a lucrative business in Tamil Nadu.

Even banks are offering loan and as a result, large number farms have come up in this southern state of India. Companies such as Susi Emu Farms, Asian Farms, Queen Farms, Alma Farms, Nidhi Farms, all have well established businesses. Among them Susi Emu farms, in erode Perundhurai, was the first to launch this business in Tamil Nadu.

There are also contract farmers in this business who help grow emus and return them during their breeding time. About 40 firms in Perundurai and its surroundings are involved in the contract farming, some companies even buy the grown up chicks.

There are many companies who have signed contract with the investors offering them good returns on their investment. Investors were lured into the business with the promise that emus presented a good return. Many investors paid up to Rs 40,000 per pair of emus, trusting that the bird’s meat, egg, chick may give good return to their investment.

Emus business was roaring as long as investors were getting good returns. However, their hopes were dashed to ground when their regular income stopped and some farm owners went missing. There was panic all around and complaints of cheating started pouring in against leading players in the emu farming business.

More than 3000 investors registered their complaints against various emu farming companies, of which around 700 were against Susi Emu Farms alone. The enormity of the complaint was such that police had to rent a marriage hall and set up special counters to receive complaints in Erode district. It also setup camps in each district to receive complaints from the investors.

With owners of many emu farms going underground, hundreds of emu birds were left abandoned and were pushed to the state of starvation. Many died due to lack of food as suppliers stopped supplies as companies owned them huge payments. Emus require minimum of 750 grams of feed per day.

On coming to know about the plight of the birds, the district administration of Erode made temporary arrangement to supply feed to about 7,000 emu birds at Susi Emu Farms located there. However, there was no commitment from any quarters about the maintenance of abandoned birds in other farms.

With the emu bubble bursting, the questions were asked who will take care of thousands of emu birds in the state. There are very few takers for them in the local market and disposing them off soon was not an easy option.

Thanks to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who intervened into the matter and directed the police to attach properties of companies that ran emu farms. She also asked the Animal Husbandry Department to arrange feed and provide medical care to the birds abandoned by the farm owners.

However, animal rights group were not satisfied and demanded a complete ban on emu farming in the country. “People are being duped and the birds are paying the price for it. We want complete prohibition of emu farming to rule out more people and birds being victimized in this failed business venture” said Arpan Sharma, CEO of Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organization.

It remains to be seen whether Tamil Nadu story of emu bird farming will provide lessons to other such framings in the country. The lure to make quick bucks is driving many farmers to go for new and unconventional methods of farming. If such businesses fail, its nightmare for them and the issue thus becomes part of the jigsaw puzzle that’s related farmer’s suicide in India.

AUTHOR: Mujtaba Syed
URL: http://mujtabas-musings.blogspot.com
E-MAIL: syedalimujtaba [at] yahoo.com