Uganda, Kenya set to release drought tolerant maize varieties for the market

Farmers in Kenya and Uganda could soon start growing conventional drought-tolerant maize once they are approved for commercialisation by the respective regulatory authorities.

This follows several advanced field trials that have been held to test the non-GM maize varieties in Embu, Machakos, Naivasha, and Kakamega in Kenya and Kasese in Uganda.

Counter the effects
Dr Sylvester Oikeh, the project manager, Water Efficient Maize for Africa (Wema) , said one line of the crop is at the final stage of approval and more than 25 others are at different stages of the national performance trials in Kenya compared with eight lines in Uganda.

“The varieties have been undergoing field trials in various parts of Kenya since 2009 and will be available to farmers during the 2013 short-rains season subject to final approvals from the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service,” he said.

He added that like many other countries in Africa, Kenya and Uganda are affected by drought conditions and thus the new maize varieties will help farmers counter the effects that affect their yields.
Maize is the most widely grown staple crop in East Africa.

It is also an important animal feed. According to the National Agricultural Research Organisation (Naro), per capita total maize consumption ranges from 28 kilogrammes a year in Uganda to 125 kilogrammes a year in Kenya.

However, the yields remain low, fluctuating around 1.5 tonnes per hectare in Uganda and 2.3 tonnes per hectare in Kenya, due to a combination of factors including drought, pests and diseases.

Made progress
Dr Godfrey Asea, team leader of Cereals Programme at the National Crops Resources Research Institute, said the drought-tolerant maize in Uganda will either be released to farmers at the end of this year or early next year.

“So far, we have made progress because we now have a number of crops (maize) in the pipeline for release of about eight hybrids lines. They are in the final stages of testing and we hope that the exercise will be completed this year and apply for the release either late this year or early next year,” Dr Asea said.

Release varieties
He added that the release of the new maize variety to the farmers will solve the effects of drought that affects the crops during flowering. Uganda’s Agriculture Seeds and Plant Act requires research institutions to apply for a release of planting materials to the National Plant Variety Committee.

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ABOUT WEMA

The Water Efficient Maize for Africa project aims to address effects of drought and insect pressure in a cost-effective way for smallholder farmers. The goal is to make these varieties available royalty-free through seed companies, with African Agricultural Technology Foundation as the coordinating agency.

CIMMYT and Monsanto are the other partners, working with the Kari and Naro. Kenya produces about 2.7m tonnes per year compared to Uganda’s 1.9m tonnes

The development of drought tolerant maize by WEMA is also being implemented in Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa

Uganda’s agriculture sector in a crisis

While the Pearl of Africa has always been touted as East Africa’s food basket endowed with beautiful weather; the deteriorating climate conditions and poor investment have suffocated progress in the agriculture sector and condemned it to obscurity in the latter years of independence.

 

For that, stakeholders in the sector now envy the old times because of the high productivity and the support provided to the farmers by the governments that immediately came after self-rule.

 

“In the 1960s and 1970s, we had strong advisory services to guide farmers on the best farming practices; there were strong cooperative societies to market farmers produce, in which quality was not compromised, and there was no corruption as it is today,” Uganda National Farmers Federation President, Charles Ogang, said.

 

Uganda inherited the economy based on agriculture from the colonialists in 1962, consisting of smallholder agricultural exports centered on coffee, tea, tobacco and cotton and the importation of consumer goods for the domestic market.

 

The crops were harvested and sold to the primary cooperative societies or private stores, in which, the primary societies sold the produce to the cooperative unions, and later to marketing boards at a government pre-determined prices prior to the harvest.

 

Coffee, for instance, was sold through the Coffee Marketing Board (CMB) whereas cotton was sold through the Lint Marketing Board (LMB).

 

The policy framework at the time, which was inherited from the colonial administration, emphasized the promotion of commodity exports, external financing to bridge the savings-investment gap, and the promotion of private investment by encouraging existing investors and creating incentives to attract new ones, including African entrepreneurs.

 

In addition, there was also a policy requiring all homesteads to set up granaries specifically to cater for food shortages.

 

And as such, the agriculture sector at the time contributed 46 per cent to the GDP compared to the current 40 per cent.

 

However, following the liberalisation of the economy in the late 1980’ and early 1990’s, the cooperative unions collapsed, leaving every farmer to sell their produce individually, decline in the quantity and quality of produce for export, and the gap created filled with the non-traditional exports-maize and beans among others.

 

The supply chain for the exported crops remained dominated by processing and trading companies.

 

And though the country still relies on the export crops- cotton, tea, coffee- the unstable prices have made them remain uncompetitive at the international markets.

 

Cotton, for instance, which experienced a decline in production in the 1970’s and 1980’s due to political instability and fall in prices, has remained at a low profile whereas tea and coffee has registered a tremendous decline due to climate change, and pests and diseases, and land fragmentation.

 

The production costs, too, have also increased compared to the post-independence days, according to the farmers.

 

“We used to grow maize, coffee, beans among other crops without the use of fertiliser. Nowadays to produce a reasonable output, you need to use fertiliser whose price is not that low,” said Mr. Augustine Labu, a farmer in Bukwo District, eastern Uganda.

 

The crisis in the sector, however, has been escalated by poor road networks and the minimal funding from the government, currently standing at only 5.7 per cent of its $4.5 billion budget for the fiscal year 2012/13.

 

This has made even harder for the few employed extension officers to move to the farmers due to the absence of transport means.

 

Though the government has previous pursued agricultural development policies and strategies – especially the Plan for Modernization of Agriculture (PMA), which was a multi-sectoral framework implemented between 2001 and 2009 aiming at transforming subsistence farming to commercial agriculture, minimal progress has been made.

 

The National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS), which was initiated in 2001 as a component of the PMA to necessitate implementation of the programme, failed to deliver the expected results as it was marred with corruption.

 

For instance, in the first phase of NAADS implementation between 2001 and 2007, Uganda spent $108 million in developing agriculture but this investment yielded little as farmers registered insignificant economic gains.

 

Although the second phase was launched in 2009 for a span of five years, estimated to cost $497 million, the programme was again plunged into controversy, misappropriation of funds and failure by the NAADS officials to reach to the farmers.

 

Uganda’s state minister for agriculture, Dr. Zarubabel Nyiira,says NAADS programme had a good intention but it was wrongly implemented by allowing NAADS officials to directly involve in purchasing inputs for farmers.

 

He said the agriculture sector is also facing a threat of a high population growth rate currently standing at 3.5 per cent per annum and expected to reach 50 million by 2025 compared to three per cent growth in agricultural production, a factor that has led to constant food shortages.

 

“Previously, we did not have the effects of drought and climate change because the ozone layer had not been destroyed by fires and carbon emission, we did not have river siltation, as it is today due to flooding which has resulted from land encroachment due to population pressure,” Dr. Nyiira, said adding that government is making efforts to increase investments in the previously powerful sector through provision of education and training services to farmers on the better farming methods.

 

While the Uganda government is encouraging value addition to the agricultural production for exports through a private public partnerships, there’s no serious commitment in ensuring that the processing industries are set up.

 

The Uganda coffee Development Authority, for instance, has laid down plans to set up a coffee processing plant in the next three to five years to add value on the coffee for exports in a private public partnership deal.

 

However, the success of setting up the plant will depend on the interests of the private sector in agro processing due to instability in the production of quality agricultural produce coupled with unreliable energy.

Mr. Gideon Badagawa, the executive director, Private Sector Foundation Uganda said it is only through agricultural modernization and value addition that Uganda will reap from its exports.

 

 

 

While in Uganda during the week of 15th April, 2013, Prof Calestous Juma of Harvard Kennedy School of government, Harvard University, USA said biotechnology will help African countries to lay the scientific and technological basis needed to work not only on agriculture but on other areas of the bio-economy such health, environment and industrial production. ISAAC KHISA caught up with him on the importance of biotechnology in achieving economic transformation and here are the excerpts:



 

Prof Juma

Basing on ISAAA report for 2012, many developing countries seem to be adopting biotechnology in food production compared to developed countries. What is driving all this, and in any case, is biotechnology a solution to food security in east Africa and Africa as a continent?

 



The main reason biotechnology crops are being adopted by farmers in developing countries is because they either reduce pesticide use or help in weed control. Biotechnology is a tool for solving specific problems such as pest control and weed management. In helps in reducing the loss of yield due to pests and weeds and as a result helps farmers to increase their harvest. In this regard they can help on one aspect of food security related to increasing production.

But there are other factors that influence food security which include access to food and the quality of what people eat. Access to food is consequence of income and therefore more complex. Farmers who grow biotechnology cash crops such as cotton may increase their disposable income which can used to buy food. But overall food security in more complex and cannot be address by biotechnology tools alone.

If the use of biotechnology or GM foods is the solution to food security in east Africa, why is it taking too long, with the exception of South Africa, Egypt, Burkina Faso, and now Sudan to be adopted in Africa?

The slow rate of the adoption of biotechnology crops in Africa is partly a result of poor investments in agriculture in general. But in some countries the slow rate of adoption is a consequence of either the lack of enabling legislation or the existing or restrictive laws that make difficult and expensive for crop developers to commercialize their crops.

There are claims that biotechnology is an expensive venture for the developing countries especially Uganda. What is your view on this?

The development of any technology involves cost. The failure to develop new technologies also comes at a price. It is estimated that Uganda loses a minimum of US$500 million a year due to banana wilt disease. The spread of banana wilt could have serious consequences for food security and even political stability for Uganda. The cost of developing biotechnology tools to control this disease is negligible compared to the consequences of the destruction of Uganda’s staple crop.

Are we likely to continue solving the same problem of food insecurity in the coming years because as food production increases due to biotechnology, many people are likely to be health and hence increase in population?

More food doesn't necessarily lead to higher population growth. To the contrary, poor nutrition leading to high infant mortality could contribute to high fertility rates as people choose to have more children to increase the chances of survival. Improved nutrition and other measures such as improved health care, education and living conditions are important sources of fertility reduction. The key to managing population is therefore economic growth and agricultural development can help. It is important to stress that these are complex issues that whose outcomes cannot be attributed simply to improvements in food security.

 Issues have been raised over safety GMO foods with claims that it poses health risk to human beings as well as the environment, can you clarify on this?

It is not possible to simply respond to claims. The onus is on those who make the claims to provide evidence of harm. Regulatory authorities will act when such evidence available. But they cannot act on the basis of anecdotal information or mere claims.

 What are the barriers to biotechnology caused by the liability clause in the GM laws, and what need to be done to encourage research and commercialization of biotech crops in East Africa?

Restrictive liability clauses assume that the products are harmful without prior evidence. They are extremely harmful to the development of the biotechnology sector. This is not say that there should be no liability for faulty products but such laws should be discriminate against certain products.

 A number of countries in Africa are now producing biotech foods. In your view, what is the future of GM foods in East Africa and the entire continent?

Biotechnology crops will be adopted in steady and measured way that reflects local realities. What is interesting is the development of biotechnology crops that address African challenges such as disease, drought, pests and weeds. This is every encouraging and shows that African scientists are using the technology to respond to local challenges.

 What are the other underlying benefits for adopting biotechnology apart from farming?

The adoption of biotechnology will help African countries to lay the scientific and technological basis needed to work not only on agriculture but on other areas of the bioeconomy such health, environment and industrial production. By slowing use of biotechnology African countries may be undermining their own ability to build foundations for other technological advances.

And lastly, what are your suggestions for those opposing the adoption of GM crops/food in East Africa?

Every new technology raises concerns and these needs to be openly and democratically debated. For this reason open dialogue is an important aspect of the evolution of new technology. It is important for African countries to create institutional structure through which such debates can occur based on evidence. It is for this reason that adopting biotechnology policies that advance the technology which providing safety measures is an important starting point in managing public debates. END

Cassava breeding, production project to get $25.2m fund boost

 

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DfID) are investing $25.2 million to support a five-year project that seeks to improve breeding and productivity of cassava in sub-Saharan Africa.

The project dubbed Next Generation Cassava Breeding will be hosted by Cornel University, in the United States, together with five other partner institutions, including the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI) in Uganda, and the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) in Nigeria.

Other partner institutions include the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Nigeria, Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research in New York, and the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.

Ronnie Coffman, Cornell University professor of plant breeding and genetics, is the principal investigator of the multi-partner grant.

Yonah Baguma, the project co-ordinator for NaCCRI in Uganda said: “Increased support for strengthening the research capacity in Africa and harnessing novel technologies is critical to improving overall agricultural productivity and food security for poor people.”

Uganda is currently working on a number of projects including the development of cassava resistant to mosaic virus disease and cassava fortified with vitamin A.

The partners will share cassava data, expertise, and information publicly on a website being developed by Lukas Mueller of Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research in New York.

The researchers will use the latest information from cassava genome sequencing to improve cassava productivity and yields by shortening the cassava breeding cycle from almost a decade to as little as six years, in addition to training the next generation of cassava breeders, improving infrastructure at African institutions, and holding awareness-building workshops for farmers, scholars, researchers, and policy makers.

Significant plant

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad), smallholder farmers in Africa produce more than half of the world’s 250 million metric tonnes of cassava per year, a tough woody plant predicted to be one of the few crops that will benefit from climate change.

Currently, some 500 million Africans consume cassava freshly boiled or raw on a daily basis, and the plant also serves as a low-cost source of carbohydrates for animals.

“Next generation cassava provides a great opportunity for us to harness the power of modern science for faster delivery of best-bet cassava varieties for smallholders Cassava breeding, production project to get $25.2m fund boost der farmers,” said Chiedozie Egesi, assistant director at NRCRI and head of cassava breeding, who works to biofortify cassava with essential micronutrients to make it more nutritious.

Peter Kulakow, a cassava breeder and geneticist at International Institute of Tropical Agriculture said the project will not only give breeders in Africa access to the most advanced plant breeding technologies to deliver improved varieties to farmers more rapidly, but also ensure that cassava genetic research is at par with other top food crops such as wheat, rice, maize and potato.

 

 

 

Trials start on root pest-resistant GM banana

Scientists in Uganda have started confined trials of a genetically modified strain of banana that is expected to be resistant to the banana-root nematode (Radopholus similis).

The banana root-pest causes a lesion on the plant’s root, which results in the plant suffering malnutrition, leading to heavy crop losses.

Principal investigator Charles Changa said the banana plants, under confined trials at the National Agricultural Research Laboratories, Kawanda, have been modified with either single or multiple anti-nematode genes derived from maize, rice, papaya, and Irish potatoes to confer more than 80 per cent resistance to nematode infestation.

“There are three versions of Cysteine proteinase inhibitors (cystatins) that were derived from maize, rice and papaya sources. The other antinematode gene, the aspartic protease inhibitor, was derived from Irish potato,” said Dr Changa.

Dr Changa said the banana plants were modified with the antinematode genes, which would result in the nematodes being unable to digest protein from the banana plant roots, hence slowing down their growth and rapid multiplication.

Dr Changa added that some of the banana plants were modified with an antinematode peptide — a short form of a protein that is produced in the banana plant root to prevent nematodes from actually finding and colonising their roots for feeding.

The trials become the latest on genetically modified (GM) bananas in Uganda aimed at restoring the crop, which is currently threatened by pests and diseases throughout the country.

Uganda carried out confined field trials on banana to test black sigatoka disease resistance (2007-2009), and two ongoing trials to test banana bio-fortified with vitamin A and iron and testing resistance to banana bacterial wilt.

Nematodes are small parasitic worms that are only visible with the aid of a microscope. Although there are different types of banana nematodes, burrowing nematode (Radopholus similis) is the most widespread and destructive banana nematode in Uganda’s central region, causing up to 50 per cent yield losses, scientists say.

These worms invade and damage banana root systems by causing root lesions and in extreme cases root rotting thereby affecting water and nutrient uptake from the soil. The rotten roots become too weak to give adequate support to banana plants.

Scientists say the nematode pest has been the main reason for the reduction in the lifespan of banana plantations in the central region of the country. The life span of banana plantations has reduced to less than five years compared with 50 years in the western part of the country.

Arthur Tugume, a lecturer at the Department of Biological Sciences at Makerere University, told The EastAfrican that the new technology has no effect on the crop or on human beings.

“It is fine for the crop to use genes from different plants… that is how the crop protects itself naturally. However, adequate evaluations need to be carried out to see how the crop responds,” said Dr Tugume.

Dr Changa said the GM banana varieties will be evaluated in similar field trials across the country to determine their effectiveness in multiple agro-ecological zones and the stability of the antinematode gene.

Genetically modified law

If the nematode-resistant banana proves successful in the field trials, Ugandan farmers will only have access to the planting materials after the GM law is in place and all safety measures have been addressed. Uganda plans to commercialise its first GM banana by 2017.

The National Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill, 2012, which among other roles provides a regulatory framework to facilitate safe development and application of biotechnology, is currently at the committee stage in parliament.

The National Agricultural Research Laboratories is carrying out the research in collaboration with international scientists from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Cornell University, USA, and the University of Leeds, UK.

Uganda’s population depends on banana mainly for local consumption, with an estimated per capital consumption of over 300kg, the highest rate in the world, according to National Crop Resources Research Institute.

Story published on May 4, 2013 in The EastAfrican

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/Trials-start-on-root-pest-resistant-GM-banana/-/2558/1841792/-/item/1/-/103ewgw/-/index.html

ASERECA to expand integrated farming technologies to seven more member states

The Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) plans to expand its integrated farming technology in seven more member countries in a bid to address food security through efficient utilisation of farm resources.

ASERECA Chairman Dr. Razafinjara Aime Lala told The EastAfrican that the project dubbed “Crop-livestock integration for sustainable management of natural resources and building livestock resilience in Eastern and Central Africa” launched in March 2012 in four member states has shown a success story and needs to be duplicated in other member countries.

“This project is a leading one and highly satisfactory; we as the board are very happy and hope that other member countries will emulate the same in the coming years,” Dr. Lala said while evaluating the performance of the project in Masaka District, located South West of Uganda’s capital, Kampala.

Over 150 farmers in Masaka District are presently involved in the integrated farming technology.

The one and half year project ending September 2013 at a cost of $950,000, is being implemented by the National Livestock Resources Research Institute (NaLIRRI) in Uganda, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) in Kenya, National Livestock Research Institute (NLRI) in Tanzania and Institute du Sciences des Agronomiques du Burundi (ISABU) in Burundi .

And now the countries lined up for the new project include; Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sudan, and South Sudan

Though Dr. Lala could not give details on when the project will be rolled out to the rest of the member states as they are yet to agree on funding, said the new technology, which was also launched in Kumi District eastern Uganda in August 2012, is to be scaled up countrywide.

Dr. Jolly Kabirizi, a senior research officer at National Livestock Resources Research Institute said the involvement of ASARECA and partners in the new farming technology is informed by the knowledge that mixed crop-livestock production is a major source of livelihood for numerous households in Eastern and Central Africa.

Dr. Kabirizi said the increasing effects of climate change coupled with other social, economic and political issues in the region have escalated farmers’ risks and losses and increasingly reduced crop and livestock production, resulting into constant food shortage.

The new development comes at the time many countries in east and central Africa are occasionally battling cases of food shortage resulting from partly persistent drought and poor government planning.

According to 2012 Global Hunger Index (GHI) report, Rwanda has the second highest levels of hunger in the East African region, after Burundi.

Rwanda ranks at 57th position out of 79 countries that were surveyed with a score of 19.7, while Burundi is at the bottom of the list with a global index score of 37.1.  The report blames lack of sustainable food security strategies for poor scores.

“What is happening here is that farmers feed livestock and the remains as well as animal wastes are put back to the farms as manure.  At the same time, the farmers use banana peelings to feed their animals as farmers gets milk and other products,” Dr. Kabirizi said.

Mr. Peter Ddaki, one of the farmers involved in the new farming practices said food production in his garden has increased in the recent months both for home consumption and for commercial.

“We also harvest enough water to irrigate the banana plantation, indigenous vegetables like Nakatti (solanum aethiopicum) and dodo (amaranthus sp), beans, and fodder  crops like Lablab, Gliricidia, Calliandra, Napier grass and others,” Mr.  Ddaki said.

Mr. Ddaki said the family also use harvested water for our three cross-breed dairy cows and other livestock.

ASERECA is a non-political organisation of the National Agricultural Research Institutes (NARIs) of 11 countries, aimed at increasing the efficiency of agricultural research in the region and promote economic growth, food security and export competitiveness through productive and sustainable agriculture. END

Uganda’s scientists looking for possible solutions for cowpea disease outbreak

Two years ago, scientists in Uganda developed and released high yielding varieties of cowpea resistant to Aphid born mosaic virus to farmers aimed at addressing of food scarcity especially in semi-arid areas.

The cowpea varieties; Secow 3B, Secow 4W and Secow 5T were given to the farmers in May 2011, after four years of vigorous research.

But as researchers at the National Semi Arid Resources Research Institute, Serere (NaSARRI) starts developing foundation seed for the farmers and the seed companies; they have been hit with the re-emergence of cowpea scab and leaf blight diseases, threatening the crop in the country.

Dr. Peter Obuo, the lead researcher at the institute for the dry land legumes said Cowpea scab and leaf blight diseases were not a threat at the time the crop’s high yielding were released to farmers for growing.

“…At the moment, the two diseases have become a serious threat to the crop possibly because of climate change and we are looking carrying out research,” Dr. Obuo said.

“We are looking at three approaches, either developing disease resistant materials for the crop, using a chemical control, using an agronomic practices or coming up with an integrated approach.”

In November last year, scientists in the country’s research institutions warned of a possible increase in the spread of viral diseases in crops as raising temperatures resulting from climate change create and enabling environment for them to thrive.

Whereas Cowpea scab disease affects the flowering axis causing the flower and, or, pod abortion or completely preventing flower formation, Bacterial blight causes chlorotic patches (orange with a yellow halo) and necrotic patches on the leaves.

Bacterial blight is transmitted from infected seedlings to adjacent plants by rain drops and the pathogens can also cause cracking and cankers on the stem and peduncles.

Cowpea is one of the most important grain legumes in arid and semi-arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa used as a nutritional source of protein for poor rural farmers.

It is also a source of nutrition in drier regions, especially in eastern and northern Uganda, where diets heavily rely on starchy foods such as sorghum, millet, maize and cassava.

Some farmers consume cowpea as both grain and a vegetable and as a source of income for subsistence farmers.
Compared to other grain legumes and vegetable crops, cowpea possesses multiple advantages for farmers, including high yields on poor sandy soils unsuitable for other crops, high rate of nitrogen fixation, lower fertilisers and tolerance to drought and high temperatures.

Research on the development of high yielding cowpeas begun in 1986 with the crossing of 20 lines from Tanzania, 110 lines  from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and 57 local germplam.

Mr. Robert Ameyo, a plant pathologist at NaSSARI said it was until 2005 that the institute was able to fully develop and release two varieties of cowpea; Secow 1T and Secow 2W.

“Though the crop varieties were high yielding, they were not resistant to Aphid borne diseases,” Mr. Ameyo said.

The outbreak of Aphid borne disease led to a further breeding of three more cowpea varieties with germplasm from IITA,   local cowpea variety and the already developed high yielding Secow 1T and Secow 2W. END