Africa Can Feed Itself?

There are lots of opportunities in agriculture to turn the African continent from food-deficit to food-surplus, but all sensible commentators agree that it is smallholder agriculture particularly that deserves attention if we are to achieve this goal. Questions are: Why are smallholders still net importers of food into their homesteads? And why does 30-40% of African agriculture go to waste every year?



Better seeds, fertilizers, market information, roads, post harvest storage, local value adding, more facilitative regulations, access to credit - all these are cited as important responses and necessary to the 'green revolution'. But one fact stands out starkly: only 4% (or 6% according to some) of African agriculture is irrigated. This means that 96% is rain fed.



Rain fed means feast-famine, glut-shortage production cycles which are out of whack with demand which is constant (and indeed rising). Increasing the productivity of rain fed agriculture will compound the existing problem of 30% - 40% waste, by placing additional strain/demand on already inadequate infrastructures. Nowhere else in the agriculture world does anyone depend so heavily on rain fed production.



Asian agriculture is 43% irrigated! So why can we not apply this solution here? Some say it is because Africa is water scarce ... but it absolutely is not. Others say that it’s because irrigation is so phenomenally expensive - big schemes, large dams, small dams, other storage systems like RWH tanks do indeed cost a lot. But irrigation need not be so expensive as we have shown:



At KickStart we have developed an irrigation technology that:



* Costs less than $400 per irrigated hectare (versus $5,000 - $10,000 for conventional irrigation schemes)



* Is as conservative of water (arguably even more conservative) than micro-drip - and is less expensive per hectare and much easier to set up and use



*Only uses surface or shallow groundwater (e.g. from hand-dug wells), which is renewed/recharged every rainy season



* Is already used by over 90,000 rural families - who have invested in the technology themselves without any assistance from anyone



The technology has transformed from subsistence to profitable commercial agriculture as a result; increased productivity and incomes by typically 300% to 1200%; provided new employment to over 120,000 people in rural areas; generated over $90 million per year into local economies and can be used by between 15-20 million families in SSA (i.e. ~10% of the SSA population) because they live in places where the pump can physically work and where it makes economic sense to do so



This technology is well designed and made. The human powered pressure irrigation pump for example, is widely distributed, marketed and sold in Kenya and Tanzania and Mali. The two models - one for $100 and another for $35 are guaranteed.



Smallholder farmers themselves make the decision to invest in them. No government or NGO funds are needed. The farmers themselves have gone on to reap the benefits and make the impacts that are cited above. Currently around 2,000 smallholder farmers per month buy one of these pumps.



Rural people can come out of poverty and into prosperity in as short a time as possible - using market based approaches. There is potential here for 10% of Africa's people to increase their productivity by a factor of 5 (or so) which would mean doubling current food production on the continent. And it would cost them and their governments only a very small fraction of the money that other, less effective, solutions would cost.



We need brain-fed but not rain fed agriculture to turn around the smallholder sector in Africa and transform rural people from 'liabilities' on national books of account, in permanent need of charity and relief welfare, to 'assets' who are using their skills and knowledge to add value and create wealth. It is not rocket science to do so. Just a question of looking critically at our agricultural systems and processes, and identifying where the tightest bottleneck is and removing this first, before going on to address secondary and tertiary bottlenecks.



Right now, I fear that many policies and interventions in this sector can be likened to the non-solution to traffic congestion we are witnessing along Nairobi's Mombasa road. By widening and smoothing this road, as they have done, a whole lot more cars can get a lot more quickly to the Nyayo stadium roundabout and get stuck there, so we now get a 2km long, 4 lane wide, jam instead of a 4 km long, 2 lane wide, jam. The net effect is zero.



By Nick Moon,

Co-Founder; Managing Director,

KickStart International

Driving (and Walking) In Monrovia: Not For the Faint of Courage

Monrovia, Liberia - A major challenge in any large, crowded city is simply navigating the traffic in traveling from one place to another. But that task is decidedly more complicated in a city with no traffic lights, few to no stop signs whatsoever and just a handful of traffic agents on the roads. Imagine if all the traffic signals were disconnected and stop signs removed from, say, Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn or Fordham Road in the Bronx.

That’s the case here in Monrovia, where the impact of nearly 15 years of civil strife is most easily seen and felt in the city’s traffic. For one thing, the sheer volume of the population of Liberia’s capital has soared as rural dwellers moved en masse to seek employment in Monrovia, the country’s lone big city. The population here has more than doubled since the war, with about 1.5 million people in the capital (half of Liberia’s population now lives in Monrovia) Furthermore, the war, which ended in 2003, destroyed the hydro-electric plant in Monrovia, and rebuilding it has been a slow – if steady – undertaking. At the same time, the number of motorcycles has skyrocketed with officials suggesting that they now nearly rival the number of cars here.

All of that has made driving here an enterprise that is best not left to the faint of courage. The best preparation might well be a month of test driving on an obstacle course (or even in downtown Brooklyn, for that matter). Simply driving onto the highways and streets here — and certainly seeking to make a left turn from a major road — takes a combination of boldness, pluck and sheer bravery. Pedestrians cross roads as best they can, calculating whether they amass the speed to outrace oncoming traffic. There is no traffic light to bring traffic to a halt at an intersection and rarely is there a police officer. So, crossing the street is a highly-charged, track-and-field event for pedestrians. And the presence of potholes of every size is an extenuating challenge for Monrovia’s drivers.

There is a distinctive rhythm to creeping out to enter or make a left turn from the road – it’s the driving equivalent of the school girl poising with intense focus descend into the whirl of jump-rope. “You’ve got be very watchful,” said Michael B. Cole, a 20-year-old University of Liberia student who drives his older brother’s Volvo from time to time. “I’ve been driving since I was 13, starting with my father’s car.”

Driving in Monrovia, he added, involves the utmost in concentration, because of the pedestrians, the unpredictability of the motorcycles’ bobbing and weaving, the potholes and the water that can form small lakes in the roads during Liberia’s rainy season. “You have to always watch, always watch,” he said, while blowing his horn to alert a driver who seemed to be on a collision course with Mr. Cole’s car.

And driving here at night is an altogether advanced level of challenge. With few sections of the city illuminated by street lights, averting the scampering pedestrians in the darkness can be a potentially perilous endeavor to say the least, a virtual suicide mission for those crossing by foot. On a recent event here, the streets at one junction seems even more crowded than during the daylight rush hour and pedestrians at every turn seems to narrowly avert catastrophe.

And yet, amid the motorcycle darting, the fearless pedestrians and the incessant blaring of horns, there is an abundance of courtesy that seems to prevail. Some drivers will simply stop at an intersection to allow the elderly or young children cross. It is not uncommon for a driver, seeing the desire of another to make a turn, to slow down and flash his lights, a sign of allowance to make the turn. All of it is acknowledged with the courtesy of a wave in return.

But things are due to improve, said Miekee S. Gray, the chief of traffic for the national police. “We have plans to get many more traffic signals placed in the busy intersections,” Mr. Gray said, in an interview. “Right now we just have about 150 traffic officers on duty during the course of the day. In two years, I think you will see a big difference in the traffic in Monrovia.”

For one thing, he said that the increase in traffic signals will make it possible to reduce the number of traffic agents on the streets, freeing them to do other police activities. He said there are also plans to set up video monitoring systems that will enable the police to watch traffic around Monrovia from a command center and dispatch agents as necessary. Also, the police will conduct widespread training to better acquaint drivers with standard international traffic signs.

Also, Mr. Gray said, police officers have cracked down on enforcing seat belt regulations so intensely that most drivers now understand the importance of wearing them. And the department plans more public awareness campaigns, he said. “We are making progress and we will be making a lot more progress in the next few years,” he said. “You'll see street lights in bigger numbers and a better flow of traffic” (To be completely accurate, there is one functioning traffic signal here now, at the Port of Liberia).

In the meantime, drivers have to make the best with conditions. “I think things will get better in time,” Mr. Cole said. “It’s a pain driving in the city. But you have to make the best of it for now.”

By Jonathan P. Hicks

Amaranth

One of the things we will look at in the future is introducing where applicable, new varieties of food and fodder.

This project in Uganda can be duplicated in other parts of Africa?

New Year...New Gig

Happy New Year!

How's those resolutions doing? Geez...it's the ninth already and I haven't even made any.

I've thought about creating a list...so how bout making it public?

So here's my top ten list of things to work on in 2010.

1. Being a better Dad-Husband-Brother-Son-Friend- This is a challenge we all struggle with. But, being aware of this every day is my hope and desire.
2. Memorize a bible verse a week. It is what it is. This will take discipline.
3. Keep up with exercise and whole foods diet.
4. Simplify life...I'm already making strides here...need to keep the push.
5. Learn French...Oh my, this one scares the heck out of me! Let's see if I can blog in French by years end!
6. Establish a ministry...this means too many things to post here. But, let's look back at years end and see what God does here.
7. Clear out my idols closet one by one and make God the center of my life.
8. Use Time wisely-when you realize that you are about to turn fifty...time starts to matter a bit more? I'm not just talking about little things you waste time in the day, but I'm talkin about the big picture. You know each day is a gift...I'm going to try and make each day count.
9. Reading more. Watching Tv less and less frivolous internet searching...e.g. Facebook
10. Not make any promises I cannot keep. I'm one to put myself out there. I've had too many irons in the fire and it just adds unwanted stress. Can I get an amen?

Kenya: Maize Shortage to Affect Four Million Citizens

Kenya: Maize Shortage to Affect Four Million Citizens

Mark Kapchanga

3 January 2010

Nairobi — More than four million Kenyans will face an acute shortage of their staple food, maize, as early as April this year.

Egerton University's research arm -- Tegemeo Institute -- says the country's food security situation is precarious. It adds that there is a potential food crisis occasioned by erratic rains during the long rains season.

Kenya will depend heavily on neighbouring countries for maize imports.

Tegemeo maize researcher Francis Karin says the maize reserve will last up to the first quarter of 2010 only.

"From April, Kenya will have to import maize to save its people from starvation. The situation will improve only after major harvests are realised towards the end of the year in September and October," Mr Karin said.

The thinktank says the situation has been worsened by the failed El Nino rains, which many farmers had pegged their hopes on.

Continuing export bans in neighbouring Tanzania and Uganda have worsened the problem. They are likely to reduce cross-border maize inflows by approximately 46 per cent.

The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) says other issues affecting Kenya's maize outputs include inefficient market competition, lack of enough agricultural extension systems and poor infrastructure.

Production from the long rains usually accounts for 85 per cent of the national output, which is currently estimated at 30 million bags. As a result of the intermittent rains this year, this production level is set to fall below last year's.

Estimates by Tegemeo place the long rains production at 18 million bags. This represents 65 per cent of the Ministry of Agriculture's target of 28 million bags.

Crop performance analysis by the ministry shows that the country's major production zones will record massive declines in maize production.

South Rift, Eastern and Central and North Rift Provinces have an annual crop performance rate of 50 per cent. Nyanza's lowlands recorded a 60 per cent production decline while the highlands had a 35 per cent decline. Western and Central registered 30 per cent and 70 per cent decline, respectively.

On average, out of the country's 1.3 million hectares of land under maize, only 18.2 million bags were achieved, representing an average 14.3 bags per hectare. This is 65 per cent of Kenya's target of 28 million bags.

The ministry estimates the short rains production at 6.5 million bags, with 2.6 million bags coming from Eastern province. Another 1.6 million bags is expected from Nyanza province.

This is quite optimistic. Ukambani and upper Eastern have already lost their maize crop due to the failed El Nino rains. Nyanza has not fared any better.

Copyright © 2010 The East African. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).

Senegal apology for Christ 'slur'

 

Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade has apologized to the Christian minority for comparing a controversial statue to Jesus Christ.

Archbishop of Dakar Theodore Adrien Sarr said the comments had "humiliated" Catholics, leading to angry protests by hundreds of Christian youths in Dakar.

Mr Wade made the comments after imams condemned the statue as "idolatrous".

The $27m North Korean-built "African Renaissance" statue has also been criticised as a waste of money.

Senegal has a long history of tolerance between majority Muslims and the influential Christian community, who make up some 6% of the population.
“ We were shaken and humiliated by the comparison which the head of state made between the monument to African renaissance and the representations found in our churches ”
Theodore Adrien Sarr Archbishop of Dakar

But the BBC's Tidiane Sy in Dakar says there have been recent warnings that this could be at risk.

Three respected groups have called on the government to be cautious about how it handles religious issues.

President Wade sent his influential son, Karim, who is also a cabinet minister, to deliver a personal apology to Archbishop Sarr after the stone-throwing Christian youths clashed with security forces outside Dakar cathedral on Wednesday.

The archbishop had said: "We were shaken and humiliated by the comparison which the head of state made between the monument to African renaissance and the representations found in our churches."

President Wade had sought to deflect the criticism of his statue on religious grounds by comparing it to the statues of Jesus Christ found in churches.

He hopes that the statue will attract more tourists to the country but many Senegalese feel the money could be better spent.

The statue, intended to symbolize the fight against racism, was Mr Wade's idea and he says he will personally take 35% of the revenue it generates, with the rest going to the state.

When completed early in 2010, it will be bigger than the Statue of Liberty in New York.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/8435805.stm

Published: 2009/12/31 10:20:28 GMT

© BBC MMIX

Liberia: Belle Yella Opens to the World

28 December 2009
The people of Belle Yellah, in Gbarpolu County, received perhaps the greatest Christmas gift of their lifetime when President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf led an array of Government officials and the Ambassadors of the United States and China to fulfill a promise that she would spend the 2009 Christmas with the people of this northwestern forest town.

What made the Belle Yellah visit even more historic is the fact that, for the first time in the history of Liberia, a town once famous for its political prisons, where past governments locked up opponents and hardened criminals, was poised to be linked to the rest of the country by a motor road being constructed by the Government of Liberia.

The Liberian President had assured the County's most famous son, Paramount Chief Old Man Jallah Lone, now 106 years old, and other prominent people of Gbarpolu that, come what may, she would spent the Christmas in their town, not by way of a helicopter, but by road. "If the road doesn't reach Belle Yellah in time for the Christmas, we will walk, wherever the road stops, to get to Belle Yellah," the President repeated recently in a holiday message and in subsequent interviews.

The President's comments to walk to Belle Yellah may not have been taken literally by many. They were wrong, because the President actually walked for more than an hour and a half to reach the town, when it became clear that the Ministry of Public Works construction crew would not be able to connect Belle Yellah by road on Christmas Day.

With Government officials and her diplomatic guests following, the President walked through the dense Belle forest, crossing creeks, connected sometimes only by makeshift bridges that challenged even those who use them regularly.

"How far is Belle Yellah from here?" was the question most frequently asked by the officials, determined to spend Christmas in the town. Depending on who the question was addressed to, the responses were different. "It's just 30 minutes; you're not too far." One villager was very precise. "It will take 23 minutes," he said, confidently. In reality, the stretch was longer than everyone anticipated. Those who could walk faster took an hour, others a little longer. But in the end it didn't matter; the goal was to get to Belle Yellah, a town charged with euphoria and anticipation.

At about 4:15 p.m., the crowd, ecstatic, erupted in cheers and songs. It appeared that the President and her entourage had made the stretch. But that was not the case. A motorbike had made it through, the first in the history of the town. Most of the inhabitants, especially the younger generation, had never seen a motorbike, let alone a vehicle. A young man rubbed the dust off the motorbike with his finger and licked it, in appreciation for the historic event he was witnessing.

Meanwhile, the crowd continued to surge, anticipating the arrival of the President and her delegation, which arrived, finally, at about 6:15 p.m. to the delight of the town's residents who sang, danced, and chanted slogans in welcoming the President to "prisoner's creek," so-called because it was used by male prisoners as a place to shower.

Women spread their lappas on the ground as the President and her entourage walked to the recently constructed meeting place for an official program. County officials, led by Superintendant Gertrude Larmine and the Legislative Caucus, were present, and lavished praises on the President for fulfilling her promise to spend the Christmas with them.

They were particularly grateful to the President for undertaking the construction of the 25-mile stretch of road linking Bopolu to Belle Yellah. "You have fulfilled the vision of our forefathers," District No.3 Representative, Dixon Yarseah, said. He regretted that the area was marginalized by past governments, but was now hopeful that, with the construction of a motor road linking Belle Yellah to the rest of the country, the area would now attract more development.

The President thanked the citizens for the warm welcome, and reiterated that her visit was in fulfillment of a promise to the people of Belle Yellah that she would spend the Christmas with them. She apologized for the delay in reaching the town, but assured them they would spend Christmas night together.

The Liberian President also thanked all those who had made the trip, taking time from their families to spend Christmas in Belle Yellah. She was particularly full of praises for the Minister of Public Works and his engineering crew for their hard work. "We intend to turn Belle Yellah into a place of hope from a place of horror," the President told journalists later in an interview.

The decision by the President to spend the night in Belle Yellah took many residents by surprise since accommodation, especially for a President, poses some challenges, which the President acknowledged. "We will all stay up, tell stories, and dance as it is done when a stranger comes to your town and there are no sleeping places," the President suggested.

It was worth the wait because, as the night progressed, and with the President keeping her word and staying awake, enjoying the traditional music and dance, came word that the road crew was about to enter the town. The news spread like wildfire, and like an army of ants, residents, with their flashlights, began to move towards the construction site to witness, firsthand, the history that was unfolding before their very eyes.

Yes, it was, indeed, true, because not only was the sound of the heavy-duty equipment becoming increasingly louder, but lights from the caterpillars and the Presidential fleet of vehicles began beaming through the forests, becoming visible.

"This is not true, I cannot believe this," exclaimed an older woman as she struggled to join others who had begun to make their way to prisoner's creek, which stood as the only remaining hurdle to the entry of the first motor vehicle ever to enter Belle Yellah.

At 3:15 a.m., the first vehicle, a caterpillar, followed by a fleet of vehicles, roared into Belle Yellah as its residents chanted. It was reported that a woman, no doubt overwhelmed by the event, fainted. This could not be independently confirmed.

As the convoy approached, a middle-aged man, lying in the middle of the road, in disbelief, screamed: "I want the caterpillar to walk over me."

"Who way-say, Ellen way-say; Who way-say, Ellen way-say," chanted the residents, of all age groups, as they hugged one another and welcomed the convoy into Belle Yellah - the first entry of a motor vehicle, a dream - which the President described as a fulfillment of a promise to the people of Gbarpolu to end the isolation of the town and bring development to the area.

Copyright © 2009 Liberia Government. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
AllAfrica - All the Time

What Christmas was all about (in case you have forgotten already)

Liberian head's Christmas in jail

 

Liberia's President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf says she is going to spend Christmas Day at an old maximum security prison in the jungle.

Bella Yalla prison is in the remote north of Liberia, where political prisoners were kept and often tortured.

During her visit the prison will be renamed and transformed into a museum.

The BBC's Jonathan Paye-Layleh says her visit is intended to mark the end of the use of torture in Liberia, which is recovering from years of civil war.

Our reporter says during the conflict the government used to fly political prisoners to Bella Yalla prison in the Belle Forest.

He says some of those detained were political colleagues of Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/8428923.stm

Published: 2009/12/23 17:11:44 GMT

© BBC MMIX

Merry Christmas

“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”- Luke 2:11-14 NIV

I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

But, I also would like to remind you that while we enjoy this season, there are so many people who are really hurting these days.

You don't need to look very far. Right in our neighborhoods there are people who are really hurting. Then if you look in your state, the urban areas, and the small towns, sins ugly head rears everywhere. And then we have world wide issues, persecution,hunger,war...this list could go on....

Yesterday as I was in Walmart, I couldn't help to think about the abundance we are surrounded with. One of the things that always turns my stomach, especially after returning from a developing country, is the rows and aisles of 'stuff'.

I saw people who had carts full of 'stuff' that will be given as a 'gift' and only to be forgotten in days, if not hours of receiving.

What did you get for Christmas last year? 

There's only one gift that will last forever. That happened over two thousand years ago. And it came in a manger, in the form of a savior, Jesus Christ.

My prayer is that all people would acknowledge the real meaning of Christmas. That is what motivates our work. Yes we care about the social issues, but ultimately it is that each person would acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and savior that motivates us.

That's what Christmas is all about for me.

Merry Christmas!