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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"4f52cc4a05943fb89497c1b4c937654e","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/75c043de-4819-48ba-b66c-4f28c2a97e62/retrieve","id":"1327485813"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"a477ae67-469f-495c-9bf8-2e3783d7a654","content":"CGIAR is a global partnership that unites organizations engaged in research for a food-secure future. The CGIAR Research Program on Livestock provides research-based solutions to help smallholder farmers, pastoralists and agro-pastoralists transition to sustainable, resilient livelihoods and to productive enterprises that will help feed future generations. It aims to increase the productivity and profitability of livestock agri-food systems in sustainable ways, making meat, milk and eggs more available and affordable across the developing world. The Program brings together five core partners: the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) with a mandate on livestock; the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), which works on forages; the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), which works on small ruminants and dryland systems; the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) with expertise particularly in animal health and genetics and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) which connects research into development and innovation and scaling processes.The Program thanks all donors and organizations which globally support its work through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund.ATTRIBUTION. The work must be attributed, but not in any way that suggests endorsement by ILRI or the author(s).For any reuse or distribution, the licence terms of this work must be made clear to others. Any of the above conditions can be waived if permission is obtained from the copyright holder. Nothing in this licence impairs or restricts the author's moral rights. Fair dealing and other rights are in no way affected by the above. The parts used must not misrepresent the meaning of the publication. ILRI would appreciate being sent a copy of any materials in which text, photos etc. have been used.Citation: Ojango, J.M.K., Oyieng, E.P., Gitau, J. and Gachora, J. 2021. Training of trainers in community-based breeding program for small ruminants in pastoral communities of Kenya. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI. The Government of Kenya through the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries and Irrigation (MALFI) is working with the ILRI Livestock Genetics team on aspects of the World Bank aided Regional Pastoral Livelihoods Resilience Project (RPLRP-Kenya) that aims to enhance livelihoods and resilience of pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in crossborder drought prone areas of Kenya. The ILRI Livestock Genetics team is specifically contributing to improving livestock productivity in three counties, Turkana, Isiolo and Marsabit through capacity building, herd management and community-based breeding interventions. The range of activities are in line with the RLPLRP objectives that seek to: i) maintain the genetic diversity of indigenous livestock while improving their productivity and ii) promote behavior, change and reorient producers' mindset to be more commercial.Long term sustainability of interventions in communities will be possible through engaging locally based extension service providers and enhancing their capacity in the implementation of livestock management strategies that enhance productivity in challenging environments. A training of trainers (TOT) model was adopted for integrating best practices for sheep and goat production in the target areas. The training programs are organized for county technical staff from the Directorate of Livestock and directorate of Vet services in Isiolo, Marsabit and Turkana counties.Courses were designed for adoption using ICT technology platforms alongside practical implementation in pastoral herds. For the first round of training, the MALFI requested the training to be conducted in-person rather than remotely using ICT platforms. The Global challenge with Covid-19 in 2020 necessitated the trainings to be re-structured to ensure safety of all participants in line with government protocols. The program was thus divided into sets of training, conducted over three days for each county independently with participants as presented in Table 1. Topics covered in the training were as follows:• Impact pathway for a community-based breeding program for small ruminants in pastoral systems • Identification and selection of sites and communities for interventions Practical demonstrations on how to select breeding animals was implemented on preselected farms within the county.An interactive session was held with course participants in which they were tasked with identifying key opportunities and activities that they could undertake within their counties to improve productivity and offtake from the pastoral communities. Ideas presented are listed as follows:• Isiolo abattoir is great opportunity that the county should take advantage of as its ready market for the outputs of the breeding program. • The team agreed to set up one pioneer core innovation group at Barambate, implement the selection, monitor changes and replicate to other groups. • CPTL and Director livestock to organize for a planning meeting and come strategy/plan outlining the activities and timelines towards implementing breeding program for the selected site.(Barambate) • Share the plan with relevant stakeholders to synergize the activities.• Share KLMC market data with the farmers and train them how to access market information • Collaborate with KSAP and integrate the breeding program in the value chain. Organize farmers into breeding societies which will be increase their bargaining power. • Collaborate with Kenya Livestock Breeders Association (KLBO) to set breed standards for Galla Goat. • County to make use of the National Strategic framework and explore proposals and collaborations with donors and other partners. Identify gaps in areas that complement the breeding program. The gaps should attract funding from donors, and this will ultimately benefit the breeding program.• County to collaborate with the Livestock Recording Center LRC to take up data analysis of data for the breeding program. • Ward livestock officers to be supported and facilitated to do data collection • The team agreed to set up one pioneer core innovation group at within Saku ,re-align the group to have a breeding objective, implement the selection, monitor changes and replicate to other groups • The deputy Director Livestock and the CPTL to brief the Director of livestock, CEC and the Chief officer on the deliberations from the training of Tots. Plan and organize for a planning meeting within two weeks and involve all the officers trained. • Document and outline a plan with timelines on how to implement the breeding program for the identified site. Share the outline with all relevant stakeholders. Identify training gaps that partners can take up. • County to collaborate with the Livestock Recording Center LRC to take up data analysis of data for the breeding program. • Ward livestock officers to be supported and facilitated to do data collection County to identify gaps in areas that complement the breeding program. The gaps should attract funding from donors, and this will ultimately benefit the breeding program.• The upcoming breeding center is a great opportunity for the breeding program as breeding stocks for the center will be source from the farmers in the breeding program. • Dr. Julie Ojango: j.ojango@cgiar.org• Edwin Oyieng: e.oyieng@cgiar.org • James Audho: j.audho@cgiar.org • Jennifer Gitau: Email: j.w.gitau@cgiar.org• Judy Wairimu Gachora Email: jgachora@yahoo.com"}

main/part_1/0014087247.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"f304ad78808e16a8759717244153c8c1","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/49f7b387-6710-452c-9520-b704fa9c1028/retrieve","id":"-27415074"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"c5af0e9d-eeef-4762-a7b9-5000e8e6edcc","content":"The information and insights from Innovation Labs are gratefully acknowledged.What makes food safety an important issue for development?1.1. What are foodborne diseases?Foodborne diseases (FBD) are illnesses caused by contaminated, or naturally harmful, food or beverages. A food safety hazard is anything in food that can harm consumers' health. There are three major types of hazards:• Biological hazards are living organisms (including viruses, bacteria, protozoa, moulds and parasites), which have the ability to infect people or produce toxins injurious to health. • Chemical hazards can be artificial chemicals produced by industry or natural chemicals (for example, those produced by heating food or toxic metals), which are injurious to health. o Mycotoxins (chemical compounds produced by moulds) and phycotoxins (chemical compounds produced by algae and accumulated in sea foods) are considered biological hazards by some and chemical hazards by others. • Physical hazards include stones and fragments of metal or glass as well as sub-microscopic nanomaterials and radionuclides.The health impacts of FBD can be measured in different ways, including annual cases of sickness and death. There is also a standard metric for measuring disease burden: the Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY). One DALY is the equivalent of one lost year of healthy life. Measuring health impact in DALYs helps comparisons between dissimilar diseases and aids in prioritization.Historically, FBD has not been considered a development priority. Assessing FBD in developing countries is not easy because many infectious diseases never receive a definitive diagnosis, that is, one which identifies the pathogen responsible. Even if a diagnosis is given, it may be difficult to know if the source was food, water, other people, animals or the environment. Moreover, there is a perception that FBD is a minor inconvenience and that it is largely unavoidable.There is also a perception that FBD is a minor inconvenience and that it is largely unavoidable. However, research and practice shows that food safety exerts a considerable health burden, yet is amenable to solutions. Several developed countries have developed methods that allow assessment of the health burden FBD. These studies found that FBD was common (affecting around one in 3 to one in 6 people a year) and resulted in a high burden of disease (Gkogka et al., 2011;Kirk et al., 2014;Mangen et al., 2015;Scallan et al., 2011;Tam et al., 2014;Thomas et al., 2013). Moreover, the well-known gastrointestinal symptoms of FBD (vomiting and diarrhoea) were responsible for only about half the total health burden. An equally high, but less visible burden came from rare but serious effects such as septicemia, paralysis, stillbirth, and meningitis.Moreover, FBD have other implications for development: direct effects include economic losses, trade impacts, market access and more complicated effects on nutrition and equity. The impacts are summarized in the next paragraphs.Known health burden: Only recently has systematic and comprehensive evidence on the health burden of FBD in developing countries started to become available. The landmark first assessment of the global burden of FBD, conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), considering 31 hazards for which there was enough information to allow global burden estimates, was published in 2015 (Havelaar et al. 2015). This shows that FBD has a health burden comparable to malaria, HIV/AIDS or tuberculosis. Most (98%) falls on developing countries and 40% on children less than five years of age. The global burden of FBD caused by the 31 known hazards considered in 2010 was 33 million DALYs: children under five years bore 40% of this burden.The WHO analysis was based on modelling and expert attribution of the role of food in disease. In developed countries there are also studies based more on clinical data, and these generally suggest higher levels than estimates in the WHO report. There have been few studies on foodborne diarrhoea in developing countries, with most coming from Southeast Asia and relying on the opinion of victims to determine if disease is foodborne: these also suggest higher levels of FBD (Bureau of Epidemiology 2004;Hoi et al. 2009).• Data on FBD at country level which would allow evidence-based prioritization of FBD.• Diagnostic and reporting systems that would allow more accurate assessments of FBD, including FBD in the community. • Ways to raise awareness of the importance of FBD through more effective risk communication.Unknown health burden: The WHO study reported global burden for only 31 hazards, which were relatively well characterized globally. Many hazards considered among the top causes of FBD (for example, Staphylococcus aureus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus) were not included. Moreover, there are several hazards for which there is much concern, and evidence suggestive of an associated health burden, but so far insufficient data to be certain of the health effects or their magnitude. For example, aflatoxins may contribute to stunting and certain pesticides may contribute to cancers in ways that are not fully understood.• Evidence on health burden caused by hazards known to be important but not included in the WHO study.Economic costs: These can be divided into: (a) the harm caused by the disease (e.g. lost productivity from illness); (b) the cost of response (treatment, food recalls) and (c) the cost of prevention (food safety governance; risk-reducing practices). Alternatively, costs may be allocated to different actors (consumers, healthcare, agro-food industry and government) (McLinden et al. 2014). Zoonotic diseases often exert additional burdens on the livestock sector. Economic studies use different methodologies, but the cost of FBD is high: for example, it is estimated to cost the United States of America from 15-80 billion United States dollars (USD) a year (Scharff 2012;Hoffmann et al. 2015).There are few studies from developing countries: one study from Nigeria estimated that costs were around USD 2 million a year (Grace 2011). In developing countries, high healthcare costs are often one of the most important reasons for households' descents into poverty (Krishna 2007).Market access and trade: International trade studies have found evidence that the fixed costs of meeting international trade standards tend to favour established exporters and lead to a greater reduction in developing-country exports relative to those in developed countries (Unnevehr and Ronchi 2014). FBD can also lead to rejections and even lost markets; for example, in 2005, malachite green was found in Chinese eels, resulting in export losses of at least USD 860 million (Ellis and Turner 2008). There is also concern that poor producers and value chain actors will be displaced from rapidly growing export and domestic markets, because of inability to meet standards. This has already occurred in export markets where smaller farmers tend to drop out, as they lack the human and financial capital needed to participate in highly demanding markets. For example, in the 2000s both Kenya and Uganda saw major declines (60% and 40%, respectively) in small-scale farmers participating in export of fruit and vegetables to Europe under Global Good Agricultural Practices (GlobalGAP) (Graffham et al. 2007).The implications of trade liberalization on food safety are both positive and negative. Increased food trade may introduce new safety hazards, revive previously controlled risks, and widely spread contaminated food (Hawkes et al., 2015). The increased complexity of the food supply makes the source of food safety risks more difficult to trace (Ercsey-Ravasz et al. 2012). Yet for low-income countries, most imported food can be reliably considered of higher sanitary quality than food in the domestic markets (Hawkes et al. 2015).• Food safety and trade have been relatively well researched. More effort is needed on ways to maintain and improve developing countries' and small-scale farmers' access to opportunities offered by international trade and the livestock revolution.Shocks caused by food scares: FBD outbreaks often receive huge media attention and cause large declines in purchase of associated food (although this tends to return to pre-scare levels weeks or months later). For example, when pig diseases were initially reported by the media in Vietnam, the majority of consumers stopped eating pork, shifted to chicken, or went to outlets that were perceived to be safer (ILRI 2010). Food safety scares and the government responses to them (such as occurred during the avian influenza outbreak, the Rift Valley fever outbreak and melamine contamination incidents) have been shown to adversely affect the livelihoods of small farmers (2 billion in developing countries) and pastoralists (50-200 million) (ILRI 2007;Kavle et al. 2015).• Food scares are under-researched. Timely evidence is needed on the actual extent and impact of FBD outbreaks and research is needed into effective risk communication to mitigate adverse impacts of food scares.Amenability to solutions: Chapter 3 summarizes evidence on managing FBD in low-and middleincome countries (LMIC). While FBD remains a concern in high-income countries (HIC), and progress in tackling FBD appears to be less good compared to other infectious diseases (Grace 2015), there have been dramatic declines in FBD over the last two centuries (Cutler et al. 2006) and HIC are responsible for just 2% of the global burden of FBD (Havelaar et al. 2015). FBD is hence a solvable problem. Moreover, while some of the interventions that reduce FBD have high initial and recurrent costs (e.g. investment in infrastructure), other interventions are relatively low cost (e.g. treatment of water at point of use).• There is little information on the costs and cost-effectiveness of different options for reducing FBD. This information, which has been developed for other diseases such as malaria, would be a useful guide for policymakers and investors. • There are few randomised controlled trials on food safety interventions, yet these provide the highest standard of evidence.From the above summary, it can be seen that FBD has potentially important effects on poverty and equity; FBD also has implications for development issues, especially nutrition and gender.FBD and nutrition: Stunting, or extreme shortness (very low height-for-age), is the result of a combination of long-term (chronic) poor dietary intake in terms of quality as well as quantity of food and repeated infectious disease episodes. Both wasting (extreme thinness, or low weight-for-age) and stunting are associated with increased mortality as well as poor health and longer-term development outcomes. FBD and hazards may contribute to both wasting and stunting through additional pathways, for example:• Diarrhoea is associated with malnutrition but a causal link is hard to demonstrate; a 9-country study found that 25% of stunting could be attributed to experiencing more than four episodes of diarrhoea before the age of 24 months (Checkley et al. 2008). Studies find a strong peak in diarrhoea after the introduction of supplementary foods, and find that weaning foods often have high levels of microbial contamination and adulteration (Kumi et al. 2014). • Aflatoxins may directly contribute to stunting, and there are demonstrated associations between higher toxin levels and poorer growth in several contexts, although a causal relation, while plausible, is as yet unproven (Leroy 2013). • Ingestion of animal faecal material through food or from the environment may contribute to environmental enteric dysfunction 1 (George et al. 2015) Box 1. Why nutritionists need to consider food safety: a thought experiment Many nutritionists favour food-based approaches to improving nutrition. Animal-source food (ASF) and fresh produce are among the most highly nutritious foods. However, these foods are responsible for most FBD, so if their consumption increased (doubled or tripled) without accompanying action to improve safety then the burden of FBD would be likely to increase too.Currently, FBD accounts for at least 33 million DALYs 2 and causes 420,000 deaths annually (Havelaar et al. 2015) while malnutrition accounts for 85 million DALYs and is the direct cause of 300,000 deaths (IHME 2012). Thus, promoting ASF and produce for nutrition reasons without addressing food safety would result in net worsening of health.At the same time, there are potential trade-offs between food safety and availability. In most developing countries, informal traditional markets are the major source of the risky, fresh foods that are also among the most nutritious foods (e.g. eggs, green leafy vegetables and fish) (Grace 2015). Measures intended to improve the safety of food may have the unintended consequence of reducing its availability or the access of people to nutritious food. For example, in Kenya, pasteurized milk costs double the price of raw milk, putting it out of the reach of many poor families.• There is a lack of understanding of which FBD agents are most important in terms of nutrition. • There is a lack of metrics for understanding trade-offs between food safety and nutrition.• More evidence is needed on contamination of supplementary foods, the nature and origin of the pathogens involved and the fractional contribution to health outcomes arising from contamination outside and inside the household.• Links between livestock keeping, gut microbiomes, diarrhoeal disease and health and nutrition outcomes are complex but poorly understood.FBD and gender: There has been little research on the intersection between gender and food safety, but FBD can have important implications for women's resilience and vulnerability.• Firstly, food safety has direct implications for women's health. Pregnant and lactating women are especially vulnerable to FBD because of their modulated immune system. In addition, some FBD cause foetal abnormalities, abortion and stillbirths and some chemical hazards can be transmitted to the newborn through breast milk.• Secondly, culture affects the relative consumption of risky foods by men and women. In Nigeria and Somalia, women consumed more low-value offal and men more high-value muscle meat (FSNAU 2010; Grace et al. 2012). Offal consumption has been found to be a risk factor for diarrhoea (Stafford et al. 2008;Grace et al. 2012). In Africa, men have more access to meat because they predominate in bars that serve meat and alcohol (Roesel and Grace 2014). Food eaten in these places has increased risk of FBD. A similar pattern is seen with fish-borne disease in China, Vietnam and Korea. Men have more frequent eating opportunities at restaurants than women and have a significantly higher rate of fish-borne fluke (Han et al. 2013). • Thirdly, food safety has implications for women's livelihoods. Women have an important (even dominant) role in many traditional food value chains but as chains modernize, partly driven by food safety concerns, women may be excluded (Grace et al. 2015). • Lastly, women are risk managers in the realms of food consumption, preparation, processing, selling and, to a lesser extent, production. However, they are often disadvantaged by less access to support and services such as education and extension. Because of these links, gender analysis is important in assessing and designing interventions to improve food environments by enhancing food safety.Other food issues may or may not have health implications.• Food adulteration and food fraud is common in developing countries, especially for highvalue foods. It may have health impacts if the adulterant is harmful (e.g. addition of melamine to milk) or if adulteration lowers the nutritional quality of food (e.g. addition of water to milk). • Food spoilage is caused by microbes but these are mostly different from the microbes causing FBD. However, good hygienic practices can reduce both types of microbes. • Antimicrobial residues very rarely cause adverse reactions in people consuming ASF. A more important human health impact is if the use of antimicrobials in agriculture leads or contributes to resistance in pathogens, which infect people.There is substantial information on the presence of hazards in foods in developing countries. In general, all studies that look for hazards find them, and often a large proportion or even majority of the marketed food is above safety standards (Table 1). However, there is much less empirical information on the burden of FBD. There are five main sources of evidence for this: 1. Official reports: These tend to significantly under-estimate the burden of FBD; in many countries there is no requirement to report FBD. Even if there is a requirement, the reporting system may not be adequate, resulting in massive under-reporting. For example, in Gansu in China, there were an estimated 30 million cases of acute gastrointestinal disease but only 400 cases reported to the official system (Sang et al. 2014), and in Malaysia, estimates suggest less than 0.1% of cases are officially reported (Gurpreet et al. 2011). 2. Community surveys of self-reported illness and cause: Only a few surveys have been carried out in developing countries. The studies that exist find acute gastrointestinal disease is common (around one in two people a year or 50% of people report being affected, with much higher rates in some vulnerable populations) and around one-third of cases (12-55%) have been attributed to food (Bureau of Epidemiology 2004;Ho et al. 2010;Chen et al. 2013;Sang et al. 2014). However, self-reporting can be a reasonably good way to estimate occurrence of illness, but people are not good at attributing the source. 3. Surveys of FBD using symptoms or diagnostic tests: Some FBD can be diagnosed through characteristic symptoms in conjunction with diagnostic tests. These include many diseases caused by macro-parasites such as fish fluke or epilepsy caused by pig tapeworm. Reviews of hospital and community surveys often suggest relatively high levels of FBD (Torgerson et al. 2006;Bruno et al. 2013). 4. Risk assessments: This is a method for predicting the level of FBD based on the level of hazards in food consumed, the quantity consumed and the susceptibility of the population. There are a limited number of microbial and chemical risk assessments from developing countries and many are not quantitative but most indicate a high level of FBD, for example, around 13% of people suffer from pork-borne salmonellosis each year in Vietnam (Dang-Xuan et al. 2016) and around 1% of children are exposed to zoonotic Cryptosporidium in Nairobi (Grace et al. 2012). 5. Health burden assessments: Some FBD have been included in Global Burden of Disease Assessments produced by WHO and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. These indicate high burdens for the included diseases. The recent WHO report on the global burden of FBD is the most definitive burden study. It found that 31 FBD agents (biological and chemical hazards) accounted for around 420,000 deaths in developing countries, imposing a burden of around 33 million DALYs each year. Moreover, this estimate is likely to be conservative.• There is very little comprehensive, empirical evidence on FBD health burden in developing countries as most is derived from single studies or extrapolations; this country-specific information is needed to motivate engagement and investment by national stakeholders.The WHO report considered FBD caused by biological and chemical hazards (Havelaar et al. 2015). They found:• Microbial pathogens are responsible for the great majority (79%) of the FBD burden (Figure 1).The most important pathogens are Salmonella spp., toxigenic Escherichia coli, Norovirus and Campylobacter, in that order. • Foodborne macro-parasites are important causes of disease. The most important are the tapeworms responsible for cysticercosis, fish-associated fluke (common in Southeast Asia) and roundworms, which are sometimes foodborne and are widespread in poor countries. • Chemicals are responsible for 3% of the overall assessed FBD burden. Aflatoxins, which are fungal toxins that contaminate mainly staple crops and dairy products in tropical and subtropical developing countries, are also associated with stunting in children, but the relation has not been established as causal (Leroy 2013). Other assessed chemicals were dioxins and cyanide in cassava. Other known, but less important, causes of foodborne or food-associated disease are listed below:• Allergens are proteins that can produce adverse immune responses in sensitive people; they can lead to acute, severe reactions or even symptoms similar to malnutrition and food allergies and underweight are associated (Boye 2012). They appear to be much less common developing countries than in rich countries (Boye 2012). Milk, eggs, aquatic products, groundnuts, and meat are often a source for food allergens (Lee et al. 2013;Kung et al. 2014). Food allergies peak in the first two years of life, then diminish as tolerance develops (Grey and Levin 2014). There is very little information on the foods most responsible for FBD in developing countries. In developed countries, most FBD results from consuming ASF (i.e. livestock products and food derived from aquatic animals) and contaminated produce (i.e. fresh fruits and vegetables). In developing countries, less ASF and produce are consumed, but the fresh food consumed is often contaminated.The data on reported FBD by food source from developing countries show a similar pattern to developed countries (Figure 2). Meat consumption is a strong predictor of FBD mortality. In a crosscountry study, for every additional metric ton of meat consumed per 100 people, FBD mortality increased by 6% (Hanson et al. 2012). Food consumption is determined by culture, religion, values and beliefs. These often affect consumption of the most risky foods which are often also the most nutritious and most societally valued. For example, in Ethiopia, raw meat is consumed; in Kampala, people were found to consume raw eggs in the belief it would cure illness; pastoralists in West Africa believed raw milk could not cause illness; and widespread consumption of raw, undercooked blood and raw fish in Southeast Asia leads to several zoonoses (Nasinyama et al. 2010;Carrique-Mas and Bryant 2013;Roesel and Grace 2014;Seleshe et al. 2014).In HIC, the proportion of outbreaks attributed to fresh produce has been increasing in recent years (Lynch et al. 2009). Although there is less information from developing countries, similar trends are to be expected as drivers are similar, including: greater consumption of fresh produce; intensification increasing some risk factors; lengthening and increasing complexity of value chains; globalization; greater recognition of diseases linked to fresh produce; emergence of new diseases; increasing tendency to eat fresh produce without cooking; and the limited effect of washing in removing pathogens (Burnett and Beuchat 2001). Use of raw manure, sewage and contaminated water for irrigation and washing, and excessive use of pesticides are especially problematic in developing countries.On the other hand, major chemical hazards which are well managed in HIC are still problematic in developing countries, making a direct extrapolation from HIC difficult. For example, most aflatoxin exposure results from consumption of maize, groundnuts and sorghum. In HIC, the burden from aflatoxins is negligible but in many developing countries it is a priority public health problem, and if the relation with stunting is proven, then the impact will be even higher. Similarly, in developing countries, there is no credible, comprehensive, quantified evidence on the impact of agricultural chemicals in food on human health (Käferstein 1997;Prüss-Ustün et al. 2011), but there is solid evidence that some health impacts occur, and suspicion that these could be substantial.• Although causes of FBD are relatively well understood for rich countries, this is not the case for developing countries. There is also a marked discrepancy between the causes which food safety experts think are most important and the causes which consumers and often policymakers think are most important. Understanding the attribution of FBD is key to a rational approach to risk management.It is essential that food safety be addressed from production to consumption. This comprehensive and integrated approach is known as 'farm to fork' or 'stable to table' or 'boat to throat'; it implies the responsibility of providing safe food to the consumer is shared by all stakeholders along the chain. Ideally, the food is traceable, meaning that food items in the consumer kitchen can be traced all the way back to farm of origin.Different hazards can be introduced at different points of the 'farm to fork' value chain and monitoring and control should take place at multiple points (Table 2). Some hazards can best or only be controlled at the pre-harvest stage, for example, antimicrobial residues in ASF. For other hazards, actions may be needed at multiple stages. In HIC, progress over the past decades in reducing the risk of FBD has largely resulted from improving post-slaughter or post-harvest practices (IOM 2012). However, in developing countries where there has been less success in improving food safety, it makes sense to tackle as many points as possible and rigorously evaluate where interventions are most effective. There is no accurate reporting of FBD in developing countries and it is therefore difficult to monitor trends. However, in regions with good reporting such as North America and Europe, there has been no overall marked decline in FBD (although there have been successes in some places in control of specific pathogens) (Grace 2015). It is argued that the investments in food safety over the last 20 years have had limited impact, not because the strategies are ineffective, but because of other factors such as globalization, changes in eating habits and changes in farming practice increasing risk. Given the strong association between agricultural intensification and increase in FBD, it is likely that there will be sharp rises in FBD especially in those areas and countries where intensification is most rapid and least governed. The recent WHO study revealed that Africa has the highest burden of FBD per capita but Asia has the highest overall burden (Havelaar et al. 2015).• The WHO study was a major advance in understanding the burden of FBD. Further research is needed to estimate the burden at country level and for specific food commodities.• The burden from chemicals needs further elucidation, as does the burden of probably important microbes not included in the WHO study.The limited literature on domestic food safety regulation in developing countries shows that we do not yet have good models for standards and approaches that can work at scale to assure food safety where risks are pervasive, costs of compliance are high and enforcement capacity is weak (Grace and Unnevehr 2013). Given the very different farming systems and regulatory environments, the approaches used successfully in Europe cannot be directly applied to developing countries. A number of food safety interventions have been tried and evaluated with little evidence for benefit or sustainability. Nonetheless, other initiatives show promise, and a smaller number have been able to demonstrate sustained and scalable benefits.There are four major lines of defence against FBD:• Improving the safety of inputs;• Improving the chemical and microbiological safety of raw foodstuffs;• Using food processing technologies that mitigate risk (pasteurization and irradiation) and prevent contamination; • Behaviour change aimed at food handlers, including home-based food handlers.In developing countries, there have been several attempts to improve food safety. In some cases, the primary goal is to improve food safety (e.g. upgrading abattoirs) while in others, food safety is one of many goals and sometimes not the most important (e.g. integrated pest management [IPM] or organic farming). Where food safety is one of many objectives, it is often assumed to result from other activities rather than actively planned and implemented, and as a result there is little evidence on food safety outcomes.There is a consensus that food safety is best managed by a 'farm to fork' or 'boat to throat' approach that tackles food safety along the value chain. There should also be multiple barriers (or redundancy) in the system so that if one barrier to contamination fails there are other opportunities to block contamination or decontaminate.• Producer organizations: Organizing farmers in groups can improve bargaining power, reduce costs and make services, such as marketing, accessible; however, they have intrinsic challenges (including free-rider, horizon, portfolio, control and influence cost problems [Ortmann and King 2007]). Globally, about 10% of cooperatives are food related and 13% of Asians and 3% of Africans are reported to be members of cooperatives (Grace 2014). There is some evidence that cooperatives improve food safety practices (Kumar et al. 2013) and market access, but little evidence that food safety outcomes are improved. More flexible arrangements, such as self-help groups or dairy hubs, may also be effective and have potential for addressing food safety. • Farmer field schools: Around 12 million farmers in over 90 countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America have been trained in Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) with an emphasis on IPM. A recent evaluation suggested that farmers in schemes benefited but there was little diffusion or sustainability beyond the project. While yields and profits appear to have increased, there is little evidence of health benefits, partly because these were often not monitored or evaluated (Waddington and White 2014). • Contract farming or outgrower schemes: These operate under an agreement for the farmer to produce a product in a given manner and the buyer to purchase it. Contract farming can facilitate access to inputs and innovation and reduce risk but often excludes the poorest farmers and there are concerns over power differentials leading to farmer exploitation (FAO 2006;Smalley 2013). Quality control is always part of the contract, but it may be more or less strict; several case studies show smallholders have achieved quality standards but there is little information on health outcomes (Minten et al. 2009). • GAP: Smallholders can successfully meet export GAP standards if there are efforts made to include them (Unnevehr and Ronchi 2014). However, domestic GAP seems less successful both in terms of adoption and evidence of improved safety (Schreinemachers et al. 2012). Common challenges are that rules are complex and fees high and there is often little incentive for participation.• Community-based certification: A range of quality assurance schemes have been developed, often involving a brand. These do not require government monitoring and are typically simpler and cheaper than GAP. There are local successes but insufficient evidence on scalability or effectiveness in improving food safety.• Technical innovations: A variety of innovations have been developed including simple cooling devices, food containers for storage and transport, and water disinfection. Some are locally successful, for example, transport of live fish in oxygenated tanks in Egypt and widespread use of trays for eggs (personal observation). However, many have not been widely adopted.• Upgrading infrastructure: This has been a common approach with major objectives being upgraded slaughterhouses, chilling plants for milk and upgraded wet markets. There has been little evaluation of the long-term effects of this upgrading but the few studies done typically show poor success; this is attributed to the complexity of managing and the added expense and inconvenience, making them unpopular with users. • Vertical integration: Large firms manage all stages in the value chain to enhance traceability and quality assurance. This model is increasingly popular especially in Southeast Asia. It is challenged by the increased cost and there is little compelling evidence that the products are safer. • Traceability and certification: This is complicated by the large numbers of farmers, low trust of consumers, premiums associated with branded food and low availability. The case of Vietnam is typical: after more than 10 years of major efforts and investments by state authorities and market actors, the 'safe vegetable' production and distribution system has not yet been able to take a significant share of the vegetable market and gain widespread consumer trust (Nguyen-Viet et al. 2017). One survey found that around 10% of market vegetable retailers participate in the 'safe vegetable' scheme and that farmers of 'safe vegetable production cooperatives' in Hanoi market just 10% of their harvest through the safe vegetable channel (Hoi et al. 2009). Moreover, there is weak evidence that certified products are actually safer than traditionally produced and marketed vegetables.Although most developing countries have adopted HACCP approaches to food safety, which are considered best practice, they have only been able to implement these for exported food and (to a limited extent) in some larger, formal sector agro-industries. This is not surprising given the failure of most small and medium companies in HIC such as the United Kingdom to implement these approaches (Taylor 2008).• Export market: While smallholder farmers generally have challenges in participating in highvalue export chains, and food safety standards are one of the barriers (Narrod et al. 2009;Unnevehr and Ronchi 2014), given intentional support, some smallholders have been able to successfully participate. • Modern retail: There is a trend for modern retail to increase and, especially in Southeast Asia, it has been favoured by governments as a way of improving food safety. Evaluations have been mixed: where there is demand, outlets have been successful but their share of the market remains low and there is limited evidence to suggest food is safer. They are challenged: by high costs; consumer preference for fresh, un-chilled food; and, resistance from retailers (Wertheim-Heck et al. 2015). In some contexts, products from formal retail are safer than those from the informal sector, but perhaps surprisingly, this is not always the case (Roesel and Grace 2014). • High-end, niche sellers: Many developing countries have retailers which sell food at a premium with strong emphasis on safety; these may sell food as 'organic' and emphasize traceability. While these appear to be growing, they reach only a small segment of the better-off consumers.There is evidence that food safety practices are often better in these market segments but there is little evidence on food safety or health outcomes, although there is probably a tendency for more higher-end, more expensive products to be safer (Hoffmann and Moser 2017).There is evidence, mainly from the dairy sector and street vendors of ready-to-eat foods, that training informal sector retailers can improve food safety. It is important that there is an incentive to attend training and motivate behaviour change after the training and it has proven difficult to establish long-term monitoring. Short-term studies show food safety improves but there is limited evidence on longer-term effects.• Training food handlers: The only meta-analysis of interventions to train food handlers found trained handlers had around 30% improvement in knowledge over controls (n = 9 studies) and 70% improvement in practices, but this was based on self-reported practices, which are prone to exaggeration; moreover, only three studies were from developing countries (Soon et al. 2012).There are few examples of evaluations of food safety interventions in developing countries. Experience in HIC suggests that while most home cooks know about safe home food handling procedures, compliance is generally low and has not been significantly improved by campaigns (Shapiro et al. 2011). Moreover, consumers expect food to be safe. In HIC, the most successful initiatives for food safety have been those which addressed FBD further upstream; however, in developing countries there are few examples of food safety control in value chains, so addressing food safety in consumer households should be investigated. • Willingness to pay: Studies in developing countries found that consumers report they are willing to pay a premium for safer food (Jabbar et al. 2010). However, there are few studies on actual behaviour. Moreover, there are ethical issues in selling food as 'safe' including the risk of channelling least safe food to the poorest (Grace 2015).• Enforcement of regulation versus co-regulation: An up-to-date and rational food safety system underpins delivery of food safety but regulatory enforcement must not be over-relied on. Developed countries have found that command-and-control approaches relying on inspection and punishment are less effective and affordable than empowering stakeholders to selfregulate, motivated by appropriate incentives (Garcia-Martinez et al. 2007). With this approach, emphasis moves from testing end-product safety to ensuring processes remain within safe limits. The concept of co-regulation emphasizes coordination between public and private agents in the regulatory process (Eijlander 2005). • Risk analysis: There is international consensus that food safety risks are best managed through risk analysis. This is even more important in LMIC as risk assessment allows targeting of scarce resources to priority problems (Unnevehr and Hoffmann 2015). Unfortunately, capacity for risk assessment in LMIC is limited, but without effective, evidence-based risk assessment, policy may be driven instead by consumer perceptions, special interests and political pressure. • Single authority: A single unified structure or an integrated system is likely to be more effective, but is not sufficient to improve food safety. When restructuring is not possible because of historical or political reasons, a national food control strategy can identify roles of the different government divisions involved in food safety (FAO/WHO 2003).at scale to assure food safety. However, there have been many initiatives to improve food safety and much could be learned by a systematic assessment of these. Some of the more promising areas for research may be:• Appropriate, cheap, robust technologies • Kiosk side diagnostics suitable for consumers and market actors• Appropriate governance for developing countries important, they must clearly set out food safety outputs and outcomes, invest to achieve them and measure success in terms of reduced risk of disease or reduced exposure.o Suggestion: Where food safety is considered important it should be tracked as a distinct output/outcome. • The best is the enemy of the good: Many food safety initiatives seek to apply 'best' rather than 'good enough' practices. In developing (or low-income) countries, for example, HACCP is a gold standard for managing food safety in food businesses. However, even in Europe, while HACCP is widespread in large food operations, its use is limited within small companies (Taylor 2008). In developing countries, uptake is lower still. Under these circumstances, modified HACCP such as the Salford model (Taylor 2008) may be more appropriate for LMIC. Likewise, while a gradual shift to larger scale formal retail is underway, there is considerable evidence that 'premature industrialization' or efforts to move developing country agriculture to 'modern systems' can result in paradoxical worsening of food safety as well as hampering other objectives such as increasing the accessibility of highly nutritious food. The same may be the case when a country adopts very strict regulations for hazards, which would be very good if they were enforced, but the high prevalence may cause the regulators to avoid enforcements, since the consequences would be too high.o Suggestion: Caution is needed in assuming that traditional agriculture and supply chains are a food safety problem and that modernization is the only way to solve it. More success may be attained by working with the traditional sector to gradually improve.• Most known burden is due to microbial pathogens in fresh foods sold in wet markets yet this is a minor part of IL research. • Food safety is a whole diet problem; considering only aflatoxins ingested from peanuts is less informative than considering all dietary sources (maize, sorghum, milk), and considering multiple mycotoxins may be more useful than just measuring aflatoxins. Only the nutrition IL takes a dietary approach to food safety hazards. • Most work is hazard-based rather than risk-based; hazard studies look at the presence of harmful substances in foods but risk takes this forward to understand the impact on human health. Hazards may be low but risks high and vice versa. The more important consideration from the perspective of public health is risk not hazard, so focusing on risks will lead to greater health impacts than focusing on hazard. However, the presence of hazards may be a major issue from the perspective of consumer acceptance and market access. • Gender is an important issue in food safety because of different biological vulnerabilities, highly gendered roles in agri-food chains and women's key roles as food retailers, processors and their predominant role in preparing food in households. This aspect was not mentioned. • Food safety is an emerging issue in agricultural research and it is important to improve our basic understanding of prevalence and impacts. At the same time, food safety is an evolved science in HIC and there should be many opportunities to research into food safety solutions. The current portfolio is biased towards food safety assessment and understanding rather than food safety management. Write a white paper (approximately five to eight pages in length plus references) that presents current food safety challenges in developing countries, the state of research to address these, followed by key research gaps that need to be addressed. Take a broad look at the Feed the Future Innovation Labs' research and consider the missing links in the Feed the Future research division portfolio that are not addressed under the current research programs.Discuss the global research questions/evidence gaps on agricultural production (e.g. aflatoxins, pesticides, pathogens), post-harvest handling and processing of foods (e.g. meat, milk, fresh fruits and vegetables), opportunities and risks associated with value addition (e.g. processing, storage) and reaching target consumers in specific crops and countries.The white paper should review the existing evidence and provide details on the major researchable questions/evidence gaps based on the best knowledge available and not currently a research theme by any of the Feed the Future Innovation Labs.provocative and engaging questions to drive wide audience base and participation.Questions for e-consultation Do you know how big is the foodborne disease burden in the country/region you work in? What other disease might this be comparable to? (Indicate one: diphtheria, tuberculosis, iodine deficiency). Where can food safety best be managed? On the farm, during processing or retail, or in the household? Answer: It is agreed that food safety should be managed along the farm-to-fork pathway, but experience shows management is often most effective further down the chain, e.g. nearer production.Most infectious diseases are declining, as non-communicable diseases become more important. Is foodborne disease getting worse or getting better? Answer: Although the evidence is limited, it appears that foodborne disease is an exception and is getting worse because of the rapid growth in demand for the most risky products (ASF and fresh produce) and the rapid, un-organized development of the value chains that supply them.How important are informal markets in supplying fresh foods in Asia and Africa and who mainly supplies these? Answer: Fresh markets typically supply over 80% of food consumed and most comes from smallholders.Who cares most about food safety, men or women? Answer: Surveys in many countries have found that women care more about food safety; this is not surprising as in most cultures, women manage the food consumed by the family.Where does most of the burden of foodborne disease fall? Answer: According to a 2015 WHO report, 98% of the burden falls on developing countries and children are disproportionately affected. Children under five years of age represent 9% of the world's population but bear 40% of the foodborne disease burden.Many development workers would agree to some or all of the below statements. The econsultation and evidence document will show how much and how little evidence there is for these! Food safety is a kitchen problem not an agricultural problem. It should be tackled in the household and not in the value chain.Diarrhoeal diseases are mostly the result of inadequate water supplies and lack of latrines. Foodborne diseases are not serious; many people have diarrhoea and get on with their daily work without problems. We should tackle more serious health problems first.The most serious food safety problems are those due to chemicals, toxins and genetically modified organisms. Natural, unprocessed food is largely safe.Modern agri-food systems are by nature safer than traditional systems. We should encourage modernization of agriculture to make food safer.We should work with the big domestic and international firms because it is much easier for them to adopt food safety technologies and they are easier to regulate.Most food sold in markets in developing countries is unsafe. That means we need much stronger legislation and more inspection and enforcement to punish those who are selling unsafe food.Safe food is a human right. There are no circumstances under which we should tolerate unsafe food.Food safety isn't a researchable issue; we know how to make food safe -GAP, GMP and HACCP.I see from the official statistics that foodborne disease is not a problem in my country. compromising quality.Food safety is an integral part of delivering processed foods to consumers and includes putting in place GMP and HACCP. Sometimes goes further in the value chain to GAP. As part of the research priority setting in the six LSIL target countries, the following issues were mentioned:Improve milk and meat safety from production to processing and handling: Understanding hazards in the food systems and assessing the possible associated risks.Improve food safety at the household level (including ASF-producing households).Promote prudent antibiotic use and reduce antimicrobial resistance.Improve poorly developed food safety regulation systems which lack or have limited infrastructure and testing capacity and limited overall food safety regulatory framework and implementation.Reduce environmental contamination with enteric pathogens from livestock to prevent environmental enteric dysfunction in young children.Five out of 13 funded research projects in three target countries deal directly or indirectly with food safety:Ethiopia:One large (4-year) research project addresses food safety at the abattoir level, looking into establishing baselines for the presence of foodborne pathogens within abattoirs and developing and implementing strategies to mitigate the burden of foodborne pathogens within abattoirs.One small (1-year) research project looks into improving handling practices and microbiological safety of milk and milk products in Borana pastoral communities.One small (1-year) research project looks into milk production practices and udder health and their impact on milk quality, safety and processability.Lastly, two small research projects (1-year) in Rwanda and Ethiopia conduct research on animal feed safety; in particular, these studies are surveying feeds around the country for their mycotoxin concentrations. Discussions are ongoing to add testing the milk in those areas for aflatoxin to their experiments.The Reques Application Cambodia i ongoing -s safety relat projects ma In addition publish the Application Faso and N near future these two c some proje dealing wit may be fun Soy food Important Soy food Innovation Lab works with soy food entrepreneurs in developing areas of South America and Africa. We see food safety as an essential part of a food enterprise, whether or not it sells soy foods. Practising food safety enables a business to avoid food spoilage and foodborne illness, which can reduce customers' trust in your business's product. Maintaining a food safety system in a soy food operation also enables you toPackaging: Perishable foods such as soy milk and soy yoghurt should be packaged in order to maximize their shelf life.Soybean storage: Soybeans must be stored so that they are kept dry and clean and free of foreign matter.Sterilization: Soy food products must be cooked to ensure harmful bacteria areWe are alw new resear and welcom apply for and receive certification from your country's Food and Drug Administration. This certification allows you to brand your product and distribute it to a wider customer base.killed.Sterile production room: The facility, equipment and workers all must be kept clean while making the product.Limited resources: Small-scale soy food processors in under-developed areas often work with fewer resources, which can make practising food safety more difficult.Essential Foodborne pathogen mitigation (specifically considering livestock and ASF production, as well as mixed/integrated crop-livestock systems, which is a major goal of sustainable intensification)Toxin mitigation (biological and chemical)The interaction between human health and human nutritionWe Baseline surveys, as well as drying and storage technologies for the reduction of mycotoxin accumulation is ongoing as described above.We are add surveys and capacity es Honduras a year. In the we are inte mapping to contextualiPost-harvest mycotoxin contamination: See above.Risk communications: We have devised a phased risk communications plan tailored for different mycotoxin stakeholder groups, and are integrating this across our programming.potential ri accumulati and ground will also be and spices."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"23fb78ac5f435f46993418065c6c0e74","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/8099edf3-b097-472c-92a1-b3a0924358a7/retrieve","id":"403201611"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"1b853fe6-2834-4379-aacb-da24a14d4608","content":"Producción de tubérculos-semilla de papa calidad prebásica y básica. Procedimiento Operativo Estándar (POE).La semilla de alta calidad, tanto fitosanitaria como fisiológica, constituye el principal elemento para el desarrollo de cultivos exitosos y la consecución de una productividad óptima. En los países de bajos ingresos, una parte significativa de la brecha de rendimiento actual se atribuye a la calidad deficiente de las semillas. Por lo tanto, el desarrollo del sector de semillas se posiciona como una preocupación central para gobiernos, investigadores, agencias de desarrollo y organizaciones de productores de semillas.Para el Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP), la producción de tubérculos semilla emerge como un factor crucial para facilitar la diseminación de nuevas variedades y obtener datos pertinentes vinculadas con la adaptación, rendimiento, resistencia a factores bióticos y abióticos, así como características destinadas al procesamiento y almacenamiento de las futuras variedades de papa desarrolladas por sus investigadores.Este documento presenta las especificaciones que deben tenerse en cuenta para la producción de semilla de papa en el CIP en Perú, las cuales están alineadas con las reglamentaciones oficiales de Perú y las políticas institucionales.Normar la producción en el Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP) en Perú de tubérculos-semilla de papa:1. De calidad prebásica.3. De materiales de mejoramiento genético y de conservación de germoplasma (variedades nativas de papa y especies silvestres del género Solanum).Este procedimiento debe ser cumplido por el personal que produzca tubérculos-semilla en campo, invernadero o casa malla a partir de plántulas in vitro libres de patógenos, semilla prebásica, tubérculos o semilla botánica, de variedades mejoradas, variedades nativas, clones de mejoramiento, o especies silvestres del género Solanum.Este procedimiento se aplica a Perú y podrá ser validado para otros países en donde CIP tiene actividades.4 Normas para tener en consideración a. Políticas operacionales 2.1.2 (Procedimientos de conservación de recursos genéticos, adquisición y distribución de germoplasma) y 2.1.7 (Uso de plaguicidas)El investigador principal a cargo del estudio será responsable de la producción y manejo del cultivo de acuerdo con los lineamientos del CIP (ver políticas operacionales 2.1.2 y 2.1.7). El científico delegará las actividades a los asistentes de investigación según las actividades a realizar, junto con el supervisor de la estación experimental.El oficial de cuarentena será responsable de la inspección periódica de los invernaderos, campos de propagación y bodegas, en coordinación con el superintendente de la estación experimental y el científico encargado del proyecto.El oficial de cuarentena debe llevar a cada inspección los formatos de inspección, bisturí, pala de mano, cuchillo, bolsas de plástico y papel para la toma de muestras, cámara fotográfica, caja térmica, lapiceros y marcadores.Únicamente el personal capacitado en aplicación de plaguicidas estará a cargo de esta actividad (ver política operacional No. 2.1.7).Se describen 5 procedimientos:1) Producción de tubérculos-semilla de calidad prebásica2) Producción de tubérculos-semilla de calidad básica3) Producción de tubérculos-semilla de materiales de mejoramiento y de conservación de germoplasma 4) Manejo integrado de plagas y enfermedades 5) Producción de tubérculos-semilla de calidad prebásica o básica bajo contrato 6) Movimiento de semilla y otras regulaciones 6.1 Producción de tubérculos-semilla de calidad prebásica g. La producción de semilla prebásica se hará mediante técnicas que hayan sido reportadas previamente en artículos, manuales o reportes técnicos:i. Producción convencional: Hidalgo et al. (1999).ii. Semihidroponía: Muro et al. (1999), Ranalli (1997), Ritter et al., 2001. iii. Hidroponía: Chuquillanqui et al. (2008). Otras técnicas, como raíz flotante (KOPIA 2012), microtuberización por estrés hídrico (INIA s/a), etc. también podrán ser usadas, aunque en este caso se recomienda una fase previa de validación a las condiciones locales.a. El material de siembra será plántulas in vitro. En caso de necesitar mayor cantidad de material de siembra, se pueden usar técnicas de propagación rápida como el sistema autotrófico hidropónico (Rigato et al, 2001), o esquejes apicales, esquejes laterales, esquejes de tallo adulto, etc. (Hidalgo et al., 1999) provenientes de plantas madre obtenidas a su vez de plántulas in vitro. Se podrá usar brotes de tubérculos, siempre y cuando los tubérculos sean de categoría prebásica.b. En el caso de técnicas que usen sustrato, éste deberá tener características de porosidad (80-85%), baja densidad aparente (0,7 a 1), estructura granular o fibrilar estable, tamaño de gránulos intermedia, baja capacidad de intercambio catiónico, pH constante, adecuado nivel de nutrientes asimilables, fácil esterilización y fácil de mezclar. Se prohíbe el uso de sustratos provenientes de ecosistemas frágiles o de uso restringido según normas medioambientales locales.c. En el caso de sustratos en base a suelo, éste debe ser de tipo franco arenoso, previamente esterilizado al vapor o con fumigantes aprobados por la legislación local, preferentemente de baja toxicidad.d. En el caso de sustratos a base de arena o de otros materiales inertes, se recomienda que provengan de zonas alejadas de áreas mineras. De acuerdo con los requerimientos de trabajo, el sustrato puede ser lavado con hipoclorito de sodio (0,35% de cloro) con al menos 4 enjuagues con agua corriente, esterilizado al vapor o solarizado (CIP 2008). Se puede usar arena proveniente de la intemperización de las rocas, la cual es de fácil de uso, por el tamaño de los gránulos y porque proporciona buen drenaje al mezclarse con otros componentes del sustrato.e. La esterilización por vapor de cada componente del sustrato debe seguir las normas establecidas por la estación experimental. Debe tenerse en consideración las características fisicoquímicas de cada sustrato para evitar problemas de fitotoxicidad.f. La fertilización del cultivo se hará considerando el nivel de nutrientes de cada componente del sustrato y la técnica a usar. Los fertilizantes elegidos deberán estar aprobados por la legislación local. En el caso de producción convencional Hidalgo et al. (1999), al momento de la siembra se recomienda utilizar fertilizantes granulados y, durante el cultivo, fertilizantes líquidos.g. El trasplante de las plántulas in vitro o de otro material de siembra, como esquejes, debe realizarse cuando las plántulas enraizadas tienen un tamaño o número de foliolos adecuado para ser manipuladas. Utilizando pinzas de acero inoxidable, las plántulas serán extraídas del tubo de prueba o contenedor de plástico. Se retirará el medio de cultivo adherido a las raíces por inmersión en agua destilada estéril o desionizada y luego colocarse en el sustrato o en discos de sustrato prensado previamente hidratados.h. En el caso de producción convencional, los riegos deben ser ligeros y frecuentes para evitar pudriciones radiculares. La humedad debe estar a capacidad de campo. Como medida preventiva puede aplicarse fungicidas al cuello de la planta o ser agregados al sistema de fertiirrigación. El aporque de las plantas debe realizarse en el momento adecuado de acuerdo con la variedad o genotipo en propagación. El objetivo es darle mayor anclaje a la planta, proteger a los tubérculos de la radiación solar y evitar el ataque de patógenos.i. El manejo de plagas y enfermedades se describe en la sección 4. j. Control de calidad en follaje. La primera inspección se realizará al 100% de las plantas, cuando estas tengan entre 10 y 15 cm de altura (antes de floración), de manera visual. En caso de encontrarse plantas con síntomas de virus (mosaicos, moteados, enrollamiento de hojas, etc.), atípicas, deformes, o con marchitez ocasionada por pudriciones o estrangulamientos del cuello, las plantas deben ser eliminadas inmediatamente, almacenándolas en bolsas plásticas y desechándolas en sitios autorizados por el supervisor de la estación experimental.Durante la primera evaluación visual se tomarán muestras al azar de cada genotipo, ya sea muestras de plantas individuales o muestras compuestas (entre 2 y 5 plantas por muestra). El número de muestras se determinará usando la metodología descrita por García (1999). La fórmula y resultado deberá mencionarse en el registro de inspecciones visuales y pruebas virológicas.Las muestras serán sometidas a pruebas de Ensayo por inmunoadsorción ligado a enzimas (ELISA), Hibridación de ácidos nucleicos (NASH), Reacción en cadena de la polimerasa (PCR), o cualquier otra técnica recomendada por HQU, para cualquiera de los virus de la Tabla 1:Tabla 1. Viruses y viroide que pueden ser probados para producción de semilla prebásica.Andean Los virus para diagnosticar se seleccionarán de acuerdo con el destino de la semilla:• Si la semilla va a ser usada para producir semilla básica entonces se deben probar los virus PVY, PVX, PVS, PLRV y el viroide PSTVd. En caso de sospechar la presencia de otro virus mencionado en la Tabla 1, se realizará la prueba correspondiente.• Si la semilla se usará en ensayos que finalizan después de la cosecha (no se obtendrá semilla), las inspecciones solo serán visuales, con eliminación de plantas atípicas o síntomas de enfermedad.La tolerancia máxima para incidencia de virus en semilla prebásica es 0%. Si se usan muestran compuestas, y si las pruebas virológicas son positivas para cualquiera de los virus, se debe hacer una prueba individual de las plantas que conformaron la muestra compuesta. Si estas plantas resultan infectadas deben ser eliminadas.En caso los resultados indiquen la presencia de patógenos cuarentenarios (como PSTVd), se eliminarán todas las plantas.Luego de la primera inspección visual y de la toma de muestras, se harán evaluaciones visuales para enfermedades fungosas, virales y bacterianas de manera constante (una vez por semana). En cualquiera de estas evaluaciones, si se encuentran plantas con síntomas de marchitez bacteriana, éstas deben ser sometidas a pruebas de laboratorio (flujo bacteriano y aislamiento en medio de cultivo) y, en caso de confirmar la presencia de Ralstonia solanacerum, se descartarán todas las plantas del invernadero o casa malla.a. Antes de la cosecha y dependiendo de la técnica de multiplicación que se esté utilizando, se recomienda la aplicación de un desecante para eliminar la parte aérea de la planta y facilitar la cosecha. La aplicación debe realizarse por lo menos 15 días antes de la cosecha.b. La cosecha de los genotipos debe realizarse cuando las plantas han completado su madurez fisiológica.La cosecha será manual, luego de la cual se lavan los tubérculos con agua corriente, sobre todo en el caso de técnicas en las que el tubérculo está en contacto con una solución nutritiva (como en la aeroponía).c. Los tubérculos prebásicos serán clasificados en las siguientes categorías:Gruesa: Tubérculos mayores de 40 gramos.Primera: Tubérculos entre 30 y 39 gramos.Segunda: Tubérculos entre 20 y 29 gramos.Tercera: Tubérculos entre 10 y 19 gramos.Cuarta: Tubérculos entre 1 y 9 gramos.• Durante las labores de cosecha y clasificación se eliminarán tubérculos que sean deformes, que tengan daños físicos, o que tengan síntomas de enfermedades o de ataques de plagas.• Antes del almacenaje, los tubérculos prebásicos pueden ser tratados con fungicidas e insecticidas aprobados para su uso en papa.• Dependiendo del uso que se les quiera dar, los tubérculos pueden ser conservados en cámara fría a 4°C, a 90% de humedad relativa y sin luz; sometidos a un proceso para romper la dormancia (Marca e Hidalgo, 1999); o directamente almacenados en sitios con luz difusa con una temperatura entre 12 y 18°C y una humedad relativa de 60 a 70%, para que la brotación ocurra de manera natural.• El almacén de luz difusa debe ser largo y angosto, para el mejor aprovechamiento de la luz natural. Las paredes deben tener malla anti áfida, con cortinas de plástico transparentes que puedan ser enrolladas en época de calor. El almacén debe tener en lo posible pisos lisos e impermeables. Se recomienda colocar trampas de luz, amarillas o bandejas de plástico con agua y detergente para evitar la infestación de insectos. La estructura y capacidad del almacén debe estar de acuerdo con la demanda de semillas, a normas de seguridad de la institución y a las consideraciones incluidas en las Buenas Prácticas Agrícolas.• Los tubérculos deben ser almacenados en jabas de madera o plástico, las que deben ser apilables, fáciles de limpiar y desinfestar. La profundidad de las jabas no debe ser superior al equivalente a 3 o 4 tubérculos sobrepuestos, pues impediría que la luz alcance a todos los tubérculos. Cada jaba debe tener la información del genotipo, fecha de cosecha, fecha de almacenamiento, categoría y tratamientos realizados a la semilla. Se recomienda el uso de código de barras. Pueden construirse camas con listones de madera a lo largo del almacén con una altura de 40 cm del suelo y separadas verticalmente unas de otras por al menos 30 cm.6.2 Producción de tubérculos-semilla de calidad básica a. La producción de tubérculos-semilla de calidad básica se hará en campos dentro o fuera de CIP. El investigador principal del proyecto debe solicitar antes el campo de propagación dentro o fuera del CIP, en coordinación con el supervisor de la estación experimental, según el cronograma dispuesto por la estación experimental, y todos los materiales e insumos necesarios para producir tubérculos de papa.Los pedidos deben registrarse en el sistema web del CIP.b. El campo de cultivo no se debió cultivar con papa al menos 3 campañas agrícolas.c. Se sugiere seleccionar campos con buen drenaje, baja compactación, alta disponibilidad de nutrientes, de preferencia franco a franco arenosos, con pH entre 5.5 a 7.5. Debe realizarse análisis de suelo del terreno elegido para determinar las características físicas (estructura, textura) y químicas (pH, CIC) del suelo y luego seleccionar los fertilizantes o enmiendas adecuadas.d. La preparación del terreno debe realizarse en forma oportuna y con los implementos agrícolas pertinentes, para evitar la erosión del suelo. Las características del suelo preparado deben asegurar una adecuada germinación y posterior desarrollo de las plantas.e. La producción de semilla básica debe realizarse en terrenos ubicados en zonas aptas para producción de semilla definidas por la legislación local. De no existir esta legislación, se conseguirán lotes en zonas frías (para reducir la presencia de insectos vectores de virus) y con historial de baja o ninguna ocurrencia de enfermedades críticas para producción de semilla, como marchitez bacteriana (Ralstonia solanacearum), verruga de la papa (Synchitrium endobioticum) y PSTVd. Para el caso del Perú, se recomienda producir semilla básica en lotes ubicados sobre 3500 m.s.n.m. Los lotes de producción de semilla deben estar separados por los menos de 200 m de lotes comerciales de papa.f. La producción de tubérculos-semilla de calidad básica se hará a partir de tubérculos prebásicos, con brotes vigorosos y múltiples. De acuerdo con el objetivo de la siembra y a las características de cada variedad, se establecerán los distanciamientos entre plantas y entre surcos.g. Los tubérculos-semilla deben transportarse en jabas de plástico o madera, con su correspondiente identificación, para evitar daños en los brotes.h. Los fertilizantes por usar deberán ser aprobados por la legislación local. Antes de la siembra se deben distribuir a chorro continuo en el fondo del surco y cubrir con una ligera capa de tierra para evitar quemar brotes.i. Los tubérculos-semilla se colocan en el fondo del surco teniendo cuidado de colocar los brotes hacia arriba. Deben taparse con una capa de tierra que corresponde a un tercio del tamaño del tubérculo semilla.j. Los riegos deben ser frecuentes procurándose que el suelo logre tener la humedad a capacidad de campo.k. El deshierbo debe ser realizado en forma manual o pueden usarse herbicidas selectivos aprobados para uso en papa.l. El aporque debe ser oportuno, preferentemente antes de la floración. El número de aporques dependerá de la variedad que se está propagando.m. El manejo de plagas y enfermedades se hará de acuerdo con lo descrito en la sección 5.4.n. Control de calidad en follaje. Se realizarán dos evaluaciones visuales: 1) cuando las plantas estén en estado de prefloración, y 2) después de la floración.o. Unos días antes de las inspecciones se deben realizar descartes de plantas con características no deseables (\"roguing\"), sean estas de carácter varietal o sanitaria. Las plantas descartadas deben ser colocadas en bolsas de plástico y desechadas en sitios autorizados por el superintendente de la estación experimental.p. Las tolerancias máximas permitidas de limitantes de calidad en campo serán las que indiquen la normativa local. Si no existe esta normativa, se usarán las tolerancias descritas en la Tabla 2.Tabla 2. Tolerancias máximas permitidas (%) en follaje para producción de tubérculos-semilla de calidad básica. Marchitez bacteriana, amarillamiento de venas 0,0 0,0 Mezcla varietal 0,0 0,0 Polilla Guatemalteca 0,0 0,0 Punta morada 0,0 0,0 El número de muestras que se evaluará se determinará usando la metodología descrita por García (1999). La fórmula y resultado deberá mencionarse en el registro de inspecciones visuales.a. Se recomienda la aplicación de un desecante para eliminar la parte aérea de la planta y facilitar la cosecha. La aplicación debe realizarse por lo menos 15 días antes de la cosecha.b. La cosecha de los genotipos debe realizarse cuando las plantas han completado su madurez fisiológica.La cosecha será manual o mecánica.c. Los tubérculos-semilla básicos serán clasificados en las siguientes categorías:Primera: Tubérculos entre 70 a 120 g Segunda: Tubérculos entre 40 a 69 g Tercera: Tubérculos menores de 39 g Al momento de la clasificación se deben descartar todos aquellos tubérculos enfermos, con deformaciones, daños por insectos, mezclas varietales, etc.d. Control de calidad en tubérculos. Una vez clasificados los tubérculos se debe tomar una muestra representativa de cada categoría, usando la metodología descrita por García (1999).Se realizarán inspecciones visuales sobre la incidencia (%) de enfermedades, plagas, enfermedades y otros problemas. Las tolerancias máximas permitidas (%) serán las de que indiquen la normativa local. En caso de no existir esta normativa se usarán las tolerancias descritas en la Tabla 3. Estas tolerancias podrán modificarse según las condiciones de cada país.Tabla 3. Tolerancias máximas permitidas (%) en tubérculos-semilla de calidad básica.Thecaphora solani 0Papa manchada (\"Zebra chip\") 0Viroide (Potato spindle tuber viroid) 0Fusarium solani 1Pectobacterium spp. 1Nematodos (Globodera, Meloidogyne) 1 Fuera de tamaño, rajados, inmaduros (\"pelones\") o deformes 1Daños por insectos y/o presencia de larvas (por ejemplo Premnotrypes spp., Phthorimaea operculella, Symmetrischema tangolias) 2 e. La identificación y almacenaje de tubérculos-semilla de calidad básica se hará siguiendo los procedimientos descritos para tubérculos-semilla de calidad prebásica.Para materiales provenientes de plantas in vitro, se seguirán las normas descritas en la sección 1, y para materiales provenientes de tubérculos-semilla o semilla botánica de calidad indeterminada, se seguirán las descritas en la sección 2, excepto el control de calidad, descrito a continuación.a. Para materiales de mejoramiento (Anexo 1):• Los parentales usados para los cruzamientos serán evaluados para PSTVd y PVT.• Entre las familias de tubérculos y la quinta . generación clonal se realizarán inspecciones visuales de síntomas de patógenos en invernadero y campo.• Antes de la introducción a condiciones in vitro, se realizarán pruebas para APLV, APMoV, AVB-O, PLRV, PSTVd, PVS, PVT, PVX, PVY y PYVV.b. Para materiales de conservación:i. Para variedades nativas (Anexo 2): Se realizarán inspecciones visuales de síntomas de patógenos durante la multiplicación y evaluación de materiales en invernadero y campo.ii. Para especies silvestres (Anexo 3): Plántulas provenientes de semilla botánica o usadas para producir semilla botánica serán probadas para PSTVd y PVT. También se realizarán inspecciones visuales de síntomas de patógenos en invernadero y campo.Se seguirán las indicaciones de Unidad de Cuarentena vegetal (HQU) en todos los casos en los que se requieran hacer pruebas virológicas.Plantas con síntomas de patógenos serán eliminadas, o sometidas a técnicas que permitan eliminar a los patógenos.En cualquiera de las inspecciones visuales, si se identifica un síntoma fuera de lo común, el oficial de cuarentena puede pedir que se haga una prueba de laboratorio específica. f. La preparación, aplicación y eliminación de residuos de caldo de plaguicidas debe ser monitoreado por los supervisores inmediatos del aplicador, siguiendo la norma N° 2.1.7 (ver Política Operacional para aplicación de plaguicidas).g. El almacenaje de los plaguicidas debe ser de acuerdo con las normas establecidas por el CIP (Norma N° 2.1.7 Política Operacional para aplicación de plaguicidas).6.5 Producción de tubérculos-semilla de calidad prebásica o básica bajo contrato a. Seleccionar a empresas o productores con antecedentes reconocidos de producción de semilla y que sean de acreditados por la autoridad competente (en caso de existir normativa para producción de semilla de papa).b. Verificar las técnicas de multiplicación, las medidas de higiene, el estado de la infraestructura, el historial de los campos, la capacidad administrativa, etc. mediante una visita a sus instalaciones y pidiendo referencias a otros clientes.c. Firmar un contrato especificando las características del material de siembra a usar y de la semilla que se recibirá: pureza genética, calidad sanitaria, edad fisiológica, estado físico, peso, cantidad, precio de venta, fecha de entrega, registros (ver sección 7.).d. Incluir una cláusula de penalidades en caso de incumplimiento del contrato.e. Si es la primera vez que se contrata a una empresa o a un productor de semilla, considerar planes de contingencia en la eventualidad que no se cumpla el contrato. Prever fondos adicionales para cubrir los costos de estos planes de contingencia o considerarlos en las penalidades del contrato.f. Las inspecciones y pruebas virológicas deben realizarse por técnicos de CIP e idealmente también por la entidad competente. Si se hace solo con técnicos de CIP, indicar en el contrato quién cubrirá los costos de movilización y análisis.g. Asegurar que la empresa disponga de material de siembra en la cantidad, calidad y fecha adecuada. De ser necesario, proveer de material inicial a la empresa (plantas in vitro o minitubérculos) y detallar su costo en el contrato.h. Elaborar e iniciar el contrato entre 12 y 18 meses antes de la fecha estimada de siembra.7 Movimiento de semilla y otras regulaciones a. Está prohibido el movimiento y uso de tubérculos-semilla de origen indeterminado o sin la certificación sanitaria correspondiente de HQU o de la autoridad competente, así como aquellos producidos en campos de costa y selva, salvo en experimentos que tengan como fin la evaluación de la calidad de semilla producida en estas condiciones, u otros fines experimentales debidamente aprobados por la Dirección de Investigación.b. El material de siembra para uso en parcelas experimentales debe provenir de campos ubicados a más de 3500 m.s.n.m. y que cuente con la certificación sanitaria de la Unidad de Cuarentena Vegetal (HQU) o de la autoridad competente.c. El material de siembra para uso en invernaderos y casas de malla debe ser de categoría prebásica. En el caso de materiales de mejoramiento o de conservación de germoplasma, el material de siembra debe tener la misma calidad sanitaria que la semilla prebásica o deberán realizarse los análisis sanitarios respectivos de acuerdo con lo requerido por el oficial de cuarentena del CIP.El personal debe usar los equipos de seguridad personal de acuerdo con las actividades a realizar y de acuerdo con los procedimientos operativos estándar (POE) disponibles en la Estación Experimental.El personal local contratado para realizar trabajos de multiplicación de semilla fuera de estación experimental debe cumplir las normas de seguridad y salud dispuestas por el CIP y la normativa nacional.Para tubérculos-semilla de calidad prebásica y básica producidos por CIP:a. Datos de identificación del material vegetal.b. Informe del estado sanitario del material de siembra, expedido por la Unidad de Cuarentena Vegetal (HQU) o por la autoridad competente.c. Plano de ubicación del campo e historial de uso (en el caso de semilla básica).d. Análisis de sustrato o suelo, e interpretación.e. Actividades agronómicas (preparación de sustrato o de suelo, fertilización, fecha de siembra, fecha de aporque, aporque, deshierbo, cosecha y almacenamiento).f. Aplicación de plaguicidas (nombre comercial, ingrediente activo, dosis, forma de aplicación, volumen).g. Datos del personal capacitado y certificado para realizar aplicaciones de plaguicidas.h. Resultados de inspecciones visuales y pruebas virológicas (incluyendo fórmula y resultados para tamaño de muestra).Para producción de semilla bajo contrato:a. Contrato para producción de semilla. En el contrato se debe indicar que la empresa o productor está obligada a llevar los registros descritos arriba.b. En caso de existir normativa para producción de semilla de papa: registro como productor de semilla de la empresa o productor por la autoridad competente del país."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"3263dd7da1a9c7c26128005d431f8fb1","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/625a0dba-5227-4c49-8161-10ccbc1e7f23/retrieve","id":"-513281918"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"44ada128-49e0-473b-bcca-99ff7ae9206f","content":"Food systems worldwide are falling far short of sustainability goals. Not only do these systems leave a global total of 820 million people undernourished, while also worsening social inequities and -from food production to consumption -biodiversity loss, water pollution, and natural resource depletion. Moreover, food systems account for about a third of the global greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change.Agroecology is a transdisciplinary, participatory, and action-oriented approach for codesigning options that enhance food system resilience, equity, and sustainability. Based on a thorough understanding of the ecological, economic, and social dimensions of food systems, these options can be implemented at IMPLEMENTED BY CONTACTSHarnessing nature's goods and services, while fostering social inclusion and co-innovation, for a sustainable food future the farm, landscape, or food system level, contributing to more efficient resource use, reducing agriculture's ecological footprint, strengthening its resilience, while contributing to social equity and responsibility -all necessary for achieving sustainability. Agroecology further assigns importance to involving a range of stakeholders, especially, farmers, in the co-creation of knowledge and options that fit particular contexts.The CGIAR initiative Transformational Agroecology Across Food, Land and Water Systems will engage with food system actors in seven countries (Burkina Faso, India, Kenya, Lao PDR, Peru, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe) to find better ways of putting into practice the 13 agroecological principles listed in this brochure.If you are a food system actor (farmer, researcher, business partner, or representative of a food company or governmental or non-governmental organization) and you already use agroecological approaches or are interested in applying and promoting them, we invite you to participate in this opportunity to exchange experiences on the design, testing, and adaptation of agroecological innovations (both technological and institutional), from food production to consumption. Together, we can support coherent action to achieve agroecological transitions.More specifically, we propose to jointly:In territories that we refer to as \"Agroecological Living Landscapes\", we will engage with diverse stakeholders, including farmer associations or communities, researchers from multiple disciplines, private companies, international and national non-governmental organizations as well as local, regional, and national policymakers.Assess and demonstrate which agroecological innovations (practices, business models, and institutional arrangements) work best, where, why, and for whom.Identify business opportunities and financial mechanisms for local enterprises to deal with agroecological innovations.Develop strategies and action plans that encourage and support sustainable behavior change oriented to agroecological principles and transitions.Determine the most suitable policies and mechanisms of policy integration for promoting effective and sustainable agroecological transitions.In cocreating options for agroecology, we will link markets with investments, while taking into account the policy dimensions and consumer behavior in specific contexts. Together, we will form an active international network of Agroecological Living Landscapes to advance the implementation of agroecological innovations.Adaptive scaling strategies Inclusive business models with a focus on agroecological principles (Work Package 3). Recycling: Preferentially use local renewable resources and close as far as possible resource cycles of nutrients and biomass.Input reduction: Reduce or eliminate dependency on purchased inputs and increase self-sufficiency.Soil health: Secure and enhance soil health and functioning for improved plant growth, particularly by managing organic matter and enhancing soil biological activity.Animal health: Ensure animal health and welfare.Biodiversity: Maintain and enhance diversity of species, functional diversity and genetic resources and thereby maintain overall agroecosystem biodiversity in time and space at field, farm, and landscape scales.Synergies: Enhance positive ecological interaction, synergy, integration, and complementarity amongst the elements of agroecosystems (animals, crops, trees, soil, and water).Economic diversification: Diversify on-farm incomes by ensuring that small-scale farmers have greater financial independence and value addition opportunities while enabling them to respond to demand from consumers.Enhance co-creation and horizontal sharing of knowledge including local and scientific innovation, especially through farmer-tofarmer exchange.Build food systems based on the culture, identity, tradition, social and gender equity of local communities that provide healthy, diversified, seasonally and culturally appropriate diets.Fairness: Support dignified and robust livelihoods for all actors engaged in food systems, especially small-scale food producers, based on fair trade, fair employment, and fair treatment of intellectual property rights.Connectivity: Ensure proximity and confidence between producers and consumers through promotion of fair and short distribution networks and by re-embedding food systems into local economies.Land and natural resource governance: Strengthen institutional arrangements to improve, including the recognition and support of family farmers, smallholders, and peasant food producers as sustainable managers of natural and genetic resources.Participation: Encourage social organization and greater participation in decision-making by food producers and consumers to support decentralized governance and local adaptive management of agricultural and food systems.The InitiativeIt is part of the United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS) Action Tracks: Nature positive production, Resilience.Primary CGIAR impact area: Environmental Health and Biodiversity Target countries: Burkina Faso, India, Kenya, Lao PDR, Peru, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe.This research is being implemented by a multi-disciplinary team of researchers and other specialists, which includes CGIAR researchers from: The Agroecology Initiative was conceived within, contributes to, and learns from the Transformative Partnership Platform on Agroecology (TPP), which convenes multiple stakeholders from civil society, agricultural research, rural advisory, and development sectors. The initiative cooperates with key partners for scaling and impact including the TPP, GIZ, Biovision, and national authorities.Transformational Agroecology Across Food, Land and Water Systems is one of 32 initiatives of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future, dedicated to transforming food, land, and water systems in a climate crisis.The Initiative contributes to Sustainable Development Goals:1 https://bit.ly/3am5QtT"}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"9bd2184bcd8f49c528394903fb3b2329","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/25a2acf1-0780-46c1-83cf-00f1a9fc2f18/retrieve","id":"-1544692400"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"9161fa20-99ee-4508-b0ac-9149cf47904c","content":"Disclaimer: This work was carried out by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) as part of the CGIAR Initiative on West and Central African Food Systems Transformation (TAFS-WCA) and has not been independently peer reviewed. Responsibility for editing, proofreading, and layout, opinions expressed, and any possible errors lies with the authors and not the institutions involved. The boundaries and names shown, and the designations used on maps do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by IWMI, CGIAR, our partner institutions, or donors.In the developing world, the drivers behind changes in social ecological landscapes (SEL) are intricate and have been steadily intensifying over the years. Regions blessed with abundant natural resources, encompassing fertile soils, lush forests, freshwater bodies, valuable minerals, and more, tend to experience rapid population growth and heightened poverty rates. This often results in a heightened demand for essential livelihood components, including access to alternative livelihoods, education, food, healthcare, water, forest resources, housing, roads, and spaces for agriculture and aquaculture. Furthermore, the intersection of multiple national and global stakeholders continues to exert substantial pressure on exploiting natural resources at the sub-national level. To address the pervasive issue of land degradation, particularly in developing nations like Burundi, the implementation of landscape surveying and mapping emerges as a crucial tool. These methods provide valuable insights into ecosystem services and their interactions, paving the way for sustainable landscape conservation.Employing the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) for Social-Ecological Landscape (SEL) assessment framework, a diverse array of methodologies was employed in the current study, with a focus on the sub-Nyamagana watershed on the Imbo plain in Burundi. This research aims to conduct a comprehensive situational analysis, shedding light on how drivers and pressures converge to define the state and impacts of SEL, while also emphasizing institutional and stakeholder responses. To delve deeper into the intricacies of the Nyamagana watershed, a complementary approach involving focus group discussions and individual questionnaires was undertaken. The survey covered a total of 166 households and six focus group discussions, each comprising twelve participants. The findings highlighted several factors and pressures, predominantly stemming from the intensive utilization of natural resources, as well as biotic and abiotic constraints such as drought, flooding, pests, diseases, and anthropogenic pressures like anarchic mining and rapid population growth. Of notable concern is the complexity of soil use and land cover, especially the widespread use of chemicals such as synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, which pose significant threats to ecosystem components. The social-ecological dynamics are characterized by a combination of ecological factors, including environmental disturbances like heavy rains, prolonged dry seasons, fires, deforestation, and climate change. The social component of the system encompasses all human activities, spanning the economy, technology, politics, and culture, that result in intricate interactions between communities and ecosystems.Within the Nyamagana watershed, various institutions play a crucial role in landscape management, with identified stakeholders including research services (e.g., ISABU, IRRI, IITA, and Burundi University), extension services (e.g., BPEAE, NGOs, and projects), and policy entities (such as the local administration and mixed committees for water management).The study underscores the looming threats to biodiversity, livelihoods, and ecosystem processes, particularly in the provision of soil and irrigation water, due to soil erosion by landslide, unsustainable mining activities and the unsustainable utilization of natural resources. Addressing these challenges necessitates a comprehensive and collaborative approach involving both local and global stakeholders to foster sustainable development and conservation efforts.The productive landscape, also viewed as a social ecological system (SES), is a complex combination of natural and human-modified ecosystems shaped by ecological, historical, political, economic, and socio-cultural processes. These productive landscapes are rich in natural resources and offer opportunities for sustainable livelihoods; however, how these resources are utilized directly influences biodiversity, global climate dynamics, and the capacity to adapt to and mitigate climate change. Despite these potential benefits, landscape pressures are on the rise, particularly in regions with high population growth rates, where demands for infrastructure, housing, industry, trade, agriculture and aquaculture are intensifying. The escalating pressures on landscapes stem not only from local demands but also from the persistent demand by multiple stakeholders at the local, national, and global levels to exploit natural resources. This has led to a widespread threat to landscapes, characterized by overexploitation and misuse of resources, exacerbated by the compounding impacts of climate change (Atampugre et al. 2022a). Consequently, biodiversity and ecosystem services are diminishing, and the sustainability of agricultural production systems and livelihoods is increasingly in jeopardy.Productive landscapes in Burundi, like in many developing countries, are often influenced by a combination of socio-economic, environmental, and institutional factors. In the context of Burundi, the pressures on landscape resources are intensifying due to various human factors, including the rising demand for high-quality and high quantity of food, competition for productive land for biofuel, urban expansion, and non-food uses. Additionally, unsustainable land use practices contribute to ongoing land degradation, manifested in diminished soil health and nutrient status. Anthropogenic climate change is further exacerbating these challenges, impacting agricultural yields and income stability, and thereby threatening the resilience of agro-ecologies and the stability of food systems in the country. Natural factors such as climate variability, extreme weather events, and wildfires also contribute to the complexity of managing landscapes for optimal yields and sustainable land use. Recognizing the significance of ecosystem services underscores a growing need for approaches that address the complex challenges in managing social-ecological landscapes.Burundi's agricultural sector is primarily characterized by small-scale farming, resulting in various agroecological constraints and socio-economic system instability (Tata 2015). Despite abundant resources for agriculture, such as ample rainfall, an extensive river system, freshwater lakes, fertile agricultural land, and productive marshlands, the region is facing many challenges. Over the years, soil erosion has significantly increased, leading to adverse environmental effects, particularly due to inappropriate land use on hills and mountainsides. This erosion has contributed to higher sediment levels in rivers, leading to landscape degradation in highlands, resulting in an overall decline in crop yields and loss of agro biodiversity. This situation raises concerns about food insecurity, shortages, and heightened vulnerability to climate change (FAO and GEF 2017).The significant expansion of farming territory has reduced forest coverage to only 6.6% of the country. This shift towards small-scale farming and land use changes has not only impacted the agro-ecological dynamics but has also contributed to socio-economic instability in Burundi (Tata 2015). Therefore, despite the abundant natural resources, the agricultural landscape is grappling with challenges that necessitate sustainable and strategic interventions to ensure food security and environmental sustainability.This research, commissioned by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Ghana, falls under the CGIAR initiative on Transforming Agri-Food Systems in West and Central Africa (TAFS-WCA) Work Package 3 (WP3), which focuses on inclusive landscape management and pathways for scaling land and water innovations for resilient agri-food systems. This initiative recognizes that equitable access to and responsible use of land and water resources are fundamental to creating a healthy, productive, and One-Health-sensitive environment that fosters resilient agrifood systems and livelihoods. This analysis is driven by the need to understand and identify synergies and trade-offs between landscape development and the intricate ecological resources and processes that exist within. The development aspect involves a more intensive engagement with space and land use, organization, and arrangement. The characteristics of land and space, along with their entire natural and built-up substratum, play a crucial role in determining the trajectory of future sustainable development. In this context, this research emerges as a critical undertaking, linking current development, potential development pathways, and the conservation of natural resources.Utilizing the DPSIR-SEL framework and the sub-Nyamagana watershed in the Imbo plain as a case study, this research aims to conduct a comprehensive situational analysis, illuminating how drivers and pressures converge to shape the state and impacts of the socio-ecological landscapes (SEL). The study site serves as an ideal case due to its abundance of natural ecological resources, its diverse and competing land uses, including agriculture, forestry, conservation, mining, and industry, and its current experience of significant environmental degradation. The selected landscape is the primary spatial unit of analysis for this research. Consequently, this landscape assessment will be of significant value for decision-making in future land use, space organization, nature protection, and sustainable use of natural resources.The main objective of this study is to assess the status and trends of natural resources and ecosystem services while considering the possible impacts on human well-being and the institutional responses.• Assess the drivers and pressures underpinning landscape change in the sub-Nyamagana watershed.• Examine the dynamics of the state of the social ecological landscape (SEL).• Explore the impacts of landscape transitions on human wellbeing, biodiversity, and ecosystem services.• Examine the existing institutional and policy responses to landscape drivers, pressures, dynamic states, and impacts.The study area was identified in the Imbo Plain and operating along the Rusizi River, as the project is shared among three countries (Burundi, the DRC, and Rwanda). Significant competing land uses and activities associated with soil degradation (i.e., agriculture, forestry, mining, settlement expansion, chainsaw operations, etc.) was another criterion for choosing this site. Other key factors that incited researchers to implement the project in the Nyamagana watershed include the diversity of staple crops (e.g., legumes, cereals, and vegetables) planted in the region, the quality and quantity of water provided by the managed Nyamagana River and its uses for irrigation, and the presence of existing initiatives in landscape management by different stakeholders in the Nyamagana River.The Nyamagana watershed, which is a part of the Rusizi watershed was identified as the study area, according to the criteria outlined in section 2.1.A map of the study area and its provinceThe sub-Nyamagana watershed includes urban areas, agricultural land, forests, and pastures consisting of spaced trees and shrubs, as well as grasslands. Upstream of the watershed, there is dominance of forests and meadows, while downstream there is dominance of agricultural land and urban areas (Figure 2). From the 1930s, the Rusizi plain was gradually drained, cleared, and populated, while natural areas were drastically reduced. Agricultural production has developed over the years, with \"peasants\" dominating the perimeters, growing mainly cotton and irrigated rice fields.A few years later with ethnic conflicts, there was progressive but fast densification in the plain of Rusizi and the hills of the Mirwa (hills overlooking the plain of Rusizi). The fragmentation of small agricultural exploitation and the multiplication of small plots of food crops have conquered a large part of the space of Mirwa, accelerating the phenomena of erosion and degradation of the slopes to the detriment of the natural forests (Sindayihebura 2005). The geological configuration of the Sub-Nyamagana watershed consists essentially of two dominant units. These are highly metamorphic rocks (such as micaschists, paragneisses, amphibolites, dolomitic, and limestones) and some well-stratified quartzites and white quartzites, phyllite intercalations, dark grey quartzites and coarse conglomerates rich in iron oxides. Downstream of the river, in the plain of Rusizi, there is a dominance of alluvial cones, fluvial-lacustrine formations with coarse sands, fine silty-clay deposits, locally cemented pebbles by iron oxides; undifferentiated cenozoic, the Ruhagarika Formation; sandstone and alluvial conglomerates from valley bottoms, lake beaches, and low terraces; and sedimentary deposits (Figure 3).The sub-Nyamagana watershed is a part of the Ruzizi basin, which is the target area of the project.It is characterized by a dense hydrological network feeding it mainly upstream (see Figure 4). The hydrographic network of Nyamagana connects four municipalities spread over an altitude ranging from 850 m to 1500 m and crosses an escarpment of tens of kilometers with waterfalls of high flow upstream and average flows downstream. It offers the advantage of erecting dams for irrigation of vast areas for agriculture (Figure 4). In the Rusizi area, there are relatively abundant surface water resources because of high rainfall and storage in marshes and lakes. A dense hydrographic network means that it has a high hydroelectric potential. Among the internal rivers are the Kaburantwa, Kagunuzi, Mpanda, Nyamagana, and Muhira rivers (African Development Fund 2005).Purposive sampling was used to choose the participants for the focus group discussion (FGD). Therefore, the invited respondents came from farmer groups involved in irrigation water management of the Nyamagana River. Five FGDs were held with 12 persons in each. Each group of 12 (Figure 5) had six men and six women. Each FGD was conducted on a selected Colline (the lowest administrative subdivisions in Burundi) bordering the sub-Nyamagana watershed and/or one of the irrigation canals.The sample size of respondents for household survey was determined using the Bernoulli sampling formula released as follows: A sample of 166 respondents was obtained using the above formula for calculation.The framework applied for this situation analysis report is shown in Figure 6. When addressing driving forces, agricultural and educational reforms, technological innovations, equity policies, and decision-support tools should be considered. In contrast, when addressing pressures, the strategy to be used would be based on land-use planning and management, human behaviour-change strategies, limiting discharges, resource-use management, awareness-raising, education, etc. Regarding reactions, factors to be considered include landscape condition, revitalization, remediation, landscape and community planning, restoration, assessment, etc. The components that are considered for impact-based solutions include adaptation methods, diversification of sources of income, mitigation, welfare indexing, and assessment and monitoring of ecological services, among others.The interpretation of the framework leads to an understanding of the interaction between the different output land uses.Driving Forces: This study has been conducted to assess driving forces in the landscape of the Nyamagana River in Cibitoke province. Driving forces are the forces that cause observed landscape changes, i.e., they are influential processes in the evolutionary trajectory of the landscape. These forces have also been called keystone processes (Bürgi, Hersperger and Schneeberger 2005). The analysis emphasized on the socioeconomic, political, technological, cultural, agricultural, and natural environment as the main influential factors. These socio-cultural, economic, and political factors have been added to broaden the logical framework of the study. The driving forces form a complex system of dependencies, interactions, and feedback loops and they affect several temporal and spatial levels (Bürgi et al. 2005).Different land-use patterns in watersheds apply different types of demand on the watersheds. Understanding the many types of pressure exerted on a watershed is crucial. They are characterized as human actions connecting the forces that propel social and economic functioning and result in environmental changes. The variations seen in watersheds, the pollution discharges from industrial operations, or contamination due to agricultural practices as the use of mineral fertilizers, pesticides, the physical and biological degradations, the construction of artificial habitat; agricultural operations (such as cropping, fishing, tree felling), among others, are all frequently caused by changes in land and water use.Landscape status: A watershed's condition includes both the natural environment and the area that people live in or use. The evaluation of the amount and quality of the elements that make up the environment or landscape, namely: 1) physical, 2) chemical, 3) biological, and 4) production systems modified by human action, is what is meant by the analysis of this state.The use of land and water will always influence ecosystems and human wellbeing. The availability, accessibility, and production of ecosystem goods and services are all impacted in some manner by changes in the structure, functioning, and composition of ecosystems (Atampugre et al. 2022b). The most obvious or perceptible changes in socioeconomic well-being of people are where these consequences may be seen. When we discuss ecosystem goods and services, we refer to all ecosystem processes or byproducts that benefit humans, either directly or indirectly. These might involve offering services, controlling ecosystem services, using ecosystem services for cultural purposes, and supporting ecosystem change processes.The results of these interactions can be determined by using the DPSIR framework to analyse the interactions between different landscape elements. According to some authors, these are the results of the causal relationship between the various aspects of ecosystem exploitation. To understand the consequences of each composition, it is important to understand the steps taken by communities, people, and the government to prevent, make up for, mitigate, and adapt to changes in the landscape. In various circumstances, the occupants of a landscape or watershed can alter their behaviours, and these adjustments are likely to cause health problems that call for medical attention. Additionally, these human acts, through the consumption of ecosystem goods and services, counteract the social or economic impact of the human situation on wellbeing. The driving forces, pressure dynamics, landscape conditions, and impacts might all be the focus of responses.Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources to get information on the various DPSIR components. Primary data were obtained from household surveys, focus group discussions (FGDs), and key informant interviews (KIIs). Semi-structured questionnaires and checklists with open-ended and closed-ended questions were used for household surveys, FGDs and KIIs. A structured questionnaire was employed to gather quantitative data, with the assistance of welltrained enumerators using KoboCollect software. The data were collected using questionnaires comprising household farm characteristics such as the number of farmlands, the size of the farmland, the land tenure, and the soil fertility of their farm.Additionally, data on household food production and consumption, household livestock, household livelihood diversification and alternative income sources, external income and migration, social networks, household physical assets, and public services were also gathered.Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were utilized to collect qualitative data. The participants in FGDs comprised the members of associations in charge of sub-Nyamagana water management, while the key informants were composed of ISABU researchers involved in the project implementation, the General Director of IGEBU, the Dean of FABI, the lecturers of Burundi University, the adviser in charge of planning, development and statistics of Rugombo commune, the head of the water distribution committees in the communes of Rugombo and Buganda, and the hydrologist officer at IGEBU. Six focus group discussions were conducted for each Colline, consisting of six women and six men each. The focus group discussion checklist aimed at understanding the types of land uses, the agricultural production systems, the wild biodiversity, the drivers of land degradation, and the institutions and partners operating in the landscape.Data were collected using the KoboCollect tool and analysed using SPSS statistical software. Descriptive statistics, frequencies, and percentages were calculated to provide an initial understanding of the gathered data. T-test and chi-square test were carried out on the data set at the 5% significance level to determine the significant difference and existence of any relationship between household livelihoods and land use, agricultural production systems, land size, state of institutional and policy support, etc. The data collected from KIIs and FGDs were analysed using a qualitative approach to understand the underlying factors and social dynamics influencing the status of the landscape.In general, topography, demographic pressure, uncontrolled rice farming, anarchic mining and quarrying, and climate change collectively threaten the health and functioning of social-ecological landscapes (SEL). Within the Nyamagana sub-watershed, unsustainable agricultural practices and overexploitation of natural and artificial resources are threatening biodiversity, the livelihoods of farmers, and ecosystem processes, including soil services. This research assessed the status and trends of natural resources, considering the possible impacts on human well-being and institutional responses. Figure 7 summarizes the finding. The drivers underlying the landscape dynamics in the Nyamagana sub-watershed are diverse and originate from several sources. Some factors are natural, such as weather (e.g., precipitation, temperature, humidity, etc.), geology, and topography, while others are the consequences of human activities (e.g., land degradation, deforestation, etc.) In addition, the demographic pressures are generating land scarcity, and overexploitation of both natural and artificial forests is posing a threat to the watershed according to those households surveyed during the data gathering phase.According to the results from the focus group discussions (FGDs), the participants of all 6 FGDs congruently stated, \"Drought, strong winds, diseases and pests, flooding due to the lack of water drainage systems, hail, erosion and gullying, unpredicted rain, and landslides are the main natural drivers of the landscape change.\" To overcome the natural disturbances cited above, the participants responded, ˝some efforts are being implemented to address the issues, for instance there is increased irrigation to mitigate the frequent droughts\". They added that \"pests and diseases are being controlled by spraying some chemicals pesticides and biopesticides despite those products being often not effective.\" To address the effect of flooding and drought, the participants divulged, \"We are trying to make drains manually; planting agroforestry trees in our farms; mulching is another option to address the effect of the water stress.\" Additionally, they said, \"Farmers establish shortcycle, drought-tolerant crops to cope with drought and have started to put in place anti-erosion ditches to address landslides and soil erosion.\"The average number of household members in the study area in given in Figure 8. According to the results given in Figure 7, the average number of members living in the same household ranges between six and seven in most Collines of the study, except in the Kagazi colline, where the average household size is five. This indicates that the sub-Nyamagana watershed is overpopulated. This overpopulation could lead to land scarcity, overexploitation of natural and artificial forests, soil fertility depletion, reduction of soil microorganisms, etc. From a positive angle, however, overpopulation could also be the source of a workforce that could contribute to the improvement and diversification of natural resources.The number of months during which households struggle to get enough food is given in Figure 9.Based on the results presented in Figure 8, more than 50% of the households suffer from food shortages for a period ranging from 3 to 6 months, while only 38% of the households experience a short period of food shortages (1-3 months).The food shortage in households could lead to a lack of management of the existing natural resources. Moreover, the shortage of food may be a result of the insufficiency of natural resources within the sub-Nyamagana watershed. The months of the year with food shortages for householders interviewed in the sub-Nyamagana watershed are given in Table 1.As indicated in Table 1, more than 50% of farmers reported insufficient food or struggled for sufficient food to feed their families from July to December. Notably, 72.5% of households do not depend on their own food production. Therefore, to meet sustainable production in the Nyamagana watershed, support in terms of farmland management systems and technical advice will be key to sustaining food security throughout the year.  The mitigation strategies adopted by households to cope with food shortages during these periods are highlighted in Table 2. According to the results presented in Table 2, most households reduce their dairy food consumption to cope with the food shortage. The food intake reduction strategy in Kagazi and urban centre Collines scored a high percentage (100%). The food donation strategy was undertaken only by Rusiga and Rugeregere Collines at the levels of 5.3% and 4.8%, respectively. The promotion of integrated farming production systems may improve the productivity of diversified crops to address the food shortage.The land tenure systems encountered in the Nyamagana sub-watershed are given in Table 3. Based on the results highlighted in Table 3, most households practice agriculture on their own land.According to the land scarcity reported in the Imbo plain (Rusizi Feasibility Report 2022), the farmers in the sub-Nyamagana watershed are challenged to find enough cropping land, compelling them to overexploit their cropping land. As a result, most forage species are facing extinction, and soil fertility is being depleted, worsening soil erosion, landslides, flooding, etc., which have been observed over the years. The water sources adopted in the Nyamagana sub-watershed are given in Figure 10. As depicted through the assessment of the water sources results in the Nyamagana sub-watershed, farmers in Rusiga, Kagazi, the urban centre, and Rugeregere are using irrigation canal water pathways for dwellings and agricultural purposes. In Ruvumera and Rusororo, farmers are not connected to irrigation canal pathways yet. They mostly depend on the rain, while a few farmers also use streams and tap water to irrigate their farms.As shown in Figure 9, irrigation canals are the primary source of water for most farmers (54.2%), while 36.1% do not irrigate their farmlands. Importantly, the presence of irrigation canals along the Nyamagana River is one of the opportunities to repopulate and diversify numerous crops that have been lost over the years.Table 4 presents results based on farmers' perceptions of the water supply. Results reveal that 36.7% of farmers consider irrigation sources used on their farms to be insufficient, and 36.1% of farmers are uncertain whether irrigation water is sufficient or not. Only 11.4% of farmers concur that water availability is sufficient for irrigation. Consequently, activities that boost the diversity of natural resources could also be threatened by the lack of water for irrigation. The levels of farmer satisfaction regarding the water supply for irrigation is given in Table 4. The results given in Table 5 indicate that there are no significant differences between irrigated and non-irrigated land sizes. The average size of irrigated land is 0.28 ha per farmer, while the land size of 0.27 ha represents the non-irrigated land per farmer. The similarity in size between irrigated and non-irrigated land is due to the hills in the study area in Ruvumera and Rusoro, where farmers do not practice irrigated agriculture yet. Human-based activities causing pressures can be classified into three main categories: (i) excessive use of natural resources through contact; (ii) increased production and waste discharge into the environment without proper treatment, thereby contaminating ecosystems; and (iii) the complexity of land cover and soil use, particularly the use of chemicals (pesticides and fertilizers) that are detrimental to ecosystem components. The most significant factor among the several causes and variables influencing landscape change in the Nyamagana sub-watershed is the anarchic mining that takes place in the river and along its banks. Additionally, agriculture is carried out using less ecologically suitable methods, sometimes ignoring the buffer zone surrounding the Nyamagana River. These farming practices greatly degrade the soil, primarily along the riverbanks.Four out of six of the FGDs \"converged on the bush fires as the anthropogenic disturbances that threaten the agricultural production in the landscape.\" Most (five FGDs) reported that \"the deforestation for multiple purposes is another pressure on agricultural production.\" One FGD cited \"the planting of eucalyptus trees on farms\" as a cause of agricultural production decline. Another FGD revealed that \"the use of degenerate seeds is the cause of the loss of the agricultural production\", yet another FGD mentioned \"the destruction of irrigation canals\" as \"the cause of the drop in agricultural production.\" According to three FGDs, \"the exploitation of the buffer zones and anarchic mining and quarrying threaten the increase of agricultural production in the study area.\" The limitations and challenges to agricultural productivity are perceived to be unsustainable natural resource management, including deforestation, agricultural land expansion, and inadequate waste management, according to the Rusizi basin feasibility study (2022). Due to harmful practices and inadequate land use planning, the Ruzizi Basin landscapes have been severely degraded. This has led to a decline in groundwater recharge, low groundwater levels, low river flow regimes, food insecurity brought on by degraded soil, and a progressive loss of forest cover and biodiversity.The main household livelihood activities carried out in the Nyamagana sub-watershed besides agriculture are given in Table 6. Apart from the agricultural activities implemented, most farmers (71.2% out of the total interviewed) practice small trade as their main source of income. The second most common source of income is handicrafts (9.6%), followed by mining (5.8%) and remunerative employment (7.7%). In the study area, charcoal production is insignificant (1.9%). This indicates that the Nyamagana sub-watershed lacks sufficient trees for making charcoal. All of the farmers who participated in the interview declared that their main occupation was agriculture.The level fertilizers and pesticides used by farmers is given in Figure 11. The interviewers reported that more than 80% of farmers apply fertilizers and pesticides in their crops. This implies that the excessive application and irrational use of these products can be harmful to human ecosystem services. Therefore, the sensitization and promotion of friendly agro-ecological practices may address the reported inappropriate use of synthesis fertilizers and pesticides over the years. The t-t test showed that there was a significant difference (P value<0.05) between the users of the chemical products and the non-users in terms of the number. To reduce the harmful effects of these chemical products, it is necessary to sensitize farmers to use organic products such as biopesticides and organic manure.The proportion of farmers who diverse of the agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides to improve the crop production are highlighted in Figure 12. According to participants in the six FGDs, \"the biodiversity, water, soils, and forests are not optimally managed for current and future use.\" The participants in five FGDs revealed that \"there are no effective available management regimes in place for managing biodiversity, water, soils and forests,\" However, one FGD said that \"some management regimes are available such as the law against bush fire practices (administration) and water management committee.\" The participants also suggested practical ways to manage resources to ensure their availability for current and future use: \"avoiding bush fires, planting agroforestry and forest trees; awareness-raising sessions on good agricultural practices, technical and financial support, regulation of mining and quarrying and soil erosion control.\"The staple crops planted in the study area, crop production, and quantity consumed and sold are provided in Table 7.According to the results presented in Table 7, a diverse range of staple crops are planted in the study area. However, most of the crops are not cultivated by the majority of farmers. This may be due to the scarcity of seeds in the study area. It is noted that the crops cultivated by the majority of farmers are maize (33.7%), bush beans (25%), cassava (20%), and rice (8.5%). Moreover, the interviewed farmers reported that the majority of crops planted by farmers are used for family consumption. When it comes to income from crop sales, rice provides the highest income (1,260,470.00 BIF), followed by tomatoes (955,555.60 BIF), taro (525,000.00 BIF), and groundnut (310,000.00 BIF) even if they are cultivated by a small number of farmers.The animal types raised in the study area, the number, and the income derived from the sale of animals are given in Table 8.According to the results shown in Table 8, the animals raised by farmers in the study area are mostly goats (27.5%), pigs (26.3%), chickens (26.3%), and cows (12.9%). Farmers in the Nyamagana subwatershed raise an average of 2 to 4 animals. The highest income (199,479.00 BIF) is generated by the sale of cows and their by-products. This is followed by the income from pig sales (108,515.00 BIF). As the income from the sale of livestock is insufficient, it may be deduced that farmers struggle with the lack of capital to properly manage and safeguard existing natural resources. The appreciation of farmers in terms of soil fertility in the sub-Nyamagana watershed is given in Table 9. As shown in Table 9, more than 50% of surveyed farmers reported that their soils were moderately fertile. However, a significant number of farmers (39.1%) revealed that their soils were poor, while a few farmers (8.7%) claimed that their soils were very fertile. This low level of soil fertility is due to overexploitation and inadequate management of their farmlands, erosion, and flooding, which also threaten the diversity and abundance of natural resources.The state of the social ecological dynamics of the landscape is understood as the set of critical resources (i.e., natural, socio-economic, and cultural) whose flow and use are regulated by a combination of ecological and social systems (Mehring et al. 2017). Generally, it is a complex and dynamic system in perpetual adaptation. The concept also alludes to the dynamics of communities in the sense of the evolution of their structure and composition. These dynamics are also the results of environmental disturbances such as heavy rains, long dry seasons, fires, deforestation, and climate change. Going deeper, we realize that these are complex adaptive systems in which human societies are integrated with nature. Thus, through the social component, which refers to all human activities, including the economy, technology, politics, and culture, we understand that there are interactions between communities and ecosystems. The states of the social ecological landscape (SEL) dynamics are illustrated in Figure 13. A good example of community-ecological interaction defining the state of landscape is that the team discovered that the installation of irrigation infrastructure in one of the Colline has the unintended consequence of further increasing landslide occurrences due to inadequate drainage and saturation problems (Figure 14).  Human activities: Economic, technological, politics and cultural.Community and ecosystems interactionsAt the level of a watershed, nature often provides benefits and services that play essential roles in the lives of households living in the watershed. In other words, ecosystems support human wellbeing by supporting, providing, regulating, and providing socio-cultural and economic services. However, well-being depends on the supply and quality of human services, technology, and institutions.Ecosystem services are the benefits that people derive from ecosystems: provisioning services of goods and services such as food and water; regulating services such as flood, pests, and disease control; cultural services such as spiritual and recreational benefits; and supporting services, such as nutrient recycling, that contribute to the daily lives of individuals in households.Through the focus discussion and structured questionnaires, households residing in the Nyamagana sub-watershed were interviewed for this study, which allowed researchers to pinpoint specific effects of watershed transitions on human well-being resulting from biodiversity and ecological services.  The main causes of soil erosion in the study area are given in Table 10. The main cause of soil erosion cited by 33.5% of interviewed farmers was unsustainable agricultural practices, followed by the steep slopes and topography reported by 25.1% farmers. The third (15.6% of farmers) and the fourth (15% of farmers) cited wind erosion and deforestation and land clearance, respectively, as the causes of soil erosion. Therefore, there is a need to develop the capacities of farmers in sustainable practices that mitigate these causes of erosion. The level of sub-landscape management based on the three major techniques adopted, according to farmer perception, is indicated in Figure 16. Among the three major techniques adopted, most of the interviewed farmers reported that diseases and pest management strategies were the main techniques implemented in the study area. The causes that prompted the adoption of water harvesting, soil conservation, and disease control are multiple.The soil conservation was adopted by farmers to protect against erosion on their farmlands located on the steep Nyamagana watershed. The high temperature recorded in the study area exacerbates the proliferation of diseases and pests. Therefore, the farmers who own lands in the Nyamagana watershed must apply pesticides to fight these diseases.The highlights of the findings on farmer adoption of water harvesting techniques are given in Figure 17. According to the results given in Figure 17, water harvesting techniques are mostly adopted in Rusiga (31.3%), followed by Ruvumera village (20.69%), among the villages that implemented these strategies. As the study area is located in a region with a prolonged dry season, farmers must use water conservation techniques in order to irrigate their crops during the period of water scarcity. Despite the anthropogenic disturbances taking place, several concrete efforts have been implemented to mitigate their negative effects, such as the establishment of farmer associations for capacity building and raising awareness about smart farming. The protection of the riverbanks using fixing grasses (e.g., Pennisetum) and agroforestry trees (e.g., bamboos, grevillea) is being adopted, and agriculture close to riverbanks is prohibited. Farmers are adopting organic manure to fertilize their crops in order to improve soil productivity. Meanwhile, the government is continuing to raise public awareness of the harmful effects of bush fires on landscape degradation.Four out of six FGDs revealed that there are \"no agricultural activities and other land use systems to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem services\" while two FGDs reported that \"some agricultural activities are being implemented in order to improve the biodiversity such compost production, planting agroforestry, forestry and fruit trees, protection of riverbanks with bamboo, installation of anti-erosion ditches\".Institutions that are taking part in environmental protection as a part of the Cibitoke province's landscape management system have an impact on landscape management. The main initiatives in this direction are: (i) preserving the appearance of distinctive natural landscapes and specific geomorphological formations; (ii) promoting the revitalization of natural or close-to-natural environments; (iii) preserving the appearance of native fauna and flora as well as their natural living spaces; (iv) contributing to the maintenance and improvement of biodiversity; (v) supporting the efforts of the local government, private groups, other institutions, and people who are fighting to safeguard the environment and the landscape; and (vi) educating and enlightening the public about these issues. The results of the study show that there are already some institutions that deal with landscape management in the study area. There are also some institutions that manage landscapes based on different laws and regulations. Figure 18 illustrates the landscape management mechanisms identified during the study in the Nyamagana sub-watershed.Existing institutional responses to landscape drivers, pressures, dynamic states, and impactsThe current state of the landscape is described in this study based on the analysis of the Nyamagana sub-catchment region landscape. The investigation brought to light a number of urgent issues affecting the ecosystems of the Nyamagana sub-landscape as well as the specific organizations in charge of managing the ecosystem services of the watershed. The study employed a variety of methods, including focus group discussions and structured individual surveys, to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. These two methodologies helped develop a third technique, known as the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) strategy, which helped conceptualize the overall study.This research defines the case that the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources and ecosystem services in the Nyamagana sub-watershed is typically motivated by the survival needs of local households rather than by the pursuit of high-level well-being based on the socio-economic characteristics of Cibitoke Province in general and the Nyamagana watershed in particular. As a result, the stresses that characterize the state and implications of the Nyamagana sub-watershed are primarily local in nature, although some are identified as regional. The study also found that ecosystems were increasingly being converted into subsistence farming using less advanced technologies, unregulated small-scale mining, and unsustainable farming methods.Biodiversity, livelihoods, and ecosystem processes, including the provision of soil and irrigation water, are under threat from the extraction of abiotic resources through mining and the unsustainable use of natural resources. Comparing the access to livelihoods of families in the research area revealed that there are unequal distributions of restricted livelihood options, food, raw materials for domestic use, health, education, and access to land for agricultural production among user households. The effects of the competition between ecosystem protection and development are visible in the over-exploitation of soils and the fragmentation of land due to non-ecological agriculture practices where soils are always occupied by crops without rotation or fallow systems. Due to the need to use chemical inputs that have huge impact on biodiversity, these practices deplete the soil and also contribute to environmental contamination. Another concern is the Nyamagana river's bank degradation and contamination because of unlawful community mining and farming that disregards the buffer zone between crops and the river's banks.The outcomes of this situation analysis of the Nyamagana River landscape also revealed weak institutional capacity, insufficient human and financial capital, and limited access to information on natural resources for the appropriate planning and assessment, monitoring, and practical ecosystem service integration to support planning in Cibitoke province, Rugombo commune.The study recommends several steps that can be performed to alleviate the limitations found in this analysis:-Improve local capacity for managing and improving access to ecosystem services and natural resources.-Assist local governments in ensuring integrated, sustainable development.-Constantly build human capacity, especially in relation to integrated management of natural resources and the development of the Nyamagana River catchment area.-Encourage multi-stakeholder, participatory methods for preserving ecosystems and enhancing the standard of living for residents of the Nyamagana Landscape.-Encourage investments in landscapes that support sustainable development, including climate-smart goals.-Promote top-down decision-making when addressing landscape challenges, such as land use management, as this should be effective in resolving the negative results of conflicting land uses.-Keep an eye on changes to see if sustainable socio-ecological goals are being achieved.-To safeguard areas with a variety of minerals in the subsoil, mining laws or mining codes need to be improved or put into effect.-To achieve sustainable environmental management, strict procedures relating to the management of mining sites should be put into place to combat illicit and uncontrolled mining in the Nyamagana River landscape for the smart management of natural resources.• Do markets provide incentives (inputs) for social and environmental sustainability?• Are supporting organizations in place to facilitate social and environmental sustainability?• Does local knowledge, norms, and values support the sustainability of the social and environmental sustainability? 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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"60daa45ea445a616c0b61e5a1444670e","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/d149fd30-92f3-4cb9-b491-8a45a6e8d1b9/retrieve","id":"-1550908698"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"3b96f666-e673-468d-8bc0-c58f302981ab","content":"• There are important geographic, ecological and scientific biases.• Urban ecology is significantly more studied in wealthier African countries.• More urbanized areas (now or in the future) are not the main focus of study.• We need to redirect our priorities regarding urban ecology in Africa.Rapidly expanding urbanization is a major threat to nature worldwide, leading to the reduction of biodiversity and alteration of species interactions and ecosystem services (Gaston, 2010;McDonald, Kareiva, & Forman, 2008;McKinney, 2006;United Nations, 2016). The impacts of urbanization could be even worse in the near future due to the geometric progression of human population. According to the United Nations (2019), the global human population density will increase from 60 humans/km 2 in 2020 to 78 humans/km 2 in 2050, while the global urban land cover will increase from 824,200 km 2 to 1,145,698 km 2 during the same period (Angel et al., 2011). Thus, research on urban ecology is imperative to achieve sustainable development, allowing for the understanding of ecological processes in urban areas and providing necessary data for urban planning, landscape design, policy formulation and biodiversity conservation (Corbyn, 2010;Moragues-Faus & Carroll, 2018).Given the availability of various definitions of urban ecology, we follow the scientific proposition that incorporates the 'interaction of organisms, built structures and the physical environment where people are concentrated' (Forman, 2014). Due to the transformative potential of urbanization, the concept of social and ecological integration (inclusiveness) has been proposed to enhance biodiversity in urban areas (e.g., Haase et al., 2017). For instance, Ferketic et al., (2010) demonstrated the usefulness of inclusiveness in promoting conservation justice in Cape Town (South Africa), thereby influencing the ecology of the city, and an understanding of such a nexus is useful to design resilient and sustainable urban areas (Childers et al., 2015;Grimm et al., 2008).The globally recognized multi-disciplinary fields and the embedded scientific topics in urban ecology have attracted increasing attention from researchers (e.g., Anderson et al., 2013;Cilliers et al., 2013;Girma et al., 2019). However, several papers have highlighted important knowledge gaps across regions, taxa and scientific topics (e.g., Magle et al., 2012;Tóth et al., 2020;van der Walt et al., 2015). Probably, one of the most important mismatches between urban ecology research effort and the urbanization process is the lack of knowledge on the topic from the most rapidly urbanizing continents of South America, Asia and Africa (Ibáñez-Álamo et al., 2017;Seto et al., 2012;Shackleton et al., 2021). As identified in these studies, geographic biases impede the full comprehension of the real impacts of urbanization on nature. Future studies conducted in appropriate areas will therefore be useful to determine ameliorative strategies needed to promote the co-existence of humans with nature, thereby enhancing urban habitats and the associated biodiversity, which is in line with the 11 th Sustainable Development Goal of the United Nations (2021).Literature reviews provide an opportunity for summarizing the state of evidence-based knowledge applied in many fields (e.g., Ibáñez-Álamo et al., 2017;Magle et al., 2012). Broadly, this involves the incorporation of published literature in any given field (Garousi et al., 2019). However, the generalization and application of findings from literature reviews in decision-making have been a subject for debate, mainly due to transparency, objectivity, repeatability and credibility (Sánchez-Tójar et al., 2020). Since traditional approaches to literature reviews are prone to errors (Grant & Booth, 2009), rigorous methodological approaches have been developed and applied more recently in the field of urban ecology (e.g., Cilliers et al., 2018;Kendal et al., 2020;Ibáñez-Álamo et al., 2017), allowing for an important advancement in our understanding of the effect of urban areas on organisms.In the present study, we conducted a systematic literature review to determine trends in urban ecological research conducted in Africa. Relative to other regions such as Asia, Europe and North America (Forman, 2016;Lin & Grimm, 2015;Magle et al., 2012;Wu et al., 2014), there have been few attempts aimed at synthesizing the state of knowledge in African urban ecology (e.g., Cilliers et al., 2013;Shackleton et al., 2017;Lindley et al., 2018;du Toit et al., 2018). Our aims were to (i) analyze the current status of research effort on urban ecology in this continent, (ii) identify research gaps (geographic, taxonomic and ecological) and (iii) provide recommendations and insights on future prospects. Additionally, (iv) we investigated the potential association of urban ecology research effort with some factors previously associated with the number of scientific publications. On the one hand, we tested whether the number of publications in the field (i.e., urban ecology) per country could be influenced by human population density, economic wealth, as well as the current or future urbanization prospects. Given the positive association between human population density and the degree of urbanization (e.g., Gao & O'Neill, 2021;Qizhi et al., 2016), we would expect that countries with high human population density would hold the majority of studies in urban ecology. Furthermore, if urban ecology research effort is driven by the intensity of urbanization, based on the scientific reasoning of geographic focus areas of particular interest, we could predict a positive association of the number of publications on this topic in those countries currently more urbanized or with the highest rate of urban expansion (i.e., future urbanization). Although the relationship between urbanization and economic growth is often contested (e.g., Chen et al., 2014;Moomaw & Shatter, 1996), we would expect that wealthier countries (i.e., higher Gross Domestic Product -GDP-) are those concentrating the majority of urban ecological studies as increased funding positively influences publication rates (Man et al., 2004). On the other hand, we also tested whether the number of publications in the field could be influenced by the conservation status and size of African ecoregions. Previous reviews have pointed out the positive association between the conservation status of study sites and research effort (e.g., de Lima et al., 2011). Thus, if research effort is based on conservationoriented reasons, we would expect that threatened ecoregions will be more studied. In addition, since smaller areas generally support lower species richness (see Rantalainen et al., 2005), we would expect that larger ecoregions will provide more study opportunities for researchers specializing in different species and scientific topics, and will therefore be more studied. Considering the marked differences between Global North and Global South urban settings (Shackleton et al., 2021), we acknowledge that there could be other factors (e.g., climate severity, colonial history or high diversity in human-nature interactions) shaping the urban ecology research effort in Africa, which is considered part of the Global South. However, we did not include them because of the difficulty of extracting such information and to avoid overparameterization of models. Findings of this study will provide additional information about African urban landscapes that should generate interest among researchers, conservation practitioners and policymakers.We performed a literature search in Web of Science, Google Scholar and Scopus on 8 March 2021 using different combinations of 89 relevant keywords within the article titles, abstracts and keywords, covering the period 1920-2020. The search string containing research focus (23 keywords; e.g., ecology, biodiversity and wellbeing) and urban terms (5 keywords; e.g., urban, city and town) were matched with region (Africa and country name). We performed independent searches for each of the 58 countries and autonomous territories in the continent. A detailed description of these search terms, and the relevant Web of Science categories (41) and Scopus study fields (10) selected can be found in Table S1. The relevance of the use of such comprehensive keywords has been demonstrated by previous studies (e.g., Raji & Downs, 2021;Roy et al., 2012;Tan & bin Abdul Hamid, 2014).We then uploaded all detected papers on Rayyan (https://www. rayyan.ai/) for screening. Rayyan is a web-based App that uses a semiautomation process to screen paper's preliminary pages with a high degree of precision (Olofsson et al., 2017;Ouzzani et al., 2016). Its adaptability and many functions allow the detection of duplicates, verification, collaboration and decisions in systematic reviews (Abreha, 2019;de Keijzer et al., 2016). In the present study, both authors independently performed the paper selection process by activating the \"blind function\" in Rayyan and reached a consensus thereafter.Our selection process followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA Statement) (Abreha, 2019;Moher et al., 2009), which is presented in Fig. 1. Based on article titles and abstracts, we first excluded duplicates, non-African studies and investigations carried out outside urban settings. We also excluded papers on human diseases, climate change, pollution and agriculture when they were exclusively focused on clear different disciplines, such as malaria studies exclusively focused on the medical science (e.g., Kigozi et al., 2020) or agricultural papers investigating different crop varieties without any socio-ecological, biodiversity or human dimensions focus (e.g., Kent et al., 2001). Several systematic reviews already exist on these disciplines (e.g., Fayiga et al., 2018;Hulme et al., 2001;Orsini et al., 2013). The remaining articles were then screened and those that met the following criteria were retained for data extraction: (1) urban landscape, ecological and sociological studies, (2) journal articles published in English, (3) peer-reviewed as a first step towards quality control (Beninde et al., 2015;Raji & Downs, 2021), and (4) biodiversity conservation studies (including pet animals and introduced species).We extracted the following data from each included paper: title, year of publication, journal, country of study and study sites. We then classified each paper based on type (field study, review or perspective) and scale, which included city (conducted in a single city), local (involving more than one city in a country), regional (involving more than one African country) and global (involving more than the African continent). Further, we followed the classification of Magle et al. (2012) to allocate each paper to one of the following scientific fields, including animal behavior, community ecology, conservation, human dimensions, human-wildlife conflict, landscape ecology, population ecology, wildlife disease and wildlife management. For taxonomic studies, we extracted information on the kingdoms and classes of focal species based on the classification of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) (GBIF, 2021;accessed May 2022).With the exception of reviews and perspectives, we obtained the coordinates of all 1405 African study sites included in the selected papers by using Google Earth. This ensured conformity and completion given that the coordinates of some sites were either not originally provided in the papers or were presented in different formats. We then obtained information on all terrestrial ecoregions found in Africa from the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF: Olson et al., 2001). Further data on the ecoregions, including size, conservation status and the biome they are located in, were also collected (Burgess et al., 2004). In addition, we obtained data on urbanization intensity and urban land cover (2015) across the continent, as well as the total population (2015) and total land area of each studied country from Africapolis (OECD/ SWAC, 2020; accessed 9th June 2021). Urban land cover was used as a proxy for country urbanization intensity, while the total population was divided by the total land area to obtain the population density of each country. We then overlaid the study sites across ecoregions and urbanization intensity, as well as urbanization intensity across ecoregions, using QGIS (version 3.24 Tisler). Africapolis is the single most important and comprehensive geospatial database on cities and urbanization dynamics in Africa, which incorporates data on demography, satellite and aerial imagery and other cartographic sources (OECD/SWAC, 2020). To investigate urbanization prospect based on the urban land cover, data on the average annual rate of change of the percentage urban expansion by country (2015-2050) were integrated (United Nations, 2018). The Gross Domestic Product (GDP 2020; US$) of each studied country was also extracted from the National Accounts Section of the United Nations Statistics Division (accessed 6th May 2022).All analyses were carried out using R Version 1.4.1717 (R Core Team, 2016). We performed descriptive statistics using the number of published urban ecological studies to determine temporal and spatial trends in urban ecological knowledge across years, countries, study scales, scientific fields, journals, and taxonomic kingdoms and classes.We first used the number of published urban ecological studies (hereafter: research effort) per country as the response variable to test the effect of urbanization intensity, urbanization prospect, human population density and GDP using general linear models (LM). We used the \"performance\" package to check for multi-collinearity among the independent variables (Bernat-Ponce et al., 2021;Lüdeck et al., 2021) and tested the normality (Shapiro & Wilk, 1965) of the dependent variable (p < 0.05). The independent variables had low correlation (Variance Inflation Factor < 5) and, consequently, were all included in the models, but research effort was log-transformed to obtain reasonably normally distributed residuals from final models, and models that did not violate LM assumptions when examined visually as diagnostic plots (Crawley, 2013). Using the stepwise backward selection method (Crawley, 2013), variables with the highest p values were removed and the procedure repeated until the best model was selected as the one with the lowest Akaike Information Criterion value (Burnham & Anderson, 2002). Statistical significance was set at p value < 0.05. We also conducted a sensitivity analysis (Moher et al., 2009) due to the disproportionate weight of South African studies in our database, causing outliers. Of the overall 710 field studies that mentioned the 42 African countries represented here, 313 (44 %) were from South Africa. The second model therefore incorporated the same variables as the first but without South African papers.Secondly, we tested for mismatches in the distribution of research effort across ecoregions. Note that this information could not be combined with the one collected at the country level and thus requires for an additional model to be tested. Given that research effort was not normally distributed (p < 0.05) even after log-transformation, we built a separate model using Poisson Logistic Regression to test if the size and conservation status of ecoregions (factor: Critical, Endangered, Vulnerable, Relatively Stable or Relatively Intact) influence research effort. We then conducted a Tukey post-hoc test for a pairwise comparison across the different categories of conservation status using the package \"emmeans\" (Manley et al., 2015;Yvoz et al., 2020).Our search string detected a total of 60,355 papers out of which 17,793 duplicates were removed. The output of the remaining processes of Rayyan screening led to the retention of 795 papers considered in this review (Fig. 1). Out of them, 691 (87 %) were field studies, 90 (11 %) reviews and 14 (2 %) perspectives, all of which were published in 377 journals (Table S2). The first urban ecology studies focused on Africa date back from the 1970s (Okpala, 1978;Hugo, 1979), but the publication rate on the topic was slow (<10 papers/year) until 2006 when an exponential growth started, culminating in 126 papers published in 2020 (Fig. 2). From a geographical point of view, we found studies from 72 % of the countries that make up the African continent (42 out of 58 countries and autonomous territories; Fig. 3). However, a single country (South Africa) published 4 out of every 10 papers on the topic (N = 313), with the highly-urbanized and biodiversity-rich countries of tropical regions of the continent recording little (<40 papers; e.g., Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya) or even no urban studies (e.g., Angola and Liberia; Figs. 3 and 4) for the period of study . Furthermore, papers found in our literature search showed that most urban ecological research in Africa (89 %) was performed within countries, either focused on a single city (N = 434; 55 %) or conducted locally (N = 270; 34 %). We identified very few international research as only 4 % of the studies were carried out regionally (i.e., including more than one African country; N = 29) and only 8 % were coordinated at a global scale (i.e., including data from other continents too; N = 62).The result of the LM analysis for all countries shows that research effort significantly increased with higher GDP, but not according to any other predictors (Table 2; Fig. 5). Contrary to our expectation, countries with higher human density and current or future urbanization prospects (up to 2050) have not been more studied (Table 1). In contrast, wealthier African countries have significantly investigated more on urban ecology (Table 1; Fig. 5). The same significant pattern was found for the sensitivity analysis (i.e., when South Africa was removed; Table S3).Regarding ecoregions, we found information from 75 out of the 119 ecologically relevant regions in Africa (Fig. 6a-b; Table S4). This implies 37 % of ecoregions without a single urban ecology study. The research effort at this respect is not homogeneously distributed and varies considerably depending on the biome (Table 2). Furthermore, 22 out of the 44 African ecoregions without urban ecology studies are classified as threatened (Table S4) (Burgess et al., 2004). The Poisson Logistic Regression shows that research effort significantly increased in larger and more threatened ecoregions (Table 3). Urban areas in critical, endangered and vulnerable ecoregions have been more intensively studied (Fig. 7).Our review also showed important taxonomic biases in the study of urban ecology in Africa. We found information on studies focusing on seven kingdoms, with Animalia and Plantae being the most studied so far (Fig. 8). This result also highlights our limited understanding of other organisms, including Archaea, Bacteria, Chromista, Fungi and Protozoa, which when combined accounted only for 5 % of the studies. The number of studied classes was considerably higher in Animalia ( 27) than Plantae (9), with Aves (N = 138; 34 %) and Mammalia (N = 95; 23 %) accounting for the majority of studied animal groups (Fig. 9). Regarding plants, the most commonly studied classes were Magnoliopsida (N = 253; 66 %) and Liliopsida (N = 94; 24 %).From a more conceptual point of view, we found variation in research effort among scientific fields (Fig. 10). The main focus of urban ecology in Africa seems to be applied studies given that conservation and human dimensions studies were the two most commonly investigated fields, with 41 % of all papers falling into these two categories. The scientific fields of wildlife management, wildlife disease and humanwildlife conflict were the least studied, accounting for merely 6 % of the total publications represented in this review. Our data showed that pattern approaches (e.g., Population, Community or Landscape Ecology) are more common than mechanistic studies (e.g., Animal Behavior) in Africa (Fig. 10). The first animal behaviour studies were published in the early 1990s, investigating insects (Paillette et al., 1993) and birds (Van Zyl, 1994). But the focus on this discipline has considerably increased since 2015, with 64 % of all Africa urban ecology studies on animal behavior published after this year (Table S2). Despite this increasing interest, there is still an important taxonomic bias, and only 44 % of the 27 animal classes were represented in animal behaviour studies, including Mammalia (38), Aves (47), Reptilia (7), Amphibia (6), Insecta (5), Gastropoda (2), Actinopterygii (2), Arachnida (1), Clitellata (1), Entognatha (1), Malacostraca (1) and Sarcopterygii (1).Our literature search shows almost 800 urban ecology papers for the entire African continent. According to a recent review investigating the top 20 countries publishing on urban ecology (Shackleton et al., 2021), this number is lower than the number of publications from mediumsized European countries, such as Germany (2,479) or Spain (1,864), and much lower than the research effort identified for the United States (12,728), China (6,655) or Australia (2,900). This suggests that urban ecology research in Africa is still considerably low compared to other regions of the World (e.g., Europe, North America, Asia or Australia), matching previous findings that already indicated the African continent was the least studied regarding urban ecology (e.g., Magle et al., 2012 stated that Africa accounted for 2.8 % of published papers on urban wildlife ecology in 2010). It is interesting to note that despite the exponential growth in research effort during the last 15 years, mimicking the global trend on the topic (Lin & Grimm, 2015), Africa has not increased its relative contribution to the field like other regions (e.g., Asia) that were also underrepresented a decade ago (Magle et al., 2012;Wu et al., 2014;Shackleton et al., 2021). The overall number of urban ecology papers in Africa does not seem to be associated with a delayed start in the discipline. Our review shows that African urban ecology started at the end of 1970s around the same time that this discipline started in other regions of the World (McDonnel, 2011;Wu, Xiang, & Zhao, 2014). We cannot be completely sure that there have not been earlier publications in non-English languages, but probably the first African paper explicitly mentioning the concept of urban ecology corresponded to Okpala's study (1978). This pioneering investigation focused on socio-economic aspects from Lagos (Nigeria), already highlighting the potential conflict of trying to apply European or American urban ecology theory to the African case, an argument that is still valid within the Global North and Global South framework (Shackleton et al., 2021). The current underrepresentation of African urban ecology is particularly worrying as most African urban settings are considered as clear representatives of the Global South urban settings, integrating particular biophysical and socio-economic contexts (Shackleton et al., 2021). Thus, the lack of knowledge at this respect impedes us to complement our understanding of urban ecology, which is based on the more traditional Global North perspective.There could be other different reasons explaining the low number of publications from Africa. The lack of local capacity/experts in the field is one of them. This factor has been previously highlighted as a key difference between the Global North and Global South urban settings that could influence the lower level of urban ecology research effort in the latter (Shackleton et al., 2021). According to the UNESCO's database for the period 2015-2020 (UNESCO, 2020; accessed 30 Oct 2022), the number of researchers per million of inhabitants in Northern (732.4) and, particularly, Sub-Saharan Africa (97.4), is considerably lower than in other regions of the planet, such as North America (4,544.8), Europe (3,010.4) or Oceania (3,510.5). This low ratio of skilled people has been demonstrated to influence research effort in Africa regarding other fields such as ornithology (Cresswell, 2018). Therefore  reaching to the 1 % of GDP invested in R&D (United Nations. Economic Commission for Africa 2018), current data indicate that it is 0.64 % and 0.34 % for northern and sub-Saharan Africa, respectively. This is quite far from the values of North American, European or Eastern Asian countries that reached a mean of 2.6 % in 2020. Matching the target proposed by the African Union will certainly help to increase the focus on multiple topics, including urban ecology. However, there are ways to improve knowledge on urban ecology in Africa even without the need of large economic investments. For example, the use of available databases, such as the various atlas projects, which have been successfully implemented in the continent (Botts et al., 2011;Lee & Nel, 2020). Other repositories, such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, laboratories, herbaria and museums in and outside of Africa are also useful tools to advance our understanding of the ecology of African urban areas and biodiversity as some recent studies have already shown (e.g., Cohen et al., 2021;Fishpool & Collar, 2018). This approach could also be implemented in collaboration with inhabitants of African urban areas through citizen science projects (e.g., iNaturalist or the Southern African Bird Atlas Project) that can serve to improve information on certain urban questions (e.g., animal distribution) as well as promote the connection between citizens and nature (Reynolds et al., 2021). Engaging citizens could also be instrumental to help increase the urban governance in the Global South, including Africa (Shackleton et al., 2021), and ultimately promote additional support for urban ecology studies in this continent.Our review also shows that research effort is not homogeneously distributed within the African continent. From a political point of view, there is an important variation among African countries in their urban ecology research effort. One single country (South Africa) stands out as it is responsible for almost 40 % of published papers on the topic. This is so despite only representing 4 % of African territory and 1.02 % of all urban areas in the region (OECD/SWAC, 2020). This high rate of urban ecology publications matches previous information indicating that South Africa is very active in the field at the global level (Shackleton et al., 2021). This does not seem to depend on its number of researchers per million of inhabitants (411.6) or its R&D investment (0.62 % of GDP), which is lower than the mean for Northern Africa (UNESCO, 2020), an area that not even combining all its countries reaches half the number of papers published in South Africa. This country started publishing urban ecology papers at the earliest stages in Africa (Hugo, 1979), so it is possible that this long-term publication period is behind its uniqueness. Another possibility could be that several South African cities (e.g., Cape Town and Durban) are located in biodiversity hotspots of global importance (Cilliers & Siebert, 2012). Alternatively, given that Fig. 5. Relationship between urban ecology research effort (number of urban ecological studies) across all countries and Gross Domestic Products (USD). Note that the y-axis is on a logarithmic scale and that there are several overlapping points.Results of a GLM exploring the predictors of the number of urban ecological studies published across all countries. The number of urban studies +1 was logtransformed to achieve a normal distribution of residuals. The last model (F 40 = 51.9, P < 0.001; AIC = 100.57) incorporated only the significant variable and had an adjusted R 2 = 0.55. Global North urban principles do not always apply to Global South urban areas (Okpala, 1978;Shackleton et al., 2021), there could be a special interest by funders and/or researchers from this country to acquire first-hand knowledge of direct application to South-African urban settings. For instance, some universities from this country (e.g., Witwatersrand) have strategically focused on global change research, including urban ecology (Scholes et al., 2013) or have developed specific institutes for the study of 'urbanism from an African perspective' (e. g., The African Centre for Cities, from the University of Cape Town; <https://www.africancentreforcities.net/about/acc-at-uct/>). Independently of the reasons for this important outlier, urban ecology research effort varies considerably within African countries. We identified that 28 % of these countries did not publish a single urban ecology study and thus, they completely depend on urban knowledge obtained elsewhere that sometimes might not be really useful for their local situations.Our analyses show that the number of publications per country on the topic is not associated with current or future urbanization. This result contradicts our initial prediction; however, it could be well understood from a Global South perspective. African countries, like other countries from this group, have several particularities compared to those from the Global North (Shackleton et al., 2021). One of them is the extremely high urbanization rate. Africa is the continent of the World with the most intense urbanization (Cohen, 2006;Seto et al., 2012), with many African countries experiencing urbanization rates above 4 % (e.g., Mali, Nigeria, Angola or Mozambique), an order of magnitude higher than those from other regions of the planet (World Bank, 2021). This factor leads to unplanned urbanization (Zhang, 2016) and compromises sustainable urban development in the continent by impeding the implementation of ecologically-sound practices (Cohen, 2006) and hence potentially explaining the mismatch between urbanization and urban ecology research effort.Furthermore, we found that the human population density of a country was not significantly associated with the number of publications on urban ecology either. The reasons for this lack of association could be the same as explained before for the current and future urbanization prospects as these are positively correlated with human population density (e.g., Gao & O'Neill, 2021;Qizhi et al., 2016). However, this predictor could also be associated with other potential factors that might prevent investing resources and effort in investigating about urban ecology. For example, there is an increase in people living in extreme poverty in Africa, with more than half of the urban population living in slums and informal settlements (World Cities Report, 2016). Highly populated areas also require a higher infrastructure investment, which is particularly needed in Africa (Zhang, 2016). Thus, socio-economic priorities combined with an insufficient capacity of urban governance (Zhang, 2016;Shackleton et al., 2021) could prevent finding the initially expected effect of human population density. Considering all these results and factors, particularly the uncoupled distribution between urban ecology knowledge and future urban prospects, we would recommend local authorities, funding bodies and researchers to make an effort in the study of the areas that soon will be transformed into urban landscapes. The maps were simplified to facilitate interpretation. Thus, we retain outlines of relatively large ecoregions >10,000 km 2 and those including study sites. However, the names of all ecoregions, their corresponding numbers in the map and additional details (e.g., size) are included in Table S4.Results of a Poisson Logistic Regression exploring the relationship between the number of published urban studies and the conservation status and size of ecoregions. Conservation status is a factor with 5 levels (Critical, Endangered, Relatively Intact, Relatively Stable, Vulnerable) and size is a continuous variable. Critical has been set as the intercept in the model. This is particularly important in the tropical African belt given that it will concentrate the greatest urban expansion in the future (Seto et al., 2012), but also holds the largest biodiversity of the continent (Cazzolla Gatti et al., 2015). Interestingly, our results indicate that the number of published urban ecological studies depended on economic factors (i.e., GDP). This association has been found in other cross-sectional (e.g., (Doi & Takahara, 2016;Fisher et al., 2011) and longitudinal studies (Vinkler, 2008). This economic indicator is in addition significantly associated with a higher rate of influential publications within their subject area (Bornmann et al., 2014). However, other investigations showed that R&D investment rather than per capita GDP is positively associated with research productivity in different continents (Meo et al., 2013(Meo et al., , 2014)). It is possible that GDP is a better predictor of R&D in Africa than in other regions, thus potentially explaining the obtained finding. This influence of economic factors on urban ecology research effort is crucial given the link between cities and economic wealth (Zhang, 2016), which could lead us to think that as urbanization progresses in Africa, the better their economies will be and consequently more research on urban ecology could be made. This scenario seems unlikely as this association between economic and urban growth is decoupled in the African continent (Cohen, 2004), which does not warranty this increasing research effort in the future. Other factors not considered in our analyses could also explain the country-wide variation in urban ecology research. For example, political instability could play an important role for the lack of studies on the topic in certain countries such as Western Sahara, South Sudan or Libya.The fact that the majority of published studies were conducted locally within a single city or country (e.g., Koricho et al., 2020;Lindley et al., 2018;Muleya & Campbell, 2020) suggests the need for investigation of local/national cases for the application of specific solutions. However, it also highlights the lack of transnational collaboration among African countries. This low level of international research both within Africa and with countries from other continents is particularly important considering that: (1) it impedes the generalization of findings at the continental and global scale, and ( 2) reduces the number of substantive contributions to scientific progress (Bornmann et al., 2014). Therefore, we recommend funders and researchers alike to strengthen or promote the creation of new international networks or institutes on African urban ecology as well as encourage urban ecologists of the continent to participate in other global actions, networks (e.g., the Urban Biodiversity Research Coordination Network) or societies (e.g., Society for Urban Ecology) that are already running.The geographic variation in research effort could also be linked to conservation aspects. Conservation research in Africa is particularly relevant and prolific in the global context (Doi & Takahara, 2016). There are still some controversies on whether conservation status is significantly and positively associated with research effort at the species level (e.g., Brooke et al., 2014;Ducatez & Lefebvre, 2014;Ibáñez-Álamo et al., 2017), but countries with a higher level of environmental protection activity investigate more in ecology (Doi & Takahara, 2016). Our results match this finding given that urban ecology research effort is significantly associated with the conservation status of African ecoregions. The ecologically relevant regions belonging to the most threatened categories (Critical, Endangered and Vulnerable) showed the highest number of publications on the topic. This is logical considering the previously described restricted R&D investment in Africa that would divert the current available resources towards areas of conservation concern. Despite this, we found that about half (50 %) of African Fig. 7. Urban ecology research effort (number of urban ecology studies) across the conservation categories of ecoregions. Box-plots show median, quartiles, 5-and 95-percentiles and extreme values. Different letters indicate significant differences (P < 0.01) between conservation status according to Tukey post-hoc tests using the package \"emmeans\" (Manley et al., 2015;Yvoz et al., 2020). ecoregions without a single published study on the topic are classified as threatened, and urbanization is considered a leading threat in the area (Burgess et al., 2004), suggesting the need for additional studies to determine the ecological effects of urbanization and propose suitable conservation actions. On the other side, the significant effect of ecoregion size fitted our initial expectations as larger ecoregions would support higher biodiversity levels (Rantalainen et al., 2005) and consequently a higher likelihood of being investigated. As larger and more threatened ecoregions were significantly more studied in the continent, there is a need to expend greater research effort on smaller and relatively stable ecoregions (e.g., East African Montane Moorlands and Lake Chad Flooded Savanna), which are more likely to suffer unnoticed fragmentation from urbanization and other anthropogenic landuse changes as also indicated by previous studies (e.g., Beyer, Venter, Grantham, & Watson, 2020;Burgess, Hales, Ricketts, & Dinerstein, 2006;McDonald et al., 2008). Particularly surprising is the lack of studies from the majority (77 %) of ecoregions from the Tropical and Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests biome. These ecoregions mainly correspond with large areas of Madagascar, a megadiverse country (<htt ps://www.biodiversitya-z.org/content/megadiverse-countries> accessed 30 October 2022) with the lowest percentage of urban landcover in the whole continent (0.04 %; OECD/SWAC, 2020). In contrast, other forested biomes are quite well represented, which makes sense considering that forests, especially those from Western Africa, support higher biodiversity and endangered species, thus promoting a more intense ecological research effort (Doi & Takahara, 2016).Our review also offers interesting information on the current methodological and conceptual orientation of urban ecological research in Africa. From a methodological point of view, we found an important taxonomic bias in the study of urban ecology in Africa similar to those previously reported (e.g., Callaghan et al., 2020;Shwartz et al., 2014). This taxonomic bias has a strong effect in our urban ecology knowledge given that the impact of urbanization varies considerably depending on the type of organisms considered (McKinney 2008;Paul & Meyer, 2001). Our literature search offered studies focused on organisms belonging to seven kingdoms, although the majority of urban ecology research used either animals or plants as model systems. This result highlights our  limited understanding of other organisms in the African urban context, including Archaea, Bacteria, Chromista, Fungi and Protozoa, which should be prioritized for future studies. This is justified by current literature highlighting their relevance in natural environments (e.g., Epp Schmidt et al., 2019;Kartzinel et al., 2019;Thompson et al., 2017). The uneven distribution of urban ecology research effort went down to lower taxonomic levels (e.g., classes). Among animals, birds and mammals were the two most studied groups. The publication bias towards these two classes in urban ecology is not restricted to Africa alone (Donaldson et al., 2017;Shwartz et al., 2014), and has also been identified in other study fields such as conservation biology (Lawler et al., 2006) and invasion ecology (Pyšek et al., 2008). Several reasons have been proposed to explain this bias for birds and mammals, such as body size (Brodie 2009) or conservation status of focal species (Donaldson et al., 2017). Regarding plants, flowering plants (Magnoliopsida and Liliopsida) dominate urban ecology research effort in Africa, replicating the patterns found by other research effort studies on plants (Richardson & Rejmanek, 2011;Stranga & Katsanevakis, 2021). In contrast with plants, with the richly diverse Magnoliopsida (Tracheophyta) relatively well studied (Cilliers & Bredenkampl, 1999;Moussa et al., 2020;van der Walt et al., 2015), the most diverse animal group of Arthropoda is clearly underrepresented in urban ecology and calling for additional scientific attention (reviewed here;McIntyre, 2000).Urban ecology research effort in Africa also varied in terms of scientific disciplines. Conservation was the most studied scientific field. This result is in agreement with previous findings already highlighting the relevance of Africa in the study of environmental conservation and ecology (Doi & Takahara, 2016), and matches also with our initial result that indicates preference for ecoregions of conservation concern. Interestingly, a handful of such African conservation studies diagnosed different socio-environmental issues in urban areas and developed useful frameworks or plans for promoting nature conservation and sustainable urban development in the continent (e.g., Boon et al., 2016;Cilliers et al., 2004;Goosen & Cilliers, 2020;Rebelo et al., 2011). While these findings imply the availability of data that could be useful for promoting conservation actions, they are mostly restricted to South Africa. For an effective implementation of conservation actions, more studies are needed from unrepresented areas as they may help to discover local issues such as environmental injustice (Ernstson, 2013). The human dimension field is well-represented within African urban ecological research, which points to the relevance of multifaceted approaches in Africa, particularly regarding ecosystem services that complements conservation or ecological studies (e.g., population ecology or animal behavior). For instance, the majority of human dimension studies in our review indicate that people in African urban areas appreciate the socio-ecological services (Dipeolu et al., 2020;Rogerson & Rogerson, 2020) and economic benefits provided by urban biodiversity (Babalola et al., 2013;King & Shackleton, 2020). In a study by Popoola and Ajewole (2002), most Nigerian respondents were even willing to support the conservation of urban nature through personal funds. The conservation of urban biodiversity is tightly linked to public support (Miller & Hobbs, 2002), and thus, human dimension studies could be useful educational tools to reconcile urban development and nature preservation in the continent (McDuff, 2000). In addition, unlike in other regions where the important roles of urban biodiversity in enhancing ecosystem services and human well-being have been welldocumented (Brown & Grant, 2005;Dallimer et al., 2012;O'Sullivan et al., 2017), this interplay is much more complex in the African case (Wangai et al., 2016) usually not considering the ecosystem disservices that could be of critical importance in areas of the Global South (Davoren & Shackleton, 2021). In general, ecosystem services in Africa have been poorly studied (du Toit et al., 2018), although there is a clear effort in recent years to overcome this important gap (e.g., Dobbs et al., 2021;Escobedo, 2021;Shackleton et al., 2021;Wangai et al., 2016), including the evaluation of how different frameworks are applied to African urban settings (Lindley et al., 2018).We identified that many urban ecology papers focused on Africa used pattern approaches either at the species or community level. Several reviews on urban ecology or specific aspects of urban ecology (e.g., urban ornithology) have also found similar results at the global level (Magle et al., 2012;Marzluff, 2016;Wu et al., 2014). As we have stated before, Africa is understudied in urban ecology, and we lack many basic information on even the presence/absence of certain organisms in cities of this continent. Some of the studies in these categories describe new species (e.g., Malonza et al., 2016;Smales et al., 2017), provide information on potentially problematic organisms (e.g., invasive species; Bigirimana et al., 2011;Hima et al., 2019) or provide much needed information on the distribution of organisms in African urban settings (e. g., Moussa et al., 2020;Muchayi et al., 2017). But some of these articles also used applied approaches by integrating human-nature interaction aspects. For example, Chamberlain et al. (2019) found evidence supporting the luxury effect in South Africa. This effect states that there is a positive correlation between wealth and biodiversity, and thus relates to environmental injustice issues (Reynolds et al., 2021). These patternapproach studies that also consider applied aspects and the particularities of Global South urban areas are excellent examples on how we can advance in our understanding of African urban ecology. Some researchers have highlighted the lack of urban ecology mechanistic studies in countries of the Global South compared to those from the Global North (Marzluff, 2016). Mechanistic studies would, for example, include animal behavior papers that could explain the observed patterns (e.g., feeding behavior explaining the presence of certain animals in cities). Africa has produced quite a lot of animal behavior studies centered in urban areas but most of them were observational (e.g., McPherson et al., 2016;Widdows & Downs, 2016), with only a handful of experimental manipulations (Cronk & Pillay, 2018;Patterson et al., 2016) that are much more powerful to identify cause-effect associations. Future studies should try to put more emphasis on experimental manipulations to fill in this important gap in our urban ecology knowledge.Landscape ecology is still not as well studied as in other regions regarding urban areas (Magle et al., 2012;Wu et al., 2014), but it offers unique opportunities for the development of this field in Africa. On the one hand, landscape ecology studies in our database extensively utilized the Geographic Information System (GIS) for estimating land cover and habitat heterogeneity (e.g., Benza et al., 2016;Kowe et al., 2020). The use of GIS techniques could enhance better coverage of study sites (e.g., conflicting/dangerous/remote areas), helping to complete the missing geographic areas in urban ecology research detected in our review. These techniques require highly qualified personnel but provide useful information at minimal time and cost (Langat et al., 2019), thus, offering a good opportunity for capacity building in the continent while considering the economic restrictions in R&D of the region (see above). On the other hand, landscape ecology is an integrative discipline merging geospatial patterns, ecological and socio-economic processes and ecosystem services/disservices, thus favoring the interdisciplinary collaborations between sociologists, ecologists and geographers among others (Wu et al., 2014), thereby facilitating the establishment of much needed interdisciplinary collaborations in African urban ecology. For all these reasons, we expect that the field of urban landscape ecology will continue to increase as it has happened at the global scale (Magle et al., 2012).This review shows that research effort on urban ecology is still low in Africa, with the exception of South Africa, particularly in the highly urbanized and biodiversity-rich areas of the continent. This continent is an important representative of the Global South, and thus the lack of information on the topic is an important impediment to try to overcome the traditional Global North perspective on urban ecology (Shackleton et al., 2021). In addition, the information presented here could be crucial to achieve the 11 th Sustainable Development Goal in the rapidly urbanizing African continent (Cobbinah et al., 2015). Urban areas, if well-planned, can still provide substantial benefits for biodiversity, act as hotspots and habitat corridors for some threatened species (Ives et al., 2016;Kumdet et al., 2021) and serve important socio-ecological (Dipeolu et al., 2020;Rogerson & Rogerson, 2020) and economic benefits (Babalola et al., 2013;King & Shackleton, 2020). To our knowledge, this is the first general literature review of urban ecological studies for the entire African continent that follows rigorous, verifiable and repeatable methodological approaches recommended in recent times (Ibáñez-Álamo et al., 2017;Magle et al., 2012;Moher et al., 2009;Sánchez-Tójar et al., 2020). Previous methodologically-similar reviews of African urban ecology, though interesting and useful, either focused mainly on socio-ecological systems (e.g., Cilliers, 2019;Lindley et al., 2018) or specific aspects of African urban biodiversity (e.g., Güneralp et al., 2018;Roets et al., 2019;Trimble & van Aarde, 2014). The low research effort in African urban ecology seems to point to socioeconomic factors such as the low level of skilled people and reduced investment in R&D typical from this continent (e.g., Cresswell, 2018). We believe that this situation could be partially reverted if African countries follow the African Union recommendation of investing 1 % of their GDP in R&D, although other socio-economic needs (e.g., infrastructure, security, health issues) could make this change very difficult (Zhang, 2016).Economic factors (GDP) rather than other urban indicators (e.g., urbanization intensity, human population density) are also crucial to explain urban ecology research effort within the continent. South Africa congregates many of the papers on the topic, while there are 16 African countries without urban ecology studies, providing clear targets for future investigations. The South African case could be useful to identify specific aspects that could be reproduced in other neighboring countries to try to boost urban ecology research. Thus, studies comparing different urban ecology aspects between South Africa and other African countries would be particularly interesting at this respect. In addition, it is especially worrisome the uncoupled nature between future urbanization prospects and urban ecology knowledge as local authorities will not count with valuable information to take scientifically-based actions. This lack of information has already been suggested as an important impediment to achieve sustainable urban development in Africa (Cobbinah et al., 2015;Patel et al., 2017).In addition, greater research effort is expended on larger and threatened ecoregions. Threatened sites and species are usually prioritized for conservation actions (Brooks et al., 2006), and could influence research effort (e.g., de Lima et al., 2011). However, relatively stable ecoregions could suffer unnoticed effects of urbanization, which could be detrimental to certain biodiversity that may suffer regional extinction before being identified. This pattern has been previously reported in Africa (Ahrends et al., 2011), and could even be more severe in the future given the mismatches in the allocation of research effort across regions. This research bias towards threatened areas is partially linked to the fact that conservation studies dominate the urban ecology literature produced in the African continent. Our literature search also indicated that African urban ecology research is multidimensional with an important contribution to human dimension studies including those on ecosystem services and disservices. These studies have increased in recent years providing much needed information for the urban settings of this continent and ultimately helping to improve our understanding of the complex urban environment in which many different components interact (e.g., sociological, ecological, economical…).We argue that for African urban ecology to provide more useful information for decision-making and promote sustainable development, future research should try to overcome the detected geographic, taxonomic and ecological biases. To help in this endeavor, we provide a list of the articles reviewed here as well as the journals of publication, where key stakeholders or researchers could obtain relevant data on the topic (Table S2).Based on our review, we propose the following recommendations to promote urban ecology research in this continent: (1) strengthening collaboration and networking among researchers across regions and countries, as previously suggested in a more general context (McPhearson et al., 2016). This will allow for larger scale studies that will provide an additional and complementary perspective to city/local studies that tackle more specific problems. ( 2) Helping the education of local experts on urban ecological studies can be also instrumental to overcome some of the previously described publication biases on the topic (Shackleton et al., 2021). (3) Engaging with the citizenship through citizen science projects. This will allow the acquisition of additional scientific information at the same time as it promotes a better urban governance through participation of urban inhabitants. (4) Use of low-cost techniques like GIS or available databases (e.g., museums) to maximize the scientific outcome considering the economic restrictions of the region. We hope that this review will help to re-orientate our research effort on the topic and fill in some important knowledge gaps highlighted here to grant a balanced strategy between urban development and nature conservation in this unique continent. The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"f8dba75cf02ae4f6dea40982df675242","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/8f7cd4e4-b924-4826-bb6a-8371b8ef73a0/retrieve","id":"-1962911157"},"keywords":["Environmental Development climate smart agriculture technologies","institutional services","impact","gender and youth","southern Africa"],"sieverID":"9f2e59a1-5a05-4e7b-995c-a1027bee2e67","content":"The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) believes that open access contributes to its mission of reducing hunger and poverty, and improving human nutrition in the tropics through research aimed at increasing the eco-efficiency of agriculture.CIAT is committed to creating and sharing knowledge and information openly and globally. We do this through collaborative research as well as through the open sharing of our data, tools, and publications.Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) is an agricultural development paradigm widely promoted in developing regions including Southern Africa to transform agriculture under a changing climate (FAO, 2013;Hansen et al., 2018;Nkonya et al., 2018). A CSA approach, aims to transform agricultural systems and support food security under a changing environment by providing context-specific, socially acceptable and flexible solutions for adaptation and mitigation to the changing environment (Lipper et al., 2014). The approach works on three basic principles including (a) increasing agricultural productivity in a sustainable way, supporting equitable improvements in farm productivity, income, food security and overall development, (b) strengthening the resilience of agricultural and food systems to climate change and variability effects, and (c) plummeting net greenhouse emissions from agricultural activities where possible (Lipper et al., 2014;McCarthy and Brubaker, 2014).Numerous agricultural technologies and practices such as improved water management technologies, stress-tolerant livestock and crop species (e.g. drought tolerant maize), conservation farming, agroforestry, crop and livelihood diversification, index insurance, improved soil health and fertility management practices and others are components of the CSA approach. In Zimbabwe and Malawi for instance, stress adapted crop varieties, improved soil fertility and health management, conservation farming, diversified cropping systems, intercropping, and small scale irrigation are amongst top priority CSA practices promoted to improve climate resilience of smallholder agriculture. The aforementioned CSA practices have the potential to improve simultaneously farmer socioeconomic outcomes and environmental benefits.Encouraging enough, evolving evidence from studies carried out in developing countries where various CSA practices have been promoted is showing positive impacts of CSA practices on biodiversity, and livelihood outcomes including poverty reduction (Hansen et al., 2018). For instance, in Zimbabwe and Malawi literature have shown positive impacts of climate stress adapted maize varieties (e.g. Drought tolerant maize) on crop productivity, household incomes and food self-sufficiency (Katengeza et al., 2019;Lunduka et al., 2017;Makate et al., 2017b). Furthermore, cereal and legume intercropping and crop or livelihood diversification have been reported to yield positive dividends on farm productivity, livelihood outcomes and environmental benefits in both countries (Kassie et al., 2015;Makate et al., 2016;Smith et al., 2016). Conservation agriculture which is also highly promoted in the two southern African countries is reported to yield positive economic, social and environmental dividends at farm household level (Senyolo et al., 2018;Tambo and Mockshell, 2018;Thierfelder et al., 2016).Developing evidence of significant social, economic and environmental benefits from adoption of CSA in developing regions particularly southern Africa is a welcome development for agricultural transformation under augmented climate related stress confronting agricultural systems. However, adoption of the various CSA technologies including improved legume varieties, drought tolerant maize varieties, cereal-legume intercropping, conservation agriculture among others in developing regions and particularly in Zimbabwe and Malawi are still reported to be low (FAO, 2018;Makate et al., 2017a;Westermann et al., 2015). An exception is that of drought tolerant maize in Zimbabwe and Malawi which has relatively higher adoption rates compared to other countries in the southern Africa region.Government support programs such as command agriculture in Zimbabwe and intensive subsidy programs in Malawi are often attributed to higher adoption rates of drought tolerant maize. Low adoption rates can be attributed to failure to embrace CSA practices of demonstrated effectiveness into agricultural systems, donor funding dependency syndrome on CSA scaling activities, weak formal and informal information systems (e.g. weak extension service systems), lack of effective agricultural supportive policy and institutional strategies (e.g. credit, property rights and market institutions) among other challenges (Ajayi et al., 2018). Of interest to this study are weak institutional support services particularly credit and extension which are important determinants of innovative technologies adoption in smallholder agriculture in Africa (Hassan and Nhemachena, 2008).Access to agricultural extension and credit services is critically important for improving the propensity for farmers to adopt CSA technologies. On one hand, agricultural extension services are important for availing information on new technologies and hence reducing information asymmetries associated with new technologies (Anderson and Feder, 2007). On the other hand, credit access is an important gateway for easing smallholder farmer liquidity constraints in financing farming operations. Credit access for the farmer increase her/his economic opportunities (World Bank, 2001) and it is the most important pathway a farmer can access much needed complementary inputs for CSA such as fertilizers, germplasm (seed) among other inputs (Swaminathan et al., 2010). It therefore implies that access to credit and extension can lower scaling challenges and improve adoption of CSA technologies of demonstrated effectiveness in smallholder farming in Zimbabwe and Malawi. Much of the literature on CSA practices adoption have shown access to credit and extension as important determinants of CSA adoption (e.g. (Mango et al., 2018;Partey et al., 2018;Totin et al., 2018;Ugochukwu and Phillips, 2018)) however, little focus in literature has been put on evaluating the impact of access to extension and credit particularly, simultaneous access to both institutional services on adoption of CSA technologies.Given this brief background, this study seeks to evaluate the impact of (i) access to credit only, (ii) access to extension services only and (iii) the possible synergistic impact of simultaneous access to credit and extension on adoption of climate smart agriculture technologies.The rest of the paper is organized as follows: section two (2) outlines the research methodology, while section three (3) present study results and discussions. Section four (4) concludes the article and give study recommendations.Data for this study comes from 1173 smallholder farming households gathered from Zimbabwe and Malawi. Six hundred and one (601) farming household make up the Zimbabwean sample whilst 572 smallholder farming households make up the Malawian sub-sample (See Figure 1). The data was collected in Zimbabwe and Malawi in 2011/12 period as part of the European Commission (EC) through the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) funded project titled: Increasing smallholder farm productivity, income and health through widespread adoption of integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) in the great lake regions and southern Africa (EC-IFAD project). The simple random sampling technique was used to select districts in selected provinces in both Zimbabwe and Malawi. The lowest sampling unit was the household. Final data collection was done at the individual farm household level.[insert Figure 1 here] Resident agricultural extension officers in randomly sampled districts provided a list of villages and households found in respective districts. Simple random sampling techniques were then used to select villages and farming households that were interviewed. Data collection was in the form of face-to-face administration of structured questionnaires. The surveys collected vital information on several aspects of crop production, crop management, adoption of improved agricultural technologies including climate change adaptation technologies, returns from farming, farmer livelihoods, access to institutional services, and various other aspects. Adoption of drought tolerant maize varieties, conservation agriculture and improved legume varieties was part of the information elaborately gathered by the survey.Following literature that have explicated correlates of access to extension services (Aker, 2011;Wossen et al., 2017) and credit services (Petrick, 2004;Shoji and Aoyagi, 2012), a number of variables were used as covariates to explain access to extension and credit services in the multinomial logit regression used as the first stage in evaluating impact of multiple treatment. Precisely, land size holding, ownership of a bicycle, income, distance to the nearest town, age and education of household head were used as explanatory variables. Further details on definitions of the variables are shown in Table 1.In this study access to credit only, access to extension only, access to both extension and credit simultaneously and no access to both are the four treatment variables used. Farmers who had no access to both extension and credit services are used as the control group. Access to credit was measured as a dummy variable with a value of 1 indicating whether the farmer had accessed credit through formal (e.g. government microfinance institutions) or informal institutions (e.g. community groups, family and or friends) and 0 otherwise. As for extension, the study considered both government and private extension services access. Access to agricultural extension was therefore measured as a dummy variable equal to 1 indicating farmers who had received extension advice from any of the considered sources and zero otherwise. Access to both extension and credit was measured as a dummy variable indicating those farmers who accessed both extension and credit services in the two preceding seasons considered for this study. Table 1 give a full description of the three treatment variables used in this study.Adoption of climate smart agriculture (CSA) technologies is the main outcome variable used in this study. Precisely, adoption of conservation agriculture (CA), drought tolerant maize (DTM), improved legume (IL) varieties (e.g. groundnut, and common bean), intercropping (INTER) (maize-legume intercropping), and CSA adoption index are used as outcome variables in this study. Adoption of CA, DTM, IL and INTER were measured as dummy variables with a value of 1 indication adoption and 0 otherwise. CSA Adoption index was measured as the number of CSA practices the farmer adopted in two preceding seasons. A full description of the outcome variables is also given in Table 1.This study employed regression adjustement with inverse probability weighting (IPWRA) and Propensity score matching (PSM) to control for selectivity bias likely in estimating impact of institutional extension and credit services access on CSA technology adoption. Access to institutional services (extension or credit) is not randomly assigned, and many farmers may receive or may not receive institutional services depending on unobservable or observed characteristics. Consequently, those who receive treatment (extension or credit) or combination of the treatments (e.g. extension + credit ) may differ systematically with those who did not receive which can bring self-selection bias when estimating the impact of access to the institutional services. Accurate appraisal of impacts therefore, requires controlling for both unobservable and observable characteristics through random assignment of individual farmers into treatments to overcome selection bias. Unlike many studies that rely on binary treatments, this analysis involves four possible scenarios ((i) no access to either extension or credit (ii) credit access only, (iii) extension access only, (iv) access to both extension and credit) treated as treatments. As a result, this study applied the IPWRA method and PSM (as a robustness check) which are two matching estimators capable of controlling for selectivity bias with multiple treatments (StataCorp, 2015;Tambo and Mockshell, 2018). The IPWRA estimator simulataneously estimates treatment and outcome equations to account for non-random treatment assignment or selection bias. It make use of weighted regression coefficients to compute treatment effect and the weights used are inverse probabilities of treatment (Wooldridge, 2010). The IPWRA is advantageous in estimating impact of multi-valued treatment due to its double-robust property, which allows the treatment effect to be consistently estimated as long as either the treatment or outcome model is correctly defined (StataCorp, 2015;Tambo and Mockshell, 2018;Wooldridge, 2010). The IPWRA estimator estimate impact of treatment in the following three steps (StataCorp, 2015): a) Suppose that the CSA adoption outcome model is specified as a linear regression function of the form ܻ = ߚ + ߠ ܺ + ߳ for ݅ = ሼ0 1ሽ 1 and the propensity scores estimated using multinomial logit regression are given by ‫‬൫ܺ; Υ ൯. Socioeconomic, demographic, institutional, and location defining (regional) variables guided by relevant literature were used as predictors in the multinomial logit regression model as stated earlier. Location defining variables were included to control for regional heterogeneities.b) The second step will then employ linear regression to estimate the parameters ሺߚ , ߠ ሻ and ሺߚ ଵ , ߠ ଵ ሻ using inverse probability weighted least squares as follows:c) The third step involve calculating the Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATET) by subtracting the two equations (1& 2) as follows:where ൫ߚ ଵ , ߠ ଵ ൯ are the estimated inverse probability weighted parameters for treated farming households while ൫ߚ , ߠ ൯ are estimated inverse probability weighted parameters for the untreated farming households (control group), then ‫ܦ‬ is the treatment indicator; hence ‫ܦ‬ = 1and ‫ܦ‬ = 0 represent treated and control groups respectively. Finally, the total number of treated households is represented by ܰ ௪ .After estimating the main results using IPWRA and PSM estimation approach, IPWRA estimates were then estimated by country, age and gender status of farming households. This was done to compare the results among women farmers and young farmers groups which are often reported to be disadvantaged in African agriculture (Murray et al., 2016;Sumberg et al., 2014).The IPWRA approach due to its unique doubly robust property was preferred and hence was treated as main estimation approach, however, PSM was also applied to assess the robustness of the main findings.PSM as an approach is commonly used to assess the treatment effects of interventions or technology adoption. It involves matching treated observations with a control group based on observable characteristics. Following Lechner (2002) and Tambo and Mockshell (2018) PSM with multiple treatment was applied. With PSM ATET is estimated as follows:where ܻሺ1ሻ and ܻሺ0ሻ are outcome indicators (CSA adoption) for treated and untreated observations respectively and D is a treatment indicator as previously defined. However, we can only observe ‫ܧ‬ሼܻሺ1ሻ|‫ܦ‬ = 1ሽ in our data set and not ‫ܧ‬ሼܻሺ0ሻ|‫ܦ‬ = 1ሽ . This implies that, we cannot observe outcomes (CSA adoption levels) of treated households (i.e. with access to institutional services) had they not received treatment, once they have already received the treatment. Simple comparison of CSA adoption levels of smallholder farmers with and without treatment status will introduce bias in estimating impacts due to selection bias (Caliendo and Kopeinig, 2008;Lechner, 2002;Makate et al., 2017b;Wossen et al., 2017). The magnitude of selection bias is officially represented as follows:By creating comparable counterfactual households for treated households, PSM reduces the bias due to observables. Given the assumption of conditional independence and overlap conditions, ATET is computed as follows:In the PSM with multiple treatment method, separate conditional probabilities between those farmers who accessed institutional services and those who did not receive were estimated using logit regressions following Lechner (2002). The nearest neighbour matching algorithm (Caliendo and Kopeinig, 2008) was used. All analysis was done in STATA version 15.1. However, access to agricultural extension services was relatively higher compared to credit within the sample (39.3%) and was even higher in Zimbabwe (51.2%) compared to 26.7% in Malawi (Table 1).Access to both credit and extension was at 14.7% within the whole sample, 10 and 19.6% in Zimbabwe and Malawian sub-samples respectively. Access to agricultural extension services have improved in Malawi and Zimbabwe through time. This can be attributed to the shift from earlier extension models (e.g. the train and visit approach) in the 20 th century that were mainly linear, top-down and rigid (Hanyani-Mlambo, 2000;Knorr et al., 2007) to more participatory and Information Communication Technology (ICT) based approaches.The bottom part of Table 1 shows the description and respective statistics for adoption of CSA technologies considered in this study. Results show that adoption of CA was at 30.3, 30.8 and 29.7% in the whole sample, Zimbabwean and Malawian samples respectively. DTM adoption was relatively higher compared to all the CSA technologies considered with adoption rates in Malawi, Zimbabwe and whole sample at 57.3, 68.7 and 63.2% respectively. Use of intercropping as a CSA practice was low with respective mean adoption rates at 12.8, 4.5 and 8.5% in Malawi, Zimbabwe and the overall sample.Also, adoption of improved legume varieties was at 28.6% in the studied sample and 32.9 and 24.5% in Malawi and Zimbabwe sub-samples respectively. The CSA adoption index was almost similar in the respective countries (1.3). The CSA index communicate that farmers on average adopted at least one CSA practice.Linking the three treatment categories with CSA adoption, it can be seen that all the treatment categories significantly explain adoption of CSA practices (Table 2). Presented in Table 2 are Analysis of variance (ANOVA) results of mean differences between adoptions of CSA technologies by the three treatment categories. It can be observed from the results that adoption of CSA technologies is related to access to credit and extension services. Significant p-values for the ANOVA results (equality of group mean)revealed that mean adoption rates by the four treatment clusters ((i) no credit and extension, (ii) credit only, (iii) extension only and (iv) extension and credit) significantly differ. Precisely stated, mean CSA adoption rates significantly differ by the treatment categories which suggests differential effect of the treatment categories on CSA adoption.[Insert Table 2 here] Also, in Figure 2 which further relates CSA adoption rates to the four treatment categories, it can be seen that access to credit, and extension correlates with higher adoption of CA, DTM, IL, INTER and the CSA adoption index. A positive correlation can be noticed in the Figure 2 between access to credit, and extension to higher technologies adoption especially, for CA, improved legume, DTM and CSA adoption index. Important to note is the fact that access to both credit and extension correlates with the highest levels of CSA adoption (Figure 2).[Insert Figure 2  [Insert Figure 3 Here]The parameter estimates of the multinomial logit model, which is used to predict treatment status are presented in Table 3. The parameters are interpreted as factors that influence access to extension, credit and credit and extension simultaneously. The base category in all cases is zero access to both extension and credit. The results show that access to credit only was chiefly influenced by land size holding owned and household income. Precisely, an increase in land size and income augments chances of accessing credit in the studied sample. Farmers with relatively bigger arable land size holding may have larger budgets for their planned farming activities which increase their need for credit services. Also, land size increases propensity to diversify crops and hence chances of producing high value crops with access to credit. In both Zimbabwe and Malawi, farming budgets relate positively with land put under cultivation, so farmers putting more land under cultivation will require more resource hence the need for credit. Also, farmers with relatively more incomes may seek credit knowing very much that they can easily pay it back even when returns from the farming enterprise doesn't allow them to payback. Results imply that more affluent households and those with relatively larger land size holdings are more likely to get credit from both formal and informal lending credit institutions. This explain the importance of land ownership and affluence as collateral for accessing credit.[Insert Table 3 here]Results show that access to extension services were chiefly explained by land size holding, ownership of a functional bicycle, education and household income. The results imply that access to an additional hectare of land and income enhance farmers' chances of accessing extension services. This could be because farmers with larger tracts of land are more likely to adopt and try new technologies on their farm and are more likely to expand their production activities which may increase their propensity to seek for agricultural extension advice. In Zimbabwe, for instance, farmers with relatively more resources at their disposal (such as income) may have an advantage in accessing extension as they can invite and pay individual extension agents to visit their farming plots. The payment is done in cash 2 or kind 3 . Also, more affluent farmers maybe more likely to meet the transaction costs incurred in receiving extension advice which explains why income is a significant factor on extension access. For instance, in both Zimbabwe and Malawi, farmers at times must visit the local extension agent's offices or homes to seek advice or visit lead/champion farmers to their farms to seek advice. Richer farmers are therefore, more likely to meet the costs for transport and other services required to make successful visits which improves their odds of accessing extension services. In addition, the more educated farmers were more likely to access extension services possibly because they may know and value extension services more than their less educated counterparts which in turn raises their propensity to seek for agricultural advice.Furthermore, the relatively more mobile farmers (with access to functional bicycles) were more likely to access extension services. This simply stress the importance of mobility in accessing key agricultural institutional services like agricultural extension in rural farming communities. Extension agents in Zimbabwe and Malawi are not very mobile due to resource constraints and hence, for farmers to increase their chances of getting extension advice from government for instance, require them to be mobile to at least visit the district or village extension office.Further, results showed that access to both extension and credit is positively and significantly influenced by land size holding, primary education, bicycle ownership, income and distance to nearest town. As explained before, results show the importance of larger land size holding, mobility (through access to a bicycle), education, and income in enhancing access to both credit and extension services. Results also show distance to town to positively explain access to extension and credit services. This could be explained by the availability of localised extension and credit services in rural communities in studied countries that no longer limits access to institutional services with further distances from main towns.For instance, government extension officers are found at district and village level in both Zimbabwe and Malawi which makes distance to town less important as a constraint for extension access. However, extension worker to farmer ratios remain high in both countries. Also, formal credit services from banks in towns are strict on lending requirements (e.g. the need for collateral) for smallholder farmers which discourage them from seeking credit services in distant towns but rather from their social networks (e.g. friends, relatives or other community groups). The result also implies that improving localised extension and credit services in rural communities will reduce constraints imposed by transaction costs in accessing both credit and extension.Table 4 presents the results of the doubly robust IPWRA estimator on the impact of credit, extension and the synergistic impacts of extension and credit. Much interest was on those subjects who received treatment and hence reported are average treatment effect on the treated (ATET) estimates which shows how CSA adoption outcomes changes as a result of treatment in the treated sub-population. In all cases IPWRA estimates are interpreted with reference to the potential outcome mean of the control group (no access to both extension and credit). A positive (negative) ATET estimate will therefore, be interpreted as an increase (decrease) in CSA adoption outcomes from the potential outcome mean X that would have occurred if farmers had no access to both extension and credit (i.e. were in the Control group). To assess the robustness of the main results on the impacts of Credit, extension and both on CSA technologies adoption, results from propensity score matching are also presented in table 5. The kernel density distribution plots showing overlap between farmers with access to Credit and Extension services and those without access (Figure 4) revealed that the common support assumption was satisfied. Reported in tables 4 and 5 are average treatment effects on the treated (ATET) sample.[Insert Figure 4  estimates for impact of extension only are less than for impact of access to both extension and credit access implying some synergy in impact for access to both extension and credit.[Insert Table 5 here]The study further analysed the impacts of credit, extension access and simultaneous adoption of credit and extension on adoption of CSA technologies by country, age group status and gender. Results are presented in Tables 6-8.3.4.1. Regional heterogeneities The IPWRA estimates by gender of farmer are shown in Table 8. Results show that access to credit only significantly improves CA adoption by 12.7% and IL adoption by 57.9% in the male and female subsamples respectively. Access to extension services only improves CA, DTM, IL and CSA adoption index in the male sub-sample by 34%, 11.7%, 21.1% and 0.61 units respectively. Also results show negative significant impact of extension only on intercropping in the male sub-sample. On the contrary, in the female sub-sample, access to extension only significantly improves CA, IL and CSA adoption index by 26.1%, 30.6% and 0.60 units respectively.[Insert Table 8 here]Results also show that access to both extension and credit in the male sub-sample enhanced adoption of CA, and IL adoption by 55.9 and 42.5% respectively and CSA adoption index by 1.1 units. In the female sub-sample simultaneous adoption of credit and extension did not have significant impact on CSA technology adoption. Results here report differentiated impacts of simultaneous access to credit and extension on CSA technology adoption with pronounced impacts of credit and extension access jointly in the male farmer sub-sample.Results point to the importance of both extension and credit in improving CSA technology adoption in smallholder farming systems of Zimbabwe and Malawi. Agriculture extension individually proved to be more effective in promoting CSA technology adoption when compared to credit access only. This could possibly be due to constrained access to credit and relatively higher access to extension advice in the studied sample. In Zimbabwe and Malawi, extension advice is so relevant in numerous aspects and in some cases it also helps the farmer in accessing information relevant for them to access credit among other important farming resources. Credit access for cereal and food crops in both Zimbabwe and Malawi is currently a big problem and this could be constraining adoption of CSA technologies. Formal credit lending institutions in both countries often prefer secure property occupancy (i.e. land or property title deeds) as collateral for accessing credit. However, most smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe and Malawi are poor and lack such secure property rights and this at present is a major obstacle for accessing credit through formal channels. Farmers often resort to informal means including savings and credit mobilization to access agricultural credit. The informal credit access channels are mainly based on own farmer social networks and trust rather than collateral as required by formal credit institutions. Some of the common sources for smallholder farmers include own savings, credit associations, relatives and friends, merry go rounds 4 , and informal money lenders. However, informal channels are not easily available to all farmers and may not offer sufficient credit quantities required by farmers. This explains continued low rates of credit access in Zimbabwe and Malawi.In previous studies access to extension have been found to improve technologies adoption and livelihood outcomes. For instance, Donkor et al. (2016) found access to extension to impact positively on fertilizer adoption in Ghana, and Wossen et al. (2017) found positive impacts of extension access on improved technology adoption in Nigeria. More so, Ragasa and Mazunda (2018) and Owens et al. (2003) found positive technology access driven impacts of agricultural extension on livelihood outcomes in Malawi and Zimbabwe respectively. Results in previous studies and in the current study both point to the importance of extension in aiding technologies adoption in agriculture. Agricultural extension is important for CSA technology adoption in agriculture as it is one of the central ways of conveying information on new technologies, improved farming practices and better management. This is achieved through reducing information asymmetry often associated with new technologies (Christoplos and Kidd, 2000;Ghimire and Huang, 2015;Makate et al., 2018). Specifically, agricultural extension transfer information of new technologies from the global knowledge base and from researchers to farmers, enabling farmers to clarify their own goals and possibilities (Anderson and Feder, 2004). In addition, extension services access facilitates adoption and spread of CSA technologies by exposing farmers to the technologies and by educating them about best farming management practices (Anderson and Feder, 2007;Wossen et al., 2013), which can eventually lead to improved farm productivity and better livelihood outcomes.Most importantly, results reveal enhanced impact of simultaneous access to credit and extension on adoption of CSA technologies in both Zimbabwe and Malawi particularly, on adoption of conservation agriculture, improved legume varieties and on number of CSA technologies adopted by the smallholder farmer. The result suggests important collective effect of accessing both credit and extension on CSA technology adoption. This is in line with other studies that have found extension access to have greater impacts on livelihood outcomes for farmers with access to credit (see for example Wossen et al. (2017)).Also, Hassan and Nhemachena (2008) stressed the importance of extension and credit services in technology transfer and adaptation to climate change. The two institutional services are crucial for farmers (in both Zimbabwe and Malawi) to access required resources for their farming activities including information (production, marketing, transport information etc.), farming inputs (seed, fertilizer, agrochemicals, etc.) among other needs which explains their effectiveness in aiding adoption of CSA.For instance, with access to credit, the farmer is able to access the much needed complementary inputs for CSA such as seed, fertilizers (Swaminathan et al., 2010), and can make meaningful investments on the farm e.g. building water reservoirs for small scale irrigation and buying farm tools and equipment.Simultaneous access to credit and vital information (from extension) will enhance propensities for farmers to adopt CSA technologies even those which require high initial capital (knowledge and finance).Further, results point to youth and gender differentiated impacts of simultaneous access to credit and extension on CSA technology adoption. Impacts were found to be comparably inferior for youthful and women farmer groups compared to older and male farmer groups respectively. The inferior impacts of access to extension and credit within the youthful farmer group could partly be explained by youth challenges in both Zimbabwe and Malawi. Youths face several challenges including unemployment (UNESCO, 2011), and despite them being one of the most productive groups (Mangal, 2009), they are often left out in various key policies and programs including in agriculture (FAO et al., 2009). For instance, in Zimbabwe youths lack employment opportunities, and secure land tenure security and this has affected their propensities to access farming resources (including credit) and make meaningful investments in agriculture. Lack of land and or tenure security by youth farmers is also believed to be forcing a number of youths out of agriculture in Zimbabwe, Malawi and other developing regions (Maiga et al., 2017).Also, women remain disadvantaged in accessing key institutional support services for agricultural development in both Zimbabwe and Malawi. Women challenges in agriculture include but are not limited to lack of access to complementary CSA resources (labour, capital, information, transport, energy) (Murray et al., 2016;Sims et al., 2012;UN-Women et al., 2015) and this could explain inferior In  "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"2d8c5adbb94043eb8aea3c4c933548c4","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/b952d189-cc95-459d-9e5e-6b6eb07f6fe9/retrieve","id":"743761421"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"012f4b7a-c9c6-4c74-853c-c8b8600ede11","content":"The Rockefeller Foundation and CIATTo reduce the cost of marker genotyping, PCR amplification of leaf squashes on FTA paper (Whatmann Inc., UK) was tested. Fresh leaves were harvested from 15 in vitro plantlets, 15 plants in the screen house, and 15 plants from the field, all plants were 2-3 months old. Leaf squashes were made using 0.5-2g of leaf tissue on FTA paper and a 1mm disc excised using a FTA paper punch supplied by the manufacturer (Whatmann Inc., UK). The FTA paper disc was either used directly in the PCR or washed as follows: the disc was transferred to a 96well PCR plate and 200ul of 70% isopropanol was added and mixed using a pipette, the wash was repeated with IX TE (Tris 10mM, EDTA 1mM) PCR amplifications were conducted with both SCAR and SSR markers as described above.A total of 1291 plants were successfully established by embryo rescue from the 1490 seeds. Molecular marker genotyping of 1291 progenies from 43 BC 2 families allowed the identification of 335 progenies that combine resistance to CMD and CGM. These progenies have been multiplied and shipped to Tanzania to serve as parents for molecular markerassisted selection (MAS) introgression of CMD and CGM resistance into local cassava varieties (Activity 12.2, this report).The SCAR marker developed last year for CMD resistance revealed very good results in the analysis of the 1291 BC 2 progenies (Fig8.1).Figure 12.1. PCR amplification of BC 2 progenies using a SCAR marker developed from a RAPD marker RME1 located at less than 4cM from CMD2, the CMD resistance gene. The larger weight allele is associated with resistance PCR amplification of FTA paper discs with leaf squashes from in vitro plants was 100% successful for both RAPD and PCR markers with or without the washing step. Leaf squashes using leaves from screen house or field plants were also 100% successful but only after inclusion of the washing step. Elimination of the washing step lead to a high number of failed PCR reactions suggesting that impurities from matured leaves was inhibiting the PCR reaction. This result suggests that FTA paper leaf squashes could replace cumbersome DNA isolation step.Molecular marker-assisted selection of 1291 BC 2 genotypes lead to the identification of 335 lines that combine resistance to CMD and CGM. A low cost method for MAS, PCR amplification of leaf squashes on FTA paper, was also evaluated and found to be feasible. We intend to extend these preliminary experiments to many more plants and also to see the effects on PCR amplification of the storage of FTA paper leaf squashes at room temperature for extended periods.Output 12-4 the research stations and in farmer's field. We report here progress in the project this year. A total of 335 BC 2 progenies (AR lines) that combine resistance to CMD and to the cassava green mites (CGM), derived from a wild relative, and 207 genotypes (CR lines) obtained from crossing CIAT elite parents and CMD resistant lines were introduced from Colombia to Tanzania in three shipments this year. They were transferred to the screen house and while there evaluated for frog skin disease (FSD) and then transferred to the field. They will be evaluated later this season and no less than 60 genotypes selected based on evaluation of highly heritable agronomic traits to be crossed to 90 local varieties selected from all over the country. Molecular markers associated with CMD and CGM will be used to discard much of the resulting segregating populations so that the breeder and farmers can concentrate on a small number of progeny having resistance to the principal pest and disease and farmer/end-user preferred traits. The Tanzanian MAS project seeks to transfer useful variability from the crop's center of diversity of cassava to Africa. The concept is already being extended to additional NARs in Africa, the AR and CR lines have been shipped to Uganda and Nigeria already in preparation for crossing to local varieties. Several concept notes have been prepared to fund the above efforts this year and if successful should begin next year.Following a decision made by CIAT management to permit direct transfer of cassava germplasm to African NARs without going through a third party, a committee was set up at CIAT to draw up guidelines for the safe transfer of cassava germplasm to Africa. The following recommendations were made by the committee: 1)A request for cassava materials with information regarding the quarantine requirements of the receiving country.2) Only seeds from mother plants that are free of cassava frogskin disease (FSD) will be used.The mother plants will be inspected for root symptoms in the field. A significant sample of the mother plants will be tested using a diagnostic method appropriate for CFSD.3) A record of the results of testing will be kept, and one copy will be sent to ICA quarantine officer. 4) Only plants that are placed in vitro through somatic embryo rescue will be exported. 5) Permission to export plants must be obtained from ICA. 6) All seed shipments from CIAT are accompanied by a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA).7) The receiving country will have a quarantine period before the release of these materials in the field. The quarantine facilities should be insect proof in order to be sure that no biological agents from the receiving country are introduced during the quarantine period.Two different sets of germplasm were shipped: first 191 F 1 genotypes derived from crosses of elite CIAT lines to CMD resistant parents followed by MAS for CMD resistance (CR lines) and 335 BC 2 genotypes obtained crossing CMD resistant lines to BC 1 derivatives of a wild close relative of cassava introgressed with elite CIAT parents (AR Lines). This second set of genotypes combines resistance to CMD and cassava green mites (CGM). Between 5 and 10 plants per genotype were shipped. The tissue culture plantlets were shipped in three batches, November 15 (CR plants), March 23 (AR first batch), and April 29 (AR second batch), to avoid over-loading facilities at ARI-Kibaha where the plants were sent to. On arrival in Dar es Salaam the plants were received by plant quarantine officials from the Tropical Pesticide Research Institute (TPRI, Arusha) and transferred to the tissue culture growth room of ARI-Mikocheni. After 7 days to allow the plants recover, they were moved to the screen house at ARI-Kibaha for hardening according to standard methods laid down at CIAT (Roca et al. 1984). The plants were inspected after one month in the screen house by TPRI officials and at 2 months just before transfer to the field. After the second inspection and further molecular diagnostics, the plants were transferred to the field at the Alawi estate, a 4000ha sisal plantation owned by the Mohammed Enterprises who are now interested in producing cassava for starch.In shipping germplasm to Tanzania, the conditions laid down by the CIAT committee on shipment of germplasm to Africa were strictly adhered to. Nevertheless molecular diagnostics for the presence of frog skin disease was carried out while the plants where in the green house to ensure that there was no escape in the germplasm. A molecular diagnostic method for the detection of CFSD based on hybridization of an FSD cDNA clone CFSV-S5 was used.The method is a modification at CIAT of the to dsRNA extraction the Morris and Dodds method (1993??). Briefly, three grams of young leaves or petioles were frozen with liquid nitrogen and homogenized with two volumes of extraction buffer (2X STE, 10% SDS, 1% bentonite, and 0.5% 2-mercaptoethanol) and 0.5 volumes of chloroform:pentanol (24:1). The extracts were centrifuged for 10 min at 8,000 G, and the aqueous phase was collected.Ethanol was added to a final volume of 16.5%, and for each gram of tissue 0.1 g CF-11 cellulose was added. The slurries were stirred for 30-60 minutes and poured into columns and drained completely. The columns were rinsed with 100 ml of 1X STE containing 16.5% ethanol. The column was rinsed with 0.1 ml of 1X STE, and the ds-RNAs were eluted using three 0.1 ml aliquots of 1X STE. The nucleic acids were precipitated with 2.5 volumes of absolute ethanol followed by centrifugation. The pellets were dried and then resuspended in sterile water.The extracted products are run on 1% agarose gels using TAE 1X. The cDNA CFSD-S5 clone is run on the gels as the positive control. These are denatured in the gel by treatment with 0.05M NaOH and 0.15M, NaCl followed by neutralization in 0.1M Tris-HCl and 0.15M NaCl and transferred to nitrocellulose membranes using buffer 20X SSC. The labeling and detection was done with the Pierce chemiluminescent hybridization and detection kit with CSPD according to the manufacturer's instructions. The hybridization temperature is 42ºC and highly stringent conditions are used to wash the filter (68ºC), after which it was exposed to film for 15min to 1h.Local cassava cultivars were this year collected from the principal growing regions by NARS partners in Tanzania. Germplasm collected from the Eastern zone, around Tanga, Kibaha and the coastal areas of Dar es Salaam were established at the Alawi estate in Kibaha.Collections from the south, Matwara, Lindi and Nachigwea districts were established at the Alawi estate in Kibaha, those from the Lake region around Geita, Musoma, Tarime, Muleba and Kasulu districts were established at ARI-Maruku. The experimental design of the trials was a random complete block design with 3 blocks and 10 plants per block. Farmers from the different regions will be invited during evaluations of these collections at harvest to determine the best local land races after their own criteria. Evaluations will be undertaken in September/October 2004. Selections will be planted in a crossing block early next year at the Alawi estate and ARI-Naliendele for genetic crossing.A total of 191 CR and 335 AR genotypes were successfully shipped to Tanzania. A description of the germplasm shipped and their parents are shown in Tables 12.1 and 12.2 More than 85% of all plants, and 100% of all genotypes were successfully established in the screen house, a very high percentage of success. Molecular diagnostics carried out for all the introductions revealed that they were free of frog skin disease (Figure 12.2). Inspections by plant quarantine inspectors from TPRI also revealed an absence of pests and diseases in the plants growing in the screen house. The plantlets in the screen house were transferred to the field, the Alawi estate, in two batches, one set was moved in April 2004 and the second set was transferred in July 2004 (Figure 12.3). Some plants of 3 CR genotypes in the field showed some symptoms of purple/black discolorations (Figure 12.4) on the leaves but discussion with CIAT agronomist, Reinhardt Howeler and CLAYUCA agronomist Luis Fernando Cadavid revealed it might be a micronutrient deficiency due to boron or Iron. Application of liquid fertilizer with boron and zinc lead to the elimination of the trait. The introductions will all be harvested in the March/April period and evaluated emphasis will be placed on high heritability traits like dry matter content, harvest index, plant architecture, and production of quality planting materials. About 60 genotypes will be selected for establishment in a crossing block for genetic crosses to local land races.Project IP3: improving cassava for the developing world Output 12-8A total of 80 varieties were collected from the Eastern coastal region, 90 from the southern region and 120 from the Lake region. The cultivars from the Eastern and Southern region were established at the Alawi estate and have been evaluated for morphological characteristics. Collections from the Lake region were established at ARI-Maruku and are yet to be evaluated. Harvest at both sites will be conducted in March next year and the varieties evaluated for dry matter yield, harvest index, plant type, dry matter content, and culinary quality. Farmer groups will also be invited for the harvest to take into considerations their criteria. At least 90 genotypes will be selected for crossing to the improved introductions from CIAT. Two crossing blocks, using a polycross design, will be established at the Alawi estate and at ARI-Naliendele for genetic crosses.One hundred and ninety one genotypes with resistance to the cassava mosaic disease (CMD) and 335 genotypes that combine resistance to CMD and to the cassava green mites (CGM) (derived from a wild relative), were shipped to Tanzania this year for the MAS breeding project. Molecular diagnostics of the introduced material for frog skin disease (FSD) revealed the absence of the disease and the introductions were transferred to the field in Tanzania Collection and evaluation of local varieties in Tanzania for crossing to the introductions were also carried out. Future activities include evaluation of the introductions and local varieties in March next year and genetic crosses between the two groups of germplasm.    Important Output 1) Genetic mapping of the phytoene synthase gene using an S 1 mapping population (AM320) from the yellow variety MTAI8 2) There was no association between beta-carotene content and the phytoene synthase gene.The Harvest plus project in cassava seeks to improve, via conventional and genetic transformation methods, beta-carotene content in cassava and deploy these pro-vitamin A dense varieties in the fight against Vitamin A deficiency in the tropics. Naturally existing genetic variability for beta-carotene content in cassava is the basis for conventional improvement of beta-carotene content in cassava and knowledge of functional diversity provides for a more rational exploitation and faster progress in breeding. A study was initiated last year to identify markers and genes in the biosynthetic pathway associated with beta-carotene content as a first step to analysis of functional diversity and development of markers for conventional breeding. Three SSR markers, SSRY251, NS980, and SSRY240 were identified associated with high beta-carotene content in the S 1 family AM320 obtained from MTAI8, a yellow cassava variety. This year the study was extended to genetic mapping, and searching for associations, with pro-vitamin A content, of 2 known biosynthetic genes, phytoene synthase and phytoene destarurase.The mapping population AM320 comprised of 100 S 1 plants obtained from selfing MTAI8, an elite cassava cultivar developed by the CIAT-Thailand breeding program. This population is also being used for genetic mapping of cyanogenic glucosides and dry matter content, two traits that are high in MTAI8. Two cDNA clones each for phytoene synthase and 2 phytoene desaturase had earlier been obtained from a cDNA library of the cassava variety MNG2 (Andrea et al. unpublished data;CIAT 2002). Genetic mapping of the cDNA clones was as restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). First, a parental survey of polymorphism was conducted using the restriction enzymes EcoRI, EcoRV, HaeIII, HindIII, and DraI. Parental survey filters were made using 10ug of cassava genomic from the MTAI8 parent and 4 S 1 progenies DNA digested with the enzymes mentioned above and separated on a 0.9% agarose gels as described earlier (Fregene et al. 1997). Progeny filters containing restricted DNA from the 100 S 1 plants, including DNA from the parent in the first lane, were prepared using the restriction enzyme that revealed polymorphism in the parental survey. The raw RFLP data was read as codominant markers and joined with 100SSR markers already evaluated in the S1 population. Linkage analysis and genetic mapping was as described earlier (Fregene et al. 1997) using a LOD score of 4.0 and a recombination fraction of 0.3.Association between the markers and beta-carotene content, earlier evaluated in the S 1 cross was by single marker analysis using simple regression.Of the 2 genes used in the parental survey only phytoene synthase revealed 2 alleles in MTAI8 that segregated in the 4 S 1 progenies in the expected model with the restriction enzyme HindIII, phytoene desaturase was monomorphic (Figure 12.5). RFLP data from Progeny hybridization with the same enzyme permitted the mapping of phytoene synthase in a linkage group different from that with SSRY251 a cDNA-SSR marker that was earlier found to be associated with beta-carotene content in the same AM320 population. Incidentally SSRY251 shows very high homology to pyroxidine synthase, a gene known to be involved in the biosythesis of vitamin B6. Single point marker analysis by simple regression between the phytoene synthase gene, as independent variable, and beta-carotene content, as dependent variable revealed no association with the gene explaining 30% of phenotypic variance for the trait. Genetic mapping of the phytoene synthase gene in an S 1 mapping population (AM320) from the yellow variety MTAI8 has been achieved. Mapping of another biosynthetic gene, phytoene desaturase, could not be achieved due to a lack of heterozygosity for this gene in MTAI8 with the five restriction enzymes employed. Current efforts are directed to search for polymorphisms using another panel of 5 restriction enzymes. The phytoene synthase gene was not associated with beta-carotene content in the AM320 cross and it explained 30% of phenotypic variance. The above results reveal that there are other genes that act to give the yellow color and need to be cloned for a complete understanding of the inheritance of betacarotene content in cassava. Future activities include assessing SSR diversity of a collection of more than 200 yellow varieties and the combination of different alleles of the gene to assess the effect of combining different alleles of the gene. 1) Analysis of dry matter content (DMC) in 23 F 1 families from a diallel experiment over a 3year period 2) Putative markers SSRY160 and SSRY150 found to be associated with dry matter content (DMC) in the GM313 family are also linked with the trait in other families 3) Discovery of a inter-specific hybrid family with a very wide segregation for dry matter content and initiation of bulked segregant analysis (BSA) for the identification of markersIn 2002 a diallel experiment was initiated to provide information on the genetics of traits of agronomic interest in cassava (CIAT 2003). Based upon GCA estimates in the parents and high standard deviation of dry matter content (DMC), 23 families were selected for further evaluation of dry matter content (DMC). Two families, GM313 and GM312, of the 23 were also used for bulked segregant analysis of DMC and 2 SSR markers SSRY160 and SSR150 were found to be associated with the trait (CIAT 2003). The utility of these markers in the other 21 families was tested in the past year. Due to the small sizes of families in the original diallel experiment, 30-50 progenies, that are inadequate for QTL mapping, larger sized families for 9 of the pair-wise combinations of parents were also generated for QTL mapping.A seedling trial of more than 1,500 genotypes from these families is currently in the field this year. Also during the year, an inter-specific family CW208, a cross between MTAI8 and Manihot tristis was identified with a very wide segregation for DMC. This family is part of a large-scale evaluation of inter-specific between cassava and several wild Manihot species started in 2001. We describe here completion of evaluation of the 23 families of the diallel experiment, association of the SSR markers 160 and 150 with DMC in the other 21 families, and initiation of bulk segregant analysis (BSA) of CW208 using 600 SSR markers.Genotypes from 23 families selected based on large standard deviation for DMC in the 2002 harvest was planted in Santander de Quilichao in October 2002 and harvested in October 2003. The experiment consisted of six plants per genotype planted in a completely randomized block design. Plants were harvested and bulked per genotype for measurement of percent dry matter content (DMC) using the standard CIAT procedure of weighing in air and water and calculating specific gravity. Plants were observed for incidence of frog skin disease (FSD) and rated as absent (0) or present (1), all genotypes showing any signs of frog skin infection were discarded. In November 2003 these families were re-planted in a trial with 4 x 5 plant plots and four replications in a randomized block design. Harvesting was done in August 2004, the central eight plants from each plot were harvested and bulked. Data was taken as described above, this time severity of frog skin disease (FSD) was rated on a 0-5 scale with 0 signifying no observed symptoms and 5 very severe. Data was subjected to ANOVA having as sources of variation genotypes and replication, a Generalized Linear Model (GLM) analysis was also carried out using the 3-year data, due to uneven number of observations across years; variation due to years was included as a source of variation.Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was employed in bulked segregant analysis in a search for more markers associated with DMC in the families GM313 and GM312. A total of 492 10-nucleotide random primers available at CIAT Cassava Genetics laboratory were evaluated in two sets of bulks, high and low for DMC respectively, from the families GM 312 and GM 313. RAPD analysis was as described earlier (CIAT 2003). PCR product was run on 1.5% agarose gels at 240 volts for about one hour, stained with ethidium bromide and photographed. Polymorphic markers in the bulks were analyzed in individuals of the bulks, and markers that remained polymorphic between individuals high and low in dry matter content were analyzed in all genotypes of the cross.The SSR marker SSR 160 and SSR150 were also analyzed in the remaining 21 families, to assess the utility of these markers in different genetic background. DNA samples from all genotypes were extracted from 1g of oven dried (48h at 50 o C) leaves using a mini-prep version of the Dellaporta et al., (1983) protocol. Between 500µg to 1000µg of high quality DNA was obtained from each extraction and quantified using flourometer, the samples where then diluted to 10ng/µl for PCR amplification. SSR analysis was as described earlier by Mba et al. (2001). Bulk segregation analysis (BSA) of DMC in the inter-specific family CW208 was also carried out using SSR markers as described earlier (CIAT 2003).During the 2003 harvest number of tubers per plant ranged from 0.30 to 31.00 in GM 283-8 and GM 267-5 respectively with an average of 9.49 (Table 12.3). They tended to be affected by FSD as infected plants had many undeveloped tubers. Fresh root yield greatly varied with the lowest, GM 306-21 having as low as 0.2 ton/ha and the highest CM 9642-26, 111.8 ton/ha. Percent dry matter content had values ranging from 16.09 in GM 284-23 and GM 309-9 and as high as 51.07% and 69.07% in GM 313-23 and GM 311-15 respectively, while dry yield values ranged from 0.08 ton/ha in GM 306-21 and GM 309-39 to 39.26 t/ha in CM 9642-26.High incidence of frog skin disease was observed with 23% of the genotypes showing symptoms, simple correlation analysis in infected genotypes revealed significant negative estimates with all the yield parameters. Highest estimate was obtained with percentage dry matter (-0.33) followed by harvest index (-0.24), dry tuber yield and number of commercial roots (-0.23), fresh tuber yield and number of tubers (-0.20). Correlation between the 2002Project IP3: improving cassava for the developing worldOutput 12-14 and 2003 percent dry matter estimates revealed a low positive value of 0.12 suggesting that frog skin disease pressure had affected evaluations in 2003. A high incidence of frog skin disease was again observed in the 2004 harvest, 36.9% of the genotypes showed symptoms although with low severity, most affected plants showed average severity of 1 or less. The low level of severity could be a result of discarding infected plants from the previous year therefore avoiding inoculum buildup. Fresh and dry root yield was significantly lower in the 2004 harvest (Table 12.4). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed differences amongst genotypes to be highly significant (P=0.001) for all the yield parameters (Table 12.5). Replication was highly significant (P=0.001) for all the parameters except DMC, which was significant at 0.05, indicating that DM is the most stable of yield parameters, this is supported by the low CV value (11.28%). GLM was performed on the three sets of data (2002, 2003 and 2004) and results are shown in Table 12.6. Genotype and year were highly significant (P=0.001) for dry matter yield, most likely due to the variable climatic conditions in Santander de Quilichao. Percent dry matter showed the lowest coefficient of variation (9.65%) implying that it is stable across years and that a single year data is sufficient for evaluation of DMC.A total of 70 primers were polymorphic in one or both of the bulks (16 were polymorphic in both). When run on open bulks most of the primers were false positives. However, eight primers:-AB15, C18, H09, K10, O01, O14, H09, AH09 and AO14 continued to be polymorphic (Figure 12.6) and were tested on the whole populations. Simple regression of DM phenotypic data on the RAPD marker genotype classes produced very low values regression coefficients, 1.05 to 1.15%, eliminating the utility of these RAPD markers. Evaluation of the markers SSRY160 and SSRY150, earlier observed to be associated with DMC in the family GM313, in the other 21 families of the diallel experiment revealed association with the trait in several other families, for example all families that have SM1741-1 as parent showed a strong association and high regression coefficients between SSR marker 160 and DMC (Table 12.7). This suggests that this marker is associated with a favorable allele for DMC found in a specific genetic background. Efforts are now directed to evaluating this marker in larger sized families having SM1741-1 as one of the parents generated last year and planted in the field this year to obtain a more accurate value of regression coefficient in preparation of its use in marker assisted selection (MAS) of DMC. Analysis of dry matter content (DMC) in 23 F 1 families from a diallel experiment over a 3-year period revealed the profound effect of different seasons (years) on DMC, the effect of replication was of lesser importance. Putative markers SSRY160 and SSRY150 found earlier to be associated with dry matter content (DMC) in the GM313 family was also linked to the trait in other families. Discovery of markers for DMC have also been extended to a interspecific hybrid family with a very wide segregation for dry matter content. Future perspectives are completion of bulked segregant analysis (BSA) in the inter-specific hybrid cross and evaluation of markers identified until now in larger sized families generated for QTL mapping.  The presence of cyanogenic glucosides in cassava roots is a nutritional deficiency and a potential health problem for human and animal consumers. There has therefore been a considerable amount of interest in understanding the biosynthesis of the two cyanogenic glucosides, Linamarin and Lotaustralin, produced in cassava and ways of reducing or eliminating them all together in the roots. In 2000, the enzyme that catalyzes the rate limiting the most important step in the biosynthesis of the cyanogenic glucosides, the conversion of amino acids to oxime, was cloned and identified as a cytochrome P-450 gene, 2 cDNAs (CYPD1 and D2) with about 80% homology were identified (Anderson et al 2000). In collaboration with the group of Prof Moller that cloned the CYP genes and a doctoral student from the Swedish Agricultural University (SLU), Uppsala, an attempt was made to associate the genes with cyanogenic glucoside content and also identify other QTLs controlling the trait in cassava. We describe here genetic mapping of the CYP genes, as RFLP markers, 70 SSR and 150 Diversity Array Technology (DArT) markers in an S 1 family derived from MTAI8, a Thai variety with high cyanogenic glucoside content. We also report a field experiment to measure the trait in the S 1 family. The identification of markers associated with cyanogenic potential (CNP) in cassava will provide tools to accurately identify the trait in an effort to breed for low CNP cassava varieties.The S 1 family (AM320) consisted initially of 104 individuals but was increased to 200 from new selfs made with MTAI8 this year. DNA was isolated from all 200 genotypes using a miniprep method of the Dellaporta extraction protocol (1983). SSR markers for genetic mapping were 600 SSR markers developed earlier in cassava, they were screened in the MTAI8 parent and 5 other S 1 progenies as described earlier by Mba et al (2001). A previously constructed DArT chip of about 1000 polymorphic markers (Liu et al. 2004) was the source of DArT markers for evaluating the AM320 population. The cytochrome P-450 genes CYPD1 and D2 were evaluated in the MTAI8 parent along with 4 S 1 progenies for restriction length polymorphisms (RFLPs) using the following restriction enzymes: EcoRI, EcoRV, HindIII, HaeIII, and DraI. Preparation of parental and progeny filters, and Southern hybridization of the filters were as described by Fregene et al. (1997). Polymorphic SSR and RFLP markers were evaluated in the entire S 1 progeny. A chi-square test at a confidence level of 0.05 and 0.01 was used to test goodness of fit of the segregation date with the expected model of 1:2:1 ratio for co-dominant markers and 3:1 ratio for dominant markers. Linkage analysis of the raw segregation marker data was done using the Mapmaker linkage analysis software (Lander et al. 1993) and a LOD of 5.0 and recombination fraction (theta) of 0.3 for the dominant markers and a LOD of 9.0 and theta of 0.2 for the dominant markers. Map distances were calculated by the Kosambi method that takes into account double-crossovers. Initial linkage analysis was carried out with the co-dominant SSR and RFLP markers combined with the dominant DArT markers, these were later separated due to difficulties in placing the DArT markers, separate maps were therefore developed.A preliminary evaluation of CNP in leaf tissue and roots was conducted in the AM320 S 1 family last year based upon 3 plants and a single replication. Evaluations were conducted on a single root and leaf tissue harvested from each of the plants and CNP determined according to the enzymatic protocol developed by Cooke (1978) and modified by O 'Brien (1991). This year 200 S 1 progenies of the AM320 family were re-established in single plant plots replicated eight times in CIAT, Palmira, for evaluation of the CNP phenotype. The trial will be harvested piece-meal at 4, 6 and 10 months after planting to measure the accumulation of CNP over a range of growth period.  So far, a total of 100 SSR markers have been found to segregate in the AM320 S 1 family, while 208 polymorphic DArT markers were found. Less than 20 of the SSR markers and more than 90% of the DArT showed segregation distortion at a 0.05% confidence level in the Chi square test. Seventy-four of these SSR markers were organized into 23 linkage groups that covered 819.5cM of the cassava genome by linkage analysis while 26 markers remained unlinked. The 2 cytochrome P-450 gene CYPD1 was polymorphic with the restriction enzyme EcoRI used in the RFLP parental survey but CYPD1 was monomorphic with the 5 enzymes used (Figure 12.8). RFLP segregation data for CYPD1 revealed possible duplicated loci, one segregating at the expected ration of 1:2:1, at a 0.05% confidence level in the Chi square test, and the second at a ratio of 3:1. Linkage analysis permitted the mapping of both loci to linkage group 3. Efforts are ongoing to use many more restriction enzymes to look for RFLPs with CYPD2 to enable genetic mapping of this gene.Preliminary results of cyanogenic glucoside content in the AM320 family revealed a wide segregation for the trait and the appropriateness of this family for mapping the trait. In leaves, 5% of the progenies had below 1075ppm, 85% had a range of 1075 -3048, while 10% had between 3049 -5071ppm. In the roots, 11% of the family had below 258ppm, 76% had between 259 and 878ppm, while 13% had higher than 1294ppm. The distribution of the trait in both leaves and roots was normal suggesting a quantitative trait. However, the above data is based upon a single replication and cannot be said to be an accurate representation of CNP in these genotypes. A partial molecular genetic map of cassava has been constructed using SSR and RFLP markers and the cytochrome P-450 gene CYPD1, in the S 1 family AM320 derived from MTAI8. Preliminary evaluation of cyanogenic glucoside content in this family revealed wide segregation of the trait. A proper evaluation of the trait is being carried out this year in preparation for association of cyanogenic glucosides content with the biosynthetic genes and QTL mapping. Work is also ongoing to identify RFLPs for the second gene, CYPD2 so that it can also be placed on the genetic map.A. Lopez, N.Morante, O.Akinbo, H.Ceballos, A. Bellotti, M. Fregene.Important Outputs 1) Development of 8 populations for QTL mapping of post-harvest deterioration (PHD), resistance to whiteflies and hornworm.Post harvest physiological deterioration (PPD) and arthropod pests are severe marketing and production constraints respectively in cassava. It has been estimated that cassava farmers, typically resource-poor farmers, lose 48 million tons of fresh root valued at US$1.4billion every year to pests, diseases, and PPD; some 30% of total world production. Wild relatives of cassava are important sources of genes for resistance to pests and diseases and longer shelf life. The only source of dramatically delayed PPD has been identified in an inter-specific hybrid between cassava and Manihot walkerae (Sanchez et al. 2003, unpublished data). The delayed PPD trait, originally from the wild Manihot parent, was successfully transferred to an F 1 inter-specific hybrid suggesting a dominant or additive gene action of gene(s) involved. The only source of resistance to the cassava hornworm and a widely deployed source of resistance to the cassava mosaic disease (CMD) were identified in 4 th backcross derivatives of M. glaziovii (Chavariagga et al. 2004). Moderate to high levels of resistance to white flies have been found in inter-specific hybrids of M. esculenta sub spp flabellifolia (CIAT, unpublished data). Again, resistance was recovered easily in F 1 inter-specific hybrids, suggesting a simple inheritance of the trait. For several years now molecular marker tools and a modified Advanced Back Cross QTL (ABC-QTL) scheme have been tested for cost-effective pyramiding of useful genes from cultivated and wild gene pool through the elimination of phenotypic evaluations in each breeding cycle. We describe here the development of populations for QTL mapping of postharvest deterioration (PHD), resistance to whiteflies and hornworm.Segregating populations for the identification of molecular markers for the introgression of delayed PPD, resistance to the cassava hornworm and white flies (presently as sexual seeds) include BC 1 as well as S 1 families to enable identification of recessive genes. The interspecific hybrid from Manihot walkerae with delayed PHD, CW429-1, was crossed extensively to the elite cassava genotypes MTAI8, CM523-7, and SM909-25 to create 3 BC 1 families (BC 1 only in the sense of crosses to cassava). This genotype, CW429-1, was also selfed to generate an S 1 family. The variety MNG11, a BC 4 derivative of M.glaziovii with cassava as recurrent parent, having resistance to the hornworm was also crossed to MTAI 8 and selfed to produce BC 1 and S 1 families respectively. The inter-specific hybrid CW251-3, a progeny of M.esculenta sub spp flabellifolia (OW189-1) and a high beta-carotene cassava land race CM1734, showing a high level of resistance to white flies was crossed to MTAI 8 and selfed to produce BC 1 and S 1 families respectively. All the above-mentioned crosses were done in the 2003-2004 season. Between 50 and 150 crosses per cross combinations have been made for the development of BC 1 and S 1 gene tagging populations for PHD, resistance to whiteflies and hornworm (Table 12.8). Sexual seeds will be harvested later in the season in preparation for in vitro establishment next year. At least 200 progenies, including reciprocals, of each BC 1 and S 1 populations will be established in vitro from embryo axes and multiplied to obtain 10 plants per genotype. The tissue culture plantlets will be transferred to the screen house and then to the field as a single row trial (SRT) of ten plants.The following year progenies will be re-established in a QTL mapping trial of single row plots of 8 plant with 5 replications in one location. Great efforts will be made to ensure that the trials are kept free of weeds, pests, diseases, and nutritional deficiencies to minimize environmental variation.Eight populations have been developed for QTL mapping of post-harvest deterioration (PHD), resistance to whiteflies and hornworm. The segregating populations will be established early next year from embryo axes and multiplied in preparation for field evaluations of PHD and green house evaluations of hornworm and whiteflies resistance. Based on the results of the phenotypic evaluations, bulks of extreme phenotypes will be made for bulk segregant analysis (BSA) with 600 SSR and RAPD markers as described earlier. Polymorphic markers will be evaluated in individuals of the segregating populations and strength of association measured by simple regression. Should BSA fail to identify markers, then a standard QTL procedure, including development of a genetic map with SSR markers, will be followed.Important Outputs 1) Structural characterization of genetic diversity in cassava with 251 polymorphic dominant DArT markers compared to that with 36 SSR co-dominant markers 2) A clear trade-off between number of loci and amount of information provided by each locusAt the heart of the Generation Challenge Programme (GCP) is a vision to harness advances in molecular biology and the rich natural variation found in crop genetic resources to create a new generation of hardy crops for small farmers. Characterizing structural and functional diversity of 11 mandate crops: Barley, Maize, Rice, Sorghum, Wheat, Chickpea, Cowpea, Common Bean, Cassava, Potato and Musa, is the entry point of the GCP. SP1 is the subprogram in charge of ensuring a scientifically sound scheme to put germplasm collections to work for the discovery of new genes and alleles that will contribute to solve the important challenges of modern agriculture. By examining the genetic structure of a large and representative sample of a collection revealed with molecular markers, SP1 proposes to resample the original germplasm and select a subset that will be subject to fine phenotyping and association studies.For many reasons up to date, the markers of choice for germplasm characterization have been microsatellites (SSR). SSR are abundant in most genomes, highly polymorphic and easily assayed. SSR marker mutations are formed by slipped strand mis-pairings. A newer marker tool, Diversity Array Technology (DArT) is a DNA hybridization-based system based on single nucleotide polymorphisms, insertion-deletions and DNA methylation changes. DArT offers the highest throughput available up to date at a fraction of the cost of SSR markers and allows for whole genome scanning in a speedy manner.A pilot experiment was designed to test the usefulness of DArT markers as an alternative to SSR for detecting structural variation in a more cost-effective way. A randomly selected set of 436 accessions of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) were analyzed with DArT and SSR markers and results compared. The hypothesis is whether DArT markers are more adept at uncovering genetic diversity structure. CIAT, the same accessions were analyzed with 36 microsatellites selected from 18 linkage groups of the cassava genetic map. Data analysis was conducted at CIAT. Cluster analysis of the DArT and SSR data were performed using principal coordinate analysis of a similarity matrix derived by the Jaccard method using NTSYS-PC (Rohlf 1993).A total of 251 loci were sampled with DArT markers compared to 36 loci for SSR markers.Results of cluster analysis by PCoA gave similar outcomes of distinct clusters, but there was a clear separation of the Latin American and African accessions with SSR markers (Figure 12.10). Three clusters common in both markers were a group of genotypes from Guatemala, a sub-set of accessions from Nigeria, and a third large conglomeration of genotypes from the rest of the world, a total of 20 countries. SSR markers separated this third clusters into two according to geographic origin of the germplasm. These results agree with a previous attempt to elucidate the organization of genetic diversity in cassava using 67 SSR markers, that study revealed a high level of genetic differentiation between a group of genotypes from Guatemala and a separation between African and Latin American accessions.Figure 12.10. Principal coordinates analysis (PcoA) of SSR markers (A) and DArT markers (B).The African accessions are represented in red while the Latin American accessions are in blue color. Three distinct groups can be seen with both markers but there a separation of the Latin American and African accessions is evident with SSR markers.Possible sources of the observed structure could be founder effects (geographic dispersal to the old world), selection (especially for diseases prevalent in Africa), small effective sample sizes (as in the case of spread of cassava to Africa from Latin America), migration (introgression from wild relatives), independent domestication events especially for the Guatemalan accessions, and mutations. The possibilities of introgression from wild relatives into accessions from Guatemala is quite high, the geographical origin of these Guatemalan accessions overlaps with that of 2 Manihot species unique to Central America. It is also remotely possible that the accessions from Guatemala represent a second center of domestication, similar to other crops like common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) and pepper (Capsicum spp.) that were independently domesticated in Central and South America. The separation between the African and Latin American accessions could be due to selection and/or small effective sample sizes, suggesting that Africa could yet benefit from introgression of germplasm from Latin America. The cluster made up of some Nigerian accessions was also observed in an earlier study (Raji 2002, unpublished data), these accessions are from the Northern part of the country and it is not clear if this is due to small effective sample sizes and selection for tolerance to drought prevalent in the Northern part of the country, this again suggests a need to broaden the germplasm base in this part of the country.A large number of alleles were detected by each SSR loci (an average of 10 alleles per locus) compared to DArT markers (2 per loci) although DArT markers sampled many more loci ( 251) of the genome compared to SSR (36) in this study. This suggests a trade-off between information and number of loci. Because DArT loci can be significantly increased up to 1000 with minimal additional costs for molecular characterization it can be speculated that the level of resolution obtained with DArT could be increased to a similar level as SSR markers. Furthermore, given that the investment (labor and consumables) for development of both marker systems is approximately similar, even if both technologies provided a similar level of resolution, DArT would appear as an attractive marker alternative. This is so because of the cost per assay (lots of data points in one single assay vs two data points per assay with SSR), which would make DArT especially interesting for orphan crop species that do not count on existing marker systems.In conclusion, diversity estimated with 36 co-dominant SSR markers is more efficient than 251 DArT dominant markers. These results reveal a trade-off between amount of information and number of loci provided by each locus, in this study DArT sampled a larger number of loci of the genome, but they are dominant markers and consequently have less information compared to co-dominant SSR markers. But the hypothesis that DArT markers are more useful than SSR markers in detecting structural variation cannot be accepted, more conclusive evidence will have to await analysis using a denser DArT array and a larger data set of accessions from each country and region.Collaborators: Paula Hurtado, C. Buitrago ,Cesar Ospina, Jaime Marín, Paola Alfonso, Graciela Mafla, Alfredo Alves, Daniel Debouck, Hernán Ceballos, Joe Tohme, Martin Fregene (CIAT)Important Outputs 1) Selection of a set of 3000 cassava accessions for structural diversity characterization using SSR markers 2) Selection of 36 SSR markers for molecular analysis of the germplasm set.The objective of sub-programme 1 of the GCP is the selection of a representative sub-set of germplasm and the molecular analysis of structural diversity to identify population structures as a guide for future association mapping studies. At a meeting to select marker systems for target GCP crops held at the Plant and Animal (PAG) genome 2004 it was decided that 3000 cassava accessions, represented by 1500 accessions from CIAT's world germplasm collection, 1000 accessions from Africa (IITA) and 500 accessions from EMBRAPA will be selected for the study. DNA from these accessions will be extracted at each institution and sent to CIAT for re-distribution to all three participating institutions. Molecular markers for analysis of structural diversity will be 36 SSR markers, 2 each from the 18 linkage groups of the cassava map, that gave clear and reproducible allele patterns and high PIC will be used. IITA and CIAT will analyze 14 and 16 SSR markers respectively while CNPMF will analyze 6 SSR markers, in the 3000 accessions. CIAT will sub contract CNPMF.Following the PAG meeting and further discussions with SP1 colleagues, a pilot study was proposed to analyze, a sub set, 500 genotypes, of the larger selection with SSR and DArT markers to fine-tune final selection criteria for the larger set of germplasm. The pilot study was also to compare the power of DArT and SSR markers to detect underlying genetic diversity structure. The DArT analysis was to be carried out by a young female national program scientist from Thailand at CAMBIA, Canberra, Australia in collaboration with IPGRI, CIAT. Selections for the pilot study were in the same proportions as the full set of 3000 genotypes, in other words170, 80, and 250 accessions from IITA, CNPMF and CIAT respectively. The comparison of SSR and DArT analysis of the 436 accessions was presented as one of the 'success story' at the GCP annual meeting in Brisbane. Result of the pilot study is also reported in Activity 12.17 of this report. We describe here selection of the set of 3000 accessions, selection of 36 SSR markers and work carried out so far on SSR analysis of genetic diversity in the selected germplasm.The selection of a set of 3000 cassava accession was based on a selection criteria that emphasizes a very broad genetic diversity and key agronomic traits such as Drought tolerance, resistance to major pests and diseases, adaptation to different ecologies, etc. The complete set of criteria used to select the germplasm set is listed in Table 12.9. For selection of molecular marker sets, criteria was a marker system with:1. High level of information or polymorphism information content (PIC) per locus 2. Easily assayed in most cassava research labs around the world, for example PCR-based 3. Have been used previously in analyzing cassava diversity and can resolve close relationships in cassava germplasm 4. Amenable to automation Project IP3: improving cassava for the developing worldOutput 12-30The marker system that best fits the above criteria in cassava is by far simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. More than 600 of these markers exist for cassava of which about 200 are mapped, 67 of these markers have also been used to assess diversity in a sub-set of 300 genotypes from all over the world, in other words PIC values exist for them. The cassava team also agreed to do a pilot study to compare another marker system, DArTs with SSRs in assessing structural diversity using a random sub-set of 426 accessions from the larger collection of 3000 accessions. The result of this study is reported in Activity 12.7 of this report.Leaf tissue from the CIAT selection was obtained from tissue culture plantlets from the genetic resources unit (GRU) or plants maintained in the field or screen house. DNA isolation from the selected germplasm was by a Dellaporta (1983) mini prep extraction method. DNA extracted from selections at CIAT, IITA and CNPMF was shipped to CIAT for redistribution to all three participating institutions and also to CAMBIA for DArT analysis.CIAT as lead institute will collate and analyze the molecular data from all markers and all accessions, as well as compile passport data, including the local names, source (Country/State/Province/Region/Village), geographical position (Longitude, Latitude, Altitude) and the main agronomic traits, from all accessions into a data base that is accessible to the entire cassava research community.A total of 3000 accessions were selected for SSR analysis: 1500 at CIAT, 1000 at IITA and 500 at CNPMF, an excel file of the selection can be viewed at www.ciat.cgiar.org/molcas. Due to a delay in obtaining a permit from the Brazilian GR council to access materials from CNPMF, in the best of circumstances it could take 4-5 months to obtain a permit, another list of 500 accessions from CNPMF held in the CIAT world cassava collection was made for immediate access and molecular analysis. This new Brazilian germplasm set has 200 in common with the one selected at CNPMF. An agreement has been reached with CNPMF to analyze the CIAT selection with the participation of a CNPMF scientist and later analyze the 300 outstanding CNPMF accessions in Brazil.DNA samples from 170 accessions were received from IITA, Ibadan of which 155 had sufficient quantity and quality for molecular analysis, and DNA from 281 genotypes were prepared at CIAT for the pilot study (Figure 12.11). An aliquot of all 426 DNA samples were sent to IITA Nairobi (ILRI-Bioscience facility) where molecular analysis will be conducted. No DNA samples were sent to CNPMF because an agreement on access to CNPMF's germplasm, a pre-requisite for release of funds from CIAT for CNPMF's sub-contract, could not be reached due to delays in obtaining a permit from the Brazilian genetic resources (GR) council. SSR analysis of the 436 accessions was carried out only in CIAT due to technical problems with the genotyping facility at IITA-Nairobi.All DNA samples from the complete set of 1000 accessions selected at IITA, Ibadan have been received at CIAT. At CIAT, DNA isolation is been conducted as materials are received from the genetic resource unit (GRU), to date DNA isolation has been completed for roughly half of the 2000 selection: 1500 from CIAT and 500 from CNPMF. DNA extraction is expected to be complete by the second week in October. In previous studies of genetic diversity of cassava accessions from 14 countries in Africa and the Neotropics, 36 markers, 2 from every one of the 18 linkage groups that represent the 18 haploid chromosomes of cassava, with high PIC and that give very reproducible patterns were used. We proposed to use these 36 SSR markers (see Table 12.10.) with broad coverage of the cassava genome for structural diversity analysis of 3000 cassava accessions. These markers were used in genotyping 426 accessions of the pilot study and they revealed a structure in the accessions based upon region of origin and other unknown factors.Selection of a set of 3000 cassava accessions and 36 SSR markers for structural diversity characterization of cassava has been completed. Also completed was a pilot study to characterize 426 accessions with the 36 SSR and DArT markers. Ongoing activities include completion of DNA isolation and SSR analysis of the rest of the germplasm data set. The Cassava Biotechnology Network (CBN)Assessment of genetic diversity of a collection of Cuban cassava land races and detection of a structure in this collectionThe assessment of genetic diversity of cassava germplasm from Cuba using 36 SSR markers was started last year. The study, concluded this year, seeks to understand the organization of diversity and genetic differentiation, with respect to germplasm from the rest of the world, of local cassava varieties from Caribbean island in light of evidence of a possible second center of diversity of cassava in Central America. A second objective was to provide cassava breeders in Cuba information to better exploit genetic diversity in their cassava collection.The study was carried out as collaboration with INIVIT, Cuba, with funding from the cassava biotechnology network (CBN)Plant material was 94 accessions selected from a collection of cassava held at INIVIT in Cuba, selection criteria were the economic importance and origin in Cuba. A set of 54 clones from Africa and the Neotropics: 12 from Nigeria, 10 from Tanzania, 12 from Guatemala, 20 from South America, and 13 improved genotypes from CIAT, were included. These genotypes a representative of a larger set of germplasm from these countries based upon previous SSR studies (Fregene et al 2003), were included for estimation of genetic differentiation. DNA from all accessions was obtained using the Dellaporta et al. method (1983). Concentration and quality of the DNA was checked by flourometer and agarose gel electrophoresis respectively. The DNA samples were diluted to a working concentration of 10ng/ul for subsequent PCR amplification.PCR amplification, gel analysis and date collection of the DNA samples with 36 SSR markers were as described earlier (CIAT 2003;Mba et al. 2003). The raw SSR data was used to calculate estimates of genetic diversity and differentiation using the computer package GENSURVEY (Vekeman et al 1997). Genetic differentiation was estimated using the statistic F ST (theta) and G ST (Nei 1978) using the FSTAT computer program (Goudet 1990). Confidence intervals of F ST and G ST were calculated by jackknifing (200 replications) or by bootstrapping (1000 bootstraps). Pair-wise values of F ST between countries were used in drawing a dendogram by the UPGMA method and the program NTSYS-PC (Rohlf 1993). Other analyses conducted with the SSR data include calculation of pair-wise genetic distance based upon the proportion of shared alleles (PSA), using the computer microsat (Minch 1993, http://www.lotka.stanford.edu/microsat.html) and cluster analysis of the genetic distance matrix using principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) and multiple correspondence analysis (MCA), using the computer package NTSYS-PC (Rohlf 1993).The evaluation of 36 SSR markers in 142 accessions yielded a high level of polymorphism, with the exception of 2 (SSRY127 and SSRY132) that were monomorphic. Number of alleles for the polymorphic markers ranged from 2 to 10 for each SSR loci. Seventeen alleles unique to accessions from Cuba were identified in the following SSR markers: SSRY 4 (0.04), SSRY 20 (0.006), SSRY 38 (0.005), SSRY 59 (0.006 y 0.079), SSRY 63 (0.033), SSRY 69 (0.023), SSRY 100 (0.011), SSRY 103 (0.052, 0.012, 0.012 and 0.006), SSRY135 (0.005), SSRY 151 (0.05), SSRY 171 (0.012 and 0.036) and SSRY 177 (0.014). Unique alleles were also found in some genotypes from Colombia (6), Nigeria (3), Tanzania (3) and Guatemala (1). Average gene diversity was high, with an average of 0.6292 ± 0.0120, for all the samples analyzed but highest for those from Cuba and Tanzania ( Number of alleles per polymorphic loci HO_p: Observed Heterozygosity HE_p: Expected Heterozygosity Hec_p: Expected Heterozygosity corrected for small sample sizes (Nei, 1978) Ht:Total Genetic diversity Hs:Average genetic diversity within populations Dst:Average genetic diversity between populations Gst:Coefficient of genetic differentiation.  Genetic Diversity of cassava in the Caribbean island of Cuba follows diversity found for cassava in the rest of the world, a high genetic diversity and low genetic differentiation. However a structure was observed within the Cuban collection using cluster analysis. This structure is the basis of future work on linkage disequilibrium mapping of dry matter content using candidate starch biosynthesis genes.1) Identification of 54 unique genotypes that form 3 broad clusters that might represent market classes of cassava in Northern and Southern Malawi Rationale Cassava is the second most important staple crop after maize in Malawi. Two other factors have emerged in Africa that will further increase the role of cassava as a staple crop: 1) The increasingly unpredictable rain pattern causing large fluctuations in maize harvests and 2) a large increase in prices of chemical fertilizers and hybrid maize seeds make maize growing a less viable, or even impossible, alternative, for the smallholder farmer. As in many parts of Africa, the growing of cassava has increased considerably over the past years in Malawi. From 1992 to 1996 cassava production in Malawi is officially reported to have increased from about 100 000 tons/yr to more than 500 000 tons/yr. Since the cassava mosaic and mealy bug outbreak in the 1980s there has been a rapid shift in cassava cultivars and there is an obvious need for new cassava varieties with resistance to the major pests and diseases. Major disease outbreaks, like the one caused by the mealy bug in the eighties in Malawi or the cassava mosaic virus outbreak in Uganda, could be less devastating if resistant cassava material was available and accepted by the farmers within their farming systems. We conceive that the methods for provision of new cultivars to farmers can be considerably improved. A project to identify, evaluate and discover traits that make certain local varieties popular amongst consumers was developed and funded by SAREC. We describe here Molecular marker technology for tracking gene flow in trading of cassava cultivars and to explore how molecular markers can be used to identify cultivar preferences in urban cassava marketsThe study was conducted in two geographic areas, in the north and the south of Malawi, respectively. In the north, Nkhata-Bay close to Lake Malawi and has a fairly long dry period, mean daily temperature (DMT) during the growing season, above 20°C, and relatively low population density. The area in the south, Mulanje, is less dry and more densely populated. In each area, 5 farmers who are recognized by other farmers as cassava farming enthusiasts were recruited into the study. Using a combination of interviews, cassava cultivars were collected from markets in the above areas and planted at the Namiganzi farm center, Malawi. A total of 54 cultivars were collected. The cultivars were subjected to molecular analysis using 36 SSR markers for cultivar identification. SSR marker and data analysis were as described earlier Fregene et al. (2003).The 54 cultivars collected from Malawi revealed a fairly high amount of SSR allele diversity (Figure 12.15). The total number of alleles per locus ranged between 3 and 7. The fairly large number of alleles per locus enabled the unique identification of every single cultivar collected. Analysis of genetic relationships between the clones revealed that they formed 3 loose clusters that appear to represent market classes of cassava in Malawi (Fig8.16). Detailed and conclusive interpretation of the above results will have to wait for agronomic data of the cultivars from the replicated trial at the Namiganzi farm center to be collected later in the year and additional information collected during the interviews.   unique genotypes could be identified from 54 cassava cultivars collected from markets in Northern and Southern Malawi. The cultivars also formed 3 clusters that might represent market classes. Data from agronomic trial is being awaited to obtain conclusive evidence of this and also to identify what makes these cultivars preferred as a first step in making cassava breeding projects more relevant to end users.Fregene M., Suarez M., Mkumbira J. , Kulembeka H. , Ndedya E. , Kulaya A. , Mitchel S. Gullberg U. , Rosling H., Dixon A., Kresovich S. (2003)  The MOLCAS web-site is increasingly becoming a useful asset for the research community as demonstrated by the over 260% increment in the visits to the MOLCAS this year, a total of 91,799 visits between May and September this year, compared to a total of 34,477 visits the same period of time in 2003 ( 2) Evaluation of protein content in Ghana of varieties from Central America confirms the high protein content observed earlier 3) Standardization of a SDS-PAGE analysis method towards a proper characterization of the proteins contained in high protein content cassava and inter-specific genotypesAs a major staple throughout the tropics, cassava can serve as a cheap means of deploying adequate protein requirement amongst poor people as well as for animal feeds. An advanced back cross QTL (ABC-QTL) to introgress high protein content genes from wild relatives into cassava is in its third year at CIAT. Similarly high protein content cassava varieties mostly from Central America were re-evaluated in another environment, Wenchi, Ghana, this year. The cassava varieties have also been re-established in the field at CIAT for a second year of evaluation. Genetic crosses of these high protein varieties are being made to elite parents of the CIAT cassava gene pools for breeding for high protein content and for QTL mapping studies. Other activities continued this year include standardization of the SDS-PAGE methodology for the determination of kind and size of proteins found in high protein accessions."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"8ee6a127937ce1df262bcaf00101d234","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/703bf985-5021-473c-ae51-5e0f44388c75/retrieve","id":"1714505370"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"1053d1e0-7efc-4f70-acf2-db5431f0a45c","content":"What are the primary risks linked to a failure to maintain high food safety and quality standards?In past decades, there has been a lot of interest in the impacts of unsafe food on trade. If unsafe food is exported, this can result, for example, in illness in the importing country and economic losses for the exporter. Inability to meet importing standards -and subsequent rejections -has been shown to cost low-and middle-income countries billions of dollars each year.More recently, however, there has been increasing recognition of the signi cant burden that FBD places on global health. A landmark rst assessment (http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/199350/9789241565165_eng.pdf;jsessionid=51EFA75128F6939028AB065B2E48F515? sequence=1) of the global burden of FBD, conducted by WHO in 2015, considered 31 food safety hazards. The report shows that FBD has a health burden comparable to malaria, HIV/AIDS or tuberculosis. Much of this burden (98%) falls on developing countries and 40% of this on children under 5-years-old.How is ILRI helping to build the capacities of stakeholders in developing countries to meet food safety and quality standards?ILRI is a research for development organisation. We innovate approaches and technologies and then develop and test them. We have learned that training by itself, or providing new technologies, will rarely improve food safety. In order to implement change, people also need some additional incentive and a conducive or enabling environment. In Ethiopia, for example, an ILRI pilot intervention consisting of training on good hygienic practices signi cantly improved knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) in key food safety aspects. Bacteria counts on meat were also signi cantly reduced. Here, buy-in from abattoir management was key to behavioural change.In Nigeria, signi cant improvements in KAP and meat hygiene were seen in butcher groups. This was attributable to a group-based intervention which used peer in uence to encourage behaviour change. Evaluation showed not only improvements in KAP, but also decreases in incidence of FBD from meat sold by the butchers involved. And in Uganda, training improved the capacities of butchers in appropriate pig slaughter and pork handling. However, the use of disinfectants and other good practices such as protective wear have not been fully adopted by all, partly due to associated costs.Innovation occurs at all levels. Some private sector value chains have been at the forefront of taking up information technologies, such as Kenyan company greenspoon (https://greenspoon.co.ke/philosophy/), who have set up an online healthy food store. Informal markets are also transforming rapidly and innovating -for example, ILRI has worked with a Nigerian butcher who developed a simple frame to keep ies o his meat. Subsequently, ILRI carried out research into using insecticide-treated nets to reduce ies at markets. The private food sector in developing countries is huge, but is largely informal and said to consist of 'mice and elephants. ' The formal private sector, or elephants, tends to consist of a few large companies who are very concerned about food safety and who generally adopt approaches and methods used in high-income countries, such as cold chains and supermarkets. This sector also consists of smaller rms targeting niche, high-value markets and larger rms targeting bigger segments of the market. Making up the informal private sector are the mice, or the millions of small enterprises that are very di cult to regulate.Evidence is very important because little is known about food safety and its management in Africa. One of the most important insights from FBD studies is that a low number of hazards are typically responsible for a large proportion of the health burden. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, non-typhoidal salmonella, pig tapeworm, and toxigenic Escherichia coli are responsible for nearly 50% of the FBD burden. A focus on tackling these hazards in particular would therefore be much more e ective than trying to address all hazards at once. In Kenya, dairy products constitute the largest item of household expenditure, and annual milk consumption per person is estimated at 145 l. Yet Kenya's informal, small-scale milk sector dominates the milk marketing chain. Prior to 2004, however, informal vendors, including mobile milk traders and small-scale producers, were not o cially recognised under the colonial dairy policy and were unable to obtain a licence. Many of these small-scale operators were women, and attempts to close down the informal sector would have jeopardised an important livelihood opportunity. E orts to revise the dairy policy were spearheaded by the UK Department for International Development-supported Smallholder Dairy Project (http://smallholderdairy.org/) (SDP). The project generated research-based evidence to reveal the economic signi cance of the informal milk sector and highlight the potential for improved handling and hygiene practices to ensure milk quality. The Dairy Traders Association (DTA) of Kenya was launched in September 2009 with its aims and activities based around the same concept as the SDP. Through the DTA, around 4,000 milk traders have been trained and certi ed by the Kenya Dairy Board. Field regulators are now also ensuring that licensed outlets operated by milk traders meet conditions for milk hygiene, testing requirements and sanitation. Without the intervention, such a change would have been unlikely."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"07adf664dd44286ec2f579ee9f1e06e1","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/8b6dfa3f-4693-4a08-bc26-b11f5108ae36/retrieve","id":"-582778922"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"ec945dff-64c2-48cb-a4b2-3fea4d22c67b","content":"World production of cassava roots was estimated at 233 million tons in 2008. Africa was the largest producer with 118 million tons on almost 12 million hectares, followed by Asia with 78.7 million tons on 3.97 million ha. Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a significant staple, providing a basic daily source of dietary energy for almost one billion people in 105 countries. It also has numerous agroindustrial uses. Cassava grows on marginal lands, tolerates drought, and can grow in low-fertility soils. Cassava is also the most inexpensive source of starch that exists, being used in more than 300 industrial products (FAOSTAT, 2010).Cassava is still widely cultivated under traditional management. This suggests that large numbers of farmers may be ignorant of the crop's diseases and their integrated management. Hence, several diseases threaten the sustainability of cassava production and its profitability. The principal diseases attacking the crop are: Cassava bacterial blight (CBB 4 ; Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. manihotis or Xam) Phytophthora root rots (PRR; Phytophthora spp.) Superelongation disease (SED; Sphaceloma manihoticola) Cassava frogskin disease (CFSD; Candidatus phytoplasma, Cfdp of the 16SrIII-L and rpIII-H subgroups) Cassava mosaic disease (CMD; begomovirus complex) Cassava brown streak disease (CBSD; an ipomovirus) Brown leaf spot (Cercosporidium henningsii) Diffuse leaf spot (Cercospora vicosae) White leaf spot (Phaeoramularia manihotis) Anthracnose (Colletotrichum spp.Importance. Superelongation disease (SED) attacks susceptible cultivars, especially during the rainy seasons. Damage caused by SED is highly variable, depending on the level of cultivar resistance, climatic conditions, concentration of the initial inoculum, and the degree of contamination of planting materials (Álvarez and Llano 2002).Losses can exceed 80% of total production in young crops, whereas significant losses do not occur in crops that are more than 6 months old. In Colombia, SED is found in the Eastern Plains, Atlantic Coast, and inter-Andean valleys. The disease is acute in agroecological areas with annual mean temperatures of 28 ºC and annual precipitation of more than 1500 mm. In the greenhouse, 8 h of misting at temperatures of 25 to 30 ºC was sufficient to cause an outbreak, indicating how easily the pathogen develops in the field (Mejía 2001).Distribution. Superelongation disease was first observed by Bitancour and Jenkins in 1950, on Manihot glaziovii Muell.-Arg. in Brazil and Nicaragua and on M. esculenta in the Dominican Republic and Guatemala. The disease has since been reported (in order of reporting year) in Costa Rica (Larios and Moreno 1976), Colombia (Lozano and Booth 1979), Mexico (Rodríguez 1979), Cuba (Pino 1980), Venezuela (Rondón and Elizabeth Álvarez 1 , Germán Alberto Llano 2 , and Juan Fernando Mejía Aponte 1981), the Dominican Republic (Sosa 1992), Barbados, Panama (Chávez 1992;Zeigler 2000), Brazil (where it is restricted to the western regions of the country) (Álvarez et al. 2003d), and Trinidad and Tobago (Reeder et al. 2008). At the end of 2008, the disease was detected in Thailand (E Álvarez 2008, pers. comm.). The disease appears to be unknown in Africa.The characteristic symptom of this disease is the exaggerated lengthening of stem internodes (Zeigler et al. 1980), creating thin and weak stems. Diseased plants are much taller and/or weaker and spindlier than healthy ones. In green sections of stems, and in petioles and leaves, deformations develop in associations with cankers. The lens-shaped cankers often have dark margins and are variable in size. In leaves, cankers are found on the underside, along the primary or secondary nervures. In stems, they may be more diffuse. Frequently, young leaves curl, and do not develop fully nor do the leaf blades expand completely. Leaves also develop irregular white spots (Figure 8-1). Sometimes partial or total death of leaves occurs, resulting in considerable defoliation. Dieback of the plant may also occur.The disease spreads from one place to another through the use of infected stakes. The principal focuses of infection frequently constitute the shoots originating from residues of old plants left in the field after harvest. The disease spreads rapidly during the rainy season. This rapid dissemination is believed to occur through the formation of spores in the cankers. These spores can survive for more than 6 months in infected plants and are carried by rain and wind.Etiology. Superelongation disease is caused by the fungus Elsinoe brasiliensis, which initially grows on the epidermis of the host and, after penetration, grows in the intercellular spaces in tissues of the epidermis and cortex. The fungus produces gibberellins, which promote the exaggerated growth in the plant's internodes. Gibberellins, as suggested by previous studies for other pathogens (Muromtsev and Globus 1975), play an essential role in the fungus's nutrition. The fungus, which has a low production of hydrolytic enzymes, uses this hormone to obtain sugars from the plant, promoting, at the molecular level, hydrolysis of carbohydrates with greater mass (Mejía 2001).According to Álvarez and Molina (2000), the pathogen's genetic diversity in Colombia is broad, presenting differences among isolates within a single location and between locations. Isolates from the Atlantic Coast, Eastern Plains, and inter-Andean valleys of Colombia and from central and southern Brazil comprise two evolutionary units, with each unit relating to its respective country (Álvarez et al, 2001).For gene 18S rRNA, obtained from two isolates of E. brasiliensis, the sequencing of a region involving ITS1 and ITS2 was reported to GenBank (accessions AY739018 and AY739019; CIAT 2004).Host range. Elsinoe brasiliensis and Sphaceloma species (the asexual state), which both attack cassava, have a wide range of Euphorbiaceae hosts, including Euphorbia brasiliensis L., E. hypericifolia L., Jatropha aconitifolia Muell. var. papaya Arbelaez, J. curcas L., Manihot carthaginensis Muell., M. esculenta, and M. glaziovii. These hosts are cosmopolitan weeds and widely cultivated ornamentals.Many regions in Africa and Asia have climatic conditions that closely resemble to those of the Eastern Plains, Atlantic Coast, and inter-Andean valleys of Colombia, where the pathogen causes considerable losses. These African and Asian regions therefore face the danger that the pathogen will be introduced through planting materials of ornamentals such as Jatropha spp. L., which are not necessarily restricted by the same sanitary regulations as cassava.Because the host range is broad, completely eradicating the pathogen is impossible and a certain amount of sufficient inoculum will be present throughout the year. In Brazil, the weed Euphorbia heterophylla L. was shown to be host to strains of Elsinoe brasiliensis that were highly pathogenic to cassava (Álvarez et al. 2003d). Furthermore, the genetically very variable hosts are also able to maintain a variable population of the pathogen (Zeigler 2000).Integrated disease management. The use of healthy seed, obtained from disease-free plants or from plants derived from meristem culture, comprises a tool that may be sufficient to maintain disease-free crops. However, one preventive method for eradicating the pathogen is to immerse infected stakes for 10 min in captafol at 4.8 g/L of active ingredient (a.i.). When symptoms are observed in the field, foliar spraying should be carried out with difenoconazole at 0.07 cc/ha, followed by crop rotation with grasses.In areas where the pathogen is endemic, planting should be carried out during periods with the least precipitation (CIAT 2003b). Infected plants (cassava or other Euphorbiaceae hosts) should be destroyed as soon as they are identified. The best way to eliminate this material is to pull up infected plants and burn them in situ (Zeigler 2000).Varietal resistance. The selection of resistant varieties is perhaps the best alternative for controlling SED. Between 1995 and 2007, CIAT evaluated about 6400 genotypes at Villavicencio (Colombia) and found 257 with resistance to SED. On-farm evaluations at Sincelejo (Sucre, Colombia) showed the following as resistant: M Ven 25 and CM 4843-1, followed by ICA Catumare, ICA Cebucán, ICA Negrita, Vergara (CM 6438-14), and CM 4574-7 (CIAT 2001, 2002b, 2003a). Pathogenic races of E. brasiliensis exist and are of high genetic variability. While they should be taken into account when improving resistance to SED (Álvarez and Molina 2000;Álvarez et al. 2003d), they are not thought to pose serious constraints to varietal improvement (Zeigler 2000). Pseudomonas putida considerably reduced the severity of damage caused by SED, thereby significantly increasing cassava yields (CIAT 1985).Importance. Brown leaf spot has a broad geographical distribution, being found in Asia, North America, Africa, and Latin America. It attacks naturally M. esculenta, M. glaziovii, and M. piauhynsis Ule (Ferdinando et al. 1968;Golato and Meossi 1966;Powell 1972). In India, Cercospora henningsii is an important pathogen, causing severe defoliation (Edison 2002).Symptoms and epidemiology. Symptoms in cassava leaves are characterized by leaf spots visible on both sides. On the leaves' upper surface, uniform brown spots appear, with defined and dark margins. On the leaves' undersurface, the lesions have less-defined margins and, towards the center, the brown spots have a gray-olive background because of the presence of the fungus's conidiophores and conidia. As these circular lesions grow, from 3 to 12 mm in diameter, they take up an irregular angular form, their expansion being limited by the leaves' major veins (Figure 8-2).The veins found within the necrotic area are black. Sometimes, depending on how susceptible the variety is, an undefined yellow halo or discolored area can be observed around the lesions. As the disease progresses, infected leaves become yellow and dry before falling off, possibly because of toxic substances secreted by the pathogen. Susceptible varieties may undergo severe, or even total, defoliation during the hot rainy season.When wind or rain carry conidia that have dropped from wounds of infected tissues towards leaves of a new planting, primary infections occur. If environmental humidity is sufficiently high, the conidia will germinate, producing branched germinal tubes that frequently anastomose (Chevaugeon 1956;Viégas 1941).When lesions mature, stromata appear from which conidiophores emerge. Secondary cycles of the disease are repeated throughout the rainy season, when wind or rain carries conidia to new susceptible tissues of the plant. The fungus survives the dry season in old lesions, frequently those of fallen leaves. It renews activity with the advent of the rainy season and growth of new leaves in the host. Chevaugeon (1956) observed that, in a cassava plant, the lower leaves are more susceptible than the youngest leaves. However, certain susceptible species (e.g., M. carthaginensis Muell.) and M. esculenta cultivars can be severely attacked. Severe symptoms have been observed in young leaves, petioles, and even fruits of M. carthaginensis. Although plants \"hardened\" by unfavorable conditions appear more resistant, no significant differences in susceptibility were found between plants growing in fertile soils and those growing in poor soils (Chevaugeon 1956).Etiology. Cercospora henningsii, causal agent of the disease, grows in the intercellular spaces of leaf tissues, producing stromata from which conidiophores are produced in dense fascicles. The conidiophores are pale olive brown, semi-transparent, with uniform width and color, and non-branching. Sometimes, black perithecia appear, disseminated in the necrotic tissue of leaf spots and on the leaves' upper surface (Powell 1972). The perfect state of C. henningsii is Mycosphaerella manihotis (Ghesquière 1932;Chevaugeon 1956).To reduce the severity of infection, recommended cultural practices include reducing excess humidity during planting (Golato and Meossi 1966). Fungicides based on copper oxide and copper oxychloride, suspended in mineral oil, and applied at 12 L/ha also provide good chemical control (Golato and Meossi 1966). The best control over the disease can be achieved by using resistant varieties. Significant differences in varietal resistance have been found in Africa (Chevaugeon 1956;Umanah 1970), Brazil (Viégas 1941), and the extensive collection of cassava varieties held at CIAT, Colombia (CIAT 1972).Importance. This disease is found where brown leaf spot predominates, that is, in the hot cassavagrowing areas of Brazil and Colombia (CIAT 1972;Viégas 1941). The pathogen causes severe defoliation in susceptible cultivars but, in Colombia, does not cause heavy crop losses.This disease is characterized by the presence of large leaf spots, with undefined margins. Each spot may cover one fifth, or more, of the leaf lobe. On the leaves' upper surfaces, the spots are uniformly brown, whereas, on the lower surfaces, spots also have grayish centers caused by the presence of the fungus's conidia and conidiophores. The spots' general appearance is similar to that of the spots induced by Phoma sp., although lesions induced by the latter have concentric rings on the leaves' upper surfaces (Figure 8-3).Defoliation may occur in susceptible cultivars, being more severe at the end of the rainy season and/or vegetative cycle. As the disease progresses, leaves become yellow and dry before falling off.Symptoms of this disease can be confused with those of cassava bacterial blight (CBB; see below), except that the blight lesions are noticeably aqueous. Etiology. The fungus does not form stromata but sporulates abundantly. The conidiophores are reddish dark brown (Chupp 1953). The fungus has been recorded as a pathogen occurring only on Manihot spp. Mill. As its incidence on a single plant or in a given planting is very low and apparently confined to the plant's lower leaves, its importance is relatively less.Planting with healthy and resistant cultivars • Using cultural practices that reduce humidity during plantingImportance. This fungus is commonly found in the cold humid cassava-growing regions of Asia, America, North America, tropical Africa, and Latin America (Castaño 1969;Chevaugeon 1956;CIAT 1972). In these areas, the pathogen may cause considerable defoliation in susceptible varieties of M. esculenta, the only known host species (Chevaugeon 1956;Viégas 1941).Leaf spots caused by P. manihotis are smaller, with a different color, to those induced by C. henningsii. They vary from circular to angular, with diameters of usually 1 to 7 mm. They are normally white, but sometimes yellowish brown. Lesions are sunken on both sides, to half of the thickness of a healthy leaf blade. On the lower leaf surface, the white spots can be distinguished but they frequently have diffusely colored margins, which sometimes appear as brown-violet irregular lines, surrounded by brown or yellowish halos. The spots' centers have a velvety grayish aspect during the pathogen's fruiting (Figure 8-4).The fungus penetrates the host through stomatal cavities and then invades the host's tissues through the intercellular spaces. When leaf spots reach 5 to 7 mm in diameter, a stroma is formed, which produces conidiophores. The disease's secondary cycles are repeated throughout the rainy season as conidia are dispersed by wind or rain splash. The fungus survives the dry season in old infected tissues and renews activity at the beginning of the rainy season and with the host's new growth.Etiology. Phaeoramularia manihotis, the causal agent, forms thin stromata in lesions on leaves. The stromata produce conidiophores in loose fascicles that emerge through the stromata and are usually olive brown (Powell 1972).White leaf spot is very similar to brown leaf spot. However, brown spot usually occurs in warm but not humid areas, whereas white spot appears in cold humid areas. These differences in their geographical distribution are also observed in Africa and Latin America, and are probably the result of different responses of the respective causal agents to temperatures and humidity. The optimal temperature for germinating C. henningsii conidia is 39 ºC, with a maximum temperature of 43 ºC. For P. manihotis, these temperatures are, respectively, 33 and 43 ºC (Chevaugeon 1956).Management and control. The control measures recommended for this disease are similar to those for brown leaf spot. Specifically resistant varieties are unknown, but field studies suggest they exist ( JC Lozano 1979, unpublished data). Importance. This fungal disease, caused by Phoma spp., usually appears in the cold cassavagrowing areas of Colombia (CIAT 1972), Brazil (Viégas 1943a), Philippines, tropical Africa, and India (Ferdinando et al. 1968). According to Edison (2002), this disease is an emerging problem in certain areas where cassava cultivation is intensive. During the rainy season and when the temperature is below 22 ºC, the disease may cause severe defoliation in susceptible varieties and almost always produces stem dieback.The disease is characterized by the presence of large dark brown leaf spots, with usually undefined margins. These lesions are commonly found at leaf points, margins of leaf lobes, or along the central vein or other secondary veins. Initially, lesions appear as concentric rings of brown pycnidia on the leaf's upper surface (Figure 8-5). These rings are not found on old injuries because the rain drags away mature pycnidia. In these cases, the spots are uniformly brown, and are very similar to those caused by Cercospora vicosae. On the lower leaf surfaces, very few pycnidia occur. Hence, lesions are uniformly brown.Under conditions of high relative humidity, lesions may be covered by braid-like chains of grayish-brown hyphae. On the lower leaf surfaces, the nervures within the lesions become necrotic, forming black bands that emerge from the spots. These spots grow, causing leaf blight. The fungus invades the infected leaf and then the petiole, which becomes dark brown as it necroses. Leaves wilt and then fall, resulting in severe defoliation in susceptible cultivars. These cultivars may present dieback during epiphytotes and even total plant death. Necrotic stems become dark brown and frequently appear covered with pycnidia.Field studies suggest that the more mature lower leaves may be more resistant than the young upper leaves. However, total defoliation, accompanied by partial or total dieback, has been observed in susceptible cultivars.Favorable conditions for the germination of fungal spores occur at temperatures between 20 and 25 ºC. With artificial inoculation, infection is only achieved when inoculated plants are kept for 48 h at less than 24 ºC and with 100% relative humidity ( JC Lozano 1979, unpublished data). Under field conditions, disease always occurs during the rainy season and in areas where the temperature is less than 22 ºC. The fungus's survival mechanism during dry hot periods is unknown. Viégas (1943b) suggested that the fungus may produce its sexual state on infected stems and leaf residues. However, this has not yet been observed or recorded.Etiology. The causal agent produces numerous, spherical, dark brown pycnidia, either individually or in small clusters, on surfaces of leaves or stems. Pycnidia measure 100-170 μm in diameter, their walls are formed by polyhedral cells; and their ostiole measures 15-20 μm. Conidiophores are short and hyaline, producing small conidia (15-20 μm) that are unicellular and ovoid or elongated (Ferdinando et al. 1968;Viégas 1943a). On Lima-bean agar, the fungus forms pycnidia in profuse quantities, appearing in concentric rings.Management and control. To date, no measures of control exist for the disease, even though it causes heavy losses in areas where environmental conditions are propitious for its development. Although no reports exist on varietal resistance, in the field in Colombia, resistance has been observed in naturally infected plantings. Chemical treatments such as carbendazim (3 g/L a.i.) and benomyl (0.6 g/L a.i.) during the rainy season may be equally effective in those areas where the disease is endemic.Importance. This disease was first recorded in Africa in 1913 (Saccardo 1913) and has since appeared in Latin America (CIAT 1972;Viégas 1943a) and Asia (Park 1934). The disease is characterized by the presence of yellowish undefined spots on M. esculenta leaves. Although it is widely disseminated and frequently occurs during the dry season, the disease is considered to be of minor importance as it usually attacks only the lower leaves, in which it induces some necrosis.Symptoms and epidemiology. The first symptoms of disease are characterized by the appearance of a white mycelium that grows on the leaf surface (Figure 8-6). The fungus penetrates the host cells, using haustoria. The infected cells become chlorotic and form undefined yellowish lesions. Within these yellowish areas, pale brown necrotic areas frequently appear. These are angular in shape and of different sizes. In some cassava varieties, the disease stops in the state of yellowish undefined lesions, which then may become confused with those induced by insects and mites.Fully developed mature leaves seem to be most susceptible to pathogenic attack, although the young leaves of some varieties may also present symptoms.The disease commonly appears during the dry season and in warm areas.Etiology. The sexual state of the causal agent, Oidium manihotis, is Erysiphe manihotis (Ferdinando et al. 1968). The fungus's mycelium is white, producing numerous haustoria on the host's epidermis. Conidiophores rest in an erect position. They are simple, with the upper parts both longer and wider, as they form the conidia. Conidia are oval or cylindrical, unicellular, hyaline, and measure 12-20 × 20-40 μm. They are produced in basipetal chains (Ferdinando et al. 1968;Saccardo 1913;Viégas 1943b).Although specific control of the disease is considered unnecessary, observations suggest that resistant varieties exist (CIAT 1972). Ferdinando et al. (1968) suggest that spraying with sulfur-based compounds can control the disease.Although cassava anthracnose has been known for a long time, it has been considered of minor importance. It is characterized by the presence of sunken leaf spots, 10 mm in diameter, that are similar to those caused by C. henningsii. The latter, however, appear towards the base of leaves, thus causing their total death.The pathogen also causes young stems to wilt and induces cankers on mature stems (Irvine 1969) (Figure 8-7). New leaves, produced at the beginning of the rainy season, are the most susceptible. The disease tends to disappear when the dry season begins (Irvine 1969). This finding agrees with results obtained from artificial inoculations with an aqueous suspension of spores from the pathogen. Inoculation is successful if incubation is at 100% relative humidity for 60 h. The fungus will stop invading plant tissue when relative humidity drops to 70% (CIAT 1972). The insect Pseudotheraptus devastans Distant is associated with the disease (Fokunang et al. 2000), contributing to the pathogen's dissemination and increasing the severity of symptoms.The organism causing this disease has been variously called Glomerella manihotis, Colletotrichum manihotis (Vanderweyen 1962), Gloeosporium manihotis (Bouriquet 1946), and Glomerella cingulata (Irvine 1969). All these names possibly refer to one species, but this hypothesis is yet to be confirmed.Stem anthracnose caused by a Colletotrichum sp. was recorded in Nigeria (IITA 1972). Green portions of the stems presented shallow oval depressions that were pale brown, but with a point of normal green tissue in the center. In the ligneous portions of the stems, lesions were round, swollen, and in bands, forming deep cankers on the epidermis and cortex, and sometimes deforming the stem. Its importance is unknown but its prevalence, occurrence, and dissemination are considerable. In Asia stem anthracnose was recorded in Thailand (E Álvarez 2009, pers. comm.) (Figure 8-8).  Cassava rust (Uromyces spp.)Importance. Although recorded in Brazil and Colombia, this disease is considered to be of minor importance. It appears at the end of dry periods, sometimes causing a type of shoot proliferation in stem apices (Normanha 1970). Etiology. In cassava, several species of rust pathogens have been recorded in different parts of the world. However, its incidence and severity are low. Some species of rust appear to occur only where temperatures are moderate and rainfall is high. Other species predominate during hot dry seasons.In many cassava-growing areas, continuous cassava planting is not possible and stakes must be stored for later propagation. Stored stakes are attacked by three diseases that induce necrosis (CIAT 1972). These diseases considerably reduce stake viability, directly and indirectly, by increasing dehydration and causing necrosis.Although the three different causal agents have been recognized, the diseases these induce are not clearly differentiated in most cases. Macroscopically, the diseases look similar, particularly during their first developmental stages. Furthermore, more than one causal agent may be present, creating a syndrome.The three diseases causing stem rots are stem necrosis caused by Glomerella cingulata, dry stem and root rot caused by Diplodia sp., and necrosis caused by an unidentified Basidiomycete (Lozano and Booth 1979).Importance. This disease is the most common of the three that induce rots or necrosis in stored cassava stakes. It also attacks residues of old stems left in cassava plantings.Necrosis of stored stakes appears first at the ends and then progresses slowly towards the middle, before disseminating to all stakes (Figure 8-10). The disease occurs as a black discoloration of vascular bundles. It then develops surface blisters that later break, exposing groups of black perithecia in welldeveloped stromata.The causal organism appears to be Glomerella cingulata (Commonwealth Mycological Institute 1979, pers. comm.). Ascospores are hyaline, unicellular, and slightly curved. Infection probably occurs through wounds and is favored by high environmental relative humidity.The relationship between this fungus and Colletotrichum sp., which causes anthracnose in cassava, has not still been determined. For example, the appearance of two types of symptoms may be due to two different states of the same agent rather than of two agents.Importance. This disease attacks stored cassava planting materials and residue stems left in the field. Its occurrence is not as common as necrosis caused by Glomerella spp.The disease has two phases. The first is when root rot starts when soils are infested or when stakes from diseased plants are used. Symptoms, similar to those induced by root pathogens, consist in sudden plant death caused by root deterioration.The second phase includes stem rot caused by systemic invasion of the fungus from the roots or by penetration through wounds. The disease is characterized by black discoloration and necrosis of the vascular bundles, which extend from the infection sites, that is, wounds in the stem. In the epidermis, they appear as blisters under which the stem's internal tissues are discolored black or dark brown. The blisters break, showing confluent masses of black pycnidia . Gum may be excreted, and partial or total wilting occurs. Dieback may also occur.The pathogen disseminates across great distances through stakes from infected plantings. Within the same crop, dissemination is by wind and rain during fungal fructifications, use of infested tools and irrigation water, and land preparation for later plantings.Etiology. The causal agent of dry rot of stem and root is Diplodia manihotis. In both the host and laboratory cultures, this organism produces pycnidia F ig u r e 8 -11. Stem rot in a stake infected by Diplodia sp.that erupt through the stem or root surface, becoming confluent, stromal, and ostiolate. The conidiophores are short and simple, producing dark two-cell conidia that are slightly elongated on reaching maturity. Infection is believed to occur through wounds, and is favored by high environmental relative humidity.Management and control. To control the disease, the cassava crop should be rotated with nonsusceptible crops such as maize or sorghum, particularly when incidence is more than 3%. Planting stakes from healthy crops should be used and tools disinfected. Planting materials should be selected and handled carefully both before and after storage. Only viable cuttings or buds should be planted. One recommendation is to immerse cuttings in a solution of captan (3 g/L) and benomyl (3 g/L) for 5 min. Captan may be replaced by copper oxychloride.Root rots in cassava are important where soils are poorly drained or where excessively rainy seasons occur. In early growth, many microorganisms are capable of inducing not only root rots in young cassava plants, but also in the storage roots of mature plants. Although several root diseases have been reported, little information exists about them. Not even the symptoms are well described.Usually, infection kills young plants at germination or shortly afterwards. Infection in plants older than 4 months may result in partial or total wilt, depending on whether the root rot is soft or dry. Once invaded by one or more primary pathogens, infected roots may be invaded by a wide spectrum of other microorganisms. These are usually the otherwise weak saprophytic parasites, which become capable of degrading root tissues and masking the identity of the primary causal agent. The resulting root rots therefore appear to have the same syndrome of symptoms.Pathogens causing root rots include Phytophthora spp., Fusarium sp., Scytalidium lignicola, Rosellinia spp., Sclerotium sp., and Fomes lignosus (Ferdinando et al. 1968;Jennings 1970;Pereira 1998;Viégas 1955). Some of these diseases often develop when cassava is planted immediately after woody crops such as coffee. Soils of such crops are infested with pathogens that attack ligneous plants such as cassava. These pathogens may be fungi or bacteria that cause root deterioration, either as the crop grows or after harvest when roots are stored.Control measures for these diseases are similar, the best comprising cultural practices such as good drainage, selection of loose-textured soils, crop rotation, early harvest, and avoiding soils prone to flooding. Treatments with fungicides may help establish the crop, preventing root rots from attacking during the crop's first months. Ridomil® (2.5 kg/ha), applied to the soil, and foliar applications of Alliette® (0.4 kg/ha) have shown good results. Fungicides based on plant extracts, oils, and cytokinins help control soil fungi, while offering a nonpolluting organic alternative. Resistant varieties have also been reported (Castaño 1953;CIAT 1998;Drummond and Gonçalves 1957;Fassi 1957;Müller and De Carneiro 1970;Sánchez 1998).Importance. This disease has been reported in many cassava-growing regions with heavy, poorly drained soils that have a high content of organic matter. It is also found in cassava crops planted after forest crops or ligneous perennial species (Castaño 1953;Viégas 1955). The disease has also been called \"black rot\" because of the characteristic black color of infected tissues and root cankers.In Colombia, dry rots are found in the Coffee Belt and in crops planted where coffee, cacao, or guamo (a shade tree used in coffee plantations) had previously been grown.Initially, the root epidermis is covered with white rhizomorphs that later become black (Figure 8-12). Internally, infected tissues of bulked roots are slightly discolored and exude liquid on pressure. The black mycelial bundles penetrate the tissues, where they grow, forming small cavities that contain mycelium of an off-white color. The infected roots have a characteristic odor of decaying wood.Etiology. Rosellinia necatrix, the perithecial state of Dematophora necatrix, is the causal agent of this disease (Castaño 1953;Viégas 1955). This fungus induces root rot in other ligneous and herbaceous plants (Castaño 1953;Viégas 1955). However, very little information is available on the epidemiology of the fungus in cassava. Its sexual state is generally believed to occur only very rarely (Castaño 1953). Other Rosellinia species also attack cassava.Although the disease has not been reported in young plants, the recommendation is still to avoid selecting planting materials from infected crops.Rotate with grasses whenever the incidence of plant death or root rot reaches 3%.• Eliminate infected cassava residues and/or litter from perennial trees (e.g., trunks and decaying branches).• Plant in loose-textured soils.• Improve soil drainage.Treat by solarization, exposing the soil to the sun for 3 months.• Chemical control with Topsin (thiophanatemethyl) at 2 g/L of commercial product and applied to the soil before planting.• Applications of Sincocin (plant extract) to the soil at 1 L/ha are recommended. Stakes may also be immersed in a solution of the product at 1%.This disease commonly occurs in young stakes and mature roots, covering affected parts with a cottony mat. It has been reported only in Latin America (CIAT 1972;Ferdinando et al. 1968). The white mycelium, which is found in infected roots or towards the base of stems, is also disseminated through the soil. This mycelium can, sometimes, penetrate roots through wounds, causing subsequent rot. Although it is rarely lethal to young plants, this fungus may cause a high incidence of root necrosis in a plant.The disease is caused by Sclerotium rolfsii, a common soil organism but a weak pathogen. It has a white mycelium of cottony appearance. It also produces numerous round sclerotia, which characteristically form in the host or laboratory cultures.Although this disease is known in Latin America, it is currently of minor importance. The disease is identified by the presence of a mass of white mycelium under the cortex of bulked roots and by the presence of white mycelial threads that look like cotton fibers covering part or all the epidermis of infected roots to the base of stems. Internally, the infected tissues look dehydrated and have a characteristic odor of decaying wood. Young plants may become infected and sometimes suffer sudden wilting, defoliation, and root necrosis.The organism causing the disease is Fomes lignosus (IITA 1972;Jennings 1970).Root rots (Phytophthora spp.)Importance. Root rots are a very common problem in cassava production, causing yield losses that may be as high as 80% of total production. Distribution. Root rot caused by Phytophthora spp. affect cassava in different agroecological areas in Africa (Fassi 1957), tropical America (Müller and De Carneiro 1970), and India (Johnson and Palaniswami 1999). In Nigeria, Cameroon, and Benin, the pathogens causing root diseases of economic importance include Sclerotium rolfsii, Botryodiplodia theobromae, Fomes lignosus, Rosellinia necatrix, Rhizoctonia solani, Phytophthora spp., and Fusarium spp. (Hillocks and Wydra 2002).Recent reports mention that cassava rots may cause losses between 5% and sometimes 100% in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, specifically, Colombia, Brazil (W Fukuda and C Fukuda 1996, EMBRAPA, Brazil;F Takatsu 1996, University of Brasília, Brazil, pers. comm.), Cuba (M Folgueras 2002, INIVIT, pers.   1970). Phytophthora nicotianae also causes a similar leaf blight in cassava (Erwin and Ribeiro 1996;Lima et al. 1993).Etiology. Farmers widely believe that root rots are caused by excess water in the soil. However, a study conducted in different edaphoclimatic areas of Colombia showed that different Phytophthora spp. are the major cause of cassava root rots (Sánchez 1998). Other pathogens also causing root rots include:  CIAT 2000CIAT , 2004)).The genetic diversity of these pathogens is broad and was determined through studies in Colombia with 80 isolates obtained from roots, young stems, and soils from 19 municipalities. These studies included the pathogen's pathogenicity, virulence, morphology, and molecular analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the pathogen's ribosomal DNA. Eleven genetic groups were identified through PCR-RFLP (Álvarez et al. 1997a, 1997c, 2000;Sánchez 1998). Phytophthora tropicalis was identified through sequencing of the ITS region of ribosomal DNA and isoenzymes, showing it to be genetically similar to P. capsici (CIAT 2000). The isolate was obtained from cassava roots in Barcelona, Quindío; P. palmivora was isolated from cassava roots at CIAT, Valle del Cauca.  Mae Joana (IM-175) and Zolhudinha (IM-158). Both clones came from the State of Amazonas and are planted in the várzea ecosystem (a type of floodplains) of northern Brazil. The adoption of these clones, together with the application of appropriate cultural practices, increased root yields by more than 80% in this region (Lozano 1991b).High yields and resistance to root rot caused by P. drechsleri were obtained in clones MD-33 and Pao (Mendonça et al. 2003). Pereira (1998) reported resistance to P. drechsleri in seven cultivars from a group of 31 evaluated. Barragán and Álvarez (1998) reported 15 resistant genotypes from a group of 60 elite genotypes evaluated. In 2003, Llano et al. reported six individuals from a family of 126 individuals, with high resistance to P. tropicalis, P. palmivora, and P. melonis. Although harvesting roots 14 months after planting resulted in increased yield, it also demonstrated a higher incidence of root rots, thus showing that root rot incidence varies according to clones and harvest time.In a participatory research study, indigenous communities of the Colombian Amazon adopted cassava clones resistant to Phytophthora spp. (Llano and Álvarez 2008;Llano et al. 2001). These clones were selected in the laboratory (harvested roots) and greenhouse (stems) from 700 genotypes provided by Embrapa and CIAT.To obtain reliable information on the genetics of such a complex disease, Takatsu and Fukuda (1990) concluded that standardized methods were needed for inoculating and evaluating resistance to each cassava root rot pathogen. CIAT and the National University of Colombia-Palmira identified cassava clones resistant to P. nicotianae var. nicotianae by first inoculating bulked roots of plants that were 10 to 12 months old. They then added a suspension of the fungus to a nutritive solution in which 45-day-old seedlings were growing. The roots of seedlings were colonized by the pathogen. The inoculated roots were evaluated in terms of the percentage of the pathogen's colonization of cortical and parenchymatous tissues.Inoculated bulked roots demonstrated variation in the severity of symptoms, depending on whether they came from resistant or susceptible clones. The inoculation method was easier to carry out, less expensive, and with faster results than the seedling method. No correlation was found between the two inoculation methods (López and Lozano 1992).Cassava seedlings planted in soil were also evaluated. The soil had previously been inoculated with a suspension of each of zoospores, oospores, or chlamydospores applied separately (Lima et al. 1993). Each inoculum type caused wilt and seedling death.In 1995, Lima and Takatsu (1995) published the reactions of 13 cassava clones that had been steminoculated with three isolates of P. drechsleri in the greenhouse. The isolate with the most virulence was inoculated into roots in the field. To inoculate roots without harvesting them, inoculum was deposited in a small wound. The correlation between inoculated plants in the screenhouse and roots inoculated in the field was +0.24.In other studies (Loke 2004), several biochemical and morphological markers, and leaf resistance were identified for preselecting clones for resistance to P. tropicalis in cassava populations, based on (1) reduced area of the parenchyma with the presence of scopoletin in roots after harvest; (2) a high relationship between iron and manganese; and(3) resistance in leaves 72 h after inoculation. Scopoletin is a coumarin that is found in very low concentrations in fresh roots but which increases considerably after harvest. This substance is easy to quantify in roots, using ultraviolet light, and is related to the cassava root's susceptibility to postharvest physiological deterioration. Loke (2004) also demonstrated the benefits of using an index of resistance to P. tropicalis that includes molecular markers. The objective of this index is to select genotypes with durable resistance, based on a large diversity of resistance or defense mechanisms.Several studies to identify the genetic base of resistance to Phytophthora have been conducted. For 25 cassava clones, a correlation of +0.31 was observed between resistance during penetration (in the peel, both epidermis and subepidermis) and after penetration (in the parenchyma). This finding indicated that these forms of resistance are moderately associated (Corredor 2005;Loke 2004). Alvarez et al. (2003c), Llano et al. (2004), andLoke (2004) evaluated the cassava K family (150 F 1 individuals from the cross TMS 30572 × CM 2177-2), inoculating root fragments. Nineteen QTLs were identified as associated with resistance to different species of Phytophthora and Pythium, three of which explained between 8.3% and 11% of phenotypic variance.Those QTLs that were expressed were also found to vary from one cropping cycle to another, depending on prevailing environmental conditions. Minor genes were demonstrated as controlling resistance to P. tropicalis, P. melonis, and P. palmivora, with a high genotype × environment interaction existing. Although the population showed differences within its genetic base for resistance to Phytophthora, levels of resistance were not sufficiently high for use in improvement programs. Hence, identifying contrasting parents for the disease would be useful, as well as developing new populations for determining QTLs (Llano et al. 2004;Loke et al. 2004).To identify genomic sequences in cassava that are homologous with genes of resistance to diseases of different plant species, two cassava families were evaluated for their resistance to P. tropicalis (GenBank accession AY 739022), P. melonis (GenBank accession AY 739021), and P. palmivora, all causal agents of root rot. Two strategies were used to search for genes for resistance: (1) hybridization with probes for maize and rice, using RFLP; and (2) amplifying conserved regions of DNA, using the degenerate primers NBS and Pto kinase. Three cassava clones resistant to P. tropicalis and P. palmivora were used, obtaining clones that were sequenced and homologized with known genes of resistance.With hybridization, cassava demonstrated very low homology with the monocotyledon genes tested. Twenty-eight NBS and 2 Pto kinase clones were obtained, of which 14 showed homologous sequence with resistance gene analogs (RGAs) and NBS-LRR (GenBank accessions: AY730038, AY730040, AY730041, AY737490, AY745762, AY745763, AY745764, AY745765, AY745766, AY745767, AY745768, AY745769, AY745770, and AY745771). Four of these showed an open reading framework (ORF) with conserved motifs in the nucleotide-binding site (NBS) region, which means they were considered to be RGAs. Altogether, three classes of RGAs were identified, none of which showed association with resistance to Phytophthora (Llano et al. 2004).Cultural practices. The best cultural practices for the integrated management of root rots are summarized below:Selecting an appropriate, well-drained, and moderately deep soil. If the land is flat and soils are clayey, planting should be done on ridges.To catalyze resistance, fertilizers should be applied in drench form, using potassium sources, and/or as foliar sprays, using potassium phosphites.• If rot incidence reaches 3%, the cassava crop should be rotated with grasses, at least once a year.Eradicating diseased plants by removing infected roots from the field and burning them.Selecting healthy plants to obtain clean seed.Where the farming area is infested, then stakes should be treated with metalaxyl at 0.3 g/L a.i.Treating stakes in hot water at 49 ºC for 49 min is an alternative to chemical treatment (Álvarez et al. 2003b).Immersing stakes in a suspension of Trichoderma harzianum and T. vi r ide at 2.5 × 10 8 spores/L, and later applying the same suspension in drench form (CIAT 2006(CIAT , 2007)). Biological control of rots with isolates of T. h a r zi a n u m and T. vi r ide is promising (Bedoya et al. 2000;CIAT 2006CIAT , 2007;;Edison 2002). Field trials in different agroecological zones of Colombia have shown that soil inoculated with strains of these types of Trichoderma will increase cassava yield (CIAT 2001(CIAT , 2006(CIAT , 2007)). Isolates of Trichoderma spp. were selected on the basis of in vitro antagonism, production of secondary metabolites that inhibit Phytophthora spp., and bioassays in screenhouses.To identify practices of disease management that are feasible for indigenous communities in the northwestern region of the Amazon (Colombia), participatory research trials were established, with the women farmers making the evaluations. Soil amendments were incorporated. These were ash, organic matter (dry leaves), and a 1:1 mixture of both materials. Dosage was 200 g/plant. Cassava was also associated with cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), and stakes selected from the middle part of healthy plants.In these trials, cassava yield increased by 446% with applications of the ash and organic matter mixture. Where only ash was used, yield increased by 272%. Stake selection increased yield by 366%. Compared with traditional management, these practices reduced root rots by 100% (incorporation of the ash and organic matter mixture), 99% (association with cowpea), 94.2% (ash only), and 89.7% (stake selection) (Llano and Álvarez 2008).Other fungal species can induce root rots in cassava plants at different growth stages, but little information is available on these diseases and their importance. These root rots are caused by: Armillariella mellea, which attacks both the stem base and roots of mature plants (Arraudeau 1967;CIAT 1972) Phaeolus manihotis (Heim 1931) Lasiodiplodia theobromae (Vanderweyen 1962) Pythium sp. (CIAT 1972) Fusarium sp. (CIAT 1972) Clitocybe tabescens (Arraudeau 1967) Sphaceloma manihoticola (Bitancourt and Jenkins 1950) Rhizopus spp. (Majunder et al. 1956) Rhizoctonia sp. (Gonçalves and Franco 1941) Aspergillus spp. (Clerck and Caurie 1968) Nattrassia mangiferae (Scytalidium sp.); Verticillium sp.; and Rigidoporus sp.Some bacterial species belonging to the Bacillus, Erwinia, and Corynebacterium genera are also believed to cause soft rots and/or fermentation in bulked cassava roots (Akinrele 1964;Averre 1967). Symptoms of these soft rots are similar and are frequently accompanied by fermentation. These agents probably penetrate roots through wounds produced by farmers during cultivation or by animals, insects, or fungi. They are frequently accompanied by other saprophytic microorganisms that help advance deterioration.The causal agent of cassava bacterial blight (see below) can also induce necrosis, discoloration, and dry rot in the vascular tissues of infected roots (Lozano 1973;Lozano and Sequeira 1974).This physiological disorder damages bulked roots (Averre 1967). It occurs in moist and poorly drained soils in which roots present a dry internal necrosis that extends irregularly from the center to cortical tissues. This disorder is observed in only 10%-20% of the roots of an infected plant. The larger and thicker roots are believed to be the most susceptible.The cause of cassava roots' rapid deterioration after harvest is unknown, whether it results from physiological or pathological effects, or a combination of the two. Numerous microorganisms have nevertheless been isolated from deteriorated roots, with several being known to cause discoloration and rot.Cassava bacterial blight (Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. manihotis) Importance. Cassava bacterial blight (CBB) is regarded as one of the most limiting diseases of cassava production, as it can cause total crop loss in affected areas.During the 1960s and 1970s, this disease caused major damage to the cassava crop. However, the application of integrated management programs, introduction of quarantine measures in some countries, and identification and planting of resistant varieties have led to its satisfactory control (Hillocks and Wydra 2002;Lozano 1986).Distribution. Cassava bacterial blight has been known in Latin America since 1912, when it was reported in Brazil (Kemp 2000). It spread to the cassava-growing regions of Africa and Asia in the 1970s (Boher and Verdier 1994;Bradbury 1986). In Latin America, the disease has been reported from most of the cassava-growing regions of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela (Cajar 1981;Fukuda 1992;Languidey 1981;Lozano and Sequeira 1974;Rajnauth and Pegus 1988;Rodríguez 1979;Rodríguez 1992;Sosa 1992;Trujillo et al. 1982).In Asia, CBB has been observed during the rainy season in Thailand (Figure 8-16) as well as in many other countries but it is seldom very severe (E Álvarez 2009, pers. comm.). The disease was first observed in Taiwan before 1945 (Leu 1976), and has since been reported from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand (Booth and Lozano 1978;E Álvarez and AC Bellotti 2009, pers. comm.), Vietnam (E Álvarez and AC Bellotti 2009, pers. comm.) and India (Cherian and Mathew 1981). In Africa, the disease causes severe epidemics (Hillocks and Wydra 2002), and appears in the following countries (in order of reporting year): Nigeria (Williams et al. 1973), Zaire (Maraite and Meyer 1975), Ghana (Doku and Lamptey 1977), Benin (Korang-Amoakoh and Oduro  (Notteghem et al. 1980), Republic of South Africa (Manicom et al. 1981), Rwanda (Onyango and Mukunya 1982), Sudan (Kwaje 1984), Togo (Boher and Agboli 1992), Cameroon, Central African Republic, Tanzania, Kenya, and Burundi (Hillocks and Wydra 2002).Symptoms and epidemiology. Symptoms characteristic of CBB are small, angular, aqueouslooking leaf spots found on the lower surface of the leaf blade. Or symptoms may be leaf blight or brown leaf burn, wilt, dieback, and a gummy exudation in infected young stems, petioles, and leaf spots . The vascular bundles of infected petioles and stems are also necrotic, appearing as bands of brown or black color. Symptoms occur 11 to 13 days after infection (Lozano and Booth 1979). Some susceptible varieties present dry and putrid spots around necrotic vascular bundles (Verdier 2002).The bacterium disseminates widely through stakes from infected plants, from one cropping cycle to another, and from one area to another. Within the crop, the principal means of dispersal are water splash from rain and contaminated tools. The movement of people and animals within the crop, especially during or after rain, may also help disperse the pathogen (Lozano 1973).Although the pathogen survives poorly in soil, this can be source of inoculum if it is contaminated, as well as irrigation water, although in reduced proportions. The bacterium can survive epiphytically on many weeds, which serve as sources of inoculum if control is inadequate. Insects spread the disease over short distances.The severity of CBB becomes greater when temperatures fluctuate widely between day and night. Hence, the disease is not important in areas of stable temperatures such as the Amazon Region, where the cloud cover does not permit marked fluctuations in temperatures.Etiology. The causal organism, Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. manihotis (Xam), is a Gram-negative bacterium that is shaped like a slim cane. It is mobile by means of a polar flagellum. Its cells are not encapsulated, and the bacterium does not form spores.The organism penetrates the host through stomas and wounds in the plant's epidermis. Infection is systemic, moving through the stems and petioles in xylem vessels and possibly also the phloem.Xam can be detected, using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which amplifies a DNA fragment of 898 bp. This methodology permits detection to as low as 300 cfu/mL in leaves and stems infected by CBB (Verdier et al. 1998). When Verdier and Mosquera (1999) used the specific probe P898, they detected the bacterium in raw extracts of infected leaves and stems, and in cassava fruits and sexual seed. According to Verdier et al. (1993), pathogen diversity is narrow in Africa but broad in South America, cassava's center of origin. Restrepo et al. (1996) reported that the diversity of the Colombian strains is very broad, at both pathogenic and genetic levels. Diversity is also high in Brazil (Restrepo et al. 1999) and Venezuela (Verdier et al. 1998).Previous studies also revealed geographical differentiation among pathogen populations, according to ecozone. Evidence also exists of pathotypes moving within and between regions, probably because of movements of infected planting materials. In Colombia, analysis of pathogenic characteristics of Xam strains collected in three ecozones led to the definition of different pathotypes specific to each ecozone (Restrepo 1999). An analysis, using the AFLP technique, of the genetic variability of 85 Xam isolates from Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, and Venezuela distinguished three groups: (1) a cluster at a similarity level of 0.6 and formed of isolates from different localities in Colombia;(2) a cluster at 0.7 and comprising 81% of the Venezuelan isolates included in this study, and 4 Brazilian isolates; and (3) a cluster at 0.4 and formed by most of the Brazilian isolates, 3 isolates from Venezuela, 1 from Cuba, and 3 from Colombia. In this last group, clustering below the 0.4 similarity level also occurred, indicating great genetic variability within the Brazilian sites, possibly related to the also high level of genetic diversity observed for the host plant (Sánchez et al. 1999). When new pathogen strains are introduced into a given area, the genetic diversity already found within the pathogen population is increased, thereby favoring the development of new pathotypes (Restrepo 1999).Integrated disease management. To control the disease, integrated management should be carried out, involving varietal resistance, cultural practices, and biological control.Varietal resistance. The genetic control of CBB is the most efficient and economic method for the farmer, but the cassava cropping cycle is long, with a very low production of planting materials. Hence, the time involved in producing resistant varieties is very long. At CIAT, resistant varieties are identified through evaluations in the Eastern Plains and the Atlantic Coast, where the disease is acute and endemic. They are also evaluated in the greenhouse, under controlled conditions, with temperatures at 30 °C and relative humidity at 95%.In several greenhouse studies, plants of different cassava varieties were inoculated with 39 isolates from different regions of Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil. Fifteen genotypes were identified as having high to intermediate resistance to CBB, scoring between 1.0 and 2.5 on a scale of severity from 1.0 to 5.0. These varieties included M Esc Fla 039, M Esc Fla 021, M Bra 383, M Col 2066, CM 3311-4, CM 7772-13, and SM 1779-8 (CIAT 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002b, 2003a).Between 1995 and 2007, about 6400 cassava genotypes were evaluated in Villavicencio (Colombia) for their field resistance to CBB. Of these, 117 were identified as having partial resistance (CIAT 2001(CIAT , 2002b(CIAT , 2003a(CIAT , 2006(CIAT , 2007)).In a 10 × 10 diallelic study, carried out in Villavicencio, with 45 families and 30 plants per family, the cassava genotype CM 4574-7 was identified as having high general combination ability. Its progenies showed increased resistance to CBB and SED (Calle et al. 2005).Tolerant varieties also exist such as M Bra 685, M Bra 886, ICA Catumare, ICA Cebucán, ICA Negrita, Vergara (CM 6438-14), CM 4574-7, and Chiroza. However, the disease has increased in severity in ICA Catumare, for which adequate selection of clean seed was not performed (Álvarez and Llano 2002). Several genotypes have also been identified as having resistance to several pathotypes of the bacterium (Álvarez et al. 1999). Zinsou et al. (2004) recommended the cassava genotype TMS 30572 for farmers in Benin, because of its high yield and relatively stable resistance to CBB across different environments. Kpémoua (1995) showed that resistance to Xam is associated with the production of phenolic compounds and the reinforcement of cell walls in the vascular system during early infection.To determine the genetic control of resistance, 150 F 1 individuals of the cross TMS 30572 × CM 2177-2 were inoculated with the pathogen and evaluated for resistance under controlled conditions in the greenhouse. Five different Xam strains from the world's major cassava-growing areas were used in the study. Genetic analysis identified six genomic regions that control resistance to all Xam strains. One region controlled >60% of resistance to each of the strains CIO-1 and CIO-136. Two regions accounted for >70% of resistance to strain CIO-84. Another 80% of resistance to strains CIO-136 and ORST X-27 could be explained by 3 loci for each strain (Jorge et al. 2000).In three instances, the same genomic regions controlled resistance to two strains. A marker was obtained by Southern hybridization of a PCR amplification product from cassava, using heterologous primers designed from conserved regions of the Xanthomonas resistance gene in rice (Xa21). The region it marked accounted for 60% of phenotypic variance for resistance to strain CIO-136. A backcross population, derived from crossing members of the mapping population, has been developed and will provide more recombinations for fine mapping towards cloning resistance genes, and for studying intra-locus and inter-loci genetic interactions (Jorge et al. 2000).A molecular genetic map of cassava was recently constructed from an F 1 cross of noninbred parents. RFLP, AFLP, EST, SSR markers were used to map resistance to CBB. The F 1 cross was evaluated with Xam strains under both field and greenhouse conditions. Nine quantitative trait loci (QTLs), located on linkage groups B, D, L, N, and X, explained the phenotypic variance of the crop's response to Xam in the greenhouse. Jorge et al. (2001) reported eight QTLs associated with resistance to CBB, and found changes in the expression of QTLs from one cropping cycle to another in the field, which could be related to changes in the pathogen's population structure. A QTL, located in linkage group D, was conserved over two cropping cycles and in resistance evaluations in the greenhouse. In a previous study, Jorge et al. (2000) showed that 12 different QTLs control resistance to five Xam strains. Hurtado et al. (2005) detected the molecular marker, microsatellite SSRY 65, that could select resistant genotypes in a cassava family corresponding to the cross CM 9208-13 × M Nga 19. Furthermore, the authors identified two RGAs of the NBS class through amplification with PCR, using two primers designed by Llano (2003). These RGAs could identify plant individuals that were resistant to the bacterium.One approach to assessing cassava genetic diversity involves the structural analysis of genotypes resistant to CBB. Multiple correspondence analysis of AFLP data, using two primer combinations for cassava genotypes resistant and susceptible to two strains of Xam, elucidated the genetic structure of cassava germplasm resistant to CBB (Sánchez et al. 1999). Results revealed a random distribution of resistance or susceptibility, suggesting that resistance to CBB has arisen independently many times in cassava germplasm.Phenolic compounds have been implicated in the resistance of cassava (Manihot esculenta) to xanthomonads. Cassava cultivars M Col 22 and CM 523-7 were inoculated with Xam and X. cassavae. CM 523-7 was susceptible to both pathogens, whereas M Col 22 was susceptible to Xam and resistant to X. cassavae. In the resistant interaction, no disease symptoms were observed in leaves. Bacterial growth was greatly reduced, and cell wall-bound peroxidase activity increased twofold, probably related to lignin deposition (Pereira et al. 2000).Preformed putative defenses include copious latex production, which contains protease, ß-1,3 glucanase, and lysozyme activities. ESTs from a latex cDNA library revealed a constitutive expression of many defense-related genes including chitinase, glucanase, and PAL. A cDNA-AFLP analysis of cassava leaves suffering a hypersensitive response to Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato revealed that 78 genes, new to cassava, had expressed differentially. Homologs of a metalloprotease, glucanase, peroxidase, and ACC oxidase were all found to be upregulated. Pathogenicity determinants of Xam are being studied in the disruption of the gum biosynthesis gene (its EPS is produced copiously in plants) and the pel gene (pectate lyase appears as a single isoform) (Kemp et al. 2001).RGAs were amplified as a means of elucidating the putative genes involved in cassava's defense response. For the cDNA-AFLP technique, of about 3600 cDNA fragments screened, 353 fragments were specific to a resistant variety. Sequence analyses showed significant homology with resistance genes, NPK-1 related proteins, senescence-related proteins, and other known proteins involved in disease resistance reactions.Using degenerate primers, 12 classes of RGAs were identified in cassava. Screening a cassava cDNA library (root and leaf) with class-specific RGA probes also led to the identification of 16 expressed gene clones. Sequence analysis of clone L16 confirmed the constitutive expression of a protein that shares characteristics with previously reported resistance genes (Restrepo et al. 2001). López et al. (2004a) identified 6046 unigenes and characterized a group of genes putatively involved in cassava's defense response to Xam infection. López et al. (2004b) identified the RXam1 gene, homolog of Xa21 from rice, in a 3600-bp DNA fragment. The gene is induced in the resistant variety (M Bra 685), 72 h after infection by Xam.Cultural practices. The following practices are recommended:Use of healthy planting materials obtained from disease-free crops, plants derived from meristem culture, and by rooting buds and/or shootsTreating stakes by immersing them for 10 min in a solution of cupric fungicides such as copper oxychloride or Orthocide® (captan) at 3 to 6 g/L• Immersion in extract of citrus fruit seeds (Lonlife ® )• Heat treatment of stakes (Álvarez et al. 2008;CIAT 2007), using hot water at 49 °C for 49 min. Incidence of CBB in untreated stakes was 37%, but dropped to 7% when treated with hot water. It dropped further to 0% when stakes were pretreated at 49 °C for 10 min 24 h before being treated with hot water for 5 h. Treatment with hot water did not, in practical terms, affect stake germination, reducing it by only 18% in the most prolonged treatment (Ramírez et al. 2000). The induction of enzymes that activate under stress conditions is probably responsible for conserving high stake germination, even after prolonged treatment in hot water. Lozano (1986) also mentions the following practices for managing the disease:Planting at the end of rainy periods Complementary studies elucidated some mechanisms of resistance at the biochemical and genetic levels and molecular host-pathogen interactions.New methods for detecting Xanthomonas campestris pv. manihotis (Xcm), using immunological and genetic techniques, were developed. Research results were partly verified under African conditions such as testing the cassava genome mapping population for reaction towards African strains to identify genetic markers and/or resistance related genes.Biological control. Spraying with suspensions of Pseudomonas putida reduced the severity of damage caused by CBB, while cassava yields increased significantly (CIAT 1985). However, this practice has not been adapted for farming conditions.Bacterial stem rot (Erwinia carotovora pv.Importance. This disease is important for the damage it does to the quality and germinability of planting stakes.Symptoms. The disease is characterized by an aqueous and smelly stem rot or by medullary necrosis of the plant's ligneous parts (Figure 8-18). Infected plants show bud wilt. The stem's surfaces typically show perforations made by insects of the genus Anastrepha Schiner, which act as vectors for the bacterium. These orifices are easy to distinguish by the presence of dry latex, discharged as the stem is perforated. Diseased stakes used for planting will not germinate or they produce weak spindly plants, with a limited number of bulked roots (CIAT 1972).Using healthy seed • Planting with varieties resistant to the insect vector • Burning infected stemsSymptoms and epidemiology. This disease generally appears on the lower parts of stems in plants older than 6 months. Characteristic symptoms, found on stem nodes, are galls that often become very large, presenting a proliferation of buds on the epidermis . Infected plants may become weak and spindly, and in the early days of infection, suffer dieback to as far as major galls. A single plant could have several galls on a stem and even along lower branches (Lozano et al 1981).The disease is usually initiated by infested soil being rain-splashed onto wounds caused by natural defoliation in stems of the plant's lower parts.Control is achieved through rotation with another crop when more than 3% of the planting is infected; disinfecting machetes with 2% sodium hypochlorite; always using planting stakes from healthy crops; and burning diseased materials within the crop (Lozano et al 1981).Another bacterial disease is caused by Erwinia herbicola. (previously known as mycoplasma-like organisms or MLOs)Cassava frogskin disease (Ca. phytoplasma, subgroup 16SrIII-L and rpIII-H)Importance. Cassava frogskin disease (CFSD) is an economically important disease affecting cassava roots. It was reported for the first time in 1971, in the Department of Cauca, southern Colombia. Its origin appears to be the Amazon region of Brazil or Colombia (Pineda et al. 1983).Frogskin disease directly affects root production, causing losses of 90% or more. Symptoms consist of small, longitudinal fissures distributed throughout the root. As roots increase in diameter, the fissures tend to heal, giving the injuries a lip form. The root cortex or epidermis appears cork-like and peels off easily. Depending on the severity of symptoms, the depth and number of lesions increase until the root becomes deformed (Álvarez et al. 2003a;Pineda et al. 1983).Distribution. In the 1980s, the disease occurred in most cassava-growing regions of Colombia and has continually spread. It has now been reported in Brazil, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela (Calvert and Cuervo 2002), as well as in Nicaragua and Honduras. In Venezuela, it was reported for the first time in the States of Barinas and Aragua, with incidences between 11.4% and 14.3%, in cassava stakes grafted with 'Secundina', a variety used to diagnose the disease (Chaparro and Trujillo 2001).Frogskin mostly attacks cassava roots, reducing their diameter, but some varieties may also show symptoms in leaves such as mosaic, chlorosis, curling, and/or curvature in leaf margins (Figure 8-20A). However, these symptoms are difficult to distinguish under field conditions, and may be confused with damage from mites, thrips, viruses, and micronutrient deficiencies, or they can be masked when temperatures are >30 °C.Characteristic CFSD symptoms in the roots include a woody aspect and the thick, cork-like peel, which is also fragile and opaque. The peel also presents lip-like slits that may join to create a net-like or honeycomb pattern (Figures 8-20B and 8-20C). When roots do not bulk adequately (Figure 20D), the stems tend to be thicker than normal. In contrast, the roots of healthy plants are well developed, with thin, brilliant, and flexible peel. Molecular tests, carried out on plants of cassava and pink vinca (Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don) after transmission trials with dodder (Cuscuta sp. L.), detected the presence of phytoplasmas associated with the 16SrIII group. Graft transmission could transfer phytoplasmas from infected to healthy plants (CIAT 2005).Insects were collected to identify the vector or vectors of the phytoplasma causing the disease. A homology of 90% was found among sequenced fragments from tissue of the insect Scaphytopius marginelineatus Stål (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadellidae) and from tissues of two cassava varieties.Etiology. The CFSD-associated phytoplasmas were identified as group 16SrIII strains by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and sequence analyses of amplified rDNA products, and results were corroborated by PCRs employing group 16SrIII-specific rRNA gene or ribosomal protein (rp) gene primers. Collectively, RFLP analyses indicated that CFSD strains differed from all phytoplasmas described previously in group 16SrIII and, on this basis, the strains were tentatively assigned to new ribosomal and ribosomal protein subgroups 16SrIII-L and rpIII-H, respectively. This is the first molecular identification of a phytoplasma associated with CFSD in cassava in Colombia (Álvarez et al. 2009).The phytoplasma was not detected in healthy plants from the same varieties harvested in disease-free fields. These results point towards the possible role played by phytoplasmas in this disease (Álvarez et al. 2003a;CIAT 2002a). The importance of the CFSD in cassava production systems has motivated other scientific groups at CIAT, such as the Virology group, to undertake efforts to understand the characteristics of the disease, its symptoms and its management practices.Cuttings from CFSD-infected plants in the greenhouse were taken, and rooted in deionized water with different doses of chlortetracycline. Inhibition of leaf symptoms caused by CFSD was successful in two experiments when 50 ppm chlortetracycline were used, thus indicating that CFSD is not caused by a virus. Nested PCR also showed that phytoplasmas were present in leaves of infected plants when treated with 0 ppm tetracycline (CIAT 2003b).Although the disease spreads mostly through infected stakes, the disease is believed to have insect vectors. Numerous homopteran species (e.g., planthoppers, tree hoppers, and froghoppers) were collected from cassava fields in 9 departments and 17 sites in Colombia. Three genera-Scaphytopius fuliginosus Osborn, Empoasca sp. Walsh, and Stirellus bicolor Van Duzee (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae)were the most frequently collected. These three species are known vectors of viruses and phytoplasmas for other crops. Based on the evidence of high homology (80%) between insect and phytoplasma detected in cassava, Sc. fuliginosus appears to be a potential candidate as the vector for CFSD (CIAT 2003b). However, tests for transmission have not yet effectively confirmed this hypothesis. The whitefly (Bemisia tuberculata) is still associated with the disease transmission.Integrated disease management. To date, the disease is managed principally by using stakes from healthy plants. Heat treatment, followed by meristem culture, has been used to obtain plants free of CFSD. Grafting with the susceptible variety Secundina is useful for monitoring the effectiveness of the heat treatment (Flor et al. 2001). Treating stakes at temperatures of more than 55 °C appears promising but needs adjusting to reduce losses by the consequent low germination of stakes.Plantings with more than 10% of incidence (foliage, stakes, and roots) should be burned. Plant health surveillance and quarantine systems need to be strengthened to prevent the entry or mobilization of planting materials from areas with the disease.Field and greenhouse studies carried out at CIAT have reported 30 genotypes with different levels of resistance. These findings were confirmed through the expression of leaf symptoms in grafts with variety Secundina (CIAT 2003b;Cuervo 2006). The use of tolerant varieties will be a useful tool in controlling this disease.Importance. This disease, known as superbrotamiento in Spanish, has been reported in Brazil,Venezuela,Mexico,. Although its incidence is not significant, the percentage of witches' broom in affected plantings is much higher than that of other diseases caused by American phytoplasmas. Crop losses can reach 80% (Lozano et al. 1981). In Asia a new cassava disease was observed at Quang Ngai, Vietnam (Figure 8   The disease is transmitted mechanically and by the use of stakes from diseased plants (Lozano et al. 1981).Etiology. The transmission of cassava phytoplasmas by Cuscuta sp. into pink vinca was 100% positive. Symptoms appeared 3 weeks after implanting the host parasite into pink vinca in growth chambers at 18-20 °C. No transmission was achieved with the insect Scaphytopius fuliginosus, even 3 months after exposure to feeding, whether cassava to cassava, cassava to vinca, or vinca to vinca (Valencia et al. 1993).In Vietnam, disease recognition was carried out in the country's central and southern regions (Quang Ngai and Dong Nai provinces). Samples for diagnosing phytoplasmas were collected in southern Vietnam at Hung Loc Agricultural Research Center and from a farmer's plot in Dong Nai province, both sites about 60 km from Ho Chi Minh City. Phytoplasmas were detected in the samples collected in Thailand and Vietnam. Diagnosis results confirm the association of symptoms (high bud proliferation shoots with short internodes, and small leaves) with phytoplasmas.Phytoplasmas were detected in roots, small leaves, and leaf veins showing symptoms. No phytoplasmas of the 16SrIII group (reported in America) were found in the samples from Thailand and Vietnam. However, only samples from eastern Thailand and southern Vietnam have been evaluated. These results need to be confirmed. Molecular tests based on the 16Sr gene indicated that differences exist between the phytoplasmas detected in eastern Thailand and southern Vietnam (E Álvarez, JF Mejía, and A Bertaccini 2009, pers. comm.).Management. The use of healthy planting materials and the elimination of diseased plants in the field are recommended to prevent the disease (Lozano et al. 1981). The disease is reduced by selecting stakes from healthy plants and by restricting the movement of cassava planting stakes, especially from infected areas, and that of related species such as Jatropha. Varietal resistance also exists.Importance. Antholysis in cassava was observed in crops in southwestern Colombia in 1981 by Jayasinghe et al. (1983), severely in some experimental clones. However, this disease does not have economic importance and is only sometimes observed.Symptoms. The disease appears in the inflorescence, with a characteristic virescence in the petals, which, instead of being their normal pink, become green. Hypertrophy of the petals is later observed and they become structures similar to leaves (phyllody). The floral racemes lose their normal appearance and resemble sprouts, giving this syndrome its name \"antholysis\" (antho -flower; lysis -dissolve, loosen) (Figure 8-24). Infected flowers commonly exhibit a very swollen gynophore and develop internodes in the floral receptacle, a phenomenon known as apostasis. Furthermore, elongation of the receptacle occurs above the insertion of the pistil, with development of sprouts. Flower fertility is lost, resulting in nonfunctional flowers that abort prematurely. Affected plants do not present symptoms in other organs and, moreover, germination did not differ between infected and healthy stakes (Jayasinghe et al. 1983).Etiology. By using an electron microscope, Jayasinghe et al. (1983) observed oval or spherical pleomorphic structures only in phloem tissues. Transmission is 100% by stakes. Under greenhouse conditions, symptoms of antholysis appear within 1 month of planting, contrasting with healthy plants, which take 5 months to flower.Treatment with penicillin (500 to 1000 ppm) did not reduce symptoms, whereas tetracycline reduced antholysis by 90%. This sensitivity and detection by Dienes' stain confirmed that the causal agent is a phytoplasma (Jayasinghe et al. 1983).Management. The disease is reduced by selecting stakes from healthy plants. Varietal resistance also exists."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"4da385faa37de8599d2a563e6bc4b60a","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/de53c54a-97f0-419d-b7b5-bff38d9ff510/retrieve","id":"-406442767"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"d6708711-bc48-4984-b3ff-a3178dd4e6c7","content":"Forage production for commercial use is a model for people who are not able or do not want to invest in dairy production, but are looking for a crop which is relatively easy to cultivate and for which a market already exists.It is also a possibility to start on a small area with small investments to gather experience and gradually expand once the grower is more confident with the production and marketing of the product. Like that it is also a perfect way for youth to develop a business. In Western Kenya, forages are often sold fresh due to the bad reputation of hay, but Brachiaria can be dried well and transformed to high quality hay, making it a storable product that can be sold in times of higher demand and prices, like the dry season.Year around scarcity in quality fodder (fresh and preserved) is characterizing the fodder market in Kenya and is offering chances to commercial fodder producers. Brachiaria hybrids produce high quality forage which qualifies for hay making.The establishment of 1 ha of forages with seeds is at the first glimpse an expensive investment, but taking the period of use of minimum 10 years into consideration, the investment comes down and is much cheaper than other cash crops. Additional to the establishment costs yearly maintenance costs have to be considered. The two 'costs' together show how much a Brachiaria forage field of 1 ha does cost per year Depending on the choice of forage varieties and the applied management practice, the profitability of hay production can vary significantly. The better the conditions, choice of variety and management practice, the higher is the profitability.Hay production with improved forages is a profitable busines"}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"d01c5dbcef81698925d3f775a7c2f9ab","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/47765e17-8482-4d46-8e99-268828c58ce9/retrieve","id":"1933635741"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"2519adbd-22a3-4aa7-ad3f-3a6883cdf11a","content":"Rapid urban growth in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) 3 countries has increased demand for processed food, opening opportunities whereby the cassava crop can acquire higher added value. In Colombia, public and private entities are highly interested in the potential prospects of increasing the consumption of cassava and its derived products. Accordingly, several agroindustrial projects on cassava are being promoted in various parts of the country. One dynamic market is animal feed, where cassava flour or dried chips can be used as an energy source in balanced feed formulas. However, to be viable, agroindustrial cassava projects need other alternative marketing options for using cassava, for example, as a partial substitute of other products such as wheat, maize, and rice flours, and even sweet cassava starch. Thus, cassava can participate in food-processing and industrial markets, for which products of higher added value can be developed.CIAT has conducted projects to expand the production of cassava flour and its use, thus promoting the opening of new markets and establishing rural agribusinesses that offer small farmers opportunities for increasing their income.In 2006, CLAYUCA, with financial support from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Colombia (MADR, its Spanish acronym), implemented the project Establishing a pilot plant for the continuous production of refined cassava flour. The aim was to develop a technology to extract, on an ongoing basis, refined cassava flour with high starch contents and low contents of fiber, ash, and protein (García et al. 2006).A modular pilot plant was therefore established to continuously produce refined cassava flour. Mechanical means (mill sieves) and pneumatic classification (cyclones) were used to obtain granules as fine as those of starch. Specifically, flour was refined to a maximum fineness, where particles were less than 50 μm in particle size.The project was based on the problems industry has with cassava starch such as the generation of large amounts of wastewater to obtain native starch. Studies were initiated, with the collaboration of Universidad del Valle (Colombia), to obtain flours based on dried cassava chips, using a minimum quantity of water (Barona and Isaza 2003).Dried cassava chips can be ground into high-quality flour for use as a partial substitute for wheat, maize, rice, and other flours in foodstuffs such as breads; pastas; flour mixtures for pies, beverages, and soups; extruded products; and processed meats. Cassava flour can also be used as raw material in the production of glues for corrugated cardboard boxes, biodegradable plastics, beer, and ethanol.Contributors, in order of appearance, to different sections of this chapter:Figure 23-1 shows the pilot plant for the continuous production of refined cassava flour located in the facilities of CIAT, Palmira, Colombia. The plant processes 300 kg/h of dried cassava chips. The design took into account the different issues determining the functionality of processing dried chips into refined flour. A simple technology was used, in which elements were easy to manage and accessible for maintenance. The technology was simple enough for anyone person with minimal training to carry out. Furthermore, the plant permitted variation in operating conditions, according to the desired refining requirements such as refined flour or a much finer flour. The pilot plant was used:• To generate materials or raw materials for the research and development of new products• For the technical training of functionaries• To manage actual costs of operation and profitability• To disseminate a new technology to cassavaprocessing companies interested in products of higher added value, and to companies wanting to enter new markets, using cassava flour in their processes.Figure 23-2 details the basic procedures for extracting refined cassava flour. It shows a screw conveyor for feeding raw material (dried cassava chips) to the mill sieves, three cylindrical mill-sieves with three shafts and three cylindrical sieves (screens), three fans, and five cyclones for pneumatic classification and flour collection.  Screw conveyor. The feeder or screw conveyor consists of a receiving hopper with a capacity of 300 kg/h of dried cassava chips (Figure 23-3). The chips are deposited into the hopper and conveyed by the screw to the first mill sieve for processing. At its largest, the screw's diameter is 6 inches. The shaft diameter is 2 inches, and the space between the blades is 4.5 inches.Cylindrical mill-sieves. Each mill sieve-a fundamental part of the plant-consists of a feed hopper, a cylindrical estructure or body where the sieve and shaft are located, and a discharge hopper with a cylindrical outlet that couples to a fan (Figure 23-4).Mill shafts. Each of the three shafts measures 1½ inches diameter, 170 cm length and possesses an endless screw at one end to feed dried cassava chips into the sieve. It also transmits energy for the blades striking the chips. The four stainless steel blades are joined to the shaft and are located at 90° to each other. They are designed to strike the chips over the mesh, exercising sufficient strength to mill them and separate the peels from the flour (Figure 23-5).Cylindrical sieves. The sieves are built with an expanded mesh of ⅛ inch to form the structure of the screen, with stainless steel rings coupled to its ends, comprising a cylinder of 29.5-cm diameter and 120.5-cm length. The screens are covered with mesh of 3 mm for grinding and 177-or 100-μm for classification of the particles (Figure 23-6).Fans. The fans transport fine flour from the mill sieves' outlets to the collector cyclones. The pilot plant has three centrifugal fans with radial blades and a 12-inch-diameter rotor (Figure 23-7).Collector cyclones. The pilot plant has five cyclones, two of which collect fine particles, in this case, of refined cassava flour. The other three classify the particles. The basic structure of a collector cyclone  The cyclone's tangential inlet creates centrifugal forces that tend to push particles towards the equipment's periphery, away from the inlet of the air, thus increasing sedimentation and making collection more effective (Figure 23-8).Classifier cyclones. These are used to separate fine from coarser particles. It is characterized by an inverse feed (central axial) that differs from that used in conventional cyclones. Studies by CLAYUCA (García 2006;Herrera et al. 2007) determined that, as air loaded with particles flowed into the equipment, in an axially central direction, it moved in different directions in three areas inside the cyclone (Figure 23-9).• The first area, marked as A in Figure 23-9, constitutes the entire periphery of the cylinder's conical part. The larger particles decant parallel to the axial feed, losing speed and becoming deposited into the cyclone's bottom.• In area B, a back pressure is formed, which helps disperse the particles entering the cylinder's upper part.• Area C lies in the cyclone's cylindrical part where the air, loaded with particles, flows inside, in an axially central direction. Meeting the back pressure from area B, this air forms considerable turbulence, which lifts the finest particles and forces them to leave the cyclone by a duct connected tangentially to the collector cyclone.The stages of refined cassava flour production in the pilot plant are shown in Figure 23-10. The basic stages are feeding dried cassava chips for mill-sieving in mill 1. The resulting coarse flour is then mill-sieved in mill 2 to create an intermediate flour that is then mill-sieved in mill 3. The flour is classified in the three classifier cyclones and the final refined flour is then collected by the two collector cyclones.  Feeding the dried cassava chips. Unpeeled dried cassava chips with a moisture content between 10% and 12% are deposited in the hopper by a screw conveyor to feed the first mill sieve. The feed capacity is 300 kg/h of dried chips, which are, ideally, free of peduncles.First mill-sieving . Dried cassava chips are fed to the first mill sieve, which has an expanded mesh with 3-mm openings. The chips are reduced in size and, according to the mesh's openings, separated into small pieces of peel, thin outer peel, and fiber that comprise the residues. These are extracted as byproducts that are usually converted into animal feed. Material that succeeds in passing through the mesh is extracted by fan 1, which transports it to the classifier cyclones. After pneumatic separation, the flour produced by mill sieve 1 is divided into two types: fine flour that rises directly to the collector cyclones, and coarse flour that is decanted through a gate valve and automatically becomes the raw material for the next stage.Second mill-sieving . In this stage, the coarse flour from the first mill sieve becomes the raw material for mill sieve 2, which has a mesh with 177-μm openings. In this mill, the flour is again reduced in size, and new residue is generated. F lour that passes through the mesh is extracted by fan 2 and separated into two new flours within the classifier cyclone, that is, intermediate flour that is decanted and becomes the raw material for the third mill sieve, and fine flour that is directly collected.Third mill-sieving . As with the previous stages, intermediate flour from the second mill sieve enters the last stage of milling and refining in mill sieve 3. This mill has a mesh with 100-μm openings. The refined flour is extracted by fan 3 and transported to collection. Again, new residue is generated.Classification is carried out during the intermediate stages of mill-sieving. Conventional cyclones are used, that is, those that are normally used to collect processed products. As they already meet the requirements for classifying particles, the cyclones are being used as pneumatic classifiers.An air current, loaded with flour, is fed inversely into the cyclone, making possible the decanting of coarse particles (>100 μm) towards the mill sieve for further milling. The fine particles, however, leave the cyclone by its tangential outlet to be later collected. They thus avoid being re-milled.Collecting the refined flour . The refined flour is collected by two cyclones with tangential feed inlets that are connected in parallel for greater flour capture . T he two cyclones are coupled to a cone that discharges the end product into packing bags.The CLAYUCA pilot plant obtained an average conversion factor of 1.3:1. That is, for every 1.3 kg of dried chips (12% moisture content) that entered the equipment, 1 kg of refined flour was extracted, and 0.3 kg was either byproduct or residues.If refined-flour production from fresh roots is considered, the conversion factor would range between 3.6:1 and 4:1, depending on the cassava roots' dry matter content. That is, for every 3.6 or 4 kg of fresh cassava, 1 kg of refined flour is extracted. Granule analysis. As mentioned earlier, two types of products are extracted from each mill sieve in the pilot plant: refined flour as the principal product and three types of residues, which form the byproduct. These materials are separated out in the equipment, eliminating any peel that was left over from the manual peeling of cassava roots for dried chip production. This was one of the pilot plant's most valuable contributions to refining, because it eliminated the need for labor (and therefore costs) to peel roots destined for processing into flour for human consumption.Table 23-1 lists the overall results of several granule analyses of the refined flour obtained at the CLAYUCA pilot plant. The refined flour had a high percentage of impalpable particles (90% at less than 50 μm). Even so, in this same equipment and using only the first two stages of mill-sieving, flour of bread-making quality could be obtained. This flour had the following characteristics: 70%-75% of particles at less than 50 μm and 20%-25% of particles at less than 177-μm. Although less refined, the flour has important applications in the baking, brewing, meat-processing, and ethanol-producing industries.   Rheological properties. The rheological characteristics of refined cassava flour were evaluated, using amylographs or profiles of flour slurries, in which changes in the viscosity of a suspension of flour and water are recorded during heating and cooling (Rodríguez et al. 2006). Figure 23-11 shows the viscosity curves, as generated by a viscograph, of refined flours from cassava varieties M Col 1505, M Per 183, and HMC-1, and a commercial cassava starch.The viscosity curves show that, compared with the commercial starch, all the refined flours presented lower gelatinization temperatures and lower maximum viscosities. Moreover, the maximum viscosity peaks for the flours were not reached as rapidly. This indicates that the commercial starch is easier to cook and requires less energy for cooking. Table 23-3 also presents the results for the following parameters: ease  Ease of cooking (min) 4.4 1.6Gel stability (RVA units) 72 332Gelatinization index (RVA units) 14 54a. RVA units measure viscosity according to the Rapid Visco Analyzer.of cooking, gel stability, and gelatinization index or gelling for both the refined flour and the native starch extracted from the same cassava variety (HMC-1).Flour was easier to cook than starch, as confirmed by a slower swelling rate of granules for the refined flour. With regard to gel stability (which is related to the fragility and solubility of swollen starch granules), the native starch presented a value of 332 RVA units, suggesting that the refined flour tended to form more stable gels than did the native starch. Finally, during testing in the RVA viscoamylograph, the value for the gelatinization index of the refined flour indicated that pastes formed with cassava flour are stable, with little tendency towards retrogradation.Table 23-4 presents possible applications of refined cassava flour in different food products and industrial use, as determined by recent research carried out by CLAYUCA. These studies showed that bread prepared with refined cassava flour, using 5% and 10% levels of substitution, performs well in tests for specific volume and presents high values of water absorption. No significant differences were found for acceptance by consumers, compared with pure wheat bread (Aristizábal and Henao 2004). Partial substitution of cassava flour also enabled bakers to save on production costs, as cassava flour can be obtained at lower prices than wheat flour.Because of its starch's capacity to thicken during final preparation, refined cassava flour is an excellent raw material for beverage and soup preparation. This characteristic also allows cassava flour to be used as an ingredient in meat processing, as it improves water retention and bite characteristics. Refined flour can also be used in extrusion to produce dietary pastes, snacks, and breakfast cereals (flakes).All types of composite flours can be used to prepare instantaneous beverages and infants' beverages (Ospina et al. 2009). Tests also confirmed that cassava flour can replace or complement the various raw materials used in extruded products, widely used in human food.For industrial use, refined cassava flour is an appropriate raw material in the manufacture of glues for affixing corrugated cardboard boxes, even though levels of fiber, ash, and protein are not as low as those of native starch. Refined flour nevertheless also has potential because it has characteristics similar to those of pearl maize starch (Bonilla and Alonso 2002).In 2006, CLAYUCA analyzed the technical viability of including refined cassava flour as a brewing additive. Results indicated that refined cassava flour is a technically viable alternative for maltose as a raw material in beer production (Ospina and Aristizábal 2006).Finally, in collaboration with the Universities of Cauca and Valle, research has been carried out on the production of thermoplastic biopolymers from cassava flour. These polymers can be used as precursors in the manufacture of biodegradable plastics (e.g., bags, linings, and disposable utensils). The largest difference between the plastics currently produced (based on petroleum derivatives) and those based on cassava flour is that the latter is completely biodegradable. This means that its usability as packaging, from its production, is no more than 1 year (Villada and Acosta 2003). In Colombia, as in many South American countries, an acute imbalance is growing between the production and demand for wheat to supply domestic needs for bread flour. Among the factors causing this imbalance are lack of land suitable for growing the cereal, relatively low yields, population growth, and increasing per capita consumption of wheat and its derivatives. This imbalance has been compensated only through importing large quantities of the cereal at increasingly higher prices, thus generating an expensive outflow of foreign exchange from the country.To help resolve this situation, much effort has been focused on the partial substitution of wheat flour with indigenous crop flours. Solutions towards incorporating raw materials of local origin (cassava, rice, maize, sorghum, and millet) into popular foods such as bread and pastas have been studied. Several studies examined the use of cassava flour as a wheat flour substitute in bread-making. In Colombia, such studies have shown promising results. From a technical viewpoint, breads comparable with those of traditional wheat breads and substituting as much as 15% with cassava flours can be produced (Aristizábal and Henao 2004;Henao and Aristizábal 2009).Johanna A. Aristizábal and Sergio Henao The Government's strategy of promoting the cassava crop, complemented with efforts to link farmers to new markets for cassava, will help promote the sustainable cultivation of the crop. Thus, new employment opportunities in rural areas will be created, benefiting cassava flour producers, increasing the offer of this product, and reducing wheat flour imports. Furthermore, bread-makers will have a more economical substitute for the traditional raw material. About 60% of wheat flour is destined for bread-making. Hence, if 10% were replaced with cassava flour, imports would be reduced by about 75,000 t of wheat flour per year.Although cassava flour contains a low percentage of protein (~2%), one of its important contributions is its higher fiber content (>3%), compared with wheat flour with less than 1%. Cassava flours, which can provide a bread with a high fiber content, are convenient for bread-making in a society concerned with good health and nutrition.Three processing variables were defined: cassava variety, percentage of substitution, and bread type, with three levels for each. The cassava varieties-CMC-40, M Col 1505, and HMC-1-were selected for their availability, average yield of dry matter in roots, dry matter content, and HCN content. The percentages selected for substituting wheat flour with cassava flour were 5%, 10%, and 15% (w/w ratio, based on quantity of wheat flour). These values were chosen from the literature, which reported that values of more than 15% affected the bread's final quality. White bread types selected were rolls, sandwich, and hamburger, the selection being based on previous studies, which had selected the most used bread types-rolls and sandwich-for evaluation.The bread-making trials were based on the typical formulas used for rolls, sandwich, and hamburger breads by the bakery \"La Estrella\" located in Palmira, Colombia. To avoid modifying the preparation protocols that its workers followed daily, only the percentages of substitution by cassava flour were included in the traditional mixture. For each trial, 1 kg of wheat flour was used with its respective percentage of substitution according to cassava variety and bread type, and always preparing a 100%-wheat bread as control. The stages of bread manufacture are illustrated in Figure 23-12.The bread types were prepared according to the proportions of components in the formula, fermentation time, and baking temperature and time. Thus, bread rolls was divided mechanically for later shaping. This type of bread required a fermentation chamber with a constant feed of steam at 30 °C for 1.5 h. The bread was then baked at 200 ºC for 25 min. Sandwich bread was also divided, but manually, and the dough then shaped and introduced into rectangular molds that gave the breads their characteristic form. Fermentation was carried out in closed molds at room temperature, not in the fermentation chamber. The bread was then baked at 190 ºC for 45 min.Hamburger bread was divided mechanically before the dough was fermented in the chamber. The dough was then rested for about 20 min to soften before being kneaded to facilitate shaping. The hamburger breads were baked at 200 ºC for 25 min.The formulas used to prepare rolls, sandwich, and hamburger bread are listed in Table 23-5.Cassava flours obtained at the CLAYUCA pilot plant were evaluated, using microbiological, granulometric, and physicochemical analyses (Table 23-6). The cassava flours obtained met microbiological requirements and possessed the granule size required by the Colombian Technical Standard for wheat flour (NTC no. 267, as established by ICONTEC). More than 98% of particles passed through the mesh with 212-μm openings.The water-absorption index for cassava flours was higher than for wheat flours. This factor favors the former's use in bread-making, as increased water absorption means that more bread will be obtained for the same quantity of flour. The water-solubility index was also higher for wheat flour, which was expected, as wheat flour presents a higher content of soluble proteins in water.Doughs made from wheat-cassava composite flours, using three substitution percentages, were evaluated. Testing involved a farinograph ( Except for flours made from variety HMC-1, water absorption by all composite wheat-cassava flours was, on average, 1% more than water absorption by wheat flour. The growth period for wheat flour is almost double that of wheat-cassava composite flours. This factor indicates that dough prepared from wheatcassava composite flours reaches consistency in less time.Results for flour stability presented major differences between varieties, showing a ratio that is inversely proportional to the percentage of substitution. Composite flours with a 15% substitution showed less tolerance of kneading.The degree of decay of composite flours is higher than that of wheat flour. In contrast, the time to breakage for all composite flours was shorter than for wheat flour. This was expected, as this period indicates the strength of gluten in bread flours. Wheat flour therefore presents the highest resistance to breakage.  The values of strength in flours made from variety HMC-1 tended to be inversely proportional to the percentage of substitution. However, composite flour with 5% substitution of flour from variety CMC-40 had a higher strength value than wheat flour. The tenacity values for all composite flours were similar to each other and surpassed, by a low percentage, that for wheat flour. This datum reflects what was observed during the process, that the tenacity of doughs made with composite flours was greater. Extensibility of doughs made with composite flours were less than that of wheat flour.The balance of doughs from wheat-cassava composite flours presented values that were higher than those of the control and showed differences between themselves. In the bread-making tests, problems occurred during kneading and in the bread's final appearance for flours from varieties HMC-1 (10%), M Col 1505 (15%), and CMC-40 (10%), when these were prepared as sandwich bread, as the composite flours presented the highest balance values.The \"falling number\" values obtained for all composite flours presented acceptable values, falling into the requisite range of 250 to 400 seconds. Bread flours should not present values of more than 400 seconds, as they would require the addition of enzymes, thus inducing prolonged fermentation times and creating breads with pale crumbs.Gelatinization temperatures (Tgel) of composite flours are higher than for wheat flour. Starch granule size affects Tgel. In wheat flour, this ranges between 2 and 38 μm, whereas, in cassava flour, it ranges between 5 and 35 μm. Hence, wheat flour presenting smaller granules may reach Tgel in less time.  Wheat flour presents constant viscosity over time once it reaches maximum viscosity. In contrast, cassava flours tend to continue increasing in viscosity over time after reaching maximum viscosity, thus demonstrating higher instability, compared with wheat flour. Composite flours tend to form more stable gels, whereas cassava flour of the same variety, after being gelatinized and reaching maximum viscosity, tends to continue increasing in viscosity over time.Composite flours need to absorb more water during processing, the need increasing as the percentage of substitution increases. This fact is verified by the higher value water absorption that composite flours presented during the farinograph test (Table 23-7). Composite flour made from variety M Col 1505 required the largest volume of water.Prepared breads (Figure 23-13) were evaluated for their specific volume, shelf life, and sensory tests of acceptance (aroma, crumb texture, flavor, and acceptability).To evaluate the presence of mold, four samples of each treatment were stored in individual polyethylene bags, under the same conditions (away from direct light, moisture, and sources of contamination) and at room temperature. While the breads did not harden, most samples showed mold 7 to 9 days after preparation. These values were closely similar to those obtained for wheat bread, which showed mold after 9 days.Results also indicated that an inverse ratio exists between the percentage of substitution of wheat flour and specific volume. The specific volumes of breads prepared from composite flours with substitutions of 5% and 10% were higher than that of wheat bread. All breads prepared with 15% of substitution presented lower specific volumes than wheat bread. Flour from variety M Col 1505 performed best in the specific volume tests.The sensory tests included 50 surveys (hedonic test) to evaluate four samples (the three percentages of substitution and the control) from each variety. The surveys were directed at people who regularly consumed bread. They ranged in age from 14 to 70 and in social strata from 2 to 6. The people surveyed only made one evaluation, so that panelists were not repeated in the evaluation.Results suggested that bread prepared from composite wheat-cassava flour from variety M Col 1505 did not present differences in acceptability to consumers, whether for aroma, flavor, crumb texture, and general acceptability. As a result, this variety produced flour with the best baking quality of the three varieties evaluated. The 5% substitution was the most acceptable overall, presenting an equal scoring or higher than the control. The 15% substitution presented the lowest values for most of the tests.Bread rolls performed best in the acceptability tests as, according to the consumers, it presented minimal or no differences to wheat bread, probably because this type of bread had the highest amounts of fat and sugar in its formula. These factors helped mask the effects of including cassava flour. The lowest values were for the hamburger bread, where flours from most of the varieties did not please the respondents. This bread had the fewest ingredients in its formula, which meant that the effects of adding cassava flour were more noticeable. The microbiological quality of cassava flour can be improved by ensuring prior cleaning of the washing and chipping equipment and drying trays. This should be followed by efficiently washing cassava roots, immersing them for 20 min in tanks containing sodium hypochlorite at 20 ppm.From a technical viewpoint, the use of wheatcassava composite flours at 5% and 10% substitution is feasible and advantageous, as these present characteristics that are indistinguishable from those of wheat bread.Of the cassava varieties used to manufacture bread from wheat-cassava composite flour, M Col 1505 performed best in the specific volume tests, had the highest water absorption values, and did not present differences of acceptability to consumers in terms of aroma, flavor, crumb texture, and overall acceptability.As a result, flour from this variety presents the best baking quality of the three varieties evaluated, particularly when a 5% substitution is used.Economic indicators determined that, for the processing conditions of a large bakery such as the one in which the experiment was developed, savings obtained by using a 10% substitution were about US$8,055 per year (US$1.00 = Col$1800 in 2010).Aristizábal J; Henao S. 2004. Adaptación y validación de tecnología para utilización de harina de yuca en panificación. In: Informe de proyecto. CLAYUCA, Palmira, Colombia.Henao S; Aristizábal J. 2009. Influencia de la variedad de yuca y nivel de sustitución de harinas compuestas sobre el comportamiento reológico en panificación. Revista Ingeniería o Investigación 29(1):39-46.To identify new products and options for marketing cassava, and as part of CLAYUCA's research and development activities, research was developed to analyze the technical and economic viability of producing glues from refined cassava flour and thus replace certain starches used in the glue industry.Cassava starch is traditionally extracted by means of a \"wet\" process (Chuzel 1991), where polluting effluents are generated that are mostly discharged into rivers and other sources of water for the rural areas where starch-extraction agribusinesses are located. Moreover, in most of these regions, water is limited and does not have the quality needed for preparing a quality product.A \"dry\" process needs to be found for obtaining cassava starch without generating polluting effluents (Garcia 2006;Garcia et al. 2006;Herrera et al. 2007;Barona and Isaza 2003) while producing a quality product that is competitive in price for use in glue manufacture. Such a process would help reduce negative environmental effects; and give industries another source of raw material for their products, thus helping them to reduce costs of importing raw materials. In particular, the \"dry\" process would help strengthen the role of the cassava crop as a source of employment, foreign exchange, and income for the country's cassava-producing sector. This feasibility study handled issues such as extraction of refined flour and production of ultrarefined flour, which is known as \"dry\" starch (testing five selected cassava varieties). Several formulas for making two types of glues were also evaluated and compared with commercial glues (Bonilla and Alonso 2002).To produce ultra-refined flour (with <100-μm diameter particles), five cassava varieties were preselected from the elite clones group in the germplasm bank held at CIAT (Improved Cassava Project). Criteria were amylose content, viscosity, high field production, and high starch yield. The varieties were HMC-1 (ICA P-13),CM 6740-7 (Reina), M Per 183 (Peruana), CM 523-7, and M Col 1522 (Venezolana). Table 23-9 provides the values of these varieties' principal characteristics.High amylose content generates an effective glue as an end product. As the glue dries, the amylose aligns, forming a rigid layer. Furthermore, it permits rapid evaporation of water on union, thus producing faster drying, that is, the amylose molecules tend to reassociate. Fast drying is an important characteristic for glues used to seal cardboard boxes.Amylose also fulfills a very important task in the glue's penetration into the paper or cardboard (Skeist 1977). Amylose is a polymer, able to recrystallize the starch after gelatinization, a process known as retrogradation. This is significant for the end product's stability and conservation.Table 23-10 records data from amylographs of native or raw starches extracted from the previously selected varieties.As this project began, Cartón de Colombia showed interest and offered a sample of maize pearl starch, a raw material used to make glues for different applications. This starch was characterized in terms of its proximal composition and was compared with different cassava flour samples. Table 23-11 lists the compositions of the different ultra-refined flours and maize pearl starch in terms of percentages of protein, crude fiber, fat, ash, moisture content, and starch.The ultra-refined cassava flours were obtained by classifying wholemeal flour, using meshes with 100-μm openings. In this study, two types of ultra-refined flours were handled: type 1, which came from either the total disintegration or grating of roots before drying in a continuous artificial system; and type 2, which was obtained by milling chips that were dehydrated in a batch or fixed-bed dryer.This study also compared the rheological patterns of maize pearl starch with those of the ultra-refined flours of the three cassava varieties that were finally selected. The patterns for refined cassava flours were significantly different to those of the native starches of these same three cassava varieties.The refined flour samples, without taking into account variety, presented a slight increase in viscosity during cooling, in contrast to the native or pure cassava starches, thus showing higher product stability  over time. Stability is higher in maize pearl starch (possibly a modified starch but information not supplied by the company). When the varieties were compared for viscosity (Table 23-12), the performance found to most resemble that of pearl starch was that of variety HMC-1 for both types 1 and 2 of ultra-refined flour. Gelatinization temperatures were between 65 and 82 °C, and maximum peak viscosity was between 100 and 120 BU.Gelatinization temperature is a very important factor in starch used as raw material for glues. It varies with different starches, and is indispensable for applying the enzyme, enabling it to act effectively in starch hydrolysis. Furthermore, the lower the gelatinization temperature, the less energy is consumed in manufacturing glues.The viscosity curve of maize pearl starch showed great stability over time to temperature changes and also resistance to shearing stress over time. Similar characteristics also appeared in samples of ultrarefined flour (types 1 and 2) from variety HMC-1. Stability is important in most products containing starch, as it helps their conservation and good appearance.Initially, to select the glue formulas for this study, several adjustment tests were carried out, taking into account solid contents, additives in the formula, effects of different reagents used, temperature, and agitation times. The first formulation for glue, using enzymes, was as follows:Refined cassava flour 25% Water 75% Calcium chloride 0.1% alpha-amylose 0.027% (temperature between 70 and 80 °C) Hydrochloric acid 0.47% Anti-foam 0.47% Sodium hydroxide 0.70% Talcum 5.88% Formol 4.7%The second formula, using chemicals, involved the application of magnetic and manual agitation in the laboratory. This conditioned the cassava flour with 10% solids. Borax may be added to stop the sodium hydroxide reaction, and the anti-foam prevents froth from forming through agitation. The formula for this glue was as follows:Refined cassava flour 10% Water 90% Anti-foam 1.5% Sodium hydroxide 1.5%A general conclusion of this part of the study was that the ultra-refined flours (with <100-μm-diameter particles) from the three cassava varieties selected were suitable as raw materials for glue manufacture, using either the chemical or enzymatic method. The glues obtained were suitable for sealing cardboard boxes and had characteristics that complied with the requirements set by the standard sample.With the enzymatic formula, glues achieved short fixing times because of the high solid contents, which generated certain advantages. These glues could therefore be used for boxes with a heavy carrying capacity (10-20 kg). In contrast, the chemical formula, involving low solid contents, created a glue with longer fixing times (1 hour) and which was more suitable for boxes with a light carrying capacity (7 kg) and not requiring immediate shipping.Table 23-13 summarizes the principal characteristics of the two formulas (enzymatic and chemical), and compares them with the standard glue, that is, glue 002 made by Almidones Nacionales. Table 23-14 records the relative sale prices of several glues found on the market and used in the industry to seal cardboard boxes, and compares them with the glues made from refined cassava flour. The value of the enzymatic glue was US$0.06 per kilogram. The estimated sale price of glues in this phase of the project showed that incorporating cassava flour in the formula was advantageous.Additional activities were carried out informally to strengthen the potential of cassava flour for use in the glue industry, and consider related possible research topics. However, a glue manufacturer evaluated the glues and found that, overall, apparent stability was good and the glue was moderately dark in color. Fixing tests were carried out for paper on paper, kraft paper on kraft paper, and kraft paper on cardboard and on glass. Results showed excellent adhesion. A glue with such characteristics could be used to manufacture kraft paper bags and seal cardboard boxes.In addition to manufacturing glues for sealing cardboard boxes, the possibility of entering the agglomerate wood market (plywoods), replacing wheat flour, was proposed. In this industrial application, glues must unite two faces of timber to form an agglomerate.Traditionally, the glue was based on phenol formaldehyde, a formulation that involves a high percentage of wheat flour to help adhesion by increasing the quantity of solids in the formula.Laboratory tests showed that 50% of wheat flour could be replaced by cassava flour. A 100% substitution was not possible as cassava flour reduces viscosity by 20%, compared with wheat flour. Nevertheless, cassava flour is a new alternative for reducing the costs of glue in the manufacture of plywoods. At the time of writing, cassava flour cost US$0.31 per kilogram, while wheat flour cost US$0.56 per kilogram.Barona SM; Isaza LE. 2003. Estudios para el desarrollo de un proceso de extracción de almidón a partir de trozos secos de yuca (Manihot esculenta Crantz) con mínima utilización de agua. BSc thesis in Agricultural Engineering. Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia.(Also available in: CLAYUCA. Informe anual de actividades. Palmira, Colombia.)  Leaves of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) contain, on a wet basis, 77% water, 8.2% crude protein, 13.3% soluble carbohydrates, 1.2% fat, and 2.2% crude fiber. Cassava leaves are regarded as a green vegetable with a high protein concentration. They also contain minerals such as iron, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, and zinc, which are significant in human nutrition. Cassava leaves also have high contents of vitamins, particularly beta-carotenes and vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, B12, and C; and of other vitamins, including niacin, which is a depurative and powerful detoxicant; folic acid, which is a powerful anti-anemic vitamin; and pantothenic acid, which prevents deterioration in skin tissues (Guillén 2004).Table 23-15 shows that beef surpasses cassava leaves for protein content. However, for many other nutrients such as calcium and certain vitamins, cassava leaves surpass both beef and cow's milk by large margins.The nutritional composition of cassava foliage varies in quality and quantity, according to cultivar, time of cutting, planting density, and the proportion of leaves (leaf blades + petioles) and stems. The part of the plant used also determines nutritional composition, for example, if only leaf blades are used, protein content would be 23% to 28% (dry basis). But, if petioles and apical green branches are also included, protein content would be reduced to 18% to 21%. An inverse relationship occurs for fiber content, which tends to be about 9% for leaf blades, but increases to 20% to 25% when the entire upper part of the plant is incorporated (Domínguez [1983]). Some authors therefore consider that cassava leaves to have high potential as animal feed and human food. Petioles and, consequently, leaves, from the nutritional viewpoint, are valuable.Most research on the use of cassava leaves for human consumption has been conducted in Brazil. Much of the research evaluated this product incorporated into dietary mixtures that were consumed by people with nutritional deficiencies or with healthJohanna A. Aristizábal and Andrés Giraldo  (Brandão and Brandão 1991).Although the principal disadvantage of cassava leaves is their HCN content, these levels can be reduced by efficient flour preparation. In countries such as Indonesia and Tanzania, cassava leaves are consumed fresh, like any other vegetable, after first cooking. In Peru, cassava leaves are consumed in capsules or tablets as nutritional supplements.The use of cassava leaf flour for human consumption is not promoted or commercially supported in the way it should be. Not only could it be as a dietary alternative, providing nutritional benefits, but it could also, as a byproduct, be an option for adding aggregate value to the cassava crop. The inclusion of cassava leaf flour for human consumption is a food alternative. Hence, methods and for producing high-quality flour should be established for its use as a raw material in the preparation of foodstuffs such as soups, pies, and extruded products. Giraldo and Aristizábal (2006) therefore studied the process of obtaining cassava leaf flour for human consumption. They proposed alternative uses according to endproduct quality and determined the technical and economic indicators for the flour's production.In preparing cassava leaf flour, the various stages of operation were evaluated for the most suitable conditions for obtaining a quality product. Similarly, evaluations and analyses were conducted to calculate how to eliminate HCN during flour production.Selecting varieties. Cassava varieties HMC-1 and M Col 1505 were selected on the following criteria:• Availability, whereby typical cassava varieties planted near CIAT were chosen, and• Variety. To guarantee low HCN contents in the end product, sweet varieties with HCN contents of about 180 ppm and planted in inter-Andean valleys were chosen.Harvesting, selecting, and adapting the raw material. Two harvests of cassava leaves were carried out, one at 3 months and the other at 5 months, to compare the composition (e.g., protein, fiber, and HCN) of cassava leaves at harvest. Harvest was carried out by cutting the plant at a height of 30 to 40 cm above ground level to guarantee that the plant would re-sprout for a future harvest.The harvested plants comprised leaves (i.e., leaf blades and petioles) and stems. However, only leaf blades were needed for the process. During selection, only those leaves that presented the characteristic green color of the cassava leaf were taken. Those leaves that had yellow or coffee-colored leaf blades, or showed spots were rejected. In preparing the raw material, both stems and petioles were removed manually, so to obtain only leaf blades.Washing and disinfection. Cleaning ensured that the end product presented adequate microbiological and commercially acceptable characteristics according to Colombian Technical Standard NTC no. 267. This standard is used to obtain flour suitable for human consumption. Adequate washing reduced the microbial population present in the raw material, thus obtaining an aseptic product.To wash, drinking water in a container was used. The leaves were submerged for 15 min, thus removing impurities such as earth, insects, and larvae, and residues of insecticides or pesticides. The leaves were then removed from the water and disinfected with an aqueous solution of sodium hypochlorite at a concentration of 20 ppm. The leaves remained in the solution for 10 min, the maximum time possible before leaf color was affected. The equipment had also been previously washed and disinfected with a hypochlorite solution at 50 ppm.Reducing leaf size. Leaf blades were obtained in their entirety, which meant that they had to be treated to help eliminate HCN contents. Leaf blades were therefore chopped into smaller pieces, using an industrial mill that possessed appropriate cutting blades. The chopping broke up the leaf tissues, releasing HCN, and thus ensuring that HCN levels in the end product were lower than in the initial raw material. Different types of cuts were evaluated; the more finely the leaf blades were cut, the more efficient was the release of HCN.Drying. Drying was carried out in two ways-solar and artificial drying (in a tray dryer)-to determine which was the better method. Solar drying was carried out on inclined trays, placing an average of 2 kg of leaf blades per tray. The blades remained exposed to the sun for 24 hours or more, depending on climatic conditions. Solar drying was considered to be inefficient and, microbiologically, the product could not be guaranteed to be aseptic. Artificial drying was carried out in a tray dryer with air circulation, using temperatures of 40, 50, and 60 ºC.After leaf blades were dried by the two methods, samples were collected from each test for HCN analysis to determine the temperature at which the enzyme linamarase acted most efficiently on cyanogenic glucosides (linamarin and lotaustralin) to release HCN.To determine HCN contents, a protocol was established that included NaCl and activated carbon during extraction to ensure that the spectrophotometer readings were clear, as leaf chlorophyll colors samples. Results indicated that artificial drying at 60 ºC eliminates most of the HCN .Milling. The dried leaf blades were milled into small pieces, comparing three types of mills: blade mill, hammer mill, and mill sieve. For each, efficiency was evaluated according to the amount of flour and granulometry obtained.Granulometry of cassava leaf flour was determined, using sieves of different mesh numbers: 50 (300-μm openings), 70 (212 μm), 100 (150 μm), 140 (106 μm), 270 (53 μm), and bottom. The best granulometry was obtained with the mill sieve, for which almost 95% of flour passed through the no. 70 mesh (212 μm).cassava leaf flour was obtained, tests were carried out to evaluate the digestibility of protein, dry matter, and fiber in diets. That is, for the tests, diets were prepared, based on cassava leaf flour. For comparative purposes, the control diet was based on casein, a protein that has an almost 89% absorption rate in the human organism.All the diets were formulated as isoproteic and isoenergetic. The control diet was prepared with 12% protein (casein), 10% sugar, 6% oil, 60% maize starch, 6% fibers, and 6% of a premixture of vitamins and minerals. For the diets with cassava leaves, the casein was replaced with cassava leaf flour at the established percentages of 10% and 20%.Tests were carried out with laboratory mice that were distributed at random in metabolic cages that were designed especially to provide food to the animals and collect their excreta. The animals were fed the diets over an experimental period of 15 days. For the first 7 days, the mice were habituated to the diets. Over the next 8 days, samples were collected.During the experiment, three treatments were evaluated: 10% cassava leaf flour, 20% cassava leaf flour, and the control, each having three replications. The three diets were analyzed for contents of dry matter, protein, neutral detergent fiber, and ash; and for energy. The excreta were tested for digestibility of dry matter, protein, and neutral detergent fiber; and for energy.Habituation was necessary to ensure that the animals' digestive tracts were cleaned out and accustomed to the treatment or diet that would be fed to them. During habituation, the animals received the food but neither the residues nor the excreta were weighed. From the eighth day onwards, excreta from each mouse were taken, and the quantities of food provided and the amount left by each mouse were calculated.The excreta, collected after habituation, were sampled and cleaned to remove hairs and food particles. They were then weighed and the data recorded. The excreta were kept in a freezer, in bottles that were duly marked with the corresponding mouse's number and diet. After the samples were collected, each bottle of excreta was lyophilized to obtain dry and solid samples for analyses on the digestibility of each diet supplied to the mice.Data on the digestibility of dry matter and protein  suggested that the diet with 10% leaf flour is the most suitable for incorporation into a product for human consumption. The level of digestibility could be improved by mixing the leaves with food rich in methionine, which, in this case, is the limiting amino acid (Lancaster and Brooks 1983). "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"7ceb11183b73558c0ed836da0e16c357","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/e3810145-8edf-4e44-8e0b-d41d5c4d97b0/retrieve","id":"-1306398938"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"75625156-915b-4571-82d5-7667519b7b89","content":"(Acuerdo firmado con el Órgano Rector el 16 de octubre de 2006)No. de   FIRMA: firma del funcionario autorizado del Proveedor y Receptor en que se reconoce la responsabilidad y obligación de cumplir el ANTM.SELLADO: el material se suministra con copia del ANTM por el Proveedor, y la aceptación y retención por el Receptor significan la aceptación del ANTM.ELECTRóNICO: se coloca clic en la casilla de acepto de la página Web del Proveedor. El material debe ir acompañado de una copia del ANTM. El Tratado significa un avance importantísimo para el intercambio de materiales para fines de alimentación y agricultura, y con ello para un mejor desarrollo de esta actividad por parte de los Países y de los Centros, pero el Tratado no contiene una solución a todas las situaciones que se pueden presentar en el intercambio. Dificultad: usos distintos a alimentación.2. EL Órgano Rector es la máxima entidad encargada de su vigilancia y es la autoridad oficial de interpretación.3. El Tratado propone un mecanismo concreto de ADB (paralelo con UPOV !), con la creación de un fondo fiduciario para canalizar recursos $$$ para la conservación y utilización de los rfgaa, al criterio del Órgano Rector.4. El Tratado reglamenta no sólo el intercambio de materiales genéticos básicos y también el intercambio de materiales mejorados.5. El Tratado contiene una serie de modificaciones sobre el sistema que deben emplear los Países (116, a la fecha) y los centros del CGIAR para el intercambio de materiales. Estos cambios conllevan la necesidad de revisar varios aspectos de políticas de DPIs en los Países y en los Centros del CGIAR.Gracias ! "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"4734c04298d5559bf9feaca657430585","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/c28f4016-b406-4431-a9c0-3c7eec57fbd6/retrieve","id":"1174391444"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"cff078a9-f93c-4552-b2df-138069ed3abe","content":"Investir dans la gestion de l'eau en agriculture au profit des petits exploitants agricoles du Burkina Faso   Rapport national de synthèse du projet AgWater SolutionsInvestir dans la gestion de l'eau en agriculture au profit des petits exploitants agricoles du Burkina Faso Le projet AgWater Solutions a été mis en oeuvre dans plusieurs pays africains et asiatiques entre 2009 et 2012. Son objectif est de repérer les options et occasions d'investissement dans la gestion de l'eau en agriculture qui offrent les plus grandes chances de permettre l'amélioration des revenus et de la sécurité alimentaire des agriculteurs pauvres, et de définir des outils et recommandations à l'intention des parties prenantes du secteur, dont les décideurs, les investisseurs, les ONG et les petits exploitants agricoles. Le présent rapport est une synthèse des conclusions de la recherche et des résultats de la collaboration, au Burkina Faso, de l'équipe et des parties prenantes sur toute la période du projet.Les principales institutions chargées de la mise en oeuvre étaient l'Institut international de gestion des ressources en eau (IWMI), l'Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture (FAO), l'IDE, l'Institut international de recherche sur les politiques alimentaires (IFPRI) et l'Institut de Stockholm pour l'environnement (SEI).Pour obtenir davantage d'informations sur le projet ou des rapports détaillés, veuillez consulter le site web du projet (http://awm-solutions.iwmi.org/home-page.aspx) ou contactez le Secrétariat du projet AgWater Solutions(AWMSolutions@cgiar.org).Ce document de travail résume les recherches menées dans le cadre du projet AgWater Solutions au Burkina Faso entre 2009 et 2012. Le secteur agricole compte pour presque 40 pour cent du produit intérieur brut (PIB) du pays et pour 80 pour cent des gains à l'exportation. Le Burkina Faso demeure toutefois un pays à faible revenu et à déficit vivrier selon les critères de l'Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture (FAO). Au Burkina Faso, les estimations évaluent à 8 milliards de mètres cubes le volume des eaux de surface et à 9,5 milliards celui des eaux souterraines, mais l'agriculture reste essentiellement pluviale et les agriculteurs pratiquent en général une agriculture traditionnelle de subsistance. De plus en plus les petits exploitants agricoles mettent en culture des parcelles de légumes irriguées dans les zones disposant d'eau et de bonnes liaisons avec les marchés, mais ces pratiques demeurent limitées. Les terres potentiellement irrigables couvriraient 233 500 hectares (ha), mais seulement 14 pour cent des superficies cultivées sont récoltées tous les ans.Les chercheurs du projet AgWater Solutions ont étudié les possibilités offertes par les petits réservoirs, la culture des vallées intérieures et l'utilisation de pompes motorisées. Parmi les méthodes de recherche employées figurent des évaluations rurales rapides, des entretiens, des questionnaires d'enquête et des analyses documentaires.• Les petits réservoirs doivent être mieux gérés à tous les stades afin de réduire les coûts et d'améliorer la situation sur le plan de l'équité. Les coûts seraient comparables à ceux d'autres options de GEA. L'investissement total nécessaire pour atteindre 50% de la demande potentielle au Burkina Faso pourrait s'élever à 1 136 millions de dollars EU. La réduction des coûts passerait par un contrôle rigoureux de la planification, de la mise en oeuvre et de la gestion et il faudrait les comparer avec tous les avantages offerts par le réservoir sur toute sa durée de vie. Si cette option est mise en oeuvre, quelque 321 000 ménages pourraient en bénéficier.• Les vallées intérieures, couramment appelées bas-fonds, peuvent être utilisées pour accroître la culture du riz et d'autres plantes cultivées grâce à une amélioration de la gestion de l'eau et des pratiques agronomiques et après récolte. L'investissement dans les infrastructures physiques et la vulgarisation pourrait s'élever à 384 millions de dollars EU.• Les pompes motorisées peuvent augmenter les rendements et les revenus mais il faudrait résoudre certains problèmes dans divers domaines tels que le financement, la réduction du coût de l'approvisionnement en électricité, l'éloignement des fournisseurs de pompes, les pratiques d'exploitation et d'entretien déficientes et les dommages à l'environnement.Les pompes motorisées utilisées en amont des réservoirs peuvent permettre des cultures de légumes profitables en saison sèche, mais il faut rester vigilant concernant les prélèvements d'eau excessifs, la pollution et les conflits. L'adoption plus généralisée des pompes motorisées pourrait profiter à quelque 332 000 ménages d'agriculteurs qui irrigueraient jusqu'à 4 pour cent de l'ensemble des superficies agricoles pour un coût d'investissement total de 121 millions de dollars EU.• Il serait recommandé, pour permettre l'irrigation d'appoint dans les zones couramment exposées à des périodes de sécheresse, d'associer diverses options de gestion de l'eau en agriculture -captage/stockage + dispositifs d'élévation + technologies d'irrigation + conservation des sols + gestion des bassins versants.De plus en plus de petits exploitants agricoles, partout en Afrique et en Asie, trouvent le moyen de mieux gérer l'eau utilisée pour l'agriculture afin d'augmenter leurs rendements et revenus et de diversifier leurs choix de cultures et leurs moyens d'existence. Les agriculteurs achètent ou louent du matériel d'irrigation, puisent de l'eau dans des sources proches et construisent de petites structures de stockage de l'eau, individuellement ou collectivement. Souvent les investisseurs externes sous-estiment ces initiatives, mais le secteur de la gestion de l'eau en agriculture pour les petits exploitants agricoles (GEA) contribue à la sécurité alimentaire, aux revenus ruraux, à la santé et à la nutrition. Les pratiques de GEA à petite échelle pourraient bénéficier à des centaines de millions d'agriculteurs, mais ce potentiel est encore loin d'être réalisé.Le projet AgWater Solutions a étudié cette tendance, ainsi que les opportunités et contraintes liées à la GEA pour les petits exploitants agricoles, dans cinq pays africains, le Burkina Faso, le Ghana, l'Ethiopie, la Tanzanie et la Zambie, et deux états de l'Inde, le Bengale occidental et le Madhya Pradesh. Il a ainsi défini plusieurs initiatives susceptibles de permettre la réalisation du potentiel du secteur de la GEA pour les petits exploitants agricoles, dont:• La création de structures d'appui institutionnel: Les organes directeurs en place répondent généralement aux besoins des systèmes publics d'irrigation et ne sont souvent pas adaptés pour tirer profit des opportunités offertes par ce mode alternatif de développement de l'irrigation ni faire face aux problèmes qu'il pose. Les institutions agricoles traditionnelles s'intéressent rarement à la production végétale à vocation commerciale des petits agriculteurs, telle que la production de légumes à valeur élevée durant la saison sèche. Au Burkina Faso, les estimations évaluent à 8 milliards de mètres cubes le volume des eaux de surface et à 9,5 milliards celui des eaux souterraines, mais l'agriculture reste essentiellement pluviale et les agriculteurs pratiquent en général une agriculture traditionnelle de subsistance. De plus en plus les petits exploitants agricoles mettent en culture des parcelles de légumes irriguées dans les zones disposant d'eau et de bonnes liaisons avec les marchés, mais ces pratiques demeurent limitées. Les terres potentiellement irrigables couvriraient 233 500 ha, mais le Ministère de l'agriculture, de l'hydraulique et des ressources halieutiques a estimé que seulement 38 258 ha (14%) des superficies cultivées étaient actuellement récoltées tous les ans. La géologie est l'une des difficultés qui font obstacle à l'accès des petits exploitants agricoles aux eaux souterraines.Le projet Agwater Solutions a cartographié le potentiel d'amélioration des moyens d'existence des petits exploitants agricoles du Burkina Faso qu'offre la GEA et établi que presque 6,5 millions de personnes (plus de la moitié de la population rurale) pourrait tirer profit de la gestion de l'eau en agriculture (figure 1).Le projet AgWater Solutions a repéré de nombreuses pratiques existantes de GEA qui pourraient permettre de réaliser la prévision estimant que 6,5 millions de personnes pourraient tirer profit de la GEA. Il a été convenu, en accord avec les intervenants locaux des 13 régions agricoles et avec les autorités nationales, que les options considérées seraient celles qui s'appliquent aux cultures de base pluviales et qui permettent une diversification, comme par exemple l'irrigation au goutteà-goutte, l'irrigation d'appoint avec des dispositifs d'élévation de l'eau et le développement des sources d'eau et des fonds de vallées (bas-fonds) (tableau 1). • Gestion de l'organisation des petits barrages et des périmètres associés• Amélioration de la capacité à sélectionner ou utiliser les options de GEA, et à innover • Appui financier pour l'accès à du matériel de GEA et à des nutriments de qualité • Amélioration de la chaîne de valeur pour le matériel de GEA Source: FAO 2012b; AgWater Solutions Project 2010c   • Les agriculteurs et vulgarisateurs connaissent mal la diversité des options de GEA offertes, parce qu'il est rare que leur soient proposés des conseils ou démonstrations adéquats.• L'adoption semble être motivée par les opportunités offertes par l'investissement dans les projets, les importations décidées par le gouvernement ou les produits commercialisés dans le pays, plutôt que par les besoins des agriculteurs ou les possibilités réellement présentées par la solution.• L'accès aux crédits nécessaires pour faire face aux coûts initiaux d'investissement est souvent difficile pour les agriculteurs.• Les agriculteurs ont besoin de stratégies de soutien pour leur permettre de prendre des décisions éclairées.• La diffusion d'informations, la formation et la vulgarisation pourraient être améliorées, en particulier après la présentation d'une option.• Il faut que des pièces de rechange soient disponibles.• Des facilités de crédit personnalisées devraient être proposées aux petits exploitants agricoles.• Les petits barrages devraient être repensés pour tenir compte, dès la conception, des multiples utilisations de l'eau et des problématiques d'équité.• L'amélioration des régimes fonciers et de l'accès aux terres sont des conditions indispensables d'une GEA réussie -en particulier autour des petits barrages et pour l'aménagement des fonds de vallées.• Les petits exploitants agricoles préfèrent les systèmes individuels aux systèmes communautaires et les eaux souterraines aux eaux de surface (même lorsque les systèmes collectifs se justifient sur le plan économique) parce que les systèmes individuels sont plus fiables et que leurs coûts de transaction sont moins élevés.Source: FAO 2012b Ces résultats procèdent d'une méthode qui associe la collecte des données primaires et secondaires, la participation des parties prenantes et la cartographie. Les détails de la méthode suivie par le projet AgWater Solutions, ainsi que les études connexes, sont exposés dans l'encadré 1 et décrits plus précisément dans les chapitres qui suivent. Pour obtenir davantage d'informations, dont les études de cas et les données cartographiques, veuillez consulter le site web du projet (http://awm-solutions.iwmi.org).Analyse de la situation et sélection des options de GEA: Une analyse initiale des conditions prévalant dans chaque pays et des pratiques de GEA déjà mises en oeuvre a été effectuée. Ces dernières ont été passées en revue avec les parties prenantes et quelques-unes des pratiques les plus prometteuses ont été retenues.Les chercheurs ont utilisé une analyse des opportunités et des obstacles et une méthode participatives pour comprendre les interactions complexes entre les facteurs sociaux, économiques et physiques qui pèsent sur la mise en pratique et la réussite des options de GEA, et pour déterminer les technologies adaptées aux différents contextes dans chacun des pays accueillant le projet.Les chercheurs ont utilisé une méthode multidisciplinaire pour examiner comment les ressources naturelles influencent la GEA, et vice-versa, dans quatre bassins versants situés en Tanzanie, au Burkina Faso, au Bengale occidental (Inde) et en Zambie. L'analyse s'est concentrée sur: l'impact hydrologique des interventions actuelles et éventuelles de GEA; les moyens d'existence actuels à partir des ressources disponibles et la dépendance par rapport aux sources d'eau et aux pratiques de gestion de l'eau; une évaluation des répercussions de divers scénarios de GEA; et une étude de la capacité des institutions officielles et non officielles à gérer les interventions de GEA et les nouvelles externalités potentielles.Cartographie de la GEA dans les pays: Des cartes ont été établies pour tenter d'évaluer où la GEA aura le plus grand effet dans un pays ou un état, et où des interventions spécifiques seront le plus rentables. Les étapes suivies ont respecté un processus participatif au cours duquel des experts ont défini les principales zones socio-rurales à partir de la typologie des exploitations agricoles et des stratégies rurales de subsistance, ainsi que les principaux besoins et obstacles liés à l'eau dans les différents contextes socio-ruraux. A partir de ces définitions, le potentiel d'investissement dans l'eau pour aider les populations rurales a pu être cartographié sur la base de la demande en eau et de la disponibilité de l'eau. L'étape suivante a consisté à cartographier les zones favorables et la demande d'interventions spécifiques de GEA, telles que des pompes motorisées ou des petits réservoirs, et à estimer le nombre potentiel de bénéficiaires, les zones d'application et les coûts d'investissement. Cela permettra aux investisseurs de choisir les lieux d'intervention et de classer par ordre de priorité les investissements de GEA qui auront les répercussions les plus profitables sur les moyens d'existence ruraux.Le stockage des eaux est un dispositif d'assurance pour le petit exploitant agricole. Il sert de rempart contre la variabilité des précipitations et augmente la résilience des agriculteurs. Un agriculteur qui dispose d'eau stockée peut investir dans des intrants et équipements agricoles pour améliorer sa productivité.Les petits réservoirs (encadré 2) étaient auparavant souvent conçus pour une seule utilisation, mais maintenant ce sont de plus en plus des infrastructures à usages multiples. Au Burkina Faso ils étaient essentiellement aménagés pour cultiver le riz à la saison des pluies et des légumes sur de plus petites parcelles à la saison sèche. Dans le secteur de la production agricole, un accès fiable à de l'eau d'irrigation stockée permet d'envisager, au-delà de ces utilisations classiques, une diversification des cultures. Il offre la possibilité de diversifier le régime alimentaire et de faire des bénéfices, à condition que les marchés soient accessibles et qu'il y ait de la main d'oeuvre.Le stockage de l'eau permet une diversification des activités économiques. Il est déjà possible d'observer une évolution des périmètres collectifs irrigués par gravité, peu efficaces et exigeant une bonne gestion, essentiellement utilisés pour la production des cultures de base, vers des installations d'irrigation économes en eau (sous pression), gérées individuellement, où l'eau est livrée à la demande et qui sont de plus en plus consacrées aux cultures à valeur élevée (essentiellement des légumes). Toutefois, cela ne se produira pas nécessairement spontanément et exige un renforcement des capacités et l'adoption de technologies et de techniques de GEA permettant d'utiliser au mieux Analyse régionale de la GEA: Les chercheurs ont utilisé l'analyse par le système d'information géographique (SIG), des outils d'optimisation de la gamme de cultures et des techniques de modélisation prédictive pour évaluer le potentiel régional des technologies de GEA les plus prometteuses en Asie du Sud et en Afrique subsaharienne en ce qui concerne: la superficie d'application possible (en hectares), le nombre de personnes touchées, le revenu net obtenu et la consommation en eau. Des scénarios ont également été mis au point pour prendre en compte le changement climatique et des modifications éventuelles du coût de l'irrigation.Engagement et dialogue des parties prenantes: L'engagement des parties prenantes a fait partie intégrante de l'ensemble du projet, de l'évaluation initiale des opportunités de GEA jusqu'à l'identification de modalités possibles de mise en oeuvre. Le dialogue a permis de garantir que les résultats du projet reflétaient bien le point de vue des parties prenantes et répondaient à leurs préoccupations. A tous les stades du projet il a été tenu compte de divers éléments: consultations nationales et infranationales, dialogues, enquêtes et entretiens.Encadré 2. Qu'est-ce qu'un petit réservoir?Un petit réservoir est une structure qui permet le stockage de l'eau (en général en surface mais parfois enterrée) pour un volume inférieur à un million de mètres cubes, destiné entre autres à la production agricole (pour les cultures, l'élevage et la pisciculture).Dans les années 50 et 60, de nombreux réservoirs ont été construits, essentiellement pour l'abreuvement des animaux d'élevage. Dans les années 80, ils ont surtout été mis en place pour développer l'irrigation. Dans les années 2000, les rendements n'ont pas répondu aux attentes et les infrastructures se sont dégradées. La construction de réservoirs s'est considérablement ralentie.La nécessité de réhabiliter les petits réservoirs s'est fait vivement sentir et il y a eu dans les investissements une transition du matériel vers le logiciel. Il a été unanimement admis que les problèmes d'exploitation et d'entretien pouvaient être résolus par l'intermédiaire d'Associations d'usagers de l'eau (AUE). Celles-ci ont été mises en place mais les efforts de renforcement des capacités qui auraient permis de les rendre opérationnelles sont restés insuffisants.Source: FAO 2012c les eaux stockées. Il faut également mettre en place une gestion rigoureuse pour que les deux systèmes puissent coexister et que les ressources disponibles puissent être exploitées de la manière la plus profitable. Il est indispensable de repenser la conception, la gestion et la coordination autour des petits barrages pour qu'ils constituent une solution rentable (tableau 4). Le stockage des eaux de surface est une façon coûteuse d'investir dans la GEA, mais c'est parfois le seul moyen de permettre aux communautés rurales d'accéder à l'eau. Ces coûts élevés sont souvent dus à une mauvaise gestion des projets (figure 2). Il est possible d'éviter l'escalade des coûts d'investissement dans les petits réservoirs en améliorant la façon de procéder. Des études de faisabilité précises, une meilleure préparation et une responsabilisation plus stricte des décideurs sont des mesures qui pourraient contribuer à la maîtrise des coûts et à l'amélioration des résultats.Pour évaluer efficacement les petits réservoirs et les comparer aux autres interventions de GEA, il faudrait effectuer une analyse coûts-avantages par habitant et pour la durée de vie totale du projet. S'ils sont bien gérés, leurs coûts sont comparables aux investissements dans d'autres types d'interventions. Leurs avantages sont même plus importants si les usages multiples, les systèmes agricoles existants, la réalimentation des nappes et le pompage direct sont pris en considération. Il est aussi indispensable d'investir dans la vulgarisation et le contrôle de l'irrigation.Des recherches ont été menées sur plusieurs petits réservoirs du Burkina Faso. La méthode choisie pour analyser la performance des réservoirs est l'évaluation qualitative fondée sur des classements. Ces classements portaient sur quatre principaux indicateurs: l'état et le fonctionnement des infrastructures des barrages; l'efficacité de la gestion des réservoirs; les avantages que présentent les réservoirs pour les utilisateurs; et l'équité des dispositifs institutionnels pour ce qui est de l'utilisation et de la gestion des réservoirs.Les résultats de ces recherches ont permis de mettre au point une approche globale afin d'améliorer les retombées positives pour les communautés vivant près des petits réservoirs (tableau 5).  Les recherches ont également souligné l'importance de la planification stratégique:• Il faut une planification plus stratégique et mieux renseignée pour garantir le meilleur rendement des investissements dans le stockage de l'eau pour l'agriculture.• Dans les projets d'investissement dans l'irrigation en Afrique subsaharienne, les petits périmètres présentent à l'heure actuelle des performances largement supérieures à celles des systèmes à grande échelle. Il y a un effet de compensation réciproque entre les économies d'échelle réalisées grâce au stockage collectif de l'eau et les avantages liés à une simplification de l'exploitation et de l'entretien.• Une fois le facteur restrictif de l'eau éliminé, d'autres facteurs peuvent se révéler. C'est seulement si des efforts suffisants sont consentis pour surmonter ces contraintes que le rendement des investissements sera positif.• Les modèles de gestion pour le stockage ne correspondent souvent pas à la réalité sur le terrain, et, en particulier, ne tiennent pas compte de la variété des parties prenantes et des bénéficiaires.En se basant sur les critères biophysiques de l'indice d'aridité et de la densité animale associés avec les cartes de subsistance et les opinions des experts, le projet AgWater Solutions a estimé que sur la base d'un taux d'adoption de 50 pour cent, les petits réservoirs pourraient bénéficier à un nombre de ménages variant entre 100 000 et 321 000, soit 2 à 3 pour cent des ménages ruraux. La superficie d'application possible varie entre 100 000 and 321 000 hectares, soit entre 1 et 5 pour cent du total des superficies agricoles du Burkina Faso. La figure 3 indique où les petits réservoirs pourraient avoir les résultats les plus positifs sur la subsistance des agriculteurs du Burkina Faso. Les participants ont insisté sur l'importance des petits barrages pour le Burkina Faso, mais ont également énuméré un certain nombre de problèmes et de préoccupations au sujet des conditions nécessaires pour leur succès. Le décalage entre l'idée qu'ils ne soient utilisés que pour l'irrigation ou l'élevage et la réalité des usages multiples a été souligné, tout comme certaines questions de gestion déterminantes au niveau local et national et à celui des bassins versants. Il est indispensable de repenser la conception, la gestion et la coordination autour des petits barrages pour qu'ils constituent une solution rentable.Culture des légumes de saison sèche 3L'utilisation du réservoir de Korsimoro pour la production de légumes de saison sèche en amont du barrage a eu des effets à la fois positifs et négatifs. L'officialisation des dispositifs de gestion de l'eau pourrait permettre de réguler l'utilisation de l'eau entre les utilisateurs, contenir le flux de nouveaux arrivants dans la culture des légumes et protéger l'environnement.Au Burkina Faso, les réservoirs sont intensivement utilisés et génèrent une richesse économique considérable. Au réservoir de Korsimoro, il y a maintenant plus de 1 000 producteurs «non officiels» de légumes en amont, qui utilisent des petites pompes pour prélever l'eau directement du réservoir. La culture irriguée des légumes est trois fois plus profitable par unité de surface que la riziculture irriguée en aval. Les superficies irriguées non officielles sur les berges des réservoirs sont sept fois plus étendues que les périmètres d'irrigation contrôlés en aval. La demande de terres cultivables est élevée et les superficies augmentent. La mise en place de dispositifs de gestion officiels favorisera cette expansion imprévue tout en gérant les avantages et inconvénients qui vont de pair.Les chercheurs ont étudié la situation du réservoir de Korsimoro pour illustrer les répercussions positives et négatives de l'irrigation individuelle non planifiée autour des plans d'eau communautaires. Les données ont été obtenues en proposant des questionnaires structurés à une centaine de riziculteurs, de producteurs de légumes, de pêcheurs et d'éleveurs. Des entretiens semi-structurés ont été menés avec des agents d'organisations d'agriculteurs, de collectivités locales et d'autres institutions.Les résultats de l'enquête ont été partagés à l'occasion d'une réunion avec les villageois et le Service de l'irrigation, afin de les vérifier et de les finaliser. Ils ont également été débattus à des ateliers d'experts consacrés aux petits barrages et lors d'une consultation nationale.Le CLE est particulièrement bien placé pour s'occuper des problèmes d'eau autour des réservoirs. Le rassemblement des divers groupes d'usagers de l'eau pour discuter et échanger des points de vue concernant les questions de distribution et de gestion de l'eau s'inscrit dans le cadre de ses objectifs. Il faut au CLE un mandat clair, une direction solide et des ressources pour qu'il puisse devenir un agent actif de la résolution des problèmes de gestion de l'eau. Les bailleurs de fonds internationaux pourraient catalyser les efforts de revigoration des CLE.Korsimoro est maintenant connu pour être une plaque tournante de la culture de l'oignon dans la région. Au moment de la récolte, des négociants viennent même du Ghana voisin pour leurs achats en gros. Les cultivateurs de légumes en amont du réservoir, qui ont mis en place un dispositif local efficace de gestion de l'eau, pourraient être considérés comme des pionniers d'une approche innovante et profitable de l'utilisation des petits réservoirs. Il faudrait développer des marchés et des installations de stockage pour garantir une utilisation optimale de l'eau et étaler la production sur l'ensemble de l'année.Le Burkina Faso compte plus de 1 300 petits réservoirs. Le gouvernement et les bailleurs de fonds ont favorisé leur construction pour améliorer la production irriguée, et en particulier celle du riz, en aval des réservoirs. Toutefois, les tendances observées au réservoir de Korsimoro sont représentatives de la situation autour des autres réservoirs du Burkina Faso, et indiquent que l'élargissement de la planification et de la gestion des petits réservoirs du pays, de façon à inclure le groupe plus vaste des utilisateurs et les usages multiples, pourrait permettre d'améliorer encore les bénéfices.Au Burkina Faso, selon les estimations du projet AGWater Solutions, le soutien à l'utilisation de pompes motorisées pour tirer parti de l'eau des petits réservoirs, d'autres structures de stockage des eaux de surface et des nappes souterraines pourrait permettre à quelque 276 000-332 000 ménages d'agriculteurs de mettre ces eaux à profit, ce qui représente 2 à 3 pour cent des ménages ruraux. Ils pourraient irriguer de 221 000 à 266 000 ha, soit 3 à 4 pour cent de l'ensemble des terres irrigables du Burkina Faso.Les pompes motorisées conviennent particulièrement bien à l'irrigation des terres situées à moins d'un kilomètre (km) d'un plan d'eau de surface ou très près d'eaux souterraines peu profondes (déterminées à partir de la présence de sols alluviaux), ou encore là où le ruissellement de surface annuel dépasse 250 mm. Les terres doivent être proches d'un marché (moins de 8 heures de trajet) pour tirer profit des cultures de saison sèche à valeur élevée. Les zones les plus favorables à l'utilisation des petites pompes sont indiquées à la figure 4.De vastes superficies ne sont actuellement pas cultivées dans les vallées intérieures. La mise en pratique de la riziculture ou l'apport d'eau pour prolonger la période de végétation pourraient permettre aux petits exploitants agricoles de faire des profits supplémentaires bien nécessaires.Les vallées intérieures sont des zones basses dont font partie les fonds de vallées et les plaines inondables et qui recueillent les eaux de ruissellement des collines et montagnes. GrâceLes pompes motorisées peuvent être utiles dans tout le pays. Elles se multiplient autour des petits barrages grâce à des investissements privés. Toutefois, les pompes disponibles sur le marché ne sont pas de très bonne qualité et la gamme de modèles proposée n'est pas assez complète pour répondre à la variété des besoins.Les marchés sont le moteur du développement de la petite irrigation autour des petits réservoirs. Les agriculteurs sont toutefois souvent obligés de vendre leur production en même temps, ce qui fait baisser les prix. S'ils disposaient d'installations de stockage adéquates pour les cultures à valeur élevée telles que les oignons, ils pourraient garder une partie de leur production pour la vendre quand les prix sont plus élevés. à l'utilisation de structures de captage et de distribution de l'eau, les systèmes de bas-fonds permettent l'irrigation d'appoint et améliorent la rétention d'humidité dans les sols (encadré 3). Ils réduisent également les phénomènes d'inondation et l'érosion des sols. Au Burkina Faso, il a été estimé que les superficies qui pourraient être utilisées pour la riziculture dans les vallées intérieures représentent un million d'hectares (Mha) (FAO 2012a). Entre 1998 et 2004, une série de trois études des bas-fonds a été effectu��e au Burkina Faso par le Programme spécial pour la sécurité alimentaire (PSSA), financé par le Programme des Nations Unies pour le développement (PNUE); le Programme national de gestion des terroirs (PNGT), financé par le Ministère de l'économie et des finances (MEF) par l'intermédiaire du Projet de gestion intégrée des écosystèmes de bas-fonds au Sahel (SILEM); et le Plan d'actions pour la filière riz (PAFR), financé par l'Union européenne (UE). Ces études ont calculé que les bas-fonds couvrent 1 900 000 ha sur l'ensemble du territoire national.La plupart des bas-fonds ont été cartographiés (figure 5) et caractérisés en fonction de critères biophysiques et socio-économiques. Cela a permis une classification dictée à partir des catégories «peu aménageables» et «non aménageables». Les zones adaptées au développement des bas-fonds sont celles où la durée de la période de végétation (nombre de jours pendant lesquels T > 5°C et ETa >= 0,5 ETo 5 ) dépasse 120 jours. Les zones les plus proches des marchés sont les plus favorables. La demande fondée sur les moyens d'existence pour la culture des vallées intérieures a également été prise en considération. Environ 541 000 à 639 000 ha pourraient être développés, ce qui bénéficierait à 361 000-426 000 ménages (si 50 pour cent de tous les agriculteurs susceptibles d'adopter l'option de GEA le faisaient). Cela représente 3 à 4 pour cent de la population rurale et 8 à 9 pour cent de l'ensemble des terres agricoles du Burkina Faso.Les rendements de riz paddy varient en fonction de la maîtrise de l'eau mais représentent approximativement 4 à 5 tonnes/ha (t/ha) en maîtrise totale de l'eau (ou un potentiel de 6 t/ha avec la possibilité de deux récoltes par an). Les rendements des vallées intérieures purement pluviales sont de 0,7 à 1 t/ha, mais peuvent atteindre 2 à 2,5 t/ha ou davantage avec un dispositif de maîtrise de l'eau, selon le système.Source: Moussa Laurent Compaore, Facilitateur national du dialogue, Burkina Faso, 2012, comm. pers. Les bas-fonds ont fait l'objet de discussions intensives, au niveau régional et national, avec un groupe de diverses parties prenantes, dont les meilleurs experts. Les obstacles suivants à un développement plus poussé des vallées intérieures ont été mis en évidence:• L'absence de périmètres aménagés.• La persistance des problèmes de régimes fonciers, qui rendent difficiles l'accès aux terres et aux ressources en eau.• Les animaux errants qui dégradent les zones cultivées non protégées (en particulier les cultures de légumes).• Le ciblage malencontreux ou la mauvaise sélection des bénéficiaires des projets.• Les comportements de résistance au changement.• La participation limitée des femmes et leur manque d'accès à l'information.• La concurrence pour l'eau entre les agriculteurs, les éleveurs et d'autres intervenants.• L'isolation de certains sites.• L'organisation inadéquate des utilisateurs potentiels.• La coopération limitée des responsables dans la formation sur la gestion.• Le déclin du niveau de la nappe phréatique.• Les erreurs dans la planification ou la mise en oeuvre de certains périmètres.• Le manque de personnel.• La maîtrise insuffisante des débouchés commerciaux pour les filières de production.La recherche n'a pas été effectuée au Burkina Faso mais les résultats se fondent sur une étude menée au Ghana, l'analyse d'études réalisées auparavant au Burkina Faso et les recommandations des parties prenantes. Le point focal national du projet AgWater Solutions, qui est un défenseur du développement des bas-fonds au bénéfice des petits exploitants agricoles, a rassemblé un panel d'experts pour étudier les options en juin 2011.• Améliorer la gestion de l'eau. Parmi les options recommandées figurent l'irrigation en maîtrise totale qui permet les cultures de saison sèche ou l'irrigation d'appoint pendant la saison des pluies. Le Burkina Faso a essayé différents types de systèmes de gestion qui vont de la maîtrise totale à la construction de banquettes selon les sites, les cultures et les agriculteurs. Des directives sur la gestion de l'eau dans les bas-fonds pour divers systèmes de culture sont actuellement en cours de révision.• Garantir la sécurité des régimes fonciers grâce à des conventions de location.• Améliorer les recommandations agronomiques (taux d'application des engrais, variété et choix des cultures, etc.) en se fondant sur des essais localisés sur exploitations et en appliquant des critères techniques et économiques.• Mettre en place des dispositifs financiers abordables et à long terme pour l'acquisition d'intrants et des investissements qui tiennent compte de la viabilité économique de la riziculture dans les vallées intérieures.• Améliorer les systèmes de manutention et de stockage après récolte (ex.: batteuses mécaniques, installations de stockage).• Améliorer la capacité de gestion des terres des agriculteurs en leur présentant des équipements abordables tels que des motoculteurs.• Renforcer les capacités des chercheurs, du personnel de vulgarisation et des agriculteurs en matière de pratiques agronomiques adaptées à l'exploitation de diverses cultures dans les bas-fonds.• Evaluer les conséquences écologiques de l'expansion de l'exploitation des bas-fonds.Une solution de GEA qui bénéficie à un agriculteur peut avoir des répercussions négatives sur quelqu'un d'autre ou sur l'environnement, par exemple en détournant l'eau d'étangs utilisés pour la pisciculture ou les animaux d'élevage ou en abaissant le niveau de la nappe phréatique. Pour qu'une solution de GEA soit durable, il faut en anticiper et minimiser autant que possible les effets négatifs. Les solutions de GEA peuvent aussi produire des avantages inattendus.Les répercussions possibles et probables des interventions ont été examinées dans le bassin versant du Nariarlé. Ces études ont montré que l'expansion de la plupart des options de GEA auront des répercussions négatives, mais que dans l'ensemble, leurs effets sur la réduction de la pauvreté et l'équité hommes/femmes seront positifs.Le bassin versant du Nariarlé s'étend approximativement sur 1 000 kilomètres carrés (km 2 ) dans le centre du Burkina Faso, au sud de Ouagadougou. La partie nord du bassin est celle où les densités de population sont les plus élevées. Les accès aux marchés, aux infrastructures et aux transports sont bons.Les précipitations moyennes annuelles sont de 739 mm/an, mais connaissent des variations élevées selon les années et les époques de l'année. L'évapotranspiration absorbe 88 pour cent de ces précipitations, 9 pour cent passent dans l'écoulement fluvial et 3 pour cent réalimentent les eaux souterraines. Le bassin versant se caractérise par la prolifération de petits réservoirs de moins de 0,1 hectare.Environ 72 pour cent du bassin versant sont occupés par des terres agricoles non irriguées; moins de 0,5 pour cent des terres sont irriguées (figure 6). Dans le reste des superficies se trouvent de la savane dégradée, des forêts et des plantations (figure 7). • L'agriculture pluviale améliorée grâce à l'amélioration des sols et la gestion des nutriments dans les cultures pluviales en exploitation.• L'expansion des zones irriguées par l'utilisation de pompes et canaux supplémentaires pourrait augmenter la superficie irriguée à partir des canaux, chenaux de drainage et réservoirs existants.• L'intensification de l'irrigation grâce à l'amélioration des terres arables existantes (considérée comme l'addition d'une culture de légumes pleinement irriguée après la saison des pluies sur des terres irriguées existantes et sur 0,4 pour cent du bassin versant), pour permettre deux récoltes par an.• L'augmentation de 50, 100 et 200% du stockage dans les réservoirs afin de répondre aux usages multiples et élargir les bénéfices. Le volume actuel de stockage est d'approximativement 0,15 kilomètres cubes (km 3 )/an par rapport à une ressource pluviale totale de 0,74 km 3 /an.L'agriculture pluviale améliorée pourrait faire passer les rendements de maïs de 2 t/ha à 4,7 t/ha et ceux du millet de 2,3 t/ha à 2,8 t/ha. Elle pourrait également diminuer les variations annuelles des rendements (de 10 à 7pour cent pour le maïs et de 9 à 3 pour cent pour le millet). Cette intervention pourrait potentiellement bénéficier aux agriculteurs qui ont recours à l'agriculture pluviale.L'expansion des zones irriguées par l'utilisation de pompes et canaux supplémentaires dans 20 pour cent des terres exploitées en agriculture pluviale pourrait: tripler les rendements du millet en leur faisant atteindre 2,8 t/ha; doubler les rendements du maïs en leur faisant atteindre 5,5 t/ha; sans avoir d'incidence sur les écoulements d'eaux de surface et souterraines.L'intensification de l'irrigation grâce à l'amélioration des terres arables existantes pourrait entraîner:• la multiplication par quatre du volume d'eau utilisé annuellement pour l'irrigation, qui pourrait être prélevé dans les petits réservoirs et les cours d'eau superficiels;• une diminution de 10 pour cent des écoulements de surface;• une diminution de 15 pour cent des écoulements globaux du bassin versant; et Un ensemble varié de dispositifs institutionnels, essentiellement informels, a vu le jour autour des nombreux petits réservoirs du bassin versant. En général, chaque réservoir dispose d'un comité d'entretien ainsi que de groupes s'occupant des cultures, de la pêche, de l'élevage et de l'irrigation. Parfois les organisations à caractère officiel complètent ou recoupent les dispositifs non officiels. Les divers groupes et comités ont tendance à avoir des interactions localisées. Il semble qu'aucune organisation ne coordonne à elle seule les diverses activités liées aux terres et aux eaux dans l'ensemble du bassin versant.Le système formel de gestion de l'eau a une influence limitée sur les décisions prises quotidiennement dans le bassin versant. Les autorités gouvernementales cherchent à mettre en place des groupes d'usagers de l'eau. Les ONG ont obtenu des résultats relativement positifs dans leurs efforts pour rassembler les groupes d'usagers de tout le bassin versant.Il existe déjà un réseau varié de relations de collaboration autour de la gestion des terres et des eaux et celles-ci devraient être renforcées et appuyées.Il existe un vaste éventail d'options de GEA que les petits exploitants agricoles sont en train de s'approprier et qui sont soutenues par les autorités gouvernementales. Cela va du stockage de l'eau aux technologies permettant l'accès à l'eau. Le projet AgWater Solutions a étudié trois options de GEA: les petits réservoirs, l'utilisation de pompes pour irriguer les légumes de saison sèche et l'aménagement des bas-fonds, principalement pour la culture du riz paddy. L'étude a conclu que:• les petits réservoirs sont une option importante car ils offrent un accès à l'eau aux petits exploitants agricoles et leur permettent de répondre à divers besoins. Ils peuvent toutefois être coûteux et l'investissement total pour satisfaire 50 pour cent de la demande potentielle au Burkina Faso pourrait atteindre 1 136 millions de dollars EU. L'étude a toutefois aussi établi que les coûts pourraient être réduits par un contrôle rigoureux de la planification, de la mise en oeuvre et de la gestion et qu'ils devraient être comparés avec tous les avantages apportés par le réservoir tout au long de sa durée de vie. Si cette option est mise en oeuvre, il y a jusqu'à 321 000 ménages susceptibles d'en tirer profit.• les pompes motorisées sont de plus en plus utilisées pour maximiser les bénéfices des petits réservoirs et faciliter l'irrigation en amont des cultures de légumes à valeur élevée. Ces dernières sont une source de revenus importants pour les agriculteurs mais un certain nombre d'obstacles doivent être surmontés pour mettre en train une telle entreprise; cette pratique pose également plusieurs problèmes, tels que les prélèvements excessifs, les conflits avec les éleveurs et la pollution. Leur utilisation pourrait être extrêmement avantageuse pour les petits exploitants agricoles mais il faut bien peser leurs répercussions négatives. Cela nécessitera une forme de structure de gestion qui pourrait être assurée par les Comités locaux de l'eau (CLE). Une adoption plus généralisée des pompes motorisées pourrait bénéficier à quelque 332 000 ménages agricoles irrigant jusqu'à 4 pour cent de l'ensemble des terres agricoles. Les coûts totaux d'investissement s'élèveraient à 121 millions de dollars EU.• le développement des vallées intérieures est un choix qui a la faveur des agriculteurs du Burkina Faso, pour le riz paddy mais aussi pour d'autres cultures. Les superficies qui pourraient être aménagées représentent environ 9 pour cent de l'ensemble des terres agricoles, qui seraient cultivées par jusqu'à 426 000 ménages. L'investissement, qui comprendrait des infrastructures physiques et de la vulgarisation, s'élèverait à quelque 384 millions de dollars EU.Le projet n'a pas étudié en détail toutes les options possibles de GEA mais a examiné un vaste éventail de possibilités avec les diverses parties prenantes. Celles-ci estiment que deux des options de GEA devraient faire l'objet d'études plus approfondies:• L'irrigation goutte-à-goutte, qui semble prometteuse mais il existe de nombreux exemples d'agriculteurs qui ont abandonné cette technologie. Des recherches plus poussées sont nécessaires et en cours: l'IWMI a lancé une nouvelle étude de cas pour comprendre les causes de ces échecs; l'IDE travaille sur diverses variantes techniques à des fins de démonstration aux agriculteurs et d'information pour éclairer leurs décisions d'investissement; et le gouvernement produit un documentaire visant à sensibiliser les agriculteurs aux possibilités de l'irrigation goutte-à-goutte.• Les potagers, la collecte des eaux de pluie et le développement des plans d'assurancerécolte sont aussi des options qui mériteraient d'être examinées attentivement."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"93839c2fef46db5f6483c81e8f36e339","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/6e7d97aa-3986-46c5-827e-beb94e1f61e2/retrieve","id":"870211669"},"keywords":["1","1 Background information on Iganga District ……………………………","2 1","2 Objectives ……………………………………………………………","2 1","3 Methodology ……………………………………………………………","2"],"sieverID":"0fc1313a-0057-438e-93b1-f418a0201cd3","content":"iii 6.4 Livestock diseases and control methods ……………………………. 6.4.1 Poultry diseases ……………………………………………………. 6.4.2 Goat diseases ……………………………………………………………. 6.4.3 Cattle diseases ……………………………………………………. 6.4.4 Disease control strategies ……………………………………………. 6.5 Livestock feeds ……………………………………………………. 6.6 Consumption of livestock products in the household ……………..…………. 6.7 Livestock ownership ……………………………………………………. 6.8 Trends in livestock numbers ……………………………………………. 6.9 Major constraints encountered in the livestock enterprises ……………. 6.10 Marketing …………………………………………………………….Maintaining and improving soil fertility and productivity on small farms are among the highest priorities for enhancing food security and incomes of rural populations in Africa. Yet the technology has long existed by which these goals can be achieved, at least in principle, and explanations for the generally low rates of their adoption by farmers therefore need to be sought elsewhere.This initial diagnostic report comes from one national field site of an on-going project of the systemwide program on Soil, Water and Nutrient Management (SWNM) of the Future Harvest Centers of the CGIAR. The project started from the hypotheses that farmers need to be directly involved in taking an integrated approach to adapting technologies to meet farmers' diverse needs and situations, and that methods for disseminating the results may also need adjustment to local circumstances.Like many natural resources management research activities, this study involves three intimately related dimensions: technologies, social capital and research methods. Like all such activities in which CIAT is involved, it also brings together the necessary range of partners: in this case, several programs of Uganda's national agricultural research organisation (NARO), nongovernmental organisations and farmer research groups in the case study area, and international organisations. For financial support for the overall study and for this publication, we are grateful to the Bundesministerium fur Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ). This Occasional Papers series includes bibliographies, research reports and network discussion papers. These publications are complemented by two associated series: Workshop Proceedings and Reprints. Further information on these publications, and more generally on CIAT research in Africa, is available from:The Africa Coordinator, CIAT, Kawanda Agricultural Research Institute, P.O. Box 6247, Kampala, Uganda. Village territorial mapping showed that the upper parts of the catena were low in soil fertility, and planted to bananas, coffee, maize, onions, cassava, beans and soybeans. Soil conservation measures included grass fallow and trees scattered on farmland, with crop pests and land overuse as main constraints. Potential improvements suggested by farmers were improved fallow a low cost, and Tephrosia fallow to control mole rats. Comparable assessments for other parts of the catena showed fertility and productivity increasing lower down; in the valley bottom, soil fertility status was good but constrained by continuous cultivation without fertiliser use. Potential improvements suggested were introduction of leguminous fallow and use of inorganic and organic fertilisers. Farmers identified 8 soil types by local indicators.Soil diversity classification led farmers to prioritise 12 fertility constraints. Drought was followed by lack of knowledge and skills on soil fertility management, low natural soil fertility, soil borne diseases and pests, and high cost of inorganic fertilisers. Farmers identified and ranked 8 indicators/causes of soil fertility decline. Strategies that farmers suggested for addressing soil fertility decline included use of green manure (e.g. mucuna and canavalia), inorganic fertilisers, agroforestry trees, fallows, compost manure, mulching, crop rotations and terracing. Soil fertility management diversity among households was identified by farmers, and characterized by use of fertilisers (organic and inorganic), soil erosion control measures, green manures, fallow and agroforestry. Farms/households using four or more of these measures were considered \"good\" (class I); farmers using one to three measures were considered \"average\" (class II); while those not using any of these measures were considered \"poor\" (class III). Out of 569 households only 20 (3.5%) were in class I, 10% in class II and the majority (87%) were in class III. Most farmers were not carrying out any improved soil fertility management practices, despite previous research and dissemination in the area. INTRODUCTIONImanyiro sub county of Bunya County is located at 0 0 35 1 N, 32 0 29 1 in Eastern Uganda. The district lies at an altitude of 1070-1161 meters above sea level and covers an area of about 11,113km 2 . According to the 1991 census there was a population of 945,783 (484,704 female and 461,079 male) persons. The district has a bimodal rainfall pattern varying from 1250 to 2200mm (average 1345mm for 22 years) per annum. The first rains occur between March to the end of June and the second rains between August and November. The district has tracts of fertile land within the Lake Victoria Crescent. The northern and north-eastern parts of the district have poor sandy soils which can only support cereals and root crops. The soils at Ikulwe District Farm Institute (DFI) in Imanyiro sub county are reddish brown sandy loams and sandy clay loams on red (gritty) clay loam and laterite (Harrop, 1970). Most soils have a low organic matter content and are deficient in N and P (Fischler, 1997).The specific objectives of the diagnostic phase of participatory learning and action research were:• Introduce the concepts of participatory learning and action research (PLAR) on integrated nutrient management (INM). • Develop and fine-tune tools and methods for participatory diagnosis of soil fertility management.• Set up a PLAR process for INM in Imanyiro sub county in Iganga District.• Implement the diagnostic phase of PLAR process for INM in Imanyiro sub county in Iganga district.A multidisciplinary team of researchers, extension agents, NGOs and farmers from three parishes (Buyemba, Mayuge and Magada) in Imanyiro Sub County of Iganga District in Eastern Uganda conducted the participatory learning and action research process (Defoer and Budelman, 2000). Facilitators interviewed more than 100 farmers. The facilitators are shown in the Appendix. The first day was for team building since team members had different skills, experience, and backgrounds with little knowledge of participatory approaches in research and development. It was devoted to reviewing aspects of participatory rural appraisal (PRA), participatory learning and action research (PLAR) and introducing methodological tools for analysis (Theis and Grady, 1991;Pretty et al., 1995). The participants reviewed tools including introductory village meetings, village maps, transects, organisation diagrams, wealth ranking and gender analysis, soil diversity analysis and farm classification, resource flow models and the closing village meeting (Defoer et al., 2000). The team facilitators were sub-divided into five sub-groups, namely: socio-economics, crops, livestock, landuse/agroforestry, and soils. These groups conducted group and individual interviews with farmers for the second and third day. A checklist proposed by the facilitators guided the interviews. The main issues covered in the checklist were socio-economic issues, crop production, soils, landuse/agroforestry and livestock production. The five groups were reduced to four on the fourth day to conduct resource flow mapping with three soil fertility management classes of farmers.The facilitators held group discussions followed by plenary presentations after the farmer interviews to share the field findings, build team consensus on ways to improve the procedure and agree on the next day's activities. The fifth day was for the village meeting and the findings from the various groups were presented to the farmers to cross check on the accuracy and acceptance of the information gathered during the exercise. The farmers belonging to each soil fertility class presented to other farmers their farm resource flow maps during the plenary session. Farmers also identified and ranked the main agricultural constraints in the area and proposed solutions to the problems during the group meeting on the fifth day. The farmers agreed on the need for a planning phase before implementing the experimentation phase prior to the next rainy season.A wealth ranking exercise was carried out in Kavule village in Imanyiro Sub-county to categorize all households within the village in groups representing levels of wealth and to identify locally the causes for:• Changes within a group.• Changes that enables a household to move from one group to another (both up and down).• Changes in the distance between the groups (hypothesis: richer grow richer and vice versa).• To explore levels and sources of income across the classes of farmers in each village and assess how soil fertility and soil fertility strategies relate to wealth categories in the village. Already identified indicators were compared with the locally applied indicators, and locally available resources at household level were identified as the basis for stratifying households.The methodology used was that developed by Grandin (1988). Four knowledgeable elderly farmers (two women and two men) from Kavule village carried out the exercise with the assistance of the whole group from the same village. A village list from the Local Chairman (LC) and updated by the group was used for the exercise. Cards were made and, on each, a name of the household head and a number were written using the village list. These cards were used to rank households in different wealth groups. Farmers generated a list of wealthy, medium wealth and poverty indicators. Using the generated indicators, farmers grouped all village households in five groups as shown below:• Group 1 Very wealthy households.• Group 2 Wealthy households.• Group 3 Fairly wealthy households.• Group 4 Poor households.• Group 5 Very poor households.The generated wealth indicators included:• Good looking -when someone looks healthy.• Smartness -a person puts on good clothing and looks smart.• Permanent house -the house is constructed with blocks, roofed with iron sheets and has painted walls. • Transport -owns a car, motor cycle or a bicycle.• Eats well -usually buys and eats meat, fish and other 'good' foods.• Cattle ownership -owns cattle.• Goat ownership -owns goats.• Married -a man married to several women. • Keeping money (cash) in the bank.• Hires labour -employs people to work for him or her.• Pays school fees for his children.• Several crops produced.• Electricity in his or her house.• Employed or when a person has employed children who give her/him financial assistance.• Access to everything she/he needs.• Bicycle ownership.• Semi-permanent house with iron sheet roof, wattle and mud walls.• Goat ownership.• Pays school fees for children up to primary (P7-seven years at primary school).• Eats reasonably well -buys meat or fish but not very often.• Has coffee trees.• Treated hair -a person treats her hair.• Reasonable amount of land.• Owns cattle.• Dresses badly -a person puts on one shirt and one pair of trouser and does not change clothes. • Owns little land (0-1.5 acres).• Owns grass thatched house (has iron roof but with mud walls).• No house.• No land.• No livestock (cattle, goats or other types of livestock).• Does not want to work.• Lack of responsibility -does not look after his wife and children.• Sleeps badly -lacks blankets and mattresses.• Does not pay tax.• Works as casual labourer for survival.• Children do not go to school -can not pay school fees.The farmers ranked the wealth indicators in order of their usefulness in distinguishing between classes, as shown below. Land was considered most important, followed by money and the type of crops grown. The type of labour used was ranked as the least important indicator considering wealth.1. Land 2. Money 3. Type of crops grown 4. Type of house 5. Marital status 6. Ability to pay school fees 7. Means of transport used, e.g. own a car, motorcycle 8. Cattle ownership 9. Type of labour usedFarmers observed some changes in members of group 1(very wealthy group) to group 2 (wealthy group). Some of the reasons they gave for the deterioration of these households in their wealth status are given below:1. Poor budgeting of resources by farmers with some farmers using the resources wastefully without saving for the future. 2. The head of the household dies and his son/heir misuses the inherited resources. 3. Thieves steal property from the well endowed households. 4. Womanising as a cause of wealth deterioration, as some men spend a lot of money on their girl friends and end up depleting their resources. 5. Alcoholism results in depletion of wealth because alcoholics do not invest in productive work. This is also associated with living a luxurious life. 6. Disasters such as fires. 7. Sickness, as household income is spent without additional revenue. 8. Drought. 9. Witchcraft and cursing of crops so that they do not yield much was also identified as one cause of loss of wealth. 10. Wars also cause loss of property through destruction and looting. 11. Committing crime the person pays fines, can be jailed and loses time for productive work. 7The wealth groups were characterised according to the number and size of resources the members own, as shown in Table 1. Some households had risen to a higher wealth group for the following reasons:1. Hard working households are more productive and move up the wealth ranks. Thus a person determined to achieve something, works hard, achieves it, and shifts from poor to wealthy. When a person admires others who are okay, this person works hard to achieve what he/she has admired and by doing so improves his/her standard of living. 2. People who budget their financial resources are able to save and invest. 3. Households with children who are wealthy are able to improve on their standard of living. 4. Increased production of crops and other farm produce for sale increases household income. 5. Training / learning from resource people is believed to impart knowledge to farmers and thereby increase on their production and improve on their standard of living. 6. When farmers acquires skills / experience / challenges they can use them to produce more and change their wealth status.Farmers discussed some general trends within the different wealth groups. The very poor people were becoming poorer whereas the poor were becoming fairly wealthy. The fairly wealthy group was changing to wealthy while wealthy members were changing to very wealthy and the very wealth people were becoming more and more wealthy.Wealth ranking was also carried out in Magada village with the aim of categorizing all households within the village into groups representing wealth levels. Eight people (4 women and 4 men) participated in the exercise. Farmers were divided in 6 groups of different wealth levels. Group one is composed of very wealthy people, group two wealthy people, group three is of fairly wealthy people, group four is of poor people, group five has very poor people, and while group six is composed of extremely poor and desperate people.The following indicators were listed and used by the farmers to categorise the above groups, as shown in Table 2.Group 1 -Very wealthy There were some changes in all wealth groups. More people in group 1 maintain their wealth, while a few of them deteriorate to group 2. Reasons for maintaining wealth include having enough resources, working hard, good planning and fear to be ashamed if they drop to a lower group. However, a few people who change to group 2 do so because of poor management of their resources.The majority of group 2 members are moving to group 1, will a few of them remaining at group 2 level. The reason for changing is the desire for more wealth and hard work. Those who do not change stay like that because they fear to take risks and plan poorly for their resources. A majority of group 3 members are rising to group 2 (with a minority of them going down to group 4 because they are energetic and dynamic people who desire more wealth. Most people in groups 4 and 5 are deteriorating, with very few of them rising to a higher group. The reasons for deterioration are a lack of resources, and old age. Those in these groups who rise are hired as casual labourers. However, most members of group 6 are deteriorating because such people are lazy, do not want to work, or are not married and as a result resort to alcoholism and marijuana.Groups 1, 2 and 3 are becoming wealthier, while most people in groups 4 and 5 are becoming poorer, with very few of them becoming wealthier. Group 6 members are deteriorating.Farmers in Buyemba village were divided into four wealth groups. These include: group one composed of very wealthy people, group two consisting of wealthy people, group three made up of fairly wealthy people and group four composed of poor people.The following indicators were listed and used by the farmers to categorise the groups, as shown in Table 3.Very wealthy (group 1) There were some changes in wealth groups. The majority of people in group 1 are becoming more wealthy because they have enough resources, plan very well the use of their resources and they also exploit the poor by buying their produce cheaply and hiring them cheaply as labourers. However, the majority of people in group 2 do not change, while a few people change to group 1 because, in order to rise up, one has to do business and it is difficult for people in group 2 to compete with people in group 1 in this area. In addition, members in group 2 have many children to look after, so they end up spending a lot of money paying school fees. The majority of people in group 3 are changing to group 2 because they are energetic and have desire for more wealth. The majority of people in group 4 deteriorate, while a few people change to group 3 as they lack resources and have lost hope of developing.Households in groups 1, 2 and 3 are becoming wealthier, while those in group 4 are becoming poorer.Gender analysis was carried out in Kavule village. Farmers were divided into two groups of men and women, each working independently of the other. The major objective was to identify the different roles carried out by men, women and children, the time they spend on these activities, the places, where the activities occur and how they are done. Access to and control of resources and benefits was analysed, and social relations among farm households of the village identified.The women identified reproductive and productive activities, the gender, time and the place where the activity is done. The daily reproductive activities included: washing / bathing / cleaning the home and utensils and preparing meals and caring for the children. The daily productive activities included tethering cattle, gardening, slashing, digging and harvesting. It was noted that women leave their beds before their husbands and go to sleep late in the night after everybody in the household has slept. In other words, women work for longer hours than any other member of the household. Women produce for home consumption while men produce for commercial purposes. Some men preferred to have their own gardens, yet wives had to assist them in those gardens. Most men did not do the planting, weeding and harvesting in their wives' gardens. Men who work in offices do not work in gardens.The daily activities of women are shown in Figure 1 and Table 4 below:  Note: If a man keeps money it is not given back to women as it is spent on school fees and other essentials.Women sell produce in small quantities without the knowledge of their husbands. Older children eat supper but young ones eat leftovers from the morning meals/lunch. Women work more hours than men (they go to bed after 12:00 mid-night but wake up to look after the children).Men identified the following daily reproductive activities: morning and evening prayers, washing face and bathing, cleaning compound, taking meals, visiting friends/leisure, building homestead, producing children and sleeping. The productive daily activities included: tethering animals, monitoring fields, land preparation, planting, weeding, harvesting, transport harvests home, threshing, thinning and grazing animals (Figure 2 and Table 5). Women worked out their labour requirements throughout the year. Three peak periods were identified: March-April when planting and weeding maize, beans, sweet potatoes, bananas, coffee and soybeans. Another labour requirement peak period occurs between June and July, when farmers harvest beans, maize finger millet, and groundnuts, and some farmers also do bush clearing. September and October are also very busy months of the year when farmers are planting and weeding their second season crops.Figure 3: Seasonal labour calendar for women in Kavule village Note:• January and December-during this time women farmers do early land clearing and some late harvesting of their crops. • February -land clearing continues and sowing of finger millet.• March and April -these busy months of the year: women farmers plant and weed maize, beans, sweet potatoes, bananas, coffee and soyabeans • May -weeding is done mostly in this month.• June -women harvest beans, maize, finger millet and g/nuts.• July and August -this is another peak period of labour requirements. It involves clearing land and harvesting maize. • Then the cycle begins again.• It was noted that most work is done by women (especially planting, weeding and harvesting). • It was also noted that during the rain season there is a lot of work to do.• Rearing of animals was said to add more work for women.Men also identified three peak periods of labour requirements. These included: March and April, when men are busy planting, weeding, pruning and thinning, plus some marketing. June and July are very busy months of the year for men farmers as they harvest, dry, thresh and market their produce in this period. October is also very busy month in which men weed, prune and thin their crops. January, May, August and December were identified as the months when men do not have much work. • January -land is prepared, which involves bush clearing, burning trash and digging.• February -involves 1 st and 2 nd ploughing and some planting.• March -April -men are busy planting, weeding, pruning and thinning, and some marketing. • May -involves some weeding and other simple activities.• June -July -men are busy harvesting, drying, threshing and marketing farm produce.• August -involves late harvesting, some land preparation and continues up to September.• September -planting continues up to October.• October -men are busy weeding, pruning and thinning.• November -harvesting (usually less than 1 st seasons harvests), marketing, land preparation for millet. • December -involves late harvesting and land preparation for millet continues.Access and control profile a) Women's groupAccess to and control over resources used in a home, as identified by women, are presented in Table 6.Women listed the following resources they use in a home: land, money, hoes, sauce pans, knives, cattle, goats, education, poultry, time, movement and energy. They noted that men, women, boys, girls, widows, first, second and third wives have access to most of the resources, except that women, boys, girls, 2 nd wife, 3 rd wife have limited access to time and no access to movement and energy resources. However, it was noted that, women could access energy (labour especially of children) when their husbands are not around. As regards control of resources, it was noted that women, boys, girls, first wife, second wife and children from first and second wives do not control any of the resources shown in Table 6. Men justify this by saying that when a woman is married she brings nothing with her to the man's home, and therefore she owns nothing in a man's house.Women farmers listed the benefits that exist in their households as money, food, ghee, meat, cow dung, cattle, goats, pigs, poultry, maize, coffee and beans. It was noted that men, widows, and their children have access to all benefits in the households. The children access money and farm used for school fees. However, children have no access to coffee. It was realised that widows have access to all benefits in their households because they are essentially the heads of the households. The first and second wives had access to food items and cow dung, but not to cattle, goats, pigs, poultry and coffee (benefits which bring in money). It was noted that when there is plenty of foods e.g 10 bags of beans, a man can give his wife one bag or refuse her to sell anything, in other words it becomes a man's crop, because he is the one who sells it. Some women had access to money, whereas others did not.Men and widows control all the benefits in their households and other members of the household need their consent. Therefore, women, first and second wives, and children had no control of any benefit in their households.  Access to and control over resources and benefits as identified by men are presented below (Tables 8a and 8b). Men identified the following resources used in their households: land, animals and poultry, money, houses, radio, transport facilities (e.g. bicycle, farm implements hoe, panga, axe, wheel barrows, knife etc), kitchen utensils, time, chairs, iron box and lantern.It was noted that all men, women, boys and girls have access to these resources. However, it is only men who control the resources.The benefits identified in the households included: income, food crops, cash crops (e.g. coffee, milk, eggs, meat), education and organic fertilizers from animal waste. Men, women, girls and boys have access to all the benefits in the households except that women and men do not access education (as shown in Table 8). It was noted that men control all the benefits in the households. While women, boys and girls do not control any benefit in the household. panga, axe, wheel barrows, knife, etc)Table 8b. Access to and control over benefits for the men's group in Kavule villageFarmers organize themselves in many ways that need to be understood if one is to work effectively with them. Organization diagrams were developed in Imanyiro sub-county to identify the major organizations e.g. self-help groups, women, youth and church groups.Traditional structures such as clans, of which villagers are members, were also identified to explore the links among these organizations, and also external groups to access farmers' information and communication networks. These organizations can be used to facilitate knowledge and technology dissemination. They provide a forum for discussing and exchanging ideas and disseminating information to a large audience. These organizations also play a role in stimulating community participation in various activities, since there is a greater potential for mobilization as they have established linkages within the village that facilitate common action.The farmers in Imanyiro identified 24 different groups, which were composed of farmers from the sub-county. They varied in size from a handful of members to an entire village. The groups were formed around issues that affected the members and these included women groups, church or religious groups, welfare, farmer research groups and fish farming (Table 9). Only two organizations were identified in Kavule village and these were Kantu and Kavule Development Groups (Figure 5). Kantu consists of a majority of members of the village, while Kavule Development Group consists of all men in Kavule who plan development activities. However, these organizations do not interact with any external organization.Figure 5: Social organizations in Kavule villageFarmers identified ten social groups in Buyemba village (Figure 6). Six of these groups were women groups. Baise Kantu is a community group and all people in the village are members. This is a welfare group that assists members of the community during funeral and burial arrangements. Members of the community contribute mainly food and firewood. Women collect water and assit to cook for mourners and provide company, comfort and courage to the bereaved family while men construct graves and shelter. Members meet and contribute funds when necessary. This association does not contribute to agricultural development in the area.Muno Mukabi group has similar activities to Baise Kantu and assists members who have problems and this group has no contribution to agricultural development. Magada and Naigezi Womens groups are drama and agricultural associations. Women members are engaged in activities that include crop and livestock production and making bricks.Itente and Kyebojja Kobona farmers groups are involved in agricultural activities that include poultry production. The members of the group contribute funds to sustain their activities. The Literacy Classes Association is a group that trains adults to read and write (adult literacy).PEARL (UNFPA) is a health education organisation for the youth. The youth are encouraged to engage in income generating activities that include farming. The association is funded by UNFPA.Household income and expenditureThe following were identified as sources of income by farmers in Kavule, Buyemba and Magada villages:• Crop production was the most important source and contributes about 55% of the total income. The most important crops were coffee, maize, beans, soybean, cassava, millet, cocoa and passion fruit.• Livestock production contributes 20% of the income.• Employment and bicycle repairing contribute 10% each to the household income.• Business contributes 5% (Figure 7).• Other activities that bring income to households are: brick making, building, fish farming, labour and employment in maize mills.Figure 7: Sources of income in ImanyiroThe major household expenditure was on school fees 50%. This is followed by clothing 10%, health costs 10%, farm inputs 10%, transport 10%, tax 5% and food 5% (Figure 8). It is important to note that a large part (50%) of the men's income is spent on children's school fees. Women's income is spent on children's clothes, pencils and exercise books when husbands are not around. Women also buy themselves clothes and treat their hair in beauty salons.Farmers in the 3 villages of Kavule, Buyemba and Magada do not have access to credit facilities. Some farmers in Buyemba village buy and use fertilizers. No farmers in the other two villages use fertilizers. Farm produce (maize, beans and groundnuts) are sold in Iganga town, although some transactions are carried out between farmers. However, farmers are usually offered very low prices for their produce. Farmers do not store produce because of financial demands that include paying school fees and hospital bills.Generally, men make decisions on the fate of farm produce. Men also make decisions on soil management practices, but both men and women implement them.Farmers' problems, possible solutions and opportunitiesFarmers from the three villages (Kavule, Buyemba and Mayuge) identified the major problems affecting them in their villages. The list of problems included: farming is not profitable, poverty, poor water sources, lack of tractors, low prices for produce, disease and food problems. The problems were ranked using pairwise ranking (Table 10). The results indicate that farmers consider farming not to be a profitable activity. Other main problems are poverty, low prices, poor nutrition, diseases, lack of tractors and poor water.Farmers discussed potential solutions to their problems. These are presented below: Farmers in Imanyiro sub-county grow a wide range of crops for food and income. During the PRA exercise, a group of farmers identified 21 different crops grown. They ranked the top ten crops as coffee, bananas, maize, cassava, groundnuts, sweetpotatoes, beans, millet, cocoyams and rice, in that order (Table 11). Other crops mentioned were pumpkins, vegetables, cocoa, sugarcane, soybean, yams, sesame, fruits, vanilla, mulberry and Irish potatoes. Farmers also discussed how some of the main crops compete for production resources (land, capital, labour and management). The highest competitor for the resources was coffee, followed by maize, bananas, groundnuts, beans, cassava and sweet potatoes (Table 12). The highest competitor for the four production resources was coffee, followed by maize, bananas, groundnuts, beans, cassava, and sweet potatoes in that order. Land allocation to crops was highest for maize (32%) followed by coffee and bananas at 21% each, cassava and beans at 10% each (Figure 9). Wortmann et. al., (1998) found that land use for different crops in Ikulwe was banana (20%), maize, cassava and fruits (20% each), beans, coffee and vegetables (7% each), sweet potato (6%) and other crops (16%). Farmers were also asked to list the constraints that they face when producing crops and they gave a list of 10 constraints:- When these production constraints were ranked, lack of extension services (LES) emerged as the most serious problem, followed by unpredictable weather (UW), lack of capital (LC), lack of tools (LT), pests and diseases (PD), poor marketing (PM), poor farming methods (PFM), poor soils (PS), weeds (W) and limited land (LL) (Table 13). Farmers were asked to suggest possible solutions to these constraints, and came up with several solutions for each constraint. Their suggestions are summarised in Table 14. • Mobilised groups where inputs can easily be delivered.• Avail extension services to farmers.• Develop skills in the control of pests and diseases.• Access to inputs.• Adhere to the proper planting calendar.Poor soils • Avail extension services to farmers.• Training or develop skills in good soil management.• Exposure visits.• Access to inputs.• Skills in maximum utilisation of land.• Hiring more land.• Farm planning.Farmers developed a cropping calendar for all the 21 crops grown in Imanyiro sub-county (Table 15). The results indicate that farmers in Imanyiro sub-county are very busy throughout the year. However, women and men in the sub-county share all the work except slashing and marketing of the produce, which are done by men only (Table 16).  The trend in crop production in the last two decades indicate that there have been two peak periods in 1985 and 1995 for coffee, maize and sweet potato, but banana production was highest in 1990 (Figure 10).Food is most available in the months of June July, August and December to February. These are months that correspond to harvesting time (Figure 11).Cropping systems in Imanyiro sub-countyFarmers were asked to name the various methods they use to plant crops. They indicated that they plant most crops either as sole crops, as intercrops or in strips (Table 17). However, during the subsequent discussion and during the transect walk through Kavule village, it was observed that nearly all farmers in the area practice intercropping. All types of crop combinations were observed and the most, which were most common were:• beans, maize, cassava • groundnuts, simsim, maize, cassava • finger millet, sorghum, simsim, cassava, maize • maize, beans, cotton • bananas, maize, beans • sweet potatoes, beans, maize.When farmers were asked to explain why intercropping is very common in the area, they gave four reasons (Table 18). Most farmers in the area practice intercopping because of land shortage, to spread risks and to improve soil fertility. A few farmers also believe that intercropping helps them to reduce crop pests and diseases.About 42% of the farmers present during the discussion indicated that they practice crop rotation, indicating that the benefits of crop rotation were:• to reduce pests and diseases • to maintain / sustain soil productivity • to improve soil fertility.The other farmers said that they do not practice crop rotation because all their land is under permanent crops like coffee and bananas.Farmers reported that the main sources of planting materials / seeds were from their own seeds (saved from crop harvests), neighbours, local markets, farm supply shops and researchers (Table 19). Most farmers get planting materials / seeds from their own seed and also buy seed from the local markets and from neighbours. Farmers have also been exposed to research workers and they get seeds from research institutions. Most farmers (65%) use improved seed / planting materials, whereas few (35%) do not use improved seed. Among the farmers present in the meeting those planting improved seeds / planting materials for some of the crops were: cassava (17), maize (8), beans (8), soya beans (3), and groundnuts (3). Cassava was leading because cassava mosaic virus has destroyed all the local cassava varieties. The data also shows that the new cassava and beans varieties introduced through NARO Namulonge and CIAT during the early 1990's were well accepted. The improved seed / planting materials reported to be available to the farmers were: -Farmers' reasons for using improved seed / planting materials were:• high yield • quick maturing (in some cases)• dressed and therefore good germination. The most common measure used to improve soil fertility was planting green manure like mucuna, canavalia, lablab, and crotalaria. This is another technology introduced in the area by CIAT, and farmers appreciated its value (Wortmann et al., 1998).The use of crop residues, which are available on the farms, has a bearing on nutrient flows. For this reason, farmers were asked to explain how they use crop residues available on their farms. They started by listing the crop residues that are often available, including maize stover, sorghum stover, finger millet straw/trash, sugarcane trash, groundnut plants, banana trash, sweet potato vines, bean haulms and simsim stems. They also listed as the different ways of handling crop residues the following:• burning • returning the materials to the fields • making trash lines /erosion barriers in the fields • making compost • using the materials as mulch.Finally, they matched the uses against each type of crop residues to ascertain the most common methods of disposal (Table 21). Most of the crop residue is returned to the gardens followed by burning. Few people use crop residue for controlling soil erosion, and most farmers did not know how to use crop residues to make compost.During group interviews, a group of farmers was asked to draw a resource map of Kavule village in Mayuge Parish (Figure 12). The objectives of the village territory map were to:• Visualize the boundaries of the village territory.• Identify and locate the different land units and soil types in the village.• Locate the different farm-households in the village.• Analyze use and management of the land.• Identify differences in soil fertility patterns.• Analyze the constraints and potentials of the territory in relation to soil fertility and land degradation.The purpose of the map was to assist with the analysis of current natural resource use and management at the village level. The soil types and land use along the catena were demarcated. The relative importance of the different types of landuse and the reasons for these differences were discussed. Existing erosion control measures and land use areas were demarcated. The map was analyzed to identify the constraints and potential for different types of landuse (physical aspects such as soil quality and slope, and issues such as location and marketing possibilities for the produce) and to decide if communal action for natural resource management activities should be planned (Defoer et al., 2000).A village transect walk (Figure 13) was later conducted through Kavule village by a group of facilitators and farmers. The main objective of the territory transect was to:• Identify the diversity of the landscape along the slope.• Analyse the diversity in soil fertility management along the catena (across the slope).• Verify and complete findings of the village territory map.The transect allowed the group to cover the main territory units and soil types. Detailed information was obtained on landuse, crops, livestock, farmers' management practices, soil conservation and agroforestry practices. The main constraints and potential improvement were identified for different parts of the soil catena (Figure 13).The upper parts of the catena were low in soil fertility and the main soil types were brown loamy soils locally known as \"e'ryolukusikusi\". These areas were planted to bananas, coffee, maize, onions, cassava, beans and soybeans. Soil conservation measures included grass fallows and trees scattered on the farmland. Severe termite damage to crops, mole rats, land overuse and fragmentation were the main constraints. Potential improvements suggested by the farmers were improved fallows (as a low cost investment to improve soil fertility status) of and Tephrosia fallows (to control mole rats) (Wortmann e. al., 1998). The middle parts of the slope were also under agricultural production and the main soil types were loams (lukusikusi). The main crops were as in the upper parts of the catena. Soil conservation and agroforestry practices observed were grass fallows, live fences and scattered trees on cropland; soil fertility status was fair. Main constraints mentioned were soil erosion, deforestation and continuous cultivation without nutrient replenishment. Potential improvements suggested included the use of improved fallows and construction of trenches, terraces and other biological and physical soil erosion control measures.The lowest part of the catena was under agricultural production. Soil types were sandy soils mixed with fine grey clay (omusenhosenho). The main crops grown in the lower parts of the catena were coffee, maize, banana, pigeon pea, sweet potatoes, Napier grass, rice and yams.The main soil conservation and agroforestry practices were grass fallows and scattered trees on cropland. Soil fertility status was good, but the principal constraint was continuous cultivation without fertilizer use. Potential improvements suggested were introduction of leguminous fallows and use of inorganic and organic fertilizers.A group of farmers and facilitators discussed the soil types found in Imanyiro subcountry. A list of 8 different soil types, their descriptions and uses was developed (Table 22). The farmers based their soil classification on colour (e.g. e'lirugavu meaning black soil), texture (e.g. omusenho meaning sand) and presence of stones (e'lyolubale meaning stony soil) or salt (e.g. elyengugo and elyolunyo meaning salty soil). Earlier studies in Ikulwe indicate that farmers differentiate between 14 soil types (Jjemba et al., 1993).Farmers also discussed the problems related to soil fertility in Imanyiro subcountry. A list of 12 constraints was associated with soil fertility in the sub-county (Table 23). Using pairwise ranking, farmers prioritized these 12 constraints, with drought as the number 1 constraint as far as soil fertility is concerned. When asked to explain how drought affects soil fertility, farmers pointed out that drought is a serious problem because it affects yields on both fertile and infertile soils. Constraint number 2 was lack of knowledge and skills on proper soil fertility management, while low natural soil fertility was ranked 3 rd and soil borne diseases and pests became numbers 4 and 5. The high cost of inorganic fertilizers was ranked number 6, while soil erosion and poor tillage methods tied at number 7.  Used for growing roof-thatching grass (Sporobolus spp). Sorghum and wheat may be grown on this soil.Mostly found in small patches on hilltops. Very infertile.Unproductive. A group of farmers and same facilitators discussed the causes of soil fertility decline in Imanyiro sub-county, indicators of soil fertility decline and possible solutions to these causes (Defoer et al., 2000). First of all, farmers identified 8 indicators (signs) of soil fertility decline (Table 24). Farmers then discussed the causes of soil fertility decline in Imanyiro subcounty (Table 25). Farmers were also asked to suggest possible strategies that they can use to address the problem of soil fertility decline. They suggested a long list (Table 26).Table 24. Indicators of soil fertility decline 1.Reduced rate of plant growth 2.Yellowing of crops 3.Stunted growth of plants 4.Soil loses moisture quickly 5.Increased pest incidence 6.Wilting of plants 7.Increased weed growth 8.Weed indicators of soil fertility decline Table 25. Priority ranking of the causes of soil fertility decline in Imanyiro 1.Continuous cropping due to land shortage 2.Poor soil fertility management 3.Soil erosion 4.Unsound / unplanned intercropping practices 5.Poor management of crop residues and other available organic materials 6.Poor tillage methods 7.Lack of fallows (land rest) in the rotations 8.Nutrient mining through crop harvests 9.Burning of bushes 10. Lack of soil erosion control materials e.g. vetiver grass planting materials Table 26. Strategies for coping with the problem of soil fertility decline in Imanyiro 1.Use of green manures e.g. Mucuna and Canavalia 2.Use of inorganic fertilizers e.g. urea and DAP 3.Use of agroforestry trees e.g. Calliandra 4.Use of fallows (letting land to rest) 5.Use of compost manure 6. Mulching 7.Crop rotations 8. Terracing 9.Use of grass strips e.g. vetiver grass to control soil erosion 10.Proper intercropping 11.Use of improved tillage equipment e.g. ox-ploughsFrom this list, it was clear that many farmers had some ideas on how to cope with soil fertility decline on their land. However, when asked to indicate by raising hands how many were using each of the strategies they had listed, only 7 farmers out of 23 were using some small quantities of inorganic fertilisers, and even fewer were using other methods of which they were aware (Table 27). When farmers were asked why so few of them were using these strategies they gave several socio-economic reasons (Table 28). Most households (88%) were male headed. In half of the households (52%), men were the decision makers; in 21% of the households women were the decision makers and probably these were mainly female headed households; 27% of households reported that men and women share the responsibility of decision-making. For soil fertility classification 1, in most households (70%) decision making was shared between the male and female, while in 20% of households men were the decision makers and only 10% of women were the decision makers. This is not the case for class II farmers, where the majority (44%) of men are the decision-makers, followed by sharing between men and women (33%) and women (22%). For class III farmers, men are the main decision-makers (56%) followed by women (24%) and both men and women (20%).Farmers in Imanyiro grow both indigenous and exotic tree species. They identified the six most common species on farmland (Table 32) as Albizia, Ficus mucusu, Sepium ellipticum, Canarium swcheinfurthi, Roystorea regia and F.natalensis. Albizia is used for timber and building poles.Ficus mucusu is mainly used for soil fertility improvement whereas Canarium swcheinfurthi is a fruit that generates some income. The farmers also indicated 12 other tree species that they normally plant on their land, for timber, fuelwood, fruits, shade, windbreaks, medicine and soil fertility improvement (Table 33). Most of these trees were planted around the homestead, few on cropland and some on farm boundaries. In many cases, women and men use the same species for the same purposes. This category includes all the fruit and soil fertility improvement species and some of the timber and pole species. But, as shown above, men tend to plant timber and pole species whereas women plant fruits and medicinal species.Farmers identified factors affecting their attitude towards tree planting in Imanyiro Sub-county as:• Availability of tree seedlings and tree products.• Market for tree and tree products.• Land availability.• Availability of capital for investment.• Awareness.• Investment strategies.The farmers used these factors and classified themselves into four main categories as follows:• The very poor -who work for daily bread (today's bread group).• The poor to whom daily bread is not an issue and can afford to buy soap (able to buy soap group). • Wealthy -who earn a living off-farm (working class and traders group).• The very wealthy -who fall under no.3 and have cars. • Have heard about campaigns for tree planting over radio, newspapers etc, and have been inspired to plant trees.• Have heard about campaigns for tree planting. • Are aware of the importance and potential of trees for the farming system, the environment and commercial value.• Have heard about campaigns for tree planting and have been inspired to plant trees.Investment strategies  Farmers indicated that the most demanding livestock were pigs due to their vulnerability to bad weather, high feeding expenses, religious attachment, sometimes develops the vice of eating its offspring, and they also transmit jiggers.Farmers reported that management of livestock varies with number and type of livestock, financial and other resources available, skill of the farmer and available labour. Each management system has advantages and disadvantages. These issues were discussed with farmers for the three livestock types ranked as top priority.Chickens are mainly managed under one of two systems: housed at night and allowed to scavenge during the day, or left to roam during the night and day (free range). The birds that are not housed at night tend to gather around the house, under or in trees. Disadvantages associated with night housing are the tedious exercise of cleaning the chicken house everyday, easy spread of disease when numbers increase, increase in populations of fleas and susceptibility to predation. Disadvantages of free range were identified as susceptibility to predation, risk of theft at night, birds easily get lost, eggs laid in bushes and not recovered, and keeping track of the number of birds.There is one major goat management system, whereby animals are tethered during the day and housed or kept on verandahs at night. Disadvantages associated with this system are the labor required for tying and untying the animals, expenses for buying new ropes as they break frequently, and drugs. The system is not viable when goat numbers increase.Three major cattle management systems were identified as tethering, free range grazing on compounds / unused land, and communal grazing where many owners graze their animals together. Tethering as in goat management was reported to be labor intensive and costly. Under the free range system with cattle grazing on unused land, major disadvantages identified were the possibility of animals destroying neighbours' crops, getting lost and increased vulnerability to diseases. Communal grazing is associated with the disadvantages of animal inadequate feed, increased vulnerability to diseases, animals destroying crops and all farmers herding in the group beeing accountable, animals walking long distances, trampling on soil, and not gaining weight.General constraints to livestock production in Imanyiro were discussed and the farmers ranked them using preference ranking. These were shortage of land, inadequate knowledge and skills on livestock production, malicious acts (neighbours become jealous and harm the animals), lack of markets, lack of capital and laziness (Table 41). Principal livestock diseases in the area and periods of occurrence were discussed with farmers (Table 42). Major poultry diseases in the area are Newcastle disease (NCD), chicken pox, coccidiosis and mange. Farmers identified periods when coccidiosis and NCD were rampant; however they could not do the same for other diseases (Figure 14). Major goat diseases in the area are \"Kawaali\"(seasonal occurrence as in cattle), diarrhoea, worms, orf and listeria (Figure 14).The major cattle diseases in the area are Kawaali, dietary diarrhoea, pink eye, nagana, foot and mouth disease (Ebisoli) and east coast fever (ECF) (Figure 14).Farmers do the following to control diseases:• Consult veterinary personnel; this is expensive.• Slaughter or sell the sick animals.• Vaccinate.• Use indigenous knowledge (IK) (Table 43). It was observed that much of the nutritious products were sold with very little or none left for home consumption. This was due to lack of knowledge on importance of a balanced diet, cultural and religious influence, shortage of cash and selfishness of the beneficiaries. Market sites were livestock dealers, neighbours and weekly markets. The major problems that were associated with marketing are low prices, limited market avenues, high taxes and market dues and lack of transport.Based on the analysis of the information provided by the farmers, potential research, development and policy strategies were suggested by farmers themselves (see sections 7.1 and 7.2). Harmonizing these suggestions with those from researchers in a mutually agreed plan of action constituted the next step and is described in a forthcoming publication on the planning and experimentation phase of this project.on-farm trials and demonstrations, farmer exchange visits, etc. Organization of the public sector extension system is about to be substantially modernized; NGOs and farmers themselves also have important roles here.Socio-economic research is needed to determine strategies that provide incentives for farmers to improve land productivity. These include research in marketing, credit, input, gender, role of farmer groups, labour utilisation to improve efficiency and on-farm research.Research should be conducted on the major crops in the area. Introduction of high value crops (e.g. passion fruit, ginger) was cited as important in improving agricultural productivity.Research in controlling difficult pests, e.g. termites and diseases, should also be conducted in the area.Farmers identified various causes of soil fertility decline and suggested possible solutions, some of which may require research. The main causes of soil fertility decline were continous cropping, poor soil fertility management, soil erosion, unplanned intercropping practises, poor management of crop residues and organic materials, poor tillage methods, lack of fallows, nutrient mining through crop harvests, burning of bushes and lack of soil erosion control materials.Possible solutions identified by farmers to these constraints include use of green manure, fertilizers, agroforestry practices, fallows, compost, mulching, crop rotations, intercropping, soil conservation (terracing and grass strips), and improved tillage techniques.Soil fertility has declined in east and central Uganda due to intensive land use that includes continous cultivation, nutrient extraction through crop harvest, and inadequate nutrient replacement. Nutrient balances were reported to be negative for all crops, except for N and P in the banana-based system which benefit from added organic manures and mulches (Wortmann and Kaizzi, 1998). The main means of managing soil fertility in Imanyiro is through recycling of nutrients in green manure, agroforestry, fallowing and soil conservation, with occasional application of small amounts of inorganic fertilizers. These inputs are generally insufficient to maintain land productivity and crop yields. Furthermore, 4% of the farmers use all these practises, 10% use one to three of these measures and 86% do not carry out any improved soil fertility management practices.Numerous legume cover crops and green manures have been evaluated in Uganda. A few species have been recommended as \"best-bet\" options (Wortmann et al., 1998). However, there is need to identify niches for these green manures in space and time and to demonstrate immediate benefit such as substantial increase of food crops, fodder and wood products and cash to the farmers. These benefits must be conveyed to extension groups and farmers to promote adoption and widespread dissemination.The possibility of supplying adequate quantities of nutrients by adding only organic materials is decreasing as population densities increase and the supply of organic material decline. The use of chemical fertilizers in combination with organic materials (integrated nutrient management) is recommended for farmers who cannot afford to rely on mineral fertilizers alone. This approach combines the short-term benefits of inorganic fertilisers with the long-term value of organic fertilisers. Therefore, applying fertilisers should be a complementary practice to improving soil organic matter and soil water availability.Managed tree fallows substantially improve soil conditions and raise crop yields. They show much promise as a sustainable system, provided that the short-term loss of crop production during the fallow period is acceptable to farmers and is more than compensated by the subsequent increase in yields (Young, 1997). Research is needed to investigate fallow species that are suitable for the different soil and farmer socio-economic conditions in Imanyiro. As the main constraint to fallowing is that sufficient land must be available, systems of improved fallows like relay intercropping may offer opportunities on smaller farms.Composting is a useful technique for farmers who do not have livestock but have access to large amounts of biomass. It is best suited to home gardens using agricultural and domestic waste, residues and ashes. The principal constraint is the amount of labour required to produce good compost. Farmers in Imanyiro need training in methods of preparing good compost with subsequent monitoring of their acceptability.Mulches can play an important role in maintanance of soil organic matter, erosion control, increasing water infiltration, enhancing soil water availability, suppressing weeds and promoting soil biological activity. The main constraints to mulching are the limited quantities of mulching materials, and the cost and availability of labour for collecting, transporting and applying the mulch. Thus evaluation of mulches should be focussed on high value crops close to sources of suitable mulching material.Crop rotations in well defined sequences need to be investigated in Imanyiro. Proper crop rotations will result in improved soil fertility, efficient utilization of soil moisture, control of weeds and reduce pest and disease problems.Intercropping systems generally benefit from increased total productivity per unit area especially when legumes are associated with grain crops. There are also lower risks of crop failure due to pests and diseases. Intercropping of grain and forage legumes with grain crops needs to be investigated in Imanyiro.Soil and water conservation structures and biological soil conservation measures need to be introduced in Imanyiro. The aim should be to introduce simple, cheap and effective conservation measures that can be carried out by farmers (Thomas, 1997). The primary objective is to achieve good land management that involves controlling soil and water losses and maintaining soil fertility and structure at a reasonable cost. The emphasis should be increased and sustained agricultural production with minimum soil loss and damage to the environment. This goal can be achieved by such principles as:• Conserving and protecting land from degradation.• Maintaining and improving soil fertility and productivity through good land husbandry including the use of organic manures, fertilisers and appropriate tillage systems.• Improving the cover of perennial crops, grasses and plant residues to reduce damage from rainfall and runoff. • Incorporating trees in the farming systems to increase production and conserve the soil.• Increasing awareness of the importance of soil and water conservation.• Investigate appropriate tillage practices for long-term maintanance of soil fertility.Tillage is any physical manipulation of the soil aimed at improving soil conditions affecting crop production. Good tillage is the foundation of successful crop production and contributes to longterm maintanance of soil fertility. Therefore, there is need to investigate and recommend appropriate tillage practices in Imanyiro.Appropriate and well managed agroforestry systems have the potential to control runoff and erosion, maintain soil organic matter and physicl properties and promote nutrient cycling and efficient nutrient use (Young, 1997). On the other hand, returns tend to be slow in coming. There is need to assess acceptability of agroforestry practises in the local physical environment and for a range of socio-economic conditions in Imanyiro.Problems identified during assessment of the constraints and opportunities for improving livestock productivity were inadequate feed resources, reduced fallow periods, poor animal health, labour shortages, lack of inputs and market opportunities. Mixed crop-livestock farming systems generally provide an opportunity for sustainable increases in agriculture productivity. Mixed farming systems in Imanyiro can be improved by developing high yielding forages and legumes, improving the quality of crop residues as livestock feeds, increasing animal resistance to diseases and parasites, improving the productivity of indigenous livestock, establishing effective input and support services (e.g. veterinary services), establishing infrastructure (roads, processing and marketing facilities), strengthening government institutions, and developing supportive fiscal, incentive and trade policies for smallholder farming (Powell and Williams, 1995).There is need to increase feed productivity and quality, and diet supplementation techniques, to overcome seasonal nutritional constraints. Farmers need to be encouraged to change from livestock management based on grazing to intensive stall feeding which requires improved feed harvesting and storage.The integration of grain and forage legumes and browse trees can serve an important role in sustaining the productivity of crops and livestock. Forage legumes can improve animal feed, suppress weed growth, accelerate nutrient cycling and improve soil moisture conservation. Legume trees control soil erosion, enhance soil productivity, and provide food, fodder and wood.Provision of veterinary services and research on indigenous technical knowledge (ITK) for animal health is required to improve livestock health and productivity.More intensive integrated crop and livestock farming systems are labour demanding. There is need to identify availability of farm household labour and competing activities, and determine efficient ways of utilising labour.Lack of capital, inputs and market opportunities are important areas that should form part of socio-economic considerations in improving livestock productivity.The diagnostic phase consisted of analysis of landuse systems, crop and livestock production, socioeconomic conditions, farmers' information and communication networks, and different soil fertility strategies. Farmers classified households in distinct classes with similar soil fertility management strategies. This formed a basis for selecting \"test\" farmers who will become the core group of farmers for the PLAR process. The \"test farmers\" analysed their soil fertility management practices using resource flow maps (RFMs) of their farms. The diagnostic phase will be followed by a planning, experimentation and evaluation phase. During the planning phase, farmers will identify \"best-bet\" integrated nutrient management options for the different categories of farmers. Subsequently, farmers will plan and make arrangements for implementation of experiments for the next year. The planning, experimentation and evaluation phase reports will contain details of the proposed experiments and the results of the first year of the PLAR process."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"6d6df7070345fb2a7ae176e544da9cbb","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/a475a9ef-a917-4a18-aade-d7dc46edefb3/retrieve","id":"-1544597733"},"keywords":["Fibre source","Emission","Growth performance","Pig diet","Slurry"],"sieverID":"6ddedc65-8a08-4383-a55b-192dcf78a630","content":"The effects of different fibre sources in pig diets on growth performance, ammonia (NH 3 ), hydrogen sulphide (H 2 S), greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and slurry characteristics was studied on 20 crossbred pigs [Duroc x F1 (Landrace x Yorkshire)]. The experimental diets included one low-fibre (LF) diet without maize distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS), brewer's grain (BG) and coconut cake (CC) and 3 high-fibre (HF) diets with maize DDGS or BG or CC. The experiment was conducted according to a completely randomized design with 5 replications and lasted 62 days. In the growing period and the overall, pigs fed diets LF and HF-DDGS had higher average daily gain (ADG) compared to pigs fed diets HF-BG and HF-CC (P < 0.05), wheareas the ADG was lower for pigs fed diets HF-BG and HF-CC than for diet LF (P < 0.05) in the fattening period. There was lower FCR for diets LF and HF-DDGS than for diets HF-BG and HF-CC (P < 0.05) in both periods and overall. In the growing and fattening pigs, diets didn't affect N and P intake, slurry DM content (%) and amount of slurry (kg/head/day), slurry P content (%DM) (P > 0.05), while N and P excretions (g/head/day) were greater for diet HF-CC than for diet LF (P < 0.05). The CO 2 emission was greater for diets HF-BG and HF-CC than for diets LF and HF-DDGS (P < 0.0001) in the growing period, but not for fattening period (P > 0.05). In both periods, CH 4 emission was lower in diet LF than in diet HF-BG and HF-CC (P < 0.05), while NH 3 emission was higher for pigs fed diet LF than pigs fed HF-BG and HF-CC (P < 0.05). The H 2 S emission was not affected by diets in both periods. In conclusion, different fibre sources in pig diets may be a practical method to alter growth performance, slurry characteristics and NH 3 , GHG emissions.I n most countries, the intensive pig production has a significant impact on the environment. Pig manure is the mainly source of greenhouse gases (GHG) like methane (CH 4 ) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), and other noxious gases such as ammonia (NH 3 ) and hydrogen sulphide (H 2 S). Slurry composition and gas emissions can be affected by diet compositions, such as sources and levels of fibre (Canh et al., 1998b;Jarret et al., 2012;Kerr et al., 2020;Hansen et al., 2007;Triolo et al., 2011;Beccaccia et al., 2015a), levels of protein (Canh et al., 1998a;Portejoie et al., 2004;Hernández et al., 2011) and sources of protein (Beccaccia et al., 2015b). Feed accounts approximately 70% of the cost of pork production (Iowa State University Extension, 2018), the use of by-products from food production or biofuel processing with cheap price would be recommended as a relevant economic alternative. In this study, coconut cake (CC), distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and brewer's grain (BG) are selected in terms of different soluble and insoluble non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) as fibrous dietary ingredient sources (Ngoc et al., 2012;Pedersen et al., 2014). These differences between fibre sources will be expected to affect the slurry composition and GHG emissions. In a previous study, Jarret et al. (2011) evaluated the effect of the incorporation of different by-products (wheat DDGS, sugar beet, and fatty rapeseed meal) on slurry composition and methane emission. They showed that the manure issued from a diet with 20% wheat DDGS produced less CH 4 than expected, compared to the other diets and suggested that this could be related to the manufacturing process of wheat DDGS which requires heating processes that may be causing reactions between protein and other molecules, such as lignin, resulting in products difficult to degrade by the bacteria involved in the anaerobic digestion, in the same way as it affects the nutritional value. Therefore, this study was investigated to determine the effects of the fibrous diets containing different fibre sources on NH 3 , H 2 S, GHG emissions and pig slurry characteristics.The study was conducted at Thuy Phuong Pig Research Center, National Institute of Animal Science, Vietnam, from August to November 2018.The experimental diets (Table 1) were based on maize, soybean meal, fish meal, rice bran, maize DDGS, BG and CC. The low-fibre (LF) diets, containing around 172 g NDF/kg dry matter (DM), was formulated without maize DDGS, BG and CC as feed ingredients. The HF diets (HF-DDGS, HF-BG and HF-CC) were formulated around 217 -245 g NDF/kg DM. All diets were formulated to meet NRC (1998) nutrient requirements [crude protein (CP), metabolizable energy (ME), calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P) and essential amino acids] (Table 2). The diets were offered in mash form.A total of 20 crossbred pigs [Duroc x F1 (Landrace x Yorkshire)] from 4 litters with an equal number of males and females, with the initial body weight (BW) of 20.7±0.44 kg (around 68 days old), distributed equally into 4 treatments [LF (control), HF-DDGS, HF-BG and HF-CC] according to a completely randomized design. Each treatment composed of 5 pens, with one pig per pen as a replicate. The length of the experiment was 62 days. Before the experiment started, all pigs were vaccinated. The pigs were kept individually in concrete floored pens (1.8 m x 0.8 m) with a slatted floor at the rear in an open-sided house. There was a separate manure pit (110 cm length x 50 cm width x 40 cm depth) per pen under the slatted floor.Pigs were fed 2 times per day at 08h30 and 15h30 with 4.0-5.0% of the BW. The amount of feed intake was adjusted daily according to the expected BW gain. The pigs accessed feed and water by mixing with the ratio 1:4 (w/w) and they were not given any additional water in order to prevent the effects of slurry volume, dilution and emitting area on the emission of environmental pollution causing compounds and manure characteristics. The BW of indi-vidual pig was determined at the beginning and at the end of the experimental period before the morning feeding. Feed intake was recorded on a pen basis throughout the experiment period to calculate average daily feed intake (ADFI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR).Measuring and calculating hydrogen sulfide and ammonia emissions: In each experimental period, after an adaptation period of 5 days, pens and slurry pits were cleaned. Subsequently feces and urine were accumulated together in the slurry pit for 26 days. At the 31 st day, air samples for NH 3 and H 2 S emission measurements were collected between 9h00 and 14h00.Air samples for determining NH 3 emission were collected directly from air above the slurry pits according to the method of Le et al. (2009) and with the ventilation rate of 0.5l/minute. Ammonia emission from the slurry pit was calculated with equation 1.MNH 3 = (CNH 3 x V x 10.000) / (T x 60 x S) [1] In which: MNH 3 =ammonia emission (mg/s/m 2 ), CN-H 3 =ammonia concentration (mg/mL HNO 3 ), V=volume of HNO 3 (mL), 10.000=cm/m 2 , T=sampling time (10 minutes), 60=s/min, S: emitting surface, 312 cm 2 .The principle of measuring and calculating H 2 S emission was similar to NH 3 . Hydrogen sulfide emission was calculated with equation 1, in which the volume of HNO 3 was replaced by that of 0.1M CdSO 4 . Hydrogen sulfide was trapped by Cadimi Sulfate 0.1M in the impinges.   On 28 th day of each period, slurry in each slurry pit was mixed thoroughly before a sample of about 1 kg was collected. Slurry samples was kept at -20 0 C until analysis. Slurry samples was analysed for dry matter (DM), total nitrogen (N), P and pH.The method of static chamber has been applied extensively to measure rates of trace gas emission sources (Hutchinson & Mosier, 1981;Hutchinson & Livingston, 1993;Kusa et al., 2008). It allows to detect gases emitted from a surface of a volatile solid within a known volume during a given period of time. A static chamber system was connected to a Gasmet DX-4040 Fourier Transform January 2021 | Volume 9 | Issue 1 | Page 66 Infrared Multicomponent Trace Gas Analyser (FTIR; Gasmet Technologies Oy, Helsinki, Finland) to detect GHG concentrations from pig slurry. The system includes a cylindrical frame, four round cylinder bases and peripheral accessories as such sampling ports, transparent flexible plastic tubes. The gas analyser measures main GHG at low concentrations in parts per million unit per seconds (ppm/s) including CO 2 , CH 4 and N 2 O. The response time of the analyser is 20 seconds for one reading and the flow speed of sample pump is 1.5 liters per minute. The gas analyzer must be calibrated with pure nitrogen (2 liters per minute speed) prior to each measurement.Pig slurry samples were collected using white plastic plates with radius (r = 9.25 cm) and weighed the initial mass (450 g) using an electronic scale (Model-HY K17, 5kg) before the gas flux measurement. The GHG emissions rates were determined from linear regressions, using the goodness of fit and the significant level for model selection. Emission fluxes were computed from the slope of the linear regression between gas concentrations versus time within the container headspace (Whalen and Reeburgh, 2001). As such, fluxes were calculated from the equation is described as follow:Where: F is the flux rate (mass unit/m 2 /h 1 ); P is the measured ambient pressure (mbar); P 0 is the standard pressure (1013.25 mbar); v is the total system volume (L), (); V is the volume occupied by 1 mol of the gas at standard temperature and pressure (STP) (0.024 m 3 , or 22.4 L); A is surface area of the chamber over the emission source (0.027 m 2 ); T is the ambient temperature in degrees celsius ( 0 C); T Kelvin is the temperature T in Kelvin (K) = (273.15 + Tc); is the change in concentration in time interval t or the slope of the gas concentration curve (ppm/s); M is the molecular weight of the gas (g/mol).Dry matter (967.03), total N (984.13), ash (942.05), P and Ca were analysed according to the standard AOAC methods (Association of Official Analytical Chemist, 1990). The NDF content was analysed by the method of Van Soest et al. (1991). Amino acids were analysed by HPLC using an ion exchange column (Amino Quant, 1990). Slurry pH was determined by pH meter HI 8424 HANNA (Made in Mauritius).Total, soluble and insoluble NSP and their constituent sugars were determined as alditol acetates by gas chromatography (Model: Agilent 6890N, Agilent Technologies Inc., Santa Clara, CA, USA) for neutral sugars, and by a colorimetric method for uronic acids using a modification of the Uppsala method (Theander et al., 1995), as described by Bach Knudsen (1997). Klason lignin was determined as the 12M H 2 SO4 insoluble residue. Total DF is the sum of Klason lignin and total NSP (T-NSP). Content of different fibre fractions were calculated as follows: All data were analysed using the GLM procedures of Minitab Programme Version 16.2 with the kind of 4 diet as the main factor. When P values of the F test <0.05; Tukey tests were used for pairwise comparision.In the growing (20-40kg), fattening (40-70kg) periods and overall, the ADFI were similar (P > 0.05) among diets (Table 3). The final BW at the growing period and the fattening period was statisticaly significant different among diets (P < 0.05), with the higher value for the diets LF and HF-DDGS compared to the diets HF-BG and HF-CC. The diet affected the ADG and FCR in both growing and fattening periods and the overal (P < 0.05). In the growing period and overall, pigs fed diets LF and HF-DDGS had higher ADG compared to pigs fed diets HF-BG and HF-CC (P < 0.05). However in the fattening period, the ADG was lower for pigs fed diets HF-BG and HF-CC than for diet LF (P <0.05), while diet HF-DDGS had similar ADG to diets LF, HF-BG and HF-CC (P > 0.05). There was lower FCR for diets LF and HF-DDGS than for diets HF-BG and HF-CC (P < 0.05) in both growing and fattening periods and the overall.The nutrient intakes are shown in Table 4. In both growing and fattening periods, there were no significant differences in N and P intake (P > 0.05), while T-NSP, S-NSP and Klason lignin intake were affected by diets (P < 0.0001). The T-NSP intake was the highest value for diet HF-CC, followed in descreasing order by diets HF-BG, HF-DDGS and LF, wheares the Klason lignin was the highest for diet HF-BG, following by diets HF-CC and LF, and the lowest value for diet HF-DDGS.The slurry chemical chararteristics and N, P excretion in the growing and fattening periods are presented in   In the growing period, slurry DM content (%) and amount (kg/head/day), slurry P content (%DM) did not differ among diets (P > 0.05) (Table 5). The highest pH slurry was observed for diet LF (7.46), followed in descending order by diet HF-DDGS (7.34), diet HF-BG (7.26) and diet HF-CC (7.20) (P < 0.05). Slurry N content (%DM) and N and P excretions (g/head/day) were similar among diets LF, HF-DDGS and HF-BG (P > 0.05), while they were greater in diet HF-CC than in diet LF (P < 0.05).Similar to the growing period, in the fattening period there were no differences in slurry DM content (%) and amount (kg/head/day), slurry N content (%DM) among diets (P > 0.05) (Table 5). The pH slurry was affected by diets (P < 0.05), with the higher value for diets LF and HF-DDGS, followed by diet HF-BG and the lowest value for HF-CC. However, pigs fed diet LF showed lowest slurry P content (%DM) and N and P excretions (g/head/day), followed in decreasing order by diet HF-DDGS, diet HF-BG and HF-CC (P < 0.05).In the growing period, the concentration of CO 2 emission was greater for diets HF-BG and HF-CC than for diets LF and HF-DDGS (P < 0.0001) (Table 6). However, in the fattening pigs, the CO 2 emission in diets HF-DDGS and HF-BG didn't differ to diets LF and HF-CC (P > 0.05), but it was different significance between diets LF and HF-CC (P < 0.005). In both growing and fattening periods, the CH 4 emission in diet HF-BG was similar to diets HF-DDGS and HF-CC (P > 0.05), whereas it was lower in diet LF than in diets HF-BG and HF-CC (P < 0.05). In the growing period, the NH 3 emission was higher for pigs fed diet LF than pigs fed HF-BG and HF-CC (P < 0.05), while it was similar among diets HF-DDGS, HF-BG and HF-CC (P > 0.05). In the fattening period, the NH 3 emission was lower for pigs fed diets HF-BG and HF-CC than for pigs fed diets LF and HF-DDGS (P < 0.05). The concentration of N 2 O and H 2 S emissions did not differ among diets (P > 0.05) in both growing and fattening periods.In the current study, pigs fed diets LF and HF containing either DDGS or BG or CC had similar ADFI in both growing and fattening periods and the overall. These results are similar to earlier studies (Len et al., 2009;Ngoc and Dang, 2016) that didn't observe differences in DM intake of pigs given LF and HF diets on the basis of rice bran, sweet potato vines, cassava residue (CR), tofu residue and CC. In contrast, Ngoc et al. (2013) showed that fibre source had an impact on mean retention time, with the shorter mean retention time of CR as compared with BG, resulting in lower DM intake for HF diet containing CR than HF diet containing BG.In the growing period, pigs fed the LF and HF-DDGS diets improved ADG compared to pigs fed the HF-BG and HF-CC diet. This could be due to an association of lower T-NSP and Klason lignin intake (Table 3), thus resulting in better dietary nutrient digestibility in the LF and HF-DDGS diets. In previous studies (Högberg and Lindberg, 2004;2006;Serena et al., 2008;Ngoc et al., 2013), source and level of dietary fibre had a pronounced effect on the site of organic mater, CP and GE digestion. The digestibility of OM, CP and GE at ileum and total tract was reduced with an increase in dietary fibre level. Besides, the total tract digestibility of OM, CP and GE was improved with an increase in the solubility of the dietary fibre fraction in the diets containing different fibre sources. In the fattening period, diet LF had higher ADG compared to diets HF-BG and HF-CC, but it was not different among diets HF-DDGS, HF-BG and HF-CC. These results indicated that apparently the animal response to diets containing different fibrous feed sources may relate to the age of animals, the older pigs can utilize fibrous diet better than younger pigs (Choct et al., 2010).Diet composition had effects on nutrient digestibility and metabolism, and on the fermentation rates in the hindgut, as resulted in affecting slurry characteristics and thus gas emissions (Møller et al., 2004a,b;Dinuccio et al., 2008). Pigs showed lower N excretion for the LF diet than for the HF-CC diet in the growing and fattening periods and this result may be due to T-NSP intake was lower in the LF diet than in the HF-CC diet (Table 4). Inclusion of NSP into pig diets also shifts N excretion from urine to feces (Canh et al., 1997;Galassi et al., 2010;Heimendahl et al., 2010). Because of fecal N is less easily degraded to NH 3 ,  the inclusion of sugar beet pulp into grow-finishing diets results in a linear relationship between the NSP intake and the NH 3 emission, decreasing by 5.4% for each 100g increase in the intake of dietary NSP (Canh et al., 1998b). Various nutritional strategies, as the inclusion of fibre sources in feeds, have been proposed in order to mitigate NH 3 emission derived from manure in pig farms. Several works indicate that these effects are depending on the type of fibre used. Dietary supply of fermentable fibre also reduced faecal and slurry pH through an increase of volatile fatty acids (VFA) formation in the large intestine, thereby decreasing additionally NH 3 emission (Canh et al., 1998a,b). These results were confirmed by the current study with higher slurry pH and NH 3 emission for diets LF and HF-DDGS than for diet HF-BG and HF-CC. Increasing dietary fibre in pig diets is generally to decrease manure pH and NH 4 -N concentrations (Kerr et al., 2006(Kerr et al., , 2018;;Ngoc and Dang, 2016;Trabue and Kerr, 2014;van Weelden et al., 2016), but this is not always a consistent observation (van Weelden et al., 2016). The study by Kerr et al. (2020) was no exception to this lack of consistency and the authors reported that manure from pigs fed the HF-DDGS diet had higher manure NH 4 -N, but no change in manure pH, compared to pigs fed the LF containing corn-soybean meal diet; while pigs fed the HF containing soybean hull diet produced a manure with similar NH 4 -N, but lower pH, compared to manure from pigs fed the corn-soybean meal diet. Besides, it is suggested that the use of more lignified fibre sources (e.g. oat hulls) had no influence on N partitioning (Zervas and Zijlstra, 2002;Bindelle et al., 2009); otherwise, it decreases nutrient digestibility and might then modify excreta composition and NH 3 emission. Beccaccia et al. (2015a) indicated that CP digestibility was decreased when NDF in the diet was replaced with more fermentable or lignified sources of fibre led to an increase of faecal CP excretion on DM and N concentration in urine DM and a decrease of g NH 3 / kg slurry. In all these works, inclusion of the various types of fibre studied was parallel to an increase of dietary fibre concentration, and therefore the effects of source and level of the ingredients used were confounded.Most of CH 4 emissions in pigs are originated from the digestive tract and during manure storage, as a result of the degradation of organic compounds by methanogenic archaea. They will depend both on the amount and composition of organic matter excreted. Highly lignified cell wall components of feeds remain undigested and constitute the main energy substrate for CH 4 production, and can also increase the excretion of other nutrients in faeces. However, cellulose and lignin have the lowest CH 4 potential emissions, whereas undigested lipids and protein have the highest (Angelidaki and Sanders, 2004). In practical conditions, the inclusion of different fibre sources, such as DDGS, sugar beet pulp or rapeseed meal led to variable effects on the potential for CH 4 production from faeces and the total CH 4 produced per pig ( Jarret et al., 2011( Jarret et al., , 2012)). Thus, altering source of dietary fibre can potentially serve to manipulate CH 4 emissions from slurry. The current data showed that CH 4 production from slurry was higher 1.15-1.53 and 1.21-1.84 times in diets HF-BG and HF-CC compared to diets HF-DDGS and LF in both growing and fattening pigs, respectively. This result could be due to diets HF-BG and HF-CC had higher intake of total DF and other fibre components (NDF, T-NSP and Klason lignin) than diets HF-DDGS and LF, leading to more methanogens diversity (Cao et al., 2012) or abundance (Liu et al., 2012), and therefore increasing CH 4 emission (Seradj et al., 2018). In the experiment done by Ngoc and Dang (2016), CH 4 emitted from slurry higher for HF diet than for LF diet by from 13% to 18%. Pigs fed diet HF-CC increased CH 4 emission from slurry by from 10% to 12% compared with pigs fed diet tofu residue.The current data showed that CO 2 production from slurry was higher 1.68-2.24 and 1.78-2.37 times in diets HF-BG and HF-CC compared to diets HF-DDGS and LF in the growing pigs, respectively. However, the emission of CO 2 from feaces was observed greater 1.48 times for diet HF-CC compared to diet LF in fattening pigs. According to Ngoc and Dang (2016), fibre source and fibre level had no impact on the emission of CO 2 from slurry in both growing and fattening pigs, except for the impact of fibre level on CO 2 emission in the growing pigs. Philippe et al. (2015) reported the emissions of CO2 did not shown any significant difference regarding the diets LF and HF, as well for gestating sows as for fattening pigs. However, Clark et al. (2005) indicated that pigs fed diet with 20% sugar beet pulp reduced CO 2 emission from slurry samples by 17% compared to 0% sugar beet pulp.Different fibre sources in pig diets is a potential method to alter growth performance, slurry characteristics and NH 3 , GHG emissions. Diets LF and HF-DDGS had higher ADG and NH 3 emission, and lower N, P excretion and CO 2 , CH 4 emissions than diets HF-BG and HF-CC."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"76a60fdcbb0e4583c80fda5411390827","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/d44f0eaa-dfdf-479c-a5e7-04594006155d/retrieve","id":"1669206568"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"d7c62f0d-d2a1-4aa4-a427-e439674c38fc","content":"• Knowledge of genetic diversity and population structure of cattle are very essential for the management and sustainable utilization of indigenous genetic resources.• Genotype data consisting of Borena (n = 49) and Sheko (n = 32) cattle breeds and 80,441 SNPs were retained after quality control. • Principal component analysis was performed using PLINK vl.9 program to evaluate genetic relationship between Sheko, Borena and references cattle breeds.• The indigenous cattle breeds in Ethiopia exhibit unique characteristics and adaptation to various environments. • The study focused on Sheko (Pie 1) and Borena (Pie 2) cattle breeds, recognized breeds, have adapted to local environmental conditions and possess traits like, resistance to diseases, drought and heat tolerance. • The objectives of this study were to investigate linkage disequilibrium (LD), effective population size (N e ) and haplotype block structure of Ethiopian Sheko and Borena cattle breeds.• The genotype data were utilized for the LD analysis based on the Pearson's squared correlation coefficient (r 2 ) of SNPs in Plink vl.9. • The historical N e estimated using SNeP software based on the observed pattern of LD across the genome. • The haplotype blocks were detected across autosomes within breeds using expectation maximization method implemented in PLINK vl.9.     • Chromosome 6 and 11 exhibited the most haplotype blocks in Borena and Sheko, respectively.• 35 °/o of haplotype blocks were shared between Sheko and Borena cattle.• Borena showed slightly lower haplotype block coverage compared to Sheko breed. The results showed high levels of LD, likely due to low N e of Sheko and Borena cattle breeds. This has implications for the maintenance "}

main/part_1/0366969401.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"ae948df4758acc2c7aca27b44da34450","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/45733a0c-9140-47f8-b87f-aa294bb3bd3d/retrieve","id":"1750653356"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"03a1e273-e4cc-478e-99f7-da41bcba6722","content":"Se presentan los análisis del impacto de la degradación de pasturas en la productividad animal en seis regiones de Honduras y los costos de su rehabilitación. El trabajo se realizó en marzo de 2004 mediante encuestan con 25 productores y ocho extensionistas en ganadería. Los objetivos fueron: (1) calcular la producción de leche y carne que es posible alcanzar con vacas en pasturas en distintos niveles de degradación; (2) calcular las pérdidas en ingreso como resultado del proceso de degradación; (3) conocer la proporción de pasturas que se encontraba en cada nivel de degradación dentro de las seis regiones administrativas de Honduras; y (4) identificar las distintas estrategias y costos para rehabilitar las pasturas degradadas. Se definió un gradiente de cuatro niveles de degradación, siendo el Nivel 1 = degradación no aparente y el Nivel 4 = degradación severa. A partir de las informaciones personal y descriptiva de los encuestados se generaron las regresiones que mejor explicaban la pérdida en productividad animal en cada nivel de degradación de las pasturas. Según los productores el 29% del área bajo pasturas en Honduras se encontraba en el Nivel 1 de degradación, mientras que los extensionistas consideraban que era de 19%. De igual manera, los productores consideraban que el 27% de las pasturas estaban en el Nivel 4 y los extensionistas estimaban que esta área era de 31%. Según las estimaciones de los productores, Honduras estaba dejando de producir anualmente 284,106 TM de leche fluida y aumentos de peso vivo animal equivalentes a 48,271 TM de carne, sólo por la pérdida de productividad de las pasturas en el Nivel 4 de degradación, equivalentes a 48% de la producción anual de leche y al 37% de la producción de carne del país. En términos económicos, estas pérdidas en producción de leche y carne equivalían a US$63 y US$48 millones anuales, respectivamente. El costo estimado de rehabilitar las pasturas en el paísque se encontraban en el Nivel 4 de degradación ascendía a US$57.1 millones según los productores y a US$83.6 millones según los extensionistas. Estas cifras representaban, respectivamente, el 51% de los US$111.2 millones anuales en ingresos por venta de leche y carne que se estaban dejando de recibir y el 52% de los US$159.8 millones anuales en menores ingresos por concepto de la menor venta de leche y carne. El promedio de la vida útil de las pasturas mejoradas era aproximadamente de 10 años, variando desde 9 años para B. humidicola y Digitaria swazilandensis hasta 12 años para pasto estrella (Cynodon nlemfuensis). Los extensionistas, por su parte, consideraron que las gramíneas tenían una vida útil de 8.4 años, que variaba desde 6 años para D. swazilandensis hasta 12 años para B. Brizantha cv. Marandú. Según los resultados en este estudio, las pasturas en Honduras se degradaban a una tasa anual de 10% a 12%. Para eliminar las áreas degradadas a nivel nacional que se encontraban en el Nivel 4 era necesario invertir US$57 millones una sola vez pero el beneficio anual en incremento en producción de leche y carne equivale a 156,000 litros de leche diarios y 26,500 kg de carne en pie equivalentes a un ingreso adicional de US$22.2 millones anuales. Por tanto, existe un gran incentivo, tanto económico como productivo, para que los sectores privado y público desarrollen y ejecuten en forma conjunta un plan de acción que permita la recuperación de pasturas en avanzado estado de degradación.Un fenómeno generalizado en América Latina tropical es el desplazamiento progresivo de la ganadería hacia zonas marginales y de menor capacidad productiva. La baja disponibilidad de materiales forrajeros adaptados y de alta productividad junto con el deficiente manejo de las pasturas ha conducido a un rápido deterioro de la productividad y los ingresos del negocio ganadero. Este fenómeno se ha documentado para los casos de Brasil, donde la ganadería se desplazó desde los Estados del sur hacia el centro-oeste (Serrão y Toledo, 1989), en Colombia desde la Costa Norte y los valles interandinos hacia la Orinoquía y Amazonia (Vera y Rivas, 1997) y en Centroamérica desde la fértil región Pacífica hacia el Atlántico (Kaimowitz, 1995).En cuencas ganaderas seleccionadas de Centroamérica se estima que entre 50% y 80% de las áreas en pasturas se encuentran en avanzado estado de degradación con una carga animal inferior a 40% en relación con pasturas que reciben un manejo apropiado (CATIE, 2002). Los análisis biofísicos muestran que las pasturas con gramíneas mejoradas usualmente se degradan entre 5 y 7 años después de establecidas. En la región la tasa anual de renovación de pasturas es de 5% mientras que la tasa de degradación es de 12%, esto explica el aumento progresivo de las áreas degradadas (CATIE, 2002).La degradación de la tierra es generalmente definido como la reducción temporal o permanente de la capacidad productiva en un agroecosistema determinado (Stocking y Murnaghan, 2001). Latinoamérica tiene 13% de su área excesivamente degradada, siendo la región del mundo en desarrollo que tiene el mayor porcentaje de tierras en este estado (Oldeman, 1992).En el caso de las pasturas la degradación está ligada a prácticas de manejo no apropiadas (Spain y Gualdrón, 1991): (1) establecimiento en zonas con suelos frágiles, (2) siembra de especies pobremente adaptadas, (3) pastoreo excesivo durante la época lluviosa, (4) quema incontrolada y frecuente, y (5) agotamiento de nutrientes en el suelo. La degradación de las pasturas trae serias consecuencias al productor, reduciendo los rendimientos en producción animal e incrementando los costos.La deficiencia de nitrógeno (N) es el primer factor que afecta la persistencia y provoca el inicio de su degradación de pasturas mejoradas (Barcellos, 1986). Una vez ocurre la deficiencia de este nutriente la calidad y el vigor de las plantas comienzan a declinar como consecuencia de la reducción de la actividad biológica y la deficiencia de otros nutrientes, como fósforo y potasio. Después de un período más o menos prolongado de utilización de las pasturas, es posible que ocurran cambios importantes en la estructura física del suelo. La compactación, por ejemplo, aumenta la escorrentía y el arrastre de partículas, disminuye el desarrollo de las raíces y la extracción de nutrientes que se encuentran a mayor profundidad en el suelo (Hoyos et al., 1995).La percepción subjetiva de los productores es, muchas veces, la única fuente de información para estimar retornos o pérdidas económicas de procesos complejos, especialmente en ambientes tropicales (Grisley y Kellogg, 1983). Los productores poseen información y toman decisiones basados en sus experiencias, conocimiento y literatura accesible. Por tanto, para formular estrategias de rehabilitación de pasturas degradadas, antes de su implementación masiva, es importante conocer las opiniones y experiencias de los productores y extensionistas sobre el proceso de degradación y su relación con la productividad animal. Según Stocking y Murnaghan (2001) estas opiniones son de especial importancia para: (1) obtener datos más reales sobre los procesos actuales de degradación en fincas, (2) conocer mejor los intereses y expectativas de los productores como usuarios finales, y (3) desarrollar estrategias más prácticas en comparación otros sistemas de evaluación.El objetivo general en este estudio fue estimar el impacto que el uso de pasturas degradadas tiene en la productividad animal y en los ingresos económicos en finca y en el país en general. Los objetivos específicos fueron: (1) estimar la producción de leche y carne de vacas y las pérdidas en ingreso en pasturas con distintos niveles de degradación, (2) estimar la proporción de pasturas que se encontraban en cada nivel de degradación en las diferentes regiones administrativas de Honduras, y (3) identificar las distintas estrategias y costos para recuperar pasturas degradadas.Para obtener la información sobre las pérdidas de productividad animal en fincas, regiones y país se recopiló la opinión de productores y extensionistas que trabajan en diferentes instituciones de Honduras. Para tal fin, en marzo 16 y 17 de 2004 se realizó en Juticalpa, (departamento de Olancho) un Taller de Trabajo con la participación de 25 productores de las regiones administrativas sur, centro-oeste, Atlántico, nordeste, centro-este y noroeste y de ocho extensionistas en producción animal de la Dirección de Ciencia y Tecnología Agropecuaria (DICTA).Los productores se caracterizaban por poseer pequeñas fincas dedicadas a la producción de leche y/o carne para venta, vivían en la finca, tenían 10 o más años de experiencia en el negocio y habían establecido pasturas mejoradas.Durante la primera fase del Taller los participantes fueron capacitados para identificar los diferentes niveles de degradación de pasturas utilizando los parámetros propuestos en este trabajo. Se definió un gradiente de cuatro niveles de degradación de pasturas donde el Nivel 1 era degradación no aparente y el Nivel 4 el degradación severa, utilizando la metodología desarrollada por Barcellos (1986) (Cuadro 1). Los factores descriptivos para estimar la calidad de las pasturas incluían color, materia muerta, suelo desnudo, presencia de malezas y edad de establecimiento de la pastura. Fuente: Barcellos (1986) En la segunda fase, se explicaron las encuestas que cada participante debía completar. La primera consistió en estimar la producción esperada de leche y carne y la carga animal de las pasturas que se encontraban en cada uno de los niveles de degradación, tanto durante la época de lluvias como en la época seca (ver Cuadros 1 a 7 del Anexo). La segunda encuesta consistió en: (1) l la estimación por parte de los productores de la proporción de área en pasturas degradadas en cada región y por los extensionistas la misma estimación a nivel nacional; (2) la identificación de las estrategias posibles para rehabilitar pasturas según el nivel de degradación, los costos y el tiempo estimado para esta labor; y (3) la estimación del nivel crítico de degradación de pasturas en el cual se justificaría la inversión de recursos para su rehabilitación.Los participantes fueron divididos en cuatro grupos mixtos de productores provenientes de cada una de las seis regiones, quienes estuvieron acompañados por dos extensionistas. A cada grupo se le entregó un juego de información con los formularios para encuestas y fotos a color con ejemplos de pasturas en cada nivel de degradación.Un mes antes de la realización del Taller fueron seleccionadas tres fincas con pasturas degradadas localizadas en Juticalpa. Estas pasturas permanecieron en descanso hasta el momento de la evaluación por los productores y los extensionistas participantes.Los datos recopilados en las encuestas fueron introducidos en una base construida en Excel Para estimar la producción de leche en cada una de las áreas y nivel de degradación se utilizó la ecuación siguiente:donde, Y = producción de leche, en toneladas métricas de leche fluída por año (TM/año).n A = área de la n región bajo pasturas permanentes, en hectáreas (Cuadro 3).n Nivel lluvia= producción de leche, en kg/ha por día, durante la época de lluvias, estimada según las regresiones en el Cuadro 2 para cada nivel de degradación.= meses de duración de la época de lluvias.n Nivel a sec PL = producción de leche, en kg/ha por día, durante la época seca, estimada según las regresiones en el Cuadro 2 para cada nivel de degradación.0.25 = factor que representa el promedio nacional de vacas en ordeño permanente (por ej., 25%) como porcentaje del hato nacional.= número de días en el año.= factor para convertir kg a toneladas métricas (TM).La producción de carne fue estimada utilizando la ecuación siguiente:donde, Y = producción de carne de hembras y machos en crecimiento, en toneladas métricas de carne en pie por año (TM/año).n A = área de la n región bajo pasturas permanentes, en hectáreas (Cuadro 3).n Nivel lluvia= producción de carne, en kg de peso vivo animal/ha por día, durante la época de lluvias, estimada según las regresiones en el Cuadro 2 para cada nivel de degradación.= meses de duración de la época de lluvias.n Nivel a PC sec = producción de carne, en kg/ha por día de peso vivo animal durante la época seca, estimada según las regresiones del Cuadro 2 para cada nivel de degradación.= factor que representa el promedio nacional de hembras y machos en crecimiento (por ej., 49%) como porcentaje del hato nacional.= número de días en el año.= factor para convertir kg a toneladas métricas.El estimado de la producción de leche anual tanto por los productores en cada región como por los extensionistas a nivel nacional, fue comparado contra las cifras oficiales para determinar el grado de certeza de las percepciones subjetivas.Debió a que las cifras oficiales sólo muestran los animales sacrificados anualmente y no los aumentos de peso vivo de todas las hembras y machos en crecimiento, no fue posible comparar estos últimos con las cifras de estimadas en la encuesta.Cuadro 3. Inventario ganadero, áreas bajo pasturas permanentes y carga animal por región administrativa en Honduras según el último censo agropecuario en 1997.Vacas Para estimar las pérdidas en producción de leche debidas al proceso de degradación de pasturas se aplicó la fórmula (1), así: para estimar la pérdida en producción de leche de las áreas en pasturas que se encontraban en el Nivel 4 se aplicó dicha fórmula dos veces, la primera para estimar la cantidad de leche que se podría producir en las áreas que actualmente se encontraban en este nivel -si estuvieran en el Nivel 1-y la segunda para estimar la cantidad de leche que realmente se producía en el Nivel 4. Al restar el resultado de estas operaciones, se obtiene la cantidad de leche que se ha dejado de producir por tener pasturas en el Nivel 4 de degradación.(Este ejercicio fue repetido tres veces con el fin de estimar las pérdidas de producción de leche en los distintos niveles de degradación. La primera vez en pasturas en el Nivel 2, la segunda en áreas en el Nivel 3 y la tercera en áreas en el Nivel 4. Este mismo procedimiento se repitió para estimar las pérdidas en producción de carne utilizando la fórmula (2).Para estimar las pérdidas en ingresos (Cuadros 4 y 5) como resultado de las reducciones en productividad animal debidas al proceso de degradación de pasturas, las pérdidas en producción de leche y carne en cada nivel de degradación (Cuadros 6 y 7) fueron multiplicadas por los precios respectivos de estos productos (Cuadro 8).Para estimar los costos de rehabilitación de pasturas en cada región y el país (Cuadro 9) se multiplicó el costo/ha promedio ajustado (Cuadros 8 y 9 del Anexo) por las áreas de pasturas que se encontraban en cada uno de los niveles de degradación (Cuadro 10).Cuadro 4. Estimaciones de pérdida de ingresos brutos por la reducción en la producción de leche por región y nivel de degradación de pasturas en Honduras.Pérdida en ingresos por reducción en la producción de leche Para este cálculo se tomaron en cuenta las estimaciones de los productores sobre la producción de leche, ganancia de peso vivo animal y carga animal en las pasturas degradadas de las distintas regiones en Honduras (Cuadros 1 al 7 del Anexo) y se compararon con las mismas informaciones recopiladas por extensionistas. Con el fin de facilitar el análisis, las respuestas fueron jerarquizadas tomando como criterio el nivel de degradación de las pasturas. Como se observa existió una tendencia generalizada, tanto por productores como por extensionistas, de asociar las reducciones en producción y carga animal con los niveles de degradación, lo que era de esperar. Igualmente, le asignaron las mayores producciones de leche a gramíneas asociadas con leguminosas (Brachiaria decumbens + Arachis. pintoi) y al cv. Mulato, el nuevo híbrido de Brachiaria, ambos resultados fueron validados por la investigación. A partir de la información anterior se generaron las regresiones que mejor explican las pérdidas en productividad de leche y carne, según la época del año (Cuadro 2). Con estas regresiones se generaron las pérdidas estimadas en productividad animal para cada nivel de degradación (Figuras 1 y 2) y para cada región y el total en el país, en términos de volúmenes (toneladas de carne y leche por año) e ingresos (millones de dólares por año).El inventario ganadero nacional y las áreas bajo pasturas permanentes para cada una de las seis regiones administrativas de Honduras aparecen en el Cuadro 3. En 2003 existían aproximadamente 1.5 millones de hectáreas en pasturas permanentes y más de 2 millones de cabezas de ganado vacuno distribuidas entre unas 100,000 explotaciones ganaderas que produjeron 597,000 TM de leche fluida y 57,000 TM de carne en canal (Cuadro 11).En este estudio, la región nordeste presentaba la mayor proporción y extensión en pasturas con problemas de degradación, 32% en Nivel 3 (moderada) y 38% en Nivel 4 (severa). La región sur, por el contrario, tenía los menores problemas, ya que más del 66% del área en pasturas se encontraba entre los Niveles 1 (43%) y 2 (23%). Las pasturas en las demás regiones se encontraban en estados intermedios de degradación (ver Cuadro 10).  Los productores consideraban que la degradación de las pasturas en Honduras ocurría en 29% del área del país y era de bajo grado (Nivel 1), mientras que los extensionistas estimaban que sólo el 19% de las pasturas estaban degradadas. Por otro lado, los productores percibían una menor proporción del área de pasturas en estado severo de degradación (27%, Nivel 4), en comparación con los extensionistas que consideraban que el 31% del área que estaba en este nivel. Ambos grupos de evaluadores coincidieron en las áreas que se encontraban en Niveles 2 y 3 de degradación.Las producciones de leche y carne para cada región y nivel de degradación de las pasturas estimadas por ambos grupos evaluadores aparecen en el Cuadro 12. Estos valores fueron obtenidos mediante la aplicación de las regresiones en el Cuadro 2.Los productores consideraban que existía una mayor producción tanto de leche como de carne en el Nivel 1 de degradación y una menor producción en el Nivel 4. Sin embargo, una vez consolidada la producción total, los extensionistas estimaban que en Honduras se producía 17% más leche y 8% más carne que lo estimado por los productores.Al comparar las cifras de producción de leche en este estudio con las cifras oficiales del gobierno de Honduras, se encontró que los productores sobrestimaron la producción de leche en aproximadamente 5%, mientras que los extensionistas lo hicieron en 23%.En los Cuadros 6 y 7 antes mencionados se presentan las producciones anuales de leche y carne que cada región está dejando de percibir por los estados de degradación de las pasturas, si se comparan con el Nivel 1. En otros términos, es la producción de leche adicional que se produciría en cada región si todas las áreas bajo pasturas permanentes estuvieran en el Nivel 1.Según los datos en este estudio, el sacrificio en producción de leche debido al proceso de degradación de las pasturas era significativo. De acuerdo con la estimación subjetiva de los productores, Honduras estaba dejando de producir 284,106 TM de leche fluida como consecuencia de las áreas en pasturas que se encontraban en el Nivel 4 (degradación severa), lo que equivalía al 48% de la producción total de leche del país (Cuadro 6). Es decir, si el país hubiera puesto en marcha una estrategia para rehabilitar pasturas degradadas antes de que llegaran al Nivel 4, se estaría produciendo 48% más leche. En términos económicos, esta pérdida en producción de leche equivalía a US$63.1 millones anuales que estarían dejando de recibir los productores (ver Cuadro 4). La percepción de los extensionistas era que en la época del estudio Honduras produciría 66% De la misma manera, el país estaba en capacidad de incrementar la ganancia de peso vivo animal de su hato nacional en 32,726 TM de carne en pie, si los productores hubieran recuperado las pasturas que se encontraban en el Nivel 3 hasta mantenerlas en forma sostenible en el Nivel 1. Esto era equivalente al 25% del sacrificio y representaba US$32.5 millones en ingresos no percibidos. Los extensionistas estimaron pérdidas muy similares a los estimados por los productores (ver Cuadros 6 y 7).En consecuencia, si hubiera existido una estrategia nacional para rehabilitar las pasturas que se encontraban en los Niveles 3 y 4 de degradación hasta mantenerlas en el Nivel 1, según los productores, Honduras hubiera aumentado las ganancias de peso vivo animal hasta una cifra equivalente al 62% del sacrificio bovino nacional, lo que representaba para la época un ingreso de US$83.5 millones anuales. Los extensionistas fueron más optimistas y consideraron que estas cifras pudieron haber sido, respectivamente, de 75% y de US$97.6 millones.Ambos grupos de evaluadores consideraron que resultaba más económico, práctico y rápido rehabilitar pasturas que se encontraban en una etapa temprana de degradación (Nivel 2) y que en la medida que este proceso avanzaba a Niveles 3 y 4 el costo se incrementaba significativamente así como también el tiempo para rehabilitarlas (ver Cuadros 8 y 9 del Anexo).Por ejemplo, pasar del Nivel 2 al Nivel 1 costaba en promedio US$29/ha y el proceso de rehabilitación tardaba 2.5 meses. El costo estimado a nivel nacional de rehabilitar las pasturas que se encontraban en el Nivel 2 de degradación era de US$9.51 millones según los productores y de US$12.51 millones según los extensionistas (ver Cuadro 9). A juicio de los productores, esta cifra representaba el 24% de los ingresos en leche y carne que se estaban dejando de recibir anualmente (US$39 millones) y a juicio de los extensionistas representaba el 28% de los US$45 millones que no recibían.Los pasos de los Niveles 3 y 4 al Nivel 1 de degradación eran aún más costosos y demandaban más tiempo. Pasar del Nivel 3 al 1, según los productores tenía un costo de US$66/ha y demoraba 3.4 meses y según los extensionistas costaba US$78/ha y demoraba 3.7 meses (ver Cuadros 8 y 9 del Anexo). El costo estimado de rehabilitar las pasturas en el país que se encontraban en el Nivel 3 de degradación era de US$24.4 millones según los productores y de US$27 millones según los extensionistas (ver Cuadro 9). Según los primeros, esta cifra representaba el 32% de los US$75.5 millones anuales en ingresos de leche y carne que se estaban dejando de recibir y según los extensionistas, el 35% de los $76.8 millones que no recibían por este concepto.El cambio del Nivel 4 al Nivel 1, según los productores tenía un costo de US$140/ha y tardaba 5.6 meses y según los extensionistas estas cifras eran, respectivamente, de US$178/ha y 5.9 meses. El costo estimado de rehabilitar las pasturas en el país que se encontraban en el Nivel 4 de degradación ascendía a US$57.1 millones según los productores y US$83.6 millones según los extensionistas (ver Cuadro 9). Esta cifra representaba, según los primeros, el 51% de los US$111.2 millones anuales en ingresos de leche y carne que se estaban dejando de recibir y según los extensionista, el 52% de los US$159.8 millones anuales en menores ingresos por este concepto.Los productores consideraban que las gramíneas cambian rápidamente del Nivel 1 al 2 (2.9 años, en promedio) y en la medida que el proceso de degradación continua permanecen más tiempo en los niveles avanzados de degradación (3.1 años para pasar del Nivel 2 al 3 y 4 años del Nivel 3 al 4) (Cuadro 10 del Anexo). Igualmente, estimaron que el promedio de la vida útil de las pasturas mejoradas era aproximadamente de 10 años, variando desde 9 años para B. humidicola y Digitaria swazilandensis hasta 12 años para pasto estrella (Cynodon nlemfuensis).Los extensionistas, por su parte, consideraron que las gramíneas tienen una vida útil de 8.4 años, que varía desde 6 años para D. swazilandensis hasta 12 años para B.Brizantha cv. Marandú (Cuadro 11 del Anexo).Según los resultados, las pasturas en Honduras se degradaban a una tasa anual entre 10% y 12%. Lo anterior indica que con una tasa anual de rehabilitación del 12% el problema de degradación en términos de área de pasturas se mantendría.Ambos grupos en la encuesta estuvieron de acuerdo que el nivel crítico de degradación es de 2.7, a partir del cual es necesario iniciar las labores de rehabilitación. El promedio del nivel de degradación de las pasturas en Honduras era variable entre 2.48 y 2.65 (Cuadro 12 del Anexo), no obstante esta situación, los productores de las regiones Atlántico, nordeste y noroeste manifestaron que esperarían llegar a Niveles 3.3, 3.2 y 3, respectivamente, antes de comenzar a invertir recursos para rehabilitar pasturas; mientras que los productores de las regiones sur, centro-oeste, y centro-este lo harían más temprano (cuando alcancen el nivel 2.3).Los productores en general manifestaron que la situación financiera que enfrentaban no les permitía generar suficiente flujo de caja para invertir recursos monetarios en la rehabilitación de sus pasturas y la opción del crédito no era viable debido a los altos costos financieros y a la dificultad para obtenerlo. Para comprobar este argumento, se tomó como caso la finca tipo promedio según el último censo de Honduras, que corresponde a una finca de 15 ha con un hato de 7 vacas (ver Cuadro 11). La época lluviosa es la indicada para rehabilitar pasturas, no obstante, coincide con una caída aproximada al 34% en los precios de la leche recibida por el productor frente al precio en la época seca (US$0.186/kg vs. US$0.28/kg), lo que dificulta la renovación de pasturas. Para entender esta situación se simuló un flujo de efectivo tomando en cuenta los ingresos brutos en ambas épocas y con base en ellos se elaboró el Cuadro 13 con el fin de simular dos escenarios: la situación en ese momento (situación-1) representada por el promedio nacional (30% del área en pasturas en el Nivel 1, 25% en el Nivel 2, 25% en el Nivel 3, y el 25% restante en el Nivel 4), un productor que mantiene un nivel constante de degradación de pasturas, renovando el 10% cada año (1.5 ha); y la situación ideal (situación-2), representada por la eliminación de las áreas en pasturas que se encuentran en el Nivel 4 de degradación. Situaciones Actual e Ideal d Incluye la venta de 1 vaca de desecho cada año (300 kg, US$0.55/kg en pie) y 2 terneros machos destetados (90 kg c/u, US$0.90/kg en pie). La época de lluvias tiene una duración de 6 meses y la época seca los restantes 6 meses. Se asumió que el 49% de las vacas adultas se encuentran en ordeño permanente e Para la Situación Actual los recursos disponibles son la diferencia entre el ingreso obtenido durante la época de lluvias y la época seca con el cual cuenta el productor para la rehabilitación de pasturas. Para el caso de la Situación Ideal, los recursos disponibles son la diferencia entre la Situación Ideal y la Actual más la diferencia entre el ingreso obtenido durante la época de lluvias y la época seca f Asumiendo un costo de renovación de US$150/ha Como se observa en el Cuadro 13, en la situación-1 el ingreso bruto durante la época de lluvias ascendía a US$861 (US$143/mes) comparado con US$640 durante la época seca (US$107/mes). Si se asume que el productor utiliza esta diferencia en ingresos para renovar el 10% de sus pasturas (US$221), apenas tendría recursos suficientes para renovar 1.47 ha, lo que equivale al 10%. Es decir, el productor sólo podría mantener el nivel promedio de degradación de pasturas en la finca y no podría renovar una mayor proporción de potreros. Con la situación-2, y suponiendo que el productor obtenga un crédito a 18 meses de plazo a tasas de interés similares a las que existen en el mercado internacional (3% -4%), la finca estaría en capacidad de generar los ingresos adicionales necesarios para pagar este crédito con el incremento en la producción de leche en el año siguiente.La inversión necesaria para rehabilitar las áreas degradadas del Nivel 4 que existían en el país era equivalente a US$57 millones. Esta es una inversión que se hace una sola vez con el beneficio anual en incremento en producción de leche y carne equivalente a 156,000 lt de leche diarios y 26,500 kg de carne en pie que equivalían en el momento del estudio a un ingreso adicional de US$22.2 millones por año.En consecuencia, existe un gran incentivo tanto económico como productivo para que los sectores privado y público desarrollen y ejecuten en forma conjunta una estrategia que permita la rehabilitación de pasturas en estados avanzados de degradación.• Según los productores el 29% del área bajo pasturas en Honduras se encontraba en el Nivel 1 de degradación (ausente), mientras que los extensionistas consideraban que era de 19%. De igual manera, los productores consideraban que el 27% de las pasturas estaban en el Nivel 4 (severa) y los extensionistas estimaban que esta área era de 31%. Ambos grupos en la encuesta coincidieron en las áreas con Niveles 2 y 3 de degradación. • El país esta sacrificando la producción de leche y carne debido al proceso de degradación de las pasturas. Según las estimaciones de los productores, Honduras estaba dejando de producir anualmente 284,106 TM de leche fluida y aumentos de peso vivo animal equivalentes a 48,271 TM de carne, sólo por la pérdida de productividad de las pasturas en el Nivel 4 de degradación, equivalentes a 48% de la producción anual de leche y al 37% de la producción de carne del país. En términos económicos, estas pérdidas en producción de leche y carne equivalían a US$63 y US$48 millones anuales, respectivamente. Según los extensionistas estas cifras son aún más dramáticas. Honduras produciría 66% más leche y 50% más carne si los productores hubieran mantenido la productividad de sus pasturas evitando que llegaran al Nivel 4 de degradación. Estas menores producciones significaron US$94 millones anuales en menores ingresos para los productores por concepto de venta de leche y US$66 millones por venta de carne.• Ambos grupos de evaluadores (productores y extensionistas) consideraron que resultaba más económico, práctico y rápido rehabilitar pasturas que se encontraban en una etapa temprana de degradación (Nivel 2) y que en la medida que este proceso avanzaba a Niveles 3 y 4 el costo se incrementaba significativamente así como también el tiempo para rehabilitarlas. Por ejemplo, el cambio del Nivel 4 al Nivel 1, según los productores, tenía un costo de US$140/ha y tardaba 5.6 meses y según los extensionistas estas cifras eran, respectivamente, de US$178/ha y 5.9 meses. El costo estimado de rehabilitar las pasturas en el país que se encontraban en el Nivel 4 de degradación ascendía a US$57.1 millones según los productores y a US$83.6 millones según los extensionistas. Esta cifra representaba, según los primeros, el 51% de los US$111.2 millones anuales en ingresos por venta de leche y carne que se estaban dejando de recibir y según los extensionista, el 52% de los US$159.8 millones anuales en menores ingresos por concepto de menor venta de leche y carne.• Los productores consideraron que las gramíneas cambian rápidamente del Nivel 1 al 2 (2.9 años, en promedio) y en la medida que el proceso de degradación es continuado permanecen más tiempo en los niveles avanzados de degradación (3.1 años para pasar del Nivel 2 al 3 y 4 años del Nivel 3 al 4). Igualmente, estimaron que el promedio de la vida útil de las pasturas mejoradas era aproximadamente de 10 años, variando desde 9 años para B. humidicola y Digitaria swazilandensis hasta 12 años para pasto estrella (Cynodon nlemfuensis). Los extensionistas, por su parte, consideraron que las gramíneas tienen una vida útil de 8.4 años, que varía desde 6 años para D. swazilandensis hasta 12 años para B. Brizantha cv. Marandú.• Según los resultados en este estudio, las pasturas en Honduras se degradaban a una tasa anual de 10% a 12%. Lo anterior indica que con una tasa anual de rehabilitación del 12% el problema de degradación en términos de área de pasturas se mantendría.• Ambos grupos en la encuesta estuvieron de acuerdo que el nivel crítico de degradación es de 2.7, a partir del cual es necesario iniciar las labores de rehabilitación. El promedio del nivel de degradación de las pasturas en Honduras era variable entre 2.48 y 2.65. No obstante esta situación, los productores de las regiones Atlántico, nordeste y noroeste manifestaron que esperarían llegar a Niveles 3.3, 3.2 y 3, respectivamente, antes de comenzar a invertir recursos para rehabilitar pasturas; mientras que los productores de las regiones sur, centro-oeste, y centro-este lo harían más temprano (cuando alcancen el nivel 2.3).• Para eliminar las áreas degradadas que se encuentran en el Nivel 4 era necesario invertir US$57 millones una sola vez pero el beneficio anual en incremento en producción de leche y carne era equivalente a 156,000 litros de leche diarios y 26,500 kg de carne en pie que equivalían a un ingreso adicional de US$22.2 millones anuales. Por tanto, existía un gran incentivo, tanto económico como productivo, para que el sector privado y público desarrollen y ejecuten en forma conjunta un plan de acción que permita la recuperación de potreros que se encuentren en avanzado estado de degradación.• La inclusión de varias especies forrajeras favoreció el sesgo de la información recopilada, por tanto, para obtener resultados más precisos sobre el impacto que en productividad animal tiene el nivel de degradación de las pasturas, se recomienda evaluar sólo una especie común, por ej. B. decumbens.• Es necesaria una participación más amplia de productores y una mayor duración de los talleres de este tipo.En este taller participaron 25 ganaderos pequeños provenientes de seis regiones para un promedio de 4.2 personas/región. En lo posible este número debería ser de 5 productores por región. Por otra parte, 1 día adicional permitiría una mejor discusión de las opiniones de los productores de cada una de las regiones. (2 -4)"}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"ce4435daba494dd178ccb99bc71e16a5","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/231274ef-01cc-4ecb-8dcb-8239c38262c1/retrieve","id":"-1629635097"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"42160e33-9bdc-4b7f-8ac6-22967840b693","content":"The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD) initiated a 5 years project in June 2004 with the financial assistance from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The project, entitled: \"Improving productivity and market success\" (IPMS) of Ethiopian farmers, aims at contributing to poverty reduction of the rural poor through market oriented agricultural development.The IPMS project follows an innovation systems approach to enhance application of knowledge or technologies generated by International and National Research Institutes as well as from other sources to bring about market oriented agricultural development while contributing positively to livelihood enhancement. IPMS will also pilot alternative methods and approaches to develop new institutional arrangements for input supply, marketing, credit and other service delivery systems. Such activities will be done on 10 pilot learning Woredas (PLW) across the country (Fig. 1). Bure district (Woreda) is one of the 10 selected sites. To further enhance the utilization of such knowledge and the introduction of technologies, the IPMS project provides assistance to extension, input supply, marketing and financial institutions, including cooperatives. Such institutional support will be in the form of technical assistance, capacity building, supply of demonstration and training materials, credit, some limited funds for innovative institutional arrangements and studies aimed at developing innovative institutional arrangements.Figure 1 Map of Ethiopia depicting 10 Pilot Learning Woredas (PLWs)Bure is one of the 15 and 106 woredas of West Gojam Administrative Zone and Amhara National Regional State, respectively. It is one of the consistently surplus producer woredas of the Region. The capital city of the woreda, Bure, is found 400 km northwest of Addis Ababa and 148km southwest of the Regional State capital, Bahir Dar. The woreda has 15 km asphalt road, 84km all weather gravel road and 103 km dry weather road. It is nearby and connected by all-weather road to East Wollega Zone of the Oromia Regional State and Metekel Zone of the Benishangul Gumez Regional State. Therefore, Bure has good opportunity to sell its agricultural products in different regional states. The road density in the woreda is 68.5km/1000km 2 , which is relatively higher than the average road network in Amhara National Regional State which is 36.72 km/1000km 2 (BoFED, 2005). This is good opportunity to easily transport agricultural inputs and products to and from PAs and market places. Human population of the woreda is 169,609 of which 143,854 (85%) live in rural areas (Table 1). In general, the male population is relatively lower than female population in the woreda (Table 1), however, male-headed households are around 6 times higher than female-headed households.The number of agricultural households, 21,793, is about eight times higher than the households in the urban areas (Table 1). This indicates that the livelihood of most of the woreda population is dependent on agriculture. The total area of the woreda is 72,739 ha of which 46.6% is cultivated and average household cultivated land holding is about 1.6 ha. At present the woreda is divided into 22 rural peasant associations (PAs) and two town associations (Table 2). Bure and Kuchie are the two major towns in the woreda.  According to available digital data the mean annual rainfall ranges from 1386 to 1757 mm (Fig. 2). The western and northern parts of the woreda receive relatively higher annual rainfall compared to other parts of the woreda. It has mono-modal rainfall distribution and extends from May to September. Shortage of rainfall is not a constraint for crop and livestock production rather, agricultural extension experts reported that long rainy season sometimes result in sprouting of a widely growing bread wheat variety (Kubsa or HAR1685). In agreement to this, farmers grow and prefer to grow long maturing and high yielding maize hybrid variety, BH660, since the rainy season in the area is relatively extended. Therefore, Bure is different from the other parts of Amhara National Regional State (ANRS) in terms of amount and distribution of annual rainfall.Farmers practice irrigation to grow crops in the woreda. However, majority of the annual grain is produced during the rainy season (Meher) under rainfed condition. (Fig. 4). Ecological differences in the woreda gave opportunities to grow diverse crop types and rear different livestock types. Types of crops grown and livestock reared in Bure woreda are given in Tables 3 and 4, respectively.              According to the available digital data, three soil types namely Humic Nitosols (63%), Eutric Cambisols (20%) and Eutric Vertisols (17%) are found in Bure woreda (Fig. 5).Most of the areas in the wet Dega agro-ecology have Humic Nitosols, while areas with wet Woina-Dega have Humic Nitosols and Eutric Vertisols. On the other hand, the wet and moist lowlands have Eutric Cambisols. Areas in the wet Dega agro-ecology receive torrential rainfall, has relatively undulating topography and easily erodable soil type. As a result, soil erosion is a challenge in the area. In addition to soil erosion, soil acidity is a problem in the wet Dega part of Bure woreda.Vertisol covers 17% of the total area of the woreda. It has water logging problem and farmers use such lands for crop production once per year at the end of the rainy season.Extensive trainings have been given to farmers in order to efficiently utilize the vertisol areas for double cropping using broad-bed maker (BBM). In addition to this practice, introduction of rice varieties followed by chickpea could also be considered for double cropping without broad-bed construction. The woreda is endowed with large number of rivers and springs. Farmers use this water resource for irrigated crop production both with traditional and modern river diversion schemes. At present, six modern river diversions are constructed and used to irrigate 614 ha of land. These river diversions are currently serving for about 3,665 households in rural areas (Table 5).  Team (June, 2007) In addition to the above modrn river diversions a number of rivers are traditionally diverted and being used for irrigation. List of major traditionally diverted rivers and area of land under irrigation is shown in Table 6. Moreover, 99 springs and 3440 shallow wells are also used for irrigation. Therefore, the water resource in the woreda is widely utilized for irrigation. However, technical support on irrigation methods and selection of appropriate crop types and varieties is crucial to maximize the profitability of irrigation.Farmers use irrigation mainly for the production of horticultural crops using furrow irrigation method. In 2006, about 4,902.4 ha of land was cultivated using irrigation (Table 7). In addition to crop production, these irrigation schemes could also be used for seed multiplication purposes and fish production. Starter fish could be obtained and introduced to the dams with technical assistance of Bahir Dar Fishery Research Centre.  Team (June, 2007) Even though, this woreda has a substantial amount of land under irrigation in comparison to other PLWs, IPMS along with OoARD need to work with these farmers to convince them to grow economically important crops. This is because, substantial area under irrigation is used for growing low yielding and economically less important crops like barley (Table 7). According to the woreda OoARD (2006) land use data, area covered by annual crops accounted for 46.6% of the total area of the woreda. In the same year, the proportion of the landmass under forestland was 8.4% while area under natural pasture was 6.0% (Table 8). Because most of the landmass is under cultivation, cow dung and crop residue are the major source of energy both in the rural and urban areas. Crop residue is also the major livestock feed resource in the area. Both practices of using cow dung and crop residues for fuel accelerate the process of soil nutrient depletion on croplands. Most of the bush and forestland were the major sources of fuel wood. Currently these resources are depleted and somer reminants are found in the low altitude areas which are inaccessible. The vegetation cover of this area can be rehabilitated by organizing local community members as gum and resin producers and enriching the area with such tree species.  However, most of the indigenous tree species are annually harvested to expand croplands; and for fuel wood, charcoal making, timber production and construction purposes. In the previous days (until 2004) incense and resin were produced as forest product in the lowland areas of the woreda but currently such forest products are becoming extinct due to deforestation. Awareness creation for the society and investors is required to conserve not only the indigenous tree species but also the diminishing biodiversity resources in the remaining undisturbed forest areas.According to natural resources management experts of the OoARD about 76, 17 and 5% of the total area is plain, mountainous and valley. Plain areas are mostly found at the central part of the woreda and have mostly Woina Dega agroecology. On the other hand, valleys are found in the southern part of the woreda bordering Nile River. Mountainous areas are found both in the northern and southern part of the woreda. Therefore, mountainous areas have Lowland and highland agro-ecologies. Areas in the northern part of the woreda receive higher amount of rainfall which is sometimes torrential. Torrential rainfall coupled with the mountainous topography aggravated soil erosion in the area. In this area, promotion of agricultural activities (modern sheep rearing and perennial crop production), which helps soil and water conservation is vital for the sustainable utilization of the available natural resources.Like in other parts of the country, farmers in Bure woreda practice crop-livestock mixed farming system. However, the woreda is classified into two farming systems mainly based on altitudinal differences and dominant crops and livestock types. The two farming systems of Bure woreda are:1. Cereal/pepper/livestock farming system 2. Cereal/potato/livestock farming system Farming systems were classified by consulting experts from Bure woreda OoARD and other institutions and researchers from Adet and Andassa Research Centers. The dominant crop and livestock types in each farming system are given in Table 9. There are 18 peasant associations (PAs) which belong to this farming system. This system covers 92% of the total area of the woreda. Peasant associations belonging to both the low and mid altitude areas are classified into this farming system. Peasant associations belonging to this farming system are located on the right hand side of the road as one travels from Bahir Dar to Addis Ababa and extends to the southern end of the woreda bordering Nile River. These PAs have altitudes ranging from 731 to 2206 masl and majority of the PAs in this farming system have relatively flat topography.However, the lowland PAs have relatively undulating topography. The soil types in this farming system are Humic Nitosols, Eutric Nitosols and Eutric Cambisols. In this farming system there are some remnant trees. Some parts of the area are accessible using allweather road, which connects Bure town to Nekemte, East Wollega. Cereal crops such as maize, bread wheat, tef, fingermillet and horticultural crops, mainly pepper production dominate this farming system (Table 9). Most areas have ideal soil and climatic conditions for the expansion of lowland pulses like haricot bean and soybean as well for tropical and sub-tropical fruit crops like mango, avocado, banana and papaya.Farmers in the low altitude areas of this farming system have relatively larger land holding size compared to other parts of the farming system. In the lowland areas, farmers practice shifting cultivation. Some private commercial farmers are also found in this area.No This area has ideal soil and climatic condition for the production of many crops. Maize, bread wheat, teff, pepper, finger millet, potato, vegetables, coffee, noug, sugarcane, haricot bean and sesame are grown in this farming system. Subtropical and tropical fruit crops like mango, avocado, banana and papaya can easily grow in the area. The lion share of the total crop land is covered by maize. However, it is mainly grown for household consumption. Among the crops grown in the area, pepper and bread wheat are serving as the major cash crops to the community.Fruits: Horticultural crops production, particularly tropical fruit crops like mango and avocado using irrigation is increasing in the area. The characteristics of mango varieties grown in the area are fibrous, have small flesh to stone ratio and extensive fruit drop problems. On the other hand, the height of mango and avocado trees is unmanageable for harvesting and other management activities. Some farmers have already started to raise and sell fruit seedlings, which is an encouraging practice for the sustainable planting material supply of fruit crops. However, planting materials distributed to farmers from the nurseries of OoARD and nursery owners are of unknown origin. In addition, seedlings were raised from seeds of low yielding and poor quality local varieties.Introduction of improved varieties as a source of scion and training of both farmers and extension workers on fruit crops nursery management, particularly propagation methods like budding and grafting techniques, could be vital to improve the annual income of farmers and increase exportable fruit production of the country.Pepper: Farmers in the lowlands grow pepper on an average of 0.5 to 1 ha of land annually. Since the area of land planted by pepper is large, farmers follow direct sowing.This practice requires large amount of seed, 3 kg/ha, which is four times higher than Andassa. Farmers showed desire to these poultry breeds but their supply is currently terminated. However, these exotic breeds demand too much feed and are susceptible to diseases compared to local breeds. Therefore, assessment of the local poultry production, marketing system and improving constraints will be essential to improve poultry production in the area.The current major marketable livestock commodities in this farming system as prioritized by farmers, experts from the woreda OoARD, BoARD, Adet and Andassa Research Centers, Bure ATVET and other institutions are as follows:1. Sheep and Cattle fattening 2. Poultry (egg & meat)3. HoneyThis farming system covers 8% of the total area of the woreda. Jib Gedel, Ageni Fereda, Weheni Durbete and Weyenima Ambye are the PAs in this farming system. These PAs are located on the left side of the road as one drives from Bahir Dar to Addis Ababa. The soil type in this farming system is Humic Nitosols. Acacia dominated protected forest area found in this farming system. Peasant associations in this farming system are inaccessible during the rainy season. They are also characterized by cool weather, hail and frost damage. The area has undulating topography and receives high amount of rainfall. Therefore, soil erosion is a challenge in this farming system.Crops grown in the area include wheat, barley, teff, potato, shallot, rapeseed, faba bean, field pea and others. The cool weather is ideal for the production of food as well as malt barley, potato, shallot, faba bean, field pea, temperate fruit crops like apple and peach.However, frost is one of the production constraints in this area. Results of experiments conducted on malt-barley production are encouraging. However, the ideal area for malt as well as food barley production is not large enough for many farmers to benefit from.Potato: Farmers in this farming system grow potato three times per year using irrigation, under rainfed condition and using residual moisture. Farmers use low yielding and blight susceptible potato varieties. Consequently, potato productivity is very low. This situation opens up an opportunity to introduce high yielding and late blight resistant potato varieties. Wilt is also one of the major problems for potato production. There is no control measure for this disease as of now except prevention measures like use of disease free planting material, uprooting and burning or burying diseased potato plants. The damage of potato tuber moth is also serious and resulted in poor quality tuber. Farmers do not apply adequate amount of inorganic fertilizer, but apply noug cake as organic fertilizer for potato production. Fertilizer supply especially for irrigated and with residual moisture potato production systems is inadequate. A potato processing company is going to be operational at Koso Ber town soon. Therefore, lack of market and price fluctuation may not be a constraint for potato production in the future. Potato growers do not have direct contact with potato traders due to brokers.Bure is also known by its shallot. Farmers grow shallot both under rainfed and irrigation. The rainfed crop is mainly used to maintain or multiply planting material for the irrigated shallot production. The rainfed system is not productive since it is more affected by disease like root rot. Farmers use local varieties which require six months to maturity.Farmers use manure for shallot production. Hence, shortage of irrigation water and problems of root rot are major shallot production constraints. Frost damage also causes significant yield losses on shallot.Faba bean: Farmers grow faba bean mainly as a source of cash in this farming system.Varieties grown by farmers are susceptible to chocolate spot and the size of beans is small. This problem can be solved by introducing improved large seeded varieties which are high yielding. Faba bean is attacked by weevil in the store and farmers control it by using pesticide. Faba bean requires fertilizer but farmers do not apply adequate amount of fertilizer mainly due to shortage of cash as is the case for many other crops. This problem can be solved by introducing bio-fertilizer. The National Soil Laboratory has proved the increase of yield by applying bio-fertilizer.Temperate fruits: Even though, landholding is very small compared to other PAs, there is good water resource for irrigation. Many farmers are benefiting from this resource.Therefore, high value fruit and vegetable crops production and cool season vegetable seed production using irrigation could be a lucrative business in the area. Such practices will also help to reduce the intensity of soil erosion caused by intensive rainfall coupled with mountainous topography with less vegetation cover and erodable soil type.The current major marketable crop commodities in this farming system as prioritized by farmers, experts from the woreda OoARD, BoARD, Adet and Andassa Research Centers, Bure ATVET and other institutions are as follows:1. Bread wheat locally made incubator has a capacity of 400-500 eggs and is currently sold at birr 5,500.Researchers in Andassa witnessed that the efficiency of this incubator was comparable with imported ones and its hatching efficiency was 75%.The PAs in this farming system have relatively better vegetation cover and water resource. Therefore, it is ideal for apiculture and farmers from different Woredas buy bee colony in this Woreda. Farmers have already started to practice bee keeping using modern beehives but need technical backup to improve its productivity. Farmers reported that modern beehives are twice as much high yielder than traditional beehives.Yield from traditional beehives ranges from 5-10 kg honey per year. On the other hand, farmers harvest about 17-20 kg hony from a modern beehive. Similarly, Holleta BeeResearch Centre reported 12.24kg as the average honey yield from modern beehive.This indicates the importance of modern beehives and the potential of the area for honey production.According to the OoARD livestock experts, a killo of honey from modern beehives was sold between 20-22 birr, while honey from traditional beehives was 16-17 birr. In some PAs there are farmers who own up to 60 modern beehives. Around 2000 modern beehives have been distributed to farmers in the woreda. However, some of the problems for beekeeping with modern beehives are high price of its accessories like honey extractor, wax molder and low preference of the honey by local traders. Local traders prefer honey with wax since it is preferred by the community for tej (local drink) making and has relatively low price. Besides this traders get wax from honey harvested from traditional beehives. These problems can be solved by establishing honey producers cooperative in the area which can facilitate marketing of honey to big towns and at the same time supply accessories in group with reasonable price. In addition, insects like wax moth, bee lies, spider, ants, neocema, herbicide and pesticide spraying for crop production, premature harvesting, poor handling, lack of quality control and grading system are major problems associated with honey production. Because of lack of awareness on honey quality and lack of honey grading system, price difference between honey produced from modern and traditional beehives was very low. This situation could discourage farmers to adopt modern beehives but could be compensated by increased income due to higher price and increased yield per beehive as a result of better management and diversification of products.On the other hand, bee forages in the woreda like in other parts of the region and the Most of the problems mentioned above are associated to poor management of bee hives. This is mainly attributed to lack of awareness and shortage of trained manpower.Therefore, training on modern beehive management is required both to farmers and development agents in the woreda.The current major marketable livestock commodities in this farming system as prioritized by farmers, experts from the woreda OoARD, BoARD, Adet and Andassa Research Centres, Bure ATVET collge and other institutions are as follows:1. Sheep and Cattle fattening (mutton and beef)2. Poultry (egg & meat)Environmental challenges Bure is one of the surplus grain producer woredas of Amhara National Regional State. It is well known in cereals, especially considered as a maize belt of the region. According to SG2000, the highest maize grain yield of the country (122 q/ha) was recorded in this woreda. Most of the croplands in the low and mid altitude areas are covered with two crops, maize and bread wheat. Unless this intensive crop production is supported by application of adequate amount of manure, compost and inorganic fertilizers to compensate for the annual removal of nutrients in the form of crop residue and grain from crop lands, this practice will aggravate soil fertility depletion. Measure need to be taken in order not to aggravate soil acidity problems by applying higher amount of inorganic fertilizer. Rainfall in Bure is heavy as a result of which soils are acidic and hence crop/forage production will be affected. As a result, Bure is one of the woredas where the national soil test based fertilizer trial for acid affected soils carried out by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD).Nearly all the croplands observed were without any soil conservation structures. In the absence of vegetative cover, especially during the earlier part of the rainy season, where the farmland soil is loose and without vegetative cover, soil erosion is serious problem.Beyond the removal of the top soil from crop fields, many gullies could also be formed. It is easy to assess this as one can easily see the amount of silt on the roadside ditches and small streams and rivers. This will also be further aggravated because of the relatively sloppy crop fields which will facilitate erosion in addition to nature of the soil which is vulnerable to gully formation and the rainfall conditions. Gullies are already being formed in many parts of the woreda.The natural forest of the woreda is found in the lowlands and highlands. The lowland areas receive high temperature and rainfall and have undulating topography. All these conditions aggravate soil erosion. On top of these, farmers practice shifting cultivation in this area. This practice again enhances soil erosion and an overall environmental degradation. This will also cause irreversible biodiversity losses. Similarly, areas in the highlands are mountainous and receive high rainfall annually. Landholding in this part of the woreda is very small and the farmlands have been cultivated for a long period of time. Consequently, it is vulnerable to erosion and caused river and stream siltation. To prevent the above environmental challenges both in the lowlands and highlands, farmers should be advised to use improved land management systems in their croplands and communal grazing areas.According to Table 4, the current number of livestock in the woreda is 53,868 TLUs. Care needs to be taken to minimize overgrazing of natural pasture which is only 4348 ha. This could be more aggravated due to the mono-modal rainfall nature in Bure. This higher stocking rate is expected to bring about overgrazing and hence erosion of the natural pastures. This calls for concerted efforts in order to improve the management of livestock and the natural pastures in the woreda. IPMS already gained knowledge from some of its PLWs in this regard. In addition, there are also similar experiences from the region and elsewhere which need to be applied for the benefit of the environment hence the farmer.Bure is becoming known for its cereal production and use of herbicides for crop production. This practice is affecting the business of beekeeping in the area. This therefore calls for strategic solutions so that the increasing honey production is not hampered with extensive use of herbicide using community bylaws. Private traders involved in marketing of all sorts of agricultural commodities. More than 90% of the annual produce marketed by private traders. They purchase and sale all quality standards. Private traders are flexible in market price decision making. They purchase and sale throughout the day and the year. These features of private traders attract farmers.Private traders buy grains, livestock and honey from Bure, Alefa and Kutchie towns and sell in Bahir Dar, Wollega, Gonder, Wello, Tigray, Addis Ababa and Metema. There is good market opportunity for fattened sheep and cattle in the area since a meat processing private company named Ashrif going to be operational soon (2008) in Bahir Dar. Animals and animal products are sold only by private traders. Similarly horticultural crops are marketed only by private traders. This indicates the importance of private traders in marketing of agricultural commodities. However, private traders use to store all items together in one store. This practice resulted in quality deterioration problem.Moreover, since they purchase all quality standards, it did not encourage farmers to improve or maintain the quality of their produce. Therefore, up-grading of private trader`s skill through training on quality standards of agricultural produce, store management and transportation of agricultural produce is vital in order to supply quality produce to factories and foreign markets.Ethiopian Grain Trade Enterprise is a pioneer in Ethiopian grain trade industry. It is engaged in wholesales grain trading for over 50 years. It has a branch office and warehouses with 75,000q storage capacity at Bure. The branch office has 9 employees including five watchmen. It purchases grains from small holder farmers, investors and private traders and sell food grain for governmental, non-governmental organizations, city dwellers and other customers. Its major objective is to stabilize market price of grain at national level. It purchased 15.21q, 572.44q and 75940q maize grain from small holder farmers, traders and big private farms, respectively in 2006/7 cropping season.Their main clients are the two big private farms (Ayehu and Bir farms). The enterprise has quality measuring equipments and determines price based on grain quality standard of the country. According to the office manager, although there is grain quality standard in the country, it is not implemented by private traders while buying grains.Consequently, it did not encouraged farmers to produce good quality grains. Therefore, training of private traders, farmers and purchasers of cooperatives on grain quality and methods of producing quality grain is vital to produce and sell quality grain for local industries and export market.Bure is one of the surplus grain producer woredas of ANRS. This surplus produce demands proper storage structure and post harvest handling. Due to lack of appropriate storage structure and knowledge on post harvest handling of grains, pests (weevil) damaged considerable amount of grain. Ethiopian grain trading enterprise provides grain storage service at the rate of 36 cents per quintal for farmers, traders and cooperatives.Currently, Damot union and one multipurpose cooperative use this service. It can also share to others about its long term experience on grain store management and fumigation techniques. However, it is engaged only in marketing of grains, operates only during office hours and market price is decided by a lengthy process through higher officials consultation. This situation did not attract small holder farmers to sell their grains to the enterprise. Improvement of these limitations of the enterprise will benefit the country since most of the produce will be handled through technically skilled and experienced personnel.Cooperatives are very important to solve problems associated to marketing of agricultural produce. The Cooperative Promotion Team of OoARD is responsible for the cooperative organization in the woreda. The team has two sections; the audit and inspection section provides audit and inspection services while the cooperative promotion and registration section provides promotion and registration services to the cooperatives.There are 31 co-operatives in the woreda of which 11 are multi purpose, 14 saving and credit, 5 irrigation and one dairy cooperative. Multi-purpose cooperatives have 11,588 members, of which 10,542 are males and 1,046 are females (Table 10). About 53.2% of the total rural households are member of multi-purpose cooperatives. Currently these multi-purpose cooperatives have 10,751,165.82 birr total capital and are providing grain milling service, supply industrial products, purchase grains and supply agricultural inputs (seed, fertilizer and pesticide) to their members in collaboration with Agricultural Input Supply Corporation (AISCO), Ambasel and Damot Multi-purpose Cooperatives Union.Multi-purpose Cooperatives Union to sell when the grain price rises. According to leaders of this cooperative the average milk yield from local and cross breeds is 2lt/day and 8-10lt/day, respectively. Therefore, milk production in the area can be increased by improving problems associated to health and feed shortage and by replacing low yielding local cows with cross-bred dairy cows.The cool weather and long rainy season prevailing at Bure is conducive for dairy cows. It has also all-weather road in four directions which is vital to collect and sell milk products.Establishment of BureDamot milk producer cooperative is also important to promote improved technologies on dairy and to market milk and its processed products collectively.But, currently this cooperative is facing some problems such as inadequate AI and health service, shortage of feed and lack of credit to purchase milk processing equipments and refrigerator. Most of these problems can be solved by linking with credit providing institutions and food processing industries like wheat flour factories, oil factories, etc in Bahir Dar.Five irrigation cooperatives with 628 members (565 males and 63 females) are operational in Bure woreda. The total capital of these cooperatives is 103,583.00 birr. They provide vegetable seed, credit, irrigation tools and transport service for their members and also administer irrigation water and collect irrigation water fee from users. The price of irrigation water varies based on area of land irrigated and type of crops growing. Irrigation water fee for onion, cabbage and carrot is 36birr/ha/production season. For maize and sugarcane the irrigation water fee is 24birr/ha/season. On the other hand, 16birr/ha/year is the irrigation water fee for banana, coffee and hops. Irrigation cooperatives also involved in marketing of vegetables produced by its members.• Lack of market information to farmers  Bure woreda is known in cereal crops production. The two major cereal crops grown in the woreda are bread wheat and maize. In 2006/7 cropping season 500q and 232q improved seeds of maize and bread wheat, respectively were distributed to farmers. There is enormous seed demand for the two crops but the supply is inadequate. Bure is ideal for bread wheat production. Since it is self-pollinated crop, it is relatively simple to produce bread wheat seed by farmers. Therefore, promoting farmer based bread wheat seed production scheme seems essential to solve seed shortage in the area. It is also possible to specialize farmers as bread wheat seed producer. Currently, a contructual aggrement signed between Ethiopian Seed Enterprise and farmers to produce bread wheat seed on 40ha land in Bure woreda.Agricultural Input Supply Corporation (AISCO) is the main chemical fertilizer supplier in the area. It is a government organization whose main responsibility is to procure and distribute fertilizer (DAP and Urea), pesticide and insecticide to farmers. In 2006/2007 cropping season 18,448.75 quintals of DAP and 6,480.75 quintals of Urea has been distributed to farmers both in cash and credit by AISCO. Other input suppliers in the woreda are, Ambasel and Damot Multi-purpose Cooperatives Union. Fertilizer supply is usually adequate and on-time. However, farmers complain about the steadily increasing fertilizer price. As a result of this farmers are forced to apply inadequate amount of fertilizer and to prepare and use compost. Pesticide and herbicide supply is inadequate in the area. For example pesticide used to control Wello Bush Cricket, an important insect pest for pepper, is not available in Bure. Farmers control this pest by mixed planting pepper either with rapeseed or noug in the lowlands.The union also play significant role in distributing fertilizer to its members. The amount of DAP and Urea distributed by the union in the last seven years is given in Table 11. Rural Finance Farmers in Bure woreda access credit from cooperatives and Amhara Credit and Saving Institute (ACSI). They also get saving service both with ACSI and Saving cooperatives.Most of the credit money is obtained from ACSI. Recently, a private financial institution named as Harbu microfinance is operational in Bure town but it started giving credit and saving services only to urban dwellers.ACSI is the major credit and saving service provider for the rural population in Amhara region with 10 branches and 174 sub-branches. It has a sub-branch at Bure town with 10 employees and provides the following financial services:The institute follows group collateral approach for credit. About 5 to 7 male or female farmers form a group and submit credit request through their respective peasant associations and PAs screen each member of the group by taking parameters such as living at least for 5 years in the PA, known to be hard working, economically active (18-60 years old), socially acceptable, motivated and does not have mental illness problem.Training is given to this group for five to six days. Then each member registers his/her resource, planned activity to the woreda ACSI office and must voluntarily sign to pay the debt if any one of the group members fails to pay the credit. Finally each member is allowed to borrow up to 1500.00 birr in the first year and up to 3000.00 birr in the second year based on his/her first year performance to purchase agricultural inputs like seed, ox, fertilizer, beehive and poultry. After 15-30 days the office with its staff checks the utilization of borrowed money for the intended activity and the presence of those registered household resources. Moreover, each client has to save 5% of the loan when taking the money and pay 1% of the loan every month as saving.ACSI sub-branch at Bure since its establishment in 1998, lent out a total of 18, 927,176.90 birr on credit to 7,263 households of which 2,661 were male and 4,602 were females. The amount of money lent to female and male clients was 10,908,589.20 and 8,018,587.7 birr, respectively. In 2006 ACSI borrowed 4,810,952.15 birr to its clients for different activities (Table 12). The interest rate of the institute is 18%. Credit is mainly requested to purchase ploughing oxen and for cattle and sheep fattening. According to the head of ACSI at Bure, credit for fattening activities is highly profitable. However, the amount of money available in the branch office is inadequate to satisfy the credit demand in the area. In the previous days some clients were unable to pay the loan within the stipulated time. But, currently this problem is solved by strong awareness creation work and clients experience on credit. This type of loan is mainly given to government employees by considering their salary as collateral and one person as a pledge. Loan is given by multiplying one third of the salary by 12 months. It is given to purchase household furniture, house construction, house maintenance, etc. In 2006, ACSI borrowed 247,363.00 birr as asset loan.ACSI also provide saving services to any interested individual who wants to save money starting from 5 birr at the beginning. ACSI has two types of saving clients. The first group comprises those who borrowed money from the institute and forced to save money in the institute to use it as a guarantee for the borrowed money. The second group is interested money savers. The second group has a power to withdraw their money at any time they want while the first group must pay all their credits before to withdraw money from their saving. The interest rate of ACSI (4%) is more than the rate of commercial bank (3%) and cooperatives union (3%). Farmers are not interested to save money since the interest rate is less than the profit obtained by using the money for trading. Totally the sub-branch has 6,125 saving clients. Voluntary savers have 778,463.81 birr capital. On the other hand, forced savers have 836,339.64 birr capital. Members of forced and voluntary savers at ACSI sub-branch are 4162 and 1563, respectively.ACSI at Bure also administers pension payment for retired persons in the woreda.It is a private micro-finance institute established recently and providing credit service only for the urban population.Multi-purpose cooperatives also coordinate credit distribution for fertilizer, water pump, livestock production and fattening, vegetable seeds, etc. From this service multi-purpose cooperatives and the commercial bank gets 7.5% and 5.25 % interest, respectively.Members of multipurpose cooperatives borrowed about 3,646,149.48 birr for fertilizer, 634,200 birr for livestock fattening, 56,733.88 birr for seed, 66,728.15 birr for wax, 110,150 birr for bee colony and 152,800 birr for irrigation in the year 2005/2006. Using the credit money for unplanned activities and shortage and late release of credit money are some of the problems on the credit service.In Bure woreda 14 saving and credit cooperatives are available. The objective of these cooperatives is to promote saving culture in the society and provide credit to its members with relatively low interest rate. These cooperatives have 847 male and 133 female totally 980 members and 634,461.70 birr variable capital (Table 13). About 229 male and 28 female members of these cooperatives borrowed 242,185 birr in 2006. Each member can borrow 3 times as much as its contribution. One of these cooperatives established children saving scheme. This scheme has 56 member children and 7,044.99 birr capital. In this woreda a saving and credit cooperatives union named as Gohe was established in 2005 and currently it has 17 member saving cooperatives.Shortage and late release of money for credit (Union and ACSI) Group collateral credit system is less preferred Low awareness of the society about the importance and management of credit  fighting HIV/AIDS and harmful cultures (early marriage, circumcision, etc). To solve some of the economic problems of women, the office organized training for women about how to plough with ox. The office also organized women in the form of credit and saving association at WaderaGendeba. These women are benefiting from this association since it allowed them to access money without any bureaucratic processes, which they face from other credit giving financial institutions.In fighting the problem of HIV/AIDS the office trained 31 commercial sex workers on other income generating activities and arranged credit from ACSI to lead their life with what they are trained. As a result, these women terminated their previous life style. Besides this, the office trained 10HIV/AIDS victim women on leather bag making. These women started leather bag making and selling. In addition, the office organized about 21 jobless young girls to generate income from beekeeping, poultry and vegetable production. It also organized experience sharing forum for women who are engaged in different income generating activities.The office also organized awareness creation training for progressive couples in one PA and identified the effectiveness of the approach in order to create common understanding between husband and wife on gender equality.The woreda Office of Women Affairs also did need assessment for rural and urban women to economically invigorate them. However, some of their projects/ efforts/ were not fruitful due to lack of fund and credit by credit giving institutions especially for poor and landless rural women. The manpower status of these teams and services is given on Table 14. The organizational structure is also given in Fig 7. Source: Bure woreda OoARD (May, 2007) Legend 1. Extension Team 1 2. Extension Team 2 3. Environmental Protection, Land Administration and Use Team 4. Cooperative Promotion and Inspection Team 5. Input Supply, Credit and Marketing Team 6. Water Resources Development Team Considering the complexity of the extension service emanating from the need to deal with the diverse sources of agricultural information, advising multiple stakeholders and partners in the agricultural development effort and the range of extension mandate, the extension service in the woreda is constrained by shortage of budget and transport facility, weak vertical linkage, inadequate technical capacity of the staff, etc. About 26% of the staff is below diploma education background which is inadequate to cope with the requirements of extension-communication skill.Therefore, successive training is required to upgrade their skill and to acquaint them with market oriented participatory extension system.Extension activities are mostly planned at the woreda level but sometimes it is planned at national and regional level and forwarded to the woreda for its  classes and at all age groups (Table 16). Of the total HIV/AIDS positive population in the woreda, 80 (53 female and 27 male) patients take Anti-Retro Virus Tablet (ART).In addition, 130 HIV/AIDS patients established an association called Berihan HIV/AIDS association. This association tries to generate income to its members from its stationery shop, a photocopy machine and bath rooms. In addition, members of this association generate income from petty trades and by sewing clothes.  The following tables provide a brief description of production, input supply and marketing aspects of the priority commodities together with areas requiring attention and potential interventions as suggested by farmers and professionals during the PRA survey, the WALC and woreda experts meetings and project planning workshop. Institutions to be involved in executing these activities are also indicated.Bread wheat is mainly produced for sale. It is mainly grown in medium altitude areas of the woreda on Nitosol. In 2005/2006 cropping season about 2969ha of land was covered with bread wheat and 113414q grain was harvested. The average productivity of bread wheat in the woreda is 38 q/ha. Farmers mostly use oxen but some times rented tractors for land preparation. They also use fertilizer and herbicide (2,4-D) for bread wheat production but they apply below the recommended rate. Sprouting of wheat emanating from the long rainy season of the area and use of early maturing bread wheat variety is a common problem in bread wheat production. This calls for the introduction of long season varieties to fit with the prevailing long rainy season. Bread wheat is harvested manually in the area but farmers request introduction of motor operated bread wheat threshers in order to minimize the effect of sprouting problem. Therefore, there is a need to demonstrate motorized bread wheat trashing technology in the area. Moreover, farmers should be encouraged to buy and use these threshers through provision of credit service. A group of farmers or individuals could be encouraged to give threshing services to other farmers. This practice will not only help to solve sprouting problem but also improve the quality of grain produced since the current threshing practice done by rotating oxen on the ground deteriorates the quality of grain through mixing grain with soil and manure. Faba bean is the most important crop in the highlands but it is also widely grown in the mid altitude areas of Bure woreda. On average 11427q faba bean produced annually on 884 ha land in Bure. Farmers grow low yielding and small seeded local faba bean varieties. Efforts in terms of introducing high yielding and large seeded improved varieties would benefit farmers through export market in Sudan. Faba bean is one of the cash crops for farmers in the highlands. Farmers also grow faba bean in rotation with cereals to improve the fertility of their croplands. Currently farmers reported that faba bean is demanding fertilizer application which was not the case before. Research made by the national soil laboratory indicated that application of bio-fertilizer on faba bean improves productivity. Therefore, use of this biofertiliser reduces the cost of chemical fertilizer. Farmers started to use raw planting and apply fertilizer at a very low rate compared to the recommended rate. Farmers grow only local varieties and land preparation is done by ox. They did not use herbicide for weed control. Chocolate spot and rust among diseases and boll worm and weevil among insect pests cause significant yield loss on faba bean. Pulses are only sold through private traders. Cooperatives did not buy faba bean. There is price fluctuation in different seasons. The price is very low (300-350 birr/q) between November and January and high (>430 birr/q) in February and afterwards. There is lack of pricing faba bean based on quality standards. Faba bean is susceptible to weevil in the store. Consequently, farmers sell the produce immediately after harvest.Price Pepper is mainly produced under rainfed condition in the low and mid altitude areas of Bure woreda. Even though it is limited, pepper is also produced under irrigation. Farmers grow an improved variety called Marko fana and local pepper varieties. Bure and its surrounding is the major pepper producing area in the Amhara region. It is sold to different places of the northern parts of the country. Farmers plant on the average 12% of their land and some farmers get up to 25,000 birr annually from this crop. Land preparation is done by oxen and plough four to six times. Farmers plant by direct sowing method in the lowlands where farmers plant about 1 ha of land and by transplanting of seedlings in the mid altitude areas. Wello Bush Cricket, cut worm and boll warm (insect pests) and dumping-off and root rot (diseases) are major constraints for pepper production. To control crickets farmers use chemicals and intercrop with rapeseed and noug. They apply fertilizer at the rate of 200kg DAP and 100kg Urea. Because of cheating by traders with their weighing scales, farmers have started to adulterate the produce by sprinkling water to the already dried pepper so that it will raise the weight of the produce. This practice resulted in burning of a pepper store at Alefa, one of the PAs in Bure. Farmers grow local varieties because of shortage of seed supply. They prefer to grow Marko fana since it has high market price and higher dry pod yield. Farmer to farmer seed supply system need to be established. However, as pepper is out crossing, improved seed need to be supplied annually from ESE or the research system to seed producing farmers. Farmers apply DAP and urea at the rate of 200 kg/ha and 100 kg/ha, respectively to improve soil fertility for pepper production. Few farmers also use compost in their pepper farms. They use pesticide to control cricket. Pepper is sold to private traders and cooperatives. Its local market price is highly variable ranging from 9 birr per kg in December and January to 21birr/kg in May and after wards. Pepper produced in Bure and its environs sold in Gojam, Gonder, Wello and Tigray by private traders. However, the use of the produce as a raw material for oleoresin factories is not yet started. Adulteration of pepper by farmers and weighing scale manipulation by traders are major problems in marketing of pepper. Quality of the produce is substantially affected as a result. Quality based pricing would encourage farmers to produce high quality product so that they will fetch better prices from their product. Pepper from improved varieties like Mareko Fana fetch 3-4 birr/kg extra compared to the local variety. This variety need to be introduced to Bure in a sustainable way.Water sprinkling on dry pepper and addition of inert materials affecting the quality Potato is one of the most widely grown crops in the highlands of Bure. In the highlands farmers grow potato three times per year as rainfed, with residual moisture and irrigation. It is also produced in the mid altitude areas with irrigation. On the average about 356095q ware potato produced from 2500 ha of land annually. Farmers use low yielding and disease susceptible potato varieties. Potato late blight, bacterial wilt, potato tuber moth incur significant yield loss. Therefore, introduction of disease resistant varieties is essential. Similarly, demonstration of proper potato production techniques would help to boost potato productivity in the area. Potato is growing three times per year in Bure. Consequently, it demands input supply three times per year. There is no improved varieties seed tuber supply system in the area. Moreover, fertilizer is unavailable for residual moisture and irrigated potato production system. It is not also adequate for rainfed potato production system since its planting date is early compared to other crops. Consequently, farmers solve the above problem through use of compost, FYM and noug cake. Small scale potato harvesting equipments are not introduced in the area like in other parts of the country. Introduction of such equipments will help to increase the shelf life of potato by reducing the amount of tuber damage caused by the current potato harvesting system.Lack of improved potato variety seed tuber supply system causes to grow poor quality, low yielding and disease susceptible varieties Establish farmer based potato seed tuber multiplication system Farmers sale their potato to private traders. According to their report potato produced in Bure apart from the local market it is transported to Wollega. Farmers as well as traders do not sale potato based on quality and do not practice tuber grading. Introduction of such practice will encourage farmers to produce good quality tuber and vital to supply quality tuber for the processing plant which will be operational soon at Koso Ber. Currently farmers complain about the involvement of brokers in potato marketing system. Since potato is perishable product farmers sale their produce as per brokers determined price of potato. This situation makes potato production unprofitable business. Therefore, establishment of strong potato marketing system which can remove mal-functioning brokers seems essential. Potato is also mainly growing in the areas which are relatively inaccessible. Besides potato is bulky for transportation. Hence expansion of this commodity needs expansion of rural roads.Market price fluctuation Create organized potato marketing system OoARD/IPMS Lack of direct linkage between potato producers and traders due to brokers (middlemen) Establish potato marketing groups Take legal actions on middlemen Create strong link with potato processing plant that will be operational soon in Koso Ber WoA/OoARD Lack of potato tuber grading system for marketing Train farmers and traders about tuber grading and encourage quality based pricing system OoARD/IPMS/ARARI Lack of road network to transport with truck Organize farmers to construct dry weather rural roadShallot is an important crop in the highlands of Bure woreda. It is cultivated two times per year with rainfed and under irrigation condition. The irrigated shallot production system is more productive than the rainfed system. Annually about 165300q shallot is produced from 1955ha of land in Bure. Farmers grow local variety. This variety demands up to six month to reach maturity. It is also susceptible to diseases like bulb rot and leaf blotch. Shallot production is also affected by frost. However, farmers strive to produce it since it is the most important cash crop in the area. They did not apply adequate amount of fertilizer for shallot production but apply manure to improve the fertility of the soil. Shallot is growing two times per year in Bure. Consequently, it demands input supply for both the cropping season. There is no improved variety planting supply system in the area. Moreover, fertilizer is unavailable for irrigated shallot production system. Consequently, farmers solve the above problem through use of compost and FYM. Shortage of irrigation water is major constraint for irrigated shallot production. Shallot is affected by bulb rot and leaf blotch but fungicides are not available in the area.Lack of improved shallot variety seed bulb supply system causes to grow poor quality, low yielding and disease susceptible varieties Farmers sale their shallot to private traders. According to their report shallot produced in Bure apart from the local market it is transported to Wollega and Addis Ababa. Farmers as well as traders do not sale shallot based on quality standard. Currently farmers complain about the involvement of broker or middlemen in shallot marketing system. Since shallot is perishable product, farmers sale their produce as per brokers determined price. This situation makes shallot production unprofitable business. Therefore, establishment of strong shallot marketing system which can remove mal-functioning brokers seems essential. Shallot is also mainly growing in areas which are relatively inaccessible. Besides it is bulky for transportation. Hence expansion of this commodity needs expansion of rural roads.Market Bure has ideal environmental condition for the production of tropical and sub-tropical fruits.There is also ample irrigation water resource as well traditional and modern irrigation schemes in the area. However, fruit production is just started and needs to be supported. Fruit juice shops in Bure town receive fruits from Wollega and Addis Ababa for their shop.For the last long time, the small fruit nursery of OoARD was the only fruit crops planting material supplier. This nursery supply mango, avocado, guava and papaya seedlings propagated by seed. It also distributes seedlings and suckers of different coffee and banana varieties respectively. The local mango is fibrous and has small flesh to stone ratio. Similarly avocado trees are tall and less productive with small stone to flesh ratio. Despite this fact, farmers demand to seedlings of these fruit crops is steadily increasing. This situation also pushed some farmers to start in fruit crops seedling raising and selling activity. However, both farmers and the OoARD nurseries multiply and distribute planting materials of unimproved varieties by seed. Propagation of known improved varieties by grafting is not yet started. Moreover, farmers as well as experts are not skilled on grafting. Therefore, training of farmers as well as experts on grafting will contribute for the distribution of improved fruit crops varieties. At about 50 km north of Bure near to a small town called Enjibara there is a private fruit nursery which will be a future school for farmers who will be involved in farmer based fruit seedling supply system. The major fruit crops seedlings source to farmers is the nursery of OoARD. Recently, some individual farmers are also raising and selling fruit seedling to fellow farmers. This is an encouraging practice and needs to be supported so that these farmers will be able to sell improved varieties in the future. Farmers grow unimproved varieties of different fruit crops using seedlings. Moreover, other necessary inputs like micro-nutrients essential to improve the quality of fruits and grafting as well as pruning equipments are unavailable.Lack Currently farmers did not face market problem for their fruits since the annual produce is extremely lower than the local market demand. Lack of market will not be a problem in the near future for fruits since the big towns in the surroundings are currently getting fruits from long distances in the southern and western parts of the country.Poor quality produce Improve the quality of fruits through using improved varieties or by top-working The number of livestock particularly of cattle is very high in Bure. The type of cattle breed available in the area is Huro breed. It has small body size compared to Fogera and Borena breed. There is animal disease problem especially in the lowlands. The prevailing environmental condition in Bure is conducive to support cattle fattening. High rainfall and long rainy season in the area is ideal to grow different forage species during the rainy season. Some farmers have the experience in fattening cattle and even selling fattened animals to Sudan at the Metema market. However, farmers fatten their own old ox which does not gain weight within a short period of time. Availability of large amount of crop residues and presence of oil cake from oil pressing factories are feed resources to encourage fattening. However, farmers have low experience in feed combination, housing and health care for fattening. Shortage of credit is a major constraint because cattle fattening is capital intensive activity. Knowledge of selecting appropriate age and cattle type for fattening is essential and hence farmers need to be trained. Establishment of a new meat processing plant called Ashrif in Bahir Dar could be a good source of market for farmers in Bure.Inadequate knowledge on beef cattle management Dairy development is at infant stage but the potential is very high. The entry point for developing dairy in Bure could be through the existing dairy cooperative. Hence, dairy related input supply is at its initial stage. The cooperative itself did not want to collect and process more than their current capacity of 100-120 l/day due to lack of refrigerators and shortage of cream separator and other equipments.Low The cooperative has started buying and selling of milk and milk products. Since its establishment about three months ago, it has increased collecting milk from 10 to 120 l/day. This shows a sign of improvement and is expected to involve as many farmers in the surrounding PAs. The cooperative is still unable to satisfy the milk demand of the town dwellers which is mainly because of lack of equipments. In addition to the town dwellers, there are ATVET and soft drink bottling plant in the town with a number of students and labourers, respectively. This is a good market opportunity for the dairy cooperative. Once the capacity of the cooperative is strengthened, Bure is accessible in four directions which is favourable to open milk collection sites in all directions and in order to reach as many farmers in the countryside. Sheep production and fattening activity can easily take off since most necessary inputs are easily available in the area. There are crop residues, large number of sheep and oil pressing factories which can avail supplementary feed resources. Moreover, There is strong desire to be involved in this programme provided that credit is available. Farmers in the cereal/potato/livestock system have small landholding and could specialize on sheep fattening with a little support on credit. In addition, other farmers in the other farming system also need to be involved in the sheep fattening programme. Areas which need to be addressedFeed supply for year round fattening is inadequate Honey is the only honeybee product beekeeping farmers get benefit. However, traders get money by selling wax after separating honey and wax. In Bure there is also a big bee colony market where farmers even from nighbouring Woredas buy bee colony. Therefore, training of farmers about colony splitting, wax extraction and selling will help to encourage farmers to involve in apiculture. The awareness of the producer and trader as well most of the consumer on the quality of honey is very low. Honey is also sold individually to local traders. Consequently producers did not influence the market price of honey. There is also market fluctuation in different time of the year.No quality control, grading handling systemTrain and introduce quality control and grading system and quality based honey pricing During the project's first year, attention will be focused on innovative technology practices and institutional innovations for the following priority commodities and their supporting NRM technologies. Priority commodities in the two faming systems of the woreda are as follows:Cereal/Pepper/Livestock farming system Priority Crop commodities: Bread wheat, pepper, potato, tropical and subtropical fruits (Avocado, Banana, Mango and Papaya) . Priority Livestock commodities: sheep, cattle and poultry meat, egg, milk, butter and honey Natural resources management technologies: soil and water conservation, soil fertility improvement, proper irrigation practices and methods will get due emphasis in this farming system. In this farming system there is incense production. Focus will be made to conserve and increase production of incense by enriching naturally growing incense trees and establishing incense producer cooperative.Priority crop commodities: Bread wheat, potato, shallot, faba bean and temperate fruit crops.Priority Livestock commodities: Sheep, cattle and poultry meat, egg and honey.Natural resources management technologies: soil and water conservation, acid soil reclamation and proper irrigation practices and methods will be emphasized in this farming system.Based on the knowledge captured and the lessons learned during the initial implementation of the innovation program some of the priority commodities may be dropped, while others may be added.One pf the four pillars of the project is strengthening innovative knowledge management system. The objective of this component is to develop an agricultural knowledge management system that will enable Ethiopian institutions, farmers and pastoralists to adapt appropriate technologies from research and development institutions based in Ethiopia and elsewhere. Its expected outcome is to establish functional agricultural knowledge management system, which allows sharing knowledge at all levels, highlighting innovations and appropriate technologies.To improve capturing and sharing of knowledge on priority commodities and the supporting NRM technologies in the PLS, the state of knowledge and knowledge requirements will have to be assessed on a continuous base during the project life. The initial PRA and the subsequent assessment will form an integral part of this process. Several information gaps that deserve attention have already been identified in relation to each priority commodity. The knowledge will be synthesized and assembled at the federal level in a resource Information Centre using electronic database formats. To share this knowledge with institutions and communities, various process and mechanisms will be used including the distribution of appropriate printed materials (manuals, trainings materials, posters, leaflets in local language), radio programs, local exhibitions, etc.To link the PLS institutions with Resource Information Centre, electronic linkages with the Woreda Agricultural and Rural Development Office will be established. This effort will be integrated and synchronized with other activities in this field such as Woreda Net and School Net. Both School Net and Woreda Net are operational. The School net is operational since 2005 and it is transmitting lessons from the Educational Media Agency (EMA) in Addis Ababa. There are 33 Plasma TV sets in Bure Woreda of which 24 are functional. There is a need to train ICT staffs of Woreda and School Nets in order to get benefit from all the services of these facilities. Simultaneously innovative ways of creating a culture of knowledge capturing and horizontal knowledge sharing between the actors in the PLS and between the actors at PLS, regional and the federal level will have to be developedsee section 5.3 on capacity building. Some training materials exist at the regional level. However, they need to be customized to the priority commodities and the use of innovative extension methods. Woreda experts will serve as resource persons to train farmers, DAs and supervisors. Woreda experts will be trained by senior staff from BoARD, ARARI, etc. Moreover, since the focus of the extension work for the priority commodities will be the FTCs, new extension and training materials need to be developed that fit the requirements and operation of the FTCs.In order to introduce the project and to train institutional staff in innovative technology transfer methods, inter-institutional collaboration and cross cutting themes like gender and environmental assessment, various trainings will be conducted for woreda staff. Materials for such training will be prepared by the project with the help of consultants and contributions from the project partners. To stimulate the integration with private institution staff, some staff from the private institutions will be involved in this training. The training will be continuous during the project period and the effectiveness of the training will be assessed regularly. Lessons learned will become an integral part of follow up training events. One of the critical trainings to be given will deal with innovative methods of agricultural institutional service delivery. Trained Woreda staff (TOTs) are expected to introduce the innovation concepts to the Development Agents in the FTCs, who in turn will use these concepts during their daily work with the farmers and communities (see section 5.4). Use of these innovative methods by FTC staff will be monitored and evaluated by the project staff and form the basis for adjustment in the TOT trainings.In addition the capacity building of the Woreda and FTC staff in the use of innovative methods and institutional arrangements, technical trainings on the priority commodities, including new production methods or techniques, farmer group orIn Bure most farmlands allocated to pepper production are planted using seeds of local varieties. Since pepper is a cross pollinated crop, it is difficult to save or maintain seeds of improved varieties under small scale and disorganized pepper production system. Moreover, late arrival and high price of fertilizer affect pepper production. Similarly, pesticides to control Wello Bush Cricket are not locally available. Therefore, higher price and inadequate supply of improved varieties seed, fertilizer and pesticide are the bottlenecks in input supply system for pepper production. Pepper is the first marketable commodity in Bure. Productivity of pepper is between 8-10 qt/ha. Farmers in this farming system allocate up to 1 ha land every year for pepper production. Some farmers get up to 25,000 birr from their annual pepper harvest. Farmers sale mainly to local pepper traders. Pepper produced in Bure and its surrounding woredas sold by private traders in Tigray, Wello, Gonder and different parts of Gojam. So far attempt was not made to link pepper marketing with Ethiopian Spice Extraction Company. Therefore, pepper marketing is managed by private traders. Farmers complain about the cheatings of traders while weighing their produce. On the other hand traders reported quality deterioration of pepper through water sprinkling by farmers. Hence, quality of the produce is deteriorating due to both malpractices on both sides. The quality of the produce is also affected due to producing poor quality local varieties and lack of proper management. Bread wheat is recently introduced but steadily increasing both in area coverage and volume of production in Bure. It is growing both in mid and high altitude areas of the woreda. Farmers grow only one variety HAR 1685 which has sprouting problem in seasons with extended rainfall. They apply 2,4-D for weed control. Trashing by ox contributed for bread wheat quality deterioration. Moreover, grain quality deterioration due to weevil damage is also significant. The present emphasis in wheat production is to increase productivity and improve quality. There are opportunities for contract farming with Guder ago-industry. This requires establishing linkages and training of farmers on the quantity and quality requirements for the agro-industry and local markets. Bure has suitable soil and climatic condition for the production of tropical, subtropical and temperate fruit crops. Currently, farmers grow different fruit crops such as mango, papaya, banana, guava, peach and avocado using irrigation. However, production is limited few areas due to lack of knowledge on fruit crops management, propagation techniques and inadequate supply of planting material.The project will provide due emphasis on stimulating production through introduction of planting materials of improved varieties of different fruit crops and training of extension workers and farmers to upgrade their skills on fruit propagation techniques. Moreover, trainings will be provided on post harvest handling of perishable commodities and introduction and popularization of cold store facilities will be undertaken. Moreover, introduction of different irrigation methods will be considered to stimulate fruit production around homesteads. Input supply Despite the high potential to grow fruit trees, the production is limited due to various constraints mainly due to lack of knowledge and input supply. To change the existing situation the following activates will be performed to facilitate input supply system Although Bure has ideal environmental condition for fruit production, currently its fruit shops receive fruits from the southern and western parts of the country. Therefore, the current market situation favours expansion of fruit production in the area. However, if farmers continue to expand fruit production as it started there will be market problem. Therefore, market studies have to be conducted in large and small towns around Bure Woreda, including Debremarkos, Kosso Ber, Dangella and Bahir Dar.  Increasing faba bean production and improving quality requires steady and adequate supply of improved varieties seed and other necessary inputs. Improved varieties seed supply problem can be solved through introducing farmer based seed production system. Faba bean is nitrogen fixing crop but it requires starter fertilizer in order to fix nitrogen. However there is no bio-fertilizer inoculums supply system for pulse production in the woreda. Therefore, the project intervention on input supply system focus in order to increase productivity and quality of produce both for the local and export market. Faba bean marketing is handled by private traders. Currently, it is sold in the local market but there is an opportunity to expand the destination to export market like Sudan via Metema. However, farmers grow small seeded varieties and there is lack of market information both to traders and farmers. Weevil damage due to poor store management will also affect export market. Therefore, the project focus to study market requirements and marketing practices of farmers and the export market potential in order to design innovations through capacity building program for Woreda and FTC staffs and farmers. Farmers rear cattle for draught power, milk and meat production and sheep for meat production. Sheep and cattle fattening activity is started on all PAs of Bure woreda. Farmers are encouraged to be involved in fattening activity since it is highly profitable. However, feed shortage and inadequate health service are problems to expand their fattening activity. Farmers sell their fattened animals mainly in the local towns. There is also new market opportunity since a huge meat processing factory called Ashrif is going to be opened very soon in Bahir Dar. However farmers fattening activity is not year round. Therefore, there is a need to improve quantity and quality of produce in order to remain competitive with the nearby Woredas as well to fulfill the demands of the factory.  The demand for live animals is considerable in the major towns around Bure woreda. Some farmers supply for Sudan market via Metema. However, the market demand is not studied in detail. Based on this information a marketing strategy will be developed between traders and farmers. Animal fattening farmers will be organized as cooperatives in order to increase their negotiating power and to transport together inputs and out puts. Moreover, linkage will be created with livestock fattening farmers and meat processing factory. In the rural areas, there is a large poultry resource in the Woreda. Production is traditional using local chicken. There was an attempt to introduce improved chicken (RIR) breeds under smallholder conditions for both egg and meat production. However, such activity is terminated due to shortage of chicken from regional poultry multiplication centers. Marketing is often done at local markets at Bure and other small towns. The project focus to increase production and to strengthen the marketing aspect. A major bottleneck for the on farm poultry production is the supply of improved genetic materials, diseases control and the supply of feed. There is limitation in availability of improved breeds. In order to alleviate these problems the project proposes to introduce the Hay box brooder and locally made small size incubator. Some new vaccines have recently been developed which do not require cold chain (I2 and AV2 and AV4). These vaccines should also be supplied through a private drug supplier (in the first year they may be supplied by the project on a demonstration basis). Training of paravets shall provide the basis for efficient animal health services. An option to be considered for the supply of feed is a private and/or cooperative system.  "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"6501aeab80c3aedb58f583cec52fdcb8","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://publications.iwmi.org/PDF/H041894.pdf","id":"-1069209570"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"982855d7-7023-4eb1-8d09-2731b648c5ec","content":"The recent years have seen renewed interest in understanding how growing threats to water security affects future progress in human development and economic growth of nations. The underlying concern is that water insecurity could decouple economic growth and progress in human development. The international development discourse is, however, characterized by unhealthy debates with divergent views. Though scholars have providedrobust evidences to the effect that water security catalyses human development and economic growth, number of regions for which these evidences are available is too limited for a global consensus on this issue. Water poverty index(WPI), conceived and developed by Sullivan (2002), and the international comparisons now available from Laurence, Meigh and Sullivan (2003) for 147 countries enable us to provide an empirical basis for the argument.In order to realistically assess the water situation of a country, which can capture the crucial attributes like access to water for various uses; level of use of water in different sectors; condition of the water environment; and technological and institutional capacities in water sector, a new index named Sustainable Water Use Index (SWUI) was derived from WPI. In this paper, the authors first analyze the nature of linkage between water situation of a country, vis-à-vis access and use, water environment and institutional capabilities in the water sector on economic growth. For this, data on sustainable water use index derived from WPI; human development and per capita GDP (ppp adjusted) for 145 countries, and data on global hunger index (GHI) for 117 countries are analyzed. In order to illustrate how creating water storages supports economic growth of countries which fall in hot and arid, tropical climates index, data on per capita dam storage were analyzed for 22 countries.The regression analyses between SWUI and per capita GDP show that improving the water situation, visà-vis improved access to and use of water, institutional capabilities in water sector and improved water environment, through investments in water infrastructure, creating institutions and making policy reforms, can support economic growth of a nation. This is explained by the regression between SWUI and HDI, which showed that increase in SWUI raised the indicators of human development, paving the foundation for growth. This strong linkage can be partly explained by the reduction in malnutrition and infant mortality with improvement in water situation as indicated by the strong inverse relationship between SWUI and GHI. Whereas regression between per capita GDP and decomposed HDI shows that a country's progress in human development has little to do with its economic prosperity, and that a country can achieve good indicators of development even at low levels of economic growth, through welfare oriented policies which encourage investments in water, health and education infrastructure. This means, economic growth is not a pre-requisite for solving water related problems. Instead, countries should invest in water infrastructure, institutions and policy reforms to achieve human development and sustain economic growth. Further analysis shows that hot and arid tropical countries, the investment in large water storages had helped support economic growth. Also, it seems to reduce malnutrition and incidence of child mortality. Finally, the study also provides a methodology for analyzing the linkage between water situation in a region and its economic growth.As water scarcity hits many developing regions of the world, internationally, there is a renewed interest in understanding how growing threats to water security affects future progress in human development and economic growth of nations (see Grey and Sadoff, 2005). The international development debate is, however, heavily polarized between those who believe that policy reforms in the water sector would be crucial for bringing about progress in human development and those who believe that economic growth itself would help solve many of the water problems, which countries in their economic transition and many backward regions, are facing today (HDR, 2006: pp66). Such debates, that are often not healthy, are causing delays in deciding investment priorities in water sector, particularly in the developing world (Biswas and Tortajada, 2001). The underlying concern here is that water insecurity could decouple economic growth and progress in human development.There is rich theoretical discussion on the returns on investment by countries in water infrastructure and institutions (Sadoff and Grey, 2005). Many scholars and international agencies have provided robust evidences to the effect that water security can catalyze human development and growth (World Bank, 2004;2006a& 2000 b;Briscoe, 2005). But, the number of regions for which these evidences are available is too limited for evolving a global consensus on this complex issue. Till recently, there were no authentic and comprehensive database on various factors influencing water security for sufficient number of countries which are at different stages of human development and economic growth. This contributed to the complexity of the debate. The water poverty index (WPI), conceived and developed for countries by Sullivan (2002), and the international comparisons now available from a recent work by Laurence, Meigh and Sullivan (2003) for 145 countries enable us to provide an empirical basis for enriching the debate.But, the WPI is a composite index consisting of five sub-indices, viz., water access index, water use index, water endowment index, water environment index and institutional capacities in water sector. In order to realistically assess the water situation of a country, which can capture the crucial attributes like access to water for various uses; level of use of water in different sectors; condition of the water environment; and technological and institutional capacities in water sector, a new index called Sustainable Water Use Index (SWUI) is derived from WPI. The paper provides empirical analysis using global database on SWUI and many other water and development indicators to enrich the debate \"how water security is linked to human development and economic growth\".The debate on the linkage between water, economic growth and development is characterized by divergent views. While the general view of international scholars, who support large water resource projects, is that increased investment in water projects such as irrigation, hydropower and water supply and sanitation acts as engines of growth in the economy, while supporting progress in human development (for instance see Briscoe, 2005;Braga, 2005;HDR, 2006). They harp on the need for investment in water infrastructure and institutions. Grey and Sadoff (2005) suggest that there is a minimum platform of water security, achieved through the right combination of investment in water infrastructure and institutions and governance, which is essential if poor countries are to use water resources effectively and achieve rapid economic growth to benefit vast numbers of their population. They suggest an S-curve for growth impacts of investment in water infrastructure and institutions in which returns continue to be nil for early investments. They argue that for poor countries, which experience highly variable climates, the level of investment required to reach the tipping point of water security would be much higher as compared to countries, which fall in temperate climate with low variability. 1 But, they suggest that for developing countries, the returns on investment in infrastructure would be higher that in management and vice versa for developed countries.Many environmental groups, on the other hand, advocate small water projects which, according to them, the communities can themselves manage. The solutions advocated are: watershed management; small water harvesting interventions; and community-based water supply systems; and, micro-hydro electric projects (Dharmadhikary, 2005;D'Souza, 2002).The proponents of sustainable development paradigms believe that the ability of a country to sustain its economic growth depends on the extent to which natural resources, including water, are put to efficient use through technologies and institutions, thereby reducing the stresses on environmental resources (Pearce and Warford, 1993). Here, the focus is on initiating institutional and policy reforms in water sector. An alternative view suggests that countries would be able to tackle their water scarcity and other problems relating to water environment at advanced stages of economic development (Shah and Koppen, 2006). They argue that standard approaches to water management in terms of policies and institutions work when water economies become formal, which are found at an advanced stage of economic development of nations.The objectives of the paper are to: i) analyze the nature of linkage between water situation of a country, comprising improved water access and use, water environment and institutional capacities in the water sector, and economic growth of a nation; and ii) understand the role of large water storages in boosting economic growth and changing human development indicators of countries which fall in hot and arid, tropical climates.We have three propositions. First: improving the water situation through investments in water infrastructure, institutions and policies would help ensure economic growth through the human development route. Second: nations can achieve reasonable progress in human development even at low levels of economic growth, through investment in water infrastructure, and welfare policies. Third: countries need to invest in building large water storages to support economic prosperity, and ensure water security for social advancements. The hypotheses are: 1) improved water situation supports economic growth through the human development route; and 2) countries, which are in tropical climates with aridity, can support their economic growth through enhancing per capita reservoir storage that improves their water security.The values of Sustainable Water Use Index were calculated by adding up the values of four of the subindices of Water Poverty Index, viz., water access index, water use index, water environment index and water capacity index.The first hypothesis is tested using a regression of global data on: Sustainable Water Use Index (SWUI), and data on per capita GDP (PPP adjusted); SWUI and GHI; and SWUI and HDI. Since regression between SWUI and HDI showed a strong relationship (R 2 = 0.79), the causality, i.e., whether SWUI influences GDP growth or vice versa, can be tested by running regression between per capita GDP and a decomposed HDI, which contain the indices for health and education. The underlying premise is that if economic growth drives water situation, then it should change the indicators of human development that are independent of income levels, such as health and education, and that which are inter-related with water situation. The second hypothesis is tested by analyzing the link between per capita GDP (PPP adjusted) and per capita dam storage (m 3 /annum) of 22 selected countries falling in hot and arid tropical climate.Data on per capita GDP and HDI were obtained from Human Development Report 2006. Data on GHI for 117 countries were obtained from Wiesmann Doris (2007). 2 Data on WPI for 145 countries were obtained from Laurence et al. (2003). Data on dam storage and human population in 22 countries were obtained from FAO AQUASTAT-2006.Before we begin to answer this complex question of \"what drives what\", we need to understand what realistically represents the water richness or water poverty of a country. A recent work by Kellee Institute of Hydrology and Ecology which came out with international comparisons on water poverty of nations had used five indices, viz., water resources endowment; water access; water use; capacity building in water sector; and water environment, to develop a composite index of water poverty (see Laurence, Meigh and Sullivan, 2003).Among these five indices, we chose four indices to be important determinants of water situation of a country, and the only sub-index we excluded is the water resources endowment. We consider that this subindex is more or less redundant, as three other sub-indices viz., water access, water use and water environment take care of what the resource endowment is expected to provide. Our contention is that natural water resource endowment becomes an important determinant of water situation of a country only when governance is poor and institutions are ineffective, adversely affecting the community's access to and use of water, and water environment. Examples are the droughts in Sub-Saharan African countries. This argument is validated by a recent analysis which showed strong correlation between rainfall failure and economic growth performance in these countries. That said, all the four sub-indices we chose significant implications for socio-economic conditions, and are influenced by institutional and policy environment, and therefore have human element in them. Hence, such a parameter will be appropriate to analyze the effect of institutional interventions in water sector on economy.All the sub-indices have values ranging from 0 to 20. The composite index developed, by adding up the values of these indices, is called sustainable water use index (SWUI). It is being hypothesized that that the overall water situation of a country (or SWUI) has a strong influence on its economic growth performance. This is somewhat different from the hypothesis postulated by Shah and Koppen (2006), where in they have argued that economic growth (GDP per capita), and HDI are determinants of water access poverty and water environment.It is important to provide empirical evidences to this. Worldwide, experiences show that improved water situation (in terms of its access to water; levels of use of water; the overall health of water environment; and enhancing the technological and institutional capacities to deal with sectoral challenges) leads to better human health and environmental sanitation; food security and nutrition; livelihoods; and greater access to education for the poor (see for instance UNDP, 2006). This aggregate impact can be segregated with irrigation having direct impact on rural poverty (Bhattarai and Narayanamoorthy, 2003;Hussain and Hanjra, 2003); irrigation having impact on food security, livelihoods and nutrition (Hussain and Hanjra, 2003), with positive effects on productive workforce; and domestic water security having positive effects on health, environmental sanitation, with spin off effects on livelihoods and nutrition (positive), school drop out rates (negative) and productive workforce.   2006), only one in every five people in the developing world has access to an improved water source. Dirty water and poor sanitation account for vast majority of the 1.8 million child deaths each year (almost 5,000 every day) from diarrhea-making it the second largest cause of child mortality. In many of the poorest countries, only 25% of the poorest households have access to piped water in their homes, compared with 85% of the richest. Diseases and productivity losses linked to water and sanitation in developing countries amount to 2% of GDP, rising to 5% in Sub-Saharan Africa-more than the aid the region gets. Women bear the brunt of responsibility for collecting water, often spending up to 4 hours a day walking, waiting in queues and carrying water; water insecurity linked to climate change threatens to increase malnutrition to 75-125 million people by 2080, with staple food production in many Sub-Saharan African countries falling by more than 25%.The strong inverse relationship between SWUI and the global hunger index (GHI), developed by IFPRI for 117 countries, provide a broader empirical support for some of the phenomena discussed above. In addition to these 117 countries for which data on GHI are available, we have included 18 developed countries. For these countries, we have considered zero values, assuming that these countries do not face problems of hunger. The estimated R 2 value for the regression between SWUI and GHI is 0.60. The coefficient is also significant at one per cent level. It shows that with improved water situation, the incidence of infant mortality (below five years of age) and impoverishment reduces (Figure 1). In that case, improved water situation should improve the value of human development index, which captures three key spheres of human development such as health, education and income status.That said all the sub-indices of HDI have strong potential to trigger growth in economy of a country, be it educational status; life expectancy; or income levels. When all these factors improve, they could have a synergetic effect on the economic growth. Hence, the \"causality\" of water as a prime driver for economic growth can be tested if we are able to establish correlation between water situation and HDI. This we would examine at a later stage in this paper.Before that, we would first look at how water situation and economic growth of nations are correlated. Regression between sustainable water use index (SWUI) and PPP adjusted per capita GDP for the set of 145 countries shows that it explains level of economic development to an extent of 69 per cent (see Figure 2). The coefficient is significant at one per cent level. We must mention here that Laurence, Meigh and Sullivan (2003) had estimated an R 2 value of 0.81 for WPI and HDI (Table 2: Page 5 in Laurence et al., 2003). Figure 2 shows that the relation between SWUI and per capita GDP is a power function. Any improvement in water situation beyond a level of 50 in SWUI, leads to exponential growth in per capita GDP.This only means that for countries to be on the track of sustainable growth path, the following steps are needed: 1) investment in infrastructure, and institutional mechanisms and policies to: a) improve access toInternational development discussions are often characterized by polarized positions on whether money or policy reform is more crucial for progress in human development (various authors as cited in HDR, 2006: pp 66). If the stage of economic development determines a country's water situation rather than vice versa, the variation of human development index, should be explained by variation in per capita GDP, rather than water situation in orders of magnitude. We have used data for 145 countries to examine this closely. The regression between shows economic growth levels (expressed in per capita GDP PPP adjusted) explains HDI variations to an extent of 85 %). This is in spite of the fact that HDI already includes per capita income, as one of the subindices.Subsequently, analysis was carried out using decomposed values of HDI index (after subtracting the GDP index). The regression value came down to 0.69 when the decomposed index, which comprises education index and life expectancy index, was run against per capita GDP (Figure 3). What is more striking is the fact that 16 countries having values of per capita income below 2,000 dollars per annum have medium levels of decomposed index. Again 42 countries having per capita GDP (PPP adjusted) less than 5,000 dollars per annum have medium levels of decomposed human development index. As Figure 3 shows, significant improvements in HDI values (0.30 to 0.9) occur within the small range in per capita GDP. The remarkable improvement in HDI values with minor improvements in economic conditions, and then \"plateauing\" means that improvement in HDI is determined more by factors other than economic growth. Our contention is that the remarkable variation in HDI of countries belonging to the low income group can be explained by the quality of governance in these countries, i.e., whether good or poor.water for all sectors of use and across the board, b) enhance the overall level of use of water in different sectors, and c) regulate the use of water, reduce pollution and provide water for ecological services; and 2) investment in building human resources and technological capabilities in water sector to tackle new challenges in the sector. Regression with different indices of water poverty against economic growth levels shows that the relationship is less strong, meaning all aspects (water access, water use, water environment and water sector capacity) are equally important to ensure growth. Major variations in economic conditions of countries having same levels of SWUI (in the range of 53-56), can be explained by the economic policies of which the country pursues. Some countries of central Asia viz., Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan and Latin American countries viz., Ecuador, Uruguay, Colombia and Chile have values of SWUI as high as North America and northern European countries, but are at much lower levels of per capita GDP. While North America and north, west and southern European countries have capitalist and liberal economic policies, these countries of old soviet block and Latin America have socialist and welfare oriented policies.Many countries that show high HDI also have good governance systems and institutional structures to ensure good literacy and human health. For instance, Hungary in eastern Europe; some countries of Latin America viz., Uruguay, Guatemala, Paraguay, Nicaragua and Bolivia; and countries of erstwhile Soviet Union viz., Turkmenistan, Kyrgykistan and Armenia have welfare-oriented policies. They make substantial investment in water, health and educational infrastructure, and have good governance practices. 3  Incidentally, many countries, which have extremely low HDI, have highly volatile political systems and ineffective governance, and are characterized by corruption in government. In spite of huge external aid, consequently, the investments in building and maintenance of water infrastructure are very poor in these countries. Sub-Saharan African countries, viz., Angola, Benin, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Burundi, Niger, Togo, Zambia and Zimbabwe; and Yemen from Middle East belong to this category. Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest irrigated to rain-fed area ratio of less than 3% (FAO, 2006, Figure 5.2: pp 177), where as Ethiopia has the lowest water storage of 20m 3 /capita in dams (World Bank, 2005). How water security decoupled human development and economic growth in many regions of the world were illustrated in the recent human development report (HDR, 2006: pp 30-31). The overall public expenditure on health and education is extremely low in these African countries and Yemen when compared to the many other countries which fall under the same economic category (below US $ 5,000 per capita per annum). Over and above, the pattern of public spending is more skewed towards military (HDR, 2006) (see Table 1 based on data provided in HDR, 2006, Table 19: pp 348-351). Besides, access to water supply and sanitation is much higher in the countries which have higher HDI, as compared to those countries which have very low HDI (HDR, 2006) .High incidence of water-related diseases such as malaria and diarrhea, high infant mortality, high school drop out rate mainly due to lack of access to safe drinking water; and scarcity of irrigation water in rural areas 4 , poor agricultural growth, high food insecurity, malnutrition etc. are characteristic of these regions (HDR, 2006). Consequently, their HDI is very low, as also shown by the international literature which illustrates how water insecurity decouples human development from economic growth.At the same time, regression between water situation (expressed in terms of sustainable water use index) and HDI shows that it explains variation in HDI in a much better way than the level of economic development (Figure 4). This is in spite of the fact that human development index as such does not include any variable that explicitly represents access to and use of water for various uses; overall health of water ecosystem; and capacities in the water sector as one of its sub-indices. The R 2 value was 0.79 against 0.69 in the earlier case when per capita GDP is run against decomposed HDI. Also, the coefficient is significant at one per cent level. It means that variation in human development index can better be explained by water situation in a country, expressed in terms of Sustainable Water Use Index, than the PPP adjusted per capita GDP. Now, such a strong linear relationship between sustainable water use index and HDI explains the exponential relationship between sustainable water use index and per capita GDP as the improvements in sub-indices of HDI contributes to economic growth in its own way (i.e., per capita here is the education index, and is the health index).While an alternative to analyze the impact of a country's water situation on its economic growth performance is to look at the historical data on: cumulative investments in water sector, water access and use by population in different sectors, change in water environment, and economic conditions for individual nations, such data are seldom available on a time series basis. Under such a circumstance, the best way to go ahead is to analyze the impact of natural water endowment, i.e., rainfall on economic growth in a situation where investments in infrastructure and institutions and governance mechanisms for improving water access and use and water environment are poor. The reason is that under such situations, the water access, water use, and water environment would be highly dependent on natural water endowment.There cannot be a better region than Sub-Saharan Africa to illustrate such effects. A recent analysis showed a strong correlation between rainfall trend since 1960s and GDP growth rates in the region during the same period, which argued that the low economic growth performance could be attributed to long term decline in rainfall which the region experienced (Barrios et al., 2004). Such a dramatic outcome of rainfall failure can be explained partly by the failure of the governments to build sufficient water infrastructure. Sub-Saharan Africa has smallest proportion of its cultivated area (< 3%) under irrigation (HDR, 2006). Due to this reason, reduction in rainfall leads to decline in agricultural production, food insecurity, malnutrition, loss of employment opportunities and an overall drop in economic growth in rural areas.The foregoing analyses suggest that improving water situation of a country, which is represented by Sustainable Water Use Index, is of paramount importance if we need to sustain economic growth in that country. It would be rather an improper logic to consider that a country can wait till its economy improves to a certain level to start tackling its water problems. While the natural water endowment in both qualitative and quantitative terms cannot be improved through ordinary measures, the water situation can be improved through economically efficient, just and ecologically sound development and use of water in river basins.Now, water development has an important role in improving the access to and use of water, the two pre-requisites for improving the water situation (expressed in terms of SWUI) of a region, though intensive water development in river basins might reduce indicators on the water environment front. The amount of storage that needs to be created to improve access to and use of water depends on the type of climatic conditions. In temperate and cold climates, the demand of water for irrigation, which is the largest user of water in most regions with agricultural base, would be negligible when compared that in tropical and hot climates. Hence, the storage requirements would be much lower, mainly limited to that for meeting domestic/ municipal water needs and water for manufacturing. Hence, it makes logic to explore links between storage development for meeting various human needs and economic growth only in tropical and hot climates.The sheer scale of water infrastructure in rich countries is not widely appreciated (HDR, 2006: pp-155). Many developed regions of the world that experience tropical climates had high water storage in per capita terms. The United States, for instance, had created a per capita storage capacity of nearly 6000 m 3 . In Australia, the 447 large dams alone provide a per capita water storage facility of nearly 3,808 m 3 per annum or a total of 79,000 MCM per annum. Aquifers supply another 4,000 MCM per annum. Against this, the country maintains a use of nearly 1,160 m 3 per capita per annum for irrigation, industry, drinking and hydropower, with irrigation accounting for 75% of the use (source: www.nlwra.gov.au/atlas). China, one of the fastest growing economies in the world, has per capita reservoir storage capacity of 2,000 m 3 per annum through dams, and an actual storage of nearly 360m 3 per capita. This is in spite of the great technological advancements made by most of these countries in improving water use efficiencies, particularly in sectors such as irrigation and industry.When compared to these impressive figures, India, which is still developing, has a per capita storage of only 200m 3 per annum. Though a much higher level of withdrawal of nearly 600 m 3 per capital per annum is maintained by the country, a large percentage of this (231 BCM per annum or nearly 217 m 3 per capita per annum) comes from groundwater draft. But, there are increasing evidences to suggest that this won't be sustainable. Many semi arid areas are already facing problems of groundwater over-draft, with serious socioeconomic and ecological consequences as discussed in the recent work by Kumar (2007). Ethiopia, the poorest country in the world, has a per capita storage of 20 m 3 per annum. These facts also strengthen the argument that economic prosperity that a country can achieve is a function of available water storage per unit of population.The per capita water storage and the per capita GDP (ppp adjusted) for a group of 22 countries is given in Figure 5. One can see a strong relationship between level of storage development and country's economic prosperity. The R square value is 0.55 (Figure 6), and the coefficient is significant at one per cent level. Such a relationship is understandable. Water storage infrastructure reduces risks, and improves water security.Investments in hydraulic infrastructure had in many cases supported economic prosperity and social progress, though in some cases had caused environmental damage (HDR, 2006, based on various authors: pp140). Since 1920, the US Army Corps of Engineers had invested a sum of $ 200 billion on flood management and mitigation alone, yielding a benefit of $ 700 billion. The Tennessee Valley Authority, which built dams for hydropower, transformed the flood-prone, impoverished part of the Dust Bowl, with some of the worst human development indicators of the United States, into an agriculturally prosperous region. In Japan, heavy post war investments in infrastructure supported rapid development of hydropower, flood control and irrigated agriculture. The returns from these investments were tremendous. Until World Water II, the floods and typhoons had resulted in losses often amounting to 20% of GNI, whereas since the 1970s, the losses never exceeded 1% of the GNI (HDR, 2006: pp 156).The returns on investments in building water storages were more visible in India. The recent analysis using panel data on gross irrigated area and rural poverty rate for 14 states showed poverty reducing effect of irrigation, with lowest rate of poverty found in Punjab which had the highest level of gross irrigated area, which reduced over time from 1973-74 to 1993-94 (Bhattarai and Narayanamoorthy, 2003). The Bhakra-Nangal Project had transformed the economy of Punjab. The almost perennial water supply from the project enabled farmers in this region to intensify cultivation with irrigated paddy and wheat, making it the country's bread basket. Now, 90% of the cropped area in the state is irrigated, three quarter of it going to paddy and wheat. Despite comprising less than 2% of the geographical area, Punjab accounts for 10% of rice production and 20% of wheat production in India. Agriculture accounts for 40% of the state GDP in the state, which has the highest per capita GDP amongst all Indian states (Cummings et al., 2006).The potential positive impact of water infrastructure on economic growth in regions that experience seasonal climates, rainfall variability and floods and droughts can be better demonstrated by the economic losses that water-related natural disasters cause in such regions which lack them badly. For instance, deviation in per capita GDP from the normal values during the 20-year period from 1980-2000 correlated with departure of annual rainfall from normal values (World Bank, 2006a). In Kenya, economic losses due to floods during 1997-98 were to the tune of 11% of the national GDP, where as that due to droughts during 1998-2000 was 16% of the GDP (World Bank, 2004a andWorld Bank 2006b).But, there are many critiques to the argument based on per capita storage. According to Vandana Shiva, a renowned eco-feminist from India, the norms used for estimating per capita water use is fraudulent, and a way to push the large dam agenda by the World Bank. According to her, the many millions of ponds and tanks in rural areas of India themselves capture a lot of water and supplies it to the rural population in a more democratic and decentralized way than the large dams do. But, the contribution of such storage in augmenting our water supplies is often over-estimated by environmentalists. In the case of Australia, the National Heritage Trust's report of the audit of land and water resources say, the many millions of farm dams in Australia create a total storage of 2,000 MCM per annum, against 79,000 MCM by large dams (www.nlwra.gov.au/atlas).Nevertheless, the overall impact of water storages on economic growth would depend on the nature of uses for which the resources are developed, the effectiveness of the institutions that are created to allocate the resource and the nature of institutional and policy regimes that govern the use of the resource. As we have seen in the case of incidence of hunger, in Zambia and Zimbabwe, use of water storages for hydropower generation had not helped improve the overall economic condition of the people also. Though the per capita water storage in Israel is quite low (nearly 150 m 3 per annum), the efficiency with which water is used in different sectors is extremely high. Nearly 90% of the country's irrigated area is under micro irrigation systems. A large portion of the water used in urban areas is recycled and put back to use for irrigation. Water is not only priced on volumetric basis, water allocation to agriculture is rationed.One could as well argue that access to water could be better improved through local water resources development intervention including small water harvesting structures, or through groundwater development.As a matter of fact, environmental activists advocate decentralized small water harvesting systems as alternatives to large dams (see Agarwal and Narain, 1997). Small water harvesting systems had been suggested for waterscarce regions of India (Agarwal and Narain, 1997;Athavale, 2003), and the poor countries of Sub-Saharan Africa (Rockström et al., 2002). But, recent evidences suggest that they cannot make any significant dent in increasing water supplies in countries like India due to the unique hydrological regimes, and can also prove to be prohibitively expensive in many situations (Kumar et al., 2006). Also, to meet large concentrated demands in urban and industrial areas, several thousands of small water harvesting systems would be required. The type of engineering interventions 5 and the economic viability of doing the same are open to question. Recent evidences also suggest that small reservoirs get silted up much faster than the large ones (Vora, 1994), a problem for which large dams are criticized world over (see McCully, 1996).As regards groundwater, intensive use of groundwater resources for agricultural production is proving to be catastrophic in many semi arid and arid regions of the world, including some developed countries like Spain, Mexico, Israel, Australia, and parts of United States (Kumar, 2007), and developing countries such as India, China, Pakistan, Yemen and Jordan (HDR, 2006), though some of the developed countries like United States and Australia have achieved some degree of success in controlling it through establishment of management regimes (Kumar, 2007) with physical and institutional interventions like in western US, or through physical interventions alone like in Israel.But, it is important to recognize the fact that in the basins that are facing problems of environmental water scarcity and degradation in the world (see Smakhtin, Revenda and Doll, 2004) are appropriate development of large water projects, and diverted river-flows for various consumptive needs. Some of these basins are the Colorado river basin in the western US; Yellow river basin in northern China; Aral sea basins, viz., Amu-Darya and Syr Darya in Central Asia; Indus basin in Pakistan and India; basins of northern Spain; Nile basin in northern Africa; basins of Euphrates, Tigris; the Jordan river; Cauvery, Krishna and Pennar basins of peninsular India; river basins of western India including Sabarmati, Banas and Narmada, located in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in India. Most of the water demands they meet are agricultural 6 . They are also agriculturally prosperous regions. Not only they meet the food requirements of the region, most of these basins export significant chunk of the food to other regions of the world, including some of the water-rich regions, within the country's territory (Amarasinghe et al., 2004 for Indus basin and peninsular region in India; Kumar and Singh, 2005 for many water-scarce countries of the world; Yang, 2002 for China).Strikingly, wherever aquifers are available for exploitation, these regions had experiencing problems of groundwater over-draft, though some developed countries had developed the science to deal with it. The most glaring examples are aquifers in western United States, aquifers in the countries of the Middle East including Yemen, Iran and Jordan; aquifers in Mexico; north China plains (Molden et al., 2001); alluvial aquifers of Indus basin areas in India; hard rock aquifers of Peninsular India; and aquifers in western and central India (GOI, 2005).For the presence of large surface water projects, the negative impacts agricultural growth in these regions, might have caused on groundwater resources might have been far more serious. In fact, it is this surface water availability, which to a great extent helps reduce dependence of farmers as well as cities on groundwater. For instance, imported water from Indus basin through canal in Indian and Pakistan Punjab sustain intensive groundwater use in the regions, through continuously providing replenishment through return flows from surface irrigation (Ahmed et al., 2004;Hira and Khera, 2002;Kumar, 2007). Water imported from the Central Valley Project in California is used to buy back the groundwater rights of farmers using water from Ogallala aquifer in Kansas and Texas. Water imported from a large reservoir named Sardar Sarovar in Narmada basin in Southern Gujarat in India had started supplying water to rejuvenate the rivers in environmentally stressed basins of north Gujarat (Kumar and Ranade, 2004).As one would expect, storage development has a direct impact on malnutrition, and infant mortality, which is captured in GHI. Here again, we have assumed zero values of GHI for developed countries viz., United States, Australia and Spain for which data on GHI are not available. Regression shows an R 2 value of 0.59 (Figure 7). As Figure 7 indicates, the relationship between per capita storage and GHI is inverse, logarithmic. The regression coefficient is significant at one per cent level. It means greater water storage reduces the chances of human hunger. This inverse relationship can be explained this way. For the countries, which we have chosen for the analysis, the ability to cultivate the available arable land intensively would increase with the amount of water storage facilities available. As HDR (2006: pp 174) notes, \"Water security in agriculture pervades all aspects of human development\". Increased availability of irrigation water reduces the risk of crop failure; enhances the ability of farmers to produce more crops to improve their own domestic food consumption of food, and take care of the cash needs. Also, increased irrigated production improves food and nutritional security of the population at large by lowering cereal prices in the region in question as the gap between cereal demand and supplies is reduced (Hussain andHanjra, 2003 as cited in HDR, 2006: pp 175).This was more evident in India than anywhere else, where irrigation expansion through large storages had contributed nearly 47 million tons of additional cereals to India's bread basket (Perry, 2001: pp 104). Shah and Kumar (2007) made a rough estimate of the positive externality it created in terms of lowering food prices for the consumers in India as US $ 20 per ton of cereals. One could also argue that rich countries could afford to import food. But, what is important is that water had played a big role for these countries to achieve a certain level of economic growth and prosperity, by virtue of which they can now afford to import food instead of resorting to domestic production. The exceptions are some of the oil rich countries of the Middle East, which do not have an agrarian base, but are economically prosperous.Contrary to what is found in the case of these 22 countries, there are countries which have large storages, but have very high GHI. They are Zambia and Zimbabwe. They were not included in our analysis. These countries use their water storages for creating hydro-power, which is sold to the South Africa, and they earn revenue out of it. Most of it comes from just one hydropower dam, named, Kariba built in 1955-59 in Zambezi river basin. Hence, storage development does not lead to increased agricultural production in these countries. The GHI values are very high for these countries, which is 31.77 for Zambia, and 23.2 for Zimbabwe (Wiesmann, 2006). In such a situation, the impacts on food security would generally be seen only after many years. But in the case of these Sub-Saharan African countries, three decades of droughts and rainfall reduction had significantly affected the hydropower generation as well (McCully and Wong, 2004).We first analyzed the nature of impact the water situation of a country has on its economic growth by doing regression between: SWUI and GHI; SWUI and per capita GDP; SWUI and HDI; and per capita GDP and HDI for 145 countries. In order to illustrate how creating water storages supports economic growth of countries which fall in hot and arid, tropical climates index, data on per capita dam storage and per capita GDP were analyzed for 22 countries, which fall in that category. The summary results of regression analyses are presented in Table 2. Based on these results, the findings can be summarized as follows.Improving the water situation, vis-à-vis improved access to and use of water, institutional capabilities in water sector and improved water environment, through investments in water infrastructure, creation of institutions and introduction of policy reforms, can trigger economic condition in a nation. This occurs through the human development route, as shown by the consistent improvement in human development indicators with increase in values of SWUI. This strong linkage can be partly explained by the reduction in malnutrition and infant mortality, with improvement in water situation as indicated by the strong inverse relationship between SWUI and GHI for 117 countries.Further, progress in human development has very little to do with their economic growth, and that they could achieve good indicators of development even at low levels of economic growth, through investment in water infrastructure and welfare-oriented policies. Many countries of the erstwhile Soviet Union, and communist countries of Latin America, which have low income, spend a significant portion of public funds in health and education, against many poor countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, which spend much less for health and education and more for military.Countries which fall in tropical semi arid and arid climate, can improve their economic conditions through enhancing the reservoir storage. This potential impact be explained by increased water security that comes with greater water storage. This reduces the risks associated with natural calamities such as droughts and floods. Such natural calamities, which cause huge economic losses, are characteristic of these countries. For such large surface water development, the negative impacts agricultural growth would have induced on groundwater resources in such regions would have been far more serious. Nevertheless, the impact of storage could depend on the nature of uses for which the resources are developed, the effectiveness of the institutions that are created to allocate the resource and the nature of institutional and policy regimes that govern the use of the resource. Those countries having high per capita water storage also have very few people living in hunger.The debate on the linkage between water, economic growth and human development is characterized by divergent views. They can be summarized as: 1] increased investment in water projects would act as engines of growth in the economy, while supporting progress in human development; 2] standard approaches to water management in terms of policies and institutions work when water economies become formal, which are found at an advanced stage of economic development; and 3] ability of a country to sustain its economic growth depends on the extent to which natural resources, including water, are put to efficient use through technologies and institutions, thereby reducing the stresses on environmental resources.Scholars have provided robust evidences to the effect that water security catalyses human development and economic growth. But, number of regions for which these evidences are available is too limited for evolving a global consensus on this complex issue. Water poverty index, conceived and developed by C. Sullivan (2002), and the international comparisons now available from Laurence, Meigh and Sullivan (2003) for 147 countries enable us to provide an empirical basis for the argument. A new index called SWUI was derived from WPI using four of its five sub-indices to assess the water situation of a country, vis-à-vis access and use of water, water environment and institutional capabilities in the water sector. Analysis was carried out using data on SWUI, GHI, HDI, per capita GDP and per capita water storage in dams to understand the nature of linkage between water situation of a country and its economic growth. Findings show that economically poor countries, which also show very poor indicators of human development, need not wait till the economic conditions improve to address water sector problems. Instead, they should start investing in building water infrastructure, create institutions and introduce policy reforms in water sector that could lead to improved water situation vis-à-vis access to and use of water, water environment and institutional capabilities. Only, this can support progress in human development, and sustain economic growth, through poverty reduction; food security, improved livelihoods and nutrition, with positive effects on productive workforce; and domestic water security with positive effects on health, environmental sanitation, with spin off effects on livelihoods and nutrition, school drop out rates and productive workforce. But, a prerequisite for hot and arid tropical countries is that they invest in large water resource systems to raise the per capita available storage. This will help them fight hunger and poverty, malnutrition, infant mortality, and reduce the incidence of water-related disasters. Finally, the study also provides a methodology for analyzing the linkage between water situation in a region and its economic growth."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"5fd618e7eecec3316c4ada20924278fb","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/1f208853-6c85-4afc-9ef5-5724be00180f/retrieve","id":"-1548521563"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"e5c72a5f-8848-454f-a73f-045582725458","content":"For a number of years now, FAO negotiators have struggled to revise the International Undertaking on PGRFA (Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture) into a legally binding agreement. Many people feel that as we enter the year 2000, we are also reaching a \"now or never\" situation for these negotiations.A revised Undertaking would constitute an essential element of FAO's \"Global System\" for PGRFA. It would help the world community achieve the closely related goals of food security and sustainable agriculture. At the same time, the Undertaking is to be harmonized with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to serve as an instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the use of such resources.The Undertaking would establish legally binding rules to secure facilitated access to and exchange of PGRFA within a multilateral system. In addition, the Undertaking would also establish effective ways of cooperation to ensure conservation of agro-biodiversity and the further development of PGRFA. To conform to the CBD, it will also have to contain effective provisions for benefit- Perhaps more fundamentally, conditions affecting agriculture such as pests, climate, etc. are continually evolving, sometimes in ways that we are not fully aware of (cf. the debate on climate change). We can say with certainty, however, that food security and sustainable agriculture will be impossible to achieve without a sufficiently wide genetic base for food and agriculture. A revised Undertaking will be crucial for the conservation and further development of agro-biodiversity as well as for making it available to countries. The International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) is one of the 16 Centres of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) with its Headquarters at Rome. IPGRI's mission is to encourage, support and undertake activities to improve the management of genetic resources worldwide so as to help eradicate poverty, increase food security and protect the environment. IPGRI works in partnership with other organizations, undertakes research and training, and provides scientific and technical advice and information. IPGRI operates in five geographical areas: Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the Americas, Europe, Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA), and Asia, the Pacific and Oceania (APO). APO Regional Office is based in Serdang, Malaysia with offices for East Asia and South Asia located in Beijing, China and New Delhi, India, respectively.The APO Newsletter is produced thrice a year and is mainly aimed at promoting the overall concern on plant genetic resources, with emphasis on their conservation and use. status quo will prevail. Obviously, there will be a lot of confusion. It is clear that ex situ collections made before the entry into force of the CBD are not covered by that Convention. In many cases, it is not clear where such pre-CBD PGRFA originated. For all PGRFA exchange after the entry into force of the CBD, the conditions of the CBD will generally apply.This means that unless the world community manages to create multilaterally agreed, legally binding rules for germplasm exchange in this field, we could be moving towards a situation where general CBD principles would apply. In addition, we would be faced with grey zones where it is difficult to tell which rules should apply. The CBD was obviously drafted with other kinds of biodiversity as a primary focus, in particular biodiversity where the question of origin is less complex than for agrobiodiversity. Managing agro-biodiversity exchange on a bilateral basis would be a nightmare, not only in practical terms, but also with regard to equity considerations (what would be \"fair and equitable\" benefit-sharing in cases where a seed contains material from 50 sources?!). Benefit-sharing must, therefore, be clearly regulated by multilateral mechanisms, and for this we need the Undertaking.In fact, confusion as well as obstacles to open exchange of PGRFA are already visible. Several countries are developing access legislation in line with CBD principles, and it is not clear that sufficient mechanisms are being created to safeguard the need for open exchange of PGRFA. At the same time, intellectual property rights (IPR) protection over PGRFA is increasing, and some forms of IPR protection, in particular patents, also pose limitations to the accessibility of PGRFA. Consequently, the real alternative to a legally binding Undertaking would not be status quo, but rather an increased polarisation between providers of genetic resources and industries using these resources to create new products. To put it differently, instead of an agreement where PGRFA is managed from the perspectives of food security and sustainable agriculture, PGRFA management would be split between CBD and World Trade Organization (WTO) provisions, and an increasing number of conflicts over PGRFA would be one likely outcome of such a situation.Both developed and developing countries will benefit from a system of open access. Open access is in itself an important benefit to be shared among all parties to a revised Undertaking. However, developing countries demand some commitments, in line with CBD provisions, from developed countries as regards the commercial benefits arising from access to PGRFA. This should not surprise anyone. CBD was negotiated in a situation where genetic resources were considered \"freely available\" while IPRs were increasingly established over industrial products based on these resources, even if the value of these products was developed on the basis of traditional knowledge or traits. Concerns about this situation resulted in the benefit-sharing provisions of the CBD. These equity issues are still with us: one delegate from a developing country to the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA) recently stated that without IPRs the question of benefit-sharing would not arise and all genetic material could be freely available in the same way as it was historically.Given that benefit-sharing for PGRFA can not be on a bilateral basis, the most logical starting point for operationalizing benefit-sharing provisions in the Undertaking would be the Global Plan of Action for PGRFA. One important reason to develop this plan was to get a better idea of funding needs related to the Undertaking (the International Fund). What we are talking about here is a plan with cost scenario in the range of (from \"rudimentary\" to \"comprehensive\") US$ 150 -450 million a year. These sums Please send your contributions to any of the three IPGRI-APO Offices.[See addresses on page 24] are not necessarily new and additional money, but it is essential that such funding should be predictable. These resources could be mobilized in several ways.However, that PGRFA conservation and use ultimately benefits the whole society, governments will still have to bear the final responsibility.Developed countries should realize that without some credible mechanism for benefit-sharing, there would be no agreement on a multilateral system with open access to PGRFA. On the other hand, developing countries should realize that no OECD country will accept new obligations (for funding or otherwise) to a system where facilitated/open access applies only to a very limited number of crops. Consequently, countries from all regions must make some compromises in order to achieve a successful conclusion to these negotiations. The sacrifices that countries would have to make seem rather modest, however, compared to what is at stake [The material is reproduced here with author's permission. Author: Jan Borring, Adviser, Ministry of the Environment, Oslo, Norway]. arrangements, and iv) discuss and finalize the workplans for 3 years and workplan and budget for the year 2000.The meeting was organized in five sessions, namely, i) Logistic arrangements, ii) Current status of work, iii) Developing workplans, iv) International/ Regional collaboration, and v) Finalization of workplans, and budget. Twenty participants comprising country coordinators from 10 Asian countries, representatives from international/ regional organizations, IPGRI staff and observers attended the meeting. The salient points and highlights of the meeting are as under:It was felt that efforts on tropical fruits are not well organized in many countries and that very little work has been done in the area of plant genetic resources.There is, thus, a great need for concerted efforts on germplasm collecting, evaluation, characterization and utilization, skill enhancement, database development, and developing appropriate conservation techniques. The country coordinators appreciated the initiative taken by IPGRI and the funding support by ADB for research on PGR related activities on selected priority fruit species genepools, namely, mango, citrus, rambutan and jackfruit and in addition 1-2 locally important potential species.The project activities will be implemented through a series of Letters of Agreements (LoAs) between IPGRI and the participating countries. Detailed proposals on specific activities on different crops as agreed at the meeting will be submitted by the country coordinators and funds will be made available as per approved proposals. The reporting procedure will include six monthly and annual progress reports as well as financial reports. The monitoring of project expenditure will be done through project tracking system developed by IPGRI-APO. For effective and efficient implementation of the project, the activities envisaged to be undertaken have been regrouped into different tasks, which have been assigned to different IPGRI professional staff with relevant expertise (Task Managers).In view of budget constraints, it was decided to concentrate on a few specific activities on two priority crops in each country. Based on this criterion, the crop groups identified were mango (9 countries), citrus (6 countries), rambutan (3 countries), jackfruit (3 countries), litchi (3 countries) and Garcinia (3 countries). However, the exercise was very useful and it was felt that the activities proposed by each country are important and could be handled through separate funding proposals that can be developed subsequently. Intensive deliberations for two days, jointly and in groups, resulted in finalization of an agreed plan of activities for 3 years and also for the year 2000.In view of the training needs of all the countries, it was agreed that human resource development aspect for training, study visits, etc., should be coordinated by IPGRI with the budget earmarked for that activity. The common areas of training identified were: i) germplasm collecting, evaluation, characterization, documentation and conservation, ii) molecular characterization and DNA finger printing, iii) in vitro conservation and cryopreservation, and iv) database development. Besides this, need for field genebank management training for technicians was also expressed. Database development was considered as a high priority by all the 10 national programmes. A format may be developed by IPGRI and provided to the collaborators for developing databases in different countries on a uniform pattern. For studies on constraint analysis, a questionnaire needs to be developed and provided to the partners.It was also decided that the PGR activities being supported under Underutilized Tropical Fruits Asia Network (UTFANET) and other funding sources should not be taken up under this project. Instead, the resources are utilized for those activities on which not much work is being done, to enhance effective use of available funds and to promote complementarity between different programmes. It was agreed that the work on tropical fruit species in the region should be seen as a comprehensive effort, funding coming from different sources, including respective national programmes. The Changli Institute of Pomology, Hebei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China, undertook an IPGRI supported programme on cryopreservation of kiwi shoot tips. Research was carried out to study the factors that affect the cryopreservation of kiwi shoot tips and to establish the cryopreservation programme of kiwi fruit tree in vitro shoot tips. Different aspects studied were: i) effect of sucrose concentration and pre -culture time on the viability of in vitro culture shoot tips, ii) effect of sucrose pre-culture methods on the viability of encapsulated and non-encapsulated shoot tips, iii) effect of sucrose preculture interval and temperature on the viability of shoot tips, iv) effect of dehydration time on the survival rate of shoot tips, v) effect of sucrose pre-culture method on the survival rate of shoot tips, vi) effect of pre-freezing temperature on the survival rate of shoot tips, and vii) cryopreservation of kiwi fruit tree shoot tips.These experiments indicated that compared to axillary buds, the shoot tip material was better suited for cryopreservation. The viability of shoot tips was higher than that of the axillary buds. Sucrose culture could improve the cold resistance of shoot tips during cryopreservation, which had been testified in many reports. The experiment also confirmed that the high sucrose pre -culture was important for getting good results. It was also concluded that the solid sucrose medium pre-culture was better than liquid sucrose pre-culture Since the beginning of work on taro (Colocasia esculenta L.), the national partners indicated some confusion in taro taxonomy and cultivar classification.Considering the importance of this major underutilized but potential food crop of the region with two on-going regional networks (Taro In situ conservation of agro-biodiversity has been one of the strategic choices of improving conservation strategies and technologies by the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI). A major challenge for in situ conservation is the development of the knowledge needed in national programmes to determine where, when and how in situ conservation will be effective. In 1995, in response to this challenge, IPGRI and its national programmes formulated the global project \"Strengthening scientific basis of in situ conservation of agrobiodiversity on-farm\". Nine countries have participated in the project. Major objectives, hypotheses and preliminary activities for the project were decided in 1995 during the first phase of the project. The Project began in 1996 and in 1997, major units of data and methodologies for participatory and empirical data collection were discussed and six thematic groups were formed: (i) social, economic and cultural factors, (ii) farmer selection of agromorphological characters, (iii) crop population and breeding systems, (iv) agroecosystem factors, (v) seed systems, and (vi) adding value to local crop resources. In 1999, the partners met again in Nepal to compare and analyse data collected from participating countries, discuss methodologies for data integration within the thematic areas, synthesize methods used to enhance benefits from local crop diversity to all stakeholders, and discuss progress in increasing access, participation and decision-making for different gender, age and cultural groups. During Nepal meeting, IPGRI decided to hold two participatory planning and review meetings in order to strengthen the strategy and management aspect of the Project. First, the project scanning was done in Nairobi in 19-24 January 2000 followed by the Phase II Global project planning exercise in Agadir, Morocco from 9 to 13 April 2000.The main objectives of the Nairobi meeting were to: (i) review the accomplishments of the regional staff within the in situ project; (ii) discuss problems and constraints, both administrative and technical, that the project team has encountered; (iii) consolidate experiences of useful practices that facilitated project implementation; (iv) begin harmonizing the technical and administrative aspects of the project, and (v) begin initial preparations for the 2000 Global Project Planning Meeting scheduled for April in Agadir. On behalf of APO region, Dr V. Ramanath Rao, Dr Paul Quek and Dr Bhuwon Sthapit participated in the Narobi meeting. The most important impact of the meeting has been that IPGRI is strengthening its strategy for conservation in situ and also strengthening participatory planning and review process within the project staff.No. 31  The highlights of activities relating to bamboo and rattan and the forest genetic resources are summarized as under:Bamboo and Rattan The impact of human activity on genetic diversity of bamboo and rattan is being studied in the Western Ghats of India, to examine the social and economic consequences of the loss of bamboo and rattan resources in the state of Karnataka. Specifically, the study attempts to: a) determine the degree of extraction of, and economic reliance on, bamboo and rattan resources at the local and state level, b) identify the social and economic factors responsible for the decline in the two resources, and c) examine the social and economic consequences of the decline in bamboo and rattan resources. The study has shown that there has been a noticeable decrease in the amount of bamboo extracted from the forest of Karnataka over the last three decades reflecting perhaps, the decrease in the resources. Analysis of the potential consumption and production of bamboo in the state suggests that the requirements may soon outmatch the supply and the worst affected will be the traditional user groups and a few industries, that depend almost exclusively on the bamboo and rattan resources to eke out a living.[ P. macrocarpus and X. xylocarpa occur in semi-deciduous or deciduous forests while D. oliveri and C. tabularis mainly grow in evergreen forests. All the four species are light-demanding and though their natural regeneration potential seems to be high, except in P. macrocarpus, over-exploitation keeps the species at endangered level. The surveys showed that presently these species could only be found in some national parks and conservation areas.Changes in forest cover were assessed between 1973-1995 and it was found that, in some locations, forest cover decreased remarkably (20-35%) during this period whereas other locations faced only small reductions (3-7%). Most of the deforested areas were converted into agricultural and residential land.Socioeconomic studies showed that, although major source of employment for local people is paddy and milpa cultivation, they also utilize forests for their livelihood. Farmers, including ethnic minorities, are extensively using wood for house building and cooking. It was estimated that about 10 m 3 of wood is required to build a house and that the average fuelwood consumption for each family of 5-6 people is 15-20 m 3 per year. Timber of the four species is often used for furniture, decoration and construction. Timber of D. oliveri is also used for fine handicrafts owing to the distinctively contrasting colours of sapwood and heartwood. X. xylocarpa poles are often used as support for growing pepper. Oxcart is an another common way of using X. xylocarpa wood.Representative populations of the species have been selected for conservation and further investigations. We welcome Mr L.T. Hong and Dr J. Koskela to IPGRI.  It is the Royal Government of Bhutan's policy to maintain at least 60% of its total land area under forest cover. Resource use will be governed by principles of sustainability incorporated in Forest Management Plans demonstrating protected areas. Management of forest resources outside the protected area network is carried out within a system of Forest Management Units (FMUs). It is envisaged that existing and potential FMUs will play an important role in biodiversity conservation, provide buffers and genetic corridors between the protected areas. Forest policy of Bhutan aims to ensure that forest resources are used according to principles of sustainability, contributing to social justice and equity. The policy ensures conservation taking priority over utilization of forest resources to derive economic benefits. The Forest and Nature Conservation Act of 1995 which replaced the Forest Act of 1969 provides a legal context for the protection of theIn order to share experiences of other South Asian countries in developing the NBSAP, a regional workshop was organized by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), Bangladesh Country Office in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Bangladesh and the IUCN Asia Regional Biodiversity Programme at Rajendrapur, Bangladesh  A hardy cherry tomato variety CHT 160 developed by AVRDC has found a welcome place in the kitchen gardens of Bhutan, where it is contributing to yearround nutrition. This variety has been found tolerant to light frost, and can be grown up to December in the mid-hills. It is indeterminate and bears round, bright red fully ripe fruits. Its seeds are being multiplied and will be distributed to growers through the Druk Seed Corporation [Center Point, Vol.17, No.3, December 1999].A study on the effect of ageing on seed viability and vigour in rice was conducted at the Institute of Crop Germplasm Resources, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China. Seeds were stored at ambient, 45 o C and 58 o C conditions. Changes in seed viability and seed vigour during ageing process were measured to study seed viability loss and to determine warning index for seed viability loss. Seed viability survival curves obtained across different rice accessions and different ageing conditions indicated that seed viability declined inconsistently during storage. For each variety, a rapid viabilitydeclining phase was observed during the seed ageing irrespective of the survival curve. Mean values of germination potential, germination percentage, dry weight of roots and shoots, germination index and vigour index were calculated for 34 japonica and 30 indica rice accessions kept at 45 o C. The analysis of variance showed that seed germination potential, dry weight of roots and shoots, germination index and vigour index declined significantly before the germination percentage did so. It also showed that seed germination was prolonged and the seedlings were significantly weakened before the start of the rapid declining phase of seed viability. These two parameters could be used to indicate whether the seed quality had deteriorated, while the rate of compatibility of tests (RCT) and coefficient of variation (CV) could be used as warning indices on the overall quality of a group of accessions. These warning indices could also be used in monitoring the viability of seeds stored in the National Genebank [Lu Xinrong, Institute of Crop Germplasm Resources, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China].The National Azolla Germplasm Centre stores more than 500 accessions representing all the six Azolla species. These accessions are from different countries and regions of the 5 continents, including the indigenous materials (more than 100 strains) collected from China. Materials produced from sexual hybridization, recombination of Anabaena-free Azolla with Anabaena azollae, and radiation mutants are also included in the collections. The collections are maintained as meristem tip culture in the greenhouse and are also planted in the net house. Under the IFAD-funded project 'Sustainable Use of Coconut Genetic Resources to Enhance Incomes and Nutrition of Coconut Smallholders in the Asia Pacific Region', selected COGENT member countries in the Asia Pacific region will conduct a study entitled, \"Feasibility studies on the establishment of integrated coconut processing projects to produce products from coconut husk and handicrafts from coconut shell and identification of suitable varieties for the identified viable products\". The countries involved include Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The target coconut products are geotextile, coir fibre, handicrafts and coir pith.The objectives of the project are to assess the various aspects of producing and marketing processed coconut products from coconut husk and shell; recommend viable production modules for use in the participating countries; identify the coconut varieties suitable for the identified products; and source and ship coconut fibre-making equipment to the participating countries. In a DFID-funded project 'Improvement of In Vitro Techniques for Collecting and Exchange of Coconut Germplasm', thirteen laboratories in 11 countries are conducting a 2-year research to refine the coconut embryo culture and acclimatization technology. The countries involved are Brazil, China, Cuba, France, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Tanzania. Mexico, France and Tanzania are funding their own studies. A survey questionnaire on the current application of coconut embryo in vitro was distributed to institutions worldwide at the start of the project. The survey showed that the poor results of the overall protocol were mainly due to percentage of embryos developing into whole plantlets in vitro. The acclimatization phase of the in vitro plantlets was, however, relatively efficient.The main part of the project was the testing of the four main in vitro culture protocols available from PCA, UPLB, CPCRI and ORSTOM, alongwith those used by the participating laboratories.The aim was to compare the efficiency of the protocols using locally available varieties.Additional researches were also performed on topics such as the effect of various growth regulations on the germination of embryos, physiological aspects, and medium-term in vitro conservation of the embryos. Results of these physiological studies in participating laboratories in France, India, Mexico, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Tanzania have provided a better initial understanding of the effect of culture media, light, carbon dioxide, temperature, growth promoters and inhibitors, and nutrients on the survival rates of in vitro embryo-derived seedlings.The second International Coconut Embryo Culture Workshop was held from 14-17 March 2000 at the Centro de Investigacion Cientifica de Yucatan (CICY), Mexico. Thirty one participants attended the workshop, which included researchers, project leaders from 15 countries and resource persons from IPGRI, COGENT and collaborating partner institutions. The annual meetings for the ADB and IFAD funded projects, specifically for the 10 participating South Pacific countries, will be held back-to-back from 26 -30 June 2000 in Apia, Samoa, while the meetings for the 10 Asian countries will be held back-to-back from 10 -15 July 2000 in Manila, Philippines.The third annual meeting of the ADB funded project entitled \"Coconut Genetic Resources Strengthening in Asia and the Pacific (Phase 2)\" will review the 1999/ 2000 accomplishments and 2000/2001 proposed work plans of the 20 participating countries involved in coconut projects.The third annual meeting for the IFAD funded project entitled, \"Sustainable Use of Coconut Genetic Resources for Enhancing the Income and Nutrition of Smallholders in Asia and the Pacific\" will review the 3-year accomplishments of the 14 countries involved in the project which will end in August 2000.The project leaders of both the ADB and IFAD funded projects, donors and representatives from IPGRI and partner institutions will attend the two meetings.The International Coconut Genebank Workshop will be held at Chennai, India from 17-18 July 2000 and will be hosted by the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI), Kasargod, India. COGENT is establishing a multisite International Coconut Genebank (ICG) in India for South Asia. The meeting will review the progress of work on the establishment of each ICG in the host countries, and related ongoing research projects and work plans, and budgets for the next seven years.The COGENT Steering Committee (SC) determines programme priorities and oversees the various COGENT activities. The 9 th SC Meeting will be held from 19 -21 July 2000 in Chennai, India.The SC members and representatives from partner institutions will attend the meeting. Specifically, the meeting will review progress of the five COGENT regional networks, projects and activities in COGENT, IPGRI and collaborating partner institutions. It will also discuss the COGENT work and action plan for the Year 2000 and draft plan for the Year 2001. The meeting will be funded by IPGRI/COGENT.The International Coconut Conference (ICC) will be held from 24 -28 July 2000 in Chennai, India, within the ambit of the APCC XXXVII COCOTECH Meeting. The conference will be hosted by the Government of India through the Coconut Development Board. The conference will review the performance of the various sectors of the coconut industry to identify problems and opportunities to be addressed in the new millennium. The conference's recommendations will be used as a guide in developing project proposals to address priority activities. The conference will be jointly sponsored by the APCC, BUROTROP and IPGRI/COGENT.The The The Conference deliberations led to several general and specific recommendations laying emphasis on: i) potato as a food crop in developing countries, especially in India, as it has a major intervention in our food security; ii) role of biotechnology in future crop improvement and the need to complement conventional breeding with biotechnological efforts; iii) the core collection be established to get rid of redundant types and the gaps in material and information be identified and filled; iv) exchange of potato germplasm by national programmes. This calls for establishment of strong quarantine facilities. The germplasm should first be cleaned up prior to its exchange to avoid introduction and spread of exotic diseases; and linkage/partnership of national programmes and International Potato Centre (CIP) may be further strengthened.  l Emphasis needs to be given to fill up the gaps in germplasm collecting, particularly of the underutilized crops, and of the major crop species (case to case basis) and their wild relatives. In order to enhance utilization of genetic resources, representative sets, i.e. core collections should be developed for different crops.  The book elaborately presents different issues relating to on-farm conservation of crop genetic resources. There are eleven papers (chapters) classified under four sections. Section I presents introduction and review of the broad perspective of on-farm PGR conservation. Section II considers questions on population biology and social sciences and deals with genetic structure of landraces and the challenges to conserve them on-farm. Section III presents different case studies for different regions for different crops and management of traditional diversity onfarm. Section IV relates to policy and institutional issues. A thought provoking foreword by Cary Fowler, Geoffrey Hawtin and Toby Hodgkin provides due emphasis and importance that this study deserves and the many problems that still need to be resolved in research studies on in situ conservation of crop diversity. This format represents an important tool for a standardized characterization system. The descriptors list provides an international format and thereby produces a universally understood language for plant genetic resources data. The two Annexes contain multicrop passport descriptors and the collecting forms for citrus research.  1999. [ISBN 979-8316-27-4].The publication contains an elaborate introduction followed by an alphabetical treatment of 92 genera and the selected species treatment providing details on This report deals with the result of a study on Pipla (Piper species) and lays emphasis on its cultivation, management and conservation. Pipla is important to pharmaceutical industry and the study conducted to assess the status of the resource-base, its contribution to the socio-economy and avenue for its sustainable use. Participatory tools were used in this assessment study. The fruits are of economic value and are collected from the forests, and add to household income of farmers in remote areas in eastern Bhutan. The proceedings deal with: Background papers which provide basic information, and institutional and legal requirements for establishing the genebanks; reports on evaluation of host countries, namely, Indonesia, India, Papua New Guinea and Côte d' Ivoire as regional genebanks; genebank guidelines funding strategies and draft agreements between FAO, host countries and IPGRI, that will govern germplasm acquisition, conservation and proposed 7-year work plans and benefits for each of the four regional genebanks. The book highlights concern on the value of biodiversity in human welfare and the increased pace with which we are losing nature's diversity due to its over exploitation. Protected plant diversity begins with genebanks and protected areas, and conserving biodiversity requires new partnerships between governments and agencies responsible for managing plant resources and the local communities who depend on them for their livelihood. Also, in this context, it focuses on setting guidelines for sharing the benefits of plant diversity equitably vis-à-vis maintaining it. Some interesting sites are given below: http://www.bionet_us.org/ website.html This site maintains a list of websites related to biodiversity policy and law. It is maintained by BIONET and is updated and distributed on a quarterly basis. The"}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"2a54e5b23febd482e49fe38c9cf9c5ec","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/b323ca1b-ba3b-4b76-a90f-f5e364ae8a01/retrieve","id":"2147180452"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"2835c8d8-230b-4f0d-8136-70ce3d4e96ab","content":"Philippines providing research, training, and communication support focused on climate change in agriculture. The project trained 225 teachers that enrolled about 234,000 students in their classes. This has led to the integration by the Philippine Department of Education of CSA competencies in the curricula of 75 schools nationwide that now serve as CSA information hubs among TechVoc schools.The innovative extension-Youth Infomediary Campaign, involving the youth in rural Philippines has received international recognition as a successful case of youth engagement at the 42nd Session of the UN Committee on World Food Security. The policy brief about Youth Infomediary Campaign also received special commendation(top 5) during the Communication Policy Research: South 2014 conference.The Youth Infomediary Campaign was developed to complement the limited reach of extension workers in rural areas in the Philippines. PhilRice (with CCAFS support) pioneered an Infomediary Campaign focus on CSA tapping 208 schools nationwide (out of 278 TecVoc High schools) as the nucleus of this innovative extension modality. In this alternative communication pathway in communicating CSA, students are engaged as \"infomediaries\" or information providers for rice farming and CSA. For more than three years, the campaign conducted various activities using ICTs and experiential learning tools to study and develop the infomediary model as an innovative knowledge sharing scheme to improve farmers' access to CSA information and technologies.To build the capacity of teachers, the campaign designed and implemented trainings on CSA, rice production, and the use of the various information and social media platforms. The project trained 225 teachers from the different regions, with a combined direct and indirect reach of 234,000 students. The Philippine Department of Education had issued memoranda endorsing training programs to TecVoc teachers nationwide. In 2015, there was a statement in their memorandum that training participants were expected to integrate CSA competencies in the Crops Production curriculum. Using the same training modules developed by the project, additional 90 teachers under the Tech-Voc Livelihood Track of the recently-implemented K12 program were trained last year on CSA4Rice.CSA has been integrated and promoted in various school-and community-based activities (i.e., Quiz Bee, poster-and film-making contest, TeknoKliniks, field days, technology fora, establishment of rice-based farming systems farms, and video conferencing). Over 70 schools have established rice gardens showcasing the top three latest and high-yielding varieties for their respective ecosystems. Through the PhilRice Text Center, the project mobilized more than 4,000 student-texters asking for salient information relating to climate change and rice production.With the lessons from the successful project implementation, a model for integrating CSA into secondary-level curriculum was also developed. Studies also found out that the infomediary approach is an effective model: to transfer CSA4Rice information to farmers; and to positively affect the students to pursue agriculture-related courses in the future.• https://tinyurl.com/y4ptvkyr • 281 -Youth Infomediary Campaign on Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) (https://tinyurl.com/2lpz2z6k)To complement the limited reach of extension workers in rural areas in the Philippines, PhilRice (with CCAFS support) pioneered an Infomediary Campaign focus on CSA tapping 208 schools nationwide (out of 278 TecVoc High schools) as the nucleus of innovative extension modality (1,2). In this alternative communication pathway in communicating CSA, students are engaged as \"infomediaries\" or information providers for rice farming and CSA (3). For more than three years, the campaign conducted various activities using ICTs and experiential learning tools to study and develop the infomediary model as an innovative knowledge sharing scheme to improve farmers' access to CSA information and technologies(1,2).To build the capacity of teachers, the campaign designed and implemented trainings on CSA, rice production, and the use of the various information and social media platforms (PhilRice Text Center, Infomediary Facebook group and fan page) (1,2). The project trained 225 teachers from different regions, with a combined direct and indirect reach of 234,000 students (2). As a statement of support, DepEd had issued memoranda endorsing training programs to TecVoc teachers nationwide. In 2015, the memorandum stated that training participants were expected to integrate CSA competencies in the Crops Production curriculum(4). Using the same teaching guides and modules(http://www.infomediary4d.com/resources/teaching-materials/) developed by the project, additional 90 teachers under the Tech-Voc Livelihood Track of the recently-implemented K12 program were trained on CSA4Rice (5).Through the campaign, CSA has been integrated and promoted in various school-and community-based activities (i.e., Quiz Bee, poster-and film-making contest, TeknoKliniks, field days, technology fora, establishment of rice-based farming systems, and video conferencing) (1,2). Over 70 schools have established rice gardens showcasing the top three latest high-yielding varieties for their ecosystems (2). Through the PhilRice Text Center, the project has mobilized more than 4,000 student-texters asking for salient information relating to climate change and rice production (6).With the lessons from the successful project implementation, a model for integrating CSA into secondary-level curriculum was also developed (7,8). Studies also found out that the infomediary approach is an effective model: to transfer CSA4Rice information to farmers (9,10); and to positively influence students to pursue agriculture-related courses (11).The campaign has received international recognition, a special commendation as a top five policy brief during the 2014 Communication Policy Research South conference (12) and as a successful youth engagement case during the 42nd Session of the UN Committee on World Food Security (13). Significantly, 2 journal papers and 2 books were also produced (7,8,1,14) among numerous communication materials."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"c6608d0827c11eaff54d6f39589079d4","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/775f836f-5e20-4fbd-bfdd-36232bf60c8d/retrieve","id":"1040174078"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"7883352d-83d7-4826-a9dd-e648c2f51bb5","content":"Coffee and vanilla farming play an important economic and social role in the development of Uganda, the tenth largest coffee producer in the world and the second largest in East Africa after Ethiopia (UCDA 2015). Coffee is Uganda's leading agricultural export as between 4 and 5 million 60kg bags are exported. In 2018, 23,000 kg of cured vanilla worth USD6.40 million were exported. The production of the two crops is highly susceptible to the negative effects of climate change. A variety of initiatives by government and the private sector has been introduced to tackle challenges from climate change in coffee. However, the vanilla sector has not been prioritized by the government.The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in collaboration with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) undertook a small project in Uganda to explore existing coffee and vanilla diversification. The study was funded by Sustainable Food Lab (SFL) on behalf of private sector partners interested in potential investment in vanilla production. The objective of the study was to provide recommendations on effective approaches for diversified farming systems in resilient coffee and vanilla.A literature review was conducted of key publications and the knowledge existing on both coffee and vanilla growing and crop diversification. Subsequently, data collection tools and protocols were developed, and a baseline survey was conducted to gather information from smallholder farmers and other key stakeholders in the coffee and vanilla value chains in 2 districts, Kasese and Buikwe. The goal of the baseline was to document existing options for crop diversification among coffee and vanilla farmers working with CRS.The baseline was conducted with farmers within the operational areas of CRS in Uganda. It covered 432 farming households from 7 sub-counties in Kasese and 6 sub-counties in Buikwe. A total of 216 smallholder farmers were interviewed from each district, collecting information from 16 focus group discussions (FGDs) and 2 stakeholders' workshops.Results from the baseline show that the intercropping is the common farming system in the two districts (53%) followed by agroforestry (22%). The majority of the farmers interviewed in both districts have experienced climate shocks that have resulted in loss either of life or of crops and livestock. Coffee is the preferred crop in both districts based on reasons ranging from heritage to issues of security. Although vanilla provided the highest incomes to households, it is not very popular among the farmers as it is a more recent crop than coffee. The survey also found that smallholder farmers diversify crops mainly for providing household food and to boost income. However, a good number of them were seen to practice agroforestry for shade provision (a production requirement for both coffee and vanilla). The common CSA practices used in the 2 districts are mulching (27%), trenches (15%), crop rotation (10%), and cover crops (8%). Practices such as terracing were found to be 10% in Kasese while in Buikwe, 18% of farmers reported the use of compost manure. In Buikwe, the key stakeholders identified were the Uganda Vanilla Farmers Network (UVAN). In Kasese, stakeholders included farmer cooperatives such as the Rwenzori Farmers' Cooperative Union (RFCU). These stakeholders provide farmers with support such as agricultural extension, inputs, and credit services. Based on functional and structural indicators applied to farmers, 4 main farmer typologies were identified during the baseline.The key findings of the survey and potential mitigation measures for challenges were presented and discussed with participating stakeholders in a validation workshop held in Kampala in February 2020. Key recommendations for private sector investment in further coffee and vanilla diversification are given at the end of this report.The baseline results will serve as the basis for future interventions in the 2 districts.The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has over time worked with smallholder coffee farmers to improve production and productivity in the eastern, central, and western parts of Uganda. In collaboration with public and private partners IITA developed the Stepwise approach that has been used to train farmers and give them management options for increased coffee production and resilience to the effects of climate change.With support from the Sustainable Food Lab, IITA collaborated with CRS in a pilot study in 2 districts in Uganda producing coffee and vanilla. The intention was to provide recommendations for a proposal to the private sector on effective approaches for resilient coffee and vanilla farming systems, aimed at promoting intentional multi-commodity and food crop diversification among smallholder farmers. Preliminary knowledge was gathered on the current state of existing coffee and vanilla intercropping and recommendations were made.The goal of the project was to understand existing coffee and vanilla farming systems in order to provide recommendations on effective approaches for resilient farming systems for both crops.The specific objectives were as follows. (1) Collect data on coffee and vanilla production underlining the cropping system, climate smart agriculture (CSA) practices applied by farmers, and the challenges farmers face in crop diversification. (2) Acquire information on best practices in diversification with which IITA, CRS, SFL and private sector partners can tailor future initiatives for resilient coffee and vanilla farming systems in Uganda.More specifically, activities included the following. In cooperation with partners, development of proposal draft.Development of information products (info note, blog).3.1 Literature Review A literature review was conducted in July 2019 to explore publications in scientific journals and other key knowledge sources on the limitations and opportunities for vanilla production in Uganda and specifically, for coffee and vanilla diversified systems. The review concluded that diversification encourages smallholder inclusion in agricultural value chains at different scales towards higher-value crops and a gradual movement into the non-farm sector (Djurfeldt, 2018). Appropriate crop diversification strategies have delivered positive effects, and coffee farmers are expected to be motivated to diversify by growing industrial crops such as vanilla which may also mitigate market risk (Thong Ho, 2017). Crop diversification in synchronized systems has the potential to deliver agronomic and ecological benefits, depending on the characteristics of site-specific ecosystems. The literature review concluded that diversification of coffee and vanilla can provide farmers with options for food and income security, and environmental and natural resource conservation which in the end result in resilience and adaptation to climate change.To verify the site-specific issues in Uganda, the study area was identified as Kasese district in western Uganda and Buikwe district in central Uganda, where CRS is already working with a network of coffee and vanilla farmers. Kasese district consists principally of 3 topographical features: (1) the mountainous areas, which consist of rugged mountain relief;(2) the undulating region at the foothills, and (3) the lowland flat areas in the south and south-eastern parts of the district. Kasese experiences a bimodal rainfall pattern (UBOS, 2017). The first rains are short but fall with high intensity during the March-May season, and the longer rains fall in the August-November season with a low intensity. Annual rainfall ranges from 800 to 1600 mm and is greatly influenced by altitude. Temperatures normally range between 23.9 and 30 o C. Kasese is covered with varied vegetation types: stratified vegetation zones of grassland at between 1000 and 2000 m; montane forest at between 2000 and 3,000 m; the bamboo/mimulopsis zone at 2500 to 3,000 m; the heather/rapanea zone at 3,000 to 4000m; and an Afro-Alpine zone at 4,000 to 5,000 m (UBOS, 2017). The main land use types in the district are crop farming, livestock keeping, fishing, mining, forestry reserves, and national parks. 4.3 Sampling Procedure RFCU and the district local government in Buikwe provided lists of coffee and vanilla producers from the different sub-counties. The respondents who participated in the baseline survey were randomly selected from these lists. A multistage sampling procedure was adopted. This first involved purposive sampling to identify farmers growing coffee and vanilla. Proportionate sampling was then done at sub-county level to identify the number of farmers per sub-county for interviews. Thereafter simple random sampling was done to identify respondents. The randomization was done using R statistical software version 3.6.2, to obtain a proportionate sample number of respondents from each sub-county. Extension staff in the field then contacted Lead farmers by telephone, who in turn contacted selected farmers to inform them of their scheduled interview day. The randomized names of farmers were then given to the enumerators to proceed to the field. A total of 432 households were selected as outlined in Table 1. The baseline survey used a mixed approach of qualitative and quantitative data collection for complementary data collection (Burke and Johnson,2005). The survey was conducted using digitalized questionnaires on tablets, and the data were uploaded online by data collectors while in the field. The qualitative data collection involved stakeholders' workshops and focus group discussions (FGDs). The workshops were conducted in both districts with key stakeholders in the coffee and vanilla value chains to focus on the land use and value chain mapping. The FGDs were conducted with the coffee and vanilla farmers at sub-county level. The purpose of the FGDs was to segment or cluster farmers, based on their different characteristics, to understand the CSA practices adopted by different farmers in the area. Focus groups were designed to have between 7 and 12 participants. The groups were separated by gender such that discussions were held independently between males and females. The quantitative data collection used individual interviews for farmers at household level.The digitized questionnaire was semi-structured with both open-ended and close-ended questions.Enumerators were selected and trained on the use of the digitalized questionnaire. Pretesting of the questionnaire was done with farmers from Luwayo Village in Kawolo sub-county. The latter did not participate in the survey. Data were collected in 2019 from 14 to 23 October in Kasese and from 28 October to 7 November in Buikwe. A total of 432 respondents were interviewed, 216 from each district -as above.Quantitative data were processed, analyzed, and organized in tables using R 3.6.2 and Microsoft Excel. Descriptive statistical values including frequency counts, percentages, minimum and maximum values, plus, averages were calculated to explain general household characteristics. Qualitative information was used to provide in-depth description of each output and analysis to complement the quantitative data. To obtain the typologies of farmers from the quantitative data a multivariate approach was used. Data were reduced to check for correlation among variables. Using a hierarchical clustering approach for mixed data, the farmer segments were created.The farmers in the baseline study were mainly men (75.9%) in both districts. This could be an indication that both coffee and vanilla are male dominated crops. Most men in both districts are above 40 years of age and have an average household size of 8 individuals, including 4 children. Most respondents are married: 91.2% in Kasese and 89.8% in Buikwe. Decision-making in each of the households visited is mainly done by the husband, although a good number of respondents indicated that they make decisions with their spouses. However, the wives do not make independent decisions. The respondents have differing levels of formal education with 57.6% having attained primary education; 26.2% have secondary education with very few having tertiary-level training. The main source of income is farming for 94.1% of respondents, followed by trading at 56.3% across both districts. Other income sources identified included formal employment and riding commercial motorcycles also known as boda-boda. In terms of experience, the farmers had more experience in coffee production (average 17 years) than in vanilla production (average 6.5 years). Most households visited subscribed to at least one group and had reasonable access to extension services, mainly from RFCU and UVAN. Few respondents had access to district extension staff for information on vanilla and for related extension services in particular. The majority indicated that the extension staff do not know where they stay. Some of the farmers have obtained credit from various credit institutions in the last one year. The farmers in Kasese are physically closer to input and output markets (only 3-4 km distance) than the farmers in Buikwe who are 15-17 km away. However, due to the topography, farmers in Kasese have more difficulties in accessing input and output markets. When it comes to climate change, a good percentage of the farmers reported that they have experienced climate change shocks. Those shocks mentioned in Kasese included rivers flooding, and landslides while prolonged drought and torrential rains were commonly identified in Buikwe.Household characteristics are summarised in the tables below:  Using the indicators above, farmers in the 2 districts were segmented/clustered. Four significant farmer categories emerged from Tables 2b and 3. In Kasese district, the farmers in segment IV are older -over 55 years. Those in segment III are young, on average about 31 years of age. Those in segments I and II are mature, about 46 to 48 years of age. Older farmers have more income than all the other categories. The discussions within the FGDs highlighted the fact that most respondents are landowners who have more assets and can access loans to boost their income. From the FGDs, most young farmers inherited land from their parents although some bought the land on which production is carried out. Young farmers have a dependency burden of about 10 members per household (almost like those from households of the older farmers which showed 11 members each). Compared to the older farmers young farmers have a considerable area under coffee and vanilla production. Their experience in production of these crops does not differ much from that of the mature farmers. They are closer to the output and input markets and the agricultural offices. In comparison with the other categories they have better access to services that would support their activities and enhance their production. In addition, most of them have gone to school and attained at least secondary education, a factor that is crucial in their income acquisition and financial management. In Buikwe district, the farmers were between 40 and 50 years of age (segments I, II, III, and IV). The older farmers have the highest dependency burden (14 members) compared to all the others. The 43-year category had the most income from both primary and secondary sources, and the largest land area under coffee and vanilla production. The 47-year old category had more experience in coffee and vanilla production followed by the 41-year old category. In terms of proximity to services, most farmers in Buikwe are near main roads, an indication that they have easier access to markets and extension services than Kasese farmers. The young people in Buikwe are not interested in perennial crops such as vanilla because of the time they take to mature. They prefer to engage in annual crops such as rice and vegetables that give quick cash. However, for extra income, they also offer labor to the older farmers growing coffee and vanilla and are employed in the many factories in the district. The two districts have mainly 4 crop production systems: (1) agroforestry, (2) intercropping, (3) sole cropping, and (4) sub-plots on the main plot area (Fig. 2). Intercropping was identified in 49% of households in Kasese and in 56% in Buikwe as the most practiced system, followed by agroforestry found in 26% of households in Kasese and 18% in Buikwe). Sole crops were mainly done for in maize, sugarcane, and rice grown for commercial purposes while the intercrops were mainly for subsistence crops. Agroforestry was practiced by farmers in the coffee and vanilla gardens because the two crops need a certain amount of shade in order to give good yields. Kasese district stands out in agroforestry as most farmers practice this deliberately to conserve the environment.  Various crops are grown in the different production systems. Figure 3 shows the priority crops in the 2 districts. Coffee and vanilla are most prioritized as cash crops across all respondents. Cocoa was the second prioritized cash crop, followed by sugarcane. There are more farmers engaged in cocoa production in Kasese than in Buikwe where more farmers are engaged in sugarcane production as out-growers for the sugar factories. Banana, cassava, beans, and maize are the most prioritized food crops for the two districts. Yam is another common crop in Buikwe that some vanilla farmers were growing for subsistence purposes. Farmers from both districts could not imagine life without diversification -an indication of the recognition of its importance. Every farmer identified with diversification as the means of survival. Figure 4 below shows the various reasons why farmers diversify their crops. According to respondents there are several reasons for diversification: food (21%) and income (25%) across both districts; and for shade provision -20% in Buikwe and 18% in Kasese. Other reasons for diversification include increased production, risk management, and limited land so that farmers are forced to diversify. Most farmers have less than one hectare and therefore need to grow many crops on a small area to achieve levels of both household nutrition and income as depicted below. For the farmers that grow sugarcane, especially in Buikwe, diversification is the only way to get food for the household as sugarcane production depletes essential soil nutrients for the production of other crops. Farmers in Kasese and Buikwe are faced with various challenges as indicated in Figure 5. The main challenge is from pests and diseases (49% of households in Buikwe and 42% in Kasese) followed by drought in both districts. Other challenges are limited capital and labor required for field management and provision of inputs.Intercropping might not be labor intensive as the requirements are shared among the crops but critical activities, e.g., vanilla pollination, can occur at the same time which then requires the hiring of additional labor. Some farmers (7% of households in Buikwe and 0.4% in Kasese) did not find any challenge in diversification. Farmers suggested solutions to challenges identified as shown in Figure 6 below. To overcome pests and diseases the farmers pointed to the use of pesticides although, at the time of the study, most of them were not using pesticides. To manage the problem of limited labor they suggested hiring labor from neighboring areas. To manage droughts the farmers suggested the use of irrigation and for limited labor, the farmers suggested working in groups and getting loans from microfinance institutions to be able to invest in their activities. Irrigation is suggested for both districts as they both have readily available sources of water in almost all sub-counties. This therefore makes the option of irrigation very appropriate. 5.6 Investment in Coffee and Vanilla Production 5.6.1 Vanilla Investment -Time, Labor, and Finances Overall, the production of vanilla is an intensive investment activity in terms of time, labor, and finances. Farmers in both districts invest a lot of time in it. Most do not hire labor for vanilla production for security reasons and rely on their own labor to curtail theft of their crop. This means that there is a high commitment on time and labor: time in Buikwe was 37% and in Kasese 47%, and labor in Buikwe 42% and Kasese 49% of time was recorded on vanilla production. Financial investment in vanilla production is for the 2 districts can be considered mixed as reported by 52% of households in Buikwe and 34% in Kasese. Farmers in Kasese do incur heavy expenses in guarding their crop from pollination to harvest while farmers in Buikwe have an arrangement with some of the actors such as UVAN who provide security and recover the costs when vanilla is sold after harvest. Most financial investments occur at the time of buying vines, putting up fences, and hiring security guards to protect the vanilla crop. 5.6.2 Coffee investment -Time, Labor, and Finances Generally, the investment in coffee production is not too heavy in terms of finances compared to vanilla: 69% for Buikwe and 58% for Kasese. Farmers in both districts reported investing relatively less money in coffee production. They also reported most of the work was done by family members. Also, coffee is a canopyforming plant as well as being grown under shade and therefore tends to supress weeds which reduces the time and labor required for weeding. That said, a great deal of time and labor was recorded: Labor reported was 38% for households in Buikwe and 33.3% in Kasese, and time was reported as 33.5% in Buikwe and 41.3% in Kasese. These figures seem high since most farmers are dependent on family members for labor. Practices in coffee production include pruning, de-suckering, harvesting, and drying the coffee beans before, as shown (Fig. 8) below. The activities that take most of the farmers' time, labor, and finances were further analyzed. It was found that weeding (18% and 19%), pollination (19% and 22%), looping (15% and 23%) and guarding (15% and 13%) took the most time and labor for the farmers in Kasese and Buikwe districts respectively. Guarding, looping, pollination, and weeding have a high cost burden. Farmers in Kasese hire guards from private security agencies to police their gardens and buy dogs which they have to feed, contributing to the high cost of guarding. The farmers from Buikwe have guarding services paid by UVAN, the cost of which is offset against the purchase of vanilla by UVAN. As the farmers do not directly feel the cost of guarding, they cannot report on this. On the other hand, many farmers in Buikwe as well as in Kasese go on to guard themselves, spending sleepless nights. Weeding, pollination, and looping are the practices that take most of the farmers' labor, time, and financial resources during production.Figure 9 showing level of investment for each of the agricultural activities.Even though vanilla is a labor and time intensive crop, it is also highly rewarding in terms of its contribution to household income. The incomes received by all farmers were higher from vanilla than from any other crop. The box plot (Fig. 10) shows how incomes from the different crops are distributed. The lower tail shows the lower incomes received by 25% of the households; the box shows the incomes received by 50% of the households with the line indicating the median income; and the upper tail shows the highest incomes received by 25% of the remaining households in the study. Vanilla has the best distribution as most farmers earn between UGX500,000 and UGX2,000,000 from their vanilla crop. The farmers in the lower and upper quartiles are very few in Kasese but there are more farmers in the upper than the lower quartile in Buikwe. The distribution of vanilla incomes for the farmers in the two districts is almost evenly distributed from low (UGX500,000) to high (UGX2,000,000) compared to those from cocoa and coffee. Farmers in Kasese also obtain income from forestry, unlike those from Buikwe that receive income instead from yam, tomato, and cabbage. A high number of households in both districts report theft as a key challenge for vanilla production: 34% in Kasese and 36% in Buikwe (Fig. 11). Farmers experience theft from the vines to the beans. In other words, both mature and premature beans are stolen. The tutors that support vanilla vines are also stolen when they have just been planted. Pests and diseases are the second most important challenge. The farmers cannot name them when asked to give an example but they recognize them as challenges. Many of those interviewed linked flower abortion to pests and diseases but FDG discussions showed that this was because fertilization did not take place, especially when pollination is done at the wrong time. Lack of readily available extension information on vanilla production is among the highest challenges -the evidence of this is the farmers' inability to identify pests and diseases affecting their crop. Vanilla farmers were found to have very little information, and very few sources of information, relying mainly on farmer-to-farmer engagement only. It was also noted that vanilla is a delicate crop in terms of handling -the flowers at pollination and pods must be handled with the utmost care. Drought retards yields as pollination is less successful in very dry conditions. In addition, flowering is limited in such conditions. Other challenges were identified, such as price volatility, limited research, inadequate markets, and extension. 6 Coffee Production Challenges Coffee production was found to face several challenges with the most significant problem being cited as pests and diseases (34.5% in Kasese and 44.7% in Buikwe). Other challenges reported included low prices, drought, inadequate markets, and theft with 23.4%, 21.6%, 9.1% and 8.9% for Kasese and 30.5%, 13.3%, 8.1% and 2.0% for Buikwe respectively (Fig. 12). Drought is a key challenge represented by 21.6% of respondents in Kasese and 13.3% in Buikwe. For coffee, information access was not considered as high a challenge as in vanilla. The common CSA practices for the 2 districts are mulching and trenches (Fig. 13). Cover cropping is practiced to a lesser extent. Terracing is common for Kasese because of its terrain; crop rotation and manure application are applied only in Buikwe. Crop rotation is not applied in Kasese due to land fragmentation resulting from a high population density and farmers practice intercropping on the same piece of land for a long time. On the contrary, farmers in Buikwe obtain some compost manure from Sekalala Enterprises of UVAN (which is offset against vanilla purchases), hence the evident manure compost use in Buikwe. The common cover crops are sweet potato and pumpkin Legume cover crops that add nutrients to the soil are not common, except for beans. Many farmers have not embraced CSA practices due to the limited extension information and support on how and when to apply specific practices.  Stakeholder interaction in Kasese district shows the land is divided according to altitude into lowland, midland, and highland (Fig. 14) and that these divisions determine the kind of activities carried out in the different altitudes. The lowland is mainly for fishing, cattle keeping, and mining. The midland is mainly for coffee production, scattered cattle keeping, and some vanilla growing. The highland is used mainly for coffee, banana, and vanilla production. The district is largely surrounded by national parks in the eastern and western parts. In Buikwe, there are different natural resources, industries, fishing, and agro-forestry activities and various crops grown by farmers in almost all the sub-counties in the district. Figure 16 shows how the farmers identified the various natural resources, crops, and economic activities that exist in the various sub-counties represented with symbols. Fishing is done in Lake Victoria and the River Nile. The district also has a good distribution of wetlands and rocks. Cooperatives were more reported by households in Kasese (50%) and farmers' groups were most reported in Buikwe (40%). The marketing agencies interface more with farmers from Buikwe (25%) than from Kasese where the common cooperatives reported were RFCU and Bukonzo Organics. The marketing agencies identified were Kawacom, Esco, and Ndali in Kasese while UVAN, UGACOF, Nucafé and Uganda Industries were some of the identified marketing agencies in Buikwe. Other companies identified were Kiima Foods in Kasese and Bucadef, and Slow foods in Buikwe. NGOs mentioned were Caritas and World Vision. For the government agencies, these were mainly the district and the MAAIF programs such as NAADS and OWC. Results from the study indicate that farmer-to-farmer exchange is the main source of vanilla planting material in both Buikwe (80.7%) and Kasese (78.2%). However, in Buikwe fellow farmers were recorded as 40.6% and the District Agriculture Office at 35.7%. In contrast, in Kasese coffee planting materials are acquired mainly from the fellow farmers (34.3%), nurseries (27.9%), and organizations (24.3%). In general, there is a limited number of actors in the vanilla seed sector. Compared to coffee, the seed sector is relatively more informal and attracts the participation of fewer actors. The main source of extension materials and information for vanilla in Buikwe was reportedly from fellow farmers (33.2%), radio (24.2%), and other organizations (20.6%). In Kasese the main source of extension materials and information for vanilla was from organizations (20%), fellow farmers (19%), radio (16.2%), trainings (15.4%), and farmer groups (12.9%).For the coffee value chain, the dominant sources of extension materials and information for Buikwe were the fellow farmers (28.8%), radios (24.3%), trainings (13.1%), and organizations (12.4%). For Kasese, the major sources of extension materials were also the fellow farmers (22.5%), farmers' groups (21.2%), and organizations (20.8%).  Studies around the world show that crop diversification leads to increased productivity and stabilizes incomes of smallholder farmers. In sub-Saharan Africa, crop diversification features prominently in many countries' adaptation strategies against climate change. Crop diversification has the potential to increase dietary diversity and food availability, thus contributing to improved nutrition. Through crop diversification, farming households can spread production and income risk over a wider range of crops, thus reducing livelihood vulnerability to weather and market shocks. Additionally, crop diversification can produce agronomic benefits in terms of pest management and soil quality, depending on the crop combination in the field. Smallholder farmers in this study were seen to be incentivized to diversify, given the higher income returns that mitigate market shocks.As we consider diversified crop systems we move into the area of living income where various other opportunities for increased income sources can be explored: off-farm activities such as boda-boda taxi services, sale of labor, and other small business opportunities along specific value chains that offer smallholder households Income generation.Private sector engagement and lobbying for more effective PPP collaboration are essential to ensure harmonized efforts. Effective PPP engagement supports the government's creation of a robust but flexible policy and regulatory environment that supports private sector initiatives, ensures smallholder farmers have access to quality planting materials and inputs, and provides a consistent, and harmonized flow of knowledge and extension support to smallholder farming communities. Continued research and development is essential to support evidence-based decision-making and continuous improvement of technologies that allow for adaptation to an ever-changing environment -both from a perspective of climate change and that of price volatility in local and international markets -to ensure sustainable production of high value export crops, while increasing nutrition and food security and improved livelihoods for the producers.Working collaboratively the private sector, development partners, academic and research institutes, governments, and local stakeholders can develop flexible, cost-efficient, and sustainable technologies that increase resilience, nutrition, and food security, and the productivity and marketability of high value crops for export."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"b22a46b051f1d8f619bb10d38fd1a8bd","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/7917ff31-81ab-4294-bd8a-4473006bdd5b/retrieve","id":"1982137360"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"6a008111-5621-4936-a2d9-dcb921c45e7a","content":"The Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock (livestockdialogue.org) recognizes that for livestock to be sustainable, the sector worldwide needs to respond to the growing demand for livestock products and enhance its contribution to food and nutritional security; provide secure livelihoods and economic opportunities for hundreds of millions of pastoralists and value chain actors in the livestock sector; use natural resources efficiently, address climate change and mitigate other environmental impacts; and enhance human, animal, and environmental health and welfare.The Global Agenda's 7 th Multi-Stakeholder Partnership meeting in Addis Ababa was organized to reinforce the unique roles of the Global Agenda in bringing together different types of stakeholders to explore tools and models to measure sustainability in the livestock sector, to consider lessons from diverse examples at global, regional and local level and to learn from on the ground examples of livestock-based solutions.The full summary report of the meeting is published elsewhere and is accessible from the Global Agenda web site. This brief report summarizes the 'living synthesis' component of the meeting, with the detailed comments and notes of participants listed in annex 1.The contributions of many individuals who actively documented the different sessions is acknowledged; also work by Ewen Le Borgne and Alan Duncan to capture the notes and for initial set up of the excel file with the data.Livestock and the SDGs -the living synthesis Throughout the meeting, participants were encouraged to document insight and lessons during and after sessions. This 'living synthesis' was intended to replicate twitter, within the meeting rooms, offline.Instead of posting 'tweets' online, participants posted 'bleats' on walls organized around SDGs and zooming in on results, lessons and opportunities in terms of 1) what worked well, 2) what failed, and 3) what the gaps are. A similar approach was used to track insights on 'multistakeholder value addition' and 'solutions.' By the end of the week, 453 messages related to SDGs had been posted. These were transcribed to excel and roughly clustered by session, SDG focus and message sentiment: was it highlighting a strength (of a tool, case, or experience), a perceived challenge (weakness or threat), or an opportunity (for livestock, for a project, for the Global Agenda). tweet bleat What do the posts tell us? They were a mix of feedback on specific tools and cases and experiences shared as well as reflections on the general themes of the event -multiple benefits and opportunities of livestock and the SDGs. This section gives a flavour of the posts, structured around some headings that emerged (see Annex 1 for a fuller listing of the posts).Most posts addressed a single SDG -some cut across all or several and serve as general insights. We have the evidence of multiple benefits of livestock -but we need the resources to implement at scale;  This can help to address negative perceptions of animal agriculture that are building. We should think of SDGs in terms of clusters because that is how they work; and  Addressing several SDGs at the same time contributes effectively to eradication of poverty.  We need to remember that increasing production is not enough on its own to eliminate hunger or improve nutrition.We have work to do:  We have good tools to measure impact but not to measure the benefits;  We still need to address the question on the long-term impact of these solutions; and  There are challenges to translate many of the tools and case experiences into practical results on the ground.All the feedback around the methodology and tools was focused on challenges, areas that need to be improved and addressed. Issues were raised concerning data collection, choice of indicators, gaps, impacts, and issues around coordination and standards.Examples are: Very hard to capture data from pastoral systems; some countries will not have enough base data; indicator measuring is a big challenge; appropriate metrics to measure impacts; ensure gender disaggregated input data; integrate social aspects; different though similar methodologiesneed closer dialogue between 'developers'; good socio-economic tools disconnected from environment; consumer perspective is under represented; should be integrated with other tools.Many posts zoomed in on the need for tools, models and experiences to be better communicated and shared and implemented at scale.Opportunities and strengths observed of existing experiences included: Tapping into farmer to farmer exchange and learning, including use of mobile phones and working through extension; exchanging good practices among countries; and making tools publically accessible.Challenges identified included: Sharing information with farmers, lack of awareness, how the study can be scaled up, tools need to be shared with other stakeholders and methods for strengthening them developed, upscaling, applicability to developing country, and how can other countries learn from this project experience, lessons learned etc.This element attracted many posts, highlighting a mix of what multi-stakeholder approaches can deliver (opportunities) as well as strengths and challenges observed in the experiences shared.Strengths observed: Platforms led to coordination between different stakeholders; collaboration of farmers build resilience; multi-stakeholder approach to achieve results; research, extension and agribusiness work together with farmers to find common outcome; strong partnerships (government / producers / all stakeholders); bringing different partners together allows addressing their different interests + build on their strengths (e.g. knowledge); network allows for bringing knowledge together showing how animal welfare contributes to SDGs -how practice change has been accomplished; tool can be used to engage with the private sector, civil society and development groups to focus their projects; used by policy and industry to intersect; value chain approach that engages farmers.Challenges observed include: difficulty of working with stakeholders; mobilizing engagement; tiring to coordinate partners to realise ownership; needs more dialogue with different stakeholders; coordination is missing (between government and partners); food industry needs to be brought in.But momentum + resources are needed.The wider benefits of livestock on different development outcomes were the focus of many posts.Opportunities from livestock included: Enhancing the resilience of farmers; environmental integrity for the future; increase family income; great potential for poverty reduction, gender gap reduction; optimizing livestock reduces carbon emissions; high potential for nutrition, poverty alleviation.Observed strengths included: Focus on poorest farmers; focus on diseases of the poor; increasing milk production has led to more income more education; case studies show increase in productivity and profitability; better income of marginal minorities; people have better income and food.Most of the posts were about the various solutions shared. These covered a wide range of issues.Opportunities included: Combine forest + pasture to ensure feed availability; decrease PPR and other small ruminant disease will increase productivity; increasing forage value will decrease fertilizers use and decrease irrigation; reducing concentrates allows money to be used elsewhere; silvo-pastoralism to increase sustainability and address climate change; AMR very relevant for intensive large livestock farms; exporting animal products instead of live animals would (also) improve animal welfare; extensive systems less in need of antibiotics; identifying losses in value chains will increase efficiency; animal disease a good entry point for farmers; animal welfare equals animal health, equals sustainable livestock; control of transboundary issues opens export opportunities; extensive systems have great environmental potential; improving smallholder access to markets addresses SDGs 1,2,5,8,12; simple improvements to herd management, feed, manure can increase milk and meat production and decrease GHG emissions;Observed strengths included: Better offtake + market supply through multi-stakeholder platforms; grasslands can mitigate GHG through carbon sequestration; institutional partners shifting focus from production alone to include nutrition; education element to raise awareness on animal welfare; whole herd approach to disease management.Challenges include: Livestock movement in pastoralist areas; linkages between farmers and market still low; SDG 1 (no poverty); providing opportunities beyond productive level; sustainability of restored communal grasslands. How to share the communal resources?; increasing number competitors for the same feed resource; resistance by some groups because for land ownership; determine the best combination tree-forage crops for better soil sequestration?; Need holistic approach for better livelihood improvement; SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth).Moving from models and tools and cases to actual implementation of promising technical and institutional approaches solutions was the focus of another set of posts. These tended to identify better [technical] practices and choices to achieve better results.Opportunities and strengths identified included: Develop interactions with nutrition communities; understand and quantify economic multipliers as development occurs; employ incentives that match the diversity of specific situations; move towards technical agents becoming more facilitators -help farmers find right management change; engaging multiple crop + food production systems; using methods that are practical and can be easily implemented.Challenges included: recognizing that solutions have to fit within the present; how do you get from assessment to action?; how to deal with long term trends versus short term shocks?; how to achieve benefits on ground level?; tools should be tested in different production systems of livestock; how do we make this both inclusive but also fast enough to meet the 2030 target?; practical application towards climate aspects not obvious; a top down approach. Too soon to see the weaknesses and strengths; so far, there is no direct impact on dairy farmers; limited multiplier effectSustainable livestock is increasingly a focus for policy development and several posts were on opportunities in this area as well as strengths observed in the experiences shared.These included: Forecasting scenarios of alternative livestock, impact on society & recommend policy options; making livestock sector investment friendly: legal, political, economic, logistical) services, value addition, licences/certifications/intellectual property; offering high level advocacy and attracting investments in the livestock sector; helping decision makers for future scenarios in term of actions that can or cannot improve livestock production; using robust evidence/case studies to show how livestock can provide social development; guiding investment choices.Many posts suggested opportunities by addressing gender or identified observed strengths and challenges around the role of women in sustainable livestock.Opportunities and strengths identified included: Potential to empower women; gender-based solutions enable bigger impact + production; link to gender to ensure nutrition awareness of animal sourced foods for maternal and infants/children health development; increase women's participation in market activities which places them in better position to make nutritious decisions; and economic benefits for gender equality; and embedding gender in training.Challenges included: Risk that men may take over control of income; how to increase women's access to knowledge and improve decision making; creating awareness on gender equity; need to identify economic benefits achieved through gender equality.Annex 1: Living synthesis lessons and insightsThese pages present the largely unedited posts that were shared by participants during the meeting. They are organized under some headings; each also indicates which SDG it was associated to and which session it came from. Opportunity: We have the evidence of multiple benefits but we need the funds to implement at scale; SDG all; Cases  Opportunity: Think of SDGs in terms of clusters because that is how they work; SDG 15 (life on land); Cases  Strength: Addressing several SDGs at the same time contributes effectively to eradication of poverty; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Strength: Helps to address negative perceptions of animal agriculture that is building; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Challenge: We have good tools to measure impact but not to measure the benefits; SDG all; Tools  Challenge: Increasing production is not enough on its own to eliminate hunger or improve nutrition; SDG all; Cases  Challenge: What is the long-term impact of these solutions?; SDG all; Cases Indicators, models and data  Challenge: Capture progress to quantify impact; SDG 1 (no poverty); Tools  Challenge: Need for sex-disaggregated data; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Challenge: Very hard to capture data from pastoral systems; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Challenge: Diversity of countries is difficult (not failure); SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Cases  Challenge: common standard/indicators; SDG 17 (partnership for the goals); Cases  Challenge: In some countries will not have enough base data; SDG 15 (life on land); Tools  Challenge: lack of base data. Where to get the data?; SDG 15 (life on land); Tools  Challenge: Indicator measuring… a big challenge (ongoing…); SDG 15 (life on land); Cases  Challenge: Social benefits often lacking due to little data correlating it to economics and environment; SDG all; Tools  Challenge: data needs to be accessible esp. for interested stakeholders; SDG 17 (partnership for the goals); Tools  Challenge: identifying appropriate metrics is an indicators to measure impacts; SDG 2 (zero hunger);  Challenge: Ensure gender disaggregated input data for the model; SDG 5 (gender); Tools  Challenge: Integrate social aspects in your model; SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth); Tools  Challenge: Misses the social dimension; SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth); Tools  Challenge: need to include gender data in regional profiles so models can extrapolate benefits gained through improvements; SDG 5 (gender); Tools  Challenge: data reliability high level; SDG 2 (zero hunger);  Challenge: Addressing trade-offs and synergies; SDG 1 (no poverty); Tools  Challenge: Assessing impact of the tool; SDG 1 (no poverty); Tools  Challenge: Comparison before/after (impact) not possible; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Challenge: different though similar methodologies. Need closer dialogue between 'developers' (please); SDG 1 (no poverty); Tools  Challenge: Good socio-economic tools disconnected from environment; SDG 15 (life on land); Tools  Challenge: data accuracy to build the model (14 countries so far); SDG 17 (partnership for the goals); Tools  Challenge: how will dynamic systems like pastoral systems be captured?; SDG 17 (partnership for the goals); Tools  Challenge: In general the consumer perspective seems under represented; SDG 17 (partnership for the goals); Cases  Challenge: representation of all livestock production groups + all regions; SDG 2 (zero hunger);  Challenge: It should be integrated with other tools.; SDG 1 (no poverty); Tools  Challenge: Linkages between economic models and environmental models is essential; SDG 1 (no poverty); Tools  Challenge: Should include biodiversity; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Challenge: Social issues not included, lack of appropriate linkages; SDG 1 (no poverty); Tools  Challenge: Very good tool for industry-based livestock production systems -seems difficult to apply for smallholder farms; SDG 1 (no poverty); Tools  Challenge: No consistency in measuring impact; SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Cases  Challenge: It will be difficult to standardize across very different production systems --> harmonization methods and common methods; SDG 3 (good health and wellbeing); Cases  Challenge: Nutrition impacts?; SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Tools  Challenge: Links with existing instruments not visible; SDG 13 (climate action); Tools  Challenge: Needs more quantitative application of case studies; SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth); Cases  Challenge: upscaling, data acquisition, alignment with existing harmonized metrics and methods (e.g. LEAP); SDG 17 (partnership for the goals); Tools Opportunity: Farmer to farmer exchanges will greatly boost spread of the tool; SDG 1 (no poverty); Tools  Opportunity: Farmers to farmers learning and sharing lessons; SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth); Cases  Opportunity: Mobile phones to spread tools to farmers; SDG 1 (no poverty); Tools  Opportunity: Awareness raising to strengthen existing OIE standards and regulations to safeguard animal welfare; SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Cases  Opportunity: Exchange solutions/ideas around common resources (land tenure); SDG 17 (partnership for the goals); Cases  Opportunity: Exchange good practices between countries; SDG 13 (climate action); Cases  Opportunity: Communication adapted to stakeholders GHG --> Farmers (production efficiency).'International markets 'low emission credits'); SDG 15 (life on land); Cases  Opportunity: Extension services are key for sound livestock management and implementing innovation; SDG all; Cases  Strength: Learn from each other, exchange good practices; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Strength: Publically accessible tools to increase efficiency of livestock feed production; SDG 13 (climate action); Tools  Challenge: Better share information with farmers; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Challenge: Focus on awareness raising; SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Cases  Challenge: Lack of awareness; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Challenge: How the study can be scaled up; SDG 1 (no poverty); Tools  Opportunity: More women involved in livestock disease monitoring; SDG 1 (no poverty); Tools  Opportunity: Potential to empower women; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Opportunity: Gender-based solutions enable bigger impact + production; SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Cases  Opportunity: Frameworks for partnerships to be gender sensitive and flexible; SDG 17 (partnership for the goals); Tools  Opportunity: Link to gender to ensure nutrition awareness of animal sourced foods for maternal and infants/children health development; SDG 2 (zero hunger); Tools  Opportunity: Increase women's participation in market activities which places them in better position to make nutritious decisions; SDG 3 (good health and wellbeing); Tools  Opportunity: Measure gendered preferences in food; SDG 3 (good health and wellbeing); Tools  Opportunity: Economic benefits for gender equality; SDG 5 (gender); Tools  Strength: Addressing vulnerability of effects as different by gender; SDG 13 (climate action); Tools  Strength: Income and the role of women (gender); SDG 2 (zero hunger); Cases  Strength: Embedding gender discussion in the trainings; SDG 5 (gender); Cases  Strength: Farmers (6000!) are using the tool, mean and women; SDG 5 (gender); Cases  Strength: Good tool for gender equality -nice to see results after training; SDG 5 (gender); Tools  Strength: trainings involve both women and men; SDG 5 (gender); Cases  Challenge: How change gender situation from cultural background; SDG 3 (good health and wellbeing); Tools  Challenge: need to capture gender equity; SDG 5 (gender); Cases  Challenge: Address vulnerability -as there are gender issues; SDG 13 (climate action); Tools  Challenge: Risk that men may take over control of income from small ruminants -no gender strategy; SDG 5 (gender); Cases  Challenge: How to increase women's access to knowledge and improve decision making; SDG 5 (gender); Cases  Challenge: Needs upscaling with gender consideration; SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth); Cases  Challenge: Incorporate men opinion in gender assessment; SDG 3 (good health and wellbeing); Tools  Challenge: ambitious plan but not fully funded; SDG 5 (gender); Cases  Challenge: Creating awareness and assessment on gender equity; SDG 5 (gender); Cases  Challenge: Gender equity data could be included in regional data to extrapolate the benefits of improvements; SDG 5 (gender); Tools  Challenge: gender not considered (but is it an issue?); SDG 5 (gender); Cases  Challenge: Gender not considered -some benefits e.g. access to different foods -but not captured; SDG 5 (gender); Cases  Challenge: In the livestock world it is necessary to have a gender equality to determine and treat animals more carefully; SDG 5 (gender); Tools  Challenge: Indirect impact on gender equity through economic and nutrition effects; SDG 5 (gender); Cases  Challenge: Integration of women in the value chain; SDG 5 (gender); Cases  Challenge: Lack of social measures in the model relation to gender for now; SDG 5 (gender); Tools  Challenge: need to identify economic benefits achieved through gender equality; SDG 5 (gender); Tools  Challenge: Social measures are not included in GLEAM including gender balance; SDG 5 (gender); Tools  Challenge: Women active at community level but low decision making power at household levels; SDG 5 (gender); Cases  Challenge: Women not involved much in trainings but being addressed through training timing;SDG 5 (gender); Cases Opportunity: Enhance resilience for farmers; SDG 1 (no poverty); Tools  Opportunity: Environmental integrity for future; SDG 1 (no poverty); Tools  Opportunity: Increase family income; SDG 15 (life on land); Cases  Opportunity: Livestock has great potential for poverty reduction, gender gap reduction; SDG all; Cases  Opportunity: Need system that can survive risks (reserves against climate shocks); SDG all; Cases  Opportunity: Optimizing livestock reduces carbon emissions; SDG all; Cases  Opportunity: High potential of dairying for nutrition, poverty alleviation; SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Cases  Opportunity: Potential of beef intensification to reduce poverty; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Strength: Ability to target the poor; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Strength: Clear focus on poorest farmers; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Strength: Focus on diseases of the poor; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Strength: Income goes up --> adoption goes up; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Strength: Increasing milk production has led to more income more education; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Strength: Targets poor population segments (smallholders, women); SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Strength: Case studies show increase in productivity and profitability; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Strength: Better income of marginal minorities; SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Cases  Strength: different scales are represented to target poverty; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Strength: Can increase profit (after a creation time); SDG 2 (zero hunger);  Strength: Improved marketing = improved income = improved bargaining power; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Strength: People have better income and food made possible by cooperative approach; SDG 3 (good health and wellbeing); Cases  Challenge: What is the direct or indirect benefit to small producers?; SDG 1 (no poverty); Tools  Challenge: create greater awareness of social value of livestock; SDG 17 (partnership for the goals); Cases  Challenge: In a poverty context, animal welfare is a luxury. Survival takes precedence over it; SDG 17 (partnership for the goals); Cases  Challenge: In an industrial production context, animal welfare care can reduce profits; SDG 17 (partnership for the goals); Cases  Challenge: Convincing that animal welfare is not a western luxury; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Challenge: Welfare standard may not be the same across the globe; SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Cases  Challenge: there is a perceived cost associated with animal welfare; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Challenge: Does not directly link to vulnerable populations (smallholder); SDG 2 (zero hunger);  Challenge: translation to populations suffering from hunger /vulnerable; SDG 2 (zero hunger); Opportunity: Combine forest + pasture to ensure feed availability --> more incentives?; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Opportunity: Decrease PPR and other small ruminant disease will increase productivity and effective use of resources; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Opportunity: Increase forage value. Decrease fertilizers. Decrease irrigation; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Opportunity: Knowledge of carbon footprint -reduced carbon emissions; SDG 1 (no poverty); Tools  Opportunity: Reducing concentrates allows for money to be used elsewhere; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Opportunity: Silvo-pastoralism to increase sustainability and address climate change; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Opportunity: Using technical solutions (use of concentrates) to decrease impact on natural environment; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Opportunity: AMR very relevant for intensive large livestock farms; SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Cases  Opportunity: Antibiotic (mis)use is very crucial and partnerships are needed since the 'official' mechanisms are very slow; SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Cases  Opportunity: Exporting animal products instead of live animals would (also) improve animal welfare; SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production);  Opportunity: Improved grasslands for dairy animals increase frequent milk supply and semisettlement of nomads; SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Cases  Opportunity: Livestock have a role in land rehabilitation; SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Cases  Opportunity: Use max nutrient soil, max MT fodder per acre, conserve water micro irrigation, confine movement stock, genetics cross-breeds to max growth rates and numbers; SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Tools  Opportunity: Better animal management means better production / unit GHG's; SDG 13 (climate action); Cases  Opportunity: Extensive systems less in need of antibiotics; SDG 13 (climate action); Cases  Opportunity: Identifying losses in value chains enables us to increase efficiency; SDG 13 (climate action); Tools  Opportunity: Avoid losses to increase efficiency of productivity; SDG 15 (life on land); Tools  Opportunity: Decide the seasonal changes in stocking rate; SDG 15 (life on land); Tools  Opportunity: Guidelines provide traceability to consumer; SDG 15 (life on land); Tools  Opportunity: identify where to reduce losses; SDG 15 (life on land); Tools  Opportunity: Improve efficiency of production; SDG 15 (life on land); Tools  Opportunity: Increase efficiency of value chains; SDG 15 (life on land); Tools  Opportunity: Animal disease a good entry point for farmers. Can help identify need for partnerships; SDG 17 (partnership for the goals); Tools  Opportunity: Access to market; SDG 3 (good health and wellbeing); Cases  Opportunity: Animal welfare equals animal health, equals sustainable livestock; SDG 3 (good health and wellbeing); Cases  Opportunity: Animal welfare links to several SDGs -horizontal nature; SDG 3 (good health and wellbeing); Cases  Opportunity: Improve value of working animal (e.g. donkey) for women support; SDG 5 (gender); Cases  Opportunity: Control of transboundary issues opens export opportunities; SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth); Tools  Opportunity: Animal welfare supporting economics of the food chain; SDG all; Cases  Opportunity: Extensive systems have great environmental potential; SDG all; Cases  Opportunity: Improving smallholder access to markets addresses SDGs 1,2,5,8,12; SDG all; Cases  Opportunity: Information from farmer to market to farm helps farmer decision making in real time and promote fair trade; SDG all; Tools  Opportunity: Livestock decreases soil dependency on phosphorous; SDG all; Cases  Opportunity: Silvo pastoralism can deliver multiple benefits but it requires private and public sectors to work on access to land; SDG all; Cases  Opportunity: Simple improvement on herd management, feed, manure can increase milk and meat production and decrease GHG emissions; SDG all; Cases  Strength: Developing both regional markets and branded (tribal) in Hanoi; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Strength: Better offtake + market supply through multi-stakeholder platforms; SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Cases  Strength: Integrated approach to rangeland management (producers, academics, research etc.); SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Cases  Strength: Grasslands can mitigate GHG through Carbon sequestration; SDG 15 (life on land); Cases  Strength: addressing pastoral groups which are communally vulnerable populations; SDG 2 (zero hunger);  Strength: Increase production while considering environment; SDG 2 (zero hunger); Cases  Strength: Institutional partners shifting focus from production alone to include nutrition; SDG 2 (zero hunger);  Strength: Addresses a real need on understanding of livestock in social development; SDG 3 (good health and wellbeing); Cases  Strength: Education essential element of raising awareness on animal welfare; SDG 3 (good health and wellbeing); Cases  Strength: Whole herd approach to disease management; SDG 3 (good health and wellbeing); Cases  Challenge: Challenge is livestock movement in pastoralist areas; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Challenge: Disconnection between market and production center (instable market); SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Challenge: Improve connection to higher value markets; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Challenge: Linkages between farmers and market still low; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Challenge: Providing opportunities beyond productive level; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Challenge: Public land -more difficult to encourage change; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Challenge: Market linkage development is challenging; SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Cases  Challenge: Sustainability of restored communal grasslands. How to share the communal resources?; SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Cases  Challenge: Increasing number competitors for the same feed resource; SDG 15 (life on land); Tools  Challenge: thinking through environment options of feed options; SDG 15 (life on land); Tools  Challenge: resistance by some groups because for land ownership; SDG 2 (zero hunger);  Challenge: No \"Solution\" yet on breeding in pastoral areas (different approach needed); SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Challenge: Small numbers. Measurement of carbon sequestration on soil.; SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Cases  Challenge: determine the best combination tree-forage crops for better soil sequestration?; SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth); Cases  Challenge: Needs holistic approach for better livelihood improvement; SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth); Cases Opportunity: Develop interactions with nutrition communities; SDG 3 (good health and wellbeing); Tools  Opportunity: Understand and quantify economic multipliers as development occurs; SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth); Tools  Opportunity: Milk safety/school milk programme. Best practice copied between countries (but 13 countries?) -Est. private sector involved to make it sustainable; SDG 3 (good health and wellbeing); Cases  Opportunity: Helps to design targeted disease control programmes (production --> poverty); SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Tools  Opportunity: Incentives that match the diversity of specific situations; SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Cases  Strength: Community-based breeding program recognised by government. (In Ethiopia) for small ruminants + advanced in sheep; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Strength: Technical agent becomes more of a facilitator -help farmers find right management change; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Strength: Champions are important and efficient (in kind contributions, knowledge products); SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Cases  Strength: Different interventions driven initially by different objectives that converge towards the same goal; SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Cases  Strength: Engages multiple crop + food production systems; SDG 2 (zero hunger); Cases  Strength: incentives for farmers; SDG 2 (zero hunger);  Strength: methods are practical and can be easily implemented; SDG 2 (zero hunger);  Strength: Integration of household level data with geospatial, etc. data to measure, influences of livestock; SDG 2 (zero hunger);  Challenge: Short time span to achieve impact; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Challenge: Solutions have to fit within the present; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Challenge: Changing mindsets to business orientation; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Challenge: Need implementation in the field; SDG 1 (no poverty); Tools  Challenge: How do you get from assessment to action?; SDG 13 (climate action); Cases  Challenge: Guidelines can help characterizing current system -can it be adapted to facilitate decision-making for changes to improve system performance?; SDG 1 (no poverty); Tools  Challenge: How do you deal with long term trends versus short term shocks?; SDG 13 (climate action); Tools  Challenge: How to generate evidence -bring out difference between intensive and extensive; SDG 13 (climate action); Cases  Challenge: Benefits on ground level? Smallholders? --> Promote links; SDG 15 (life on land); Cases  Challenge: overcome cultures of the past; SDG 15 (life on land); Tools  Challenge: Perennity of the platform?; SDG 15 (life on land); Cases  Challenge: Milk safety/school milk programme. Relative short in action, evidence needs to come; SDG 3 (good health and wellbeing); Cases  Challenge: test the conceptual model in other situations; SDG 3 (good health and wellbeing); Tools  Challenge: Tools should be tested in different production systems of livestock (dairy, beef, small ruminants); SDG 3 (good health and wellbeing); Tools  Challenge: How do we make this both inclusive but also fast enough to meet the 2030 target? MS processes need attention; SDG 17 (partnership for the goals); Tools  Challenge: Practical application towards climate aspects not obvious; SDG 13 (climate action); Cases  Challenge: Private sector cannot use it yet; SDG 17 (partnership for the goals); Tools  Challenge: lack of political support; SDG 2 (zero hunger);  Challenge: Only evaluated at a research level; SDG 2 (zero hunger);  Challenge: A top down approach. Too soon to see the weaknesses and strengths; SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth); Cases  Challenge: So far, there is no direct impact on dairy farmers. However the platform developed a framework for policy dialogue; SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth); Cases  Challenge: Insufficient clarity on profitability of livestock solutions for farmers; SDG all; Tools  Challenge: Need a big support from government to be apply; SDG 2 (zero hunger); Tools  Challenge: Limited multiplier effect; SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Cases Capacity development  Strength: Capacitation of local research centres (national) --> Uptake at government level; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Strength: International networking to improve research capacities and solutions is quite valuable in particular among animal health institutions; SDG 17 (partnership for the goals); Field visit  Strength: There is a relevant institutional capacity (NAHDIC) to develop solutions in animal health problems; SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth);  Challenge: Capacitated people leaving; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Challenge: Increase farmer capacity; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases  Challenge: Developing countries not capable to fulfil; SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production); Cases  Challenge: Extension people not capacitated; SDG 1 (no poverty); Cases"}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"59a9bab92978e274b98c5ea7be4ee721","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://repository.cimmyt.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/5035e598-8a8e-441b-8974-9a6e611f2abc/content","id":"-5033631"},"keywords":["Nutritive appraisal","Biofortified","Developin","Wheat"],"sieverID":"2d898e7a-0614-4a85-858b-52440826a65d","content":"Essential micronutrients such as iron and zinc deficiencies affect more than two billion people globally especially the pregnant women and children below the age of five. Wheat, like many other staple cereals, contains low levels of the essential micronutrients iron and zinc. It contributes 13.1 percent to the value added in agriculture and 2.8 percent to GDP of Pakistan. National Wheat Breeding program at Faisalabad, Pakistan analyzed 240 samples of wheat varieties/lines both from irrigated and rainfed conditions. The analysis revealed that 1000 grain weight ranged from 23.9-50.2 in irrigated and 31-42.0 g in rainfed conditions while test weight range was found to be 59.9-75.8 (irrigated) and 64.5-79.9 Kg hl -1 (rain-fed). Protein and gluten content ranged between 12.0-16.1 & 13-16.2 and 21-34 & 21-38% in irrigated and rainfed trial, respectively. Starch content was found to be 51.8-57.1 and 51.9-56.1% in irrigated and rain-fed set, respectively. Falling No. (FN) values were recorded in the range of 352-814 in irrigated and 352-814 sec in the rain-fed set. Most of the varieties/lines had narrow range of  in irrigated and rainfed trial, respectively. In irrigated, conditions, cluster 3(5 genotypes) represented relatively high value of Fe and Zn contents while in rainfed condition, cluster 2 (31 genotypes) and cluster 3(15 genotypes) represented relatively high value Zn. Statistical analysis of both sets showed gluten & protein being directly correlated to each other, showing a positive correlation with Fe & Zn but a negative one with starch. In both sets, a direct correlation of FN with starch was observed only in rainfed set.Wheat production was estimated at 25.750 million tons during 2016-17 [1] which was surplus than country requirement and serves as an important indicator of food security. Annual consumption of wheat on per capita basis is 125 Kg [2] and mostly it is consumed as chapatti (unleavened flat bread).Wheat, like many other staple cereals, contains low levels of the essential micronutrients iron and zinc. Globally up to two billion people are victim of iron and zinc deficiencies, particularly in regions with predominantly cereal-based diets [3]. Nutritional considerations, therefore, are vital. It contributes 13.1 percent to the value added in agriculture and 2.8 percent to GDP of Pakistan.Wheat crops play an important role in satisfying daily calorie intake in Pakistan, but they are inherently very low in Fe, Zn and protein concentrations in grain, particularly when grown on Fe and Zn-deficient soils. Wheat serves as an important dietary item of the people of Pakistan and accounts for nearly 843 Kcal/capita/day of energy (37 percent of daily calories) and 22 g/capita/day of protein (37 percent of daily protein consumption). Therefore, it calls for quality depiction to determine nutritive value in respect of its intake.Wheat was physico-chemically evaluated to find out its qualitative status in order to develop bio-fortified wheat which may be useful in overcoming Fe and Zn deficiency among vulnerable population. National Wheat Breading program based 240 samples of various wheat varieties/lines included in Irrigated and Rainfed National Uniform Wheat Yield Trials NUWYT) during 2016-17 were physico chemically analyzed for quality characteristics like 1000 grain weight, test weight, protein, starch, gluten, falling number, Fe and Zn.Protein was determined by Kjeldahl method (Instruction manual VELP Scientifica). Two grams sample was taken and added a tablet of digestion mixture and 10 ml suphuric acid. Digested sample was diluted. After distillation sample was titrated against sodium hydroxide. Protein was determined after multiplying correction factor with nitrogen percentage. Starch by NIR instrument (instruction Manual Omeg Analyzer G) wheat sample was taken in hopper and used eighteen mm sample spacer for getting reading of starch content value [4]. Gluten content by glutomatic apparatus used in ISO-17025 certified CT Lab [5]. A 10 gram sample of flour weighed and placed into the glutomatic washing chamber on top of the polyester screen. The sample was mixed and washed with a 2 percent salt solution for 5 minutes. The wet gluten was removed from the washing chamber, placed in the centrifuge holder and centrifuged. The residue retained and passed through the screen was weighed. α-amylase activity by falling number apparatus being used in ISO-17025 certified CT Lab [6]. About seven gram sample of ground wheat was weighed and combined with 25 ml of distilled water in a glass falling number tube with a stirrer and shaken to form slurry. As the slurry was heated in a boiling water bath at 100 Degree Celsius and stirred constantly, the starch gelatinized and formed a thick paste. The time took the stirrer to drop through the paste was recorded as the falling number value. 1000 grain weight was determined by counting the grains from seed counter, Numigral II (Chopin, France). After counting 1000 grains, their weight was done with the help of balance (GR 200, Japan) used in the ISO-17025 Certified cereal technology laboratory. Test weight of the wheat samples was assessed with test weight apparatus. A bowl of one liter capacity was filled with wheat recorded as more than 250 seconds represent sound wheat which may again indirectly related to improve food security. Most of the varieties/ lines had narrow range of minerals i.e. 31-32.6 and 31.2-33.9 ppm Zn in irrigated and rain-fed trial while Fe ranged from 35-40 in irrigated and 35-43 ppm in rain-fed conditions, respectively [10]. In irrigated and rain-fed set, statistical analysis showed positive correlation of gluten with protein and Zn while it was negatively correlated with starch. Protein had positive correlation with Zn and negative correlation with starch (Tables 1 and 2).Similarly iron depicted positive association with protein and Zn. Additionally in irrigated condition, association between gluten and iron was positive while iron had negative association with starch [11,12]. The vector view of the Biplot (Figures 1 and 2) provides a concise summary of the interrelationships among the traits and genotypes. The traits values are joined to the origin by side lines. Values with short spokes do not exert strong interactive forces. Those with extended spokes put forth well-built interaction. The values representing the traits are connected to the origin. In irrigated condition (Figure 3), cluster 1, cluster 2 and cluster 3 consisted of 33, 22 and 5 genotypes, which represent 55%, 37% and 8% of total genotypes, respectively. Cluster 1 exhibited relatively high value of protein and gluten while low value of starch percentage. Cluster 2 had relatively high value of grain weight while notably lowest value of falling number. Cluster 3 represented relatively high value of Fe and Zn contents. While in rainfed condition (Figure 4), cluster 1, cluster 2 and cluster 3 consisted of 14, 31 and 15 genotypes, which grains and by weighing with the help of this apparatus test weight was measured. Test weight of the wheat samples was assessed with test weight apparatus. A bowl of 1 liter capacity was filled with wheat grains and by weighing with the help of this apparatus, test weight was measured. Iron and Zinc were analysed by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (Model: 969, Unicam Limited, Cambridge, UK); Furnace (Model: GF 90, Unicam Limited, Cambridge, UK) with temperature range 250-600 ± 10 °C and Furnace Auto-Sampler (Model: FS 90, Unicam Limited, Cambridge, UK) through AOAC Method No. 985. 35 [7].National uniform wheat yield trials (Irrigated and Rain-fed) samples were physico-chemically analysed for various quality characteristics. Analysis of the various quality parameters revealed; 1000 grain weight ranged from 23.9-50.2 g in Irrigated and 31.0-42.0 g in rain-fed condition while test weight range was found to be 59.9-75.8 (Irrigated) and 64.5-79.9 Kg hl -1 (rain-fed). Higher grain weight and test weight of varieties are related to higher production of wheat and are helpful to improve food security in the country [8]. Protein content ranged between 12.0-16.1 and 13.0-16.2 % in irrigated and rain-fed trial, respectively while gluten was found to be in the range of 21-34 % in irrigated set and 21-38 % in the rain-fed set. Higher values in combination with other foods [9] may be helpful to cover Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM) Starch contents were found to be 51.8-57.1 and 51.9-56.1% in irrigated and rain-fed set, respectively and falling number value was recorded in the range of 352-814 sec in irrigated and rain-fed set. Falling number value        represent 23%, 52% and 25% of total genotypes, respectively. Cluster 1 exhibited relatively high value of test weight. Cluster 2 had high value of Fe. Cluster 3 represented relatively high value of grain weight, protein, gluten and Zn while lowest value of falling number (Table 3). To cover iron and zinc deficiency among vulnerable population, it is the need of the time to fortify wheat flour with iron and zinc. Moreover, Blackstrap molasses may be added in the bakery products to replace their sugar contents and also to improve their iron content. Among other techniques best preferred approach is to develop wheat varieties containing high iron and zinc content [13]. For this purpose, various wheat varieties/lines are being screened for iron and zinc contents to develop bio-fortified wheat.The analysis revealed that 1000 grain weight was higher (23.9-50.2 g) in irrigated than the rainfed condition (31-42.0 g) while test weight was found to be lower in irrigated condition (59.9-75.8) higher in rainfed condition (64.5-79.9 Kg hl -1 ). Protein, gluten, and starch content ranged between 12.0-16.1, 13-16. Fe and Zn contents while in rainfed condition, cluster 2 (31 genotypes) and cluster 3(15 genotypes) represented relatively high value Zn. To overcome iron and zinc deficiency among defenseless population, there could be several approaches such as fortifying wheat flour with iron and zinc, adding blackstrap molasses in the bakery products, however, the most preferred and sustainable option is the development of bio fortified wheat varieties and makes those available to the vulnerable masses."}

main/part_1/0512708837.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"af11ccde0ad1686ad3364574285e9ae5","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/9e27b718-fd10-43f2-a1d5-b2c2bc7e47bd/retrieve","id":"-1544263054"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"b4671b38-d321-4409-8347-65b45cee3f23","content":"The workshop was conducted with the active participation of scientists from the following CGIAR centers as well as from international organizations and national agricultural research systems:Workshop reports aim to disseminate interim climate change, agriculture and food security research and practices and stimulate feedback from the scientific community.A collaborative project, Predicting climate change induced vulnerability of African agricultural systems to major insect pests through advanced insect phenology modeling, and decision aid development for adaptation planning, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Cooperation and Development (BMZ), was implemented from 2010 to 2014 by the International Potato Center (CIP), Lima, Peru, with its partners at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, Kenya, and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Nigeria. The project further developed and extended the use and application of the free and open-source Insect Life Cycle Modeling (ILCYM) software. ILYCM was used to develop temperature-dependent pest phenology models for 19 important insect pests of agricultural and horticultural crops in Africa and to apply these models in Geographic Information Systems to understand better the impact of current and future climates on pest establishment, abundance, and spread potential. The objectives of the workshop were to inform stakeholders in plant health, plant quarantine, and pest management about future pest risks on global, regional, and local scales in Africa and to use this information for crop-specific adaptation planning and to define priorities in pest management. Climate change will aggravate the already serious challenges to food security and agricultural sustainability in Africa due to increasing pest problems, which was demonstrated for major pests of potato (potato tuber moth, Phthorimaea operculella; Guatemalan potato tuber moth, Tecia solanivora; Serpentine leafminer, Liriomyza huidobrensis; vegetable leafminer, Liriomyza sativae; Greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporarium); sweetpotato (Sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci); maize (Spotted stemborer, Chilo partellus; Maize stalk borer, Busseola fusca; African pink borer, Sesamia calamistis); cassava (Cassava mealybug, Phenacoccus manihoti; Cassava green mite, Mononychellus tanajoa); and fruits (Tephritid fruit fly, Bactrocera invadens). Owing to higher temperatures in future, pest incidence might also potentially decrease in certain regions. Detailed Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) results will be published in the forthcoming Pest Distribution and Risk Atlas for Africa: Potential global and regional distribution and abundance of agricultural and horticultural pests and associated biocontrol agents under current and future climates. Participants discussed crop-specific adaptation plans and proposed five major recommendations for an action plan: (1) phenology modeling and pest risk mapping, including interactions with pests' natural enemies under current and future climates become important part of PRA implemented in the framework of International Plant Protection Convention; (2) establish a regional platform and network on pest risks under future climates, and create links and interactions with other climate change initiatives; (3) research needs identified during the workshop should be addressed in order to expand models to other major pests and to improve predictions of risks; (4) the capacity of National Plant Protection Organizations needs to be improved to adequately incorporate pest risk mapping results into adaptation planning to manage future pest risks on regional and country level; and (5) advocate for increased awareness of future pest risks under climate change and promote the inclusion of pest risk adaptation planning at country level under the relevant ministries.We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of BMZ for the project \"Predicting climate change induced vulnerability of African agricultural systems to major insect pests through advanced insect phenology modeling and decision aid development for adaptation planning\" in which the framework of this stakeholder workshop was conducted.Societies in Africa are highly dependent on agriculture, an activity traditionally vulnerable to unpredictable changes in climatic conditions. Any increase in temperature, caused by climate change, coupled with a decline in rainfall, will have direct and indirect drastic effects on crop production and hence food security. This will exacerbate existing vulnerabilities of the resourceconstrained farmers who depend on agriculture for a living. On average, 30-50% of the yield losses in agricultural crops are caused by pests despite the application of pesticides to control them.Climate, especially temperature, has a strong and direct influence on insect pest population development and growth. A rise in temperature, due to climate change, may both increase or decrease pest development rates and related crop losses. Further, an increase in temperature can potentially affect range expansion and outbreaks of many insect pests. Therefore, if adequate integrated pest management (IPM) strategies are not developed and made available to farmers, greater crop yield and quality losses could ultimately arise. Pesticides are out of reach for most subsistence farmers in Africa, causing them to rely on density-dependent suppression of pests provided by a range of natural enemies. Some of these natural enemies have been successfully naturalized in classical biocontrol programs for a wide range of crop pests. However, studies indicate that climate change can dissociate natural enemy-pest relationships, because of a higher sensitivity of natural enemies to climatic variability or of different temperature optima. This might negatively affect successful classical biocontrol programs.The collaborative project \"Predicting climate change induced vulnerability of African agricultural systems to major insect pests through advanced insect phenology modeling, and decision aid development for adaptation planning\" is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and is being implemented by the International Potato Center (CIP), Lima, Peru, in collaboration with the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) and the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA). In the project pest risk assessments under potential future climates were conducted for a number of important insect pests of agricultural and horticultural crops in Africa using advanced pest phenology models and Geographic Information System (GIS) risk-mapping tools. The results of these investigations build a good foundation for understanding future pest risks on global, regional, and local scales and this information can be used for adaptation planning. To achieve food security in future and sustainable insect pest management under future climates, it is vital that all stakeholders work together to define priorities in pest management and adaptation planning.To inform stakeholders in plant health, plant quarantine, and pest management about future pest risks on global, regional, and local scales in Africa, and to use this information for crop-specific adaptation planning and to define priorities in pest management.The workshop was held on 28-30 May 2014, at the Royal Suites Hotel, Kampala, Uganda (see Annex 1). In total, 27 participants from 12 countries attended the workshop (see Annex 2). Participants included scientists and staff from the following: (1) CGIAR and affiliated centers-CIP, icipe, and IITA; (2) national agricultural research organizations (NAROs)-Rwanda Agricultural Board (RAB), Rwanda; NARO, Uganda; DLCO-EA, Ethiopia; Makota ARS, Malawi; (3) ministries of Agriculture-Burundi, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda; and (4) universities-Makerere University, Uganda.The workshop program was divided into five major parts: (1) pest risk analysis (PRA) and modeling approaches to understand the impact of climate change on insect pests; (2) potential range expansion and abundance of pests in selected crops (potato and vegetables, maize, cassava, and fruits); (3) distribution and potential efficacy of pests' associated biocontrol agents under future climates; (4) country situation analysis on insect pests and changes due to climate change; and (5) adaptation planning and discussion of an action plan on \"Adaptation to Pest Risks under future Climates in Africa.\"Participants were introduced to objectives or programs of the workshop, which included the potential impact of climate change on insect pests, pest phenology modeling, and GIS approaches and methodologies used in the elaboration of a Pest Risk Atlas for Africa. This was followed by giving 12 pest-specific presentations all highlighting the impact of climate change on six, three, two, and one insect pests of potato and vegetable crops, maize, cassava, and fruits, respectively. Three other presentations followed to discuss the potential impact of climate change on beneficial insects (parasitoids). A synopsis on the current situation of insect pests in agricultural and horticultural crops and on priority pests under climate change for each country was presented by representatives of National Plant Protection Organizations (NPPOs) and NARS. These included the following aspects: (1) insect pests that have seemingly increased their prevalence, recurrence, and incidence during the past years probably due to climate change; (2) priority pests and main regions of incidence with respect to crops and cropping systems, extent and prevalence of damage, yield loss, and current control measures; (3) national capacities in terms of institutions/ laboratories dealing with insect pest management and climate change impacts, including diagnostics and surveillance; and (4) national adaptation plans in plant protection especially in insect pest management. In three parallel working groups, participants discussed and elaborated IPM adaptation plans for potato, maize, and cassava. In the plenary after presentations and discussions of the results by each working group, participants concluded the workshop with the formulation and adoption of workshop recommendations.Impact of climate change on insect pests Climate change will aggravate the already serious challenges to food security and agricultural sustainability in Africa due to increasing pest problems and related crop yield and quality losses. Insect pests are exothermic organisms and cannot internally regulate their own temperature, instead they depend on the temperature of the environment to which they are exposed. Hence, any temperature increase (depending on a species optimal temperature of development) is expected to increase pest pressure in agricultural systems through:• Range expansion of existing pests and invasion by new pests • Accelerated pest development leading to more pest cycles per season • Disruption of the temporal and geographical synchronization of pests and beneficial insects that increases the risk of pest outbreaks • Promotion of minor pests to primary pests through reduced host tolerance and changes in landscape characteristics and land-use practices • Increase of the susceptibility to pests in drought-stressed plants.Climate change will affect temperatures differently at global and regional levels; agro-ecosystems and crops will have different vulnerability to pests under future climates. Further, temperature increases in already warmer tropical regions will increase insect abundance and activity proportionally more than in colder regions due to already higher metabolism rates of organisms. A scientific-based framework and tools to support a better understanding and predictions of climate change effects on pests and natural enemies on different scales will be crucial to adapt IPM.Framework for PRA under future climates The development and implementation of PRA is advocated by the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) (FAO 2007). But it does not yet provide and include a framework for assessing and predicting climate change impacts on insect pests (and diseases) (Fig. 1).PRA is a science-based process that provides the rationale for determining phytosanitary measures for a specified PRA area. It is a process that evaluates technical, scientific, and economic evidence to determine whether an organism is a potential pest of plants and, if so, how it should be managed. The benefit of a PRA is to document all known information to help guide intervention strategies and to identify research gaps. New information that becomes available is used to update PRA document(s) to ensure that all appropriate knowledge is housed in a single location that is freely available to all in order to support the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures of the IPPC.The Insect Life Cycle Modeling (ILCYM) software as sub-framework for assessing the impact of climate on insect pests in PRA A framework for assessing the impact of climate change on future pest risks must consider the establishment potential of an insect pest in a new environment, its potential spread after an introduction, and its economic impact in terms of pest abundance (Fig. 2). The ILCYM software, developed by CIP, allows a PRA to be conducted according to these criteria (Kroschel et al. 2013). ILCYM is a free, open-source computer-aided tool built on R and Java codes and linked to uDig platform, a GIS application that contains basic tools for mapping and managing geographic information (Sporleder et al. 2013;Tonnang et al. 2013). The software package comprises three modules:1. The model builder, which facilitates the development of insect phenology models based on life table data derived from constant-temperature studies. 2. The validation and simulation module, which provides tools for validating the developed phenology model using insect life tables established at fluctuating temperature conditions. 3. The potential population distribution and risk mapping module, in which the phenology models are implemented in a GIS environment that allows for spatial global or regional simulations of species activities and mapping. Pest distribution and Pest Risk Atlas for Africa In the collaborative BMZ-funded project \"Predicting climate change induced vulnerability of African agricultural systems to major insect pests through advanced insect phenology modeling, and decision aid development for adaptation planning,\" phenology models based on life table studies have been developed for a wide range of major pests of potato, sweetpotato, vegetables, maize, cassava, and fruit crops as well as for associated parasitoids used in classical biological control programs (33 species were considered). These models have been used to simulate life table parameters and to calculate and map their potential establishment and distribution, abundance, and spread under current (2000) and future (2050) climate change scenarios. These risk maps are being used for PRA of each of the pests. Results will be published in the Pest Distribution and Risk Atlas for Africa: Potential global and regional distribution and abundance of agricultural and horticultural pests and associated biocontrol agents under current and future climates (see Annex 3). Advances in the risk mapping for selected pests and natural enemies have been presented and discussed at the workshop (see Annex 2).In the workshop the potential range expansion and abundance due to climate change was presented for: The analysis showed that climate change will affect the range expansion and abundance of pests; however, due to higher temperatures, pest incidence might also decrease in certain regions. Main shifts of the abovementioned pests are summarized in Tables 1-4 (pp. 11-12); detailed abstracts of the related presentations can be found in Annex 4.Annex 5 presents country synopses on important insect pests and aspects of climate change. Range expansion into southern countries; high increase of abundance across region; damage potential will increase in eastern and southern countries Greenhouse whitefly,An expansion to south of Africa and south of Latin America; will increase its abundance and damage potential A reduction in current high-risk areas in tropical regions; will decrease its abundance but its potential threat or damage potential remains An expansion to southern countries of Africa; will increase its abundance and damage potentialAn expansion to south of Africa and south of Latin America; will increase its abundance and damage potential A slight expansion into tropical highland regions; will increase its abundance and damage potential An expansion to southern countries of Africa; will increase its abundance and damage potential Widely distributed in India, Southeast Asia and East and Southeastern Africa; will decrease abundance in dry lowland and increase abundance above 1,000 masl Range reduction in dry lowland and expansion in mid-and high altitude; decrease in abundance in dry lowland and increase abundance above 1,000 masl Distributed in East and southeastern Africa; will decrease abundance in dry lowland and increase abundance above 1,000 masl in East and Southeastern AfricaRange reduction in lowland and expansion in higher altitudes; Distributed in all sub-Saharan Africa; will decrease abundance and damage inSub-tropical Tropical Africa decrease in abundance and damage in lowland and increase abundance and damage in altitude lowland and increase abundance and damage in altitude areas.Range reduction in lowland and expansion in altitude; decrease in abundance and damage in lowland and increase abundance and damage in altitude Distributed in all sub-Saharan Africa; will decrease abundance and damage in lowland and increase abundance and damage in altitude areas and in Austral Africa Slight range expansion given that the cassava crop also expands its range Small range expansion with higher establishment and abundance in the highland areas Decline in range and activity in much of the tropics but with higher abundance in highland areas Decline in establishment and abundance in coastal western and eastern and southern Africa, but range expansion into southern Africa and highlands of other parts of tropical and subtropical Africa Cassava green mite,Slight range expansion given that the cassava crop also expands its range Decline in range in northern subtropics but range expansion with higher establishment and abundance in the southern subtropics and especially highland areas.Decline in range and activity in much of the tropics but with higher abundance in highland areas.Decline in establishment and abundance in coastal western and eastern and southern Africa and in inland Central Africa, but range expansion into southern Africa and highlands of other parts of tropical and subtropical Africa, except for much of interior Angola which will see a decline in range and abundance Range decline in the northern subtropics and range expansion and higher abundance in the southern subtropics.Range decline in the northern tropics, and range expansion and higher abundance in the southern tropics; range expansion and higher abundance in all tropical highlands. Range decline in Western African and coastal eastern and southern Africa; range expansion and higher abundance in all African highlands and in southern Africa.The working groups identified common areas to be addressed as part of adaptation planning.Training of key focal persons of NPPOs, NARS, and quarantine services in PRA; and learning the use and application of modeling and mapping tools in ILCYM and the interpretation of risk maps. This should include training on pest diagnostics (taxonomy), building surveillance systems, and updating geo-referenced pest distribution maps.Establish information networks and platforms for PRA and surveillance systems (e.g., \"African climate change pest network\") that could be used to share and distribute information locally, regionally, and sub-regionally. The network could strengthen the regional collaboration by managing transboundary invasive pests and enforcing the implementation of the IPPC regulations.The Pest Risk Atlas would be best available in a printed version, flexible to update, and include new information as well as electronically on the ILCYM webpage providing interactive risk maps with high resolution to analyze individual pest risks on country and regional scales. The potential risks need to be communicated and translated into a simpler form to be more easily understood by policy-makers or farmers.Participants expressed the need to develop pest penology and risk maps for pests (e.g., aphids, different white fly biotypes) not yet considered but relevant locally and regionally in potato, maize, cassava, and other crops. This also includes phenology models of pests' natural enemies to better understand their importance and efficacy in pest control under changing climates. The modeling framework considers temperature as the main abiotic factor; the inclusion of other factors such as precipitation would be also important to better understand and predict population build up and abundance influenced by rainfall events. Finally, the risk indices do not provide predictions on potential yield losses and economic impacts, which is another important area of research to be addressed.Building resilient systems through conservation and augmentation of biological control agents for native and invasive pests will build the basis to cope with the potential range expansion and increase of pest abundance under climate change. Introduction of biocontrol agents for invasive pests should be made in an early approach to keep pest populations low. Extension staff and farmers need to be informed about potential changes and trained in the use and application of new tools of pest control and best cultural practices. For already highly relevant pests, new innovative methods of control need to be introduced and distributed (e.g., sex pheromones, attract-and-kill, or biopesticides) for control of the potato tuber moth, which will conserve natural enemies but effectively control key pests. Variety selection for resistance against pests was not yet very successful for potato but should be further considered in research. Chemical pesticides with low toxic and less harmful effects on natural enemies should be tested and used as a last option, especially during pest outbreaks.Reinforcing phytosanitary regulations for the movement of plant material (stakes, suckers) between regions and countries for limiting pest spread and distribution and use of resistant varieties built the basis of pest management. Further, classical biological control of invasive pests (mealybug, mite) and intercropping of banana-plantain and cassava for aphid and banana bunchy top disease management are important components for managing future pest risks.Consider timing of planting, short-cycled plant varieties, intercropping and rotation systems, and crop residue management to avoid and reduce pest infestations.Adaptation to pest risks under future climates in Africa: Recommendations for an action plan   For future scenario (2050), changes in a number of generations per year of >4 will be highest in Europe and Asia. In potato production areas of Africa, Asia and South America, P. operculella abundance and infestation is expected to become more severe, reflected in an increase of the area with >7 generations per year. The AI indicates the potential population growth throughout a year; an increase by 1 indicates a 10-fold higher increase rate. For 2050, an increase by a factor 5-10 is predicted for most potato growing regions worldwide especially in those regions where temperatures have not reached the upper temperature threshold. For Africa, establishment of P. operculella will potentially increase as well as number of generations (2-5 generations/year). There are only few regions that might become too warm for potato tuber moth and more likely also for potato production. Infestations in other Solanceaea crops such as tomato might increase. The activity will generally increase; only in regions where temperature may reach values of maximum temperature threshold for development, the population growth will be gradually reduced due to increasingly high temperature-induced mortality and reduced reproduction per female. P. operculella is already a cosmopolitan pest but climate change will support its further spread and abundance. Phytosanitary measures and inspections are important in those countries where the pest has not yet established.Canedo, V., B. Schaub, P. Carhuapoma, J. Kroschel International Potato Center (CIP), Lima, PeruThe Guatemalan potato tuber moth Tecia solanivora (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) is considered to be one of the most serious potato pests in Central and South America. It is a monophagous insect pest feeding only on potato tubers under field and storage conditions. Losses of 100% and up to 40% are reported under storage and field conditions, respectively. Guatemala is supposedly the country of origin. It is however endemic in the whole of Central America, and has invaded Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain). Larvae make galleries in tubers; damage is first noticed when fully grown larvae leave tubers for pupation. The adult female is light brown and has three marks in the forewings and light brown longitudinal lines. In contrast, the male is dark brown with two marks on the first pair of wings and faint longitudinal lines. They are nocturnal. T. solanivora can adapt from subtropical zones in Central America at 1,000 m asl to colder zones at 3,500 m.a. The number of generations in Central America, Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador ranged from 3 to 10 generations per year and future scenario (2050) may potentially increase its abundance by 2 to 4 generations especially in subtropical regions. Currently, a high activity (AI) is shown (6 -11.5) in Central America, Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador and in the future, a marked potential population growth might occur in Mexico, south of South America, southern Europe and southern Australia. In Africa, the risks of establishment will potentially decrease in all potato-growing regions, but potato-growing regions of Angola, Rwanda and Tanzania remain at high potential risk (ERI >0.8). T. solanivora is an A2 quarantine pest for EPPO and its spread is not only limited by temperature but also depends on the year round presence of potato tubers. Phytosanitary measures and IPM help to control and reduce its dissemination and related yield losses.Mujica N., P. Carhuapoma, J. Kroschel International Potato Center (CIP), Lima, PeruThe leafminer fly, Liriomyza huidobrensis (Blanchard) (Diptera: Agromyzidae) is a pest species from Central and South America, which had since the 1990s spread with plants to many parts of the world. In the tropics, subtropics and warmer parts of the temperate zone, L. huidobrensis has established itself in fields and has become greenhouse pest in colder climates of the northern hemisphere. L. huidobrensis has a wide host range. It causes direct damage to photosynthetic plant tissue due to larvae leaf mining, and damage by oviposition and feeding punctures (stipples) produced by adult females. Both crop yield and marketability are reduced, resulting in high economic losses to vegetable producers around the world. The polyphagous nature of L. huidobrensis, combined with high reproductive rates and rapid development of insecticide resistance, contributed to the success of L. huidobrensis as an invasive species. The life cycle is completed between 10 ºC (65.5 days) and 30 ºC (14.9 days), with the optimum temperature for overall population growth between 20-25 ºC. The establishment risk index (ERI), the generation index (GI), and the activity index (AI), allow to predict and explain the future distribution and damage potential of the pest under different climate change scenarios. An ERI of 0.8-1 reflects well the current global distribution of L. huidobrensis in the year 2000, as well as the high number of generations/year (GI>17) that develop in tropical and subtropical regions. Global predictions for 2050 indicate a potential reduction of high-risk areas (ERI>0.6) in these regions and a slight range expansion to more temperate regions, but still with a low establishment potential of the pest (ERI<0.6). Also, an increase of 2-4 generations/year can be potentially expected in Central and South America, Africa and Middle East. The AI indicates a potential increase in the potential growth of L. huidobrensis in Southern South America, and Southern Africa; instead increasing temperature along the Equator will potentially reduce L. huidobrensis activity. Early predictions could help adaptation to climate change by developing and supporting farmers with adequate pest management strategies to reduce greater crop yield and quality losses. Adapting to avoid risk at the farm level implies an ecological and economic control of leafminer based on integrated pest management by promoting natural regulation and combining cultural practices with physical and chemical control. Gamarra, H., P. Carhuapoma, J. Kreuze, J. Khadioli, N., B. Le Ru International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), Nairobi, Kenya Maize (Zea mays L.) is a major staple food crop in Africa. However maize production is severely reduced by feeding Lepidopterous insect pests. In East and Southern Africa, Chilo partellus (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is one of the most damaging cereal stem borers mainly found in the warmer lowland areas. In this study, it was hypothesized that the future distribution and abundance of C. partellus will be affected greatly by global warming. The temperature-dependent population growth potential of C. partellus was studied on artificial diet under laboratory conditions at six constant temperatures (15, 18, 20, 25, 28, 30, 32 and 35˚C), relative humidity of 75 ± 5% and a photoperiod of L12: L12 h. Several non-linear models were fitted to life-table data to model development time, mortality and reproduction of the insect. We used process-based phenology models and risk mapping in a Geographic Information Systems to assess the impact of global warming on the future distribution of C. partellus. The process-based phenology model is made of a number of functions describing temperature-dependent processes, which includes development time, mortality and reproduction of the insect species. Cohort up-dating algorithm and rate summation approach were stochastically used for simulating age and stage structure populations and generate life-table parameters. For spatial analysis of the pest risk, three risk indices (Establishment Risk Index,, Generation Index and Activity index) were visualized in the GIS component of the advanced Insect Life Cycle modeling (ILCYM) software. To predict the future distribution of C. partellus we used the climate change scenario A1B obtained from WorldClim and CCAFS databases. The maps were compared with available data on the current distribution of C. partellus in Kenya. The results show that the development times of the different stages decreased with increasing temperatures ranging from 18˚C to 35˚C; at the extreme temperatures, 15 ˚C and 38˚C, no egg could hatch and no larvae completed development. The study concludes that C. partellus may potentially expand its range into higher altitude areas, highland tropics and moist transitional, with highest maize potential where the species has not been recorded yet. This has serious implication in terms of food security since these areas produce approximately 80% of the total maize in sub Saharan Africa Maize stalk borer, Busseola fusca (Fuller) Khadioli, N., B. Le Ru International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), Nairobi, KenyaThe maize stalk borer Busseola fusca (Fuller) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is the most important indigenous pest of maize and other cereal crops throughout sub-Saharan Africa .It is more adapted to middle-and high-altitude zones (> 600 masl) in Eastern and Southern Africa where it is abundant in the highlands.In Central Africa, it occurs from sea level to over 2000 m. In West Africa, it is primarily a pest of sorghum in the dry Savannah zones. The temperature-dependent population growth potential of B. fusca was studied on artificial diet under laboratory conditions at six constant temperatures (12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 28, 30 and 35˚C,), relative humidity of 75 ± 5% and a photoperiod of L12: L12 h. Several non-linear models were fitted to the data to model development time, mortality and reproduction of the insect. We used processbased phenology models and risk mapping in a Geographic Information Systems to assess the impact of global warming on the future distribution of B. fusca. Life table parameters were calculated using Insect Life Cycle Modeling (ILCYM) software. At 12 and 35°C insects failed to develop. With the Insect Life Cycle Modeling (ILCYM) software, the obtained data on the temperature-dependent development of B. fusca was used to develop a process-based temperature phenology model. The model was used to estimate risk indices: the establishment risk index (ERI) that identifies areas in which the pest may survive and become permanently established, the generation index (GI), which estimates the mean number of generations the pest may produce within a given year and the activity index (AI), Further, a mapping and quantification of these indices changes between the climate scenarios of the years 2000 and 2050 was conducted using downscaled data of the scenario A1B from the worldClim database. The study concludes that B.fusca potential establishment and damage will progressively increase in highlands regions and may decrease in warmer cropping regions of the sub-Saharan Africa.Khadioli, N., B. Le Ru International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), Nairobi, KenyaThe African pink stemborer Sesamia calamistis (Hampson) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is widely distributed in Africa butonly economically important in West Africa .It does not often attain economically important status in Eastern and Southern Africa in spite of its wide occurrence on several crops. S. calamistis occurs at very low infestation levels and forms a small proportion of the total stem borer population outside West Africa. The contribution of S. calamistis to the total stem borer population varies over time and between regions but has been reported to be small in Southern Africa. The temperature-dependent population growth potential of S. calamistis was studied on artificial diet under laboratory condition at six constant temperatures (12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 28, 30 and 35˚C,), relative humidity of 75 ± 5% and a photoperiod of L12: L12 h. Several non-linear models were fitted to the data to model development time, mortality and reproduction of the insect. We used process-based phenology models and risk mapping in a Geographic Information Systems to assess the impact of global warming on the future distribution of S. calamistis. Life table parameters were calculated using Insect Life Cycle Modeling (ILCYM) software. At 12 and 35°C insects failed to develop. With the Insect Life Cycle Modeling (ILCYM) software, the obtained data on the temperature-dependent development of S. calamistis was used to develop a process-based temperature phenology model. After, the model was used to estimate risk indices: the establishment risk index (ERI) that identifies areas in which the pest may survive and become permanently established, the generation index (GI), which estimates the mean number of generations the pest may produce within a given year and the activity index (AI), Further, a mapping and quantification of these indices changes between the climate scenarios of the years 2000 and 2050 was conducted using downscaled data of the scenario A1B from the worldClim database. The study concludes that S. calamistis potential establishment, damage will progressively increase in highlands regions and may decrease in warmer cropping regions of the sub-Saharan Africa.  The cassava mealygug, Phenacoccus manihoti Matile-Ferrero 1977 (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), like the cassava green mite, it became a serious pest for cassava soon after its accidental introduction into Africa from the Neotropics in early 1970s. It quickly spread across the cassava belt in Africa causing estimated initial losses in cassava production of up to 80%. This pest, which is largely found on cassava, was brought under biological control in much of sub-Saharan Africa with the introduction and distribution of the parasitoid Anagyrus lopezi (De Santis, 1964). The pest invaded Thailand in 2008 and subsequently at least four other countries in Southeast Asia. In Thailand, it was promptly brought under biological control by 2013 with the introduction of A. lopezi from Africa by IITA-Benin in 2009. Several publications provided comprehensive information on the response of P. manihoti to range of temperatures, but none of these data could be used for modeling this species phenology using the ILCYM software because the original raw data could not be obtained and ILCYM could not use published data based on means of variances. We therefore conducted experiments, similar in methodology to published experiments, under six constant temperatures (15, 20, 25, 30, 31, and 34°C), to obtain the necessary data to develop a phenology model for P. manihoti which were validated with data generated from similar experiments under fluctuating temperatures. We then used ILCYM to map P. manihoti distribution and abundance under current and future climate scenarios using 2000 and 2050 WorldClim database. The results of the phenology models compared well with published literature on P. manihoti, with highest simulated rates of increase between 25 and 30°C, but no development and reproduction beyond 34°C. Validation at fluctuating temperature provided good approximation for the output at the constant temperature similar to the average temperature during validation. Mapping current distribution approximated well present distribution and abundance patterns; while 2050 predictions show considerable reductions in range especially in Western Africa, Southern India, and northern areas of Southeast Asia, while a range expansion and increase abundance is predicted for southern Africa and Southeastern Asia with highest shifts in highland areas. The most effective adaptation against P. manihoti is monitoring and surveillance where it is not present, and the introduction and conservation of A. lopezi for effective biological control and risk avoidance at farm level.International Potato Center, Lima, Peru.The Sri Lanka fruit fly, Bactrocera invadens Drew, Tsuruta & White (Diptera: Tephritidae), 2005 is a devastating highly polyphagous pest of fruits and vegetables (42 known hosts) in tropical Africa, where it was introduced in is presently found in at least 24 countries. In this study, we determined development, survival and reproduction of B. invadens on a carrot-based diet at six constant temperatures (15, 20, 25, 30, 33 and 35°C), with a relative humidity of ~75% and a L12:D12 photoperiod. We used these data in ILCYM to develop a temperature-based phenology model. We then used ILCYM for risk analysis of this pest under current and future climates using the three risk indices establishment, generation and activity. We modeled the phenology of this species quite successfully despite the long life cycle of this species at low temperature (~ 1 year). Our data is the only complete such data set over such range of temperatures. Mapping current distribution showed that this species can establish (as it has) widely in a range of tropical and subtropical conditions (but most successful at not more than 12 degrees north and south of the equator). There will be a reduction in both the distribution and abundance of this species in the tropics by the year 2050 but the indices of distribution and abundance remain high enough to indicate that this species will remain a serious threat to fruit production in tropical areas of the world. Risk reduction adaptations are quarantine and surveillance in areas predicted to be suitable for establishment of B. invadens, the implementation of already tested control options such as biological control with parasitoids (e.g., F. arisanus), use of mass trapping (male annihilation) and bait sprays with effective commercial baits (GF-120). national pests of Sudan. It is believed to have been introduced in the country via the illegal introduction of offshoots from Saudi Arabia in 1974. The pest is found throughout the year and its population increases from October to January and decreases in August possibly due to uneven climatic conditions. Yield losses may range from 85 to 90% according to infestation rate, varieties and management.African bollworm: The African bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is one of the key pests causing severe yield losses in cereals, pulses, fiber crops, vegetables and fruit crops.. Variations in rainfall and temperature are the main factors influencing infestation rates and extent of damage from year to year and region to region. Recently, the African bollworm has become a serious pest attacking sorghum, cotton and tomato all over the country. Control measures include the use of conventional insecticides, bio-insecticides (Brigade and Agerin) and recently the use resistant transgenic cotton (Bt cotton).Stem borers: Among cereal pests in Sudan, two stem borers, Chilo partellus and Sesamia cretica are the dominant species. These species cause more than 70% sorghum damage. C. partellus is common in the Gezira scheme of central Sudan while S. cretica is common in the Northern State. Early sowing date and growing tolerant varieties arethe best management practices for these stem borers. Temperature, rainfall and humidity are the factors responsible for the distributions of these two stem borers, with temperature being most important.Spider mites: Red spider mite, Tetranychus urticae (Koch)(Acarina: Tetranychidae) emerged as a serious pest of vegetable crops including eggplant, tomato, cucumber, other fruits, field crops and recently severe damage was observed on potato.. On the other hand the dust spider mite, Oligonychus afrasiaticus (Meg.) (Acarida: Tetranychidae) attack date palm in north Sudan causing significant yield losses depending on the location and variety.Research programs to study the bionomics, biology, the effect of biotic and abiotic factors and integrated pest management exist not only at ARC but also at other national agricultural research institutes and universities in the country.Agriculture is key to food security, economic growth and wealth creation in Malawi. Crop pests create havoc in the agricultural sector as they contribute to losses at all stages that is, from seeding to harvest and storage. Most of these pests if not controlled, can cause total crop yield loss. Pest population dynamics and distribution has changed over time and space due to various factors including climatic variations. Some important crop pests that have been observed to increase in population, prevalence, recurrence and incidence during the past years probably due to changes in the climate are shown below:Banana Aphid: The banana aphid, Pentalonia nigronervosa, is an economic important pest of banana. The pest is a vector of Banana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV) in Malawi. The feeding damage caused by large colonies of aphids can cause blemishes on fruit and reduce their quality. BBTV was first observed in the central region of Malawi at Thiwi in Nkhokakota district in 1994. Thereafter, the disease spread to most regions except Karonga and Chitipa in the north bordering Tanzania. This caused a decline in banana production as the disease can cause a complete yield loss if the attack is early in the season and plants infested at later stage may produce abnormal or deformed fruits. There is a risk of losing the entire banana population just 20 years from the year the diseases was observed. Control strategies include destruction of the infected plants and use of disease-free plantlets. There is a challenge when some farmers refuse to destroy their plantation proper control measures of the vector need to be put in place including capacity building at institution level which is lacking at the moment.The Citrus Woolly Whitefly (CWWF), Aleurothrixus floccosus Maskell, is a serious pest of citrus in Malawi. Primary host is citrus and others are guava, coffee, and mango but rarely having more than trace infestations. Since its accidental introduction in North Africa, Morocco in 1973, it has continued its course southwards in the continent. It was found in Egypt a few years later, and in 1992 it was in East Africa. In Malawi it was first observed in 1993, and its status in terms of distribution and severity was later confirmed in a survey conducted in 1995. This survey revealed the presence of CWWF in nearly all parts of the country where citrus is grown. It is now the most serious pest limiting citrus fruit production in the country. Citrus, which smallholder farmers mainly grow, is an income-generating commodity for the smallholder farmers. It is also a rich source of vitamin C that is readily available to the majority of the rural and urban population. The citrus woolly whitefly pause a threat to this important commodity. The damage caused by Woolly whitefly is through sucking plant juices from the leaves and by producing honeydew on the fruits and leaves. In the short term, it does not appear that the whitefly have a serious effect on tree health, as even heavily infested leaves appear to remain green and healthy. Overtime, the whitefly extensive feeding causes weaken trees and result in decreases in the quantity and size of the fruit which has significant impacts on the marketability and profitability of the fruits. Efforts have been tried through biological control but did not achieve any significant results.The Sweetpotato weevil, Cylas puncticollis, is the most serious pest of sweetpotato in Malawi. The larvae live in roots and vines. The adults are small black beetles. The damaging stage is the larvae and is also most noticeable. They attack the leaves, stems and roots of the sweetpotato, eating them and making holes. The larvae cause great damage as they bore into roots where the waste materials cause a bad taste and the holes open the way for secondary infestations of fungi and bacteria. High temperatures and cracking of the soil as the sweetpotato root enlarges favour sweetpotato weevil infestation. Control options include the encouraging of the farmers to seal the cracked soil, crop rotation, use of clean of vines, early planting and planting the vines deep in the soil.Larger Grain Borer: The Larger Grain Borer, Prostephanus truncatus (Horn), is one of the primary postharvest pests of maize grain and dried cassava. It attacks both shelled and unshelled maize grain and it establishes well in the unshelled maize grain. The pest is widely distributed. It is now found in most of the African countries including Malawi. P. truncatus causes weight losses as high as 34% with the average weight losses of about 19% after period of six months. Control for P. truncatus has mostly hinged on the use of synthetic pesticides which proved to be effective. The use of biological methods such as Teretrius nigrescens is also important for the protection the environment but its nature worries the farmers for adoption. Since P. truncatus occurs in the forests, its presence in both farm stores and forest areas poses a challenge for pest management as farmers only treat their maize grain in storage with Actellic super or Novatellic. At present in Malawi, there is a small-scale release of the predator T. nigrescens done by the Department of Agricultural Research Services which is not adequate as biological control method requires large releases for the results to be tangible and no other management efforts of LGB control are currently done in forest areas in the country.The cotton bollworm, or the African bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a common pest of field crops. It has a large number of host plants (cotton, tomatoes, pigeon pea, cowpea, maize, sorghum, sunflower, chickpea, lupine, lucerne etc.). The cotton bollworm is a moth which feeds on flower nectar. The most destructive stage is the larval stage. H. armigera has the capacity to cause yield loss significantly if not controlled as the pests mainly attacks the fruiting bodies like cotton bolls, maize cobs and bean pods. The pests are usually controlled by the use of synthetic pesticides such as cypermethrin.Fruit fly: Bactrocera invadens is a quarantine pest of Asian origin capable of infesting various commercial fruit crops. B. invadens was first detected on the African continent, in Kenya, in 2003. It is now listed in most countries in Western, Eastern and Central Africa as well as in some Southern African countries including Malawi. The pests cause the loss of millions of dollars in lost export revenue and threaten food security. In Malawi, B. invadens cause great damage in peaches, citrus, mangoes, apple, pear, coffee, guava and other cultivated and wild fruits. In mangoes both yield and quality as high as 100% have been recorded. Surveillance of this pest is currently being carried out to assess its population dynamics. This is a new pest in Malawi and sustainable control measures are not yet in place though the use of chemical pesticides is advised during the flowering stage. Fruit fly: Bactrocera invadens.African armyworm: 8,000 ha from small scale farmers were infested by African armyworm Spodoptera exempta. As a control measure the Ministry of Agriculture allocated every year >$300,000 for purchase of chemical pesticides, sprayers and personal protection equipment. As a result, 580 small scale farmers and 88 community leaders were trained in monitoring and controlling of this pest in 75% of the total area. Pheromone trapshave been used for monitoring S. exempta populations.National capacities in pest management, diagnostics and surveillance: The Ministry of Agriculture is doing its best in order to create a better institutional capacity. In this way, two new laboratories for fruit fly research were built in two provinces; Chimoio and Pemba; the Central laboratory of Entomology (NPPO) was recently rehabilitated and also the laboratories of the Faculty of Agronomy and Forestry Engineering of Eduardo Mondale University. In the National Plant Protection Organization, there is no special plan for only insect pests and its occurrence related to climatic changes. All pests and diseases are treated according to the national plan for pest insect management. A national working group for Pest Risks Analysis will be created, and systematic monitoring, control and mitigation of the main pests and diseases all over the country will be continuously carried out. Technicians will be trained in terms of plant protection at all levels (national, provincial and district), in the major border posts. Laboratories will be built and equipped for pests and diseases diagnoses. A survey and monitoring unit for pests and diseases focusing on export crops will be created. In general, the Ministry of Agriculture is concerned about the present situation and contacts with regional and international institutions have been made in order to get support to solve insect pests and diseases in the all country to contribute to increase agrarian productivity. Finally, from this workshop we hope to get support especially in terms of designing a national plan for insect pests related with climate changes.Anastase Nduwayezu Rwanda Agricultural Board, Musanze, Rwanda Potato, banana, cassava and sweetpotato are important crops in Rwanda. These crops contribute to national food security. Potato, banana and cassava are priority crops to which farmers have to put more efforts to have a good production. All four crops are facing the challenge of yield reduction due to pests and diseases. The pests are managed mainly by cultural practices and in some cases by chemical application depending on the pest.Potato is an important cash crop in the northern and western zones of the country. The main insect pests of potato are leafminer flies, white grubs and aphids. These pests cause both direct and indirect crop damage, especially aphids which are vectors of potato viruses. For direct damage, leafminer flies create tunnels in the leaves; white grubs attack the potato tuber potato, garden pea, sweetpotato and cassava. Cultural practices are used in pest management and they include good tillage, picking and destroying pests, and good fertilization to manage white grubs and leafminer flies. Chemical insecticides are being used control leafminer flies and aphids.Cassava is grown in mostly in eastern and south zones of Rwanda. The main pests attacking the crop are whiteflies, mealy bugs, grasshoppers and mites. The whiteflies are highly polyphagous and their direct damage on the plant is less, but they transmit cassava mosaic disease (CMD) which is a serious disease on cassava in Rwanda. The cassava mealy bug causes damage by sucking and growth reduction. The grasshoppers cause plant defoliation. The mites also suck the plant on under leaves of the plant and cause chlorotic spots. The use of clean materials is used to reduce the spread of mealybugs. To control grasshoppers, Durciban were used as an insecticide. For this pest, a collective control is more effective. Biological control were applied also to mealybug pests by Epidinocarsis lopezi (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), and a predatory mite Typhodromalus aripo helped on cassava mite control.Banana is grown in the all country, especially in eastern and south provinces. The crop suffers mainly by weevils, mealy bugs, trips and aphids. Weevils' damage by creating tunnels in corms and at the end the plant shows symptoms such as wilting and drying of youngest leaves, and small bunches. Mealy bug insects are BSV (Banana Streak Virus) vectors. Trips are small insects which cause blemishes on the crop. Aphids transmit BBTV (Banana Bunchy Top Virus). For the pest management, the cultural methods are used: uprooting of infested plants to manage mealy bugs and trips, using of clean planting materials to prevent weevil and trip attacks. In general, the all banana pests can be managed by good husbandry.Sweetpotato is widely grown. Very little information is available for this crop because it is not among priority crops promoted by the government. Planococcus citri (Pseudococcus citri), Agronoscelis pubescens (Agronoscelus vesicolor), Gonocephalum simplex and Epilachna hirta are the pests recognized to cause damage on the plant in Rwanda.Other serious crop pests are Maize stalk borer, and aphids on cabbages.National capacities in terms of institutions/laboratories dealing with insect pest management x climate change impacts, including diagnostics and surveillance: In Rwanda, there is a public institution in charge of crop inspection and quarantine, based in the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock. The institution helps in plant pest and disease control issues before exporting and importing in the country. This is done by diagnosis in laboratories of Rubizi (in Kigali town), Rubona (in south zone) and in Musanze (Northern zone). All laboratories are under the responsibility of RAB. For surveillance, outbreaks in are reported to administration centers at the cell, sector, district, agriculture zone related to the"}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"dac5167a5d3a4c40c7999174d86f3eba","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/66e940f7-e1de-4db2-82bc-fc395b2b29e9/retrieve","id":"-2143713749"},"keywords":["Successful adoption","improved chickpea","Ethiopia","panel data","fixed effects"],"sieverID":"30342ecd-434f-4574-8ebe-13fd54711bba","content":"Many studies detail constraints deemed responsible for the limited adoption of new technologies among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. By contrast, here we study the conditions that led to the remarkably fast spread of improved chickpea varieties in Ethiopia. Within just seven years, the adoption rate rose from 30 to 80% of the farmers. A combination of factors explains the rapid uptake. Their attraction lay in superior returns and disease resistance. Chickpea was already an important crop for rural households in the studied districts, for both cash income and consumption. Good market access and an easy accessibility of extension services advanced the adoption process. Thus, an attractive technology suitable for rural households in a conducive environment enabled adoption. Our findings prompt us to stress the importance of tailoring agricultural innovations to the realities and demands of rural households, and the need to design and deploy interventions on the basis of ex-ante knowledge on factors potentially determining their success or failure.Agricultural development is critical for sustained poverty reduction in sub-Saharan Africa (Dercon, Gilligan, Hoddinott, & Woldehanna, 2009;World Bank, 2007). Activities designed to address the vulnerability of the African rural poor often promote agricultural innovations to increase productivity, efficiency and ultimately income (Parvan, 2011). Yet, the uptake of new technologies by African smallholders has progressed slowly (van Rijn, Bulte, & Adekunle, 2012;Walker & Alwang, 2015). Indeed, the weak adoption of agricultural technologies in sub-Saharan Africa is a well-documented and widely cited reason for a lack of improvement in agricultural productivity (Headey & Jayne, 2014;World Bank, 2015c). At the same time, there is an increasing pressure to demonstrate the impact, success and 'value for money' of agricultural research (Sumberg, Thompson, & Woodhouse, 2013). Therefore, the question why agricultural innovations that appear to be beneficial are not widely adopted by smallholders urgently demands an answer (Zilberman, Zhao, & Heiman, 2012).Smallholder farmers face numerous barriers and constraints that help to explain the limited adoption of new technologies in sub-Saharan Africa (Woittiez, Descheemaeker, & Giller, 2015). According to the seminal study of Feder, Just, and Zilberman (1985), (under-) adoption is often explained by farm size (Headey & Jayne, 2014;Josephson, Ricker-Gilbert, & Florax, 2014), risk preferences (Dercon & Christiaensen, 2011;Wossen, Berger, & Di Falco, 2015), human capital (Liu & Yamauchi, 2014), labour availability (Jayne, Chamberlin, & Headey, 2014;Ndlovu, Mazvimavi, An, & Murendo, 2014), credit constraints (Holden & Lunduka, 2014), land tenure systems (Beekman & Bulte, 2012;Jin & Jayne, 2013;Melesse & Bulte, 2015), access to input and output markets (Jack, 2011;Jayne, Mather, & Mghenyi, 2010), or by a combination of these (Wakeyo & Gardebroek, 2013). However, there is a lack of understanding of how technological change in smallholder African agriculture actually takes place (Glover, Sumberg, & Andersson, 2016). The large diversity within and among smallholder farming systems affects the uptake of innovations (Franke, van den Brand, & Giller, 2014;Giller et al., 2011). For crops to be adopted and have an impact, they should be equal or superior to conventional varieties (De Groote et al., 2016). The paucity of studies that document the net returns to promising technologies constitutes a surprising gap in the literature (Foster & Rosenzweig, 2010). Sumberg (2005) rightly criticizes agricultural researchers for suggesting too easily that their innovations are not adopted because of wellknown constraints, and thus for neglecting the responsibility to contribute to the development process.Instead of focusing on the lack of adoption of innovations, we studied a contrasting case: that of a dramatic increase in the adoption of improved chickpea varieties in Ethiopia. In just seven years, the percentage of households growing the new varieties rose from 30 to 80%. Improved chickpea varieties are assumed to be a key pro-poor and environmentally friendly technology (Kassie et al., 2009). Grain legumes such as chickpea are both cash and food crops, providing key components of a healthy diet, including proteins and minerals, while helping to reduce the pest and disease build-up associated with cereal mono-cropping and enhancing nitrogen availability for subsequent crops (Franke et al., 2014). However, in order to achieve wide adoption, environmentally sustainable technologies need to generate economic benefits as well (Lee, 2005). Using three rounds of panel data, we have sought to understand what drove the rapid adoption of improved chickpea in Ethiopia. In order to answer this main research question, we formulated three sub-questions:(1) What is the extent of adoption of improved chickpea varieties in the study area? (2) What were the main determinants of improved chickpea adoption? (3) Are economic returns to improved chickpea good predictors of adoption?Verkaart, Munyua, Mausch, and Michler (2017) used the same data and found that improved chickpea adoption significantly increases household income and reduces household poverty. In this paper, we explore the determinants of adoption that enabled this success. Improved chickpea can be clearly distinguished from local varieties by their seed colour and size. This allowed us to capture adoption accurately and study the mechanisms behind the increase in uptake by farmers with limited misattribution. In addition, we moved beyond dichotomous conceptions of adoption by capturing adoption intensity, dis-adoption, and by assessing the relative importance of chickpea types and varieties, also in relation to other crops, within the farming system. In this way, we wanted to move beyond a narrow focus on adoption constraints in order to study the process leading to wider uptake.Ethiopia faces big challenges in agricultural development (Dercon, Hoddinott, & Woldehanna, 2012;Spielman, Byerlee, Alemu, & Kelemework, 2010). It is among the poorest countries in the world, highly droughtprone, and its agricultural sector accounts for 85% of employment. Ethiopia has a population of 92 million that is expected to grow to 160 million by 2050 (Josephson et al., 2014). As a result of population growth, farm sizes have declined rapidly, which has increased the need for agricultural intensification (Headey, Dereje, & Taffesse, 2014). Growth in agriculture is deemed crucial for poverty reduction and food security (Ali, Dercon, & Gautam, 2011). The Ethiopian government has placed agriculture at the centre of its growth strategy (Krishnan & Patnam, 2014), and has declared improved productivity of smallholder agriculture a policy priority (Abebaw & Haile, 2013). Surprisingly, there has been little detailed analysis of the impact of investments in agriculture in Ethiopia (Abro, Alemu, & Hanjra, 2014;Dercon et al., 2009;Spielman et al., 2010).Chickpea is an important crop in Ethiopia. Ethiopia's production ranks seventh in the world and accounts for over 90% of chickpea production in sub-Saharan Africa (Kassie et al., 2009;Pachico, 2014). Both seed types of chickpea are grown: (i) Desi varieties that have brown-reddish small seeds, and; (ii) Kabuli types which have cream coloured, larger seeds (Wood, Knights, & Choct, 2011). Despite the fact that Ethiopia's agro-climatic conditions are suitable to both types, traditionally only Desi chickpea was cultivated. International markets favour the Kabuli types and offer higher prices for them (Shiferaw, Jones, Silim, Teklewold, & Gwata, 2007). This has attracted attention in Ethiopia, and steps have been taken to increase Kabuli production and export (Abera, 2010).Improvement of productivity and the enhancement of grain quality are essential for the competitiveness of Ethiopia's chickpea sector, that is, for its ability to provide a consistent supply of the required volumes at competitive prices (Abera, 2010;Keneni et al., 2011). More than ten improved varieties of Desi and Kabuli type chickpea have been released (Asfaw, Shiferaw, Simtowe, & Lipper, 2012). These varieties have various attributes, such as improved yield, better grain quality and disease resistance (Dadi et al., 2005;Keneni et al., 2011). At the beginning of our study period the seed system for Kabuli chickpea production in Ethiopia was in its infancy (Jones, Audi, Shiferaw, & Gwata, 2006). Limited seed access prevented interested farmers from planting improved varieties (Asfaw, Shiferaw, Simtowe, & Haile, 2011). In 2001 less than 1% of the total chickpea area in Ethiopia was covered by improved varieties (Asfaw et al., 2010), which increased to around 18% of farmers in 2003 (Dadi et al., 2005).In 2004, initiatives were started to accelerate the adoption of improved chickpea varieties in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) cultivated partnerships with major actors along the value chain (Abate et al., 2011). Primary co-operatives received breeder seed for multiplication through contracts to enable the dissemination of improved chickpea varieties (Shiferaw et al., 2007). Moreover, the Tropical Legumes II (TLII) 1 programme supported the establishment of seed grower associations. TLII focused on major chickpea producing areas in the Shewa region for upscaling the cultivation of suitable chickpea varieties and effective marketing strategies (Monyo & Varshney, 2016). Other developments that boosted the chickpea sector were the decision to include chickpea in the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange and the formation of the multi-stakeholder EthioPEA alliance.Three districts were selected: Minjar-Shenkora, Gimbichu and Lume-Ejere. They are major chickpea growing areas and have a suitable agro-ecology (Asfaw et al., 2011). The districts are in the Shewa region northeast of Debre Zeit (which lies 50 km southeast of the capital, Addis Ababa). The study area is located in the central highlands at an elevation ranging from 1900-2500 metres above sea level. Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Centre (DZARC) is located in the area and is a source of information and improved varieties (Asfaw et al., 2012).We utilized three rounds of panel data collected under the TLII project. Farm households were randomly selected; thus non-chickpea growing farmers were also interviewed. During the three survey rounds 700, 661 and 631 households were surveyed in 2006/07, 2009/10 and 2013/14 respectively. We limit our analysis to households that were interviewed in all three rounds of the survey, providing a balanced sample of 606 households with an attrition rate of 13%. To check for non-random attrition we compared characteristics in the 2006/07 season and found no significant differences.To enable comparisons across time, we deflated nominal Ethiopian Birr values to real values using the national consumer price index with 2005 as a base, following Bezu, Barrett, and Holden (2012). These constant 2005 data were subsequently converted from Ethiopian Birr to US dollars (USD) Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) values, using rates extrapolated from the 2011 International Comparison Program (World Bank, 2015b). Adopters are defined as households who planted an improved chickpea variety in the season surveyed. We account explicitly for input and hired labour costs as well as family labour in our analysis of returns and chickpea productivity.To add depth to the analysis emerging from the panel data, focus group discussions (FGDs) and semi-structured interviews with experts were conducted in October 2015. Six villages were purposefully selected to reflect differences in market access, low and high adoption rates as well as variations in wealth. A total of seventy-one farmers participated in the FGDs. Glover et al. (2016) call to move beyond a 'black box' conception of adoption as a dichotomous linear process whereby inferior existing material is replaced by a discrete new technology. When farmers opt for innovations such as the introduction of a new variety, they make a decision regarding the intensity of adoption (Marra, Pannell, & Ghadimb, 2003;Sumberg, 2016). It is therefore important to consider how much land is allocated to new varieties compared to other (local) varieties and other crops. We assess various indicators of adoption of the various improved chickpea varieties and types (first sub-question). Specifically, we analyse the share of households as well as land (in hectares and percentage) allocated to improved and local chickpea varieties and to other crops. We also provide information on the kinds of improved chickpea varieties that were adopted and on their characteristics.We assess the determinants of technology adoption (second sub-question) by comparing descriptive statistics related to the technology, household characteristics and the context of adopters and non-adopters. We assess differences in returns to improved and local chickpeas and compare the yields, costs, labour requirements and prices of improved and local chickpeas to those of other major cereals and legumes, using analysis of variance (ANOVA). We also compare demographics, income, poverty, asset ownership and livelihoods and contextual characteristics, such as market and extension access, rainfall, elevation and soil type. Where we do not have data, we supplement results with findings from the FGDs and from literature. Finally, we assess the value of improved chickpea as a determinant for adoption on the basis of an in-depth analysis of the returns (third sub-question).Because improved chickpea varieties have not been distributed randomly, adopters and non-adopters may differ systematically (Asfaw et al., 2011). This raises concerns of selection bias where betterskilled farmers or those targeted by technology transfer may be more likely to adopt (Dercon et al., 2009). Indeed, Smale and Mason (2014) found that adopters are generally wealthier in terms of capital and asset endowments and have better access to information, financial services, markets and infrastructure. Therefore, the decision to grow improved varieties is potentially endogenous to household welfare. An advantage of panel data over cross-sectional data is that observed and unobserved time-invariant household characteristics can be separated (Dercon et al., 2009). We utilize fixed effects estimation and further control for time-invariant unobservables by including village time interactions. We focus on the adoption decision here; for a rigorous assessment of the impact of the decision to adopt improved chickpea on income and poverty we refer to Verkaart et al. (2017), where instrumental variable fixed effect models have been applied to the same dataset. We included various covariates in our chickpea yield and gross returns estimations, in order to control for input costs including family labour. Disaggregated results are presented for Kabuli, improved Desi and local Desi types and for specific chickpea varieties.First, we address the question: What is the extent of adoption of improved chickpea varieties in the study area? Improved chickpea varieties became available only relatively recently in the study area. In the 2006/07 season a little more than 30% of the farmers grew improved chickpea varieties while over half of them produced local Desi varieties (Table 1). By 2013/14 the adoption of improved chickpea increased dramatically to 79% of households, representing almost 19% of the total cultivated area and 85% of the chickpea area. In addition, more farmers started cultivating chickpea, with 90% of chickpea growers adopting improved varieties in the 2013/14 season. In terms of the number of growers and the allocated area, chickpea was the third most important crop and the most important legume. Varieties adopted were mainly of the Kabuli type; they particularly substituted the local Desi varieties and, to some extent, wheat and other legumes such as grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) and field pea (Pisum sativum L.). Only 5% of farmers adopted improved Desi varieties. Improved Kabuli varieties were most often adopted by former Desi growers; but also farmers that had not previously grown chickpea adopted them. Among the improved Kabuli varieties, Arerti was the most popular, followed by Shasho and (initially) Ejere (Table 2). Improved Desi varieties released in the late 70s and early 80s and the more recently introduced Kabuli varieties Chefe and Habru were adopted only by very few farmers. The varieties Arerti and Shasho have the greatest yield potential and tolerance to Fusarium wilt. A clear advantage of Arerti is its additional tolerance to Ascochyta blight. Both diseases constitute major problems for chickpea production in Ethiopia (Abate, 2012). During FGDs farmers indicated that they preferred Arerti because of its tolerance to these fungal diseases.A majority of the farmers in Lume-Ejere were already growing improved chickpea in 2006/2007 (52%) and by 2013/2014 almost all households (91%) had adopted the new varieties (Figure 1). In Minjar-Shenkora, only a few households grew improved chickpea varieties (12%) in the 2006/07 season, but by the end of the study the majority of farmers (84%) had adopted them. Gimbichu had some initial adopters (22%), but saw a relatively limited increase in adoption to less than half of the farmers (45%).In this section we address the second sub-question: What were the main determinants of improved chickpea adoption? Agricultural technologies can be defined as discrete inputseither goods or methodswhich serve to control and manage animal or vegetative growth (Parvan, 2011). Adoption decisions are influenced by many factors (Anderson & Feder, 2007). These factors can be broadly divided into characteristics of the technology, of the users and of  the context within which adoption takes place (Biagini, Kuhl, Gallagher, & Ortiz, 2014). We consider each of these in turn.The promotion of Kabuli varieties began in 2004. Kabuli types are clearly distinguishable from the Desi type due to their different grain size and colour, which may have had a positive effect on uptake by facilitating trialability, observability and learning (Rogers, 1962). These characteristics make it easier to learn about a new technology and its returns in settings where it is introduced (Foster & Rosenzweig, 2010). Access to improved seeds is another pre-condition for adoption (Asfaw et al., 2012). Improved varieties that had been multiplied by contract farmers were introduced via revolving seed funds, whereby a farmer pays in kind with seed after harvest, and through seed grower associations (Monyo & Varshney, 2016). Finally, as chickpea is a self-pollinating crop, the improved varieties could spread from farmer to farmer (Gwata, 2010).Of course, the technology needs to be attractive in order to be adopted. We compared local and improved chickpea yields, returns and sales data for growers and sellers (Table 3). Improved chickpea yielded >20% more grain than local varieties; increases in net returns ranged from 50 to more than 200%. The larger land and initial labour allocations as well as increased input and hired labour costs called for by improved chickpea cultivation were easily compensated for by higher prices and productivity. Larger yields could be related to the higher labour and input use, but also to the enhanced yield potential and disease resistance of the improved varieties (Dadi et al., 2005;Keneni et al., 2011). The Kabuli varieties fetched considerably higher prices than Desi varieties due to a growing demand in both domestic and export markets (Abera, 2010;Shiferaw & Teklewold, 2007). Although more farmers sold local Desi types in the first round, the relation was reversed 2013/14, with 46% of growers selling local Desi and 83% selling improved chickpea. During the focus group discussions, farmers indicated that the market demand for Desi was largely replaced by Kabuli. Consequently, improved varieties provided an important source of cash, contributing 35-45% of the total crop sales income, compared with 18-22% for local Desi.Adoption generally implies a reallocation of resources (Bevan, Collier, & Gunning, 1990). The decision which crops to plant thus depends, at least partially, on a weighing of the investments (capital, land and labour) against the expected returns (Table 4). Kabuli generated the third largest returns among crops, outperformed only by lentil and wheat (in the 2013/14 season). While the cultivation of improved Kabuli incurred more costs than the growing of the other legumes in the first two survey  rounds, it was less costly than cereals. This is to be expected, as legumes require smaller amounts of fertilizer. Although the seed rate for chickpea is large compared with cereals (Kassie et al., 2009), farmers can save seed (Asfaw et al., 2010). Furthermore, the capacity of legumes to fix atmospheric nitrogen can reduce the need for chemical fertilizer use and bring down the costs of subsequent cereal production (Giller, 2001). The economic benefits of enhanced cereal production and reduced fertilizer costs are not taken into account in our analysis. Chickpea was highly marketable with around 80% of households selling improved Kabuli and Desi. Chickpea fetched better prices than most crops, with the exception of teff and lentil in the last two rounds. There were no pronounced differences in terms of family labour allocation.We found systematic differences between adopters and non-adopters in demographics, welfare and livelihood indicators (Table 5). Adopters had larger households in the first two rounds and lower dependency rates in the last round. They more often hired labour in the first two rounds. Initial adopters were also slightly better-educated, though overall education levels were low. Adopters were wealthier, having consistently greater incomes. Even though nominal incomes increased considerably, real incomes could not keep up with the high inflation. In 2011, for example, Ethiopian food price inflation was 39%, three times the sub-Saharan African average of 13% (World Bank, 2015a). As a result, the real incomes of both adopters and non-adopters shrank during the study period. Despite this loss in real per capita income, most households remained above the US$1.25 poverty threshold.Adopters owned more assets, land and livestock, though the differences became smaller over time as more households moved into the adopter category. Households owned on average more than 2 ha of land, which makes their farm sizes relatively large, considering that 80% of the farms in sub-Saharan Africa are now smaller than this (Lowder, Skoet, & Singh, 2014). Regarding livelihood diversification, non-adopters participated more in off-farm incomegenerating activities and therefore had lower crop income shares in the last two rounds. Still, the effect of livelihood diversification was limited, as crop income contributed 80-90% of the total income. Rogers (1962) indicated that technologies need to be compatible with the existing preferences, needs and practices of adopters. Examples include taste preferences as well as specific processing and storage requirements (Lunduka, Fisher, & Snapp, 2012). In terms of taste preferences, the focus group discussions revealed that farmers adjusted well to the newly introduced Kabuli varieties. Furthermore, Kabuli varieties were said to be easier to process due to their thinner seed coats which countered issues around poorer storability. Hence, it is likely that in this case taste and other preferences were facilitating the adoption process, rather than hindering it.Adoption choices are conditioned by the contextcomprising, among other things, access to markets and extension services, agro-ecological conditions, and land tenure systems. Development actors need to take the specific context into account when designing interventions (Oumer, Hjortsø, & de Neergaard, 2013).The functionality and structure of value chains and the access to markets affect input and output prices and transportation costs (Chamberlin & Jayne, 2013). The three selected districts are adjoining, and differences in market access are relatively small (Table 6). The sites are close to Addis Ababa and other major markets, as Debre Zeit and Adama, and roads in the area are generally good. The FGDs revealed that market information, notably on prices, was available and known to farmers. Despite good overall market access, adopters tended to be more numerous in areas closer to main markets.The adequate and timely access to relevant advice and training can influence adoption (Anderson & Feder, 2007). Indeed, adopters had better access to extension services, though extension access was almost universal and contacts were quite frequent across both adopters and non-adopters. This reflects Ethiopia's intensive public extension system (Gebremedhin, Jaleta, & Hoekstra, 2009; Krishnan & Patnam, 2014), which has an extension-worker-to-farmer ratio of 1:476. This ratio is 1:1000 for Kenya, 1:1603 for Malawi and 1:2500 for Tanzania (Abate et al., 2015). The higher intensity of extension contacts of (early) adopters, suggests that extension had a positive effect on uptake. The high share of initial adopters in Lume-Ejere district also supports this assertion, as Asfaw et al. (2012) noted that the district benefited from pre-extension demonstrations and improved seed distribution trials, which gave the local farmers a head start in the adoption process. While farmerto-farmer technology transfer is generally important, the initial adoption was clearly facilitated by a strong extension system allowing more innovative farmers to try the technology. Agro-ecological characteristics, such as soil quality, the rainfall amount and the distribution and farming systems, can be important variables determining differences in adoption (Feder & Umali, 1993;Mason & Smale, 2013). Although variations in climate are relatively minor in the study area, it is located along a gradient: from higher elevation and precipitation in Gimbichu (2411 metres, 675 mm) to lower elevation and precipitation in Minjar-Shenkora (1896 metres, 565 mm). Initial adoption rates were highest in the central district of Lume-Ejere (50%). Minjar-Shenkora soon caught up with Lume-Ejere. The high-elevation, high-rainfall area of Gimbichu had the lowest adoption rates (45%); farmers there continued the cultivation of local Desi varieties (71%) and lentil (74%). The data and FGDs reveal that the agro-climatic conditions in Gimbichu were less favourable for chickpea cultivation, particularly because of the higher rainfall in combination with vertisols which are prone to waterlogging. Chickpea is highly sensitive to waterlogging and is grown largely with residual moisture (Agegnehu & Sinebo, 2011). Because improved Kabuli varieties take approximately two weeks longer to mature than local Desi varieties, their cultivation in Gimbichu required relatively labour-intensive practices to remove excess moisture. Due to their shorter duration this is not required for local Desi and lentil, which may explain the weaker adoption of the new varieties in Gimbichu.Tenure security (Melesse & Bulte, 2015) and access to credit (Foster & Rosenzweig, 2010) are also potential determinants of or obstacles to adoption. As we did not collect detailed data on this, we rely on the FGDs to assess their influence on adoption. As in the rest of Ethiopia, land is state-owned with individuals given usufruct rights. This means that land cannot be sold, permanently exchanged for other property or mortgaged; and it can only be inherited by the immediate family (Ali et al., 2011). Though chickpea is an annual crop and requires less long-term investments than perennials, its residual soil fertility benefits, including increased yields of subsequent cereal crops, are part of its appeal to farmers (Giller, 2001). Recent land certification provided incentives for farmers to invest in their land (Wakeyo & Gardebroek, 2013). However, it seems that the lack of property rights did not negatively influence the adoption of improved chickpea. There is widespread availability of credit in Ethiopia, particularly for inputs (Dercon & Christiaensen, 2011;Krishnan & Patnam, 2014). Data collected in the first round indicated that over 80% of households had access to credit (Asfaw et al., 2012); this makes it unlikely that credit was a constraint for uptake.In this section we address the question: Are economic returns to improved chickpea good predictors of adoption? Profits or net returns fluctuate with output and price levels and with changes in expenses related to input adjustment (de Janvry, Dunstan, & Sadoulet, 2011). Labour and capital investments associated with adoption thus need to be considered (Jack, 2011). Using fixed effects (FE) estimation, we assessed the effect of improved chickpea adoption on yields and returns (Tables 7 and 8). Despite promising on-station results (Table 2), we observed no significant increase in yield due to the adoption of improved varieties. However, Chefe and Shasho did have between 10 and 33% higher yields (albeit only significant at P < 0.1). It seems other chickpea varieties performed less well. Another possible explanation is that the yield difference occurs mainly from the disease resistance and therefore only shows during seasons of high pressure. In fact, FGDs suggested that disease resistance was an important incentive for adoption. There were significant, consistent, strong positive effects of improved chickpea adoption on chickpea returns, with 38% higher returns to improved chickpea. Moreover, using the same dataset, Verkaart et al. (2017) found that improved chickpea adoption significantly increased household income, while reducing household poverty. When disaggregating the analysis by chickpea type, it becomes clear that the results are related to both Kabuli and Desi adoption. Further disaggregating results by variety shows that returns to Chefe, Dubi (Desi), Arerti and Shaso (from high to low) were significant, with 29 and 57% higher returns. This suggests that net returns are an important predictor of adoption and emphasizes the need to carefully measure benefits and costs associated with new technologies in order to explain adoption decisions.We studied a case of successful adoption of improved chickpea varieties in Ethiopia using panel data, and tried to explain the success. We looked at yields and returns. The results for yields were unclear. Improved chickpea cultivation did, however, result in higher returns, largely due to the higher prices for the new varieties. Our analysis suggests that innovative technologies are more readily adopted if they offer distinct and measurable benefits to facilitate adoption: such as high returns, disease tolerance or, as in our case, both.Other determinants that positively influenced adoption were the traditional importance of chickpea for livelihoods and within the farming system, as well as the good accessibility of markets and extension services. Overall, it seems that the rapid adoption of the new varieties of chickpea was enabled by three main factors: the new technology was visibly distinct, and perceived as attractive; it was considered to be suitable for local households, and the environment was conducive to its introduction. Noteworthy in our case is the absence of almost any negative trade-offs: the technology was not overly complex or demanding in terms of labour, inputs or cash investment. Someone might wonder whether all aspects always have to be right for adoption to take place. We would like to reverse the question and ask: Why promote a technology when it increases risks or entails costs without sufficient rewards? When it cannot be adopted due to various constraints and market imperfections? When it is too complex for the target group to understand? When households do not have sufficient land or are diversifying away from agriculture? When it does not fit taste preferences, or when the agro-climatic conditions are not conducive to its adoption? Success in technology adoption may not depend on getting everything right, but on getting some important things right and avoiding many different causes of failure.People will only adopt a new technology if they expect benefits from it. As adoption involves risks, learning and investments, these benefits need to be substantial, particularly in the case of resource-poor smallholders. In the end, only innovations that clearly outperform locally available technologies and manifest limited downside risks are likely to be adopted on a large scale. Though our results suggest that returns are good predictors of adoption, those returns are influenced by many external factors beyond the control of technology transfer interventions. A good understanding of the local context and the attractiveness of a technology for a diversity of households, can provide information about potential benefits and pitfalls to avoid. This emphasizes the importance of careful site selection and targeting when disseminating innovations to ensure successful uptake. Robust evidence on what works, where and why, can be vastly instrumental in effectively assisting poor farmers. Thus, if we want to design and deploy more successful interventions, agricultural research for development efforts need to more carefully consider the realities of smallholders.Gates Foundation to enhance grain legume productivity and production to increase poor farmers' income in drought-prone areas of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. For more information see http://www.icrisat.org/ TropicalLegumesII/.Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) for implementing the household surveys. We also thank Bernard Munyua for data collation and cleaning. Erwin Bulte, Jeffrey Michler, Alastair Orr and Dave Harris provided useful comments on the paper. We are responsible for any remaining mistakes.No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"bd23f56b259a3eb28cbb4c52aa139b09","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/8ab371a3-3a72-4685-bc74-67c4d8d0c814/retrieve","id":"-567002281"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"c9b9ba5c-9347-43ad-aa37-a24476e72461","content":"Provision of adequate and timely information to farmers on the ground means optimizing crop production decisions, reducing costs and eliminating adverse effects of overuse of agricultural inputs, e.g. fertilizer.AgroTutor aims to support farmers across Mexico with benchmarking information, including historical and potential yield on the area where the plot is located, historical costs, income and profit as well as agronomical recommendations. Location and limits of parcels can be saved, and agronomical activities including costs, pictures and videos can be then added to document the cropping system.Advice on the spot: Optimal use of resources Using the geo-location of the plot, as well as irrigation and cultivar characteristics, farmers are provided with historic, non-nutrient and pest limited yield potential estimates, derived from the field-scale model Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) (Williams 1995;Gaiser et al., 2010;Folberth et al., 2012), for the period between 1980 and 2010. The data is meant to highlight achievable crop performance in the area where the plot is located. Later, on-site data provided by farmers (stored as plot activities in AgroTutor) would be used to improve model estimates and in turn, sent back to farmers.Maize 1Geo-tagged historical costs, income, profit and yield of almost 200,000 farms is available to AgroTutor users. The data comes from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) sustainable intensification projects across Mexico. When a farmer asks for advice on a specific location and crop, the data sent back is anonymized and targeted to the specific conditions of the request. The data is meant to be a benchmark so farmers can see what yields and financial estimates have occurred in the area. Part of the data can be consulted publicly at: http://gismaps.cimmyt.org.With the help of machine learning algorithms, the data collected by CIMMYT were analyzed at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT-Colombia). The results are agronomic recommendations, shown to farmers in AgroTutor. The methodology used is based on previous studies on rice (Delerce et al., 2016) and perennial crops (Jiménez et al., 2016) where random forest-based algorithms are used to assess the relevance of a set of predictor variables in explaining the output yield variability. Recommendations shown usually highlight best cultivars in the area as well as planting density and nitrogen required.Using a range of multivariate time series models with variables that include climate and financial indicators for the specific crop requested, a 12-month prediction of market prices is shown to farmers in AgroTutor. The models (Crespo Cuaresma, J. Hlouskova and Obersteiner, 2017;Crespo Cuaresma et al., 2018) are validated using out-of-sample forecasting compared to historical data as well as performance measures. The price forecasting module is meant to empower small and medium farmers to obtain better prices for their harvest and help deciding how to proceed with commercialization.Use a minimum density of 90000 seeds/ha Market price forecastDr. Juan Carlos Laso Bayas lasobaya@iiasa.ac.at Juan Carlos Laso Bayas 1 , Andrea Gardeazabal 2 , Mathias Karner 1 , Luis Vargas 2 , Christian Folberth 1 , Rastislav Skalsky 1,3 , Juraj Balkovič 1,4 , Sylvain Delerce 5 , Jesus Crespo Cuaresma 1,7,8 , Jaroslava Hlouskova 1,9,10 , Nele Verhulst 2 , Linda See 1 , Steffen Fritz 1 , Michael Obersteiner 1 , Bram Govaerts 2 1 International Institute For Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria, 2 International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico City, Mexico, 3 Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute, Bratislava, Slovak Republic, 4 Comenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovak Republic, 5 International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Cali, Colombia, 6 Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU), Vienna, Austria, 7 Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital (WIC), Vienna, Austria, 8 Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO), Vienna, Austria, 9 Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna, Austria, 10 Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, CanadaIn AgroTutor, farmers can also query current, forecasted and historical weather conditions at their current location but also at the location of each plot registered. Farmers can also receive advanced notice for optimal maize fertilization times in the incorporated crop calendar module as well as send feedback and review training materials developed by CIMMYT."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"0a5573094d0f857b9aa8b5089734fddc","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/5e6c5387-7f22-4cce-b574-f2cf2b3c5e08/retrieve","id":"413378540"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"6b5b7521-c925-4302-a6c1-34fad0b231e8","content":"1983-1992: Genebank 1.0 Growing the collection 1983• Genebank set up by John Lazier to hold collection of forage genetic resources and provide a pool of germplasm to help select promising forages that could enhance small-scale livestock production.• Forage collections from Chad, Mali and Mauritania received from IPGRI, Brachiaria collections from Zimbabwe received from CIAT. • The Forage Legume Agronomy Group split into Forage Genetic Resources Project and Forage Agronomy Project.• Herbage Seed Unit established in Debre Zeit.• Seed multiplication started at Melka Werer.      • Second cold storage room for the genebank installed.• Studies on tannins and saponins ongoing in Sesbania and the non-protein amino acid, acetyl di-amino butyric acid, in Acacia angustissima.• Molecular characterization using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPDs) and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLPs) for Chloris roxburghiana, Acacia angustissima, Lablab purpureus and some indigenous Sahelian forages.• Genebank database system moved to Microsoft Foxpro.• Forage diversity joined ILRI's Livestock Feeds and Nutrition program.• Workshop on forage demand and adoption held to guide activities to make better use of the collection.• CSIRO donates about 6,000 new accessions.• Forage collection reaches 19,000 accessions.• Feeds open day held in Debre Zeit; first forage fact sheets prepared.   • Crop Genebank Knowledge Base launched.• Second shipment of seeds to Svalbard Global Seed Vault.• Africa-Brazil Agricultural Innovation Marketplace project with EMBRAPA using molecular tools to find and fill gaps in the collection.•    • Inventory, verification and barcoding of base collection completed. • Long-term data on seed longevity analyzed and evidencebased monitoring intervals of 15 years in medium-term storage determined for 112 legume species and 13 grass species. • First Working Group Meeting of the CGIAR Germplasm Health Units was held in Nairobi.• FundingGenebank Platform 2017-2021.• New genebank and laboratory facilities opened.       • Sesbanian sesban collection genotyped using GBS approach.• Genebank data management system migrated from Fox pro to GRINGLOBAL management platform to keep track of the inventories of seeds in cold rooms and fields and interlinked processes. • An online genebank ordering platform established. • Genebank collection seed reference samples established.• GHU screening genebank collection backlog 28%.• Genebank Initiatives under One CGIAR launched.• Seed characterization using Marvin and seed image documentation of accessions commences. • Genebank data management started barcode labeling for monitoring operations. • The cooling system of Medium-term storage (MTS) upgraded.• Cowpea field trial established.• Regular insect pest and disease monitoring in the field site by GHU commenced. • Urochloa spp and Megathyrsus maximus collections genotyped using GBS approach. • Study on seed maturity, seed storage conditions and seed longevity commence for selected species."}

main/part_1/0573389264.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"10faab8d5349bd4dfb1a448c149b4cbd","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/611eaf80-7446-4f78-b718-1af344fda902/retrieve","id":"-1008601690"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"7428acd8-f230-4e60-a370-87a4ade7d774","content":"ommon bean is an important food legume in many countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) where it is commonly eaten as an accompaniment to maize, the main staple. The Southern Africa Bean Research Network (SABRN) and the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) are working together to support efforts in bean research and development (R&D) by theNational Agricultural Research System (NARS) in each country. Improved bean germplasm is provided to all participating countries by SABRN. This germplasm is used for regional variety testing -the development of new bean varieties with various attributes which meet the specific needs of the national bean research and development programmes. For example, new bean varieties may need to be tolerant to low soil fertility or drought, and resistant to insect pests and diseases. The second function of CIAT's work in the region is to support evaluation of bean varieties in multi-environment trials (MET) in collaboration with NARS partners in various countries within the SADC region.The regional variety testing work is particularly useful to those NARS who have yet to develop their own bean-breeding programmes. SABRN coordinates the regional germplasm nurseries and trials, which contain improved lines and released varieties (contributed by some NARS bean-breeding programmes, the private sector, SABRN and CIAT). The major objective is to share germplasm within the network so that each national programme or the private sector can benefit from improved bean varieties developed by others in the region. In this way benefits are shared across the region, with those NARS who are not yet running their own full-scale breeding programmes standing to benefit most of all.Testing potential new varieties in diverse environments can reveal wide-or specific-adaptation of variety performance. Developing varieties with wide adaptation or stability across seasons (i.e. those that perform well in nearly all environments), is important but is not an easy task. It is simpler to breed for specific adaptation (i.e. varieties that are adapted to specific subsets of environments within a target region).The Highlights series summarisesThe major objective of SABRN is to share germplasm within the network so that each national programme or the private sector can benefit from improved bean varieties developed by others in the regionThe performance of a particular variety is influenced by its environment. A single variety, selected for good performance at one location, could not be expected to perform equally well elsewhere. Testing for Variety-by-Environment interactions (VEI) is always necessary. Where the VEI are of large magnitude, assessing the variety by its average performance across environments is not useful, because varieties perform differently in different environments. This calls for the development of a range of varieties for specific environments. By the same token, strong VEI across countries necessitates the establishment of a regional breeding or variety-testing programme.Since 1994, SABRN, in collaboration with various NARS has routinely conducted bean variety performance tests across various locations in the SADC region, through the Southern Africa Regional Bean Yield Trials (SARBYT). Different sets of varieties were assembled by the network each year and distributed to NARS partners for variety performance tests. During the period from 1994 to 2002 data was collected on the performance of bean varieties across the region. Such data has provided useful information which is currently used to enhance the efficiency of the variety-testing programme across the region.While variety improvement for performance can be promoted by simultaneously accumulating genes for yield and tolerance to all adverse factors, packaging all improvements into one variety is an almost impossible task. For this reason it is important to have both widely adapted varieties and varieties with specific adaptation. The extensive testing of bean varieties in SARBYT offered opportunities to assess bean varieties for both general and specific adaptations. It was possible to identify cultivars that had general adaptation across locations and those with specific adaptations to particular locations.Selection of test locations, representative of conditions and practices of a given area can be a challenging task in a variety-testing programme. Evaluation of locations offers opportunities to breeders to determine if cultivars are being sufficiently differentiated at all locations and see if differentiation is similar between two or more locations. Because breeders must contend with limited resources, it is useful to identify locations or environments that are similar or that provide little or no differentiation among tested varieties. Several locations -Harare (Zimbabwe), Umbeluzi (Mozambique), Mangcongco (Swaziland), Bvumbwe (Malawi) and Misamfu (Zambia) did not add value to the differentiation of the varieties. The data showed that greater use should be made of test locations that showed greater differentiation among cultivars, such as Bembeke and Chitedze in Malawi, and Delams in South Africa.Through the regional exchange of bean germplasm in SARBYT, several promising varieties have been identified by different national programmes, leading to the release of varieties in all countries within the network. Some varieties, such as A 286 have been released in more than one country. This suggests that some countries have similar bean production ecologies, implying that varieties selected in one site can serve other sites. The multiple country release of varieties is particularly important for regional trade, as it attracts the interest of the private seed industry.The SARBYT data also showed that there were considerable variety-byenvironment interactions in the test locations within SABRN, justifying the need for a regional bean variety-testing programme. A few varieties showed some elements of general adaptation while the majority were specifically adapted to some environments. The data also showed that a number of test locations were duplicates, and could effectively be reduced to three: Bembeke and Chitedze (Malawi) and Delams (South Africa). Varieties selected from these three sites could then be used in other sites within the region. This would reduce the cost of running multi-environment trials, without compromising on the variety selection programme. The exchange of bean germplasm within SABRN has proved to be beneficial to most NARS, who have released bean varieties accessed through SARBYT.We gratefully acknowledge financial support from CIDA and SDC through PABRA. The views expressed are not necessarily of those agencies."}

main/part_1/0597929634.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"e71f422e09a4aa4d7a8007e575e9f983","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://publications.iwmi.org/pdf/H040662.pdf","id":"820254718"},"keywords":["groundwater resource","drinking water supply","surface-groundwater relationship","Central Asia"],"sieverID":"9b8d795f-6cc8-4cc7-bc66-eb195533272a","content":"The degradation of groundwater quality and quantity in Uzbekistan is a major problem for people in charge of drinking water supply. In order to guaranty a safe and effective access to the resource, it is necessary to estimate the quality of the resource and to evaluate the recharge rate and the residence time of water within the aquifer systems. This study presents a few attempts carried out to draw a first portrait of the real situation in Central Asia.Uzbekistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia, with a total area of 447 400 km². It is bordered in the north by Kazakhstan, in the east by the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, and in the south by Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. The cultivated land is estimated at 5.2 million ha. Mainly because of water shortage, the cultivated area is only 20% of the cultivable area, estimated at 25.4 million ha. From hydrogeologic point of view, the territory of Uzbekistan is divided into two parts -mountain and plain. Tectonically it is orogenic (post platform and mobile) belt of the Western Tian Shan and has complex geology. Hydrogeologically this zone represents a significant zone for groundwater development. The plain zone occupies the south-eastern part of the Turan plate and is characterized by almost horizontal arrangement of Mesozoic deposits on Palaeozoic base. Severity of the climate and plain relief causes the development of highly saline groundwater with limited resources in this place.The average annual rainfall is about 264 mm. Two river basins are found in Uzbekistan. These basins form the Aral Sea basin: The Amu Darya basin in the south and the Syr Darya basin in the north. The total river flow generated inside Uzbekistan is estimated at 9.54 km 3 / year. The actual renewable water resources can thus be estimated at 50.41 km³/year. The largest lakes are: Lake Aydarkul storing about 30 km 3 in 1995; and the Sarykamish and Sudochie lakes storing 8 and 2 km 3 respectively. There are 52 reservoirs in Uzbekistan with a total capacity of about 19 km 3 . In 1994, the total annual water withdrawal for agricultural, domestic and industrial purposes was estimated at 58.05 km 3 . This amount included withdrawal from surface water (46.16 km³), from groundwater (7.39 km 3 ) and withdrawal from return flow collector-drainage for irrigation purposes, estimated at 4.5 km³. The total water withdrawal increased steadily from 45.5 km³ in 1975 to 62.8 km³ in 1985, mainly because of irrigation expansion. Since 1990, when the water withdrawal was 62.5 km³, the trend has been downward, due to agricultural water saving methods and a recession in the industrial sector.Groundwater resources and particularly fresh groundwater have a strategic importance for Uzbekistan. Nowadays groundwaters contribute to 10% of total water resources and groundwater withdrawals for drinking water supply are significant (60% of drinking waters come from groundwater). So drinking water supply with fresh groundwater is vital today and will be even more strategic in future. There are 99 major aquifers in Uzbekistan, 77 of which provide fresh groundwater resources suitable for drinking water supply. Groundwater resources with mineralization up to 5 g/l are estimated to 24.09 km 3 , and around 8.91 km 3 show mineralization up to 1 g/l. The most important groundwater resources are located, mainly in Ferghana Valley (34.5%), Tashkent (25.7%), Samarkand (18%), Surkhandarya (9%), Kashkadarya (5.5%) provinces, and others in total represent only 7% of the resources. Renewable resource of groundwater is 8.34 km 3 , of which 50% is for drinking purposes.In 2002, the total water volume pumped for all purposes was 17.37 mln.m 3 /day, of which 6.91 was pumped for drinking, 1.85 for industrial, 4.49 for irrigation and 3.82 drainage purposes. The analysis of the demand and resources indicate that Ferghana, Namangan, Andijan, Tashkent and Samarkand provinces have the capacity to develop its own water supply systems based on currently available explored fresh groundwater resources. The main shortage of water falls at western and southern provinces, where the groundwater resources are decreased due to extensive agricultural development and because there are no options for detecting and developing new aquifers exploitation. From 1992 to 2002, the total amounts of withdrawals decreased (from 28 to 17.37 mln.m 3 /day) and till 1998 the withdrawals for drinking purposes constantly decreased too (up to 5.2 mln.m 3 /day). From 1975 to 1992, withdrawals of the fresh groundwater resources had increased from 12 to 28 mln.m 3 /day due to drinking water supply and irrigation developments. The extraction of fresh water in western provinces has decreased owing to depletion of fresh groundwater resources and its removal with surface reservoirs such as Tuyamuyun, Kuyimazar and Talimardjan; poor technical conditions of the pumping stations; lack of maintenance; and not reliable electricity supply.In 2002, Uzbekistan had 45,000 wells drilled, of which only 27,000 (60%) are operational. The rest is not operated due to above mentioned and other reasons. The groundwater resources are continuously decreasing for last 30-35 years: if in 1965 its resources were 40.7 mln.m 3 /day, in 2002 it has decreased to 16.3 mln.m 3 /day, that is to say diminished by almost 40%. Hence, the understanding of the types of surface and groundwater exchanges will be extremely useful in recovering the diminishing aquifers and developing the fresh groundwater resources via available surface waters. The paper discusses the specific features of each type of water exchange and its evolution conditions; particular attention is given for the discussion of valley and pre-mountain types of water exchange since it has valuable practical (irrigation and drinking purpose) importance for research.On the territory of Uzbekistan there are 5 types of water exchange concerning various hydrogeological structures (Table 1). The length of the water exchanges of hydrogeologic structures and aquifers characterizes sensitiveness of its resources to the impact indicators (natural-technogenic factors of formation and use). The value of the exchange duration indicates the time after which there will be response to the impact of the groundwater resources. The most rapid response is typical for superficial fresh groundwater recharged by canals in the Amudarya Delta. Their resources are estimated to be 12% from total resources of groundwater in Uzbekistan (Borisov 1990). Artesian basins, according to the same information source consist of 13% of all groundwater resources of Uzbekistan; oppositely have highly retarded reaction to the influence -from 95 to 1480 years. Average duration of the water exchanges (18-50 years) is distinctive to the inter-mountain depressions, river valleys, premountain chains, debris cones. They consist of 75% of the total groundwater resources. Each type of the water exchange has its specific peculiarity of the evolution of its groundwater resources. In all types of water exchange the process of gradual and constant qualitative change in the groundwater resources are determined by the differentiations of the input and output items of their water balances. These are reflected in the values of the regulated resources of groundwater. Regulated resources are interpreted in the publications from different views. Most of the researchers consider them as the volume of gravitational water in the confined aquifer in the zone of groundwater level fluctuations (Bindeman, 1963 andGeintz, 1967). Different views on regulated resources are expressed by Plotnikov N.A. (1959). He considered it as resource component of the balance, which goes to incoming to the aquifer and to the outflow from the aquifer. The idea was also supported by Mirzaev and his students (Mirzaev et.al., 1991). Thus, the regulated resources will be correctly viewed as regulated resources of the aquifers, cracks, complexes. Regulated resources of the aquifers jointly with the incoming and out coming components of the groundwater balance serve as a driving force for evolution of its resources. Evolution of resources of groundwater with respect to quantity in semidesert and valley-premountain types of water exchange is determined by the cyclicity of the river flow. Distinctiveness of this is that 20 th century was characterized before 1959 by an increase in the river runoff, and the latter 27 years (till 1986) by a decrease. In general 95-year cycle (1891-1986), water shortage years were also observed (Chub, 2000) but however we can conclude that 20 th century was abundant with groundwater resources.Evolution of resources of groundwater with respect to quality has its own specificity. The evolution consisted in the intensive development of the irrigated agriculture in Uzbekistan, re-allocation of the river flows (great infrastructural development mainly after 1965), decrease in geo-ecologic conditions which lead to the forming in its territory of regional regressive and trans-regressive variations of the groundwater quality (by mineralization and hardness) (Borisov, 1990). Average annual increase in the area of the pollution by mineralization and hardness in the Zaravshan River Valley was 25.5 km 2 /year, when the hardness was 0.018 -0.025 mval/l/year. The hardness for Akhangaran River was 0.037 mval/l/year. Trans-regressive degradation of the groundwater quality develops from the sources of the pollution down with the flow of groundwater. The average area of the distribution of the aquifer pollution in the irrigated lands is 5.6-5.7 km 2 /year. The action of the degradation of the groundwater water quality decreases the groundwater resources of Uzbekistan in 30 years by 8.25 m 3 /sec/year or 0.26 km 3 /year (Table 2). The volume of the depletion in water for the period 1965-1995 was 7.8 km 3 or 28.8% of the total groundwater resources.Period of assessment, years Indicators 1965-1974 1974-1982 1982-1995 1965  To the most important decrease was imposed to resources of fresh groundwater which for a 30 year period fell from 12.19 m 3 /sec/year or 0.38 km 3 /year to 11.52 km 3 or 42.5% of the total resources.Technogenic influence changes the natural evolution of groundwater resources not only in quantitative and qualitative senses. The degree of the quantitative transformation of the evolution of the groundwater resources were assessed through the coefficient of the technogenic transformation between supply and discharge. Into this calculation, the concept of balance of values between the artificial sources of supply or recharge of groundwater resources and natural processes is used (Table 3). Its analysis demonstrates that highly influenced sources of supply of groundwater were observed in Karakalpakstan, Khorezm, Bukhara, Syrdarya provinces. In the sense of discharges the most technogenically affected resources of groundwater were observed in all the provinces except Karakalpakstan and Samarkand.The given information shows that main factors of evolution of groundwater resources in Uzbekistan are water exchange, time bound transformation of regulative resources, inheritance of the natural cyclicity of the river flow and technogenic influence on quantity and quality of the groundwater. The quantitative indicators of the evolution of groundwater cover a period of 48 years from 1947 to 1995. "}

main/part_1/0619774722.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"03cc0289595499789441f0974b681e62","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/2d44917e-4a5f-456b-a7c8-ef6585f64727/retrieve","id":"1504168846"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"0b6cff67-00b3-40a3-8050-0830e809b936","content":"CGIAR is a global partnership that unites organizations engaged in research for a food-secure future. The CGIAR Research Program on Livestock provides research-based solutions to help smallholder farmers, pastoralists and agropastoralists transition to sustainable, resilient livelihoods and to productive enterprises that will help feed future generations. It aims to increase the productivity of livestock agri-food systems in sustainable ways, making meat, milk and eggs more available and affordable across the developing world. The Program brings together five core partners: the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) with a mandate on livestock; the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), which works on forages; the International Center for Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), which works on small ruminants and dryland systems; the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) with expertise particularly in animal health and genetics and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) which connects research into development and innovation and scaling processes.The Program thanks all donors and organizations who globally supported its work through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust FundThe International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in partnership with various institutes has been implementing pilot Community-based breeding programmes (CBBPs) in Ethiopia. From both technical and socio-economic evaluations, it became clear that the pilot CBBPs are technically feasible and financially rewarding. The intention is now to propose a model for up/out-scaling of CBBPs in relevant sheep production regions.Develop a model to use CBBPs to serve core populations with breeding sires based on pilots established in Menz, Bonga and Horro.Several pilot CBBPs were established since 2010 in the Menz, Horro, Bonga and Afar regions.Only in Afar the establishment of CBBPs was not successful. This has been related to the harsh environmental and pastoral conditions of Afar. In the other regions, most initiated pilot CBBPs have been active and successful. The pilot CBBPs are based on local sheep named after their respective regions of origin. Sheep of these breeds may be present elsewhere in the country but in what follows core populations are defined in order to focus a new breeding project intervention area. Core or target sheep populations are those in the main production tract of each the three breeds.In the Menz region there are areas delineated for crossbreeding which are not considered here and rather areas identified for pure breeding of the local breed are considered as core Menz production region. The core population of Menz sheep is estimated at 700,000 head. Since average household flock size is 22.0 head, some 32,000 households are targeted in the region. About 55% of sheep are breeding females, so that the total number of breeding ewes in the core population is estimated at 385,000 served by 7,700 breeding rams given an average mating ratio (ewes per ram) of 50. According to the prevailing production system, where rams are used a maximum of three years with an annual survival of 95%, each year some 2800 young rams are needed for replacement of old ones. A breeding program aimed at improving the output of the core Menz sheep population ultimately needs to generate the conditions for the production and distribution of this number of genetically improved young breeding rams each year. Similar procedures can be used for Bonga and Horro sheep. The core population of Bonga sheep is located in the Kaffa zone of the South Nations Nationalities and Peoples State whereas the Horro sheep are widespread in the country. The target population of Horro sheep improvement is the Horro Gudero zone. Core population parameters for the three breeds are in Table 1. At present (December 2017), there are five CBBPs in the Menz region, three well established ones and two new ones, located two in Molale, two in Mehal-meda and one in Dargegn.Each CBBP involves on average 85 households running a total of about 1877 from which 55% are breeding females. These ewes produce a number of male lambs which undergo performance recording and genetic evaluation. Each year two ram selection rounds are organized in which about 75 selection candidates are presented with their 6-month adjusted body weight breeding values. Out of the 30-top ranked about 20 are selected visually by an inspection committee and distributed in the community for breeding or sale. In Bonga there are 16 CBBPs in the zone, two old ones comprising 3000 sheep each and 14 new ones comprising 1750 sheep each. The selection procedure in Bonga CBBPs is based on 3 months adjusted body weights and visual inspection. Here surplus rams are selected for sale to CBBPs in under development or to other communities. In Horro there are two CBBPs with about 1100 sheep each which produce their own male replacement. A summary of the statistics and population parameter for average CBBPs in the three sites is in Table 2. To increase the availability of improved rams there are three strategies: increase the number of CBBPs, increase the supply of improved rams per CBBP and increase the use of improved rams.• Increasing the number of CBBPs requires additional project staff for recording and extension work, additional identification and weighing supplies, larger coordination and supervision efforts, etc.• Increasing the number of rams supplied per CBBP requires participating farmers to enhance reproduction, recording and maintaining a higher proportion of male progeny till final selection. The supply can also be increased reducing the requirements for a ram to qualify for breeding. In the latter case this is achieved at the cost of a reduced selection differential.• Increasing the use of improved rams through higher dissemination or through extending their use in time. Higher dissemination is possible through artificial insemination (AI).Increasing the age of ram disposal also leads to higher dissemination, although at the cost of an increased generation interval.These avenues to reach a larger sheep population with improved rams are not exclusive and shall be considered jointly when planning different programs.In order to test different out-scaling options for different sheep and goat populations of Ethiopia a parameterized model has been programmed on an Excel file (See ANNEX I). Such a model allows a quick overview on results and allows testing sensibility of parameters used; this being particularly helpful when field data are uncertain.As seen before in the three sheep sites the supply of improved rams from present CBBPs is completely insufficient to attend the core sheep populations. For example, only 7% of the Menz core sheep population can be supplied with young improved breeding rams from the present five CBBPs in that region. Thus, a total number of 71 (5/7%) CBBPs of the same size, structure and operation of the current ones would be needed to attend the whole Menz target population. For Bonga and Horro it would be necessary to have a total of 54 and 47 CBBPs, of the same average size, structure and operation already established in these regions, respectively. Additional 66, 38 and 45 new CBBPs would be needed for Menz, Bonga and Horro, respectively. Clearly, the establishment of such a large number of new CBBPs is not a realistic proposal and it is also not necessary.The number of additional CBBPs needed can be substantially reduced from the above figures if more candidate males are included in the evaluation process of each CBBP. For example, in a current average Menz CBBP with 1032 breeding ewes only 400 male lambs are recorded, 150 considered for selection and only 40 young rams are finally selected for breeding.Accepting the potential reproduction parameter shown in Table 3 the number of recorded male lambs could reach 658 (1032x0.64) and the number considered for selection could be 626 (1032x0.61). Even assuming current average number of males recorded (n1 in Table 2) the potential number of male lambs considered for selection could be 380 (400x0.95), more than double the current 150. Similar results can be derived for current Bonga and Horro CBBPs.Table 3: Modelled male progeny production per breeding ewe in average CBBP.Conception rate 0.9 0.95 0.9Litter The potential number of young rams finally selected would depend on the selection pressure applied. There are basically two selection instances, first a proportion of candidates is selected on breeding values or measurements (psm) and finally a proportion is selected on visual traits (psv). Current psm for Menz, Bonga and Horro is 0.40, 0.53 and 0.40 and current psv is 0.67, 0.63 and 0.67, respectively (Table 2). These selection pressures are arbitrary and currently related to the expected number of young rams needed.If candidates with above average breeding values are considered (psm=0.5) and from these 90% are visually acceptable (pmv=0.9) then 282, 416 and 180 young rams would be available for breeding in Menz, Bonga and Horro, respectively. In this case 10, 13 and 6 CBBPs in full reproductive potential would be sufficient to provide young rams to the core populations of Menz, Bonga and Horro (Table 4). For example, for Menz 10x282=2820 young rams. Keeping all male lambs available till measurement and keeping all selected young rams till breeding age for their eventual sale is costly and risky if there is no market for culled males and for the breeding rams produced. Although many animal production systems follow a pyramidal genetic structure in which farmers of the top layer (stud farmers) follow such a system. That is performance recording most of the male progeny for selection and eventual breeding and sale to lower levels of the pyramid.Combinations of psm and psv can be modelled to get desired number of young rams (n4) and resulting number of CBBPs following the logic of Table 4. Examples of such combinations and number of CBBPs required supplying the core populations are in Table 5. Increasing selection pressures (by decreasing the proportion selected) implies that more CBBPs are required to produce sufficient young rams to supply core populations. These rams will be of higher breeding value and visual quality, the opposite would be true if selection pressures are relaxed. Relaxation might be more acceptable for advanced CBBPs offering already prestigious breeding stock. Bonga rams may have already this prestige.Artificial insemination (AI) allows using fewer males and/or increase the number of females served with improved males. At CBBP level using fewer rams allows increasing selection differential and consequently increases the genetic progress. At the general flock level AI allows extensive dissemination of genetic superiority. Considering the costs involved in AI programs only outstanding rams should be considered for AI, particularly if used at the CBBP level. The genetic merit of AI males should be high and accurately measured. Such conditions are probably difficult to meet in most CBBPs because breeding values are normally based only on own phenotype and are therefore of low accuracy. Rams with high accurate breeding value may be found in full pedigreed CBBPs where comprehensive data are available for BLUP analyses. This might be the case in Bonga CBBPs where pedigree recording is more common. Potential AI rams could also be detected in well-designed progeny test trials. For example, if a community flock is split into single sire mating groups the comparison of average 6 months body weights would lead to the detection of superior sires, which then could be used in AI. Single sire mating groups may already exist where for example a clan of say five households run their sheep together with one ram. If this kind of information to accurately detect outstanding rams is not available, massive AI should be avoided at CBBPs level. AI with phenotypically outstanding males may still be implemented in flocks starting a CBBP provided several donor rams are used from advanced CBBPs.Including AI in the modelling of the number of CBBPs needed to attend specific populations requires adjustment of the mating ratio parameter. For example, in Menz two mobile AI teams could inseminate about 1000 ewes per week during four weeks making a total of about 8000 ewes inseminated, that is about 2% of the 385,000 Menz core population ewes. Suppose AI mating ratio is 300 ewes/ram and natural mating ratio is 50 ewes/ram, then the overall average mating ratio is 300x2%+50x98% = 55, replacing this mating ratio in the model of Table 1 reduces the number of young rams needed to 2583 and less CBBPs may be needed. For example, given the parameters of Table 4, instead of 10 CBBPs only 9 would be needed in Menz.The second way of intensifying the use of males is by keeping adult males for additional matings in the flock. For example, using males in the base flocks 4 years instead of 2 years almost doubles the number of young males available for distribution, or conversely allows to halve the number of CBBPs required for a given core population. Using males, additional years would not change the rate of genetic gain but would increase the genetic lag between CBBP and base flocks. Other considerations may also limit this option in low input systems.In order to involve a high proportion of core sheep populations in genetic improvement programs more improved rams have to be produced and disseminated. As seen before this can be done by replicating (out-scaling) CBBPs, increasing the number of rams produced (upscaling) in CBBPs, intensifying the use of rams through AI or extended use. The three strategies should be discussed with the regional leaders and, if possible, with other relevant stakeholders (extension officers, community elders, etc.). Each strategy has advantages and disadvantages which might apply more or less in different communities or institutional setups. Most probably the three strategies can be used with different emphasis in different regions.From previous modelling results it is clear that simple replication of present CBBPs is not a realistic option if the whole target populations are to be involved in the improvement program. Additional 66, 38 and 45 new CBBPs would be needed for the three sheep breeds (Menz, Bonga and Horro, respectively). Present CBBPs could produce about 4, 3 and 5 times more candidates and, applying reasonable selection pressures, could offer 7, 4 and 8 times more selected rams than at present, respectively. By doing so, the additional number of CBBPs required to provide the whole target populations will be much less. In Menz, for example, only five new CBBPs would be needed.Ram production does not automatically imply ram distribution. Therefore, a key challenge is to develop a market or distribution system of CBBPs produced rams. At present a demand for males from CBBPs by base population farmers seems to be lacking in Menz and Horro and is only limited in Bonga. Some activities which could be emphasised or implemented to motivate and facilitate such a demand are:• Explaining extension officers and rural NGO officers the general strategy for genetic improvement: participating in a CBBP or taking advantage of their rams.• Participating in rural events explaining to general flock farmers the importance of using \"good\" rams.• Organize financial incentive (credit or subsidy) for general flock farmers when buying CBBP (certified) produced rams.• Extending the bi-annual ram distribution events inviting general flock farmers.• Promoting and advertising certified CBBP rams across the core breeding regions.• Offering outstanding rams in AI programs to jump start new CBBPs or base flock communities.This is also relevant when choosing the location of new CBBPs. Apart from considerations of genuine community interest, feasibility, etc.; the location of new CBBPs should also consider the potential market for surplus males. Thus, regional sheep density, accessibility and regional ram demands should be considered.As the demand for improved rams increase, selection policies at established CBBPs need to be adjusted. We do not know the present genetic difference between old CBBPs, new CBBPs and general flocks, so we cannot set exact threshold selection and culling levels of rams in the CBBPs. Currently the number of candidates at selection stage and the number selected for breeding are related to the replacement necessities and expected ram sale opportunities. The proportions selected on breeding values are in the range 0.4-0.53 and the proportions finally selected visually are in the range 0.63-0.67. These selection pressures are reasonable and close to suggested proportions of 0.5 and 0.9, respectively. Those rams with breeding value above average (standardized selection intensity = 0.8) and visually acceptable would be genetically acceptable. Approximate genetic gain expected from the use of these males can be calculated, which multiplied by lifetime expressions and economic value gives an indication of the relative economic benefit per animal of the program (a full economic evaluation requires more sophisticated methodology).As mentioned above AI is a powerful tool for genetic improvement and may be useful in many ways in the proposed out/up scaling of CBBPs. If genetically outstanding rams can be detected with high accuracy AI can increase the rate of genetic gain at CBBP level. In average Menz CBBPs there are 1032 breeding ewes, 21 breeding rams and 8 young replacement rams (Table 2). Suppose the best two breeding rams are used for inseminating 150 ewes each (300/1032=29% of total CBBP ewes inseminated), then the average mating ratio would be mr=29%x150+71%x50=79 and only 13 breeding rams and 5 young replacement rams are needed in a typical Menz CBBP. If such a program is applied routinely over years then on average the proportion of young replacement rams selected is reduced from 8/n4 to 5/n4 with the corresponding increase in selection differential and genetic gain. According to previous experiences of trained AI teams, such a program could be applied to all five Menz CBBPs during the peak reproductive season of the breed. However, it is recommended to discuss such a program in each case with all stakeholders. Reservations to AI may arise with the required logistics at community level, with the application of hormones, with the resulting concentrated lambing dates, with alternative use of project resources, etc.Whether justified or not, such reservations need to be addressed to ensure community participation and approval.AI can also be very useful in disseminating genetic superiority of outstanding rams to general flocks and therefore reducing the number of breeding rams needed to be produced at CBBP level. This would either allow keeping fewer candidates in the CBBPs and/or reduce the number of CBBPs required to attend the target population. The selection of target flocks and organization of AI in general flocks is however not so obvious. Farmers of a community interested in participating in such a program would most probably be interested in establishing a new CBBP for its own. Thus, AI is probably useful for establishing new CBBPs. One drawback in this case is that AI would compete with established CBBPs interested in selling more rams. Again this option needs participative discussion of options, advantages and disadvantages.The out/up-scaling planning process may consider progressive intermediate options. For example, progressively establishing new CBBPs and, at the same time, progressively increasing the demand of rams from existing CBBPs and progressively using AI.Enabling environment (brief comments)A crucial antecedent for being optimistic regarding out-scaling of CBBPs in Ethiopia is the successful operation of several pilot CBBPs in both, sheep and goat breeds for more than 5 years in different regions. The breeding programme and methodology has been tested and adjusted, the communication channels between stakeholders are working and positive results are already documented. Thus, a positive working environment is already in place.The Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries and its decentralized regional research centres with extension officers, enumerators, veterinarians and researchers are directly involved in all CBBPs and interested in continuing to do so. A clear communication net is already operative. Roles and responsibilities have been defined and adhered to in the pilot phases. However, detailed consultations and agreements are needed as the pilot phase moves to populationwide programs. There may be additional stakeholders involved and the roles, duties and obligations of present ones may change. This is particularly important since farmer organization and communication which develops from the implementation of CBBPs is often the starting point of other activities of common interest, for example collective purchase of supplies or collective sale of products, where other stakeholders become important.agreement on the importance of these other traits; otherwise there is no point in a high visual selection pressure.Identification is based on ear-tags, although other methods are being investigated (NZ chips). Web-based data Recording and Management System (DREMS) is already developed in partnership with EMBRAPA and is being used. The major challenge is the internet connection which is unreliable in most rural Ethiopia. Therefore, we are in the process of developing an offline version of DREMS. Mobile data recording is also being tested. Role of stakeholders should be clear: farmers inform enumerators when there is new birth and when they face problems, enumerator takes body weights and collects all field information; researchers calculate breeding value, farmer teams make visual assessment, etc.For Menz and Horro sheep, lamb weights are taken at 5-7 month of age and linearly adjusted to 6-month weights, usually correcting for birth weight. Deviations from community mean are multiplied by the heritability of this trait to get breeding values. These deviations or breeding values are comparable within CBBP not across CBBPs, unless rams are shared between CBBPs with full pedigree recording. Adjustments are made for known sources of variation like birth type and age of dam. An additional trait of interest might be the dam lifetime-reproductive performance, indirectly selecting for reduced lambing interval. In Bonga and Horro birth type information is also considered. In Bonga breeding values for weight at 3 months of age and dam performance are considered. Ideally this should be done in form of a selection index. BLUP evaluation is not necessary, unless comprehensive pedigree is available, this being the case in Bonga. Measurement of weights in females is not worthwhile as most females will be used for breeding anyway.Twice a year farmers gather for selection and distribution of males. In Menz about 40% of top ranking 6 months weight breeding values are presented to famers who select on visual traits young breeding males for replacement. For example the top 30 ranked males out of 75 are presented to farmers for selection. In Bonga about 200 male lambs are recorded, about 150 lambs are present at selection time, from these 80 are selected on breeding values, 75 are left at around 3 months of age. After this pre-selection a final visual selection is performed at 6 month of age selecting 50 for replacement and sale.The visual selection criteria should exclude traits already measured and include all other traits of interest to farmers. Setting the culling level to the mean, so that above average performing males can be candidates for visual selection would allow increasing somewhat the offer of males for visual selection. Although being arbitrary, this criterion is simple to understand and justify, all these males are \"improvers\" compared to their contemporaries. The criterion should be independent of flock size but may be adapted to age of the CBBP.Recent programmes may have comparatively lower quality male lambs.Performance of dams shall be considered when selecting males. However, selection for more than one trait requires discussion of their relative importance and construction of selection indices or definition of independent culling levels. Traits like, colour, horn type, tail type are also considered and lambs that do not fulfil the criterion are independently culled.In pedigreed CBBPs inbreeding can be avoided easily tracking common ancestor when selecting nucleus replacements. Without pedigree it is advisable not to use rams more than 2 matings in the same flock or group (within CBBP), in order to avoid sire-daughter matings. Circular mating or sire exchange between groups and even between CBBPs is also advised. However it should be noted that all CBBPs are of a reasonable size and with more than 3 new males every year which is normally sufficient for maintaining a low inbreeding rate.Executive persons from credible institutions should extend the certification documents in due time. Apart from paper documentation, a visible physical identification (adding a special tag or tattoo) of the certified animal is useful for identification in the field and marketing. Certification should include health status and reproductive ability, so that certified rams are guaranteed healthy, apt for reproduction and genetically above average.A guideline is being prepared.In Menz young breeding rams are used basically by members of the respective CBBP. If general flocks are to benefit from established CBBPs more males need to be offered and distributed to these flocks. In the Bonga region there is already an incipient market for CBBP produced males since these males are well known and appreciated in the region. In Bonga several new CBBPs were established recently and were supplied with rams from the established CBBPs. In Menz and Horro this is not the case and actions promoting and facilitating the demand need to be considered as mentioned elsewhere. A key marketing tool is for CBBPs to offer officially certified rams. In the future farmers may be prepared to pay for guaranteed rams. In CBBPs of other countries the open nucleus concept is used and base farmers acquire rams from the nucleus (CBBP) in exchange of selected replacement females.Genetic progress and economic benefit has been calculated (in preparation). Using the results of these studies, in the future we can make an exercise following the gene flow logic of Amer et al. (2007)."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"1d9919b73ceb1f24af9307b1e4ef5ed3","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/05535e04-c38f-4c7b-b34c-ade0166d3666/retrieve","id":"1419380584"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"a2f317e7-42b4-4a0c-bcd0-f1775acf3405","content":"The International Potato Center (known by its Spanish acronym, CIP) seeks to reduce poverty and achieve food security on a sustained basis in developing countries across the globe, through scientific research and related activities on potatoes, swe and on the improved management of natural resources.CIP has a worldwide network of regional and country offices, and research collaborators based in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. CIP headquarters are in La Molina, located in Lima, Peru's capital, in an irrigated coastal valley. CIP also has experimental stations in Huancayo in the high Andes and in San Ramon on the eastern, rainforest-covered slopes, and in Quito, Ecuador. CIP has recruited an recruited staff.CIP is a member of the Alliance of the CGIAR Centers and receives its principal funding from the members of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), which is made up of governments, private foundations, and international and regional organizations. The Alliance of the CGIAR Centers works to build awareness and support for food and environmental research for a world with less poverty, a healthier human family, well-nourished children and a better environment. The Alliance supports research, promotes partnerships and sponsors projects that bring the re LThe International Potato Center plays an important role in improving lives of millions of poor families that live from growing potatoes, sweetpotatoes and other roots and tubers. CIP technologies have improved production systems and resulted in significant gains in farm productivity throughout the world, especially in Asia, Eastern Africa, and the Andean highlands.2009 has been a very special and successful year. This was the first year of implementation of the Center's new Corporate Plan and Strategy, approved by the Board of Trustees in April. For the first time, CIP engaged in an integrated planning exercise that linked strategic planning for research with similar planning for the administrative and financial side of CIP. The plan calls for ambitious growth and reaffirms our focus on potatoes and sweetpotatoes linked to a bottom up regional approach that assures an unwavering attention to impact oriented work.During the year, the Center continued with its increasing trends. Revenues reached US$ 32.8M, 16% above 2008 while expenditures, including provisions, increased to US$ 31.3M, 12% above 2008. By the end of the year, the Center achieved a US$ 1.5M surplus.The short-term solvency indicator (liquidity), which measures the number of days of working capital to fund expenditures excluding depreciation, reached 104 days. The long-term financial stability indicator (adequacy of reserves), which measures the number of days of unrestricted net assets, reached 90 days. Both indicators are within the acceptable ranges established by the CGIAR.The indirect cost ratio of the Center reached 14%. It has been calculated following the new Financial Guidelines No. 5, and expresses the relation between direct and indirect costs according to the new definitions and methodology.CIP's financial indicators reflect that the Center is growing while improving its financial health, though no institution is immune to financial or operational risk. In order to deal with a broad range of risks, risk management policies and plans are in place. The Board through its risk oversight role exercised through the Audit Committee oversees the way in which management deals with risk. In a much broader sense, the Board oversees Center operations in the interests of donors and stakeholders.Cash and cash equivalents Depreciation of acquired assets is calculated by using the straight-line method. Depreciation starts in the month the assets are placed in operation and continues until they have been fully depreciated or discontinued for use.Constructions in progress are capitalized when the work is completed and the facility is put into use.Property and Equipment acquired through the use of grants restricted for a specific project are recorded as assets. Such assets are depreciated at a rate of 100%.Intangible Assets comprised by the software developed for the implementation of ABC system that is being developed. The total cost of acquisition and installation of computer software is capitalized and amortized over the estimated useful life of the software, usually three years.Revenue Grants are recognized upon fulfillment of the donor-imposed conditions attached to it. They are classified according to the type of donor restrictions. Grants received for the funding of activities to be performed in future periods are recorded as Accounts Payable to Donors.Other Revenue is recognized in the period in which income is earned. It includes interest and gains on investments, and proceeds from the sale of assets or other services.Indirect Cost Recovery is the money recovered to pay management and general operations. In 2009 indirect cost recovery reached US$ 1.9.M (US$ 1.8M in 2008).Cost Allocation Ratio is calculated by allocating part of management and general expenses (indirect expenditures) to program related expenses (direct expenditures), according to Financial Guideline No 5. The indirect cost ratio over total expenditures reached 12% (12% in 2008), while the indirect cost ratio over direct costs, represented 14% (13% in 2008) (Appendix 5).Foreign Currency transactions are stated in US dollars at the exchange rate prevailing on the date of the transaction. Exchange differences resulting from the collection of receivables and/or the settlement of obligations at an exchange rate different from the one originally used to book the transaction are credited or charged to operations in the period the transaction is settled and are included in the statement of activities.Outstanding assets and liabilities in currencies other than the US dollar at year-end are adjusted at the market exchange rate. Gains or losses are included in the statement of activities.Expenses represent actual or expected cash outflows that have occurred or will eventually occur as a result of the Center's ongoing operations during the period.Other Accounts Payable and Accruals represent amounts to be paid in the future for goods or services received, whether billed by the supplier or not.Employee Benefits are all forms of consideration given by the Center in exchange for services rendered by all employees whether internationally recruited staff (IRS) or nationally recruited staff (NRS). Employee Repatriation Cost is paid in accordance with the terms and conditions of recruitment. Internationally recruited staff is entitled to repatriation benefits on the completion of their contract period. Provision is made for repatriation payable for all international staff members based on the estimated cost of airfare, relocation and freight charges.The preparation of financial statements requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statement and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"52213ae89d16e6d5afed3fb4bc59d3e0","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/910f1f17-4f6d-4840-ac87-dc71848901af/retrieve","id":"-287361605"},"keywords":["Puccinia sorghi","Genome-wide association study","maize diseases","Single-nucleotide polymorphisms"],"sieverID":"a671af95-a43e-4a9b-973d-b074bea14a20","content":"Background: Common rust, caused by Puccinia sorghi, is an important foliar disease of maize that has been associated with up to 50% grain yield loss. Development of resistant maize germplasm is the ideal strategy to combat P. sorghi.Results: Association mapping performed using a mixed linear model (MLM), integrating population structure and family relatedness identified 25 QTL (P < 3.12 × 10 − 5 ) that were associated with resistance to common rust and distributed on chromosomes 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, and 10. We identified three QTLs associated with all three disease parameters (final disease rating, mean disease rating, and area under disease progress curve) located on chromosomes 1, 3, and 8. A total of 5 QTLs for resistance to common rust were identified in the RIL population. Nine candidate genes located on chromosomes 1, 5, 6, 8, and 10 for resistance to common rust associated loci were identified through detailed annotation. Conclusions: Using a diverse set of inbred lines genotyped with high density markers and evaluated for common rust resistance in multiple environments, it was possible to identify QTL significantly associated with resistance to common rust and several candidate genes. The results point to the need for fine mapping common rust resistance by targeting regions identified in common between this study and others using diverse germplasm.Common rust of maize, caused by Puccinia sorghi Schwein, is widely distributed in tropical, subtropical, temperate, and highland environments, where it causes economic losses on approximately 7.8 million ha or 34% of the maize area [1]. Substantial losses in forage quality and up to 50% loss in grain yield have been observed [2]. Damage is caused by loss of photosynthetic leaf area, chlorosis and premature leaf senescence, leading to incomplete grain filling and poor yields. Common rust can be controlled by use of fungicides or resistant cultivars. For economic and ecological reasons, development and deployment of resistant maize cultivars is the most appropriate strategy to minimize the effects of P. sorghi, and significantly contribute to increased grain yield [3].Previous research revealed that resistance of maize to common rust is controlled by both quantitative and qualitative genes [4][5][6][7][8]. Qualitative or major-gene resistance is controlled by single major-effect resistance genes that are either dominant or recessive and generally provide race-specific, high-level resistance, but in a non-durable manner. In contrast, quantitative resistance typically has a multi-genic basis and generally provides non-race-specific intermediate levels of resistance. In maize, more than 25 dominant Rp genes are involved in race-specific resistance for common rust and are organized in complex loci at chromosomes 3, 4, 6 and 10 [3, 9, 10]. Fourteen different resistance genes have been designated as Rp1-A to Rp1-N based on map position [11,12] and a number of these have been genetically recombined, suggesting that they are encoded by members of a gene cluster [12,13]. Subsequently, other genes from the rp1 loci designated rp5 and rp6 on chromosome 10 [12, 14] rp3 and rp4 on chromosomes 3 and 4, respectively [15], Rp7 [16] and Rp8 on chromosome 6 [5] have been reported. The Rp1-D gene on chromosome 10 was cloned from the HRp1-D haplotype using transposon tagging [17], and further validated via a complementation test [18]. The Rp1 cluster was shown to vary widely in copy number (1-52 copies) among different maize haplotypes [19].Single race-specific or major resistance genes confer high levels of resistance to specific rust biotypes, but simply inherited resistance may result in selection for virulent races. Although it is easier to work with qualitative resistance in crop genetic research and breeding, partial resistance to the diseases may be more durable than simply inherited resistance [20][21][22]. However, partial resistance has been more difficult to transfer than simply inherited resistance due to its presumed multigenic nature. Molecular mapping techniques in combination with marker-assisted selection, however, may enable breeders to more effectively identify and exploit this type of resistance.Since the first mapping study of quantitative trait loci (QTL) in a plant was published in 1986 [23] a substantial number of studies have been conducted to map QTL for different disease resistances [3,6,7,[24][25][26]. Lübberstedt et al. [3] used European maize flint lines and identified 20 QTL conferring partial resistance to common rust distributed over all 10 maize chromosomes. Kerns et al. [6] used a segregating population from cross FRMo17 × BS11 (FR)c7 and identified 24 molecular markers in 16 chromosomal regions that were significantly associated with partial rust resistance. Brown et al. [24], using an F 2:3 population from a cross between sweet corn inbred lines IL731a and W6786, identified nine regions on six chromosomes, which were significantly associated with common rust severity. These mapping studies thus far have provided information on the genetic architecture of resistance to common rust, including the number, location, and action of chromosomal segments. Through linkage mapping, several P. sorghi resistance QTL have been identified [3-6, 8, 24], but these have not been validated for utilization by breeders. It is, therefore, important to identify new genes for resistance to common rust that can be effectively used in tropical maize breeding programs.Genome-wide association studies (GWAS), based on linkage disequilibrium (LD) analysis, have become a useful tool for identifying and mapping causal genes with modest effects like common rust resistance genes [27,28]. Three loci (chromosome 2, chromosome 3 and chromosome 8) associated with maize common rust resistance in temperate maize germplasm were identified using GWAS [8]. GWAS is particularly useful when large numbers of inbred lines are available, because once these lines have been genotyped they can be phenotyped in different environments across seasons/years, making it possible and cost-effective to study the genetic architecture of different traits using phenotypic data from multiple environments [28,29]. The traditional QTL mapping in bi-parental populations is powerful in comparing pairs of alleles, which gives a lower false discovery rate compared to GWAS. Hence, combining both GWAS and traditional QTL mapping maybe a powerful method for discovering causal loci across the genome [26,30]. In this study, we used GWAS in a diverse panel of tropical maize inbred lines and QTL mapping in a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population to analyze chromosomal regions associated with resistance to P. sorghi. The objectives were to localize and estimate the effects of minor and major loci for resistance to common rust using high density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers, and to identify candidate genes and potential causal polymorphisms for resistance to common rust through detailed annotation.The GWAS panel was evaluated at six environments for response to common rust and ratings were done three times for all environments except at Kenya09, where lines were evaluated once. Results showed very strong significant correlation between the three disease traits (AUDPC, FDR and MDR) (Table 1). Because disease rating at Kenya09 was evaluated once and strong correlation was observed between the three disease parameters, further analysis was conducted using only the FDR data. A weak negative correlation was observed between maturity (AD and SD) and rust resistance parameters (Table 1). Although rust resistance is a complex trait, the inoculum pressure was consistently high under field conditions and we obtained highly reliable phenotypic data, as shown by the within location repeatability of FDR that was ≥0.76 (Table 2). The histogram of FDR at each of the six environments showed a continuous distribution (Additional file 1), which suggested quantitative resistance genes might be responsible for most of the variation. Highly significant differences (P < 0.001) among lines, environments and line × environment interaction were observed for FDR of common rust in the DTMA panel of inbred lines (Table 3). Several inbred lines exhibited differential response to common rust in various environments (Additional file 2). Genetic correlations for FDR among locations ranged from 0.48 to 1.00 (Table 4). Despite the significant line × environment interactions, strong genetic correlation coefficients among most of the environments were observed for FDR scores. Clustering of environments using FDR revealed two major clusters, with BA10 separated from other environments (Fig. 1). Environment BA10 had the smallest genetic correlations with other environments and was excluded from further analysis. The year of common rust evaluation at this location (2010) was extremely dry and therefore disease expression was affected.The germplasm collection used in this study included 296 tropical maize inbred lines representing a large amount of the genetic diversity of CIMMYT and IITA's stress (drought, low nitrogen, acid soils, diseases, and entomology) breeding programs in Mexico, Colombia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ethiopia and other tropical countries. Among the 55,000 SNP markers used to genotype the lines, 39,996 SNPs were scored for all lines. There was an even distribution of minor allele frequency across the 39,996 SNPs, out of which 7945 SNP markers (19.8%) had a minor allele frequency (MAF) below 5% across all tested lines. A total of 32,051 SNPs were used for population structure and association mapping after excluding SNPs with MAF below 5%. The results showed that the panel had eight divergent groups, namely, I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII and VIII (Fig. 2 and Additional file 3). Thus, structure analysis separated the germplasm clearly into different divergent groups.Association mapping was performed using a mixed linear model (MLM) by integrating population structure (PCA) and family relatedness (kinship) within the DTMA panel using 32,051 SNPs with rare alleles (MAF < 5%) having been excluded. A Bonferroni threshold (1/n) was used to show the significant polymorphic SNPs (P < 3.12 × 10 − 05 for 32,051 SNPs). In total, 37 SNP markers associated with common rust resistance were detected. Of the 37 SNP markers, seven SNP markers on four chromosomes (Chrs.1, 3, 6 and 8) were significantly associated with FDR (P < 3.12 × 10 − 5 ), seven SNP markers on three chromosomes (Chrs.1, 3 and 8) were significantly associated with MDR, and 23 SNP markers on five chromosomes (Chrs.1, 3, 5, 6, 8 and 10) were significantly associated with AUDPC (Table 5, Fig. 3a-h). The percentage of phenotypic  variance explained (PVE) by an individual significant SNP ranged from 6.43 to 12.97%. Quantile-quantile plots (QQ plots) showed that population structure was controlled well by the mixed linear model (Additional file 4).Based on the genomic region and size with significant SNPs, we classified these SNPs into 8 QTLs (Table 5). Five QTLs associated with FDR were detected, including one QTL denoted as rp6. There were three QTLs associated with all three disease parameters (FDR, MDR and AUDPC) which were located on Chr.1 (rp1.1), Chr.3 (rp3.1) and Chr.8 (rp8.2). All the QTLs associated with MDR were detected for AUDPC as well. One QTL (rp8.1) on Chr.8 associated with AUDPC was detected with several significant SNPs with high percentage of PVE > 10%. It is notable that a significant QTL, rp3.1, detected for FDR, MDR and AUDPC at El Batan in 2011, was also detected at El Batan in 2009A, 2009B and 2010 with a low P value, suggesting that rp3.1 is likely to be a major QTL.Candidate genes were selected around the associated SNP (within ~200 kb) based on known involvement as metabolic or signaling genes in disease resistance. The gene annotation information was used to identify the putative function of genes around associated SNPs. Nine candidate genes were identified in the significant SNP     sites (or adjacent to these sites) of six associated loci (Table 6). The combined approach was not effective for all loci because of the complexity of candidate gene identification. There were several association signals located in genomic regions with tandemly repeated genes.We identified nine candidate gene on chromosomes 1, 5, 6, 8 and 10. Chromosome 5 had two candidate genes (GRMZM2G181002 at 10,084,848-10,087,159 bp, and GRMZM5G829476 at 10,117,318-10,118,871 bp) while chromosome 8 had four candidate genes (Table 6).The bi-parental RIL population was evaluated for common rust resistance in three environments. Significant phenotypic variation for rust resistance was observed among the RILs (Additional file 5). The genotypic variance (σ 2 G ) was significant (P < 0.01) at single environments. For combined ANOVA σ 2 GE was significant (P < 0.01), suggesting common rust resistance is affected by environmental factors. Broad-sense heritability was 0.72 across environments (Additional file 5), revealing that rust resistance was controlled by genetic factors and the data could confidently be used for QTL mapping.Five QTL were detected in the RIL population, one each on Chr. 1 and 4, and three on Chr. 5 (Table 7). The QTL on Chr.5 (qRps5-1) had the highest LOD value (7.74) and it accounted for 18.37% of the total phenotypic variation observed for common rust resistance in the RIL population. The other two QTLs on Chr. 5 (qRps5-2 and qRps5-3) explained 15.84% of the phenotypic variation. Combined, the five QTLs detected in the RIL population explained 39.6% of the total phenotypic variance for common rust resistance.Genetic resistance to maize foliar diseases is the most important, economical and sustainable strategy for managing disease epidemics to increase maize production, especially for smallholder farmers. Development of open pollinated or synthetic maize varieties and hybrids resistant to major diseases requires sufficient information on the genetics and organization of resistance genes on the maize chromosome. This information will allow efficient strategies to combine or pyramid these genes in maize inbred lines that should allow resistant hybrid development. Genome-wide association studies that utilize diverse sets of inbred lines provide an avenue to precisely localize QTLs for quantitative traits and to potentially identify candidate genes [8]. This study used a combination of multiple environment phenotyping of a common set of inbred lines and association mapping to elucidate the genetics of maize resistance to common rust. Results from this study revealed relatively large repeatability estimates for response to common rust at single and across environments. This suggested that actual heritability estimates for common rust may be high, leading to higher genetic gain during selection for resistance to common rust. Higher repeatability estimates may also be attributed to the large diversity of the germplasm used.Disease parameters, FDR and AUDPC are among those used to identify partial resistance to common rust in maize. Bailey et a1. [31] suggested the use of AUDPC to identify partial resistance to plant diseases for different crops, as this is an integrative parameter that measures the rate of disease progress as opposed to the final disease ratings. Hence, AUDPC can be useful in the identification of QTL that are associated with different components of disease resistance. Although a very strong correlation was observed between FDR and AUDPC (r = 0.97), these two parameters could be associated with different types of resistance. Three QTL, rp1 on Chr.1, rp3.1 on Chr.3 and rp8.2 on Chr.8, were detected by all three (FDR, MDR and AUDPC) disease parameters. All the QTL associated with MDR were detected with AUDPC. More SNPs were detected for AUDPC than for FDR, further indicating the importance of using different parameters in association mapping. Although it costs more (time and labor) to obtain data to calculate AUDPC because several ratings must be performed during crop development/growth cycle, our study has shown that it is more effective than a single score for QTL discovery.Association analysis revealed common rust resistance QTLs on chromosomes 1, 3, 5, 6, 8 and 10, and these are in the regions that have previously been reported to harbor P. sorghi resistance [7]. Some of the QTL identified in this study have been mapped to regions previously described to be associated with common rust resistance through bi-parental population-based linkage analysis [3,6,24] and other methods of analysis [5,8,[32][33][34]. Lübberstedt et al. [3] reported that linkage groups 1 (bin1:05-1:06), 6 (6:04), and 10 (10:05-06) harbored important QTL for common  rust resistance. In these regions, we also detected significant associations through GWAS, meaning that the action of these polymorphism loci may be influenced by linked QTL on the same chromosome. Brown et al. [24] identified QTL in bins 2.05 and 5.02 that confer partial resistance to common rust in maize. These bins correspond to association locations identified in our study. Two QTLs identified in this study (in bins 3.04 and 8.03) were also identified by Olukolu et al. [8]. This suggested the need to initiate a fine mapping study for common rust by targeting the common regions identified by various research groups with diverse germplasm. Furthermore, some association loci (rp8.1, rp8.2, rp10.1) that confer partial resistance to common rust have not been previously reported. Chromosome 10 has been reported to harbor genes for resistance to southern corn rust [35] but we do not have information if it is the same or different set of genes as those for common rust. In our study, the QTL, rp3.1, detected using all three common rust resistance parameters (FDR, MDR and AUDPC) at El Batan in 2011, was also found at El Batan in 2009A, 2009B, and 2010 although with a non-significant low P value. This suggests that rp3.1 may be a major QTL associated with resistance against common rust and it warrants further investigation. Sources of quantitative disease resistance in crop plants have proven to be highly durable [36], making it a promising breeding target for long-term common rust resistance. The integration of resistance into adapted maize germplasm is, however, difficult because it is multi-genic, thereby making backcrossing inefficient. Difficulties in phenotyping common rust further complicate the breeding efforts. As with other diseases, breeding for common rust resistance requires artificial inoculation for uniform pathogen pressure to identify susceptible and resistant genotypes with little chance of escapes. In nature, the infrequent occurrence of the maize rust pathogen has resulted in inconsistent selection between environments, which has led to difficulties in selecting for and maintaining common rust resistance in maize breeding lines [37]. In the absence of selection pressure, resistance alleles may be lost, especially those with minor effects on resistance, as has occurred before [38]. In our study, no QTL was common across locations when using AUDPC, suggesting high pathogen variation among the locations. In this case, it might be more effective to use marker-assisted selection for loci linked to major and partial-resistance QTL to develop common rust resistant inbred lines and hybrids. Marker assisted selection has been successfully deployed for traits that are simply inherited, and is justified for such traits that are either too difficult or expensive to phenotype [39].In this study, flowering time and common rust FDR were negatively correlated. This suggested that reaction to common rust was independent of genotype maturity. This result corroborates findings by Carson et al. [40] for southern leaf blight but is in contrast to Liu et al. [41] for gray leaf spot (GLS). Associated loci for FDR and flowering time did not co-localize (data not shown), a result that is in contrast to findings in other studies with maize diseases [40]. This is surprising since common rust, like other foliar diseases of maize, tends to be a late-season disease and earlier materials tend to escape.In maize, host plant resistance genes are frequently found in clusters; however, the statistical power of current mapping techniques does not allow for further resolution of whether these genes are contiguous or allelic to known genes. Huang et al. [42] identified candidate genes for 18 associated loci through detailed annotation in rice, thus showing that the integrated approach of sequence-based GWAS and functional genome annotation has the potential to match complex traits to their causal polymorphisms. In our study, we identified candidate genes in the associated loci on chromosomes 1, 5, 6, 8, and 10 based on known involvement as metabolic or signaling genes in the corresponding traits. The four candidate genes identified on chromosome 8 are different from those reported in temperate germplasm by Olukolu et al. [8]. There were several association signals located in genomic regions with tandemly repeated genes. The candidate genes on chromosome 5 (GRMZM2G181002 and GRMZM5G829476) encode a phosphotransferases of serine or threonine-specific kinase (STK) subfamily, which play a key role in disease resistance system of plants, and were adjacent to associated loci SNP marker PZB00182.1 (Chr. 5 at 10,055,423 bp). Another gene, GRMZM2G156712 encoding a kinase-associated FMN binding protein, which is essential for defense against pathogens, was adjacent to associated loci SNP marker PZE-106060721 (Chr. 6 at 111,526,964 bp). Candidate genes near the significant associated loci detected by GWAS, maybe involved in the common rust resistance defense system in maize. More work is required to elucidate the potential function of these candidate genes.We used a diverse set of inbred lines genotyped with high density markers and evaluated for common rust resistance in multiple environments, and identified QTL significantly associated with resistance to common rust and several candidate genes. The results of this study should be used to fine map common rust resistance by targeting the common regions identified between this and other studies that used different germplasm.A collection of 296 tropical maize inbred lines representing some of the genetic diversity available in CIMMYT's and IITA's stress breeding programs (drought, low N, acid soils, and biotic stresses) and denoted as Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) panel was used in this study (Table 8). The detail information about each inbred line constituting the panel is presented in Additional file 3.The inbred lines were evaluated for response to P. sorghi in field trials in six environments in two countries. Field trials were planted in 2009, 2010 and 2011 in Mexico and in 2009 in Kenya (Table 9). Lines were planted in 2 m single-row plots, 0.75 m between rows, and 0.20 m within row to give a total of 10 plants per plot. Trails were laid out in an alpha-lattice design with three replications. Trials at El Batan (19°52' N, 98°84' W; 2240 masl) in Mexico were artificially inoculated with P. sorghi isolates at the six to eight leaf stage. The El Batan experimental location harbors Oxalis latifolia, an alternate host of P. sorghi, the rust population at this location is complex as sexual reproduction takes place, resulting in new pathotypes, and therefore artificial inoculation was used. Another trial in Mexico at Celaya (20°35' N, 100°49' W; 1778 masl) was planted under natural disease pressure. The trial in Kenya was planted at Embu (0°3 0'S, 37°27′E; 1350 masl) under natural disease pressure. Both Celaya and Embu are maize disease hotspots including common rust among others. The experimental design used was an alpha-lattice [43] with three replications at all locations. At Embu, plot length was a single 3 m row with inter and intra-row spacing of 0.75 m and 0.25 m, respectively. A recombinant inbred line (RIL) population consisting of 234 families developed from the cross CML444 (R) × MALAWI (S) was also used. This RIL population was developed by Global Maize Program of CIMMYT using the single-seed descent method [44].The RIL population and its two parents were planted for three seasons at El Batan in 2009 (BA09-1, BA09-2) and 2010 (BA10) to evaluate their reaction to common rust.Common rust epidemics were initiated artificially by injecting an aqueous suspension of P. sorghi spores (60,000 spores ml − 1 ) prepared by mixing sterile distilled water containing 0.03% Tween 20 into the whorl of maize plants at the 6-8 leaf stage. These procedures followed standard techniques for isolation, incubation, and inoculation for common leaf rust. Disease rating was conducted thrice at 15 day-intervals starting one week after silking at all locations, except Kenya09 where rating was done once at the peak of disease symptom expression. Disease rating was scored on five-point scale based on the percent leaf area affected by pustules and impact of the disease where 1 = 0 to 10% of leaf surface diseased (no rust pustules or a few pustules scattered on the leaf surface), 2 = 10 to 25% of leaf surface diseased (numerous pustules on the leaf surfaces), 3 = 25 to 50% of leaf surface diseased (many pustules over the leaf surfaces), 4 = 50 to 75% of leaf surface diseased (many pustules surrounded with huge blighted and sometimes rusty chlorotic zones), and 5 = over 75% of leaf surface diseased (many huge dry pustules surrounded by dead rusty wilted and blighted areas on the leaves) (Fig. 4). The disease rating data were used to calculate the mean disease rating (MDR) and the area under disease progress curve (AUDPC). Mean disease rating (MDR) was calculated as: where i = time measures as days after planting when rust rating was conducted and Xi = rust rating. AUDPC was calculated as:where i = time of rust rating, Ti = number of days after inoculation and X i = rust rating [45]. A third parameter, the final disease rating score (FDR, the third disease rating) was included in the analysis. The MDR, FDR, and AUDPC were used as parameters for statistical analysis and association mapping. Other parameters recorded included days to anthesis (AD) and days to silking (SD), which were used as covariates in GWAS computations, to ascertain whether rust resistance or susceptibility was associated with maturity.Phenotypic data from each experiment was analyzed for genotypic effects and genotype-environment interactions using the PROC MIXED command of SAS [46]. As lines were scored three times within a season, best linear unbiased predictions (BLUPs) were calculated from a multivariate mixed model for each rating, and a rust index was calculated by averaging the three BLUPs for each line. Repeatability was estimated for the MDR, FDR and AUDPC in a single location and across environments according to Holland et al. [47]. Pearson correlation coefficient between  different phenotypic traits were calculated using the PROC CORR option in SAS [46]. Genotypic correlations (r g ) between locations were estimated according to Cooper et al. [48] as:in which r p (12) is the phenotypic correlation between the traits measured in locations 1 and 2, H 2 1 and H 2 2 are the values of broad-sense heritability for the traits measured in locations 1 and 2, respectively. Cluster analysis using Ward's minimum variance method [49] was performed to group environments based on genetic correlations among the environments. The SAS commands PROC CLUSTER and PROC TREE were used for cluster analysis and to generate the dendrogram, respectively.Leaf samples were harvested from 10 plants of each line and bulked for extraction of total genomic DNA. All lines were genotyped using Illummina maize BeadChip with 56,110 SNP markers. Markers with a minor allele frequency (MAF) less than 5% in the lines were excluded from subsequent analyses. For the 56,110 SNPs contained in the chip, 32,051 SNPs were used for association mapping after removing SNPs with low MAF. Population structure and kinship were estimated according to Lu et al. [50]. Population diversity and principal component analysis (PCA) were conducted to visualize the genetic structure, and pairwise relatedness coefficients (kinship matrix) were calculated using TASSEL 3.0 [51]. Neighbor-joining tree and principal component analyses (PCA) were used to infer population structure of the GWAS panel. PCA and genetic relationship matrix were conducted in R software and exactly as described by Mahuku et al. [26]. Genome-wide association analysis was conducted using a mixed linear model (MLM) separately for each environment, as described by Mahuku et al. [26]. The p values for each marker were combined using Fisher method as described by Chen [52] and the result used to make a Manhattan plot. The Bonferroni correction threshold [53] was used to obtain the Fisher combined p value threshold.To identify candidate genes in loci associated with rust resistance, we used public gene annotation datasets based on a filtered gene set of maize sequence (http://ensembl. gramene.org/Zea_mays/Info/Index). All the annotated genes within ~200 kb of significant SNPs were retrieved based on known likely involvement as metabolic or signaling genes in disease resistance. These genes encode proteins containing a central domain with nucleotide binding site (NBS), which binds either ATP or GTP, and carboxy-terminal domain consisting of a series of degenerate leucine-rich repeat residues (LRR) in many crops [54][55][56][57][58].The RIL population of 234 families from CML444 × MALAWI was genotyped with SNP markers using the KASP (Kompetitive Allele Specific PCR) system by LGC Genomics (https://www.lgcgroup.com) and used for genetic linkage map construction. The \"Map\" function in software QTL IciMapping [59] was used for linkage analysis. A logarithm-of-odds (LOD) threshold of 3.0 was used to declare linkage between two markers. The SNP marker physical position and \"nnTwoOpt\" algorithm in IciMapping were used to sequence the marker order. The Kosambi mapping function was used to calculate map distances [60]. The IciMapping method [59] was used for QTL mapping using QTL IciMapping. Scanning interval was set as 1 cM between markers. Missing phenotypes were not used for the QTL analysis. The LOD threshold for QTL detection was set at 2.5. For QTL additive effects, positive and negative signs of the estimates indicated that resistance effects were contributed by MALAWI or CML444, respectively."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"47bd70afd1bf784f286a5d7a1a309712","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://repository.cimmyt.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/14c143b0-3fac-492a-94ac-cc25a985f05d/content","id":"217815378"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"38c693a3-3b06-4f68-ba12-c52dd78cb338","content":"Crop diversification with grain legumes has been advocated as a means to increase agroecological resilience, diversify livelihoods, boost household nutrition, and enhance soil health and fertility in cereal-based cropping systems in sub-Saharan Africa and around the world. Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a primary indicator of soil health and there is limited data regarding SOC pools and grain legume diversification on smallholder farms where soils are often marginal. In Malawi, a range of legume diversification options are under investigation, including rotations and a doubled-up legume rotation (DLR) system in which two compatible legumes are intercropped and then rotated with a cereal. The impact of the DLR system on SOC has not yet been determined, and there is a lack of evidence regarding SOC status over a gradient of simple to complex grain legume diversified systems. We address this knowledge gap by evaluating these systems in comparison to continuous sole maize (Zea mays L.) at three on-farm trial sites in central Malawi. After six years of trial establishment, we measured SOC in bulk soils and aggregate fractions and in faster cycling SOC pools that respond more rapidly to management practices, including water extractable organic carbon (WEOC), particulate organic matter carbon (POM-C), potentially mineralizable carbon (C), and macroaggregate C. Cropping treatment differences were not seen in bulk SOC or total N, but they were apparent in SOC pools with a shorter turnover time. The DLR system of intercropped pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.) and groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) rotated with maize had higher WEOC, POM-C, potentially mineralizable C, macroaggregate and microaggregate C values than continuous maize. Of the single legume rotations, the pigeonpea-maize rotation had more mineralizable C and microaggregate C compared to continuous maize, while the groundnut-maize rotation had similar C values to the maize system. Overall, this study shows the potential for crop rotations diversified with grain legumes to enhance C in management sensitive SOC pools, and it is one of the first reports to show this effect on smallholder farm sites.An indicator of soil health, soil organic carbon (SOC) is integral to the soil biological, chemical, and physical properties and processes that sustain productive agricultural soils (Lal, 2011). Soil organic carbon is the primary constituent and a relatively easily measured component of soil organic matter (SOM), which is critical for soil nutrient and water holding capacity, soil structure, and microbial diversity, abundance, and species composition (Powlson et al., 2011). Increasing agroecosystem plant diversity can increase both aboveground and belowground net primary productivity and plant carbon (C) inputs, potentially creating a feedback loop of increased plant biomass and organic inputs into the soil and more efficient microbial nutrient cycling (Lange et al., 2015). Crop rotations can boost belowground C inputs and microbial contributions to soil C stocks through biotic and physical changes stimulated by the addition of diverse plant residues, root morphologies, root biomass, rhizodeposition, and root exudates (Kong and Six, 2010;Mcdaniel et al., 2014;Tiemann et al., 2015). A meta-analysis by Mcdaniel et al. (2014) demonstrates the positive impacts of increasing crop diversity on soil C stocks across a wide range of systems, but also highlights the much greater impacts of increased crop diversity when a legume is included in the system.Integration of grain legumes into maize-based cropping systems has been advocated, particularly in regions like sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), as a means to enhance nutrition and farmer livelihoods through production of nutritious grains and fodder, as well as diversify systems with the goal of improving soil fertility and agroecological resilience through increased C and nitrogen (N) inputs (Kuyah et al., 2021;Smith et al., 2016;Snapp et al., 1998). Agroforestry systems with legume-maize intercrops have been shown to enhance SOC status in SSA (Beedy et al., 2010), yet the effects of grain legume diversification and continuous monocropping of maize (Zea mays L.) are less known. Grain legumes in rotation with cereals in general have positive effects on yields, attributed to the extra N availability generated through legumes' capacity for biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) and of the resulting N-rich, low C:N residues, as well as other rotation effects, such as the breakup of pest and disease cycles (Franke et al., 2018). Grain legumes' impacts on SOC are less well-established compared to impacts on N supply as detectable changes in SOC accrual require longer-term experiments (Franke et al., 2018).Grain legume and cereal characteristics (e.g., harvest index, maturation time, seasonal leaf fall, and N-partitioning), in combination with management practices (e.g., timing of planting and harvesting, harvesting methods, and residue retention), and climatic conditions, (e.g., mean annual precipitation and mean annual temperature), can strongly influence C and N inputs to soil and subsequent changes in SOC and N (Giller, 2001;Kumar and Goh, 2000). Multi-year studies in SSA that quantified SOC and N in grain legume-cereal crop rotations compared to continuous cereal have mixed results (Adeboye et al., 2006;Anyanzwa et al., 2010;Bado et al., 2006;Bationo and Ntare, 2000;Yusuf et al., 2009). The mixed results chronicled in these studies reflect the variability of different grain legumes and cereals, the corresponding climatic and edaphic environments, as well as differences in crop system management, length/duration of experiment, and in sampling and measurement methods.Because changes in total SOC stocks may take decades to detect, and with a dearth of longer-term studies of SOC under different management practices in SSA (Franke et al., 2018), we can turn to assessing more management-sensitive, dynamic and quickly changing SOC pools as potential indicators of change. We measured biologically active and rapid-cycling SOC pools, including water extractable organic carbon (WEOC), particulate organic matter carbon (POM-C), and short-term soil respiration C (CO 2 -C), as well as more protected and longer-lived SOC pools within different aggregate size fractions. Water extractable organic carbon (WEOC) is an indicator for dissolved organic carbon, which while considered the most labile, mobile, bioavailable C pool, often regarded as the primary C source for decomposers, is also a contributor to slow-cycling mineral-associated organic matter (Haney et al., 2012;von Lützow et al., 2007). Particulate organic matter carbon (POM-C) consists largely of plant-derived material that can be biochemically accessible but physically protected in aggregates, and therefore persists in soils, although it is vulnerable to disturbance (Cotrufo et al., 2019). Total C respired after dry soils are re-wet and from short-term lab incubations are functionally relevant SOC pools, highly sensitive to management and indicative of nutrient dynamics and the potential for SOC accrual (Culman et al., 2013;Franzluebbers et al., 2000). Finally, soil biological and physical aggregate fractionation separates SOC into pools associated with distinct aggregate sizes and biological and physical protection mechanisms (Six et al., 2000;von Lützow et al., 2007). Macroaggregates (>250 µm), are generally associated with C that is more recent, readily decomposable, and susceptible to disruption through cultivation, while microaggregate (250-53 µm) associated C is considered more persistent as it is generally less accessible to microbes, more microbially processed, and/or bound to mineral surfaces (Jastrow et al., 2007;Six et al., 2000;von Lützow et al., 2007). A recommended sustainable intensification practice for smallholder farmers in Malawi is the doubled-up legume rotation (DLR) system in which two compatible legumes are intercropped and then rotated with a cereal (Chikowo et al., 2020;Kuyah et al., 2021;Smith et al., 2016). The DLR system enhances spatial diversity through intercropping, temporal diversity through rotation and legume presence in the field, and it increases crop species diversity. Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.) and groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) are two widely grown grain legumes with complementary growth habits and plant architectures that have been shown to result in minimal intraspecific competition for light, water, and nutrients (Chikowo et al., 2020). Slower growing pigeonpea has a vigorous and extensive root system with multiple branches that can extend to depths of 1-2 m (Sameer Kumar et al., 2017). Groundnut has shallower rooting depth and reaches maturity before pigeonpea. Intercropping pigeonpea and groundnut augments both aboveground inputs to soil with the addition of N-rich leaves and residues, and belowground inputs as root density, root inputs, and rhizosphere interactions increase, both temporally and spatially (Chikowo et al., 2020). Importantly, compared to sole fertilized maize, the doubled-up pigeonpea and groundnut system has been shown to increase subsequent maize yields and yield stability across a range of environments in central Malawi (Chikowo et al., 2020;Chimonyo et al., 2019;Snapp et al., 2002). In on-farm trials in Zambia, doubled-up legume rotations enhanced crop yields and led to greater land equivalent ratios (LERs) compared to single legume rotations (Mwila et al., 2021). Initial on-farm studies of DLR showed no effect on SOC pools; however, the short-term nature of the studies and heterogeneity of soils on smallholder fields may well explain this (Snapp et al., 2010).Our aim in this study was to assess the effects of simple to complex legume diversified systems on SOC on smallholder farms. We evaluated the impact of DLR and single legume-maize rotations on SOC and related soil health characteristics in comparison to continuous sole maize after 6-y of trial establishment at three on-farm sites in central Malawi. For two of these site areas, a previous Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM) modeling study used the first two years of yield and biomass data to predict bulk SOC and N changes for three of the four treatments we focused on in the present study, and we compare our results to the model's predicted trends (Smith et al., 2016). We measured SOC in bulk soils and aggregate fractions and in faster cycling C pools that respond more rapidly to management practices. Based on the literature and the trends predicted by the prior modeling study, we hypothesized that increasing diversity from continuous maize to single legume-maize rotations to DLR would correspond to SOC and N accumulation and stabilization and lower soil C:N ratios. Within the single legume-maize rotations, we expected that the greater overall biomass and longer growing period of pigeonpea in the pigeonpea-maize rotation would support greater SOC accrual than the groundnut-maize rotation. We hypothesized that there would be positive impacts on soil aggregation with greater macroaggregates and microaggregates in the legume-maize rotations compared to continuous maize. We expected to see strong variation in SOC accumulation and stabilization across sites with differing agroecologies.In November of 2012, the Africa RISING (Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation) project established multilocation, on-farm experiments that broadly integrated maize with grain legumes across three sites (Linthipe, Kandeu and Nsipe; Fig. 1). The sites encompass a range of agricultural production potential as follows: Linthipe is a high elevation site with generally well-distributed rainfall and high agricultural potential, while Kandeu and Nsipe are mid-elevation with intermediate rainfall distribution and medium potential (Table 1; Mungai et al., 2016;Smith et al., 2016;Snapp et al., 2018). All three sites are sub-humid tropical. Malawi has a unimodal rainfall regime with a rainy season extending from November to April and a dry season from May to October (Table 1; Jury and Mwafulirwa, 2002). In all the three sites, annual precipitation exhibits strong inter-annual variability in both distribution and quantity (Mungai et al., 2016;Snapp et al., 2018). Soils vary by study site. Linthipe is largely dominated by ferric luvisols, and Kandeu and Nsipe have a mix of chromic luvisols and orthic ferralsols (Lowole, 1983).At each of the three sites, a uniform field was identified to host the trials. In order to be an acceptable experiment site, the entire area to be covered by the trial was supposed to have been cropped with maize, at least for the previous cropping season. The selected fields were prepared for planting by manually making raised ridges with a hand hoe, 0.75 m apart, in line with the primary land preparation practice in Malawi. At each site, experiments with 10 treatments replicated three times were established in a nonrandomized block design. Plots were 5 × 5 m at the site in Linthipe, 6 × 5 m in Kandeu, and 8 × 5 m in Nsipe. The detailed description of these participatory action research experiments is described in Mungai et al. (2016) and Snapp et al. (2018). In this study, we focus on soils sampled from a subset of four treatments: (1) groundnut-maize rotation (Gnut), (2) \"doubled-up legume\" rotation (DLR) consisting of a pigeonpea-groundnut intercrop rotated with maize, (3) pigeonpea-maize rotation (PP) and (4) a continuous, sole maize (Maize) (Table 2). In brief, the continuous fully fertilized maize treatment received the recommended rate of full 69 kg N ha − 1 and 9.2 kg phosphorus (P) ha − 1 annually, while a half-rate was applied to maize grown in rotation or as an intercrop with a legume (Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, 2012; Table 2). All the P was applied through a NP compound fertilizer (23:21) at 100 or 50 kg ha − 1 at planting, with the respective outstanding N applied as urea at six weeks after crop emergence. Each crop was grown according to its respective recommended planting density, in-row spacing, and planting arrangement with 0.75 m between planting ridges and all ridging done by hand-hoe (Snapp et al., 2018). All crops were planted on the same day at each site; however, planting dates differed among sites as effective rainfall was received on different dates. During the six cropping seasons, maize and groundnut were harvested between April 15 and May 10. Crop residues were left in the field after harvest, and, during the dry season, were partly consumed by free-ranging livestock (goats and cattle).We sampled soils in June 2018 at the conclusion of the sixth growing season after all rotations had been planted to maize; each rotation treatment had completed three full rotations (i.e., three maize harvests and three legume harvests). Using a 6.35 cm diameter PVC corer, we collected three soil cores at random to 10 cm depth from ridges within each of the three replicate plots for the four different cropping treatments. Therefore, we took 108 samples. Soil cores were sealed in plastic bags with a cushion of air to minimize compression and disruption of aggregates. Field moist samples were transported to a soils lab at University of Malawi's Chancellor College in Zomba, where each core was weighed, analyzed for gravimetric soil moisture, and separated into aggregate size fractions. Bulk density was measured using the core  method (Grossman and Reinsch, 2002). The three replicate soil cores from each plot were analyzed individually and not combined for analyses. Field moist cores were gently broken by hand to obtain aggregates smaller than 8 mm diameter. Gravimetric soil moisture was determined by weighing 5 g subsamples into tins, drying the samples for 24 h at 105 ℃ in a drying oven, then reweighing the dried samples. Upon determining that soils were at maximum friability for dry sieving (Kristiansen et al., 2006), a 200 g subsample was passed through a series of three sieves using a portable sieve shaker (Gilson Wet/Dry Sieve Vibrator SS-23, Lewis Center, Ohio) and separated into four fractions: > 2000 µm (large macroaggregates), 2000-250 µm (small macroaggregates), 250-53 µm (microaggregates), and < 53 µm (silt and clay). We ran the sieve shaker for 2 min with the full stack of sieves then removed the 2 mm sieve, ran it for 1.5 min and then removed the 250 µm sieve, and finally ran it for 3 min with the remaining 53 µm sieve (Bach and Hofmockel, 2014). Aggregates and remaining whole, i.e., bulk, soils were subsequently air-dried, packed into coolers and shipped to Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI, for further analysis. Prior to analysis, whole soils were passed through a 2000 µm sieve.We determined the sand content of each aggregate fraction by dispersing 4 g subsamples in 0.5% sodium hexametaphosphate solution, shaking on a reciprocal shaker for 18 h, and washing samples through a 53 µm sieve with deionized water (Elliott et al., 1991;Grandy and Robertson, 2007). The particles remaining on the 53 µm sieve were washed into pre-weighed tins and dried at 60 • C for 48 h. We used the following equations to sand-correct the aggregate distribution: and to calculate the sand-free aggregate-associated C and N (Denef and Six, 2005):We measured in-situ soil respiration and water infiltration on the day that we collected soil samples at each respective site. We measured insitu soil respiration immediately before and approximately two hours after adding 2 L water to a 23.7 cm diameter ring set at least 3 cm into planting ridge soils. We took three respiration measurements per replicate using a portable CO 2 gas analyzer (PP Systems EGM-5, Amesbury, MA). Concurrently, we measured water infiltration as the time taken for the water added to the ring to percolate into the soil with no surficial water remaining (Franzluebbers, 2002).To measure water extractable organic carbon (WEOC), we weighed 4 g of air-dried bulk soils into 50 ml centrifuge tubes and added 40 ml of deionized water. Tubes were capped and shaken at 30 rpm for 10 min on a reciprocal shaker, after which they were centrifuged for 5 min at 3500 rpm, and the resulting supernatant was filtered through Whatman 2 V filter paper (Haney et al., 2012). Triplicate 10 ml samples were analyzed with a TOC analyzer (vario TOC cube, Elementar, Ronkonkoma, NY).Particulate organic matter carbon (POM-C) was determined by dispersing 10 g of air-dried bulk soil with 30 ml of 5% sodium hexametaphosphate and shaking for 18 h on a reciprocal shaker at 180 rpm (Robertson et al., 1999). The material remaining on the 53 µm sieve was classified as particulate organic matter and sand and was dried at 105 ℃, ground to a fine powder with a ball mill, and analyzed for organic C and total N concentration by dry combustion in an elemental analyzer (Costech ECS 4010, Costech Analytical Technologies, Valencia, CA).In preparation for the incubation, water holding capacity (WHC) was determined on a subset of four bulk soils per site (Robertson et al., 1999), with 5 g of soil placed into a funnel lined with Whatman #1 filter paper. The weight of the funnel and its contents was recorded, and soils were subsequently fully soaked with water. The funnels were wrapped with plastic wrap and left to drain for 24 h, after which the weight was again recorded. To obtain the WHC, the initial dry weight was subtracted from the final wet weight of the funnel and soil. An average WHC was calculated for each site and from this the amount of water needed to bring soils to 65% WHC. For the incubation experiment, 5 g of soil was added to 250 ml jars, soils were brought to 65% WHC, and jars were capped with rubber stoppers. To measure CO 2 respiration, jars were uncapped, flushed with lab air, recapped and a 5 ml gas sample was removed from the headspace using a syringe and injected into an infrared gas analyzer (Li-Cor Inc., Lincoln, NE). After allowing the capped soils to sit and accumulate CO 2 in the headspace, a second sample was collected and analyzed. Soils were sampled on days 1, 2, 3, 6, and 12 with a corresponding increase in time between the first and second gas samples, respectively, 3, 5, 8, 24, and 48 h. The difference between the two sampling points was calculated as respiration potential over time (Robertson et al., 1999). We determined cumulative CO 2 -C by integrating the respiration rates for the total incubation time period.Soil organic carbon and total N were determined for bulk soil samples, macroaggregates (2000-250 µm), and microaggregates (250-53 µm). Approximately 5 g subsamples were weighed into scintillation vials, oven dried at 105 ℃, and ground to a fine powder on a roller mill. Samples weighing 15-20 mg were packed into tins and analyzed via elemental analyzer (Costech ECS 4010, Costech Analytical Technologies, Valencia, CA). Using bulk density measurements, mean SOC and N stocks were calculated to 10 cm depth as: SOC or N stock (Mg ha − 1 ) = SOC or N (%) x bulk density x 10.To compare treatment differences across all three sites and account for the nonrandomized design, we first transformed all variables using a normal quantile transformation, also known as a normal scores transformation (SAS PROC RANK with Blom option for the normal scores, SAS Institute, Cary, NC) (Conover, 2012;Conover and Iman, 1981;Montgomery, 2005). Transformed variables were analyzed by additivetwo-way ANOVA with treatment and site as the main effects (SAS PROC MIXED); interaction effects were not significant. Post-hoc testing of differences between means used the pdiff option of the LSMEANS statement in PROC MIXED, and we used the PDMIX800 macro (Saxton, 1998) to assign letters for mean separation. For each transformed variable, we checked normality of the residuals and homogeneity of variance. Preplanned contrasts, i.e., treatment comparisons specified in the initial study design and prior to data analysis, were used to compare (1) continuous maize vs legume-maize rotations, (2) DLR vs single legume rotations (Gnut and PP), and (3) treatments with pigeonpea vs treatments without pigeonpea.At all sites, ~40% of soil aggregates were in the 2000-250 µm size fraction (Fig. 2). The next highest distribution (~30%) was the 250-53 µm aggregate fraction, and the > 2000 and < 53 size classes had low aggregate mass. Only the < 53 µm fraction exhibited a response to cropping treatment, where PP was significantly greater (P < 0.05) than the Maize and Gnut treatments (Fig. 2). Linthipe and Nsipe soils had a greater proportion of > 2000 µm aggregates than Kandeu, though Kandeu had more 250-53 µm and < 53 µm aggregates. The proportion of small macroaggregates (2000-250 µm) was similar across sites.We saw no influence of cropping treatment on the rate of water infiltration, bulk density or aggregate mean weight diameter (MWD). Kandeu had higher infiltration rates than Linthipe, which in turn were greater than Nsipe, whereas both bulk density and aggregate MWD were greater in Nsipe and Linthipe than in Kandeu (Table 3).In-situ respiration rates were not significantly different among treatments (Supplementary Fig. S1A). The percent change from respiration rate prior to water addition to post water addition was also not significantly different by treatment (Supplementary Fig. S1B). However, rates were significantly different among trial sites. Nsipe had the highest in-situ respiration rates and the greatest changes in respiration rate after water addition, Linthipe followed, and lastly Kandeu exhibited the lowest respiration rates and differences in the rate of CO 2 respired preand post-water addition.Water extractable organic carbon was significantly higher in DLR compared to all other treatments (P < 0.01), and significantly greater at Linthipe than Kandeu and Nsipe (Fig. 3A). Relative to bulk SOC, we saw no treatment differences in WEOC, and Nsipe had significantly more WEOC than Linthipe, which had more than Kandeu (Fig. 3B). Water extractable organic carbon was approximately 0.83-0.97% of bulk SOC.POM-C was higher in the DLR and the single-legume rotations compared to maize (P < 0.05, Table 4), but differences were not apparent for POM-C relative to total SOC (Fig. 4B). POM-C comprised approximately 25-29% of total SOC. Linthipe and Kandeu had significantly more POM-C relative to bulk soil than Nsipe (Fig. 4A), but relative to bulk SOC, Kandeu soils had significantly more than Linthipe and Nsipe (Fig. 4B).We observed significant effects of treatment on total C respired during a 12-day incubation with highest total C respired in DLR soils, Fig. 2. Cropping treatment effects on the proportion of dry-sieved soil in different aggregate size classes. Treatments with different lowercase letters are significantly different. P-values represent effects on the proportion of aggregates in each fraction. Treatment effects for continuous maize (Maize), groundnut-maize rotation (Gnut), pigeonpea-maize rotation (PP) and doubledup legume rotation (DLR), and site effects for Kandeu (K), Linthipe (L), and Nsipe (N) were assessed using post hoc testing of differences between leastsquare means. Bars represent means and error bars ± standard error (SE). followed by PP, Gnut, and lowest in Maize soils (P < 0.05, Fig. 5A; Table 4). Kandeu and Linthipe had significantly greater total C respired compared to Nsipe (Fig. 5A). In contrast, total C respired relative to bulk SOC exhibited no significant treatment differences, and Nsipe and Kandeu soils respired greater total C per bulk SOC than Linthipe soils (Fig. 5B).We did not observe a treatment response on bulk SOC, total N, SOC stocks, or soil C:N ratios (Table 3). Bulk SOC was highest in Linthipe, followed by Kandeu, and lowest in Nsipe. Kandeu and Linthipe were higher in total N and SOC and total N stocks than Nsipe. Linthipe had the widest C:N ratio, while Kandeu and Nsipe had narrower C:N values (Table 3).Carbon within small macroaggregates (2000-250 µm) and microaggregates (250-53 µm) was impacted by treatment (P < 0.05, Figs. 6A   and6D) and different among sites. For both size classes, planned contrasts indicated the maize-legume rotations were different in C than the maize (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively, Table 4). Within the small macroaggregates, we found treatment effects on total N, which was significantly lower in the continuous maize treatment compared to the rotations containing legumes (P < 0.01, Fig. 6B); however, we did not find treatment effects on total N within the microaggregates (Fig. 6E). Small macroaggregate and microaggregate C and total N were all highest in Kandeu, next highest in Linthipe, and lowest in Nsipe. C:N values within small macroaggregates and microaggregates showed no treatment impact, and sites followed different patterns than the SOC and total N; Linthipe soils had the widest C:N ratios in both fractions (Figs. 6C and 6F).Grain legume diversification had positive impacts on managementsensitive SOC pools after six years of cropping trials on smallholder farms in three differing sites in central Malawi. Compared to continuous maize, the DLR had greater C within labile C pools -POM-C, WEOC, mineralizable C, and macroaggregates, as well as in the more stable microaggregates. Rotational diversity did not impact aggregate distribution, but it did affect aggregate associated C and N. For the single legume rotations, PP and Gnut had fairly similar C values within the different pools, though PP had higher mineralizable and microaggregate C compared to Maize. Planned contrasts differentiated legume-maize rotations from Maize in all pools except WEOC, and further differentiated DLR from the single legume rotations in WEOC, mineralizable C, and macroaggregate C. These results are consistent with the idea that diversifying crop rotations with grain legumes will have the potential to enhance C in management sensitive SOC pools, and this is one of the first reports to show this effect on smallholder farm sites. As expected, there were differences by site for almost all variables measured.Across all sites, treatment differences were not apparent in bulk SOC and total N concentrations or stocks or C:N ratios suggesting that changes seen in the other C pools are too small or incremental to be captured at the larger, bulk soil scale (Table 3). These results are consistent with other studies in SSA that did not detect changes when comparing bulk SOC and total N in legume-maize rotations to continuous sole maize (Anyanzwa et al., 2010;Bationo and Ntare, 2000;Franke et al., 2008;Yusuf et al., 2009). Substantial changes in SOC stocks are required to impact soil physical properties like bulk density, MWD, and infiltration, and with little change in total SOC, we also did not see impacts of legumes on these parameters (Table 3). Although it has been theorized that decomposition of pigeonpea's large coarse roots could create deep channels that enhance rainfall infiltration (Chikowo   et al., 2020), we did not see evidence of increased water infiltration rates in PP or DLR after three rotation cycles. Overall, we did not find differences in bulk or total pools of C and N with legumes after three rotation cycles, but the treatment differences seen in more dynamic C pools suggest that over time differences among treatments could be apparent in bulk SOC.Aggregation did not vary by treatment for the > 53 µm size classes (Fig. 2), likely because all treatments and sites were intensively tilled with hand hoes and ridged on an annual basis. Tillage reduces the number and stability of soil aggregates and through aeration promotes rapid mineralization of SOC (Six et al., 2000). Aggregate disturbance is often greater in coarse-textured, sandy soils (Feller and Beare, 1997). Sandier soils at Kandeu may have contributed to lower numbers of large macroaggregates (>2000) compared to Linthipe and Nsipe. However, Kandeu had a larger proportion of microaggregates and < 53 size fraction, which are size classes that are less susceptible to tillage disturbance.DLR had the highest C in both small macroaggregates and microaggregates, PP and Gnut followed, and Maize had the lowest C. This is consistent with legume diversified systems being associated with more stabilized SOC and accrual in aggregates, relative to sole maize (Figs. 6A and 6D). In a container experiment using soil from the Linthipe trial site, pigeonpea was shown to be associated with SOC accrual in small macroaggregates relative to sole maize (Garland et al., 2018). While all treatments received proportional amounts of N-fertilizer (Table 2), the greatest inputs were to the Maize treatment, which also had the lowest SOC. In trials located in similar pedo-climatic conditions in Kenya, N-fertilizer addition was shown to increase C mineralization and macroaggregate turnover, resulting in lower SOC (Chivenge et al., 2011). A meta-analysis of N addition in China found that N addition in croplands did not significantly affect macroaggregate, microaggregate, or silt-clay associated C (Lu et al., 2021). The sole maize treatment received more N-fertilizer, but the rotations with legumes had significantly more N in macroaggregates, perhaps due to N-rich litter and root inputs from legumes contributing to macroaggregate formation. Like the SOC, the N in macroaggregates is more easily mineralized, and therefore it is not surprising that the total N within microaggregates was not higher for legume treatments as the N was mineralized before reaching that stage of stabilization.The POM-C fraction exhibited the same pattern of treatment differences as the macroaggregates, which follows as POM can act as a \"seed\" in macroaggregate formation, and can be indicative of macroaggregate generation and C concentration (Six et al., 2000). POM-C is understood to be largely plant-derived, thus larger amounts of POM-C are linked to changes in the quantity or quality of plant matter inputs. N-rich, low C:N legume residues are expected to decompose faster than high C:N maize residues (Cotrufo et al., 2019). It is possible that the higher POM-C content in the DLR and single legume rotations is actually associated with maize residue inputs, but with maize being only present in one phase of the two-year rotation, it is likely that POM-C is associated with legume residues. This is consistent with isotopic studies showing soil C accrual being specifically associated with legume root residues (Puget and Drinkwater, 2001).Partially in-line with our hypotheses, we found higher WEOC to be associated with DLR but not single legume rotations relative to continuous maize. In contrast, another study in SSA did find water soluble carbon, i.e., WEOC, to be higher in single legume-maize rotations compared to continuous maize (Yusuf et al., 2009). The range of WEOC values (Fig. 3) are lower than those obtained by Yusuf et al. (2009) but comparable to other values reported in the literature (Schiedung et al., 2017). The concentration of WEOC can vary based on the season, duration of extraction, soil-to-water ratio, and air-drying of soils (Chantigny, 2003;Kaiser et al., 2015;Schiedung et al., 2017). We sampled at one time point during the dry season, after maize harvest, and values may be affected by seasonal fluctuations, soil handling, and measurement methods.We explored whether measuring respiration before and after wetting soils in situ could effectively capture a CO 2 burst, but no treatment differences were seen (Supplementary Fig. S1). At all sites, the soils were extremely dry and there had been no rainfall for over one month prior to adding the water for the burst tests at Linthipe and Nsipe, and only one 5 mm rainfall event recorded at Kandeu more than two weeks prior to sampling (Climate Hazards InfraRed Precipitation with Station (CHIRPS), (Funk et al., 2015)). Due to logistical time and equipment constraints, we were limited to measuring respiration two hours after water addition. There were dramatic flushes of CO 2 after soil rewetting (Supplementary Fig. S1), but due to the short time frame, it is unlikely that we captured a flush indicative of longer-term C mineralization (Canarini et al., 2017;Franzluebbers et al., 2000). Multiple measurements over a longer time period post-wetting could be more effective. Nsipe, which had the lowest total SOC and lowest SOC in all other measurements relative to the other sites, had the highest in-situ soil respiration rates and change in soil respiration post-water addition, suggesting that at Nsipe SOC exists in fragile, rapidly mineralized pools.Although treatment differences were not discernible in the fieldbased respiration test, in our 12-day laboratory incubation, cumulative respiration trended highest for DLR followed by PP, Gnut, and maize on a bulk soil basis. These data support other analyses of bioaccessible soil C accrual with legumes and highlight that at least some of the SOC in the DLR and the single legume treatments was not stabilized and was easily mineralized. However, when quantifying cumulative respiration relative to bulk SOC as opposed to bulk soil, there were no treatment differences, which is consistent with there being more SOC, and potentially more stable SOC, in the DLR than in the continuous maize.As expected, the impact of cropping system treatment on SOC and N pools varied by site. The Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM) modeling study that examined SOC and N changes at Africa RISING trial sites including Linthipe and Kandeu, predicted slightly negative bulk SOC and N trends in DLR and a strongly negative trend in Gnut and Maize at Linthipe, while at Kandeu it predicted a positive trend for SOC and N in the DLR and fairly constant values in Gnut and Maize (Smith et al., 2016). We did not see treatment differences in bulk SOC and total N concentrations or stocks across trial sites in Kandeu, Linthipe, and Nsipe, but we observed that Kandeu had higher SOC and N in the more rapid-cycling macroaggregate, microaggregate, and POM-C pools (Figs. 6 and 4), which appears to support the APSIM predictions. In these same pools DLR had the highest values followed closely by either PP or Gnut, which lends some support to Smith et al.'s (2016) observation that the addition of pigeonpea to the cropping system model caused SOC and N to increase at Kandeu and remain constant at Linthipe. Nsipe, which was not included in the APSIM study, had the lowest bulk SOC and N values (Table 3), but the highest in situ respiration rates (Supplementary Fig. S1), lab incubation cumulative respiration relative to bulk SOC (Fig. 5), and WEOC relative to bulk SOC, which suggests that the low concentration of SOC at Nsipe was also easily mineralized and unstable. Based on soil and environmental indicators, Mungai et al. (2016) classified the agricultural land potential at Linthipe as highly suitable, while Kandeu and Nsipe were marginally suitable, but our findings and those of Smith et al. (2016) highlight the potential for Kandeu, a more marginal site, to achieve higher SOC and N gains, relative to Linthipe and Nsipe.Higher POM-C, mineralizable C, small macroaggregate C, and microaggregate C in the maize-legume rotations compared to continuous maize suggest that diversifying with legumes can lead to greater SOC accumulation and stabilization over time (Table 4). The DLR had higher WEOC, mineralizable C, and macroaggregate C than the single legume rotations (Table 4), exhibiting a trend of slightly elevated values. Our results are consistent with those of a global meta-analysis that examined the effects of legume incorporation into cropping systems on SOC fractions and found significant increases in SOC with grain legumes in all fractions considered (Li et al., 2023). In contrast, a literature study that looked at bulk SOC concentrations found that including a grain legume in rotation decreased SOC by 5.3% and that increasing the species diversity of the rotations only affected SOC if a perennial or cover crop were added (King and Blesh, 2018); however, this study was heavily dominated by experiments located in the United States (with no studies from Africa) and focused on maize, soybean, and wheat. Legume crop species is important as compared to soybean, pigeonpea produces much more biomass and while it was grown as an annual legume in our trials, it is a woody perennial. Because of pigeonpea's longer time in the field, greater biomass, and more extensive roots, we hypothesized that PP would accrue more SOC than Gnut, yet PP and Gnut were not significantly different in any of the SOC pools. In comparing rotations containing pigeonpea (PP, DLR) to rotations that did not (Gnut), only WEOC exhibited an effect due to pigeonpea inclusion (Table 4). These results suggest that the DLR's advantage lies in the combined effect of intercropped pigeonpea and groundnut, which together increase ground cover, biological nitrogen fixation inputs, and add both higher quality and higher quantities of C to soil (Chikowo et al., 2020;Snapp et al., 2002). Doubled-up legume technology has the potential to build soil health and benefit smallholder farmers through increased yields, improved nutrition, and diversity of marketable grains. Further research is needed to assess these benefits and to test the impacts of DLR on SOC and soil health in the long term.Integration of grain legume rotations into continuous maize has the potential to enhance SOC pools compared to sole maize. This study is the first evidence for soil health services being associated with the doubledup grain legume diversified maize system under smallholder farm conditions. Intercropped pigeonpea and groundnut in the DLR system had more C in WEOC, POM-C, potentially mineralizable C, macroaggregate and microaggregate C pools than sole maize, and greater WEOC than the single legume rotations. Of the single legume-maize rotations, PP had more mineralizable and microaggregate C compared to continuous maize, while Gnut had similar C values to the maize system. Cropping treatment differences were not seen in bulk SOC or total N after six years of trial establishment, but they were apparent in SOC pools with a shorter turnover time. Readily decomposable and biologically active C pools like aggregate-associated SOC, POM-C, WEOC, and soil respiration indicated positive effects of crop rotation and diversification on SOC dynamics. We recommend that in addition to measuring bulk SOC and total N, future studies examining the impacts of management practices on SOC or soil health, measure these or other rapid-cycling, active SOC pools."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"ecf9f4a0c6d50a85deb6691e31c22a81","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Publications/IWMI_Research_Reports/PDF/Pub042/Report42.pdf","id":"426701201"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"992ca201-3a32-447a-99a1-16ea9a3915ca","content":"IWMI's mission is to contribute to food security and poverty eradication by fostering sustainable increases in the productivity of water through better management of irrigation and other water uses in river basins. In serving this mission, IWMI concentrates on the integration of policies, technologies and management systems to achieve workable solutions to real problems-practical, relevant results in the field of irrigation and water resources.The publications in this series cover a wide range of subjects-from computer modeling to experience with water user associations-and vary in content from directly applicable research to more basic studies, on which applied work ultimately depends. Some research reports are narrowly focused, analytical, and detailed empirical studies; others are wide-ranging and synthetic overviews of generic problems.Although most of the reports are published by IWMI staff and their collaborators, we welcome contributions from others. Each report is reviewed internally by IWMI's own staff and Fellows, and by external reviewers. The reports are published and distributed both in hard copy and electronically (http://www.iwmi.org) and where possible all data and analyses will be available as separate downloadable files. Reports may be copied freely and cited with due acknowledgment. i iThis research report provides an overview of an experiment in which 8 different methods of estimating actual evaporation and transpiration were compared using a common database. Methods based on field data, hydrological models, and satellite data were used and the objectives were to compare results and to assess the utility of each method for various applications.Evaporation and transpiration are important components of the hydrological cycle, which cannot be directly measured. Traditionally, actual evapotranspiration has been computed as a residual in water balance equations, from estimates of potential evapotranspiration or from field measurements at meteorological stations.Recently, however, researchers have begun using scintillometers, remotely sensed data, and hydrological models to estimate areal actual evapotranspiration. An experiment was carried out at two sites in western Turkey during the summer of 1998 to compare the newly developed methods with more conventional methods. This report introduces the different estimation techniques, the experimental sites and the data set. The results of the different methods are reviewed and compared and recommendations are made as to the suitability of the different methods for different circumstances. Particular emphasis is placed on the data requirements, the ease of use, and the constraints of each method.This paper provides an overview of the results of an experiment in which 8 different methods of estimating actual evaporation (E) and transpiration (T) were compared using a common database. The purpose of the experiment was to determine the values obtained by several different approaches to estimating E and T, make a comparison of the values obtained by the different methods, and assess the utility of each method for different applications.There have been previous land-surfaceatmosphere experiments that used different evapotranspiration methods (e.g., First International Field Experiment (FIFE) in Kansas, Sellers et al. 1992, and Hydrologic and Atmospheric Pilot Experiment (HAPEX)-Sahel, Gourtorbe et al. 1997). However, these studies used individual data sets that made them difficult to compare the evapotranspiration methods.The rationale for this experiment was to see the extent to which newly developed techniques provide data that compare with more traditional methods that rely either on field measurements or merely calculate evaporation and transpiration as a residual of a water balance. To make the comparison as rigorous as possible the methods were tested using a common data set provided from two sites in western Turkey. Most comparisons are based on data for two days of satellite overpasses, but some methods were able to provide results for longer periods and larger areas.Turkey (GDRS), in which models were used to investigate the role of irrigation schemes within overall basin water resources. Crop transpiration is often used to estimate irrigation productivity (Molden et al. 1998) while soil evaporation is often regarded, from an irrigated agricultural point of view, as an unproductive use of water.Traditionally, actual evapotranspiration has been computed as a residual in water balance equations, from estimates of potential evapotranspiration using a soil moisture reduction function or from field measurements by meteorological equipment. Recently, however, researchers have begun using satellite data (e.g., Bastiaanssen et al. 1998;Choudhury 1997;Granger 1997) to estimate regional actual evapotranspiration.In 1997, IWMI brought researchers together to discuss the progress in remote sensing techniques and to carry out a comparison between methods using field measurements. One of the difficulties with such a comparison is the difference in spatial scale between the point estimates derived by climate-station-based techniques and the areal-averages produced by the remote sensing techniques. This problem is eased by two recent developments. First, the development of the scintillometer technique, which estimates evapotranspiration over an area (e.g., de Bruin et al. 1995) and second, the development of hydrological models that produce estimates of evaporation and transpiration at many locations over large areas and for long periods of time (e.g., Droogers and Kite1999). These two techniques act as intermediate steps between the field and the satellite estimates.IWMI convened a workshop at the Agricultural Research and Training Center (ARTC), Menemen, western Turkey, in the spring of 1998 to which experts in field techniques, hydrological modeling, and remote sensing methods were invited to present their techniques and to discuss collaboration. As a result of the workshop, it was agreed to carry out an experiment in the Gediz Basin near Menemen during the summer of 1998. Two field sites were instrumented, satellite images were obtained, and hydrological models were applied at various scales. Two CD-ROMS (Droogers and Kite 1998) containing all the acquired data and images were prepared and distributed to each research team. Each researcher computed actual evaporation and transpiration (or evapotranspiration) for a series of crop and land-cover types (or for an average land cover) at two field sites on two Landsat overpass dates. Their results are summarized in this report and are given in more detail in the Journal of Hydrology Special Issue Comparing Actual Evapotranspiration from Satellite data, Hydrological Models and Field Data (Kite and Droogers 2000). As a result of the comparison, it seemed logical to look into more detail at the methods not merely in terms of estimating E and T but also the way in which they can be used for other related purposes.The Gediz River in western Turkey has a length of about 275 km, drains an area of 17,200 km 2 and flows from east to west into the Aegean Sea just north of Izmir (figure 1). The river network is heavily controlled by reservoirs and regulators that divert water for irrigation. The reservoirs store river flow from the predominantly winter precipitation for release during the summer. Precipitation in the basin ranges from over 1,000 mm/year in the 2,300 m high mountains at the eastern end of the basin to a low of around 500 mm near the Aegean coast. The air temperatures range from -24 o C at high elevations in winter to over 40 o C in the interior plains in summer. The natural vegetation of the basin is mainly shrubland, maki (a mix of bay, myrtle, scrub oak, and juniper trees, amongst others), and coniferous forest with large outcrops of barren limestone mountain. Crops produced in the basin include cotton, cereals, grapes, vegetables and fruits, olives, tobacco, and melons.Two instrumented sites were established, both dominated by irrigated crops. The first, cotton field, was an irrigated cotton field surrounded by other cotton fields at Kessiköy within the Menemen Left Bank irrigation scheme. The second site, valley, was a transect across the Gediz Valley from Belen in the north to Suluklu in the south, a distance of 2,700 m (figure 2 and table 1). The crop coverage at the valley site was 60 percent raison grape, 15 percent cotton, 15 percent fruit trees, 5 percent other trees, and 5 percent pasture. The irrigation pattern varied for each farm and crop. Weather data were also available from an automatic climate station located at the Menemen Agricultural Research Center. The coordinates are given in table 1.On the date of the first Landsat overpass, 26 June 1998, the leaf area indices of all the crops were low, the topsoil was dry, and the subsoil was wet (figure 3 , top). By 29 August, the date of the second Landsat overpass, the cotton and grape crops were fully developed, and the soil condition was determined by the irrigation pattern (figure 3, bottom and figure 4).   The cotton field site as seen on 26 June 1998 (top) and 31 August 1998 (bottom). A view of the valley site on 31 August 1998.Instrumentation at the cotton field site consisted of a 15 cm aperture scintillometer using a 0.94 µm light-emitting diode (LED) source. The scintillometer had a path length of 670 m at an elevation of 3.2 m. A mast held a ventilated Schultze net radiometer and an automated climate station with METWAU (Meteorology and Air Quality Group, Wageningen Agricultural University) anemometer, thermocouples and soil temperature probes at 5 depths. Soil moisture was measured at 5 locations and 5 depths using a neutron-probe instrument. Phreatic water level was measured at two locations. Gravimetric soil moisture contents were measured at 0-20 cm, 20-40 cm, 40-60 cm, 60-80 cm, 80-100 cm, and 100-120 cm depths.Neutron probe readings, phreatic water level measurements, and gravimetric sampling were done on a weekly basis and direct prior and two days after irrigation. Data on bulk density, soil texture and field capacity were also obtained. Data from the scintillometer were recorded on a built-in data logger and the climate mast data were recorded on a Campbell Scientific 21X data logger every ten minutes. At the valley site, a second identical scintillometer was installed. This scintillometer had a path of 2,700 m at an effective height of 18 m above the valley floor. No other instruments were installed at this site.The hourly meteorological data were available from the Menemen Research Center climate station for 1998, although May data were missing. Historical daily climate data from this station were available for global radiation, pan evaporation, precipitation, relative humidity, hours of bright sunshine, average air temperature, minimum air temperature, maximum air temperature and wind speed.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer(NOAA-AVHRR) and Landsat TM (Thematic Mapper) images were purchased for two dates, 26 June and 29 August 1998, and, in This section provides brief descriptions of the methods used. The reader is referred to the individual papers in the Journal of Hydrology Special Issue (Kite and Droogers 2000) for more details.Three methods were selected to represent the field-based and climate-station based ET methods. Two of them represent the standard methods applied in agricultural science to estimate crop water requirements, and the third one, the scintillometer, represents an innovative method to measure sensible heat flux over an area (which can be used with other information to derive actual ET). The first two methods, FAO-24 and FAO-56, used the same input in terms of meteorological data, while the scintillometer data were derived from separate measurements.In 1977, the report FAO-24 (Doorenbos and Pruitt 1977) proposed guidelines for using the Blaney-Criddle, Penman, radiation, and pan evaporation methods to compute a reference crop evapotranspiration. FAO-24 has been used in many countries under different climatic and soil conditions for many years and a great deal of experience in the use of these methods has been gained. An updated procedure (FAO-56) (Allen et al. 1998) is now published recommending a new standard for reference evapotranspiration. It was therefore of interest to use the methods described in FAO-24 for the Menemen experimental site (Beyazgül, Kayam, and Engelsman 2000) and to compare the results with the application of the new FAO-56 Penman-Monteith procedure (Allen 2000).For the cotton field site, typical meteorological parameters, crop characteristics, and soil parameters were obtained. Reference evapotranspirations, ET o, were calculated using the four methods from FAO-24 (Blaney-Criddle, Penman, radiation, and pan evaporation) and additionally, the Hargreaves method (Hargreaves and Samani 1982) and the Penman-Monteith method (Monteith 1981). The derived reference evapotranspirations (ET o ) were multiplied by a crop factor (K c ) resulting in crop evapotranspirations (ET c ). For the six methods considered, the same K c factor was assumed, but the factor itself varied during the different growing stages of the crop.Finally, the actual evapotranspirations (ET act ) were estimated by a simple water-budget approach taking into account the limitations in soil water. The cotton field water table depths were shallow, ranging from about 50 cm at the start of the growing season down to about 120 cm at the end. With a rooting depth of 100 cm, a substantial upward flux from the groundwater into the root zone would be expected. Two cases were investigated. First, no knowledge of soil moisture addition, NOAA images were obtained for another 15 dates during the period January-September 1998.was assumed. Second, weekly soil moisture contents were used to correct the simulated moisture contents to the measured ones. The differences in ET act between these two methods must originate from capillary rise.The FAO-56 approach (Allen et al. 1998;Allen 2000) first calculates a reference evapotranspiration (ET o ) for grass or an alfalfa reference crop and then multiplies this by an empirical crop coefficient (K c ) to produce an estimate of crop potential evapotranspiration (ET c ). The ET c calculations used the dual crop coefficient approach that includes separate calculation of transpiration and evaporation occurring after precipitation and irrigation events.The FAO-56 Penman-Monteith method computes reference evapotranspiration from net radiation at the crop surface, soil heat flux, air temperature, wind speed and saturation vapor pressure deficit. The crop coefficient is determined from a stress reduction coefficient (K s ), a basal crop coefficient (K cb ) and a soil water evaporation coefficient (K e ). The K cb , curve is divided into four growth stages: initial, development, midseason, and late season. Field capacity and wilting point estimates determine soil water supply for evapotranspiration. The downward drainage of the topsoil is included but no upward flow of water from a saturated water table was considered, possibly causing some overprediction of water stress between the known irrigations. Water stress in the FAO-56 procedure is accounted for by reducing the value of K s .The weather data from the Menemen Research Center climate station were screened and missing data for May, November, and December 1998 were estimated from adjacent periods. This did not affect the estimates of ET for the two Landsat overpass dates but did affect the growing season and the annual totals reported.A visual rating of field appearances using a composite Landsat image of the project locations was used to reduce the potential K c ET c values by a constant percentage over all months and crops to account for less than pristine conditions and management.The valley site evapotranspiration values were produced by simulating three replications with different planting dates and different initial dates of irrigation for each crop and then averaging the results. All crops at the valley study site were presumed to be fully irrigated after the first irrigation except for pasture, which was intentionally stressed to simulate typical management. The K c values for all crops approached 1.2 during winter and spring periods following rain when the soil surface layer was fully wet. K cb during nongrowing periods was assumed to be zero to reflect a very dry soil surface with little ground cover. The K c during the midseason period was reduced by 15 percent from the values in FAO-56 to account for the low planting densities and planting gaps noted in photographs of the study areas and to account for the impacts of irrigation uniformity on fieldscale ET.Estimation of actual evapotranspiration using the energy balance method requires knowledge of the sensible heat flux. According to the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory, the sensible heat flux, H, is related to the structure parameter of temperature, C T 2 . A large aperture scintillometer is an instrument to collect path-average values of C T 2 (de Bruin et al. 1995). The scintillometer directs a light source between a transmitter and receiver and the receiver records and analyses fluctuations in the turbulent intensity of the refractive index of the air. These fluctuations are due to changes in temperature and humidity caused by heat and moisture eddies along the path of the light. Additional data on temperature, pressure, and humidity are necessary to compute the characteristic parameter of the refractive index. This can then be converted to sensible heat flux.An important feature of the scintillometer technique is although the measurement is along the path of the light beam, because of the effects of wind, this is actually an estimate of H over an area.The method therefore forms an intermediate level between the field scale measurements and the large area remote sensing estimates.The installed scintillometers derived 10-minute averages and standard deviations of the refractive index structure parameter, C n 2 for the entire growing season of 1998. Measurements of C n 2 at the valley site were supplemented by wind speed and temperature measured at the Menemen Research Center climate station. The roughness length was derived from a standard classification using photographs of the area. The effective height of the instrument was derived from a weighting function and a topographical map. Since actual values of the Bowen ratio were not measured, the method was applied three times using Bowen ratios of 0.3, 0.5, and 1. Only daytime data were used; nighttime sensible heat fluxes were assumed to be zero. On 26 June, the wind direction was variable and both east and west upwind areas were included in the scintillometer footprint. On 29 August, the prevailing wind was easterly and a 1,500 m upwind footprint was used.The scintillometer data from the cotton field site could not be processed using the standard procedure. The cause or source of failure could not be diagnosed by the researcher and, therefore, the data were abandoned. Instead, the data gathered from the micrometeorological station were used in the temperature variance method. An approximate analytic solution was used to determine the hourly daytime values of sensible heat for 26 June and 29 August which were then converted to daily means.Hydrological models simulate the transformation of precipitation into streamflow taking into account all the component processes such as evapotranspiration, interception, infiltration, runoff, and groundwater flow and including all the artificial effects of dams, reservoirs, diversions, and irrigation schemes. They are therefore able to estimate evaporation and transpiration at many points and at many times. In this experiment a detailed agro-hydrological model and a basin scale model were used to bridge the gap between the field techniques and the remote sensing techniques.The physically based simulation model SWAP (Soil, Water, Atmosphere, Plant;van Dam et al. 1997) calculates potential evapotranspiration by using the Penman-Monteith algorithm for three different conditions (bare soil, dry crop, and wet crop) by adjusting parameters for albedo, crop height, and crop resistance. Actual crop transpiration and soil evaporation may be simulated by taking into account the crop development stage as well as limitations in soil moisture. The model may be applied for many combinations of crop and soil to simulate the overall performance of irrigation schemes (Droogers et al. 2000).The SWAP model was applied for the cotton field and valley sites for the first nine months of 1998. For the cotton field site, detailed information on soils, water table, cropping stage and irrigation applications were used as input to SWAP. For the valley site, a period of nine months was also used, but as detailed input data were lacking, more assumptions had to be made. With a mixed cropping pattern, a lumped approach was used to estimate actual evapotranspiration. While knowledge of irrigation application days is especially critical for determining actual E and T, these were not known for the valley site and, therefore, a rotational irrigation application was assumed. This assumption resulted in a constant small amount of crop stress over the whole site.SLURP (Semi-distributed Land Use-based Runoff Processes) is a model that conceptualizes the complete hydrological cycle and also includes features such as reservoirs, diversions and extractions, and irrigation schemes (Kite 1997). The model divides a basin into many smaller subbasins using topographic analysis. Each subbasin (known as an aggregated simulation area, ASA) is again subdivided into areas of different land use. At each time increment, a vertical water balance is applied sequentially to the matrix of ASAs and land covers. Each element of the matrix is simulated by nonlinear reservoirs representing canopy interception, snowpack, rapid runoff, and slow runoff. The model routes precipitation through the physical processes and generates outputs (evaporation, transpiration, and runoff) and changes in storage (canopy interception, snowpack, soil moisture, and groundwater). Runoffs are accumulated from each land cover within an ASA and the combined runoff is converted to streamflow and routed to the outlets of each ASA and then to the basin outlet.In this experiment the model used the Penman-Monteith equation to compute potential evapotranspiration for a dry crop and for a bare soil and requires information on crop height, canopy resistance, and leaf area index, although Morton, Priestley-Taylor, and Granger techniques are also available in the model. The available soil moisture is calculated as a function of the field capacity and root zone depth. Canopy/soil evaporation and crop transpiration are computed separately.Irrigation rates were assumed at 100 mm/day for each of the four cotton field applications, which compares with a maximum daily rainfall over the winter period of about 110 mm. The irrigation rate for the valley site was also assumed as 100 mm/ day but the actual dates of irrigation at many farms within the cross section were not known. In this case, a series of 10 model runs were made using 4 irrigations in different patterns and the average result was used.The SLURP model was applied on a daily basis to the 17,200 km 2 Gediz Basin, Turkey (see figure 1) using 27 ASAs and 37 land covers for the period October 1986-September 1998. The outputs from the model included streamflow at many points along the river system and daily soil evaporation, crop transpiration, and net water production distributed over the entire basin.Remote sensing methods are attractive to estimate ET as they cover large areas and can provide estimates at a very high spatial resolution.Intensive field monitoring is also not required, although some ground-truth measurements can be helpful in interpreting the satellite images. Three methods were selected varying in resolution and degree of physical realism.Most methods for estimating evapotranspiration make use of net radiation as the driving parameter and vapor pressure deficit to define vapor transfer. A remote sensing approach has been developed in which surface albedo from satellite visible channels is used to estimate net radiation and, using a feedback relationship, the surface temperature from infra-red channels is used to obtain the vapor pressure deficit in the overlying air (Granger 1997). The feedback relationship states that the temperature and humidity observed in the air are a reflection of the surface partitioning of energy and vice versa.The relationship involved has been shown to be applicable above a wide range of natural surfaces ranging from bare soil to forest covers. This technique presents some advantages over the conventional approach in which the surface temperature is used as an index of the sensible heat transfer and the evapotranspiration is then inferred from a simplified inverted energy balance. The method allows for the application of remotely sensed data in conjunction with conventional evapotranspiration models. It also represents a convenient approach for the application of satellite-derived estimates of regional evapotranspiration within hydrological models without involving the need to collect supporting ground-based atmospheric data. The raw NOAA-AVHRR images were processed for geometric conversion, calculation of albedos or reflectances from visible channels, calculation of brightness temperatures from infrared channels, and extraction of satellite position and viewing angles using a commercial software package. Channel 4 and 5 brightness temperatures, along with satellite viewing angle, were used to obtain the surface temperature for each pixel in the image. Menemen Research Center long-term mean air temperature, clear sky global radiation, and relationship between daily maximum and daily mean temperatures were used. The satellite-derived surface temperatures were converted to daily means and the vapor pressure deficit at each pixel was estimated from the air temperature and saturated vapor pressure. The channel 2 reflectance was used as albedo when estimating the net radiation at each pixel from incoming short-wave radiation. Since the basin vegetation varies considerably, the NDVI vegetation index was calculated from the raw satellite data and used to estimate the vegetation roughness and the vapor transfer coefficient. Evapotranspiration was then calculated at each pixel using the Granger (1989) model.LANDSAT TM data were atmospherically corrected using soil temperature profiles from the Menemen Research Center climate station and a standard mid-latitude atmosphere. LANDSAT channel 3 was used to estimate the surface albedo. The vapor pressure deficit and net radiation were then calculated for each pixel as in the NOAA procedure. The LANDSAT-derived vegetation index was used to estimate the surface roughness and calculate evapotranspiration at each pixel using the Granger (1989) model.The total evapotranspiration couples the water and energy balance equations while transpiration is strongly linked to the rate of carbon assimilation. A biophysical model (Choudhury and DiGirolamo 1998) links the water, energy, and carbon processes by using satellite and ancillary data to quantify total evaporation, transpiration, and biomass production (Choudhury 1997). Transpiration is calculated using the Penman-Monteith equation in which the minimum canopy stomatal resistance is determined by the rate of carbon assimilation. Soil evaporation is considered to occur in two stages (the energy-limited rate is calculated using the Priestley-Taylor equation, while the exfiltration limited rate uses the Philip's equation). The rate of carbon assimilation, together with estimated respiration and soil water stress provides biomass production. Satellite observations are used to obtain fractional vegetation cover, surface albedo, incident solar and photosynthetically active radiation, fractional cloud cover, air temperature, and vapor pressure. Precipitation is obtained by combining satellite and surface observations. Biophysical parameters of the model (e.g., soil hydraulic characteristics and maximum carbon assimilation rate of a leaf) are determined from published records and land cover of the area.The model was used to analyze the daily energy and water balance equations for a 1-degree grid including the Gediz Basin for the period January 1986-December 1990. The seasonal and interannual variations of evaporation and transpiration and their relations with precipitation, net radiation, and net carbon accumulation were computed. The canopy stomatal resistance needed by Penman-Monteith was computed using a linear correlation with carbon assimilation rates derived from leaf absorptance and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). The Matthews global distribution of land use was used. The data had spatial resolutions varying from 2.5 o to 0.25 o , all were reduced to 0.25 o .The Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) is a parameterization of the energy balance and surface fluxes based on spectral satellite measurements (Bastiaanssen et al. 1998). SEBAL requires visible, near-infrared, and thermal infrared input data, which means that applications of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) sensors are useable.Instantaneous net radiation values were computed from incoming solar radiation measured at two ground stations and outgoing thermal radiation estimated from two cloud-free Landsat TM images via surface albedo, surface emissivity, and surface temperature.Surface albedo was computed from the top of the atmosphere broadband albedo using an atmospheric correction procedure. Soil heat flux was computed from surface temperature, surface albedo, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and roughness length derived from the soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI). The sensible heat flux was determined by an iterative solution of standard heat and momentum transport equations using a pixel-based Monin-Obukhov stability correction.Spatial interpolation techniques were applied consecutively to incorporate spatial thermal radiation variations and the effects arising from buoyancy on momentum and sensible heat fluxes. Using Landsat TM band 6, a wet and a dry pixel were selected for each of the two days considered. The sensible heat flux H was set to 0 for the wet pixel and to the difference between net radiation and soil heat flux for the dry pixel. For the dry pixel it was assumed that dT a (the vertical difference in air temperature) is a function of the sensible heat flux while for  (2000). No scintillometer data were available for the cotton field; instead data from the temperature variance method were used. b Derived from 1986-1990 average June-August total ET.the wet pixel, dT a was assumed to be zero.From the dT a and the TM band 6 radiometric surface temperature T TM6 for these two pixels, a linear relationship was assumed and used to compute dT a for the remaining pixels of the image. In both images the minimum values of dT a were about 10 o C. Sensible heat flux at each pixel was computed from the dT a pixel values and the latent heat flux was found as a residual term. The instantaneous latent heat fluxes were then converted to the required daily ET values by assuming that the instantaneous evaporative fraction is similar over 24 hours.The actual evapotranspirations estimated by the various methods for the two field sites on 26 June and 29 August 1998 are given in table 2. The last two columns show the differences between average results for each method and the average of all the methods. The following paragraphs summarize the results from each method and are followed by a more general discussion.Growing season (April-October) values for reference ET were used in an initial comparison of the FAO-24, Hargreaves, and Penman-Monteith techniques in order to select representative field-scale values (Beyazgül, Kayam, and Engelsman 2000). The results ranged from a low of 831 mm for the Penman-Monteith method to 1,131 mm for the Blaney-Criddle method (figure 5). The average (excluding pan evaporation) is 1,049 mm. The ET reference values computed using the Hargreaves method and the Penman-Monteith method are 16 percent and 26 percent, respectively, lower than the average. Values of ET c were 85 percent of ET 0 for the whole growing season, but varied between 32 percent of ET 0 in May to 113 percent in August.For the case with the constant soil moisture contents, predicted crop stress was severe and there was not much difference in the values of ET actual amongst the different methods. However, when we included weekly measured soil moisture contents, the differences between the methods became much greater, ranging from a seasonal total of 885 mm using Blaney-Criddle Reference evaporation, at the cotton field site, using FAO-24 methods; Bayazgül Kayam, and Engelsman 2000. down to 697 mm for Penman-Monteith. The differences between the two approaches, including or excluding measured soil moisture contents, are striking and vary between 121 mm and 267 mm depending on the method. The results given in table 2 are from the Penman-Monteith method, as this seemed to be the most stable and reliable.Only evapotranspiration estimates were derived using this method; no breakdown into evaporation and transpiration was possible.The ET c values were computed for five crops and they indicate that the cotton field crop was moisture-stressed between the dates of the two satellite overpasses due to delay of the first irrigation and experienced additional water stress prior to the second irrigation (figure 6) (Allen 2000).The results for the cotton field and valley sites are given in table 2. The confidence limits for ET c (using the dual K cb + K e approach) for the two study days are estimated to be ± 15 percent at 95 percent confidence.This method was also used to derive E and T estimates for the 1998 growing season and for the full 1998 year. Seasonal values of E and T for the cotton field are estimated to be 50 mm and 570 mm, and for the valley to be 100 mm and 730 mm, respectively. Confidence in Et c predicted for the growing season is ± 25 percent.For the valley site, mean heat fluxes for 26 June (before irrigation) and 29 August (after irrigation) were derived as 90 Wm -2 and 35 Wm -2 respectively (figure 7). For purposes of comparison, the Meijninger and de Bruin ( 2000) sensible heat fluxes from the valley scintillometer were converted to estimates of actual evapotranspiration using areal net radiation estimates from Bastiaanssen (2000) and assuming zero soil heat flux. Table 3 shows the data used and the resulting ET are given in table 2. In this report, the sensible heat fluxes for the cotton field site derived from the temperature variance method (Meijninger and de Bruin 2000) were converted to estimates of actual evapotranspiration using areal net radiation data from Bastiaanssen (2000). Only ET estimates are possible from this method with no breakdown to E and T. Latent heat (W m -2 ) 1 1 0 9 6 1 1 0 9 9 Evapotranspiration (mm) 3.9 3.4 3.9 3.5* Data from temperature variance method. FAO-56 crop coefficients K cb and K e with resulting evapotranspiration for the cotton field site, 1998 (Allen 1999). Sketch of the scintillometer application.The application of the SWAP model (van Dam et al. 1997) resulted in a detailed analysis of the soilwater-crop relationships, showing all the terms of the water balance, soil moisture contents, potential and actual transpiration, and evaporation (figure 8) (Droogers 2000). Results for the cotton field show that on 26 June, potential T was low and potential E was high, as a result of the low leaf area index of 0.5. Because the topsoil was very dry and sub-soil still wet, actual E was very low and actual T was equal to the potential. On 29 August, cotton field was fully developed, LAI was 4.0, potential T was high, and potential E was low. On this day, actual T reached the potential rate and E was small.The model showed that T on 26 June was considerably higher for valley than for the cotton field as the cropping pattern for valley included 60 percent grapes and 15 percent orchards. On 29 August, some crop stress occurred, resulting in a lower T, as the soil water storage was depleted and was not fully compensated by the irrigation applications. The results show that a distinction between actual crop transpiration and soil evaporation can be made and that the lumped method is able to estimate areal actual evapotranspiration.The application of the SWAP model also derived growing season values of E and T for each site. Seasonal values of E and T for cotton field are 130 mm and 493 mm, respectively, and for valley are 102 mm and 702 mm, respectively. The SWAP model results showing the ratio of actual transpiration to potential transpiration and the distribution of soil moisture with depth and time for the cotton field site during the 1998 irrigation season.The SLURP results for the October 1997-September 1998 hydrological year show that soil evaporation varied from 0 to 6 mm/day over the winter and spring period, falling to zero (except after irrigation) during the growing season (Kite 2000). Transpiration remained close to zero from the end of November until the start of the growing season (April) and then rose rapidly to 5-10 mm/day before tailing off at the end of October again. E and T values for the two sites and two overpass days are given in table 2.The application of the SLURP model also derived growing season values of E and T for each site. The seasonal values of E and T for the cotton field are 20 mm and 584 mm, respectively, and for the valley are 30 mm and 722 mm, respectively. This method also estimated E and T for each 1km 2 of the basin for each day during the period 1988-1998. The areal distribution of T over the basin on 26 June shows much less variation than on 29 August because of the distribution of irrigated areas in the basin and the pattern of crop watering (figure 9). The basin-wide E and T on 26 June are 0.1 mm and 3.4 mm, respectively, and on 29 August are 0.2 mm and 3.7 mm, respectively. For the 1998 growing season, the basin-average E and T and are 88 mm and 455 mm, respectively, while mean annual (1988)(1989)(1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998) basin-wide evaporation and transpiration are 88 mm and 378 mm, respectively. Distributed transpiration, in mm, over the 17,200 km 2 Gediz Basin on the two Landsat overpass dates, 26 June1998 (top) and 29 August1998, (bottom) from the SLURP hydrological model (Kite 2000).Figures were derived showing the distribution of evapotranspiration across the target area for the two Landsat overpass days (figure 10) (Granger 2000). The numerical values for the two sites are given in table 2. The use of two satellites allows a comparison between the results at two resolutions. At cotton field, on 26 June, the two satellites produce very similar results; however, on 26 June at valley, Landsat is almost 1 mm lower than NOAA while for both sites on 29 August, Landsat is 1 mm higher than NOAA. Table 2 shows that on 26 June, the two satellite methods agree, while for 29 August, the Landsat estimate is somewhat higher than the NOAA. The standard deviations of the Landsat pixel values within the NOAA pixels representing the cotton field and valley sites on 26 June are 0.3 and 0.4, respectively, and on 29 August are 0.1 and 0.4, respectively. Evapotranspiration over the Menemen Left Bank irrigation scheme on the 26 June 1998 Landsat overpass using Landsat (top) and NOAA AVHRR (bottom) images (Granger 1999).This method was also able to derive evapotranspiration estimates for the total basin area. On 26 June, 11 percent of the basin area was cloud-covered. For the cloud-free portion of the basin, the average daily evapotranspiration rate was 3.5 ± 1.2 mm. On 29 August, the basin was completely clear; the average daily evapotranspiration was 2.8 ± 0.2 mm.The climatological data used in the model were found to agree with the local weather station data (Choudhury 2000). Comparisons with measurements at other locations showed uncertainties of about 15 percent and 20 percent for computed annual and monthly evaporation respectively. Figure 11 shows the monthly evapotranspiration and net carbon accumulation for the area of the Gediz Basin. The 1998 growing season ET at the cotton field and the valley sites were estimated at 575 and 500 mm, respectively, on the basis of crop type. The average annual (1986)(1987)(1988)(1989)(1990) basin-wide evaporation and transpiration estimates are 217 mm and 178 mm, respectively. The daily values given in table 2 were derived from the 1986-1990 average seasonal totals and do not distinguish between specific dates.Figure 12 shows the distributed evapotranspiration values for the area of the field sites on 26 June and 29 August 1998 (Bastiaanssen 2000). The derived evaporative fraction data indicate that June is, in general, drier than August as a result of the lower crop cover in June and the commencement of the irrigation season in July. This can be clearly seen from the results for the cotton field (table 2), where values of ET for June were lower than for August. The evaporative fraction shows that for both sites and both dates the actual ET is lower than the potential. The energy balance results show that 26 June had more solar radiation and a consequent higher net available energy than 29 August. As the peak solar radiation fell outside the irrigation season, sensible heat fluxes were relatively high and latent heat fluxes low during June. The lower evaporative fraction during June reveals that soil moisture was the constraint on actual evapotranspiration; an evaporative fraction of approximately 40 percent indicates a severe reduction of potential evapotranspiration. An evaporative fraction of approximately 80 percent for crops in August suggests that they were well supplied with water but, since solar radiation was already reduced by this date, the evapotranspiration was still relatively low.The actual ET estimated by the various methods for 26 June, 1998, varied from 1.5 mm to 6.4 mm for the cotton field and 2.8 mm to 5.6 mm for the valley site. On 29 August, the ET ranged from 2.6 mm to 6.4 mm for the cotton field, and 2.7 mm to 5.6 mm for the valley site (table 2). In all cases, the highest values are those estimated from seasonal results of the biophysical model. No clear trend could be observed between the field methods, the models, and the RS estimates. The FAO-24 method, the scintillometer, and the remote sensing methods could give only ET estimates while the FAO-56 and the hydrological models were able to provide both E and T results. All the methods that were able to estimate E indicate that the soil evaporation was only a small fraction of the ET.The FAO-24, FAO-56, SWAP, and SLURP methods all use Penman-Monteith to compute potential ET. These should all be comparable but data are not available to confirm this. The methods then differ in their means of computing the actual ET, which is a function of the soil moisture content.The two hydrological models are in reasonable agreement on both dates for the cotton field but differ considerably on both dates for the valley site. This is probably due to the different assumptions of irrigation pattern for the valley site.Amongst those remote sensing methods that used Landsat images, the estimates from the SEBAL and feedback methods are not consistent. On 26 June, SEBAL is lower than feedback at both sites but on 29 August, SEBAL is higher than feedback at the cotton field.Several methods computed E and T or ET for longer periods or for larger areas. Amongst those methods, the ranges of actual ET estimates for the 1998 growing season were much smaller: from 604 mm to 620 mm for the cotton field and from 750 mm to 830 mm for the valley site. However, the narrow ranges of ET hide considerable differences between the estimates of E and T. For the cotton field, the FAO-56 and SLURP estimates of E and T are in reasonable agreement while SWAP has higher E and lower T. For the valley site, in contrast, FAO-56 and SWAP have comparable E while the SLURP estimate of E is much lower. This seems to  Evapotranspiration over the Menemen Bank Irrigation scheme on the two Landsat overpass dates, 26 June 1998 (top) and 29 August 1998 (botton), from the SEBAL remote sensing technique (Bastiaanssen 2000). be due to different assumptions on growing patterns and irrigation scheduling.The sensible heat estimates from the valley scintillometer and the cotton field temperature variance method (Meijninger and de Bruin 2000) can also be compared to those from SEBAL (table 4). It is not obvious why, while the instantaneous measurements by the two methods at the overpass time are very different (e.g., 26 June, valley site), the computed daily mean values of sensible heat from the two methods are often similar. It is also noticeable that the differences are large in June, a dry month with no irrigation, and much smaller in August, a wetter month with irrigation. This may indicate a sensitivity of the scintillometer to humidity.Differences between the various estimates of ET and the overall average are shown in the last two columns of table 2 in millimeters and in percentage. These values are included to reflect relative differences among the methods and do not indicate absolute accuracy.Increasing demands for water require improved allocation of a scarce resource between competing interests. Studies are required to investigate whether irrigation management and productivity can be improved and, if so, what would be the effects on other water users. Performance indicators that rely on knowledge of water supply, soil evaporation, crop transpiration, and return flows are useful tools in such studies. Soil evaporation and crop transpiration are generally computed from field data or as residuals in water balances. New methods using remotely sensed data and hydrological models needed to be evaluated and compared to more traditional techniques before they could be reliably applied. A field experiment over the summer of 1998 in western Turkey provided a data set for such an intercomparison.The results show a wide range of estimated ET with no patterns evident amongst the various methods. A clear judgement as to which methods produce the most accurate results is difficult to make. The assumption that field methods are probably the most reliable is hard to justify as the three field methods differ considerably (table 2). Moreover, no clear conclusions can be made between the three groups of results: field measurements, models, or remote sensing.However, if we make some assumptions on uncertainties in the three terms of the energy balance equation, we can indicate which methods fall within a reasonable confidence range. Assume that the average uncertainties for all the methods are 30 percent for sensible heat flux H, 100 percent for soil heat flux G, and 20 percent for net radiation R n, . Then, if on 26 June, the magnitude of ET is about the same as H, about 5 times G and about 0.5 R n , the average uncertainty in ET estimated as a residual of the energy balance, and assuming independence of terms, would be about 52 percent. This results in a confidence band of 2.4-5.8 mm/day and for 29 August, when the magnitude of ET is about 3 times H, about 8 times G and about 0.8 R n , the uncertainty in ET is 32 percent and the confidence band is 2.9-5.1 mm/day. All the methods except the biophysical in August fall within these confidence bands.For the cotton field on 26 June, the confidence limits are 1.8-5.3 mm/day and all methods except SLURP and biophysical processes fall within these limits. On 29 August, the limits are 3.1-6.1 mm/day and only feedback-NOAA and biophysical fall outside the limits.As noted, the ET estimates by the biophysical method are only approximate for the specific test dates due to the broad temporal nature of the method.The methods have different spatial and temporal capabilities. Table 5 shows that there tends to be a relationship between complexity and variety of output. FAO methods are generally simpler and produce a limited set of point-based results; SLURP and SWAP are complex but produce a wide variety of results while the remotely sensed methods (because of access and processing times and the need for cloud-free images) have limited temporal applicability.Data requirements can also be a limiting factor in the applicability of a method. Table 6 shows the types of data needed by each method.It is clear that no single method is ideal; all have their advantages and disadvantages. It is probable that using a combination of methods will bring out the complementarity and prove better than any technique used alone. The following conclusions refer specifically to the different types of methods used and some recommendations for use of the different methods are given later. Estimation Methods for Crop Water Requirements (FAO-24)The standard methods described in FAO-24 are relatively easy to use, as they require only regular climate data. There are large differences in results from the various methods and the Penman-Monteith appears to be the most stable and reliable. The process of transforming reference ET to crop ET and to actual ET requires additional information on crops, soils, and hydrological conditions.For the conditions at the cotton field site, the application of the FAO-24 methods showed that it was essential to include the effect of capillary rise in the calculations of actual ET. The inclusion of a weekly measured soil moisture content in combination with a simple water balance model seems to be promising although this involves many field measurements.The FAO-56 method also requires minimal data for application and is relatively quick and easy to apply. The FAO-56 method is useful for operational applications, where day-to-day estimates of ET c are needed and may prove to be valuable for filling the gap between satellite analyses. However, the procedure is generally limited to agricultural crops since, for natural vegetation, uncertainty increases due to variation in plant density, leaf area, rooting depths, and lack of phenology-soil water feedback loops.As with all point data methods, the spatial resolution of the results is limited by the degree to which weather data can be extrapolated. This is affected by the heterogeneity of the surrounding terrain and weather systems and is typically about 150 km.The large-scale scintillometer at the valley site proved to be a robust and reliable instrument from which to compute actual sensible heat fluxes. The method can be applied for long periods of time with minimal effort. The lack of wind speed data at the valley site caused uncertainty in the calculated sensible heat flux of about 5 percent.The problems found with the cotton field scintillometer imply a lack of generality that needs to be investigated before the method can be widely applied. As the scintillometer measures an areal parameter, and also requires point meteorological data, it is not clear which area the results would apply over.Only sensible heat is computed with this method. The net radiation must be derived elsewhere before ET can be computed. The analysis procedure also assumes a Bowen ratio value and assumes that nighttime sensible heat fluxes are negligible.The physically based agro-hydrological model SWAP can be run with different levels of data. For the cotton field site, detailed information on soils, water tables, crops, and irrigation applications was used and the results were specific for the field considered. On the other hand, for the valley site, various assumptions were made; especially about the amount and timing of irrigation, and the results are more area-specific than field-specific. SWAP can be used to understand processes and to investigate alternative scenarios.The SLURP model was the only method that was able to estimate evaporation and transpiration for the full spatial and temporal ranges (crop to basin, day to annual average). The estimates of evapotranspiration agree well with other methods for the growing season, with the only other basinwide estimates on overpass days (feedback method) and with the only other long-term mean annual data (biophysical model). The advantage of the hydrological model is that it can be used continuously (even on cloudy days) and also to evaluate alternative scenarios.The remote sensing methods all have the advantage that the spatial resolution is high (especially for the Landsat methods) and the spatial coverage is high (especially for the NOAA methods), and the disadvantage that only instantaneous estimates can be obtained. This last point leaves us with two problems; first to derive daily values from a split-second observation and, second, the necessity of analyzing many (maybe expensive) images for seasonal estimates of ET. For some areas, the requirement of cloudfree days can be a limitation for remote sensing methods.The feedback mechanism was able to estimate evapotranspiration for the two specific sites using both NOAA-AVHRR and Landsat TM data and to estimate basin averages using the NOAA-AVHRR. The procedures used are straightforward and relatively easy to apply. Assumptions are made regarding the relationships between vapor pressure deficit and saturation vapor pressure and between single-measurement and daily mean air temperatures, but these are justified by experimental data from many sites. The relationship between net long-wave and incoming short-wave radiation uses a constant derived for dry continental locations, which may not be directly applicable for a humid maritime environment.The NOAA images used by this method were georeferenced while the Landsat images were assumed correct from the supplier; this may introduce some bias.The results in table 2 show that the feedback method using Landsat is closer to the mean of all the methods than the feedback using NOAA. This may indicate the difficulty in estimations for specific points from lower resolution NOAA images.The advantage of this method is that, as transpiration is coupled to carbon assimilation, it can give results that no other method can provide such as the mean annual water use efficiency in terms of carbon production per unit of water. However, because of the dependence on published remotely sensed data it was only possible to use this method for a historical period and not for the two 1998 intercomparison dates. The 1986-1990 growing season average ET from this method is 575 mm for cotton field site and 500 mm for valley. The latter is substantially lower than for the other methods. The method also operates at a larger scale (0.25 o latitude and longitude) than the other methods and does not explicitly include the effects of surface or groundwater irrigation.The SEBAL method derives the evaporative fraction from satellite data. This is a measure of energy partitioning and a good indicator of crop stress. Actual evapotranspiration can be easily obtained from the product of the evaporative fraction and the net radiation. The SEBAL remote sensing technique is not restricted to irrigated areas, but can be applied to a broad range of vegetation types. Data requirements are low and restricted to satellite information although some additional ground observations can be used to improve the reliability.As with the feedback and other visible and infrared methods, images must be cloud-free. Additionally for SEBAL, the image must contain at least one fully wet and one fully dry pixel in order to obtain a range of sensible heat fluxes. The analysis assumes that instantaneous evaporative fraction is similar to its 24-hour counterpart.As water becomes scarcer, the task of allocating water within irrigation areas will become more difficult. Remotely sensed techniques that can detect crop stress appear at first glance to be attractive tools; they cover large areas and the additional data requirements are low. However, the acquisition and analysis times of high-resolution images (Landsat) are too long to be of any use in irrigation management. Low-resolution images (NOAA-AVHRR) are rapidly available and analyzed, but the resolution is only suitable for areas corresponding to main canals. For lower level management (secondary canals) the scintillometer can be a useful tool, although additional field data at a point scale (net radiation, wind speed) are required. Hydrological models and the FAO methods can be set up at the beginning of the season and fed with daily standard climatic data to inform irrigation managers in advance about water requirements. The advantage of this approach is that this could be done in advance by assuming standard climatic conditions for the near future.The key element of constructing and planning new irrigation schemes is the knowledge of crop water requirements. Obviously, field measurements as well as RS are impossible, as no irrigation schemes are present. Procedures such as FAO-24 were and will be used as a standard in planning irrigation schemes. As indicated by Beyazgul et al. (2000) big differences exist between the different methods and ignoring important aspectsThe results have shown that all methods could compute evapotranspiration for the two sites on the two specified days (except that the scintillometer computed only sensible heat) and that some methods also have wider applicability. It was pointed out in the conclusions that there is a range of computed values and that no method is ideal; all have their advantages and disadvantages. Evapotranspiration is generally computed not for its own sake but for some other purpose, and each method can be assessed for its usefulness in this regard. To make some general recommendations, several important topics have been identified where knowledge of evapotranspiration is required.Water productivity or irrigation performance assessment requires knowledge of all the terms of the water balance, including evapotranspiration. It can be expressed at different scales ranging from field to basin and is normally calculated over a growing season or an entire year. Methods that rely on the collection and analysis of field data are too labor-intensive for large areas of varied crops. Remote sensing techniques are useful here for areal distribution of ET at very high resolution but cannot provide the other data required, such as return flows, drainage, percolation, and capillary rise. A promising technique might be to estimate crop yield directly by RS methods. Alternatively, hydrological models are able to provide all the terms of the water balance as well as to estimate crop yields and RS estimates of ET could be used to verify the hydrological models on cloudfree satellite overpass days. such as capillary rise can result in substantial errors. FAO-56 provides a major improvement but is still subject to limitations. Point meteorological data collected before the irrigation system is installed will not be representative of later conditions; in particular, earlier temperatures will be higher and vapor pressures will be lower. Hydrological models, taking into account all the hydrological aspects, are an attractive alternative.Water allocation within a basin is a matter of considering all the water users in a basin such as agriculture, industry, urban, and environmental. Remote sensing techniques are very useful as they can give ET over large areas for all the different land covers in a basin over the recent past. Field measurements are limited to smaller areas and are not realistic at basin level. Instead of only analyzing current or past water allocations, alternatives should be evaluated to distribute water in a more productive way. Clearly, this can be done only by the use of hydrological models in simulating different scenarios. As an example, water in the Gediz Basin is exported from the basin to the rapidly growing city of Izmir. The effects of present and future extractions on the basin can only be evaluated with hydrological models.Many scientists are concerned about the effect of possible changes in climate and changes in land use on water resources. The implications of such changes for irrigated agriculture are particularly important. Such scenarios can be effectively studied using hydrological models; RS and field techniques cannot help."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"26b38f5542d4d00fc2e18d778461ce38","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/7014c58a-455e-4ad1-af5c-91767d7ae91a/retrieve","id":"-1233767520"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"6626be71-ca0c-43ee-84cb-ccfee7d5111b","content":"Nothofagus pumilio, lenga, y Nothofagus antartica, ñire, son dos especies relevantes para Argentina y la Región Andino Patagónica. Son las únicas especies arbóreas que se encuentran en toda la región, creciendo en ambientes heterogéneos a lo largo de más de 2000 km. Por la ubicación de sus bosques sostienen servicios ecosistémicos estratégicos de regulación y de provisión. El primero principalmente de regulación hídrica y protección de suelos, y el segundo asociado al uso humano que se hace de estos bosques desde hace más de un siglo. Como resultado de la intervención antrópica, así como del efecto de disturbios de escala, como son los incendios forestales, en la actualidad se encuentran bosques de lenga y ñire que presentan altos niveles de degradación, aunque también hay bosques bien preservados. Un aspecto básico para aportar al manejo sustentable y a la conservación de estos bosques es incorporar el conocimiento sobre la estructura y la variabilidad genética de sus poblaciones.El grupo de genética forestal de INTA Bariloche estudia, desde hace más de 20 años, la variabilidad genética de los bosques nativos de la Patagonia. En su materia han logrado que los resultados de investigaciones básicas se trasladen a recomendaciones prácticas en la toma de decisiones relacionadas con los recursos genéticos forestales nativos. Este Manual de Zonas Genéticas de lenga y ñire en Argentina, su aplicación en la conservación y manejo de los recursos forestales, nos introduce de manera comprensible a la definición de zonas genéticas y al porqué de la importancia de determinarlas. Posteriormente a la descripción de las características ecológicas y la distribución actual de estas especies, se detallan las herramientas metodológicas utilizadas para definir siete zonas genéticas para lenga y nueve para ñire, donde se integra información proveniente de estudios a distintas escalas. Se abordan también la variación geográfica y genética en lenga con el fin de inferir procesos de adaptación local a tener en cuenta al momento de seleccionar material de reproducción. Por último, se realiza un análisis del posible efecto del cambio climático sobre ambas especies, en escenarios predichos, y se determinan cuáles serían las áreas vulnerables que podrían perder idoneidad para sostener sus bosques.Para quienes trabajamos en manejo de bosques nativos con intervenciones que implican el uso de material de reproducción, como plantines y semillas, tanto con objetivos de producción como de conservación, el conocimiento difundido en este manual es esencial. Por un lado, nos permite entender el comportamiento de estas especies en experiencias ya realizadas; por otro, y quizás más importante aún, entender la necesidad de considerar los aspectos genéticos desde la etapa de la planificación de las actividades a realizar. En este último caso, y teniendo en cuenta la identificación de áreas vulnerables, las condiciones ambientales esperadas según los distintos escenarios predichos así como los cambios ya observados, los resultados presentados tienen una importancia sustancial para diseñar estrategias de adaptación al cambio climático con base en la variabilidad genética de las poblaciones de lenga y ñire.Carolina Soliani, Paula MarchelliLos bosques Andino Patagónicos se componen de especies forestales nativas consideradas de alto valor maderable y con un excelente potencial productivo que aún se encuentra en vías de desarrollo. Los programas de Domesticación en curso de muchas de estas especies promueven la caracterización ecológica y genética de sus bosques (INTA PNFOR N°1104063) y entre sus objetivos contemplan la identificación de material base, de referencia para su utilización en diversas acciones de conservación y manejo sustentable. La concreción de actividades de restauración, asistencia a la regeneración natural, definición de áreas de plantación, entre otras, demanda de un conocimiento acabado de las poblaciones naturales de procedencia. En su implementación práctica, y aún más en especies forestales de extensa distribución, resulta indispensable la divisibilidad de las masas continuas de bosque y la definición de unidades operativas de manejo (Pastorino & Gallo, 2009). Aunque escasamente utilizados como criterios de delimitación, los patrones de variabilidad genética natural constituyen una herramienta muy valiosa para definir estas unidades. A lo largo de la historia evolutiva de una especie su acervo genético cambia, y esa variación se estudia a nivel de sus poblaciones interpretando información proveniente de diferentes regiones de su ADN.Así, es posible dar cuenta de los procesos demográficos y adaptativos por los que transitaron sus individuos ante las diversas presiones selectivas ejercidas por el ambiente. Al considerar estos procesos en la división de un área, estamos resguardando el potencial evolutivo de la especie y manteniendo el grado de conectividad actual entre sus poblaciones. Por otra parte, al incorporar criterios genéticos aportamos cierta previsibilidad en la respuesta de las plantas a su ambiente, ya que la base genética que subyace estaría adaptada a una condición local.En Argentina, los Recursos Genéticos Forestales, entendidos como la variación genética presente en un rodal con beneficio actual o potencial para los humanos (Geburek & Turok, 2005), son patrimonio de los Estados provinciales. El Estado Nacional legisla los recursos forestales nativos a través de la ley de Presupuestos Mínimos de Protección Ambiental de los Bosques Nativos (N°26331) y la ley de Inversiones para Bosques Cultivados (N°25080). Cada provincia puede adherir a estas leyes, adecuándolas a su situación en particular. Para llevar adelante los proyectos que las leyes financian, es deseable contar con el material apropiado para plantar, y en esa adecuación debemos considerar su origen y transferibilidad.Ordenamiento territorial de los bosques nativos Regulación del uso de suelos y expansión de la frontera agropecuaria Enriquecimiento, conservación, restauración, mejoramiento y manejo sostenibleEn el grupo de Genética Forestal del INTA Bariloche investigamos desde hace más de 20 años las características genéticas de las poblaciones de especies forestales nativas de Patagonia, y algunas exóticas, empleando marcadores del ADN. Además, desarrollamos protocolos optimizados para el almacenamiento de semillas y la producción de plantines en vivero, con el fin de evaluar sus propiedades por medio de caracteres cuantitativos. En este manual informamos cómo estos resultados de investigación se traducen en recomendaciones prácticas que pueden asistir a gestores, técnicos, productores, entre otros actores, para la toma de decisiones en acciones a desarrollar dentro del bosque nativo, de utilidad en el marco de la legislación vigente. Nos centraremos en la divisibilidad genética, definiendo zonas genéticas, de un continuo de bosque cuyo fin último es el de proveer semilla segura para la plantación. Fuentes de información adicional serán contempladas (topografía, presencia de rutas o caminos, otras) para lograr que el producto final, los mapas de zonas genéticas, resulten accesibles al lector.La representatividad del acervo genético de una especie a lo largo de su distribución se logra por medio del muestreo de áreas cuya extensión mínima se corresponde con una \"población genética\". Sin embargo, para el caso de los árboles por la imposibilidad práctica de atender la situación particular de cada rodal, no se toman decisiones de manejo sobre cada población. Es entonces cuando cobra relevancia la definición de unidades operativas donde se superen estas limitaciones. Una posibilidad son las zonas genéticas (ZG), reconocidas como regiones geográficas genéticamente homogéneas (Bucci & Vendramin, 2000) dentro de las cuales la transferencia de semillas mantendrá la constitución genética de los rodales (Cuadro 1). Es decir que no existiría riesgo, o este sería mínimo, de contaminación genética (McKay et al., 2005) del stock local, o en su defecto de la masa boscosa colindante a la implantada, con el movimiento de material. Para delimitar las ZG es necesario en primer término contar con un inventario de la distribución natural de la especie, base sobre la cual se delinean las divisiones. La caracterización de la constitución genética de las poblaciones a través de parámetros de diversidad y diferenciación, es lo que permite luego agrupar o separar los bosques analizados en la misma o en diferentes zonas genéticas, respectivamente. Al mismo tiempo dentro de las zonas están representados reservorios genéticos mínimos para la especie, a considerar en el marco de una estrategia de conservación de estos recursos. Sin embargo, es importante tener en cuenta que, ante el desconocimiento acabado sobre la variación genética adaptativa, la decisión mas conservadora sería utilizar semillas de procedencia local, ya que a priori podría suponerse mayor capacidad de adaptación al sitio.En este manual incorporamos la definición de sub-zona genética, entendida como un área geográfica incluida dentro de una zona, pero que presenta alguna singularidad genética. Esa cualidad, que fue identificada en el muestreo de una población, destaca a ese sitio respecto de la zona que lo contiene y podría tener un significado histórico-evolutivo que sería deseable resguardar. Por este motivo, consideramos que en estas subunidades es recomendable utilizar material de procedencia local para llevar adelante acciones de restauración.La diversidad genética es la variación en caracteres heredables a nivel poblacional, y se calcula en función del número de variantes alélicas (atributos) de un conjunto de regiones del ADN, y sus distribuciones de frecuencias. El material hereditario (ADN) de un organismo cambia (mutaciones) a través del tiempo. Asociados a dichos cambios, es posible inferir procesos incidentes sobre las poblaciones (bosques) en relación a una escala de tiempo (ej. reducción numérica de la población durante períodos climáticos adversos). Así, en términos evolutivos, la diversidad genética de las poblaciones de una especie se va modelando. Una población con diversidad genética elevada es un sitio a priorizar para su conservación, ya que a priori se podría esperar una mejor respuesta de sus individuos ante cambios externos (por ejemplo: eventos climáticos extremos, invasiones biológicas) que pongan en riesgo su constitución.De esta manera las variantes de ADN que estudiamos se denominan marcadores genéticos, y representan a nivel poblacional características de sus individuos. Los marcadores poseen diversas propiedades, entre ellas la posibilidad de estar afectados por la acción de la selección natural. La acción directa de la selección sobre una región específica del ADN, incide sobre la performance individual (por ejemplo, éxito reproductivo) ya que determina el nivel de adaptación del individuo en su ambiente. Contrariamente, existen otras regiones del ADN que no se ven afectadas por la selección, pero que brindan información sobre la historia demográfica de la población. En este caso se habla de marcadores neutros, utilizados frecuentemente para identificar tipo y número de variantes genéticas con una correspondencia geográfica. La disposición de esa variabilidad intrínseca en el conjunto de poblaciones de una especie es lo que se conoce como estructura genética. La definición de ZG está basada en la diversidad y estructura genética en marcadores neutros definidos para la especie.El comportamiento individual ante estímulos externos puede condicionar la permanencia y sobrevida de una planta. En ocasiones estas respuestas surgen como una adecuación a un determinado factor que cambia en el tiempo o el espacio (por ejemplo, estableciendo un gradiente), y es lo que denominamos plasticidad fenotípica. Es decir existe naturalmente cierto grado de ajuste del fenotipo de los individuos en relación a las condiciones ambientales donde están vegetando.Alternativamente, esa respuesta puede tener una base genética producto de una interacción histórica de los organismos con su ambiente, y es lo que llamamos adaptación. Es deseable respetar estos procesos cuando se proponen unidades genéticas y evitar consecuencias desfavorables. Por ejemplo, se ha observado una amplia variación en la apertura de yemas de poblaciones de lenga procedentes de su rango actual de distribución, sugiriendo una base genética para esta respuesta (Torres et al., 2017). Si la brotación está determinada genéticamente, introducir individuos procedentes de sitios de brotación temprana (por ejemplo, procedencia norte) en sitios donde ocurren heladas tardías de primavera (por ejemplo, ubicados en latitudes australes), expondría las yemas al riesgo de muerte apical y condicionaría la supervivencia de la plantación. Las decisiones de manejo fundadas en unidades genéticas definidas para una especie, conllevan ventajas prácticas y operativas a considerar, que aseguren el éxito de la inversión realizada.Las zonas genéticas constituyen un primer paso hacia la definición de Unidades de Manejo (UM), que además de conservar variantes de significancia evolutiva (ESU por su sigla en inglés, Crandall et al., 2000;de Guia & Saitoh, 2007) y por ende relativos a la historia de vida de una especie, aseguran la viabilidad ecológica de las poblaciones y la adaptabilidad a nivel local. El objetivo final de las UM es el de conservar entidades ecológicas lo suficientemente importantes como para representar los procesos genéticos ocurridos en el corto y largo plazo (Fraser & Bernatchez, 2001). Es necesario entonces sumar a los marcadores genéticos neutros la evaluación de caracteres adaptativos para que dicha zonificación de los recursos genéticos conduzca a las Regiones de Procedencia (RP). Definidas las RPs es posible certificar el origen del material, conforme se establece que dentro de una RP es segura la transferencia de semillas y además no existirían riesgos de mala adaptación.En la actualidad contamos con una clasificación en unidades operativas de manejo basada en criterios genéticos, en tres especies forestales nativas en Argentina: Austrocedrus chilensis (ciprés de la Cordillera) (Pastorino et al., 2015), Nothofagus nervosa (raulí) y Nothofagus obliqua (roble pellín) (Azpilicueta et al., 2016). Por medio de este manual sumamos a estos antecedentes la definición de zonas genéticas en Nothofagus pumilio (lenga) y Nothofagus antarctica (ñire) para su distribución en Argentina (36°-55° S). Destacamos la relevancia de estos aportes al conocimiento científico-técnico, con una definición de unidades superadora, no estrictamente basada en características ambientales (condiciones climáticas, edáficas, topográficas) que limitar��an a una transferencia de material entre sitios con condiciones similares (de modo análogo al método divisivo en Regiones de Procedencia; ver como ejemplo johnson et al., 2004;McKenney et al., 2009). Bajo este \"modelo ambiental\" de divisibilidad se corre el riesgo de subestimar la impronta genética de los individuos en cada sitio y, por consiguiente, la historia de vida de las poblaciones.En Nothofagus pumilio avanzaremos en el mediano plazo hacia la definición de Regiones de Procedencia, ya que contamos con un muestreo adicional de poblaciones nativas y una incipiente evaluación en caracteres cuantitativos relevantes (fenología, crecimiento). Forster) Oerster son especies endémicas de los Bosques Templados de América del Sur (Figura 1). Su distribución natural en Argentina y Chile corresponde mayoritariamente a la Cordillera de los Andes, desde los 36º S hasta los 55º S. Además están presentes en la Cordillera de la Costa (Nahuelbuta) y la Depresión Central en Chile (Veblen et al., 1996). Son los Nothofagus sudamericanos de mayor distribución geográfica, y sus bosques más extensos se encuentran en Chubut y Tierra del Fuego. Paradójicamente en estas provincias un bajo porcentaje de superficie boscosa está incluida dentro de algún sistema de protección nacional o provincial (Chauchard et al., 2012). En Neuquén y Río Negro el porcentaje de bosques protegidos en Parques Nacionales o Reservas es superior. No obstante, han sido históricamente aprovechadas, lenga es la segunda especie maderable más explotada en el país, y ñire la más utilizada como leña en la región patagónica.En Patagonia, los bosques de lenga y ñire están asociados a clinas ambientales. Las variables climáticas claves que determinan estos gradientes a lo largo de la latitud, la longitud y la altitud, son la temperatura, las precipitaciones y la radiación (fotoperíodo). Estas especies son tolerantes al frío y soportan amplias condiciones de pluviometría, distribuyéndose incluso en zonas xéricas extremas como la estepa patagónica. Ñire muestra la mayor plasticidad fenotípica dentro del género Nothofagus (Ramírez et al., 1997). En relación a la altitud ambas especies desarrollan diferentes morfotipos, condicionados a restricciones climáticas. A menor altitud crecen como árboles, superando los 35 m de altura en los buenos sitios (Tortorelli, 1956) en el caso de lenga, mientras que a mayor altitud, donde la temperatura es menor, la irradiación más alta y la persistencia de hielo y nieve más prolongada, vegetan como arbustos (achaparrado y krummholz). Asimismo, un morfotipo camefítico (ñadi) se ha descripto en ñire para individuos que habitan zonas de turberas o mallines inundables.Lenga y ñire se reproducen sexualmente a través de fecundación cruzada. Sin embargo, ambas especies también tienen la capacidad de reproducirse vegetativamente a partir de rebrote de cepa (Ramírez et al., 1997;Premoli & Steinke, 2008). Esta capacidad es particularmente extendida en ñire, sugiriéndose como una pre-adaptación a regímenes recurrentes de disturbios, como fuegos. La dispersión del polen y de las semillas es a través del viento y en distancias cortas (Rusch, 1993), con eventuales eventos de dispersión a larga distancia. Los híbridos entre ambas especies que naturalmente se producen por cruzamiento inter-especifico, poseen características intermedias.La producción de semillas es muy irregular de una temporada a la siguiente, siendo los años donde mayor producción se registra (masting) aquellos en donde el porcentaje de germinación y viabilidad también son superiores (Donoso, 1993). Las semillas de estos Nothofagus tienen una etapa de viabilidad reducida, no forman bancos de semillas persistentes (Cuevas & Arroyo, 1999) y el reclutamiento y sobrevida de las plántulas suele ser escaso en el bosque natural (ej. Cuevas, 2000). La dinámica de la regeneración de sus bosques responde a dos tipos de procesos: los disturbios a gran escala, que resultan en el reemplazo de rodales completos (ej. remoción en masa en laderas abruptas), y la dinámica de claros, que ocurre con la caída de árboles sobremaduros y supone un reclutamiento masivo de plántulas con la apertura del dosel (Veblen et al., 1996;Donoso, 2006). Este trabajo se desarrolló en el Laboratorio de Teledetección y SIG de la Estación Experimental Agropecuaria de INTA, en San Carlos de Bariloche. Se utilizaron una serie de recursos para mapear la cobertura de vegetación sobre la cual se definirían las zonas genéticas. El primer paso consistió en la elaboración de un mapa topográfico de base, a partir del modelo digital de terreno provisto por el Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN). En este mapa se incorporaron capas de información hidrográfica (ríos y lagos), de caminos (rutas nacionales y provinciales), de áreas protegidas nacionales y provinciales y de curvas de nivel (100m de equidistancia).Posteriormente, para cada especie se elaboraron las capas de cobertura de vegetación considerando el Inventario Nacional de Bosques Nativos en su Informe Regional Bosque Andino Patagónico (SAyDS, 2002), el Mapa de la Eco-Región Valdiviana (INTA, APN, Uach, FVSA, WWF 2000), y la información aportada por técnicos de organismos de conservación y gestión de bosques (desde puntos GPS de árboles individuales hasta capas/polígonos de vegetación), como la Subsecretaría de Bosques de la Provincia de Chubut.Los mapas resultantes se verificaron utilizando imágenes landsat, spot en distintos momentos del año, de tipo Bing de alta resolución (desde el complemento Web de Quantum gis) y a partir de fotografías tomadas a campo en los sitios de muestreo. De esta manera fue posible constatar presencia/ ausencia en la distribución de las especies y en los casos necesarios re-definir los límites de los polígonos.A continuación se muestran los mapas de cobertura de vegetación de lenga (Mapa A1, A2) y de ñire (Mapa B1, B2) para su distribución argentina.Se muestrearon poblaciones en todo el rango de distribución natural de las especies, entre los 36° S y 55° S. En la Provincia de Santa Cruz las poblaciones cosechadas subrepresentan la distribución total de sus bosques, por lo que en relación a estos sitios se definió una única zona genética de manera preliminar.En cada población se colectó material vegetal para el análisis de laboratorio, de al menos 30 árboles y distanciados como mínimo a 50 metros. De esta manera se logra una buena representatividad de la variabilidad genética de la población. En la Tabla 1 reportamos la identificación y localización de las poblaciones (latitud, longitud y altitud) muestreadas en cada provincia, desde Neuquén a Tierra del Fuego. Los puntos que representan la localización geográfica de las poblaciones consideradas en el estudio se grafican en los mapas de zonas. La propuesta de zonificación genética presentada en este manual surge de integrar la información proveniente de diversos marcadores del ADN, en cada población. Cada tipo de marcador aporta evidencias para responder a interrogantes asociados a procesos ocurridos en una determinada escala espacial y temporal. Esto resulta particularmente relevante en organismos longevos como los árboles, ya que no sólo nos remitimos a lo ocurrido durante las últimas generaciones, sino que además en las variantes de su ADN hay registros de eventos muy antiguos, por ejemplo relativos a las últimas eras glaciares.Establecimos como primer nivel de análisis la variabilidad encontrada con microsatélites nucleares, por ser marcadores muy polimórficos y que aportan información sobre los eventos demo-estocásticos ocurridos recientemente. Al ser de herencia biparental reflejan el intercambio genético mediado tanto por el polen como por las semillas. En segundo lugar, ponderamos resguardar en cada zona definida, la variación en el ADN de cloroplastos, es decir las variantes de orden ancestral registradas en las especies. Por último, sólo en el caso de ñire, se consideró la variación de marcadores iso-enzimáticos como una fuente adicional de información. Los patrones genéticos emergentes de este análisis se consolidaron en un agrupamiento ajustado a minimizar las diferencias entre las poblaciones asignadas a una zona. Finalmente, fue preciso tomar decisiones adicionales de divisibilidad, acordes a la distribución real de los bosques en el terreno. En orden de prioridad, de más importante a menos importante, consideramos: a) la discontinuidad natural en la distribución de la especie; b) la presencia de barreras topográficas como un cordón montañoso (crítico en la conectividad de dos poblaciones de ñire aisladas por este accidente geográfico), un extenso valle (crítico en la conectividad de dos poblaciones de lenga aisladas por este accidente geográfico), o un lago; c) una región no muestreada en este estudio. Estos criterios de divisibilidad son acordes a la presencia (putativa) de una barrera al flujo de genes de una zona a otra y, por lo tanto, es adecuado establecer el límite en ese punto.Los microsatélites son repeticiones continuas de un motivo o arreglo particular del ADN, que ocurren en alta frecuencia en el genoma de todos los seres vivos. Se localizan especialmente en regiones no codificantes (aquellas que no se traducen a una proteína) y se consideran selectivamente neutros, es decir que no ofrecen información sobre el grado de adaptación de un individuo a su ambiente. Por su conformación, son secuencias inestables con una tasa de cambios alta. Esta rápida evolución a nivel molecular resulta en un elevado polimorfismo.En el laboratorio, analizamos las variantes (en número de repeticiones) de microsatélites en los árboles de cada población. Sobre el total de marcadores estudiados se estiman medidas de diversidad genética intrapoblacional y divergencia (o disimilitud) inter-poblacional. El grado de aislamiento o conectividad puede estar influenciado por barreras topográficas (por ejemplo un río, una montaña), o biológicas (por ejemplo, desfase en la floración), que impiden o favorecen el movimiento efectivo de polen y semillas, o sea los vectores de la dispersión de los genes en estas especies. Resulta apropiado, por este motivo, analizar la disposición geográfica de la variación genética encontrada, es decir determinar la estructura genética que revelan los marcadores. Utilizando algoritmos de tipo Bayesiano traducimos esta información en la conformación de grupos (clustering) (Figura 2).Localizados en regiones variables y no-codificantes del cloroplasto, estos marcadores se consideran selectivamente neutros. Dada su evolución lenta se utilizan para inferir el efecto de factores modeladores históricos de la estructura genética, como por ejemplo las glaciaciones pleistocénicas. Por ser generalmente de herencia uniparental en plantas, particularmente materna en angiospermas como los Nothofagus, su estudio permite el \"rastreo genético\" del movimiento de las semillas, constituyendo un indicio de la ruta de colonización efectiva de un sitio por parte de una especie.En Patagonia, el Último Máximo Glaciar (UMG) se registró alrededor de 18,000-20,000 años AP; a partir de relevamientos estratigráficos fue posible reconstruir el avance de los hielos sobre el continente (Glasser et al., 2008). Los lugares que permanecieron en ese entonces libres de hielo, y donde actualmente existen bosques, constituyeron refugios para la vegetación convirtiéndose, algunos de ellos, en los centros de expansión luego del retraimiento de los glaciares. Dadas estas características, en estos sitios es probable el hallazgo de una alta diversidad genética. Estudiando las variantes de regiones específicas del ADN de cloroplastos, es posible definir lo que se conoce como haplotipo: una combinación particular de los cambios registrados en una cantidad definida de posiciones del ADN. La identificación de haplotipos y el registro de sus frecuencias resultan del número de individuos analizados en cierta cantidad de poblaciones. Al igual que con microsatélites, se obtiene un valor de diversidad genética para cada una.Identificamos un total de 9 haplotipos en lenga y 13 en ñire, con una clara correspondencia geográfica asociada a la distribución en la latitud (Soliani et al., 2012). Identificamos poblaciones con alta diversidad genética, a las que referimos como potenciales refugios glaciarios para las especies.isoenzimas son variantes funcionalmente similares de una misma enzima, con un sustrato en común, pero que difieren en su movilidad electroforética (cuando se les aplica un campo eléctrico y son atraídas por uno de sus polos). Esto permite la detección de alelos, es decir diferentes formas moleculares de la misma proteína, que se presenten en los individuos de una misma población (Azofeifa-Delgado, 2006). Son marcadores de tipo codominante, es decir que en organismos diploides típicos, como la mayoría de los árboles, estamos considerando la contribución materna y paterna al genotipo en cuestión. Los genotipos de dos sistemas isoenzimáticos en 12 poblaciones de ñire (Pastorino et al., 2009), permitieron identificar una discontinuidad genética en sentido latitudinal (norte-sur), y definir el límite entre dos zonas.FIGURA 2. Obtención de datos genéticos desde el muestreo de material vegetal (A), su procesamiento en el laboratorio (B) y la detección de variantes genéticas (C), al análisis y la caracterización de patrones emergentes (D).Se elaboraron mapas individuales por zona y por especie. La interpretación y procesamiento de imágenes satelitales se desarrolló con los programas Quantum Gis (métodos vectoriales y raster) y Erdas Imagine 9.2 (layer stack, subset image). Se generaron archivos con capas vectoriales (herramienta polyline -Qgis), donde se reconocieron los polígonos correspondientes a la distribución de la vegetación de cada zona, que se corrigieron con un comprobador de topología, con el complemento Open Layer Plugins de Qgis. Se logró una escala de digitalización entre 1:10.000 y 1:5.000. En cada mapa se interpuso la digitalización del avance del último máximo glaciario y se identificaron las poblaciones de muestreo.ZG Norte Comprende las masas boscosas ubicadas entre los 36,49° S, coincidente con el límite norte en la distribución de la especie, hasta los 38,88° S donde el Lago Aluminé produce una importante discontinuidad en la presencia de la especie. hacia el Oeste el límite de la zona coincide con el límite Internacional Argentina-Chile, y hacia el este está dado por la distribución natural de la especie (Mapa I). Es característico en estas latitudes la fragmentación y distribución discontinua de la especie. Incluye los bosques localizados en las Áreas Naturales Protegidas Lagunas de Epulauquen y Caviahue, cuyas poblaciones (Tabla 2) se destacan por presentar haplotipos únicos de ADN de cloroplastos (uno de ellos exclusivo de la especie), interpretados como un indicio de refugio glaciario.ZG Central Se trata de la ZG más extensa. En sentido latitudinal comprende los bosques localizados en varias cuencas lacustres desde el centro de Neuquén hasta el norte de Chubut, incluyendo los lagos Aluminé, Quillén, huechulaufquen, Lácar, Traful, Nahuel huapi, Mascardi, Puelo y Cholila, entre los más importantes. El límite sur de esta zona es coincidente con la divisoria de Regiones de Procedencia del Ciprés (Pastorino et al., 2015) y con una ingresión glaciaria, por lo que podría tener implicancias históricas (Mapa II). hacia el Oeste el límite de la zona coincide con el límite Internacional Argentina-Chile, hacia el este está dado por la distribución natural de la especie. En la Cuenca Lácar (población Quilanlahue) se registró a nivel de ADN de cloroplastos la presencia de 3 haplotipos diferentes y alta diversidad genética. Este resultado constituye un indicio de la permanencia de la especie en un refugio o, alternativamente, la recolonización del sitio desde varias fuentes y/o rutas migratorias. Independientemente de la verdadera razón de la alta diversidad registrada, este es un sitio prioritario para la conservación de los recursos genéticos de la especie. A nivel genético, la población localizada sobre la margen sur del Lago Guacho presentó niveles de diversidad genética altos para los marcadores microsatélites.La procedencia j. S. Martín es un bosque marginal y aislado del resto del contínuo boscoso de la Cordillera. Se registraron diferencias en caracteres adaptativos en individuos de esta procedencia (Mondino, 2014). Es recomendable considerar a j. S. Martín como una sub-zona (ver Mapa IV) dentro de la ZG del Vintter, hasta tanto se complete la definición de RPs para la especie.ZG Alto Rio Senguer Incluye a los bosques ubicados al sur del valle del Río Pico y hasta el límite provincial con Santa Cruz, donde se da una importante discontinuidad en la masa boscosa. Comprende la cuenca lacustre Fontana-La Plata (Mapa V). hacia el este sus bosques se caracterizan por la fragmentación y discontinuidad, mientras que hacia el oeste las masas boscosas están consideradas dentro de las más prístinas, con alto valor paisajístico y de interés turístico.La evaluación de caracteres cuantitativos (crecimiento inicial) en plántulas de Lenga (Mondino, 2014)  ZG Tierra del Fuego Comprende a las tres poblaciones muestreadas en la Isla de Tierra del Fuego (Mapa VII), ya que el análisis de agrupamiento para marcadores microsatélites las ubica en un mismo grupo. La población TF2 presentó una alta diversidad genética, con la presencia de 3 haplotipos diferentes, en marcadores del cloroplasto. Sus características genéticas y el aislamiento geográfico respecto de otros sitios, justifican circunscribir acciones de manejo dentro de la procedencia y considerarla como una sub-zona.entre los 42° 50' y 55° S. Se definen de esta manera dos Unidades Evolutivas Significativas diferentes, una de linaje materno norte y otra sur.Mapa III: Distribución de la especie Nothofagus pumilio (lenga) comprendida en la Zona Genética Esquel. En el recuadro se muestra un detalle de la subzona genética que incluye. Mapa IV: Distribución de la especie Nothofagus pumilio (lenga) comprendida en la Zona Genética Del Vintter. En el recuadro se muestra un detalle de la subzona genética que incluye.Mapa VII: Distribución de la especie Nothofagus pumilio (lenga) comprendida en la Zona Genética Tierra del Fuego. La subzona genética que incluye esta representada por la población TF2.ZG Norte Comprende las masas boscosas ubicadas entre los 36,49° S, coincidente con el límite norte en la distribución de la especie, hasta los 38,66° S donde se presenta una importante discontinuidad de las masas boscosas. hacia el Oeste el límite de la zona coincide con la frontera internacional entre Argentina-Chile, y hacia el este está dado por la distribución natural de la especie, siendo los bosquetes de la Cordillera del Viento los más orientales (Mapa VIII). Es característico en estas latitudes la fragmentación de los bosques, siendo la distribución de la especie muy discontinua. En esta zona se encuentran las poblaciones Lagunas de Epulauquen y Caviahue (Tabla 2), que se destacan por presentar haplotipos únicos de ADN de cloroplastos, un indicio de constitución de refugio glaciario para la especie.ZG Tromen Comprende los bosques localizados entre las cuencas lacustres correspondientes a los Lagos Aluminé -Moquehue y Tromen, incluyendo las cuencas Ñorquinco y Quillén y las masas boscosas entre ellos comprendidas (Mapa IX). El volcán Lanín y el Lago huechulafquen constituyen límites topográficos que se traducen en esta latitud en una cierta discontinuidad de los bosques de ñire. Se propone la línea de división sobre el Lago, dejando su margen norte hacia la ZG Tromen y la margen sur hacia la ZG Central. hacia el Oeste el límite de la zona coincide con el límite Internacional Argentina-Chile, y hacia el este está dado por la distribución natural de la especie. La población muestreada Tromen (Tabla 2), que se diferencia de las poblaciones septentrionales en su variación a nivel de microsatélites nucleares, posee además un haplotipo de ADN de cloroplastos fijado y representa el límite latitudinal nortesur para la variación a nivel de marcadores isoenzimáticos (Pastorino et al., 2009).ZG Central Es la zona genética más extensa para la especie (Mapa X). Comprende los bosques ubicados entre las latitudes 39,7° S y 41° S que incluyen las cuencas lacustres huechulafquen, Lolog, Lácar, Traful, Nahuel huapi y Cholila, y el gran manchón boscoso de los alrededores de la localidad de El Foyel.hacia el sur, se separa de la siguiente ZG por una línea diagonal de dirección NE -SO que atraviesa los valles ocupados por praderas y sauces correspondientes al Arroyo Las Nutrias, el Lago Pellegrini, el Río Blanco y el Río Carrileufú hasta su desembocadura en el Lago Rivadavia. hacia el Oeste el límite de la zona coincide con el límite Internacional Argentina-Chile, y hacia el este está dado por la distribución natural de la especie.El hallazgo de dos haplotipos de ADN de cloroplastos, uno de linaje Norte y otro de linaje Sur, en una misma población (Cholila) representa en esta zona un punto de encuentro de rutas migratorias postglaciarias.ZG Chubut Este Está circunscripta a los bosques localizados en los cordones montañosos Esquel y Rivadavia, y los ubicados alrededor de los Lagos Rivadavia y Futalaufquen. El límite occidental para esta zona es coincidente con el máximo avance glaciario durante el UMG (Glasser et al., 2008;Mapa XI), lo que supone que estos rodales de ñire no fueron alcanzados por los hielos que avanzaron sobre el continente en estas latitudes. hacia el este el límite para la zona está dado por la distribución natural de la especie e incluye múltiples fragmentos de bosques que siguen los pequeños valles de dirección oeste -este sobre la vertiente oriental del Cordón Esquel. hacia el sur el límite de la ZG corresponde al valle estepario sobre el que se encuentra la ciudad de Esquel y que separa a los cordones Esquel y Rivadavia del Cerro Nahuelpan. También este límite austral es coincidente con la línea del UMG. En las zonas genéticas UMG-E y UMG-O se encontraron haplotipos de cloroplastos únicos y exclusivos de la especie en baja frecuencia, sugiriendo la permanencia de relictos de bosques durante la era glaciaria.El límite sur para ambas zonas coincide con la división política entre las provincias de Chubut y Santa Cruz.ZG Sur Comprende los fragmentos de bosques localizados en el extremo sur-oeste de la Provincia de Santa Cruz, incluyendo los sitios Cancha Carrera y Mina I (Mapa XIV). Los marcadores microsatélites revelaron que existen diferencias genéticas respecto del resto de las poblaciones, lo que sumado al aislamiento geográfico, sustenta la definición de la zona.ZG Tierra del Fuego Comprende a todos los bosques de la especie en la Isla de Tierra del Fuego (Mapa XV), ya que el análisis de agrupamiento para marcadores microsatélites ubicó a las tres poblaciones muestreadas en un mismo grupo. Sus características genéticas y el aislamiento geográfico respecto de otros sitios, justifican la delimitación de la zona. Mapa XII: Distribución de la especie Nothofagus antarctica (ñire) comprendida en la Zona Genética del Río Grande.Víctor Mondino, Leonardo Gallo, Mario PastorinoLa diversidad genética es una propiedad intrínseca de las poblaciones y es la base sobre la que opera la fuerza evolutiva de la selección natural. En caracteres adaptativos (por ejemplo, ritmo de crecimiento en altura) se estima la variación genética midiendo la variación fenotípica en ensayos de ambiente común de individuos con relaciones parentales conocidas. En forma previa a los resultados de este tipo de ensayos, es importante estudiar la variación geográfica natural, o sea la variación que expresan los individuos in situ, lo que puede asociarse a su distribución en gradientes ambientales. Al evaluar caracteres cuantitativos que se encuentran sujetos a selección, es posible caracterizar los patrones de variación natural e inferir procesos de adaptación local. La interpretación de la relación genotipo-ambiente permitirá discernir si el tipo de variación es clinal, es decir una variación gradual del carácter considerado que acompaña una variación ambiental gradual, o ecotípica, o sea una variación discreta del carácter que no se corresponde con una variación gradual de una condición del ambiente.En acciones de restauración activa resulta clave considerar la adaptabilidad del material utilizado como fuente de semillas, siendo los estudios de caracteres adaptativos los que brindan esa información.A continuación se presentan los resultados de un estudio de variación natural en caracteres seminales, y de variación genética en caracteres arquitecturales y de crecimiento inicial (plantín), en un conjunto de poblaciones de lenga de la Provincia de Chubut. Los orígenes analizados provienen de un muestreo en transectas latitudinales, longitudinales y altitudinales (Mondino, 2014).Poblaciones de latitud sur (45°S) y procedentes de sitios secos tienen mayor proporción de semillas llenas (PL) y mayor poder germinativo (PG).El tamaño de la semilla (AS) disminuye a medida que aumenta la altitud (1000 m, 1300 m y 1500 m snm) en orígenes mésicos y secos.El tamaño de los cotiledones aumenta gradualmente desde el sur (45°S) hacia el norte (43°S) (Figura 3).Poblaciones de latitud norte (43°S) y baja altitud poseen mayor tamaño de plantas (TP) respecto de poblaciones del sur y mayor altitud (45°S).El origen de la semilla (altitud baja, media, alta) determina diferencias en caracteres morfométricos, distinguiéndose los morfotipos arbóreo, rastrero y achaparrado.Existen diferencias entre poblaciones de altitud superior y poblaciones de altitud intermedia y baja para la iniciación y la duración del periodo de crecimiento (fenología del proceso) (Figura 4).La variación en características seminales (PL, PG, AS) y en caracteres del plantín (TP) es ecotípica. El morfotipo de origen de la semilla y la fenología del proceso de crecimiento también evidenciaron variación ecotípica.La variación encontrada en relación con la distribución en latitud y longitud no se corresponde con variables climáticas, por ejemplo: temperatura, precipitación.Las diferencias en la fenología del proceso de crecimiento respecto a la altitud de las poblaciones evidencian desfases en la brotación. Usar en sitios altos semillas de orígenes de brotación temprana (sitios bajos) podría comprometer la supervivencia de los plantines.Las diferencias entre orígenes nos indican poblaciones con atributos propios, relacionados a su historia de vida o a condiciones ambientales particulares. Se sugiere considerar estos aspectos al momento de seleccionar el origen de las semillas para acciones de restauración y plantación.FIGURA 3. Variación del área foliar de cotiledones en función de la variación en latitud del sitio de origen.FIGURA 4. Efecto de la altitud de origen para las variables derivadas de las curvas de crecimiento: tiempo de inicio de crecimiento (T10) y duración del período de crecimiento en días. Letras diferentes indican diferencias significativas (p< 0,05).Carolina Soliani, Evert Thomas, Leonardo Gallo, Paula Marchelli El impacto del cambio climático sobre la distribución de lenga y ñire fue evaluado mediante el modelado de nicho ecológico, determinándose las preferencias ambientales de las especies en base a la distribución actual. Este conocimiento permitió estimar la probabilidad de que las especies puedan persistir bajo diferentes escenarios futuros de cambio climático. Se consideraron 31 modelos de clima a futuro para el período 2040-2069, desarrollados por grupos de investigación alrededor del mundo según el escenario RPC4.5 (Representative Concentration Pathways, de su sigla inglés) obtenido del CMIP5 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5, de su sigla en inglés) (Ramírez-Villegas & jarvis, 2010). Las proyecciones de idoneidad de ambas especies bajo condiciones futuras permiten identificar tanto áreas vulnerables en la distribución actual, o sea con probabilidad de pérdida de la especie, como áreas que actualmente no son idóneas, pero que en el futuro podrían serlo. Expresar estas predicciones sobre mapas de vegetación permite visualizar la adecuación biológica de las especies al clima futuro. Combinar esta información con la distribución de la diversidad genética actual hace posible la definición de una estrategia de conservación de las poblaciones más diversas, o con características genéticas únicas, según su estado de vulnerabilidad (por ejemplo, priorizando la conservación in situ en áreas estables y la conservación ex situ para áreas vulnerables). Los modelos se transforman así en herramientas muy útiles para proponer pautas de manejo de los recursos naturales. En este contexto cobra relevancia la definición de Zonas Genéticas, ya que deberían ser respetadas al momento de la restauración activa.A continuación presentamos los mapas de idoneidad futura para las especies lenga (Figura 5) y ñire (Figura 6). Los mapas muestran las áreas predichas idóneas (tonos verdes) para cada especie según, por lo menos, la mitad de los 31 modelos (es decir, 15 o más), y en cada área se indica el número de modelos que predicen su idoneidad. Las áreas que se prevé a futuro perderán idoneidad, según más de la mitad de los modelos, se muestran en rojo. No se encontraron áreas, correspondientes a la actual distribución, donde la totalidad de los modelos predigan idoneidad (máximos de 30 y 27 para lenga y ñire, respectivamente). En ambas especies los modelos sugieren un desplazamiento de la idoneidad hacia el extremo altitudinal superior y hacia el extremo latitudinal más austral de su distribución actual. Las áreas donde se espera una mayor pérdida de idoneidad se encuentran hacia el borde árido de la distribución actual, coincidente con la estepa patagónica, y hacia el Norte de Neuquén. Asociamos a estos mapas la estimación de diversidad genética estandarizada (Marchelli et al., 2017) (DGE, Tabla 3) en las poblaciones donde contábamos con datos provenientes de marcadores moleculares nucleares (microsatélites) y del cloroplasto. La diversidad genética expresada como riqueza alélica, resultó más alta en Quilanlahue y Tierra del Fuego en el caso de lenga (Tabla 3), y en Quilanlahue y la cuenca Fontana -La Plata en el caso de ñire, respecto del resto de las poblaciones. Los niveles de diversidad se muestran asociados a una gama de colores en cada especie (Tabla 3), donde la tonalidad oscura corresponde al valor más alto y la clara al valor más bajo.TABLA 3. Diversidad genética estandarizada (DGE) para marcadores microsatélites nucleares y de ADN de cloroplasto a nivel poblacional. Grado de protección de cada población muestreada, correspondiente a una jurisdicción nacional o provincial.  En este manual presentamos una propuesta de divisibilidad geográfica para las masas boscosas de lenga y de ñire en Argentina, basada en la caracterización genética de poblaciones naturales de estas especies. Las Zonas Genéticas así definidas constituyen una herramienta clave de manejo operativo cuyo fin es el de asistir en la toma de decisiones sobre qué material utilizar, ante la necesidad de llevar adelante acciones de restauración activa, como reforestación (plantación) o asistencia a la regeneración. Se prevé que dentro de una zona la transferencia de semillas no comprometa el rodal pre-existente y, más aún, se minimicen los riesgos de contaminación genética del stock local frente a la incorporación de individuos no-locales. Este principio cobra aún mayor relevancia en el ámbito de protección en el que se encuentran los bosques Andino Patagónicos, incluidos en el sistema de Parques Nacionales y Reservas provinciales o municipales.Por los múltiples bienes y servicios que brindan los bosques, resulta imprescindible la conservación de su biodiversidad, que comprende la diversidad de especies y también la diversidad genética. Con esta definición de zonas esperamos contribuir a la conservación de los recursos genéticos forestales, resguardando la diversidad y estructura genética original de los bosques. Esta es la base sobre la cual operarán presiones selectivas generadas por cambios en el clima (a futuro), interacciones con otros organismos del ecosistema, o presiones antrópicas.En este contexto re-significamos la relevancia de las poblaciones que presentaron altos niveles de diversidad genética estimada con marcadores moleculares. Conservar esta diversidad es una forma de asegurar la potencialidad de las poblaciones de responder positivamente a disturbios externos, algunos de los cuales pueden resultar de extrema peligrosidad, como por ejemplo un incendio o una invasión biológica (plaga).En síntesis, este manual pretende ser una contribución a pautas y recomendaciones de manejo en un modelo de gestión sustentable de los bosques, donde convivan la conservación y el uso de los recursos."}

main/part_1/0695949326.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"0089a2d44f121f74354c9cfa60b2298e","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/793bea6c-3e1d-4641-a9cf-adb4bc5a5bf6/retrieve","id":"-944365561"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"80a6588a-f219-48ce-939a-5f7060855ddd","content":"International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). Receiving, hardening and rapid micro propagation of in vitro mapping populations (MCOL 1734 x VEN 77; MCOL 1468 x BRA 255) and selfed progeny (MCOL 1734) developed by CIAT and EMBRAPA.Cassava is a staple crop with remarkable tolerance to drought and great ability to survive uncertain rainfall patterns. Experiments are underway in Kenya, Tanzania and Ghana to identify the genetic and physiological traits that make cassava a particularly drought tolerant crop. The study also aims to identify molecular markers associated with drought tolerance genes for the application in breeding programs as well as identify cassava clones with outstanding drought tolerance."}

main/part_1/0705091987.json

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+{"metadata":null,"keywords":null,"sieverID":"3f9712bf-f4cd-4022-b1ce-f609efe7172d","content":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"}

main/part_1/0732611082.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"ca6c75f97e768efbdd53abf850ef3110","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/398570df-b941-4c02-a92f-e4b3c77b8093/retrieve","id":"-1155727457"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"9d326403-8f2d-4a39-92c5-723fd97877e5","content":"Bonnes pratiques et exemples d'illustration dans le cadre des visites de terrain au NIGER RENFORCEMENT DES CAPACITÉS DES ACTEURS DANS LE CADRE DU PROJET Promotion de l'Agriculture Intelligente face au Climat en Afrique de l'Ouest (AIC)Le but principal ici est la conservation des écosystèmes forestiers comme puits de carbone (séquestration). Il regroupe toutes pratiques d' aménagement et de gestion rationnelle des ressources naturelles comme i) les pratiques d' agroforesterie, ii) le boisement, iii) le reboisement, et iv) la régénération naturelle assistée.La promotion des chaînes de valeur implique le rassemblement des parties prenantes de plusieurs parties de la chaîne de valeur (producteurs, processeurs, transport, régulateur, etc.) pour prendre des décisions de façon coordonnée. Les pratiques/technologies développées visent i) le stockage, ii) la conservation des produits, iii) les transformations locales des produits agricoles et iv) l'utilisation rationnelle des ressources naturelles (FAO, 2017 ; Tableau 1). Les pratiques/technologies développées sont orientées vers : (i) la valorisation de l' énergie solaire dans la production agricole (alimentation des pompes solaires pour l'irrigation), (ii) la production animale (éclairage des poulaillers avec les panneaux solaires), et (iii) les chaines de valeurs (séchoir solaire).Un inventaire détaillé est présenté dans le tableau (1) suivant les sous-secteurs agricoles et leurs sous-systèmes de production.Tableau 1 : Inventaire des bonnes pratiques agricoles potentiellement AIC par sous-secteur au Niger Promotion des cultures fourragères et des résidus de cultures "}

main/part_1/0736258015.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"37a8b7db11e4f1f0182b4e80f72e783b","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/697ec864-dc3b-4cf1-b911-50311710d998/retrieve","id":"-1499211340"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"321b3ad3-ae01-4317-b2ce-cd6acf19b9b6","content":"Planting and management of potato rooted apical cuttings: A field guide• Select a site that has not grown solanaceous crops for at least four consecutive seasons (2 years) to avoid the risk of diseases. The solanaceous crops include potato, tobacco, nightshade, eggplant, chilies/pepper, tomato etc.• Avoid slopes below ware potato or solanaceous crops to minimize spread of diseases by runoff water.• The soil should be fine, loose and well drained.• An adequate supply of water suitable for crop irrigation is essential.• If there is no provision for irrigation water, planting should be done at the onset of rains, and should commence when the soil has adequately moistened.• The site should not be prone to flooding which will damage the seedlings.• The site should be accessible to allow movement, transport and regular monitoring.• Tools must be clean; dip in 10% jik if the tools have been used to work soils on solanaceous crops or soils with unknown levels of hygiene.• Proper seedbed preparation improves the soil condition, helps in weed control and disease management.• Demarcate the seedbed with a sisal string; each bed measures 0.9 m width with an inter-bed spacing of 0.7 m.• The length of the bed will be determined by the number of plants to be planted at an interplant spacing of 25 cm.• Dig out the demarcated bed to a depth of 20-30 cm below the soil line. Break all the lumps to get a fine tilth.• Raise the seedbeds to 3-5 cm height above the soil line. See Fig 2.• Rake the raised seedbeds to a uniform level and firm the soil.• Different spacing give different yields and have varying impact on economics of production.• Seedbed of 0.9 m width: 2 rows, spacing of 30 cm between rows and 30 cm between plants gives the best economic yields.• Before planting, demarcate layout using a string and sticks; 30 cm between rows and 30 cm within rows; 2 rows per bed, leaving 30 cm to each edge.• Leaving 30 cm to each edge is important, as stolons need an allowance for extension; cuttings planted too close to the edge has no soil to cover the stolons. Stolons not covered with the soil form stems instead of tubers.• Poke planting holes using a stick or hand.• Transplant the cuttings, burying the collar and leaving only the top foliage above ground.• Fertilizer and manure application is best based on soil test results and recommendations.• A well-decomposed cattle or farmyard manure at a rate of 1 kg per sqm (4 tonnes/acre) is recommended to improve the soil physical condition, soil fertility and soil water holding capacity.• The manure should be applied at least a week prior to planting and be well mixed with the soil when digging out the beds.• However, be sure of the source of manure-a contaminated source is an avenue for disease spread.• Application of basal fertilizer or topdressing is not recommended when the soil is waterlogged.• NPK 17:17:17 at rates of 50 g per sqm (200 kg per acre) is generally recommended at planting. Alternative complex fertilizers or blends can be used.• Properly mix the fertilizer with the soil to avoid direct contact with the cutting; if this is not done, scorching may occur.• A final raking and firming of the soil should be provided prior to sowing.• Topdressing is done at 2-3 weeks after planting but 2 weeks before flowering; if done when the plant is too young, more vegetative growth and less tuber formation occurs; when the plant is too old, no response to nitrogen application occurs.• Use CAN or alternative nitrogen fertilizer for topdressing.• An optimal rate of 25 g CAN per sqm (100 kg per acre) is generally recommended: this activity should be guided by the general condition of the plants, but is best based on the soil test results and recommendations.• Yellowing and stunted growth are signs of nitrogen deficiency, thus indicate need for topdressing; take note however that some viral disease symptoms, salt accumulation etc. may also express these symptoms.• Do not topdress only around the plants, but also between the plants and shake the applied fertilizer off the foliage.• Foliar feed can be applied after emergence and before flowering.Fertilizer and manure application Protocol:Protocol:Protocol:• Weeds that emerge early, but not injurious to the potato plant should not be bothered within 1-2 weeks after planting. This is because the cuttings are still not well established, and weed removal at this time can lead to crop damage. At this stage, these weeds have little competition for water, nutrients and sunlight, but stabilize the soil.• If the weeds are noxious (those that come early, are injurious to the crop and persistent), then carefully control as soon as they emerge.Protocol:• Transplant the cuttings in depressions to conserve irrigation water during dry periods.• Unless the soil moisture is adequate, water the transplants immediately after planting.• Keep watering each morning and evening until the plants are fully established.• In cases where the weather is too hot, erect a shade over the plants; use shade net or local natural materials e.g. dry grass, banana leaves, maize stover etc. Take note of pests that could be harbored in the natural materials.• Keep the shade at 50% and ensure it is completely removed within two weeks after transplanting; this is important to note, as these plants need sunlight to make food.• Install a placard immediately after planting informing on variety name, number of cuttings planted and date of planting to facilitate monitoring. Demarcations (a) and depressions (b) at planting.• Weeds emerging closest to potato plants compete most severely. Ensure their complete removal.• Weeds emerging towards or after canopy senescence will have no effect on tuber yield-do not bother them.• Avoid the use of herbicides in weed control; applying nonselective, exceeding the recommended application rates, or applying the herbicide at incorrect growth stage can have disastrous consequences, resulting in total crop loss.• Trace amounts of an herbicide can react with another herbicide or carry-over to the next spraying, causing damage to the cutting.• Never use the same sprayer for herbicides and for fungicides or insecticides. No cleaning method is 100% foolproof-a very small amount of the herbicide can cause a total damage to the cuttings.• Hilling is a necessary activity in seed potato production.• This practice loosens the soil and enhances tuber formation and bulking.• Hilling also reduces tuber greening and controls potato tuber moth.• A well-hilled potato cutting produces many tubers of good size and shape.• Stolons not well covered with the soil develop into stems instead of tubers resulting in reduced yields.• Perform hilling when the soil is not too wet to avoid soil compaction and clumping.• Perform first hilling at 2 weeks after planting, when doing first weeding.• Hill by excavating soil from the 0.7 m paths and mound uniformly around the potato plant; avoid hilling individual plants with hoes/jembes/fork.• Pile up soil around the plant to about 3-5 cm high at first hilling.• Repeat hilling at 2-3 weeks after the first hilling.• The mound that forms after the second hilling should be about 30 cm high.• When hilling, ensure the plant collar is buried with the soil and take care not to damage the roots and stolons. See Fig 2.Protocol:Cuttings damaged by residual herbicide Fig 2• Only apply pesticides on need basis; keep monitoring to see presence of cut-worms, aphids etc.• Spot treat the pest to keep the chemical confined to the area requiring treatment.• Of importance pest are cutworms that are common occurrence in plots of transplanted cuttings.• Apply insecticides soon after planting to control cutworms (do this at manufacturer's prescribed rates). Some available insecticide products are listed in table 1.• When applying against cutworms at planting, ensure the insecticides are well drenched in the soil around the plant and on the entire bed.• Alternate pesticides between sprays to reduce development of pathogen resistance against the product.• Always wear personal protective gears when applying the chemicals and follow to the latter chemical directions for use, storage and disposal.• Inspection should be done at least once a week during the growing season to monitor diseases such as late blight, bacterial wilt and viruses.• Symptoms of viral diseases include leaf curl, yellowing of foliage, stunted growth, deformation and even death.• For late blight disease, leaves and stems turn grey/brown/black and appear burned.• Remove and destroy viral infected plants and remove all weeds in and around the potatoes during the growing season.• Use products with active ingredients against late blight and observe manufacturer's prescribed rates. See table 2 for some products available in the market.• When lots of rain: control late blight at every 7-10 days interval.• Alternate fungicides between sprays to reduce development of pathogen resistance against the product. Start with the protective chemical ingredients.• Bacterial wilt infected plants need to be uprooted and destroyed, along with the soil around the roots.Protocol:Protocol:  This activity is conducted at about 2 weeks before harvesting by cutting the stem at soil line to kill the potato plant. Ensure the soil is not disturbed as the tubers must remain covered with the soil to avoid tuber greening.• Dehaulming stops tuber bulking thus helping to obtain desirable seed tuber sizes. It also helps to harden the tuber skin thus reducing bruising during handling and transport.• Before dehaulming, check/scout tuber sizes to ensure that about 70-80% are egg size (after +/-60-75 days). Do this by gently removing soil away from the plant, taking care not to damage the roots, stolons or detach the tubers.• If a crop is infected with late blight, dehaulm when 2-25% of foliage is killed with the disease.• Perform dehaulming during dry conditions.Dehaulming, harvesting and seed tuber storage Follow the below procedure at harvest:1. Count and record the number of plants at harvest. Do this per bed or per line (if each line is a separate potato variety).2. Dig out the tubers from each plant using a hoe (this is less intensive than harvesting by hand) but can lead to damaged tubers.3. Take the total tuber weights per bed or per line (if each line is a separate variety).4. Grade into tuber size above 20 mm and below 20 mm, and count the number of tubers in each grade. • Potatoes should be ready for harvesting 2-3 weeks after flowering has ended. However, this activity should be based on regular scouting to ensure that about 70-80% of the tubers are egg size.• Harvesting should be done in a clear, sunny weather: sunshine helps tubers to harden and dry more quickly. Dig gently when harvesting to avoid wounding the tubers.• Only store tubers harvested from mature plants.• Do not take rotten, diseased and damaged seed tubers into the store.• Store the seed tubers in a well-ventilated cool dry place away from ware potatoes.• Avoid storing in polythene bags, as they restrict airflow and potatoes will 'sweat' and rot.• Crates and bulk storage are suitable for long-term storage of 2-3 months.• Store in crates if possibility of rotten or damaged tubers to limit spread of rot.• Store in net bags only for short-term storage, maximum of 3 weeks, and only good quality potatoes. The bags should be upright and not on their sides.• Monitor stored tubers regularly and remove rotten potatoes and any adjacent tubers.Pictorial "}

main/part_1/0759237831.json

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+{"metadata":null,"keywords":null,"sieverID":"a82ffd89-4e75-4212-8ad6-ac6a96824d8e","content":"\n\n\n\n"}

main/part_1/0778667898.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"3d4104cfc6b8dff7866394f3a07a5141","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/bd883341-a856-4730-ac43-d50f8e3c63b2/retrieve","id":"-1873227448"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"2e96a8cb-4261-4597-87a7-32989fd06afa","content":"Informal wastewater reuse with untreated raw or diluted wastewater is ten times more common than the planned reuse of treated wastewater. The business model looks at ways in which these informal wastewater reuse practices can be formalized through public and/or private initiatives, and thereby increase the safety of the water consumed. This can be achieved, for example, through: 1. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Where the public sector is facing its limits, the private sector can play an important role in supporting occupational and consumer safety, while improving its own personal image at the same time. Companies can intervene at various risk barrier points along and beyond the food chain, including: at the wastewater treatment stage, by investing in their own water treatment facilities; at the farm level, by ensuring that their suppliers using wastewater for irrigation meet international quality and sustainability standards; and during post-harvest and food processing, by training food sellers using their products to ensure the food is properly prepared and health risks eliminated.2. Selling wastewater: Where farmers compete for wastewater rights, water sales or auctioning can improve cost recovery for local water utility companies. It can also turn informal wastewater use into formal wastewater use, and gives farmers and authorities a platform for dialog to address issues such as health risk mitigation.3. Farmer innovation: Farmers often work together to set up basic wastewater infrastructure (like storage reservoirs), which also serve water treatment processes. Supported by dialog and awareness creation, these basic systems can be upgraded to improve their water treatment capacity for reduced health and environmental risks from wastewater use.Case study for CSR model: GhanaIn Ghana, about 90% of the leafy, exotic vegetables, like lettuce, are irrigated with highly polluted water and eaten raw as a supplement to popular fast food dishes in the urban street food sector, while cooked traditional vegetables are served at home. For authorities and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the street food sector is a highly challenging informal environment to enter and regulate. The food company, Nestlé, however, supplies the street restaurant sector across West Africa with ingredients, like Maggi™ bouillon cubes, and uses its branding power to maintain close links within the sector. As part of Nestlé's consumer service program, the company initiated the formation of trader associations,Market risks: Household demand for the microbiologically safer food will remain initially an unreliable factor as educational levels do not support such a risk awareness. Also, companies might not engage in the support of the farming communities using wastewater as long as they can source safer supply chains.Competition risks: Unsafe produce can have a price advantage. Awareness creation and social marketing flagging the difference between safe and unsafe produce can decrease the market demand/share of unsafe produce. Care has to be taken that safe and potentially still unsafe marketing channels are kept separate.As the public sector is a partner in the model, compliance will be monitored depending on local capacity. A challenge can come from a regulatory framework which is not supporting a stepwise and multi-barrier Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) approach provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) to move towards safer wastewater irrigation or food safety in general. Safety, environmental and health risks: Given low risk awareness, currently, all leafy vegetables have to be considered risky. As the model is based on a step-wise risk reduction, incentivizing human behavior change and a high degree of compliance, some risks will remain and have to be addressed through different mitigation measures.The business model scores particularly high on social impacts with reduced expenditure on public health and support for the informal irrigation sector often dominated by migrants or other social minorities. It is also highly innovative given the novelty of using CSR models to increase food safety. However, it requires more experience and practical examples before the scalability and replicability can be assessed, and its environmental impact is limited as long as the focus is on human exposure and behavior change.like the Maggi™ Fast Food (Seller) Association (MAFFAG) in Ghana, which has become the strongest association in the country's street food sector. MAFFAG regularly provides training in food preparation, cooking, environmental hygiene and food safety throughout the country, combining elements of corporate responsibility with branding, free merchandise and product promotion.Compared with governmental events, the MAFFAG workshops and training programs are very popular, well attended and positioned for addressing food-safety concerns related to contaminated vegetables. This offers a comprehensive entry point into the sector for health risk reduction. "}

main/part_1/0778745484.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"9c24bf91924baf494b0e5d3d7cf7b6b6","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://www.foreststreesagroforestry.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/From-Tree-to-Fork-Sago-starch.pdf","id":"170480630"},"keywords":["Sago","saksak","sakhu","rumbia","lumbiya and pohon sagu"],"sieverID":"3ebb72d9-3936-4561-92cf-b941931f3148","content":"Sago starch is the main staple food for over a million people on the islands of New Guinea, Maluku, Borneo, South Sulawesi and Sumatra. It only flowers once in its lifetime before dying, and the tree is cut down during this time to harvest its starch.Almost every part of the tree can be used including the trunk (which produces the starch), fronds, palm heart and bark.Maturity before yieldsIncreasing demand for sago starch to manufacture biodegradable plastics and other products could provide can be cooked and eaten in various forms including pancakes, pearls (similar to tapioca), and 'papeda,' a glue-like paste made by mixing the starch with boiling water.and fibers may be used for roof thatching, mat weaving and basket making.Palm fronds can be used as a flooring material and the hard outer trunk is used for construction.The tree Metroxylon Sagu The species L.The starch Sago 331.5 kCal per 100g EPBecause M. sagu grows so well in poor soils, it is an ideal food tree to cultivate on degraded lands. Their deep root systems aid in soil rehabilitation and erosion prevention. The young palm trees also grow spines and can be cultivated in fence-like rows which act as pens for livestock or barriers against potential trespassers."}

main/part_1/0789763095.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"cb269b88028f53d75cae21a6f17645e8","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Publications/Working_Papers/working/WOR14.pdf","id":"1443056144"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"bbb94866-e52d-4240-b8e0-6378596f3229","content":"As a consequence of green revolution in 1960s, though irrigated areas and agriculture production has increased considerably, yields are still less as compared to various countries of the world. Furthermore, huge spatial variation in cropping pattern and productivity of land and water within irrigated agriculture of Pakistan has become a chronic issue. There are various reasons causing low production. These include farmers' investment potential, physical environments, market mechanism and availability of water, which is the most precious input in farming. The role of irrigation water resources and its management is extremely important. The sustainability of agriculture can be largely insured through proper and better management of water resources. Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS) is basically supply-based by its design which means water is not supplied according to crop requirement. Low gross production is an inherent limitation of this supply-based system.The research activity aims to see the spatial variation in production across canal commands using gross production indicators i.e. Gross Value of Production (GVP) per unit of land and GVP per unit of water. Given the data constraints, Punjab province is selected for the analysis, which consists of major network of 12, inter-linked and a total of 23 canals out of 45 canals of IBIS. The analysis is performed at the canal command level.Secondary data gathered from government agencies are used. These data are available at different levels e.g. canal commands, administrative districts and meteorological stations. Geographic Information System is used to standardize the data at canal command le vel. Water availability responses to GVP are analyzed by using regression technique. By explaining GVP in two ways Inferences are made. First, by estimating GVP as a response of intensity and types of crops grown in a canal command, as both mainly rely on water. Second, by estimating direct relationship between GVP and water availability.Huge variation in cropping intensities across Punjab canals is found which ranges from less than 60% to 160%, annually. GVP per hectare of command area varies with a ratio of about 1:5 (Rs. 3844 per hectare to Rs. 18326 per hectare). GVP per cubic meter of water varies with a ratio of 1:5 (Rs. 0.35 per cubic meter to Rs. 1.57 per cubic meter). Some canal commands produce less per unit of land and per unit of water in spite of higher canal supplies. Environmental degradation i.e. waterlogging/salinity is probably the reason for low production. Ground water is the major influence in certain canal command areas during Rabi season. Annual GVP and Kharif GVP are explained by canal water while Rabi GVP is explained by ground water. Pakistan is one of the foremost among the countries facing threat of rapidly increasing population with the growth rate of 2.7 percent. Its population was reported 138 million in 1998 (census 1998) and was projected to reach 208.06 million in year 2025 (PWP 2000). Food grain production in the country shows shortfall with respect to its requirement. A recent study shows that food grain requirement will increase from 26 million ton in year 2000 to 40 million ton in year 2025 (PWP 2000). Alongside the food grain, requirement for other products of agriculture sector will have to face momentous increase. Hitherto, agriculture is the backbone of country's economy having 1/4 th share in its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). About 50 percent of the labor force relies on agriculture. The sector earns 70 percent of export revenue, directly or indirectly (World Bank 1994).Out of 80 million hectares of Pakistan, 20 million hectares of land is cultivable and 75 percent of this consists of irrigated areas. The climatic conditions are suitable for double cropping. The summer cropping season which lies between mid April to mid October is called Kharif season while the rest (winter) is called Rabi season. Major crops of Kharif are Cotton and Rice while in Rabi season Wheat is the single major crop. Sugarcane is an annul crop, which takes almost whole year to mature. Fodder is sown in both seasons to fulfill the local livestock requirements.The green revolution in 1960s brought more area under cultivation. Though the production of crops increased considerably, crop yields are lower than many other countries of the world (Mellor et al 1994) particularly wheat, which contributes more than 50% of per capita daily availability of calories and 85% of the total protein intakes (Alderman et al 1993).The stagnant yields and huge disparity in average yields demand inquiry of its causes. There can be several causes of low production. Along with the socio-economic factors e.g. land tenure and land fragmentation, there are several physical factors as well for this low yield. Indus basin Irrigation system is basically supply-based by its design, which means water, is not supplied according to crop water requirements. Thus, the irrigation supplies do not meet the crop water needs for optimum yields. Adequacy and reliability are the two main issues. The volume of water supplied does not match with the time pattern of crop needs.Being a p recious input in farming, the role of irrigation water resources and its management is extremely important. The sustainability of agriculture can be largely insured through the proper and better management of water resources. There have been substantial changes in century old contiguous system, which now consists of 3 major reservoirs, 15 barrages, 12 link canals and 45 mains canals (see annex 1 for a note of Indus Basin Irrigation System, IBIS).The annual average water supply through this network is about 180 billion cubic meters and the command area is 14.3 million hectares. Before the development of present system of canals in 1817 by British Army engineers, a number of inundation canals existed on all rivers of the Indus Basin. They were constructed and managed by cultivators, local states or tribes. Building weirs, head works and remodeling of the canals by 1900 improved four old inundation canals of Punjab. Most of the existing irrigation channels of Punjab were constructed before 1930 and most of the projects in other provinces were completed before 1960. Before 1960's, there were no reservoirs within the Basin. Water was diverted from rivers to canals through weirs. Water rights of the canals were fixed as perennial or non-perennial (Table 1.1). This classification was based on availability of river water at the specific location in winter, water use patterns of the inundation canals and political agreements between states and the British Government. Design cropping intensities and water duties were based upon the average values in the cultivated areas of that time. The management, operation and maintenance rules were designed on simplicity requiring minimum human interventions. Since 1960's, there have been significant changes in the physical and management structure of the system. These include the construction of inter-river link canals and reservoirs as the result of Indus Basin Treaty of 1960 between India and Pakistan, which led to approximately 40% increase in water availability. Furthermore, groundwater became a major supplement to canal water. Resultantly, the cultivable area increased by 15-20 percent and cropping intensities doubled.In spite of these changes, the official water allocation strategy has not been revised. Consequently, there is lack of coherence among water allocation rules that are in place. The Indus Basin Study of IWMI aims at developing coherent water allocation rules, which maximize agricultural production and minimize environmental degradation (Habib 1997). One major component of this study is to analyze the relationship between surface water supplies, ground water use, cropping pattern, environmental degradation and agriculture production through gross performance indicators. On production side, these Indicators include production per unit of land and production per unit of water. The estimation of these two indicators is the major concern of the report. Production is estimated in term of money values (section 2), which is calle d Gross Value of Production (hereafter GVP). The analysis provides an overview of money return per unit of area and per drop of surface water made available to different canal commands. The specific objectives of the current report are mentioned in the following section.Current report has four specific objectives;§ Discuss sources of secondary information which could be used to determine the spatial variation in gross value of production (GVP) per unit of land and per unit of water, Production is influenced by various factors which include exogenous variable i.e. infrastructure, climate, environment, water availability and prices of inputs and endogenous variables such as irrigation practices and quantities of different inputs applied. Analysis of all these at a large scale canal command level is a tedious task requiring huge information from reliable sources which is always a question in developing countries. However considering the commonalties of the irrigation systems e.g. land, water, and production, some indicators can be measured for comparison across irrigation systems. Various indicators are introduced by the scientists, which are reviewed by Rao 1993. Perry 1996 presented a minimum set of indicators, which are tested for various systems by IWMI scientists. These indicators are not too data-intensive to discourage widespread application.Given the data constraint, three basic production indicators, gross value of production (hereafter GVP) per cropped area; GVP per command area and GVP per unit of water are selected. The rationale behind considering VALUE of production instead of MASS production is obvious. Mass production is meaningful for comparison when only one crop is considered. But when different crops are aggregated, one has to translate production into value by considering its market prices, as 1 kg of a crop is not equal to 1 kg of another in terms of value. In the study, as the analysis is for the canal systems of the same region, therefore, local prices are used. Following is the description of these indicators. Water = water available GVP per unit of CA measures the response of land used for crops while GVP per unit of CCA measures the response of land available for crops. GVP per unit water measures the response of water available. Ideally, a 4 th indicator GVP per unit of water used, should also be calculated. However, this is not included in the analysis due to non-availability of such information.Production of a particular crop can be increased in two ways. First, by increasing the area under that particular crop and second, by adopting yield enhancing inputs there. However, to increase the aggregate production (production sum of all crops in terms of money value), another important thing is, crop type. Cash crops such as cotton and sugarcane give high returns. Therefore, three determinants of GVP appear cropping intensity, yields and cropping pattern. (Market prices also influence the gross value of production, however, this part is kept out of the analysis by assuming there is no variation in prices across canal commands as the agricultural markets are well integrated, Tahir et al. 1997).Thus; GVP = f (Cropping Intensity, Cropping Pattern, Yields)……………………………(1) Though cropping intensity and cropping pattern are not solely determined by water and are influenced by other factors such as depth to water table and soil conditions, water availability is a major determinant among these. Similarly, yields of different crops also depend upon various endogenous factors i.e. use of better seeds, fertilizers, farm machinery, labour intensity and plant protection (pesticides and wedicides etc.), however, water availability has a major influence. Given the data constrains, relationship of water availability with cropping intensity and cropping pattern, is estimated.By explaining GVP in two ways Inferences are made. First, by estimating equation 1 and second, by estimating direct relationship between GVP and water availability (Equation 2). GVP = f (Water Availability)………………………………………………………(2) GVP from CCA is used, as dependent variable in the Equation 2where CCA refers to Culturable Command Area whish is worthy of canal water.Water availability response to GVP is analyzed by using regression technique. This technique provides the information needed in determining the resource use and output patterns. In studying agricultural relations, economists usually use linear, log, semi-log and quadratic equations. Most accepted procedure to choose the functional form is that which best explains the variation in dependent variable. The functional forms that provide the least residual sum of square and highest coefficient of determination (R 2 ) are used to select the best-fitted model (Maddala 1988). Following basic functional form is used to analyze the resource use efficiency.gross value of production; α = constant; β = parameters to be estimated; X = explanatory variable; ε = random error term; i = 1,2,3…..n canals j = 1,2,3…..n explanatory variables.To calculate GVP at canal command level, mainly three type of information is required (i) crop acreage (ii) crop yields, and (iii) output commodity prices. These data are collected by different government agencies at different scales. As these agencies have different objectives of monitoring, their methodology and time scale is not the same. For instance, Provincial Irrigation and Power Departments monitor and maintain the information on crop acreage at main canal command level and its secondary and tertiary levels. PIPD staff monitor crops from acre to acre to levy water charges, which vary from area to area and crop to crop. The variation in water charges is due to crop water requirement of different crops. Thus, PIPD groups different crops according to crop families such as oilseeds, vegetables and pulses etc.The following paragraphs discuss the above three topics, separately.Crop acreage data are gathered from two sources; i)Provincial Irrigation and Power Department (PIPD)ii) Directorate of Crop Reporting Service, Agriculture Department, Government of Punjab Scale of data of above two sources is different. PIPD maintain their data at canal command level as they are directly concerned with canals while Crop Reporting Service keep up data at administrative unit level (districts). Crop Reporting Service has its sub-office at tehsil (district's lower administrative unit) level where they gather crop area data. The PIPD source is selected because data is available at canal command level while conversion from district to canal command is not straightforward.As discussed above, the purpose of maintaining crop acreage data by the PIPD is basically the assessment of crop for water charges. Revenue department is involved with the irrigation department in recovering water charges. The process of assessment of crop acreage and recovery is:In an irrigation sub-division (usually a canal command consists of several sub-divisions), number of halqas on the basis of village located in the canal command, are established. One canal patwari (visiting clerk) is appointed per halqa. In the beginning of each season (rabi / kharif) a printed book 1 is given to canal patwari by the Divisional Canal Officer through Deputy Collector. Canal patwari conducts numerous visits from crop sowing to its maturity. After the maturity, canal patwari makes final measurement by visiting halqa. After that he moves to his zilladar's office 2 where he makes the final statement of assessment called khatuni. After the completion of khatunis, zilladar submits it to Divisional Canal Officer where after final checking the khatunis are transferred to tehsildar (revenue department's officer for the administrative sub-division). Tehsildar hands over these khatunis to revenue patwaris who recover water charges (abiana) from the farmer through village lamberdar. Crop acreage statements that are organized at canal level are then send to PIPD head office.Crop acreage statements do not expose all crops in detail. Usually, crops of same family or having the same revenue are aggregated in one group. For instance, different fodder crops sown in kharif season are aggregated and called kharif fodder.PIPD reported following crops in kharif and rabi seasons. Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture publishes the average yields of different crops by administrative districts after every three years. Federal ministry collects this data from Crop Reporting Service. For instance, Directorate Crop Reporting Service of Agriculture Department, Government of Punjab, has 1010 sample village locations through out Punjab province where they monitor crop yield and then generalize it to district level.Mainly, two type of information regarding prices with respect to sources, is available that are; Basic difference between the two sources is that ASP, mainly, presents the average annual prices on higher scale (at provincial level) and the support prices of the commodities offered by the government while DEM maintains the wholesale prices at the mandi (local market) level. DEM source is adopted as it is more proximate to prices taken by farmers after produce and its scale is smaller and better representative of remote areas. Where the price of some specific commodities not available (usually, commodities that are not marketed), prices are taken from various studies based on field data collection i.e. Farm Management Handbook, published by University of Agriculture Faisalabad, in 1993.DEM price data of different markets reveals that price differentials across area are very nominal. Usually major agriculture commodity markets are well integrated with each other and price shocks in one market are observed in other markets, instantly. Not only major markets are integrated; even small markets with off-road locations are also integrated (Tahir 1997). Where isolation of markets is observed, that is mainly due to government restrictions on the movement of a particular commodity from one area to another. Even in such cases (like wheat in Pakistan), government offers support and procurement prices, which work as price stabilizer, and prices remain the same in different market locations of the country. So with the finding of very nominal price differential across area, constant price of commodities during a certain year is used for all canal commands.The discussion so far reveals that the data sets required for the estimation of gross value of production at canal command level are not homogenous at all, horizontally and vertically. This heterogeneity can be summarized as;• Different data sets provide information at different levels while every data set is required at canal command level; • In some data sets crops are grouped according to crop family while there is variation in yields and prices within group; and • Prices of many perishable and non-marketable commodities are not available. This situation requires standardization of these data sets using some systematic techniques.The problem of data sets collected at different levels, is solved with the help of Geographic Information System (GIS). It is done in three steps. At first step two maps, map of districts falling in the Indus Basin (containing the yield data) and the map of canal commands is constructed. Secondly, canal command map is overlaid on the district map to draw out the district areas falling in the canal commands 3 . At the third step, using the district areas (falling in canal command) as weight, weighted average of crop yields is calculated. Thus, the yield data at the canal command level is produced 4 . 3 See Annex 2 for percentage of districts areas falling in Punjab canal commands 4 See Annex 3 for average yields of major crops at canal command levelThe heterogeneity in crops in area and yield data sets was a big problem. In the yield data mostly the yield of each and every crop are reported while in the area data crops of same family are grouped under one name (e.g. oilseeds, pulses etc.). This causes the problem of associating yield to oilseeds in order to calculate the production, as it is not known that yield of which oilseed crop (either sunflower or mustard or whatever) is more appropriate for oilseed category in a particular canal command. This problem is resolved by literature survey. Studies conducted in different areas of Indus Basin reveal the crops grown in the area. Thus, the appropriate oilseed crop can be assessed in a particular canal command area. Further, taking a look at the cropping patterns, it is scrutinized that grouped crops mostly have minor area under them. So, even taking constant yield for all canal commands will not provide misleading results.The unavailability of prices of many perishable and unmarketable commodities was another problem in calculating the gross value of production. Some assumptions are made while doing these calculations;• Commodities are of the same quality,• Prices are stable during the crop season,• Market price is equal to farm gate price, and• Markets in the canal commands are well-integrated.Again, consulting the literature and studies, shadow prices are used for perishable, unmarketable and some time for grouped crops.Water supply from all three sources has been assessed on seasonal basis for each canal command. In 1993-94 the river inflows remained 10 percent below the average during Kharif (April-September), which includes the torrential rain of monsoon period, and 20 percent below average during Rabi (October-March). The rainfall in the canal command was also very low, ranging from 10 to 60 percent below average in the IBIS command areas. In sum, the year 1993-94 presents conservative figures. In following paragraphs, quantification process of canal, ground and rainwater is discussed, separately.The 10-daily discharge data of the Provincial Irrigation and Power Department (PIPD) of the Punjab province were used to compute the surface water supplies. A detailed analysis of the river inflow hydrographs, reservoir operations, canal diversion and losses and gains has been carried out (Khan 1999) which takes 40 years' information for system inflow-outflow analysis and the last 10 years data for canal and reservoir operations. Figure 3.1 shows 10 daily averages for diversions to the canal system of Punjab. The diversions in Rabi are equivalent to about 40 percent of the diversions in Kharif.The conveyance losses of the primary and secondary systems are computed according to the criterion developed by WAPDA (RAP 1979, WSIPS 1990). The formula includes the variability of flows, soil texture and canal lengths; modifications are introduced in the coefficients adopted for flows higher than 80 percent. The loss coefficients vary from 13 percent to 34 percent for the main canals. The losses are computed for every 10-daily period and accumulated for the season. The rain data of 37 metrology stations are processed to compute the monthly and seasonal rainfall. This data was used to prepare Isohyetal Maps (Linsley, et al, 1992) using Geographic information system. These maps are superimposed with the canal command maps to compute the rainfall volume for each canal command area. The spatial and seasonal variation of rainfall in Pakistan (command areas indicated) for 1993-94 is shown in Figure 3.2 and 3.3.  For the estimation of ground water, tubewell density data collected at the district level (Agriculture Machinery Census 1994) and the utilization coefficients established by WAPDA are used. The data are transformed to the canal command level by overlaying the district and CCA maps (Habib et al. 1999). The estimated total ground water mining for the CCAs is 65 bcm from private and 6.8 bcm from public wells. The growth rate of tubewells and pumpage between 1986 and 1994 was 70 percent and 47 percent, respectively.Following figures present the amount of water available from all three sources discussed above, for Kharif and Rabi seasons separately.  This section presents the estimated gross value of production per unit of land and water for crop seasons, Kharif and Rabi, separately. Aggregation of seasons leading to annual GVP per unit of land and water is, then, presented.Estimation of GVP per hectare of Culturable Command Area (CCA) and Cropped Area (CA) for Kharif season indicates that; GVP per unit of CCA varies with a ratio of 1:10 (Rs. 1,451 per hectare to Rs. 13,836 per hectare), and GVP per unit of CA varies with a ratio of about 1:4 (Rs. 4,368 per hectare to Rs. 15,649 per hectare).  GVP per unit of land in Kharif season. Estimations of GVP per cubic meter of water available from all sources for Kharif and Rabi seasons, separately, provide interesting information;• In Kharif season; GVP per unit of water varies with a ratio of 1:6 (Rs. 0.21 per cubic meter to Rs. 1.47 per cubic meter), and • In Rabi season; GVP per unit of water varies with a ratio of 1:6 (Rs. 0.39 per cubic meter to Rs.2.41 per cubic meter). See figure 4.3.It infers that productivity of water is higher in Rabi season as compared to Kharif season. This is contrary to productivity of land. As indicated above, productivity of land is higher is Kharif season than Rabi.Aggregate figures for Punjab province also strengthen this finding. Figure 4.4 shows that GVP per unit of CCA among 23 canal of Punjab varies with a ratio of about 1:5 (Rs. 3,844 per hectare to Rs. 18,326 per hectare). GVP per unit of water available varies with a ratio of 1:5 (Rs. 0.35 per cubic meter to Rs. 1.57 per cubic meter).  Cropping intensity represents the utilization of land, which could be influenced by water availability and land quality. One can see huge variation in cropping intensities across canal commands (figure 4.5). It ranges from less than 60% to 160%, annually. The lower cropping intensities in Rabi as compared to Kharif support the factor, as Rabi is substantially dry with respect to rain and river water availability. In the arid to semi-arid climatic conditions of the Punjab, availability of fresh water is a critical determinant. Figure 4.6 shows that canal supplies influence cropping intensity. A positive relationship is found but scatter leads toward constant return at more than 700 mm canal water supplies. The influence is Abbasia, Muzaffargarh and Eastern Sadiqia canal commands. Although receiving extra canal water supplies, cropping intensity is significantly lower than others, which ultimately leads to low productivity of land and water. shows the relationship between GVP and cropping intensity. The quadratic formed with zero intercepts considering the fact that GVP will be zero with zero cropping intensity. The equation concludes that 1-percent increase in cropping intensity contributes 66 rupees to GVP per hectare. More importantly, as the cropping intensity increases, GVP increases with a higher ratio, which is equal to 0.16 rupees. The equation explains around 68% variation in GVP (R-square = 68%).  In Punjab variety of crops are grown as mentioned in section 2 whose market values vary widely therefore causing variation in gross value of production. Wheat is the single major crop of Rabi season (table 4.1) while in Kharif there are only three crops i.e. rice, cotton and sugarcane (table 4.1). There are certain areas, which traditionally grow cotton while some areas are specialized in rice due to agro-climatic conditions. Table 4.1 distinguishes these areas very evidently. Canal commands in southern Punjab are mainly cotton grown areas while northern and central part of the province is producing rice and sugarcane. Some area of the central Punjab such as Thal canal has mixed cropping pattern. Study by WAPDA in 1979(RAP 1979) divided Indus basin in 7 agro-climatic zones and Punjab into 4 zones i.e. Rice-Wheat, Sugarcane-Wheat, Cotton-Wheat and Mixed-Wheat. Table 4.1 reflects these zones. Canal commands without any major Kharif crop such as Thal and LJC represent Mixed-Wheat Zone.As discussed before, though cropping pattern is not solely determined by water availability, water is one of the major determinants. Percentage of area under different crops in different canal commands is regressed on availability of canal water. The case of cotton is presented in figure 4.8. Higher canal water availability reflects higher area under cotton in Punjab.  The influence of cropping pattern on GVP is explained in two ways. First, by comparing cotton and rice as substitute crops in Kharif season (figure 4.9). Second, by considering sugarcane as similar cash crop to cotton (figure 4.10). Graph shows strong positive influence of percent area under cotton on GVP. Higher areas under cotton crop reflect higher GVP while in case of rice this influence is negative. Rice growing canal commands reflect lower GVP. Higher percent area under cash crops (cotton + sugarcane) shows higher GVP (figure 4.10).  Multiple regression is also performed to see the combined effect of cropping intensity and cropping pattern. Regression model produced the following equation.Where cash crops are cotton and sugarcane. R-square statistics of the model is 0.73 and both variables are found at 95% level of significance. Equation shows that 1-percent increase in cropping intensity reflects 78 rupees of GVP per hectare. Further 1-percent increase in area under cotton and sugarcane augments 57 rupees from a hectare of CCA.This section is split up into two subsections GVP per unit of land and different sources of water GVP per unit of water and different sources of waterThe water response to GVP is analyzed through the equation 2 (section 2). The quadratic model is found to be the best fit (higher R-Square and minimum sum of the squared residuals) for testing the relationship between gross production and water. Generally, surface water, ground water and rain are presumed as major explanatory variables for production. However, these variables are not independent of each other. Strong correlation exists among three sources of water (table 4.2 and figure 4.11).  Since, the variables representing three waters are inter-linked, according to econometric criteria, these cannot be used in a single equation as independent variables. Therefore, simple regression equation is estimated. Following matrix of relationships is constructed and estimated. Only significant relationships are presented (95% level of significance). The matrix is followed by graphical presentation of significant relationships. To examine the share of different water sources in productivity of water, GVP per unit water is plotted against percent share of each water source. Figure 4.15 to figure 4.17 present this analysis. Kharif GVP as well as annual GVP of water is influenced by canal-water. Ground water in Kharif does not appear to have influential share in GVP. In case of Rabi season, rainfall appears to have influential share in gross production.   To distinguish the canal systems having agriculture production based on canal water only from the canal systems with substantial contribution of ground water and rain, comparison of GVP per unit of total water and GVP per unit of canal water is made.Notice that for estimation of GVP per unit of canal water all the GVP is assigned to canal water. It is assumed that there is only canal water and total GVP is the response of canal water only. Figure 4.18 presents this comparison.  Canal commands like Thal, Eastern Sadiqia, Abbasia, DG Khan and Muzaffargarh show little gap between the GVP per unit of canal water and GVP per unit of total water, which implies the little use of ground water. Productivity of water, in general, is also on lower side in these systems, which is mainly the low productivity of canal water. It implies that either (i) these canals have extra canal water supplies, whic h are not used efficiently, or (ii) environmental problems, perhaps high depth to water table and poor ground water quality or both.Cropping intensity and cropping pattern are two main contributors of gross value of production in canal commands. Areas growing sugarcane and cotton give higher GVP than areas of rice and other crops.Ground water is the major source of water in certain canal command areas during Rabi season. Annual and Kharif GVP per unit of land are explained by canal water while annual and Rabi GVP are explained by ground water.The quadratics equation shows that GVP increases at a higher rate with an increase in canal water. It indicates the importance of canal water supplies for agricultural production as a whole.The production per unit of water in canal systems is lower than the expected values, though they have significant canal supplies. All of these canals have higher percentage of waterlogged areas.Analysis does not find any relationship between gross value of production and perennial/nonperennial systems. Some perennial canal commands produce less than some non-perennial commands or vice versa.Ground water exploitation has inverse relationship with canal water supplies and direct relationship with rainfall. It implies that more ground water is mined in those areas where canal water supplies are lower and where rainfall is high.Some non-perennial canals e.g. Qaim, DG Khan and Muzaffargarh receive handsome amount of water from canal during Rabi season. Amount of water received is even higher than in some of the perennial canals.(i) Secondary information required for calculating GVP per unit of land and water is available at the office of different government agencies. However, this information is maintained at different scales. GIS tools can be used to reconcile this information efficiently.(ii) Though the GVP estimates from secondary information are relatively lower to estimates from primary information, however, secondary information could be used for comparison purpose.(iii) Production per unit of water and production per unit of land are generally low and quite diverse among canal systems. From the cropping system, cropping intensities and patterns are the main determining factors of gross production.(iv) Productivity of land is higher is Kharif season as compared to Rabi. However, in case of water productivity, the results are opposite. The efficient use of water is in Rabi season.The analysis shows the importance of canal water as a primary source of water. The marginal productivity of canal water is higher in certain canal commands and increased supply to these canals augments the aggregate production.(vi) Analysis also shows the importance of secondary water source. The influence of ground water supplies is decisive in Rabi season. The ground water supply is the main factor determining the GVP in Rabi season. In fact, all sources of water, canal, ground and rain are integrated to a great extent. For instance, it is found that an extra amount of canal water will increase GVP but at the same time it will reduce the exploitation of ground water. This may reduce the productivity of incremental water.(vii) Two indicators GVP per unit of land and GVP per unit of water provide overview of production as a response of resource use and may be used in defining reallocation strategy. However, any criteria developed for water reallocation requires the understanding of relationship between cropping pattern and physical environment, more precisely depth to water table and also the relationship between physical environment and GVP. Furthermore, inter-linked water sources need to be studied in a conjunctive way.(viii) An integrated utilization of canal and rain inflows and ground water extraction is taking place. A formal integrated water management is required, especially in view of excess canal supplies to some canal commands.The Indus River System in Pakistan serves the world's largest contiguous irrigation network (16 mHa). The system comprises six major rivers, namely Kabul, the Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej. The Indus River is the largest of all these rivers and carries almost two-thirds of the annual river-flow in the system. Most of the river runoff occurs in the summer months of May-August. Nearly 80% of this runoff comes from snow and glacial melt. During August and September, the upper catchments of these rivers (mainly Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej) are hit by the Monsoons, bringing in lots of rain that may result in heavy floods.The mean annual river runoff available in the system is 172 bcm, 83% of which is available during the six months April-to-September period. There are three major reservoirs in the system having a combined live storage capacity equal to 10% of the mean annual river-flow. There are 15 barrages and 45 main canals with discharge capacities ranging from 15 m 3 /sec to 425 m 3 /sec. In addition, there is a network of 14 inter-river link canals, having discharge capacities ranging from 142 to 624 m 3 /sec, for transferring water from one river to another. The annual canal withdrawals in the system average 130 bcm with almost 65% of river water diverted during the Kharif season (April thru September) and the rest in the Rabi season (October thru March). This complex irrigation network is mainly managed by three public sector organizations. At the national level, the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) looks after provincial interests by ensuring that each province gets its share of water in the light of the Water Apportionment Accord (WAA) of 1991. The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) is responsible for the operation of reservoirs for irrigation water supply, hydropower generation and flood mitigation. The Provincial Irrigation Departments (PIDs) regulate and distribute the water diverted from the rivers to agricultural farms through a network of canals. The early Kharif period (April-June) is the most critical period when irrigation water demands to sow of Kharif crop are high; the reservoirs nearly empty after providing for the winter crop, and the spring freshet has yet to commence. This is the period when conflicts regarding the sharing of irrigation water arise between the provinces.Rainfall and groundwater are also important contributors towards irrigation in the Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS). The rainfall in Pakistan is markedly variable in magnitude, time of occurrence and in its areal distribution. However, most of the rainfall (almost two-thirds) is concentrated in the three summer months of July−September. The mean annual precipitation ranges from less than 100 mm in parts of the Lower Indus Plain (Sind Province) to over 800 mm in the Upper Indus Plain near the foothills. There are two major sources of rainfall in Pakistan, the Monsoon Winds (July thru September) and the Western Disturbances (December thru March). The Indus Plains receive most of their rainfall from the Monsoons. In the last 25−30 years, ground water has become a major supplement to canal supplies especially in the Upper Indus Plain (Punjab Province) where ground water quality is good. Groundwater resources of Pakistan existing in the Indus Plains, extending from the Himalayan foothills to the Arabian Sea, are stored in the alluvial deposits. Major part of groundwater abstraction for irrigation is within the canal commands or in the flood plains of the rivers. The groundwater pumpage for the Indus Basin canal commands is estimated to be over 50 bcm.Average yields of four major crops are presented in the following figures. Although there is variation in yields for each crop, in case of cotton crop variation is huge. Canal command areas of southern Punjab (known as cotton-belt) have higher crop yield.  "}