By Henry Neondo, Gitonga Njeru and Joseph Abuje Plans by the African Development Bank-supported Small Irrigation and Value Addition Project (SIVAP) to change lives of residents in eleven rural counties in Kenya have faced a number of challenges including Covid-19 that broke out in 2020. However, the project, meant to boost agricultural performance,…
Senegal, Spain to spearhead the launch of international drought resilience alliance at COP 27
Senegal will be joined by Span on Monday, 7 November 2022, at the Sharm el-Sheikh Climate Change Conference in Egypt to launch a new alliance to boost drought resilience. The high-level launch event, titled, International Drought Resilience Alliance, will be graced by world leaders who recognize the urgent need to shift drought management approaches from…
Farmers in South Sudan on a path to success
Small-scale farmers in South Sudan, working with Africa’s largest non-governmental organisation ForAfrika, are poised to harvest vegetables and cereal crops planted across a record 6 700 hectares (67 000km2), the organisation said on 22 September 2022. Hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people in South Sudan face starvation as climate change causes severe droughts…
How Regenerative Agriculture Can Increase Africa’s Food Production
By Ndidi Nwuneli [in], Bogolo Kenewendo [in], and Zoë Karl-Waithaka [in] As global stakeholders work towards COP27, the next climate change conference, and accelerate efforts to confront the climate crisis, there has been increasing focus on “regenerative agriculture” – a term that is widely used but not always well understood. How it is defined…
12,500 Gambian Farmers to Receive Certified Seeds that will enhance their resilience
The Gambian Ministry of Agriculture, the World Bank and CORAF officially launched, i the national distribution campaign of certified seeds for the year 2022 in Abuko not far from Banjul. The ceremony saw the presence and participation of several other stakeholders including the farmer Organizations, the seed quality control officers etc. The initiative is part…
Tanzania bans donkey slaughter to stop risk of extinction
The Tanzanian Minister for Livestock and Fisheries, Hon. Mashimba Mashauri Ndaki, has declared a ban on donkey slaughter for the skin trade. In a budget speech to Parliament, the Hon. Minister noted that Tanzania’s current donkey population is estimated at 650,000[1] but recognised the risk of donkeys becoming extinct. He has advised investors in the donkey…
Scientists have successfully mapped African cassava genome
Researchers have successfully mapped the genome of African cassava, using the TME 204 variety resistant to Cassava Mosaic Disease-2 (CMD2). This breakthrough is a significant milestone and it will help advance the breeding of new cassava varieties at speed with greater accuracy. “The genome has a very high quality and accuracy, and the haplotypes of…
Directorate of Resource Surveys & Remote Sensing (DRSRS) signs an MoU with Kenyan Agri-tech Company Agrvision to develop a smart crop monitoring using Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered portal
The Directorate of Resource Surveys & Remote Sensing (DRSRS) and the Kenyan Smart Agri-Tech Company (Agrvision) have signed a 5 years strategic partnership plan in the form of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop a nation-wide unified platform for crop monitoring and yield forecasting powered by Satellite imagery and artificial intelligence. The MoU was…