GFAR announcements: The latest edition of New Agriculturist (7/2012) is now online

The latest edition of New Agriculturist (7/2012) is now online with two sections, supported by GFAR. To be notified when each new edition of New Agriculturist becomes available on-line sign up directly to the email here.
 
 
New Agriculturist
The latest edition of New Agriculturist is now online at www.new-ag.info. As the dust settles after the Rio +20 Earth Summit, we look at the role of sustainable agriculture as an integral part of a green economy and highlight a variety of initiatives and approaches for the efficient and sustainable use of water in agriculture.
Focus on: Water in agriculture
Every drop counts for Africa's agriculture
Africa's demand for water is rising fast (credit: © FAO/Olivier Asselin)The challenge of managing Africa's water more efficiently and allocating it more fairly was one of the topics for discussion at the recent Every Drop Counts conference. Some of the measures discussed are difficult and controversial but, when every drop counts, Africa needs to consider all the tools at its disposal. read article
Conserving wetlands through smallscale agriculture
Wetlands are vital to the livelihoods of many millions of people (credit: © Wetlands International Africa)In Northern Zambia, Wetlands International teamed up with local NGOs to encourage small growers back into seasonal wetlands. This new approach is explored in research from the International Water Management Institute which suggests that agricultural encroachment may be far less damaging to wetlands than many had feared. read article
Driving change in water use amongst India's cotton farmers
Cotton is a thirsty crop (credit: © CottonConnect)A groundbreaking study has revealed that cotton farmers in India are able to significantly reduce their pollution of surface and groundwater by adopting organic and improved farming practices. read article
Latin America's water funds: downstream users invest wisely
With water fund support, ranchers fence off areas near a river bank in the Cauca Valley (credit: © Pedro Moreno)Water users in many Latin American countries are paying into new funds to protect watersheds upstream, driving initiatives to support lower-impact farming and herding practices. read article
GFAR: Research innovations
Precision farming - sustaining agricultural productivity in India
Precision farming reduced water use and substantially increased average yields (credit: © Dr C Ravindran)In Tamil Nadu, farmers have been trained in precision farming - precise delivery of inputs such as water and fertiliser - to address a range of constraints including groundwater depletion, escalating input costs and lack of labour. read article
Building resilient community fisheries in Cambodia
Local fishing families are expected to benefit from gains in income, food security and nutrition (credit: © Lukas Ruettinger)Tonle Sap, in Cambodia, is one of the most productive freshwater fisheries in the world. But managing water for food and income also means harnessing the full value of these fisheries for local communities. By joining competing stakeholders, a WorldFish initiative has contributed to strengthening resilience in local livelihoods, while reducing the risk of broader social conflict. read article
Water harvesting technologies increase productivity in Jamaica
The new solar pumping system provides energy to move water from the concrete storage tank to two elevated plastic tanks (credit: © CARDI)In the dry south of Jamaica, around 50 farming families have adopted water saving technologies, including mulching, gravity fed drip irrigation and solar water pumps. read article
Developments
Tsetse control to fight hunger in Ethiopia
Trypanosomiasis is spread by the tsetse fly (credit: © Peter Luethi/Biovision Foundation)In some parts of Ethiopia, a combination of drought and trypanosomiasis had wiped out the livestock of many smallscale farmers. But after attending training to learn about eco-friendly farming and livestock practices, many farmers have turned their farms around. read article
Carbon trading spurs Tanzania's hunters and gatherers to conservation
Hadzabe communities are implementing a sustainable land use plan (credit: © Gian Schachenmann)In Tanzania's Yaeda Valley, Hadzabe hunter gatherer communities are protecting their savannah woodlands from encroachment by slash-and-burn farmers through a Payment for Ecosystem Services scheme. Eleven safari companies have already bought carbon credit certificates in order to offset their emissions. read article
Traditional forecasting to help small farmers
Global changes in climate appear to be causing significant changes at local level, including onset and length of rainy seasons (credit: © FAO photo) Indigenous weather forecasting techniques, practised by traditional rainmakers in the Banyore community in western Kenya, are helping scientists in Kenya to develop more reliable systems for predicting the weather. read article
Points of view
Agriculture and the green economy: the view from Rio+20
How do you make agriculture more sustainable? (credit: © Neil Palmer (CIAT))Delegates at the Rio+20 Earth Summit discuss the notion of the green economy, and the role of agriculture in achieving it.They review progress made in sustainable agricultural development since Rio '92 and describe the challenges and opportunities for the future. read article
In pictures
Senegal: melons by the million
Senegal: melons by the millionIn northern Senegal, the village of Mbeur Beuf leases land for production of high quality, orange-fleshed melons, destined for European markets. Local crop farming has also benefited, thanks to a regular water supply, and young people are staying on in the area, attracted by regular income and better services. read article
My perspective
Ken GillerKen Giller
Professor Ken Giller, technical advisor to the Africa Soil Health Consortium, is concerned by a tendency to promote blanket solutions to transform African farming, which fail to account for the complex and varied constraints smallholders face. read article
Country profile
Rwanda
Rwanda is one of the few African countries that has really focused on agricultural development (credit: © Neil Palmer (CIAT))Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Africa. The majority of people live in rural areas and farm small hillside plots, although urbanisation is increasing at over four per cent a year. read article
GFAR updates
Image - EGFARGFAR present a selection of brief news items based around recent international and regional events and meetings concerned with agricultural innovation and its implications in development. read article
News brief
In many instances, the roles women play in farming are not formally recognised (credit: © Neil Palmer (CIAT))Recent news, including research on mapping African farm management systems by gender, a new programme to protect floodplains and boost farm and fisheries productivity, and work to to step up the fight against counterfeit seeds in East and Southern Africa. read article
Book reviews
Food and the cityReviews of some of the latest agriculture and rural development publications. The lead review for this edition is Food and the City by Jennifer Cockrall-King. read article
produced by WRENmedia
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