Machakos — For a couple that has weathered the dual tests of early retirement and repeated crop failures, it might have seemed an impossible dream to former primary-school teacher Philip Ngolania and his farmer wife that their three quarters of an acre farm could one day yield enough staple food to last an entire season.

But a visit to the local office of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) early this year ushered in a fresh beginning for the 62-year-old father of four grown sons, whose land barely produced enough food for the family’s daily meals in this drought-parched area east of the capital, Nairobi. Since that visit, he says, the family’s prospects have improved dramatically.

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Kagera — KAGERA Regional Commissioner, Fabian Massawe, has urged residents in the region to grow fast maturing crops including maize and millet, to avert food shortages.

He has also advised residents in Chato District and other areas expected to have bumper harvest, to avoid selling all the food to middlemen. Mr Massawe made the appeal while opening a Regional Consultative Committee (RCC) meeting held in Bukoba Municipality on Thursday.

He said the Tanzania Meteorological department had forecast that long rains would start in March, this year and would probably rain above normal standards.

He said there was a possibility that the rains would stimulate floods, urging the leaders to sensitize people living in flood prone areas to vacate them before disaster hits them. He also urged residents in the region to participate fully in environmental conservation and control tree felling and bush fires.

Source:Tanzania Daily News

The new director general of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the world’s flagship agency for food policy, has indicated that Africa will be his priority at a time of limited resources.

In his first press conference, held on Tuesday, José Graziano da Silva said he wanted to see “one FAO” acting at country level.

“Many of these poor [African] countries have no facility of going to donors,” he said. “The FAO will be there to support those countries to achieve the desired results.”

Graziano da Silva, who played an important role in Brazil’s successful “zero hunger” initiative, argued the key to improving food security in Africa was the political will to eradicate hunger, which could in turn be translated into action through financial resources, research and good practice.

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Kampala, Uganda — The Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) has advised that food insecurity and the critical issues affecting the agricultural sector can be addressed through enhanced sustainable use of resources and regional collaboration.

“We should come up with science based, social and policy solutions through a forum for developing a shared vision and shared goals to enhance sustainable agriculture,” ASARECA Executive Director, Dr. Seyfu Ketema advised.

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Access to improved seeds by smallholder farmers is a prerequisite to increased maize production in West Africa, as climate change hurts yield from traditional varieties, a study by researchers working under the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Project (DTMA) has shown.

The study authored by Dr. Abdoulaye Tahirou and others notes that improved maize varieties tolerant of drought are helping farmers in addressing production risks and called for joint efforts to facilitate their wider dissemination across the subregion.

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