News brief
Responding to foot and
mouth - Argentina and the UKResponding to foot and mouth - Argentina and the UK
Since 1st March 2001, Argentina has been implementing a system of border buffer zones, in an attempt to prevent foot and mouth disease entering the country. Within these zones, livestock are now being vaccinated against the disease. Other measures include establishing a system of animal tracing to monitor the origin and destination of transported livestock, and expanding the testing programme that is providing information on the health status of the country's herds. Argentina's status as 'an FMD free country where vaccination is not practised' has been withdrawn in the light of these measures.
In Britain, a new genebank has been set up in an attempt to save some rare breeds of British sheep from extinction during the current foot and mouth crisis. One species being targeted is the Herdwick, a breed only found in the UK, which is specially adapted to cope with the harsh climate of the highland Lake District area. Already a quarter of the Herdwick stock has been slaughtered, leading veterinarians and breeders to work together in collecting semen, eggs and embryos which are now being stored at the new Heritage Genebank. However, Fiona Southern of the National Trust warned that while storing germplasm might maintain the existence of the Herdwicks as a rare breed, alternative measures to slaughter - such as keeping them fenced in on the high fells- are necessary if the sheep are to continue to be a normal feature of the area.
For a discussion of infectious disease management see Points of view
Outlook is unsettled for the world's poorest
Global
temperatures in the last century have risen by 0.6°C, according to 'Climate Change Impacts, Assessment and Vulnerability: A summary for
policy-makers', a report released in February by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. While that may not sound a huge rise, it has been
enough to melt ice formations, induce flooding and droughts, disturb the biological clocks of flowers, insects and birds, threaten certain species
with extinction, and shift the geographical range of others.
The report predicts that unless burning of fossil fuels and forests is reduced, average temperatures will rise another 1.4 to 5.8 degrees during
the next century. This would put further pressure on the lives of poor families in the tropics, many of whom, as farmers, are already more
susceptible to the weather than most people in wealthy countries. The anticipated climate change is projected to reduce rainfall and crop yields in
southern Africa and Central Asia, and to increase the prevalence of diseases such as malaria, dengue and cholera. Nations and households that lack
financial, human or scientific resources will find it particularly hard to adapt.
Website: www.ipcc.ch
Helping the hardest hit - FAO appeals for funds
The FAO has appealed for US$2.43 million from the international donor community, to help farmers restart agricultural production in El Salvador. The two major earthquakes that have struck the country in the past months destroyed homes and jobs, and left thousands of farmers without the resources necessary for this year's planting. The FAO's six-month initial emergency programme aims to provide fertilizers, tools and 800 tonnes of seed to 20,000 farmers, in time for planting by the end of May. To prevent major crop losses the FAO is repairing damaged irrigation systems and farm infrastructure, and will also be assessing soil and groundwater problems and post earthquake landslide risks.
FAO is also appealing for Mongolia, where up to 20% of livestock, and the families who depend on them, are at risk from
another severe winter. With snow covering the normal winter pastures, the FAO has launched an appeal for US$8.7
million in support of the herders. These funds would be focused on providing livestock feed and shelters, veterinary services, the construction of
wells and the distribution of forage. The weather is hampering the distribution of food and medical supplies, leaving those in remote areas
particularly vulnerable.
Website: www.fao.org
Stakeholders rule the reefs
A new technique has recently been developed to help people who obtain their livelihood from coral reefs to balance their different interests, in
order to promote sustainable development on the island. The decision-support technique,
known as 'Trade
Off Analysis', provides a framework within which different stakeholder groups can identify their management objectives and priorities, based on their
needs, and thereby develop management plans. (see also Consensus building in the Caribbean) The techniques
have already been taken up by teams in other parts of the Caribbean and in Indonesia and, with the aid of a manual written by the team from the
University of East Anglia, it is hoped that the Trade-off Analysis methodologies can be disseminated worldwide.
The DFID-funded manual, 'Trade-off Analysis for Participatory Coastal Zone Decision-Making' is available free either by download, or from the Publications Office, ODG, UEA, Norwich, NR4 7JT, UK
The Buccoo Reef Trust, set up in February 2000, is also supporting sustainable stakeholder management of Tobago's fragile reefs and coastal zones, for example through research into value-added marine products such as sea moss (Gracilaria sp.), which is used in the Caribbean to make a popular drink. It can also be used as a gelling agent in foodstuffs and cosmetics. In addition, the Trust is seeking international funding to establish a Tobago Marine Research Centre, which would provide facilities for education and research in sustainable aquaculture and tropical reef ecosystems.
Taming Kenya's wild fruit
Farmers in Kitui district, Kenya, are being encouraged to regard their indigenous fruit trees as an important source of both nutrition and income.
Crop yields in the semi-arid region are generally low because the rainy season tends to be very short. However some indigenous fruit have a higher
Vitamin C content than Citrus species. Traditionally, indigenous fruit are eaten by children and women - most men have a negative view of them.
However, a survey done by the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) has been able both to promote the value of the fruit for all,
and identify which trees are particularly suitable for further development (see also Cultivating Cinderella trees ).
Many farmers interviewed had not thought of planting or managing the wild trees, but as a result of the work said that they would be interested in
setting up wild tree nurseries. There is also some evidence of a change in attitude towards the trees. In the past anyone could have free access to
the trees, but now access is more commonly being restricted to the household who owns the land where the trees grow.
Email: ICRAF@cgiar.org
The silence is broken - Yams take centre-stage
Scientists from Nigeria, Cameroon, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire met recently in Ibadan, Nigeria to review research and development for yam
production. The theme of the conference was poverty alleviation and enhanced food availability through improved technologies. The scientists explored
a range of issues, including genetic improvement, soil fertility management and the socio-economic difficulties faced by yam producers. Despite being
a preferred and important food crop in West Africa, yam production is limited by the high cost of planting materials and labour. The conference
participants were therefore asked to map out strategies to reduce production costs and increase yields, improve access of small-scale farmers to high
quality seed yams, limit pest losses in the field and in storage, and develop post-harvest processing.
Email: IITA@cgiar.org
Pucker up! Stunt worms reveal all
A comprehensive key enabling identification of all known species of stunt nematode (Tylenchorhynchus spp.) has recently been developed by
the USDA Agricultural Research Service. There are over 100 different species of stunt nematode which, by damaging roots and exposing them to
soilborne pathogens, cause significant damage to arable and vegetable crops. Until now developing control measures for the pest has been hampered by
the difficulty of identifying which species is causing the damage. The key requires close inspection of both the tails and the lips of the
microscopic worms, and is a major step forward for researchers.
Email: Zafar A.Handoo
In Australia, receding floodwaters in northern New South Wales are leaving unwelcome plant-parasitic nematodes in the rivers and mud. Although many will not survive, some will inevitably find new plant hosts. In an effort to enable people to identify the harmful nematodes from those normally found in freshwater habitats, CSIRO has developed a new web-based database which can be accessed at www.ento.csiro.au/science/nematode.html
A new system
of 'Best Bet' trials has been helping farmers in Mali, Niger and Nigeria to work out which agricultural developments are likely to serve them best.
Working closely with farmers, researchers from ICRISAT, in collaboration with other international and local research institutions, have been building
on their understanding of farming systems, and farmers' priorities, resources, motivations and risk tolerances. The 'best bet' options have tended to
be simple, low-cost technologies, such as combining improved sorghums with high-yielding cowpeas, while using minimum inputs. In this system, crop
residues can be fed to sheep and manure is returned to the fields to boost future productivity. The farmers have fed-back into the process by
suggesting an increase in the cereal component of the cropping pattern and the addition of fodder types of sorghum - thus refining the 'best bet'
results in order that overall production suits their needs even better.
A new design of
stove invented in Chipata, Zambia, may soon be reducing some of the hardship faced by rural women, and helping to preserve a threatened environment.
The stove, made from locally available anthill soil, river-sand and ash, replaces the current 'three log' design with a 'one log' alternative,
enabling a much more efficient use of firewood. Originally invented by Juliet Tembo, member of a World Vision programme, the stove is now being
developed by the Ministry of Agriculture, and could offer benefits both in giving women time for other, more productive work, and helping to slow
down the rate of deforestation.
Currently most planting material tends to be grown from the small, damaged and least marketable remains of the previous crop.
This component of the harvest is known to be low yielding and prone to seed-borne diseases, particularly bacterial wilt. The new approach, which is
being tested by researchers from CABI Bioscience and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) as well as the farming community at Njabini,
centres on the separation of seed-tuber production from the main crop. The seed is grown on-farm, but in separate nursery beds, planted at high
density. Planting material for the new crop is then selected from these beds. Trials of SSPS have achieved a 2-3 fold increase in seed tuber
production and the recommended techniques have been promoted widely, through dissemination of a calendar, KARI Bulletins and a seed-tuber size
grader.
