News brief

Agriculture - consensus in Cancun?	New FMD test for cattle
Bumper wheat harvest in Afghanistan	Unlocking livestock genome sequence could open doors
Flood damages in Pakistan	Temperate fruit for Ugandan highlands
US fish industry trawls for further legal victory	$2m for copperbelt farmers in Zambia
'GMOs pose no immediate risk'	'Input shortage threatens food security in Zimbabwe'
New GM cotton variety on sale...	Turkmenistan water project criticised by environmentalists
...and on trial in Burkina Faso	Global think tank for world food needs

Agriculture - consensus in Cancun?

Tempers have frayed at agriculture talks ahead of the World Trade Organisation summit in Mexico this September. The meeting in Montreal at the end of July was seen as a last attempt to reach agreement on subsidies before ministers from all 146 WTO members meet in Cancun, Mexico to try and finalise a world trade deal that will benefit developing countries. At the meeting, Brazil threatened to block attempts by the EU and the US to extend their "peace clause" which prevents complaints of farming subsidies. "We have paid a very high price for that clause, and developing countries will not approve its extension," said Gilman Vienna Rodrigues, who represents Brazil's farmers.

Meanwhile, agricultural committee chairman, Stuart Harbinson, proposed a 60 per cent cut in farming subsidies over five years. The EU disputed the suggestion, criticising the cuts as too steep while US negotiators claimed that it would favour the EU. Representatives from developing countries said that even a 60 per cent cut would not prevent industrialised nations from dumping farm products and undercutting poor farmers. Supachai Panitchpakdi, director general of the WTO, has urged trade ministers to be more flexible. "We need country members to be prepared to talk about compromise," he said.

Bumper wheat harvest in Afghanistan

Credit:FAO

Afghanistan is expected to harvest its biggest wheat crop in two decades, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), but malnutrition remains widespread across the country. The expected 5.37million tonnes cereal yield (a 50 per cent increase on last year) can be attributed to increased rainfall and hard work by farmers and aid organisations, said Serge Verniau, the FAO's representative in Afghanistan. The organisation's anti-locust campaign has also helped, saving an estimated 600,000ha of wheat. Under the campaign, 123,000ha of land was cleared of locusts. The whole area under threat did not have to be treated as the insects were concentrated in smaller areas before the eggs hatched and swarms spread, explained senior officer of migratory pests, Clive Elliott.

According to the FAO, the country's total wheat production will total 4 million tonnes this summer with only 1million tonnes needed from foreign imports to make up the deficit. "After four years of drought, this is great news for the country," said FAO information officer Etienne Careme. "Up to 85 per cent of the Afghan population are dependent on agriculture, so you can see how important it is." The World Food Programme (WFP) received the news with reserved optimism: "We should not assume that this means a complete recovery of agriculture," explained Susana Rico, WFP programme director in Afrghanistan. "One bumper crop does not mean long-term recovery - just a better year," she said, adding that the recovery has not been everywhere, and that the south continues to be affected by drought.

Flood damages in Pakistan

Floods in south and south-western Pakistan left thousands of people stranded and affected 229,931 acres of crops according to the Provincial Government of Sindh's Relief Department (OCHA). Some 9,110 head of cattle have also been killed. The excessive monsoon rains which fell in the last two weeks of July, and in particular, the second round of storms which hit on July 22, have seen Sindh and Balochistan bearing most of the damage with the North Western Frontier Province also badly affected. Preliminary reports from OCHA indicated that some 390,469 people in 1,407 villages had been affected.

US fish industry trawls for further legal victory

Following its legal victory over Vietnamese catfish farmers in July, seafood producers in the United States are now targeting imports of shrimps or prawns from countries including Thailand, Vietnam, China and India. The Southern Shrimp Alliance is accusing around a dozen countries of dumping cheap seafood on the US market. It comes just weeks after a US trade agency voted in favour of imposing tariffs on imports of Vietnamese catfish after complaints from US producers that the imported fish was being sold below market value. "The realities of the global supply situation, particularly with aquaculture, have really come to hit hard on the domestic shrimp industry," said the president of the American Seafood Association, Wally Stevens.

Last year the USA consumed 1.4 billion pounds of shrimps, making it the country's best-selling seafood, according to ASDA. Much of this was imported, with US producers accounting for just 15 per cent of the market. With regards to the new case against Asian shrimp exporters, Mr Stevens said that it was unlikely to succeed. "The market share of American shrimp fishermen is so low, they should see this as a marketing opportunity," he said.

'GMOs pose no immediate risk'

Genetically modified organisms pose no immediate risk to humans and animals, according to a team of African scientists from the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The 14-member SADC said the trip by 17 scientists was undertaken in response to internal debate on the use of bio-technology for international development, and implications for food safety, contamination of genetic resources, ethical issues, trade and growing consumer concerns. "The scientists have recommended that SADC embrace biotechnology as one of the tools that can be used to address the issues of food security," reads an SADC statement: The scientists also backed a decision by the region's ministers to promote the milling of transgenic grain before it was distributed to hunger-stricken families. The statement also calls for quick establishment of a regional advisory committee on advances in biotechnology and legislation in SADC countries to advise on GM use. The scientists findings will be endorsed by SADC ministers and heads of state meeting in Tanzania later this month (August).

New GM cotton variety on sale...

The genetically modified cotton - Bollgard II - which scientists claim reduces the need for pesticides, will be commercially available for planting in Australia this year. "Following the introduction in 1996 of the GM cotton, Ingard, Australian growers have reduced their pesticide use by about 50 per cent compared to conventional cotton," said Dr Greg Constable, Plant Industry cotton breeder for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). "Three years of field trials have shown that Bollgard II can reduce pesticide use by up to 75 per cent," he said.

Bollgard II was developed by inserting two insecticidal genes from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) into cotton which kill the cotton's major insect pest - Helicoverpa - when it attacks the crop. According to CSIRO, Bollgard II will comprise about 15 per cent of the total cotton crop in the 2003 to 2004 season and by 2004 to 2005 this could be as much as 80 per cent. Ingard, the original GM cotton will not be grown at all after the 2003 to 2004 season to minimise the risk of resistance among insects.

...and on trial in Burkina Faso

US Biotechnology giant Monsanto has signed a research agreement with the Government of Burkina Faso, which will see field trials of GM cotton conducted in the country. The trials will be the first of their kind in West Africa. It is hoped that Monsanto's second generation of insect-resistant cotton, Bollgard II, will reduce the need for pesticides. "Currently, farmers are spraying eight to 10 times per season, but still lose half their crops," said Celestin Tiendrebeogo, manager of Burkina Faso's state cotton firm, Sofitex. "If we are able to increase yield by only 50 per cent, that would be a way to reduce poverty."

New FMD test for cattle

A cheap new test which can distinguish between FMD-infected cattle and those vaccinated against the disease could help future outbreaks to be controlled by immunisation according to a German scientist. Unlike existing tests, the new ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) is fast and low-tech, explained Armin Saalmuller of the Institute for Immunology of the Federal Research Centre for Virus Diseases of Animals in Tubingen, Germany.

In the 2001 outbreak of FMD in Britain, vaccination was ruled out because of the difficulties of distinguishing between vaccinated and infected animals. Symptoms can take days to develop and during this delay a healthy-looking animal can spread the disease. The new test can detect the antibodies that infected cattle produce against the FMD virus which are different from the antibodies produced by vaccinated animals. Similar tests already exist, but according to Saalmuller, his version is quicker to use and is approximately one fifth of the price of tests currently available. But according to FMD epidemiologist Mark Woolhoouse of the University of Edinburgh, the test is not sensitive or specific enough. "It's possible that you'd be using this test on millions of animals. Even if it is 99.9 per cent effective, that means you could misdiagnose a lot of them. Unfortunately no diagnostic test is perfect," he said.

Unlocking livestock genome sequence could open doors

An Australian project to unlock the livestock genome sequence, could provide local industries with an edge over international competition according to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). The findings of the Bovine Genome Project (BGP) could also have major implications for research into the human genome sequence which will be used to develop new medicines and diagnostic tests. "Currently, the gross value of livestock-derived products in Australia is approximately AUS$15 billion per annum and the greater part of this comes from cattle and sheep products. It is a figure anticipated to increase significantly in the future as a result of sequencing the bovine genome," says CSIRO Livestock Industries (CLI) chief Sean Coffey.

According to CSIRO, expected benefits include the ability to identify genes that control growth efficiency, muscle development and milk composition and the ability to breed disease resistant cattle and sheep. Information gained about the sequence will be freely available to all interested researchers, said CLI's Dr Ross Tellam. "The intellectual property rights will be derived from how we use the sequence, not the sequence itself," he explained. The project is scheduled for completion by the end of 2005.

Temperate fruit for Ugandan highlands

Uganda has embarked on a USh3 billion (US$1.5m) fruit-growing poverty alleviation strategy in Kabale district. It comes after recommendations from the National Research Organisation (NARO) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) who have demonstrated that the production of temperate fruits is feasible and profitable on smallholder farming systems in the highlands of Kabale. Nursery demonstration beds have already been started for the five-year project. The State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and district Woman Member of Parliament for Kabale said the outcome of the five-year programme included the establishment of fruit trees with the equivalent of 450ha of apples, 40ha of pears, 75ha of peaches and 250ha of plums.

$2m for copperbelt farmers in Zambia

Small-scale farmers and business entrepreneurs in Zambia's beleaguered Copperbelt region are to benefit from a $2m pledge from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The amount was disclosed by Cris Muyunda, economic growth deputy team leader at the beginning of August, during a tour of agricultural and micro-business projects in Central and Copperbelt regions. Development experts were involved in the initiative and 120 farmers had already benefited from the project, he said. "The money is being used to train and expose small-scale farmers to simple agricultural technology. We are interested in wealth creation through which sustainable development can be a reality," said Mr Muyunda. USAID had contracted two American organisations to implement the programmes.

'Input shortage threatens food security in Zimbabwe'

A shortage of inputs and inflation is impeding agricultural recovery in Zimbabwe, according to the Zimbabwe Farmer's Union. The country is once again badly affected by food insecurity as a result of erratic weather, the effect of the government's fast-track land reform on commercial agriculture and the impact of HIV/AIDS. Aid agencies estimate some five million Zimbabweans will require food aid by January 2004; moves by the Zimbabwean government to control distribution have also raised fears that food aid could be denied to opposition supporters.

"If farmers are provided inputs on time - given that the forecast is for normal to above normal rainfall this season - there should be agricultural recovery," said chief economist of the ZFU, Tafireyi Chamboko. However, there's a shortage of some the inputs, he explained. New farmers are being supplied with inputs such as fertiliser and seed through an inputs credit scheme, but others are facing major problems. "It is a major constraint," he said. "Fertiliser is in short supply and it's quite expensive, given our inflationary environment. The major factor impacting on farmers is the price of inputs - our inflation rate is now 364.5 per cent - so we have a question of shortages, compounded by the fact that companies that produce fertilisers are faced with a shortage of foreign currency to buy the raw materials they need."

Turkmenistan water project criticised by environmentalists

Plans for a giant artificial lake in Turkmenistan, which was expected to create 4000sq km of farmland capable of producing 450,000million tonnes of cotton and 300,000million tonnes of grain a year, have been criticised by environmentalists. "The lake could pollute massive swathes of land with salt and most of the water would evaporate from an open-air lake anyway," said Michael Wilson of the EU's Tacis support programme. The intended project would cost about $4.5billion and be completed within 20 years. Those supporting the project believe it would provide sufficient water for Turkmenistan's growing population and for agriculture, and would reduce the country's dependence on the Amudar'ya River (which it shares with neighbours Uzbekistan, Afganistan and Tajikistan). Uzbek scientists are also voicing concerns over the environmental effects of the lake and are worried over its effects on local water supplies.

Global think tank for world food needs

A coalition of organisations ranging from international agencies to farmers rights groups are to participate in the largest-ever global dialogue on how to meet the world's future food needs. At a meeting in Budapest at the beginning of August, representatives of such organisations committed to taking part in a 30 month review of how science and technology can be used to increase food production in socially acceptable and environmentally sustainable ways. The review is estimated to cost US$15m to prepare and is planned to be carried out by an intergovernmental body administered by a multi-stakeholder bureau. Planning is being co-ordinated by Robert Watson, the chief scientist at the World Bank. Funding is now being sought from the World Bank and UN agencies and, according to Watson, if fundraising is successful the review could start early next year. "Our goal is develop a consensus on what is known and unknown, explain different points of view, and identify the uncertainties," says Watson.

1^st September 2003