News brief

Global warming: are plants to blame?

In a recent paper published in Nature, scientists from Germany have shown that up to a third of atmospheric methane is emitted by plants. The results are important because molecule for molecule, methane has a bigger impact on climate change than carbon dioxide. However, in response to widespread alarm over the findings, the research team has denied that their results undermine the case for reforestation as a means of tackling global warming. Frank Keppler, who led the research team at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, emphasised that the benefits from planting trees, in terms of carbon sequestration, far outweigh the negative impact of increased methane. However, he also warned that changes in the amounts of methane emitted by plants, including changes that could increase global warming, are likely to be caused by human activities, such as deforestation.

Norway's Ark: saving seed diversity

A 'Noah's Ark' seed vault is to be built by the Norwegian Government on the island of Spitsbergen, about 600 miles from the North Pole. There are roughly 1,400 seed banks worldwide, but the vault aims to provide a fail-proof collection of the Earth's seeds, to protect global food supply if nuclear, natural or terrorist threats should occur. According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), 75 per cent of genetic diversity of agricultural crops has already been lost. The initiative, led by the Global Crop Diversity Trust, is to house seeds from banks all over the world, representing some 10,000 years of plant breeding, and the entire agricultural diversity of the planet. "If the worst came to the worst, this would allow the world to reconstruct agriculture on this planet," says Cary Fowler, executive director of the Trust. Norway is to contribute £1.7m, but the seeds inside will be "a gift to humanity". Dr Fowler emphasized that the seeds would only be used if other samples had been lost. As the seeds need to be kept in freezing temperatures, the vault will be preserved with layers of permafrost, reinforced concrete, airlocks and high security blast-proof doors. Countries wishing to use the bank, to be completed in 2007, will determine varieties and number of seeds to be preserved. A feasibility study released by FAO in October 2005 reported that the facility "would essentially be built to last forever."

West Africa plans a regional response to bird flu

At a two-day meeting in Senegal (22-23rd Feb.), West African states have agreed to develop a regional strategy in response to the spread of avian flu, first detected in Nigeria earlier in the month. In outlining initial ideas for the action plan, which is to be presented at a meeting in Abuja in April, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade emphasised the need for observation centres to be established and improvement in laboratory facilities. The participants, who included agriculture and environment ministers, also proposed the creation of an emergency fund, calling for contributions from international donors, and further urged donors to support the region's poultry industry. Less than a week after the meeting, Niger became the third African country - after Nigeria and Egypt - to confirm cases of the H5N1 virus. Despite a ban on imports of poultry from neighbouring Nigeria, where thousands of chickens have now died from the virus, tests revealed the deadly strain had been responsible for the deaths of domestic ducks in an area close to the border. While no human cases of the virus have been reported in Africa at the time of writing, the UN has warned of a possible regional disaster.

Cassava production surges in Nigeria

From a famine-reserve commodity to an engine for industrial development, cassava production in Nigeria has outstripped other African countries. A Nigerian firm has secured a contract for the supply of 200,000 metric tonnes of cassava chips to the United States, at the price of $250 per tonne. The investment has sparked interest across Africa, and the Nigerian Government has already received a formal letter of request from the government of Zimbabwe, to allow a study visit on cassava production. The interest is an indication of increasing demand for Nigerian cassava, especially in areas where drought and famine are prevalent. The surge in cassava production is the result of the Presidential Committee on Cassava Export Promotion, set up in March 2004 to promote increased production, processing and packaging of cassava-related products. The campaign was intended to make cassava a major non-oil foreign exchange earner, to generate employment, reduce poverty and enhance food security.

Zambia's crop exports hit by strong kwacha

Over the last three months, a surge in the value of the Zambian kwacha has had a disastrous impact on the country's export farmers. Debt forgiveness, combined with a boom in commercial agricultural production and recovery in copper mining have increased the value of the kwacha against the dollar by over 20 per cent since November. But for Zambia's export growers, who receive a dollar price for their crops - including tobacco and horticultural produce - but must pay for labour and most other costs in local currency, this has undermined the viability of their production. The introduction of 17.5 per cent VAT on agricultural inputs has added to the pressure; the tax can be claimed back, but in the short term has hit cash-flow, and it is thought that smaller farmers, many of whom are not registered with the tax authorities, will fail to do so.

While the impact of the currency appreciation has been most damaging for Zambia's larger, commercial farms, some smallholder groups have also been affected. Lubulima Commercial Co-operative Unions, a group of around 500 farmers based close to the capital, Lusaka, have been growing babycorn for export, and under a DFID funded training programme have raised their production standards to meet the EUREPGAP standards now demanded by many supermarkets in Europe. But according to Mr Moyo, chairman of the group, they are very unlikely to plant the export crop this year, as it is no longer financially viable, and will turn instead to other crops that can be sold on domestic or regional markets.

Wasps deliver pest-killing viruses

Scientists from the Wuhan Virus Research Institute in China have developed a new system of pest control which uses parasitic wasps as a means to spread pest-killing viruses. The system makes use of the behavioural characteristics of female wasps, which crawl over hundreds of pest eggs before selecting one to lay their own egg in. The research team found that if parasitised eggs were coated in a solution containing a virus, the hatching wasp would pick up the virus on its body. Female hatchlings would in the course of time spread the virus to many other eggs, and the virus would infect the pest larvae, which feed on the remains of their eggs after hatching. Over 15 years of research, the team has identified more than 20 viruses which affect insect pests - particularly caterpillars - but are harmless to wasps. If the technology were developed, farmers would be able to target particular pests through selection of a specific virus solution. The research team estimates that the approach would reduce costs by 40 per cent compared to chemical control and, with trials complete on more than 10,000 hectares of cropland, could be commercially available in China within two years.

Forest zoning blamed for destruction

A report released by the Rainforest Foundation has condemned 'seriously flawed' forestry planning exercises. The report, Divided Forests, shows that large-scale 'forest zoning' exercises in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Brazil and Cameroon, have resulted in major destruction. In contrast to a report published by the UN which purports that "net forest loss is slowing down, thanks to new planting and natural expansion of existing forests," the report claims that these findings are grossly misleading. For example, according to a Foundation press release, the figure for 'net' deforestation "conceals the fact that most deforestation is taking place in the world's tropical rainforests, whereas most of the reforestation...is taking place in the northern hemisphere."

credit: Kate Eshelby/Rainforest Foundation

The report further claims that current efforts, backed by the World Bank, to 'zone' the world's second largest rainforest in the Democratic Republic of Congo could have disastrous consequences, with as much as 600,000 square kilometers of forest being felled for timber. According to Simon Counsell, Director of the Rainforest Foundation, "The World Bank is laying the basis for the destruction of Congo's rainforests, and it has breached many of its own internal safeguard policies in the process. The Board of the Bank now has the chance to avert a major environmental and humanitarian disaster." The report sets out recommendations to help ensure that the environmental and social impacts of large-scale zoning are taken into account. (See also Mapping the way forward.)
The report 'Divided Forests' can be downloaded from the Rainforest Foundation website: rainforestfoundationuk.org

Africa to develop 'super sorghum'

Africa could benefit from a new sorghum variety that is more resistant to harsh weather and more nutritious than existing varieties within the next eight years, according to scientists attending the 2nd workshop of the Africa Biofortified Sorghum (ABS) Project. Led by the Kenyan-based organisation Africa Harvest, and with US$17 million from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the project brings together seven Africa-based organisations, and two from the United States. The project, which started in June last year, has already enabled two South African crop scientists to receive training in the US. This year, two Kenyan scientists will visit the Pioneer Hi-bred laboratories in the US to build capacity in genetic engineering, breeding, product development and in regulatory framework development.

Speaking at a media briefing, Dr. Florence Wambugu, chief executive of Africa Harvest, said sorghum could be the quick solution to the problems of food security that continue to affect the African continent especially with the recurrent drought. "With changes in weather patterns related to global warming, we must broaden our focus to crops that have an inbuilt drought-resistance mechanism like sorghum," emphasized Dr. Wambugu. She urged African governments to establish a policy on sorghum to reduce over reliance on maize and wheat. Aims of the ABS project include increasing levels of iron, zinc, Vitamin A and Vitamin E, improving the quality of proteins and amino acids, as well as making the grain more digestible. The 'super sorghum' will also be higher yielding and adaptable to Africa's varied ecological regions.

Banishing witchweed

credit: Charlie Riches

Following a recent workshop for policy makers in the Kyela district of Tanzania, the district council has granted 8m Tanzanian shillings to tackle the problem of Striga infestation in rice crops. The Crop Protection Programme (CPP), funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) has been working with district extension staff and farmers, to improve soil fertility through planting of Crotalaria, a green manure crop. Green manure not only improves soil fertility and rice vigour, but suppresses Striga (also known as witchweed), and provides a low-cost alternative to using inorganic fertiliser. Management of Striga has also been incorporated in the national education curriculum. Lead UK collaborator, Charlie Riches, reported that the money awarded by Kyela district council will scale out the technology to 21 villages. Ten lead farmers will be trained in each village to provide information to others.

Heavy rains do Lesotho's farmers no favours

Heavy rains, falling since January, are reported to have destroyed more than a third of Lesotho's summer crops, ahead of the April harvest. The estimates have been gathered from 8,000 smallscale farmers who provide weekly updates on their cropping situation to the NGO PELUM (Participatory Ecological Land Use Management). They have reported the loss of maize, sorghum and bean crops, which in many cases have been swept away along with topsoil, which had previously been baked and hardened by years of drought. According to the Lesotho Meteorological Services, the amount of rain recorded in the early part of 2006 is double the amount received during the same period in 1988, when Lesotho last experienced heavy storms, and the rains are expected to continue into March. The World Food Programme has warned that frosts in April could prove a threat to the winter crop, while ploughing is likely to be delayed in areas badly affected by flooding.

Non-timber forest products: commercialisation needed

The DFID Forestry Research Programme (FRP) has recently published a study which investigates the role of non-timber forestry products (NTFPs) across eighteen communities in Mexico and Bolivia, to provide guidance for policy makers and practitioners. NTFPs are a collection of biological resources such as fruits, nuts, seeds and spices, derived from both natural and managed forests and other wooded areas. But the need for communities to get greater benefits from such products is rising in the context of increasing competition from other land uses, and deforestation. The study focuses on reasons for success or failure of NTFP commercialisation networks, or 'value chains'.

Non-timber forestry products are useful commodities for the forest-dependant rural poor, but many foresters regard the products as marginal goods, unable to compete with timber. Lack of access to natural resources has been identified as one of the important linkages between poverty and the environment, but the study found that lack of knowledge about potential demand for, or how to market forest products was another factor hindering forest-dependant communities. However, through holistic management, NTFP value chains can encourage forest conservation, promote non-traditional enterprises and improve local economies, according to the study. The report can be found at: www.unep-wcmc.org.

Green muscle: learning from frogs

The ability of an Australian frog to survive drought with minimum feed input and to experience very low muscle wastage despite long periods of inactivity, could have significant benefits for the livestock industry, according to scientists from CSIRO and the University of Queensland. Detailed study of the green striped burrowing frog, which is known for its speedy recovery even after many months of drought-avoiding hibernation, has revealed its muscle structure to be very similar to that of a range of animals. For scientist Dr Nick Hudson, understanding how the frog's muscle works could ultimately offer huge benefits to livestock production: "If farm animals were able to survive a drought with minimum feed input and then quickly gain condition when more feed was available, this would be extremely valuable." The frog's ability to survive on minimal feed could, Dr Hudson suggests, also help scientists to improve feed conversion efficiency in livestock. Recent findings indicate that high levels of antioxidant within the frog muscle inhibit the wastage normally caused by inactivity. The research team now plans to identify genes that are responsible for the slow wastage, and search for related genes in livestock.

1^st March 2006