Information

for agricultural
development
in ACP countries
Number 81
JUNE 1999

Urban agriculture and food security

Take your farm to town!
1
Sugar
The last sweet dance?

Small islands devlopment

Between the sky and the sea

IN BRIEF

LINKS

10

PUBLICATIONS

11

BETWEEN US

14

VIEWPOINT
16

Website: www.cta.nl

Illustration Helen Larkins

Nature conservation

Urban agriculture and food security

In this issue
Every day should be special,
but June and July, when you
may be reading this, are rich in days
devoted to issues which concern our
interests in agricultural and rural
development. June has World Days on
Environment (5 June) and Combating
Desertification and Drought (17 June).
July 11 will be dedicated to World
Population; our leading article deals with
how to feed growing cities from within.
Finally, on the first Saturday in July we
celebrate Cooperatives, which are
endeavouring to adapt to the wave of
globalisation.
Almost 40% of ACP States are islands
and our articles on sugar and island
economies remind us of some of the
other challenges being posed by
globalisation.
Among the other articles in this issue are
the results of two external evaluations of
our programmes for publications, study
visits and seminars.
We hope our usual mix of news, views,
and practical tips will serve you well every
day of your year.

Take your farm

to town!
The world is moving to the town and is taking its agriculture with
it. Urban farmers will contribute even more to our future than
they did to our past, but who will take responsibility for them?

his food is like a reserve. It

helps when money is
scarce. You can go and harvest your mayuni (cocoyams) and eat the
leaves as etimpa (sauce). This down-toearth attitude of a low-income mother
farming a tiny plot of low-lying land near
a drainage canal in Kampala, Uganda,
is typical of the majority of the worlds
700 million urban farmers.
More people are moving to towns than
to rural areas. In Africa, 35% of the continents population of 749 million in
1998 is urban, and it is growing at a rapid
8% each year. To face this challenge, conventional thinking strives to feed the
city by increasing production faster than
population growth (see Spore 76, Selling
to the city). Many forecasts view the city
SPORE 81

PAGE 1

as a rapacious, collapsing mess, but there

is also another scenario.
In the past decade, urban agriculture
has won the attention of agriculturists
and policy makers alike. All over the
world, case studies are sprouting like
mushrooms in a stairwell grower. They
describe how rich and poor urbanites
develop new farming systems based on
small livestock (rabbits, goats, guinea
pigs, pigs), poultry (chicken, ducks,
guinea fowl), vegetables, fruit, and herbs.
They also discuss urban forestry, which
yields fruit, nuts, fuelwood, and building
materials. Urban agriculture is described
by some as a more significant approach
to development than innovations in the
informal economy, bartering, or microfinance.

Urban agriculture and food security

Not just for women

Urban agriculture improves the lives of

women not only economically, through
income-generation and substitution of
purchases, but also nutritionally, through
greater variety and freshness of foods. It
also increases food supply because of higher yields of herbs and vegetables on composted areas and from hydroponic crops
(the process of growing plants in water
with added nutrients).
There are environmental benefits, too:
more vegetation improves air quality by
acting as a sink for gas emissions from fossil fuels and through the cooling effects of
evaporation. In low-income neighbourhoods, tree planting encourages environmental care and helps to cement community organisations. Compost, much used
in urban agriculture, facilitates waste management.
Hazards to health,
and the status quo

But there are health hazards in urban

agriculture, which call for quick and comprehensive action. A leading proponent,
Jac Smit of the Urban Agriculture Network stresses the dangers of uncontrolled
Almost as many farmers in the cities
as in the countryside

food production in cities. There are risks

of contamination from untreated human
waste in compost, and from sump oil and
heavy metals; tuberculosis from cattle;
insecticide poisoning; plague spread by
rats attracted to compost bins; groundwater and soil pollution from agricultural
chemicals, and malaria from mosquitoes
breeding in unmanaged irrigation pools.
City managers and planners are faced
with a new responsibility in their portfolio, one they find hard to understand.
During the 1990s, the authorities in
Harare, Zimbabwe, struggled with an
upsurge in city farming, which affected
about 10,000 ha of land or almost onefifth of the city. Their response of banning
and forcible removal became a cause clbre
for inhabitants seeking dialogue and partnership. The authorities have now largely
relented. City governance must take urban
agriculture into account by adapting local
health and zoning bye-laws, and enabling
support and extension services. In fact, the
success stories in urban agriculture depend
on close partnership between local authorities, extension workers, urban farmers
and finance bodies, as demonstrated by
such cities as Daloa, Cte dIvoire, and
Accra, Ghana.
The combined forces of survival and the
market will prompt further expansion of
urban agriculture. But it must be guided.
Research is needed to develop simple, safe
systems to decontaminate solid wastes
prior to composting; to cleanse polluted
soils; and to treat waste water by using, for
example, algae to clear water and duckweed to remove contaminants. The need
is for systems that can be appropriated, in
terms of knowledge and finance, by those
who gain most from urban agriculture: the
urban poor. Hydroponics is one example;
it relies on complex, but not necessarily
expensive, water flow and storage systems,
as well as refined input of nutrients. The
scientist, whether based in a laboratory or
a local community group, who develops a
popular and transferable method of
hydroponics will be remembered far into
the next millennium for the significant
contribution to food security. Urban
extension services that provide financial

and technical facilities, and cities that

develop environmental management policies will also be remembered. Models in
this respect are Ugandas Action for Development (ACFODE) womens network
and the Zimbabwe Farmers Union, which
provide information on land rights and
use as well as finance and technology.
Rural and urban agriculture sometimes
face the same issues of sustainability, gender, access to technology and finance,
extension work, and producers organisations. Each has special needs. The most
pressing need for the urban model is: Who
should be its institutional keeper, and
which ministry should look after it?
The agricultural community should cross
the frontier to urban agriculture and do
three things: embrace it, enable it, and
ennoble it.
Urban growth, exhaustion of agricultural
resources, increasing food insecurity and
worsening living conditions in cities are all
reasons to inform politicians, development
institutions, farmers organisations and
NGOs of the potential of urban agriculture.
To achieve this, CTA is co-organising a
meeting in October 1999 in Havana in
cooperation with the Cuban Association of
Animal Production (CAPA), the German
Ministry of Development Cooperation
(BMZ) and Foundation for Development
Cooperation (DSE), the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and
ETC-Netherlands.
For more information:
The Urban Agriculture Network (TUAN)
1711 Lamont St NW
Washington, DC 20010
USA
Fax: +1 202 986 6732
Email: urbanag@compuserve.com
Resource Guide to Urban Agriculture,
CTA, 1999. 276pp. CTA working paper 8002
Free on request from CTA.

The UA equation:
six ifs and a but

Photo Periscoop

The expansion of urban agriculture in

Africa has been stimulated by economic
structural adjustment programmes and
the collapse of much of the formal economy. Some former civil servants in Harare,
Zimbabwe, were driven to illegal urban
plot farming to supplement their household diets and income. When they found
they could earn 10 times their salary, they
took up street farming full-time. In Dar
es Salaam, Tanzania, more than two-thirds
of all families were engaged in some form
of town farming in the early 1990s, compared with only one-fifth in the late
1960s. Most urban agriculture is smallscale; in many countries it is dominated
by women, the major exceptions being
Brazil, China, and Senegal, where men
dominate.

Urban agriculture (UA) can be a major

element in ensuring ACP food security, if:
priority goes to high-yielding vegetables, and to herbs, spices, and selected
small livestock;
popular, low-cost forms of advanced
technology are accessible to the poor;
health hazards from animals, wastes,
and contaminants are recognised,
researched, and removed;
planners revise laws on land access and
the use of derelict land;
technical and financial extension services are available to all urban farmers;
and
gender roles are respected, especially
where women urban farmers are in the
majority.
However, for the foreseeable future, rural
agriculture will remain the major provider
of nutritional requirements in the ACP
countries.

Sugar

The first cut is the deepest,

but when will the last cuts come?

nse
Su

r-

aB
ett
an
e
J
to
Pho

30,000 workers in Guyana and 35,000 in

Fiji, and indirect employment for twice
as many people.
While Jamaican sugar has declined over
the past 20 years, that of Fiji and, recently, of Guyana has exhibited growth.
Jamaicas decline can be attributed to several factors: reduction in area under cane
cultivation, decline in yields, incidence of
smut and rust diseases, poor agronomic
practices, scarcity and high cost of inputs
due to foreign exchange constraints, poor
factory performance, unreliable transportation, and generally weak management in both field and factory.
The industry has also gone through various ownership changes. In the early
1970s, following the withdrawal of foreign operators, ownership of the estates
shifted from the private sector to the government. An experiment with cooperative
management of field operations at the
three largest publicly owned estates ended
in 1981.
In 1994, publicly owned factories were
sold to private companies. The lands were
leased partly to the new owners and the
rest to cane farmers. At the same time,
government regulation and control of the
industry, particularly marketing, were
relaxed. Sugar output showed some
improvement, but the new owners could

not finance factory modernisation and to

service accumulated debts. Once again,
the government was forced to take control of the industry. In Guyana, the factories are government-owned, but they have
been managed by the British firm Booker
Tate since 1990.
The major problem facing Fijis sugar
industry is the expiry of more than 1,000
cane land leases. As a result, essential
investments have been postponed, and
yields could remain low in the coming
years.
Sugar plays a pivotal role in the economy of several countries and any disruption will have a tremendous impact on
their entire economies. In Jamaica, the
replacement of sugar by tourism, for
example, has been advocated, but no
other industry could provide the same
level of employment to the large semiliterate and unskilled labour force. Operating with low skills, low productivity, and
poorly maintained and managed factories,
the industry is partly seen as a social
necessity.
The challenge is to modernise production, and to increase efficiency and productivity. Otherwise the industry will die,
as it will not be able to compete under the
changing conditions expected early in the
new millennium. Modernisation will
lower production costs and improve field
practices. The former requires re-tooling
and the latter, re-training.
The changing world market carries
many implications: the World Trade
Organisation, post-Lom arrangements
between the ACP countries and the EU,
and the need to be more competitive in a
world dominated by market forces. The
choice is to die soon or to invest in a slimmer, more productive future. But invest
with what?
Photo Delfino Sunset

s in Fiji and Guyana, sugar

(total production 186,000 t)
plays an important role in the
Jamaican economy. While each country
produces less than 1% of world production, their foreign exchange earnings from
sugar are crucial, accounting for more
than half the agricultural exports.
Jamaicas sugar, like Guyanas and Fijis,
is exported mainly to the United Kingdom and the United States, under preferential market access and price arrangements. Jamaicas sugar exports to the
European Union are subject to a regular
annual quota of 126,000 t (filled every
year) plus a supplementary quota of
37,000 t (sometimes unfilled).
Jamaicas sugar industry dates back
600 years. More lately, the country has
become a major producer and exporter.
But annual output levels are not stable;
they declined from an all-time high of
514,000 t in 1965 to the current level of
about 230,000 t. Eight factories operate
on the island with a combined annual
capacity for 325,000 t.
Fijis sugar industry, on the other hand,
developed much later, dating back to the
19th century. It has four mills and produces 500,000 t. Unlike Jamaica and
Guyana, it can take advantage of the
structural sugar deficit in Asia as almost
half its exports go to regional buyers like
Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and
Malaysia.
Sugar means jobs. As in Fiji and
Guyana, the Jamaican sugar industry is a
major employer. It provides direct
employment to 40,000 persons, including 16,000 self-employed small farmers
and 4,000 factory workers. This accounts
for 4.2% of the active working population. The industry also indirectly supports another 100,000 persons. This
compares with direct employment of

ke

Crucial for export earnings

and employment, the sugar
industries of Fiji, Guyana,
and Jamaica are facing hard
times. Nevertheless, there is
life still in the old soul of
sugar, but it needs
investment.

The last sweet dance?

Small islands development

Between the sky

and the sea
Photo Periscoop

The economies of ACP island States, just as all other ACP States, depend largely on
trading agreements with Europe and other Northern countries. Their economic
vulnerability is compounded by their isolation, minuscule areas of available land,
limited domestic market, lack of proper transport infrastructure, and, for many,
vagaries of the climate. Island States in the ACP Group are buffeted by the gales of
globalisation and the winds of change raised by the renegotiation of the Lom
Convention, which is apparently the only counterbalance available to the governments of these
countries. Such is their plight that they are forced to look for alternative strategies and crops.
For some, time has ground to a halt; for others, change is at hand.

he Lom Convention confers privileges on the small ACP islands, but

the future of the commercial
aspects of the agreement is uncertain. The
joint dialogue between the ACP States
and the European Union has counterbalanced the game played by national interests. The common identity provided by
the ACP grouping thus serves as a springboard to the wider international stage. All
the same, each island is faced with the
same imperative to diversify without losing more time.

People power in So Tom

and Principe
Increasing poverty in the country has led
to a mushrooming of small community
associations set up by women over the
past decade especially in rural areas. Some
associations support small farmers for
improving production techniques and
marketing. Others focus on sanitation services, housing improvement, and provision of social services (there is no social
security system in the country and no selfhelp organisation).

Diversified agriculture,
or a fishing miracle?

Barbados is often quoted as a success

story within the ACP Group. Its economy
is based essentially on sugar and tourism.
The importance given to education lies
behind its success. It has long been a feature of government policy to give budget
priority to health and education, whilst
promoting tourism through careful use of
the countrys natural resources (sea, sun).
It also has a long tradition of political stability, cautious financial management,
and low crime rates.

Photo Alain Rival

Take Mauritius. It built its development on the preferential access granted

to its major crop, sugarcane, to the European market through the sugar protocol
in the Lom Convention. Its profits were
invested in tourism and an industrial free
zone, which, in turn, benefited from the
Multifibre Agreement. Under the Agreement, the islands textile products were
given preferential access to the European
and American markets. The results are
impressive: continued growth above 5%
for more than a decade, a fourfold
increase in per capita gross national product since 1970, and high employment.
Some may have suffered from such development, but then they have benefited
from free access to education and healthcare.
However, such growth does not obviate the need for Mauritius to diversify
into different sectors. In anticipation of
an expected loss of export earnings from
sugarcanewhich today occupies 90% of
arable land and represents 6% of
GDPsome plantations have already
diversified into horticulture (cabbages,

Barbados, the favoured

favourite?

carrots, ginger, strawberries, and papaya).

This option holds little long-term
promise though, and most producers seek
to increase the use of sugarcane by-products, in particular bagasse (crushed cane
fibres), which is used in electricity generation stations.
Sometimes there is little future in agricultural diversification and here fisheries
can offer a promising alternative. In the
Seychelles, for example, high hopes are
based on the development of fisheries and
the canning industry. Some observers
believe that this sector could outgrow
tourism in terms of both revenue and
employment. The Heinz multinational
company, which took a 60-percent stake in
the Indian Ocean Cannery (now renamed
Indian Ocean Tuna), has raised annual production of canned tuna to 160 t (compared
with 58 t in 1997). It currently employs
1200 people and is expected to recruit
another 800 by the year 2000.
The promise of
the blue seas

At the time of independence in 1975,

So Tom and Principe inherited an economy based exclusively on a single crop:
cocoa. Nowadays, a few tonnes of coffee
are exported, but other products such as
banana, pineapple, and palm oil are sold
only on the local market. Agriculture is
still the lung of the economy but it cannot always meet the food needs of the
population. The country is on the verge
of bankruptcy as a result of a drop in
cocoa production. That has three major
causes: first, a land reform programme,
Enterprising Mauritius has turned
its island isolation into a key asset,
but can others follow?

Photo F Stock - Sunset

Small islands development

Four barriers
to development
Apart from natural disasters, which hit
the land and economies of some islands,
most are exposed to four main handicaps:
monoculture of an export crop
economic growth hindered by a small,
fragmented home market
geographic isolation
poor infrastructure

No island is an island,
just the land above
a changing waterline,
as here in the Bahamas

which led to widespread deforestation

with a devastating impact on cocoa cultivation; second, the privatisation and redistribution of land to an ill-prepared
population; and third, the lack of funds
and equipment. So Tom and Principe
have now placed their hopes on two solutions to bring them, as it were, into safer
waters: petroleum in the Gulf of Guinea
and a free trade zone.
Gold has another colour in other island
States, renowned for being holiday paradises. If tourism is properly controlled
and its use of land does not harm farming, it can become the mainstay of an
island economy. This is the case in the
Seychelles, where tourism generates 70%
of foreign exchange earnings and 17% of
GDP. The island could achieve this only
through political stability and a strategy
for establishing the necessary infrastructure (international airport, hotels). Other
islands suffer from internal conflicts,
which totally rule out the possibility of
any sustainable returns from an investment in tourism. On the other hand, the
fall in the number of visitors suffered by
the Seychelles during the Gulf conflict
clearly shows the risks of an excessive
dependence on tourism.

of a small category of products that benefit from lower transport costs and strong
demand from other regions. The Lom
Convention already caters for support to
such intra-ACP trading; one logical step
might be to extend it to trade with other
neighbouring. There are, however, several roadblocks, which have to be removed
on the way to diversified products and
markets through interregional and international trade, and tourism. They include
customs barriers, lack of information,
and, above all, poor infrastructure. In
this, most ACP islands share the same
problem. Sound infrastructure is a precondition for development (see Spore 76).
But in the islands, airport services are not

For further reading

Pacific ACP States and the end of the Lom
Convention.
R Grynbert. 1996. 34pp. ISBN 3 86077 593 6
Free from : Friedrich Ebert Foundation,
Godesberger Allee 149, 53170 Bonn, Germany
Fax: +49 228 883 396
Email: presse@fes.de
Small islands development network (SIDNet)
Website: http://sids.org

Fleets in a sorry state

The growing exchange of manufactured goods between small islands and other developing
countries is hindered by infrastructure problems, notably inadequate harbour facilities, high
shipping costs, and insufficient cargo volumes to attract lower freight charges from the large
shipping companies. As a result, the share of transport costs weighs heavily on the import
bill: 6% in the Bahamas, 16% in the Solomon Islands. The average in industrialised countries
is 4.5%.
The use of flags of convenience in certain island States, notably Bermuda and the Bahamas,
gives a false impression of the nature of their shipping fleets. In fact, three-quarters of the
ships weighing more than 100 t belong to foreign owners and carry cargoes that do not
affect the islands (bulk container and bulk petroleum carriers). The useful fleet (small
mixed cargo boats of less than 100 t) is an important component of the economy of the Maldives, the Caribbean islands, and Papua New Guinea. It remains small, however, both in absolute terms and in relation to needs. It is in bad condition, partly because of age (three-quarters of the fleet is older than 15 years) and partly because of the lack of ship repair facilities.

Diversify exports

Source: United Nations, Economic and Social Council, Maritime

transport in small island developing states, 1996.

Photo Motte - Sunset

New opportunities exist for ACP island

States to sell their primary products to
countries with more growth potential
than Europe; for this they need to diversify their products and exports and markets. The rise in regional trade within
Africa and in the Caribbean could be a
favourable development. Not that
approaches to encourage intra-ACP trade
are an alternative to exports to Europe
and the rest of the world, but simply a
complement. Trade within the ACP
Group is just as viable as exports to
Europe or elsewhere, with the exception

reliable (poor flight frequency and inadequate safety of goods and passengers), nor
do they have any competitive advantage
to become profitable, either in trade or
in tourism. The distance between the
islands and the continents is long; much
remains to be done to bridge it.

SPORE 81

PAGE 5

In brief
Organic agriculture opens
up new markets, says FAO

Bananas need better figures

Growing consumer demand

offers new opportunities for
countries exporting organic
agricultural produce, the
Agriculture Committee of the
FAO observed at its meeting on
26 January 1999. Its report
asserts that income generated
from organic agriculture is likely
to significantly increase farmers
earnings, and ensure food
security, adding that many
countries are already exporting
organic tropical fruits and
natural cotton to Europe.

The same FAO Committee

acknowledged the value of
biotechnologies in plant tissue
culture, improved genetic
selection, conservation of
threatened species, and
cultivation of marginal lands.
However, the committee
stressed that agricultural
problems are interdisciplinary in
nature, and biotechnology
cannot alone be expected to
solve them. Moreover, it
observed, such research is
generally more onerous than
classical research.
FAO
Viale delle Terme di Caracalla
00100 Rome, Italy
Fax: +39 06 5705 3360

Swine fever: half the pig

population decimated in
Madagascar
Malagasy pig farmers met at the
end of January 1999 to discuss
possible measures to revive their
sector, which has been
devastated by the epizootic of
swine fever currently ravaging
the country and causing losses
of Malagasy francs 150 billion
(about E23 million). The State
does not have the resources to
compensate the farmers for
slaughtering their livestock, and
consumers are steering clear of
pork, causing prices to plummet.

but resistance found in

Mozambique
Researchers in South Africa have
been striving to produce a
vaccine against swine fever for
the past 40 years. The
Agricultural Research Council
and the Onderstepoort
Veterinary Institute are working
on breeding of a tolerant
species based on resistance
observed in certain animals.
They are focusing on the
Angonia region, in Mozambique
near the border with Malawi,
where the endemic persistence
of swine fever raises the
likelihood of finding a group of
animals with resistance acquired
through natural selection.

Photo CTA

Biotechnologies demand
caution, observes FAO
again

More information is needed about

the many uses of the plant, the
strong and weak points of the
banana sector, and its economic
value. With better information,
research could be oriented more
towards meeting the needs of the
consumer, with particular focus on
transport, marketing, and development of by-products.

First find your niche market

The need to improve the position of the banana and plantain

industry in ACP economies was the
focus of an international conference
held in November 1998 in Douala,
Cameroon. The host country is a
fine example of how central these
crops are to the economies of some
countries, where large areas of the
national territory are devoted to
plantain cultivation and where
almost 90% of the output is consumed locally.
The conference underscored how
the range of banana by-products
(see Spore 74) continues to grow as

researchers find new uses, ranging

from shampoo to paper. It also
stressed that the key role of banana
and plantain in food security in
many countries merited wider
recognition.
More than 150 researchers from
the ACP countries, Latin America,
and Asia attended the conference,
making it a vibrant forum of ideas
and experiences on improving cultivation, processing, and marketing.
Indeed, the benefits of these
exchangesbetween countries from
Thailand to Trinidadwere reflected in the main recommendations.

Long-term affairs
Finding ways of sustaining interest in community initiatives is a
question faced daily by thousands of
groups involved in agricultural and
rural development. Often, after an
initial surge of activity and success,
they find that energy drops, interest
fades, and funds run out.
Not so with the Set Setal group of
women in This, Senegal, whose
work on the collection and management of household waste recently
won them the Grand Prix from the
President of Senegal. Set Setal, which
means be clean, make clean in
Wolof, aims to improve local hygiene
by collecting much of the 65% of
household waste that is not gathered
by local authorities. Using small carts
bought with a start-up grant from
the United Nations Development
Programme, Set Setal teams take the
waste to a composting site, which
supplies local farmers and a nursery
(annual output of 12,000 trees).
SPORE 81

Set Setals 30 employees and

almost 1000 member households all
strive to ensure the sustainability of
their initiative. Their daily operational costs are covered by the
monthly rental of CFA francs 750
paid by members for a rubbish bin.
The fact that all financial transactions are managed by women is a
guarantee that payments are made.
The group plans to increase its
income through market gardening
and by operating a telecentre (see
Spore 79) so that it can create more
capital for expanding its services to
the whole city.
Set Setal also devotes much
effort to monitoring, staff support
and training in financial management and planning.
For further information
Centre ressource pour une
agriculture rgnratrice
BP A 237
This, Senegal
Fax: +221 511 670

PAGE 6

The Doula conference helped the

banana community focus its efforts
more effectively and encouraged it
to obtain, to share, and to use
improved data on this important
crop. The conference was organised
jointly by the International Network for the Improvement of
Banana and Plantain (INIBAP), the
Cameroon regional research centre
CRBP, the French centre for development-oriented
agricultural
research CIRAD, FAO, French
Development Cooperation, the
European Union, and CTA.
In response to the recommendation that more attention should be
paid to the organic banana and its
market potential, CABI Biosciences
and CTA will organise a seminiar in
the Caribbean in November 1999,
on Production and Marketing of
Organic Bananas Produced by
Smallholder Farmers.

Off to
the fair
Two international fairs on agriculture and animal resources will
be held in West Africa soon. SARA
(for the Salon international de l'agriculture et des ressources animales) will be held by the Ministry
of Agriculture in Abidjan (Cte
dIvoire) from 12 to 19 November
1999. From 8 to 18 December, the
FIARA 99 fair will be organised in
Dakar by the federation of farmers
associations (CNCR) and the association of rural council chairmen
(APCR).
Comit SARA'99
Ministre de l'Agriculture
et des Ressources animales
BP V 82 Abidjan
Cte dIvoire
Fax : +225 21 19 93 / 21 46 18
FIARA 99
c/o CNCR, BP 249, Dakar RP
Dakar, Senegal
Fax: + 221 827 4101
Email: cncr@metissacana.sn

 In brief
Local seed shortages
addressed

Getting womens news into print

Opening up African publishing
to women was the theme of a series
of workshops held from 28 to 30
March 1998 during the London
International Book Fair in the United Kingdom. The workshops were
sponsored by the Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF) and the
Southern African Book Development Education Trust. They covered
policy issues that are favourableor
unfavourableto women entering
publishing; case studies of successful situations were also presented.
CTA has long accompanied the
development of the African publishing sector in its efforts to improve
the accessibility of technical information in agriculture and rural
development. Given the importance
of gender issues in agriculture, more
attention needs to be paid not only
to women on the farm, but to
women at the press. The theme of
the 1999 ZIBF (31 July7 August
1999, Harare) will be Women and
Environment, and the focus country this time is South Africa.

For further information

Zimbabwe International
Book Fair
PO Box CY 1179,
Causeway
Harare, Zimbabwe
Fax: +263 4 702 129
Email: zibf@samara.co.zw

A KenyanGerman seed
programme is improving
farmers access to seeds in
Kenyas Mwingi District. Poor
infrastructure and recurrent
seed and food shortages
encouraged the German agency
for technical cooperation GTZ
to introduce a new scheme.
Through this scheme, selected
farmers are given the
responsibility of producing
quality seeds in bulk to ensure
sufficient supplies.

For further reading

Promoting technical
publishing in Africa.
Seminar proceedings, Arnhem,
Netherlands, 1992. CTA. 1994.
130 pp. ISBN 92 9081 103X
CTA No 638,
10 credit points

Safou network grows

Safou (Dacryodes edulis) is one
of the most widely used fruit trees
in western and central Africa,
within the Sierra LeoneGreat
LakesAngola triangle. It is an
important source of nutrition and
income for many farmers. During
the past 15 years, considerable
research has been conducted on
new varieties that can meet the
demands of the growing subregional market.
An informal grouping of
researchers, extension workers,
growers, and traders has now
grown into a formal bilingual net-

GTZ/IESP, P Croll
PO Box 41607, Nairobi, Kenya
Fax: +254 2 57 50 89 or 56 26 70
Email: gtz-kenia@ke.gtz.de

work known as the African Safou

Network (ASANET) and Rseau
Safou in French. Early in 1999,
it launched its first network
newsletter and its website
(www.refer.org/camer_ct/rec/safou
tier/bull.htm). ASANET is a good
example of a network that has,
with time and patience, reached
maturity, just like a fruit tree.

Training on integrated
conservation and
development
826 November 1999
This 3-week course focuses on
planning and implementing
ICDPs (integrated conservation
and development programmes)
in and around protected areas.
It serves as an introduction to
strategies for community-based
natural resource management.

Dr Kengue Joseph
Executive Secretary, ASANET
BP 2067
Yaound
Cameroon
Fax: +237 237 571
Email: irad@camnet.cm

Farmer-led extension
22 November10 December
1999
The course is designed for rural
development extension
managers and officers.
Participants will review and
present various approaches in
agricultural extension and
analyse them from the
perspectives of both farmers
and development workers.
Strategies and methods used in
farmer-led extension will be
examined to develop field
validated and recommended
strategies.

Weevils tame unruly hyacinth

Photo Periscoop

The participation fee for each

course is $1200 (e 1115.10) plus
$800 (e 743.50) for room and
food

Where theres a weed...

A new control methodology

that uses weevils has resulted in a
near 80% reduction of the notorious water hyacinth, Eichornia crassipes, in Uganda. As weevil damage
reduces leaf area and root length,
the affected plants cannot grow or
produce new plants.
Water hyacinth has been labelled
the worlds worst aquatic weed
because of its detrimental effects.
Floating in enormous mats, the
weed chokes canals and harbours,
blocks water intakes for hydropow-

er plants and urban water supply,

makes fishing virtually impossible,
and provides a breeding ground for
the vectors of such diseases as
malaria and bilharzia.
In eastern Africa, water hyacinth
was first reported as a serious nuisance in the late 1980s. Initial
attempts in Uganda to control the
weed by physical eradication failed.
In 1993, Ugandas National Agricultural Research Organisation
(NARO) started trials with Neochetina weevils, the hyacinths natSPORE 81

ural enemies. Neochetina bruchi

and Neochetina eichorniae were
imported from Benin, and mass
reared in tanks on the shores of
Lake Kyoga and Lake Victoria.
Periodically, adult weevils were
released by fishermen, who played
a key role in the rapid distribution
of the weevils in the lakes.
Professor J K Mukiibi
NARO
PO Box 295, Entebbe, Uganda
Fax: +256 41 321 070
Email: narohq@imul.com

PAGE 7

Education and Training

Department
International Institute of Rural
Reconstruction
Silang 4118, Cavite, Philippines
Fax: +63 46 414 2420
Email: etd-iirr@cav.pworld.net.ph

A new web for spiders

More than 150,000 references
on entomology and
arthropodology from three
existing databases are now
collected together on a new
website. The original features
of the CABI and BIOSIS
databases have been retained,
but you can also search across
them for all kinds of
information on spiders,
centipedes, and woodlice, and
what their implications for
agriculture.
Website: www.biobridge.org

In brief
The International Association
of Agricultural Information
Specialists (IAALD) will hold
its 10th world congress - its
first in Africa - in Dakar,
Senegal, 24-28 January 2000
on Challenges Facing the
Community of Agricultural
Information Professionals in
the Third Millennium.
Djibril NDiaye, Centre de Suivi
Ecologique, BP 15532 Dakar,
Senegal.
Email: djibril@cse.sn
Website:
http://www.lib.montana.edu/
~alijk/IAALD.html

Pesticides: children at
risk!
In Benin, a study on pesticide
users showed that more than
three-quarters are young
people, who do not yet know
the nature of the products
they are using, nor the
content of the instructions on
the labels. In fact, almost half
the farmers in Benin take
useless precautions and
virtually all pesticide
containers end up being reused in the household.
Reason enough for a
programme of information
and awareness building, as
well as training of trainers in
rural areas.

Cora and Frank hit

Pacific
Many Kanak communities on
the island of New Caledonia
lost their crops when tropical
depression Frank turned into
a cyclone for a few hours in
late February 1999. The rains
and floods destroyed banana,
cassava, and yam plantations.
In early March, cyclone Cora
hit Tonga, causing
considerable damage to
crops. Seeds, fertiliser, and
agricultural equipment were
provided to assist especially
the people of the central
Haapai island group of
Tonga.

Trading organic products

Healthier cassava: wealthier farmers?

The National Agricultural
Research Organisation (NARO) of
Uganda has developed a cassava
variety that is resistant to the Ugandan variant of cassava mosaic disease.
The disease broke out in 1988 in
the Luwero district in northern
Uganda and rapidly spread across
the whole country. By 1994, cassava production had fallen from
1,230,000 t to 970,000 t. Farmers
abandoned cassava cultivation on a
massive scale and started to grow
alternative crops such as sweet
potato and maize.
Initially the real cause of the epidemic remained unknown. The
virus was found to be different
from both the African and the East
African variants of the cassava
mosaic virus. Sources of resistance
were sought from the Tropical
Manihot Series of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
and the small quantities of
germplasm retrieved from the
Serere Research Station in Uganda.
Finally, a clone resistant to the
Ugandan variant was developed
from a local female parent and an
improved male parent.

released to farmers. By 1998, the

new cassava varieties were being
grown in the districts most affected by the disease. Yields were
between 100% and 300% higher
compared with local varieties: sufficient to cause a glut in cassava
markets and push down prices.
Only a few years earlier, the disease
had led to famine in parts of the
country.

For further information

Professor J K Mukiibi
NARO
PO Box 295, Entebbe
Uganda
Fax: +256 41 321 070
Email: narohq@imul.com
For further reading
Controlling African cassava
mosaic disease
J Guthrie, 1990, 20 pp.,
CTA No 266,
ISBN 92 9081 073 4
5 credit points

Paw-paws airborne again?

The new cassava variety yields

up to 24 t/ha; it is sweet, has a low
cyanogenic potential, and exhibits
good resistance to bacterial blight
and the cassava green mite. It has
shown no symptoms of any mosaic
disease.

The Cte-dIvoire programme

for promoting nontraditional
exports forecasts that exports of
papaya (paw-paw) are set to double,
rising from 225 t in 1998 to 500 t
in 1999, thanks to cheap cargo
charter flights between Yamassoukro and Oostende (Belgium).
Not enough papaya is grown in

Since then, several new mosaicresistant varieties with even higher

yields have been developed and

Cte-dIvoire to make exports via

the sea route cost-effective. Hitherto, the high freight rates charged by
major air carriers such as Air France
or Air Afrique have put exports out
of reach for small operators. As a
result, papaya exports fell to virtually zero in 1994. Now they have
taken off again.

Biopesticides: a good recipe from Niger

Photo Dr Barbike Bourahima Gabdakoye

The International Federation

of Organic Agriculture
Movements (IFOAM) joins its
Italian partner SANA, an
organiser of trade fairs for
natural foods, health, and the
environment, to hold an
international conference in
Florence, Italy, from 20 to 23
October 1999. The conference
will focus on the promotion
and quality of organic
products.
IFOAM Head Office
kozentrum Imsbach
D-66636 Tholey-Theley,
Germany
Fax: +49 6853 30110
Email: IFOAM@t-online.de
Website: www.ecoweb.dk/ifoam

Photo IRD

IAALD meets in Dakar

There is good news about

biopesticide studies at the national
institute for agricultural research
INRAN, Niger. At a time when
artificial pesticides are moving outside the reach of most farmers,
SPORE 81

INRANs researchers have demonstrated that effective biopesticides

can be produced from local plant
and mineral resources, at considerably lower cost. They estimate that
the price of a litre of biopesticide
can be two to four times lower than
that of chemical pesticides.
Five formulas based on plant
materials were developed, mainly
from seeds of neem, 50,000 t of
which are harvested annually in
Niger. INRANs results were
encouraging enough to launch a
project for further R&D. The
PROBIOPEC project was started

PAGE 8

in March 1999 and will be completed in February 2001, with a

total budget of e 175,000.
INRAN is the lead agency in the
project, and it works in partnership
with local private bodies, farmers
associations, and development
organisations. A biopesticide production unit is also planned, subject to a feasibility study; it will
have a potential capacity of
5001000 litres annually.
Dr Barbike Bourahima Gabdakoye
INRAN
BP 429, Niamey, Niger
Fax: +227 72 21 44
Email: iran@intnet.ne

 In brief

Major role for

minor seeds
Smallholders play a key role in
sustaining seed supply systems,
alongside the formal seed sector.
This is one of the observations
made during a 12-day study visit of
seed experts and smallholder seed
growers to Zimbabwe in February
1999. Organised by CTA, in
collaboration with the Zimbabwean
Ministry of Lands and Agriculture,
the visit gave the 18 visitors from
Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique,
South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda,
Zambia, and other parts of
Zimbabwe a chance to acquaint
themselves with the many aspects of
seed supply in the host country.
In Zimbabwe, the formal sector
ensures
seed
security
for
commercial crops of maize,
soybean, and wheat; it even exports
seeds to regional markets. However,
many communal farmers cultivate
small marginal plots unsuited to
these crops. They often grow

Managing dryland forests

Exchange rates wreck

fish industry

In the Sahel, the increasing use

of dryland forests for fuelwood,
fodder, wildlife, and game adds
more pressure to this diminishing
resource. Yet the forests play a vital
role in fragile local ecologies, a fact
recognised by local communities,
for whom the forests are sacred.
The issue of managing dryland
forests offers models of partnership
between local people and government (see Spore 79, Viewpoint),
but it can sometimes be a point of
conflict between different interests.
How to resolveor, better still,
avoidthese conflicts was the
theme of an international symposium on the integrated management of natural forests in the arid
areas of western Africa, held in
November 1998 in Ouagadougou,
Burkina Faso. It was jointly organised by CTA; the national centre
for scientific and technical research
CNRST; SIDA, SUAS and the

The monetary depreciation in

Asia is causing problems for
the Senegalese tuna fish
industry. Tuna from Thailand is
now 10% cheaper on
European markets than
Senegalese tuna. In October
1998, three Senegalese fish
canneries announced their
closure on losing their
traditional markets.

University of Uppsala (Sweden);

and CIRAD (France).
The 60 participants, from
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon,
Chad, Cte-dIvoire, France, Mali,
Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Sweden, Tanzania, and Togo recommended the development of better
tools for analysing and managing
dryland forests, based on a better
understanding of ecological and
socioeconomic factors. The tendency of foresters and researchers
to prescribe solutions and protective measures without consultation
was disapproved. The final recommendations urged a change of
mentality, which, however, is
evolving as new notions entering
the everyday language of the dryland forester: taxation measures,
participation, social dimension,
mediation, and negotiation, to
name but a few.

Photo CTA

Oh, that cocoa juice!

Strength in numbers

subsistence crops such as millet,

sorghum, cowpea, and openpollinated varieties of maize. For
them, the tried and tested source is
the informal sector, which supplies
seeds for 90% of the crops in
Zimbabwe and sometimes close to
100% of the crops in the countries
of the visiting group.
A more encouraging attitude
towards the informal sector on the
part of policy and financial bodies
would allow better organisation and
bring more resources. The group
felt that with this support, the community and smallholder groups
could play a key role in seed multiplication, storage and distribution:
a message that will be sown far and
wide after the study visit.

Heres yet another way to get

more by-products out of cocoa.
Did you know that from the pulp
of the fruit you could make delicious refreshing drinks, jam, jellies,
wine, and vinegar? This can be a
way to make some more money
during the cocoa harvest without
any large investment.
This method for making fresh
cocoa juice was developed by
womens groups in the Dominican
Republic in the Caribbean. After
harvesting, they open the pods and
put the bean and pulp in jute
sacks, which they twist to extract
the juice. They then filter and bottle the juice, adding water (one
measure of water for each measure
of juice), a small cupful of sugar,

and the juice of a lemon. But the

fresh juice with its sugar content
cannot be kept long in the tropical
climate. To pasteurise the juice, the
women first pour it into clean,
washed bottles (still warm) and
close them immediately. They then
place the bottles in a bain-marie,
which is a container of water that
is kept hot by placing it in another
container of almost boiling water
(7080 C, measured with a thermometer). It takes about 20 minutes to pasteurise a bottle of
7501000 ml.
Siaka Kon Beratung
Friedhofstrae 27
06469 Nachterstedt,
Germany
Fax : +49 34 74 17 04 93

Come RAIN, come shine

Nineteen networks operating
in the member states of the
Association for Strengthening
Agricultural Research in
Eastern and Central Africa
(ASARECA) came together in
Entebbe, Uganda, in early
February 1999 for an
encounter with a team of
consultants engaged by the
European Union to advise on
future EU funding to the
network bodies.
The 19 networks share and
disseminate information on
specific crop and animal
research. CTA has a particular
interest in the network of
networks, the Regional
Agricultural Information
Network (RAIN), which will
provide this enabling function.
Representatives of national
agricultural research
organisations and
international agencies also
attended the meeting. The
findings of the consultants
(from CIRAD, France; GTZ,
Germany; and NRI, UK) are due
to be finalised by July 1999.

Bananas to everyones
liking
After the introduction of the
Kimalindi banana variety and
the revival of the Taveta
Banana Co-operative Society in
1995, banana has become the
main cash crop in the Taveta
subdistrict of southern Kenya.
The cooperative was
particularly useful in
organising the transportation
of the produce to Mombassas
Kongowea market. The
bananas are now in high
demand and fetch good prices.

Abundance in the north,

shortage in the south

Squeeze the sacks

hard to add value

Illustrations Siaka Kon Beratung

For further reading

Seed supply systems in
developing countries.
N P Louwaars and
G A M Marrewijk
1996. 144 pp. ISBN 92 90811471
CTAAgricultural University
Wageningen
CTA No. 768, 20 credit points

SPORE 81

PAGE 9

A record cereal harvest is

expected in northern Sudan this
year, thanks to good
distribution and quantities of
rain, timely availability of
inputs, and the relative absence
of pests and diseases. The
harvest is estimated at 6.5
million t, of which 75% is
sorghum. Despite the surplus,
2.4 million people in southern
Sudan still depend heavily on
emergency food aid, a situation
aggravated by civil war.

Links

TPA network for

small food processors

he TPA network for

technologies and partnership in food processing was set up in 1988 by individuals involved in the
development of food processing
in the South. It is run by a network secretariat based at
GRET, the French research and
technology exchange group.
The network promotes awareness of small-scale food processing technologies and the
exchange of information and
knowledge between those concerned: entrepreneurs, support
and advisory services, teachers,
people working on R&D of
equipment. In 1994, TPA
extended its operations to
include small enterprises.
The
network
operates
throughout Africa (Angola,
Burundi, Ghana, Kenya,
Rwanda, South Africa), and its
members are groups, enterprises and individuals involved in

research and training, food processing, marketing, and cooperation.

A bulletin is produced every
6 months, at present only in
French. Its four sections concern production, selling, investment, and innovation. They
follow selected themes such as
babyfoods or packaging, on
which they give technical and
financial information, including case studies. Another publication, a network members
newsletter, again only in French
at present, started in February
1999 on a quarterly schedule.
Its news pages cover topical
subjects, new books, seminars,
training courses, and trade fairs.
It also describes various Websites on food processing (small
enterprises, products, equipment, and subsectors).
For the past year, the technical secretariat has been operating a question-and-answer ser-

vice on such items as packaging, marketing, product processing, and market outlets, as
well as organisations providing
technical assistance and support
in project design. TPA also has
a Website, with links to information by subject and by product as well as to related sites.
Another aspect of TPAs networking activities is the develFor further information
TPA Network, c/o GRET
211-213, rue La Fayette
75010 Paris, France
Fax: +33 1 40 05 61 10
Email: tpa@gret.org
Website: www.gret.org/tpa
National network points
Benin
Rseau TPA, c/o Maison Abel Assi
Carr 573, Quartier Akpakpa
Cotonou, Benin
Email: zasatch@hotmail.com
Madagascar
c/o Vincent Durruty and Hary Lala
Rakotonaivo

opment of national network

points. At present there are
three, in Benin, Madagascar,
and Senegal. Each network
point collects information on
food processing in the country
and circulates it within the network.
Like all active networks, TPA
depends mainly on the voluntary input of its members.
CITE (Centre dinformation technique
et conomique)
BP 74, Ambatonakanga
Antananarivo 101, Madagascar
Fax: +261 20 22 336 69
Email: cite@antana.orstom.mg
Website:
www.refer.mg/madag_ct/cop/cite/
base.htm
Senegal
Relais national TPA
c/o ENDA GRAF
BP 13069, Grand Yoff
Dakar, Senegal
Fax: +221 827 32 15
Email: graf@enda.sn
Website: www.metissacana.sn/tpasen

Abantu: people training people

bantu, a word meaning people in several

African languages, is
the focus and the key resource
of this 1990s style NGO.
Abantu for Development was
created in 1991 with the aim of
empowering the African people, women in particular, to
control and manage their own
resources and organisations. A
southern organisation with a
northern base, Abantu for
Development prides itself on
being a mould breaker.
The skills and network experience of Abantu for Development could be useful to many
Spore readers active in gender
issues and associated areas, particularly among the rapidly
growing number of local community, producer, and consumer
organisations related to agriculture and rural development.

Abantu for Development

provides training opportunities
through
a
participatory
approach in the areas of gender
and poverty, gender and conflict, gender and governance,
and gender and information
technology. Their interest in
information and communication technologies (ICTs) is
widely known, partly through
a key training programme on
strengthening the capacity of
womens organisations in ICT,
which was held in 1998 in
Nairobi, Kenya.
Publications available from
Abantu for Development
include a quarterly magazine
GAP Matters, where GAP
stands for gender and policies. It looks in particular at
the gap between rhetoric and
reality in the integration of
gender issues in all aspects of
SPORE 81

development. Other publications deal with the development of African womens

organisations in civil society
through the use of ICTs; effective communication and public relations strategies; and
African women and governance.
There is a growing awareness
in the agriculture and rural
development community of
the importance of making gender a mainstreamperhaps
even essentialtheme in agricultural strategies and practice.
An exposure to Abantu for
Development could provide
the encouragement and the
tools to genderise your institution. They will not sweep
you off your feet perhaps, since
Spore readers (7% of them
women, but growing) are
known to keep their feet on the

PAGE 10

ground. But Abantus people

promise you their skills, their
resources, and their motto:
Lifting others as we climb.
For further information
Abantu for Development
Main office
1 Winchester House,
11 Cranmer Road
London SW9 6EJ, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 171 820 0066
Fax: +44 171 820 0088
Email: people@abantu.org
Regional office for east and southern
Africa
PO Box 56241
Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: +254 2 570 343
Fax: +254 2 570 668
Email: abantu@africaonline.co.ke
Regional office for west Africa
POB 4
Independence Avenue,
1A Accra North
Accra, Ghana
Tel: +233 21 246 495
Fax: +233 21 246 496
Website: www.abantu.org

 Publications
Taming globalisation

Publications
Adding value to cereals, roots and tubers
pasta lies mainly in the urban markets, which need to be understood.
The study did much to orient CTA
down the road of market forces and
market information studies.

This report is the result of a

long-term CTA study on
the important position occupied by
storage and processing operations in
the commodity chain, from agricultural production to consumption.

This is a detailed overview

indeed, which giddily darts across
the continent from paragraph to
paragraph. It may leave the reader
gasping at the ease with which the
author assumes that a technology
or an experience can apparently
jump from country to country. But
for a researcher or commodity
chain analyst who is looking for a
descriptive narrative of the sector,
with references across the FrenchEnglish language divide, this study
report is a useful tool.

The study provides an overview

of existing technologies for cereals,
and roots and tubers in Africa and
identifies developments in the food
marketing chain with economic
potential for producers. The products covered by the study include
maize, millet and sorghum, rice, cassava, potato, sweet potato, and yam.
Many of the processing technologies described are household based.
The potential for processed foods
such as flour, grits, couscous, and

Adding value to cereals, roots and

tubers. Developments and
opportunities in small-scale enterprise
development in Africa.
D Bruinsma.
1999. ISBN 92 9081 2028. 101 pp.
CTA No 921, 10 credit points

Cassava : earning bread and butter

In recent years, the consumption
of leavened wheat bread has
increased sharply in many ACP
States. Because climatic factors

flour should take no longer than 24

hours.

restrict wheat cultivation, most

countries rely on expensive
imports. An alternative would be
to use cassava flour, but this lacks
the gluten which is essential for
leavening. Until recently, wheat
flour had to be added to cassava
flour to get a leavened loaf.

This illustrated and clearly written booklet also includes 19 recipes

for baked and fried cassava based
products.
New food products from cassava.
A Onabolu, A Abass & N Bokanga.
1998. 40 pp.
US$ 10 e 10 (plus US$ 5 e 5
postage)
International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture
PMB 5320, Oyo Road, Ibadan,
Nigeria
Fax: + 234 2 241 2221
Email: IITA@cgiar.org

New food products from cassava

describes a new method of making
cassava flour suitable for baking
leavened bread, stressing the
importance of the speed of drying
the mashed cassava mass. From
harvesting the roots till sieving the

Still available to subscribers!

Vanishing land and water: soil and
water conservation in dry lands.
1988. 128 pp. ISBN 0 333 44597.
CTA No 119, 20 credit points.

It is a daunting task to
improve agricultural productivity with due consideration
to environmental protection and
traditional practices. Hugues
Dupriez and Philippe De Leener
made an outstanding contribution to this challenge through
their five titles in the CTAMacmillan Land and Life series.

Agriculture in African rural

communities. 1988. 304 pp. ISBN 0
333 44595 3. CTA No 138, 40 credit
points.
African gardens and orchards: growing
vegetables and fruits. 1989. 334 pp.
ISBN 0 333 49076 2. CTA No 230,
40 credit points.

These well-illustrated self-instruction manuals focus on simple,

inexpensive technologies suited
to ACP countries and are particularly useful for extension workers,
teachers, and farmers groups.
Copies of these classics are still
available to PDS subscribers, so
dont hesitate to order them!

Ways of water: run-off, irrigation and

drainage. 1992. 392 pp. ISBN 0 333
57078 2. CTA No 344, 40 credit
points.
Trees and multistorey agriculture in
Africa. 1998. 280 pp. ISBN 92 9081
1781. CTA No 860, 40 credit points.

SPORE 81

PAGE 11

The process of
globalisation is high on
many peoples agendas, but
little work has been done
on its social costs; or on the
relationship between it, the
information society, and the
information superhighway;
or on the marginalisation of
people from the least
developed countries.
Development and the
information age covers all
these aspects, and draws on
the actual experiences and
opinions of people in Africa,
South Asia, Southeast Asia,
West Asia, and Latin
America. It explains whybut
not howglobalisation has
to be tamed, if its social
costs are to be minimised.
Development and the
information age.
IDRC. 1998. 65 pp.
ISBN 0 88936 851 1
Free from IDRC,
PO Box 8500, Ottawa, ON,
Canada KIG 3H9.

Geographical
Information Systems
and Remote Sensing as
Tools for Rural
Development in SubSaharan Africa
Proceedings of a
CTAITC seminar,
Enschede, The Netherlands,
2326 September 1997.
262 pp. ISBN 92 9081 1986
CTA No 908, 40 credit points

Caribbean newsletter
launched
PROCICARIBE, the
Caribbean agricultural
networking organisation,
published its first newsletter
in December 1998. The
organisation is an umbrella
of various regional thematic
and commodity networks
on, for instance, fruit, rice,
integrated pest
management,
biosystematics, and plant
genetic resources.
PROCICARIBE News is
published three times a year.
PROCICARIBE Secretariat
c/o CARDI, UWI Campus,
St Augustine, Trinidad.
Fax: +1 868 645 1208
Email: procicaribe@cardi.org

The Cassava Chipping

Machine
GTZ Root and Tuber
Development Guides (1).
1998. 9 pp.
Available free in printed form
from Albert Bell, Section 4541,
GTZ, PO Box 5180,
D-65726 Eschborn, Germany.
Fax: +49 6196 79 11 15
Email: albert.bell@gtz.de
Website:
www.gtz.de/post_harvest

Publications

The journeys of current West

African crops

Assessing the Impact

of Information and
Communication
Management on
Institutional
Performance

baobab, and tamarind. Arab merchants introduced onion and

banana between the 8th and 14th
centuries; the Portuguese brought
cassava and maize to the African
shores during the 15th century.

Proceedings of a CTA
workshop,
Wageningen, The
Netherlands, 2729 January
1998.
1998. 111 pp. ISBN 92 9081
1994
CTA No 911, 10 credit points

The Informal Sector

and Economic Policy in
Sub-Saharan Africa
Proceedings of an AFRISTAT
seminar, Bamako,
1014 March 1997. Volumes
1 and 3.
AFRISTAT, PO Box 1600,
Bamako, Mali.
Fax: +223 22 11 40
Email: afristat@malinet.ml

Investment Strategies
for Agriculture and
Natural Resources
Investing in
Knowledge for
Development
Edited by GJ Persley
1998. 316 pp.
ISBN 0 85199 280 3
49.95 (e 81.80) $90
CABI Publishing, Wallingford,
Oxon OX10 8DE, UK.
Fax: +44 1491 833 508
Email: cabi@cabi.org

Reducing poverty
through agricultural
sector strategies in
eastern and southern
Africa
Summary report of
a workshop,
Wageningen,
the Netherlands,
23-25 November 1998.
EC and CTA, 1999. 56 pp.
ISBN 92 9081 2079
CTA No 924, 10 credit points

Gender Analysis and

Reform of Irrigation
Management.
Concepts, Cases, and
Gaps in Knowledge
Proceedings of the IWMI
workshop on Gender and
Water, Habarana, Sri
Lanka, 1519 September
1997.
Edited by D Merrey and S
Baviskar, International Water
Management Institute
1998. 268 pp.
ISBN 92 9090 367 8
$20 (e18.20) $10 (e 9.10)
for developing countries)
IWMI, PO Box 2075,
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Fax: +94 1 866 854
Email: n.fernando@cgiar.org

Ifeyironwa Smith describes the

origin of a wealth of West African
crops, some indigenous, others
introduced from elsewhere in
Africa, and some crops even from
other continents. In Foods of West
Africa, Smith relates when specific
foods were first found to exist in
Africa and provides crop-by-crop
details on production and usage.

Did you know that there was a

time when nobody in Africa had
ever eaten onions, maize, cassava,
or bananas? Nobody in Africa had
even ever heard of these crops. In
prehistoric times Africans relied on
plants like millet, rice, cowpea,

The book is a botanical and culinary journey, pleasantly peppered

with interesting trivia, pictures,
and colour drawings. She concludes with over 100 recipes of
West African foods. A book for
people who are interested in history and cooking, and who are fond
of good food.
Foods of West Africa. Their Origin
and Use
I F Smith. 1998. 262 pp. ISBN 0
9684255 0 x
US$30 (e27.80) (excl. postage)
16 Rhapsody Lane, Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada K1V 1B1.
Fax: +1 613 247 0578
Email: nosi.smith@sympatico.ca

Food security clarified

The main sections of the report
cover the evolving perceptions of
food security (see also Spore 77),
socio-economic development in
ACP countries and the role of the
agricultural sector in food security,
the new policy of the EC and the
ACP partners reaction to it. It presents a complex web of issues in a
clear and concise manner, and will
be of use to policy makers and decision takers in particular.

In the last quarter of 1997,

the European Commission
and CTA held a series of seminars
of food security specialists from
more than 20 ACP countries, international organisations and European bodies. The meetings brought
together senior civil servants and
representatives of regional organisations and NGOs from ACP countries, to discuss aspects of EU food
security reforms relating to specific
national and regional issues. This
co-publication presents the outcome
of the discussions and key recommendations of three seminars.

The ECs food security strategy and

the ACP countries
Seminar proceedings, Brussels,
Belgium, 1997

European Commission/CTA, 1998,

94pp.
ISBN 92 9081 1927
CTA No. 890, 10 CTA credit points

Simpler designs for irrigation distribution systems

Problems
with
irrigation
schemes in recent decades are often
attributed to managerial shortcomings. Most efforts to solve problems
are focused on improving the management or the capacity of water
users organisations.

farmers start to adjust the devices

themselves instead of leaving it to
the responsible caretakers.
Horst favours structures that
divide water discharges in proportion to the area of land that each
canal has to serve. If the total
amount of water decreases, everyone automatically gets proportionally less. This means that systems
are technically simpler and easier
to manage.

We should not forget the technical designs of the systems, says

Lucas Horst. In The Dilemmas of
Water Division, he looks back to
the past and compares the different
technical approaches of the former
colonial powers. The French were
keen on automated devices to distribute scarce water in irrigation
schemes in West Africa. The Dutch
designed structures to meet crop
water demand on their plantations
in Indonesia. Horst concludes that
these design criteria have hardly
changed since. Most irrigation
SPORE 81

systems still have adjustable structures to regulate water division

through the various canals and
tributaries. The designs look fine
on paper but in practice these networks can be difficult to handle
and are prone to, for instance, corruption. In times of water shortage,

PAGE 12

The Dilemmas of Water Division.

Considerations and Criteria for
Irrigation System Design
L Horst. 1999. International Water
Management InstituteWageningen
Agricultural University. 123 pp.
ISBN 92 9090 363 5
$40 (e36.40) $20 (e18.20) for
developing countries)
Publications Manager, IWMI,
PO Box 2075, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Fax: +94 1 866854
Email: n.fernando@cgiar.org

 Publications

Levelling the playing field?

The world is neither flat, nor
completely round, nor smooth.
One of the areas of greatest disparity between regions of the world
today, and for decades to come, is
in the creation, sharing, and storing of scientific knowledge. In the
field of biotechnology and development, the myth of One World
is not at all tenable, as facilities and
information are mostly concentrated in the North.
One leading player in biotechnology, the Novartis Foundation
for Sustainable Development
(NFSD), has stated that food
security in the developing countries must not come to depend on
surpluses from the industrialised
countries or, worse, food aid. The
same sense of justice prompts
many to argue that the distribution
of scientific knowledge and experience should also not be driven by
the laws of surplus or occasional
aid from North to South.
In Biotechnologies in developing
countries: present and future, Volume
2: International Cooperation, Albert
Sasson adds to the impact already
made by his first volume, published
in 1993. He emphasises that international cooperation is the only
way by which the world community will be able to share the benefitsand the responsibilitiesof
biotechnologies in development. It
is necessary, he says, to encourage
research and development, to train
specialists and technicians and promote collaboration between them,
and to adapt biotechnologies to
different social and economic settings.
A catalyst among international
institutions, Professor Sasson pre-

more evenly around the planet. As

electronic communication has now
really started to change the significance of distance, will there always
be a North, a South, and an
International? Perhaps what really
matters is cooperation, not the
location.

sents a detailed overview of the

major world bodies and research
centres involved in biotechnology.
Herein lies the most valuable
aspect of the volume: it not only
raises key issues, but is also an
annotated Whos Who? of
biotechnology. It is noteworthy
though, that despite the authors
visions, a possible flaw in the
approach to international cooperation is not discussed. Conventional progressive thinking assumes
that all creation and utilisation of
knowledge has to be distributed

Biotechnologies in developing
countries: present and future,
Volume 2: International Cooperation.
A Sasson. 1997. 764 pp.
ISBN 92 3 1034602 FFR 280 (e43)
Unesco Publishing
7 place de Fontenoy,
75007 Paris, France

Leaf through this book!

Publications on CTAs list are

available free-of-charge to PDS
subscribers. Subscribers can

Non-subscribers who wish to

join the scheme should write to
CTA for an application form.
Applications will be considered
from agricultural and rural
development organisations in
the ACP (Africa, Caribbean and
Pacific) Group of States; individuals resident in ACP countries
may also apply.

SPORE 81

Experiences in
Community-Based
Land-Use Management in
sub-Saharan Africa
Summary report of
a CTA seminar,
Bamako, Mali, 9-14
November 1998.

Animal Health and

Disease Investigation
for Stock Inspectors
and Animal Managers

working with tropical plants and

those involved in nutrition or agricultural development.
Edible Leaves of the Tropics. F Martin,
R Rubert, and L Meitzner. 1998. 194
pp. ISBN 0 9653360 1 8
$14.95 (e13.85) + $4 (e3.70 for
postage)
Educational Concerns for Hunger
Organisation (ECHO). 17430
Durrance Road, North Fort Meyers,
FL 33917 2239, USA.
Fax: +1 941 543 53 17
Email: echo@xc.org

The book describes several hundreds of familiar and exotic varieties, their origin, growth habit,
cultivation, nutritional value, multiple uses, and cautions. An
appendix lists over 1500 additional
species reported to have edible
leaves. A useful book for all those

order publications on CTAs list up

to the value of the credit points
available to them. Subscribers can
only request publications on the
order forms provided.

Edited by CL Delgado, J
Hopkins, and VA Kelly
IFPRI Research Report 107.
1998. 140 pp.
ISBN 0 89629 110 3
Single copies of IFPRI
publications are free of
charge.
International Food Policy
Research Institute, 2033 K
Street, NW, Washington, DC
20006-1002, USA.
Fax: +1 202 467 4439
Email: IFPRI-info@cgiar.org

CTA, 1999. 30 pp.

ISBN 92 9081 2036
CTA No 925, 5 credit points

Celery leaves in your soup, cabbage in the Caribbean, and young

cashew leaves, all have something in
common: they are all edible. There
are more species with edible foliage
than you ever had imagined. Edible
Leaves of the Tropics shows that
leaves providing high-quality food
are widely available. Apart from the
polar areas and perennial deserts,
edible plants grow everywhere on
earth. Many of them are known, but
a lot more are rarely eaten or not
even discovered as edible. Some are
poisonous if not cooked, some have
a strong taste and are only meant for
seasoning, and some are used for
colouring.

How to obtain these publications

The green leaf
symbol indicates
publications
that are on CTAs
list. Subscribers
to the Publications Distribution
Service (PDS) can obtain them
from CTA. All other publications,
indicated by an orange square,
are available from the publishers
listed, or through commercial
outlets, but not from CTA.

Agricultural Growth
Linkages in SubSaharan Africa

If you are not eligible for a free

subscription to the PDS, or if you
need publications beyond your
free credit allocation, you may
buy publications on CTAs list
from our commercial distributor:

Triops
Hinderburgstrasse 33
D-64295 Darmstadt
Germany
Fax: + 49 6151 314 048
Email: triops@triops.de
Website: http://www.triops.de

PAGE 13

B Cottam and J Berry

1998. 276 pp.
ISBN 0 7345 0013 0
Australian$30 (e17.60)
Department of Primary
Industries publications,
GPO Box 46, Brisbane
Q 4001, Australia.
Fax: +61 7 32 39 65 09
Email: books@dpi.qld.gov.au

Livestock development
policies in sub-Saharan
Africa
Summary report of
two CTA/OAU-IBAR
regional seminars. West and
Central Africa: Abidjan,
Cte dIvoire, 5-9 February
1996; East and Southern
Africa: Mbabane, Swaziland,
28 July 1 August 1997.
C Hoste. CTA, 1999. 27 pp.
ISBN 92 9081 2001
CTA No 919, 5 credit points

Tropical Agriculture
A double issue of Tropical
Agriculture, the journal of
the Faculty of Agriculture at
the University of the West
Indies (UWI) carries the full
proceedings of the 11th
symposium of the
International Society for
Tropical Root Crops (ISTRIC).
The symposium was
supported by CTA, the
International Potato Centre
(CIP-Lima) and DFID (UK).
Not available from CTA
Tropical Agriculture Journal,
UWI, St Augustine,
Trinidad and Tobago
Fax: +1 868 645 3640

Between us

Publications evaluation calls for more

ACP involvement

certain number of points according to

their capacity to use and share the information for their work, community, and
profession.
The average number of avalaible credit
points enables each subscriber to obtain
approximately 7 publications a year.
Heady figures maybe, but the evaluators had good reason to say that the
service is a smoothly-run, large-scale oper-

Here is a selection of readers

comments and questions from our
Mailbox:

Photo Louma Productions

recent evaluation of CTAs publishing programme calls for

greater involvement of ACP
authors and publishers in the Centres
work. Various steps were proposed and are
already being followed up: to increase
awareness among authors and publishers
of the support available from CTA, to
organise editing workshops, and to bulk
buy more copies of publications from

Mailbox

Star of stage and screen

Ahanda Nicaise thanks us for publishing news of her theatre group in the article All the Village is a Stage in Spore
78. She adds: I have some video cassettes
of our theatre workshop.

Twenty tonnes of books - and more than 150,000 copies of Spore are shipped each year by CTAs distributors, VADA in Wageningen

ACP publishers for distribution on

demand to CTAs subscribers.
Bulk purchases and other investments
in the publishing output of partner
organisations are key features of the copublishing programme. At present, CTA
distributes more than 60,000 publications on demand each year from its list
of more than 800 titles. Figures for the
month of March 1999 show that the
Publications Distribution Service has
22,741 subscribers, who sent in more
than 7000 requests for nearly 20,000
publications in the first quarter of 1999.
CTA responded to the requests within an
average of 16 working days. All the publications are paid for through the wellknown CTA system of credit points,
under which subscribers are given a

Contact
BP 6577
Yaound, Cameroon
Fax: +237 319 845
Email: Ahanda-59@yahoo.com

ation. They found that CTAs publishing

programme is definitely hitting the mark:
98% of the subscribers rate the content
of the publications as quite to very relevant, and 90% share it with others.
CTAs co-publishing partners confirmed
that the programme allows the publication of much agricultural information
that would not have been printed without CTA support because it would not
have attracted them on commercial
grounds. Respondents, 80% of whom
were involved in processes of development and innovation, mentioned the lack
of information as a bottleneck to their
work. Since books and magazines were
cited as their main sources of information, the evaluators concluded that CTAs
mission remains very relevant.

Guinea fowl
Mr E T Takagi, a project engineer with
MB Chiweshe Associates (PO Box 176
Gokwe, Zimbabwe), is looking for information on guinea fowl. Helmeted
guinea fowl, domesticated by Tonga people, run around the veld in the daytime,
come back to the homestead in the
evening, and spend the night on tree
branches. When attacked, they easily fly
up. They do not catch Newcastle disease.
But a hen only lays about 160 eggs a year,
from mid-October to the beginning of
April. If hens from other parts of the continent lay their eggs in other months and

Satisfied partners should tell their friends!

he hundreds of specialists, ranging

from farmers to research directors,
who attend events organised and
supported by CTA should do more to
share the information and experiences
they gain. This is a major conclusion of
an external evaluation of the Centres Specific Objective 1: to promote contact and
exchange of experience. The evaluation
was conducted throughout 1998 and covered the period 19941997. During that
time, CTA supported 289 events includ-

ing its own wholly-organised seminars, coseminars, third-party seminars, and study
visits. Of the beneficiaries, 42% came
from the research community, 20% from
planning, 12% from decision-making,
and the remaining from NGOs (25%),
community groups, and farmers (5%). All
beneficiaries expressed a high degree of
satisfaction and professional enrichment
as a result of their participation.
The evaluators commented mainly on
the need to make better use of the opporSPORE 81

PAGE 14

tunities these events provide for information exchange. Although most beneficiaries keep contact with new friends and colleagues they meet at the events, they could
do more to share information with their
community and peer group. The evaluators proposed that in future each participant should be asked to submit a proposal describing how they will share their
experiences after the event.
As described in CTAs latest Annual
Report, the 1998 programme to promote

 Between us
are brought here, people can enjoy their
eggs throughout the year. Those who
know the characteristics of these birds,
please inform us.

Horses for courses

Folly Sena Kpodar (BP 29, KplAdla, Togo) is looking for information
on rearing horses. I have recently started work at a cattle breeding farm, and I
want to expand into horse rearing. Could
you please put me in touch with horse
rearing farms, and invite Spore readers
specialised in this field to contact me.
Thanks for your help and all you are
doing for the rural world.

CTAs Annual Report

highlights poverty reduction

hilst economic growth

per se is a necessary
requirement for tackling
rural poverty, it is insufficient writes
Director Dr R D Cooke in his introduction to the 1998 CTA Annual Report.
Two other essential components of a
poverty focus are, he says, appropriate
policies and institutional development, if
there is to be any assurance that the poor
are integrated into market operations and
that relevant organisations and their services will address their needs.

Snails and mails

Recent correspondence (Spore 79)
about snail farming leads Ferdinand
Atangana Essomba of the Association
Terre source de vie (BP 1205, 11527
Yaound, Cameroon) to ask the address
of one of our leading snail men,
Lamartine Matthias. It is: Lamartine
Matthias Tottin, Elevage et Marachage,
Terre et Associs, BP 51, Godomey,
Cotonou, Benin.

A question of state
security?
Samuel Zeleke of Gambella, Ethiopia,
refers to the article on information and
communication technologies (ICTs), A
Remarkable Revolution (Spore 79). I
strongly support the idea that privatisation plays a great role in ICTs progress.
However, I doubt whether attention is
given to privatisation in most ACP states,
especially in Africa, where telecommunications are under state control. Native
individuals or especially foreigners who
have huge amounts of capital are not
allowed to invest for the sake of national
security. This restriction of investment is
a hindrance to ICTs spreading in Africa.
Governments must revise their investment policies, otherwise it will take time
to get what we expect from ICTs.

contact and exchange of experience

encompassed 57 events, attended by more
than 1300 participants: 3 own seminars
with 150 participants, 10 co-seminars
with more than 850, a study visit with 16,
and 43 third-party seminars (two-thirds
in ACP countries) attended by 276 CTAsupported specialists. The most noticeable
shift is that whereas in only 7% of the participants were women, in 1998 the figure
rose to 18%. A marked improvement, but
still some way to go!

partners, and (2) providing information

on demand. The second Wider Objective
is to strengthen ACP capacity to manage
information and communication, through
its specific objectives of (3) strengthening
information facilities and capacities of
ACP partners, and (4) developing strategies for improving agricultural information services.
The power behind the thrusts is also
made abundantly clear by placing the
Centres work in the context of efforts to
combat poverty. The message is reinforced
in the special guest paper on agricultural
development and poverty in Africa contributed by Dr Simon Maxwell, Director
of the Overseas Development Institute,
United Kingdom, which is included in the
Report.
CTA Annual Report 1998
1999. 102 pp. ISBN 92 9081 2087, No CTA 934
Available free of charge on request from CTA.
The special paper Agricultural Development and
Poverty in Africa by S Maxwell is also available
free of charge as a separate publication.
16 pp., No CTA 936

The Report reviews the work of the

Centre in strengthening the capacity of its
ACP partners through improved information and communication management,
with an emphasis on dealing with weaknesses in services intended to promote the
incomes and competitiveness of smallholder farmers.
The 102-page Report gives details of the
seminars and training programmes that
CTA organised and supported during the
year, the publications and co-publications
it produced, and the website it developed,
the growing number of women involved
in CTA work, the policy issues it examined with partners in ACP and EU countries for strengthening information activities and the major themes it addressed
during the year such as poverty alleviation,
natural resource management, market orientation, and market development information. All of these activities, which featured during the year in various issues of
Spore, have been presented together in the
Annual Report.
Poverty in context

A well-balanced picture is presented of

the complementary thrusts of the centres
work, known to CTA as its Wider Objectives. Wider Objective 1 aims at improving access to information on agriculture
and rural development, with its two specific objectives of: (1) promoting contact
and exchange of experience among
SPORE 81

PAGE 15

Spore is a bi-monthly publication

providing information on agricultural
development for ACP countries. Spore is
available free-of-charge to relevant
organisations and individuals in ACP and
EU countries. Subscriptions may also be
purchased from Triops (see page 13)
Publisher: Technical Centre for Agricultural
and Rural Cooperation (CTA) ACP-EU
Lom Convention
CTA: Postbus 380, 6700 AJ Wageningen,
The Netherlands
Tel +31 317 467100
Fax +31 317 460067
E-mail: cta@cta.nl
Website: http://www.cta.nl
Email for readers letters:
spore@cta.nl
Compiler: Spore is compiled by a
consortium formed by Louma productions
and Mdiateurs
Louma productions, 3 rue Neuve,
34150 Aniane, France
Fax: +33 467 570 180
E-mail: louma@louma.fr
Mdiateurs, W-Alexanderpoort 46,
1421 CH Uithoorn,
The Netherlands
Fax: +31 297 540 514
E-mail: paul.osborn@mediateurs.org
Layout: Louma productions
Printer: Imprimerie Publicep, France
CTA 1999
ISSN 1011-0054
Material published in Spore can be freely
reproduced. Please always credit it as coming
from Spore.

Viewpoint

Nature conservation

Michael Oneka is Technical Advisor

to the Africa Programme of
Wetlands International, a
nonprofit global network
concerned with the conservation
of wetlands and wetland species.
He also runs a publishing
consultancy company, AYA Press.
Michael earlier worked as a
researcher with the Ugandan
National Parks and as a teacher.
He holds a PhD degree from
Wageningen Agricultural
University, the Netherlands.

grew up in a village next to the Murchison Falls Park in northern Uganda. It is

difficult to forget the sleepless nights
when people beat saucepans to chase away
the elephants that had entered from the
park. They trampled and ate the crops and
wreaked havoc. Later I found out that the
nuisance caused by wildlife is a common
problem across Africa. Animals such as
lions and leopards threaten people directly
and prey on livestock and chicken.
Later, as a researcher in the same park, I
realised the complexity of the choices.
Both the needs of local people and those
of conservation are real and urgent. I am
convinced that the only way forward is to
work together to seek meaningful balances
of the needs. Ideally, we should find a situation where parks and reserves are no
longer necessary, where biodiversity is conserved, animals feel safe to move freely, and
people feel at ease with the animals.
In the 1950s, parks were the predominant concept for nature conservation. The
basic idea was to find suitable areas, fence
them physically and legally to keep
humans out and let nature take its course.
Later, we saw many changes. It became
impossible to leave it to nature. Numbers
of herbivores rapidly built up in many
parks due to reduced migratory range and
reduced hunting pressure in the protected
areas. Consequently, woody vegetation
rapidly disappeared, which was disastrous
for biodiversity. Although these changes
were very visible, the stakeholders did not
properly understand the overall dynamics.
Since the early 1990s, peoples participation has become a popular concept.
There are various examples of controlled
hunting schemes in combination with
efforts to develop tourism. In many cases
there is a lack of information and the

Solving dilemmas
through
experience
Endangered species, decreasing biodiversity, threatened wetlands,
and lakes that are running dry are widely acknowledged
problems. Many policymakers and experts are convinced that
they will find the one way forward to nature conservation. This
claim is ridiculous. The right way forward is a process of trial
and error. We should acknowledge that now.
people living in the areas do not feel in
control. In countries such as Angola, Zambia, and Mauritania, most parks and protected areas exist only on maps. They were
designated by experts and approved by
national parliaments but the people on the
spot had no real say in this. Numbers of
animals were overestimated with no systematic counting. Animal numbers also
decreased due to poaching for meat, ivory,
and rhino horn, and the civil wars in various African regions. The people were left
disillusioned. Tourists stayed away, since
there was nothing left to see.
Successful game ranch
management

In wildlife conservation policies, most

attention was given to nondestructive uses
such as tourism. In Kenya, Zimbabwe,
Botswana, and Burkina Faso local village
committees were created to decide on
hunting quotas and on how the proceeds

Victoria, scientists discussed the introduction of large fish, which would feed on
smaller species. Local fishermen would
then need to catch few large fish rather
than the small species. The Nile perch was
found to have entered the lake anyway!
The perch increased in numbers and eliminated most of the smaller fish, although
these were of great value to the regions
socioeconomy. Other wetlands experienced similar impacts. Some were
destroyed and so too the lives of people
who subsisted on them.
In the wetlands livelihoods are intimately linked to the environment. Fishing, bird
trapping, crop cultivation, and harvest of
raw material for producing mats and boats,
all form part of the local economy. But
water is also used for supplying water and
electricity to towns and for irrigation.
Construction of dams is another serious
threat. The interests of local people are
never a priority. Informed debates among
stakeholders and trials are essential. Con-

cases there is a lack of information

Inandmany
the people living in the areas concerned
do not feel in control

from hunting or tourism are shared. In

southern Africa strong demand for game
meat and trophies led to the creation of
game ranches. Once people learn to keep
wildlife like cane rats, wild pigs, or
impalas, there should be less fighting over
game remaining in the protected areas. To
benefit more from this, a more favourable
market environment and overall production infrastructure are required.
Conservation of African wetlands and
lakes faces similar challenges. In Lake
SPORE 81

PAGE 16

servation processes should be designed to

facilitate the accumulation of experiences.
It is like solving a complex and dynamic
puzzle. This calls for good educational systems. In the long run, future generations
will take charge and we must develop a
society that respects of sustainability.
The opinions expressed in Viewpoint are
those of the authors, and do not necessarily
reflect the views of CTA.