Rust-resistant Zimbabwean soya bean varieties raise interest in Brazil, US

The dominant narrative in many media about Zimbabwe and farming is that it is the country that went from 'regional breadbasket to basket case.' This is attributed to a controversial land reform exercise that dispossessed the country's once-dominant white farmers and parcelled out the land to (take your pick depending on your point of view) (a) hundreds of thousands of established and aspiring black farmers from whose fore bearers the land had been grabbed a hundred years ago by colonial governments or (b) 'Mugabe's cronies,' who can't tell a pick from a shovel, or a grain of seed from a grain of fertilizer.

All of this is simplistic and incomplete nonsense, but so many people all over find the mere mention of the word 'Zimbabwe' such a blood pressure-raising subject that few are interested in doing anything more than venting their spleen on the issue.

What is not widely known is that part of Zimbabwe's agricultural success invloved a sophisticated research capability, and that portions of it have endured the ten years of general economic and political upheaval from about 2000 to 2010.

The production of soya beans, used in pressing for oil and as an important part of livestock feed, suffered tremendously and is still battling to recover. Nevertheless, research in soya production has produced much sought-after rust-resistant soya bean varieties that have attracted interest as far as Brazil and the US, both countries soya research and production powerhouses, according to Zimbabwe's agriculture minister.

"We are the largest producers of rust-resistant soya bean," Joseph Made boasted at a Harare conference in April. "That material (soya bean) we are now sending to Brazil and the US (is) developed in our own seed houses," he said, while emphasising government's long-held position against the importation of genetically
modified grains.

Despite this success, the many problems still plaguing agriculture mean that the new in-country developed rust-resistant soya varieties have not led to the recovery of Zimbabwe's soya bean self-sufficiency.

The Financial Gazette (20 April 2012) reports that local 'cooking oil processing industries have been spending US$180 million year on imports to make up for Zimbabwe's soya production shortfall.  An industry executive said the country imported 60,000 tonnes of soya seed oil from South Africa annually, valued at US$90 million. 144,000 tonnes of soya meal are also annually imported from India.

''We have the ability of sending US$180 million per year to India and South Africa for these two products; (but) our farmers require US$120 million per year to produce them. Why not give our farmers the money and save US$60 million?" asked the executive.

Banks in Zimbabwe are as chicken about agricultural lending as anywhere else, a fear compounded by the lingering after-effects of the still unresolved discussion over post land reform farm property rights and security of tenure/collateral issues.

African Agriculture

New bean varieties released in Cameroon

The Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD) in Cameroon, have released seven new improved bean varieties onto the market.

Among the traits the various varieties carry are disease resistance, ability to tolerate heavy rains as well as suitability to different cultivation altitudes and planting seasons. They also have different maturity durations. Among them are the “bushy” bean types which grow at ground level, and climbing beans, which can grow up to 1.5m high supported on stakes.

Cameroon is the main bean producer and exporter in the region. Its rural households consume 40% of beans produced, with the rest going to urban markets and supplying all of the country’s neighbors. The country’s area under bean production has increased from 78,000 ha (1985-87) to 231,000 ha (2005-7), while average production rose from 53,000 tonnes (1985-87) to 202, 000 tonnes (2005-7).

By working with bean researchers from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and those in eastern and southern Africa, Cameroon’s scientists were able to test and identify the improved seven bean varieties in a relatively short period of time; three to four years. If they had gone through the normal variety selection and breeding process, this process would have taken twice as long.

A number of bean varieties found in West and Central Africa have interesting traits that potentially could also benefit eastern and southern Africa.

The Pan-African Bean Research Alliance (PABRA) is composed of a number of national and international research organizations to share information and experiences.

African Agriculture

Genetically engineered green beans ‘show promise for Africa’

by Amanda Garris

Slender green beans air-freighted from Kenya to markets in Western Europe are a profitable crop for high-altitude farms across sub-Saharan Africa. Breeding efforts at Cornell University in New York State, USA, could help their lower altitude neighbors also harness the crop's economic potential.

Green beans are Kenya's most important horticultural export, earning farmers five to 10 times more than the dry beans they traditionally grow. However, there are two significant barriers to the expansion of this lucrative market: the varieties available are sensitive to high temperatures during flowering and susceptible to the common bean rust fungus.

"Green beans are typically grown at altitudes higher than about 5,000 feet, which can have a temperate climate despite their proximity to the equator, but competition and land prices at these higher altitudes has increased," said Phillip Griffiths, vegetable breeder and associate professor of horticulture.

“The ability to expand green bean production into marginal areas at lower altitudes would provide new opportunities for farmers, but it requires the development of new varieties that combine heat tolerance with multiple rust resistance genes."

Because these two traits are also important for U.S. growers, Griffiths and his colleagues Tim Porch, Ph.D. '01, and Talo Pastor-Corrales of the USDA Agricultural Research Service, already had sources for both in hand, ready for breeding into the specific types of slender green beans needed for eastern Africa.

The funding for the breeding came from several sources, including the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, the Toward Sustainability Foundation, Cornell's Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies and the Cornell Assistantship for Horticulture in Africa (CAHA), a recently established doctoral scholarship established by an anonymous donor.

Kenyan Charles Wasonga, Cornell PhD graduate of 2010, the first recipient of the CAHA fellowship, took the field trials of the new green beans through two years at six sites, including partner institutes in Kenya and Tanzania. He identified promising types with comparable yields at lower altitudes (about 3,600 feet) and a combination of rust resistance genes that protected against all known rust strains in the region.

Breeding and evaluating beans for Africa from upstate New York turned out to be an effective approach.

"For these particular traits, the performance of the plants in high-temperature greenhouses in New York and selection for rust resistance n the USDA's Maryland greenhouses correlated very well with field performance in Puerto Rico, Kenya and Tanzania," said Griffiths.

There may be a second opportunity to leverage the research and resources at Cornell for the benefit of sub-Saharan Africa.

Sukuma wiki (kale) is the most important leafy green vegetable in the Lake Victoria region. It is a dietary staple that is produced for local consumption rather than for export. It also happens to be a variant of cabbage with some of the same production challenges facing growers in New York, including black rot. An endemic disease in eastern Africa, black rot typically renders 50 percent to 80 percent of the leaves unmarketable.

"By moving resistance from Cornell's cabbage breeding program into sukuma wiki, marketable yields could be significantly increased," said Griffiths. "It is a project requiring a sponsor focused on people, not profits."

http://www.physorg.com/

South African soya bean productiion up

by Shannon Sherry

South African farmers are continuing to expand the country’s production of soya beans, with a record area to be planted for the fifth consecutive season next year.

With yields — the amount produced on each hectare — also having improved over the years, the largest harvest yet of the protein-rich crop is expected in 2012.

Lower maize prices last year and better returns for oilseeds ( which include canola and sunflower) persuaded farmers to divert land from maize to soya beans. Land planted with the beans was increased by more than a third to last season’s 418000ha.

The agriculture department’s crop estimates committee put its final soya bean figure for 2011 at 708750t. Based on the tally it made last month of farmers’ intentions to plant, the committee projects that this will be expanded by a further 10% to about 460000ha in the next season. By comparison, plantings of sunflower are expected to decline by more than 13% to 555000ha.

This makes soya beans the fastest- growing of the crops counted by the committee.

Soya is not a new crop in SA. Farmers have grown it for four decades. But SA has always been a net importer of soy products, though it is Southern Africa’ largest grower.

The main imports are soy oilcake, used for animal feed, and soy oil, used for cooking and producing biodiesel. About 99% of the oilcake and 69% of the oil used in SA is imported from Argentina.

Though SA imports the processed products, in the past it has exported raw soya beans. But an analytical study by the National Agricultural Marketing Council and business solutions group TechnoServe says this was when export prices were attractive and the country’s low processing capacity could not cope with demand for the processed products.

And though the output is growing, Scholtemeijer says it is still some way off the optimal required for the industry in SA. “The proportion of maize land and land planted with soya beans is roughly 88% and 12%. Ideally it should stand at two-thirds and one-third.”

It will mean more than doubling the current area used to grow soya beans to 930000ha.

The agriculture, forestry and fisheries department last year produced a farming production guideline for soya beans, detailing how and when to plant and the way to care for, harvest, handle and store the crop.

The council study says there is an opportunity for smallholder farmers to produce soya beans but that about 98% of current production is by commercial farmers.

“For smallholder farmers to make the most of their land, soya must become a culturally acceptable part of the diet , and partnerships between commercial and smallholder farmers must increase,” it says.

Mpumalanga accounts for about 42% of SA’s soya bean crop, followed by the Free State (22%), KwaZulu Natal (15%), Limpopo (8%), North West (5%) and Gauteng (2%).

Scholtemeijer believes South Africans across the board should be educated about the benefits of soya beans.

“Soya has been wrongly portrayed as being for poor people, but it has health benefits for all. It is already being used in cereals, bread, snacks, polonies and many other products.”

FM

Maize-legume based farming system study launched

A four year Sustainable Intensification of Maize - Legumes Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) has been launched.

According to the Programme Leader Dr. Mulugetta Mekuria, the project that is funded by the Australian government at the tune of 20 million US dollars in five countries – Kenya , Ethiopia , Tanzania , Mozambique and Malawi is intended to increase food security.


“We intend to introduce improved technologies for sustainable growth in producing maize-legume based farming systems in the four countries where maize growing is popular with the local smallholders,” he noted during the opening of a meeting at a Nairobi.

Mekuria observed that plans are also at advance stage to improving markets and policies, partnerships and capacity building for the smallholder farmers. He said that project is set to benefit 500,000 farmers in the next 10 years and will also help the farmers drop monoculture agriculture.

Mekuria revealed that farmers will be involved fully in research through farmer groups as a way of sustaining the project amongst them.


“Under the project we intend to equip laboratories in the National Research Institutions and also train scientists for their PhD and Masters Programme,” he added.

CMMYT Deputy Director for Research and Partnerships Marianne Banziger said that Africa has the potential to increase maize productivity once the adoption of climate change resilient crops is taken seriously.

She called on the eastern and southern Africa countries to combine available technologies to optimize food production in increasing food production to help eradicate hunger in the region.

The four year project is collaboration between Australian Centre for Agricultural Research, CMMYT, national research institution from the five countries, the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (ASERECA) and the International Crops Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).

Xinhua

Maize glut may push South African farmers to planting soy, sunflower

by Brian Latham

South African farmers may have planted a record amount of soybeans and sunflower seeds after prices surged, encouraging producers to switch away from corn, the government’s Crop Estimates Committee said.

Farmers may have planted an estimated 575,200 hectares (1.42 million acres) of sunflower seeds, up from 397,700 hectares a year ago, the Pretoria-based committee said in a statement. Land used for soy probably increased 41 percent to 438,000 hectares while the total corn area, including both white and yellow corn, may fall 8 percent to 2.52 million hectares

“Soy and sunflowers took land used by corn,” Rodney Dredge, chief director of economic and statistics services at the Department of Agriculture, said today by phone. “The increase in the soy and sunflower crops, and the drop in the corn crop, is probably a result of prices.”

The price of sunflower gained 47 percent over the past year on the South African Futures Exchange, based in Johannesburg, while soy increased 38 percent. White and yellow corn added 23 percent and 22 percent respectively over the past 12 months. South Africa has a corn surplus of about 4.5 million metric tons, according to a November estimate, which may have discouraged planting of the crops.

White corn for March delivery, the most active contract on the exchange, climbed 2 percent to 1,463 rand ($207) a metric ton by the 12 p.m. close of trading today. Yellow corn for July delivery advanced 1.4 percent to 1,580 rand a ton, sunflower seeds for delivery in May gained 0.5 percent to 4,330 rand a ton and soy for May delivery fell 2 percent to 3,544 rand a ton.

While land allocated for soy and sunflowers has increased, crop yields may be low because of unusually heavy rains and flooding this month, Dredge said.

“The crop planted before November is looking pretty healthy, but the post-November plantings may not yield as well,” Dredge said, adding that the estimates by the committee are preliminary and may still change once aerial assessments have been done.

Soy prices will probably remain at “export parity,” Riaan Gerber, a trader at Pretoria-based Derived Market Investment, said, referring to a level where South African prices are considered competitive to other markets. Sunflower prices “may come under some pressure,” he said, adding that acreages for both crops may still exceed the committee’s latest estimates.

South Africa’s summer farming season mainly runs from October to April. Corn, soy, sunflower, dry beans, sorghum and groundnuts are grown in summer. South Africa is the continent’s biggest producer of corn, the country’s staple food.

Bloomberg

Better soybean varieties offer African farmers more opportunities

Malawi and Nigeria have released new improved soybean varieties to increase the production of the legume.
The three varieties, one in Malawi and two in Nigeria, outperformed the popular varieties being grown in the two countries during on-station and on-farm trials.

Soybean  is an inexpensive source of protein and is being increasingly used for animal feed, food and as a raw material for producing high-quality protein products. The plant also improves soil fertility by fixing atmospheric nitrogen. smile.

 The varieties were developed by the International Institute of Tropical of Agriculture (IITA) in collaboration with the Malawian Department of Agricultural Research Services (DARS) and the Nigerian National Cereal Research Institute (NCRI).

The Malawi Agricultural Technology Clearing Committee (ATCC) officially approved the release of the variety TGx 1740-2F on 18 January 2011 while the Nigeria Varietal Release Committee released TGx 1987-10F and TGx 1987-62F on 2 December 2010.

According to Hailu Tefera, IITA Soybean Breeder based in Malawi, the varieties consistently did better than the standard and local checks, giving high grain yield in multiple locations under on-station and on-farm trials.

In Nigeria the two medium maturing varieties proved highly resistant to rust, bacterial blight and cercospora leaf diseases. The varieties are preferred by many farmers because they smoother weeds and reduce the cost of weeding. Farmers that participated in the on-farm trials of the varieties said they preferred them especially for their golden color at maturity.

In Malawi, TGx 1740-2F exceeded the grain variety Nasoko and the widely grown promiscuous variety Magoye which were used as checks by 10% and 32% respectively during the two-year multi-location on-station trials with a mean grain yield of 2464 kg/ha.

The variety performed equally well during on-farm participatory variety selection trials in four districts of central Malawi. In 2009/10 season, it out-yielded all the new types of soybean varieties under testing by giving 2248 kg/ha. It also surpassedNasoko and Magoye by 15% and 38%, respectively.

“Farmers had many reasons for falling in love with this variety: it matures early, has more pods per plant up to the top of the plant, performs well under poor and erratic rainfall, and has better lodging resistance. This means it remains standing upright for the better part of its growth and maturity.” says Tefera. “It is a big milestone for IITA as this is the first time that an IITA developed promiscuous soybean variety is released in Malawi,” he adds.

Promiscuous legume varieties work with the wide range of nitrogen-fixing bacteria - they capture the nitrogen in the air and make it available to the plants - in the soil while the non-promiscuous ones are selective and need specific strains which, if not present have to be introduced through inoculation. They are important for boosting productivity in Africa where poor soils are common and fertilizers are out of reach for many small-holder farmers.

The two countries are among the top five producers of the crop in Africa with Nigeria being the first and Malawi the fifth after South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

The development of these varieties serves as a boost to African nations as they strive to attain the Millennium Development Goal number one, which seeks to reduce hunger and poverty.

IITA

Bean crops may cut fertilizer use, subsidy costs

by Steve Baragona

A new study finds that governments can reduce the amount they spend on fertilizer subsidies - and free up resources for health, education or other priorities - by encouraging farmers to alternate maize with certain bean crops.

Scientists in the chronically-malnourished African nation of Malawi developed farming methods that produce the same yields using just half the fertilizer - a big potential saving for the Malawi government, and a potential model for other developing-countries.

But critics say poor farmers would do better right now using more synthetic fertilizer, not less.

In recent years, Malawi has taken major steps to increase its faltering food production by making synthetic fertilizer and high-yielding maize seed available to farmers at a steep discount. Nationwide, the program has been credited with increasing maize production by up to 30 percent.

But the costs of the project consume about one-sixth of Malawi's national budget.

"There's a lot of concern by the Malawi government in what is the sustainability of this," says Michigan State University crop scientist Sieg Snapp, "because if you invest in fertilizer, then there is less ability to invest in education and roads, other things. Obviously, there are tradeoffs."

Snapp and her colleagues wanted to see if farmers and governments could get more value from their fertilizer investments by adding bean crops known as legumes to the planting schedule.

Farmers have long known that legumes naturally fertilize the soil with the nitrogen they produce. But they have also known that legumes typically don't provide the kind of productivity boost possible with synthetic fertilizer.

Snapp's research focused on a different kind of legumes: shrubby legumes like pigeon pea and mucuna that mature more slowly than other legumes. That means they spend more time in the ground producing nitrogen fertilizer. And the ground stays covered with living plants for longer -- another benefit for the soil.

So when farmers grow maize the next year and add the normal amount of synthetic fertilizer, the soil is rich and ready. In the study published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Snapp says the maize-and-shrubby-legume rotation produced as much grain as growing maize with synthetic fertilizers both years.

"We're producing the same amount of grain," she says, "but...at half the amount of fertilizer."

Spending less on fertilizer helped make the shrubby legume rotation three to four times more profitable, which Snapp says is critical if farmers are going to change their practices. Plus, she adds, yields from the shrubby legume rotation were more reliable year after year.

"A lot of people just focus on the production," she says. "But if it isn't stable, it isn't every year you can count on that, that puts your country at risk."

Snapp says the shrubby legume rotation can reduce the risk of food shortages at lower cost -- to farmers and national governments -- than expensive synthetic fertilizers.

Glenn Denning is a specialist in agriculture and food security at Columbia University's Earth Institute. He agrees that legumes serve important functions improving the soil and providing a source of protein.

"But I don't think this is the right time to de-emphasize fertilizer use in Malawi, or anywhere else in Africa, for that matter," he says.

Denning says even with the subsidy-driven increase in fertilizer, maize yields in Malawi are still far below what they could be. And he says farmers could apply twice the fertilizer used in Snapp's study and increase their yields more than they could with legumes.

That would free up land for other crops. "And in that way," he adds, "small-scale farmers, instead of devoting their whole land area to maize simply so they've got enough to survive on, they could devote half or two-thirds of their land to maize and the rest they could put into other crops, including legumes."

Denning notes that pigeon peas are an important part of the cropping system in a major project he works on in Malawi. He says they do have potential in the government's subsidy program.

"I think you could cut your costs in some places where these legumes will really make a difference." But, he adds, "I think the jury would still be out as to how widespread you could effectively introduce those legume rotation systems at this time."

Current pigeon pea varieties do not grow well in many parts of the country, he says.

Denning expects legumes will play a bigger role in fertilizer subsidy programs. But he says they should complement, not replace, synthetic fertilizers.

VOA

Senegal experiments with cowpea as wheat substitute in bread-baking

by Artis Henderson

At a pilot bakery inside the Food Technology Institute in Dakar, Senegal's capital, cooks in white smocks tried to make bread out of a novel ingredient — peas.

Wheat is still a crucial ingredient in bread because of its gluten content, necessary for the dough to rise. But after months of testing, the experimental bakers have been able to reduce the wheat used in their baguettes and dinner rolls to 85 percent.

They supplant the remaining 15 percent with flour made from black-eyed peas, a crop that has been grown locally for centuries and which is far cheaper than wheat because it is not imported.

Still hot from the oven, the dinner rolls the cooks baked on a recent morning sell for 50 West African francs (around $0.10 cents) — about 40 percent cheaper than its all-wheat equivalent. The taste is roughly the same.

To address the spiraling cost of food which elsewhere in Africa has degenerated into violent riots, Senegal is looking to a crop from its past. The black-eyed pea — known also as the cowpea — has the potential to feed millions and to act as a substitute for wheat which is not grown here or in many countries in the region, according to participants at the Fifth World Cowpea Research Conference in Dakar this week.

"Whatever is imported is always going to be more expensive," said Ababacar Ndoye, the director of the state-funded food lab where the pea-infused bread is being tested. "So by replacing a part of our bread with the black-eyed pea, we can bring down the price of bread."

The nutritious legume first came to America from Africa in slave ships. The peas grew well in the hot, humid climate of the southern United States. They have since become a staple of American cuisine in the deep south.

While black-eyed peas were thriving in the U.S., the same crop was neglected in Africa. Members of colonial regimes imported rice and wheat to the continent, and the foreign crops replaced the native legumes. Research groups have now labeled black-eyed peas as an underutilized crop, one that has the potential to seriously impact the food insecurity issue in Africa, including in this nation of 13.7 million if cultivated to its full potential.

Recent months have seen riots in Mozambique over the rising cost of bread, and in Dakar the hike in the price of wheat caused bakers to go on strike.

Ndoye says that in recent months, a 110 pound (50 kilogram) sac of wheat has spiked from 16,000 francs (around $32) to over 20,000 ($40), highlighting the volatility of a cereal that has become far too ingrained in the local diet. Many Senegalese families begin the day with a glass of coffee or tea and a baguette. They end the day with a plate of thieboudiene, a local dish consisting of a fish or meat over a large serving of rice.

The purpose of the World Cowpea Research Conference is to try to find more uses for black-eyed peas. Reporters were invited Friday to a sample an entire meal cooked from the peas, including an 'exotic salad' sprinkled with the almond-colored peas, chicken served with a red, pea-based sauce and a desert made from pea flour. The food lab is already working to introduce the composite bread in local bakeries throughout the country.

In her food processing operation in Dakar, Aissatou Diagne Deme employs 52 people to transform dried black-eyed peas into flour. Deme sells 1,700 pounds of black-eyed pea flour to local markets around Senegal's capital every month and says that she is not able to meet local demand.

"The demand for black-eyed peas is increasing," Deme said. "It's the crop of the future."

AFP

   

Community farming project in South Africa set for bumper harvest

by Lindsey Berry


Rural development agency, the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) Eastern Cape (EC) reports that its dry-land-cropping community farming project in the Butterworth region of the province expects to harvest about 6 000 t of maize this season.

The estimated harvest is 200% bigger than last year's harvest. The current maize and soya bean plantation has increased from 1 600 ha last year to about 2 000 ha. AsgiSA EC indicates that the communities farming the land expect a yield of about 4,5 t/ha of maize and 1,5 t/ha of soya beans this season.

AsgiSA EC dry-land-cropping programme project manager Thukela Mashologu says that the communities that farm the land will receive 10% of the total harvest, while the remaining 90% will be sold to generate funds to repay production costs and for reinvestment back to the community.

"Food security is our main focus. In about a year the community will not have to buy maize again. Ninety per cent of production next year will be linked to reinvestment back to the community," says AsgiSA EC CEO Simpiwe Somdyala.

The programme was started in October 2008 and the main aim is to demonstrate that community-owned land can be productive and produce enough grain for commercial production.

Somdyala tells Engineering News that the focus this year is on consolidation and building local community capacity.

"We have set aside about R1,5 million to develop community members who can take over from outside contractors that are currently employed in these programmes. Over a period of three years, or less, depending on readiness at the local level, communities are expected to take over these operations through their cooperatives," he adds.

The initial focus of the project was on productivity and, as a result, outside contractors and experienced farmers were used as project managers. As the production improves, there will be a greater focus on training of community members, says Somdyala.

"For us the key test is long-term sustainability to support communities until they are ready to take over," he says.

Communities are given permission to occupy the farming land and individual households are responsible for areas of about 1,5 ha. The AgsiSA EC requests that households combine the land to form a 300 ha block in a 5 km radius. Scale is significant for commercial production and the aim of grouping land sections is to make the project viable under rain-fed irrigation conditions.

Dry-land cropping is a farming technique for the cultivation of land that receives little natural rainfall. Last year, an 800 ha pilot project was initiated with canola crops in the Butterworth region, but the drought in the Eastern Cape contributed to the failure of the crop. The weather conditions in the area are unpredictable, but good rains have contributed positively to the current maize and soya crop.

Somdyala says that a lack of supporting infrastructure is a challenge for agricultural development projects, but that the AsgiSA EC aims to develop some supporting infrastructure in the area.

Poor road conditions, lack of property fencing, disconnection from transport infrastructure, such as roads and railways, market distances and lack of storage, are challenges facing Eastern Cape farmers.

The lack of storage is the most significant challenge, says Somdyala. The AsgiSA EC is focusing on developing proper silos at strategic sites where production is taking place; and there are silos, in Butterworth, that have not been used for over five years that the agency has marked for refurbishment. Engineering News also reported earlier this year that R7-million has been set aside to construct silos at strategic sites in the former Transkei area.

Engineering News

Biotech corn, soy do little to boost yield, study finds

by Christopher Doering

Despite industry claims of higher yields from biotech corn and soybeans, much of the increase can be tied to other improvements in agriculture, according to a study released on April 14.

The Union of Concerned Scientists said its review found genetically engineered herbicide-tolerant soybeans and corn did not increase yields compared with conventional methods. Still, farmers embraced the technology partly because of lower energy costs and convenience associated with applying pesticides.

It also found another variety, BT corn, contributed to about 3.3 percent of the estimated 28 percent increase in corn yields since it was made available commercially in 1996. BT crops are resistant to certain insects.

"Genetic engineering, while it's been good for some individual farmers, and great for the companies, really has not been very productive in terms of improving yields," said Doug Gurian-Sherman of UCS who authored the report.

Instead, the study found much of the jump in yields can be attributed to successes in traditional breeding -- mixing genes to enhance one or a few genetic traits -- or conventional agriculture improvements such as more crop rotations and more efficient irrigation and fertilizer use.

The Biotechnology Industry Organization, which represents major firms involved in producing genetically engineered crops, noted that overall corn yields have increased 36 percent and soybeans 12 percent since the biotech crops were introduced.

"It's absurd to deny biotechnology's contribution, among other factors, to increased crop production," said Sharon Bomer Lauritsen, an executive vice president at BIO.

"When farmer surveys have been conducted on yield benefits from biotech crops, the results have been overwhelmingly positive, with farmers finding their crop yields have increased," she said.

The focus on improving food yields has grown amid higher food prices, growing populations and an increase in the number of people worldwide that are going hungry. An estimated 963 million people worldwide were undernourished last year, up from 923 million in 2007.

Biotech crops, primarily corn, soybeans, cotton and canola, have genes that have been manipulated to express specific traits, most commonly a resistance to herbicide, which helps farmers. Biotech developers such as Monsanto Co patent the crop technology and tightly control use of the seed.

Genetically modified crops were adopted quickly after introduction in the 1990s. Eighty percent of corn and 92 percent of soybeans grown in the United States in 2008 came from biotech crops, said the Agriculture Department.

The UCS report said as genetic engineers work to identify new genes "it would not be unexpected that some of them may eventually be successful in increasing yields."

It warned, however, that as the manipulation of genes becomes more complex it will increase the need for stronger oversight to detect and prevent harmful side effects that may occur. These concerns may reduce the commercial acceptance of the crops.

The study also encouraged greater exploration of other methods, such as organic farming and improved traditional breeding, instead of placing too much dependence on biotech crops, especially in poor countries.

The UCS review was heavily dependent on nearly two-dozen studies conducted by university scientists and later published in peer-reviewed journals.

Reuters

Pigeon pea cultivation innovations increase yields

Research intervention changes African farmers' fortune

New methods introduced to farmers in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) by scientists at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) for growing pigeonpea have resulted in high yields , short period to mature and drought free stress, the organisation said in a statement made available to PANA on Thursday.

Prior to the new methods, farmers from the ESA area were growing pigeonpea that gave low yields, took very long to mature, were susceptible to wilt and often suffered from terminal drought stress.

"But this situation was reversed when scientists from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) adapted pigeonpea in ESA, screened for resistance to wilt and incorporated bold white grain preferred by farmers and markets in the medium- and long-duration varieties," the statement said.

A large number of these varieties were released in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique, after evaluation.

In eastern Kenya, over 10,000 hectares of medium-duration varieties resistant to wilt and cropped two times a year are being grown by farmers. Likewise, in northern Tanzania, two long-duration varieties, which are high yielding, having white bold grain and resistant to wilt are being grown on over 50,000 hectares. In Malawi two long-duration varieties have been released and pigeonpea seed is now included in the country's subsidy program.

ICRISAT's interventions are focused on enhancement and management of genetic resources, agricultural diversification, agro-ecosystem sustainability and improving markets, policies and institutions. The Institute has also successfully implemented two interventions in many countries across SSA, which are fertilizer microdosing and the improvement of seed systems.

""The fertilizer microdosing technique allows resource poor farmers to apply small, affordable and effective amounts of fertilizer to their impoverished land for improved soil health and crop production," the statement said.

"It has the potential to end widespread hunger in drought-prone areas of Africa, where soils are depleted and smallholder farmers rarely produce enough to feed even their own families," the statement noted."

Afriquenligne

New bean varieties boost income for Ugandan farmers

by Kakaire A. Kirunda

Uganda Farmers are generating more income after the introduction of new bean varieties, according to research by the National Agricultural Research Organisation (Naro) and other partners such as the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).

“New varieties account for 67 per cent of annual household bean income; and 45 per cent of household bean consumption,” according to the research findings published in Highlights CIAT in Africa. “Poor households earned Shs40,000 ($23) from beans annually, compared to Shs60,000-70,000 per year ($34 - $40) earned by wealthy households, indicating that beans contribute more to poverty reduction given that the rich have bigger bean plots and other sources of income.”

The study authors wrote that beans are a major food and cash crop for the majority of which accounts for 7 per cent of national agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) and ranking fifth behind bananas, cassava, sweet potatoes, and maize. And concentrated mainly in the central, eastern, and western regions, bean production is entirely due to small scale farming.

Over the last 10 years, nine bush and five climbing bean varieties have been released by Naro in collaboration with CIAT and other partners.

The study examined the impact of eight improved bush bean varieties and complementary management practices which were promoted between 1994 and 1999.

In 2003, data was obtained through a survey of 529 bean farmers over two seasons in six districts, representing six major agro-ecological zones. Similarly, additional information was obtained from key informant discussions and participatory rural appraisal (PRA).

According to the study findings, “Results from a formal household survey of six districts indicate that new varieties, particularly K132 (CAL 96), K131 (MCM 5001) and NABE 2 have an average yield advantage of 37 per cent over traditional varieties under the same conditions.”

But the researchers observed that the average yield of 855 kg per hectare for new varieties is still below the potential yield of 1.5 - 2.0 tonnes per hectare under optimal farmer management.

The research further showed that the most widely adopted variety is K132 due to its high yield potential and high market demand. It was however noted that its acreage is declining due to its susceptibility to bean root rot. Findings also indicated that about half (53 per cent) of the sample households had adopted at least one new variety, while 40 percent had adopted K132.

Meanwhile, when extrapolated to national estimates, the researchers observed that the adoption of new varieties is equivalent to approximately one million households, “which represents a promising step forward in achieving the Pan Africa Bean Research Alliance goal of reaching ten million households.”

Finding that the majority of adopters are in the ‘poor’ and medium wealth categories, the researchers concluded that this was indicative of the major role played by beans in poverty alleviation.

They none-the-less noted that although this confirmed that poor households are accessing improved varieties, “benefits to the poor are limited by access to complementary resources such as land: the average bean plot for poor households is just over one third of the average plot size for rich households.”

The Monitor

Israeli companies to grow castor beans for biodiesel in Namibia

Israel's Evogene, Ormat Industries and the Leviev Group of Companies said on September 10 they will set up a joint venture to grow castor beans in Namibia for the production of biodiesel.

Geothermal energy producer Ormat, through its US subsidiary Orfuel Inc, has been collaborating with Evogene since 2007 on growing non-edible plants on non-arable land for biodiesel production.The new joint venture with Leviev will examine different varieties of castor beans to find the most suitable for commercial growth in Namibia. Financial details were not disclosed.

Castor beans are rich in oil and the cost of producing biodiesel fuel from them is expected to be far less than the cost of production from crops used for food such as soybeans, the companies said.

The Leviev Group, owned by billionaire diamond dealer Lev Leviev, has access to land and infrastructure in Namibia, where it mines for and polishes diamonds. The joint venture may sell the seeds to growers or grow the castor beans on its own but it will not produce the biodiesel fuel, a spokeswoman said. The group may also expand plant production to other countries in Africa.

Leviev will have 50 percent of the joint venture, with Evogene holding 37,5 percent and Orfuel the rest. Evogene shares were up 1,1 percent in midday trade in Tel Aviv, compared with declines in the broader market. Ormat shares were down 1,1 percent.

Evogene recently announced it would collaborate with Monsanto Co on identifying key plant genes designed to deliver yield-enhancing grains. Evogene expects to receive $35-million over the five-year research and development deal with Monsanto, which also bought an $18-million stake in Evogene and agreed to buy an additional $12-million in the future.

Reuters

Kenya seeks increased production of beans

It has become increasingly common for Kenya to import beans as domestic demand overwhelms production.

The country consumes approximately 450,000 tonnes of beans against a local production level of between 150,000 and 200,000 tonnes harvested from about 800,000 hectares. The country imports the deficit mainly from Uganda, Tanzania and Central Africa.

But researchers at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (Kari) and local universities have been coming up with high yield bean varieties that are well adapted to local conditions and effects of land pressure.

“This variety is suited for farmers with little land, but in need of boosting their bean harvest and food security. It is also suited for urban farmers as Kenyans troop to live in tiny plots in towns”, asserted Daniel Anampiu, a senior technician with Kari, at a recent field day at the Embu research station.

As Mr Anampiu puts it, the climbing bean variety MAC 64- developed by Kari is high yielding, producing over four times more than other local varieties. Local varieties include Rose coco, Mwezi Moja and Wairimu. They are also able to adapt well to a variety of climatic conditions, land pressure, diseases and pests. According to farmers, the major insect pests of beans are aphids, cutworms and bean stem maggots. Diseases include bean mosaic viruses, blight, leaf rust, root rots, anthracnose and angular leaf spot.

The beans are staked on poles and can reach a height of six metres and produce one to 1.4 kg of beans per plant. Farmers only need a ‘handful’ of manure and teaspoonful of phosphate fertilizer at planting time, according to Anampiu. A spacing of 75 cm by 30 cm has been found economically viable by researchers at the station.

But a challenge to farmers comes in the form of poles, some as high as six metres. While in some areas, ants would devour the posts. In such cases, Anampiu recommends that farmers may instead use the wire and string combination to hang the twinning beans.

“One iron wire can be supported by locally available strings as it will save farmers overall costs and improve margins just as is done with passion fruits”, he added.

Beyond the seeds harvested at the end of the cycle, the beans also provide green leaves- used as vegetable across the country, fix nitrogen into the soil enriching it, while the dried stems can be used as livestock hay.

“Such beans would be suitable to be grown in our area where land size is diminished as needs rise. A few seeds are sure to produce enough harvest for the family”, said Jane Wanjira, from Siakago in Embu.

Meanwhile, Egerton University —Kenya’s premier agricultural institution — has developed new bean varieties ready for release to farmers. The varieties, ECABOO81 (Ciankui), AFR 708 (Chelang) and Lyamungu-85, are reported to yield three times more than other varieties.

According to lead researcher Prof Ellis Mbaka, the varieties can yield 7.5 to 10 bags per acre under farm trials. This is against the national average bean production of two to 2.5 bags per acre.

Business Daily Africa

Planting of GM crops in South Africa rises

In a new online video released recently, South African farmer Richard Sithole shares his family's experience farming genetically modified Bt maize. Since planting his first genetically modified Bt maize crop in 2000, Sithole has increased the size of his farm, increased his income, and improved his family's standard of living.

"The new kind of maize is important to me because I can grow enough to feed my family and also have some surplus leftover to sell," says Sithole, who, in 2000, farmed 10 hectares of land and today farms 15 hectares. "Previously, I failed to make this farm produce as much as it could, but now, because I'm well equipped, I'm farming all of my hectares."

In 2007, approximately 57 percent of the total maize acreage in South Africa was planted to genetically modified maize. Including maize, soybeans and cotton, South African farmers grew more than 1.8 million hectares of genetically modified crops in 2007 - almost 30 percent more acres than in 2006.

The adoption of genetically modified crops in South Africa has been progressive and steady over the last decade due to significant on-farm economic benefits. A 2008 study by Brookes and Barfoot estimates that South African farmers have increased their farm income by using genetically modified crops by US$156 million in the period 1998 to 2006.

"When I was using conventional maize, I was losing too much money because I had to buy chemicals to control insects like the corn borer. And, sometimes, when I went to the shop to buy the pesticide, they didn't have it," continues Sithole. "Now, using the Bt maize, I'm getting more yield and spending less money compared to conventional maize.

"My family is well fed now, and we live at a higher standard because of Bt maize," continues Sithole, husband, father of seven and grandfather of seven. "My children are now getting a good education. … Even my livestock is living at a higher standard because I use this maize to feed them."

This new video about genetically modified maize in South Africa can be viewed, downloaded or embedded into another Web site from the Conversations about Plant Biotechnology Web site. In addition, visitors to the Web site can view videos with other South African farmers talking about the benefits of genetic engineering of crops, and videos with experts about the need for GM technology in developing countries to benefit subsistence farming.

The Conversations about Plant Biotechnology is designed to give a voice and a face to the farmers and families who grow GM crops and the experts who research and study the benefits of biotechnology in agriculture. The Web site contains more than 70 two- to three-minute, candid, straightforward and compelling video segments with the people who know the technology best. The Web site is hosted by Monsanto Company -- a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality.

Contact:
Ranjana Smetacek
314-694-2642
ranjana.smetacek @ monsanto.com

PR Web

EU farm ministers to debate GM soybean, cotton imports

European Union farm ministers will this week debate whether to allow imports of genetically modified strains of cotton and soybeans to be used as food ingredients and in animal feed, a document showed on Monday.

If approved, which diplomats say is unlikely, the two GM crops would be grown outside the European Union and then imported as finished products for further processing. Both have been developed by Germany's Bayer CropScience.

EU countries rarely agree on GMO issues and discussions on authorizing imports of new modified products usually end in deadlock.

When ministers fail to reach a majority under a complex weighted voting system either to reject or approve the application, EU law provides for the European Commission, the bloc's executive, to issue a default approval.

The ministers' meeting is scheduled for July 15. Neither GM product would be approved for cultivation inside the EU.

The cotton, known as LLCotton25, has been engineered to resist certain herbicides. If approved, which would be for a standard 10 years, LLCotton25 seeds and derived products could be imported for use as food -- crushed into oil, for example -- as well as animal feed, like cottonseed meal and seed hulls.

Bayer's soybean, developed to resist glufosinate herbicides, is known by its codename A2704-12 and would be imported into EU markets either as whole soybeans, oil or meal. It would then be processed by European companies for use in food and animal feed.

Reuters

Monsanto to develop high-yielding seeds

Monsanto, the leader in agricultural biotechnology, pledged on June 5 to develop seeds that would double the yields of corn, soybeans and cotton by 2030 and would require 30 percent less water, land and energy to grow.

The announcement, coming as world leaders were meeting in Rome to discuss rising food prices and growing food shortages, appears to be aimed at least in part at winning acceptance of genetically modified crops by showing that they can play a major role in feeding the world.
Much of what is in the commitment are things the company was doing anyway, though it now becomes a formal goal.

Monsanto said it had developed its new commitment after consulting farmers, political leaders, academics and advocacy groups as to what needed to be done to increase food production to cope with a rising population and the demand for biofuels without converting more forests into farmland.

How much genetic engineering, which involves adding bacterial or other foreign genes to the DNA of plants, could contribute to improving output is a matter of debate. A recent review of agricultural technology, sponsored by the United Nations and the World Bank, saw a very limited role. But in Rome on June 4, United States Secretary of Agriculture Edward T. Schafer said biotechnology would be essential if the world was to increase food supply by 2030 to meet rising demand.

Genetically modified soybeans, corn and cotton, genetically engineered to provide herbicide tolerance, insect resistance or both, are widely grown in the United States and several other countries. But they are largely shunned in Europe and some other areas because of concerns about potential environmental and health effects.

Perhaps seeking to avoid controversy, Monsanto’s announcement did not mention the term “genetic engineering.” It referred instead to “other technologies” beyond breeding.

Monsanto’s goal of doubling yields by 2030 over levels in 2000 might require a sharp acceleration in the rate by which agricultural productivity has been increasing. James E. Specht, a soybean genetics expert at the University of Nebraska, said he doubted it could be done.
“The hype-to-reality ratio of that one is essentially infinity,” Mr. Specht said. “Seeing an exponential change in the yield curve is unlikely.”

Mr. Specht said that on irrigated farms in Nebraska, soybean yields have been increasing by about 0.6 bushels an acre every year. At that rate it would take 83 years for yields to double from the 50 bushels an acre recorded in 2000.

But Monsanto executives say that a new technique called marker-assisted selection could double the rate of gain made from breeding. That technique does not involve altering crops by putting in foreign genes. Rather it uses genetic tests to help choose which plants to use in conventional cross-breeding, vastly speeding up the process and improving its efficiency.

Monsanto executives say genetic engineering could provide additional increases in output beyond that. The company’s insect-resistant crops already help protect corn and cotton. And Monsanto scientists are working on genetically engineered crops that would grow better with less water and fertilizer.

Moreover, the company is not talking about the United States alone. It said its commitment was to double the weighted average yield of all countries with access to the company’s seeds and modern agriculture production techniques, particularly Argentina and Brazil, in addition to the United States.

Brazil, for instance, produces only 58 bushels of corn an acre compared to 157 bushels in the United States. So big gains might be made by bringing Brazil to American levels, without having to vastly accelerate yield improvements in Nebraska.

Some critics of biotechnology say that genetic engineering so far has not been shown to improve yields, though it may provide more convenience for farmers. They also have said that the biotech crops developed so far have mainly been aimed at feeding livestock in wealthy countries, not improving the staple crops grown by small farmers in poor countries.

As part of its announcement, Monsanto said it would work to improve the lives of farmers, including poor ones, including sharing its technology. It recently announced a project with some other organizations to develop drought-tolerant corn for Africa, with Monsanto forgoing the collection of royalties for use of its technology.

Monsanto also said it would donate $10 million over five years to public-sector programs aimed at improving yields of wheat and rice, which are not a primary focus of the company’s efforts. Much of the breeding of those two food staples are performed by governments and universities.

Besides being a leader in genetic engineering, Monsanto is one of the largest suppliers of seeds in the world. It also sells the widely used herbicide Roundup, use of which has grown with the adoption of genetically engineered crops resistant to Roundup.

NYTimes

Scientists meet in Nigeria to discuss GM cowpea production in Africa

As world leaders met earlier this week in Rome to find solutions to the global food crisis, a number of scientists and other stakeholders also converged on the Nigerian capital, Abuja, to consider the possibility of increasing Bt cowpea production in Africa to feed the continent.

The three-day international conference, organized by the Nairobi-based African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) and the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, attracted participants from Australia, the United States and some African countries.

Speaker after speaker called for effective ways to propagate the message that Bt cowpea, given the necessary attention, could be a major source of food especially protein, to the ever-increasing population of the continent.

Currently, AATF is engaged in a process of developing a new genetically modified cowpea with a Bt gene that would enable smallholder farmers in Africa to have access to high quality seed and socially acceptable cowpea varieties with increased resistance to maruca pod borer, an insect that troubles the produce.

In a presentation on her behalf, Nigeria’s Federal Minister of Science and Technology, Chief (Mrs.) Grace Ekpiwhre, assured the participants that the government of Nigeria, the largest producer and consumer of cowpea, supported every progress being made to develop Bt cowpea.

“For many years, plant breeders have used conventional plant breeding methods to improve crops, and to help speed up natural selection and evolution by combining different genes for crop improvement but all these have not been yielding desirable results. A major advantage of modern biotechnology is that it often generates strategies for genetic improvement that can be applied to many different crops, and beneficial organisms which this project employs.”

Nigeria and Niger, together, produce about 86 percent of the world’s cowpea, which is considered the most important food grain legume in the dry savannah of tropical Africa where it is grown on more than 12.5 million hectares of land.

“Over 200 million people consume the crop, thus an improvement in cowpea productivity in Africa will ensure quality and increased food yield, improved health for all, eradication of malnutrition in the African child and assurance of prosperity of the rural sector,” said the minister.

For his part, Professor Shehu Ado, Director of IAR, said the proper organization of the conference even indicated that “Africans, given the political backing by their governments, can engineer effective solutions to problems on the continent.” He said the importance of cowpea to all, especially the poor, earned it the Hausa nickname “naman talaka” which literally means “meat for the poor.”

The Director of the Tamale-based Savannah Agricultural Research Institute, Professor A.B. Salifu, was happy to state that Ghana now had a legislative instrument to enable scientists to conduct field trials on Genetically Modified products in agriculture.

“As I have had the occasion to remark before, for us in Ghana the argument for deployment of GM products in our agriculture no longer lies with the science; what is key now should be the issue of public perception of the concept, including issues related to consumer awareness.”

Modern Ghana

Pesticides cause food poisoning in Nigeria

The hospitalisation of 116 girls after consuming beans sprayed with harmful pesticides at a secondary school in northern Nigeria’s Gombe State on 18 April has raised concerns about how dry foods are stored all around the country.

“Local farmers have the habit of pouring any storage chemicals they can find on their produce,” said William Joseph, director of research at the Nigerian Stored Produce Research Institute (NSPRI). He said farmers apply more pesticides on beans than on other crops because they are more susceptible to attack by pests. “They do not think about the health implications for consumers,” he said.

The students at Doma Government Secondary School for Girls suffered diarrhea hours after eating the beans and were in hospital at the federal medical centre in Gombe in the state capital for five days. State officials have since banned the consumption of beans in all boarding schools.

Joseph said peasant farmers, who produce 70 percent of Nigeria’s food, do not differentiate between pesticides used in the field and those used for storage. “The peasants cannot read pesticide labels,” he said. “All pesticides are poisonous but pesticides for storage break down and become non-poisonous two to three months after application,” Joseph said. “Field pesticides remain poisonous no matter how much time lapses after application.”

Some traders are also responsible, said Abdullahi Koya, head of the grain wholesalers union in Dawanau market in Kano.. “They add pesticides after buying beans to transport,” he said. “At first we would report them to the agriculture ministry but the [traders] stopped buying from us so we just looked the other way. “Experts from the Kano office of the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture do come to the market periodically to demonstrate to traders proper preservation techniques,” he added.

NSPRI, the research institute, has also embarked on an awareness campaign on the local radio.

Identifying grains that have been sprayed with harmful pesticides is pretty easy, Koya said. “If they are covered with white dust that has a chemical smell then you know.”

IRIN