TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE & ‘PRECISION FARMING’

TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE & ‘PRECISION FARMING’

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Retooling our small farmers in the developing world in order to catch up on precision farming is the trend of the present. Among the benefits of the farming trend are the usage of GPS and related satellite-tracked knowledge to constantly monitor soil content and analysis.

Having been engaged in tasks concerning food security before, inclusive of micro-finance for marginal farmers and fisherfolks, I am aware of the fact that knowledge of farming in the poor rural communities is a matter of communitarian sharing of what community members know and practice in food production. The small planters in my country in particular have already retooled massively across the decades, thus exhibiting an innovative behavior [as sociologist Gelia Castillo described it] that made them depart radically from small planters of past generations.

Capacitating farmers to tool anew for precision farming is a viable undertaking in the developing world, this I can guarantee as a development worker. The first thing to do is to install rural interconnectivity internet in all rural communities [this technology was already perfected in the University of the Philippines c. 2007 yet]. All other facets of technology learning will follow from this one.

Many sons and daughters of small planters are computer literate, so the younglings can be pooled into a resource group to help the peasants in their technology literacy. Compact computers [laptops, notebooks, Ipads] are now available at very affordable prices, which can be surfed so easily in any rural community that has its own internet connectivity facility.

An article from the scidev.net is shared below that tackles the subject matter of precision farming and traditional knowledge.

[Manila, 06 June 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/farming-practices/news/traditional-knowledge-can-enable-precision-farming-.html

Traditional knowledge 'can enable precision farming'

Lou Del Bello

28 May 2013

Farmers in developing countries could take advantage of the emerging field of precision farming without needing the expensive technology usually associated with it, a geostatistics expert says.

Crop yields could be improved by applying traditional knowledge to mirror precision techniques such as using the satellite Global Positioning System (GPS) to analyse farm land, says Margaret Oliver, a visiting research fellow at the University of Reading's Soil Research Centre in the United Kingdom.

In a paper in Significance, she says geostatistical analyses of data from sensors both on land and from satellites are "becoming increasingly standard for all kinds of crop production and will be of crucial importance in the near future as the world faces increasing issues of food security".

SPEED READ

·                       Precision farming uses high-tech methods to maximise crop yields

·                       But smallholder farmers can apply local knowledge to similar effect

·                       Large-scale precision farming is also taking off in parts of the developing world

Such data can be used to build a map of soil biochemistry, which can help farmers improve crop yields and resistance to disease. The cost of technology, which can also include high-tech farming machinery, has so far kept precision farming methods mostly in developed nations, although emerging economies are taking it up.

But Oliver says smallholder farmers can instead apply their traditional knowledge. "By working on the same area for years, they can map ­the soil like GPS would do, knowing which corners are more or less productive, which are drier or wetter," she tells SciDev.Net.

They can then spread manure in the best places, design more targeted irrigation systems and plant seeds where the soil is more fertile.

"In the developing world, farming is more about knowledge, which is shared within the community, than expensive machinery," adds Oliver.

She believes a first step towards combining traditional and precision agriculture should be education.

"Farmers should be helped to realise how much can be done by simply adjusting some of their usual practices, like watering or spreading manure on fields," she says. "Education on precision farming should be part of the aid programmes already in place, and cost would be minimal compared with expensive machinery."

Matteo Zucchelli, a sales manager at Trimble, a company supplying technology for precision farming, says that while yield improvements can be achieved without expensive machinery on a small scale, the main potential for the developing world and for emerging economies is large-scale change, which requires investment in technology.

"In Latin America high-tech precision farming is widespread by now because the economies of these countries is more industrialised and investors can afford the machinery," Zucchelli says. "But the approach may vary depending on the context."

In Brazil, for example, "the gross domestic product is in constant growth, due to industrial agriculture and manufacturing. However, in Africa the situation is probably different and a small-scale approach, which relies on traditional knowledge instead of technology, might suit local economies best, even though the positive effects will be reduced," Zucchelli says.

Link to abstract

RAIN HARVESTING AS WATER CRISIS INTERVENTION

RAIN HARVESTING AS WATER CRISIS INTERVENTION

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Crispin Maslog of the Philippines, who previously worked for the International Rice Research Institute, cogitates about the practice of rain harvesting as a viable water crisis intervention measure. I couldn’t agree more with this noblesse gentleman from environmentalist circles in Southeast Asia.

I still recall all too well in the early 80s, when I began my career as a development worker, how a municipal government decided to convert a mountainous part of the town of Solana into a water catchment. Being a rice producer, the town of Solana, of Cagayan Province, has more than ample water supply at that time coming from the freshly started irrigation projects. Yet the presence of irrigation facilities didn’t stop the mayor of the town [name now escapes my memory] to conceptualize, along with his able staff, such a project.

The catchment had multiple purposes, with irrigation or water for crop production only among the common usages. It can also be used for bath, washing stuff, and even as potable water for drinking. I honestly highly appreciated the project, and was directed to opine that all rural towns in the Philippines for that matter should construct their equivalent of water catchments.

Well, the good news is that the Congress of the Philippine republic legislated a law that enforced the construction of water catchments in all of the local villages of the country. The bad news is that the law wasn’t implemented as originally conceptualized.

Below is the interesting reportage on the subject by Crispin Maslog.

[Manila, 02 June 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/water/opinions/asia-pacific-analysis-rain-harvesting-can-avert-crisis.html

Asia–Pacific Analysis: Rain harvesting can avert crisis

Crispin Maslog

29 May 2013 | EN

To ensure South-East Asias's growing population has enough water to drink, we need to collect more rain, says Crispin Maslog.

The world's next major crisis will be a lack of water for home use, including drinking water, many scientists predict. Humans can survive around 40 days without food, but much less than that without water to drink.
The scarcity of water for domestic use is becoming a critical problem, especially in rural parts of developing countries. Surface water in rivers, streams or lakes, and groundwater, are increasingly becoming contaminated with pollutants from factories, households, farms and mines. Wells dug deeper to extract groundwater are drying up. [1]

·                       Water scarcity is becoming a critical problem, but rainwater can provide a solution

·                       Rain is stored in jars in Thailand and on roofs in Singapore

·                       But only governments can drive consistent, centralised efforts to collect rainwater

To meet the water demands of an exploding population, it is time to look up to the sky for the solution: harvesting rainwater as it falls.

As well as for drinking, rainwater serves various needs. It can be used domestically, for example to wash clothes, flush toilets and to water plants, and in the community, for instance in firefighting or to clean public places such as markets, and for agriculture.

If properly done, "rainwater harvesting appears to be one of the most promising alternatives for supplying freshwater in the face of increasing water scarcity and escalating demand", according to the UN Environment Programme. [2] Water catchments, whether it is just small ponds or large dams, can also be used for flood control.

Updating an ancient practice

Harvesting rain for domestic use has age-old roots. Ancient Romans used their villa courtyards to collect rainwater that was then stored in large underground cisterns.

Rainwater harvesting in Asia can be traced back to about the ninth century, when the small-scale collection of rain from roofs and simple dams began in rural parts of South and South-East Asia.

Today, rainwater harvesting is commonly practised in parts of East Africa, central Australia and Central America, as well as in Japan, Mexico, Singapore and Thailand, among others.

Countries in South-East Asia and the Pacific enjoy abundant rainfall spread fairly evenly throughout the year, albeit with peaks during the monsoon season that normally occurs between July and December. Annual rainfall in the region typically ranges between 1,500 and 2,500 millimetres, although mountain areas have in excess of 4,000 millimetres. [3] Such massive downpours often cause flooding in lowland areas.

The monsoon season is obviously the peak time for water harvesting. It makes sense for the region to consider widespread, systematic harvesting of rainwater for domestic, agricultural and industrial uses.

Varying practices

Modern rainwater harvesting practices in the region vary from country to country. 

In Singapore, which has limited land and where most people live in high-rise buildings, rooftop rainwater harvesting is widely practised. Collected water is kept in separate roof cisterns for non-potable uses. The country's Changi Airport has a large rainwater harvesting system that collects rain from the runways and the surrounding green areas in two reservoirs. The water is used mainly for firefighting drills and toilet flushing. [4]

For Thailand, which has the lowest per capita volume of freshwater in Asia, rainwater harvesting provides a major alternative supply. 'Rain jars' — vessels of up to 3,000 litres that catch water from roofs — have always been part of its culture. In rural northeastern Thailand, "a home was not a home unless it had one huge rainwater jar", according to Thai writer Cezar Tigno. [5]

The Philippine Congress passed a law in 1989 that required each of the country's 42,000 villages to build rainwater collectors or ponds mainly for aquaculture use as well as to minimise the risk of flooding, to provide water for areas on the banks with vegetation and small parks, and to recharge badly depleted groundwater. [6]

However, more than two decades later, because of the lack of implementation by local governments, only a handful of these collectors have been constructed.

Directly harnessing rainwater

There appear to be four ways to bring about rainwater harvesting: introduce legislation requiring every new home to include a harvesting system before a building permit is approved; create laws requiring villages to build communal ponds; draw up legislation requiring every industrial plant or complex to build a harvesting system to meet its water needs; or to build proper drainage, water recycling or underground reservoir systems for cities. Most engineers think that this centralised system is more viable than the three other fragmented approaches.

So governments must lead the way. The mystery is why governments in South-East Asia and the Pacific have not gone all out in tapping this abundant natural water supply. To harness rainwater, what is needed is consistent public policy and political will.

Crispin Maslog is a Manila-based consultant for the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication. A former journalist, professor and environmental activist, he worked for the Press Foundation of Asia and the International Rice Research Institute.

This article has been produced by SciDev.Net's South-East Asia & Pacific desk.

References

[1] Luong, T.V. Harvesting the rain: A construction manual for cement rainwater jars and tanks (UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office, 2002)

[2] UN Environment Programme Sourcebook of Alternative Technologiesfor Freshwater Augmentation in Some Countries in Asia (UNEP, 1998)

[3] Sehgal, J.D. Roof-Top Harvesting of Rainwater: A Sustainable Water Resource in S.E. Asia (4th International Conference on Sustainable Water Environment: Innovative Technologies and Energy Efficient Solutions, 2008)

[4] UN Environment Programme Examples of Rainwater Harvesting and UtilisationAround the World (UNEP, retrieved 24 May 2013)

[5] Tigno, C. Thailand: Promoting Rainwater Harvesting,Preserving Rain Water Jar Culture (Scribd, 2007)

[6] Oposa T., Jr. Implement 1989 rainwater collection law (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 2009)

IS THERE A GAP BETWEEN SCIENCE AND NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS?

IS THERE A GAP BETWEEN SCIENCE AND NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS?

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

There is a hubris going on around communicators’ circles that science and civil society organizations do not exactly meet or converge. Having come from the developmental NGOs for nearly two (2) decades, there is no truth to the observation.

Unless of course that the public communicators would want to delimit science to mean ‘natural science’, a term that is no longer in use today. Research work is the standard work of science, and there is nary a NGO, more so a national NGO in my country, that doesn’t engage in serious research.

The NGO research I talk about concern the advocacy line of the organization involved. National NGOs are pretty stringent in their screening of volunteers and staff, and often the paid staff are college graduates coming from the social sciences and business management fields.

The physical, biological, and health science fields have their own respective NGO advocacy groups in the Philippines, and I presume this is so in the greater Asia. Since they have cross-cutting areas of concern with those in the social advocacy domains, they in fact collaboratively work in alliances with the latter.

At any rate, the report coming from the communicators’ circle about the science-NGO gap is shown below.

[Manila, 30 May 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/en/science-and-innovation-policy/the-challenge-of-science-and-ngo-practice-joining-forces/editorials/making-space-for-science-in-ngo-practice.html

Making space for science in NGO practice

22 May 2013 | EN | ES

Giacomo Pirozzi/Panos

There is a largely unexplored landscape of opportunity for collaboration between scientists and development practitioners.

The theme of this year's Annual Ministerial Review of the UN Economic and Social Council is the potential of science and technology to deliver sustainable development.

In spite of such a noble gathering's intentions, it is an open secret in international development that practitioners and scientists do not meet that often. Indeed, a quick look at the Review's programme suggests that none of the guest speakers will be scientists, though Virgin's Richard Branson will presumably speak of entrepreneurial innovation.

·                       Poor science-NGO links are a missed opportunity

·                       Making the most of it needs understanding of differing views and drivers

·                       Research and development funders should jointly support collaboration

Last year, a study by SciDev.Net suggested that more than 90 per cent of civil society organisations working on development in Sub-Saharan Africa did not follow developments in science and technology. The statistics were equally concerning in other regions.

Despite this gap, the articles published as part of this week's Spotlight suggest that by challenging a few assumptions about how research planning should work, and adapting current funding patterns, there are better relationships and results to be had.

Opportunity — but challenging terrain

The Spotlight explores challenges to a closer relationship between scientists and NGO development practitioners. Some articles examine the rationale for a closer working relationship while others go further and discuss examples of collaborations that have worked.

The overview article sets out the landscape, recognising the vast operational space that we are seeking to make generalisations about, while acknowledging some emergent trends. SciDev.Net special features editor Anita Makri describes the various ways in which scientific practice appears at odds with the concerns of development workers.

Much of this revolves around different ideas about what makes knowledge useful and valid, as well as divergent work flows and institutional contexts. For instance, while politics has a clear and often welcome role in NGO practice, it is problematic in the natural sciences. However, the article usefully maps the various motivations and opportunities for past, present and future collaborations.

One area that immediately emerges as a concern is under-investment in delivering science to where it is needed — in the science of delivery. In an opinion article, Harry Jones, from the UK's Overseas Development Institute, argues that work to promote science uptake is too often focused at the national and policy level.

Jones maintains that the most valuable examples of science's contribution to development have included community engagement, and are concerned explicitly with rolling-out and applying scientific innovation. Perhaps most significantly, he says that applying models of collective action are the best ways to manage the cross-disciplinary, cross-institutional coalitions needed for applied science.

Our Spotlight feature article provides some inspiring examples of how NGOs can help deliver scientific and technical innovations to communities. In one instance, a human rights NGO enters an unexpected technology partnership to produce a 'kidnap alert' bracelet. And in another example, bottom-up entrepreneurship has catalysed solar lighting sales and technology development in Africa. Both organisations make a compelling call for "user-focused approaches" to planning research.

Little incentive to bridge gaps

However, Charlie McLaren, from the UK Collaborative on Development Sciences, reflects on the substantive challenges to scaling up NGO and science partnerships. He points to research funders' relatively limited investment in the knowledge exchange agenda, even for those funders operating nominally in the development sector.

The reasons relate to incentive structures and training for researchers, neither of which privilege non-academic partnerships. However, McLaren points out that investments in researchers' capacity to engage NGOs really should be matched by similar investment in NGOs' capacity to engage research. As things stand, there is certainly more talk about the former than the latter.

Rachel Hayman, from the International NGO Training and Research Centre (INTRAC) in the UK, takes this consideration further. Moving beyond the normal ambition to turn research into action, she calls for turning action into research.

Hayman considers how NGOs typically generate and source knowledge, and identifies a number of gaps between their capabilities as stakeholders and how scientists conceive research agendas, and approach dissemination.

And Dipak Gyawali, of the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, argues that Southern NGOs should take a more clearly challenging role as stakeholders in development policy. He charts the growth of NGOs over recent decades and finds that in having become associated with Northern policy that sidesteps Southern governments, their role has been compromised by the funding and power of foreign aid.

Yet Gyawali sees these organisations as essential to science-based policy, and to a renewed relationship between global know-how and local empowerment.

Invest in collaboration

Often, the science of delivery is understood as starting with the end user of research in mind. But achieving delivery is both easier and more complex than that.

While in practice, much research effort starts with little concern for either demand or capabilities for applying it, sometimes it is difficult to conceive a priori where scientific knowledge will have a great impact. There are many examples of this throughout the history of science, from radio waves to plastic.

Also, there is a need to make use of what is there already, and not focus all partnerships on generating new knowledge per se. This means that not only should researchers involve end-users earlier in the process, but that practitioners themselves might start seeking solutions by considering what is already available.

To achieve more efficient delivery of science and its innovative applications we need two measures. The first is about investing in people and spaces that allow scientists with substantial local knowledge to focus on roll-out.

Acting as delivery experts, they will innovate by brokering and adapting technologies or by supporting capacity sharing amongst stakeholders, from communities to government agencies. There is clearly a role for NGOs and research institutions in the global South here.

Secondly, research funders and mainstream development funders should become closer partners, sharing responsibility for science in the service of development. A good place to start is allocating more resources to innovating and testing approaches to collaboration between scientists and NGO practitioners. This Spotlight shows there are already some promising examples.

It is a difficult task, but science — and civil society — have risen to greater challenges.

Nick Ishmael Perkins
Director, SciDev.Net

LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR MARINE ECOSYSTEMS: SHOWCASING ANGOLA, NAMIBIA, SOUTH AFRICA

LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR MARINE ECOSYSTEMS: SHOWCASING ANGOLA, NAMIBIA, SOUTH AFRICA

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

A milestone framework for marine ecosystems was recently agreed upon by Angola, Namibia, and South Africa. The area covered is the world’s largest in terms of concurring framework agreement, which makes it truly laudable.

The framework covers the Benguela Current, a portion of ocean that runs from South Africa down south through Angola up north. Conservation and sustainable use of the zone’s resources were the core content of the framework agreement.

The framework is expected to enable joint uses or resource utilizations where possible. Instead of the three countries competing via resort to wars and conflicts to establish foothold in the area, the same countries concurred amicable usage, with sustainability as core value to observe.

Economic activities in the Benguela Current alone generate around $54 Billions worth of revenues per annum. If the countries resort to tribalist or ethnicist bullying and warfare to establish control of the current, the full potentialities of the $54 Billion revenues will never be achieved. Which makes consensus and legal ways as the best option to follow, the options of civility.

Below is a reportage of the milestone framework.

[Manila, 28 May 2013]

Source: http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/presscenter/articles/2013/04/30/world-s-first-large-marine-ecosystem-legal-framework-signed-by-angola-namibia-and-south-africa.html

Angola, Namibia and South Africa sign world’s first large marine ecosystem legal framework

30 April 2013

Benguela, Angola — With the signing of the Benguela Current Convention, Angola, Namibia and South Africa will work together on the long-term conservation and sustainable use of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem, one of the richest ecosystems on earth.

Stretching from Port Elizabeth in South Africa to the province of Cabinda in northern Angola, the Benguela Current is an area of ocean that produces goods and services estimated to be worth at least US $54.3 billion per year. Offshore oil and gas production, marine diamond mining, coastal tourism and commercial fishing and shipping are some of the most important industrial activities that take place in the region.

At the heart of the Benguela Current Convention is cross-national agreement to use the ecologically- and economically-rich ecosystem in a way that carefully balances its long-term preservation and the needs of the people whose livelihoods depend on its use.

“It is the ideal and most effective way to achieve the sustainable management of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem and ensure the sustainable future of the people who rely on it,” said Maria do Valle Ribeiro, who heads the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Angola.

UNDP and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) have been providing funding and technical support for regional cooperation around protecting the Benguela Current since the 1990s. Their backing was key to the successful establishment of the Commission in 2007.

“The historic signing of the Benguela Current Convention represents the culmination of many years of research, consultation and negotiation, all of which have been carried out in a spirit of trust and cooperation,” said Hashali Hamukuaya, Executive Secretary of the Benguela Current Commission.

The signing ceremony took place at the seat of the Government of the Province of Benguela and was attended by the Angolan ministers of Fisheries, Science and Technology, Agriculture, Transport and Mines & Energy; the Namibian ministers of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Mines & Energy and Transport; and the South African Minister of Environmental Affairs and Water.

A holistic form of ecosystem management is essential to address increasing threats to complex coastal and marine environments, said Deputy CEO of the GEF André Laperriere.

“Sustainable management is not possible without a legal framework such as the one jointly put in place today by the Governments of Angola, Namibia and South Africa,” he said. “The leaders of these countries have clearly shown that it is possible and desirable to see political solutions based on scientific knowledge in order to reverse marine degradation and resource depletion.”

AIDING DISABLED PERSONS: ECHOES FROM TURKMENISTAN

AIDING DISABLED PERSONS: ECHOES FROM TURKMENISTAN

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

How far have developing countries addressed the Disabled Persons problems? Expectedly, the more prosperous ‘tiger’ and ‘dragon’ economies, followed by the ‘emerging markets’, have appreciably addressed the problem in one way or another.

Differential access to services by marginal sectors do vary across the diverse developing countries. Those countries emerging from the dark years of Stalinism, notably the Central Asian societies, do lag behind in the ‘affirmative action’ policies for disabled persons for instance.

In the Philippines, it took the audacity of one known journalist to establish a party list group that will represent the Disabled Persons, as a legistative way of fast-tracking fiats that benefit the sector. This journalist, Art Borjal, is himself a DP, being a paraplegic, and the laws he initiated in Congress during his victorious incumbency as party list legislator, still stand till these days as precedent-setting innovations.

Below is an interesting human interest story about the DPs of Turkmenistan. Once a colony of imperial Russia, Turkmenistan was forcibly integrated into the Soviet Union by the Bolsheviks. It gained its independence upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

[Manila, 25 May 2013]

Source: http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/povertyreduction/successstories/turkmenistan--helping-people-with-disabilities-move-forward.html

Turkmenistan: Helping people with disabilities move forward

Yuriy Kulik might have remained unemployed, relegated to the fringes of society in Turkmenistan. After losing his sight as a teenager, he could not find a job that would accommodate his disability.
But in 2005, Kulik took part in an intensive course that taught him how to adapt without his sight. It taught him how to read and write in braille, and gave him the skills to become a professional masseur.

Highlights

• From 2005 to 2009, the programme trained more than 220 visually- and hearing-impaired individuals.
• 80 percent of graduates of the Deaf and Blind Society of Turkmenistan’s work-training programme have found jobs.
• Salaries for garment-factory workers tripled after training.
• Between 2009 and 2012, 10 graduates of the rehabilitation programme have helped retrain approximately 50 visually impaired individuals in all five provinces of Turkmenistan.

“I am happy that I can help people,” says Kulik, adding that the course helped him regain his confidence.
The course he took, offered by the Deaf and Blind Society of Turkmenistan (DBS) with the support of the United Nations Development Programme, teaches people with disabilities basic literacy and how to function outdoors. But it also teaches work skills, such as carpentry and sewing (for the hearing impaired) in addition to massage (for the visually impaired).
From 2005 to 2009, the programme helped give more than 220 visually- and hearing-impaired individuals a new start in life. About 80 percent of graduates got jobs: some people from the provinces set up their own private businesses at home, while others work for DBS.
UNDP has helped DBS train sign-language interpreters to support DBS’ efforts in training the hearing impaired, including children. It bought minibuses, as well as computer equipment to produce audio books.
The Society has a number of enterprises—a sewing workshop, a publishing house, as well as facilities producing locks, cartons and other items – where many graduates of the programme work.
Currently, its garment enterprise in the city of Turkmenbashi is working at full capacity, thanks to orders for mattresses, bed linen and work uniforms from local oil refineries. The garment workshop’s quarterly volume of production has increased to US $32,000, resulting in salary increases for its visually and hearing-impaired workers (from $60 to $180 per month).
The Society relies in part on profits from its enterprises to support its operations. But because the profits don’t cover its operating expenses, the initiative has received $685,000 in funding from the European Union, UNDP and the Asian Blind Union.
Following a large-scale awareness-raising campaign on the local and national level, the project engaged local administrations in a dialogue on the needs and concerns of people with disabilities. The next step for the successful program will be scaling it up to the national level.

AGRIBIZ & AGRO-INDUSTRY INITIATIVES FOR AFRICA

AGRIBIZ & AGRO-INDUSTRY INITIATIVES FOR AFRICA

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

A gladdening news from Africa concerns the 3ADI or African Agrigusiness and Agro-industry Development Initiative. The African Union, FAO and UNIDO are collaborating together to jettison the 3ADI.

Arranging food security measures along the value chain has been a very challenging task for Africa as a whole. Poverty and famine stoke the continent or vast parts of it, added to other disasters of geological and atmospheric disturbances.

Such a seemingly bleak situation for food insecurity, poverty, and ecological disharmonics can still be reversed to end vicious cycles of deaths and deplorable living conditions. With the collaborating institutions at the helm of 3ADI, the clout for putting a productive agenda into practice is greatly enhanced.

Below is a brief report on the 3ADI from the UNIDO.

Source: http://www.unido.org/index.php?id=1001681

The African Agribusiness and Agro-industry Development Initiative (3ADI)

The goal of the 3ADI is to have an agriculture sector in Africa which consists of highly productive and profitable agricultural value chains.

To accelerate the development of the agribusiness and agro-industries sectors in Africa, 3ADI supports an investment programme that will significantly increase the proportion of agricultural produce in Africa that is transformed into differentiated high-value products.

The initiative highlights the critical role of agribusinesses in the process of economic development, food security and sustainable reduction of poverty and hunger especially for the world’s poorest countries.

It also defines priority areas where support is needed to foster sustained poverty reduction through human capital development, highly productive and profitable agro-value chains and greater agribusiness participation in domestic and international markets.

The 3ADI stems from the Abuja Declaration, passed at the end of the Abuja Conference, organized by the African Union Council (AUC) on March 2011. The declaration calls upon UNIDO, in cooperation with FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) and IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) to join efforts in a well coordinated way, in order to share knowledge and harmonize programmes in ways that capture synergies, avoid fragmented efforts, and enhance developmental impacts.

ASIA IS MOST DISASTER RISK CONTINENT

ASIA IS MOST DISASTER RISK CONTINENT

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Disaster risk has been receiving intensive attention among various stakeholders across the planet. It looks like Asia’s own stakeholders have been at the forefront of disaster risk management, from risk assessment through actual interventions as crisis response measures.

Disaster mitigation may work with certain degrees of certainty, which policy makers and development institutions should buttress with greater efforts. Region per region assessments of geohazards and atmospheric disturbances in any one country should be the norm, with attendant policy and executory measures strictly implemented.

The last ten (10) years have seen horrific disasters in the whole of Asia, disasters that are close to continental catastrophe when integrated to form a complex reality matrix. To say the least, people’s reactions to them have been markedly traumatic, so that whenever they would receive news of powerful storms of tsunami nearby they cower in fear.

Are we indeed close to a ‘continental catastrophe’ for Asia, in case that the term may make sense at all? Below is a summary report from the Asian Development Bank about the disaster risk situation in Asia.

[Manila, 15 May 2013]

Source: http://www.adb.org/features/disaster-risk-management-asia-numbers

Disaster Risk Management in Asia by the Numbers

24 April 2013

Research shows Asia and the Pacific is more vulnerable to natural hazards than other parts of the world. The growing frequency of disasters, such as devastating floods or earthquakes, could derail the region's economic growth and poverty reduction efforts unless measures are put in place to reduce disaster risk and improve preparedness.

1.1 deaths per 1,000 square kilometers: From 1971 to 2010, the average annual death rate from natural hazards in Asia and the Pacific was double the global average of 0.5.
Source: ADB publication Investing in Resilience: Ensuring a Disaster-Resistant Future
50%: Asia accounts for half of the world's estimated economic cost of disasters over the past 20 years.
Source: Independent Evaluation report Special Evaluation Study on ADB's Response to Natural Disasters and Disaster Risks
More than $19 billion: The losses that the region of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is estimated to incur from disasters every 100 years on average.
Source: A presentation during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) Regional Expert Meeting on Loss and Damage in 2012, cited in an Independent Evaluation report Special Evaluation Study on ADB's Response to Natural Disasters and Disaster Risks
Less than 5%: Disaster losses in developing Asia that are insured compared with 40% in developed countries.
Source: ADB news Risk Financing Is Key to Building Resilience Against Disasters - Study
$7.3 million: Annual savings in sea-dike maintenance from the investment of $1.1 million in the rehabilitation of 12,000 hectares of mangroves in Viet Nam.
Source: International Institute for Environment and Development paper, cited in an Independent Evaluation document, Making Infrastructure Disaster-Resilient
2009: The year ASEAN adopted the Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response, the world's first legally binding agreement on disaster risk management. In the same year, ADB established the Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund, which provides emergency relief to member countries.
Source: ADB publication Investing in Resilience: Ensuring a Disaster-Resistant Future, ADB's work to reduce disaster risk
$17.60 billion: The amount of funding that ADB approved in the past 25 years for disaster risk management projects, emergency assistance, post-disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction, and disaster risk reduction activities.
Source:  ADB fast facts Investing in Resilience - Ensuring a Disaster-Resistant Future
3-year pilot project: ADB has approved a pilot disaster response facility to provide timely and effective assistance to countries eligible for concessional Asian Development Fund (ADF) financing, during the ADF XI period, 2013-2016.
Source: ADB policy paper Piloting a Disaster Response Facility