Information for agricultural development in ACP countries

Number 109 FEBRUARY 2004

Youth and rural development Yo! We do need some other heroes 1

Beer in ACP countries Raise a glass to chemistry 3

Geographic information systems and democracy Wow, what a view! 4

IN BRIEF 6

LINKS 10

PUBLICATIONS 11

BETWEEN US 14 VIEWPOINT Partnership selection Development through the looking glass 16

Website: spore.cta.int Photo C. Hughes © Panos Pictures

In this issue Youth and rural development Time passes. At different speeds at different ages. Our Yo! We do need many new young readers – whom we welcome now to Spore because of our main article on youth – will, one day, testify to this. some other heroes Time takes its toll, some say. Maybe, but wondrous things also happen, in time. Take fermentation: just a set of chemical Some revered institutions have dragged their feet in listening to reactions, seen in our second young people. They just can’t get the knack of it, it seems. Not feature. Or watch and try to modulate the passage of time good enough. For the times they are a-changing, y’all. and of people on Nature, with ot for the first time, the feature street in Manhattan housing the Guinean geographic information systems. article of Spore opens in a place far representation at the United Nations – as Time passes. The only constant is away from any ACP shore. Far it happens, just doors away from where change. Our news, reviews and N away over the horizon, maybe, but still at many a Spore interview has been held and readers’ viewpoints discuss what that change is, can be, should be, the core of the yearning for change which an article penned – thousands demanded and, for a CTA gliding into its third moves many, often rural, ACP people – justice, some wanted retribution. decade, has been, in its mission as sometimes across oceans. Some 20 or 30 years ago the planners in an alchemist of information. February 1999. New York. Amadou their home countries saw many of these Is it time that makes the chemistry, Diallo, a 22-year old Guinean setté (immi- people becoming the nation’s farmers, or the chemistry that makes the grant), was shot down with 41 bullets by processors and traders. Their presence – time? Discuss! four badly mistaken police officers, whose young, angry, ambitious – in another con- Times passes. It will soon be time culpability took years to establish and tinent underlines how plans can be for your next Spore. Let’s hope this until January 2004 to recompense. Entire changed by outside events. That their exo- one is good for you now, in its neighbourhoods of the city erupted, dus has removed some pressures on local time. incandescent at this one-mistake-too- resources, and now feeds massive remit- many wrought on a member of the new tances, larger than any other capital flow African communities that have been mov- to their country in many cases, is just an ing to the North in the past decade, rural unforeseen aspect of a migration that was, people migrating from ACP countries. in retrospect, predictable. From the streets of Diallo’s adopted Youth. Anger. Ambition. These simmer Bronx community to the usually genteel away in the remarkable song ‘I find it hard

SPORE 109 • PAGE 1 Youth and rural development • to say (Rebel)’, recorded in 2002 by the Dakar Youth Empowerment Strategy, in is energising many a new young enter- American singer Lauryn Hill about the which the sharpest points were removed prise, as is the Citi Savings and Loans pro- Diallo tragedy. ‘Rebel’ became an iconic by some backroom editors, none too gramme in Accra, Ghana, in the food anthem for many young people across the young, at the fourth World Youth Forum, processing sector, or the Youth Enterprise world aware of the injustices that hinder hosted by the government of Senegal in Service of South Africa. Each of them their progress: August 2001. As if referring to Diallo – in rebels in their time. Don’t look at me that way, like everything the hearts of some West African delegates is alright to the Forum it was – the strategy con- Rebels with, yes, a clue Cuz my own eyes can see, through all your firms the drift of rural youth: “Mobility Some rebels make it to high places, pre- false pretenses and migration of labour towards areas of senting their ideas in more cautious words But what you fail to see, is all the high employment cannot be denied or but with as much passion and verve as the consequences stopped.” poet Sayeed. James Wolfensohn, the direc- You think our lives are cheap, and easy to Or take young Richard Williams in tor of the World Bank, never too keen on be wasted Jamaica (talking in Spore 90’s ‘Should I go needless conformity, is now to be seen, As history repeats, so foul you can taste it or should I stay’): “Mi father spend all im shirt sleeves rolled up thrashing out with And while the people sleep, too comfortable live in a de country seh im a farm, a mus young workers’ leaders the details of the to face it eh fool im did a farm because im no have new Youth Employment Network (YEN), nothin fe show, mi nah do that.” (‘My an initiative of the Bank, ILO and the Create our own shade father spent all his life in the country, on UN. The Commonwealth Youth Pro- a farm, see, and he must have been a fool Hill’s exhortation to rebel fell on fertile gramme deserves much credit for leading because he has nothing to show for it; I’m ground, for rebelliousness goes with youth, not going to do that.’) right? Words too emotive? Try some cool statis- And what I gotta say, is rebel, it can’t go tics, from the Youth Office of the UN sec- down this way retariat. By 2005, more than 1 in 5 of Choose well, choose well, choose well… Africa’s population of 891 million people – And while the people sleep, too comfortable 20.6%, a record high – will be between 14 to face it and 25 years of age (an age range of ‘youth’ Your lives are so incomplete, and nothing, not always shared by other agencies or gov- and no one, can replace it ernments, who sometimes have a ceiling of Or does it? Are young people really the 30 or 35 years). Most will have inadequate, rebels they are thought to be? The poet or no, employment. In South Africa, sta- Iriel Jayeed alluded to Hill’s song in the tistically the most organised ACP country, Southern ‘ezine’ (electronic magazine) 56% of young people had no employment Baobabconnections, aimed mainly at in 2000. At that level, you can feel it in the African youth: “Rebel? And though I’m air. In most countries, it is the unprotected sure she had great record sells, I have seen and statistically weak informal sector which no proof that anyone rebelled! We are still provides most of the work, sometimes the same slave snails locked into captivity. more than 90%, that young people can cre- My question is…why are the people so ate. And here’s the injustice of just being comfortable sleeping? Why don’t people young, gifted and lacking in experience: Photo C. Penn © Panos Pictures acknowledge their part in the struggle? the International Labour Office (ILO) esti- Just taking a break at the doorway to life Why are artists from 2002 repeating the mates that in most developing countries words from the slaves of 1922! Is there programmes in Zambia and elsewhere to unemployment is three times higher really such a thing as reinventing the restructure support services available to among young people than among adults. wheel! I agree with the saying that there is young rural entrepreneurs. nothing new under the sun. Yet we can Some international institutions, stuck It’s the livelihoods, silly create our own shade in itz light. We are in a state of surly non-rebelliousness, lag all Mr Internationals paving the road to The security of young people, and thus behind in this area and deserve a reminder hell with our good intentions! When itz the stability of tomorrow’s society, lies in from Ms Hill. The follow-up programmes time to uprise, revolt and Rebel!” employment. Their drive for meaningful promised by governments at the Dakar livelihoods and income is visible in all the World Youth Forum, for example, have hustle and bustle of any marketplace, stayed on the shelf, whether on education, Say it this way, that way urban or rural. What’s missing is the space HIV/AIDS, environmental protection, Is this the language of young rural people for them to grow into jobs through edu- rural tele-connectivity or enterprise devel- in ACP countries? Surely not, some would cation and training in technical and man- opment. And the New Partnership for wish, preferring to wallow in the notion agement affairs, and through access to Africa’s Development (NEPAD) explains that such emotions arise only in urban, land, technology and credit. For the rele- the absence of any youth policy – yet – in industrialised societies, hoping that a song vant agencies, catering to such needs its apparent renewal of African culture and that says “Your sons and your daughters requires a revolution in thinking, not just vision with an excuse about not having are beyond your command” is talking to replenished budgets. For a conservative had the time to develop one. Ouch. A someone else. loans officer in a credit union to change young farmer who hears this will, as Lau- But no. You hear me now. Even if those her risk analsyis techniques to, say, factor ryn says, choose well. Or something that who care to forget when they were young out the costs of business counselling of the rhymes with it. are sometimes impatient with today’s loan equation for a young farmer, or to Choose well, y’all. young people, surely we can all agree that factor in AIDS-related expenses, does See Links the seeds of youth resentment are well invite a little rebelliousness of mind. The song 'I find it hard to say (Rebel)' by Lauryn Hill scattered in most developing countries. It can make the difference. In Nigeria, quoted in this article is part of the double CD set Check it out. As well as looking around the Leadership Effectiveness Accountabil- 'Lauryn Hill MTV Unplugged', Columbia CD you, take the assertive politeness of the ity and Professional (LEAP) programme E469494, 2002

SPORE 109 • PAGE 2 • Beer in ACP countries Beer in ACP countries Raise a glass to chemistry

After water, beer is the world’s second favourite drink. Industrially brewed bottled beer, and artisanal beer brewed and consumed locally. The two variants are locked in a tug-of-war for one massive market. Upgrading local brews Photo P. Bonnet ©Cirad is an attractive option. Photo R. Anthony © Holt Studios She’s brewing up a business magine a bout of wrestling between (DRC) and more. The list goes on: wheat- two closely matched giants. Here, at based beer in Ethiopia, and brews from was privatised in 1990, it was as moribund Imy right elbow, we have the Giant of maize in Southern and Eastern Africa, and as a flat glass of beer. Then 10,000 local the North: industrial beer. Known as pils from cassava in DRC, Zambia, South Xulu small investors bought it up, and or lager when it’s light in colour, and stout Africa and the Caribbean. now it produces 40 million litres of tradi- when dark brown, it’s kept in metal cans Traditional beers are usually cloudy and tional Ijuba beer. It also has on offer Nini- or in bottles. The world produces 140 bil- flat. The brewers are almost always Nanini, a sorghum brew flavoured with lion litres of the liquid (ACP brewers women, and the distinctive tastes vary banana and pineapple. account for just 5%) in industrial brew- strongly according to the recipe and the Similarly, Uganda’s Nile Breweries eries using methods refined in Europe in local ingredients, cereals or fruits used. It recently launched Eagle, another sorghum the 19th century. Virtually every ACP depends, for example, on which variety of beer, having replaced the malting process country has its ‘own’ brewery with its sorghum is used, or on whether the malt with the addition of industrial enzymes. ‘own’ brews. Own? The owners are main- is heated a bit longer, or just a bit less – The good prospects of this burgeoning ly European (Dutch, German and French) the taste can turn out to be completely dif- market are bought home by the invest- or regional groupings. South Africa stands ferent. The women pass down their ments made in several of these small brew- out, in fact, as a major world player. And recipes from generation to generation. eries by the giant South African Breweries. the major raw material, barley, is import- That their beers are, literally, alive is their ed since it does not grow well in tropical strongest point: local consumers go for Let us now praise climates. that, as well as the low price and ready the great women brewers The resulting beer is bubbly, slightly availability. It’s their weakest point too: The same trend is brewing in the ACP bitter but refreshing, somewhat alcoholic liable to go off fast, they have to be sold diaspora. Several expatriates, often engi- and all rather the same. It travels well, can quickly. neers, have had the same idea. Richard keep for several months, sells well and is Okambawa, a Beninese living in Canada, heavily laced with a dose of prestige – it is Brewers’ swoop has developed a formula for the industrial as much a status symbol as a drink. To There is not really too much difference production of shakparo, a West African borrow an advertising slogan used in between a pils or a dolo – they are the same sorghum beer. Michel Rubayiza, a Rwan- Britain in the 1960s to market the product after all. Unlike wine – which is dese resident of France, has set up a micro- (delectable) Mackeson stout: ‘It looks made simply by fermenting a sugared liq- brewery selling several hundred thousand good, tastes good and, by golly, it does yer uid, usually from fruit – beer brewing has bottles of dolo under the Sangano label good!’ And it makes yer look good too! an extra step: converting starch to sugar into the African diaspora and cult niche through hydrolysis (soaking it in water). markets of Europe. Entrepreneurs like Local beer diversity This complex process, 6,000 years old, these have adapted traditional recipes And here, at my left elbow, Layyyydies allows the use of any sort of cereal, legu- chemically to the industrial process. and Gennnnlemen, the Giant of the minous plants or starchy fruits as raw If they can do it, surely the local women South: traditional, artisanal beer. There material. The predominance of barley is brewers could do likewise? Maybe tradi- are no reliable statistics on the total vol- more a result of cultivation and globalisa- tion holds them back. In any case, brew- ume produced, but, as you can tell from tion than it is a technical requirement. ing beer is an extremely complex process, the giant, it has to be big. We should, in So does traditional beer have an indus- and they would need to better understand fact, say beers, because there are so many trial option? The output of several African exactly what goes on in their cauldrons. of them. There is the extended family of breweries (Botswana Breweries, Chibuku As so often, the key lies in capacity dolo beers brewed from sorghum and mil- Breweries in Malawi and Ingwebu Brew- building and information. Armed with let: amgba in Cameroon, bili-bili in Chad eries in Zimbabwe) serve as a daily that key, the women brewers could ratio- and the Central African Republic, chapalo reminder that it is possible to brew nalise their production chain, and raise in Niger and burukutu in Nigeria for sorghum beer – in fact, a mix of sorghum productivity. Local growers of cereals starters. Then there are the brews based on and maize – in industrial quantities. This would not complain one small bit, and the bananas or plantain: urgwagwa in Ugan- developing market niche lies behind the local lovers of a bevvy would, with their da, mbégé in Tanzania, kasi-kisi in the revival of South Africa’s National well-practised elbows, raise their cups to Democratic Republic of the Congo Sorghum Breweries company. When it the women. Win-win-win. Cheers!

SPORE 109 • PAGE 3 Geographic information systems and democracy Wow, what a view!

Way back, when you’d done with learning to walk and run and were seriously into jumping, remember how you used to leap as high as the sky and think you could stay up there for ever and ever? How much more you could see from up yonder! That was GIS-1, your first geographic information system.

Fitting bits together The ability to see and interpret details of a physical landscape from above is a sci- ence that is fast coming of age via geo- graphic information systems (GIS). They take data from various measurements, texts, maps, views and pictures (from a nearby hill, a kite, a plane or sometimes a satellite) of the natural cover, and of peo- ple’s interventions, in a defined area. By converting the data into layers (as in the diagrams), the user of a GIS can see how different sets of data relate to each other: the relationships possible, for exam- ple, between the incidence of trypanoso- miasis and changes in vegetation cover as a result of climatic changes, or tensions these changes are provoking about land ownership, or the impact of people- induced deforestation on water flows and fertile alluvial deposits downstream. Such links are, to be sure, also often visible to Photo F. Hoogervorst © Panos Pictures Photo © N. Chorier / Cirad the human eye, but the use of a GIS, and the number-crunching and graphic pre- Guidance from on high. Satellite data help you oday, if you have the good fortune to plot the spot. sentation that a computer allows, make fly into Kingston, Jamaica and the the process easier and more informative. wind is westerly, about 35 seconds T In short, the value of a GIS for any range before landing you’ll be above Portmore carried camera (see Spore 85, and the relat- of stakeholders in rural – and urban – town, home to maybe 70,000 people. It is ed new publication due to be reviewed in development is, in the jargon, multi-func- built on a reclaimed and still wobbly marsh Spore 110) are welcome additions to the tional, and potentially highly enriching. at the south-west end of the sweep of simpler end of the scale. Among partici- But for whom exactly? Kingston Bay, herself Nature’s Number pation-minded GIS scientists a whole new One Gift to maritime trade, so sweet she is. approach has broken through, particular- Technology? Beneath the streets laid out by square- ly in the area of natural resource manage- Let’s appropriate it! eyed planners, nudging a few plants and ment. Expressed mainly through the goats of urban farmers, between the hig- One encyclopaedic explanation (Encarta’s) construction of physical scale models by gledy paths etched out across pale empty notes that “scientists use GIS images as local communities, carving out and plots by contrary pedestrians, sometimes models, making measurements, gathering colouring landscapes from layered and even below rows of houses, you’ll see dark- data, and testing ideas.” That description, glued cardboard, it focuses on ‘participa- er patches of land. The dark stands out in the opinion of many communities and tory 3-dimensional modelling’ (P3DM). most when seen from above – it’s mois- development specialists who want to make Developed in the Regional Centre for ture. These are the old tidal creeks which GIS technology their own, should be Biodiversity Conservation of the Associa- the land and the banished sea still remem- expanded beyond just scientists. It is per- tion of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ber, even if the planners have forgotten – haps a sign of the relative youth of GIS in the Philippines, with support from the having drained them and covered them that the scientific communities working European Union, its proponents argue with trash (‘landfill’), sand and buildings. on them, just like any new faith commu- passionately that the use of scaled-relief Today, an astute plane passenger (tip: sit nities, are giving their emerging schools of models, in a process of consultative par- on the right-hand side) can look down thought such labels as ‘participatory’, ticipation, can become a highly empower- and reflect on the ebb and flow of human- ‘resource-driven’, ‘community integrated’ ing form of inclusive knowledge ity’s relationship with the rest of Nature. or ‘people-based’. management. P3DM has already been For, 5 seconds later, you’ll fly over the vil- Whatever the labels, appropriating GIS used with success in resolving land con- lage of Port Royal (see Spore 84 and Mil- technology is definitely no easy task. The flicts in the Philippino Cordillera. lennium issue), first swallowed by the sea technology for collecting, presenting and Approach it with humility, though. after an earthquake in 1692. Woe betide layering data is, in the main, sophisticated The co-author of Participatory 3-dimen- Portmore, some say. – though such innovations as the kite- sional modelling: Guiding principles and

SPORE 109 • PAGE 4 • GIS and democracy applications, Giacomo Rambaldi, cautions That picture of you – is it yours? landowners, will be none too happy about that “enlarged participation brings to the the collection of such data through such Let us hope that P3DM methods can be fore an increased number of interests hard-to-prohibit technologies. Will they adapted to the varying training contexts which may be conflicting. Therefore it is see it as espionage? Will they grasp what a and practices prevalent in ACP regions. It important that the process be carefully tool this could be for democratisation? Or could lead to many demands from ACP prepared, well managed and embedded in will they hear, just as we all should, that producer groups for GIS to help in land a long-lasting, articulated intervention, levelling refrain of a Celtic peasant song: mediation and management, natural able to deal with follow-up arrangements “You don’t own the land, the land owns resources management and infrastructural to accommodate new realities emerging you”? development. It could also serve as a facil- from the process.” itator for other uses of GIS. For more information Yet even then, broader issues will Geographical information systems and remote sensing Looking at models is even better than looking remain. Whose data are GIS data, any- as tools for rural development at maps. In Vietnam, stakeholders carved a scale way? Some authorities, indeed even some in sub-Saharan Africa model to discuss land and water access. Seminar proceedings, Enschede, The Netherlands, 1997. CTA, 1998, 228 pp. ISBN 92 9081 1986 CTA number 904. 40 credit points Participatory 3-dimensional modelling: Guiding principles and applications by G Rambaldi & J Callosa-Tarr ARCBC, Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines, 2002, 82 pp. ISBN: 971–8986–472 PDF (4 Mb or 11Mb versions) free: www.iapad.org Hard copies with additional multimedia resource kit on CD: GBP 13.40 • t 20.25 Order Code: #134749W NHBS Mailorder Bookstore 2-3 Wills Road, Totnes Devon TQ9 5XN, UK Fax: +44 1803 865280 Email: [email protected] Extensive set of GIS and P3DM documents, people and links: www.iapad.org Photo G. Rambaldi ARCBC

Making a GIS, layer by layer by layer

First take some statistics – a population census, 4) The map is then combined with statistics about the area and you harvest yields or meteorological data. Add some can make new maps of linked aspects. The map on the left could maps – a relief map, a map of rivers and admin- show, for exam- istrative areas. Mix them all together, and ple, where har- you can visualise whatever aspects interest vest yields are high you most. For instance, how harvests (red) or low (blue) when are more abundant in villages next land rights have been grant- to rivers. This is the essence of ed to women and rainfall is a Geographic Information abundant, and credit for inputs has System. been available (or not). Are GIS really so simple? Not really – hence 3) The highlighted image the keen interest in democratising is then made into a map – them. They may be complex, but perhaps of vegetation or crops. they become clearer if you look at them as a set of layers of information piled neatly on top of each 2) The photo is other. processed on a com- puter to highlight impor- tant aspects with arbitrary colours. Often, green is used to show bare soil, red for vegetation and black for water.

1) The first layer is often a photograph of an area taken Take a look at what these lay- from a satellite, plane or even a ers are made of, one by kite. The photo is sometimes filtered, one, from the bottom such as with infra-red, but mostly it is a up. straightforward picture.

Image building B. Favre / courtesy of Cirad

SPORE 109 • PAGE 5 In brief • Working or not? Turkey alert no serious public health impli- many, Netherlands and the UK Now it’s the turn of the cations, the disease can cause are the world’s largest exporters traditional medicine market financial losses and mortalities of live turkeys. To avoid infect- ■ Is there no end to the ordeal to get organised in South in flocks. ed animals, buyers need to seek of animal diseases in European Africa. Research institutes The problem is aggravated by assurance from the vendor, or and universities have jointly agriculture? Since October the fact that the only chemicals request quarantine measures. established a Virtual Centre 2003, outbreaks of blackhead for Traditional Medicines to (dimetridazole and nifursol) Preventing the disease is not disease have occurred on turkey stimulate research and available for treating the disease easy; it’s possible only by treat- farms in Belgium, France, strengthen the validity of were banned by the Commis- ing turkeys with anthelmints to their therapeutic claims. An Germany and The Netherlands. sion early in 2003 because they kill the worms in the intestines, initial study focuses on the It is caused by protozoa (a are carcinogenic to people. or keeping the turkeys indoors, effectiveness of Sutherlandia single-celled organism) in earth- microphylla against Importing live animals can thus or outside on gravel, to prevent worms; they enter the birds’ HIV/AIDS. pose risks. contact with earthworms. guts, affect the liver and intes- Africa imported more than ✍ Website: www.sahealthinfo.org/ tines and turn the turkeys’ blood 7 million live turkeys in 2002 traditionalmeds/ blue-ish – darkening the turkeys’ traditionalmeds.htm from Europe, 2 million in head. We prefer our birds red-headed, so Madagascar alone. France, Ger- stop talking turkey The disease is present in most Do not light my fire countries, but is less contagious Despite field trials, maize in than avian influenza which the Guinea savannah region swept across South-East Asia in in northern Nigeria never early 2004. Although chickens seemed to perform as expected. Instead of the carry it, they are not affected 5 tonnes expected when themselves. Turkeys, however, using fertilisers, farmers were once infected, remain infected getting only 1 to 2 tonnes. for a very long time, as do the Researchers from the International Institute for farms. Blackhead is not on the Tropical Agriculture (IITA) class A disease list of the World blamed a lack of sulphur, Organisation for Animal Health caused by burning of crop (OIE) and the European Com- residues. Just a little sulphur mission has not decided to pro- could double the crop yield. hibit exports of eggs, meat and

live animals. Although there are Photo. Wilson © Holt Studios Chambo fish coming back Stocks of the Chambo fish in Lake Malawi are being New ICT kid on the block restored through a plan launched by the fisheries ■ department in late 2003. It took 30 years for sustai- access, rural connectivity and Links); and the Open Knowl- Catches have dropped from nable development to be gran- bridging all sorts of digital edge Network, a consortium of 12,000 tonnes a year in the ted its first United Nations divides. The core issue of who African and Asian groups open- 1970s to 800 tonnes a year World Summit, in 2002. Agri- produces and owns the key ing up experiences in agricul- today, due to overfishing, illegal fishing gear, an culture had been around for technology and software was ture, health and education increasing number of 13,000 years before the first skirted around; the companies through “local content, local fishermen and the World Food Summit in 1996, concerned simply smiled be- people, local languages”. destruction of habitats. and as for women (first Con- nignly, promised some pilot In the bazaar’s alleyways, the Through an ecosystem approach involving ference: 1975), well, let us hang partnership projects and wait- small service groups had small protected areas and our heads. Come the ICT Kid ed politely for the hot air to dis- shops; the international agen- sanctuaries, communities (those information and com- sipate into the frosty air cies had small corner shops, have formed beach village munication technologies) and outside. Another reminder that and the commercial providers committees to police the the rules change. Still a teena- global governance includes cor- larger ones. The largest, out-of- lake. The aim is to increase the Chambo catch to 8,000 ger in 2003, s/he’s already got a porate governance. place, shops were occupied by tonnes a year by 2015. full World Summit on the It was different in the exhibi- the new breed of intermediary Information Society: the first tion area, a bazaar of shops and and coordinating agencies, all Nuts about barter part of WSIS in Geneva, cafes, where vibrant young trying to win new local part- Switzerland, in December enterprises showed off their ser- ners to boast about. Several old Exchanging the genetic 2003, a second chapter in Tunis vices and did deals. The invest- hands, revisiting the Informa- material of coconut brings new blood to breeding in 2005. ment of several agencies, tion Society after helping to programmes, but quarantine You entered – you needed a including CTA, in ensuring a conceive it two decades ago, requirements have to be computerised pass to do so – a strong ACP presence to do muttered into their modems overcome. The answer: World Summit, new-style. The some real agenda-setting had and memory sticks: “Didn’t we remove the embryo from the nut and grow it in tissue official part, of government obvious returns. A sample: have a different pecking order culture. The Steward Research delegations and some 60 Heads Manobi, the service provider of in mind?” Station in Papua New Guinea of State, was bland with little of farmers’ e-commerce in Sene- ✍ (PNG), set up in 2000 to the frantic lobbying by NGOs gal; Mozambique demonstrat- Open Knowledge Network culture coconut varieties for Africa Programme Office and business groups which has ing its use of geographic c/o AKC the Pacific, recently swapped Melrose Arch 200 tissue-cultured plantlets of typified earlier Summits. In information systems (GIS) for Johannesburg seven varieties from PNG for fact, a well-organised civil soci- regional planning and flood South Africa 200 plantlets from a Sri ety representation had already prevention; the youth groups of Email: [email protected] Lankan institute. made its points about universal Initial and Webtrotteurs (see Website: www.openknowledge.net

SPORE 109 • PAGE 6 • In brief Pollution hits Kenyan lake A tree for cure… Researchers from the Nkrumah University in Ghana and King’s College in the UK have proved that the stem bark of Spathodea campanulata (African tulip tree) and the shoots of Secamone afzelii, both used in a paste by the Ashanti to heal wounds, actually do work and are effective against common bacteria.

…and a tree of knowledge The World Forest Institute (WFI), a division of the World Forestry Center, is offering fellowships for anglophone researchers to work at the Institute for up to 1 year.

✍ A DiSalvo Photo F. Hoogervorst © Panos Pictures International Fellowship Program ■ The more flowers flower, the less species flourish Manager Pollution by large-scale flo- World Forest Institute wer farming could be wreaking 4033 SW Canyon Road, havoc on Kenya’s Lake Portland, OR 97221, USA Naivasha, according to a report Email: [email protected] Unlocking women’s potential Website: from Agence France Presse quo- www.worldforestry.org/wfi ting an environmental resear- in Sudan cher. Torrential rains in Kenya Let’s goat together in 2000 washed huge amounts ■ It was a modest beginning, Improved access to local mar- The International Goats of chemicals into the lake, according to Mohammed kets is a key benefit of the Association will hold an killing “millions of fish and Majzoub, director of the Inter- WDAs, since the women can international scientific other aquatic life”. mediate Technology Develop- use their collective strength to conference on goats, goats Flowers are Kenya’s third most ment Group in Sudan (ITDG demand more licences for mar- production and utilisation, from important foreign exchange earn- Sudan). “We started by imple- ket stalls. With demand for 3 to 7 July 2004 in collaboration with the University of Pretoria in ers, after tea and (a now waning) menting an agro-processing dairy products rising, one South Africa. tourist sector, earning more than training project. Later we realised woman has been so successful US$ 100 million a year. Heavy that we had managed to build in capturing the local market ✍ ICGSA 2004 irrigation demands have lowered community-based organisations with her yoghurt that it now PO Box 102100 Moreleta Plaza the level of Lake Naivasha – the for women – Women’s Develop- competes with Cabo, a nation- Pretoria 0167 key source of water for the ment Associations (WDAs).” al brand. She employs five peo- South Africa country’s extensive flower belt. By the end of 2003, there ple to sell her product at the Fax: +27 12 420 3290 Pollution by agro chemicals – were 16 WDAs throughout market. Website:www.icgsa.co.za some of them allegedly banned Sudan, with plans for eight “The income-generating be- – plus over-exploitation of fish- more in 2004. Six were working nefits have made the women’s The safety framework grows eries, fuel leakages from farm in the east, and had trained movement so popular that a machinery and population 9,200 women, and the 10 in the new project is being formulat- Great news for safety. 24 February 2004 is the date for pressures are all taking their toll west had trained 2,000 women. ed,” says Mohammed Majzoub. the Rotterdam Convention – on the lake’s biodiversity, says Over 80% of the women have “It will concentrate on support- which allows countries to have the research report. used their new skills to improve ing the marketing of processed prior consent on the use, trade James Kelmanson, technical nutrition at home, and about foods and strengthening the and management of hazardous manager of the Dutch-owned 500 have started their own movement.” pesticides – to become operative (see Links, Spore 107). Some Oserian Flowers, one of business. Food security has 58 countries – the required about 30 horticulture farms in improved and many women are Even in the market, a woman’s minimum was 50 – have now Naivasha, denies the industry’s now able to afford medicines. work is never done ratified the treaty. impact on the lake: “We have ✍ excellent water and sewage Website: www.pic.int treatment facilities here. We do not let any chemicals into the Too much licence lake whatsoever. We are very The demise of Fiji’s fishing conscious of our farming tech- industry is all but complete, and will take years to recover, niques.” according to the Secretariat of Two other lakes – Bogoria the Pacific Community (SPC). and Baringo – will disappear Fishing companies and the SPC within 10 years due to wide- both blame it on excessive issues of fishing licences by spread deforestation of their government. Yellow fin tuna water catchments and siltation is almost fully exploited, big from the region’s flower farms, eye tuna fishing is no longer scientists and conservationists sustainable and gross sales have warned in 2002. dropped by more than half since Photo L. © Panos Pictures Taylor 2001.

SPORE 109 • PAGE 7 In brief • Have access, build capacity Making a good The Sahel’s drought-fighting show of things CILSS hosted several dozen land rights specialists in ■ You think that researchers are Bamako, Mali in mid- November, in the Praia+9 a bit on the timid side? Not so workshop on ‘Rural Land Issues in Papua New Guinea’s and Sustainable Development National Agricultural Research in the Sahel and West Africa’, Institute (NARI), where mana- designed to build on progress since an earlier meeting in gers and scientists, and six Cape Verde’s capital in 1994. regional resource centres, have Strengthening civil society to devote 30% of their time and bodies, the legal framework, resources to two-way commu- gender, and capacity building nication with farmers and through access to information were the key issues. CTA was extension agencies. It’s even in among the 10 support their 1998 mandate: “The busi- agencies. ness of NARI is information.” Already adept at radio shows, Herbs body up in the air fairs, newspaper coverage and The Caribbean Herbal Business Tok-Tok (talk-talk) leaflets, Association, formed a year ago NARI’s researchers have at a regional forum (see Spore expanded their publicity tool- 103), and launched in Grenada box by adding formal release in September 2003, has set up shop in IICA’s Trinidad and mechanisms. They now pub- Tobago office. We’re pleased licly release properly tested to recall their address (in improved cultivars and tech- exchange for one phial of nologies resulting from respons- ylang-ylang-lemon grass es to farmers’ priority needs or ointment, please): ✍ opportunities.

Caribbean Herbs Business Photo NARI - PNG Association Having first released three What did the scientist say to the c/o IICA T&T Office varieties of taro (see Spore 105), Among the releases were four farmer? Send your suggestions to PO Box 1318, Port of Spain they used the grand opening of rice varieties, drought-resistant [email protected] (mail addresses in Trinidad and Tobago Between Us) Fax: +1 868 628 4562 their new HQ in November or early-maturing sweet potato Email: [email protected] 2003 to publicise nine other cultivars and cassava, five supe- See also: releases. The dignitaries – Prime rior banana varieties for testing; the national 2004 budget. That’s www.caribbeanherbs.net Minister Sir Michael Somare, and two biological control good news too. Their long list of three provincial governors, and agents: a wasp for the diamond- future releases includes plant- The future of past herbs diplomats – took on the inter- back moth pest of brassicas, and derived pesticides, biological One way to preserve wild mediary role of receiving seeds, a moth for Chromolaena weed. control of the pink wax scale plants and the knowledge planting materials or bio-con- It wasn’t just the assembled pest of mango and citrus; non- about their uses is to cultivate trol agents from NARI scientists crowd and media who got the intensive feeding for chickens them. Work in this field won an award for the Rukararwe and handing them on to a lead- message; a few days afterwards, and ducks; and the multiplica- Partnership Workshop for Rural ing farmer or extension agent. NARI’s funding was increased in tion of yam, taro and banana. Development (RPWRD) in the Bushegi district in western Uganda from the Consultative Group on International Success breeds success more funding for agricultural Agricultural Research (CGIAR) research and extension. Plus a in late 2003. Two local herbalist ■ associations are now hard at Have you noticed it lately? partners and donors from across plea for tight focusing on soil work. There’s definitely something in Africa, the European Union and and water conservation; replica- ✍ RPWRD the air about success in Africa, international agencies and re- tion of proven breeding and PO Box 275 not least in agriculture. One search centres – was to enable processing technologies for cas- Busheny more sign: the conference the replication (location-specific sava, tissue-culture banana and Uganda Email: [email protected] ‘Successes in African Agri- repeats) of some well-docu- Nerica rice; improved market- Website: culture: Building for the Future’, mented successes. Examples: ing infrastructures and informa- www.rukararwe.kabissa.org held in Pretoria, South Africa, in revitalising cassava; soaring hor- tion systems; vertical supply early December 2003 attended ticultural exports; small-scale chains; and regional coopera- Angola banks on seeds by a hundred or so agro-opti- dairy development; cotton in tion. In January 2004, the National mists, brought together by the West Africa; surging maize pro- The difference lies in the firm Centre for Phytogenetic International Food Policy duction; conservation farming intentions of the change-mak- Resources in Angola opened Research Institute (IFPRI), techniques; Zaï planting basins ers that were present. They will a laboratory for molecular characterisation, where it can InWent/ Capacity Building In- in the Sahel; and improved fal- surely blow a new wind of determine genetic markers in ternational, the New Partnership lows – most of these topics often change through Africa. They seeds that trigger differences for Africa’s Development covered in Spore. represent – you will see – a new in crop growth and (NEPAD) and CTA. The long, complex messages, force of, let’s say, agro-evange- characteristics. The research Their task – as ministers, pol- when rendered as the crisply lism. Go forth, with your new will be used to improve breeding programmes. The icy-makers, farmers, entrepre- readable Pretoria Statement on technologies and new partner- laboratory has a cold storage neurs, administrators, leaders of the future of African agriculture, ships, go forth to the fields! The facility which can serve as a farmers’ organisations, research- sound familiar: little progress funders will follow. You’ll see. genebank and seedbank. ers, communicators and external without good governance and Website: www.ifpri.org

SPORE 109 • PAGE 8 • In brief Watch those Bio-brewing supermarkets ■ A hot topic in 2004 is bound to Remember the article in its juices. But exposure to the be the relentless march of Spore 100 about Amarula, a air also allows harmful organ- supermarkets in developing liqueur made in southern Africa isms to enter the process, sour- countries, and the implications from the vitamin C-rich berries ing the liquid within a couple for small producers and of the multipurpose marula tree of days – resulting in a horren- processors forced to upgrade their quality and delivery (Sclerocarrya birrea)? Long dous smell. chains. Brazil’s supermercados before the liqueur entered the Now research by Professor Dr tripled in a decade, and now limelight – you’ll find it in most Liz Goyvaerts, a molecular biol- dominate 75% of the sector; posh bars in the world these ogist at Rhodes University in China’s numbers will grow tenfold to 300,000 by 2010. days – the locals had been bre- South Africa’s Eastern Cape, is Africa has slower growth wing a light alcoholic drink marrying biotechnology with projections (Kenya, a leader, from the berries for, as they say, innovations in traditional brew- currently has 300 outlets) but personal use and for the infor- ing practices. Pure cultures of the rapacious expansion of mal market on the street and at suitable bacteria are isolated for Photo M. Arbonnier © Cirad South African traders, and opportunity-seeking European taxi ranks. consistent brewing through And the two berries said “Want to come and join us for a beer?” chains, are set to revolutionise Hopes of wider marketing closed-to-air (anaerobic) fer- Africa’s food retail sector. A have always been held back by mentation, shutting out harm- with an eventual output capac- question of like it or lump it, it the limited shelf-life of a cou- ful bacteria. ity of 2,000 litres per week. seems. ple of days. The fermenting In the meantime, over in the And in neighbouring Namib- process traditionally takes place Northern Province, the Mhala ia, where marula brew sells for Locust locator in semi open-air conditions Development Centre, set up by two Namibian dollars (€ 0.27) The devastating effects of (known as aerobic), making use ex-miners, is starting a marula a litre, there is a keen interest in swarms of locusts in Africa can of the organisms in the air to beer plant, designed and developing the trade. It’s not be better controlled if there is faster location and better convert the yeasts and sugars in financed by the Council for Sci- just elephants that marula monitoring of their breeding the carefully selected fruit and entific and Industrial Research, berries make mellow. grounds. It’s known that solitary locusts develop into unstoppable swarms mainly after a good rain in arid areas. Science and technology policy: Dis those disconnects! Now Ethiopian researcher Gebremedhin Woldewahid has ■ Innovations are crucial to CTA was only a year old, a doc- cultural and Rural Development discovered that in eastern agricultural progress, just as in ument describing the Centre and was launched in December Africa large densities of any other sector. And with a read: “As knowledge is basic to 2003. Its second meeting, held locusts, larvae and breeding activity occur only in places success rate typically of 2% to the solution of problems, CTA in November/December 2003 covered with millet or 3%, the stronger the innova- will facilitate and ensure the in Ede, The Netherlands, was heliotropium, reports tion culture is in a country, the exchange of existing scientific hosted by CTA. Wageningen University in The better. and technical information… It The Committee’s key tools, in Netherlands. Sharpening science and tech- will improve [ACP institutions’] addition to annual observatory- nology (S&T) policy is the best access to technical innovations style meetings, will be based on A cash cow, really way to encourage innovations and research.” the knowledge.cta.int Website. Milk production in Uganda to emerge from the creative, Today, those innovations and Benefiting from the Internet’s tripled in 10 years to almost inventive minds of the S&T that research find themselves in, open nature, the new site targets one billion litres in 2002; the and wider stakeholder commu- truth be told, dire straits, partly all major stakeholders: farmers’ country is now a net exporter, earning valuable forex. The nity, at ACP national, regional because of shrinking funds. A organisations and other actors agriculture ministry attributes and international levels. The survey in 52 ACP countries, in agricultural and rural com- the rise to improved control of clue is to develop policies – and conducted for CTA by the Uni- munities, including ministries cattle diseases, such as their alter egos, budgets and versity of Maastricht in 2003 with responsibility for agricul- rinderpest, and to the distribution of improved infrastructure – which draw out (see the knowledge site), talks ture, trade, science and technol- breeds to farmers. the best from agricultural scien- starkly of the need to ‘rescue’ ogy, education and finance, and tists in economies where sectors agricultural research for devel- the research community. It will Glug, glug, glug compete for scarce resources. oping countries and for carry directories of policy insti- More interaction with other ‘rebuilding constituencies’ in tutions, technology briefs and The first African regional disciplines and civil society ACP and EU policy environ- details of best practice. conference of the International Commission on could help sharpen the agricul- ments, and beyond. All in all, the Committee is Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) tural focus. With these preoccupations in confident that it will shrink the will focus on ‘Drainage in Nothing very innovative in mind, S&T policy-makers in disconnects that exist among Africa: Challenges and this – sometimes innovation ACP countries have sought ways policy-making bodies, scien- Opportunities for Enhancing Quality of Life’; it will be held does take time. What a 2003 to improve their policy dia- tists and civil society, and from 6 to 9 December 2004 in document about CTA’s new logues, information exchange, between the thrusts of research Cairo, Egypt. emphasis on S&T strategies knowledge development and and development and market (see: knowledge.cta.int) says – capacity building initiatives. realities. Although the Com- ✍ Conference Secretariat c/o Dr M H Amer, ENCID “Over the centuries, technology Their working group, set up in mittee stresses that develop- Coastal Protection Building has been a catalyst for develop- Legon, Ghana in January 2001 ment is not a linear process, Fum Ismailiya Canal ments in [agriculture] and the (see Spore 93) took a step for- maybe it’ll prove that the Soubra El-Kheima 13411 lack of it, one of the principal ward when, shedding its infor- shortest route from A to B is Cairo Egypt causes of impoverishment” – mal status, it became the through dialogue. Fax: +202 446 45 04 mirrors the Centre’s founding Advisory Committee on Science See also: Can we all be policy-makers? Email: [email protected] concerns. Back in 1985, when and Technology for ACP Agri- in Spore 92. Website: www.encid.org.eg/arcod

SPORE 109 • PAGE 9 Links • Youth and rural development Know some good places to go?

re you young, gifted ing the 2001 volume online (2.4 quotes in this Spore’s main arti- Essong Ze contributed Spore and determined to go Mb) and in print. cle) – or is it? 100’s Viewpoint. Another, the A far in farming or other In a similar vein, and for a The Initial programme offers World Congress of Young rural activities? Here are some historical perspective, take a multimedia mediation among Farmers (WCYF), redirects pointers on where to plant your look at the texts about Youth young people working in enquiries to the body with the ideas, find others like yourself Against Hunger (a campaign urban social change, principal- clearest view of a sometimes and mobilise support. that started within FAO in ly for French-speaking partners. jumbled landscape: the Inter- The last place you probably 1965) in the special Millenni- Don’t worry about that ‘urban’ national Federation of Agricul- want to think of is a cradle, but um issue of Spore, distributed – Initial staff have assured Spore tural Producers (IFAP), which the book Listen to the cradle will with Spore 84. Ask CTA for a that they too see the urban- now has a special committee on set you up with some great hard copy, or visit spore.cta.int rural border as a very fuzzy line. young farmers. Maybe you insights into other young And the Webtrotteurs should start there. people’s experiences like group are very open to yours. There’s safety in contacts with youth pro- For further information: numbers! It was written jects outside their cur- Listen to the cradle as a thesis, but is accessi- rent list of Algeria, Dominique Hounkonnou ble as a travelogue Belgium, Comoros, 03 BP 3030 Cotonou, Benin Fax: +229 335182 through what the author France, Québec and Email: [email protected] calls ‘local dynamics’ in Senegal. They produce IFPRI West Africa. In part online reports and news- 2020 Vision Initiative inspired by a group of 13 letters on social and en- 2033 K Street, NW musical young men in the vironmental issues in Washington, DC 20006 Photo R. Jones © Panos pictures USA village of Bonou Arossa their neighbourhood as a Fax: +1 202 467 4439 in south-east Benin transform- channel for exchanging experi- Email: [email protected] Doing our online thing ing their Vangbè Whistle Club ences and information with Website: www.ifpri.org into a young farmers’ group, But where’s The Word? Where other groups. Baobabconnections and later into a thriving credit do young people get together, www.baobabconnections.org The international system Initial and savings scheme, it describes and talk their talk without hav- www.initial.org how changes happen in a village. ing to preen themselves to win The UN Youth Office provides Webtrotteurs Its case studies from Benin, a contest or a travel grant for a a lively bilingual gateway to the www.webtrotteurs-quartiers.org Burkina Faso and Ghana will national or international meet- entire UN system; if you can’t UN Youth Office remind you how progress is ing (see below)? On the World find the way, they’ll help. Try 13th Floor, 2 UN Plaza often about taking two steps for- Wide Web. It’s still not an easy their Website, and subscribe to New York, NY 10017 USA ward and one step back – that’s place to get to for some, but their links-rich newsletter Fax: +1 212 963 0111 youth! that is changing. The desire of (online only, sorry) Youth Flash. Email: [email protected] Listen to the cradle. Building young people to swap tall sto- The Youth Employment Net- Website: www.un.org/youth from local dynamics for African ries and high hopes on the work of the World Bank, the Youth Employment Network Renaissance. D Hounkonnou, Internet has to be one of the International Labour Office and c/o Technical Coordinator on Youth Employment Wageningen, 2001. 264 pp. best reasons for implementing the UN Secretariat has a splen- Employment Sector ISBN 90 5808 580 5. all those projects for ‘rural con- did set of documents and links International Labour Office Young people’s ideas about nectivity’ – and Youth is the on youth and development, 4, route des Morillons 1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland the future of agriculture and topic of CTA’s Observatory on and their forthcoming Youth Fax: +41 022 799 7978 food security are well presented ICTs (information and commu- Employment Gateway promises Email: [email protected] in two publications by the 2020 nication technologies) later in even more, but one suspects that Website: www.ilo.org/public/english/ employment/strat/yen/resource/index.htm Vision for Food, Agriculture 2004. So, if you can get online, no one wears baseball caps in and and the Environment Initiative you’ll soon find a whole sub- that office. Not yet, anyway. www.youthemploymentgateway.org of the International Food Poli- culture of lively, multilingual Equally, FAO’s Rural Youth FAO Rural Youth cy Research Institute (IFPRI). exchanges between young peo- Programme is full of good Rural Youth Programme A better world in 2020. Wake-up ple in Africa, Asia and the Pacif- intentions, but under-resourced Sustainable Development Department calls from the next generation. ic, the Americas and Europe. As with a sporadic newsletter Food and Agriculture Organization IFPRI, 2001, 20 pp. features the well as the formal networks list- YouthWorks. You might just get Viale delle Terme di Caracalla winning essays, posters and ed below (they are a good way underwhelmed, but mobilise 00100 Rome, Italy Email: [email protected] poems of a youth contest in to find people), here are three of them; they have a dedicated Website: www.fao.org 2000. The winners of another the best places to put your foot rural youth office in your region MIJARC contest held in 2003, in prepa- in the door. (address on their Website). rue J Coosemans 53 ration for IFPRI’s All-Africa First, try Baobabconnections In the parallel world of non- 1030 Brussels, Belgium conference on ‘Assuring Food – why this young team hasn’t governmental organisations Fax:+32 2 734 9295 Email: [email protected] and Nutrition Security in Africa won a prize for quality content, (NGOs), one of the most active Website: www.mijarc.org by 2020’ due to be held in Kam- and the excitement and com- bodies for rural youth is the IFAP pala, Uganda in April 2004, will mitment it generates, is a mys- International Movement of 60 rue Saint-Lazare be featured in A full food basket tery waiting to be solved by Catholic Agricultural and 75009 Paris, France Fax: +33 1 48 74 72 12 for Africa by 2020, scheduled for some smart funder. Some of the Rural Youth (MIJARC) whose Email: [email protected] publication later in 2004, join- talk is challenging (see the African board member Syprien Website: www.ifap.org

SPORE 109 • PAGE 10 • Publications Trade up to a CD Publications This CD-ROM, produced by the now-defunct Solagral, carries the full Cassava, the Come Back Kid For the best bet proceedings of the CTA seminar on trade negotiations (see Spore despite lingering doubts among 103), held in Brussels, government departments and Belgium in November 2002, and a sound set of donor agencies. magazines on trade issues. Based on the Collaborative Meeting the challenge of effective Study of Cassava in Africa ACP participation in agricultural (COSCA), carried out from trade negotiations: the role of 1989 to 1997 in 281 villages in ICM Produced by Solagral for CTA, the Democratic Republic of 2003. CD-ROM. Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, CTA number 1143. 20 credit Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda, points this book is a follow-up to William O. Jones’s classic 1959 ■ Stand within 50 metres of Tools are indispensable That way out, malaria Manioc in Africa. It describes Felix Nweke, the inimitably for farming – many engi- ■ The SIMA system-wide changes in productivity with infectious author of The cassava neers among our readership initiative on malaria and high-yielding TMS varieties, transformation, and any doubts remind us often of that – but agriculture (see Spore 97) reviews all nutritional aspects, has excelled in a special you had about cassava’s future other sorts of tools, informa- looks at the crop’s impact on issue of the Acta Tropica will have been put in perspec- tion-style, are just as handy for journal, on risk-free and soil fertility and explores the tive, or the bin. As if copying decision-making in farming. malaria-beating farming future of cassava as an industri- the sub-title, this book is per- Decision Support Tools (DSTs) methods: 14 cases on al crop for starch and animal irrigated urban farming in haps one of Africa’s best-kept vary from printed tables (detail- foodstuffs – an international Ghana; rice paddies in Mali; publishing secrets. Having dis- ing the amounts of fertiliser to market which ACP countries vegetables in Côte d’Ivoire, covered it, as one of the ‘much use according to rainfall, soil risk analsyis in Sri Lanka and could surely share with current impressed’ delegates at the ‘Suc- and crop) to rather more com- more from Azerbaijan, leaders Brazil and Thailand. cess Stories of African Agricul- plex computer-based models China, India, Kenya, The cassava transformation. Africa’s Madagascar and Zimbabwe. ture’ conference (see News), best-kept secret concerning plant-soil-climate Great stuff – to be informed Spore is deviating from its rule by F Nweke et al. Michigan State interactions. This book reviews is to be forearmed. University Press, 2002. about reviewing only new 16 DSTs for soil fertility man- Acta Tropica, Elsevier. 250 pp. ISSN 0001-706X books. ISBN 0 87013 602 X agement and agricultural pro- Volume 89:2:95-261, Now Africa’s second most US $29.95 • € 24 ductivity, some with the January 2004. Michigan State University Press important food crop (after perhaps familiar names of Free. 1405 S. Harrison Rd. maize), cassava has changed, NUTMON, DSSAT, RIDEV Full text and PDFs Suite 25 (150Kb/ chapter): Nweke argues, from a low-yield- East Lansing, MI 48823-5245 and QUEFTS. Ideal for exten- www.sciencedirect.com/science ing, famine-reserve crop to a USA sion workers and researchers. /journal/0001706X Fax: +1 517 432 2611 high-yielding cash crop for both Decision support tools for smallholder Hard copies: Email: [email protected] agriculture and sub-Saharan Africa: SIMA rural and urban consumers, Website: msupress.msu.edu/sales.php A practical guide c/o IWMI Regional Office Edited by T E Struif Bontkes & Private Bag X813 M C S Wopereis, CTA - Ecoregional 0127 Silverton Fund - IFDC, 2003. 204 pp. Pretoria, South Africa ISBN 0 88090 142 X Fax: +27 12 845 9110 IPM = attention CTA number 1149. 20 credit points Email: [email protected] and common sense Website: www.iwmi.org healthy, safe food and responsi- anglophone viewers. The The green ‘hood’ ble ways of controlling pests in accompanying extension train- ■ All about the impact of crops is the first topic on this ing guide delves further into economic development on a video, compiled by Caribbean IPM promotion through farm- region – and a region’s Integrated Pest Management ers’ field schools, drawing on dependency on that Network (CIPMNET). It fea- successes in the Philippines, development – and how to cope with them both tures programmes on combin- Vietnam and Indonesia. sustainably. Compiled with ing IPM with farmers’ field Farmer participatory approach for CTA support by the regional schools and on rapid rural ecological crop management office for Southern African appraisals using semi-struc- A resource guide for the Caribbean of the World Conservation tured interviews and focus By P Dowlath, CIPMNET of Union – IUCN. the Caribbean Agricultural groups. Assessing the need for a regional Research and Development Institute approach to Environment Impact All in all, it is a very instruc- (CARDI), 2003. Assessment in southern Africa ■ Sure enough, tomatoes with tive set of extension messages. Booklet 44 pp. + Video. Edited by E Chonguiça & R Brett, blotches would not be my first The items are to the point, ISBN 976 617 011 8 IUCN-ROSA, Zimbabwe, 2003. CARDI 224 pp. ISBN 1 77931 006 4 choice at the weekly market! snappy and typically Caribbean UWI Campus IUCN-ROSA But then again, the shiny red (fulsome in the persuasive chat- St Augustine Box 745 ones might have been sprayed ter, in case you’ve never met a Trinidad and Tobago Harare West Indies with harmful pesticides. Find- Caribbean communicator – Zimbabwe Fax: +1 868 645 12 08 Fax: +263 4 720 738 ing the balance between Ed.), and informative for other Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

SPORE 109 • PAGE 11 Publications • Two-in-one Rural radio: a world player Growth with Two books on one CD-ROM on beekeeping and honeybee equity plants. ing Africa and from Latin America. Their honest consid- Bee plants of Bas-Congo and southern Tanzania eration of the problems of con- By P Latham, Mystole nectivity on the ‘unpaved Publications, 2003. All documents information highway’ is what are in Adobe Acrobat format. ISBN 0 9543012 5 0 keeps the book’s feet on the GBP 22.80 • € 34.20 ground, and rural radio’s mes- Bees for Development (distributor) sage in the air. But it sows seeds Troy Monmouth, NP25 4AB, UK of dreams too: how about – just Fax: +44 16007 161 67 to stimulate more ideas, send Website: them to Mailbox – organising www.beesfordevelopment.org shared programmes on radio ■ The next generation of rural stations in cotton-producing Eat and be eaten radio is already with us. Once Mali and in subsidised cotton- prized for their ‘proximity’ to farming Mississippee in the This detailed manual advocates The schizophrenic devel- the conservation of edible local news as well as local listen- United States of America? Think opments that took place caterpillars and their food ers, progressive rural stations global, broadcast local. during South Africa’s apartheid plants (see Spore 108). Found have added on several news lay- The one to watch. Radio, new ICTs and in Bas-Congo, the species period left the country with a ers of quality, thanks to the interactivity mentioned also occur in other Edited by B Girard. Comunica/ FAO/ modern commercial agricultural Internet. Research by local sta- humid areas. Frederick Ebert Foundation, 2003. sector on one hand and a large tions can now easily have a glob- 164 pp. Free. Edible caterpillars and their food subsistence sector on the other. plants in Bas-Congo al spread, and programmes can PDF edition (approx 4 Mb): The challenge now is to merge By P Latham, Mystole be shared all over the world, as www.comunica.org/1-2-watch Print edition or CD-ROM (with added these sectors, and the intermedi- Publications, Canterbury, UK, happens between diaspora 2003. 60 pp. ISBN 0 9543012 7 7 books) from: ary emerging farmers in terms of € migrant communities and their Communication for Development GBP 16.50 • 24.75 employment and income, into Mystole Publications home villages. Research, Extension and Training Division one united healthy agricultural Mystole Farm Current practices in pro- Mystole Sustainable Development Department industry. The challenge of change gramme exchange and delivery, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla Canterbury, CT4 7DB, UK offers directions for this future; Website: www.nhbs.com and future prospects, are dis- 00100 Rome, Italy Fax: +39 06 5705 3801 possible policies on land cussed by 22 leading practition- Email: [email protected] reforms, food security, trade, ers in rural radio from English-, Some paper for your fish? See also: marketing, regionalisation, in- French- and Portuguese speak- www.fao.org/sd/ruralradio/en/index.html These stage-setting papers come generation and agricultur- should enhance al research. A good book, a good understanding of the start. And now for the changes! negotiations shaping the fisheries trade. The challenge of change: Agriculture, Come aboard now land and the South African economy Fisheries issues in WTO and ACP-EU Edited by L Nieuwoudt & trade negotiations JGroenewald, University of Natal By R Grynberg, Commonwealth all food quality and safety stan- Press, South Africa, 2003. 290 pp. Secretariat 2003. 92 pp. dards and the demands of social ISBN 1 86914 032 X ISBN 0 85092 759 5 CTA number 1147. 40 credit points GBP 10.99 • € 16.50 and environmental soundness. The Commonwealth Secretariat New management strategies are Marlborough House, Pall Mall discussed, focusing on the London SW1Y 5HX, UK chains for coffee – traditional, Fax: +44 20 7930 0827 Get them Website: www.publications ecological and fair trade – and .thecommonwealth.org/ for fresh horticultural products. growing The examples are drawn A horn of African articles mainly from Latin America and ■ They could have called this Asia, and could enrich readers’ All you’ll ever want to know about ■ A new, bi-annual journal ideas of what is possible – or tropical tree propagation. It is a from the Bahir Dar University ■ Increasingly strict sanitary, even underway – in ACP coun- reprint of a very practical, edu- with an applied science quality and consumer standards approach to a wide range of tries. Policy-makers and business cational and, above all, timeless have prompted traditional com- accessible, 2–3 page articles. managers looking for encou- manual, containing an encour- Topics in Issue 2 included GIS, petitors in agribusiness to build ragement to excel in meeting agement to copy, disseminate management training, energy up far-reaching strategic cooper- standards will find ample and translate its contents. As efficiency in agriculture and ation in global agri-food chains. promotion of indigenous encouragement here! any propagator worth his or her It is often argued that these pro- technology. salt would be bound say. cesses are out of reach for many Cooperation and competence in global The Ethiopian journal of technology, producers in the South. food chains. Perspectives on food Raising seedlings of tropical trees education & sustainable quality and safety By A Longman, (Volume 2), development Not necessarily so. This book, Edited by S Vellema & D Boselie, Commonwealth Secretariat, Published by the Bahir Dar outstanding for its clear analysis Shaker Publishing, 2003. 208 pp. Economic Paper 56, 2003. 118 pp. University, Ethiopia. of complex issues, provides good ISBN 90 423 0232 1 ISBN 0 85092 656 4 ISSN 1683-075X Free GBP 16 • € 24 Dr S Tola evidence that partnerships North-South Centre The Commonwealth Secretariat, Bahir Dar University between local producers can and Wageningen University and Research Marlborough House, Pall Mall, PO Box 79 do work. They meet the major Centre London SW1Y 5HX, UK Bahir Dar PO Box 88, 6700 AB Wageningen Fax: +44 20 7930 0827 Ethiopia challenge of bringing local pro- The Netherlands Website: Fax: +251 8 20 20 25 duction systems into line with Email: [email protected] www.publications.thecommonwealth Email: [email protected] competitive strategies, meeting Website: www.north-south.nl .org/

SPORE 109 • PAGE 12 • Publications The ultimate participation The bull by A sorrow shared A popular, research-based the horns description of the negative been carried out. The research effects of current systems of programmes of national agri- agricultural subsidies in the cultural research systems will European Union and the USA eventually have to adapt as on both developing and well, as will the curricula of developed economies. universities and agricultural Agriculture in the global economy: Hunger 2003 schools. For this final, institu- By the Bread for the World tional step of participation to Institute, Washington, USA, take place, teachers, lecturers 2003. 166 pp. ISBN1 884361 11 0 and policy-makers along the Download from: www.bread.org learning chain have to change. US$ 20 • € 16 These case studies – a dozen Bread for the World Institute Mainstreaming the par- in all, five from Africa – illus- 50 F Street, NW, Suite 500 Washington, DC 20001 ticipation of farming trate how to disseminate partic- USA communities in technology ipatory methods up and down ■ This diligently illustrated Fax: +1 202 639 94 01 development could be consid- the chain. A major challenge guide lists the names of the Email: [email protected] ered a pleonasm – two sides of is still in understanding how long-horned Ankole cows of the same logical coin. Strangely knowledge, technology and new the Mbarara District in south- Catch and cash and sadly, it has become a kind methods, when shared with cer- western Uganda. Each breed is An up-to-date, practical guide of human right, to be won in tain farming communities, fan on a full colour plate, with their for farmers, extension workers order to achieve development, out to neighbouring ones. names in English and Run- and aquaculture students and yet widely denied. Another is the application of a yankore, and there is a bilingual lecturers. Participation in research and different mindset throughout a glossary of terms associated Farming freshwater prawns. extension has been limited bureaucracy – or should it work with the cows. It is a very spe- A manual for the culture of the giant river prawn largely to projects and pro- the other way around? This cific guide for a small, specific (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) grammes in the field and not book is an interesting input to readership. FAO Fisheries Technical Papers, applied to the institutions this essential debate, but it will No 428, 2002. 226 pp. The names of Ankole cows ISBN 9251048118 under whose aegis they have take much more than patience By M Infield, Fountain Publishers, Download by chapter: and perseverance to 2003. 200 pp. www.fao.org/docrep/ ISBN 9970023934 005/y4100e /y4100e00.htm bring about the € GBP 16.95 • 25 US$50 • € 40 changes needed. Stock ID fou149 FAO Sales and Marketing Group Advancing participatory African Books Collective Ltd. Viale delle Terme di Caracalla technology development: (distributor) 00100 Rome Case studies on The Jam Factory Italy integration into 27 Park End Street Fax: +39 06 5705 3360 agricultural research, Oxford OX1 1HU, UK Email: [email protected] extension and education Fax: +44 1865 70 92 65 By C Wettasinha, L van Email: Veldhuizen & A Waters- [email protected] Alpha, beta, gamma, Bayer, Website: Delta IIRR-ETC ecoculture-CTA, www.africanbookscollective.com 2003. Or in Africa: ■ This wonderfully detailed 258 pp. Fountain Publishers district guide to Nigeria’s ISBN 1 930261 07 1 PO Box 488 Rivers State – its history, CTA number 1151. Kampala environment, agriculture, 40 credit points Uganda politics, economics and gender issues – also captures something of the aspirations of the peoples of the Niger Delta. Too hard to agree The land and people of Rivers State: Eastern Niger Delta written long before the event, approaches to reform. As in all By E Alagoa & A Derefaka, and as an input to it, gives many good paradigm shifts, there are Onyoma Research Publications, 2003. 640 pp. of the reasons, all illustrating that no actual examples given. What ISBN 9783507559 trade reform is a highly complex a shame; we cannot move on GBP 29.95 • € 45 process, given the clashing inter- without knowing where to. Stock ID orp005 ests of so many different stake- African Books Collective Ltd. Making global trade work for people (distributor) holders, all with varying power By United Nations Development The Jam Factory positions. Programme, 27 Park End Street Besides providing a clear ana- Heinrich Boll Foundation, Oxford OX1 1HU Rockefeller Brothers Fund, UK lysis and explanation of the nuts Rockefeller Foundation and Wallace Fax: +44 1865 70 92 65 and bolts of global trade (and of Global Fund, Email: the spanners people throw at its published by Earthscan Ltd, 2003. [email protected] wheels), the book also urges a 352 pp. ISBN 1853839825 Website: ■ GBP 18.95 • € 27.15 www.africanbookscollective.com As reported in Spore 107, the paradigm shift towards making Online price at www.earthscan.co.uk: Or in Africa: ministerial talks in Cancún, world trade underpin more equi- GBP 15.16 • € 21.70 Onyoma Research Publications Mexico in September 2003 failed table development and an equal Earthscan Publications Ltd PO Box 125 120 Pentonville Road Choba, Port Harcourt to lead to a breakthrough in sharing of the benefits of globali- London N1 9JN, UK Rivers State, Nigeria reforming world trade, including sation. Its piety will have to make Fax: +44 20 72 78 11 42 Email: [email protected] agricultural trade. This book, way for patience, and more savvy Email: [email protected] Website: www.onyoma.org

SPORE 109 • PAGE 13 Between us • CTA at 20 (more or less) ry of furnishing it with staff and desks are recalled fondly by two patient staff mem- bers who still oil the organisation’s wheels. A few staff members’ service years do go How many into double figures but it was always intended that managers and programme officers, in particular, would stay for but a few years, fitting CTA into a deliberate rivers been crossed? career path. Staff are nationals of ACP and European Union countries. Job vacancies are advertised on www.cta.int and in the CTA is entering its third decade of public service. A good time international press. to answer some of those frequently asked questions. And on the second day? By December 1984, CTA had almost a In the beginning? dozen staff. Its first consultation, in Mont- creator(s) chose the name with care: CTA’s Careful – there are several beginnings: pellier, France, drew up its programme. acronym is derived from its French title 1979 or earlier, 1983, 1984, 1985. If you Even then, in an era when organisations (Centre technique pour la coopération only believe things when you see them, were less flat and more formal, the Centre, agricole et rurale) – a sign of the then take 1984. CTA opened its offices, then in a public body, embraced NGOs and put times. And that word ‘technical’ is key; Ede in the central Netherlands, with neigh- them to work organising ‘Montpellier I’. we’ll come back to that. bours fittingly named ‘Start’. Before that Almost a full year’s work preceded the Early in November 1983, the clause in was a moment of conception, and several Official Inauguration Ceremony of CTA Lomé II was activated, following accords years of gestation. The notion of CTA had on 6 February 1985. Prince Claus of The in the Committee of Ambassadors of the been incorporated in the second Lomé Netherlands did the honours and dis- European Community and ACP Ambas- Convention (1980–1985), also known as pensed advice on maintaining a modestly sadors, still CTA’s supervisory authority. As Lomé II, signed in 1979 by the Group of sized institution. To this day, staff num- an instrument of an agreement between, Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States bers hover around 40. In 1996 Prince now, 78 ACP States and 15 EU member and the European Economic Communi- Claus also inaugurated the purpose-built states, CTA is a ‘parity’ organisation. ties. From which diplomat’s génie the Cen- building in Wageningen occupied by the tre sprung, and when, is not recorded. The Why set up shop in the green-and- CTA the year before and home to all staff grey Netherlands? except for the now one-woman outpost in The November 1983 decision – which Brussels, there for liaison purposes with explains why all the texts explaining CTA EU and ACP bodies. say it “was established in 1983” – set things In the past 20 years, perhaps the main Spore magazine off. The director had to be assigned formal change in the office (apart from comput- authority – CTA enjoys diplomatic and fis- ers, recruitment of female managers and a

Information for agricultural development in ACP countries Spore is the bi-monthly Number 109 FEBRUARY 2004 cal privileges in The Netherlands (and Bel- no-smoking rule) has been the shrinkage Youth and rural development Yo! We do need some other heroes 1

Beer in ACP countries Get ahead with a good head 3 Geographic information systems flagship publication of and democracy Wow, what a view! 4

IN BRIEF 6

LINKS 10

PUBLICATIONS 11

BETWEEN US 14 VIEWPOINT gium). The location had to be settled – of the internal library (no visitors, sorry) Partnership selection Development through the looking glass 16 the Technical Centre for Website: spore.cta.int Photo C. Hughes © Panos Pictures

In this issue Youth and rural development Time passes. At different speeds at different ages. Our Yo! We do need many new young readers – whom we welcome now to Spore because of our main article on youth – will, one day, testify this. near a centre of agricultural excellence, but and its impending replacement, largely, by some other heroes Time takes its toll, some say. Agricultural and Rural Maybe, but wondrous things also happen, in time. Take fermentation: just a set of chemical Some revered institutions have dragged their feet in listening to reactions, seen in our second young people. They just can’t get the knack of it, it seems. Not feature. Or watch and try to modulate the passage of time good enough. For the times they are a-changing, y’all. and of people on Nature, with ot for the first time, the feature street in Manhattan housing the Guinean geographic information systems. article of Spore opens in a place far representation at the United Nations – as Time passes. The only constant is away from any ACP shore. Far it happens, just doors away from where change. Our news, reviews and N away over the horizon, maybe, but still at many a Spore interview has been held and readers’ viewpoints discuss what that change is, can be, should be, the core of the yearning for change which an article penned – thousands demanded and, for a CTA gliding into its third moves many, often rural, ACP people – justice, some wanted retribution. decade, has been, in its mission as sometimes across oceans. Some 20 or 30 years ago the planners in Cooperation (CTA) – ACP-EU. February 1999. New York. Amadou their home countries saw many of these which of the several candidates? A base in the CTA Virtual Library. The true epithet an alchemist of information. Is it time that makes the chemistry, Diallo, a 22-year old Guinean setté (immi- people becoming the nation’s farmers, or the chemistry that makes the grant), was shot down with 41 bullets by processors and traders. Their presence – time? Discuss! four badly mistaken police officers, whose young, angry, ambitious – in another con- Times passes. It will soon be time culpability took years to establish and tinent underlines how plans can be for your next Spore. Let’s hope this until January 2004 to recompense. Entire changed by outside events. That their exo- one is good for you now, in its neighbourhoods of the city erupted, dus has removed some pressures on local time. incandescent at this one-mistake-too- resources, and now feeds massive remit- many wrought on a member of the new tances, larger than any other capital flow African communities that have been mov- to their country in many cases, is just an ing to the North in the past decade, rural unforeseen aspect of a migration that was, people migrating from ACP countries. in retrospect, predictable. From the streets of Diallo’s adopted Youth. Anger. Ambition. These simmer CTA operates under the Bronx community to the usually genteel away in the remarkable song ‘I find it hard SPORE 109 • PAGE 1 Europe was self-evident then, settled by of a gender strategy – a childcare policy – Cotonou Agreement default because the contending sites in the still awaits permission to enter. between the countries of the Africa, ACP States could not be resolved. Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) Group and the European Union. The university town of Wageningen Those words in your name: © CTA 2004 - ISSN 1011-0054 emerged as first choice, wooed by the inter- technical, agricultural, rural? Publisher: nationalist Dutch. In those pioneering Why not information? Technical Centre for Agricultural and days, the only office space was in nearby ‘Technical’ is used as a synonym for Rural Cooperation (CTA) – ACP-EC Ede. The first telephone number – 20484 ‘enabling’ – in the 1980s the term was Cotonou Agreement. CTA: PO Box 380, – records that the office opened up to the ‘relay’ – and as a way to keep the Centre 6700 AJ Wageningen, The Netherlands world on 20 April 1984. That and the flur- on its committed course of empowering Tel: +31 317 467100 Fax: +31 317 460067 – Email: [email protected] Website: www.cta.int Compiling editors: Managing director: Bernard Favre, Thanks – you’ve been wonderful! Louma productions, 3 rue Neuve, 34150 Aniane, France. After 36 Spores and Keep in touch, people to people, Fax: +33 4 67 57 01 80 – [email protected] quite a few supplements through our addresses in the green box. Editorial director: Paul Osborn, in 6 years, we – the con- Fare ye well, choose well, grow well. Médiateurs, Willem-Alexanderpoort 46, 1421CH Uithoorn, The Netherlands. sortium that puts Spore – from Alison, Anne, Astrid, Bernard, Fax: +31 297 540514 together – are moving Bernard, Bernadette, Cathe, Catherine, [email protected] on. We’ve always been Catherine, Christine, Dawn, Denis, Didier, Spore 109 was compiled by Marcel buoyed by your count- Dudley, Eric, Erik, Elinor, Eyoum, Fadila, Chimwala, Bernard Favre, Erik Heijmans, less letters and emails; Isabelle, Jacques, Jacques, Jacques, James, Bernadette Imbert, Louise Kibuuka, John and by your handshakes Jean-Marie, John, Karen, Katherine, Lesley, Madeley, Paul Osborn and Jacques and embraces, under the trees, the sun and Louise, Marcel, Margreet, Martha, Martine, Sultan with editorial guidance from CTA. the stars, on trains and boats and planes, Martine, Mildred, Noel, Nelly, O’Neil, Layout: Louma productions in customs queues and in meeting rooms – Olivier, Patrick, Paul, Pascale, Peter, Peter, Printer: Imprimerie Publicep, France oh, those meetings! There is something spe- Rebecca, Sarah, Selim, Singy, Souleymane, cial about a Spore reader. Terri, Theo, Yves, Zaharatou, Zazah …

SPORE 109 • PAGE 14 • Between us ACP agriculture through information. It to our colleagues in national research cen- Reader services keeps the Centre away from, say, com- tres and the international centres in the ✍ modity trading or macropolicy advocacy Consultative Group on International Say it in Spore or funding micro-projects or crop Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Write to Spore Mailbox, CTA, PO Box 380, research. Others do that. CTA’s operating funds come, 98.9% of 6700 AJ Wageningen, The Netherlands We are all becoming part of the ‘Infor- them, from the European Development Fax: +31 317 460067 mation Society’ (see News in Brief) and Fund which is approved by the European Email: [email protected] CTA’s role is to help ACP agriculture Parliament and managed by the European become part of it too. A change of name Commission. The only other significant Subscribe to Spore in print might help, but that’s most unlikely, income comes from publication sales out- •Freeto organisations and individuals at inscribed as it is in a treaty. side the ACP and EU markets. addresses in ACP (African, Caribbean and As for ‘rural’, CTA is not a rural devel- In the financial year 2002, CTA’s Pacific) and EU countries: opment agency. It is concerned with budget was balanced at € 14,070,000. CTA Spore subscriptions, health, education, transport or energy to Of this, € 5,580,000 (39.6%) went on PO Box 173, the extent that they relate to agriculture. staff and running costs. The direct opera- 6700 AJ Wageningen, The Netherlands or [email protected] In the office, that sounds easy, we know; tional costs of the four departments in the village, such distinctions have less (€ 8,490,000) were divided over: Infor- • Paid subscriptions for all other addresses: t meaning. We are learning ourselves that mation Products and Services – 37%; 36/ GBP 24 annually (6 issues) from commercial distributor (see below). the lines between sectors are becoming Communication Channels and Services – blurred – take HIV/AIDS and farm pro- 31%; ICM Skills and Systems – 26%; and duction, nutrition and employment. Planning and Corporate Services – 6%. Subscribe to Spore Ennouncement Subscribe to the free Spore email summary The figures for 2003 will be published in (90 Kb) at spore.cta.int, or send a blank Aren’t you a funding agency? the Annual Report in May 2004, and fea- email to: No way. We are an information partner. tured in Spore 111. [email protected]. For text-only: Sure, we use project management, but we Staff costs include training to achieve [email protected] are never involved in practical field work, fluency in French and English, plus some nor do we finance it. Portuguese and Dutch. Operational costs See Spore on a screen Nor are we a research body. We service include missions, a good way to keep our Web distribution: spore.cta.int many ACP researchers, and commission feet on the ground, and not just our nose Satellite distribution: capture Spore ’n More research on the impact of our work, but on the computer. Or on the pages of Spore broadcasts on the Afristar channels of the WorldSpace Foundation’s multimedia we do not conduct research on, say, live- – though it’s always nice talking with you programmes. Details from: stock. We are more a cousin than a sister here. [email protected]

Reproduce Spore – with permission: Articles in Spore can be freely reproduced for non- Mailbox commercial use, if credited as coming from Spore. Please send a copy to the editors. A ‘Farmer’s Fair on paper’ is what one Reproduction for commercial use requires reader called Mailbox recently. Come on prior permission. in, join the fun of the fair. Write now. Email: [email protected] Bah Traoré and his students at the Publications in Spore: how to get them Technical Agricultural School in Koutiala, Some publications listed in the news Mali are planting a and publications sections of Spore are hedge of Euphobia on CTA’s publications list. They are indicated balsamifera around by the green leaf symbol, and are available its 52 hectares. They free-of-charge to subscribers to CTA’s also grow papaya, mango, arabic gum, flamboyant and Publications Distribution Service (PDS). acacia and, prompted by Spore and books from CTA, @ All other readers can buy them from CTA’s they plan to add fish farming to their 2004 programme. and apples, so If you have any, please send commercial distributors. it to him! Stephen Schmidt, Porgera, c/o Dept of ■ All other publications, indicated by an Stephen Appleseed? Administration, PO Box 484, Mount Hagen, orange square, are available from the Papua New Guinea publishers listed, or through commercial Stephen Schmidt tells us that his country, booksellers. Papua New Guinea (PNG), has rich and fertile soil: “We do not face most of the problems Consult the CTA publications list in CTA’s faced by our African brothers. Most of PNG’s Fishing for solutions electronic catalogue www.cta.int population of 5 million are subsistence farm- Hugues Adélouï Akpona, an agronomist • Publications Distribution Service ers. I come from the Highlands, where the from Benin, was very happy with the article weather is cool and rainfall constant. Apart Each PDS subscriber is assigned a number of ‘Gone, fishing’ in Spore 105 on declining free credit points annually for purchasing from growing all the traditional foods like fisheries. Sustainable management of fish- sweet potatoes, taro, local vegetables, publications on CTA’s list. Only agricultural ery resources worries many people in Africa, and rural development organisations, and bananas and beans, I have started to plant since the pressure on them is high and there oranges and apples. They are growing quite individuals resident in ACP countries can are not many resources available for sound apply for PDS subscriptions. well and have already produced good fruits. solutions. “To manage our marine resources Living far from any cities or town I find it hard adequately, we need to understand the • Commercial distributor to get good information about agriculture. dynamics of marine ecosystems and realise Non-PDS subscribers, and subscribers with Therefore I have found Spore to be an excel- their international importance,” he writes. insufficient credit points, can buy lent source of information about the very He adds that the quality of research has to publications on CTA’s list from our things that are important to me as a man of be improved, especially in the scientific, eco- commercial distributor: the land, living in a rural setting.” nomic, institutional and social interactions CTA Publications, ITDG Publishing, Sounds familiar, brother Stephen! He is of marine ecosystem management. He also 103–105 Southampton Row, London looking for any information on the cultiva- hopes that the ACP-EU negotiations will cre- WC1B 4HL, UK, Fax: +44 20 7436 2013 tion, propagation and grafting of oranges ate a fertile framework for this. Email: [email protected] Website: www.itdgpublishing.org.uk

SPORE 109 • PAGE 15 Viewpoint • Partnership selection Development through the

Marina Padrão Temudo is a researcher at the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical (Institute of Tropical Scientific Research) looking glass in Lisbon, Portugal.

uring my first long stay in Africa – Transparent relationships between stakeholders – local and for my PhD dissertation, starting in external – are a pre-condition for improved performance. Marina D1993 – I was initially surprised at the low level of performance of develop- Temudo argues for dynamic databases where stakeholders assign ment interventions, in whatever form. A and see ratings on reliability and achievements. few pre-conceived ideas were quickly blown out through the window. looked – their forms of resistance to all the information on the target commu- It was clear that it would be impossible unwanted interventions. nities and development interventions in a to understand the outcomes and impacts of To characterise the ‘organisational land- given area is entered and analysed, and a given intervention without analysing a scape’ of a pre-defined area, we conducted data on the area’s demography, climate, complex mix of factors. semi-structured interviews with all stake- soils, economy and infrastructure are holders: government, donor agencies, added, to create the ‘development land- Complex contexts NGOs and community-based organisations scape’. The idea is to create ‘organisational First, to fully understand the context of an (CBOs). We focused on their characteris- landscapes’ allowing each stakeholder to intervention, we would need to look at its tics, their interventions and their links with assess each organisation and the overall synchronic and diachronic dimensions; that the policies of donors and other imple- landscape. Through a grid of indicators it is to say, both at that moment in time and menting organisations (government and and variables, any authorised person (eval- at points along a continuous time-line. This NGOs). Our research included field visits, uator or researcher) can introduce her/his should include the framework of colonial accompanying staff and examining their assessment into a ranking matrix. At regu- and post-colonial interventions (State and interaction with beneficiaries, as well as lar times, commissioned experts conduct a NGOs) and structural adjustment pro- comparing project proposals and reports rating analysis of all the organisations and grammes. with actual results. of the landscape as a whole. Next, we would need to look at the Setting up and maintaining such a dialectics between a project’s flow and its Each stakeholder can database requires intensive teamwork to closure – how a project evolves, especially gather available data and describe the with regard to previous projects or others “assess each other organisational landscape and beneficiary in the same area at the same time, and the “ communities. Most important of all is the relationships between donors, government I still needed to transform the knowledge issue of representativity: to ensure accurate agencies and NGOs and their influences acquired into an effective tool. Most litera- classification, regular updating and system upon each other, as well as those between ture on evaluation stresses creating net- integrity, the database manager must cater the beneficiary community and the rest of works and collaboration between all to the needs of all stakeholders (donors, the population. stakeholders. This should not only generate recipients, NGOs, donor-commissioned Finally, we would need to examine micro- a pool of information and ideas (there is implementing agencies, local institutions scopic and macroscopic levels – conducting a often a lack of base-line data for monitor- and grassroots organisations). ethnographic study of the community and ing and evaluation), but also encourage These databases relate to specific areas a panoramic survey of the social, cultural, mutual learning and increase impact. Com- but if linked to others in the same and economic and institutional context, using a petition, duplication of efforts – and errors neighbouring countries they can portray broader sociological methodology. – and the lack of synergy between develop- ‘development landscapes’ at all levels, ment agencies are also frequent. revealing trends and characteristics in Landscaping development interventions, and political, Agencies rating agencies socio-cultural, institutional and economic After 3 years of fieldwork using ethno- dynamics. They become windows through graphic techniques, I needed to accelerate To enable all stakeholders to share their which any stakeholder can observe the my data collection because research pro- information freely, we set up a database broader phenomena of local power, jects, like development ones, have financial which was continuously updated. Our aim national governance, socio-cultural and and temporal restrictions. My colleague was to have an eclectic, flexible and adap- technical interfaces, social change and the Alexandra Arvéola and I developed a tive procedure which facilitated compati- effects of globalisation. methodology for mapping the ‘organisa- bility between the accountability and tional landscape’ (all organisations in a learning objectives of project evaluation ✍ Email: [email protected] given area and their relationships) and for and, above all, increased the efficiency and in-depth ethnographic case studies of the reduced the negative impacts of project The opinions expressed in Viewpoint are target community’s social organisation, interventions on target communities. those of the authors, and do not necessarily livelihood systems, priorities, needs, poten- The first prototype of the database reflect the views of CTA. tial for self-organisation and – often over- resembles a page on the World Wide Web:

SPORE 109 • PAGE 16