When researchers returned to Zimbabwe several months after the end of a trial involving condom and diaphragm use, they were disappointed to find that condom use - which had risen to 86 percent during the trial - had reduced significantly.
"What happens after trials has always remained very much a mystery, and today, with biomedical prevention that has proved to be partly efficacious, such as the microbicide gel from the CAPRISA trial [which found that a vaginal gel containing tenofovir, an antiretroviral (ARV) drug, was 39 percent effective at reducing women's risk of contracting HIV during sex], it would be interesting to see what happens after the trial," Ariane van der Straten, lead author of a recent study on the issue, told IRIN/PlusNews.
"We were disappointed to see that all the effort and intense counselling provided to participants didn't seem to have a long-lasting effect - in effect, condom use went back to enrolment levels."
The Methods for Improving Reproductive Health in Africa (MIRA) trial, conducted between 2003 and 2006 in South Africa and Zimbabwe, evaluated the effectiveness of the diaphragm in the prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). It involved more than 5,000 women randomized into two arms - one group received a diaphragm, lubricant and male condoms, while the other received only male condoms; participants received intensive HIV counselling as well as STI treatment.
The trial found that the diaphragm and lubricant did not provide extra protection compared to condoms and treatment of STIs.
The follow-up study involved 801 women who were assessed 2-20 months after the end of the MIRA trial. During the MIRA trial, condom use rose to about 86 percent, but dropped to about 67 percent during post-trial visits.
"The trial is an [HIV prevention] intervention in and of itself - it could be that after the trial women did not feel the need to continue using the methods without the support they received from the study," said van der Straten. "The results showed us that it is a challenge to use concurrent HIV prevention methods, particularly barrier methods... If tenofovir gel becomes available, women may ask - if we have the microbicide, why use a condom?"
She noted that male condoms were generally not favoured by people in long-term relationships; most of the women in the post-MIRA trial were in stable sexual partnerships.
Despite the trial finding no evidence that the diaphragm provided protection against HIV, many women in the diaphragm arm of the MIRA trial continued to use the device. Prior to the trial, only one woman reported ever using one; at the end of the trial, nearly all the women in this arm elected to keep or be fitted for a new diaphragm. During the MIRA trial, diaphragm use was as high as 88 percent, dropping to 50 percent in the post-trial study.
About half of the women in the condom arm also chose to be fitted with diaphragms at the end of the MIRA trial; in the post-MIRA study, about 14 percent of these reported using a diaphragm during their last sexual encounter.
"This speaks to the huge unmet need for female-initiated methods... Hopefully tenofovir gel can fill that gap," van der Straten said.
Unltimately, she noted, the post-MIRA study highlighted the need for increased support for women in their use of prevention methods.
"Any new prevention method will require support and education to be sustainable, such as follow-up counselling to help make sure that the method is used and continues to be used," she said. "Just providing access is not sufficient."
"In the past we have been naive, thinking that female-controlled methods could be used independent of men's involvement, but it's difficult to use any of these methods secretly, so there is a need to involve male partners in female-controlled methods so that they support their partners."
- PlusNews
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Botswana welcomes livestock insurance
According to 2008 World Bank statistics, 82% of the rural Sub-Saharan Africa population lives in agriculture-based countries where agriculture is a major source of growth, accounting for 32% of GDP growth on average, writes Simbarashe Nembaware.
However, in many countries the sector, which is the backbone of many livelihoods, is without an insurance scheme and analysts say this stalls the sustainable growth of the sector as commercial banks and other financial institutions do not want to risk their funds by bankrolling enterprises in a sector that is very risk.
But the agricultural insurance is quickly gaining ground as a way of fighting the cycle of poverty, made worse by natural disasters such as floods and drought which destroy food and kill animals. It is now being appreciated as a popular solution to mitigating against the cycle of poverty created by harvest loss.
With the existence of an insurance scheme, banks are now certain that the money they lend to farmers can be recouped and this translates to many farmers applying for loans so that they can upgrade their farming enterprises: they can now apply for loans to buy combined harvesters, tractors and other tractor drawn implements; they can now apply for loans to buy livestock. Indirectly the insurance contributes to food security and increasing the contribution of agriculture to GDP.
The Botswana Insurance Company (BIC) recently launched its agriculture insurance that covers both livestock and crops. The insurance took a long time coming for a country that has a thriving beef industry. But the timing is also appropriate because it comes at a time when the country strides towards food security, self sustenance and the eradication of poverty through the National Vision 2016.
Launching the policy in Gaborone, recently, Mr. David Garden an Insurance Broker with Tribe from South Africa; a company that has extensive experience and knowledge in livestock insurance, said the policy was tailor made to suit the needs of farmers.
Although the policy was developed in South Africa, Mr Garden says the “policies are online with Botswana conditions and in liaison with Botswana Insurance Company (BIC) we will keep on checking if the products and policies work” and change where there is a need for changing.
Mr Dziki Nganunu, the Managing Director of Botswana Insurance Company who when offering the closing remarks at the launch of the insurance said the “insurance meets the needs of farmers and those of the sector. Cover is also available for crops and this will be available on a case by case basis.”
In terms of this livestock insurance’s security, farmers are secure as reinsurance support for the direct insurer is being provided by Munich Re, the largest reinsurer in Africa. The insurance’s local technical support is brought by BIC “with and exclusive arrangement with Alexander Forbes Risk Services.
Though termed Livestock Insurance, this is a multi peril insurance scheme that caters for livestock and crops too. It also cuts across the livestock divide as it accommodates beef cattle, dairy cattle, pigs, horses, chickens, game and fish farming. There is also mention of fire insurance for commercial forestry.
The insurance is flexible in that it has options for Herd Select Insurance which gives the farmer the option to select the animals that they wish to insure “if he does not want to insure his entire herd.” The advantage of this is that effecting this Insurance will “also assist the farmer to obtain finance to purchase animals.”
In addition to Herd Select Policy there is the Stud Animal Policy whose features include: infertility and impotence cover; gap cover following a government slaughter order. There is also Herd Insurance Essential Cover which “is designed to protect the least valuable animals or the entire herd where the farmer is not concerned about disease or sickness cover.
The policy addresses death from fire, lightning, accident and theft. In addition to covering animals from all risks mortality and theft, transit is also included. Death by snake bites is also covered by the insurance.
However the insurance does not “cover death directly or indirectly caused by or happening through or in consequence of: Ionising radiations or contamination by radioactivity from nuclear fuel or from nuclear waste from the combustion of nuclear fuel; the radioactivity toxic explosive or other hazardous properties of any explosive nuclear assembly or nuclear component thereof.”
Also not covered is the death “directly or indirectly caused by happening through or in consequence of: confiscation or nationalism or requisition by or under the order of any government or public or local authority or any person or body having jurisdiction in the matter.”
Death as consequence of “war, invasion acts of foreign enemies hostilities (whether war be declared or not) civil war rebellion insurrection military or usurped power riots terrorism and civil commotions” is also not covered.
Speaking on the sidelines of the launch, David Merementsi, a cattle farmer from Matabula Ranch in Western Sandveldt said the insurance is a welcome development to the local agricultural scene as it is going to draw banks into lending farmers money “as they will know that their money is secured.”
Merementsi whose herd is made of the climatically adaptive Brahmans, Charolais, Simmentaller and Tswana cattle says the insurance is a “step in the right direction as we are not getting enough finance from the banks. This is going to strengthen our resolve using agriculture as a vehicle of diversifying the economy from being a diamond driven economy.”
“I recently lost a bull that i had bought for R16 000 from South Africa. It was just two weeks old on my ranch and it had not even done anything to help return my investment when it died due to a snake bite, and this is the second time that I have lost a bull this way,” said Merementsi who is glad that the new insurance also covers deaths by snake bite as this is a common calamity in the country.
Arable land farmers should also insure as this insurance caters for them. Johan van den Berg the Product Development Manager for South Africa’s Santam Agriculture says climate variability is a farmer’s most immediate threat as it has huge impact on planting decisions and risking management.
In an article published in South Africa’s Farmers Weekly, Berg discussed why farmers should insure citing the effects of climate change. He added that “weather forecasts are only about 70% accurate; farmers must have plans to ensure they can make money if the 30% probability happens. Climate variability is a big risk and, with current low commodity prices, the margin of error is very small. Insurance can help decrease the negative effects of climate variability.”
He advices that “if farmers decide that conditions are right to plant, they must also decide which grain crop and cultivars will give the greatest yield at the lowest risk. Farmers often wait to see if the season is late and dry and then plant a suitable crop. Farmers traditionally plant more medium-term growing cultivars, but if the season is very late, they choose to plant shorter growth-cycle crops.”
He further notes that good farm management and production practices are important for risk management adding that farmers sometimes let parts of their land to fallow, or store up water from the last season to reduce planting risk.
“Precision farming, which deals with in-field variability, is also becoming a crucial risk management tool, where farmers adopt new technologies, such as global positioning, sensors, satellite or aerial images and information-management tools to assess and understand variations for optimal use of soil potential,” says Beg.
At the Southern African Regional Development 3rd Briefing on Financing agriculture in Southern Agriculture held last month in Malawi by African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, David Rohrbach from the World Bank, who presented a paper on Risk Management and Agricultural Insurance, said “weather, price and related market risks are pervasive in agriculture.”
He said these risks reduce farm investment and productivity growth with insurance however allowing “at least a portion of these risks to be transferred to another party.”
“However, the success of agricultural insurance programmes, particularly those targeting small-scale farmers, has been undermined by high transaction costs, and problems of adverse selection and moral hazard. Index based insurance offers substantial potential for reducing these costs,” said Rohrbach before citing Malawi which has been using rainfall index insurance to support the expansion of credit supply to groundnut, tobacco and maize producers.
He explained that the insurance offsets the risks of credit default in the event of drought adding that this encourages both the expansion of agricultural credit in drought prone areas, and a reduction in interest rates.
However, in many countries the sector, which is the backbone of many livelihoods, is without an insurance scheme and analysts say this stalls the sustainable growth of the sector as commercial banks and other financial institutions do not want to risk their funds by bankrolling enterprises in a sector that is very risk.
But the agricultural insurance is quickly gaining ground as a way of fighting the cycle of poverty, made worse by natural disasters such as floods and drought which destroy food and kill animals. It is now being appreciated as a popular solution to mitigating against the cycle of poverty created by harvest loss.
With the existence of an insurance scheme, banks are now certain that the money they lend to farmers can be recouped and this translates to many farmers applying for loans so that they can upgrade their farming enterprises: they can now apply for loans to buy combined harvesters, tractors and other tractor drawn implements; they can now apply for loans to buy livestock. Indirectly the insurance contributes to food security and increasing the contribution of agriculture to GDP.
The Botswana Insurance Company (BIC) recently launched its agriculture insurance that covers both livestock and crops. The insurance took a long time coming for a country that has a thriving beef industry. But the timing is also appropriate because it comes at a time when the country strides towards food security, self sustenance and the eradication of poverty through the National Vision 2016.
Launching the policy in Gaborone, recently, Mr. David Garden an Insurance Broker with Tribe from South Africa; a company that has extensive experience and knowledge in livestock insurance, said the policy was tailor made to suit the needs of farmers.
Although the policy was developed in South Africa, Mr Garden says the “policies are online with Botswana conditions and in liaison with Botswana Insurance Company (BIC) we will keep on checking if the products and policies work” and change where there is a need for changing.
Mr Dziki Nganunu, the Managing Director of Botswana Insurance Company who when offering the closing remarks at the launch of the insurance said the “insurance meets the needs of farmers and those of the sector. Cover is also available for crops and this will be available on a case by case basis.”
In terms of this livestock insurance’s security, farmers are secure as reinsurance support for the direct insurer is being provided by Munich Re, the largest reinsurer in Africa. The insurance’s local technical support is brought by BIC “with and exclusive arrangement with Alexander Forbes Risk Services.
Though termed Livestock Insurance, this is a multi peril insurance scheme that caters for livestock and crops too. It also cuts across the livestock divide as it accommodates beef cattle, dairy cattle, pigs, horses, chickens, game and fish farming. There is also mention of fire insurance for commercial forestry.
The insurance is flexible in that it has options for Herd Select Insurance which gives the farmer the option to select the animals that they wish to insure “if he does not want to insure his entire herd.” The advantage of this is that effecting this Insurance will “also assist the farmer to obtain finance to purchase animals.”
In addition to Herd Select Policy there is the Stud Animal Policy whose features include: infertility and impotence cover; gap cover following a government slaughter order. There is also Herd Insurance Essential Cover which “is designed to protect the least valuable animals or the entire herd where the farmer is not concerned about disease or sickness cover.
The policy addresses death from fire, lightning, accident and theft. In addition to covering animals from all risks mortality and theft, transit is also included. Death by snake bites is also covered by the insurance.
However the insurance does not “cover death directly or indirectly caused by or happening through or in consequence of: Ionising radiations or contamination by radioactivity from nuclear fuel or from nuclear waste from the combustion of nuclear fuel; the radioactivity toxic explosive or other hazardous properties of any explosive nuclear assembly or nuclear component thereof.”
Also not covered is the death “directly or indirectly caused by happening through or in consequence of: confiscation or nationalism or requisition by or under the order of any government or public or local authority or any person or body having jurisdiction in the matter.”
Death as consequence of “war, invasion acts of foreign enemies hostilities (whether war be declared or not) civil war rebellion insurrection military or usurped power riots terrorism and civil commotions” is also not covered.
Speaking on the sidelines of the launch, David Merementsi, a cattle farmer from Matabula Ranch in Western Sandveldt said the insurance is a welcome development to the local agricultural scene as it is going to draw banks into lending farmers money “as they will know that their money is secured.”
Merementsi whose herd is made of the climatically adaptive Brahmans, Charolais, Simmentaller and Tswana cattle says the insurance is a “step in the right direction as we are not getting enough finance from the banks. This is going to strengthen our resolve using agriculture as a vehicle of diversifying the economy from being a diamond driven economy.”
“I recently lost a bull that i had bought for R16 000 from South Africa. It was just two weeks old on my ranch and it had not even done anything to help return my investment when it died due to a snake bite, and this is the second time that I have lost a bull this way,” said Merementsi who is glad that the new insurance also covers deaths by snake bite as this is a common calamity in the country.
Arable land farmers should also insure as this insurance caters for them. Johan van den Berg the Product Development Manager for South Africa’s Santam Agriculture says climate variability is a farmer’s most immediate threat as it has huge impact on planting decisions and risking management.
In an article published in South Africa’s Farmers Weekly, Berg discussed why farmers should insure citing the effects of climate change. He added that “weather forecasts are only about 70% accurate; farmers must have plans to ensure they can make money if the 30% probability happens. Climate variability is a big risk and, with current low commodity prices, the margin of error is very small. Insurance can help decrease the negative effects of climate variability.”
He advices that “if farmers decide that conditions are right to plant, they must also decide which grain crop and cultivars will give the greatest yield at the lowest risk. Farmers often wait to see if the season is late and dry and then plant a suitable crop. Farmers traditionally plant more medium-term growing cultivars, but if the season is very late, they choose to plant shorter growth-cycle crops.”
He further notes that good farm management and production practices are important for risk management adding that farmers sometimes let parts of their land to fallow, or store up water from the last season to reduce planting risk.
“Precision farming, which deals with in-field variability, is also becoming a crucial risk management tool, where farmers adopt new technologies, such as global positioning, sensors, satellite or aerial images and information-management tools to assess and understand variations for optimal use of soil potential,” says Beg.
At the Southern African Regional Development 3rd Briefing on Financing agriculture in Southern Agriculture held last month in Malawi by African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, David Rohrbach from the World Bank, who presented a paper on Risk Management and Agricultural Insurance, said “weather, price and related market risks are pervasive in agriculture.”
He said these risks reduce farm investment and productivity growth with insurance however allowing “at least a portion of these risks to be transferred to another party.”
“However, the success of agricultural insurance programmes, particularly those targeting small-scale farmers, has been undermined by high transaction costs, and problems of adverse selection and moral hazard. Index based insurance offers substantial potential for reducing these costs,” said Rohrbach before citing Malawi which has been using rainfall index insurance to support the expansion of credit supply to groundnut, tobacco and maize producers.
He explained that the insurance offsets the risks of credit default in the event of drought adding that this encourages both the expansion of agricultural credit in drought prone areas, and a reduction in interest rates.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Key challenges affecting agriculture in Southern Africa
Although most governments in the Southern Africa Development Committee (SADC) just as others in the rest of Africa have since 2003 embraced the vision of revamping the agricultural sector through increased budgetary allocations and designing of enabling policies, there still exists challenges that dog the growth of the sector, writes Simba Nembaware.
In his speech at the World Food Prize annual international symposium just ahead of World Food Day held last month, former UN Secretary-General and Chair of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) Mr. Kofi A. Annan said “Africa is the only continent which does not grow enough food to feed itself.”
Annan noted that Africa was bypassed by the science-based agricultural development adding that in the last decades governments had slashed needed investments for agricultural research and development, for rural infrastructure and for support to smallholder farmers.
In a paper presented at the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP)’s Southern African Regional Development 3rd Briefing on Financing agriculture in Southern Agriculture held last month in Malawi, Dyborn Chibonga of the National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi (NASFAM) said the smallholder farmer in Africa, though highly characterized by unpleasant traits like poor resources, high illiteracy and poverty rates, “still forms a major force to reckon with within the agriculture sector.”
Chibonga highlighted that challenges bedevilling Southern Africa’s agriculture can be classified into four groups: Financing Challenges; Marketing Challenges; Environmental Challenges; and market Liberalisation.
Financial challenges include the inadequate and the lack of access to credit; high prices for agricultural inputs and farm implements; unorganised farmers; low entrepreneurship; weak institutional linkages and weak extension services.
Challenges that pertain to market include: high energy prices; limited economies of scale; lack/inadequate market information; poor/inadequate infrastructure such as roads, storage facilities, production facilities, education and health facilities; poor telecommunication networks.
Declining soil fertility and the effects of climate change such as droughts and floods among others are part of the environmental challenges that farmers in Southern Africa have to contend with.
Market liberalisation entails the removal of agricultural subsidies and in Southern Africa this is coupled with unstructured or disintegrated marketing structures.
Citing Malawi’s smallholder farmers who contribute over 20% of the country’s agriculture GDP, Chibonga said solutions to address the numerous challenges lies “in the nature and context of investments towards the sector.”
“We acknowledge the commitment by African Governments in the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) but recommend an increase in the quantity, improve the quality and transparency of public investment in agriculture in agriculture.”
Governments are further urged to ensure that small producers have access to, control over and sustainable use of natural resources such as land and water, while on the other hand governments should promote ecologically sustainable agriculture.
Increasing investment in production and farm-level processing by small producers coupled with investing in post-harvest processing, marketing and value development are other recommended steps to be taken in the quest to curb the challenges dogging Southern Africa’s agriculture.
In his speech at the World Food Prize annual international symposium just ahead of World Food Day held last month, former UN Secretary-General and Chair of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) Mr. Kofi A. Annan said “Africa is the only continent which does not grow enough food to feed itself.”
Annan noted that Africa was bypassed by the science-based agricultural development adding that in the last decades governments had slashed needed investments for agricultural research and development, for rural infrastructure and for support to smallholder farmers.
In a paper presented at the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP)’s Southern African Regional Development 3rd Briefing on Financing agriculture in Southern Agriculture held last month in Malawi, Dyborn Chibonga of the National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi (NASFAM) said the smallholder farmer in Africa, though highly characterized by unpleasant traits like poor resources, high illiteracy and poverty rates, “still forms a major force to reckon with within the agriculture sector.”
Chibonga highlighted that challenges bedevilling Southern Africa’s agriculture can be classified into four groups: Financing Challenges; Marketing Challenges; Environmental Challenges; and market Liberalisation.
Financial challenges include the inadequate and the lack of access to credit; high prices for agricultural inputs and farm implements; unorganised farmers; low entrepreneurship; weak institutional linkages and weak extension services.
Challenges that pertain to market include: high energy prices; limited economies of scale; lack/inadequate market information; poor/inadequate infrastructure such as roads, storage facilities, production facilities, education and health facilities; poor telecommunication networks.
Declining soil fertility and the effects of climate change such as droughts and floods among others are part of the environmental challenges that farmers in Southern Africa have to contend with.
Market liberalisation entails the removal of agricultural subsidies and in Southern Africa this is coupled with unstructured or disintegrated marketing structures.
Citing Malawi’s smallholder farmers who contribute over 20% of the country’s agriculture GDP, Chibonga said solutions to address the numerous challenges lies “in the nature and context of investments towards the sector.”
“We acknowledge the commitment by African Governments in the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) but recommend an increase in the quantity, improve the quality and transparency of public investment in agriculture in agriculture.”
Governments are further urged to ensure that small producers have access to, control over and sustainable use of natural resources such as land and water, while on the other hand governments should promote ecologically sustainable agriculture.
Increasing investment in production and farm-level processing by small producers coupled with investing in post-harvest processing, marketing and value development are other recommended steps to be taken in the quest to curb the challenges dogging Southern Africa’s agriculture.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Reversing desertification with livestock in Zimbabwe
According to the UN, 12 million hectares of land - an area the size of Benin - are lost globally to desertification every year. "Continued land degradation is a threat to food security, leading to starvation among the most acutely affected communities and robbing the world of productive land," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said at the launch of a decade-long effort to tackle desertification in August 2010. Meanwhile, an approach using livestock and specific grazing regimes has seen desertification reversed on over 2,500 hectares of degraded land, in Zimbabwe.
Overgrazing is often seen as a major cause of desertification. But by changing the way animals are managed, the Savory Institute (SI) and Africa Center for Holistic Management (ACHM) have restored 2,700 hectares of degraded land close to Victoria Falls by increasing livestock numbers by 400 per cent. Having increased land productivity, water availability and improved livelihoods, the approach is now being adopted by local communities and pastoralists in Namibia, Zambia, Kenya and Ethiopia.
A source of hope
The grazing approach*, an example of 'holistic management', mimics the natural movements of large herds of wild grazing animals. Livestock are grazed in one area for a maximum of three days, and are not returned for at least nine months. "Overgrazing is a function of time and not of animal numbers," explains Allan Savory, ACHM founder, former wildlife biologist, farmer and consultant. "Whether there is one cow or a thousand does not alter the fact of overgrazing but merely changes the number of plants overgrazed if the animals remain too long in the same place."
Moving across the land in large numbers, the animals break the soil crust with their hooves, trample litter to provide soil cover, and fertilise the soil with nutrient-rich dung and urine. This increases plant growth and improves soil quality. "What we are demonstrating is that we can return to formerly animal-maintained grasslands and savannahs to keep grasslands and their soils alive without burning billions of hectares annually to remove old dead grass in an attempt to keep such grasslands healthy," explains Savory.
"The effects are impressive," Savory enthuses. "We can barely keep pace with grass growth, even in dry years." Increased organic matter and improved soil structure also increase water infiltration and retention within the soil. "The river, which was dry most years, is now flowing again in all but the driest years," Savory observes. "We have water in pools with water lilies and fish through the dry season a kilometre above where they have been known before."
Spreading the word
Communities must work together and stick to the planned grazing regimes if the approach is to work, however. Mobilising whole communities has proved difficult in the past but, with funding from USAID, ACHM has been able to increase the capacity and skills of their staff. Target communities have now been selected to begin practising holistic management and the results, so far, are encouraging. "Even in one season, and doing the grazing badly, communities still got approximately four times the yield of grass," Savory explains.
Communities are also being taught how to use livestock to improve their crop yields. "Instead of transporting manure from the cow to the field, we encourage communities to bring their livestock together in the field for several nights before the crops are planted," explains Huggins Matanga, director of ACHM. Without ploughing, or any soil preparation, the farmers' yields are increasing by three-to-five times. "The difference is astronomical," says Matanga.
Designed as a learning site to demonstrate the impact of holistic management, ACHM's success has attracted governments, NGOs and pastoralists from all over Africa to learn more about the management techniques. Visiting pastoralists from northern Kenya have stated that holistic management is the only hope they see to saving their culture, livestock and livilihoods. Consequently, concerned Kenyans are now collaborating with SI and ACHM to establish a similar learning site to service the Horn of Africa.
A brown revolution
Soil degradation and burning grasslands release large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, contributing greatly to climate change. "Without reversing desertification, climate change cannot be adequately addressed," Savory explains. "Livestock are vilified, but they are the only practical and readily available tool with which to reverse the degradation of the world's rangelands to address this aspect of global climate change."
Increasing soil organic matter by a mere 0.5 per cent on the 5 billion hectares of rangelands worldwide would sequester approximately 720 gigatonnes of carbon from the atmosphere, Savory states. In 2000, the total emissions globally were an estimated 44 gigatonnes. "Yet achieving an increase of two per cent organic matter would be reasonably easy if rangelands are managed holistically," he adds.
By storing large amounts of carbon, Savory believes that healthy soils offer the best hope of tackling climate change. "Biodiversity loss, climate change and desertification are the same issue," he says. "Anyone can grow more green plants using modern technology, genetic engineering and fertilizers, but this ignores the fact that the world is losing an estimated four tons of eroding soil each year per person alive today.
We need a 'brown revolution' that focuses on restoring healthy soils throughout crop and rangeland agriculture on which to both grow food and stabilise the climate. We have all the money in the world but we do not enjoy the luxury of time!"
-New Agriculturist
Overgrazing is often seen as a major cause of desertification. But by changing the way animals are managed, the Savory Institute (SI) and Africa Center for Holistic Management (ACHM) have restored 2,700 hectares of degraded land close to Victoria Falls by increasing livestock numbers by 400 per cent. Having increased land productivity, water availability and improved livelihoods, the approach is now being adopted by local communities and pastoralists in Namibia, Zambia, Kenya and Ethiopia.
A source of hope
The grazing approach*, an example of 'holistic management', mimics the natural movements of large herds of wild grazing animals. Livestock are grazed in one area for a maximum of three days, and are not returned for at least nine months. "Overgrazing is a function of time and not of animal numbers," explains Allan Savory, ACHM founder, former wildlife biologist, farmer and consultant. "Whether there is one cow or a thousand does not alter the fact of overgrazing but merely changes the number of plants overgrazed if the animals remain too long in the same place."
Moving across the land in large numbers, the animals break the soil crust with their hooves, trample litter to provide soil cover, and fertilise the soil with nutrient-rich dung and urine. This increases plant growth and improves soil quality. "What we are demonstrating is that we can return to formerly animal-maintained grasslands and savannahs to keep grasslands and their soils alive without burning billions of hectares annually to remove old dead grass in an attempt to keep such grasslands healthy," explains Savory.
"The effects are impressive," Savory enthuses. "We can barely keep pace with grass growth, even in dry years." Increased organic matter and improved soil structure also increase water infiltration and retention within the soil. "The river, which was dry most years, is now flowing again in all but the driest years," Savory observes. "We have water in pools with water lilies and fish through the dry season a kilometre above where they have been known before."
Spreading the word
Communities must work together and stick to the planned grazing regimes if the approach is to work, however. Mobilising whole communities has proved difficult in the past but, with funding from USAID, ACHM has been able to increase the capacity and skills of their staff. Target communities have now been selected to begin practising holistic management and the results, so far, are encouraging. "Even in one season, and doing the grazing badly, communities still got approximately four times the yield of grass," Savory explains.
Communities are also being taught how to use livestock to improve their crop yields. "Instead of transporting manure from the cow to the field, we encourage communities to bring their livestock together in the field for several nights before the crops are planted," explains Huggins Matanga, director of ACHM. Without ploughing, or any soil preparation, the farmers' yields are increasing by three-to-five times. "The difference is astronomical," says Matanga.
Designed as a learning site to demonstrate the impact of holistic management, ACHM's success has attracted governments, NGOs and pastoralists from all over Africa to learn more about the management techniques. Visiting pastoralists from northern Kenya have stated that holistic management is the only hope they see to saving their culture, livestock and livilihoods. Consequently, concerned Kenyans are now collaborating with SI and ACHM to establish a similar learning site to service the Horn of Africa.
A brown revolution
Soil degradation and burning grasslands release large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, contributing greatly to climate change. "Without reversing desertification, climate change cannot be adequately addressed," Savory explains. "Livestock are vilified, but they are the only practical and readily available tool with which to reverse the degradation of the world's rangelands to address this aspect of global climate change."
Increasing soil organic matter by a mere 0.5 per cent on the 5 billion hectares of rangelands worldwide would sequester approximately 720 gigatonnes of carbon from the atmosphere, Savory states. In 2000, the total emissions globally were an estimated 44 gigatonnes. "Yet achieving an increase of two per cent organic matter would be reasonably easy if rangelands are managed holistically," he adds.
By storing large amounts of carbon, Savory believes that healthy soils offer the best hope of tackling climate change. "Biodiversity loss, climate change and desertification are the same issue," he says. "Anyone can grow more green plants using modern technology, genetic engineering and fertilizers, but this ignores the fact that the world is losing an estimated four tons of eroding soil each year per person alive today.
We need a 'brown revolution' that focuses on restoring healthy soils throughout crop and rangeland agriculture on which to both grow food and stabilise the climate. We have all the money in the world but we do not enjoy the luxury of time!"
-New Agriculturist
Zimbabwe Football Association Still Awaits Work Permit For National Team Coach
Barring Saintfiet's sudden return, interim coach Madinda Ndlovu will direct the Warriors next week in the friendly scheduled with Mozambique in Maputo ahead of Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and the African Nations Championships
A senior official of the Zimbabwe Football Association said ZIFA is still awaiting a response from immigration authorities as to the fate of the Warriors national team coach Tom Saintfiet, deported last month soon after starting work.
Sources said Saintfiet, a Belgian deported in October, is waiting for a work visa in a nearby country.
Barring his sudden return, interim coach Madinda Ndlovu will direct the Warriors next week in the friendly scheduled with Mozambique in Maputo ahead of Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and the African Nations Championships.
ZIFA Competitions Director Benedict Moyo told VOA Studio 7 the association is still hoping for a positive response from the immigration authority as to Saintfiet’s employment.
The national football authority has been rocked by controversy in recent weeks with the firing of former chief executive Henrietta Rushwaya for sending the national team on an unauthorized 2009 tour of Asia during which players and team officials colluded with regional bookmakers to fix matches.
Her case was referred to an arbitrator last week after she challenged ZIFA's decision to fire her.
-VoA Studio7
A senior official of the Zimbabwe Football Association said ZIFA is still awaiting a response from immigration authorities as to the fate of the Warriors national team coach Tom Saintfiet, deported last month soon after starting work.
Sources said Saintfiet, a Belgian deported in October, is waiting for a work visa in a nearby country.
Barring his sudden return, interim coach Madinda Ndlovu will direct the Warriors next week in the friendly scheduled with Mozambique in Maputo ahead of Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and the African Nations Championships.
ZIFA Competitions Director Benedict Moyo told VOA Studio 7 the association is still hoping for a positive response from the immigration authority as to Saintfiet’s employment.
The national football authority has been rocked by controversy in recent weeks with the firing of former chief executive Henrietta Rushwaya for sending the national team on an unauthorized 2009 tour of Asia during which players and team officials colluded with regional bookmakers to fix matches.
Her case was referred to an arbitrator last week after she challenged ZIFA's decision to fire her.
-VoA Studio7
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)