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(NEW FARMER) Annan to head African farming body

Annan to head African farming body
Farmer Reporter

Cape Town, South Africa — An African agricultural organization established last year by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has recruited former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to be its chief. Annan said recently that he had agreed to be chairman of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, which aims at boosting harvests on a continent where many go hungry.

Better seed varieties and water management are among its first priorities.

The organization was set up last year by a grant of US$150 million from the Gates and the Rockefeller Foundation.

"Sub-Saharan Africa is the only area of the world where food production is worsening each year," Annan said.

He said that three quarters of the land is without fertilizer and the soils are the most depleted in the world. The number of underweight children has increased by 10 percent in the past three years, he said.

The situation is likely to worsen with climate change, expected to wreak havoc with crop yields that already are well below the global average, he said at the annual African meeting of the World Economic Forum.

Drought is expected to devastate this year's maize harvest in southern Africa, leaving millions of people in countries like Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Lesotho dependent on foreign handouts.

"Africa is not responsible for emissions" of greenhouse gases, said Annan. "But we are paying the highest price. We are paying for the crimes of others."

Annan was UN chief from 1997 to the end of last year.

Namibia: women trained in mushroom production

WINDHOEK — Women’s Action for Development(WAD) trainers from six regions recently received training in the production of oyster mushrooms.

The Faculty of Agriculture offered the training at the University of Namibia.

WAD Executive Director, Veronica de Klerk, said the intention behind training the six representatives from Erongo, Karas, Kunene, Hardap, Otjozondjupa, and Omusati was to enable them to train other community members upon their return to their respective communities.

Production of oyster mushrooms will also mean diversifying their skills and promoting mushroom cultivation and mushroom consumption, De Klerk said.

Mushrooms are fresh fungi used as food and even medicine. Though some are poisonous, those, which are edible and medicinal, can be of much value to the economy of the country.

Mushrooms are mostly harvested during the rainy season, especially Omayova (Termitomyces), those sold along the roads, as well as Omatumbula (Kalahari truffles), found in the Omaheke Region and some parts of the northern regions of the country.

They are rich in protein and contain all the essential amino acids required in human diet. They are also low in cholesterol, rich in vitamins, delicious and have the most delightful aroma.

In Namibia, mushrooms can be expensive and as a result are regarded as "food for the affluent only" because the poor are unable to afford it.

"Given the reality that mushrooms are continuously being imported from South Africa, WAD believes that it is imperative to train people on how to grow mushrooms for own consumption or as a cash crop and to create employment," said De Klerk.

"These are potential trainers and we hope this partnership with Unam will grow. We hope to train more people in the country and see the project through. It is better to produce our own mushrooms than to import," she said.

The executive director was positive about the market in Namibia should people engage in mushroom production.

There is no doubt that there is a market for oyster mushrooms. It is therefore important that communities produce sufficient to meet the demands of the market," she said.

The six received training in the basics on mushroom cultivation, how to prepare mushroom cultures and spawn (seed), identify different materials needed for mushroom substrates, how to construct mushroom houses, and how to harvest mushrooms, among others-New Era.

Labels: AGRICULTURE, KOFI ANNAN

posted by MrK @ 6:07 AM