Factors Influencing Adoption of Rangeland Rehabilitation Technologies by Agro-Pastoralists in the Arabian Peninsula: Evidence from Analysis in Saudi Arabia and Qatar

Rangelands are the main land use in the Arabian Peninsula and cover about 50% of total area. They are under continuous heavy grazing pressure due to underlying social and economic causes as well as institutional effects. ICARDA in collaboration with the National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) has developed and introduced different rehabilitation techniques including resting, planting native range species and water harvesting in different countries of the AP such as Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia (KSA) and Yemen. However, the adoption of these techniques by end users was not evaluated. In this context, a research has been conducted in Saudi Arabia and Qatar to determine the factors affecting the speed of adoption and identify the main constraints affecting the adoption level and the dissemination for these rehabilitation techniques with special focus on perceived perceptions of the research and extension (R&E) systems on the impact of the characteristics of these technologies on their adoption level. To meet these objectives, the Adoption and Diffusion Outcome Prediction Tool (ADOPT) and the Likert-scale approach have been implemented and the qualitative data were gathered through two focus group discussion, respectively. The empirical findings revealed a significant difference between KSA and Qatar on the predicted peak of adoption of this technological package (planting native range species and water harvesting). Although the predicted years to peak such adoption are around 18 years, the peak of adoption is expected to be 92% for KSA and 11% for Qatar. This is mainly due to the fact that this technological package is newly getting adopted in Qatar. This predicted peak remains very low even during the first five and ten years for the case of Qatar. The main factors constraining the adoption of these rehabilitation technologies and therefore its dissemination are the complexity of the innovation, its trialability, the need to develop substantial new skills and knowledge to use the innovation, and the up-front cost of the investment relative to the potential annual benefit from adopting this technological package

Forage Seed System, Indigenous Knowledge and Constraints of Forage Production in Afghanistan

The Afghanistan seed sector is in transition after the postwar reconstruction and rebuilding (Kugbei et al., 2011). Though the national seed policy and law was enacted in 2009 (Gazette, Govt. of Afghanistan, 2009), its implementation is yet to take off. Availability and access to quality seed is one of the major limiting factors for the crop-livestock production system in Afghanistan. Informal seed sector is dominant where the vast majority of farmers are saving their own seed of both local and improved varieties of forage crops. The purpose of this study is to understand the status of the forage seed system, indigenous knowledge of farmers and constraints in seed production of forage crops and the possible options to improve it

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century