How Does Nutrition Feature in Climate-Smart Agricultural Policy in Southern Africa? A Systematic Policy Review

The ability to produce and supply more food that is both nutritious and environmentally sustainable is a momentous challenge facing Africa. Where climate change is expected to negatively impact the agricultural resource of many parts of Southern Africa specifically. Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) has emerged as an approach considered capable of transforming and realigning agricultural systems to support food and nutritional security, and development under a changing climate. For sustainable food and nutrition security to be achieved, an effective policy environment is required that supports the widespread adoption of CSA application. In light of this context, this study aims to better understand nutrition’s current position within CSA-related policy at the national level by systematically reviewing all agriculture-related policy documents across Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia, published between 2010 and 2019. The main findings show that efforts to address nutrition are being made within all countries and a sizeable number of policies, with crop-diversification and intensification presented as popular practices promoted as part of CSA. Nonetheless, the widespread adoption of these efforts remains weak and policies lack detail and instruction for the delivery of nutritional security. Cross-ministerial collaboration is recognised as essential for an improved policy environment, but few provide plans to strengthen such linkages or to include nutritional strategies. Clearer actions and policy outlines that promote nutrition as part of CSA are necessary if more effective action is to be achieved

Evaluation of two lyophilized molecular assays to rapidly detect foot-and-mouth disease virus directly from clinical samples in field settings

Accurate, timely diagnosis is essential for the control, monitoring and eradication of foot‐and‐mouth disease (FMD). Clinical samples from suspect cases are normally tested at reference laboratories. However, transport of samples to these centralized facilities can be a lengthy process that can impose delays on critical decision making. These concerns have motivated work to evaluate simple‐to‐use technologies, including molecular‐based diagnostic platforms, that can be deployed closer to suspect cases of FMD. In this context, FMD virus (FMDV)‐specific reverse transcription loop‐mediated isothermal amplification (RT‐LAMP) and real‐time RT‐PCR (rRT‐PCR) assays, compatible with simple sample preparation methods and in situ visualization, have been developed which share equivalent analytical sensitivity with laboratory‐based rRT‐PCR. However, the lack of robust ‘ready‐to‐use kits’ that utilize stabilized reagents limits the deployment of these tests into field settings. To address this gap, this study describes the performance of lyophilized rRT‐PCR and RT‐LAMP assays to detect FMDV. Both of these assays are compatible with the use of fluorescence to monitor amplification in real‐time, and for the RT‐LAMP assays end point detection could also be achieved using molecular lateral flow devices. Lyophilization of reagents did not adversely affect the performance of the assays. Importantly, when these assays were deployed into challenging laboratory and field settings within East Africa they proved to be reliable in their ability to detect FMDV in a range of clinical samples from acutely infected as well as convalescent cattle. These data support the use of highly sensitive molecular assays into field settings for simple and rapid detection of FMDV

Editorial for Special Issue: “Collaboration and MultiStakeholder Engagement in Landscape Governance and Management in Africa: Lessons from Practice“

A multitude of interconnected socio-economic and environmental impacts are emerging across Africa as a result of escalating anthropogenic drivers of global and local change [...

Bridging the gap in agricultural innovation research: a systematic review of push–pull biocontrol technology in sub-Saharan Africa

Biological control for sustainable plant protection in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is gaining attention due to low crop productivity caused by pests, increasing costs of agrochemicals, and their harmful impact on health and the environment. A valuable case is the Push–pull technology (PPT) developed by the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE). However, evidence for the success of PPT in reducing pest prevalence has not translated from experimentation and demonstration to wider-scale on-farm uptake. A systematic review was conducted to explore the research gaps, benefits of PPT, adoption determinants, barriers to uptake, and how farmers choose to adopt and adapt the technology. The study found a large body of evidence on the biophysical benefits of PPT, which comes from a relatively narrow set of ICIPE-led or managed experiments in Western Kenya. Besides, evidence of its social and economic benefits is less robust. Documented barriers to adoption include initial establishment costs, labour intensiveness, risk averseness of farmers, socio-cultural rigidity, and inadequate access to information and inputs. The review highlights the need for qualitative research, an in-depth examination of the social dynamics of innovation and decision-making processes on farms, and institutions’ role in shaping innovation for sustainable agricultural development

Impact of climate change on crop suitability in sub-Saharan Africa in parameterized and convection-permitting regional climate models

Due to high present-day temperatures and reliance on rainfed agriculture, sub-Saharan Africa is highly vulnerable to climate change. We use a comprehensive set of global (CMIP5) and regional (CORDEX-Africa) climate projections and a new convection-permitting pan-Africa simulation (and its parameterized counterpart) to examine changes in rainfall and temperature and the impact on crop suitability of maize, cassava and soybean in sub-Saharan Africa by 2100 (RCP8.5). This is the first time an explicit-convection simulation has been used to examine crop suitability in Africa. Increasing temperatures and declining rainfall led to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa becoming unsuitable for multiple staple crops, which may necessitate a transition to more heat and drought resistant crops to ensure food and nutrition security. Soybean was resilient to temperature increases, however maize and cassava were not, leading to declines in crop suitability. Inclusion of sensitivity to extreme temperatures led to larger declines in maize suitability than when this was excluded. The results were explored in detail for Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and South Africa. In each country the range of projections included wetting and drying, but the majority of models projected rainfall declines leading to declines in crop suitability, except in Tanzania. Explicit-convection was associated with more high temperature extremes, but had little systematic impact on average temperature and total rainfall, and the resulting suitability analysis. Global model uncertainty, rather than convection parameterizations, still makes up the largest part of the uncertainty in future climate. Explicit-convection may have more impact if suitability included a more comprehensive treatment of extremes. This work highlights the key uncertainty from global climate projections for crop suitability projections, and the need for improved information on sensitivities of African crops to extremes, in order to give better predictions and make better use of the new generation of explicit-convection models

Detection of capripoxvirus DNA using a field-ready nucleic acid extraction and real-time PCR platform

Capripoxviruses, comprising sheep pox virus, goat pox virus and lumpy skin disease virus cause serious diseases of domesticated ruminants, notifiable to The World Organization for Animal Health. This report describes the evaluation of a mobile diagnostic system (Enigma Field Laboratory) that performs automated sequential steps for nucleic acid extraction and real-time PCR to detect capripoxvirus DNA within laboratory and endemic field settings. To prepare stable reagents that could be deployed into field settings, lyophilized reagents were used that employed an established diagnostic PCR assay. These stabilized reagents demonstrated an analytical sensitivity that was equivalent, or greater than the established laboratory-based PCR test which utilizes wet reagents, and the limit of detection for the complete assay pipeline was approximately one log10 more sensitive than the laboratory-based PCR assay. Concordant results were generated when the mobile PCR system was compared to the laboratory-based PCR using samples collected from Africa, Asia and Europe (n = 10) and experimental studies (n = 9) representing clinical cases of sheep pox, goat pox and lumpy skin disease. Furthermore, this mobile assay reported positive results in situ using specimens that were collected from a dairy cow in Morogoro, Tanzania, which was exhibiting clinical signs of lumpy skin disease. These data support the use of mobile PCR systems for the rapid and sensitive detection of capripoxvirus DNA in endemic field settings

Impacts of COVID-19 on Diverse Farm Systems in Tanzania and South Africa

Emerging information on the interactions between the COVID-19 pandemic and global food systems have highlighted how the pandemic is accentuating food crises across Africa. Less clear, however, are how the impacts differ between farming systems. Drawing on 50 key informant interviews with farmers, village leaders and extension officers in South Africa and Tanzania, we identify the effects of COVID-19 and associated measures to curb the spread of the disease on farming production systems, the coping mechanisms adopted by farmers, and explore their longer-term plans for adaptation. We focus on a diverse range of production systems, from small-scale mixed farming systems in Tanzania to large-scale corporate farms in South Africa. Our findings highlight how COVID-19 restrictions have interrupted the supply chains of agricultural inputs and commodities, increasing the storage time for produce, decreasing income and purchasing power, and reducing labour availability. Farmers’ responses were heterogeneous, with highly diverse small-scale farming systems and those less engaged with international markets least affected by the associated COVID-19 measures. Large-scale farmers were most able to access capital to buffer short-term impacts, whereas smaller-scale farms shared labour, diversified to subsistence produce and sold assets. However, compounded shocks, such as recent extreme climate events, limited the available coping options, particularly for smaller-scale and emerging farmers. The study highlights the need to understand the characteristics of farm systems to better equip and support farmers, particularly in contexts of uncertainty. We propose that policy actions should focus on (i) providing temporary relief and social support and protection to financially vulnerable stakeholders, (ii) job assurance for farmworkers and engaging an alternative workforce in farming, (iii) investing in farming infrastructure, such as storage facilities, digital communication tools and extension services, and (iv) supporting diversified agroecological farming systems

Collaboration and Multi-Stakeholder Engagement in Landscape Governance and Management in Africa: Lessons from Practice

The severity of interconnected socio-economic and environmental impacts on landscapes and people across Africa are exacerbated as a result of land degradation, conflict, poor governance, competition for land and inequality, and exacerbated by climate change. In pursuing pathways towards a more resilient future, collaborative and multi-stakeholder governance and management of landscapes have been promoted by government agencies, NGOs and conservation organisations as a possible solution. However, there is no single way to achieve effective collaboration, and different landscape projects have experimented with different entry points and engagement processes. Grounded in partnerships amongst researchers, practitioners and development partners with expertise in landscape governance and management in Africa, this book describes and collates key lessons from practice for supporting more resilient and equitable landscapes

Cropland can support high bird diversity in heterogeneous rural tropical landscapes

Land-use change for crop production is one of the key drivers of habitat loss and fragmentation and consequently biodiversity loss and change in tropical regions. This may impact biodiversity-regulated ecosystem services; birds are important to crop health regulating services (e.g. seed dispersal, pest control) and disservices (e.g. seed predation, grain herbivory). However, knowledge is limited on how birds use heterogeneous agricultural landscapes and the consequences for spatial distribution and flow of services and disservices. We studied crop and non-crop–habitat associations of birds in forest–agricultural landscapes of the Kilombero Valley, Tanzania. We focused on dietary preference as a key trait impacting bird responses to land-use change, services, and disservices to crops. We surveyed birds across four main habitat types using repeated point counts, recording a total of 148 species. We found that crop habitats supported higher species richness and larger communities of potentially beneficial species to crop health, whereby 34.5% of invertebrate-feeding species were recorded in cropland. We found that habitat heterogeneity within the landscape supports bird functional diversity and that each habitat type supported unique communities of species. Furthermore, the number of species unique to forest habitats increased with increasing forest canopy closure. Our findings suggest that management strategies for maintaining trees and shrubs, and enhancing tree cover within the crop production landscape, can be effective approaches for maintaining bird diversity and services. However, in-depth studies on trade-offs with disservices need further exploration to mitigate negative impacts of birds on crop yields