Sécurité semencière pour les petits producteurs

Les semences constituent l’intrant le plus important en agriculture et le moins coûteux comparé aux engrais, aux pesticides et au travail. Deux éléments clés pour de meilleurs rendements : de bonnes pratiques culturales et des variétés locales à pollinisation ouverte (VPO) améliorées. Disposer de bonnes semences au juste prix reste le problème majeur du paysan. Le coût des semences améliorées augmente chaque jour et ce n’est pas seulement dommage pour les petits producteurs. C’est aussi la pierre d’achoppement des programmes de sécurité alimentaire. Dans le cas du Malawi, par exemple, les paysans n’avaient jamais acheté de semences avant l’introduction des variétés hybrides, au début des années 50. Ils utilisaient les leurs ou les échangeaient avec leurs voisins. L’introduction des hybrides s’est accompagnée de subventions sur les intrants. Commencer à les acheter n’était donc pas une charge trop lourde pour un petit producteur pauvre. La situation est aujourd’hui différente. En 1987, le gouvernement a appliqué le programme d’ajustement structurel du FMI et de la Banque mondiale et a progressivement supprimé ces subventions. Cela a rendu les intrants — dont les semences hybrides — inaccessibles aux petits producteurs. Ceux qui avaient adopté les hybrides sont revenus aux variétés locales et la production de maïs a chuté. Un produit intermédiaire Au Malawi, 90 % de la terre cultivée en maïs appartiennent aux petits producteurs et 80 % de cette surface sont plantés de variétés à faible rendement. Il était donc logique de lancer un programme semencier qui propose une variété intermédiaire, accessible, avec un meilleur rendement, des conditions de conservation et de transformation proches de celles des variétés locales et dont les paysans pouvaient tirer les semences de la prochaine campagne. C’est là que les VPO sont entrés en jeu. Si elles ne peuvent pas égaler les performances des hybrides dans un contexte de fertilité élevée, elles les dépassent en cas de faible fertilité. C’est pourquoi je recommande les VPO pour les petits producteurs des pays ACP, où la terre est souvent moins fertile en raison de l’intensité des cultures sans rotation. Au-delà de l’accessibilité Bien que les chercheurs aient mis au point de nombreuses VPO, les commerçants ne veulent pas en assurer la promotion ni la vente. Pourquoi ? Ils craignent de perdre leur marché car les VPO peuvent être recyclées pendant trois ans sans perte de productivité. Si ce recyclage est un inconvénient pour ces sociétés commerciales, il représente un avantage pour les producteurs. La production alimentaire familiale ne chute pas comme ce serait le cas avec des variétés locales. C’est pourquoi j’invite les gouvernements ACP et autres décideurs à encourager l’usage des VPO chez les petits producteurs. C’est ainsi qu’ils atteindront la sécurité alimentaire. N’oublions pas que dans des pays comme le Malawi, ces producteurs constituent le plus gros de la population. Quel serait l’intérêt de promouvoir les variétés hybrides, intéressantes seulement pour les riches, et de laisser de côté les VPO, idéales pour la majorité des producteurs ? Lorsqu’on parle de développement agricole, il faut prendre en compte les systèmes de production et les communautés concernées et proposer aux petits producteurs ce qui leur convient. L’ambition de tout programme agricole doit être la sécurité alimentaire pour tous et non la promotion des sociétés semencières. Gérer les semences Un autre point important dans les systèmes de production est celui de la gestion des intrants. Dans notre recherche au Malawi, nous avons noté qu’avec un mauvais système de gestion des intrants, les variétés hybrides n’avaient pas d’avantage significatif sur les VPO en termes de rendement. Les petits producteurs, pour la plupart pauvres, n’ont pas de système performant de gestion des intrants. Il serait donc absurde de les encourager à cultiver les variétés hybrides, car s’ils le faisaient, ils auraient d’importantes pertes. Un autre aspect que je veux souligner est la formation. Elle va de pair avec l’émancipation. Les petits producteurs doivent être formés en production semencière comme en transformation et en marketing. Ceci doit leur être proposé dans leurs coopératives pour s’assurer que les paysans eux-mêmes puissent identifier les variétés qui leur conviennent du point de vue traditionnel et scientifique. Au Malawi, le maïs est traditionnellement écrasé dans un mortier pour en retirer le son avant de le réduire en farine. C’est pourquoi les paysans préfèrent les variétés dures comme leurs variétés locales. S’ils sont encouragés à produire des VPO qui préservent ces méthodes traditionnelles, la sécurité alimentaire pourra être assurée. Ces programmes doivent également permettre un flux constant de semences pures dans le système de production semencier afin que les producteurs n’aient jamais besoin d’en acheter, même après les trois années de durée de vie des VPO. Au Malawi, le gouvernement et des partenaires comme l’Union européenne ont appuyé ces programmes de formation. Le résultat est que les semences absentes sur le marché il y a cinq ans peuvent maintenant être achetées : maïs, VPO améliorées, arachides, haricots, soja, pois cajan et bien d’autres. En résumé, je dirais que le principal défi pour la sécurité alimentaire et le bien-être est de renforcer le système semencier et d’intensifier la formation paysanne sur les bonnes méthodes culturales. [caption] Elizabeth Mary Minofu Sibale, chercheuse agricole, est spécialisée dans le maïs. Elle travaille pour le programme du CIMMYT à la station de recherche agricole de Chitedze (Malawi) où elle est l’expert national en sécurité alimentaire auprès de la Délégation européenne. En 2000, elle a obtenu le prix de la Banque mondiale et de l’Africa Club du FMI pour son travail sur la reproduction des variétés à pollinisation ouverte (VPO). Les opinions exprimées dans ce Point de vue sont celles de l’auteur, et ne reflètent pas nécessairement les idées du CTA.Les semences constituent l’intrant le plus important en agriculture et le moins coûteux comparé aux engrais, aux pesticides et au travail. Deux éléments clés pour de meilleurs rendements : de bonnes pratiques culturales et des variétés..

Characterising cancer burden and quality of care at two palliative care clinics in Malawi

Background: This paper describes cancer burden and compares characteristics of cancer patients enrolled at 2 palliative care facilities of contrasting resources and geographical locations in Malawi. It also assesses the extent of differences in service delivery and the impact these might have on outcomes.Methods: Data on all cancer patients registered between October 2010 and October 2015 at Tiyanjane Clinic (at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Blantyre) and Mzuzu Central Hospital (MCH) palliative care clinics were extracted and analysed. Key informant in-depth interviews were carried out at both sites. Thematic analysis was used for qualitative data and Excel 2010 and Stata 12 were used for analysis of quantitative data.Results: Quantitative: There were 1362 and 633 cancer patients at Tiyanjane and MCH, respectively. Overall, females predominated over males (55.8% vs 42.8%); however, Tiyanjane had more males (52.2% vs 45.8%), which was contrary to Mzuzu (77.4% females vs 22.6% males). The 35- to 54-year age group was predominant at both Tiyanjane (43.1%) and Mzuzu (40.1%). Overall, the most common cancers were Kaposi’s sarcoma (26.9%), cervical cancer (26.8%), oesophageal cancer (14.2%), hepatocellular carcinoma (4.9%), and bladder cancer (3.0%). Histologically confirmed diagnoses accounted for 13% of cases at Tiyanjane, whereas all patients from MCH were diagnosed clinically.Qualitative: Palliative care services were free of charge at both facilities, and owing to the expansion of services to district hospitals, the workload at central hospitals had been reduced. Between the 2 sites, there were differences in follow-up procedures, drug availabilities, as well as human resource capacity, with Mzuzu palliative care facility facing more extensive challenges.Conclusions: The characteristics of patients seen at each site varied according to services available. Quality of care was assessed as superior at Tiyanjane, demonstrating the importance of multiple stakeholder involvement in the delivery of palliative care services

Collection and evaluation of pearl millet (Pennisetum) germplasm from Malawi

A germplasm collecting trip to Malawi was launched during March/April 1979, resulting in the collection of 260 traditional cultivars of pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum), 11 intermediate forms, and 6 accessions of wild Pennisetum. Most of the cultivated pearl millet samples were obtained from the hot lowlands of the lower Shire Valley, with a few samples from the cool highlands of Mulanje and Mangochi. A mixture of different types that varied in plant height, maturity, and spike characters were observed in farmers’ fields. In the south, early types with loose, thin, cylindrical spikes and in the north, late-maturing types producing many tillers with stout spikes having long bristles were found. The grain is used to prepare a thick porridge, nsima, or to brew local beer, chimera. When the collection was evaluated at ICRISAT Center, Patancheru, considerable variation was observed for days to 50% flowering and plant height, but not for spike and grain characters. During the rainy season, the majority of the accessions flowered early (70 days), grew very tall (250 cm), and produced thin (22 mm), short (22 cm) spikes with small, obovate to elliptical, corneous grey grain. In the postrainy season, most of the accessions flowered a week earlier accompanied by reduction in plant height. Millet germplasm from Malawi belongs to the race typhoides and serves as a good source of genes for earliness, tillering, and corneous endosperm

Influenza-like illness is associated with high pneumococcal carriage density in Malawian children.

Background High pneumococcal carriage density is a risk factor for invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and transmission, but factors that increase pneumococcal carriage density are still unclear. Methods We undertook a cross-sectional study to evaluate the microbial composition, cytokine levels and pneumococcal carriage densities in samples from children presenting with an influenza-like illness (ILI) and asymptomatic healthy controls (HC). Results The proportion of children harbouring viral organisms (Relative risk (RR) 1.4, p=0.0222) or ≥4 microbes at a time (RR 1.9, p<0.0001), was higher in ILI patients than HC. ILI patients had higher IL-8 levels in nasal aspirates than HC (median [IQR], 265.7 [0 – 452.3] vs. 0 [0 – 127.3] pg/ml; p = 0.0154). Having an ILI was associated with higher pneumococcal carriage densities compared to HC (RR 4.2, p<0.0001). Conclusion These findings suggest that children with an ILI have an increased propensity for high pneumococcal carriage density. This could in part contribute to increased susceptibility to IPD and transmission in the community

Intracellular survival of Streptococcus pneumoniae in human alveolar macrophages is augmented with HIV infection

People Living with HIV (PLHIV) are at an increased risk of pneumococcal pneumonia than HIV-uninfected adults, but the reasons for this are still not well understood. We investigated whether alveolar macrophages (AM) mediated control of pneumococcal infection is impaired in PLHIV compared to HIV-uninfected adults. We assessed anti-bactericidal activity against Streptococcus pneumoniae of primary human AM obtained from PLHIV and HIV-uninfected adults. We found that pneumococcus survived intracellularly in AMs at least 24 hours post ex vivo infection, and this was more frequent in PLHIV than HIV-uninfected adults. Corroborating these findings, in vivo evidence showed that PLHIV had a higher propensity for harboring S. pneumoniae within their AMs than HIV-uninfected adults. Moreover, bacterial intracellular survival in AMs was associated with extracellular propagation of pneumococcal infection. Our data suggest that failure of AMs to eliminate S. pneumoniae intracellularly could contribute to the increased risk of pneumococcal pneumonia in PLHIV

Intracellular survival of Streptococcus pneumoniae in human alveolar macrophages is augmented with HIV infection

People Living with HIV (PLHIV) are at an increased risk of pneumococcal pneumonia than HIV-uninfected adults, but the reasons for this are still not well understood. We investigated whether alveolar macrophages (AM) mediated control of pneumococcal infection is impaired in PLHIV compared to HIV-uninfected adults. We assessed anti-bactericidal activity against Streptococcus pneumoniae of primary human AM obtained from PLHIV and HIV-uninfected adults. We found that pneumococcus survived intracellularly in AMs at least 24 hours post ex vivo infection, and this was more frequent in PLHIV than HIV-uninfected adults. Corroborating these findings, in vivo evidence showed that PLHIV had a higher propensity for harboring S. pneumoniae within their AMs than HIV-uninfected adults. Moreover, bacterial intracellular survival in AMs was associated with extracellular propagation of pneumococcal infection. Our data suggest that failure of AMs to eliminate S. pneumoniae intracellularly could contribute to the increased risk of pneumococcal pneumonia in PLHIV

Intracellular survival of Streptococcus pneumoniae in human alveolar macrophages is augmented with HIV infection

People Living with HIV (PLHIV) are at an increased risk of pneumococcal pneumonia than HIV-uninfected adults, but the reasons for this are still not well understood. We investigated whether alveolar macrophages (AM) mediated control of pneumococcal infection is impaired in PLHIV compared to HIV-uninfected adults. We assessed anti-bactericidal activity against Streptococcus pneumoniae of primary human AM obtained from PLHIV and HIV-uninfected adults. We found that pneumococcus survived intracellularly in AMs at least 24 hours post ex vivo infection, and this was more frequent in PLHIV than HIV-uninfected adults. Corroborating these findings, in vivo evidence showed that PLHIV had a higher propensity for harboring S. pneumoniae within their AMs than HIV-uninfected adults. Moreover, bacterial intracellular survival in AMs was associated with extracellular propagation of pneumococcal infection. Our data suggest that failure of AMs to eliminate S. pneumoniae intracellularly could contribute to the increased risk of pneumococcal pneumonia in PLHIV

Seed security for smallholders

Seed is the most important input in agriculture and, compared to fertilisers, pesticides and labour, still the cheapest. Two keys to better yields are good cultural practices and the improvement of local, open-pollinated varieties. A major problem in agriculture remains the availability of the right seeds against the right price. The most discouraging thing is that the cost of improved seeds is growing by the day, which is not only disadvantageous to smallholders. It is also a stumbling block to any country seeking to achieve food security for all its citizens. In the case of Malawi, for example, before hybrid seeds were introduced in the early 1950s, farmers did not bother to buy seeds. They used their own or exchanged them with neighbours. The introduction of hybrids was accompanied by subsidies on seeds and other inputs. It was, then, not so much a burden for a poor smallholder to start buying these seeds. The situation is different nowadays. In 1987, the government started implementing the IMF/World Bank recommendation of structural adjustment and slowly removed its subsidies. This made farm input prices, including hybrid seeds, unaffordable for smallholders. Maize production declined as some farmers who had adopted hybrids fell back to local maize production. Need for intermediate product In Malawi, 90% of the land area used for maize is on smallholdings; of this 80% is sown with low-yielding, unimproved varieties. It was therefore logical to initiate a maize breeding programme that would offer an intermediate product, a variety that farmers could afford, that was higher yielding, yet similar to local varieties in terms of storage and processing, and from which farmers could save their own next year s seed. This is where the OPVs came in. Although open-pollinated maize varieties cannot compete with hybrid maize in performance in high fertility environments, they do perform better than hybrids in low fertility environments. That is why I would recommend OPVs to poor smallholders in ACP countries whose land is mostly less fertile due to intensity of growing crops without following crop rotation concepts. Beyond affordability The sad thing is that though researchers have come up with a number of OPVs, many commercial companies do not want to promote and sell these varieties. But why? They fear losing their trade since most OPVs can be recycled for three years without losing their productivity. This recycling might be a disadvantage to the commercial companies, but there are cost advantages to a smallholder. Food production for the household will not fall as would be the case if primitive local varieties were used as an alternative. In this sense, therefore, I will commend to governments of ACP countries and other decision-makers to encourage the use of OPVs among poor smallholders. This is how they can achieve food security. Remember, in poor countries like Malawi, smallholders form the bulk of the population. What is the purpose of promoting hybrid varieties, favourable for rich farmers, and leaving aside OPVs which are ideal for the smallholder majority? On that note, it is important to think about the type of farming systems and the target community when thinking about agricultural development. Promote what is ideal for smallholders to smallholders. The ambition to achieve food security for all should be the mantle of agricultural programmes, not promoting the commercial activities of seed companies. Save seeds Another point to note on farming systems is that of input management. In our research in Malawi it turned out that under low input management system, hybrids had no significant advantage over OPVs in yield performance. Smallholders who are mainly poor do not grow their seeds under high input management. There is no sense, therefore, in encouraging them to grow the elite or hybrid seeds for if they do so, they will lose yields significantly. One other point I want to emphasise is training. This goes with the common song of empowerment. Smallholders need to be trained in seed production as well as in processing and marketing skills. This should be provided to the farmers in their cooperatives. It will ensure that the farmers themselves come up with their favourable varieties of seeds in terms of traditional and scientific demands. Traditionally, in Malawi maize is pounded in a mortar to remove the bran before it is taken to be milled into flour. Subsistence farmers always favour varieties of maize as hard as local varieties for these purposes. If farmers are empowered to produce OPVs which favour these traditional methods, then their food security could be assured. Such programmes will also ensure a constant flow of pure stock into the seed production system, as farmers will never worry about going to buy seeds even after the three year time span for OPVs. In Malawi the government and donors like the European Union have been facilitating such training programmes. The result is that the seed of crops that five years ago could not be found on the market can now be purchased: improved OPV maize, groundnuts, beans, soybeans, pigeon peas and many more. All in all, I would define the major challenges in food security as strengthening the seed system and intensifying farmer training on good crop production practices for maximum benefits. [caption to illustration] Elizabeth Mary Minofu Sibale is an agricultural scientist specialised in maize. She has worked for the research department in Malawi s ministry of agriculture. She is now a programme manager for the food security programme of the EU Delegation to Malawi. In 2000, she won the annual award of the World Bank Group and IMF Africa Club for her work on breeding Open Pollinated Varieties (OPVs). The opinions expressed in Viewpoint are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of CTA.Seed is the most important input in agriculture and, compared to fertilisers, pesticides and labour, still the cheapest. Two keys to better yields are good cultural practices and the improvement of local, open-pollinated varieties.A major problem in..