“COMING TOGETHER” (Batanai): Learning from Zimbabwe’s experiences with community biodiversity conservation, participatory crop improvement and climate change adaptation

This brief presents the findings and lessons learned of a study tour by a team from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of South Africa to neighbouring Zimbabwe, to learn about the roles of Farmer Field Schools, functions and operations of community seedbanks and various forms of participatory crop improvement, promoted by the Community Technology Development Organisation of Zimbabwe

Gel permeation chromatographic separation characteristics of low molecular mass furfuryl alcohol oligomers

Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 1995, 9(2), 93-99

Gel permeation chromatographic separation characteristics of low molecular mass furfuryl alcohol oligomers

Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 1995, 9(2), 93-99

Half-Life Deviations from PPP in the South African Development Community (SADC)

This paper utilises various recently developed econometric methods to obtain better approximations to the half-life for real exchange rates of ten South African Development Community (SADC) countries and to generate confidence intervals for half-life deviations from the purchasing power parity (PPP). The robust methods of Stock (1991), Elliott and Stock (2001), and Hansen (1999) imply that point estimates of less than 36 months exist, making them compatible with PPP. However, the results of ADF and ADF-GLS tests render the SADC real exchange rates as nonstationary processes, a result that is patently at odds with mean-reversion, implying at the same time the possibility of infinite half-lives. Therefore the empirical results appearing in this paper do not convincingly resolve the half-life version of the PPP puzzle and leaves room for future research in the directions of non-parametric methods and median unbiased confidence intervals.PPP, Half-life, Real Exchange Rates

TESTING FOR PPP USING SADC REAL EXCHANGE RATES

This paper attempts to provide evidence indicating that the purchasing power parity (PPP) puzzle is becoming less of a puzzle. It present the results of Augmented Dickey-Fuller test, non-linear tests of non-stationarity and Bayesian unit root tests, applied to 10 Southern African Development Community countries. The Bayesian tests were found to be biased in favour of a trend stationary model in all cases. It is argued that non-linear approaches to exchange rate adjustments are likely to provide a firmer basis for inference and stronger support for the PPP in the long-term. This is more so at 1 and 5% levels of significance. Copyright (c) 2009 The Authors. Journal compilation (c) 2009 Economic Society of South Africa.

Community seed banks: farmers' platform for crop conservation and improvement

In South Africa, as elsewhere, the community systems that have maintained agrobiodiversity are increasingly coming under pressure from factors such as drought, crop failure and difficult storage conditions. As a result, the quantity of seed and number of plant varieties available to farmers for planting becomes negatively affected. With agricultural modernization, farmers are increasingly purchasing more of their seed requirements rendering local seed conservation less important. As commercial varieties replace older local varieties, the older varieties become increasingly unavailable in many communities. The Directorate Genetic Resources of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Bioversity International, and the Departments of Agriculture in Limpopo and Eastern Cape Provinces are working together to set up pilot community seed banks in Mutale and Joe Gcabi Municipalities respectively to guide the development of a national plan aimed to reverse the trend of biodiversity loss

Etablir et gerer une banque de semences communautaire: Manuel du producteur agricole. La mise sur pied d’une banque de semences communautaire: Livret 1 de 3

This handbook is a companion to Community seed banks: concept and practice: facilitator handbook by Ronnie Vernooy, Bhuwon Sthapit, and Guy Bessette (Bioversity International 2017). The three booklets making up this handbook were written and designed for rural producers who are interested in establishing, supporting, and managing a community seed bank. Each booklet focuses on a theme presented by the members of a community seed bank in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The booklets are available also in English and Spanish. Translation and adaptation to the local language is encouraged. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the booklets or give feedback or suggestions for improvement to Bioversity International please contact [email protected]

¿Como establecer y manejar un banco comunitario de semillas? Manual del productor agricola El establecimiento de un banco comunitario de semillas: Cuaderno 1 de 3

This handbook is a companion to Community seed banks: concept and practice: facilitator handbook by Ronnie Vernooy, Bhuwon Sthapit, and Guy Bessette (Bioversity International 2017). The three booklets making up this handbook were written and designed for rural producers who are interested in establishing, supporting, and managing a community seed bank. Each booklet focuses on a theme presented by the members of a community seed bank in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The booklets are be available also in English and French. Translation and adaptation to the local language is encouraged