Africa: Climate Change Could Be Double-Edged Sword for Farmers

On a global level, climate change could slash crop yields and increase reliance on irrigation in the 2030s, but in some regions, including Southern Africa, agricultural output could increase and farming become less dependent on water, according to a study published last month (27 February).

The researchers, based in Canada, China and Switzerland, set out to predict the combined impact of climate change on food production and water levels globally, regionally and locally.

"Such a study not only provides large-scale [global and continental] analysis, but also in-depth spatial details that can help decision-makers deal with climate mitigation and adaptation locally," says lead author Junguo Liu, a professor of hydrology at the Beijing Forestry University, China.

The researchers used global datasets for soil data, climate, fertiliser inputs, and crops, taking into account whether they were irrigated or rain-fed.

Using eight climate scenarios, they estimated the yields of three staples - maize, rice and wheat - and water use for the short-term 2030s period and the long-term 2090s one. They then compared these with figures obtained in the 1990s.

"Southern and eastern parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, along the Rift Valley, may profit in the short run from climate change regarding yields for the three staple food crops," says Christian Folberth, a co-author of the study, and a research scientist with the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology. "Western and central parts, on the other hand, show a slight negative impact."

The researchers found that regions that presently have sufficient water, including south-eastern parts of Latin America, will depend more on irrigation in the 2030s.

In contrast, regions with insufficient water, including most parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, will depend less on irrigation for water because of favourable temperatures.

Folberth says that, until the 2030s, the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide and modest changes in temperature may lead to yield increases in some regions if temperatures do not exceed crop temperature thresholds. By the 2090s, however, the thresholds may be reached resulting in low yields.

The researchers have issued a warning about this double-edged sword. "The positive impacts in the short run can help alleviate food shortage problems," the study says.

"However, they may distract [from] attention paid to adapting and mitigating measures to combat the long-term negative impacts of climate change."

But Richwell Musoma, an irrigation agronomist at Zimbabwe's Department of Irrigation Development, says the study's findings are unlikely to be experienced in most African countries.

Tanzania: Extra Efforts Are Needed to Protect Country's Forests

DEFORESTATION and forest degradation contribute about 20 per cent of the global emissions that escalate climate change.

In developing countries such as Tanzania, whose major source of livelihood especially in the rural lifestyles is majorly forest deforestation, there are major challenges of finding alternative sustainable sources of livelihood to conserve forest state.

According to Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism Mr Lazaro Nyalandu, Tanzania is partnering with developed countries to support its efforts of developing sustainable resources of livelihood to conserve forests.

"That is why at our ministry we have resolved to deal seriously with people who cut trees recklessly and we shall make sure that people destroying our trees and sources of water will be brought before a court of law to face the law. Personally I intend to go to forests alongside my officers to arrest such law defaulters", Mr Nyalandu told journalists who were covering World Wood Day celebrations at the Karimjee grounds last week.

During the celebrations to mark the day, it was said that wanton destruction of forests estimated between 130,000 and 500,000 hectares per year has caught the attention of the Tanzania Forest Services (TFS) currently set to unveil a comprehensive plan to control deforestation and increase community awareness on tree planting and conservation of the environment.

TFS Chief Executive Mr Juma Mgoo said recent estimates show that the total wood consumption in Tanzania is about 87 million cubic metres while the annual growth is about 76 million cubic metres; hence makes an annual wood deficit of about 11 million cubic metres. "A comprehensive road map will be unveiled shortly entailing all-inclusive forest protection measures that includes compulsory tree planting by individuals, institutions and other parties using wood fuel to bridge the gap," Mgoo explained.

In the course of implementation of the detailed dossier, said the CEO, the perception that tree planting and conservation of the environment was government's business will be brushed aside. The main causes of loss of Tanzania's forest, woodlands and biodiversity include shifting cultivation, planned agriculture, development of settlements, overgrazing, uncontrolled fires and cutting trees for charcoal production as well as over-exploitation of forest resources for income generation and domestic uses.

Oxfam praises Mars and Nestlé for cocoa farmer commitment

Mars and Nestlé have promised to work towards eradicating inequality, hunger and poverty faced by women in their cocoa supply chains across Africa

The move came after more than 65,000 people signed petitions by farmers and consumers who have taken action against chocolate companies in the interest of women cocoa farmers.

“Women cocoa farmers and consumers around the globe have made their voices heard,” said Alison Woodhead, campaign manager for Oxfam's Behind the Brands campaign.

“Mars and Nestlé have taken important steps to show the farmers they rely on, their customers and the rest of the food industry that they care about the conditions women face in their supply chains including low pay, discrimination and unequal opportunity.”

Both companies will be carrying out impact assessments on women in their cocoa supply chains, starting in Cote d'Ivoire, which is expected to be the highest cocoa producing country up until next year.

"We applaud Mars and Nestle's leadership in making these commitments," stated Woodhead. "But only actions can create real and lasting change. We will continue to hold both companies to account and expect them to keep their promises."

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African nations increase agriculture spending to combat poverty

A new report released by ONE Campaign revealed that a number of African nations are increasing their spending on agriculture to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

The study, which was carried out by the anti-poverty group set-up by Irish musicians Bono and Bob Geldof, stated that Africa’s agricultural sector could be worth one trillion dollars by 2030.

“Despite record improvements by select African countries, Africa overall is still far from realising its agricultural potential,” read the report, which identified progress by 19 African countries and donors that send them aid.

"For African governments, donors and the private sector alike, 2013 is the year to deliver on these building blocks that impact farming and expand economic opportunities for farmers."

President Barack Obama have already welcome African leaders at the White House on the 28 March to discuss their capabilities in a continent where strong economics policies are drawing an increased number of investors.

ONE stated in the report that at least four of the 19 African countries assessed, Ethiopia, Cape Verde, Malawi and Niger reached a goal that was set of 10 per cent total expenditure on agriculture.

Report claims water irrigation schemes are key to African food security

The key to unlocking the agricultural potential and improving food security in sub-Saharan Africa lies in the development of water irrigation schemes, according to the claims of a survey by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

The CGIAR-supported research centre, has released a report claiming that yield increases of up to 300 per cent could be achieved through the provision of smallholder water management facilities.

The report argues that despite water resources being plenty available, the main problem for African farmers is the lack of means to access the water. This in turn leaves crops heavily reliant upon the seasons, limiting the yield potential.

Meredith Giordano, coordinator of the IWMI initiative, explained "Cheap pumps and new ways of powering them are transforming farming and boosting incomes all over Africa and Asia. Simple tools for drilling wells and capturing rainwater have enabled many farmers to produce more crops in the dry season, hugely boosting their incomes."

IWMI director general Dr Colin Chartres said, “Farmers across the developing world are increasingly relying on and benefiting from small-scale, locally-relevant water solutions."

According to the report, sub-Saharan farming has already benefitted significantly from water irrigation facilities. IWMI has claimed that US$22bn in annual additional household net revenue has been generated as a result of supplying 185mn individuals with motor pumps, and likewise, net revenue of US$9bn has been produced through 147mn farmers being provided with rainwater harvesting tools.

Chartres concluded, "There are huge investment opportunities for unlocking the potential of this farmer-led approach.

"AgWater Solutions has identified where investments can be targeted for maximum impact at the country, state and local level. We now know which 'levers' need to be pulled to capitalise on the up-swell of farmer-led innovations."

Revitalising Lake Victoria

The executive secretary of the Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC), Dr Canisius Kabungo Kanangire, spoke recently of the need for transparency and accountability, with respect to the correct functioning of sustainable partnerships, and appropriate funding of development initiatives

Policy, projects and protocol

The Lake Victoria Basin Commission is a specialised institution of the East African Community (EAC). Key to Lake Victoria's future is the viability of the EAC’s institutions. Economic development, based at least in part on cross-border trade, is significant in this regard.

The Lake Victoria Basin Commission serves the economies at the lake by facilitating cross-border communication and coordination with respect to sustainable development of the lake and its resources - and, of course, those communities living around the lake.

Of prime importance is policy harmonisation, and the Commission is conscious of this, with seven projects at the lake addressing issues associated with sustainability - each of which is supported through funding by a development partner; in some cases, the African Development Bank; in others, the World Food Programme; in others, national development bodies such as Finland's, which promotes improved management of forestry around the lake.

The Commission plays a key role in highlighting the development issues and opportunities that exist, and in bringing tangible support to communities around the lake.

There is a protocol for sustainability of the Lake Victoria Basin. The protocol impels LVBC to promote, coordinate and facilitate development initiatives, and gives legal backing for all interventions within the Lake Victoria basin.

There is, also, a governance structure, which oversees the operation of a strategic framework on management and development of the basin – encompassing action on: ecosystems, natural resources and the environment; industry and income generation; the quality of living conditions; and demographic issues.

Management issues

There is concern, of course, and the supply of water from the lake and the quality of water in the lake. All is affected - from fishing to transport to climate - and Dr Raymond Mngodo, regional project coordinator at LVBC, assured that the Commission is working towards ensuring sustainable levels of water in the lake and that the water remains available and of use to the communities served by it.

Plans in place include a Water Resources Information System and the Water Resources Development Plan. However, ultimately, increasing investment in people is what matters most of all, to ensure sustainable utilisation of the lake itself.

NGO to spend US$46 million on irrigation schemes in Tanzania

The Private Agricultural Sector Support Trust (PASS Trust) will spend nearly US$46mn in Tanzania in order to restore irrigation schemes that have been inactive for many years

PASS Trust will purchase tractors and combine harvester machines for the project, which is set to benefit smallholder farmers.

The company chairman, Andrew Temu, addressed journalists over the weekend in Dar es Salaam about the second phase for the Lower Moshi irrigation scheme.

Temu said PASS would purchase eight tractors and six combine harvesters for the project to enable smallholder farmers to use the machinery under the terms of the Tractor Hiring scheme.

“This is a lease financing where after repaying the loan all machines become the property of the farmers,” Temu stated.

PASS Trust will also work on the Dakawa irrigation scheme in the Morgora region, the Madibira irrigation scheme in the Iringa region and other areas in the country, it said.

Managing director of the company, Iddy Lujina, said that they have finished setting up the Moshi office and that they are planning to open the Mtwara office and Kigoma is also expected to open this year.

Africa: Lula DA Silva, Kufuor - Political Commitment Crucial to End Hunger and Food Insecurity in Africa

Accra — Former presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and John Kufuor of Ghana have called for strong political will to bring an end to hunger in Africa, while participating in a high-level forum organized by the FAO's Regional Office for Africa based in Accra.

"It is entirely possible to guarantee that every human being is able to eat three meals a day," said Lula da Silva.

At the meeting, Lula, Kufuor and Maria Helena Semedo, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa, stressed the importance of political leadership in fighting hunger and food insecurity.

"Poverty and hunger are part of history but are not our destiny, therefore Africans -- like Brazilians - are not fated to starve. Political will, visionary leadership and the force of women and men together can change a history of hunger and poverty just by the force of their determination," said Maria Helena Semedo as she opened the debate on 16 March, adding that the success stories recorded in Ghana and Brazil could be replicated in other countries.

The Brazilian experience

Kufuor and Lula da Silva outlined the strategies used in reducing hunger and combating food insecurity during their administrations. Kufuor was president of Ghana from 2001-2009, while Lula da Silva was president of Brazil from 2003-2010. Both achieved significant progress against hunger.

Lula da Silva said that his government's policies helped lift about 30 million Brazilians from extreme poverty and moved 40 million from the lower class into the middle class. He pointed to Brazil's Zero Hunger programme and social protection as key to the country's success, including the Bolsa Familia (Family Grant) for Brazil's poorest people, the Food Purchase Program and the School Feeding Program. Rates of child malnutrition have plummeted under the School Feeding Program, which provides 47 million free school meals daily to children in all grades of Brazil's public schools. At least 30 percent of the food is supplied by local farms

Kenya: Agriculture Finance Corporation to Give Farmers U.S.$23.3 Million in Loans

The Agricultural Finance Corporation is giving out more than Sh2 billion to farmers. The organisation is distributing money, whose aim is to boost food production, to farmers who applied for loans in various branches.

"We are ready to support farmers as usual," said managing director Lucas Meso. Schools with huge tracts of land will be eligible to get loans from the organisation to produce their own food.

The loans are offered at a discounted interest rate of 10 per cent annually. However, there has been an increase in the cost of farm inputs

Kenya Seed Company has increased maize seed prices by more than 30 per cent while the price of fertilizer has also gone up after the National Cereals and Produce Board failed to import the subsidised fertiliser.

"Its good that farmers are now accessing support from the AFC, but the government is letting them down by not acting on the issue of fertiliser and seeds", said Kenya Farmers Association director Kipkorir Menjo.

He said the increased costs will cut down productivity and profits for farmers making it difficult to repay the loans from AFC.AFC supports more than 35,000 farmers every year but is target more than 100,000 to help triple food production in all parts of Kenya.

Somalia: Water Scarcity Affects Somaliland Households

Hargeisa — Hundreds of households in the disputed Sool area of the self-declared republic of Somaliland are facing a water shortage following poor rains, say officials.

Both Somaliland and the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland claim the Sool and Sanaag regions.

"We believe an estimated 3,000 households are facing water shortages in [the] Sool Region," Mohamed Mousa Awale, chairman of Somaliland's National Environment Research and Disaster Preparedness and Management Authority (NERAD), told IRIN.

Awale added that some drought-affected rural families had migrated to neighbouring areas, such as Togdheer and Buhotle, which had received good 'Deyr' rains - the rains typical from October to December. Others moved further south in search water and pasture.

"But we are worried [about] the old people and the people who had no ability to move from the villages. [They] are in a serious situation and need water and food," he said.

Commenting on the number of those affected, Sool Deputy Governor Mohamed Abdi Dhimbil said, "There is no accurate estimation, but I can only tell that the water shortage has affected the whole region. The nearest water source is 94km away, inside Ethiopia, and we believe that about 200 pastoralist families [are in] search of water and pasture in Somalia's Mudug Region."

Increasing prices

The price of water in Las-Anod, Sool's capital, has sharply increased since mid-February. A 200L barrel of 'durdur', or spring water, now costs $1.50, up from to $1 a month ago. A barrel of rainwater from the 'berkads', or water pans, has risen from $2.48 to $5.

"The durdurs [springs] near Las-Anod have run out of water for the first time in history, and prices [have] increased," said Faisal Jama, a journalist based in Las-Anod.

"The water price increase has [a] negative impact [on] our livelihoods. If someone's income is $150 per month, he/she needs $45 for water compared, to $22.38 a month [ago], and the remaining [money] is not enough to cover his/her livelihood needs," said Mohamed ABdillahi, a father of five.

As the dry January-to-March 'Jilaal' season progresses, more water sources could be depleted, according to a post-Deyr outlook by the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU).

"In the areas where the October-to-December Deyr 2012 rains were poor, including the Sool Plateau and parts of Nugal Valley, the dry January-to-March Jilaal will likely lead to rapid depletion of water resources, especially since many berkads did not get replenished during this Deyr. Long distances to water points for livestock are likely to be observed owing to more limited water access due to the high cost of water trucking," states the FSNAU report.

The situation there could worsen with associated declines in food security, adds FSNAU.

Some parts of Somaliland have started to receive some 'Gu' rains - the rains from March to May. But early forecasts by FSNAU indicate that the rains in Somalia will be normal to below normal in terms of total rainfall.

Tanzania:President Kikwete Wants GMOs Taken Aboard

PRESIDENT Jakaya Kikwete has called for change of negative mindset on the adoption of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) technology in the country.

The president, however, challenged scientists in the country to conduct research to establish the practicality of the technology to enable the government to act accordingly.

He said as long as there are no proven major negative impacts, he saw no logic in opposing the application of the technology as the government embarks on various plans to modernize agriculture and farming methods.

The president made the remarks when he visited Mikocheni Agricultural Research Institute in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday. Mr Kikwete also challenged the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives to open up employment opportunities for young scientists.

The Minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, Eng. Christopher Chiza, said that nothing could be achieved in agriculture without deploying biotechnology in the farming system. Earlier when briefing the delegates, the institute's head, Dr Joseph Ndunguru, said that it is mandated to conduct and promote research for the development of the coconut sub sector and tree crop-based farming and system along the coastal belt of Tanzania.

Meanwhile, only 51 per cent of women deliver their babies at the hands of officially registered midwives. The remaining 49 per cent give birth in homes posing a big challenge to the safe motherhood campaign. President Kikwete said this during a ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of the Council of Nursing and Midwifery in Dar es Salaam.

He challenged the council to improve its effort in training more midwives and nurses as the government was also determined to make the council meet its mission of having more, competent and qualified health experts. The president said that in 2007 the government reviewed the previous health policy of 1990 and set down some work plans to be realized in ten years.

Some of the plans, according to Mr Kikwete, include increasing the number of health workers in the country, improving medical facilities and upgrading regional hospitals to referrals. The president was also shocked by the cases that have been reported in connection with academic certificate forgeries perpetrated by health workers.

"It is absurd that nowadays academic certificate forgeries are common even in the health sector. This must be addressed immediately," Mr Kikwete said. In his welcoming remarks, the Deputy Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Seif Rashid, said that when the council was formed 60 years ago there were only 266 registered midwives and nurses.

Dr Rashid said that only 77 workers were locals. The remaining 186 were foreigners. Currently, he said, the country has more than 31,000 midwives and nurses.

Tanzania 'Commercial Agriculture Can Reduce Poverty'

Photo: The Daily News

Women vendors selling their agricultural produce at a Tanzanian market 

POVERTY levels deeply entrenched among rural folks can be significantly reduced if smallholder farmers are allowed to go into commercial agriculture with access to lucrative urban markets.

World Bank Lead Economist for Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda, Jacques Morriset said in Dar es Salaam that rural farmers should also diversify into livestock keeping and engage in other business activities.

"People think commercial agriculture is about large scale farming which is not always true, in fact studies in Asia have shown that smallholder farmers can be highly productive," Mr Morriset argued while analyzing the second Tanzania Economic Update report titled, 'Spreading the Wings; From Economic Growth to Shared Prosperity.'

The report which is released twice per year and was first released last January, shows that the country's economy has continued to grow, inflation is going down but poverty levels are still high especially in rural areas where the bulk of the country's over 40 million people live.

"Countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia which were at the same level of development with Tanzania in 1970s have made significant progress today partly because of growth of rural smallholder commercial farmers," Morriset argued.

He said as the country is rapidly urbanizing with growth of population expected to reach over 150 million by 2050, rural farmers are going to remain the biggest source of food supply to the growing population of urbanites.

The WB Lead Economist commended the government for targeting rural infrastructure saying roads construction is an important investment that will enable farmers easily access markets hence improve their income to reduce poverty.

According to the report, approximately 30 million people live in rural areas which is an equivalent of 75 per cent but account for 80 per cent of the poor. "A significant proportion of these households live today under conditions very similar to their parents or even their grand parents," the report noted.

The report further noted that Malaysia and Vietnam have managed to keep their smallholder farmers in rural areas while availing them with better infrastructure and access to financial services to get loans for agro-inputs.

"Today these two countries report a per capita income that 14 and 2.5 times higher than Tanzania, what have they done right?" the report wondered. Apart from commercialization of smallholder farmers, the report also advises farmers to start producing high value commodities such as avocados and flowers.

The report also suggests that government should adopt policies that encourage farmers to stay in rural areas and cater for their farms to ensure that food production is sustainable other than allowing mass migration to urban areas.

Tanzania Varsity to Offer Seed Breeding Lessons

A farmer shows his maize seeds 

Morogoro — Despite the fact that Tanzania hasn't yet accepted the use of Genetic Modified seeds, the Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) says that it has been offering such lessons for the past 12 years in order to equip the country with global modern technological change in plant breeding.

Speaking to journalists in Morogoro, the lecturer of Horticulture-Molecular and Genetics at SUA in Morogoro Dr. Paul Kusolwa said that Tanzania and other African countries will have no option but to embrace the use of GM seeds if they are to meet the global food security demand.

He said that GM lessons that involve the use of genes to produce better quality seeds with high yield and pest resistance started to be included as topics at the university curricular in 2000.

This was in order to allow the country walk hand in hand with today's new global changing technology.

"There is no country that can escape from the use of GM seeds especially if countries want to increase production," stressed Kusolwa.

He added that in the long run Tanzania will have no option but to adopt the use of GM seeds.

Kusolwa said as a government institution, it is their duty to make sure that students at the university are offered with new technology that will allow them to understand the new technologies of plant breeding.

Responding to whether embracing GM seeds was going to solve the problem of food security in Tanzania, Kusolwa said there was hope that part of problem is associated with the scarcity of food.

"With GM technology, it is easy to find a gene that is resistant to pest as well as drought tolerance and this might help to increase production in areas with insufficient rainfall as well as pests in crops," he said.

Sokoine University of Agriculture has in the recent past involved in different research projects aimed at improving both small scale farmers produce and bringing them the best storage practices for their crops

Tanzania: Warming Seas Frustrate Zanzibar's Seaweed Farmers

Women harvest seaweed off the coast of Zanzibar.

Zanzibar City — Rising sea temperatures and more extreme weather are damaging Zanzibar's formerly thriving seaweed farms, maritime experts say, reducing harvests and putting farmers out of work.

Commercially valuable seaweed was brought to Zanzibar from the Philippines in the 1980s, and early producers found it grew well in the shallow waters off this Indian Ocean island.

Some types of seaweed, used in the food and pharmaceutical industries as a stabilizer or emulsifying agent, are in great demand abroad, and the government promoted it as a useful export crop and source of employment.

Until a few years ago, mariculture - the cultivation of marine organisms in open ocean waters - employed 15,000 to 20,000 'farmers' in Zanzibar, most of them women, and seaweed was one of the island's biggest exports, after spices and fine raffia.

Demand was strongest for high quality red seaweeds such as the Cottonii and Spinosum varieties, but seaweed farmers say those varieties are now proving very vulnerable to changes in growing conditions, which can make the weed lose its colour and, most important, its texture.

FALLING HARVESTS

As an apparent result of warming conditions and storms, Zanzibar's seaweed production has fallen sharply in recent years, from 14,040 tonnes five years ago to just under 10,800 tonnes last year, according to the Department of Marine Resources of Zanzibar.

The Zanzibar Exporters Association said its members collected and exported about 11,000 tonnes of dry seaweed in 2011, most of it going to the United States, France, Denmark, Spain, China and Chile.

Experts have linked the sharp fall to warmer water and turbulent conditions on the seabed because of more extreme weather. Farmers and researchers now hope to create new farms in deeper water, at the lower temperature the seaweed prefers.

The Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of Dar es Salaam says water temperatures around the island have been rising substantially.

"Temperatures in the shallow seaweed farms have increased from below 30 degrees centigrade in the 1990s to about 38 degrees centigrade and slightly above recorded recently," Flower Msuya, a marine scientist at the university, told AlertNet.

The Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA), which promotes the conservation of resources and ecosystems on Indian Ocean islands, confirms that weather patterns around Zanzibar are undergoing great changes.

The 2011 rains that killed 20 people in Dar es Salaam - and which the Tanzanian Meteorological Agency described as the heaviest downpour there since independence in 1961 - also affected seaweed farms on the coast of Zanzibar
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FAO: World Not Coping Well with Change in Diets

                                     

GLOBAL - Urbanization, economic growth and other transformations are causing changes in lifestyles and diets in many parts of the world and countries are not coping as well as they could, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva told professors and students at Wageningen University and Research Centre.

According to FAO, the Director-General, on an official two-day visit to the Netherlands, spoke of the need to guarantee the production of safe food and to offer consumers better alternatives and information on their diets.

"We need integrated nutrition strategies, formed with the inputs of society as a whole - the private sector, consumers, doctors, and consumer organizations and others," he said.

While 870 million people suffer from hunger, there are also over half a billion who are obese and susceptible to non-communicable diseases.

Mr Graziano da Silva signed an accord with the University of Wageningen covering a closer collaboration on scientific research and joint activities to foster and promote education, research and technology capacities in developing countries. He said that FAO was renewing its relationship with the university because it believed that in the fight against hunger and malnutrition, partnerships were "absolutely essential."

Role of traditional crops

Mr Graziano da Silva said a global review of nutrition strategy could, for example, involve rethinking the role of traditional crops, which have lost space in modern diets.

"Every region has a variety of non-commodity crops that were used in the past as food," he said. "One example is quinoa, which is being celebrated in 2013 in an international year." Quinoa is an Andean "super food", a highly nutritious, cereal-like crop rich in protein and micronutrients.

Importance of family farms

The FAO head praised the university for supporting the development of both industrial agriculture and small-scale production, adding that its research made an important contribution to understanding family farming.

"I believe there is room for both agricultural models in the world today, we need both of them," he said.

Pointing out that 2014 will be the International Year of Family Farming, Mr Graziano da Silva said that in most developing countries small-scale farming is the main producer of the food consumed nationally and also the main source of employment in rural areas.

He also noted that in recent decades rural populations have become older and in many cases predominantly female. Women therefore need to be empowered, provided with the rights, policies, tools and resources necessary to support the role they play in all aspects of rural life and food security. People especially youth also needed better economic opportunities that would keep them in the rural areas, he added.

Technology needs to adapt to local needs

Although science and technology must drive agricultural productivity and production increases, Mr Graziano da Silva cautioned his audience that technology can not simply be exported from one country to another and be expected to work perfectly. It must be adapted to local conditions.

"Agriculture is too sensitive and location specific," he said. "Soil, climate, water availability and so many other factors influence how one technology will work elsewhere."

"We need to ask farmers what they need, what they want, see what could fit, how it needs to be adapted and ensure that whatever we do ends up being ‘owned' by the farmers themselves," he added.

FAO's role

Mr Graziano da Silva also spoke of fundamental changes taking place in FAO as it concentrates its work on the world's most pressing food, nutrition, agricultural and rural development problems.

"FAO's mission to contribute to ending hunger in the world is as valid today as it was in 1945 when it was created... but the challenges are different today," he said.

He said that FAO has developed new strategic objectives to respond to emerging global trends and challenges. These strategic objectives are: ending hunger and malnutrition; producing sustainably; reducing rural poverty; improving food systems and their fairness; and increasing resilience to external shocks.

Memorandum of Understanding signed

Mr Graziano da Silva and Aalt Dijkhuizen, President of the Executive Board of the Wageningen University and Research Centre, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on collaboration over the next four years. It covers exchanges of information and policy dialogue, the joint promotion of education, research and technology capacities in developing countries, and exchange of scientific staff and young professionals among other things.