New U.S. Programs Aim to Strengthen Agriculture Trade and Productivity,employment

U.S. Mission Uganda announced two new 5-year programs today to support Uganda's agricultural sector by increasing crop productivity and improving the policy and regulatory environment of agriculture. Agriculture accounts for more than 48 percent of exports and 73 percent of employment in Uganda.

These two programs, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), aim to increase access to markets and foster agricultural productivity through a public-private partnership to develop agricultural policy.

The Commodity Production and Marketing (CPM) program will boost the production and marketing of high-quality maize, beans, and coffee in 34 focus districts. CPM will also address challenges that farmers face in increasing crop productivity and gaining access to competitive markets domestically, regionally, and internationally.

The Enabling Environment for Agriculture (EEA) program, implemented in partnership with Ugandan private and public sector institutions, is designed to foster market conditions that are more favorable to agricultural development, trade, and adaptation to climate change. EEA will also help the Ugandan private sector and civil society contribute to policy decisions related to agriculture development, trade, and climate change. This should lead to a measurable increase in Uganda’s agriculture production and exports, and, as a result, an increase in rural household incomes.

At the launch, U.S. Ambassador Scott DeLisi commended the Government of Uganda for promoting economic growth through sustainable agricultural transformation and development. A collaborative approach that capitalizes on private sector resources, he said, paired with a strengthened Government of Uganda agriculture policy will help drive agricultural development. Ambassador DeLisi said that the U.S. Government is committed to nurturing constructive public-private partnerships as a fundamental step to unlocking Uganda’s enormous agricultural potential
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City girl picks rural career

Teenager Alena Schwartfeger is already an ambassador for New Zealand agriculture as this year's Beef + Lamb New Zealand Telford Agribusiness Scholarship winner.

Now in her second year of study at Lincoln University's Telford campus near Balclutha, she will receive $4000 as the scholarship winner.

The former Hawera High School pupil did not grow up on a farm, but she has always enjoyed the outdoors.

"We had family friends on a farm and I went there to help at weekends and holidays. I really enjoyed going hunting and possum shooting and being in the outdoors. I couldn't imagine myself sitting at a desk from 9 to 5. Farming is so varied and every day is different."

Schwartfeger completed the Certificate in Agriculture at Telford last year and is now studying the Diploma in Rural Business.

"I wanted a better understanding of agriculture, to gain more knowledge and information to help me in the future," she says.

After finishing her diploma, Schwartfeger plans to work initially as a shepherd.

"Long term, I'd like to become a farm manager."

Further study for a Lincoln University Diploma in Farm Management is another option she is considering. Her advice to others considering a career in agriculture is to learn as much as possible from as many people as possible.

"If you put the time in, have a willingness to learn and a can-do attitude, then people will be prepared to help you out. Ask lots of questions and give everything a go."

Beef + Lamb Southern South Island Extension Manager Paul McCauley said Schwartfeger was selected for many reasons, but mainly because she was already an ambassador for the sector.

"Alena is clearly committed to a future in agriculture. She is articulate and achieving both academically and outside of her study.

"She is active in the community and doesn't hesitate to help others."
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Goa needs an agriculture college: Governor

PANAJI: Governor of Goa

Speaking at a function in Panaji, to felicitate former director of agriculture and president of the Botanical So ciety of Goa, H Y Karapurkar on his 78th birthday on Monday, the governor said that for a state like Goa, which depends quite heavily on its neighbouring states for agricultural products, agriculture should be taken up on a more modern and scientific basis, to bring about maximum productivity.

"Ideally, we should try to become self sufficient at least in so far as our requirement of vegetables is concern," he said suggesting that the areas that remain uncultivated or where agriculture is a mono-crop affair, should be judiciously utilized for cultivating crops that are suitable to the local climatic conditions. He expressed his satisfaction that the state government has been taking keen and active interest in promoting agriculture in a big way in the state.

Due to the absence of a college of agriculture in Goa, he said he is aware that Goan students travel to Maharashtra for their studies in agriculture and wondered whether any study has been done about setting up an agriculture college in Goa.

He suggested that the government should perhaps give a thought to this matter, particularly because it has been showing considerable concern and interest in promoting agriculture in the state through a number of innovative schemes and programmes.
, B V Wanchoo, on Monday said that if the production of locally-grown vegetables increased manifold, the prices too will stabilize. He also hinted to the government to give a thought to the feasibility of starting an agriculture college in Goa.
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Teenager rooted in Missoula promotes local agriculture

A national leadership conference helping young people promote local agriculture in their communities has inspired a Missoula teenager.

Los Angeles hosted the "Rooted in Community Coalition."

Jesse Linton's story is one of an at-risk kid, who turned his life around when he got his hands dirty. Linton is a youth harvest intern at Garden City Harvest, working at the PEAS Farm in Missoula. The program helps at-risk youth.

His work there led to the national conference in L.A., where he learned about designing urban gardens.

"I want to get local organic food into people's communities," said Linton, "into their homes, into their stomachs."

The L.A. trip only confirmed the commitment Linton has already made.

As a Garden City Harvest youth intern, he's been growing organic fruits and vegetables and distributing them to low income seniors for a year and a half.

"I can see the bundle of carrots that I harvest this morning going into somebody's home and they look happy about it," said Linton. "They're telling me what they're going to make for dinner."

It's a happier and more productive road than the one before his life as a farmer.

Linton said he had substance abuse problems, had been to youth court, and was estranged from his family.

"And then that all changed," said Linton. "I haven't dealt with youth court. I'm living with my mom again and I have a relationship with all my family."

The youth harvest project's director said she's seen Jesse grow from a shy, quiet kid to a confident, well spoken young man, a leader.

"I'm so proud of him" said Laurie Strand Bridgeman. "My heart blooms."

Bridgeman said the responsibility of caring for a crop or livestock helps kids grow up.

"There's something really powerful about starting a tiny, little seed from a greenhouse and then planting it in the earth."

Late Monday morning, Linton and other workers at PEAS Farm were gathering recently dug potatoes to take to the Mobile Market. It's a market that offers senior citizens a reduced cost for vegetables.

Jesse would also like to raise cattle. He'd like to see local beef in Missoula schools. The Willard Alternative High School senior plans to go to college. The 17-year-old wants a life in agriculture.
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Tighter margins in farming blow to land reform plans

TIGHTER margins in farming because of "fierce" local competition and the entry of global players will make it "virtually impossible" for small farmers to enter the sector, an agricultural think tank said on Tuesday, raising fresh doubt about the government’s land reform targets.

The Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy also said land reform had been dealt a severe blow by the dismantling of support services for farmers in the years of political transition, the bureau said in its latest Baseline Agricultural Outlook.

The bureau’s members are agricultural economists at the universities of Pretoria, Stellenbosch and the Western Cape and at local and foreign agricultural companies and government bodies. It is also partly sponsored by government departments, including the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

In its latest report, the bureau sketched "a future agricultural industry characterised by narrower profit margins compared to the past five years".

It said these tighter margins will have to be managed by increasing "intensification and the adoption of technology and sustainable farming practices to boost competitiveness" in the food value chain, which will face "stiff competition from highly competitive international" rivals.

"The challenge … is that land reform has to take place against the backdrop of these realities," the bureau said.

"If large-scale commercial farming units that have the benefits of economies of scale experience tight margins, how much more strain will new entrants into the farming sector experience?"

It said the "key policy vision for agriculture" should be the provision of "integrated support services" that would help small farmers become commercial farmers.

Noting the 100th anniversary of the Native Land Act that dispossessed blacks of land in South Africa, the bureau said the new white farmers of the day had been given comprehensive backing. They had been supported by research, development and technology transfer, preferential tax treatment, infrastructure provision and soft finance.

In contrast, the main thrust of the African National Congress government has simply been to get blacks onto the land, but "this has not worked", it said.

"The number of people that have gained access to land has been limited and of those who did gain access, the failure rate on these farming operations has been alarmingly high."

Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti has put the failure rate at 90%.

The bureau said that commercial farmers still had a "stranglehold" on the land, while black farmers contributed little to total agricultural production, export earnings and food security. "It is becoming clear that one of the biggest mistakes in agricultural policy was the dismantling of the support services that favoured commercial farmers. These services represented … a substantial state commitment to the sector."

The bureau said the removal of subsidies and support services from the industry and the deregulation of markets in 1997, with shifting demand patterns and crops, has led to "highly competitive marginal returns per hectare". This has led in turn to consolidated and larger farms and made "the entry of small new farmers virtually impossible".

Democratic Alliance MP Lourie Bosman, a former president of farmers’ union Agri SA, endorsed the bureau’s findings and said the most successful land reform projects were those where beneficiaries enlisted the help of commercial farmers. "I therefore share the bureau’s findings on support. I have seen many farming projects fail for lack of it," he said. "There was often no expertise available and people didn’t know how to manage, or didn’t have the capital they needed."

Mr Bosman advocated a return to the government provision of services but cautioned: "It won’t change overnight because you need to find people with experience to act as extension officers, not a college graduate who has never been on a farm."

I share the bureau’s findings on support. I have seen many farming projects fail for lack of it.

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Witchweed a serious threat: McVeigh

RED witchweed (Striga asiatica) could costs the grains and cane industries millions if it takes hold in Queensland, says State Agriculture Minister John McVeigh.

Mr McVeigh today visited producers near Mackay whose properties have been affected by the recent detection of the exotic pest in mid-July.



He said it had been a good opportunity to meet face-to-face with affected landholders to discuss their individual circumstances.



"We know in the United States it's a very significant problem, they spend in the order of $250 million to address the issue," Mr McVeigh said.



Up to 60 farming properties in the Mackay region could be affected by the serious pest. Biosecurity Queensland’s Director Invasive Plants and Animals John Robertson said this was the first confirmed detection of red witchweed in Australia.



The weed is native to parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia and causes around $7 billion of damage to grain crops in Africa each year.



“While our priority is to minimise any biosecurity risks, an integral part of this response is to ensure there is some business continuity for individual producers,” Mr McVeigh said.



“We are working closely with both industry and local producers to find ways of allowing harvesting of crops to continue this year."



Red witchweed has not been detected outside the five properties that originally reported the pest. Movement restrictions have been placed on four of these properties.



“The fifth property is being surveyed and will continue to be monitored but the weed hasn’t been found on that property to date," he said.



“Our surveillance teams have identified potential high risk pathways for the weed to spread, such as the movement of machinery.”



Canegrowers Queensland chair Paul Schembri said the weed is impacting on the livelihoods of affected farmers and the possibility of compensation had been discussed with the State government.

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Latest project on Capitol Hill’s Big Red Wall — ‘Community Supported Vertical

Earlier this summer, we noted the addition of microhousing nobody could object to on the large red

construction wall surroundingSound Transit’s Capitol Hill Station. Thursday, the artist responsible for the latest addition to the wall will be on E John to unveil her work — and do a little watering:
Community Supported Vertical Agriculture is a multi-media installation created by Joanna Lepore in collaboration with the Just Garden Project and Sound Transit. Featuring a living pallet garden, a functional rain-gutter irrigation sculpture, and a rain-dragon mural by artist Tessa Hulls, the piece is a beautiful, interactive, and community engaging addition to the Red Wall. Thanks to step-by-step instructions posted next to the garden and a companion video on the artist’s website, visitors to the Red Wall surrounding Capitol Hill’s future light rail station are encouraged to try their hand at urban farming, pallet-garden style!

Join us at the installation of Community Supported Vertical Agriculture on the corner of E John and 10th Ave in Seattle, on Thursday August 8, from 6-8pm

Meet the artist and collaborators, pick herbs or help water the garden, and learn about growing fall veggies with the Just Garden Project. Hope to see you there!

For the Facebook invite and map, click here.

The unveiling will be held in conjunction with this Thursday’s August Capitol Hill art walk. You can read about the project and other works on the wall at startwallproject.blogspot.com.

The Sound Transit-finance art program responsible for the red wall works has created some memorable additions to the area including work by artist Sam Trout and the now iconic mural byBaso Fibonacci completed in the summer of 2010. The program is curated by artist D.K. Pan. We don’t know — yet — what will become of the projects when the wall comes down prior to the planned 2016 opening of the light rail station. Ideas?

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