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NEWS AND UPDATES:
An
Out-Break of Banana Bacterial Wilt Disease in Muleba District, Kagera
Region, Tanzania
Valentine Aritua, NARO, Uganda
An outbreak of Banana Bacterial Wilt
was reported in Muleba district of Tanzania during January 2006. The
district agricultural extension agents estimate that approximately over 100
farms in six villages have been affected by the disease. The disease
affected mostly the popular local cultivar, Bluggoe and is prevalent among
recently flowered plants. Scientists and extensionists suspect the disease
may have spread from the neighbouring farms in eastern Rwanda where a recent
outbreak was reported.
Read more…
Striking Out Striga Parasitic Weeds with Resistant Maize Cultivars
Taye
Babaleye and Abebe Menkir
The
production of maize, a staple food crop in more than 18 countries and a very
important crop in 13 others in sub-Saharan Africa, is threatened by Striga
infestation. Striga devastates maize and other cereals which are the
major staple foods for over 100 million people and causes annual losses of
about US$7 billion. Infestation of farms with Striga is intensifying
across Sub-Saharan Africa because of deteriorating soil fertility,
shortening of the fallow period, expansion of production into marginal lands
and continuous cultivation of mono-cropping. A major breakthrough in the
control of this stubborn weed has however, been recorded through the
development of Striga resistant maize varieties by scientists at the
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). The resistant maize
varieties have ability to suppress the development of Striga and
double maize yields in farmers' fields.
Read more…
WARDA Strengthens Capacity of National Partners
in Africa
Rice
breeders and pathologists of national agricultural research programs in
sub-Saharan Africa will now have access to state-of-the-art molecular
biology tools thanks to a comprehensive capacity building program offered by
the Africa Rice Center (WARDA). The program, funded by USAID, will develop a
new breed of national scientific staff in the application of molecular
marker-assisted selection techniques in four West African countries of
Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, and Gambia. The project seeks to develop crop
varieties resistant to rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV) which affects lowland
and irrigated rice. More information is available at
http://www.warda.org/warda1/main/newsrelease/newsrel-biotech-apr06.htm
African Crops Message and Discussion Board
Africancrops.net Team
The Africancrops.net website has established a Message and Discussion Board
to facilitate further exchange of information among actors working to
improve African crops. The message board has various forums organized along
crops and topics related to crop improvement. Each forum is moderated by
scientists with related research interests. You can access the Message Board
from the Africancrops.net home page.
Read more…
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NEW PUBLICATION
Seed Aid for Seed Security: Advice for
Practitioners
by
Louise Sperling (CIAT) and Tom
Remington (CRS).
These are ten Briefs that offer advice on
how to sustain and strengthen seed systems during disaster response and
recovery periods. Up-to-date technical information addresses issues such as
introducing new varieties, protecting agro-biodiversity, and exploiting
market opportunities during periods of acute and chronic stress. Specific
aid-response tools are also offered, including methods for assessing seed
system security, guidelines for learning-focused evaluations, and checklists
to ensure quality in seed-aid proposal development. The briefs were prepared
by the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture and
Catholic Relief Services,
with
CARE–Norway. To download
briefs, visit: http://www.ciat.cgiar.org/africa/practice_briefs.htm
Reports of the National Plant Breeding and Biotechnology Surveys.
Draft
reports from the FAO surveys to assess plant breeding and related
biotechnology capacity to use plant genetic resources for food and
agriculture (for Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan); and the workshops on designing strategies to strengthen the
sustainable use of plant genetic resources in Central Asian countries by FAO
in collaboration with CIMMYT and ICARDA are available at the "what's new"
section of FAO-WIEWS
website:
http://apps3.fao.org/wiews/wiews.jsp
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SPECIAL FEATURE
Development of Inter-specific Populations and
Identification of Resistant Lines to Drought under Rainfed Lowland
Conditions in Mali
In Mali, 57 % of the total rice area is under
rainfed lowland conditions. Rice contributes 26% annually to the country
food production. The low production is attributed to many abiotic and biotic
constraints. Drought, manifested in insufficient and unpredictable rainfall,
has been identified as the leading cause in declining rice yields. To
overcome the effects of drought on rice production, scientists at IER are
undertaking a study to generate new varieties of rice adapted to floating
and rainfed lowland ecosystems. The study combines the characteristics of
the drought resistant African rice, Oryza glaberrima and that of the
productive Asian rice, O. sativa. Preliminary results indicate strong
resistance to drought for some plants in the segregated populations.
Read more…
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RESEARCH GRANTS &
POSTGRADUATE TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
Training Fellowships for
Women Scientists in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Third World
Organization for Women in Science with funds generously provided by SIDA,
has instituted a fellowship programme for female students from sub-Saharan
Africa and least developed countries (LDCs), who wish to pursue postgraduate
training leading to a PhD, at centers of excellence abroad in southern
developing countries.
Closing Date of applications will be, 30 May 2006.
For details, visit:
http://www.ictp.trieste.it/~twows/postgrad.html
PhD and Postdoctoral Fellowship Programmes.
UNU-IAS is accepting applications for its three fellowship programmes:
PhD and
Postdoctoral
Fellowships beginning in October 2006, as well as the
JSPS-UNU Postdoctoral
Fellowships, beginning in November 2006. More details are
available at:
http://www.ias.unu.edu/fellowships/fellowships.cfm
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
Africa Region Vegetable Production and Research
Training Course.
The World Vegetable Center, Regional Center for
Africa is offering an intensive course on vegetable crops production and
research from July to November 2006. The course is offered to African
professionals who currently undertake the vegetable research and development
activities in the Africa region. For more information, visit:
http://www.avrdc.org/training.html
FAO
ESA Research Market Seed Diversity.
The
Agriculture and Development Economic Analysis Division at FAO has initiated
a research program entitled “Using Markets to Promote the Sustainable
Utilization of Crop Genetic Resources” to analyze the effect of policies
and regulations on the level and content of crop genetic diversity
accessible to farmers via seed sales in markets. The program involves
the development of measures of crop genetic resource accessibility in
agricultural seed and grain markets for selected basic food crops (millet,
sorghum and pigeon pea), and relates them to the impacts on food security
and on farm crop genetic diversity. Case studies are being implemented
in five countries under the program including two in Africa: Mali and
Kenya. Collaborating partners include the Institut d'Economie Rurale
(Mali), IFPRI, IPGRI and ICRISAT.
Read more…
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UPCOMING CONFERENCES
-
International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council of United States
and COCERAL, Belgium. 1st Joint IPC/COCERAL Congress 2006, Budapest,
Hungary, May 10-12, 2006
Email:
secretariat@coceral.com/agritrade@agritrade.org.
More information here
-
Plant Tissue Culture Workshop
, Luzerne County Community College (Room 440
& 440A, Science Building), May 17 2006, 1333 South Prospect Street,
Nanticoke, PA 18634-3899. USA.
http://www.biotechinstitute.org/events/egroup_detail.php?group_id=85
-
International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists
(IAALD) First IAALD Africa Chapter Conference, 21-26 May 2006,
Hotel
Intercontinental, Nairobi.
http://www.asareca.org/iaald-africa/iaald_en.html
-
Africa Rice Congress, 31 July - 4 August 2006, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
http://www.warda.org/africa-rice-congress/rationale.html
-
The
Victorian State Government and AusBiotech: Agricultural Biotechnology
International Conference (ABIC) on Unlocking the Potential of Agricultural
Biotechnology, Melbourne Convention Centre, Melbourne, Australia, August
6-9, 2006.
more info...
http://www.abic2006.org/index2.html
-
International Association for Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology (IAPTC&B),
August 13-18, 2006, Beijing
International Convention Center (BICC),
Beijing China.
http://www.genetics.ac.cn/IAPTCB.htm
-
The
Tropical Crop Biotechnology Conference 2006, 16-19 August at the
Cairns
International Hotel, Far North Queensland city of Cairns,
Australia.
http://www.tcbc2006.com.au/conference.html
-
International Plant Breeding Symposium (IPBS) to be held in Hotel Sheraton
Centro Histórico Mexico City from 20 - 25 August, 2006.
http://www.intlplantbreeding.com/
-
The
fifth Plant Genomics European Meeting (Plant GEMs 5) will take place in
Venice, Italy, at the Russott hotel (San Giuliano, Venice), from October
11 - 14, 2006.
http://www.distagenomics.unibo.it/plantgems/
-
Novel
and Sustainable Weed Management in Arid and Semi-Arid Agro-Ecosystems.
Organized by The Weed Science Society of Israel, The Hebrew University of
Jerusalem and the Agricultural Research Organization. Rehovot, Israel, 15
- 21 October 2006. For more information, contact the Organizing Committee
by email:
wgarid@agri.huji.ac.il
or visit the conference website:
http://agri3.huji.ac.il/aridconference/
-
First
International meeting on Cassava Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, 11-15
November 2006, University of Brasilia, Brasilia, Brazil.
http://www.geneconserve.pro.br/meeting/
-
Ninth Arab Congress of Plant Protection,
19-23 November, 2006, Congress Palace (Ebla Cham hotel), Damascus, Syria.
http://www.9acpp-sy.org/
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A
Call for articles, May-June 2006 Issue
We
invite articles, announcements and other information for the next issue of
AFRICAN CROPS NEWS SERVICE that comes out in the first week of June 2006.
To see previous newsletters, go to:
http://www.africancrops.net/news
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About The African Crops News
Service!
The
African Crops News Service covers current research and developments in
improvement of African crops and seed systems. The service compliments the
africancrops.net website to enhance further the sharing of news and
information from projects supported by The Rockefeller Foundation and those
by other organizations. The service team welcomes short articles and
information on your project and organization, research networks and country
for inclusion in the upcoming issues of the newsletter. Read more on the
African Crops News Service at
http://africancrops.net/news/
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Send
inquiries, information and suggestions about AFRICAN CROPS NEWS SERVICE to:
The
Manager
Africancrops.net
C/o
FORMAT
P.O.
Box 79 Village Market 00621
Nairobi, Kenya
Email:
africancrops@wananchi.com
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