In print

Maize and Grace: Africa's encounter with a New World Crop 1500-2000

By James C. McCann
Published by Harvard University Press
Website: www.hup.harvard.edu
2005, 286pp, ISBN 0-674-01718-8 (Hb) £18.95

When something is commonplace, it is easy to take it for granted, to assume that it has always been there and that there is nothing very remarkable about it. This is true of maize in Africa, which is recognised as a major staple but hardly an 'exciting' crop. Yet maize can claim to be the fastest food plant coloniser of Africa, a tidal wave of maize having engulfed the continent during the 20th century to displace Africa's historical grain crops, sorghum, millet and rice.

The author of Maize and Grace, Professor James McCann, weaves the threads of history, science, economics and maize's social impact into this intriguing and important book. "The goal here is to outline and illustrate maize's encounter with the landscapes of Africa over half a millennium - from its introduction in around 1500 to its current apotheosis as Africa's dominant food crop," he writes. Further, Professor McCann believes that "the implications of the recent rapid spread of maize have been largely overlooked by the media and policy makers."

Maize yields more food per unit area of land and labour than any other grain. And no other cereal can be used in as many ways; as well as vegetable and flour grain, virtually every part of the plant - grain, leaves, stalks, tassels and roots - can be put to use. It's no surprise that it should be so favoured by African farmers. But, while 90 per cent of Africa's maize is consumed by humans, in modern economies industrial uses for maize starch and cellulose include fuel fodder, paint, plastic and penicillin. Admirably suited to Africa's agroecology, taste and culture, the potential exists for maize to become the vehicle of Africa's Green Revolution and, consequently, also an engine of economic growth. Yet the potential of maize production in Africa remains untapped as the statistics on maize breeding reveal; average yields on the continent remain a fraction of those attained in the US and elsewhere.

Weaknesses of maize include its sensitivity to deficits of nitrogen and water; drought for even a few days at tasseling can reduce yield drastically. Maize grains rot easily in tropical storage, and maize diets can impoverish consumers who are over-dependent on it, resulting in deficiency diseases such as pellagra and kwashiorkor.

So, can maize be Africa's economic engine, its saving grace? Professor McCann writes, "A real cautionary alarm should be sounded for a continent that is likely, in the face of global climatic change, to be subject to increasing drought, biological calamities, and the vagaries of international markets for grain and agricultural inputs." On the other hand, Africa's rapid urbanization may offer new possibilities for intercropping maize with high value market garden vegetables and fruit, both for sale and consumption. In conclusion, maize can truly be judged amazing, even though the verdict on its grace - in terms of future benefits - remains undecided. Meanwhile, Maize and Grace can be recommended as a stimulating and informative focus on the agriculture, economics and politics of Africa through the lens of the history of maize in its adoptive continent since 1500.

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Starter packs: a strategy to fight hunger in developing countries?

Edited by Sarah Levy
Published by CABI Publishing
Website: www.cabi-publishing.org
2005 290pp ISBN 0 85199 008 8(Hb), $100 or £55

Faced with starvation in 1998, small farmers in Malawi had consumed their seed and could not afford to buy seed or fertilizer for the coming season. The so-called Starter Packs were provided to give every smallholder a bag of free seed and fertilizer sufficient to plant 0.1 hectare. This book recounts in detail the concept and implementation of what was then a novel approach to such a situation and provides a rigorous analysis of the initial results, and whether the approach might be replicable elsewhere. Twenty authors, some involved in the programme and others independent consultants, present the political, economic, social and logistical challenges faced and, for the most part, overcome by the programme and the Targeted Inputs Programme (TIP) and Extended TIP that succeeded it.

Chris Garforth, Professor of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development at Reading University, provides a useful review of how extension was used and includes several references to the development of rural radio programmes to support printed material and face-to-face extension: initially reliance was on printed leaflets that proved inadequate for a number of salutary reasons and two seasons passed before the leaflets were redesigned to be more comprehensible and radio was deployed effectively.

There are many lessons to be learned for anyone involved with meeting similar food crises, not least the need to harmonise the views of the many and various institutions and individuals whose understanding and support are essential. To quote Dr Harry Potter, Livelihoods Advisor at DFID-Malawi, who played a lead role in donor-government negotiations on the design and implementation of the Starter Pack programme, "Efforts were made from the beginning...to encourage debate with a range of actors in the donor community. However, the debate has been largely dominated by ideological and emotional rather than evidence-based comments. Government has not provided long-term support to the programme or its evolution by its failure to embed the programme into a policy framework...Most donors have therefore retreated from involvement in the programme, or even discussion of it...Its future in Malawi is very uncertain." Sarah Levy, the book's editor concludes, "It is vital that food security, growth and poverty-reduction policies be embedded in a medium term policy framework to avoid the problem of short-term interventions that are vulnerable to sudden reversal." This, of course, also applies to many other aid interventions.

A CD provides an archive of data, including final reports from each M&E study carried out, to allow further exploration of the themes addressed in the book.

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The World Trade Organization: A very short introduction

By Amrita Narlikar
Published by Oxford University Press
Website: www.oup.com
2005, 175pp, ISBN 0 19 280608 4(Pb), £6.99, US$9.95

The Very Short Introduction series aims to give readers an accessible introduction to a new subject. This is certainly the case with this book, which begins with the question 'Why do we need an international trade organization?' and progresses via the history of the WTO's origin, its structure, everyday functioning, and politics, to the latest on the Doha Development Agenda. But it goes beyond a simple introduction to its subject. Alongside descriptions of the workings of the organization and how these have evolved, Narlikar provides candid analysis of its shortfalls. For example, "At the heart of the WTO lies a major and unsustainable discrepancy: extreme legalization particularly in the enforcement of its rules through the dispute settlement mechanism, on the one hand, and an inordinate reliance on de facto improvisation in the making of those rules, on the other." The power imbalances, and inherent unfairness that the WTO presents to developing countries are also frankly discussed. For a small book, this provides a wealth of information for anyone interested in the WTO, way beyond a very short introduction.

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The monster at our door: The global threat of avian flu

By Mike Davis
Published by The New Press
Website: www.thenewpress.com
2005, 220pp, ISBN 1 59558 011 5(Hb), £12.99, US$21.95

As the West begins to wake up to the potential threat that avian flu may represent to the whole world, this is a very timely publication. But as with other reporting on this controversial and frightening subject, the challenge is to strike the right balance between informing and scaremongering. This book may lean towards the latter, beginning with its alarming title and cover photo. Nonetheless the author is knowledgeable and writes with passion, and time will tell whether such tactics are in fact warranted.

Approaching from different directions - history, biochemistry, ecology and politics for example - Davis gradually builds his thesis. A flu pandemic is inevitable - probably the worst the world has ever seen - and he attributes this doomsday scenario to a coincidence of significant global changes that have provided the preconditions for the influenza virus to both evolve and spread. Chief among these are the recent 'livestock revolution' - the growth of large-scale industrialized animal production; industrial revolution in South China which has exponentially increased the region's contact with the rest of the world; the growth of 'megaslums'; and the final nail in the coffin - the absence of a truly effective international public health system.

Davis provides a frightening scenario, and his arguments seem worryingly plausible. He concludes that international organisations and most governments are not doing nearly enough to combat the threat. And, he points out, "not the slightest effort has been made to protect the truly poor countries of Asia and Africa from the return of history's greatest killer."

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Tears of the tree: The story of rubber - a modern marvel

By John Loadman
Published by Oxford University Press
Website: www.oup.com
2005, 366pp, ISBN 0 19 856840 1(Hb), £19.99

Rubber is a seemingly mundane substance that comes to life through its social history, told by a genuine enthusiast who has worked with this 'modern marvel' for more than 30 years. It is easy to overlook how indispensable rubber is today, but Loadman reminds us, and asks "If it was not there would we have invented it?"

Beginning with its harmless origins in Central America, where the Olmec people invented a ball game using rubber balls around 1600 BC, the story soon becomes one of "blood, sacrifice and murder". European travellers seized on its potential and moved it east, first to Kew and then on to Malaysia. As demand for rubber rocketed in the nineteenth century, plantations spanned the tropical world. But the cost in lives makes grim statistics: Loadman calculates that in the Congo, under King Leopold II, one native died for every 10 kg of rubber produced. Meanwhile in Amazonia, where the boom was equally under way, he wryly remarks that "the ratio of rubber to native was rather more cost effective", with an estimated 150 kg of rubber for every life.

Alongside its history, the chemistry of rubber, the vulcanisation process, its deterioration and potential for recycling - and much more - are also covered making this the most comprehensive and interesting book about rubber available.

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The politics of decentralization: Forests, power and people

Edited by Carol J. Pierce Colfer and Doris Capistrano
Published by Earthscan
Website: www.earthscan.co.uk
2005, 336pp, ISBN 1 84407 205 3(Pb), £26.95

There have been several recent books about decentralisation and natural resource management; this is one of the best. It excels by its inclusiveness, with all of the international forestry and conservation organisations represented in its contributors, as well as representatives of forest communities. The country cases, which make up the middle section of the book, include examples from Asia, Africa, America (North and South), Russia and Europe. And, as the basis of the book is a conference held in 2004, all information is current.

The first section covers themes in decentralisation, among them biodiversity, democracy and geography. The third provides a voice for communities, giving perspectives on experiences in Zimbabwe, the Philippines and Guatemala. Well written and edited, this is an important book for all working in forestry and related fields.

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Slash-and- Burn Agriculture: The search for alternatives

By Cheryl A Palm, Stephen A Vosti, Pedro A Sanchez and Polly J Ericksen
Published by Columbia University Press
Website: www.columbia.edu/cu/cup
2005, 487pp, ISBN 0 231 13451 7(Pb), £25.50

Every year an area of humid tropical forest the size of Nicaragua, New York State or Greece (130,000 km2) is destroyed, whether by small scale farmers clearing land for crop production, large cattle ranching operations, or by logging and other extractive industries. This appalling loss has wide-ranging impacts, particularly on biodiversity, on carbon stocks held in the forests, and on the numerous ecosystem services which they provide. As the studies in this substantial volume confirm, finding 'best bet' solutions to the problem is extremely complex. At a simple level, a balance needs to be found between the legitimate needs of people living on forest margins to extract a living, and the global concerns about tropical deforestation. Compensating land owners for the preservation of their forests, and the environmental services they provide, may be part of the answer. But giving a financial value to those services presents a huge challenge, raising complex measurement and conceptual difficulties.

This book, which synthesises more than ten years of work by the Alternatives to Slash and Burn consortium (ASB), offers a detailed analysis of the many dimensions of deforestation - environmental, agronomic and socioeconomic - and of some of the best bet alternatives, including community forest management, shade coffee, and reclamation of degraded grasslands and pastures. It looks at the key countries involved - Brazil, Indonesia, Cameroon, Peru and Thailand - and the importance of slash-and-burn agriculture in their economies, from the local to national level, and assesses the tradeoffs between environmental, agronomic and economic costs in finding a viable alternative. Detailed and technical, it will be of primary interest to researchers and to policy-makers.

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Innovations in rural extension: Case studies from Bangladesh

Edited by Paul Van Mele, Ahmad Salahuddin, Noel P Magor
Published by CABI Publishing
Website: www.cabi-publishing.org/bookshop
2005, 320pp, ISBN 0 85199 028 2(Pb), £35/US$65

Drying rice seed on a table rather than on the bare ground is a simple way to stop the grain absorbing moisture and to maintain its quality. Despite its simplicity, however, for rice farmers in Bangladesh it represents a new technology, and one that needs to be effectively communicated if it is to be adopted. So how can that be achieved? One of the innovative approaches presented in this practical, attractively produced book, is the use of video. Surprisingly perhaps, it was found that adoption of seed drying tables was greater among farmers who watched a locally made video presentation, followed by questions and discussion, than among those who were given a face-to-face description of the technique by another farmer. When explained on TV the new technology was given more credence, and the video, which featured experienced Bangladeshi farmers, allowed a carefully structured presentation with memorable visual images. It also proved to be a more cost effective method.

Other extension techniques tested by the PETRRA (Poverty Alleviation Through Rice Research Assistance), project on which this book is based, include the use of trained farmers to help communities draw up village soil fertility maps to refine their fertilizer application; the 'Going Public' method of bringing a simple message to large numbers of people; and the use of 'picture songs'. These travelling shows use music and dance to introduce new technologies, illustrated by a scroll of colourful, locally drawn paintings. All the approaches affirm that extension, and the new technologies it seeks to spread, should not be a purely top down delivery but need to draw on and be modified by farmer knowledge.

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Conservation Agriculture: A manual for farmers and extension workers in Africa

Published by the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction and the African Conservation Tillage Network
Available from IIRR-Africa, P.O. Box 66873 Westlands Nairobi, Kenya
Websites: www.iirr.org and www.act.org.zw
Email: training@iirr-africa.org
2005, 269pp, ISBN 9966 9705 9 2(Pb), 750 Kenyan shillings

Conservation agriculture, as described in this manual, is based on three principles: disturb the soil as little as possible, keep the soil covered and practise intercropping and crop rotation. As such, it goes against many conventional farming practices, such as ploughing or hoeing, and clearing the soil of crop residues. Converting to conservation agriculture, not surprisingly therefore, represents a major leap of faith, one that this practical book seeks to make easier. Start small, for example just on part of a field, is an important first lesson. Adopting conservation agriculture techniques involves a degree of risk, and productivity may actually fall in the first season. In addition, the enormous variety of land types, soil types and climatic conditions mean that finding techniques that suit the local conditions will demand careful experimentation.

As the writers acknowledge, adopting conservation agriculture techniques is not easy for farmers to do alone. Adaptive research, with farmer-managed trial plots, assisted by researchers and extension workers, is a much more realistic way of introducing the system to a new area. However, with its clear, simple language, plentiful diagrams and enthusing examples from farmer experience, this book is a valuable resource, particularly for extension personnel or NGO field staff. It covers a wide-range of methods and topics, including field preparation and planting, restoring and maintaining soil health, cropping systems, weed control, links with livestock, and post harvest operations. The chapter 'Should you adopt conservation agriculture?' offers a series of questions that can help farmers to reach a correct decision, and a final chapter looks at different ways of promoting the method, including policy support.

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Dryland husbandry for sustainable development in the southern rangelands of Kenya

By Nashon Musimba et al.
Published by OSSREA
Available from African Books Collective
Website: www.africanbookscollective.com
2004, 117pp, ISBN1904855415(Pb), £11.95

The Dryland Husbandry Project, implemented in southern Kenya between 1995-2000, sought to address some fundamental problems facing African drylands: the deterioration of rangelands, poor management of water resources and weakened veterinary and extension services. This account of the project's work documents a wide variety of activities, including training of animal health workers and pastoral development agents, participatory trials for reseeding of rangelands and the introduction of water harvesting schemes. Involving numerous stakeholders, including policy-makers, the focus of the project was to enhance community-based management and the role of local institutions, for example in the control of livestock disease, herd improvement and rangeland irrigation. This tightly written book ends with lessons learned and the ongoing achievements from the project, and as a whole will be a useful resource for those working in dryland development.

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