Developments
Giving finger millet a push in Uganda
Reaching into a sack, Mary Tamale scoops out a sample of grain and studies it carefully. Scattered among the hundreds of tiny finger millet seeds are numerous small brown stones, and a fair quantity of dust and sand. For Mary, managing director of Kampala-based Maganjo Grain Millers, it is a disappointing, if familiar sight. The source of the contamination is not...
Knowledge and know-how for avian flu
Seven countries on the African continent are currently fighting to contain and prevent the further spread of avian influenza. But many more countries remain at risk. The debate continues about how the virus is spread but, lying in the path of seasonal migration routes, Ethiopia is considered at particularly high risk of an outbreak from wild birds. However, the country is the...
Protecting Ghana's precious bean
Cracking open a healthy green cocoa pod, research entomologist Joseph Sarfo reveals the thick white flesh which conceals the cocoa bean and the mainstay of the Ghanaian economy. The purple-coloured and bitter tasting bean is Ghana's largest cash crop. But not every cocoa pod looks as healthy at harvest. Between 30 and 40 per cent of the cocoa produced globally is lost to...
At every step John Maina pauses to check the fruits and foliage of his passion fruit vines. "Compared to other crops we've tried in this village, this one can really pay. But only if we get everything right." Secretary of the Ngethu village Farmers' Association in Kenya, Maina is well placed to see how the business involving 40 members, is continuing to grow and....
On a Saturday evening early in May, the hills of Port Moresby were alive to the sound of music, young people and... chickens. At the Don Bosco Technical School in Papua New Guinea's (PNG) capital city, several hundred young people had gathered for the climax of the Tingim Yut Kompetisen...
1st July 2006
