Papers

This discussion paper assesses the impacts of an improved seed policy environment in the Eastern and Central Africa (ECA) region using a case study of formal trade in seed maize in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania that employs a spatial equilibrium model (SEM). The data used in this study was derived from a regional survey of key informants undertaken in August 2009. It is complimented by secondary data on seed production, consumption, prices and elasticity parameter estimates that were derived from various sources. The quantification of the trade and welfare impacts of seed policy harmonization involved a before and after comparative analysis. The paper commences by reviewing the progress made in the harmonization of seed policies in ECA region with regard to five thematic areas agreed for harmonization.

This is the Annex to the paper entitled "Responding to the Food Price Crisis in Eastern and Southern Africa"

This paper addresses the magnitude and implications of food price changes in national and regional markets in Eastern and Southern Africa with a view to provide the evidence base for effective policy action.

Realizing the strategic importance of this day to the attainment of ASARECAs ultimate objective to Improve Livelihoods, ASARECA member countries celebrate the Worlds Biodiversity Day by organizing various forums including national discourse, workshops, public discussions and exhibitions, among other activities. The activities highlight the role of biodiversity in ensuring that people have sustainable access to adequate and nutritive food to lead active and healthy lives and sustain ecosystem goods and services and promote socio-economic development.

Intensification of Climbing Bean Agro-systems is one of the projects the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) is funding in Rwanda, Burundi, and eastern DR Congo. This project is crucial because of the importance of beans in the diets of the populations of the three countries. The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L) is their primary source of proteins (21%), carbohydrates (60%), minerals (iron, zinc) and vitamins (19%) and other nutrients. The consumption of beans in the project area is estimated to be more than 60 kg per person per year.

This paper seeks to highlight one of the major contradictions bedeviling efforts to feed the ECA region in the present times; whereas the gendered management system of food production in particular and agricultural production in general has not changed much over the last century, the bio-physical production system has undergone tremendous change. As a result, there has been increasing demand for food without commensurate increases in food production. Unfortunately, while the deteriorating bio-physical production system that has depressed food production has evidently received research and policy attention, the static gendered management system has received scanty attention. This is because the gendered management system is part of the broader structure of gender relations that are so entrenched in the formal and informal institutions in society that they are treated as givens or natural. Hence, agricultural and social scientists and policy makers rarely recognize the challenges posed by the gendered management system to food production.

A study to determine the physiological and biochemical responses of eight tea [Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze] cultivars to water-deficit stress was conducted in a rain-out shelter using potted plants. Three levels of soil moisture content [34, 26, or 18% (v/v) water] were applied to three plants of each cultivar in a complete randomised design, and the whole experiment was replicated three-times. The treatments were applied for 12 weeks, during which time plant water status, shoot extension rates, changes in gas exchange parameters, and leaf proline and glycinebetaine concentrations were determined. The imposition of severe water-deficit conditions [18% (v/v) soil water content] caused a significant (P 0.05) decline in the relative water content of leaves, shoot water potentials, and shoot extension rates from mean values of 84.8% to 50.6%, 0.80 to 1.15MPa, and 1.87 to 0.29 mm d1, respectively, compared to plants grown in a well-watered soil [34% (v/v) soil water content]. The three gas exchange parameters measured (stomatal conductance, evapotranspiration rate, and rate of net photosynthesis) also declined significantly (P Ôëñ 0.05) with decreasing soil moisture content. In contrast, water-deficit stress increased the accumulation of leaf proline and glycinebetaine from mean values of 0.104 to 0.244 mol g1 FW, and from 1.567 to 2.025 mol g1 DW, respectively. The eight tea cultivars differed significantly (P 0.05) in their responses to water-deficit stress. Proline accumulation was significantly (P Ôëñ 0.05) higher in the drought-tolerant cultivars, TRFK 306, TRFCA SFS150, and EPK TN14/3, suggesting that proline concentration could be used as a marker for drought-tolerance in tea.

When economists and policy makers in developing countries talk about evidence, in most cases they mean numbers or statistics. For instance in African countries, statistics dominate the language used to describe fiscal policies and budgets in monetary terms. Factors like contribution to GDP, production outputs per hectare and export earnings are all about figures. However, in real life, evidence goes beyond figures or statistics. If developing countries swallow this notion of evidence hook line and sinker, they completely undervalue their economies.