An integrated information programme for agricultural and rural development in Eastern Africa

Between 1992 and 1994, CTA sponsored a study to assess the agricultural information needs in Eastern Africa. A regional workshop held in Mauritius in 1994 to review the results of this study recommended that a programme of agricultural information delivery covering a five-year period should be developed. It should be based on identified priority areas and the need to coordinate activities within the region. The following priorities were identified: the need for human resources development; enhancement of library and information services; information management and technology; support to publication and extension information and repackaging.

CTA contracted two consultants from the region to define a regional integrated agricultural information programme. The draft programme was submitted to the Committee for Regional Agricultural Information Programmes and Strategies (CRAIPS) meeting held in Nairobi from 31 November to 1 December 1995. The meeting reviewed the proposal and recommended modalities for implementation of the programme especially the coordination at regional level and funding. It reiterated the need to establish a regional agricultural information network and for all activities to have a regional focus.

The proposed programme aims to reinforce, in a sustainable manner, the activities of individual country units and through networking to serve as a conduit for collecting, processing, sharing, disseminating and using information in support of agricultural development in the region.

The regional approach should facilitate mobilization of information with a view to support capacity building at national level. It was also recommended that the CRAIPS be reconstituted to take into account national representation and expertise and to include universities and other partners in a broader definition of NARS. Two regional organizations, ASARECA and OIC will preside over CRAIPS and provide guidance in the implementation of the activities. It was also proposed to appoint a full-time network coordinator in order to guarantee accountability.

The programme is being finalized using the EU logical framework and will be validated through national and regional consultations. The Management Development Foundation (MDF), based in Ede, the Netherlands is assisting in this reformulation.

The Tropical Agriculturalist series

Livestock product/on systems examines how individual species of domestic livestock can be integrated into the whole concept of sustainable agriculture in the tropics. The main part of the book is devoted to a series of case studies covering most, if not all, of the systems of livestock husbandry used in the tropics. The reasons why these systems have been developed are outlined, their limitations highlighted and the ways in which they could be improved are discussed. This part of the book is a useful short reference work presenting the main features of the extremely varied livestock production systems found across the tropics.

Readers of the book will obtain a good insight into how livestock and crop husbandry can be linked in the wetter regions of the tropics to improve the use of resources. In the dry regions of the tropics, where crop husbandry is not an option, animal husbandry is the best way of utilizing these regions for the benefit of people. The book shows how livestock are essential for the development of ecologically sound systems of food production. All types of livestock are covered including buffalo, camels and poultry.

Livestock production systems by Trevor Wilson 1995 141pp
ISBN 0 333 60012 6

Animal health volume/explains the causes of animal diseases, how they are spread and the means available for their control. It covers not only diseases caused by micro-organisms, arthropods and helminths, but also deals with metabolic diseases and those caused by toxins. The signs of health and the symptoms to look for when an animal is suspected of being diseased are clearly presented using simple diagnostic keys. Tables are included to assist in diagnosis of diseases in the major farm animals found in the tropics. The book concludes by dealing with general veterinary procedures, including the administration of medicines.

The book is a valuable guide for anyone involved with maintaining and establishing the health of animals in tropical and subtropical countries. It should be read in conjunction with volume 2 (which appeared earlier) and those volumes in the series which deal with individual animal species.

Animal health volume l: general principles by Archie Hunter 1996 167pp ISBN 0 333 61202 7

Avocado is a succinct guide to the cultivation and marketing of a fruit of growing commercial importance throughout the world. It covers the plant's origins and distribution, botany, and selection and breeding. as well as providing more detailed guidance on the field operations needed to grow this sensitive crop successfully. Land preparation, the choice of cultivars and rootstocks, grafting techniques, irrigation requirements, and major pests and diseases are some of the topics covered.

Lastly, the book turns to harvesting and processing considerations, with special emphasis on the requirements for export. A wealth of photographs, line drawings, tables and charts support the text, which is based on the authors' 20 years of experience as well as extensive reference to the global literature.

Avocado by J P Gaillard and d Godefroy 1995 120pp ISBN 0 333 57468 0

The above titles are part of the Macmillan The Tropical Agriculturalist series which is published in association with, and are available from, CTA.

A pilot course for training of trainers in agricultural information techniques meeting was held in 1992

A to discuss the organization of a training course within the framework of the Training Programme in Agricultural Information Techniques, which is supported by CTA. The aim of the course was to improve national capability to provide training in information techniques and, in the longer term. to upgrade their library services.

A pilot course was held from 17 July - 11 August, 1995 in Dakar, Senegal with the assistance of the PanAfrican Institute for Development (PAID, West Africa and Sahel), BIEF (Belgium), EBAD (the Senegalese school of library and archival studies) and ISADE (a higher institute of business development in Dakar). Twenty out of 49 applicants with training in library or information' science were selected on the basis of their own proposals for a course project.

Participants were from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cd'lvoire, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

The course was modular in form. Participants were able to improve their knowledge of library techniques (including indexing, setting up and managing databases and electronic data transfer), adult education methods and design, organization and management of training. The teaching methods used included seminars, individual or group work, case studies and computer tutorials.

At each stage of the course participants were expected to reflect on what they had learnt and to modify their personal project. They were faced with a real life situation during the computer tutorials. These received the highest praise during the final evaluation of the course.

The full benefit of these courses will be seen when the participants and their employers organize local training courses during 1996. The courses and the assistance given to other libraries will act as a trial for the training given in Dakar. After evaluation of the courses the curriculum will be amended, as necessary, before the course planned for anglophone Africa takes place.

CTA publications

Alternative financing is a basic tool for leaders of development organizations or NGOs who wish to consider alternative ways of financing development. The book questions the fund-raising strategies of such organizations, especially as regards international aid. The numerous examples listed in the book should provide the key for action and alternatives required to increase the financial autonomy of development organizations.

Volume I deals with identifying the stumbling blocks and limitations of the present financing system, as well as drawing extensively on case studies from around the world, especially those of the Foundation Research and Applications of Alternative Financing Development (RAFAD) and Women's World Banking (WWB).

Alternative financing of Third World development
organizations and NGOs Volume 1
by Fernand Vincent 1995 443pp ISBN 2 88368 005 1

Published in French, English and Spanish by
Development Innovations and Networks (IRED)
in association with, and available from, CTA.

Science and technology for development is the second volume of the second STD programme initiated by Directorate General Xll of the European Commission. The first volume, published in 1994, gave an account of the results of 50 agricultural research projects in tropical and subtropical conditions. The present volume includes the summaries of the final reports of 53 similar projects, of which 35 deal with improved agricultural production, 10 deal with conservation and better use of the environment, five with agricultural engineering and post-harvest technology and three with production systems.

Science and technology for development tropical and subtropical agriculture, 2nd programme volume 2: research projects 1987-1991 edited by S Risopoulos 1995 330pp ISBN 929081 134 X jointly published by DGXII and CTA

Agricultural books published in Africa is a catalogue of selected agricultural and related books. It describes over 100 publications on agriculture from ten African countries, covering agriculture, rural development and technology, agrarian economics and specific agricultural topics, including crops, forestry, livestock, fish, pest research, and permaculture.

It is hoped that this catalogue will serve as a source of practical information for obtaining African-published agricultural materials. It is published by the African Publishers' Network (APNET) in collaboration with CTA.

Agricultural books published in Africa 1995
66pp APNET ISBN 0 7974 1569 6
CTA ISBN 92 9081 129 3

Managing an SDI programme for agricultural researchers

CTA and the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA) recently organized a course on "Selective Dissemination of Information (SDl)" for agriculture. The course was designed for people who manage this type of programme and who had access to a local database or CD-ROM. There were 13 participants from Benin, Chad, Cd'lvoire, Gabon, Guinea, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

The first week was devoted to techniques of 'selling' en SDI service and to its organization and management. Participants then looked at a step-by-step approach to setting up a service. In the final week participants actually set up a programme for five WARDA scientists and for staff of the Savanna Institute (IDESSA - Institut des Savanes) at BouakDuring the exercise participants discovered some of the difficulties associated with developing a programme, the problems to be avoided and, above all, the need to design each stage clearly before putting the whole thing into effect.

A course for English-speaking countries will be organized for June-July 1996. ·