Feed aggregator

Die Basler gewinnen gegen Sion im Penaltyschiessen. Aber Fabio Celestini verlangt heute von seinen Spielern Antworten auf harte Fragen.

Der Thurgauer Regierungsrat hat in einer Verordnung die neuen Bussen für Littering festgelegt. Ab Januar 2025 muss für weggeworfene Dosen, Flaschen oder Zigarettenstummel 300 Franken bezahlt werden.

Die Milliardäre dieser Welt planen Investitionen trotz Sorgen, wie eine neue UBS-Studie und Umfrage zeigt. 40% wollen in Immobilien und Aktien aus Industrieländern investieren, ebenso viele in sichere Häfen wie Gold. Geopolitische Risiken beunruhigen die Superreiche

Die Stadt Bern startet im Sommer 2025 einen Pilotversuch für den Wirtschaftsverkehr. Dieser soll an zwei Stellen gegenüber dem Privatverkehr priorisiert werden, wie der Gemeinderat am Donnerstag mitgeteilt hat.

Der Fluglärm rund um den Flughafen in Kloten ZH belastet mehr Menschen als erlaubt. 53'173 Personen waren 2023 betroffen – 6173 über dem Richtwert. Häufigere Nachtflüge wegen Verspätungen sind schuld.

Es herrscht Krieg in der Ukraine und in Nahost, während Europas Nemesis, Donald Trump, ins Amt des US-Präsidenten zurückkehrt – doch die wichtigsten europäischen Regierungen sind mit Selbstzerfleischung beschäftigt. Nach Deutschlands Ampel-Aus wurde am Mittwoch in Paris die Regierung gestürzt.

Emirates a officiellement présenté son tout premier Airbus A350-900, qui rejoint sa flotte, lors d’un événement exclusif à Dubaï. L’événement, dirigé par Sir Tim Clark, […]

L’article Emirates dévoile officiellement son premier avion A350 est apparu en premier sur .

Du bist ein Ski-Fan? Dann ist dieser Ticker der genau richtige Ort für dich. Hier findest du News und Storys rund um den Ski-Weltcup – auf und abseits der Piste.

Die Stadtpolizei Winterthur sucht eine Nina. Der Grund: ihre Geschenke wurden gefunden. Die Beamten konnten einen dreisten Päcklidieb stoppen.

Es spricht immer mehr dafür, dass Lindsey Vonn mit ihrem Comeback ganz vielen Kritikern das Maul stopfen wird.

Un nouveau rapport révèle la découverte de plus de 700 nouvelles espèces dans le "poumon de l'Afrique".

Mit dem Sturz der Regierung von Michel Barnier am späten Mittwoch (4. Dezember) kommt auf Frankreich eine Zeit der politischen und wirtschaftlichen Unsicherheit zu. In Brüssel verstummt der Einfluss von Paris damit zunehmend.

Aujourd'hui dans l'Expresso : la France (re)plonge dans l'inconnu pour la deuxième fois de l'année, Giorgia Meloni et Viktor Orbán renforcent leurs liens dans un contexte de défis européens croissants, La Russie interrompt ses livraisons de pétrole à la République tchèque.

Christian Thierfelder, Principal Scientist at CIMMYT, poses in a field that is being tested for conservation agriculture at Henderson Research Station, Harare, Zimbabwe. Credit, Busani Bafana/IPS

By Busani Bafana
BULAWAYO, Dec 5 2024 (IPS)

On the dusty plains of Shamva District in Zimbabwe, Wilfred Mudavanhu’s maize field defies drought.

With the El Niño-induced drought gripping several countries in Southern Africa, Mudavanhu’s maize crop is flourishing, thanks to an innovative farming method that helps keep moisture in the soil and promotes soil health.

Once harvesting just 1.5 tonnes of maize (30-50 kg bags) each season, Mudavanhu’s harvest jumped to 2.5 tonnes of maize (50 bags) in the 2023/2024 cropping season.

Mudavanhu is one of many farmers in Zimbabwe embracing conservation agriculture, a method that prioritizes minimal soil disturbance, crop rotation, and soil moisture conservation. The practice is complemented by other methods such as timely control of weeds, mulching, and farming on a small plot to gain high yields.

Researchers say the conservation agriculture method is proving a lifeline for farmers grappling with climate change.

For more than 20 years, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has promoted research on conservation agriculture in Southern Africa with the aim of getting farmers to increase their crop yields.

Under conventional farming, smallholder maize yields have often been below 1 tonne per hectare in Zimbabwe, according to researchers. Adopting CA practices has led to yield increases of up to 90 percent. While in Malawi farmers have experienced maize yields increased by up to 400 percent, crops are integrated with nitrogen-fixing trees such as Faidherbia albida. In Zambia, maize yields under conventional farming have been at 1.9 tonnes per hectare, and these have increased to 4.7 tonnes per hectare where farmers have used conservation agriculture practices.

But beyond high yields, conservation agriculture saves moisture and enhances soil health, offering farmers a long-term solution to the growing problem of soil degradation, a looming threat in the face of climate change, researchers said.

“As the climate crisis deepens, CA has become essential for Southern African farmers, offering a resilient, climate-smart approach to boost productivity and withstand climate change impacts, reinforcing sustainable food security,” Christian Thierfelder, a principal scientist at CIMMYT, told IPS, explaining that CA could be a game changer for the rainfed cropping system in the region.

About 3 million farmers in Southern Africa are practicing CA, Thierfelder said, adding: “The more climate change hits as seen in recent droughts, the more the farmers will adopt CA because the traditional way of doing agriculture will not always work anymore.”

The use of machines is attracting smallholder farmers to adopt conservation agriculture. CIMMYT has researched using machines suitable for smallholder CA systems.

The machines have been found to increase intercropping methods farmers use while addressing the challenges of high labour demands associated with conservation agriculture.

Traditionally, farmers spend hours digging planting basins, a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. The basin digger has mechanized the land preparation stage, reducing the number of people needed to dig the basins.

Thierfelder said CIMMYT has partnered with registered service providers in Zimbabwe and Zambia, who offer mechanization services that improve farming efficiency and reduce labour demands. One such innovation, the basin digger—a cost-effective, low-energy machine—reduces labour by up to 90 percent.

Cosmas Chari, a farmer and service provider in Shamva, used to spend a day digging basins for planting, but now he takes an hour using the basin digger.

Mudavanhu became a mechanization service provider after integrating CA with mechanization. As a service provider, Mudavanhu hires out a two-wheeled tractor, a sheller, and a ripper to other farmers practicing CA.

Similarly, another farmer, Advance Kandimiri, is also a service provider practicing CA.

“I started being a mechanization service provider in 2022 and adopted CA using mechanization,” said Kandimiri, who bought a tractor, a sheller, and a two-row planter.

“Conservation agriculture is more profitable than conventional farming that I was doing before I learned about CA,” said Kandimiri.

Data from CIMMYT’s research indicates that farmers adopting CA practices can earn extra income of approximately USD 368 per hectare as a result of getting higher yields and reduced input costs.

Conservation Agriculture in the Region

Farmers across Southern Africa have found success after adopting CA practices with remarkable results.

In 2011, during a visit to Monze in Zambia’s Southern Province, Gertrude Banda observed the significant benefits of CA firsthand. Farmers practicing CA for over seven years demonstrated how planting crops without tillage using an animal traction ripper led to reduced labour in land preparation and improved crop yields.

Banda says she was motivated by this experience to adopt CA on her own 9-hectare farm, where she grows cowpeas, groundnuts, and soybeans. She practices crop rotation, alternating maize with various legumes to enhance soil fertility and improve crop yields. Additionally, she uses groundnut and cowpea residues for livestock feed. She earned about USD 5,000 from selling her soya crop.

“Today, my entire farm follows CA principles,” Banda said. “All my crops are planted in rip lines, and I rotate maize with various legumes to maintain soil health.”

Over 65,000 farmers in Malawi and 50,000 in Zambia have adopted CA, according to CIMMYT, whose research shows that farmer education, training, and technical guidance are vital for farmers to make the shift.

However, widespread adoption of conservation agriculture has remained low despite its acknowledged advantages. Smallholder farmers face challenges in accessing inputs and equipment, said Hambulo Ngoma, an agricultural economist at CIMMYT.

Besides, farmers have limited knowledge of effective weed control and struggle with short-term yield uncertainties, which can discourage consistent practice, Ngoma said.

“While CA has proven its worth, adoption rates are still relatively low across Southern Africa,” Ngoma said, adding, “Many farmers lack the resources to invest in the tools and training required for effective implementation.”

Fruitful Partnerships to Promote Conservation Agriculture

Blessing Mhlanga, a cropping systems agronomist with CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood Systems program, said the success of CA goes beyond technology and techniques but is hinged on education and including CA principles in national policies. In Zambia, for instance, CIMMYT, in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), helped design a mechanization strategy that has paved the way for mechanized CA to be incorporated into government-led agricultural programs.

“Technologies like intensification with Gliricidia, a fast-growing nitrogen fixing tree, strip cropping, and permanently raised beds are now part of Zambia’s national agriculture agenda,” explained Mhlanga, who noted that the adoption of CA by smallholder farmers can be transformative, particularly in regions reliant on rainfed cropping.

Mhlanga said with more than 250 million hectares of land currently under CA globally and adoption rates of the CA practices increasing by 10 million hectares annually, the future of CA is promising. However, much work remains to be done in providing smallholder farmers like Mudavanhu with the right tools and knowledge to adopt conservation agriculture fully.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');   Related Articles

• By Choosing What We Eat, We Choose the World We Want To Live In
• Capacity Building Is Key to Africa’s Digital Sequencing Success Story
• World Told Act Now or Face 136 Years of Hunger, Report Warns

Stunden nach dem Sturz von Premierminister Michel Barniers Regierung steht das Land vor der dringenden Aufgabe, eine neue Koalition zu bilden. Diese muss sich mit den Haushaltsfristen und der unsicheren Zukunft von Präsident Emmanuel Macron auseinandersetzen.

Analysts think that the EU faces an additional annual climate investment gap of between €340-477 billion. We argue that part of this gap can be filled by levering more private money into the transition through better EU financial instrument design and deployment.

Les livraisons de pétrole de la Russie à la République tchèque via l’oléoduc Droujba ont été interrompues sans explication, ce qui suscite des interrogations, mais les autorités tchèques restent calmes.

DRAFT REPORT on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on establishing the Reform and Growth Facility for the Republic of Moldova
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Committee on Budgets
Siegfried Mureşan, Sven Mikser

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

Russland hat die Öllieferungen nach Tschechien über die Druschba-Pipeline ohne Erklärung gestoppt. Dies hat Misstrauen bei den tschechischen Beamten ausgelöst, jedoch bleibt man größtenteils gelassen.

La Première ministre italienne Giorgia Meloni a accueilli le Premier ministre hongrois Viktor Orbán au Palazzo Chigi mercredi 4 décembre pour la deuxième fois en six mois afin de discuter de plusieurs questions, avec un accent particulier mis sur l'immigration irrégulière et la coopération européenne.