Tag Archives: focus
Report On Status Of Agriculture In Africa Has Been Unveiled
The Africa Agriculture Status Report: Focus on Staple 2013 Crops was inspired by the need to have an accessible and reliable resource publication depicting the status and trends of African agriculture. Given the role agriculture plays in the African economies, it is critical to have such a resource to inform the designing of policies and strategies based on current and accurate information on key indicators. The chapters in the report were guided by the value chain concept. The concept runs from production, through post-harvest handling, to processing and marketing of the commodities, to consumption. It takes into consideration the input-output markets, be they domestic, regional or global. Collective action as a tool in agricultural transformation is also considered, since it plays a key role in addressing the constraints faced by smallholder farmers. The aim of the status report is to have an ongoing data collection effort on key agriculture indicators that are tracked on a regular basis and reported in subsequent publications. This report is divided in two sections : The first section focuses on agricultural growth, competitiveness, factors of production (land, soil fertility, seed production, agriculture financing), output markets, capacity building, agriculture policy, farmer organizations, women in agriculture and extension advisory services. The chapters outline the current status and the interventions offered by various players in the field of agriculture. The second section is a collation of both macro and micro data from the selected countries. The micro data was provided by the Ministries of Agriculture and Bureaus of Statistics in the respective countries. The macro data was from institutions that track key indicators on a regular basis such as the World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organizations and The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The expectation, moving forward, is to track the micro data on a regular basis and avail these data to actual or potential consumers of the information. Click here to download the full report – See more at: http://www.agra.org/…h.ZdFSmOLi.dpuf Continue reading
Researchers Focus On Switchgrass As A Renewable Fuel Source
Robin WhitlockTuesday, 10 September 2013 Fungi and bacteria could be made to act on switchgrass in order to reduce the cost of ethanol production for biofuel A research team from Clemson University in South Carolina is looking at switchgrass as a potential source of renewable biofuel, examining in particular the action of fungi and bacteria as a means of releasing vital carbohydrates, such as cellulose and xylan, that can then be used to make biofuel. Most plant-based ethanol derives from sugar and starch in corn and sugarcane since the process of producing fuel from biomass, the waste material from vegetation, is still too costly to be competitive with fossil fuels. In part this is because of the process of releasing cellulose and xylan from lignin, which binds cells and structures in woody plants. The removal of lignin is often an important pretreatment step in biofuel production which subsequently enables microbes to convert cellulose and xylan to glucose and xylose which are then fermented in order to obtain alcohol-based biofuel. The Clemson University team is engaged in studying how to free up carbohydrates in switchgrass and waste paper and microbiologist Mike Henson is looking at the bacteria and fungi that can break down the carbohydrates and xylans in order to release the plant sugars. The project, if successful, will help the environment, particularly with regard to improving atmospheric conditions, and promote a sustainable bio-economy based on renewable energy. “It’s not going to be just one organism or just one enzyme,” said Henson. The fungi and the bacteria work additively as a community. The enzyme will be more like an “enzyme cocktail.” Henson’s task involves working out how to trigger enzymes in a particular order so that each enzyme performs its function at a particular time, but in order to do that he has to find the right enzymes first. This process consists of four stages. First, the enzyme and keyed-to molecule have to find each other and then the enzyme should link to the molecule at a specific location termed the “active site. This produces catalysis which then sets off a change in the enzyme-linked molecule either breaking it down or enabling it to combine with another molecule and finally the enzyme delinks from the molecule ready to perform the whole act again. The overall aim is to reduce the expense involved in making ethanol from biomass with the ultimate objective being biofuel that is competitive with fossil fuels at $3 to $4 per gallon. Further information: Clemson University Clemson University Switchgrass website Continue reading
Business Focus Episode 14
In the 14th Episode of Business Focus, Malaa Kivila seeks to shed light into what it takes to develop a successful brand. You will get to know the factors yo… Continue reading
