By Ben Moses Ilakut & Genvieve Apio It an undisputed reality that Climate Change is a major challenge to agricultural productivity and food security globally. The devastating effects of climate change are manifested in many ways including El Nino rains, which are affecting several countries in Eastern and Central Africa. Photos above...
By Ben Moses Ilakut Practically all countries in Eastern and Central African (ECA) depend largely on rain-fed agriculture for livelihoods. Much of the rainfall comes in a few high-intensity events with long dry spells in-between. This results into two catastrophic opposites--extreme episodes such as floods versus intense droughts with scotching heat. Farmers...
Ben Moses Ilakut Top international humanitarian and aid agencies including the World Food Programme (WFP), and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in the last few days called for emergency response to the food situation in Sudan following a declaration of famine in the Zamzam camp. Famine is a severe and...
By Ben Moses Ilakut When the deadly transboundary disease Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW) ravaged the East African countries of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda in 2005 to 2010, it was only collective action by scientists from the concerned countries and the CGIAR, all coordinated by ASARECA, that brought the devastation to...
It is widely recognized that the provision of irrigation can help millions of smallholder farmers intensively cultivate their small parcels to improve income and better cope with climate induced uncertainties. However, the irrigation coverage in East and Central Africa is significantly lower than the global average. For instance, in sub-Saharan...
The Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) is a not-for-profit inter-governmental organization of 15 member countries comprising Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Eritrea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Federal Republic of Somalia, Madagascar, Kenya, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. ASARECA’s core...
BY BEN MOSES ILAKUT & MOSES ODEKE BAHIR DAR, ETHIOPIA: ASARECA, and the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies-Institute of Bari (CIHEAM Bari) on April 19-20, 2024, joined Ethiopian partners, Water and Land Resources Centre in a follow-up training and selection of possible BMP scenarios workshop targeting farming communities in...
BY BEN MOSES ILAKUT Dr. Enock Warinda (R) shows Hon. Mithika Linturi around the site for the planned ASARECA Headquarters’ building in Entebbe on April 4, 2024 ENTEBBE, UGANDA: “I will mobilise my colleagues, the Agriculture Ministers to ensure that ASARECA gets a befitting home.” These were the words of Hon. Mithika...
BY BEN MOSES ILAKUT (L-R) Dr. Denis Onkundi, Mithika’s Technical Advisor; Ms Doris Komen, Commercial Attaché, Kenya High Commission in Uganda, Hon. Mithika Linturi; Mr. Richard Mutwota, First Counsellor, Kenya High Commission in Uganda (immediate right to Dr. Mithika on back row); Dr. Enock Warinda; Dr. Wellington Mulinge of the Kenya...
The ASARECA staff joined the family and the staff of Tanzania Agriculture Research Institute (TARI) in Mourning ASARECA departed Board of Directors Chairman and former TARI Director General, Dr. Geoffrey Mkamilo at his ancestral home in Mafulila village, Kilindi District, Dodoma, Tanzania. Representing the Executive Director, Dr. Enock Warinda and ASARECA...
