WFSJ graduates 58 African and Arab Science Journalists

Fifty-eight journalists from 30 African and Arab countries graduated from the SjCOOP Program of the World Federation of Science Journalists, Wednesday 10^th October 2012, in Jordan.

Following their last encounter with the experienced science journalist who has been their mentor for the last two years, the ‘mentees’ – one of them now editor-in-chief of his newspaper, another now working for the main TV station in her country, and several having published articles in the most prestigious scientific journals – received their certificate from the World Federation of Science Journalists.

“It has really been two years of great learning and sharing”, said Hope Mafaranga from Uganda.

The class of 2012 is the second group of African and Arab science journalists to successfully complete the SjCOOP training program. In a first phase, from 2006 to 2009, SjCOOP graduated 32 science journalists from Africa and the Arab World.

SjCOOP mentees typically begin by revising the ten lessons of the WFSJ online course in science journalism developed – and recently updated – by an international team of journalists: http://www.wfsj.org/course/. Mentors then comment the online, print, audio, or video production of their mentees with a goal of improving overall quality. Mentors also advise on how to find sources and story ideas all the way to pitching stories to editors and freelancing internationally.

Beyond improving the skills of individual journalists at better covering complex issues like climate change, health, energy and technological developments, SjCOOP has provided several pan-African publications with networks of correspondents, in some instances giving birth to entirely new publications, rooted in Africa.

The program also invests in the development of networks of journalists, up to the establishment of associations and the linkage of the associations, regionally and internationally. It has played a key role in the establishment of more than 15 active associations or clubs of science journalists with many of them initiating their own training activities.

Monitoring and Evaluation are fully integrated in the program thanks to the work of internal and external evaluators. Throughout the duration of the program, the SjCOOP program managers benefit from early information about areas that need improvement while independent evaluators measure the progress of the mentees’ production according to quality criteria established at the outset of the mentoring.

This intense monitoring work – and the large size of the group – provide an exceptional opportunity to study what conditions are necessary for a journalist to succeed at covering science in Africa and in the Arab World, from his personal qualifications to the newsroom environment. SjCOOP has already led to the publication of several articles in peer-reviewed journals*. Several more papers providing unique insights on how science and technology can be communicated through the African and Arab media will be published in the coming months.

… and SjCOOP Phase II will end only next January.

In the meantime, eighteen of the best SjCOOP graduates from 15 different Arab and African countries will be working in a ‘virtual newsroom’ where they will work in teams on stories under the editorial leadership of editors from ScienceAfrica, SciDev.net, Nature Middle East and the newspapers Sidwaya (Burkina Faso), Mutations (Cameroon), and Fraternité-Matin (Côte d’Ivoire).

The World Federation of Science Journalists and the SjCOOP team have learned tremendously from the mentees, mentors and coordinators. The Federation is now putting together follow-up activities. Keep visiting this web site for more detailed reports on the achievements of the SjCOOPies, from publishing in the most prestigious international publications to making an impact on their Parliaments.

As Ola Al-Ghazawy said: “I wish all the SCJOOP family will keep in touch”.

This is a challenge that the World Federation of Science Journalists is committed to meet in several ways. One way is to make sure that as many science journalists as possible attend the upcoming 8th World Conference of Science Journalists, 24 – 28 June 2013, in Helsinki, Finland: http://wcsj2013.org

The SjCOOP Program is funded by UK Aid (lead donor), The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Canada's International Development Research Centre.

http://www.wfsj.org/news/news.php?id=291

Research shows that legume trees can fertilize and stabilize maize fields, generating higher yields

Africa’s first long-term study finds legume trees planted alongside maize, combined with less fertilizer, is best solution for Africa’s most important food crop

Inserting rows of “fertilizer trees” into maize fields, known as agroforestry, can help farmers across sub-Saharan Africa cope with the impacts of drought and degraded soils, according to a 12-year-long study by researchers at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF).

The study, Can Integration of Legume Trees Increase Yield Stability in Rainfed Maize Cropping Systems in Southern Africa?, by Gudeta Sileshi, Legesse Kassa Debusho and Festus Akinnifesi, was published in this month’s issue of Agronomy Journal of the Soil Science Society of America.

Three coordinated experiments, begun in 1991 in Malawi and Zambia, found that farms that mix nitrogen-fixing trees and maize have consistent and relatively high yields year after year. In Malawi, the highest average maize yield was found in fields that combined both fertilizer trees and inorganic fertilizers, but applied at just half the standard recommended amounts.

Maize mono-crops grown with inorganic fertilizers may have higher yield in some years but the yield is less reliable in the long run. Mono-cropping without replenishing soil nutrients in any way the de facto practice of resource-poor maize farmers, was the least productive and most unpredictable of all. 

“To grow their way out of poverty, Africa’s small-scale farmers don’t just need a good harvest for one or two years, they need long-term stable, high-yield harvests,” said coauthor Akinnifesi, former regional coordinator for the World Agroforestry Centre, Southern Africa Regional Programme. “Moreover, they need to know which farming systems will be both stable and sustainable as the environment and climate changes.”

In sub-Saharan Africa, where more than one in three people is chronically hungry, variable rainfall, drought and degraded soils all cut into yields that are one-quarter of the global average. 

While previous studies have shown the short-term benefits of such agroforestry practices, today’s study is the first to analyze long-term yield stability in the face of environmental change.  Year to year, the most dynamic environmental change is found in rainfall, which directly impacts maize yield on Africa’s largely non-irrigated, rain-fed farms.   

Maize accounts for more than half of the cropped area and the calories consumed in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The small-scale maize farming system, covering 10 percent of the region, is in crisis, with yields in many areas either stagnating or declining. As a result of rapid population growth, average farm sizes have fallen to less than 0.5 hectares in many areas.

Continuous farming without replenishing the organic matter and nutrients in soil has led to erosion and soil infertility, and there are signs of increasing soil acidity in some areas exposed to prolonged use of inorganic fertilizers and the burning of crop residues.

With climate change, maize cropping systems are expected to experience even more dramatic reductions in yield. For just 1°C of warming, more than 75 percent of the present maize-growing areas in Africa are predicted to experience at least a 20 percent reduction in yield under drought conditions.

The experiments incorporated a tree called gliricidia into maize fields. Gliricidia “fixes” nitrogen, drawing it from the air, changing it into a form that plants can use for their own growth, and inserting it into the soil. This alleviates the need for big doses of manufactured nitrogen fertilizers. The leaves shed by gliricidia also return organic matter to the soil, increasing its structural stability, erosion resistance and capacity to store water.

“Growing maize with legume trees has increased yields in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa,” said Gudeta Sileshi, the lead scientist on the study and regional representative for ICRAF’s Southern Africa Program. “Now we know this is not just a temporary phenomenon. For maize farmers who can’t afford fertilizers, agroforestry with nitrogen-fixing trees offers a stable increase in production, allowing them to feed their families and replenish the soil.”

Application of fertilizer without the addition of organic matter may not be sustainable because only organic matter helps to retain soil moisture, adds calcium and feeds soil biota, contributing to soil health and structure.

Past long-term studies have shown that continuous maize cropping with inorganic fertilizers in Nigeria resulted in significant yield declines over a 16-year period. Likewise, in Pakistan, a 14-year study showed declining rice yields even when the recommended level of nitrates, phosphate and potassium were applied. 

In the United States and Europe, researchers have conducted long-term studies ranging from 20 to 120 years, monitoring the impacts of cropping systems on dynamic soil processes. Such long-term studies have been virtually nonexistent in sub-Saharan Africa.

“We need well-designed long-term trials that will allow scientific assessments of different cropping systems with a changing climate in Africa,” said Debusho, a senior lecturer at the University of Pretoria. “Such information can guide the exploration of technological alternatives and the development of policies to improve the adaptability and sustainability of cropping systems.”

 Ends