The international team comprises scientists from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Nigeria, Pennsylvania State University in the US, the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture in Colombia, the International Potato Centre in Peru, and Bioversity International, headquartered in Italy.

The grant forms part of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Platform for Big Data Agriculture ‘Inspire Challenges’ programme.

It was presented at the Big Data in Agriculture Convention held recently in Colombia.

According to IITA’s James Legg, one of the leaders of the project, the team generated more than 200 000 images of diseased cassava crops in coastal Tanzania and farms in western Kenya, in order to develop an artificial intelligence algorithm that can automatically classify five cassava diseases.

The app is being field-tested in Tanzania.

The team is also developing a mobile spectrophotometer that diagnoses different viral diseases, even in healthy looking plants.

“Smallholders or extension officers will be able to download the app for free, fire it up, point it at a leaf with disease symptoms, and get an instant diagnosis,” Legg said.

In addition to providing disease identification, the app will supply users with the latest management advice and pinpoint the location of the nearest agricultural extension support should a user need more assistance.

In addition, information gathered through the app will be used to send SMS alerts to farmers about potential disease and pest threats in their areas.

The team is keen to expand their work across numerous sites in Africa and a number of crops that are critical for food security, according to David Hughes, associate professor at Pennsylvania State University, who leads the project with Leggs.

By doing this, Hughes believes that the team can amplify the impact of their work a hundred times.

The measures include the subsidising wheat production through a special fund, based on production levels, and opening a commercial bank to give farmers access to loans at low interest rates.

Funding for the subsidy will come from a 2% levy on all exports, while the bank will be funded with a 10% levy paid on imported wheat. A scheme will also be introduced, either through national cereal boards or commodities exchange to:

• Guarantee markets and prices for locally produced wheat;
• Initiate research to determine appropriate wheat varieties to be grown;
• Determine quality preferences of millers;
• Develop production practices that will help boost production efficiencies and profitability, thereby attracting more investments for wheat production.

According a USDA grain report released earlier this year, Kenya had produced between 380 000t and 450 000t of wheat per year over the past three years. Total consumption had, however, increased from 1,95 million tons to 2,06 million tons per year due to changing dietary preferences. The area under production, however, remained static at approximately 170 00 ha.

In Tanzania, the area under production and yields had remained relatively stable over the past three years at about 100 00 ha and 100 000t/year. However, total consumption in that country increased from 990 000t to 1,95 million tons over the same period.

According to the USDA report, less than 1% of farmers grow wheat in Tanzania and 32% of this wheat is exported, while 91% of the wheat consumed is imported.

One of the objectives of the new initiative is to encourage millers to source wheat locally before importing supplies from beyond the region, to which milling companies in the two countries agreed at the meeting.

Progress on the implementation of these measures will be reviewed at a meeting in Mombasa, Kenya scheduled for November.

The farmers’ legal team served notice on President Robert Mugabe; the Minister of State in the Office of the President; Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement, Douglas Mombeshora; the Minister of Finance, Patrick Chinamasa; and the Zimbabwean government earlier in August.

The notice was served under the Southern African Community Development Community’s (SADC) protocol on finance and investment.

“Our dispossessed Zimbabwean farmers have been wronged,” said SADC Tribunal Rights Watch spokesperson, Ben Freeth.

Freeth said the farmers have a final and binding 2008 judgement from the SADC Tribunal, which ordered the Zimbabwe government to pay fair compensation for land it had expropriated.

The government has failed to comply with the order. Freeth added that unless accountability deepened, “no investment will take place in our country” and the economic crisis would worsen. He said that without property rights and the rule of law, Zimbabwe’s negative trajectory as a failed state would accelerate.

The finance and investment protocol, which came into force in April 2010, offers all SADC investors legal protections, which include the right to prompt, adequate and effective compensation with respect to expropriated investments, and to fair and equitable treatment, including protection against denial of justice.

In the case of investments seized in violation of the protocol, the first step to settle the dispute is through dialogue. If there is no settlement, the next step is arbitration.

At the SADC Summit in 2012, the SADC heads of state restricted regional citizens’ access to the SADC Tribunal, denying citizens legal recourse, regardless of their countries’ policies.

The SADC heads of state resolved that a new protocol on the tribunal be negotiated and its mandate confined to interpretation of the SADC treaty and protocols relating to disputes between member states.

In May 2017, SADC heads of state signed an amendment to the protocol that aimed to stop investors from seeking redress through it.

The farmers’ legal team served notice on President Robert Mugabe; the Minister of State in the Office of the President; Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement, Douglas Mombeshora; the Minister of Finance, Patrick Chinamasa; and the Zimbabwean government earlier in August.

The notice was served under the Southern African Community Development Community’s (SADC) protocol on finance and investment.

“Our dispossessed Zimbabwean farmers have been wronged,” said SADC Tribunal Rights Watch spokesperson, Ben Freeth.

Freeth said the farmers have a final and binding 2008 judgement from the SADC Tribunal, which ordered the Zimbabwe government to pay fair compensation for land it had expropriated.

The government has failed to comply with the order. Freeth added that unless accountability deepened, “no investment will take place in our country” and the economic crisis would worsen. He said that without property rights and the rule of law, Zimbabwe’s negative trajectory as a failed state would accelerate.

The finance and investment protocol, which came into force in April 2010, offers all SADC investors legal protections, which include the right to prompt, adequate and effective compensation with respect to expropriated investments, and to fair and equitable treatment, including protection against denial of justice.

In the case of investments seized in violation of the protocol, the first step to settle the dispute is through dialogue. If there is no settlement, the next step is arbitration.

At the SADC Summit in 2012, the SADC heads of state restricted regional citizens’ access to the SADC Tribunal, denying citizens legal recourse, regardless of their countries’ policies.

The SADC heads of state resolved that a new protocol on the tribunal be negotiated and its mandate confined to interpretation of the SADC treaty and protocols relating to disputes between member states.

In May 2017, SADC heads of state signed an amendment to the protocol that aimed to stop investors from seeking redress through it.

The project was being driven by a partnership between Zambeef Products, the largest integrated agribusiness and food processing company in Zambia, and Musika, a Zambian non-profit company aimed at stimulating private sector investment in smallholder markets.

A statement by Zambeef quoted Kedrick Sikombe, the district commissioner in Zambia’s Mbala area, as having said that the country’s livestock sub-sector had been under-utilised despite being recognised as an increasingly important part of Zambia’s agricultural economy.

Zambeef’s head of retail, marketing, and corporate affairs, Felix Lupindula, said that Zambia’s farmers were a vital link for ensuring food security and agricultural development in the country.

“If we aim to seriously grow in the agro-processing sector as a country, we must deliberately groom and equip our farmers to compete in the current market where maximised productivity and sustainability go hand-in-hand,” Lupindula said.

Zambeef’s statement said that its partnership with Musika would equip smallholder cattle farmers with relevant management skills, and educate them in good animal husbandry practices, herd health and breeding techniques. This would enable them to better manage their resources and maximise their returns.

“The reinforcement of commercial relationships between Zambeef and smallholder farmers will result in multiple benefits, with farmers accessing a ready market for cattle, technology and knowledge transfer, infrastructural development, and forward pricing,” the company said.

Zambeef added that it already had an established abattoir at Mbala, which was being used as a base for developing a smallholder livestock supply chain in the area.

Musika estimates that over 500 smallholder cattle farmers would participate in, and benefit from, this supply chain once it was fully operational.

“We hope this will stimulate growth in livestock farming in the region, and that farmers will be encouraged to invest in their production and increase productivity, as well as persuade crop farmers to also consider diversifying into livestock farming or growing inputs for stock feed alongside their usual crops,” Lupindula said.

The project was being driven by a partnership between Zambeef Products, the largest integrated agribusiness and food processing company in Zambia, and Musika, a Zambian non-profit company aimed at stimulating private sector investment in smallholder markets.

A statement by Zambeef quoted Kedrick Sikombe, the district commissioner in Zambia’s Mbala area, as having said that the country’s livestock sub-sector had been under-utilised despite being recognised as an increasingly important part of Zambia’s agricultural economy.

Zambeef’s head of retail, marketing, and corporate affairs, Felix Lupindula, said that Zambia’s farmers were a vital link for ensuring food security and agricultural development in the country.

“If we aim to seriously grow in the agro-processing sector as a country, we must deliberately groom and equip our farmers to compete in the current market where maximised productivity and sustainability go hand-in-hand,” Lupindula said.

Zambeef’s statement said that its partnership with Musika would equip smallholder cattle farmers with relevant management skills, and educate them in good animal husbandry practices, herd health and breeding techniques. This would enable them to better manage their resources and maximise their returns.

“The reinforcement of commercial relationships between Zambeef and smallholder farmers will result in multiple benefits, with farmers accessing a ready market for cattle, technology and knowledge transfer, infrastructural development, and forward pricing,” the company said.

Zambeef added that it already had an established abattoir at Mbala, which was being used as a base for developing a smallholder livestock supply chain in the area.

Musika estimates that over 500 smallholder cattle farmers would participate in, and benefit from, this supply chain once it was fully operational.

“We hope this will stimulate growth in livestock farming in the region, and that farmers will be encouraged to invest in their production and increase productivity, as well as persuade crop farmers to also consider diversifying into livestock farming or growing inputs for stock feed alongside their usual crops,” Lupindula said.