Swaziland@Newsletter 56
Published by Africa Contact (Denmark)

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______________________________________________

1. March for free elections and democracy in Kenya, Zimbabwe and
Swaziland. COSATU (Congress of South African Trade Unions)
International Secretariat. February 8, 2008.

2. School gates close on orphans. Integrated Regional Information
Networks (IRIN), Mbabane, 6 February, 2008.

3. Bilateral relations with Swaziland to be strengthened. The New
Nation (Bangladesh), BSS, Dhaka, February 6, 2008.

4. Member of Parliament accuses EU of ?recolonising? continent.
Business Day (South Africa), Wyndham Hartley, February 7, 2008.

5. World Health Organisation (WHO) narrows down second-line ARV
options. Integrated Regional Information Networks, Johannesburg,7
February 2008.

6. Question as to circumcision advice. Clare Lare Nullis, Associated
Press, Cape Town (SA), February 7, 2008.

7. Country to establish a single local government system. Commonwealth
News and Information Service (London), AllAfrica Global Media
(allAfrica.com), 5 February 2008.

8. Southern Africa: Thirty percent less maize by 2030. Integrated
Regional Information Networks (IRIN), Johannesburg, 8 February, 2008.

9. Africa at large: Bad farming practices blamed for infertile
soils. Francis Ayieko, East African (Kenya), February 6, 2008.

_____________________________________________

1. March for free elections and democracy in Kenya, Zimbabwe and
Swaziland. COSATU (Congress of South African Trade Unions)
International Secretariat. February 8, 2008.

The Annual Planning meeting for the 2008 International Solidarity
Programme convened by COSATU went very well yesterday (07 February,
2008). The meeting attended by progressive organisations of civil
society from all over South Africa and outside the country, with some
from as far as Europe and Kenya, deliberated on a very determined
programme of action for 2008. The programme covered:

- Kenya, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Cuba, Palestine, Burma, Kashmir, Sudan.
- Trade and poverty
- Xenophobia and racism
- Gender, child labour and exploitation
- Transformation of multilateral institutions
- Climate change and global warming

A consolidated programme of action arising out of all these areas
shall be submitted to higher structures of COSATU for discussion and
adoption, primarily, the CEC which is gathering in two weeks time. In
this regard, one resolution stood out as very immediate and requiring
implementation without delay. It was the resolution on the spreading
virus of undemocratic elections on our continent, with Kenya, Zimbabwe
and Swaziland standing out as examples. It was felt that as a matter
of urgency, we must take action against this problem in order to
expose and fight it.

We are faced with a massive crisis in Kenya as well illustrated by our
invited comrades; Professor Gilbert Khadiagala, a Kenyan lecturer of
International Relations at Wits University and George Wachira, a civil
society activist who was directly coming from Kenya. The comrades
indicated that the issue whether elections are democratic or not is
not just about the queues on the day of elections, but fundamentally
about the process, space for participation, fairness of the rules,
availability of choices and checks and balances within the electoral
and political system in general. They also included the fact that a
fair process must include fair outcomes at the end in order to be
legitimate in the eyes of the people.

However, the discussions indicated clearly that elections do not, on
their own, address the basic needs of the people, but a comprehensive
programme to respond to the issues of poverty, abuse, hunger,
illiteracy and desperation is required to attend to those problems. In
this instance, fertile conditions for sustained conflict become
possible and nurtured.

From the reports by various organisations, particularly COSATU
affiliates and NGOs and their work in various countries, it became
clear that particular attention must be paid to the issue of elections
in Zimbabwe and Swaziland which are scheduled for 2008, whilst not
ignoring the on-going situation in Kenya, which offers important
lessons and add value to the general discussions about the meaning and
practice of free and fair elections. It was also agreed that observer
missions should be considered for both countries, but also warning
signals about potential explosions must be developed to assess the
situation on an on-going basis.

In this regard, it was agreed that, because the Zimbabwean elections
are scheduled for 29th March, 2008 and those of Swaziland are sometime
towards the end of the year, we need to have a day of action targeting
these three countries soon, including Kenya, because it is also part
of the movement of controversial election holders and must be targeted
as such. It was further noted that Angola and Sudan are also hosting
their own elections this year and close monitoring should also be
developed in that regard.

The day of action was agreed to be the 7th March, 2008 in Johannesburg
where the theme of the day will be: March for free elections and
democracy in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Swaziland. This is an
inter-organisation effort and a Preparatory meeting shall be held on
the 13th February, 2008, starting at 9h00 at COSATU House to work out
all related logistics and matters.

Issued by COSATU International Secretary, Bongani Masuku.
For more details contact: Lesego Sekano, Deputy International
Secretary at 011 339 4911 or lesego@...
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2. School gates close on orphans. Integrated Regional Information
Networks (IRIN), Mbabane, 6 February, 2008.

Thamie Simelane, 12, is among hundreds of thousands of orphans and
vulnerable children (OVC) in Swaziland who might not be going to
school, despite government assurances that the tuition fees of these
children would be covered.

Headmasters rely on school fees to run their institutions, but limited
government funds have materialised sporadically, often forcing schools
to start sending children home.

This year the education ministry again assured headmasters that
adequate funds would be forthcoming and urged them to admit legitimate
OVC into their schools. The government's master plan is to provide
free universal education to all children through Grade 5.

In a country with a declining economy and no property tax base to draw
from to fund local schools, the challenge is daunting. The education
budget for 2008 is US$8.5 million, augmented by donations from the
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), whose material and other
assistance to schools is intended for all children, including OVC.

"Government needs more revenues, and in the absence of that she must
adjust spending priorities," commented Sipho Matsebula, an economist
at a bank in the capital, Mbabane. "Right now there is pressure to
raise government spending on health to 15 percent of the budget, and
even with a national health crisis going on that seems unobtainable."
UNAIDS estimates the HIV prevalence rate in Swaziland at 33.4 percent.

Five years ago, when UNICEF predicted that by 2010 there would be
120,000 AIDS orphans in need of scholarships and other educational
assistance, the government set up financial aid schemes. UNICEF now
says that within two years an even greater number - 150,000 orphans
and vulnerable children under the age of 15 - in a declining national
population of less than one million people, will need help.

Part of the problem is that there are no standardised school fees,
which means some children pay twice the amount. Standardising school
fees, advocated by some educationalists, would bring down the higher
costs and allow more children to benefit from the limited funds
available.

Some schools make students pay a "stationery fee", even though
government provides all children with free textbooks, while other
schools require OVC to buy school uniforms, which include expensive
jerseys (sweater) embossed with a school logo. UNICEF, among other
children's agencies, has called for a standardised school uniform.

Neighbourhood Care Points

Often the only opportunity for schooling available to OVCs has been at
the neighbourhood Care Points, a UNICEF innovation where the children
also receive at least one hot meal a day, supplied by the World Food
Programme (WFP).

"We provide some rudimentary schooling to kids, such as basic math and
reading, but this is really part of a socialisation process to get the
kids together and out of their isolation at home - some come from
child-headed households," said Abigail Dlamini, a volunteer teacher at
the Ngwane Park Neighbourhood Care Point in the central commercial
town of Manzini.

"We are not a school, even though we have a fully equipped classroom.
Our most valuable service is to identify OVC in the community to get
them into proper schools."

Relatives and social welfare groups manage to help some children
attend school, but others, like Simelane, who have never been to
school, keep falling through the cracks in the government's promises.
"At school, I think they have forgotten about me," lamented Simelane.
_______________________________________

3. Bilateral relations with Swaziland to be strengthened. The New
Nation (Bangladesh), BSS, Dhaka, February 6, 2008.

The newly appointed High Commissioner of Swaziland to Bangladesh
Mpumelelo Joshep Ndumiso Htophe on Tuesday presented his credentials
to President Professor Dr Iajuddin Ahmed at Bangabhaban here.

During the call on, the President welcomed the new High Commissioner
and said that the appointment would usher in a new era in the domain
of bilateral relation between Bangladesh and Swaziland.

The President also reiterated Bangladesh's commitment and
determination to further consolidate the relation with Swaziland and
hoped that the existing bilateral tie between the two countries would
be further developed and strengthened in the days to come.
He also said, Swaziland people could be benefited by using Bangladeshi
products including pharmaceutical, melamine and jute goods, which
achieved international standard.

Professor Iajuddin apprised the Swaziland High Commissioner of the
present government's initiatives to hold a free, fair and transparent
election by creating a level-playing ground field for all prospective
participants within the envisaged time frame.

He said, the present government is determined to ensure good
governance and accountability at all spheres and fight against
organized crime and corruption.

The President also apprised the High Commissioner of the Bangladesh's
role in UN peacekeeping mission and said Bangladesh earned laurels for
her international peacekeeping roles.

The Swaziland High Commissioner commended Bangladesh's achievement is
different sectors and the present government's steps to strengthen
democracy in the country.

Mpumelelo Joshep Ndumiso Htophe, who resides in Kuala Lumpur in
Malaysia, also hoped that Bangladesh and Swaziland would work together
to ensue international peace, security and stability.

Military Secretary to the President Major General Mohd Aminul Karim,
Secretary Md Sirajul Islam, Foreign Secretary Touhid Hosain and Press
Secretary Abdul Awal Howlader were present during the meeting.

Earlier on his arrival at Bangabhaban, the new Swaziland High
Commissioner was given guard of honour. He visited the guard and took
salute.
______________________________________

4. Member of Parliament accuses EU of recolonising continent.
Business Day (South Africa), Wyndham Hartley, February 7, 2008.

The biannual meeting of European and South African parliamentarians to
discuss South African-European Union (EU) relations got off to a rocky
start yesterday when a top African National Congress (ANC) MP accused
the Europeans of recolonising Africa through economic means.

The delegation from the European Parliament was also criticised
sharply for accusing SA of encouraging smaller countries to refuse to
sign an economic partnership agreement (EPA) with southern African
countries.

A member of the South African delegation also suggested that smaller
countries from the Southern African Customs Union were coerced into
signing the agreement for fear of losing their access to European
markets.

The meeting comes as SA and the EU are in disagreement on the terms of
the EPA negotiated with the Southern African Development Community
(SADC). The disagreement on the terms of the EPA has seen SA excluded
in a move that experts believe splits the collective SADC economy, and
according to international policy expert John Maré, places the
Southern African Customs Union at risk.

ANC MP Job Sithole, who chairs Parliament?s foreign affairs committee,
said the very countries that Africans had fought for their liberation
were now recolonising Africa economically through their collective
organisation, the EU . He accused the EU of dividing the region and of
harming the unity of the customs union. Sithole said after African
economies were damaged they were offered crumbs from the table of
the EU. Sithole said the EU was taking advantage of weaknesses in
African economies, and that the EU did not talk to Africans as equals.

EU ambassador to SA Lodewijk Briët denied this, saying he believed the
EU made every endeavour to treat Africans as equals. He said the
economic partnership agreements were not recolonising Africa or
creating further divisions in Africa. Heading the delegation, ANC MP
Obed Bapela said the signing of the EPA by countries such as Namibia
and Botswana came about because of their fear of losing quotas for
meat exports to the European market.

He was sharply critical of what he called accusations that South
Africa was intimidating other SADC countries not to sign the
partnership agreement. Bapela said this was a thorny issue, and it
would be raised in closed session. The draft agenda for the two-day
meeting included a review of the recent Africa-EU summit, EU
immigration policy, climate change and the environment, nuclear energy
policy for SA, bio fuels policy and the contested SADC economic
partnership agreement.

____________________________________

5. World Health Organisation (WHO) narrows down second-line ARV
options. Integrated Regional Information Networks, Johannesburg, 7
February 2008.

As developing countries scale up their antiretroviral (ARV) treatment
programmes, more and more people living with HIV are expected to
develop resistance to their drug regimens and will need second-line
medicines.

Many second-line drugs are either unavailable or prohibitively
expensive in developing countries, and doctors often lack experience
or knowledge of what combination of second-line ARVs to prescribe.

In a move aimed at helping governments formulate second-line treatment
regimens, fast-track drug approvals and drive down prices, the World
Health Organisation (WHO) has narrowed down the number of second-line
ARVs it recommends.

The new guidelines, drawn from an expert meeting held in May 2007,
have been released partly in response to requests from countries for
more guidance on which second-line ARVs to include in their national
treatment programmes.

Clearer guidance

"These new guidelines are good news," said Dr Tido von Schoen-Anderer,
director of Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines run by Medecins
Sans Frontiers. "Before there were so many different drug options and
now there is much clearer guidance, and that has major advantages at
the programme level and also the choice of drugs means it's going to
be cheaper."

Of the two million HIV-positive people in low- and middle-income
countries receiving treatment by December 2006, the WHO estimates that
only about two percent were on second-line ARVs, but that number is
rising because about three percent of ARV patients switch from first-
to second-line treatment every year.

Second-line drugs can cost between two and nine times as much as
fist-line drugs and few generic versions are available. The WHO has
estimated that without price reductions, by 2012 as much as 90 percent
of the funds for providing ARV treatment will be spent on second-line
drugs.

According to the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI), the
prices of a number of generic second-line drugs in the pipeline or
awaiting regulatory approval will depend on limiting the number of
different drugs used for second-line treatment.

"Second-line access is still a challenge," said Andy Gray a consultant
pharmacist for the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South
Africa (CAPRISA). He pointed out that South Africa, a middle-income
country with much greater regulatory capacity than other countries in
the region, still lacked a generic version of a second-line protease
inhibitor, a class of ARV drugs that is a component of most adult
regimens.

Gray welcomed the WHO's additional guidelines on second-line
treatment, but worried that the choices might be too restrictive.
"Limiting the number of second-line options may look attractive to a
country programme, but in a middle-income country such as South Africa
there's going to be a lot of pressure from clinicians that they need
more options," he told IRIN/PlusNews.

"If countries like South Africa have enough well-trained clinicians,
then of course they can offer more options," Von Schoen-Anderer
responded, "but in terms of making second-line treatment more
available, the only way forward was to make it simpler and easier to
implement."

Second-line ARVs still too expensive

Gray and Von Schoen-Anderer agreed that many obstacles remained to
making second-line drugs more cheaply available. "I don't think
governments are doing enough to prepare for the numbers of people who
are going to need second-line treatment," Gray said.

Few governments, for example, have so far taken advantage of
safeguards provided in the World Trade Organisation's Trade Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which allow
intellectual property rights to be balanced against public health
priorities.

Under TRIPS, countries can override drug patents during a public
health emergency by issuing a 'compulsory license' to manufacture or
import cheaper generic versions, a move Von Schoen-Anderer predicted
might be necessary, especially if pharmaceutical companies were
successful in challenging an Indian law that allows the country to
block patents for medicines that are modified versions of existing
drugs.

"There's enormous dependence on generics from India so we look with a
lot of concern now to what is going to happen there with the patents,"
said Von Schoen-Anderer.

The new WHO guidelines draw attention to an additional barrier to
effective second-line treatment: the lack of capacity in many
developing countries to carry out tests that diagnose first-line ARV
treatment failure.

"In order to maximise the efficacy and durability of first- and
second-line antiretroviral regimens," read the guidelines, "WHO
continues to support the universal availability and use of appropriate
and affordable CD4 [an indication of immune strength] and HIV
viral-load testing."

In the absence of equipment to measure viral load [the amount of HI
virus in the system], health workers have to rely on physical signs
that the disease is progressing in spite of treatment. As a result,
drug resistance is often quite advanced before its detecte

____________________________________

6. Question as to circumcision advice. Clare Lare Nullis, Associated
Press, Cape Town (SA), February 7, 2008.

South Africa's health minister took another controversial foray into
the AIDS debate Thursday by questioning international medical studies
that say circumcision helps reduce HIV infections in men.

Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who frequently clashes with foreign experts
on how to deal with this nation's world-worst AIDS epidemic, said
there wasn't "enough information" to justify the government running
roughshod over some local communities whose traditions frown on
circumcision.

Her comments were the latest in a string of positions that have earned
Tshabalala-Msimang sharp criticism from AIDS activists, leading one
expert to say the statement showed she is "addicted to folly."

Tshabalala-Msimang voiced doubts about the circumcision studies on the
sidelines of a meeting of South African traditional leaders. Many of
those leaders portrayed the advice on circumcision as a Western
attempt to force foreign values and solutions on Africans.

South Africa has an estimated 5.4 million people infected with the
AIDS virus, the most of any nation.

The United Nations says there is compelling evidence circumcision
reduces the risk of men contracting the AIDS virus by up to 60
percent. The World Health Organization and UNAIDS last March endorsed
male circumcision as an "additional important intervention."

The advice was issued following three extensive trials in South
Africa, Kenya and Uganda that showed circumcision dramatically reduced
men's susceptibility to HIV infection because the cells in the
foreskin of the penis are especially vulnerable to the virus.

One study projected that in the next decade, male circumcision could
prevent 2 million AIDS infections and 300,000 deaths.

Tshabalala-Msimang said she was not convinced, noting South Africa's
Xhosa ethnic communities suffer high AIDS infection rates even though
nearly all Xhosa men are circumcised. However, the infection rate is
even higher for Zulus, for whom circumcision is taboo.

The health minister also said male circumcision offers no protection
for women, who bear the brunt of the AIDS infections in sub-Saharan
Africa.

Stephen Lewis, the former U.N. AIDS envoy for Africa and a strong
critic of Tshabalala-Msimang, said the comments were typical of an
official who has espoused garlic and lemon as a remedy for AIDS and
openly mistrusts anti-retroviral medicines used to treat infections.

"She remains a minister who is addicted to folly," Lewis said in an
interview from Canada. "There is overwhelming scientific evidence that
male circumcision is one of the important ways of preventing
transmission of the virus. This is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt."

Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia and Swaziland are among the African countries
incorporating male circumcision as part of government AIDS prevention
strategies. The United States and big donors like the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation have said they are willing to fund such programs.

Swaziland, where an estimated one-third of the population is infected,
has set up a circumcision task force even though Swazi culture is
similar to that of Zulus, who fear circumcision will undermine their
warrior traditions.

Twelve Swazi doctors, a tenth of the country's total, are being
trained to perform the operation. The country's rate of circumcisions
has increased from a couple a week to more than 10 a day, said Inon
Schenker, head of an Israeli training mission in Swaziland.

"I meet almost everyone who comes into the operating room," Schenker
said in a telephone interview. "I ask them, `Why did you come?' and
90-plus percent say, `This is going to allow us to be healthy.'"

He said every Swazi man who undergoes circumcision is counselled that
the medical procedure alone does not offer complete protection against
the AIDS virus and continued condom use is essential. They are also
told they must wait until the wound heals before having sex.

_____________________________________

7. Country to establish a single local government system. Commonwealth
News and Information Service (London), AllAfrica Global Media
(allAfrica.com), 5 February 2008.

The Commonwealth Secretariat has organised a workshop aimed at
strengthening the ability of local governments in Swaziland to
effectively deliver services to citizens.

The workshop, taking place from 4 to 6 February 2008 at Piggs Peak in
Swaziland, is being attended by local government officials who are in
charge of local administration.

The Secretariat's Governance and Institutional Development Division
(GIDD) organised the workshop with funding from the Commonwealth Fund
for Technical Co-operation and UN-HABITAT, the United Nations agency
for human settlements. It is a response to a request made by
Swaziland's Deputy Prime Minister, Constance Simelane, during her
visit to the Commonwealth Secretariat's London headquarters in March
2007.

Although decentralisation in Swaziland can be traced as far back as
1955, it was not until 2005 that the government formulated a
decentralisation policy which has now been fully adopted as part of
its governance structure. Over the next five years, the Swazi
Government intends to implement measures that will establish a single
country-wide system of local government which is currently divided
between rural and urban authorities.

This policy is reflected in the country's 25-year strategy - the
National Development Strategy - as central to its development agenda
and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

John Wilkins, Head of GIDD's Special Programme Section, said many
developing Commonwealth countries are facing a myriad of challenges
including poverty and delivering local services such as health care
and education. He added that "local governments can play a significant
role in addressing these and other allied issues like attaining the
MDGs."

Dr Munawwar Alam, the Secretariat's Adviser for Sub-national
Government and Administration, stated that the workshop will enable
top policy-makers in the country to understand the challenges of
implementing local government reforms and finding appropriate solutions.

"It will also consider various reform options suitable for the
country; how leadership can bring about change; recent trends towards
decentralisation in Sub-Saharan Africa; and experiences of other
countries," he noted.
_____________________________________

8. Southern Africa: Thirty percent less maize by 2030. Integrated
Regional Information Networks (IRIN), Johannesburg, 8 February, 2008.

As global warming pushes temperatures up and droughts become more
intense, the production of maize, southern Africa's staple food, could
drop by as much as 30 percent in another two decades, according to a
new study.

The study by a group of Stanford University researchers calls on
countries to opt for long-term measures like the development of new
crop varieties and investment in irrigation, which could help lessen
the impact on food production more substantially than shifting
planting dates.

"Adaptation is a key factor that will shape the future severity of
climate change impacts on food production," said David Lobell, the
lead author of the report on the study. "These adaptations will
require substantial investments by farmers, governments, scientists
and development organisations, all of whom face many other demands on
their resources."

The impact on food security by 2030 was estimated by looking at
changes in both temperature and rainfall, as large agricultural
investments "typically take 15 to 30 years to realise full returns."
Lobell said there was little money and time available to invest in the
affected communities.

The Stanford researchers based their analysis on a synthesis of
information on what poor people eat, observed relationships between
historical harvests and climate variability in poor regions, and
various projections of climate change by 2030 to inform investment
decisions. A total of 94 crop-region combinations, including rice in
South Asia and groundnuts in East Africa, were evaluated for the study.

There are drought-resistant crop varieties available in world's 1,500
genebanks, according to Luigi Guarino, Senior Science Coordinator with
the Global Crop Diversity Trust. "Unfortunately, we don't know which
ones they are until they are evaluated. This study [by Lobell et al]
highlights how urgent it is that the contents of genebanks are
evaluated and the resulting information be readily accessible to
breeders in affected countries".

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted that food
production in Africa could halve by 2020, while a 2006 climate change
study coordinated by the Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy
in Africa (CEEPA), based in Pretoria, South Africa, warned that
African governments and farmers should anticipate the need to change
crops rather than holding on to traditional crops that often failed.

CEEPA's study report, Crop Selection: Adapting to Climate Change in
Africa, strongly suggests that agricultural analyses of climate change
impacts take crop selection into account. The research was part of a
project implemented in 11 countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana,
Niger and Senegal in West Africa; Egypt in North Africa; Ethiopia and
Kenya in East Africa and South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe in
southern Africa.

Researchers discovered that African farmers adapted crop choice to
climate. "There is every reason to believe that they will continue to
adapt in the future," said authors Pradeep Kurukulasuriya and Robert
Mendelsohn.

The study found that farmers sometimes chose to grow only a single
crop, such as sorghum, cowpea or maize, but often selected a crop
combination that would survive the harsh conditions in Africa, like
maize-beans, cowpea-sorghum, and millet-groundnut. These combinations
gave farmers more flexibility across climates than growing a single
crop.

"Future research into new crops that are more suitable for higher
temperatures could dramatically improve farmers' welfare, especially
in hot locations such as Africa," the study noted. "Although a great
deal of progress has been achieved in making existing crops more
productive, future research efforts need to move towards making them
more resilient to higher temperatures."

According to another study in the CEEPA project, Africa is expected to
lose 4.1 percent of its cropland by 2039, and 18.4 percent is likely
to have disappeared by the end of the century. Cropland loss is likely
to occur at a much faster rate some parts of Africa, with northern and
eastern Africa losing up to 15 percent of their current cropland area
within the next 30 years or so.

A recent survey by Action Aid, a global anti-poverty agency based in
South Africa, found that changes in rainfall patterns have affected
the growing seasons and the type of crops planted in Malawi:
long-season local maize varieties, which take longer to grow, are no
longer a preferred option, and maize normally planted in November is
now being planted in December.

________________________________________

9. Africa at large: Bad farming practices blamed for infertile soils.
Francis Ayieko, East African (Kenya), February 6, 2008.

The urgency to restore soil fertility in Africa stems from the fact
that more than three-quarters of the farmland in sub-Saharan Africa
has been so depleted of the basic nutrients that crops need for
survive, leading to reduced crop yields.

The soils are also low in organic matter and have poor water holding
capacity. Experts warn that until these conditions are reversed, food
production in Africa will remain depressed. They also say that
unsustainable land practices are contributing to massive erosion and
deforestation.

According to experts, much of Africa?s soils are ancient, derived from
granite weathered over millennia. But soil conditions have worsened in
recent decades. Driven to meet the food demands of a growing
population, African farmers have steadily abandoned traditional
practices that restore soil nutrients, such as leaving fields fallow
for several years between plantings. It is estimated that continuous
cultivation without soil revitalisation causes the loss of eight
million tonnes of soil nutrients each year.

Today, there are 95 million hectares of degraded land in sub-Saharan
Africa, leading to greatly reduced farmland productivity. In the
past, traditional farming practices maintained soil fertility by
allowing fields to lie fallow for a few years. But population growth
and pressure on land have led to a sharp decline in fallowing. Today,
fallowing is practised on less than 25 per cent of land in 29 African
countries and is expected to disappear entirely from 20 of those
countries in the near future.

On the other hand, few small-scale farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are
able to use fertilisers to restore soil health because they either
cannot get or afford the appropriate inputs. Today, sub-Saharan Africa
uses one-tenth of the fertiliser commonly applied on farms around the
world. In addition, there is an art and science to the efficient and
environmentally responsible combination of fertilisers, organic inputs
and cropping techniques to get a maximum return on investment.

Finding the right combinations requires the best farmer knowledge and
technical knowledge. For example, many soils respond poorly to the
application of fertilisers or of organic matter alone. They often
require rehabilitation with the right combinations of both and
appropriate soil management practices. According to agricultural
experts, achieving the level of soil health critical to sustainable
and adequate food production in Africa requires a variety of
activities that will simultaneously improve soil management and land
use practices while increasing farmer access to fertilisers and to the
knowledge needed for their efficient and environmentally sound use.

Statistics show that during the 2002-2004 farming season, 85 per cent
of African farmland, most of it in sub-Saharan Africa, experienced
moderate annual losses of at least 30 kilogrammes of nitrogen,
phosphorous and potassium, and 40 per cent of farmlands experienced
high losses of more than 60 kilogrammes per hectare. It has also been
confirmed that nutrient losses are higher in particular regions. For
example, annual losses on farmlands bordering rivers and on the dry
savannahs of Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya
can be as high as 100 kilogrammes per hectare.

And agriculture lands developed on coastal sediments in Senegal,
Gambia, Benin, Somalia, Kenya and Mozambique are losing up to 120
kilogrammes per hectare.

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Support the democratic movement in Swaziland: MANDELA FUND: BG Bank,
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is a registered national collection in Denmark.