Anancy-Net

... A year of change and knowledge sharing

In 2001, a group of information practitioners from various development agencies, led by CTA, KIT and IICD, began working together to produce a manual that would support self-evaluation by information practitioners. At their first meeting the word ‘smart’ was chosen to emphasise ‘best practice’ and as an oblique reference to the SMART indicators (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bound) common in evaluation literature.

In Part 1, we start by providing some background to monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment, what the terms mean, and recent changes in approach.

In Part 2, we move on to the evaluation process itself. This process can be grouped into four phases: preparing the evaluation terms of reference, designing the evaluation, implementing the evaluation, following up the evaluation

In Part 3 we look at the evaluation tools.The tools featured here are those that we consider to be well suited to evaluating information projects, products and services.With the increasing demand for information practitioners to evaluate their projects themselves, and not rely on external evaluations, the tools chosen are also seen as suitable for self-evaluation and for fostering learning and stakeholder participation...

This Part features case studies of evaluations of selected information projects, products and services. In each case we describe the activity and its concept and objectives, and look at how to prepare, implement and report an evaluation of the activity.

This book is about using video in rural interventions for social change. It gives a glimpse into the many creative ways in which video can be used in rural development activities. Capitalising on experience in this field, the book aims to encourage development professionals to explore the potential of video in development, making it a more coherent, better understood and properly used development tool – in short, filming for rural change.

Failure to control clinical worm infestation in sheep can result in blood loss, thin animals and death. In case of hydatid disease (a disease related to infestation with tapeworm), failure to control the life cycle can result in a public health problem and deaths in infected humans.

The present publication is a compendium of briefings published on the CTA Agritrade web site in 2008.The issues are addressed in a factual and non-partisan manner.

Marketing is becoming increasingly important for small-scale farmers than ever before. Most of the cooperative unions which used to provide outlets to markets for small-scale farmers are no more. There has also been a growth in urban markets, with farm produce making it to the big towns and cities where they fetch better prices. Farmers would also want to have access to good export markets so that they can have better returns for their produce. But how can small-scale farmers take advantage of these opportunities to market their produce? In this radio programme we are going to look at a number of suggestions for small-scale farmers to assist them, for example in making decisions about what to produce, who to sell it to, how to increase its value, and ideas for solving problems with transport and communication.

Stemborers are dangerous insect pests in Uganda. They are capable of destroying a great deal of the maize and sorghum plants. Crops between 3 to 5 weeks old are at a higher risk of attack by the Stemborer caterpillar. Stemborers are notorious for killing or stunting corn rows next to fences, grassed waterways, and conservation terraces. How do stemborers get into your maize or sorghum crop? It happens when moths lay eggs on the plant. The eggs hatch in about two to five days. The freshly hatched caterpillars migrate towards the central shoot where they first feed on the tender leaves for sometime. Later on they bore into top internode and move downwards. In case of younger plants, the growing point gets badly damaged resulting into the drying up of the central shoot.

Many plant diseases are caused by very tiny living things called pathogens. Pathogens are so tiny that you cannot see them even with a naked eye. Examples of pathogens are viruses, bacteria, and fungi. When a pathogen attacks a cassava plant, it multiplies and spreads inside or on the plant. As it spreads, it destroys the plant. The plant will show signs (symptoms) of attack. Damage symptoms of major cassava diseases appear on the leaves, stems, and storage roots or tubers of the plant. Cassava diseases are recognized by their symptoms, such as discoloration of leaves, “sores” on the stems, and discoloration of storage roots.Some other diseases which you may notice in cassava are caused by non living things. Examples of such diseases are wilting due to drought and poor plant growth because of poor soils.

Good soil fertility management ensures that the soil can actually provide the nutrients in sufficient amounts at all times during the growth of plants. Soil fertility in many parts of Africa, however, is declining. Africa’s consumption of fertilizers is the lowest in the world and organic matter that could, to some extent, replace fertility, is often burnt and soils left bare to the degrading effects of the sun and the wind. How can farmers increase their harvests when their soils are poor?

Banana is a very important crop not only in Uganda, but all over the world. It is the world's fourth most widely-grown food crop after rice, wheat and maize, and the most important food staple in many other countries in Africa. In recent years, banana productivity in Uganda has been decreasing due to pests and diseases, declining soil fertility and socio-economic factors such as inadequate labour and marketing problems. Most banana workers in Africa are women, a trend which may be increasing due to migration of males in search of work. It is important that women especially listen carefully to this radio programme.

There are some preventive management practices, however, that can be used to minimise losses from parasitic infections. Preventive practices include vaccination, proper diagnosis, seeking urgent veterinary assistance, ensuring a good balanced diet, availing clean water, a clean housing, proper sanitation, pasture and/or pen rotation, keeping animals away from wet, swampy areas, and administering regular doses of anti-parasitic medicine. This radio programme discusses these practices and offers farmers practical information to overcome these parasites.

This script features recommendations for the control of Xanthomonas (pronounced ‘zanthomonas') bacterial wilt in bananas. Bacterial wilt poses a significant threat to banana production in Uganda.

Despite the high local demand for groundnuts, farmers’ yields continue to dwindle, averaging 560kg/ha of dry seed. However, yields of over 1750kg/ha have been achieved in experimental plots, indicating a good potential to improve farmer’s yields. It is, therefore, possible to increase groundnut production if the farmers could improve or adopt improved production practices.

This publication provides a summary of a very busy week’s agenda, especially the media coverage, lessons from e-discussions, a summary of the main recommendations and conclusions of the seminar, and abstracts of the presentations...

This study commissioned by CTA aims to identify agricultural information needs of key actors / beneficiaries for CTA products and services, potential actors ..and, to develop some baseline data to facilitate subsequent monitoring activities.

Summary of adaption and mitigation strategies for reducing the effects of climate change especially with regard to better information and communincation management.