Innovative doctoral education for global food security

Prepare your career as an international scientific expert within the area of global food security by participating in Training for successful doctoral students

Makerere University and SLU invites all interested participants to apply  for the following:

• Transferable skill training for successful doctoral students 
• Workshops for senior staff

Lets Talk About Soil

Soils are fundamental pillars of sustainable development. They are essential for food security, support human well-being, and provide further ecosystem services, such as carbon storage.

They are not only essential but also severely threatened, suffering a continuous decline in quality and being taken over by urban sprawl.

Even though soils are managed and owned locally, their degradation is a key global issue, as their functions transcend national boundaries.

Therefore, we urgently need to upscale actions towards sustainable soil management.

The First Global Soil Week will provide a platform to initiate follow-up actions on land and soil-related decisions made at the Rio+20 Sustainable Development Conference and will take place within the framework of the FAO’s Global Soil Partnership.

The First Global Soil Week offers a forum of interactive exchange and dialogue.

Stakeholders from science, government, business and civil society will come together to share their land and soil-related experience and expertise, and to develop future plans of action for sustainable land/soil management and governance.

The animated film LET’S TALK ABOUT SOIL emphasizes human dependence on soils and describes how sustainable development is threatened by certain soil use trends; the film offers options to make the way we manage our soils more sustainable.

LET’S TALK ABOUT SOIL was produced by designer and animator Uli Henrik Streckenbach for the Global Soil Week and the Global Soil Partnership with the support of the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) – Global Soil Forum, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Deutsche Welle.

Re-blogged from Functional Ecosystems.

HIV/AIDS and food and nutrition security

Mitigating the effects of the pandemic through a rights-based approach

Date: 23 September – October 11 2013; Venue: Wageningen, The Netherlands

-      NFP Fellowships available – apply before 05 February 2013   -

Introduction

Although the world is making progress in addressing the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS, there are still 33.3 million people affected by it. In most countries, the response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic has mainly come from the health sector. However, solutions to mitigate the effects have to be sought in the combination of health and agriculture. Read more

Application

Interested candidates can apply at the website of Centre for Development Innovation, Wageningen UR for admission to the training. Click here to apply.

NFP Fellowships

A limited number of fellowships is available from Nuffic - the Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NFP) for nationals of certain countries. In order to apply for such a NFP fellowship, you have to register through theNuffic Scholarship Online (SOL) system. Applications for NFP fellowships should be submitted before 05 February 2013. SOL opens on December 01. You will be informed by Nuffic whether your application has been accepted. More information on the NFP fellowships.

Important

Please note that for a valid NPF fellowship application you need to register directly at CDI as well as at Nuffic (SOL). Your fellowship application will not be taken into account if you register with only one of these two institutions.

Please feel free to circulate a link to this post through email in your network.

Course coordinator: Fannie de Boer

Centre for Development Innovation (CDI)
Wageningen UR
P.O. Box 88, 6700 AB Wageningen, The Netherlands
E-mail: fannie.deboer@wur.nl  

Please like us on facebook: www.facebook.com/CDIwageningenUR

Website: www.wageningenur.nl/cdi

Twitter: www.twitter.com/CDIwageningenUR

Integrated pest management and food safety

The challenge of combining pesticide use and ensuring safe food

 

03 – 21 June 2013, Wageningen, The Netherlands

 

-      NFP Fellowships available – apply before 2 October 2012   -

 

Introduction

In recent decades, consumers have become increasingly concerned about the quality and safety of their food. Public and private standards for pesticide residues have become stricter than ever before. But while there are plentiful technical solutions, the application of integrated pest management (IPM) is still a struggle for many farmers. Read more

 

Application

Interested candidates can apply to Wageningen UR Centre for Development Innovation for admission to the training. Click here to apply.

 

NFP Fellowships

A limited number of fellowships is available from Nuffic - the Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NFP) for nationals of certain countries. In order to apply for such a NFP fellowship, you have to register through the Nuffic Scholarship Online (SOL) system. Applications for NFP fellowships should be submitted before 2 October 2012. You will be informed by Nuffic whether your application has been accepted. More information on the NFP fellowships.

 

Important

Please note that for a valid NPF fellowship application you need to register directly at CDI as well as at Nuffic (SOL). Your fellowship application will not be taken into account if you register with only one of these two institutions. 

Please share this info with your colleagues and other professionals in your network.

Seed potato technology, certification and supply systems: International course

Gain productivity and improve financial results in a growing market

 

3 – 28 June 2013, Wageningen, The Netherlands

 

-      NFP Fellowships available – apply before 2 October 2012   -

Introduction

The potato is a major food security crop, highly productive in a short time. Seed potatoes are the base of the production chain and the most critical factor for success. Often, supply of seed potatoes is limited through a complex combination of factors. This 4-week course will give you the latest insights on seed production from leading experts – and your fellow participants from all over the world.

Read more

 

Application

Interested candidates can apply to Wageningen UR Centre for Development Innovation for admission to the training. Click here to apply.

 

NFP Fellowships

A limited number of fellowships is available from Nuffic - the Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NFP) for nationals of certain countries. In order to apply for such a NFP fellowship, you have to register through the Nuffic Scholarship Online (SOL) system. Applications for NFP fellowships should be submitted before 2 October 2012. You will be informed by Nuffic whether your application has been accepted. More information on the NFP fellowships.

 

Important

Please note that for a valid NPF fellowship application you need to register directly at CDI as well as at Nuffic (SOL). Your fellowship application will not be taken into account if you register with only one of these two institutions.

Please share this info with your colleagues and other professionals in your network.

African agriculture: Dirt poor

Sub-Sarahan Africa is one of the poorest regions on Earth, in both living standards and soil fertility. The depleted soil has caused average yields of grain crops to stagnate at around 1 tonne per hectare since the 1960s. By contrast, yields now reach 2.5 t ha⁻¹ in south Asia and 4.5 t ha⁻¹ in east Asia, where chemical fertilizers have been widely adopted since the green revolution (see 'Uneven landscape'). Fertilizer use across Africa has remained at around 9 kg ha⁻¹ of cultivated land over the past 40 years, whereas Asia uses 96 kg ha⁻¹ of inorganic fertilizer.

The key to tackling hunger in Africa is enriching its soil. The big debate is about how to do it.

Read more.......

Source: Nature 483, 525–527 (29 March 2012) doi:10.1038/483525a

by Natasha Gilbert

Of natural resources, population growth and modernisation

For how long will the Earth cope with the ever increasing depletion of natural resources and the catastrophic evolution of the Earth's climate?

Watch full HOME documentary here. Courtesy of GoodPlanet.org
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Missing Food: The Case of Postharvest Grain Losses in Sub-Saharan Africa

Reducing post-harvest losses is an essential pillar in achieving food security in Sub-Saharan Africa.

 

Click > to watch video. Adjust your speaker for sound.