Christopher Manyamba, who is a research officer at ReSAKSS-SA based in IWMI, has been awarded one of the four Ph.D. dissertation research fellowships on the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) by IFPRI and its partners.

ReSAKSS is on Slideshare now! You can access to more than 30 presentations about CAADP implementation & African agricultural development in one place. Feature presentations include:

The Centre for the Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development in Southern Africa (CCARDESA), an initiative by the South African Development Community (SADC) to achieve food security through research and innovation, is now open for business in Botswana's

• Food: Is there a crisis?, IRIN, Jan. 21
• Time to make agricultural research a top priority, SciDevNet, Jan. 28
• Another food security crisis? Not if we think this through, Food Security Portal, Jan. 31

• Zimbabwe to Produce Smallest-Ever Wheat Crop, Association Says, Bloomberg Bussinessweek, June 9
• Striga Resistant Varieties to Boost Sorghum Yields, Daily Monitor, June 9
• Africa Could Feed Itself, Says Soil Scientist, ABC News, June 10

The Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI) initiative has launched a new blog.   The ASTI News and Notes blog will feature publication releases, information on past and upcoming events, and the lastest ASTI news and updates.

Access the blog here.

• African Policymakers Urged to Speed Seed to Farmers, SciDev Net, November 23
• Zimbabwe Government Launches Inputs Subsidy, allAfrica.com, November 16
• World Bank to Start Agriculture Fund with $1.5 bn, Reuters, November 24

The Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD) 2010 will take place in Montpellier, France from 28-31 March 2010. The conference aims to provide a global action plan and strategy for improving agricultural research in order to make maximum impact on development, especially of the poor.