The Southern African Music Rights Organisation was amongst scores of organisations from a number of African countries hat convened in Lilongwe (Malawi) on 28-30 May 2008, to share ideas and officially launch the newly formed Southern and Eastern Africa Copyright Network (SEACONET).
This momentous occasion was graced by several government officials from various African States representing their respective ministries dealing with copyright issues.
For its part, SAMRO forms part of five other copyright organizations/institutions elected to serve on the first Executive Council of SEACONET.
Speaking on behalf of SAMRO, Advocate Joel Baloyi had this to say: "The formation of this network arises out of the need to discuss and share information on different issues relating to the promotion and protection of copyright and related rights. It was also acknowledged that the network is important for the strengthening of regional collaboration and cooperation in the field of copyright and related rights.”
SEACONET, whose membership is comprised of collecting societies, copyright offices and other copyright organizations in the Southern- and Eastern Africa sub-region, aims to create public awareness and appreciation on the role of the cultural industries, copyright and related rights in national and regional development.
It also targets the reduction of piracy through the introduction of common or unified anti-piracy mechanisms in the sub-region.
In due course, SEACONET aims, amongst others, to adopt a constitution, set up a secretariat, facilitate the harmonization of copyright laws in the sub-region, address piracy, establish a common information database relating to copyright matters, as well as embark on awareness campaigns and training.
The Lilongwe meeting adopted the constitution of SEACONET, as well as other constitutive documents, and formally set up a secretariat, which shall be based in Malawi. Organisations represented at the summit included copyright societies and other copyright organizations/institutions countries such as South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, to mention a few.
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Euro 2008 boosts TV subscription
Multichoice, a digital TV provider in Malawi has slashed the prices of some of its products to allow more people watch the ongoing Euro 2008 soccer fiesta in Austria and Switzerland. The DSTV which comprises the Dish, Decoder and card is now at $ 135.71 from $ 321.42 whereas the decoders only is at $ 71.42 from $ 178.57
The Daily Times reported on Tuesday that the promotion, which started on June 5, has already courted about 400 subscribers and the company says more people are thronging its Lilongwe and Blantyre offices to be connected.
Malawi’s Multichoice Sales and Marketing Manager Chimwemwe Nyirenda said on Sunday the promotion is receiving a very good response and the company is registering new subscribers.
He further said the promotion will also help soccer lovers in the Southern African country to watch 16 nations battling it out in the on going UEFA Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland.
“We decided to come up with this promotion just to allow more people watch soccer and other programmes that are now added to Dstv,” Nyirenda said.
He attributed the good response to the company’s good marketing strategy that has seen the establishment of agents in most districts across the country.
The marketer said the company is determined to increase its subscriber base by about 25 percent this year.
“We established agents in most districts, enabling customers to access all Dstv equipment within a shorter distance than previously when we were only in the three major cities,” said Nyirenda, adding that the agents are also provided for with well-trained installers.
Dstv has four bouquets: Premium, Compact, Family and newly launched Easy view.
“The customers will not be restricted to subscribe to any particular bouquet. They will have to decide depending on how they earn,” he said.
According to the Dstv service provider the promotion would run until stocks last.
The Daily Times reported on Tuesday that the promotion, which started on June 5, has already courted about 400 subscribers and the company says more people are thronging its Lilongwe and Blantyre offices to be connected.
Malawi’s Multichoice Sales and Marketing Manager Chimwemwe Nyirenda said on Sunday the promotion is receiving a very good response and the company is registering new subscribers.
He further said the promotion will also help soccer lovers in the Southern African country to watch 16 nations battling it out in the on going UEFA Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland.
“We decided to come up with this promotion just to allow more people watch soccer and other programmes that are now added to Dstv,” Nyirenda said.
He attributed the good response to the company’s good marketing strategy that has seen the establishment of agents in most districts across the country.
The marketer said the company is determined to increase its subscriber base by about 25 percent this year.
“We established agents in most districts, enabling customers to access all Dstv equipment within a shorter distance than previously when we were only in the three major cities,” said Nyirenda, adding that the agents are also provided for with well-trained installers.
Dstv has four bouquets: Premium, Compact, Family and newly launched Easy view.
“The customers will not be restricted to subscribe to any particular bouquet. They will have to decide depending on how they earn,” he said.
According to the Dstv service provider the promotion would run until stocks last.
ICB Financial gets approval to form new Malawi bank
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - ICB Financial Group Holdings AG said it has received approval of a licence from the Reserve Bank of Malawi to establish a bank in Malawi.
The opening of the bank in Malawi is line with the group's plan to expand its banking network in Africa where it currently has a presence in eight countries, the investment holding company said.
The opening of the bank in Malawi is line with the group's plan to expand its banking network in Africa where it currently has a presence in eight countries, the investment holding company said.
Norway to give Malawi MK22.5 billion
Blantyre, Malawi - Norway will be giving Malawi 5.5 billion Malawi Kwacha every year for the next four years for development projects in the African country, a visiting Nowergian official has said.
"This is under a development co-operation agreement the two governments have signed," the Norwegian Secretary of State for Development, Haakon Gulbrandsen, said as as an agreement to this effect was signed here Tuesday.
Under the agreement, Norway will also support the country's fertiliser subsidy programme this year with more than 420 million Malawi Kwacha.
Speaking during the signing ceremony, Gulbrandsen said his country would support Malawi's efforts to reduce poverty and sustain the country's economic growth.
He said the support was based on sound economic principles shown by the administration of President Bingu Mutharika.
Malawi's Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe said the agreement was an important milestone in the development of co-operation between Norway and Malawi.
On Norway's decision to fund the fertiliser subsidy programme, which most of the West had shunned, Gondwe said: "It's a very welcome surprise to me. We are having difficulties because the amount of fertiliser that we use has risen astronomically."
Gulberesen said Norway's first area was governance through which the Scandinavian kingdom would support efforts to improve good governance, policy making and im plementation through budget support and capacity building.
Norway will also support health and efforts to deal HIV/AIDS as well as improved health service delivery.
The third area of support will be environment, sustainable management of natural resources, agrculture and gender issues.
"This is under a development co-operation agreement the two governments have signed," the Norwegian Secretary of State for Development, Haakon Gulbrandsen, said as as an agreement to this effect was signed here Tuesday.
Under the agreement, Norway will also support the country's fertiliser subsidy programme this year with more than 420 million Malawi Kwacha.
Speaking during the signing ceremony, Gulbrandsen said his country would support Malawi's efforts to reduce poverty and sustain the country's economic growth.
He said the support was based on sound economic principles shown by the administration of President Bingu Mutharika.
Malawi's Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe said the agreement was an important milestone in the development of co-operation between Norway and Malawi.
On Norway's decision to fund the fertiliser subsidy programme, which most of the West had shunned, Gondwe said: "It's a very welcome surprise to me. We are having difficulties because the amount of fertiliser that we use has risen astronomically."
Gulberesen said Norway's first area was governance through which the Scandinavian kingdom would support efforts to improve good governance, policy making and im plementation through budget support and capacity building.
Norway will also support health and efforts to deal HIV/AIDS as well as improved health service delivery.
The third area of support will be environment, sustainable management of natural resources, agrculture and gender issues.
Norway grants Malawi US$42million for development
Lilongwe (Malawi) Norway said on Tuesday in Lilongwe that it had granted Malawi US$42million to support the Southern African country’s development programme for the next five years (2008-2012).
Speaking during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in Lilongwe, the Norwegian State Secretary for International Development, Hakon Arald Gulbrandsen, said the country’s commitment to promoting democratic pluralism, human rights and good governance, including the fight against corruption, formed the basis of the agreed cooperation.
And a free and fair forthcoming elections are key milestones in the cooperation, he added.
"We would like to use this opportunity to encourage all parties to continue constructive dialogue in order to find a solution to the political impasse," he said.
As a response to the global rise in food prices and its impact on Malawi, he noted, his government has decided to offer up to US$3 million as additional funds to support the country’s fertilizer and seed subsidy program.
Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe said the funding had come at the right time when Malawi was implementing its priorities as drawn up in the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS), the country’s development blueprint.
"The development cooperation signed here is aligned to our MGDS with the aim of reducing poverty in the country," the minister said.
Malawi and Norway development cooperation was formalised in 1997 and its bilateral assistance has amounted to approximately US$360 million so far.
Speaking during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in Lilongwe, the Norwegian State Secretary for International Development, Hakon Arald Gulbrandsen, said the country’s commitment to promoting democratic pluralism, human rights and good governance, including the fight against corruption, formed the basis of the agreed cooperation.
And a free and fair forthcoming elections are key milestones in the cooperation, he added.
"We would like to use this opportunity to encourage all parties to continue constructive dialogue in order to find a solution to the political impasse," he said.
As a response to the global rise in food prices and its impact on Malawi, he noted, his government has decided to offer up to US$3 million as additional funds to support the country’s fertilizer and seed subsidy program.
Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe said the funding had come at the right time when Malawi was implementing its priorities as drawn up in the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS), the country’s development blueprint.
"The development cooperation signed here is aligned to our MGDS with the aim of reducing poverty in the country," the minister said.
Malawi and Norway development cooperation was formalised in 1997 and its bilateral assistance has amounted to approximately US$360 million so far.
New MRI to debut in Malawi; will save lives, advance malaria research
Contact: Pat Grauer, College of Osteopathic Medicine: (517) 353-0616, pat.grauer@hc.msu.edu; Tom Oswald, University Relations: (517) 432-0920, cell (517) 281-7129, oswald@msu.edu
BLANTYRE, Malawi — Michigan State University physician Terrie Taylor studies cerebral malaria in Malawi where the vast majority of malaria patients are children. And, in order to get a closer look at the damage malaria does to a child, Taylor and colleagues study the child’s brain, something that, up until now, could only be done in an autopsy.
However, that will change this summer when a new magnetic resonance imaging unit – the first MRI machine ever to come to Malawi – will be put into operation. This will not only let physicians assess malaria damage before a child has died, but will help to diagnose a wide range of illnesses that affect the local population.
“This will help in so many ways,” Taylor said. “We will use it for the research we do, we’ll be able to use it for everyday patients that come through the hospital, and it will help to attract and retain more doctors to Malawi.”
The MRI unit arrived in Malawi in April. It will be housed at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi’s largest city.
It will be officially dedicated by the minister of health on June 23 at a ceremony involving several MSU dignitaries.
“We are honored that the honorable Kkhumbo Kachali, Ministry of Health, will be able to join us on this historic occasion,” said William Strampel, dean of MSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine which donated more than $400,000 for the project.
Currently, there is only one radiologist who serves the entire nation of Malawi. Another benefit of the new MRI unit is that it will allow that radiologist – Sam Kampondeni – to send images to MSU where radiologists will assess and evaluate them and offer a second opinion.
“With this new MRI unit we will be able to serve as many as 18 patients per day,” said Kampondeni, who trained as a guest in the MSU Department of Radiology in 2007.
Not only will the MRI machine be the first in Malawi, it also will serve the neighboring countries of Mozambique and Zambia, neither of which has an MRI.
Taylor, a University Distinguished Professor of internal medicine and an osteopathic physician, spends the rainy season – January through June – working at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, treating malaria patients and conducting research on a disease that kills as many as 2 million children in sub-Saharan Africa every year.
So far, one of the most significant findings from Taylor’s study is that about one-quarter of the children who were thought to have cerebral malaria turned out, on autopsy, to have died of infections, diseases or conditions that were completely unrelated to malaria.
“This calls into question a lot of the work that’s been done on severe malaria to date,” she said. “The studies might have included patients who were not suffering from malaria at all, because the researchers were using case definitions that lacked precision.”
Taylor’s autopsy study was funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health. The NIH also is providing funding for the MRI project, including funds to cover some of the operating costs as well as the high-speed Internet connection.
It was through the efforts of James Potchen, an MSU University Distinguished Professor of radiology and chairperson of the department, that General Electric Co. donated the MRI unit to the hospital. The department also supported the costs of training Kampondeni to interpret magnetic resonance images.
Combined with transportation costs and the various hardware, software and other MRI necessities, the total value of the donation was more than $1.3 million.
The largest part of the MRI machine – a compact car-sized magnet weighing 20 tons – arrived in Blantyre in April after what could have been a harrowing journey.
The machine was assembled in China and, beginning March 15, transported to the South African port of Durban by sea. After its arrival on the continent, the precious cargo was hauled by truck to its final destination, traveling through Botswana and Zambia to avoid civil unrest in Zimbabwe.
###
Michigan State University has been advancing knowledge and transforming lives through innovative teaching, research and outreach for more than 150 years. MSU is known internationally as a major public university with global reach and extraordinary impact. Its 17 degree-granting colleges attract scholars worldwide who are interested in combining education with practical problem solving.
BLANTYRE, Malawi — Michigan State University physician Terrie Taylor studies cerebral malaria in Malawi where the vast majority of malaria patients are children. And, in order to get a closer look at the damage malaria does to a child, Taylor and colleagues study the child’s brain, something that, up until now, could only be done in an autopsy.
However, that will change this summer when a new magnetic resonance imaging unit – the first MRI machine ever to come to Malawi – will be put into operation. This will not only let physicians assess malaria damage before a child has died, but will help to diagnose a wide range of illnesses that affect the local population.
“This will help in so many ways,” Taylor said. “We will use it for the research we do, we’ll be able to use it for everyday patients that come through the hospital, and it will help to attract and retain more doctors to Malawi.”
The MRI unit arrived in Malawi in April. It will be housed at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi’s largest city.
It will be officially dedicated by the minister of health on June 23 at a ceremony involving several MSU dignitaries.
“We are honored that the honorable Kkhumbo Kachali, Ministry of Health, will be able to join us on this historic occasion,” said William Strampel, dean of MSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine which donated more than $400,000 for the project.
Currently, there is only one radiologist who serves the entire nation of Malawi. Another benefit of the new MRI unit is that it will allow that radiologist – Sam Kampondeni – to send images to MSU where radiologists will assess and evaluate them and offer a second opinion.
“With this new MRI unit we will be able to serve as many as 18 patients per day,” said Kampondeni, who trained as a guest in the MSU Department of Radiology in 2007.
Not only will the MRI machine be the first in Malawi, it also will serve the neighboring countries of Mozambique and Zambia, neither of which has an MRI.
Taylor, a University Distinguished Professor of internal medicine and an osteopathic physician, spends the rainy season – January through June – working at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, treating malaria patients and conducting research on a disease that kills as many as 2 million children in sub-Saharan Africa every year.
So far, one of the most significant findings from Taylor’s study is that about one-quarter of the children who were thought to have cerebral malaria turned out, on autopsy, to have died of infections, diseases or conditions that were completely unrelated to malaria.
“This calls into question a lot of the work that’s been done on severe malaria to date,” she said. “The studies might have included patients who were not suffering from malaria at all, because the researchers were using case definitions that lacked precision.”
Taylor’s autopsy study was funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health. The NIH also is providing funding for the MRI project, including funds to cover some of the operating costs as well as the high-speed Internet connection.
It was through the efforts of James Potchen, an MSU University Distinguished Professor of radiology and chairperson of the department, that General Electric Co. donated the MRI unit to the hospital. The department also supported the costs of training Kampondeni to interpret magnetic resonance images.
Combined with transportation costs and the various hardware, software and other MRI necessities, the total value of the donation was more than $1.3 million.
The largest part of the MRI machine – a compact car-sized magnet weighing 20 tons – arrived in Blantyre in April after what could have been a harrowing journey.
The machine was assembled in China and, beginning March 15, transported to the South African port of Durban by sea. After its arrival on the continent, the precious cargo was hauled by truck to its final destination, traveling through Botswana and Zambia to avoid civil unrest in Zimbabwe.
###
Michigan State University has been advancing knowledge and transforming lives through innovative teaching, research and outreach for more than 150 years. MSU is known internationally as a major public university with global reach and extraordinary impact. Its 17 degree-granting colleges attract scholars worldwide who are interested in combining education with practical problem solving.
Malawi cultivates cash gains for its farmers
Try walking 25 kilometres carrying a 50-kilogramme bag of fertiliser on your head, as farmers in Malawi do, and you might get a sharper appreciation of the difficulties in building agricultural supply chains in Africa.
It is hard to find a country that more embodies the struggles to improve African farming. Landlocked, crowded, one of the poorest countries on earth, Malawi’s 10m semi-subsistence smallholders coax harvests of corn from poor soils in family plots averaging just half a hectare.
Yet a nationwide experiment, and a more intensive local pilot operating as part of an international trial, have shown the gains possible from giving farmers access to inputs that their counterparts elsewhere in the world would regard as routine.
A widely-watched government subsidy scheme, which gives smallholders vouchers to buy seed and fertiliser, helped to double the harvest between 2004-05 and 2005-06, and has just helped produce another rich corn crop.
Meanwhile, in the south of the country near the high Zomba plateau, a cluster of settlements that is home to about 35,000 people has become part of the international “millennium villages project” inspired by Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, and backed by the United Nations.
The millennium villagers receive intensive help across a wide range of areas such as education, healthcare and setting up small businesses. On the agricultural front they get seeds and fertiliser on a more generous basis than the nationwide government scheme, and advice to help them diversify into cash crops such as groundnuts, cabbages, tomatoes and fish farming.
Glenn Denning, who helps run the project as director of the Millennium Development Goals Centre in Kenya, says that the villages should reach sustainably higher output in five to 10 years, though the Malawi one is likely to take longer. Currently, the corn cribs in the villages are overflowing with the second successive year of bumper harvests, two or three times the national average yield, which is helping to support the project’s other aims. A school-feeding programme giving corn porridge to pupils has increased attendance at the local primary school from 380 children to 500, the headmaster says.
Esnart Kaphesi, a farmer in the millennium village, used to harvest about eight 50kg bags of corn from planting traditional varieties of seed. Having been given higher-yielding hybrid seed and 100kg of fertiliser, her crop is now 21 bags and counting.
“This year is the best yet,” she says. Her first priority is an iron roof for her house to replace the thatch. If she continues to generate surpluses she wants to open a sideline trading rice.
Connecting farmers to the cash economy requires overcoming considerable challenges in itself.
Although the Zomba villages are closer to the nearest town than many in Malawi, some farmers still have to walk or cycle 25km to buy inputs or sell produce. Some club together to hire pick-up trucks to take their crops to the market. Cecilia Natchengwa, another villager, says that the rising cost of fuel is cutting into the money to be made from selling cabbages, although they remain her most profitable cash crop.
Whether the schemes of subsidised inputs are sustainable, or indeed applicable, elsewhere in Africa, remains in question. The national voucher scheme will be repeated for next year’s harvest. But global fertiliser prices, which largely reflect the cost of energy used to make it, will increase by 70 per cent. Ms Kaphesi estimates that, after keeping enough for her family to eat, she will be able to sell 10 bags of corn this year to raise 15,000 kwacha ($110, €70, £57).
Last year, that would have been enough to buy the seed and fertiliser she was given, suggesting the scheme could be self-supporting. This year, fertiliser prices have doubled to K9,000 for 50kg, meaning she would not break even without the free inputs.
Experts say that it is tricky to design large-scale government interventions that correct market failures rather than add to them.
A recent review of the national subsidy programme led by Andrew Dorward, a UK academic, was generally positive – especially since the scheme now encourages private markets to develop by allowing farmers to buy their fertiliser from agro-dealers rather than the government procuring it centrally.
But Prof Dorward says great care is needed when translating lessons from Malawi to other areas in Africa such as, say, western Kenya, which have better access to ports and more scope for agribusinesses to penetrate rural areas on their own.
“Input subsidies may also be appropriate here, but would need to be implemented very carefully to build on and strengthen the existing demand and supply systems,” he says.
Mr Denning is enthusiastic about the Malawian voucher scheme, but refers to the experience as “an inspiration rather than a model”.
The UK’s Department for International Development is one of Malawi’s biggest donors, and after much internal debate has continued to support the programme.
However, it is cautious about replicating it. Douglas Alexander, international development secretary, says: “I would not at this stage say the lesson is to increase agricultural subsidies across Africa.”
It is hard to find a country that more embodies the struggles to improve African farming. Landlocked, crowded, one of the poorest countries on earth, Malawi’s 10m semi-subsistence smallholders coax harvests of corn from poor soils in family plots averaging just half a hectare.
Yet a nationwide experiment, and a more intensive local pilot operating as part of an international trial, have shown the gains possible from giving farmers access to inputs that their counterparts elsewhere in the world would regard as routine.
A widely-watched government subsidy scheme, which gives smallholders vouchers to buy seed and fertiliser, helped to double the harvest between 2004-05 and 2005-06, and has just helped produce another rich corn crop.
Meanwhile, in the south of the country near the high Zomba plateau, a cluster of settlements that is home to about 35,000 people has become part of the international “millennium villages project” inspired by Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, and backed by the United Nations.
The millennium villagers receive intensive help across a wide range of areas such as education, healthcare and setting up small businesses. On the agricultural front they get seeds and fertiliser on a more generous basis than the nationwide government scheme, and advice to help them diversify into cash crops such as groundnuts, cabbages, tomatoes and fish farming.
Glenn Denning, who helps run the project as director of the Millennium Development Goals Centre in Kenya, says that the villages should reach sustainably higher output in five to 10 years, though the Malawi one is likely to take longer. Currently, the corn cribs in the villages are overflowing with the second successive year of bumper harvests, two or three times the national average yield, which is helping to support the project’s other aims. A school-feeding programme giving corn porridge to pupils has increased attendance at the local primary school from 380 children to 500, the headmaster says.
Esnart Kaphesi, a farmer in the millennium village, used to harvest about eight 50kg bags of corn from planting traditional varieties of seed. Having been given higher-yielding hybrid seed and 100kg of fertiliser, her crop is now 21 bags and counting.
“This year is the best yet,” she says. Her first priority is an iron roof for her house to replace the thatch. If she continues to generate surpluses she wants to open a sideline trading rice.
Connecting farmers to the cash economy requires overcoming considerable challenges in itself.
Although the Zomba villages are closer to the nearest town than many in Malawi, some farmers still have to walk or cycle 25km to buy inputs or sell produce. Some club together to hire pick-up trucks to take their crops to the market. Cecilia Natchengwa, another villager, says that the rising cost of fuel is cutting into the money to be made from selling cabbages, although they remain her most profitable cash crop.
Whether the schemes of subsidised inputs are sustainable, or indeed applicable, elsewhere in Africa, remains in question. The national voucher scheme will be repeated for next year’s harvest. But global fertiliser prices, which largely reflect the cost of energy used to make it, will increase by 70 per cent. Ms Kaphesi estimates that, after keeping enough for her family to eat, she will be able to sell 10 bags of corn this year to raise 15,000 kwacha ($110, €70, £57).
Last year, that would have been enough to buy the seed and fertiliser she was given, suggesting the scheme could be self-supporting. This year, fertiliser prices have doubled to K9,000 for 50kg, meaning she would not break even without the free inputs.
Experts say that it is tricky to design large-scale government interventions that correct market failures rather than add to them.
A recent review of the national subsidy programme led by Andrew Dorward, a UK academic, was generally positive – especially since the scheme now encourages private markets to develop by allowing farmers to buy their fertiliser from agro-dealers rather than the government procuring it centrally.
But Prof Dorward says great care is needed when translating lessons from Malawi to other areas in Africa such as, say, western Kenya, which have better access to ports and more scope for agribusinesses to penetrate rural areas on their own.
“Input subsidies may also be appropriate here, but would need to be implemented very carefully to build on and strengthen the existing demand and supply systems,” he says.
Mr Denning is enthusiastic about the Malawian voucher scheme, but refers to the experience as “an inspiration rather than a model”.
The UK’s Department for International Development is one of Malawi’s biggest donors, and after much internal debate has continued to support the programme.
However, it is cautious about replicating it. Douglas Alexander, international development secretary, says: “I would not at this stage say the lesson is to increase agricultural subsidies across Africa.”
Malawi moves to scale-up jatropha-based biodiesel industry
The Malawi government is facilitating the implementation of a number of private-sector-driven projects to set up biodiesel production plants in the country as part of a multimillion-dollar programme meant to ensure that the country diversifies from its overdependence on fossil fuels as a source of energy.
The director of energy at the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Charles Kafumba, says progress made far on a number of projects indicates that Malawi should start producing biodiesel in 2009.
"The biodiesel programme is based on an energy plantation called jatropha, which takes about a year to start producing fruits. Under the programme, a number of jatropha plantations have been set up in a number of areas. We should expect fuel production from the plants to start next year," says Kafumba.
He adds that government is prioritising production of biofuels from jatropha because the plant is rated more highly than maize and rice as far as oil production is concerned.
Jatropha yields over 2 000 bbl of oil from each square mile planted a year, which is greater than maize's 200 bbl and rice's 1 000 bbl.
After oil product, the residue can be processed into biomass to power electricity.
The plant, which is resistant to drought and pests, is also known for increasing soil fertility, soil making it suitable for growing food crops in subsequent years, says Kafumba.
He adds that the companies that are at an advanced stage in the process to start production of biodiesel from jatropha include a consortium comprising Netherlands-based TNT Group and some African investors, which is reportedly preparing to set up a $12-million biodisel production plant in the capital, Lilongwe.
Kafumba says the adoption of biofuels as a major source of energy will assist the impoverished African nation to avert the impact of rising global oil prices.
Malawi's Department of Science and Technology, in liaison with the government-owned Lilongwe Technical College, is experimenting on the use of cane ethanol to drive vehicles in place of petrol.
The first phase of the experiments, the final results of which are expected in mid-2009, used an old Mitsubishi Pajero that was modified to run on 100% ethanol. The Pajero underwent two tests in which it was ethanol-driven for a total distance of 2 110 km at an average speed of 110 km/h.
"The results proved that the Pajero can be driven using 100% ethanol," says Department of Science and Technology director Henry Mbeza.
The project team is currently working on the second phase of the experiments, which involves testing a flexi-fuel vehicle that has been imported from Brazil by Ethanol Company of Malawi (Ethco), which is privately owned.
Ethco, which is a major producer and exporter of cane ethanol in Malawi, also supplies the ethanol to the project.
The Brazilian-made Ford is designed to run on 100% ethanol or 100% petrol or any mixture of ethanol and petrol in a single tank.
Mbeza says that, in the second phase, the research team will collecting data on vehicle performance when using two of the fuels separately or in different proportions.
Malawi already blends its petrol with 10% ethanol at its refineries and hopes that the results of the experiments will allow it to use more of the locally produced cane ethanol, a significant proportion of which is exported.
Malawi, which is among the major sugar producers in the region, has two ethanol producing plants owned by Ethco and Press Cane, with a combined capacity of 18-million litres a year.
Brazil has offered to provide technical assistance to Malawi and other developing nations in their quest to promote the use of biofuels as an alternative source of energy.
"It is interesting that Brazil is a role model for countries like Malawi. In Brazil, we have reached the extent whereby filling stations have three pumps – for petrol, diesel and ethanol," says Brazil's ambassador-designate to Malawi, Raul Taunay, who attended the launching ceremony of the second phase of the experiments.
The director of energy at the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Charles Kafumba, says progress made far on a number of projects indicates that Malawi should start producing biodiesel in 2009.
"The biodiesel programme is based on an energy plantation called jatropha, which takes about a year to start producing fruits. Under the programme, a number of jatropha plantations have been set up in a number of areas. We should expect fuel production from the plants to start next year," says Kafumba.
He adds that government is prioritising production of biofuels from jatropha because the plant is rated more highly than maize and rice as far as oil production is concerned.
Jatropha yields over 2 000 bbl of oil from each square mile planted a year, which is greater than maize's 200 bbl and rice's 1 000 bbl.
After oil product, the residue can be processed into biomass to power electricity.
The plant, which is resistant to drought and pests, is also known for increasing soil fertility, soil making it suitable for growing food crops in subsequent years, says Kafumba.
He adds that the companies that are at an advanced stage in the process to start production of biodiesel from jatropha include a consortium comprising Netherlands-based TNT Group and some African investors, which is reportedly preparing to set up a $12-million biodisel production plant in the capital, Lilongwe.
Kafumba says the adoption of biofuels as a major source of energy will assist the impoverished African nation to avert the impact of rising global oil prices.
Malawi's Department of Science and Technology, in liaison with the government-owned Lilongwe Technical College, is experimenting on the use of cane ethanol to drive vehicles in place of petrol.
The first phase of the experiments, the final results of which are expected in mid-2009, used an old Mitsubishi Pajero that was modified to run on 100% ethanol. The Pajero underwent two tests in which it was ethanol-driven for a total distance of 2 110 km at an average speed of 110 km/h.
"The results proved that the Pajero can be driven using 100% ethanol," says Department of Science and Technology director Henry Mbeza.
The project team is currently working on the second phase of the experiments, which involves testing a flexi-fuel vehicle that has been imported from Brazil by Ethanol Company of Malawi (Ethco), which is privately owned.
Ethco, which is a major producer and exporter of cane ethanol in Malawi, also supplies the ethanol to the project.
The Brazilian-made Ford is designed to run on 100% ethanol or 100% petrol or any mixture of ethanol and petrol in a single tank.
Mbeza says that, in the second phase, the research team will collecting data on vehicle performance when using two of the fuels separately or in different proportions.
Malawi already blends its petrol with 10% ethanol at its refineries and hopes that the results of the experiments will allow it to use more of the locally produced cane ethanol, a significant proportion of which is exported.
Malawi, which is among the major sugar producers in the region, has two ethanol producing plants owned by Ethco and Press Cane, with a combined capacity of 18-million litres a year.
Brazil has offered to provide technical assistance to Malawi and other developing nations in their quest to promote the use of biofuels as an alternative source of energy.
"It is interesting that Brazil is a role model for countries like Malawi. In Brazil, we have reached the extent whereby filling stations have three pumps – for petrol, diesel and ethanol," says Brazil's ambassador-designate to Malawi, Raul Taunay, who attended the launching ceremony of the second phase of the experiments.
Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report
Global Challenges | Guardian Examines Rise of Pregnancies Among HIV-Positive Women in Malawi
London's Guardian on Saturday profiled Grace Mathanga, an HIV-positive pregnant woman living in Malawi whom the newspaper first profiled five years ago. According to the Guardian, an increasing number of HIV-positive women in Malawi are "knowingly getting pregnant" because of improved access to antiretroviral drugs to prevent mother-to-child transmission. However, the rising number of HIV-positive pregnant women in the country has created concerns about MTCT, as well as the risk of death for women, the Guardian reports.
Despite improved access to antiretrovirals in the country, testing for MTCT has been "much slower" throughout sub-Saharan Africa, according to the Guardian. Last year, 284,000 pregnant women who visited prenatal clinics were tested for HIV in Malawi, and of the 26,000 found to be HIV-positive, 19,000 were given antiretrovirals to take at the onset of labor. In addition, health center records indicated that only half of the infants, or 13,000, were born in maternity units that provided the drug nevirapine to prevent them from contracting HIV. Kelita Kamoto, the Ministry of Health's head of HIV/AIDS, said many women do not return to clinics after giving birth. "They are lost to follow-up," Kamoto said. Consequently, many infants are born HIV-positive, the Guardian reports.
Erik Schouten, technical adviser in the government's HIV/AIDS department, said the increasing number of HIV-positive women having children has generated disagreement between some health workers who say "there is a risk" and others who "say you should have a right to have children." Schouten added, "What we see at a professional level is people going back to normal life and having sex and thinking about families and the future."
According to the Guardian, Malawi has the third-highest maternal mortality rate worldwide. Tariq Meguida, consultant obstetrician at a government-run hospital in Bwaila, said, "In the end, there is little doubt that women die in Africa because they are poor -- really, really poor -- and voiceless. They say absolutely nothing. They are women and that is why they die like that. It is a huge, huge scandal. The world knows it and could do more" (Boseley, Guardian, 6/7).
London's Guardian on Saturday profiled Grace Mathanga, an HIV-positive pregnant woman living in Malawi whom the newspaper first profiled five years ago. According to the Guardian, an increasing number of HIV-positive women in Malawi are "knowingly getting pregnant" because of improved access to antiretroviral drugs to prevent mother-to-child transmission. However, the rising number of HIV-positive pregnant women in the country has created concerns about MTCT, as well as the risk of death for women, the Guardian reports.
Despite improved access to antiretrovirals in the country, testing for MTCT has been "much slower" throughout sub-Saharan Africa, according to the Guardian. Last year, 284,000 pregnant women who visited prenatal clinics were tested for HIV in Malawi, and of the 26,000 found to be HIV-positive, 19,000 were given antiretrovirals to take at the onset of labor. In addition, health center records indicated that only half of the infants, or 13,000, were born in maternity units that provided the drug nevirapine to prevent them from contracting HIV. Kelita Kamoto, the Ministry of Health's head of HIV/AIDS, said many women do not return to clinics after giving birth. "They are lost to follow-up," Kamoto said. Consequently, many infants are born HIV-positive, the Guardian reports.
Erik Schouten, technical adviser in the government's HIV/AIDS department, said the increasing number of HIV-positive women having children has generated disagreement between some health workers who say "there is a risk" and others who "say you should have a right to have children." Schouten added, "What we see at a professional level is people going back to normal life and having sex and thinking about families and the future."
According to the Guardian, Malawi has the third-highest maternal mortality rate worldwide. Tariq Meguida, consultant obstetrician at a government-run hospital in Bwaila, said, "In the end, there is little doubt that women die in Africa because they are poor -- really, really poor -- and voiceless. They say absolutely nothing. They are women and that is why they die like that. It is a huge, huge scandal. The world knows it and could do more" (Boseley, Guardian, 6/7).
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