Prof Lalljee retires from the University of Mauritius

PROF B.LALLJEE 

Professor B Lalljee retired on the 1st September 2018 after having spent almost 29 years of meritorious service at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Mauritius, which he joined on 12 September 1989. He has contributed to the Faculty and University with dedication and enthusiasm. His career started when he joined the Agricultural Chemistry Division of the Ministry of Agriculture. During his time at the University, he was Head of Department, Director of the Centre for Consultancy and Research, and member of Senate. Prof Lalljee has been instrumental in guiding the Faculty to mount innovative undergraduate courses in sustainable agriculture (e.g organic farming), which are much in the limelight these days. His foresight is bearing its fruit, as we have trained human capacity who are now promoting these practices.

he has served on many National, Regional and International committees. He was known to be a frequent traveller as he was much solicited to give addresses at conferences and to present his research papers. Despite his heavy teaching and research commitments, he made time to devote to numerous consultancies related to agricultural development, climate change, air pollution, among others, not only for Mauritius but Rodrigues as well.

In one of his note of appreciation emails, he said that “I might be retired from the UOM but I am not tired as a scientist”. So to our indefatigable colleague, We wish you all the best for a great retirement - time for you now to take your time.

PROF B. LALLJEE - KEYNOTE SPEAKER AT THE ICFA CONFERENCE

Prof B. Lalljee of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Mauritius, was one of the keynote speakers at the 2nd International Conference on Food & Agriculture (ICFA) held from 29 Mar to 31 Mar 2018, at Dhanbad Jharkhan, India. He also received a life time achievement award for his long distinguished service in the field of Agricultural Education and Research.by ICFA/ICAR and the State of Jharkhand (Bihar), India. And was also presented a memento by the Vice Chancellor of Ranchi Agricultural University, Jharkhan (formerly Bihar).

Workshop on Research Management, Research Uptake and Innovation

Workshop on
Research Management, Research Uptake and Innovation

 

                 Speakers: Prof K Mossanda (SARIMA) 

Prof B. Lalljee and Prof S. Facknath (Faculty of Agriculture)

 

Date: Tuesday 7 and 8 March 2017

 

Venue: Conference Room, Faculty of Agriculture,
University of Mauritius, Reduit

 

 Organised by: Faculty of Agriculture and 

 

 Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA)

 

Organised by the Prof B Lalljee, SADC/SRIM Focal Point 

 

Dr Vinod Lalljee - Promotion to Professorship

Dr Bhanooduth Lalljee, holds a PhD in Soil Science. He was previously the Director of Consultancy and Contract Research at the University of Mauritius. He has more than 30 years of experience in teaching, research and national and international consultancy in soil and environmental issues. He is a frequent invited speaker in international scientific forum. He is currently the Head of the Department of Agriculture and Food Science at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Mauritius. Congratulations!!!!!!!!!

CTA - Working Session on Climate Change Solutions that Work

Working session 

“Climate Change Solutions that Work”

In development and policy discussions at different levels, there is a general agreement that the adverse impacts of climate change on agriculture especially for smallholder producers in ACP region is high and, and urgent actions are required to assist farmers.

In the quest to identify and promote practical solutions that work for the smallholder farmers and their families, the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) initiated a project to document existing practices, tools and policies that have helped farmers to continue to produce food in the face of changing climate, understand the impacts of such solutions, identify partners and types of partnerships to scale-up the most promising practices.

CTA organised a working session in its premises from 5 to 7 August 2015, entitled "Climate Change Solutions that Work for farmers". The workshop was attended by several scientists from the African continent to share their experiences and lessons on workable, relevant and practical climate change for farmers in order to scaling up the most promising/proven cases in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.

Dr B.Lalljee from the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Mauritius attended the workshop and shared their findings of the research work on Agricultural Insurance as a Tool for Adaptation to Climate Change in Mauritius.

Among other objectives, the session aims to:

• Present progress of each case study and adopt a common format for preparing final documentation of individual reports.
• Peer-review each case study, conduct rigorous examination of its practical relevance as solutions to climate change for smallholder farmers.
• Identify drivers of adoption and lessons for scaling up the most promoting.
• Identify the key communication materials from the documented cases and dissemination forums to inform stakeholders. 
• Identify key partners and type of partnership arrangements to raise resources for scaling-up the most promising case that are proven to be most appropriate for farmers. 

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Read more about CTA and partners' interventions to move agriculture further up the climate change agenda here

Mauritian Soil Scientist Dr B.Lalljee elected in FAO Intergovernmental Techincal Panel on Soils (ITPS)

Dr Lalljee of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Mauritius has been appointed by the FAO Global Soil Partnership Plenary Assembly as one of the 5 members from the AFRICA region on the ITPS panel. The ITPS is composed of 27 top soil experts representing all the regions of the world. The main function of the ITPS is to provide scientific and technical advice and guidance on global soil issues to the Global Soil Partnership primarily and to specific requests submitted by global or regional institutions. The ITPS will advocate for addressing sustainable soil management in the different sustainable development agendas. Congratulations to Prof B. Lalljee.

Prof Vinod Lalljee, Soil scientist at the Faculty explains the cracks in Terre Rouge-Verdun link road

 

 
News on Sunday wants to know the reasons behind the cracks and breakup of the recently built Terre Rouge\Verdun link road at a cost of more than a billion rupees and which caused much concern to the general public. In this context, Dr Bhanooduth Lalljee, who holds a PhD in Soil Science, explains the causes. He was previously the Director of Consultancy and Contract Research at the University of Mauritius. He has more than 30 years of experience in teaching, research and consultancy in soil and environmental issues. He is currently the Head of the Department of Agriculture and Food Science at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Mauritius.

We have seen a number of press reports these days about collapses and cracks in roads and buildings. What are the reasons?
It is important to note that most of these infrastructural damages are occurring on mountain slopes and in valleys. The explanation behind such events is quite technical and complex. I will try to simplify them as much as possible. In those regions, where the newly built roads are opening up, the top soils are of a very specific nature. They are known as Smectite clays. Smectite clays have very peculiar properties – one unit of this clay consists of a natural silica sheet between two natural alumina sheets. Such a structure attracts and retains water, which then causes the clay material to expand. There are various types of Smectite clays, some of which can expand up to a certain limit only (technically called Vermiculite clays), while others can undergo almost unlimited expansion (technically called Montmorillonite clays). Both these groups of clay exist in several regions of Mauritius, like in Vallee des Pretres, Vallee Pitot, Baie du Cap, Quatre Soeurs, Deux Freres, Champ de Mars, Montagne Longue, Valton….The soils are also known as Dark Magnesium Clays (DMC). They have a very large surface area and are highly plastic, for example, one gram of such a clay may occupy 800 m2! In addition, these clays have a very high charge, are very sticky when wet, and have an immense capacity to hold water. Anyone who has been to the Champs de Mars on a rainy day must have experienced the stickiness of the soil. That is why, when they are dry, they are shrunken and cracked, but when they get wet, they expand hugely, generating massive forces that can crack the most solid foundation of bridges, roads, buildings and other infrastructures.
 

International Scientific Conference - Climate Change 2015

7-10 July 2015. Paris, France. This four-day Scientific Conference “Our Common Future under Climate Change” was the largest forum for the scientific community to come together ahead of the 21st UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP21), which will be hosted by France in December 2015 (“Paris Climat 2015”). This PAEPARD blogpost focused on the contributions / presentations from Africa and can be accessed here.

Dr B. Lalljee presented a paper at the conference.

DRUSSA - Developing a stakeholder engagement and science communication plan Handbook

The goal of the DRUSSA programme is strengthened university Research Uptake capacity for individuals and universities so as to better meet the demand for better utilisation of research findings.
In September 2013, the DRUSSA team at the University of Stellenbosch’s Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST) presented a 4-day workshop during which two research project teams from participating universities were equipped with key skills to produce a research uptake case study with a particular emphasis on developing stakeholder engagement and science communication plans. Click link for the HandBook

The plan set out the process and actions to engage with key stakeholders such as the community where the research was being undertaken, interested public and policy makers and funders. It also set out the processes through which the research project team would communicate the their research findings to these stakeholders.

Over the period September 2013 to September 2014 the case study teams interacted closely with the CREST team to write up an account of their experience of developing and refining these plans and on how they have proceeded to implement them.
The first section of this document reviews theoretical and practical frameworks and approaches for
stakeholder identification, analysis to establish ‘fit for purpose’ for the context in which the research was taking place, and analysis of the engagement and communication plan development that was presented at the conclusion of the workshop in September 2013. This section therefore comprises a section on the practicalities and “how-to’s” of the process of developing a stakeholder engagement and science communication plan.

The following two sections then describe the experience, learning, practical difficulties and successes
encountered by two case-study teams.
The first case study provides an analysis and overview of a complicated (at times) stakeholder engagement planning process, and its communication plan. The project aimed at quantifying and uncovering the movement of sediments and agrochemicals found under various types of mulches in coastal, hilly, food production areas in Mauritius.

Transforming Research into Policy - DRUSSA INITIATIVES

Transforming Research into Policy

Research Uptake intitiatives in Rodrigues

Research Uptake (RU) does not refer simply to the one-way process of communicating research findings to potential end-users. •It involves effective communication much further upstream – right from understanding end-user needs in the initial stages of project design, and in some cases even involving them in the research design, project implementation and adoption of research results. It describes the entire process of doing research that has outcomes that have impact on the lives of people.

An Example of a Relevant Initiative - Development Research Uptake in SubSaharan African Universities (DRUSSA).

DRUSSA Project is based on 3 premises :

•Skills needed to implement research findings are different to the skills required to do the research, so the researcher may not be the best person for this task. It is better addressed institutionally, through the development of a Research Uptake Management scheme in the institution.
•Research uptake can take a lot of time and money, hence often is not part of the research project itself, and should be tackled at institutional level through a separate office/unit with its own staff and budget.
•Researchers need to be incentivised to continue with the uptake process after the research part is completed.


Click for the presentation here.