Tuesday 27 October 2009

The 2009 Borlaug Dialogue

12 - 17 October 2009. the 2009 Borlaug Dialogue symposium asked experts and decision-makers from around the world how their fields – in policy, industry, science and academia, and development – can ensure adequate access to food and nutrition for, and thus contribute to the security of, all people.

To address that question, several hundred participants representing more than 65 countries – including leading policymakers and diplomats, CEOs and senior private-sector executives, and experts from academia, research, and the development community – engaged in a range of conversations on compelling and critical topics including:

  • Food and agriculture in the context of national and international security
  • Poverty, hunger, and food security in global crisis areas
  • Continuing to address gender in agricultural development
  • Providing nutrition and enhancing health, especially among women and young children
  • New and cutting-edge technological approaches to farming and food
  • Harmonizing organic and sustainable agricultural practices with modern technology and genetics
  • The future of agriculture in an urban, global world
  • Preserving and renewing soil and water resources
  • Prospects for trade in agriculture and food
  • The institutions necessary for a food-secure world
  • Assessing progress in global agriculture and identifying areas for needed investment
On 13th October Seyfu Ketema - Executive Director, ASARECA participated in the Conversation: Trends and threats in global agricultural yields

Reference:
View Symposium Brochure
AGENDA + SPEAKER BIOS + TRANSCRIPTS

Related:
2009 World Food Prize winner Gebisa Ejeta. The Ethiopian native's work to develop sorghum hybrids resistant to drought and the devastating Striga weed (witchweed) increased the production and availability of one of the world's five principal grains and enhanced the food supply of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa.

Ejeta has worked to integrate his scientific breakthroughs with farmer education programs and soil and water conservation initiatives and to empower subsistence farmers and promote economic development in rural Africa. Ejeta earned his Ph.D. in plant breeding and genetics at Purdue University, where he later became a faculty member and today holds a distinguished professorship. It was during his post-graduate work at the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) office in Sudan that he developed his first hybrid sorghum. See: Iowa State University: Lecture: "Revitalizing Agricultural Research for Global Food Security"

Gebisa Ejeta 2009 World Food Prize Laureate