27-28 October. Canberra Australia. This year’s Crawford Fund Annual Conference seeked to explore ways in which the private sector can engage in international agricultural research, development and extension to the benefit of the rural poor.It tackled the longstanding problem of the persistent failure of the private sector to develop and introduce agricultural products, technologies and services so badly needed in the poorest developing countries. This failure is magnified when you consider the benefit that could flow to poor farmers if there was a shift to poorer nations in the overwhelming emphasis of private R&D investment in seeds, animal health products, fertiliser and other technology inputs from developed country markets.
The organisers called on a group of outstanding international and national specialists who come from the private, not-for-profit, philanthropic and public research sectors to consider ways in which the private sector can engage in international agricultural research, development and extension to the benefit of the rural poor, the key issues across agriculture and what it means for international agricultural research.
The international speakers were:
Dr Marco Ferroni, Executive Director of the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture in Switzerland
Dr Prabhu Pingali, Head of Agricultural Policy and Statistics, Agriculture Development Division, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Dr Namanga Ngongi, President, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa
Dr William Niebur, Vice President, DuPont Crop Genetics Research and Development and a member of Private Sector Committee for the CGIAR
Dr Amit H. Roy, President and Chief Executive Officer, IFDC
Dr Thomas Lumpkin, Director General, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT)
Ms Janice Armstrong, Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Asia Pacific & China, Monsanto
C L Laxmipathi Gowda, Global Theme Leader-Crop Improvement and Management, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
Dr Dyno Keatinge, Director General, AVRDC - The World Vegetable Centre
Dr Marco Ferroni, Executive Director of the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture in Switzerland
Dr Prabhu Pingali, Head of Agricultural Policy and Statistics, Agriculture Development Division, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Dr Namanga Ngongi, President, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa
Dr William Niebur, Vice President, DuPont Crop Genetics Research and Development and a member of Private Sector Committee for the CGIAR
Dr Amit H. Roy, President and Chief Executive Officer, IFDC
Dr Thomas Lumpkin, Director General, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT)
Ms Janice Armstrong, Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Asia Pacific & China, Monsanto
C L Laxmipathi Gowda, Global Theme Leader-Crop Improvement and Management, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
Dr Dyno Keatinge, Director General, AVRDC - The World Vegetable Centre
