Announcement: Third AFAAS symposium

Theme: Going beyond production agriculture for smallholder farmers

12-14 April 2011, Alisa Hotel, Accra, Ghana 

The symposium’s purpose is to share information, knowledge and good practice, stimulate Country Fora, and operationalise AFAAS as a continental institution for linking AAS actors. It will build on previous symposia organized by AFAAS in 2004 and 2006 that brought together over 400 participants from different countries on the continent. After the symposium, AFAAS will hold its General Assembly on 14^th April 2011 to strengthen its governance and institutional structures.

Theme and subthemes of the Symposium

1.      Market-oriented agricultural advisory services (MOAAS)

2.      Value chain approach to agricultural development and implications for AAS

3.      Mainstreaming gender issues in advisory services

4.      Climate change as an emerging issue  and its implications for AAS

5.      Use of information and communications technology (ICT) in advisory services

Specific objectives

1. Share country experiences and innovations in AAS delivery
2. Analyze emerging issues and innovative approaches in the identified thematic areas and their implications for AAS
3. Streamline AFAAS institutional structures and governance to become more responsive to the continental demands and emerging issues.

Expected Outputs

• Lessons and experienced shared and concrete evidence presented to  a wide array of AAS actors and policy makers.
• Emerging issues and innovation approaches in identified thematic areas and their implications to AAS analysed.
• Strategies on how to respond to continental demands and emerging issues in AAS identified and defined.

Participants

Participants are expected from within and outside Africa. The symposium will target primarily extension practitioners from public, private and civil society organizations, farmers and representatives of farmers’ organizations and commodity associations, policy makers, the research and development community, academia, the media and development partners.

For further information contact: AFAAS Secretariat:  Kampala, Uganda, Tel: +256-31 2 313400 Email: mailto:afaas@afaas-africa.org, copied to: molupot@afaas-africa.org Website:  / www.fara-africa.org/www.afaas-africa.org

Announcement: The 7 th Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Partnership Platform Meeting

7th CAADP Partnership Platform Meeting

Yaoundé, 23 - 25 March 2011

7th CAADP Partnership Platform Meeting

The 7th CAADP Partnership Platform (CAADP PP) Meeting, 23-25 March 2011; Yaoundé, Cameroon

The African Union Commission (AUC) and NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA) will hold The 7^th Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Partnership Platform (PP) Meeting from the 23rd to 25th March 2011 at Hilton Hotel in Yaoundé, Cameroon. The Cameroon Government in liaison with ECCAS will host the Meeting

The 7th CAADP PP will be structured as follows:

23^rd – 24^th March: The CAADP PP (attendance Open to all)

25^th March:          CAADP PP Business Meeting (Attendance by invitation)

The theme of the meeting is: “Mutual Accountability in the formulation and implementation of country CAADP investment plans”

Click here for the Tentative agenda

FARA weekly update

1.       News and Events

a.      Adapting agriculture to improve human health-new ILRI policy brief

b.      ILRI in the news: Call for new approaches against livestock diseases that
affect human health

c.       JKUAT Selected to host Pan African University’s Science and Technology Theme

 

2.       Opportunities

a.      Call for Participation in the 2011 TEEAL African Student Research Paper Competition

b.      The African Union Commission is seeking proposals for research focusing on the following thematic priorities articulated in Africa's Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action (CPA) and its Lighthouse Projects: (a) Post-harvest and Agriculture, (b) Renewable and Sustainable Energy, and (c) Water and Sanitation in Africa. Deadline: 30 April 2011

c.       The United Nations University- Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA) is initiating a Visiting Scholars Program.

Special report on feeding the world

A special report on feeding the world
Feb 26th 2011
From The Economist print edition
The 9 billion-people question

The world's population will grow from almost 7 billion now to over 9 billion in 2050. John Parker asks if there will be enough food to go roundFeb 26th 2011

• Download PDF

17th CABI Review Conference

Celebrating 100 years of sharing knowledge and supporting agriculture

17th CABI Review Conference 15-16 February 2011

To coincide with CABI's 100 year anniversary, CABI held its 17th Review Conference in London. The event brought together environment and agriculture ministers from around the world and representatives from international development and major funding organizations. The event provided an opportunity for members to review the progress of CABI’s development and publishing initiatives, develop partnerships, and discuss ways in which CABI could work with member countries to address issues of concern in each region. 

Presentations related to Africa:
100 years of CABI: weevils, weeds and the world wide web
Regional breakout session: member country review and centre highlights Africa - presentation

CABI in actionCoffee revitalisation in Rwanda and Ethiopia, Charles Agwanda, Project Manager, CABI - presentation

Donor presentations: funding priorities in the international development arena
Pio Wennubst, Head Global Programme Food Security, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation- presentation
Philippe Petithuguenin, EIARD Executive Secretariat- presentation
Guy Sneyers, Chief Operations Officer, Common Fund for Commodities- presentation
Anton Mangstl, Director, Office of Knowledge Exchange, Research and Extension, FAO - presentation

Regional breakout session on Plantwise
Africa - feedback

CAADP Pillar 4 stakeholders met in Zurich

Pillar 4 stakeholders met in Zurich

31 Jan –. 4 Feb 2011. Development partners, sub-regional organisations and other agencies with a stake in African agriculture met during the first week of February to discuss how best to mobilise development partner support for CAADP’s Pillar 4.

The objectives:

• To renew the commitment  of Pillar 4 organisations to continued collaboration
• To expand the scope of Pillar 4 to thoroughly incorporate the areas of agricultural advisory services and agricultural education
• To discuss plans, approaches and next steps for mobilizing increased funding for Pillar 4 programmes
• To finalise arrangements and agree on next steps for development partner support for CORAF, CCARDESA, AFAAS and GFRAS

Announcement: Food Security, Health and Impact Conference

Food Security, Health and Impact Conference

Date: 22nd to 24th June
Location: University of Leeds, United Kingdom

The Africa College, a research partnership between IITA, ICIPE and University of Leeds is holding an international conference to share lessons on translating research results into impact for food security, nutrition and human health.

The conference includes knowledge brokering sessions and workshops and is asking two questions:

• How can the results of basic science and inter-disciplinary research lead to increased impact on food security and human health?; and,
• How can partnerships between research and development organisations deliver innovation and impact?

Geopolitics of Food

Jethro Greene speaks at the Brussels Briefing.

On February 2^nd, 2011, the CTA organized a Brussels Briefing on Geopolitics of Food in cooperation with DG DEVCO of the European Commission, Concord and other partners. 159 policy-makers from the European Commission, the Council and EU and ACP embassies followed the discussions live in the European Commission, with another 80 followers of the internet webstream.

Dr. Hans Herren, Millenium Institute, IAASTD (EN)


Olivier de Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food


Doaa Abdel Motaal, WTO

FARA weekly update

 

1.       News and Events

a.      Vulnerability of development sectors to climate change in West Africa: challenges, opportunities and approaches for integration into development actions.

b.      Science for Agriculture Development: increasing resilience of rural communities of climate risks in West Africa.

c.       Final report on 'The Meta-Analysis of Crop Modeling for Climate Change and Food Security Survey'.

d.      Call for papers and registration CIALCA Conference- 24-27 October 2011, Kigali. Click English / French for details.

e.      GREEN PAPER: From challenges to opportunities towards a common strategic framework for EU      research and innovation funding

f.        EU research and innovation funding: The consultation on the Green Paper by the Commission          

g.      EU research and innovation funding: Commission consults on radical changes to create more growth and jobs    

h.      VOICES Workshop on Mobile and Web Technologies in Social and Economic Development - Abstracts Deadline 15 April 2011

i.        Help us refine the CGIAR’s livestock and fish research proposal

j.        NIABI 2011 Global Conference on Agri Business Incubation- 8-10 March 2011, ICRISAT, Hyderabad, India

k.       Call for Participation in the 2011 TEEAL African Student Research Paper Competition

l.        Seeking help in disseminating the DHS 2011 Short-term Junior Faculty Fellowship program in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda , Malawi

m.    Call for paper: The African Journal of Agricultural Research (AJAR) is currently accepting manuscripts for publication.

2. Opportunities

a.      The Norman E. Borlaug Leadership Enhancement in Agriculture Program is requesting applications for Fellowship awards of up to US$20,000.

b.      Make your agricultural information widely accessible: learn the essentials for using open digital repositories

c.       International training program on" DSSAT (Decision Support System for Agro-Technology) 2011",  9-19 May, 2011, USA

d.      Vacancy announcement for Accounts Assistant position

The Future of Food and Farming: Challenges and choices for global sustainability

'The Future of Food and Farming: Challenges and choices for global sustainability' report was launched last week by the British government and written by its Foresight think tank, in consultation with researchers from 34 countries from across the developed and developing worlds.

The report provides a uniquely broad view of what causes food scarcity, identifying the factors that make up a complex political, social, economic and scientific web.

And it includes less obvious causes of hunger, such as the distressing fact that nearly a third of the food that is grown is wasted, for example by spoiling through poor storage.

It also conveys the sheer scale of the problem, demonstrating that food scarcity will eventually affect us all, even those of us whose bellies are full. Because, as we have seen in Tunisia and elsewhere, hunger leads to civil unrest and migration, and because farming, as it is currently practised, is destroying key resources and emits too much greenhouse gas.

Guilty by omission

In the sphere of research, many omissions have contributed to hunger. The report points out that existing innovations have not reached many of those who could benefit from them. In Africa, if these alone were implemented, productivity could rise as much as three-fold.

But three-fold, in only a few regions, is not enough.

New knowledge is essential. Yet for most countries, research into agriculture and fisheries is a low priority, says the report, and studies have now correlated the previous two-decade apathy with today's slowdown in productivity gains.

The report offers no support for 'knee-jerk' commentary seeking obvious scapegoats for hunger, such as the failure to adopt genetically modified crops, or the politics of food distribution. There is no single cause to rail against, and there is definitely no single solution.

And it makes clear that every approach must be harnessed in the quest for a new food system that "needs to change more radically in the coming decades than ever before, including during the Industrial and Green Revolutions". 

Investing in research is one of the report's "key priorities". It points out that modellers agree that the science and technology yet to be done will be "one of the most critical drivers" of future food supply: "These challenges will require solutions at the limits of human ingenuity and at the forefront of scientific understanding," it says.  

A priority for research

To achieve the required levels of research investment, says the report, more incentives must be provided for research into public goods that benefit low-income countries. New models of research funding are necessary. And research funders from the public, private and third sectors should sort out their differences and coordinate better.

The question is: can this report, and the others, propel hunger to the top of the political agenda? Calestous Juma, professor of international development at Harvard University, and author of a recent book on African food production [4], argues that the crucial step is getting heads of state to wantto solve the problem.

But achieving this degree of political will is hard, if only because hunger has the biggest impact on those who are in the weakest position to influence policy. 

Reference: 28/01 SciDev Time to make agricultural research a top priority