Accra, Ghana
August 3, 2009
Source:
SciDevNet
by Charles Mkoka
African universities must embrace agricultural research and
development — and ensure such research is translated into policy
and meets the needs of its farmers, a meeting has heard.
Richard Mkandawire, head of the
Comprehensive Agricultural Action Programme (CAADP) at
The New Partnership for Africa's
Development (NEPAD), said African tertiary institutions
continue to be perceived as ivory towers in many countries.
"The post-colonial state has failed to embrace tertiary
institutions in national development," Mkandawire said at a
dialogue between universities and agricultural organisations in
Accra, Ghana, this week (28–31 July).
He urged African universities to work together through the
African Universities Forum Network to embrace the CAADP action
plan, agreed by African heads of state in 2003.
The plan was endorsed as a vision for the restoration of
agricultural growth, food security, and rural development in
Africa. CAADP seeks an average annual growth rate of six per
cent in agriculture — yet to be met by most African governments.
Sheryl Hendricks — head of agricultural science and agribusiness
at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa — says
institutions should carry out evidence-based research and
disseminate both research results and examples of best practice
to farmers and policymakers.
But Monty Jones, executive director of the Forum for
Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), says that the continent
will need a US$4.4 billion annual investment to effectively
carry out agricultural research and development — almost double
its current budget.
"Africa's entire research and development budget is US$2.2
billion annually. Regional bodies such as NEPAD, the African
Union and FARA provide close to a further US$500 million a year
and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural
Research provide US$250 million to sixteen research centres," he
told SciDev.Net.
"As a continent we would love to benefit from the G8 allocation
of US$20 billion allocated to the developing world to make up
the shortfall," he says (see G8 pledges $US20 billion for
agriculture).
Jones says there is also an urgent need to build institutional
support and human capacity by training plant breeders,
agronomists and plant pathologists — and that governments should
improve infrastructure so that food can move faster from the
producer to the consumer, for example.
The meeting was jointly organised by FARA, The ACP-EU Technical
Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation of the Netherlands
and the Association of African Universities. |
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