Some stakeholders comprising
the United Kingdom (UK) Parliamentarians and Civil Servants joined the African
farmers, international donors and scientists for a policy dialogue targeted at
reshaping agricultural research.
The reshaping of
agricultural research as revealed in a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet is to serve development goals and the public good.
The agenda of the dialogue
is to include prioritising for plant breeding and seed selection, options for
managing soil fertility, options for developing accessible markets, ways of
governing, organising, funding and practising research, and the types of
policies needed to transform Africa’s agriculture, comprising changes to
tenure, subsidies and investment.
The event organized by International
Institute for Environmental and Development (IIED), was held between February 1
and 3, 2012 in Accra, Ghana.
The Executive Director of
Oxfan-Novib, Farah Karimi reportedly co-chaired the event with Olivier de
Schutter, who is the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food.
Emphasizing the importance
of the dialogue the Director of IIED, Dr. Michel Pimbert said it is a valuable platform for smallholder
farmers to get their voices heard.
"We’d like to see this
constructive dialogue setting an agenda for future research priorities across
the region,” he said.
A major funder of
agricultural research in African with a total budget of nearly US$400million
about N64.396billion, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), NaijaAgroNet gathered also participated in the dialogue.
The AGRA team at the
dialogue followed-up on what the small-scale farmers and food producers from
West Africa think agricultural
research should be about.
“Publically funded research
can make a huge contribution to eradicating hunger and poverty. But the
way it is designed, managed and implemented rarely involves the people who
produce, process and consume agricultural produce,” Dr Michel Pimbert, an
expert in agricultural ecology and the governance of food systems and natural
resources.
Yinka Awosanya/LS
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