The Africa Rice Center (WARDA) recently launched an annual
lecture series named in honor of Monty Jones who
won the World Food Prize in 2004 for his pioneering research that
led to the New Rice for Africa (NERICA) breakthroughs in the
1990s.
Jones, Executive Secretary of the Forum for
Agricultural Research in Africa, is the first and, until now, the
only African to win the World Food Prize, known informally as the
Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture. He received this
prize in 2004 for his pioneering research at the Africa Rice Center
(WARDA) that led to the New Rice for Africa (NERICA) breakthrough
in the 90s.
The announcement of the lecture series was made by the Africa
Rice Center (WARDA) Director General Papa Abdoulaye Seck. "It
is for us a way to further immortalize a man who has already carved
his name in agricultural history," Seck stated in a glowing
speech about Jones's invaluable contribution to Africa.
"Dr Jones has demonstrated by his remarkable contribution
that it is possible to reshape the agricultural map of our
continent through the African creative genius. The NERICA he
developed is the hope of a whole continent-the weapon to fight
hunger and achieve Africa's food security," Seck
added.
Commemorative plaque dedicated to Dr.
Monty Jones
Citing the recent development of a new generation of NERICAs
adapted to high-impact rice ecologies-an achievement by the Africa
Rice Center (WARDA) scientist Dr Moussa Sié and his partners from
national programs-Seck said that Jones's inspiring legacy
continues to live on at the Center.
On behalf of the Center, Seck presented to Jones a plaque
recognizing his "outstanding achievement in rice research and
exemplary dedicated service to Africa."
Jones was then invited to inaugurate the Center's new
Biotechnology Laboratory. Biotechnological tools, such as anther
culture, had enabled him and his team members in the 1990s to
overcome fertility problems associated with interspecific crosses
between the Asian and African rice species and to rapidly fix these
lines (known subsequently as NERICAs).
Expressing his deep gratitude to the Africa Rice Center (WARDA)
for the lecture series named after him, Jones remarked,
"This is the single most important institutional landmark that
will be forever identified with my contributions to science and
technology through agriculture."
Jones was accompanied by his wife and daughter as well as senior
FARA staff members. Describing his visit to the Center as a
"wonderful homecoming," he said that he and his family
were very touched by the warm hospitality shown by the Director
General and the staff of the Africa Rice Center (WARDA).
"Looking at the status of the work and the high staff
morale, I am convinced that the Africa Rice Center (WARDA) is going
from strength to strength and is moving in the right direction
under the leadership of Dr Seck," he said, assuring that the
Center could count on FARA's support at all times.
The special ceremony was attended by government officials,
representatives of national and international research
institutions, donor agencies, diplomatic corps, non-governmental
organizations, farmers' associations, the private sector and
media. One of the highlights of the program was a folk ballet on
NERICA performed by a group of women farmers from Benin.
His Excellency Roger Dovonou, Minister for Agriculture, Animal
Husbandry and Fishery, Government of Benin; Narcisse Djègui,
Director General of Benin's national agricultural research
institute (INRAB); and Pascal Gbénou, a farmer representative from
Benin were among the panel of speakers at this event.
The CGIAR has a new Performance Measurement System, which after
a year of pilot testing, has become a regular feature of monitoring
and evaluation of the CGIAR-supported Centers. One of the
indicators used in this system is referred to as "culture of
impact assessment."
In rating what has been referred to as the Centers'
"overall impact assessment performance," the CGIAR
Science Council measures their performance in assessing impact, not
their overall impact.
The rating is performed on a 0-10 scale (with 10 being best
performance), based on reports from the Centers about the
activities, outputs and outcomes of the ex post impact assessments
they conducted in a given year. The following four criteria were
used in rating each Centers' performance in this regard: (a) ex
post impact assessment studies; (b) innovation in and advancement
of ex post impact assessment; (c) communication/ dissemination and
capacity enhancement; and (d) impact culture.
