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Ministerial Roundtable
The Ministerial Roundtable featured Ministers from Mozambique
and the former President of Nigeria, His Excellency Olusegun
Obasanjo in a facilitated, thought-provoking discussion on the most
critical ingredients needed to ensure that Africa will take, and
not miss, the opportunities created by higher agricultural
commodity prices to harvest greater productivity gains from
agricultural research. The discussion featured success stories from
African agriculture and explored the cross-continental lessons for
increasing agriculture productivity that can be applied in the
African context.
The rising price of food has been a deadly threat to the
world's poorest people because food already absorbs the bulk of
their meager incomes. The causes are multi-faceted and so too must
be the solutions. They must address the immediate effects as well
as the underlying constraints to sustainably increasing food
production. The CGIAR and its partners have vital roles to play in
harnessing science and technology as a catalyst for greater
production for sustainable food security. The severity of the
situation demands that the long sought after harmonization of the
CGIAR and regional and national agricultural research priorities
and programs take on a greater sense of urgency on all sides;
African, non-African and international.
African countries are currently net losers from high food
prices. But can Africa become the 'bread basket' of the
world? The discussion addressed what is needed to improve
cooperation in agricultural research and development, specficially
in the areas of technology transfer, seed and variety improvement,
cropping and farming practices, and transportation, processing and
marketing. The Ministers also deliberated on the requirements for
policies that will enable African producers, in particular
smallholders, to respond to market signals and demands in ways that
will result in sustainable agricultural production to reduce
poverty and ensure food and nutrition security.
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Date: Monday, December 1, 2008
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Time: 08:35- 10:45am
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Venue: Joaquim Chissano International
Conference Center, Maputo, Mozambique
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Participation: Open
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page last
updated on December 15, 2008
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