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Highlights

After a lull in public attention over the last couple of years, rising food prices are back in the spotlight.

A spike in prices triggered in part by the Russian export ban, and a deadly food riot in Mozambique have rekindled the debate on global food security. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) convened a special September 28 meeting on global grain prices, concluding that measures are needed to increase market information and transparency in agricultural trades. Olivier De Schutter, the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, released a new report on the need to address speculation on commodity markets. He called for regulation and the establishment of food reserves, along with a renewed focus on agroecological methods to increase food production in developing countries.

Dear Colleagues,

Science and Innovation for Development: a new book by Professor Sir Gordon Conway and Professor Jeff Waage

We are delighted to announce the launch of a new book, Science and Innovation for Development, co-authored by Professor Sir Gordon Conway and Professor Jeff Waage (LIDC), with Sara Delaney, and published by UKCDS.
In Science and Innovation for Development Conway and Waage take on the topic of the crucial role that science can play in the challenge of poverty reduction – with science acting as lever for change through both research and knowledge generation for policy guidance, and the development of innovative and appropriate technologies.
Visit www.ukcds.org.uk to order or download a copy.

The authors make the following five key recommendations to policy makers and development practitioners:

• Train and empower scientists
• Strengthen science innovation systems in developing countries.
• Ensure that new technologies are accessible to science for development.
• Design and deliver research for impact,
• Raise the profile of science in governments

Science and Innovation for Development looks at the importance of national scientific capacity, the different sources from which new science and technologies can be drawn, and the ever-expanding role of partnerships between stakeholders.

The book uses the Millennium Development Goals as a framework, pulling out three key topics for which science plays an important role – reducing hunger, improving health, and achieving environmental sustainability. The authors highlight the current challenges in each area, look at how scientific innovation has helped thus far, and consider in what areas further research or new, improved technologies are needed. These ideas are illustrated through a broad range of case studies from across the developing world.

For example, in the chapter on hunger, Conway and Waage argue that science for sustainable agriculture needs to focus on five broad needs:

1. New crop varieties (and livestock breeds) that are more productive and of better nutritional quality;

2. Improved soil fertility and crops and livestock better able to use existing nutrients;

3. Maximising water use;

4. Better pest, disease and weed control without environmental damage;

5. Cropping and livestock systems that combine these qualities in ways that bring benefits to both small and large farmers.

They emphasise that solutions for these needs should be drawn from the full range of sources for innovation, including conventional, traditional, intermediate and new platform technologies.

Finally, the authors explore the challenge of climate change, looking both what we do and do not know and how science can help to inform policy and make mitigation and adaptation possible.

Chris Whitty, Chief Scientific Advisor for DFID, has said ‘This book should be required reading for those who doubt the power of science to transform the lives of the poorest in the world, and show those undertaking research how much of a difference they can make if they address the major questions of developing countries.'

Jo Seed
Personal Assistant and Project Administrator to Professor Sir Gordon Conway
Africa and Europe: Partnerships in Food and Farming
Centre for Environmental Policy
Imperial College London
Tel. 020 759 41983
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Gender Mainstreaming Guide for the Africa Biogas Partnership Program ENERGIA has developed a Gender Mainstreaming Guide for the Africa Biogas Partnership Programme (ABPP).

The Guide targets non-gender specialists in recognizing and addressing gender issues in their work, with the intention of demystifying gender, and clarifying the concept and practice of “gender mainstreaming” within ABPP. Accompanied by a Resource Kit, this Guide uses experiences from Asia, as well as Africa. The guide is not only limited to the ABPP and can be used by other biogas interventions as well. The Africa Biogas Partnership Programme is a six country initiative for supporting the construction of some 70,500 biodigesters over a period of 5 years.

Agriculture: Where Poverty Reduction, Food Security and Climate Change Intersect

Statement of Outcomes from Agriculture and Rural Development Day
12 December 2009, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen

A group of more than 300 policymakers, farmers and scientists meeting in Copenhagen today urged on negotiators at the United Nations Climate Change Conference to recognize agriculture’s vital role in climate change adaptation and mitigation.

The group strongly endorsed the proposed target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to avoid a temperature increase of more than 2 degrees C. They stressed that reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture is essential for achieving the target. Farmers and researchers are already finding climate change solutions. On that basis, the agricultural community intends to play a proactive role in actions aimed at reducing emissions, while increasing the productive capacity of agriculture through the development of sustainable practices.

Agriculture faces the challenge of nearly doubling food production in order to meet the food needs of a population expected to reach 9 billion by mid-century but without increasing the sector’s emissions. Across most of the tropics, agriculture will continue to face the enormous challenge of adapting to harsh and unpredictable growing conditions.

To meet the climate challenge, substantial additional financing and investment will be needed across the entire rural value chain. New investments must be handled transparently to ensure that adaptation and mitigation are not undermined by reduced support for global food security and rural development. In addition, new investment must be accessible to all stakeholders, including researchers and members of civil society, and especially to farmers and their associations.

Specifically, the group urged climate negotiators to agree on the early establishment of an agricultural work program under the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA).

Agriculture & Rural Development Day was organized by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development, the Faculty of Life Sciences, the University of Copenhagen, the International Federation of Agricultural Producers, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the Global Forum on Agricultural Research, and the Earth System Science Partnership.

This statement was also posted on the CGIAR climate blog. For photos, videos, and other live blog posts from Agriculture and Rural Development Day, please visit Rural Climate Exchange at http://cgiarclimatechange.wordpress.com/.

Courtney Paisley has taken up the position of YPARD Coordinator as of August 15, 2010. Her experience in the agricultural research sector includes the World Agroforestry Centre, where she worked to promote the sharing of agricultural training materials within the CGIAR and the wider agricultural research community.    She also has experience promoting environmental education and renewable energy initiatives in East Africa, working on communications strategies and moderating online discussion and supporting online learning initiatives through work with several organisations including SolarAid, ASB and Oxfam.

She received an MSc. from the University of Manchester in Environmental Governance and completed undergraduate studies in International Project Management and Environmental Studies. Her interests include increasing access to agricultural research, supporting improved and dynamic agricultural curriculum development and the promotion of youth in agricultural research for development.  She is very excited about her new position and is eager to work with YPARD to support young professionals in Agricultural Research for Development.

http://mace2010.wordpress.com/

Dear All,

you can now post comments on mace2010 blog regarding five major questions:

1. How is the increasing significance of food chains reflected in the curricula of higher education in agricultural economics/agribusiness (network managers, vertical integration)?

2. How can differences in quality and contents among participating institutions in Double Degree programs be handled?

3. Has the Bologna process on higher education system reached transition countries of the European Union? Has this facilitated mobility between countries?

4. How can a sufficient practical relevance of curricula be assured?

5. What is your opinion regarding International Education in Agribusiness: organization, access, supervision…?

To do so, please refer to the pages above related to each topic.

We are looking forward to sharing opinions on agricultural curricula!

http://mace2010.wordpress.com/