Tuesday, May 17, 2011
THISDAY, Vol. 16, No. 5867, Page 39
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Agric Devt: NEPAD, FAD Brainstorm on Fisheries' Importance-
T he
first
Stakeholder
Consultation
1
Meeting
jointly orga ni sed by the NEPAD Planning a nd Coordi nat in g Agency (the NEPAD Agency) a nd the Food and Agri cu lture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations ha s been conc lu ded in M idrand, South Afr ica. The three-day engagement brought toget her participants from Rec:ional Fi s heries Organi sll tio ns, Reg ional Ecollomic Commu niti es. dOllors as we ll as civil society
organi sations to strengthen
and accelerate the fisheries
sessions focused their discus-
a nd aquaculture secto r in
sions on con tributing to fis he ri es and aquacu lture programmes 'by identifying and linkin g them to existing and
terms of their governance, management and adaptabi lity to climate change.
Giving an overview to the e ngagement. NEPAD Agency Senior Fisheries Advisor, Dr. Sloans C himatiro, said the s take holder engagement was devoted to address the "ris in g jmpollance of the fisheries a nd aquaculture sector in fighting poverty and its cru cial role for econom ic develo pment in Africa w ith regard to climate cha nge". He noted that. th e working
emerging regional and sub-" regional fi s heri es organisations. In hi s remarks. he also re it ~ e rated the importance of
alignment and integration of FAD programmes in F is heri es in Africa , which have been jointly ide ntified by A frican leaders thro ugh NEPAD and th e African Union. NE PAD Agency Senior Fisheries Advisor, Dr. Sloans
Chimatiro, s tresses the " rising importance of the fisheries and aquaculture sector in fighting poverty and its crucial role for economic development in Africa". "Currently, governments in Africa and regional bodies are not adequately eq uipped with systems to sus ta in effective fisheries and aq uaculture programmes", said FAa Representntive in South Africa , Ms Rose bud KurlVijila . " The s uccess, she sa id . wi ll not only depend on the development and implemen-
llTA Research Activities Boost African Agriculture
A
bout 70 per cellt of the impac t by the
By Crusoe Osagie
Consu lll.ltive Group on
In ter n at i ona l
Ag ri cu ltu ral Resea rch (CG IAR) in Africa ca me from research outputs by the
Internati o nul
Institute
of
Tropical Agricu lture (IlTA),
according to the latest Impact Assessment of the CG IAR's Science Cou nci l. The assessment, which is s till th e latest from the
arc hi ves, notes that the value ' of the impact/benefit was grea ter tltall the tota l CGIAR
invest ment in African since 197 1. "That is something to be rea ll y proud of," says UTA Director-General Dr. Peter
Hartmann at a reunion forum w ith former IlTA staff in Bali. Indonesia. According to him . 60 per cent of th e maize grow n in West and Central Africa today comes from UTA varieties. The director genera l a lso noted that UTA had remained a very s tabl e institute, "It goes for nothing sexy a nd does not play the latest fashiOIl game. It does the basic, s tead ily and consis tentl y. nJat is its force. This works." he said .
Hartmann was quick to ment ion
th at
the
success
being recorded by the insti tute was a resuir of the commitme nt and foundation laid by t~ e former s taff. He emphasised that fhe present management never re invented the wheel. "We did not have to undo anything. We just had to build on what YOll all had built. So it was enjoyable;' he added. On the CGIAR reforms and the future of UTA , Hartmann said the institute was working toward s diversifying its support base, but maintaining the CGIAR as o ne of th e supporters. To help the Institute in this direction , UTA has been doing ' 3 f~w things; (he directo r general told th e alumni group. Last year, Innovation AfricaTM (Research Park for Africa) was created to help captu re more scientific synergy. " The physical faci lities should be ready by June 2012. Please help us get the word out. especially to the private sector," he urged alumni . "We are building a coalition of three centres to serve AtTica 's crop needs." "We are working o n a PanAfrican wide instrument to
help natio ns tac kle biological United States, Ca nada, threats (pes ts and diseases). Un ited Kingdom, the We are producing more co mNetherJands, Germany, mercial products. We !lave Republic of Korea, Republic ·of China, Philippines , just re leased AflaSafe™ Malaysia, Indoues ia, and aga inst Aflatox ins. The Gates Australia. Previous reunions Foundation is helping us seek had been held in' the USA, firms to produce it commeritaly, and the UK. cially. Vv'c are clustering UTA The re unio ns provide a scientists in fewer locatio ns great opportunity for fOlll1er (hubs), so we can support and current s taff to get togeththe m better. In short, we are er to talk about UTA and its investing in UTA's future;' he future. The next reunion w ill explained. be he ld after 2-3 years , possiHartmann commended the ' former staff for keepi ng the group of UTA assoc iation running, stress ing consists of mo re than 400 forthat s uch a commitment is mer staff. so me of who now remarkable. He also praised present UTA staff, stressing occupy or have held importhat they have remained faithtant positions in other g lobal. ful to th e ideals of the ~~~i~~~i~~~.al, and nati o nal Institute. " Every year we g ive long servic e awards , and every year we have some that have been with us for over 30 years! It is just incredible;' he Olicymakers. African said. experts, and intem ationa1 Members of the a lumni researchers gathered in group expn;ssed gratitude to Ghana last week to discuss Hartmann's presence and important opportunities and efforts in keeping the flag flychallenges related to economic ing at UTA. Nangju Dimyati • . development. urbanization, and chair of the 5th Reunion, said industrialization 011 the contithe alumni "is very grateful." nent.. The conference, The 5th reunion for IITA Economic "Understanding alumni and their families was Trnnsfonnation in Sub-Saharan he ld in March and was Africa:' was jointly organized attended by participants from by the International Food II countries, including Policy Research Institute
blYT~e ~=i
tation of a Comprehensive African Fisheries Reform
regard to climate change. At the e nd of the three day sessions the participa nts drafted a'series of recommendations for African govem-
evant actors through an information s hari ng sys te m . In this context. it was agreed to adeq ua tel y define \\,ays to < I ' d 'f d' ,orma Iy I e nh y an IIltegrate actors and also to share these informati o n . The o utco me of th e review w ill also define and prioritise appropria te actio n plans as we ll as key partners . S uch an information s haring system w ill help to stre ng then effective commu ni cati on channels for fi sheri es and aquacu lture policies and strategic dialogue in Africa . -There was consensus to support the development of a stro ng African voice on fi sheries and aquac ultu re issues . w ith a foc.us on c limnte chan~e and di saster ri sk mall agement under a NEPAD-Ied think tank; the objec ti ve of whicb is to support th e deve lop!nent and Impl e men tati on of policies o n fisherie s governance and trade that he lp max imi se and equ itab ly share bene fits from Afri can fi s heries, resources and ex ploitation . The part ic ipants s tressed the importance of integratin g c limate c ha nge consjderati o ns into fi shery maJ)ilge ~ menl plans. NEPAP 's participation and contribtlli on in
lions. According to the outcomde di scussions. priority shou l be given to the review of existi ng information on initi alives, programmes and re1.-
United Natio ns Framework Co nvention on C limate C hange (UNFCCC) in Durban, South Africa, in December 2011 , was therefore highly recommended.
Strategy and adaptation plans promoted by FAO and the NEPA D Agency. but also on the abil ity to pull together enough finan c ial resources to' support the implementation of s uch initiatives," s he added. NEPAD Agency Senior Agricultura l Policy a nd In ves tment Officer. Tobias Takavarasha ; s tressed th e crucia l partn ers hip between NEPAD and FAO in stre ngthening advocacy of fisheries and fi sh depending co mmuniti es, whi ch are most vu lnerable to c limate change , margi nali sation a nd HI V and AIDS. The objectives of such a Comprehensive Afri ca n Fisheries Strategy must be , accordin g to Senior Fishery Planning Officer of FAO in Rome , Dr. Nathanael Hishamund a, to enha nce governmental and reg ional capaci ties to deve lop and implement efficient f,0ve r-
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.;. AS Confab Seeks Poverty Reduction
P
; Owgo;lIg Head ofSel1'icc..4f11aja [(mliral Adeleke presellliHg agreell biro /0 llle new Head o/Sen1ice.,Alllaji TajudeeIlArem,,:durillg the swearing -iII ceremony. of 0)'0 S lale head t~r se,-.,ice by GOllerl10r Adebayo Alao-Akaln held at EXCO ClramberJGovemor's office Ibadall ... recemly
(lFPRI) and ti,e University of Ghana. Although agricu ltural growUt remains crucial for overall economic expansion and poverty reduction on the continent. countries also need to boost urban industrial growtll in order to achieve sustai ned economic development on a national ·level. "Fconomic growth ulti mately stems from risi ng pmductivity within different sectors of the economy and directing a country's limited resources, including its labor force , to increasingly productive activities:' said Margaret McMillan, deputy diff-.ctor of IFPRI's Development Strategy and Governance Division. "African policymakers have a critical role to play in fostering this transformation and ensur.ing that economic growth ultimately improves tile health and well being of a country's citizens." ConFerence participants shared hi ghlights from case studies in BotsWana, Etlliopia. Ghana, Malawi. Mozambique, Nigeria, and Uganda . They also presented cross-country ana lys is, including lessons from economic transfomlations in Latin America and Asia, and discuss the policy implications. iiarticularly with regard to ...i ~tional development stra te• . gies. In recent yean;, Sub-Saharan Africa has achieved impressive rates of economic growth, including solid growth in agricu lture. Many countries are also urbanizi ng rapidly and investing in infrnstructure, such as roads. These investments, a lo ng with the remarkable spread of mobile phones , are helping to connect the nn-al poor w ith eac h other, 3S well as w ith urban centers. Despite the::;e changes. the con tinent still
depends heavily 011 primary exports. and industrial growth has been slow. Unlike the hi storical ex.perie nces of 'na n), countries in Asia and Latin America, urbanization in Mica has not led to rapid growth in manufacturing, whk h is so critical to a country's economic success. "Ghana is a case in point;' said Robert Osei, senior research fellow. University . of Ghana. " It is one of the most urbanized countries in SubSaharan Africa and one of the few on track to reach the Millennium DevelopmcIll Goals. having nearly reduced poverty by half in ti,e past 15 years . Despite these achievements, ti,e country still stmggles to attain sustained economic growth and its manufacturing sector has actually been shrinking." According to research shared at the conference, economic trnnsfonnation in Ghana and other Sub-Saharan African countries has not enha nced growth. In fact, in many cases, labor has been moving from relatively more productive sectors to less productive ones, putting a break on economic growth . A lthough ti,e reasons for tI,is are not entirely clear, weak or nonex.islent industrial policies are mosl !jl(ely part of ti,e problem . " Industrializati on and increased economic productivity, li ke economic growth itself. is not an automatic process," explained Dani Rodrik, professor. Harva rd Universily. "In many African countries, e!'pecially in th ose economies that re ly heavil y o n natura~ resources. g lobali zation has not led In an increase in h;gh -prnducli viry employment oppnltunities, calling into question lI i~ suslainability of cum~nt gm\\olh mtes:'