Knowledge for development

Can ACP smallholders reap the fruit and share in rewards through enhanced horticultural productivity? Will increased investments in horticultural research and development contribute to poverty alleviation? What is the role for advanced technologies? These and other questions are explored in this folder on horticulture for food and wealth. In her article Horticulture for food – responding to the challenges, Lusike A. Wasilwa, Ph.D. Assistant Director Horticulture and Industrial Crops from the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) shows that there is world to win with regard to enhancing horticultural productivity. Investments in research and development, knowledge and technologies, are needed to build human and infrastructural capacity. Olaf van Kooten, Professor Horticultural Production Chains, Wageningen University and Research Centre, focuses on value addition in horticultural supply chains. In his lead article, Horticulture for wealth he shows how small producers can be integrated into high value horticultural chains to reap the rewards of such investments.
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ACP governments and the international community have made many commitments in their efforts to find practical solutions and take the necessary actions to address poverty and food insecurity, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where these twin challenges are closely intertwined. In January 2008, Africa’s political commitment to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was reaffirmed by the Assembly of Heads of State and Governments of the African Union. Yet, many nations may not achieve the first MDG, to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by 2015. 02/12/2008
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Despite significant increases in both student intake and number of tertiary institutions, Africa lags behind the rest of the world in investing in its people. There are already warnings of a 'missing generation of African scientists', and the institutions charged with capacity building themselves are in a sorry state. African innovation capacity remains curtailed, retarding progress towards attainment of the Millennium Development Goals in the Continent. The limited capacity means that Africa will not be in position to sustainably tackle the persistent problems of widespread poverty and food and nutritional insecurity, particularly in light of emerging global challenges such as climate change and increasing food and fuel prices. A recent World Bank study notes that African universities and other institutions of higher learning will ultimately be responsible for replenishing the stock of human capital, and for providing them with the required broader set of skills necessary to grow agriculture in the 21st century. Unfortunately, they are ill prepared at the present to train the continent's next generation of agricultural scientists, professionals and technicians. In realization of this, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) notes in its Framework for African Agricultural Productivity that 'urgent action must be taken to restore the quality of graduate and postgraduate agricultural education in Africa'. For further Conference details and registration contact: Dr. Chris Muyunda at COMESA or Prof Adipala Ekwamu at RUFORUM. You can also register on line at www.ruforum.org. Download the draft programme for the Conference and see the full Conference announcement document below. 11/12/2008
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Science and ethics are inextricably bound together. Science is said to be objective and ethics is subjective as it is linked to personal choices. This dossier deals with the broad range of ethical complexities in science, research design and implementation, selection and use of material, implications of innovative outcomes and the interest of society. In his lead article: Ethics in Science for Development Prof. Michiel Korthals, Head of Department Applied Philosophy, Wageningen University, The Netherlands, discusses ethical dilemmas scientists often face. Prof. Annabel Fossey of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa, in her lead article: Research Ethics and Agricultural Innovations – The Dilemma of Scientists states that since the advent of genetic engineering the view that scientists are, in general, trustworthy and ethically sound, and that agricultural research leading to new technological advances is intrinsically good has been altered, culminating in an ever growing societal interest in agricultural practices and their consequences.
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Photo: Gina Kane/CRS According to the World Water Council (2008), the priority areas for water professionals are: (1) water for health, water is an essential ingredient for life, hygiene, and public health; (2) water for food, water becomes increasingly a limiting resource for meeting the food requirements of a growing world population; and (3) water for energy, water is an important renewable energy resource (hydropower) especially with rising energy requirements and prices. At the same time energy is becoming a limiting factor for the provision of water for domestic purposes. World water equity or equitable access to potable water is a growing problem. 08/09/2008
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The view that scientists are, in general, trustworthy and ethically sound, and that agricultural research leading to new technological advances is intrinsically good has been altered and more so since the advent of genetic engineering. This has culminated in an ever growing societal interest in agricultural practices and their consequences, thereby posing new challenges for agricultural research. 28/07/2008
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Should scientists contribute to research that improves the conversion of food crops into biofuels, if they know that in the short term this will lead to an increase in hunger? Should researchers work on developing non-sustainable irrigation projects that provide short term relief but do not address the real needs of communities for water for sustaining agricultural production? Should scientists conduct experiment trials with new foods and drugs using human subjects in poor countries where the policy, regulatory and legislative frameworks governing such trials do not exist? 28/07/2008
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This policy brief aims at mobilizing the ACP scientific community to provide knowledge-based leadership to safeguard and rebuild this vital resource for food and nutrition security and economic growth. ACP policy makers and regional and international donors are encouraged to increase investment to build the requisite ST&I capacity in ACP States. 20/03/2008
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