FOCUS ON AFRICA
For more on who's really behind the African Agricultural Technology Foundation - AATF - initiative featured in item 1, see the GM WATCH profile: http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=163&page=A
1.Agreement Will Give African Researchers Access to Technologies
2.US Speeding Food Technology Transfers to Africa, Veneman Says
3.U.S.-African Relationship Strong And Growing, USDA's J.B. Penn Says (under secretary for agriculture for farm and foreign agricultural services)
Includes Penn's prepared remarks
Includes Ann Venemann's video remarks
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1.Agreement Will Give African Researchers Access to Technologies
United States Department of State (Washington, DC)
June 21, 2004
Kathryn McConnell
Ouagadougou [shortened]
http://allafrica.com/stories/200406211410.html
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed June 21 by the United States and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) will help give farmers in Africa access to existing agricultural technologies to farmers in Africa, J.B. Penn, U.S. under secretary for farm and foreign agricultural services says.
The MOU, signed by Penn and Mpoko Bokanga, AATF executive director, will make available U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) research, Penn said in a June 21 press briefing following the signing in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
It also will promote exchange programs between agricultural researchers in the United States and in Africa, he said. ... See also: U.S., Foundation Agree to Promote Food Technologies in Africa United States Department of State (Washington, DC) PRESS RELEASE, June 21, 2004 Washington, DC
Agreement announced at agricultural ministerial in Burkina Faso http://allafrica.com/stories/200406211412.html
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2.US Speeding Food Technology Transfers to Africa, Veneman Says
United States Department of Agriculture (Washington, DC)
DOCUMENT, June 21, 2004
http://allafrica.com/stories/200406211409.html
Washington, DC
Remarks open African Ministerial meeting in Burkina Faso
The United States is accelerating efforts to transfer and disseminate U.S.-developed agricultural technologies to Africa, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman says.
In a video-recorded message played at the opening of the "Ministerial Conference on Harnessing Science and Technology to Increase Agricultural Productivity in Africa: West African Perspectives," in Burkina Faso, Veneman said a feature of the June 21-23 conference would be the singing of a Memorandum of Understanding by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation to expand technology transfer to Africa and help build scientific expertise in Africa.
Veneman also said a new U.S. science and technology fellows program will fund the training of several African agricultural researchers, policymakers and professors at U.S. universities, USDA and other government agencies, international organizations and private companies.
The fellows program is named for Nobel Laureate Norman Borlaug, known as the "father of the green revolution" for helping to develop crop varieties that helped significantly reduce malnutrition and hunger in developing countries -- particularly Asia -- in the 1960s and 1970s.
The conference includes sessions on such issues as water management, biotechnology, policy formulation, capacity building and partnerships.
video remarks: http://allafrica.com/stories/200406211409.html and below
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3.U.S.-African Relationship Strong And Growing, USDA's Penn Says
http://allafrica.com/stories/200406211411.html
The U.S. relationship with Africa has never been stronger and continues to grow, says J.B. Penn, U.S. under secretary for agriculture for farm and foreign agricultural services.
Penn spoke June 21 at the opening session in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, of the Ministerial Conference on Harnessing Science and Technology to Increase Agricultural Productivity in Africa: West African Perspectives.
He said the United States is encouraged by the commitment of many African leaders at the conference to regional cooperation on policy, reform, economic growth and increased investment in agriculture.
Penn led the U.S. delegation to the conference.
To bolster that commitment, Penn said, more research needs to be directed to African staple crops such as cassava, cowpeas, sweet potato, millet, sorghum and value-added foods. He also said there are more products, including products derived from biotechnology, coming from research in the developed world for use by producers in the developing world.
Penn said the conference supports current U.S. initiatives in Africa to end hunger, build trade capacity and provide access to adequate supplies of clean water to poor people.
The secretary said the strong U.S. relationship with Africa is underscored by the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which fosters economic growth and new trading opportunities; the U.S. Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS Relief; and by many trade capacity-building and technical assistance programs to bolster agricultural development, trade, health, education and private-sector development.
He said that eight African countries, including five from West Africa, were selected to be the first to submit proposals for supplemental aid from the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
"Agriculture should be an important component in these proposals," Penn said.
"By cultivating and applying our knowledge and by working together, we believe that the power of technology can be harvested to unleash the productive and economic potential here in Africa," he said.
Penn also noted that President Bush invited leaders from seven African countries --- three from West Africa -- to attend the summit of the Group of Eight (G8) earlier in the month at Sea Island, Georgia.
The other speakers at the opening session --- including four West African presidents -- said they welcome more cooperation and communication between countries and more research into new agricultural technologies, including biotechnology.
More science and research should be directed to Africa's problems such as water resource management, soil degradation, deforestation and hunger among a population that is growing much faster than the continent's agricultural productivity, they said.
Blaise Compaoré, president of Burkina Faso, said he welcomed the parts of the conference that would focus on agricultural biotechnology.
Noting the promise to agriculture of discoveries in genetic science in the 20th century, Compaoré said: "The third millennium will be the millennium of biotechnology."
Also addressing the session, Pamela Bridgewater, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs, pointed to the link between physical security and food security as well as good governance.
By providing assistance now to help Africans improve their lives, the United States looks forward "to a time when countries of Africa can feed themselves and educate themselves," she said.
Participants at the opening session were also welcomed by Amandou Toumani Touré, president of Mali; Mamadou Tandjá, president of Niger and chairman of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU); and John Kufuor, president of Ghana and chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Following is the text of Penn's prepared remarks:
Thank you, Minister Diallo. It is a great pleasure to be here for the first Ministerial Conference on Harnessing Science and Technology to be held in Africa.
We are meeting in Burkina Faso because your government stepped forward and proposed to host a West African regional conference to build on the work begun in Sacramento last year. So I want to thank you and your President -- President Compaoré -- for the initiative and enthusiasm that brought all of us here to your country. I also want to thank your government and the people of Burkina Faso for the very warm and gracious welcome we received.
Burkina Faso is a center of African film, art, and culture. This week, it is also the center for West Africa's aspirations for economic transformation and growth through science and technology.
On behalf of the U.S. government, I want to thank President Kufuor of Ghana, President Touré of Mali, and President Tandjá of Niger for demonstrating their personal support and commitment through their presence and participation here. It is a great honor for me to share the podium with four distinguished presidents -- an event I will long remember.
I would like to recognize the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development as cosponsors of this conference, along with the Burkina Faso Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources, and Fisheries, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture [USDA].
And I want to thank the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) chaired by President Kufuor of Ghana, the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) chaired by President Tandja of Niger, and the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) for their endorsement and support -- and for their central role in promoting a better future for this region.
Before I proceed with my remarks, I have the pleasure of introducing a video welcome message from U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman. It was her vision and leadership that launched the Sacramento ministerial conference last year. It is her continuing commitment that helps drive the U.S. role in a range of follow-up initiatives, including this regional conference. Ladies and gentlemen, Secretary Veneman ...
Ann Veneman video:
Mr. Presidents, distinguished ministers, honored guests, the path to this conference began at the 2002 World Food Summit in Rome [organized by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)]. There, as you know, Secretary Veneman invited countries from around the world to a first-ever ministerial conference on agricultural science and technology.
The Sacramento conference was an opportunity to focus on the needs of the developing world in addressing widespread hunger and human suffering through existing and new technologies. Ministers and other representatives from 117 countries attended, including a number of us here today.
To keep the momentum going, participants agreed to work together on follow-up activities to identify and apply technology- and policy-based solutions to real-world development problems. These follow-up activities began almost immediately and include:
-- A dialogue among ambassadors representing the entire Washington-based diplomatic corps.
Through this dialogue, the formation of a separate African regional group that meets regularly to focus on African issues and that contributed to the planning of this conference.
-- A roundtable discussion on biotechnology held with African ambassadors in Washington last November.
-- A joint USDA-FAO workshop in Rome in December on using science and technology to improve water management in Africa, held in conjunction with the 32nd annual FAO conference.
A plenary session of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act forum focusing on the role that agricultural science and technology can play in addressing rural poverty, malnutrition, and the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
A special workshop this past February at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's annual Outlook Forum on developing market information systems in Africa.
In her welcoming remarks, Secretary Veneman spoke about the Norman E. Borlaug International Science and Technology Fellows Program, launched in late March. This program offers short-term scientific training and exchanges in the United States for researchers, policymakers, and university faculty from developing countries to promote the development, adoption, and transfer of agricultural and food-related technologies.
We are working in close partnership with the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) on the Borlaug program for Sub-Saharan Africa. FARA's executive director, Dr. Monty Jones, is here with us today and is helping develop this new program. We will soon send at least three Borlaug fellows from West Africa to collaborate with mentors at Texas A&M University on research of mutual interest.
The follow-up from Sacramento continues here this morning as we begin the second regional science and technology ministerial conference, following last month's regional conference in Costa Rica for Central America, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic.
The U.S.-African relationship is growing, and the U.S. commitment to Africa's success has never been stronger. This commitment was underscored by President Bush's visit 11 months ago to five African countries, including Nigeria and Senegal here in West Africa.
The relationship is also underscored by the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which continues to foster new trading opportunities, investment, jobs, and economic development; by the 5-year, $15-billion U.S. Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS Relief; and by the many trade capacity building and technical assistance programs supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and USAID to bolster agricultural development, trade, health care, education, nutrition, infrastructure, and private sector development in Africa.
Eight African nations, including five here in West Africa, were among the first group of nations recently selected by the Millennium Challenge Corporation to submit proposals for the $1 billion in U.S. development assistance available this year under the new program. Agriculture should be an important component in those proposals.
Less than two weeks ago, leaders of three West African countries, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, along with Algeria, South Africa, and Uganda, met with the G-8 in the United States at the invitation of President Bush. The discussions focused on the challenges faced by Africa, including private sector-led growth, food security, HIV/AIDS, peacekeeping, and good governance.
Our conference this week supports three U.S. presidential initiatives: The Initiative to End Hunger in Africa; the Trade for African Development and Enterprise (TRADE) initiative; and the Water for the Poor Initiative.
In this growing U.S.-African relationship, we are encouraged by the commitment of many leaders here to regional cooperation on policy reform, economic growth, and increased investment in agriculture and rural development. The United States fully supports the principles and goals of the African-led New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), and the African Union's Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security -- support recently reaffirmed at the G-8 meeting.
A number of African economies are showing encouraging growth, following economic and political reforms. Expanded programs to fight HIV/AIDS are being implemented throughout Africa. We are working together on trade-capacity-building efforts, because no region in the world has a greater stake in trade liberalization than Africa.
In the technology area, more research clearly needs to be directed to African staples, such as cassava, cowpeas, sweet potato, millet, and sorghum, as well as value-added foods. However, we are seeing more technologies, including new products from biotechnology, coming from research in the developing world for producers in the developing world.
Dr. Monty Jones, who I referred to earlier, was recently named as the co-winner of the World Food Prize. He is being honored for his work in developing the New Rice for Africa (NERICA), which promises higher yields and increased production for as many as 20 million small-holder farmers in West and Central Africa. We are very pleased to have Dr. Jones as one of the moderators at this conference.
Over the next three days, we will hear presentations by leaders and experts from government, private industry, universities, research centers, and nongovernmental organizations.
Workshops will focus on four themes of critical importance in this region: water management and conservation; biotechnology and biosafety; regulatory policies and frameworks that will support efforts to increase agricultural productivity and technology transfer in West Africa; and public-private partnerships to enhance the production, processing, and marketing of African crops.
We will hear about the successes and the challenges of increasing productivity, reducing hunger and malnutrition, and promoting sustainable economic growth to lift people from poverty to healthier, more productive, and better lives.