World Honour for African Rice Expert The Independent (Banjul) NEWS November 1, 2004 Posted to the web November 2, 2004 Banjul World-famous rice-breeding expert Dr. Monty Jones of Sierra Leone became the first African in the world to receive the prestigious World Food Prize at the presentation of the 2004 awards in Des Moines, the capital city of the US farming state of Iowa, on 15 October 2004. He received the award for his work on the development of NERICA - New Rice for Africa - a combination of African and Asian rice varieties, perfectly adapted for the harsh growing environment and low-input conditions in sub-Saharan Africa. It is recognised as having immense potential for food security and poverty alleviation in one of the most impoverished regions in the world. NERICA is a technological breakthrough for Africa, by an African who developed it at an African-led research institute - the Africa Rice Centre (WARDA), in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. NEPAD has placed agricultural growth as the cornerstone of its poverty reduction programme and has asked the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) to be the technical agent for the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP). NEPAD has identified NERICA in the context of the CAADP's action plan and the NEPAD Heads of State and Government Steering Committee has endorsed the expansion of the NERICA throughout Africa. The award to Dr. Jones has come, therefore, as a big boost to CAADP. Research on NERICAs involved national agricultural research programmes in 20 African countries, and advanced research institutions across the world. Twelve African diplomats based in Washington, D.C., including ambassadors of Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and representatives of Angola, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda travelled to Des Moines to participate in the World Food Prize ceremonies. In a statement to the World Food Prize Symposium, the ambassadors said. "Through this award Dr. Jones brings global recognition not only to his own efforts with the team at the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA), but to the thousands of African scientists who are working hard to find breakthroughs to end hunger and poverty in Africa." The ambassadors recognised the assistance provided by the U.S., Europe, China and Japan, the World Bank and other bilateral and multilateral donors, foundations and non-governmental organisations that have helped make scientific achievements such as Dr. Jones possible. "Dr. Jones' achievements illustrate the great potential of Africa's agriculture to feed hungry people, but the challenges are great," the ambassadors noted. "Over 200 million Africans are chronically hungry and one-half of the population lives off less than $1 per day." The ambassadors urged the international development community to help African governments further strengthen "homegrown" scientific capacity to increase the productivity of Africa's complex farming and pastoral systems. "We need hundreds more Dr. Monty Joneses to fight African hunger and poverty using science and technology," they said. At the 2003 Maputo Summit, African Heads of State pledged to increase their spending on agriculture to 10% of national budgets. The ambassadors urged the international community to support these efforts and the agricultural development priorities articulated under NEPAD's Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme. They specifically called for assistance to: 1.Build strong scientific institutions and human capacity to develop and disseminate agricultural innovations; 2.Revitalise agricultural education at all levels with urgent attention to restoring Africa's agricultural universities, colleges and farmers' training centres, and regional Centres of Excellence for scientific research; 3.Strengthen transport, communication, agricultural processing and information technology to lower production and marketing costs, open new markets and improve the competitiveness of Africa's agricultural products in local, regional and global markets. _________________________________________________________________ MSN Hotmail http://www.hotmail.com Med markedets beste SPAM-filter. Gratis! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~