Skip to main content

AASW ends with renewed focus on ‘Africa Feeding Africa through Agricultural Science & Innovation’



Story by: Fred Yaw Sarpong

The 6th Africa Agriculture Science Week (AASW), hosted by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), in collaboration with the Government of Ghana, ended last Friday 20th July, 2013 amid fanfare and celebrations.

This was the most well attended AASW ever, with 1,334 participants attending including Ministers, Parliamentarians, Scientific Researchers, Farmers, extensionists, civil society and development partners.

The weeklong event witness exhibitions of several agriculture products and plenary sessions, which focused on the theme of “Africa Feeding Africa through Agricultural Science and Innovation.”

Also, the event examined the sub-themes of education and human resource development, innovations to improve productivity and resilience, moving from competition to collaboration and innovative financing and investment in agriculture.

With the target date for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) drawing nearer, the discussions on innovations to improve productivity, resilience, collaborations, capacity building and investments in African agriculture were particularly pertinent. The implementation of the recommendations that emanated from these discussions will prove critical in the coming years.  

Speaking at the closing ceremony, Dr. Tiemoko Yo, Chairperson of FARA said “to enable a food secure Africa, it is imperative to increase productivity and intensification through science and innovations”. 

Dr. Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), who delivered the keynote address on Thursday 18th July, 2013 said “to address the world’s challenges, we must continue to push the frontiers of science, knowledge and experimentation, while ensuring our natural resources are not depleted.  But most importantly, we must be looking at new and creative ways to make these technologies and developments affordable and accessible to respond to the reality of the small farmer, fisher and pastoralist, who are feeding more than 2 billion people.”

The 6th Africa Agriculture Science Week ended with a Business Meeting.  It featured a handing over ceremony of Prof. Monty Jones of FARA as well as ushered into office a new Chairperson of the FARA Board, Dr. Charity Kruger and a new Executive Director, Dr. Oseyemi Akinbamijo who comes from the Africa Union.

Speaking at the handing over ceremony, Prof. Monty Jones who is stepping down after 11 years of dedicated service stated that “FARA has made significant achievements in a short period of eleven years through the contribution of all staff and stakeholders and I would encourage everyone to remain dedicated to building a better FARA and a stronger agricultural sector in Africa”.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Shortage of weighing cards hit major hospitals in Accra

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong- Daily Express There is scarcity of Child Health Records Book (weighing cards), in some major public hospitals in the capital, information reaching the Daily Express indicates. Checks by this paper revealed that while some of the hospitals have being encountering the shortage for about a year now, others started experiencing it six months ago. In place of the Child Health Record Book (weighing card), the nursing mothers are given a single card on which information of children are recorded on it. Those hospitals identified are the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Korle Bu Polyclinic, Kaneshie Polyclinic, Adabraka Polyclinic and the Ridge Hospital. At the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the nursing mothers are given yellow cards in place of the weighing cards. The Public Relations Secretariat at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital said such information has not come to their notice and for that matter they cannot comment on it. “We do not have some

90 African Journalists entertain by Disney Africa

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong- Daily Express Mauritius Disney Africa welcomed 90 journalists from across Africa to their first ever showcase to media from the continent, at this year’s Multichoice Africa Content Showcase Extravaganza. On Thursday 3 September, guests received a Disney Movie ticket which gained them entry to the special outdoor screening, set under the stars on the lawns of the idyllic Outrigger Beach Resort in Mauritius . After receiving their own Disney picnic basket and blankets, full of delicious treats and filling food, the guests made their way to the seating area, replete with comfortable chairs and loungers. Once the Disney fans were settled, the vast outdoor screen lit up and the evening’s festivities were well under way. A welcome speech by Deirdre King, Head of Marketing for the Walt Disney Company Africa, preceded the screening of two animated shorts. The first, the Academy Award-nominated Get a Horse, featured Disney favourites like Mickey, Minni

ABL launches chibuku super in Bolgatanga

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong sarpong007@gmail.com Accra Brewery Limited (ABL) has officially launched the Chibuku Super drink at Bolgatanga in the Upper East region with the aim of reaching a lot of customers. Mr. Thomas Nii Ponku, Supervisor in charge of Chibuku Super at ABL told Daily Express that the management decided to launch the Chibuku Super drink in the Upper East region because they’ve realized it is similar to a traditional drink in the region. “Chibuku is like a well developed pito, a traditional drink made from fermented millet or sorghum in the Northern part of Ghana. So the idea is to provide them with similar drink,” he added. Mr. Nii Ponku disclosed this when members of the Institute of Finance and Economic Journalists (IFEJ) toured the facility of ABL to acquaint themselves with the expansion project at the factory. He mentioned that after a feasibility study, they realized there is a potential market for the product in the northern part of Ghana