Patancheru, India
June 2, 2008
Scientific innovations can help
bring about Africa's Green Revolution.
The International Crops
Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT),
headquartered in Patancheru near Hyderabad in southern India, is
working with other institutions in the global initiative to
bring about a green revolution in the drylands of sub-Saharan
Africa.
Speaking at an international conference titled Israel and the
Green Revolution in Africa held on 1 June in Jerusalem, and
addressing politicians, policy makers, scientists and other
distinguished participants, Dr William D Dar, Director General
of ICRISAT, said, "I am certain that
MASHAV and ICRISAT can
provide critical leadership in this Revolution, particularly in
the dry areas, which are our bread and butter." The drylands
cover about 40% of Africa's arable landmass, and about 25% of
Africa's populations live and work in these areas. According to
the United Nations Human Development Index these areas cover
most of the poorest nations on earth, and the farmers here earn
less than one US dollar a day.
"African governments need to be more supportive of their rural
poor, " Dr Dar added, "They need to adopt policies that
encourage, rather than penalize agriculture. Developed countries
need to break with their past habits of huge subsidies to
domestic farmers that create unfair competition with the poor in
the developing world."
Rising food prices hurt the rural poor, and the rising cost of
fertilizer, essential for increasing food production, is a
double blow. In this context, Dr Dar cited the scientific
innovations that ICRISAT and partners are mobilizing to help
bring about Africa's Green Revolution. Methods such as
microdosing and planting-basin cultivation can deliver three
dollars worth of extra gain for each dollar's worth of extra
fertilizer when combined with the use of improved crop
cultivars. "We need the support of donors and the leadership of
the countries themselves to roll this out on a large scale."
said Dr Dar. ICRISAT is also screening over a hundred tree and
vegetable crop varieties to help African farmers identify
horticultural crops that can diversify the production system and
increase incomes.
Drought and heat waves will increase with climate change in the
coming years, and farmers need to prepare now by saving water to
be used sparingly to overcome these situations. Drip irrigation
greatly increases the efficiency of water use. ICRISAT and
partners have promoted more than 2,500 small-scale drip
irrigation market gardens in four countries of Africa, which
raised incomes 5 to 7 times. Immediate funding to gear up
ongoing seed multiplication and the expansion of tree nurseries
is also required stated Dr Dar.
For farmers with no irrigation potential and limited market
access, ICRISAT has been developing Dryland Ecofarm systems that
are crop-tree-vegetable-livestock systems that focus on
rainwater harvesting. Besides reducing climatic and market risks
by half, these systems can be used to bio-reclaim degraded
lands.
Given Israel's historic agricultural expertise, Dr Dar suggested
five priorities for the Israeli research and development
community:
(1) develop and disseminate
high-value horticulture crops;
(2) build entrepreneurial capacity of African farmers;
(3) hydrological surveys and irrigation feasibility studies,
with attention to sustainability;
(4) new irrigation facilities based on drip-irrigation; and
(5) develop or rehabilitate seasonal dams to capture surface
rainwater and raise water tables.
For every $1 invested in
international agricultural research, $9 worth of additional food
is produced in developing countries where it is needed most,
concluded Dr Dar.
* MASHAV, the Hebrew acronym for
the Center for International Cooperation, was established as a
division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. |
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RELATED RELEASE |
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Source:
MASHAV*
MASHAV Hosts International
Conference on "Israel and the
African Green Revolution"
With the occasion of Marking 50
Years of International
Cooperation, MASHAV, the Center
for International Cooperation at
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, is hosting on June 1st
an International Conference
entitled “Israel and the African
Green Revolution.” The keynote
address will be given by Prof.
Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the
Earth Institute at Columbia
University, New York, and
special advisor to the UN
Secretary General on the
Millennium Development Goals.
The main goal of the African
Green Revolution is to help
impoverished smallholder
communities to make the
transformation from subsistence
farming to a mixed rural economy
of commercial farming and
small-scale industry and
services. This transformation
will raise incomes, reduce
poverty and hunger, and unleash
self-sustaining
private-sector-led economic
growth, and should occur as part
of other broad changes in
society, including a dynamic
urban economy, the development
of national-scale
infrastructure, the scaling up
of public health and education,
and the increased resilience and
adaptation to climate change.
The Conference will explore
Israel’s contribution to this
global challenge. |
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