Message from Mr Mark Holderness, Executive Secretary, Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) ‘Following requests at the recent (July 2010) CGIAR Fund Council meeting, the CGIAR Consortium Board has now compiled and made available a list of all the consultations with partners that are being organized by the CGIAR Centers around their development of proposed … Continue reading
The performance of the agriculture sector, which experienced a growth of 4 per cent in the last few years, should cause a shudder to stakeholders at a time when the country is all songs for the green revolution. Any measure directed towards revamping agriculture must take cognizance of the underlying causes. The small agricultural growth … Continue reading
In the bread and rice baskets of South Asia, cereal production has stalled. For over a decade, annual growth rates in rice and wheat production have failed to reach even one per cent, trailing far behind population growth. The results have been devastating: high food prices, increased poverty and rates of child malnutrition ranging from … Continue reading
The Kenya government has offered office facilities to the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Consortium Board. “President Mwai Kibaki made the pledge when he met and held discussions with the CGIAR Consortium Board Vice Chairman Mr Carl Hausmann who paid him a courtesy call at his Harambee House office on Monday.” During the talks, president Kibaki assured the … Continue reading
The Huffington Post last week (25 June 2010) published an opinion piece by Sylvia Mathews Burwell, president of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Development Program. She argued the need for ‘big talk’ at forthcoming ‘big meetings’ to remain focused on meeting the needs of the world’s small farmers. ‘The season of big meetings … Continue reading
‘Chad is dirt poor because its dirt is poor. Germany is relatively rich because its soil is rich. That’s the provocative conclusion flowing from a new study, which suggests that just two fundamental factors—soil type and climate—can largely explain why humans have prospered in some places but not in others. The finding, drawn from a … Continue reading
‘Few companies spin financial growth out of crop growth better than Monsanto. By making an early, successful R&D-heavy bet on biotechnology, Monsanto transformed itself from an agricultural-chemicals company in an increasingly commoditized sector into a cutting-edge seed-and-biotech firm. Because its rivals are still catching up to its prowess in creating biotech traits — the software … Continue reading
This question is being debated at ISDA 2010 (Innovation and Sustainable Development in Agriculture and Food), from 28 June to 1 July in Montpellier. This international symposium, organized by CIRAD, INRA and Montpellier SupAgro, sets out to understand, in the light of concrete examples, how research contributes and will continue to contribute to innovation, given … Continue reading
Hillary Rodham Clinton, US Secretary of State, this week (16 June 2010) announced that this year’s World Food Prize would be bestowed on leaders of two leading non-governmental humanitarian organizations focusing on reducing hunger and poverty — Jo Luck, President of Heifer International, and David Beckmann, President of Bread for the World. In her speech, … Continue reading
‘The Green Revolution of the 1960s raised crop yields and cut hunger – and also saved decades worth of greenhouse gas emissions, a study concludes. ‘US researchers found cumulative global emissions since 1850 would have been one third as much again without the Green Revolution’s higher yields. ‘Although modern farming uses more energy and chemicals, … Continue reading
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