Stories tagged: croplife

FEB122014
IFPRI Agricultural Technology Summit: Food Security in a World of Changing Climate and Natural Resource Scarcity: The Role of Agricultural Technologies

IFPRI Agricultural Technology Summit:

Food Security in a World of Changing Climate and Natural Resource Scarcity: The Role of Agricultural Technologies 

Newseum Conference Center 8th Floor
555 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20001 February 12, 2014
08:00 – 13:00 hrs

On February 12th, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) will launch their newest report, Food Security in a World of Growing Natural Resource Scarcity: Role of Agricultural Technologies, during a global agricultural summit hosted at the Newseum in Washington, DC. The first-of-its-kind report shows how innovations can affect maize, wheat and rice yields in 2050 and their impact on farm productivity, commodity prices, hunger, malnutrition and trade flows.

The global summit will feature academics, policymakers and experts analyzing the study results and the policies needed to advance its conclusions. IFPRI will also unveil an innovative new online tool that enables policymakers to easily visualize the impacts of agricultural technologies at the micro-level.

To sign up or access the webcast, visit the event page here or RSVP on EventBrite.

Event Programme:

8 am – Registration

9 am – Opening remarks from Shenggen Fan, Director General, IFPRI

9.15 – Keynote and Panel: Food Security in a World of Changing Climate and Natural Resource Scarcity: The Role of Agricultural Technologies

  • Mark Rosegrant, Director, Environment and Production Technology Division, IFPRI – Lead Author
  • Guillaume Gruere, Senior Policy Analyst Trade and Agriculture, Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development
  • Robert Carlson, President, World Farmers Organization 

10.45 am – Coffee Break

11 am – Getting Technologies to Farmers

  • Johannes Linn, Senior Fellow, Global Economy and Development Program, Brookings Institution Scaling up Agricultural Technologies.
  • Tom Campbell, Senior Advisor, CNFA
  • Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI. Adoption of Climate Smart Agricultural Practices
  • Judy Chambers, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI and Director, Program for Biosafety Systems. Fixing Regulatory Systems for Agricultural Technologies 

12 pm – Networking lunch

Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA)

Africa is a drought-prone continent, which makes the lives of smallholders farmers who rely on rainfall to water their crops extremely difficult.

Maize is the most widely grown staple crop in Africa, with more than 300 million Africans dependant on it for their main source of food, therefore, when drought impacts maize crops food security in the continent is put at risk.

Drought can also make maize particulalry susceptible to pests, meaning that any crops that do survive can still attract insects and in some cases farmers can experience complete crop loss.

It is for this reason that drought tolerance has been recognised as one of the most important targets of crop improvement programs. In response to this demand the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) partnership was formed by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF).

Objectives:

The WEMA partnership works with national agricultural research systems in Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania where farmers’ groups and seed companies help to develop seed varieties that can withstand droughts but can also be scaled out to farmers across Africa.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is providing high-yielding maize varieties that adapted to African conditions and Monsanto is contributing drought-tolerant and insect protection genes so that the partnership can produce a hybrid maize crop that can withstand drought across Africa.

Results: 

Thanks to WEMA the first hybrid with improved drought tolerance could be available as early as 2014

References:

WEMA http://wema.aatf-africa.org/

Monsanto http://www.monsanto.com/improvingagriculture/Pages/water-efficient-maize-for-africa.aspx

AATF www.aatf-africa.org

Safe Use Training for Kenyan Farmers

In the 1980’s, as more Kenyan farmers moved to using crop protection products as part of their growing practices, a clear need emerged for safe use training to ensure these farmers used their products safely and responsibly. In 1991, CropLife International launched its first Responsible Use Pilot Projects.

In Kenya, an initial phase focused on “training trainers” in order to build a sustainable local base of knowledge and enable large numbers to be trained in safe use quickly. The project evolved over time and expanded, initiating the use of innovative methodologies to reach multiple stakeholders.  A radio broadcast, “Using Chemicals Safely”, reached thousands of listeners and became one of the Kenyan Broadcasting Corporation’s most popular shows. Textbooks, drama, and song played an important role in rural schools as the importance of educating youngsters was established. This was complemented by further training of farmers and retailers, helping many reach the standards set to meet Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) standards, an important certification for exporters.

The success of the Kenya pilot project has led to the training of more ‘master trainers’ who are now involved in training activities in several countries in the Africa and Middle East region. Partnerships have been formed in several countries, including  with IFDC, the United States Agency for International Development, GTZ, the United Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organization and Belgian Technical Cooperation to carry out these projects.