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High-Level Meeting

Meeting Details

African Agriculture in the 21st Century: Meeting the Challenges, Making a Sustainable Green Revolution

Windhoek, Namibia, 9-10 Feb 2009

Opening & Closing Statements

Speakers

(alphabetical order)

 

    Akinwumi Adesina

    Dr. Akinwumi Adesina is a distinguished agricultural economist, with over 20 years of professional experience in African agriculture. He is Vice President (Policy and Partnerships) for the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), a bold new entity established by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation chaired by Former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan. He holds a BSc in Agricultural Economics (First Class Honors) from the University of Ife, Nigeria and a PhD in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University, USA. Dr. Adesina won numerous prizes such as the Rockefeller Foundation Social Science Research Fellowship, the Outstanding Black Agricultural Economist Award from the American Agricultural Economics Association, the prestigious Yara Prize for African Green Revolution in Oslo, and the College of Agriculture Distinguished Agricultural Alumni Award given by Purdue University (USA).

    Dr. Adesina has worked variously in senior research positions in International Agricultural Research Centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. This includes the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA), and the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA). Since 1998, he occupies various positions at the Rockefeller Foundation: Senior Scientist for Africa (New York, 1998), Rockefeller Foundation Representative for Southern Africa (1999-2003) and Associate Director Food Security at The Rockefeller Foundation (Nairobi, Kenya, 2003-present). He has published over 70 articles in international journals, conference proceedings and books on issues of agricultural development in Africa and serves as reviewer for several international journals. He is consulted on agricultural development issues in Africa by the World Economic Forum, World Bank, African Development Bank, governments and several other development institutions.

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    Jean-François Bélières

    Jean-François Bélières is Doctor in Agricultural Economics. Since 1989, he is researcher at the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD, Department “Environments and Societies”, Unit “Collective Actions, Policies and Markets”), France. He is currently based in Montpellier. He is involved in the RuralStruc research Program on “Structural Dimensions of Liberalization on Agricultures and Rural development” in Mali (World Bank, French Cooperation, IFAD). In the behalf of CIRAD, he mainly worked in Western Africa (Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso) in partnership with several institutions, the latter being the Rural Economics Institute in Mali. He contributed to several research and research-development on irrigation schemes, cotton production, poverty analysis, organization of rural sector and local economies.

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    Christophe Bellmann

    Mr. Bellmann joined ICTSD in 1998, first as Programme Officer for Outreach and Partnership, then as Director of Policy Dialogues and finally, since 2002, as Programmes Director. In his current position, he is responsible for fundraising, management and overall supervision of ICTSD’s research, dialogue and capacity building programmes in Geneva and in the regions. Before joining ICTSD, Mr. Bellmann worked for the Swiss Coalition of Development Organisations (SCDO) where he was responsible for activities on multilateral trade and sustainable development issues. During that time he produced several papers and articles related among others to public participation in the WTO, possible multilateral disciplines on foreign direct investment (FDI), trade preferences for developing countries, agriculture trade reform and trade-related technical assistance. Mr. Bellmann has also worked as a Research Associate at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, Chile, on the relationship between trade and the environment. Mr. Bellmann has edited and published a wide range of books, articles and opinion pieces in English, French and Spanish on trade and sustainable development. He holds an MA in International Relations from the Graduate Institute for International Studies in Geneva. Mr. Bellmann is a citizen of Switzerland.

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    Samuel Bruce-Oliver

    Samuel Bruce-Oliver is Advisor to the Director General at the Africa Rice Center (WARDA). He has more than 25 years of combined experience in agricultural research for development. He provided administrative and research management backstopping and advice to the WARDA DG over last 5 years as Executive Officer and more recently as Special Advisor. As NARS Senior Visiting Fellow at Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), he had responsibility for strategic thinking and advocacy in opening up national agricultural research systems to participation of other partners.
    Dr Bruce-Oliver also served as member of the Steering Committee for the consultative process of the International Assessment for the role of Agricultural Science and Technology in reducing hunger and improving livelihoods (IAASTD). From 1997 to 2002, he served as Director General of the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) of Gambia and provided leadership in Agricultural Research and Development nationally and in at the sub-regional level. He was Vice Chair of CORAF/WECARD and Board member of the International Trypanotolerance Center (ITC). Has worked on spidermite resistance on cotton in California and biological control of mites on cassava in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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    Josué Dioné

    Josué Dioné has extensive experience in development policies, strategies, programs, and projects, with a special focus on agricultural and rural development and food security in Africa. Before assuming his current position in July 2001, he held several senior professional positions, including principal policy economist at the African Development Bank; senior research specialist and visiting associate professor of agricultural economics at Michigan State University; and regional program coordinator for institutional capacity building in policy research on agricultural development and food security at the Institute of the Sahel of the Interstate Committee of the Sahelian Countries (CILSS). A citizen of Mali, he holds a B.Sc. in agriculture and rural economics and an M.Sc. in agricultural economics from Université Laval, Canada, and a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from Michigan State University, USA.

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    Simon Hearn

    Simon Hearn is ACIAR’s Senior Adviser, responsible for coordinating activities and contributions to research and development partners. The position also oversees agency planning and is responsible for stakeholder relations, as well as management of the Agricultural Development Policy program.

    Dr Hearn has a BSc (Hons) in Agriculture and Economics from Reading University and a PhD in Agricultural Economics from London University. He has worked in agricultural and mining policy development and economic analysis both nationally and internationally. Dr Hearn has also held a number of senior research and senior government executive positions, including heading government and industry delegations negotiating trade and commodity matters in Europe, Asia, America and Africa. He was previously the Agricultural Minister in the Australian Mission to the European Union and has served on a number of boards and councils including the Energy Research and Development Corporation, the BHP Coal Research Council, the Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation, Wool International and the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation. Dr Hearn has also worked as Chief-of-Staff for the former Minister for Employment, Education and Training, and was most recently the Managing Director of the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.

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    Kiichiro Fukasaku

    Kiichiro Fukasaku, a Japanese national, is Head of Regional Desks at the OECD Development Centre. He is managing three regional desks which monitor and analyze the development performance of Africa, Latin America and Asia. The OECD Development Centre publishes annually the African Economic Outlook in collaboration with the African Development Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. His recent publications on Africa include “Trade Capacity Building and Export Diversification in Africa” (co-author), Africa Development Perspectives Yearbook 2005/06, Lit Verlag Berlin 2006 (pp.139-171); Business for Development 2008: Promoting Commercial Agriculture in Africa (editor and co-author, OECD, May 2008); and “Making the Most of Aid: Challenges for Africa’s Agribusiness”, OECD Development Centre Policy Brief No. 36 (co-author, 2008). Mr. Fukasaku obtained Ph.D. in economics from University of Sussex, United Kingdom, in 1991.

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    Andrew Gillison

    Andrew Gillison is Director at the Center for Biodiversity Management.

    Plant ecologist with background in agricultural and forest science, plant taxonomy and natural resource survey (CSIRO Australia). Extensive collaborative experience in rapid resource appraisal in tropical countries. Developed gradient-based (‘gradsect’ survey technology and generic vegetation classification’VegClass’ system using plant functional types. Compiling public domain global database with standard VegClass data acquired so far from more than 50 countries. These data are being used to model climate change impact on vegetation and related agricultural productivity. Research focus is on adaptive land management using cost-effective, integrated rapid survey approach to biodiversity and land use in representative ecoroegions. Regional baseline surveys completed in Cameroon and Mali (CGIAR) India and Indonesia (WWF) Mongolia (CBM) East Africa and Brazil (World Bank/GEF) with planning underway for Bhutan and African riparian countries of Lake Victora (WB/GEF). Technology transfer using innovative, intensive training methods has been applied so far in 12 developing countries. Website www.cbmglobe.org

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    Harold Liversage

    Harold Liversage has 20 years of experience working in land rights advocacy and land policy formulation and implementation, mainly in Eastern and Southern Africa. This includes: working in a land rights NGO (the Association for Rural Advancement) and subsequently as the Land Reform Pilot Programme Coordinator for the Department of Land Affairs in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; working as a Land Tenure Adviser for the Zambézia Agricultural Development Programme in Zambézia, Mozambique and working as a Land Policy Adviser for the Ministry of Lands and Environment in Rwanda. Harold is presently employed as the Land Tenure Adviser for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialised agency of the UN.

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    Bruno Losch

    Graduate in Political Science and PhD in Economics, Dr. Bruno Losch is Research Director at CIRAD (Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement, France) and Senior Economist at the World Bank in the Sustainable Development Department - Africa Vice-Presidency. In CIRAD, he was in charge of the “Family Agriculture and Globalization Programme“ (1998-2002) where he developed a broad range of research and operational work on farmers support, multifunctionality of agriculture, and public policies. After a visiting position in the Institute of International Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, he was appointed to the World Bank in 2005 where he particularly manages the RuralStruc multi-country program on the “Structural Dimensions of Liberalization on Agriculture and Rural Development”

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    Ian Mashingaidze

    Ian Mashingaidze is Oxfam America’s Regional Director for Southern Africa. He has experience on development issues key to Southern Africa, with particular focus on social protection, food security and HIV/AIDS. He worked with ActionAid International for five years, first managing its Emergency Preparedness and Response Program in Zimbabwe during the 2001/2 food crisis, and was instrumental later, as Country Program Director, for establishing the ActionAid program in that country. A year before joining Oxfam America, he was seconded by ActionAid to the Southern Africa Regional Bureau of the World Food Program (WFP), to review WFP food aid policies and practice in relation to communities affected by HIV/AIDS. Mr Mashingaidze’s career spans working for his native country’s government (Zimbabwe) for eleven years as a development planner, and five years coordinating World Bank support to the national Poverty Alleviation Action Program. In the latter position, he coordinated the development of a National Social Protection Strategy, and startup implementation of some its components (the Community Action Project and the Basic Education Assistance Project). Mr Mashingdaize holds a Bachelors degree with Honors in Geography and a Masters degree in Rural and Urban Planning, as well as international certificates in development planning, project design and construction management. He spent a year as a Hubert Humphrey Fellow in the Department of Urban Planning and Policy Development of Rutgers University in New Jersey.

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    Linda Nghatsane

    Linda Nghatsane, a public health activist and turned farmer dedicated her life to educating others to overcome health challenges brought on by poverty. In only three years, this health-worker turned farmer transformed an overgrown Lowveld field into a thriving farm with an annual turnover of about R2 million. This remarkable woman's interest in agriculture was born out of her need to address malnutrition among small children. She lectured at a nursing college until 1990 and travelled throughout Africa to uplift communities. Her successful farming also includes involvement in community development where she conducts training on planting vegetables in bags, poultry and oyster mushroom production as well as care and support for orphans and vulnerable children. She is a self-driven person who does not believe in hand-outs but in hard work. Ms Nghatsane uses the example of how she has turned an open land in the middle of nowhere into an oasis to create jobs as well as feeding her community. Nghatsane won in the business category of the Shoprite Checkers SABC 2 Woman of the Year award before taking the overall title. Linda has Masters degree in public Health and Diplomas in Nursing and Project Management.

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    Roelof (Rudy) Rabbinge

    Rudy Rabbinge is University Professor in Sustainable Development and Food Security at Wageningen University and is Chair of the Science Council of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Biologist by training, he worked the past 30 years in various functions on the ecologisation of agriculture. As professor of Theoretical Production Ecology (1978-1998) he initiated different major programs in the application of basic knowledge and insight in innovative processes for primary productions and systems approaches in agricultural research. He was Dean of Wageningen Graduate Schools (1998-2006). He has led various missions and agricultural programs in developing countries, served as editor of several journals, published more than 200 scientific publications, five text books and more than 200 other publications. He served on the Board of Trustees (BoT) of 6 Centres of the CGIAR and was chairman of the IRRI’s BoT (1995-2000), member of the Prime Ministers Scientific Council for the Government Policy (1988-1998), senior advisor for the minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Nature Management (1992-1999) and is at present Chairman of the Council of Earth and Life Sciences of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) , Chairman of the Board Earth and Life Sciences of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), Chairman of the Royal Institute of the Tropics, member of the Board of Directors of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and Bibliotheca Alexandrina and Member of the Board of various international agribusiness firms.

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    Norman Uphoff

    Dr. Norman Uphoff is Professor of Government and International Agriculture at Cornell University, having served for as director of the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture, and Development from 1990 to 2005. He is now CIIFAD's program leader for sustainable rice systems. Dr. Uphoff has worked on a wide range of issues in development over the last 40 years, starting with development administration, irrigation management, local participation, and strategies for broad-based rural development. His work has expanded beyond the social sciences to include agroecology and, in particular, the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) which was developed in Madagascar. This methodology does not rely upon external inputs and concurrently enhances the productivity of land, labor, water and capital used in irrigated rice production. This innovation is being extended now to rainfed rice production and to other crops such as wheat, finger millet and sugar cane. Dr. Uphoff has served on USAID’s Research Advisory Committee and on the South Asia Committee of the U.S. Social Science Research Council. He has been a consultant for the World Bank, USAID, the United Nations, the Ford Foundation, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, and other agencies. He received an M.P.A. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1966, and his Ph.D. in political science, public administration, and development economics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1970.

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    Ajay Vashee

    Ajay Vashee is President of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) and of the Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU). He is also a Member of the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council (IPC) since 2003. Mr Vashee is a top African farm leader, instrumental in the foundation in 1992 of the SACAU, a loose federation of farmers' organizations in Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Namibia, for which he serves as the President as well. He was a member of Zambia's delegation to the WTO Ministerial Meetings in Seattle and Cancún and works closely with the International Trade Department on regional, bilateral, and multilateral trade negotiations, in particular the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Southern African Development Conference (SADC), and the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union.

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