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Selected abstracts on Capacity building and Food security For The Developing World
Aboubakar YARI & Venus YARI
Biotech tropicana, IncEXPLORER, Parakou, Benin
*Corresponding Author: Aboubakar YARI, Bioteh tropicana, Inc, 02 Po Box 1038, Parakou, Benin Republic, e-mail: ayari@biotechtropicana.com
Published Online July 03, 2011
1) Food security is a necessity for every individual, home, community and nation. In developing countries, food security could be substantially improved by increased investmentand policy reforms. Biotechnology’s ability to eliminate malnutrition and hunger through production of crops resistant to pests and diseases, having longer shelf-lives, refined textures and flavours, higher yields per units of land and time, tolerant to adverse weather and soil conditions, and generate employment, cannot be over-emphasized. This technology can be applied to improve agriculture in order to improve food production for the human population in an environmentally sustainable manner. However, there is need for government and public-private collaborations to invest in agricultural biotechnology-based companies, researches, or initiatives, in order to make the gene revolution beneficial to developing countries.
2) I called for a new approach to development that unleashes transformational change and allows more people to take control of their own destiny….. To pursue this vision, my administration conducted a comprehensive review of America’s development programs. We listened to leaders in government, NGOs and civil society, the private sector and philanthropy, Congress and our many international partners…. And today, I’m announcing our new U.S. Global Development Policy -- the first of its kind by an American administration. It’s rooted in America’s enduring commitment to the dignity and potential of every human being. And it outlines our new approach and the new thinking that will guide our overall development efforts, including the plan that I promised last year and that my administration has delivered to pursue the Millennium Development Goals. Put simply, the United States is changing the way we do business….. aid alone is not development. Development is helping nations to actually develop -- moving from poverty to prosperity. And we need more than just aid to unleash that change. We need to harness all the tools at our disposal….. the purpose of development -- what’s needed most right now -- is creating the conditions where assistance is no longer needed. So we will seek partners who want to build their own capacity to provide for their people. We will seek development that is sustainable….. building in part on the lessons of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, which has helped countries like El Salvador build rural roads and raise the incomes of its people, we will invest in the capacity of countries that are proving their commitment to development.
Barack OBAMA
Remarks by the President at the Millennium Development Goals Summit in New York, New York. United Nations Headquarters, New York, New York
3) Breathing new life into the moribund extension services of many poor countries is vital if the benefits of new knowledge and improved technology are to reach farmers. The Task Force recommends that every village in a hunger hot spot have paraprofessional extension workers trained in agriculture and nutrition, with counterparts in health and energy. They should be supported by professional services and enhanced research institutions …… Adequate nutrition lies at the heart of the fight against hunger. The Task Force recommends that, where possible, locally produced foods be used, rather than imported food aid .
In, Cutting World Hunger in Half ,Pedro A. Sanchez and M. S.
Swaminathan P. A. Sanchez is at the Earth Institute at Columbia University, New York, NY 10964, USA
M. S. Swaminathan chairs the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Taramani, Chennai 600 113, India.
The authors cochair the U.N. Millennium Project TaskForce on Hunger.
4) In July 2003 the Science and Technology Committee of the British House of Commons began an inquiry into how science and technology are informing spending decisions on the aid budget, how research is being used to support policymaking in international development, and how the United Kingdom is promoting science and technology in developing countries. The work focused on the Department of International Development (DFID), which is responsible for £3.8 billion (92 percent) of the 2004–05 aid budget. The committee received more than 100 written submissions and held seven evidence sessions. These sessions involved officials from DFID; representatives of organizations involved in capacity building, in agricultural, forestry, and environmental R&D, and in engineering and health R&D; the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser; officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Offices, the Trade and Investment Office, and the British Council; and the Secretary of State for International Development. The committee also visited several development institutes in the United Kingdom and traveled to Malawi, where it learned about agricultural and health projects and met with the President of Malawi, members of Parliament, and senior officials. The committee stressed the importance of strengthening the role of science and technology in international development cooperation.
Its findings will help support similar enquiries underway elsewhere. Only time will tell whether the recommendation will lead to a major reorientation in the operations of DFID. The success of these efforts will depend largely on the ability of the United Kingdom to align its various governmental and nongovernmental institutions to help build scientific and technological capacity in developing nations as part of its foreign policy objectives. The government could benefit from working closely with institutions such as the Royal Society (the United Kingdom’s national academy of science), which has strong connec- tions with national academies, universities, and other scientific bodies around the world. To achieve tangible results, these efforts will have to go beyond the customary practice of convening meetings and short-term courses to focus on serious efforts in building human and institutional capacities. The United Kingdom is strategically positioned to make a major difference in bringing scientific research and technological innovation to bear on development.
In 2005 the Commission for Africa, launched by Prime Minister Tony Blair, will release its findings, and it is hoped that the report will focus on strengthening the role of technological innovation in development cooperation and provide much-needed intellectual leadership for donor agencies. In 2005 the United Kingdom will also hold the presidencies of the G8 and the European Union. It should use the opportunity to promote the role of technological innovation in development cooperation.
In, Innovation : Applying Knowledge In Development
Box 10.1 How important are science and technology to development assistance?
Source: United Kingdom, House of Commons, Science and Technology Committee 2004.
Page : 164 (191 of 223)
5) Other development assistance measures, such as the Millennium Challenge Account recently launched by the United States, represent another opportunity to address the role of science, technology, and innovation in development. The Millennium Challenge Account uses a set of selection criteria that can easily include technological issues. For example, funding could be used to establish institutions designed to promote the creation of business enterprises using imported technology adapted to local conditions. The account could also serve as a source of incentives to encourage countries to make changes to their institutions of higher learning to bring them in line with development goals. Providing such leadership may also entail strengthening the internal advisory capabilities of these institutions. Offices of chief scientists in these institutions may need to be strengthened to take on additional technological advisory functions to ensure that advice is provided to the leadership of these institutions and complementary technological issues are integrated into their operational programs.
In, Innovation : Applying Knowledge In Development
Pages : 163-164.
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