WARDA
News Release
Abidjan,
Côte d'Ivoire
July 2004
NARS
Experts Endorse Programmatic Alignment of
CGIAR Centers Based in Sub-Saharan Africa
Experts
from the National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS)—who participated in
the Fourth Biennial Regional Consultative Meeting of the Africa Rice Center
(WARDA)—endorsed the programmatic alignment of the Consultative
Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Centers based in
sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as the best option, rather than merging them.
The Africa Rice Center is one of the four CGIAR Centers located in SSA, but
almost all the 15 CGIAR Centers have regional/outreach offices across the
continent.
As an autonomous intergovernmental research association of African member
states, the Africa Rice Center is unique among the CGIAR Centers. Its distinct
organizational model gives a strong feeling of ownership by its member states,
making its activities highly relevant to the region.
The NARS experts also strongly urged the Côte d’Ivoire authorities to
guarantee the security of the Center’s return to its Headquarters in Bouake
and requested the Chairman of the Council of Ministers—the Center’s
highest oversight body—to formally announce the clearly intended return.
The other important recommendations of the NARS experts in this meeting
include:
-
A
strong appeal to member States to regularly pay their contributions to the
Center, urging them to send at least a token proportion of their annual
dues to allow their continued participation in the Center’s fora and
capacity-building activities.
-
The
Center’s assistance to facilitate member countries to put in place
biosafety protocols and legislation with particular reference to
genetically modified organisms (GMOs) so that the countries can make
informed decisions regarding biotechnology and its products.
-
The
Center’s support to national programs to find ways of preventing dumping
of agricultural products in the region while complying with existing
international agreements
-
Call
to African leaders and policy-makers to create an enabling environment for
the competitiveness of locally produced rice. This would involve an
improvement in processing and handling, functional research and extension
systems, facilitation of regional and national market development.
-
The
Center’s support to improve the NARS capacity to develop bankable
research projects.
-
Further
research on the potential effects of heavy metal contamination in rock
phosphate fertilizer application.
-
Promotion
of the New
Rice for Africa (NERICA) dissemination along with studies on the
associated environmental implications.
The
Fourth Biennial Meeting was held, 24 - 26 June 2004, in Yamoussoukro, Côte
d’Ivoire under the chairmanship of Prof. Hamidou Boly, Director General of
the Institut de
l’environnement et des recherches agricoles (INERA), the national
program of Burkina Faso.
Explaining the significance of this meeting, Director General Dr Kanayo F.
Nwanze said, “This is the first time we have active participation not only
from West Africa – our traditional and long-standing partners – but also
from Central and Eastern Africa.”
Participants included NARS experts from eight West African countries (Benin,
Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal).
Experts from Eastern and Central African NARS (DR Congo, Ethiopia and Uganda)
and the international NGO Sasakawa-Global
2000 attended as observers.
The meeting was held under the overall theme of Celebrating the International
Year of Rice (IYR) in Africa and included two distinct parts.
Presentations on partnership-based research activities by the Center’s
scientists and network coordinators and discussions on strategic issues
relating to the Center’s R&D activities were the focus of the first part
of the meeting. The second part of the meeting was devoted to the IYR
Celebration.
IYR
Celebration
The Rice Day celebration in Yamoussoukro—one of the most important
agricultural districts of Côte d’Ivoire, where the NERICAs and other
WARDA-developed varieties have been enthusiastically adopted by
farmers—kicked off in grand style the IYR celebration in the country.
The Ambassador of Japan and representatives of the Minister of Agriculture for
Côte d’Ivoire and local authorities of Yamoussoukro, who participated in
the celebration, praised the Center’s achievements and expressed their
staunch support.
More than 500 representatives of local rice-growing cooperatives,
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and farmers’ associations, including
women farmers displaced by the Ivoirian conflict, participated in a colorful
parade that set the mood for the Rice Day celebration.
The program included a Round-Table discussion on rice marketing and policy
issues, an instructive visit to five sites near Yamoussoukro ranging from
demonstration trials of improved rice technologies to extension and
processing.
A comprehensive exhibition showcasing rice-based technologies and products was
a major highlight of the program. But the pièce de résistance was a NERICA-cooking
competition that attracted entries from nine maquis (local West African
restaurants), which were judged by a committee and prizes were awarded in
different categories.
The Center’s local partners who participated in the Rice Day event included
the Centre
national de recherche agronomique (CNRA), Programme national du riz (PNR),
Agence nationale d’appui au développement rural (ANADER), Ecole supérieure
d’agronomie (ESA), Association nationale des riziculteurs de Côte
d’Ivoire (ANARIZ-CI), and the women-oriented NGOs—Organisation des
volontaires pour le développement local (OVDL) and Doubehi International.
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