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Africa |
DEVELOPMENT
Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, the Father of the Green Revolution»,
proffers solutions
to Africa’s food production problems
«There is a great potential for Africa to produce enough food to feed her teeming populations, provided the required infrastructures are put in place by various governments in Africa. These infrastructures include the provision and distribution of good quality seeds to rural farmers, good irrigation systems, good access roads, railways, pipe-borne water in the rural communities of Africa, and above all, good governance and sustained agricultural policies».
The Father of the Green Revolution and the 1970 Nobel Price Winner for Agriculture, Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, said this at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), while presenting a seminar titled «The World Food Needs for the next two Decades». Highlighting the success of food security programs in Asia, Europe, the USA and the rest of the world, Dr. Borlaug identified problems affecting food self-sufficiency in sub-Saharan Africa to include political instability, lack of sustainable agricultural policies, and lack of effective marketing prices for farm produce.
Others are lack of credit facilities to support rural farmers, bad access roads, poor extension services and the dearth of effective systems of supply of inputs such as fertilizers and other agro-chemicals.
Dr. Borlaug who led a 15-member team of Sasakawa-Global 2000 on a week-long working visit to Nigeria from 24 August to 7 September, said: «It is doubtful if enough food could be produced for world population in the next two decades, without effective application of biotechnology».
He commended the contributions of the IITA and other national and international research centres in Africa toward ensuring production and distribution of good quality seeds to assist African farmers. He, however, maintained that in spite of this, there must be commitment on the part of African governments to increase their agricultural budgets, and to ensure stable agricultural policies to improve productivity in the continent.
Biotechnology
In an apparent reference to mounting criticisms against genetically modified organisms, (GMO)s Dr. Borlaug condemned negative reports and comments about the application of biotechnology in Europe and America, adding that «negativism poured into the minds of our young people, is probably more polluting than environmental pollution». He said negativism prevents the human mind from developing, adding that young scientists must develop an aggressive attitude to work, and think positively on how to improve world living standards with their scientific knowledge.
He saw biotechnology as the best answer to the problem of world food deficits. Analyzing the benefits of biotechnology, the octogenarian scientist who has more than 70 honourary doctoral degrees and hundreds of awards for his scientific research efforts that led to the bumper rice production in Asia in the late sixties, said the protein content of most carbohydrate-base tropical African food crops could be enhanced through biotechnology. He gave the example of the high quality protein maize, developed by scientists at the International Centre for Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT) in Mexico, as a typical food that can lead to healthy children in Africa, because maize porridge is a weaning food in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Nobel Laureate and his team of Sasakawa Global 2000 visited many rural farmers’ fields and projects in Nigeria, and held discussions with the IITA Director General, Dr. Lukas Brader, and other top scientists on matters of mutual interest.
The group also visited the Nigeria-based regional offices of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), with headquarters in India; the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), with headquarters in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia; and the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA), based in Côte d’Ivoire. The team found time to meet some private seed companies and representatives of Agricultural Development Projects (ADP)s in Kano, and Zaria.
Sasakawa Global 2000 Agricultural Program is a partnership of two non-governmental organisations: the Sasakawa Africa Association, whose president is Dr. Norman Borlaug, and the Global 2000 Program of the Carter Centre, whose Chairman is former US President, Jimmy Carter. Established in 1986, the Program is aimed at assisting Sub-Saharan African governments to reduce poverty, increase food security and protect the natural resources through adoption of productivity-enhancing food production and post-harvest technologies.
Sasakawa Global 2000 Projects, funded by the Nippon Foundation of Japan, are currently under way in 12 African countries. They are being conducted in collaboration with national extension services.
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