15 June 2007
Johannesburg: The Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs, Ms Lulu
Xingwana, together with Mr John Karim-Sessay, the Deputy Minister of
Agriculture and Food Security in Sierra Leone and, in absentia, Mr Gareth
Thomas, the United Kingdom (UK) Minister for the Department of International
Development (DFID), jointly launched a £37,5 million Research Into Use (RIU)
programme that aims to put the best agricultural and natural research into
widespread use across Africa and South Asia.
The programme was launched at the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa
(FARA) General Assembly and Africa Agricultural Science Week in Johannesburg on
Thursday, 14 June 2007. In her launch address, Minister Xingwana said, "I
welcome the initiative to launch a new Research Into Use programme. As the name
of this five-year programme implies, it focuses on working with national and
regional institutions in order to improve their capacity to get new research
into use.
The programme is designed to promote the widespread use of past DFIDs and
other donor investments in agricultural and natural resources research to help
achieve sustained growth and poverty reduction. "I am fully convinced that
there is an urgent need for innovation in agriculture in order to address the
chronic food deficiencies which still affect two-thirds of the people in
Africa. Also, Africa will need innovative approaches to address the six percent
growth target in agricultural production agreed on by the African Union's (AU)
New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad)," Minister Xingwana
stated.
In his launch message Minister Gareth Thomas indicated "This Research Into
Use programme will enable many of the best agricultural technologies to reach
the poor and make a positive difference to their lives. Virtually no country in
history be it China, India, the United States or Britain has achieved economic
progress and improved the welfare of its people without first achieving gains
in agriculture. The path to agricultural and economic growth is long and hard,
but the United Kingdom is committed to doubling our spending for agriculture,
fisheries and forestry research in poor countries to £80 million a year by
2010."
The Research Into Use technologies will be selected on their potential to
make money for farmers, stop environmental damage, reduce poverty for the
community, and increase the supply of food. Lessons from the programme will be
shared to show how fishing, farming, responsible forestry and livestock rearing
combined with new, useable technology can help reduce poverty. The Deputy
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security in Sierra Leone, Mr John Karim-Sessay
said: "We in Sierra Leone look forward to welcoming the RIU programme
activities to our country as the issue of both appropriate information and the
ability to utilise it are key to the development of our agriculture - and
agriculture is central to our development."
Research Into Use builds on past DFID research successes. For example, in
India research on controlling a pest that attacks cotton plants and costs the
country $1 billion a year in lost income, has resulted in 100 000 farmers using
fewer pesticides but increasing their production by 11 percent with an overall
increase in profits of 75 percent.
Dr Monty Jones, Executive Director of FARA added, "I believe that this is
one programme that will take technologies to the farmers and take farmers'
products to the market. This programme is also complementing the innovations
system approach that FARA is advocating. I personally hail DFID for bringing
this to Africa."
"There is urgent need for innovation in agriculture in order to address the
chronic food deficiencies which still affect two-thirds of the people in
Africa. Africa will need innovative approaches to address the six percent
growth target in agricultural production agreed by the New Partnership for
African Development. This is an exciting initiative; it is both encompassing
and inclusive," Minister Xingwana concluded.
Notes for editors
1. Getting research into use is at the core of DFID's Strategy for Research
on Sustainable Agriculture which was published in 2006 (http://www.dfid.gov.uk). The £37,5 million was
announced as part of that strategy.
2. Research Into Use will operate in 10 to 15 African and South Asian countries
between July 2007 to June 2011.
3. Research Into Use is managed by Natural Resources International Ltd in the
UK, in association with Nkoola Institutional Development Associates (NIDA) Ltd
in Uganda and Michael Flint and the Performance Assessment Resource Centre,
also in the UK.
4. FARA (Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa) is the leading organisation
for co-ordinating agricultural research and development in Africa.
5. Its mission is to enhance and add value to the effectiveness of African
agricultural research systems. The Executive Director of FARA is Dr Monty
Jones.
6. The FARA General Assembly is taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa
(Saturday, 9 June 2007 to Saturday, 16 June 2007). Further information can be
found at http://www.fara-africa.org.
7. Further information about DFID research projects can be found at http://www.research4development.info/index.asp.
For further information, contact:
Yasser Mehmood
DFID press office: London
Tel: 00 44 20 7023 0620
E-mail: pressoffice@dfid.gov.uk
Website: http://www.dfid.gov.uk
Godfrey Mdhluli
Media Liaison Officer
Ministry of Agriculture and Land Affairs, South Africa
Tel: 012 319 4862
Cell: 079 871 5437
E-mail: MdhluliG@nda.agric.za
Website: http://www.nda.agric.za
Issued by: Department of Agriculture
15 June 2007
