Interview during the MobileActive 2008 World Summit (Johannesburg, South Africa) with Mary NAKIRYA, Program coordinator BROSDI, Busoga Open Source & Development Initiative, ICT enabled rural development. CELAC - Uganda.

Mary explains how the project Collecting & Exchange of Local Agricultural Content (CELAC) enables farmers to voice record their own innovative techniques and how they

Interview with Mary Nyakira of BROSDI/CELAC Uganda during the MobileActive 2008 conference in Johannesburg South Africa.

Mary explains how the mobile phone conferencing works and how farmers are enjoying it. It contributes to a particular form of democracy and transparancy.

Click to Play Interview with Gopal Gobiratnam of OneWorld about the success of LifeLines India: the audio based Questions and Answers System (QAS). Gopal explains what the advantages are of a voice system over text based (sms) systems and the difference between India and Africa.

Click to Play Sanaa ZEBAKH (Point d'Information National sur les programmes de recherche europeens - Maroc) says: "The role of NIPs is not to create illusions but about contributing to European research knowledge and about excellence". In Marocco light information products have been developped with a focus on themes which Maroccan researchers

Click to Play Dr. Habiba Hassan-Wassef has been wondering why Europe has a renewed interest for joint research in the field of agriculture and nutrition in Africa (Framework Programme 7 Theme 2: Food, Agriculture, Fisheries and Bio-technologies). She takes as example a recent call by the European Commission for proposals from the

Click to Play Dr. Habiba Hassan-Wassef (Egypt) sees a misunderstanding in the fact that many researchers in Africa perceive the Frame Work Programme 7 of the European Commission first of all as a source of money forgetting it is about science and knowledge based economy. But few realise what this means. It is about generating new knowledge to

Biocircle organised a training session in Brussels (to which FARA participated) from 7th till 8th of October 2008: Kick off Meeting and Traning Course.

The Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) marks a new beginning for the international cooperation aspect of EU research and represents a crucial instrument for implementing
S&T agreements between the EU and Third Countries. Under FP7, international

As developed markets worldwide face economic slowdowns, Africa continues to produce above average growth and is seeing increasingly higher levels of investment in infrastructure development.

The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), in conjunction with its corporate and government partners, held its 2008 U.S. – Africa Infrastructure Conference: Connecting the Continent: October 6-8 in Washington,

5 - 9 October. Mombasa, Kenya. Conference organised by the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture ( IITA), Bio Diversity, the Forum for Agricultural Research ( FARA), the International Society for Horticultural Science ( ISHS) and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI).
The four-day international conference brought together growers, scientists, entrepreneurs and policy makers

In Starved for Science, Paarlsberg's prose is as hard-hitting as the title suggests. His argument is essentially this: science can save Africa's smallholder farmers, so chemical fertilisers and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) should be welcomed with open arms, and the necessary research funding provided without delay.

It is no surprise that chemical fertiliser tops Paarlberg's shopping

This second edition of Business for Development takes a look at the role of the private sector in stimulating innovation, generating employment and contributing to the development of African agriculture and the wider economy.

The authors investigate how African agriculture can become more market-orientated, the importance of agro-food industries, and the action some governments are taking to

Climate Change and Agriculture in Africa Impact Assessment and Adaptation Strategies.
Ariel Dinar, Rashid Hassan, Robert Mendelsohn and James Benhin and others. April 2008

'This is a well researched, thorough and impressive work on climate change and agriculture in Africa. I recommend it to students, researchers and practitioners working on climate change issues' Jabavu Clifford Nkomo, senior

CTA in collaboration with the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) received 248 abstracts in response to the two science competitions that

An eight minute Business Africa/CTA video production documenting actual cases on the use of Web 2.0 applications in the development sector, specifically among farmers in Africa. A particular example is Uganda.

ENGLISH VIDEO Agriculture and New Technologies - Web 2.0 in Uganda - Web2forDev

FRENCH VIDEO: Agriculture et Nouvelles Technologies - Web 2.0 en Afrique

Collecting and Exchanging

Both FARA and the Syngenta Foundation recognised that harnessing the potential of biotechnology requires adequate understanding of the technology, its acceptance and appropriate application by African countries. It was recognised at the consultations that well-reasoned and carefully articulated awareness raising and advocacy was required to enable parties to engage in meaningful dialogue on the

A two days workshop was held in Accra 30th of September - 1st of October, preceeded by the PAEPARD Steering Committee meeting on 29th September to further develop the Platform for African-European Partnerships for Agricultural Research for Development (PAEPARD) proposal.

PAEPARD I was implemented in partnership between FARA (the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa) and EFARD (the European

September 15-17, Nairobi .The African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) organized an International Conference on Natural Resource Management, Climate Change and Economic Development in Africa as part of its 20th Anniversary.

The intention of the conference was to bring together a significant body of information to illuminate the physical, socioeconomic and global impacts of climate change and

22 to 25 September. Limbé, Cameroon. The purpose of the workshop was to strengthen national capacity for the development, implementation, review and updating of national biodiversity strategies and action plans, and for biodiversity mainstreaming into relevant sectors, through the exchange of experiences and training on the use of relevant tools and mechanisms.
It provided an opportunity for

25-26 September. NEW YORK. Global warming and poverty are intertwined because the world's poorest people are the ones hardest hit by changes in the climate, and solutions for both problems need to be found, panelists said Thursday at the second day of an annual conference spearheaded by former President Bill Clinton.

The conference opened Wednesday and included former Vice President Al Gore,

24-27 September. Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. “Pathways towards Sustainable Sanitation in Africa”.

A three day event, the conference will bring together the community of practice that has coalesced around the NETSSAF consortium, in conjunction with other decision makers, sanitation professionals, scientists and practitioners. Findings, future trends and evaluations will be presented on the