Grassroots August 2017 Issue 3 | Page 6

In Ethiopia, Gebisa Ejeta was awarded the 2009 World Food Prize for his work on improving the food supply of hundreds of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa by increasing the production of sorghum hybrids resistant to drought and the parasitic  Striga weed.

None of these research projects would have been possible without governmental support. However, much more needs to be done.  Research  shows that investing an extra US $88 billion in agricultural research and development globally over the next 15 years could increase crop yields by 0.4% each year.

This could save 80 million people from hunger and prevent malnourishment of five million children.

Africa is behind the curve on investing in research to improve agriculture outputs. Even though all 54 countries of the African Union have signed up to successive commitments – starting with the Maputo Declaration in 2003 – to increase their agricultural research budgets to at least 10% of their national budgets, few have actually done so.

At the last count only 13  had met or exceeded the 10% target in one or more years since 2003.

There’s an added problem. Africa relies on external capacity for most of its scientific research in agriculture. This has undermined its capacity to use science to deliver solutions for problems unique to Africa. This needs to change. Scientific research should be Africa-based, owned and led. Investment will be key – and so will solidarity among African scientists and governments.

Using science to benefit people

In 2014 African heads of state renewed their commitment to the agriculture sector when they signed the  Malibu Declaration. The core of its agenda is to connect science to benefit society by:

- Identifying broad areas of science that can be developed in partnership.

-Strengthening national science and technology institutions

-Building human capacity

-Diversifying funding sources to support science

-Facilitating partnerships between African institutions at a national and continental level

-Sharing information, technologies, information, facilities and staff for common challenges and opportunities, and

- Creating a favourable policy environment for science

In addition to this, governments need to step up to the plate and increase their research budgets. Combined with the commitment to work together, the hope is that science will increasingly be used to create a more productive, efficient and competitive agricultural sector across the continent. This is critical to improve rural economies, where most people in Africa live.

Grassroots

August 2017

Vol. 17, No.3

news

6

Figure 1: Technology, like this tea-picking machine in Kenya, can harness agriculture’s power to change lives. Reuters/Thomas Mukoya