The Experts’ Roundtable of the project, Supporting Policy Research to Inform Agricultural Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, will be held in partnership with the Agricultural and Development Economics Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), on 14th of December at FAO Headquarters, Rome, Italy.

GDN PROJECT’S ROUNDTABLE IN ROME AGENDA

(DOWNLOAD THE AGENDA)

Le Chateau, Hotel Intercontinental, 6th & 7th September, 2012

DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE AGENDA OF THE WORKSHOP

Copthorne Tara Hotel, London – 14th & 15th July, 2011

By Lucas Barasa

African governments have been challenged to buy their food from within the continent to cut on costs and curb hunger. Prof Alexandros Sarris, the Global Development Network Project Senior Advisor, regretted that African countries had not fully utilised regional integration blocs as a source of imports. The continent, he told an international conference, had also not fully worked to benefit from regional integration. (Read the full article)

By Gargi Parsai

The controversy regarding India’s permission to allow foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail and growing “land grab” in Africa by multinational corporations are being closely watched globally by agriculture experts, researchers and donors.

At a workshop here on ‘Supporting Policy Research to Inform Agricultural Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia’ — which a few journalists from both regions were invited to attend — experts pointed out the phenomenon of “outsiders” displacing farmers to do commercial agriculture for exports. (Read the full article)

By Nidhi Nath Srinivas

COLOMBO: Three decades of subsidizing the farmers of South Asia through the policies of public procurement and public food distribution has only marginally improved their lives say latest findings from research under the aegis of the Global Development Network, a research capacity building programme. (Read the full article)

by the IANS Bureau

South Asian countries should focus on empowering women to be confident farmers, says an agricultural policy document released in Colombo. ”Empowered women farmers as can increase their income, develop a stable rural livelihood and contribute to ensuring food security,” said the Global Development Network (GDN) policy brief. (Read the full article)

By Sandasen Marasinghe

Sri Lanka is a good case study for other countries in the region to find out how a country changed its position from one dependent on food imports to a country self-sufficient in rice, International Monetary Co-operation Senior Minister Dr Sarath Amunugama said. He made this observation at the commencement of the two day Global Research Capacity Building Programme on Supporting Policy Research to Inform Agricultural Policy in South Asia by the Global Development Network in Colombo yesterday (Read the full article)

By Independent Television Network

Sri Lanka is advancing towards a secure economy achieving an eight percent economic growth.  Senior Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama has said that South Asian countries can successfully and fearlessly face world crisis by developing the agricultural industry. The Minister was addressing the Workshop on the Agricultural Policy of South Asian countries. (Read the full article)

By Dann Okoth

More than 300 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa are at risk of starvation by 2050 if food production in the continent is not stepped up considerably, it has emerged. But the potential disaster, which could also see up to 52 million children in the region severely malnourished can be averted if the right policies are pursued, experts attending a regional workshop on agriculture in Nairobi offered. (Read the full article)

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

Five policy briefing papers to help shape debates on agricultural policies in sub-Saharan Africa have been launched in Nairobi, Kenya. The briefs summarise the findings of a group African researchers who presented their synthesis papers at a regional workshop organised by the Global Development Network (GDN) to present an African perspective on agricultural research and policy issues. (Read the full article)

By Per Pinstrup-Andersen 

Agricultural development is the most effective driver of broad-based economic growth and poverty alleviation in most Sub-Saharan African countries. Consequently, the failure by many African governments to prioritise investments in rural areas is resulting in very low economic growth rates. (Read the full article)