GFAR e-news: 3/2009

Newly launched Science journal, "Food Security", calls for papers

In a world where food security is a constant battle, which physical, biological and socio-economic factors put sustainable food production at risk?  The newly launched science journal entitled "Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food" works to address this question by focusing on issues such as nutrition, food quality and safety, global food potential and natural, biotic and socio-economic constraints. Building from Nobel Peace Laureate Norman Borlaug's address to the International Society for Plant Pathology's 7th International Congress of Plant Pathology in 1998, "Food Security" aims to publish two types of materials. The first is the analyses of the constraints that deprive large parts of the world’s population of access to safe and nutritious food and the second, the research into overcoming such constraints. A call for papers has also been announced, which will aim to address these important issues. It will also strive to answer the question of what can be done to speed up current efforts to eradicate hunger. More information on this call for papers can be found at the link below.

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The CGIAR Communications program embarks onto new innovative technologies for sharing information

The information and communications technology (ICT) and knowledge management (KM) of the CGIAR, the ICT-KM, has just released it's second quarter news edition on what is going on in CGIAR communications. An informative editorial written by Enrica Porcari, the leader of the ICT-KM program, describes the CGIAR's new efforts in communications as they delve further into the land of Twitter, wikis, RSS feeds, podcasting and other innovative social media tools. The newsletter also features other updates such as their "Triple-A" (Availability, Accessibility, Applicability) benchmarking exercise among participating CGIAR centres and the launch of CGXchange 2.0, the new way to collaborate in the CGIAR. We commend the efforts of the ICT-KM and look forward to linking together through the information highways.

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International Congress Geotunis 2009

A vast array of environmental conditions threaten food security within developing countries on a daily basis. Among these, desertification and lack of water, or ways to bring water to those who need it, prove to be ever-present problems.  Recognizing the urgent need to address these issues, the sponsoring committee of Geo Tunisia 2008 recommended the upcoming International Congress Geotunis 2009 to be centred around the themes of hydraulic resources and desertification. Slated for 16 to 20 December 2009 in Tunis, researchers, specialists, ICT professionals, scientific institutions and outside concerned companies are all invited to participate in this important conference. For information on the scientific topics presented, reserving an exhibition space, poster submissions, etc., please follow the below link.

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UK Parliament announces a "Call for Evidence" to address the Global Food Crisis

The UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Agriculture and Food for Development (AGGP) would like to hear from YOU. A "Call for Evidence" has been requested to help the UK identify how well its current commitments are addressing issues of global food security and how it will carryout its role in ensuring sustainable agricultural development where it is needed the most. To this end, the AGGP is seeking answers from all stakeholders to many questions surrounding the global food crisis.  The Inquiry for instance poses the questions of how we can sustainably feed 9 billion people by 2050 and also asks of the UK Government's responsibility to share its skills, science and technology to create a more sustainable future in food security for those in developing countries. The AGGP invites all interested parties to address these issues and others in writing by midday Tuesday, 31 March 2009.

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Catholic Relief Services Symposium to address holistic innovations in agricultural strategy

On April 20th in Washington DC, the Catholic Relief Services (CRF) will take a holism approach in focusing on aspects of agricultural innovation which ensure its sustainability.  Participants of the Symposium entitled, "Holistic Innovations in Agricultural Programming" will discuss and explore various methods to increasing food security, such as the uses of mobile technology in agricultural development, the role of finance in agro-enterprise and market strategies to recover from agricultural disasters, etc. The introduction will be given by Ken Hackett, President of CRS, later followed by the keynote address from Katherine Sierra, Chair of the CGIAR and Vice-President of Sustainable Development at the World Bank. Registration is now open, so please click on the link below for more information.

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Launch of the Global Land Cover Network Portal 

Designed through a collaboration between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in the Spring of 2002, the Global Land Cover Network (GLCN) was created to gather, assess and make information on land cover more accessible and easily monitored at the national, regional and global levels. This network compiles essential land characteristic data and analysis, through monitoring and identifying areas threatened by severe land degradation, climate change and the effects of natural disasters, to name a few.  This new portal allows users to access an extensive database, providing bounds of metadata as a result of GLCN's involvement in numerous global, regional and national initiatives and projects related to land cover, land cover change and environmental databases development. Check out their new site by clicking below!  

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HarvestChoice: Towards more sustainable crop production systems

Managed by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the HarvestChoice initiative is a 39-month project launched in October 2006, jointly implemented by the Global Food Systems research program of IFPRI and the Center for International Science and Technology Practice and Policy(InSTePP) at the University of Minnesota.  Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the goal of this initiative is to raise the level of sustainability and production of the cropping systems which are most likely to bring significant benefits to the world's poor. To this end, HarvestChoice is  addressing many major issues which will help to attain the project's goal, such as establishing the locations between the poor and their surrounding major crops systems, analyzing the areas in which crop production is affected by environmental factors, including disease or drought and identifying dependencies of various communities on certain crops, etc.

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Agricultural Innovation Symposium to take place in Kathmandu

The Innovation Asia-Pacific Symposium (IAPS) will take place from 4 to 7 of May 2009 at the Everest Hotel in Kathmandu, Nepal.  Through keynote speeches, small-group discussions, case studies, mini-workshops, and an interactive “marketplace”, researchers and practitioners in innovation systems in smallholder agriculture and natural resource management (NRM) will learn from one another’s knowledge and experience.  While many different themes will be explored during the Symposium, emphasis will be placed on helping women, men, households and communities to break free from poverty in an environmentally sustainable manner.  Papers, presentations, discussion highlights and recommendations will be posted on the IAPS website after the Symposium.   

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Countdown: 1 day left until the launch of the
new GFAR website

We have just one day to go until the launch of the new GFAR website tomorrow on Friday, March 13th! The web space will feature the new look of GFAR and will build on its role as a Global Forum for all those who care about the future of agriculture. Members of “e-GFAR” will be able to participate in Forum debates, post news items on the open site and also submit reports, papers and other information regarding ARD for GFAR’s extensive document repository. Please join us tomorrow and find out how easy it is to get involved and share your voice.

Europe-wide football match fights poverty

From March 20th to 22nd, we will be witness to the first ever Europe-wide football match dedicated to fighting hunger. These three days will involve over 200 professional football clubs, 100 stadiums and millions of fans.  As part a campaign launched in October 2008 by FAO and the European Professional Football Leagues entitled “Professional Football Against Hunger,” all proceeds received during the football-filled weekend will go to FAO TeleFood microprojects, designed to provide immediate and lasting solutions to poor families and communities to enable them to produce their own food.  We would like to take this opportunity to commend both FAO and the European Professional Football Leagues for taking an active stance on poverty alleviation.

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World Bank survey of 60,000 helps to discover a
way out of poverty

A recent World Bank survey conducted in 15 countries and surveying over 60,000 people helped to shed some light on ways the poor can escape from poverty, taking into account the current and local area financial, environment and social environment.  Hard-hitting effects caused by the worldwide financial crisis have resulted in nearly 53 million people to slip into poverty, the World Bank estimates. The study, “Moving Out of Poverty: Success from the Bottom Up”, advises getting local communities better connected to the mainstream markets, providing easier access to loans for production and also improving connectedness through roads, telephones, electricity and irrigation.

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Two news books released on Farmer Innovation

Two new books on farmer innovation, with contributions from Prolinnova partners, have just been released. The first entitled, “Farmer First Revisited: Innovation for Agricultural Research and Development”, presents a range of experiences that highlight the importance of looking towards a  wider innovation system instead of solely focusing on the farm, including market interactions as well as the broader institutional and policy environment. The second, “Innovation Africa: Enriching Farmers’ Livelihoods” covers new conceptual and methodological developments in agricultural innovation systems and showcases current experiences in different contexts in Africa. The GFAR community would like to congratulate the authors and Prolinnova on these two new books.

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PostHarvest 2009: Addressing Global Post Harvest issues

The upcoming PostHarvest 2009 Conference, jointly organized by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and AsiaCongress Events Company Ltd. and supported by the Thai Rice Exporters Association and the Thai Rice Millers Association, will bring together all of the stakeholders in the rice industry including service providers, researchers, equipment providers and technology experts. This international conference will provide the ideal meeting place to discuss new technologies/inventions, research and postharvest concerns. Participants will identify actions needed to increase rice production, raise the income of producers and processors to better achieve food security. If you are interested in registering for the Conference, signing up to submit an abstract, or purchasing an exhibition space, please click on the below link.

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Countdown: Two days until the launch of the new GFAR website

We only have two days to go until the launch of the new GFAR website on Friday, March 13th! The web space will feature the new look of GFAR and will build on its role as a Global Forum for all those who care about the future of agriculture. Members of “e-GFAR” will be able to participate in Forum debates, post news items, submit reports, papers and other information regarding ARD on the open site and will also be able to browse GFAR’s extensive document repository. We looking forward to sharing with you all the new GFAR web space.