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Ministerial Conference on Harnessing Science and Technology to Increase Agricultural Productivity in Africa:  West African Perspectives
 Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
June 21 – 23, 2004  

 Prepared Remarks of Dr. James G. Butler
Deputy Under Secretary
Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Ministerial Conference on Harnessing Science and Technology To Increase
Agricultural Productivity in Africa: West African Perspectives
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
June 21, 2004

Distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, I am honored to be part of this week’s historic Ministerial focusing on our efforts to use science and technology to strengthen food security, reduce hunger, and improve nutrition here in Africa.

My name is Dr. James Butler and I am the Deputy Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

How appropriate it is that so many of our discussions this week will focus on water. At the Ministerial Conference and Expo on Agricultural Science and Technology last year in Sacramento, the crucial issue of water was one of the key themes to emerge from our discussions. Delegates recognized that water quality and water availability were issues that deserve special attention.

Following up on those discussions, last December in Rome, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in conjunction with the FAO Conference Meeting and the FAO’s Conference Ministerial Round Table on Water, held a side event on how we can use science and technology to improve water management in Africa. This first FAO-USDA cooperative activity examined the specific challenges facing Africans in their efforts to increase supplies of water for agricultural needs. This session also focused on lessons learned from specific projects, and highlighted successful water management practices and techniques.

Our distinguished luncheon speaker, Dr. Kenji Yoshinaga, was a panelist at that event.

No one has a greater stake in water than the world’s farmers. Globally, agriculture consumes approximately 70 percent of the world’s water withdrawals. In low-income developing countries, that figure is more than 90 percent. Clearly, farmers are the most important stewards of water.

At the Ministerial Conference and Expo on Agricultural Science and Technology, one of our priorities focused squarely on the issue of water – water management, water quality, and water availability.

Participants and expert panelists discussed technologies – both high tech and basic – and how they can be adapted and utilized in developing countries to improve health and nutrition and increase crop production. We talked about not only basic water management solutions that can help some countries, particularly in the developing world, but also long-term solutions including innovative delivery methods for water and early warning systems for floods and droughts.

We talked about how we go about finding solutions, recognizing that there are not a lot of additional resources available. Together, we need to re-prioritize and identify creative ways to refocus efforts in the most critical areas. We talked about strengthening academic programs in agricultural research, enhancing partnerships and international cooperation to make scarce resources go further and facilitating the benefits of technology through supportive policies and regulations.

I am proud to say that the United States is taking a leadership role in a number of areas. We have committed to nearly $1 billion for the Clean Water for People Initiative to provide clean drinking water to 50 million people in the developing world.

We are putting increased emphasis on capacity building, on increasing the ability of countries to manage water wisely and to develop an environment that promotes investment. The goal is to provide people in developing nations with the tools they need to preserve agriculture, enhance access of their citizens to water and sanitation, and to seize the opportunities of the global economy.

At the U.S. Department of Agriculture, our scientists and experts are working with international partners to resolve some of the thorniest problems facing agriculture and water resource management.

We have a long, successful history of conducting joint research of mutual benefit on water management and conservation issues under our Scientific Cooperation Research Program.

Since 1982, thousands of foreign scientists and officials have received training and conducted collaborative research with USDA scientists on a wide range of critically important topics, including water conservation and management and the development of drought- and saline-resistant crops. Approximately 15 percent of USDA’s international research projects and scientific exchanges each year are water-related.

USDA also continues to break ground in developing new technologies for monitoring crop production and water management. One USDA project that came online this year will greatly assist Africa and other countries in monitoring lake and reservoir levels in major agricultural regions. The Global Reservoir Monitor will provide near real-time monitoring of lake and reservoir surface elevations via satellite.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in cooperation with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is now monitoring lake and reservoir height variations for approximately 70 lakes around the world, including 15 here in Africa. We continue to add major reservoirs throughout the world to this list. This unique project will help USDA analysts and others quickly locate regional droughts, as well as improve crop production estimates for irrigated regions downstream from lakes and reservoirs.

USDA also has an online Web site – Crop Explorer – that provides free, easy-to-read crop condition information for most agricultural regions in the world. Through weather and satellite data, which include near real-time estimates of meteorological indicators such as precipitation and soil moisture, agricultural economists and scientists can forecast crop production worldwide. This information is also available to farmers, traders, researchers, and the public.

These are just a few of the many projects in which the Department of Agriculture is involved. We look forward to meeting with as many of you as possible and talking about these projects and how we can work together in partnership to achieve our goals.

Now, I would like to turn to our distinguished speaker.

Dr. Kenji Yoshinaga is Director of the Land and Water Development Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, a position he has held since 2001. Prior to that he held a variety of positions with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) in his native Japan, where he focused on irrigation and rural development, project management and evaluation, and economic and policy analysis of agricultural water use.

In the early 1990s, he was Administrator of the Agriculture and Rural Development program area with the Office of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris. Just prior to his appointment to FAO, he worked at the Policy Research Institute with Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries and served as Chairperson of the Working Party on Territorial Policy in Rural Areas of the OECD. Please welcome Dr. Yoshinaga.

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