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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

To strengthen food security, reduce hunger and improve nutrition in Africa, the United States Department of Agriculture and the Burkina Faso Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Fisheries Resources are co-hosting a Ministerial Conference on “Harnessing Science and Technology to Increase Agricultural Productivity in Africa: West African Perspectives” from June 21 – 23, 2004 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The event is a follow-on activity to the Ministerial Conference and Expo on Agricultural Science and Technology that was held in June 2003 in Sacramento, California.  Sponsors are the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Burkina Faso Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Fisheries Resources, the Department of State (DOS), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU, in French), and the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) have endorsed the conference and are providing advisory support.

The conference will examine the use of appropriate technologies to raise the productivity of staple food and high-value crops in West Africa, with a focus on four themes:

• Enhancing Water Conservation, Water Use Efficiency and Water Management Technologies in West Africa,

• Crop Biotechnology and Biosafety to Improve Productivity, Combat Plant Disease and Enhance Drought Tolerance,

• Policies, Regulatory Frameworks and Institutional Capacity Building To Increase Agricultural Productivity, Technology Transfer, and Economic Growth

• Partnerships to Enhance the Production, Processing and Marketing of Staple-Food and High-Value Crops in Africa.

The Conference aims to broaden participants' knowledge, understanding and awareness of relevant S&T, including biotechnology, through provision of accurate information for decision-making and to facilitate access to new technologies through partnerships of all kinds.  It will also help to further new priorities that emerged from the Sacramento Ministerial and support three U.S. Presidential Initiatives: the Initiative to End Hunger in Africa, the Water for the Poor Initiative, and the Trade for African Development and Enterprise Initiative.

Ministers of Agriculture and related sectors have been invited from the following member countries of ECOWAS (those with an asterisk are also WAEMU member-countries):  Benin*, Burkina Faso*, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire*, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau*, Liberia, Mali*, Niger*, Nigeria, Senegal*, Sierra Leone, and Togo*.  Chad and Mauritania have also been invited, as they are members of CILSS.  The event will also include speakers and technical representatives from regional African organizations, international organizations, NGO’s, private industry, the USG, and U.S. land-grant and African universities.

Please visit this page for continuous updates.

• Veneman Announces Science and Technology Ministerial Conference In West Africa (06/01/04)