Dialogues: the shaping of biotechnology in Southern Africa

"IFPRI and FANRPAN outlined and managed a highly participatory process involving high-level policymakers, senior representatives of a range of stakeholder agencies, and respected scientific leaders, who came together for an integrated series of roundtable discussions. The initiative is distinctive for having an explicitly process-based perspective in a framework involving many stakeholders.The first of three policy dialogues took place in April 2003 in Johannesburg, South Africa. A subsequent dialogue took place in Harare, September 20–21, 2004; a third is planned for 2005. In selecting topics for the first dialogue, IFPRI and FANRPAN identified five areas in which governments are required to make new and unfamiliar choices in order to regulate agricultural biotechnologies: intellectual property rights, biosafety, trade, food safety and consumer choice, and public research." from TextSouthern Africa, africa south of sahara, intellectual property, Agricultural biotechnology Government policy, Transgenic organisms, Genetically modified foods, Food supply Africa, Southern,

Labor-intensive public works for food security: Experience in Africa

Food supply Africa., Food security Africa., Public works Africa., Employment (Economic theory) Africa.,

The Impact of Agricultural Research in Tropical Africa: A Study of the Collaboration between the International and National Research Systems

CGIAR Study Paper on the problems and opportunities of international agricultural research in Sub Saharan Africa, and the impact of CGIAR Centers on African national agricultural research systems and on agricultural production and food security in Africa. Written by Hans E. Jahnke, Dieter Kirschke, and Johannes Lagermann and published as CGIAR Study Paper No. 21, part of the series comprising the CGIAR Impact Study of the 1980s

Improving nutrition as a development priority: Addressing undernutrition in national policy processes in Sub-Saharan Africa

"Undernutrition remains a major source of human suffering and an obstacle to national economic and human development in many African countries. This report investigates undernutrition's persistence, drawing on case studies of the public response to the problem in Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Uganda. Analyzing each nation's policymaking structures, political actors, understanding of undernutrition, and the timing of public responses, the author explains why none of these four nations has mounted an effective campaign to eliminate undernutrition. The author identifes several different causes of this shortcoming, with one underlying flaw in the various public responses standing out: a fundamental failure on the part of political leaders to see undernutrition as a grave problem that undermines development efforts in their nations. The author concludes that an effective response to undernutrition in these countries requires the formation of national advocacy coalitions that can raise public awareness of the problem, highlight policymakers' duty to ensure the nutrition of their citizens, and link proper nutrition to general national development. This report should serve as a resource for advocates, researchers, and others concerned with undernutrition in Africa." from Authors' SummaryNutrition policy, Developing countries, Undernutrition, Nutrition security, Policies,

Seed Biology and Yield of Grain Crops

Description from CABI (Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International): This new edition of an established title examines the determination of grain crop yield from a unique perspective, by concentrating on the influence of the seed itself. As the food supply for an expanding world population is based on grain crops harvested for their seeds, understanding the process of seed growth and its regulation is crucial to our efforts to increase production and meet the needs of that population. Yield of grain crops is determined by their assimilatory processes such as photosynthesis and the biosynthetic processes in the seed, which are partly regulated within the seed itself. Providing a timely update in this field and highlighting the impact of the seed on grain crop yields, this book: Describes all aspects of seed growth and development, including environmental and genetic effects on growth rate and length of the filling period. Discusses the role of the seed in determining the two main yield components: individual seed weight and number of seeds per unit area. Uses the concepts and models that have been developed to understand crop management and yield improvement. Substantially updated with new research and further developments of the practical applications of the concepts explored, this book is essential reading for those concerned with seed science and crop yield, including agronomists, crop physiologists, plant breeders, and extension workers. It is also a valuable source of information for lecturers and graduate students of agronomy and plant physiology.https://uknowledge.uky.edu/pss_book/1005/thumbnail.jp

The societal metabolism and resource curse of developing economies: a comparative study of Ghana and Ivory Coast

This thesis proposes a new analytical framework to analyse the relationship between material and energy use with indicators of well-being and economic growth in developing countries, conducted in the context of debates around the resource curse and development theories. By combining the societal metabolism approach with a historic and political context, this methodology explores the social metabolism and resource curse over time, relying on biophysical indicators of resource abundance. The analytical framework developed in this thesis identifies different aspects that have shaped the development trajectories of currently developing countries. It demonstrates that in order to understand present and future development paths of developing countries, a holistic approach that can combine different sets of data is needed, as it can inform about possibilities and tradeoffs of development pathways such as those envisioned by the Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, the approach developed in this thesis provides the basis to carry out developmental research utilizing a metabolic approach in developing countries where data issues prevent societal metabolism research. In this thesis two case studies are presented to test the methodology, finding that: (1) socio-political stability plays an important role shaping the metabolism of an economy and avoiding the resource curse; (2) well-being can improve without growth in economic activity or resource consumption; (3) international governance has had major impacts shaping the present economic structure of the selected economies

Evolving food gaps in the Middle East/North Africa: prospects and policy implications.

Food supply Middle East., Food supply Africa, North,

A spatial analysis of land use and cover change and agricultural performance: Evidence from northern Ghana

PRIFPRI3; ISI; CRP2; 1 Fostering Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Food Supply; Africa Rising; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; HarvestChoiceEPTD; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM