What’s Behind Africa’s
Turnaround?
Washington,
DC–May 13, 2014, For
Immediate Release – Economic research on demographic and impact trends for
international agricultural development will be the focus of a National C-FAR
research seminar on Monday, May 19. The seminar will
occur twice—first at 10 AM ET in 337 Russell Senate Office Building, and
again at 12 PM ET in 1300 Longworth House Office Building. The presenter is Dr. William A. Masters, Professor and Chair of the
Department of Food and Nutrition Policy at the Friedman School of Nutrition,
Tufts University.
"International
agricultural development is driven by a multitude of factors. After decades of
investment in development, we are now seeing big payoffs in terms of economic
opportunity and gradual poverty reduction all across Africa.” says Dr. Masters,
Member of the Council
on Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics’ Blue Ribbon Panel on
Development.
“Africa had been held back and is now being helped by some of the same trends
that drove Asian development. We can
anticipate those changes, and seize the moment through strategic investment in
agriculture and nutrition."
“These presentations
provide excellent examples of the value of federally funded food and
agricultural research, Extension and education in producing the scientific
outcomes and outreach needed to meet 21st century challenges and
opportunities,” says Chuck Conner, President of the National Coalition for Food
and Agricultural Research (National C-FAR).
ABSTRACT: Over the past decade, many African countries
have reversed their earlier economic decline and achieved some of the world’s
fastest rates of economic growth and job creation. This turnaround is associated with
slow-moving trends in rural demography and agricultural productivity that lifted
economic prospects in Asia from the 1980s, leaving Africa as the world’s poorest
continent since the 1990s. Those winds
have now shifted, creating economic opportunities in African agriculture and the
prospect of rapid improvement in food security, nutrition and health. Today’s seminar discusses recent evidence on
the speed and timing of rural development in Africa and other regions, and what
these trends mean for US foreign assistance and agricultural development
policy.
The seminar is open
to the public and the media.
National
Coalition for Food and Agricultural Research (National C-FAR) is a
nonprofit, nonpartisan, consensus-based, and customer-led coalition that brings food,
agriculture, nutrition, conservation, and natural resource stakeholders together
with the food and agriculture research and Extension community, serving as a
forum and a unified voice in support of sustaining and increasing public
investment at the national level in food and agricultural research, Extension,
and education. National C-FAR’s Hill
Seminar Series, now in its tenth year, regularly presents leading-edge
researchers working to provide answers to pressing issues confronting the public
and Congress. The Hill Seminar Series helps
demonstrate the value of public investment in food and agricultural
research—investment that returns 45 percent per year on average, and $20 in
economic benefit from every $1 investment in food and ag
research.
The Council on Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics (C-FARE) is a
non-profit organization based in Washington, DC. C-FARE promotes the work of applied
economists and serves as a catalyst for incorporating economic thinking into the
analysis of food, agricultural and resource decisions. We serve as a conduit between the academic
research and extension community and Washington, DC policymakers and agency
personnel, matching expertise to public needs.
Go to
http://www.ncfar.org/Hill_Seminar_Series.asp for
more information about the seminar series and past topics. Interviews with
National C-FAR President Chuck Conner are available by request. For additional information, go to www.ncfar.org; or
contact Tom Van Arsdall, Executive Director, at tom@vanarsdall.com or
(703) 509-4746.
