Agricultural Innovation for African Sustainability and Resilience: A World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue Side Event
Event Information
You are invited to join this World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogues side event, hosted by the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD) and USAID.
Investments in agricultural research and development generate among the greatest impacts on agricultural productivity growth and poverty reduction per dollar spent, though most African governments invest less than 1% of agricultural GDP in agricultural research.
This virtual event is structured as a dialogue, with participant interaction, building on earlier events from the UN Food Systems Summit and AGRF 2021, convening leaders to identify the priority actions for investments in agricultural research, development, and extension and an enabling policy environment.
The event puts forward to regional and global leaders recommendations in three priority areas necessary to respond to climate change and build more resilient food systems: 1) priorities to improve capacities of government ministries and agencies to promote technical innovation and to respond to major shocks in food systems; 2) operationalizing recommendations for balance in research partnerships between international research institutions and national agricultural research systems; and 3) communicating research results back to policy makers to influence policy change and investments.
Presentations and discussion will draw from recent evidence, including the BIFAD-commissioned study, Agricultural Productivity Growth, Resilience, and Economic Transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for USAID, and look to build or expand upon recommendations put forward in the 2021 African Agricultural Status Report and a previous BIFAD co-hosted UN FSS Science Days event.
Special thanks to the World Food Prize Foundation for the invitation to host this side event. Please visit the WFP website to learn more and register for the 2021 Borlaug Dialogue. Note: Registration in the Borlaug Dialogues is not required to join this side event. Register for the side event at the link above.
Speakers
Mr. Michael Michener
Deputy Assistant to the Administrator, Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, USAID
U.S Agency for International Development (USAID)
Ms. Lulama Ndibongo Traub
Chair of the Technical Committee
Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes (ReNAPRI)
Dr. Thom Jayne
University Foundation Professor of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics
Michigan State University
Dr. Louise Fox
Nonresident Senior Fellow, African Growth Initiative
Brookings Institution
Dr. Adesoji Adelaja
John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor in Land Policy
Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, Michigan State University
Dr. Keith Fuglie
Senior Economist, Resource and Rural Economics Division
U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Dr. Aparajita Goyal
Senior Economist
World Bank
Dr. Kevin Chika Urama
Senior Director of the African Development Institute
African Development Bank
Dr. John Lynam
Emeritus Scientist
International Center for Tropical Agriculture
Dr. Pamela Anderson
Board Member, Director General Emerita, International Potato Center
Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD)
Event Registration Information
Community Event
Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD) and USAID
