9th December 2009 – “From Global Food Crisis to Local Food Insecurity”

November 19, 2009

CTA in partnership with the European Commission-DG Development and EuropeAid, the EU Presidency, the ACP Secretariat, Euforic, IPS Europe and Concord organizes bimonthly Development Briefings in Brussels to raise awareness on key rural development issues with the development community based in Brussels. The next Brussels Development Briefing will be held on 9th December and will discuss “From Global Food Crisis to Local Food Insecurity” in the context of the new EC policy on Food security to be released.

The Briefing will be looking at the domino effects of increased speculation in food markets (How has the global food and financial crisis affected food production and distribution and the food security of the poorest? Is global food production at risk in the medium and long term and will national food security and food sovereignty be the priority over global food availability? Is the small-scale farming more effective and resilient in times of crisis in least-developed countries?) and at what realistic policy options can secure food supply and availability at global and local levels.

The meeting will be held on 9th December at Berlaymont (Room Walter Hallstein) from 8h30 to 13h00.

  • Concept Note
  • Programme
  • Selected resources
  • Registration Form

  • Briefing on challenges for SMEs in agriculture in ACP countries: Report and Reader available

    November 6, 2009

    The Report and the Reader prepared for the Briefing on “Upgrading to compete in a globalised world: What opportunities and challenges for SMEs in agriculture in ACP countries?” held on 23rd September 2009 give a summary of the subject as well as resources and references available online.

  • Consult the Reader
  • Consult the Report
  • Read more about the Briefing “Upgrading to compete in a globalised world: What opportunities and challenges for SMEs in agriculture in ACP countries?”


    Briefing “ACP Rural Development: why Media matters?”: interviews of participants

    November 5, 2009

     

    Mr Kole Odutola is teacher at the University of Florida. He emphasizes the need to concentrate the attention of the media on the people working in the agricultural area as they need not only mainstreaming but also support for growth. Professor Odutola questions whether the causes of the weak relationship farmers-media are due to the education of journalists and brings up several solutions in this regard.

     

     

    Mr. Ignatius Jean is the representative of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture. His contribution during the first panel drew attention to the key role media plays in education, information, entertainment and the stability of ACP democracies. Mr. Jean underlines that bringing together media and technical personnel from ACP countries is the perfect opportunity to network these three regions and furthermore to create partnerships. Mr. Jean recalls the cultural aspects of communication and the great potential of local media by using the advent of new ICTs.

     

     

     

    Mr. Modeste Shabani bin Sweni is in charge of the radio Santi ya Mkaaji, in the DRC. He considers media as having an important role in the development of agriculture, hence the need to support community media within the villages. He criticizes the fact that city-based media is the one to receive external support, even if it doesn’t pay attention to the problems of rural population. The agricultural development process is becoming difficult when facing all infrastructure problems (transport, processing etc.). For that reason, reinforcing local management capacities and community media to play a catalyst role in the development of rural populations is imposing.

     

    Mr. François Stepman is Communication Expert for the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa. He gives an idea of the popularity of ACP agriculture, by presenting some statistics on the number of videos existing on Youtube on this particular topic. Judging by the figures offered by Youtube, the conclusion of our interviewee is that there is a long ways to go towards making agriculture ’sexy’.

    Read more about the Briefing “ACP Rural Development: why Media matters?”


    Briefing “ACP Rural Development: why Media matters?”: video material on line!

    November 2, 2009

    The video recordings of the 14th Briefing session (“ACP Rural Development: why Media matters?”) are now available! (please click on the name of the speaker to watch his/her intervention):

    Presentation:

    Introductory remarks:

    Synthesis of e-discussion:

     Panel 1 – Mainstreaming media in development: the way to go on?

    Discussant: Mrs Tumi Makgabo, African Broadcasting and Media

    Panel 2 – How media can better serve rural communities?

    Discussant: Dr Eugenia Springer, Director of Eugenia Springer Productions Tunapuna

  • Mr Sayouba Traoré, RFI
  • Mrs Violet Otindo, KBC-CNN
  • Mrs Helen Hambly Odame, University of Guelph
  • Mrs Tumi Makgabo, African Broadcasting and Media
  • Debate
  • Dr Hansjörg Neun, CTA
  • Press conference

    Read more about the Briefing “ACP Rural Development: why Media matters?”