Tuesday 3 February 2009

Global Developments Commons boosts regional agricultural trade in West Africa

USAID Administrator Henrietta Fore presents in this video 3 initiatives from the Global Development Commons program. This program wants to connect the full spectrum of development practioners: from farmers to traders through information and infrastructure and as such help optimize regional agricultural trade. The first one is about mapping agricultural surplus areas, the second is about the dissemination of New Rice for Africa (NERICA) and the third example Tradenet's market information prices system.

Baba Dioum of the Conference of West and Central Africa Ministers of Agriculture comments how the projects of the Global Development Commons contribute to Pillar 2 of CAADP. The objectives of Pillar 2 are to:

  • Accelerate growth in the agricultural sector by raising the capacities of private entrepreneurs (including commercial and small-holder farmers) to meet the increasingly complex quality and logistic requirements of markets, focusing on selected agricultural commodities that offer the potential to raise rural (on- and off-farm) incomes.
  • Create the required regulatory and policy framework that would facilitate the emergence of regional economic spaces that would spur the expansion of regional trade and cross-country investments.

Dr. Monty Jones of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa explains how rice import was dramatically reduced by those countries who produce NERICA.

Mark Davies of Tradenet/Esoko explains how mobile phone is THE rural computing system which not only allows to communicate market information prices but also to share information on health, credit and government communications.

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