CTA's 20th anniversary

Looking to the Future – Experiences & Prospects

Date		Friday, 4 June 2004
Venue		Hotel “De Wageningse Berg” Generaal Foulkesweg 96 6703 DS Wageningen

An international audience of 120 invited guests was greeted by CTA’s Director and the Mayor of Wageningen. The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Monty Jones, co- winner of the 2004 World Food Price and Executive Secretary of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA).

After the presentations, guests toured CTA Headquarters in Wageningen, where an exhibition of CTA’s products and services provided an overview of Information & Communication Management for Agriculture in ACP countries over the last 20 years.

Using experience to chart the future
An interview with Carl B. Greenidge, Director CTA

The birth of the CTA, 20 years ago, was the result of a compromise. At the time, the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of countries wanted a fund to support their agricultural sectors. The European Union (EU) Member States did not agree and opted instead for an approach based on partnership: a technical centre financed by the European Development Fund (EDF), aimed at improving the profitability of small-scale agricultural producers and enterprises in ACP countries. It was decided to focus on the transfer of agricultural information and, in time, on access to and management of information technologies. The goal was to increase agricultural output, within the context of development as an economic process.

At first, the emphasis was on North-South technology transfer, using conventional technologies to, as Haniteli ‘Ofa Fa’anunu, the current Chairperson of the CTA Advisory Committee, put it, “convert information to make more food”. Since then, CTA has concentrated more on South- South knowledge exchange, especially through its support for seminars. Mr Njonga observed that CTA recently supported a seminar on European exports of frozen chickens to Africa by paying the participants’ travel expenses, adding that what he found constructive about CTA is the way it “supports interesting initiatives without imposing them. We dream of a sub-regional dimension. CTA has helped us with this and we in turn have become its point of reference for Central Africa .” It is all part of CTA’s moves towards decentralisation.

Past and future challenges

The advent of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) has brought many changes to CTA’s work and opened new doors, especially with the recent proliferation of portable telephones, which has widened the potential of technologies for developing countries, according to Carl B. Greenidge , the Centre’s third and current Director. On the political front, several major developments have had an impact on CTA. Under the Cotonou Agreement, the Centre has seen its mandate change to reflect a stronger supporting role for national agricultural policies.

For Heleni Boulkou, outgoing Chairperson of the Advisory Committee, political dialogue “is a pre-condition for implementing cooperation, that will not only be economic, but also political.” At a socio-economic level, CTA is also adjusting its approach. As Mr Njonga observed, “The small-scale farmer does not just need bread, he has other concerns. The support of CTA is welcome, but too often it is dominated by concerns of agricultural development.” According to Mrs Boulkou, the main problem now facing small-scale producers is that they find themselves caught up in the global market system, and yet locked out of it. They are asked to be more competitive when they do not have the means to do so, she said, and have to meet food standards imposed, for example, by EU sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and by Northern hypermarket food chains. CTA tries to help alleviate poverty by keeping ACP smallholders well-informed and linking them to markets, she added. Mr Fa’anunu pointed out the need for much more market information, specifically geared towards ACP countries. “CTA will have to be able to meet the demand,” he observed.

Mr Greenidge noted that before the extensive opening up of EU markets in 2007, investments must be made in the trade infrastructure in many ACP countries. “That is, an ability to get whatever they produce to market,” he said. To offset the probable negative impact of full trade liberalisation on ACP countries, the Centre plans to step up information on product diversifi- cation, he added. “Information is going to be critical with regard to the trade of traditional commodities produced by ACP countries exported to Europe , such as coffee, cocoa and bananas, given their declining prices,” he continued. “The question now is how to get them to invest in areas such as wood products, leather products, off-season flowers. And more than investment, what is needed is management capacity, and information critical to management. If the flowers are not delivered on time, they are dead…. We can offer that service to the holders, to strengthen their management capacity in that regard".

Dr. Monty Patrick Jones

Monty Jones is the Executive Secretary of FARA and co-winner of the prestigious 2004 World Food Prize. He won the award based on his discovery of the genetic process to create the New Rice for Africa (NERICA) which gives higher yields, shorter growth cycles and more protein content than its Asian and African parents.

He is a Sierra Leonean and has spent the last 16 years of his career life in Africa working in the international agricultural research for development institutions.

He started his career at the Rice Research station in Sierra Leone , where he worked as a breeder for 13 years. His international career started with the CGIAR as co-ordinator of the IITA/USAID Cameroon rice program from 1987 to 1990.

In 1991, Monty Jones moved to WARDA to become its principal breeder where he developed the NERICA rice in close collaboration with his fellow scientists at WARDA and with other scientists from Asia , Europe and the US . He then disseminated NERICAs through participatory approaches by working at multiple levels of associates from scientists to extension workers and farmers organizations to governments and NGOs.

Monty Jones’ work on NERICA has increased rice production in West and Central Africa and has given savings to many African governments on rice imports. Through his work, WARDA was awarded the prestigious CGIAR’s King Badouin Award in 2000. In September 2001, he received the National Order of Merit of Côte d’Ivoire given by the Ivorian President. He also received in 2004, the Insignia of the Grand Officer of the order of the Rokel from the Sierra Leone President on his work on NERICA. At the time he left WARDA to join FARA in July 2002, he held three offices, first as its Principal Rice Breeder, Rainfed Program Leader and Deputy Director of Research.

Since joining FARA as its Executive Secretary, he has been actively involved in creating awareness that coordinated efforts in agricultural research for development and increased African ownership would enhance effective African agricultural research. He advocates for more responsive organization to its stakeholders to increase production and alleviate poverty in the region.

He did his BSc in Agriculture General from Njala University in Sierra Leone, MSc in Plant Genetic Resources and PhD in Plant Biology from the University of Birmingham in the UK.