Women urged to seek futures in agricultural sciences and technology

As a result of a population of approximately 1.03 billion in 2011, and a growth rate of 24 million per annum, Africa’s population is expected to double by 2050. It’s because of this that agricultural advocates and companies have had to come up with several ways to increase agricultural productivity in a sustainable manner as well as finding endigenous solutions to respond to agricultural challenges.With Africa’s investment in science and innovation still low, five agricultural organisations launched the 3rd ‘Women and Young Professionals in Science’ competition for 2012-2013. Interested participants have been invited to send in their compilations under the theme ‘Feeding 1 billion in Africa in a Changing World’ by May 14th, 2012.The reason why this competition is addressed to women only is because they are under-represented in all areas of policy, education and research. Also the vast majority of Africa’s youth do not see a future for themselves in either agriculture or science. In an interview with The New Times, Jean Philbert Nsengimana, Minister of Youth and ICT said, “Our economy is predominantly based on agriculture and the youth make up 60% of the work force. It’s the educated youth who don’t want to get involved in agriculture because they think it’s not the most profitable sector to get involved in. Naturally because they feel they are educated the want to get a high paying job because they relate agriculture to subsistence farming and not commercial agriculture,” Nsengimana explained. He encouraged the educated youth to fully utilise the opportunities in the agricultural sector that have not been exploited. “With the Crop Intensification Programme (CIP) and the National Land Consolidation Policy, we have called on the youth to take the opportunities involved in these programmes. For example, they should form cooperatives and develop some of the land that is consolidated,” Nsengimana emphasised. “Regarding access to finance, we encouraged the financial sector to lend money to youth cooperatives and companies so that they can invest in agriculture although it has yet to gain momentum”, the minister added. Africa faces a knowledge and skills gap as ageing scientists and academicians retire. The 2012-2013 Africa-wide competition will evaluate, recognise and reward the contributions of women and young professionals who are involved in pioneering innovative research, communicating their research results and technological developments, and advocating for policy change as well as influencing policy processes through their research. The competition also raises awareness of the need for valuing and sustaining the engagement of women and young professionals and facilitating their contribution to Africa’s socio-economic transformation.The Women and Young Professionals in Science competition seek to promote excellence recognise and reward outstanding African women and young professionals who are undertaking scientific and innovative research.According to Daphrose Gahakwa, Deputy Director General in charge of Research at the Rwanda Agricultural Board (RAB), the competition is positive because most of the people involved in agriculture are women. “All those schemes that are oriented to women empowerment are going to have a very positive impact on agriculture and food security. Targeting women will improve our household performance and pull us out of poverty very quickly,” Gahakwa said.She is encouraes young Rwanda women to fully participate in the competition. “Women are very good at new sciences such as biotechnology, which is the science of manipulation of cells and much more. Normally girls are the best because they have more patient to manipulate small things,” she explains She said: “If we are to follow what happens in the world, we can find that the major breakthroughs are usually facilitated by women but unfortunately they don’t know how to market themselves”. She further said that women should get involved in the leadership positions in research so that they are not overshadowed by men. The competition is aimed at promoting technology, engineering related development activities and communicating the outputs to improve agricultural performance and socio-economic development in Africa. The submissions for the competition should involve any science, technology and innovation related to research and development activity linked to the theme “Feeding 1 billion in Africa in a changing world”. It should be able to be undertaken within the last five years and shows measurable impact (potential or demonstrated) on agricultural development or rural livelihoods in Africa, is eligible for the competition. Entrants are required to enter a submission of between 1000 – 2000 words that clearly details the project. The submissions received by May 14th, 2012 will be evaluated by a panel of experts including scientists, policy makers, farmers, gender and information and communication experts. The top 20 semi-finalists in each competition will be announced on July, 11, 2012. The finalists will be sponsored to attend a scientific writing and communication workshop which will be held in conjunction with the 3rd RUFORUM biennial conference, in September 2012 in Uganda. The top 10 finalists in each competition will compete for the top five places during the finals which will be held at the FARA Head quarters in Ghana in 2013. The prizes for the competition include trophies, cash awards (US$ 500 to US$ 5,000) plus electronic equipment (e.g. computers) and book prizes. All papers which are accepted will be edited and published. The organisations that are financing this project include the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation, Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, International Foundation For Science, African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources Education, Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa.

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Women urged to seek futures in agricultural sciences and technology