Welcome to Cotonou

Welcome Back to Cotonou

I am writing this blog from Cotonou, the economic capital of the Republic of Benin. 

My memories of Cotonou date back to the 1980’s and 1990’s when I was working in Togo [as Director of the Africa Division of the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) ]  and in Ghana  [as Director of the United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA)].  I remembered vividly that the portion of the East-West coastal road between Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire and Lagos, Nigeria that goes through Cotonou was a major bottleneck. It consisted of a narrow, poorly-maintained stretch of this important corridor. It was usually choked with traffic, especially motor cycle traffic. In fact, Cotonou became the first city in Africa to officially recognize motor cycles for commercial transport of passengers (motor cycle taxis). In those days, from the western end of Cotonou to the eastern border was not much longer than four kilometers. But, if you were lucky, it would take you two hours to drive through Cotonou.

So, it was with much anticipation that I arrived in Cotonou from Accra last evening (Sunday the 26^th of June).  As I had expected, the traffic into the city was congested. The vehicular traffic had more than tripled. But, to my pleasant surprise, I soon discovered, as we drove into the city that dramatic changes had occurred. Cotonou compares favorably with Lagos in the density of “fly-overs”. The old narrow, poorly-maintained road had been replaced by dual carriage highways.

I am spending this morning in the offices of the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice). Driving from my hotel to the office revealed that what I saw last evening was only the precursor of what was happening in Cotonou. The city has changed. Infrastructure development seems to have become the pre-occupation of the government. There are four-lane motor-ways with fly-overs already constructed or being constructed all over the city.

My friends tell me that what is happening is the dividend of peace and good governance. A lot has been said of the progress made by Ghana because the country has successfully carried out four elections since the end of military rule. The Republic of Benin has an equally impressive record. Multi-party elections were first held in 1991 and five successful elections have been held since then. What has happened in both Ghana and Benin demonstrates that progress is the product of peace and good governance. African leaders are not incapable of establishing both peace and good governance.  I am looking forward to enjoying my one-week’s stay in this amazing city with the motor cycle taxis and all!   

We Are Half-Way There.....

In my last blog (http://papauzom.blogspot.com/2011/06/well-done-but.html) I lauded the efforts of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (B&MGF) in sponsoring a study by the National Research Council (http://www.nap.edu) on how knowledge from physics, chemistry, electrical engineering, materials science, remote sensing and computer science can lead to innovations with potential to solve the problems of poverty and food insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and South Asia (SA). I argued that if the findings of the study were to benefit Africa, the B&MGF should develop a program specifically dedicated to revamping agricultural research, education and training in Africa’s universities. When I checked back on the B&MGF website (http://www.gatesfoundation.org/grantseeker/Pages/default.aspx)  I found out to my pleasant surprise that an effort in the direction I suggested was already underway. In 2009, the B&MGF awarded $12,730,748 to the Regional Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) (http://www.ruforum.org) to work towards improved productivity and wealth creation in Eastern and Southern Africa by developing effective agricultural universities and producing a new cadre of high-performing university research, training and outreach.

My plea is that this noble venture should be expanded to cover the rest of sub-Saharan Africa. And, this is the approach that I suggest it should take.

RUFORUM, which has begun to extend it membership to universities in all regions of Africa, will be involved in the new exercise as the lessons learned in operating the existing program since 2009 will be invaluable. Partnering RUFORUM will be the United Nations University-Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA) (http://www.unu.edu/inra). UNU-INRA is the only institution in Africa with UN recognition and support to develop and strengthen capacity for research, education and outreach (including policy formulation and decision making) that would lead to the reduction of poverty and food insecurity through the proper management of Africa’s natural resources.  As stated in its current Strategic Plan, the mission of UNU-INRA is to empower African universities and research institutions through capacity strengthening. This is in order to enable them conduct high quality research and produce well-trained, well-equipped and motivated individuals. The knowledge created and the capacity built should be useful in developing, adapting and disseminating technologies that promote efficient and sustainable use of the continent’s natural resources.

Providing valuable support to these two African organs will be the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities (APLU) of the United States (https://www.aplu.org) .Over the years, many of the Land Grant Universities in the United States have been involved in upgrading agricultural research and training in Africa. Three examples from my own country come readily to mind. With support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), three Land Grant Universities got the chance to promote the “Land Grant System” in the then three regions of Nigeria. Michigan State University worked with the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Eastern Nigeria. The University of Wisconsin worked with the University of Ife (now the Obafemi Awolowo University) Ile-Ife, Western Nigeria while Kansas State University worked with the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in Northern Nigeria. At the Ahmadu Bello University, the team from Kansas State helped to create an “agricultural campus” made up of the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) with responsibility for agricultural research, the Faculty of Agriculture, with responsibility for teaching and the Agricultural Extension Research Liaison Service (AERLS) with responsibility for agricultural extension. Functioning as the “IAR Complex”, a Land Grant system was established where research, teaching and extension were undertaken by individuals that worked closely together.  In 1972, fresh out of a Land Grant university in the US, I was happy to be appointed to a 50/50 position as lecturer/research fellow at the complex. Although in recent times, poor governance has reduced the effectiveness of most Nigerian universities including the Ahmadu Bello University, the IAR-Complex has retained its structure and its effectiveness is attested to by the fact that agriculture is most productive in the mandate area of the IAR-complex. Today, this area has become the breadbasket of Nigeria.

I suggest that agents of RUFORUM, UNU-INRA and APLU should be empowered by the B&MGF to develop a program that would produce the future chemists, engineers, computer scientists, molecular biologists, physicists, socio-economists that will be the source of new scientific capabilities to address agricultural constraints in sub-Saharan Africa.

Well Done -----But-------

Early in May, 2011, I participated in the second of a series of workshops organized in Washington D.C by the National Academies titled “A Sustainability Challenge: Food Security for All” (http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/sustainability/foodsecurity/PGA) . I received a copy of a publication by the National Research Council titled “Emerging Technologies to Benefit Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia” (http://www.nap.edu) . This publication is the result of a study undertaken by a committee composed of eleven top scientists from some of the best institutions in the United States. The study was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Foundation is conscious of the fact that to meet the food needs of the more than 9 billion people by 2050 would require the use of innovations from physics, chemistry, electrical engineering, materials science, remote sensing and computer science. Africa and South Asia still contain the largest number of people that are food insecure. In the case of Africa where the absolute number and percentage of the hungry and malnourished people is still rising, finding the means to feed the more than two billion people projected for 2050 would be a major challenge.

The Committee organized by the National Research Council was tasked with identifying “emerging” technologies. They looked at two types of innovations: 1. applications that currently exist but have not been widely used or adapted in the two regions; 2. innovations in the conceptual or developmental stages that hold promise for improving agriculture. In my view, the committee did an excellent job. For me, as an African, the questions are “How can Africa take advantage of the relevant issues raised by this study?” “Is Africa going to depend on the scientists from the USA and Europe to undertake these innovations?”

My friends and colleagues who teach in the faculties of agriculture in many African countries tell me that the greatest problem they face is attracting qualified students in the pure sciences to study agriculture. Students who populate the faculties of agriculture are usually those who were denied entry into medicine, pure sciences or pharmacy. The situation becomes worse at the post-graduate level.  In the 1970s and the early 1980s, students who obtained (the British System’s) “first class” degree or “second class-upper division” degree were prized candidates for post-graduate studies. Today, the laboratories are closed and there is no exciting research going on in our national institutions. Most students who complete their first degree in agriculture and perform well are more likely to immediately find employment in the banking industry. Agriculture, which means “subsistence farming” in Africa is left for the mediocre students. So, who are these African physicists, chemists, electrical engineers and computer scientists that will create the innovations needed to transform Africa’s agriculture?.

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) (http://www.agra-alliance.org) with seed money from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation is looking at the first type of innovations listed above. AGRA identified lack of trained manpower as a main reason why such innovations have not been adapted for wider use in Africa. They are taking steps to provide education and training to the plant breeders and soil scientists needed to promote their activities.

But it seems to me that the kind of chemists and engineers needed for the future innovations will not be sourced from the current crop of field workers. Forty years ago, there were no universities in many African countries. That is no longer the situation today. There are still many good scientists in Africa’s universities who wake up each day and ask themselves “what am I going to do with myself today?’ They are asking because they have laboratories that have no chemicals, no equipment (even rudimentary ones!) and in most cases, no regular source of power. I know about these scientists because in my years as the Director of the United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA) I interacted with many of these scientists. They were encouraged to apply and become members of the Institute’s College of Research Associates (CRA). Those scientists that were selected produced brilliant proposals dealing with ways to manage and add value to Africa’s natural resources. It was fascinating to know how much research output resulted from the very limited support that UNU-INRA could provide. Better still, these scientists were once again able to attract bright young students to work and become “good disciples”. These are the people upon which the future of Africa depends.

Every national university with an agricultural faculty has one or more of these talented scientists. I argue that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation should evolve an exclusive program aimed at discovering and supporting these talented scientists. This should only be a first step in the process of revamping agricultural education, research and information dissemination in Africa’s universities along the lines of the Land Grant System in the US.