Nairobi — For millions of Africans, farming is a lifeline, the only source of income and food. For the continent, agriculture is the primary economic sector and the engine of future growth, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said August 5.
In remarks following a tour of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) outside Nairobi, Clinton said, "For the global community, agricultural development could help address some of the most urgent challenges we face -- chronic hunger, which afflicts nearly 1 billion people worldwide, including one in three Africans, many of whom are children."
Clinton was in Nairobi to attend the Eighth AGOA Forum (named after the U.S. African Growth and Opportunity Act) on the first stop of a seven-nation Africa trip that will also take her to South Africa, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Liberia and Cape Verde.
At KARI, Clinton said, scientists are developing tools to boost the productivity of Africa's farms, which is "part of a broad strategy to strengthen the entire agricultural sector -- to increase incomes, to support rural communities and to drive economic growth."
"The benefits of a strong system of agriculture are great. The benefits to the world are equally so," she said, adding that most of the arable land left in the world is in Africa.
"More and more, the world will look to Africa to be its breadbasket, and I hope that when the world looks ... it is Africans and African farmers who will profit from becoming the world's breadbasket."
Clinton lamented that African agriculture "has been held back for decades by wars that have forced farmers to clear their fields, by diseases that too often strike the young and the strong, by climate change. ... Farmers in Africa have also faced the lack of investment from the private sector, governments and [the] global community."
Together, these and other factors, she said, have "eroded the foundation of African agriculture," but she noted that "that foundation is being rebuilt," with scientists at KARI taking the lead in cultivating heartier crops that will feed more people and thrive in harsher conditions: "disease-resistant cassava plants, sweet potatoes that are enriched with vitamin A to prevent blindness, maize that can flourish in times of drought."
What is being achieved in the labs at KARI and in other African labs can go a long way toward making sure that farmers are paid well enough to support their families so people are not forced to pull their children from school or sell their livestock to survive a food shortage, she said.
"This is also time to innovate," she said, in the areas of telecommunications, microfinance and even microinsurance, in ways that help farmers flourish. In Uganda, she said, farmers are receiving text messages on their cell phones about how to diagnose and treat local crop diseases.
Another initiative, she said, will provide farmers with local weather information and farming tips, along with other information such as health advice.
"Innovations like these are what must be a comprehensive approach to agriculture -- one that connects the tools developed in labs like this to the fields where farmers are every day."
Clinton pledged the Obama administration's full support for the effort to "strengthen the entire agricultural chain here in Africa and around the world," which is critical to generating economic growth and linking Africa to the rest of the world.
"We are convinced that investing in agriculture is one of the most high-impact, cost-effective strategies available for reducing poverty and saving and improving lives," and that is why it is a "signature element" of the Obama administration's foreign policy, she said.
People often mistakenly think that modern countries do not "do agriculture," she said, but "nothing could be further from the truth. If you don't do agriculture, you don't eat."
In July in Rome, Clinton said, the members of the G8 and others committed $20 billion to end global hunger -- not for short-term food aid, but for longer-term investments. The United States, she added, has pledged $3.5 billion as part of this effort to help customize programs to stop hunger.
Praising KARI, she said the United States has been a strong partner with the institution for 40 years.
Since 2003 alone, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided more than $4 million to KARI for agricultural technology development and transfer.
Clinton was joined at KARI by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who was also in Nairobi to attend the Eighth AGOA Forum. Both officials appeared with Kenyan Minister of Agriculture William Samoei Ruto.
Ruto praised the United States, saying almost 50 percent of KARI's staff has been educated in the United States, in close concert with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The actions at KARI, he said, underscore the important role research is playing in making agriculture commercially viable.
He said KARI is a "clear symbol of the partnership that exists between the United States and Kenya," and that the research institute is looking at ways Kenyan farmers can benefit from more trade in their key crops of tea, coffee and cashews.
Agriculture Secretary Vilsack -- whose department has worked closely with KARI for a long time -- reminded the audience that it was just in 2008 that there was a world food crisis that affected a billion people, of whom 265 million lived in Africa.
He said USDA forecasters are warning that the number of hungry people will increase by 11 percent in 2010. For that reason, he said, "transformational change" must occur, with country-led food security plans, transparency and good governance.
Agriculture is important, he said, because farming in sub-Saharan Africa makes up almost 30 percent of GDP and employs 60 percent of the African work force.
Vilsack said he had visited an African school the day before that had many orphans. "While I have never truly been hungry like so many in Africa," he said, "I can relate to the students I met because I too started out life an orphan.
"As a child, I thought about books and baseball. The children I met yesterday just wanted one thing: to be fed and educated. If that is not reason for us to do all we can together to make sure kids don't go hungry, I am not sure what would move us."
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INDEPENDENT FARMERS UNION IDEA
I'm an entrepreneurial sort of person and I got an idea along those lines that I believe many of us who are grassroots thinkers have been overlooking.
So here goes my idea :
a) We have all kinds of Farmers and Farms that are struggling to make a profit. I believe that they are struggling because they are farming under a kind of Third World system that advantages the persons who convert what farmers produce.
b) In most Third World countries , the First & Second World countries will only build enough infrastructure to allow shipment of RAW MATERIALS from their source(s) to the modes of shipping transportation used to transport the RAW MATERIALS to those First & Second World countries that will turn the RAW MATERIALS into processed goods.
* For example - They will build a railroad line of tracks from some Third World country's gold and diamond mines ( e.g. Zaire ) to the Giant Ships docked and waiting to carry them to processors and sellers such as De Beers, Coca-Cola , Cadbury's etc..
c) What kinds of RAW MATERIALS do Farmers produce and/or have access to :
* Gold - Rice , Cocoa ,Mangos, etc
d) Major Problems stopping small farmers from taking advantage of the possibility of turning your products into a profitable business : LACK OF TIME
e) Solution - My Idea : Form an Independent Union Of Farmers . Having a Coop is great, but its only a way of further enriching the processors of our RAW MATERIALS.
* How would this work ?
1) Each Region would represent a chapter of this Independent Farmers Union
2) Generally speaking, each farmer would retain all of their rights ; just as they had before they joined the Independent Farmers Union .
3) The Independent Farmers Union would be finance collectively by individual members paying dues.
4) These dues which would be used to set-up business ventures in each Independent Farmers Union's Region.
Some Examples Of Businesses That could be set up
* Chicken Processing Plant, and restaurants that would sell the chickens could be supplied right their in each Independent Farmers Union's Region.
* Produce Markets
* Dairies
* Ice Cream Parlors (using fresh milk)
* Fast Food and/or Restaurants - featuring meat from various farm animals
* Supermarkets
* Chocolate Processors instead of giving your cocoa to companies like Cadburys. What do companies like DeBeers, Coca Cola,Cadburys and others have that entitles them to get rich off of our Natural wealth ? NOTHING.. We empower them by our economic laziness !!!
5) The Independent Farmers Union's would need persons with expertise in areas concerning the setting up and running of these businesses on behalf of the Independent Farmers Union's.
WE ARE MAKING HUNDREDS WHILE GIVING AWAY BILLIONS TO OUR ECONOMIC SLAVE MASTERS !!!
THERE IS NO REASON WHY WE CAN'T TAKE CONTROL OF OUR OWN COUNTRY !
- FEED YOURSELVES SUGGESTION -
NEIGHBORHOOD COOP GREENHOUSES
ANOTHER SUGGESTION IS FOR THOSE LIVING IN THE CITY TO POOL
THEIR RESOURCES TOGETHER AND MAKE NEIGHBORHOOD COOP
GREENHOUSES . HERE YOU CAN GROW SOME KIND OF FOODS AND NOT
BE TOTALLY DEPENDENT ON GROCERY STORES.
HERES SOME EXAMPLES OF WHAT BLACK AFRICANS HAVE DONE :
BLACK AFRICAN INVENTORS AND THEIR INVENTIONS
The type of Invention is capitalized (e.g. TRAFFIC SIGNAL, MOTOR, etc..)
We Black Africans Can Be Self-Sufficient . Here are some major Black Africans who have had an impact on the world With their initiative These are INVENTORS .
This Listing includes The Inventors Name, Their Invention and in some cases the date the invention was recognized and the inventions U.S. patent number.
* Sarah Boone - IRONING BOARD - April 26, 1892
* John A. Burr - LAWN MOWER
* Marie V. Brittan Brown - HOME SECURITY SYSTEM - Dec 2, 1969
* Buridge & Marshman - TYPEWRITER
* George Carruthers - X-RAY MACHINE
* George Washington Carver - PEANUT BUTTER - PAINTS PAINT STAINS ETC
* John Clark - TRACK ATHLETE TRAINER
* W.A. Dietz - SHOE
* Joseph Dickinson - PLAYER PIANO - ARM FOR RECORD PLAYER
* P.B. Downing - POSTAL LETTER BOX
* Charles R. Drew - BLOOD PLASMA STORAGE SYSTEM
* T. Elkins - TOILET (COMMODE)
* Robert Flemming Jr. - GUITAR
* Cathleen McCoy Garrett SIREN - HORN LIGHT INDICATOR
* George F. Grant - GOLF TEE
* J. Gregory - MOTOR
* Joanna Hardin - KEYBOARD STAND - Feb 23, 1993
* Michael Harney - LANTERN
* Solomon Harper - THERMO(HEATED) HAIR CURLERS
* Augustus Jackson - ICE CREAM
* B.F. Jackson - GAS BURNER
* H.A. Jackson - KITCHEN TABLE
* Ruane Jeter - DIGITAL TOASTER - April 14, 1987
* Isaac R. Johnson - BICYCLE FRAME
* John A. Johnson - WRENCH
* Lonnie Johnson - SUPER SOAKER WATERGUN
* P. Johnson - EYE PROTECTOR (GOGGLES)
* W. Johnson - EGG BEATER
* Frederick M. Jones - DEFROSTER - REFRIGERATION CONTROLS AIR CONDITIONER
* Jones & Long - BOTTLE CAPS
* John H. Jordan - CLOTHES DRESSER
* Mary B. Kenner - SANITARY BELT (TAMPONS) - May 15, 1956
* Mary B. Kenner - SANITARY BELT (WATERPROOF) - April 14, 1959
* Mary B. Kenner - BATHROOM TISSUE HOLDER - Nov 19, 1982
* Mary B. Kenner - BACKWASHER ( BATHTUB OR SHOWER MOUNTED) - July 29,1987
* Lewis Latimer & Nichols - ELECTIC LAMP
* W.A. Lavalette - PRINTING PRESS
* F.W. Leslie - ENVELOPE SEAL
* Maurice W. Lee PRESSURE COOKER
* A.L. Lewis - WINDOW CLEANER
* John L. Love - PENCIL SHARPENER
* Tony J. Marshall - FIRE EXTINGUISHER
* Alexander Miles - ELEVATOR
* Jan E. Matzeliger - SHOE LASTING MACHINE
* W.A. Martin - LOCK
* Garrett A. Morgan - GAS MASK - Traffic Signal
* Lydia Newman - HAIR BRUSH - Nov 15, 1898
* Alice H. Parker - HEATING FURNACE - Dec 23, 1919
* J.F. Pickering - AIR SHIP (BLIMP)
* Purdy & Sadgwar - FOLDING CHAIR
* W.B. Purvis - FOUNTAIN PEN
* L.P. Ray - DUST PAN
* W.H. Richardson - BABY BUGGY
* Walter Sammons - PRESSING COMB
* G.T. Sampson - CLOTHES DRYER
* Dewey Sanderson - URINALYSIS MACHINE
* Ralph Sanderson - HYDRAULIC SHOCK ABSORBER
* S.R. Scottron - CURTAIN ROD
* Adolph Shamms - MULTI -STAGE ROCKET
* .W. Smith - LAWN SPRINKLER
* Richard B. Spikes - AUTOMATIC GEAR SHIFT
* J. Standard - REFRIGERATOR
* T.W. Stewart - MOP
* Maxine Snowden - RAIN HAT - 1983
* Theora Stephens - PRESSING & CURLING IRON
* Rufus J. Weaver - STAIR -CLIMBING WHEELCHAIR
* Paul E. Williams - HELICOPTER
* J.B. Winters - FIRE ESCAPE LADDER
* Granville T. Woods - Telephone System Apparatus Oct 11, 1887 Patent # 371, 241
* Granville T. Woods - Roller Coaster
* Granville T. Woods - Auto Air Brake - June 10, 1902 - Patent # 701, 98
* Granville T. Woods - Telegraph Transmission Devices - Dec 2, 1884 Patents # - 308, 816 (7)
* Thanks to The Black Inventors Museum *
* Address : P.O. Box 76128 - Los Angeles , Calif. (90076)
* Phone (310) 859-4602)
* Director : Ghanaian Mr. Hamza Salifa
* Major Contributor of Information : SEESTAH Imahkus Nzinga Okofo
The Swine Flu Vaccination Hoax - Explained URL [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbFxV_C8Yw4 ]
WAKE UP !!! STAY UP !!!
TRUTHSEEKERS MOUNT UP !
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