DONORS TO AFRICAN AGRI RESEARCH COME ON FIRE

Erle Frayne Argonza

Magandang umaga! Good morning from Manila!

Africa seems to be the favorite destination today for aid funds from everywhere, most specially from European countries. We wonder whether this is Europe’s way of expiating its guilt over the European powers’ enslavement, plunder and colonization of Africa.

A recent issue concerning aid funds dovetails on agricultural research. While there are clear positive benefits to donated funds, there are gaps that must be addressed. This identification of a new problem is already a brightening news for the continent, as the problem can be addressed more squarely.

The news is contained below.

[Writ 05 October 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to SciDev database news.]

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African agricultural research ‘neglected ‘ by donor policies

Christina Scott

24 September 2008 | EN

Flickr/MikeBlyth

[CAPE TOWN] A lack of emphasis on agricultural research in development policy over the last quarter of a century is one of the main reasons for the deterioration of African farming, according to a UN report released this month (15 September).

The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report on Africa’s economic development also cites the small size of each country’s research stations, isolated researchers and high staff turnover as other factors that helped “prevent the attainment of a critical mass of scientific and technical staff”.

“In Sub-Saharan Africa there are problems with agricultural research, which determines the rate of technological change,” Sam Gayi, lead researcher of the report told SciDev.Net.

As a result, except for maize and more recently cassava, “most of Sub-Saharan Africa has no immediately applicable crop technology that might, with adequate price incentives, substantially increase the profitability of investments in agriculture,” the report concludes.

“Only a quarter of the total crop area of Sub-Saharan Africa is planted with modern crop varieties,” says Gayi.

Credit provision for farmers, as well as investment in infrastructure and research, were abandoned by donor-dictated development policies in many parts of Africa, with long-lasting detrimental effects, the report says.

The authors also criticise many state agricultural budgets for being skewed towards administrative costs rather than research.

They say gaps in communicating research and policy developments, combined with shortages of credit — particularly the dissolution of marketing boards that often gave cash advances to small-scale farmers — have made it more difficult for improved government policies to be translated into improved yields in the fields.

The report singles out Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and South Africa as countries that have managed to improve their agricultural exports. Côte d’Ivoire continues to benefit from “huge investments”, including government funds for research, made in the 1960s in a diverse range of crops.

The authors also say that restrictive standards on exports are placing a burden on African nations, who struggle to meet them.

“Several African countries do not have the technical capacity or resources to comply with the required standards,” says Hezron Nyangito, former director of the Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) and newly-appointed deputy governor of the Central Bank of Kenya.

KIPPRA research suggests that Kenyan farmers would have to increase agricultural spending tenfold and Uganda would need to spend about US$300 million to upgrade its honey-processing plants to comply with European Union standards.

COLOMBIA’S MASSIVE SCIENCE FUNDING

Erle Frayne Argonza

Colombia is no mere provider of dark images of drug wars and phoney rebellions that seem to end nowhere. Science research has been scaling up in the country, as shown by massive funding of relevant efforts.

Below is a news caption that highlights the encouragement of the Colombian government on project proponents to apply for funding from out of the massive cache of funds (rather than cache of arms) for research.

Enjoy your read!

[03 August 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to SciDev database news.]

Colombia abre convocatoria masiva para apoyar ciencia

Daniela Hirschfeld

30 junio 2008 | ES

Colombia financiará actividades de ciencia y tecnología

Flickr / De Gevaarlijke Chemicus

Por primera vez en sus 40 años, el Instituto Colombiano para el Desarrollo de la Ciencia y la Tecnología (Colciencias) abrió una masiva convocatoria de 11 propuestas para promover la formación avanzada y las actividades de ciencia, tecnología e innovación en el país.

Una de las más esperadas por la comunidad científica colombiana es la de intercambio y movilidad internacional de investigadores e innovadores, que permitirá participar en eventos y pasantías cortas de alto nivel en cualquier país.

Carlos Nupia, jefe de la División de Internacionalización de la Ciencia de Colciencias, informó a SciDev.Net que es la primera vez que se unen todos los programas y convenios que tiene el país con otros organismos de ciencia y tecnología.

“Esto se pudo hacer gracias a que el intercambio ha aumentado y a que Colciencias tiene la meta de aumentar en tamaño y complejidad los programas de movilidad. Es una convocatoria robusta y de gran alcance”, detalló.
Cuatro de las convocatorias ofrecen capacitación a través de programas de doctorado nacionales, apoyo a jóvenes investigadores e innovadores y estudios de maestría, doctorado y pasantías en el exterior para gerentes.

Otro grupo está dirigido a promover la innovación nacional a través de cofinanciamiento y créditos a programas estratégicos y proyectos de investigación, desarrollo e innovación.

También se ofrece la modalidad de riesgo tecnológico compartido y asistencia técnica a planes de negocio de empresas tecnológicas, además de la vinculación de investigadores colombianos y extranjeros en empresas.
También se ofrece cofinanciar solicitudes de patentes de invención y certificados para quienes obtengan variedades vegetales.

La cantidad de investigadores que podrán beneficiarse con estas propuestas y el dinero que se destinará a cada llamado varía según la convocatoria.

La financiación proviene del presupuesto de Colciencias, sumado a recursos que puedan otorgar otros organismos de ciencia y tecnología de Colombia y agencias
internacionales.

Convocatorias en www.colciencias.gov.co

IRAQ’S S&T THRUST FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

Erle Frayne Argonza

Iraq is moving definitely moving forward. After the devastation wrought by the Anglo-American forces in the country, a devastation that continues as warring ethno-religious communities clash with one another for hegemony, Iraq has been saddled with gargantuan problems of rebuilding its S&T base as a prerequisite for reconstructing its economy.

The effort to move forward has been paying off. The thrust on S&T for higher education has been designed and put forward by the stakeholders, with foreign support for the next five (5) years. The ambitious $1 Billion project is reported in the news below.

Enjoy your read.

[27 July 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to SciDev database news.]

Iraq puts forward ambitious higher education plan

Wagdy Sawahel

10 June 2008 | EN | 中文

Iraqi students will benefit from the initiative

Flickr/lakerae

Iraqi officials have proposed a five-year, US$1 billion higher education plan to increase the science and technology workforce and promote science-based sustainable development.

The Iraqi Education Initiative, which would run from 2009–2013, was announced by Zuhair A. G. Humadi, senior advisor to Iraq’s vice president Adil Abdul Mahdi, at the NAFSA: Association of International Educators conference last month (25–30 May) in Washington DC, United States.

Under the plan, which will be financed by revenue generated by Iraq’s oil reserves, university infrastructure will be rebuilt, including new laboratories and establishing Internet connections.

Over the next five years, the plan would see 10,000 students sent abroad each year on full scholarships to earn two-year technical degrees as well as Bachelor’s, Master’s and doctoral degrees from world class universities in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The degrees would be in a variety of fields including engineering, health, science and technology — to increase the scientific capacity of the country — and education.

As a condition of the scholarship the students must either return to Iraq after completing their degree or repay the government.

The plan was first proposed to Iraq’s parliament on 11 May by prime minister Nouri al-Maliki and is awaiting approval following parliamentary voting in the next three months. Upon final approval, an action plan will be prepared.

Fawzi Al Naima, former dean of the College of Engineering at Nahrain University in Baghdad, Iraq, told SciDev.Net the plan is “essential to put the higher education system in Iraq back on the right track, as it is in desperate need of rehabilitation of the existing universities and the building of new universities”.

Al Naima, who is now working in the Faculty of Telecommunication and Information Engineering at the University of Engineering and Technology Taxila in Pakistan, adds that the initiative should include plans to encourage university professors who have been forced to leave the country to return.

CHINA’S MESSAGE: LET’S PREDICT EARTHQUAKES MORE ACCURATELY

Erle Frayne Argonza

I’m sure everybody still recalls the near-cataclysm that struck China recently that buried towns and villages and led to thousands of deaths. China and the planet is still mourning for all those beloved fellows swallowed up by turbulent Earth.

That event challenged China to predict earthquakes more accurately. Quake prediction follows uncertainty principles, which do not cohere with the uniformitarian paradigm of geology. Any move today to reverse the situation of relatively unpredictable quakes is very welcome.

Happy reading!                                                                                                                                  

[24 July 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to SciDev database news.]

 

Chinese scientists call for better quake prediction

Jia Hepeng

3 June 2008 | EN | 中文

The seismic signal from the Sichuan earthquake

Flickr/MacEsc

[BEIJING] Scientists in China are calling for improvements in earthquake prediction, including the establishment of an early-warning system and methods for scientists to share quake information.

The calls come after the Sichuan earthquake — the country’s most serious earthquake in 30 years — hit on 12 May (see China displays openness in earthquake response).

Ni Sidao, a professor of geophysics at the University of Science and Technology of China, says that although current scientific methods cannot accurately predict an earthquake, an early-warning system could alert people to leave for open spaces before buildings are destroyed.

Ni made his remarks last week (25 May) alongside other scientists at the China Science and Humanities Forum in Beijing, operated by the Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

He said that P waves — early-arriving non-destructive seismic waves — can be used to detect and calculate the scale of an earthquake within ten seconds with the aid of computers.

In the case of Sichuan, the later-arriving, destructive seismic waves (S waves) took 30 seconds to reach Beichuan — the most seriously hit county, 90 kilometres north of the epicentre — and nearly 100 seconds to reach Qingchuan County, 200 kilometres from the epicentre.

People in Beichuan could have had a ten-second warning of the earthquake with an early-warning system, allowing some to move outdoors and trains to stop to avoid derailing, said Ni.

But he admitted that current seismic monitoring stations in most parts of China are too isolated to form a warning network.

Ren Luchuan, a senior researcher at China Earthquake Networks Centre (CENC), welcomes Ni’s suggestions, but says such a system is very difficult to operate.

“[The time difference between P and S waves] is so short that it is very hard to establish a system to notify residents,” he told SciDev.Net, though he says such a system could be used for key sites such as nuclear power stations, which could close reactors.

Longer-term prediction seems to be just as fraught with problems.

In the latest issue of the Chinese language journal Science and Technology Review (28 May), Wu Lixin from the Chinese University of Mining and Technology, Beijing, and colleagues report an abnormal temperature rise in the thermal satellite images of the eastern front of Qinghai–Tibet plateau — the fault that caused the earthquake — 20 days before the Sichuan earthquake.

The authors suggested this rise could be caused by tectonic plate movement, and could be an indicator for earthquake prediction.

But Ren says many factors could cause the abnormal temperature increases, leading to uncertainty in using temperature change to predict earthquakes. 

In a separate article published in the same issue, however, Wu writes that there should be more intensive, accurate and consistent analyses of thermal satellite images, and that these should be frequently checked against seismic wave monitoring.

In addition, Wu says an earthquake information sharing system should be established, so that general researchers can analyse or input data about abnormal observations into a system for professional seismologists to screen.

POST-PINOCHET CHILE MARCHES ON IN S & T FUNDING

Erle Frayne Argonza

Let us continue our reflections about wonderful news that brighten up our day.

Going back to Chile, as it continues to celebrate the air of freedom beyond the Dark Age of the Pinochet regime, we have another news item concerning the boosting of S&T funding in the said emerging market.

Chile is proving itself as a model of development that is worth watching. See what’s going on in this exemplar country through its S&T prioritization as indicated by funds boosting.

Happy reading!

[23 July 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to the SciDev database news.]

 

Chile crea un fondo para becas en ciencia y tecnología

Paula Leighton

25 may 2008 | ES

La presidenta Michelle Bachelet durante su cuenta anual al país

Presidencia de la República de Chile

[SANTIAGO] Aumento en las becas para estudios de posgrado, fondos para equipamiento científico e incentivos para atraer a investigadores extranjeros son algunos de los anuncios que hizo la presidenta de Chile, Michelle Bachelet, en su cuenta pública anual (21 de mayo).

La mandataria destacó que su gobierno creará un fondo con US$6 mil millones para financiar un ambicioso programa de becas de posgrado y de formación en oficios tecnológicos de alta especialización, tanto en Chile como en el extranjero.

Dicho fondo permitirá que las mil becas de formación en universidades extranjeras destinadas para 2008 aumenten a 2.500 en 2009 y a 6.500 en 2012, anunció Bachelet.

Además, el próximo año 150 técnicos que se desempeñen en áreas prioritarias para el país accederán por primera vez a becas de perfeccionamiento en el extranjero, las que en 2010 aumentarán a 2.000.

Bachelet dijo que en 2009 también aumentarán las becas para maestrías y doctorados que se dictan en Chile y se entregarán 35 mil becas para estudios técnicos superiores. 

Otro anuncio fue un programa para atraer en dos años a al menos 100 científicos extranjeros, los que se desempeñarán en universidades regionales “en áreas donde aún no contamos con suficientes expertos nacionales”, señaló.

“Todos estos anuncios que contribuyen a que en Chile haya personas con mayor formación son muy bienvenidos, porque le dan valor agregado al país. Al mismo tiempo, es muy positivo que científicos extranjeros vengan y contribuyan a formar estudiantes y nuevos investigadores”, dijo a SciDev.Net Servet Martínez, presidente de la Academia Chilena de Ciencias.    

Para fortalecer los centros de investigación científica, Bachelet anunció también que  “durante los próximos dos años estableceremos un programa de equipamiento científico al que destinaremos US$30 millones”.

Finalmente, la mandataria se comprometió a entregar en 2009 treinta mil computadores de uso personal a escolares pobres académicamente destacados, implementar laboratorios móviles de computación para niños de educación primaria y apoyar la conectividad digital en 35 comunas del país.

Texto completo del mensaje presidencial de Michelle Bachelet