African agricultural innovation in a changing global environment

Abstract

The 5th African Agriculture Science Week and FARA General Assembly occurred from July 19-24 2010 at the Ouaga 2000 International Convention Centre in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The theme of the event was African Agricultural Innovation in a Changing Global Environment. It sought to raise stakeholders’ awareness of the opportunities, successes, benefits, and challenges in African research for development (ARD); highlighted the contribution/roles of various stakeholders while improving the networking capacity of these actors; served as an opportunity to evaluate the performance of the FARA’s program since the 4th General Assembly and support the program for the next three years. The conference utilized three sub-themes to evaluate the topic of African Agricultural Innovation in a Changing Global Environment: 1. Investment in agricultural innovation in the post-financial crisis era, 2. Knowledge centres and networks to cope with the challenges of globalization and climate change, 3. Resilience of African agricultural trade to domestic and external shocks. New FARA Executive Board members were also elected help realize FARA’s program for the next three years.