β Scribed by M. Gopalakrishnan
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
in South Africa, focusing on poverty. The theme of the conference was ''Contribution of rain-fed and irrigated agriculture to poverty alleviation through increased productivity in Africa''. This focused on five important assets, reflected through the sub-themes: natural, social, human, physical and financial capital.
ICID's President Peter Lee highlighted in his welcome address some of the valuable lessons learnt about Africa. The essential interactions between arable agriculture, irrigated and rain-fed, and livestock production, fishing and other utilisation of the natural and built environment, especially to sustain local food security and livelihoods, were seen in African settings. In terms of poverty alleviation, enhanced rain-fed production and informal irrigation offer a potential to improve rural livelihoods and local food security. However, more formal irrigation will be required to ensure national and regional food security, as well as to support livelihoods through both direct and multiplier effects. All these are for combating hunger and poverty. Experience indicates that many farmers in Africa were concerned only with their own and their family's food security. The finite nature of resources means that this will continue to be the case for the foreseeable future. The priority will be to allow more people and families to do this in harmony with each other and nature in this context. Towns have to be fed and sustained with fuel and raw materials needed to build viable economies. The need for a commercial sector covering arable agriculture, fisheries, livestock and forestry, in harmony with subsistence agriculture and the environment, is obvious as it could enhance multiple use of the infrastructure, particularly for the benefit of the landless poor.
The conference took note of the fact that about a 67% increase in food production will be required over the next 25-30 years and savannah regions will be called on to fill the gap, particularly in Africa. Most of the increased demand is also forecast in this part of the world. There has been relatively little investment in the past in this regard.
Experience from other parts of the globe could be of interest. The way that the Brazilians increased agricultural production in the savannah, where settled agriculture replaced pastoralism through investment in irrigation, is an example. This is through construction of farm reservoirs that gave farmers control over their water supply. The 2007 ICID WatSave Award for technology was garnered by Brazil for the use of centre pivots in Brazil to obtain good yields of rice without flooding, a saving of approximately 40% of the applied water.
Hosting the conference, the Department of Agriculture, South Africa, indicated that as a country and as an agricultural sector, South Africa intend to share their interests with the rest of the continent. Over the past seven years, South Africa has supported a New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD). Through NEPAD, South Africa promoted the efforts of a growing economy in Africa to support her people. Access to adequate, healthy and nutritious food and economic opportunities are among a few things that guided South Africa in supporting NEPAD. Ensuring NEPAD's success would be their continued goal. Africa still has a number of challenges to face.
π SIMILAR VOLUMES
The 1st Asian Regional Conference of ICID was held on 17-18 September 2001 on the theme 'Agriculture, Water and Environment'. Sixty-three papers were presented in four sessions on the four subjects of (i) Irrigation and Drainage in the Farmlands, (ii) Automation and Real-time Monitoring Systems, (ii
provided the opportunity for more than 300 experts, among them more than 60 young professionals, to meet in these neighbouring border cities on the German and Polish banks of the Oder River for interdisciplinary discussions on integrated land and water resources management. Representing a broad spec