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Background and Goals of the Conference
The African
Association of Agricultural Economists was launched in December 2004
during the Association’s inaugural symposium in Nairobi, Kenya. The
Association has realized remarkable growth in membership from 82 in 2004
to 250 in 2007. Its objectives include:
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To improve liaison
between agricultural economists with an interest in African issues at
the regional and international levels;
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To promote training, research, policy
dialogue and interest in Agricultural Economics on the continent of
Africa.
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To contribute to broad based rural
development, poverty reduction, food security and sustainable use of
natural resources in the continent of Africa.
The Second conference follows a successful inaugural symposium held in
2004. This conference has been organized by the Association jointly with
the Ghana Association of Agricultural Economists (GAAE), with generous
support from the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness of
the University of Ghana. The organizing committee received a total of 430
abstracts for consideration out of which 94 papers and 30 posters were
selected for presentation at this conference. All submitted abstracts were
rigorously reviewed and ranked by an international panel of distinguished
scientists. The top ranked abstracts from each sub-theme were
automatically selected. The rest of the abstracts were selected taking
into consideration the balance in regional, country and gender
distribution. The conference will involve sixteen parallel and four
plenary sessions. These will be complimented by seven invited panel
presentations and discussions that have been organized by various research
and development organizations with activities across the continent. A
total of 240 participants will attend this conference, a significant
improvement from 90 that attended the inaugural meeting. A field excursion
is planned for the second day for participants to familiarize themselves
with economic development in Ghana.
The Main Theme of the conference is “Agricultural Growth,
Poverty Reduction and Millennium Development Goals in Africa”.
The conference will provide opportunity for agricultural
economists and other social scientists in the public, private and
non-governmental organizations and institutions to share and assess
progress made in improving productivity in African agriculture. It will
also promote better networking among the professionals.
Presentations, posters and discussions
in the conference will cover six sub-themes, as follows:
Improved
Markets for African Farmers for Poverty Reduction.
Topics include linking farmers to markets, achieving competitiveness in
agricultural production and trade, agricultural value chains and role of
supermarkets, agribusiness, trade (WTO and Regional Trade blocs) issues,
globalization and infrastructure.
Advancing
Technical Change in African Agriculture.
Public Policy Issues and Strategic Choices with focus on biotechnology,
information and communication technology, and bio-chemical and mechanical
technologies
The Role of
Agriculture in Poverty Reduction: Recent Experiences from Africa.
Presentations will cover success
stories and emerging challenges, as well as the
role of education in reducing rural poverty.
Expanding the
Frontiers of Agricultural Economics to Meet the Challenges of Agricultural
Development in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
This will involve new institutional economics, quantitative
and qualitative methods, new tools to run agriculture as a business, and
agricultural finance
Meeting
Africa’s Food and Nutrition Challenges.
Special focus on agriculture growth, rural poverty and hunger; health
(HIV/AIDS, malaria), food insecurity and rural poverty; and gender
inequality, food insecurity and rural poverty
Agriculture,
Environment and Sustainable Development.
Presenters will provide analysis of pro-poor growth strategies in the
African semi-arid tropics, effects of drought and mitigation, and climate
change and its impacts on agriculture.
This booklet
also covers abstracts from various contributed papers and contact details
of all participants at the meeting. The committee would like to thank all
those who have expressed interest in the new association, submitted
abstracts and will be making presentations or undertake varied roles
during the meeting. Outstanding papers
and posters will be recognized during a special session on the third day
that will also honor best ranked student theses from across Africa.
A symposium CD, proceedings and a special issue of the African Journal of
Agricultural and Resource Economics (AfJARE) will be published and
distributed to participants and various research and development
institutions.
The Executive
Committee welcomes members to the Second Annual General Meeting to be held
on 22 August 2007. We welcome you all to the International Conference of
the African Association of Agricultural Economists.
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