AAAE Newsletter

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Association Africaine des Agroéconomistes

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AAAE Newsletter

A Newsletter of the African Association of Agricultural Economists

April 2005, Issue Number 01

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In this Issue

· About this e-Newsletter

· About AAAE

· AAAE Inaugural Symposium

· AAAE Management Committee

· AAAE Secretariat

· President’s Message

· AAAE Website

· Agricultural Economists Directory

· Upcoming Conferences

· Internet Information Sources

· Contact Information

About this e-Newsletter

Welcome all to the debut AAAE’s e-newsletter. This e-newsletter will serve to enhance exchange of information amongst members and strengthen our interactions as Agricultural Economists. The newsletter will be available through the association’s website and will cover the following:

updates on activities of the association and its members
announcements for meetings, publications, programs, websites
profiles for member organizations and departments
advertisements for services and products, to come later

Members are encouraged to submit announcements and information for inclusion in the upcoming issues. The newsletter will be released quarterly and supported by regular email alerts to members.

About AAAE

The African Association of Agricultural Economists was initiated in Durban, South Africa, during the 25th International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE) conference. During a special African session, a draft constitution for the Association prepared by an ad-hoc committee formed during the 24th IAAE Berlin 2000 conference was presented. Participants re-affirmed the need for a continent-wide association and approved the association’s name. An interim committee was formed to develop the constitution further and organize the official launch of the association. The constitution was ratified and the Association officially launched at a three-day Inaugural Symposium of the association during 6-8 December 2004, in Nairobi, Kenya. The inaugural Management Committee was also elected during the meeting. The new association will address the pressing issues facing African agriculture as well as form a platform for new ideas and establish instruments of information exchange. It will also engage African scientists and governments in affecting global initiatives. The association has 84 registered members as by 30 March 2005. Membership is open to interested social scientists for US $30 and $15 for professionals and students, respectfully, over a two year period.

The key objectives of the Association are:

To improve liaison between agricultural economists with an interest in African issues at the regional and international levels;
To promote training, research, policy dialogue and interest in Agricultural Economics on the continent of Africa as envisaged in Article 3.
To contribute to broad-based rural development, poverty reduction, food security and sustainable use of natural resources in the continent of Africa.

AAAE Executive Committee/Management Committee

Willis Oluoch-Kosura - President

Department of Agricultural Economics

University of Nairobi

P.O. Box 62084-00200, Nairobi, Kenya

Tel: 254 20 2713160/1

Fax: 254 20 711063

Email: wokosura@idrc.or.ke

Akin Adesina - Vice President

Food Security Program

The Rockefeller Foundation

P.O. Box 47543 GPO 00100, Nairobi, Kenya

Tel. 254 20 228061

Fax: 254 20 218840

E-mail: aadesina@rockfound.org

Secretary/Treasurer - To be appointed

Board Members

Isaac J. Minde - East & Central Africa

Program Coordinator

Eastern and Central Africa Programme for Agricultural Policy Analysis. (ECAPAPA)

Plot 13 John Babiiha Road, P.O. Box 765, Entebbe, Uganda

Email 1: i.minde@asareca.org

Email 2: i.minde@ecapapa.org

Egnonto Koffi-Tessio - West Africa

Université de Lomé

LARPSAD, B.P. 1515, Lomé, TOGO

Email: sadaocel@cafe.tg

URL: www.ub.tg/larpsad/index

Johann Kirsten - Southern Africa

Head of Department

Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development, University of Pretoria

P.O. Box 14303 Hatfield 0028, Pretoria, South Africa
Tel: 27 12 420 3248 or 27 12 420 7576
Fax: 27 12 420 3247

Email: johann.kirsten@up.ac.za

Mohammed Moussaoui - Northern Africa

Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)
P.O. Box 415, Rabat, Morocco
Tel. 212 55 300 243 / 70 185 046

Email: moussaoui_mohamedma@yahoo.fr

AAAE Inaugural Symposium

The Inaugural Symposium of the African Association of Agricultural Economists was held during 6-8 December 2004, in Nairobi, Kenya. Over 120 abstract submissions were received and the meeting attended by over 90 representatives from African universities, research and development institutions, business and the public sector in 24 countries of Europe and Africa. The objective of the symposium was to mobilize agricultural economists and other social scientists throughout the continent by increasing their knowledge of other nations' challenges, promote mutual understanding and goodwill. Several scientists made presentations on six themes of interest to the association. The theme of the symposium was “Shaping the Future of African Agriculture for Development: The Role of Social Scientists”. The presentations and discussions covered six sub-themes:

Advancing technical change in African agriculture: Public policy issues and strategic choices
Improved markets for African farmers
Meeting Africa’s food and nutrition challenges
Agriculture, environment and sustainable development
The role of agriculture in the development process: Recent experiences from Africa
Expanding the frontiers of agricultural economics to meet the future challenges of agricultural development

A symposium CD and proceedings will be completed and distributed to participants and various research and development institutions during the second quarter of 2005. The Management Committee would like to thank all those who have expressed interest in the new association and participated in the inaugural symposium. Plans are underway to start planning for the First AAAE Conference. The Management Board acknowledges financial support received from the International Association of Agricultural Economists, International Development Research Centre, The Rockefeller Foundation, International Food Policy Research Institute, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Support from the Forum for Organic Resource Management and Agricultural Technologies and the Agricultural Economics Education Board is also acknowledged.

AAAE Secretariat

Plans to register the association in Kenya are underway and expected to be complete during the second quarter of 2005. The registration will facilitate establishment of a secretariat that will manage the affairs of the association from day-to-day basis. This will include fundraising, program management, administration, conferences and committee meetings, networking, publication of the proposed AAAE Journal and annual reports. The secretariat will mobilize agricultural economists in various countries to work closely with governments in order to realize effective reforms in agriculture, improved agricultural productivity and mitigate against negative impacts from globalization. It will also facilitate improved access to scientific publications for its members by registering with publishers and open access portals for online scientific articles.

President’s Message

Welcome to the maiden issue of the AAAE Newsletter. The newsletter will be an email-based service published quarterly by the association. I am encouraging members to utilize this resource in sharing latest developments in training, research and development in agricultural economics in their country or region. The Management Committee will also use the service to share its work and plans with members, and also announce upcoming events. To enhance connectivity among members, the committee has also published a website www.aaae-africa.org. We have considered registering the Association in Kenya and the process is at an advanced stage. The Association office can, however, change as often as desired. This registration is a necessary condition for transacting the Association’s business. The proceedings of the symposium are at an advanced stage and should be out in a couple of weeks.

We have embarked on long term fund-raising including approaching prospective partners to offer us an endowment fund to establish and sustain The African Journal of Agricultural Economics (TAJAE), which will be the "Heart" of the Association. An Editorial Board and Policy will be established in the near future. The journal will be critical in disseminating research findings and also contribute to scholarly growth of the AAAE members. In the long run, the journal will be self-sustaining through membership subscription. An internet version of the journal will also be published for those with access to the internet and to realize wider dissemination of published results.

The committee is also preparing proposals for fundraising in order to implement some of the envisaged activities including organizing national and regional policy forums, a website and newsletter. The national and regional policy forums will be organized to mobilize members in the four regions of Eastern and Central, Southern, Western and Northern Africa, to address topical issues in agricultural production, technology transfer, marketing, trade, training and research. We look forward to your active participation in the association’s activities.

AAAE Website

The Management Committee has published the association website, www.aaae-africa.org. The website will enhance exchange of information not only among members but also with the rest of the scientific and development communities. It will be regularly updated with developments in agricultural policy review, research, reform and training. The association will also organize occasional online discussion forums on topical issues in agricultural development. Members are encouraged to submit news and other relevant information for posting to the website. Information should be sent to the following email address: afriancrops@wananchi.com. The committee welcomes suggestions from members on how the website can be enhanced to realize its objective of improving connectivity among members. This is your website, use it!

Agricultural Economists Directory

All the submissions for listing in the directory of agricultural economists working on issues related to African agriculture have been processed. The directory can be viewed over the internet at www.aaae-africa.org/directory/directory.pdf. If you know of a colleague who would like to be listed in the directory, kindly pass this information to him/her. Updates and suggestions can be submitted to the email: africancrops@wananchi.com

Upcoming Conferences

7th African Crop Science Society Conference, 5-9 December 2005, Entebbe, Uganda. URL: http://www.makerere.ac.ug/agriculture/departments/crop/css/css.htm

International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE) Triennial Conference, August 12-18, 2006, Brisbane, Australia, URL: http://www.iaae-agecon.org/conferences.asp

International Conference of Asian Society of Agricultural Economists (ASAE), August 29-31, 2005, Zahedan, Iran. URL: http://www.iaae-agecon.org/docs/conf_032405_asian_society.pdf