MILLIONS OF AFRICANS DIE ON STARVATION, HIV/AIDS-DR. KHAKETLA

She urged the participants to ask themselves how prepared they are to protect  people from utter starvation in spite of plentiful human, and other resources. The Minister said they need to accept the responsibility to work together to prevent and eradicate the prevailing evils of poverty, starvation and pandemics and think critically and creatively of alternative ways to address the issue of food security among their peoples. "Food security does not merely refer to effective production of crop and animal food products, but also to various ways of storing and preserving these foods for both local and regional use," she added.

Dr. Khaketla said Africa should be challenged to undertake critical studies into indigenous and current systems of food production, food storage, food preservation and dissemination and develop these systems to meet the
challenges of today.

Speaking at the same occasion the Executive Director, African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS), Dr. Osita Ogbu said ATPS has been at the forefront of reminding and agitating African national governments and her development partners for the recognition of the critical role of science and technology on all aspects of her developmental agenda. "We have been prying-open strategic initiatives such as the poverty reduction, strategic papers and other such recovery and strategic plans to reveal the futility of such plans without adequate roles assigned to knowledge generation and use, and Science and Technology more generally in meeting the objectives of these plans," he highlighted.

Dr. Ogbu said the role of Science and Technology in economic and social reconstruction of Africa should be self evident, but not so for some of their leaders and those who help in drafting these plans give it a peripheral role. He further said that in the true spirit of New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), they would want to encourage new forms of partnerships, one that recognizes the centrality of African institutions in Africa's developmental discourse and accords preference to the use of African experts where ever they may be in tackling Africa's problems.
 

The theme for this third annual conference is 'Science and Technology and Food Security in Africa. Its objectives are to address issues related to Science and Technology for food security in Africa, to provide another skills-development opportunities on Science and Technology policy-related research methodology, to review new research proposals for possible funding and to capacitate Lesotho on Science and Technology policy implementation and research management. Participants have been drawn from around 19 African countries in including Lesotho.
 

11 October 2003