Time for Change: Breathing life back into the MENA region agricultural transformation

April 5, 2016 | 12:00 h - 13:00 h

ZEF organizes a Brown Bag Lecture with Dr. Andrew Noble, Deputy Director General, ICARDA,

who will talk about “Time for Change: Breathing life back into the MENA region agricultural transformation”

Date: Tuesday, April 5, 2016, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.

Venue: Zentrum für Entwicklungsforschung / Center for Development Research (ZEF), Walter-Flex-Straße 3, 53113 Bonn (see <link 2316>map</link>). Ground floor, right conference room.

Abstract:

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA ) region accounts for 6% of the global population or roughly 381 million people. The region is of strategic importance to Europe in terms of trade, energy security, political and regional stability and internal security. Whilst this relationship and interdependency of MENA and Europe can best be described through the emergence of the ‘Neighborhood’ Policy of the European Union (EU), it has been tested by the current plight of millions of people migrating to countries in the region and the EU fleeing war, civil unrest and political persecution. This has and will continue to have profound implications for the region as a whole and for the EU in particular if the root courses of human transmigration are not addressed.

Whilst many of the challenges require a political solution, there are underlying drivers that include but are not limited to rapid population growth; unmanaged urbanization; demographic bulges particularly in the number of young people and their inability to enter the job market (with youth unemployment as high as 40% in the age range 15-34 in Morocco) that has in part contributed to radicalization and fundamentalism; lack of access to knowledge and education; lack of empowerment of women; unsustainable exploitation of natural resources with significant challenges with respect to water security and increasing water scarcity; land degradation; and the impacts of climate change. Ironically the MENA region includes some of the world’s wealthiest countries, but also some of the most fragile and least developed. This disparity creates sharp social contrasts. For example, 33 million people lack access to adequate nutrition and 18% of children under the age of 5 are developmentally stunted, yet obesity is a growing public health problem.

Rural poverty remains a significant issue in the region that will need to be addressed as part of the solution to migration. Forty-three percent of the MENA region’s population is rural. Poverty is generally higher in rural areas than in urban areas, and rural areas lag in development and services. There is a need to address this impasse and to create vibrant and prosperous rural communities where women and men enjoy increased job opportunities and incomes in agriculture and better access to nutritious food and good health. This will require transformation and diversification of current agricultural production systems and income generation streams. The presentation will focus on opportunities of realizing this transformation through modernization of agriculture and the services that are required to achieve this.

Speaker:

<link www.icarda.org/update/icarda-welcomes-its-new-deputy-director-general-research>Dr. Noble</link> holds a PhD in Agronomy from the University of Georgia, and has held the position of Principal Research Scientist with the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organization (CSIRO) in the Division of Land and Water; Project Leader and Principal Research Scientist with the Institute for Commercial Forestry Research; and lecturer in the Department of Crop Science, University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. His research career in agriculture spans over 30 years and includes research and academic assignments in South Africa, Australia and Southeast and Central Asia.

Entrance to the lecture is free, no registration is required. You can take your lunch along!

We look forward to seeing you at ZEF on April 5!