CM/Res.841 (XXXVI)
RESOLUTION ON SEMI-ARID FOOD GRAIN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT JOINT PROJECT (SAFGRAD J.P.31)
The Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity, meeting in its Thirty-sixth Ordinary Session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 23 February to 1 March, 1981,
Recalling Resolution CM/Res.569 (XXIX) of the Twenty-ninth Ordinary Session in Libreville, Gabon, on Scientific, Technological Research and Development Activities of the Executive Secretariat of the OAU/STRC,
Noting the work carried out by the General Secretariat of t he OAU through the STRC and the Co-ordinating office in Ouagadougou, Upper Volta, in Document CM/1098 (XXXVI),
Recognizing with gratitude the financial support to the project by USAID, FAO, UNDP, IDRC, and the World Bank,
Recognizing with satisfaction the scientific and technological efforts given by African Regional Research Institutes, namely: Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR), Ahmadu Lello University, Samaru, Nigeria – Kamboise/Zaria, Research Centre, Upper Volta – National Agricultural Research Centre (CNRA), Senegal – International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (XITA), Ibadan, Nigeria,
Noting the fact that half the nations of Africa have part or the whole of their territories in the semi-arid and arid zones, - the fact that the Lagos Plan of Action gives priorities to sorghum and millet which, supplemented by food legumes, are the major traditional food crops adapted to these zones, and which contribute immensely to the improvement of nutritional standards of the masses in Africa and the reduction of imports of wheat and rice,
Noting further the relatively limited advance in developing production technologies for improving productivity and quality of these crops and their transfer to small scale farmers:
REQUESTS the OAU Secretary-General to encourage at the level of the STRC the work going on in this project and to ask the Technical Advisory Committee to expand this joint project to include the other OAU Member States in the arid and semi-arid zones of Africa;
URGES Member States to join efforts in this project, to participate in different meetings, and to support the need for administrative actions and facilitate the movement of the staff;
FURTHER URGES that the national programmes in Member States should, as much as possible, be integrated with those of SAFGRAD so that research yields maximum results economically through the association with national agricultural supporting services. The farmers should have access to new varieties of seeds, through the establishment of comprehensive seed programmes;
FURTHER URGES the OAU Secretary-General:
to have African Scientists to be trained in different areas relevant to this project at both high and middle levels with emphasis on sub-professional level of training in different fields;
to have more African scientists employed in this project and with the assistance of the Association of African universities (AAU) more African Universities and faculties of Agriculture and other institutes should be more involved in this joint project with the co-operation of the OAU.