The 2012 RUFORUM Biennial Conference is the third in the series. The main objective of the Biennial conferences is to provide a platform for agricultural research for development stakeholders in Africa and beyond to actively exchange findings and experiences, while at the same time learning lessons towards improving performance of the agricultural sector and ultimately people’s livelihoods. The biennial conference is RUFORUM’s most comprehensive meeting for the diversity of stakeholers in agriculture. It is especially dedicated to graduate students and their supervisors, grantees in RUFORUM member universities and alumni. It is a platform for peer review, quality control, mentorship, networking and shared learning. The third Biennial Conference was attended by 657 participants.This record contains an extended abstract accepted under the theme of Strengthening Science & Technology
Building Local Capacities for Innovative Research through RUFORUM: Experiences from South Sudan
Abstract:
South Sudan is endowed with abundant natural resources that
can sustain diverse agricultural activities. Decades of civil strife
greatly hindered agricultural development until peace returned
with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA)
in 2005. Although there are combined efforts by Government
and development partners to rejuvenate agricultural productivity,
production is low and options for increased productivity are
grossly under-utilised. In order to meet these challenges
rationally and to pro-actively seize available opportunities,
increasing and committing more resources to Agricultural
Research for Development (R4D) could bring the much
anticipated agricultural transformation in South Sudan. Hence,
building local expertise for innovation research is vital the
Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture
(RUFORUM) has played a leading role. Through RUFORUM,
the author secured a Masters Degree scholarship in Plant
Breeding and Seed Systems (2008/2011). This training enhanced
his research skills and significantly improved his performance
as a research scientist at his institution. He is now leading a
number of agricultural programmes in South Sudan.
Le Sud-Soudan est doté de ressources naturelles abondantes
qui peuvent soutenir diverses activités agricoles. Des décennies
de guerre civile qui a pris fin avec la signature de l’Accord de
Paix Global (CPA) en 2005, ont grandement entravé le
développement agricole. Malgré les efforts conjugués des
partenaires du gouvernement et ceux du développement pour
restaurer la productivité agricole, la production demeure faible
et les options pour une productivité accrue sont largement sousutilisées.
Afin de répondre à ces défis de manière rationnelle et
de saisir d’une manière proactive les opportunités disponibles,
augmenter et engager davantage les ressources à la recherche
agricole pour le développement (R4D) pourraient apporter latransformation agricole la plus anticipée au Sud-Soudan. Par
conséquent, le renforcement des compétences locales pour la
recherche de l’innovation est vital et le Forum Régional des
Universités Africaines (RUFORUM) a joué un rôle de premier
plan. Grâce à RUFORUM, j’ai obtenu une bourse de maîtrise
dans le domaine de la sélection végétale et des systèmes
semenciers (2008/2011). Cette formation au-dessus de tout a
perfectionné mes compétences en recherche et nettement
amélioré ma performance en tant que chercheur dans mon
établissement.
Language:
English
Extended abstracts submitted under Strengthening Science & Technology
Date of publication:
2012
Country:
Region Focus:
North Africa
Collection:
RUFORUM Conferences and Workshops
Agris Subject Categories:
Agrovoc terms:
Additional keywords:
Licence conditions:
Open Access
Access restriction:
Form:
Printed resource
Publisher:
ISSN:
E_ISSN:
Edition:
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