WEST AFRICA
Photo by Martha Stewart
June 3, 2013
"Harvard Development Expert: Agricultural Innovation Offers Path to Overcome Hunger"
Press Release
By James F. Smith, Communications Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
The world can only meet its future food needs through innovation, including the use of agricultural biotechnology, Belfer Center development specialist Calestous Juma said in an address to graduates of McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
Since their commercial debut in the mid-1990s, genetically designed crops have added about $100 billion to world crop output, avoided massive pesticide use and greenhouse gas emissions, spared vast tracts of land and fed millions of additional people worldwide, Juma said during the graduation ceremony where he received an honorary doctorate. He asked the graduates to embrace innovative sciences that alone will make it possible to feed the billions who will swell world population in decades ahead, especially in developing countries.
February 26, 2013
"Africa and Brazil at the Dawn of New Economic Diplomacy"
Op-Ed, Technology+Policy | Innovation@Work
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
"There are many lessons that Africa can learn from Brazil. The key is that Brazil has had a long record of creating new institutions to address major national challenges. It stands out as a leader in aviation because of having created an aerospace conglomerate, EMBRAER, whose annual revenue stands at about US$5.7 billion. Brazil offers key lessons on how to make Africa's rapidly expanding aerospace industry safer and more reliable."
October 15, 2012
"Africa's Leadership Fails Billionaire Mo Ibrahim's Test, But Technocrats Rise"
Op-Ed, Forbes
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
"The main challenge is the lack of alignment between infrastructure strategies and the need to expand engineering training. As a result, there are very few engineering programs in African universities. There is also a perception that engineering is associated with large projects that tend to be linked to high costs, corruption and ecological degradation."
AP Photo
June 27, 2012
"Why Kenya Has to Adopt Biotechnology in Farming"
Op-Ed, allafrica.com
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
"Those countries that adopt agricultural biotechnology today will be better prepared to use the same techniques to solve health, industrial and environmental problems. The underlying knowledge of genomics is the same and is remarkably versatile. As an early adopter, Kenya is now applying mobile technology to other fields such as health and agriculture."
AP Photo
March 29, 2012
"Senegal's Political Transition Hinges on Fulfilling Economic Dreams of the Young"
Op-Ed, The Guardian
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
"Macky Sall, the president-elect, now faces the task of fulfilling the aspirations of the diverse political interests that united behind him to dispatch Wade from office. The support he has received is accompanied by high expectations, especially on the economic front. While Wade ruled by dividing the opposition, Sall will only be able to govern by unifying the country around the larger cause that is the economy."
AP Photo
March 6, 2012
"Seeding New African Agricultural Universities"
Op-Ed, NAI Forum
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
"Over the last decade considerable work has been done to redefine the role of government in agricultural research, decentralize research activities, increase stakeholder participation, identify new financial instruments, and strengthen system-wide linkages. These measures have been purposed on an incremental basis. They have indeed yielded commendable results. The next challenge, however, is to build on these achievements and pursue bold steps aimed at upgrading the status and performance of agricultural institutes by creating genuine innovation systems that involve research, training, extension, and commercialization."
AP Photo
March 5, 2012
"Critics of Biotech Crops Proved Wrong"
Op-Ed, Business Daily
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
"Over the 1996–2010 period, biotechnology crops have reduced 443 million kilogrammes of pesticide use. This did not only reduce the spraying of chemicals that destroyed biological diversity, but they also cut down harmful exposure by farmers."
December 26, 2011
"Africa's Quest for Prosperity"
Op-Ed, The Guardian
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
"It is projected that Africa will have up to 240m mobile broadband connections by 2015. However, the economic gains will only be efficiently realised through regionally harmonised spectrum allocation. Such regional growth dynamics will also be realised in other areas of infrastructure investment such as energy, transport and irrigation."
AP Photo
December 2011
"Africa's New Engine"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Finance & Development, issue 4, volume 48
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
Cell phone use has grown faster in Africa than in any other region of the world since 2003....Of course, South Africa—the most developed nation—still has the highest penetration, but across Africa, countries have leapfrogged technology, bringing innovation and connectivity even to remote parts of the continent, opening up mobile banking and changing the way business is done.
Winter 2011-2012
"Juma Lauded for Role in First Innovation Advisory Council"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
Calestous Juma, director of the Belfer Center’s Science, Technology, and Globalization Project, played a central role in creation of the Lagos Innovation Advisory Council, the first of its kind in Africa.
