NAMIBIA: Plea for plain-language research findings

Namibia's Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry John Mutorwa (pictured) has implored agricultural scientists in universities and other research institutions worldwide to communicate their research findings to governments in plain language for ease of policy formulation and implementation. He also called for improving the dissemination of research findings to ordinary farmers.

Mutorwa was delivering the keynote address at the start of the world conference of the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education, or AIAEE, which was co-hosted by the University of Namibia, the Agricultural Association of Namibia and other partners in the country's capital, Windhoek, last week.

Approximately 180 scientists - many of them working at universities - from about 17 countries internationally attended the conference.

The minister said there was a need to improve the dissemination of agricultural research findings from research institutions to the governments of the individual countries that could benefit from the findings.

"Ideally, governments should not be left to grapple with the decoding of highly technical research findings, which are presented in academic journals in scientific jargon," Mutorwa said.

He also said much research has been done in an attempt to improve agriculture all over the world. But the fact that many countries still have little to show in terms of benefits on the ground suggests room for improvement in the dissemination of research results to the target beneficiaries - ultimately, the 'ordinary farmers', who may not even be able to read the official language.

"Not all governments are good at doing this and there may be need for capacity building," he said.

Noting that research is costly, Mutorwa called for its proper coordination to avoid duplication and waste, which he said can come in the form of countries or regional groupings getting involved in research to find solutions for problems for which solutions have already been found in countries or regions with similar geological and climatic conditions.

"In a world in which resources are scarce, we need to do more with the little we have. There is need for coordination of research at the global, regional and country levels."

Countries seemed to have their own agricultural research agendas - even when they belong to common regional groups, he said. At the global level there did not appear to be sharing of research information among regional blocs.

With climate change upon us and many countries struggling to adapt and cope, Mutorwa suggested partnerships to come up with vibrant global, regional and country-specific research institutions that can keep pace with the rapid changes.

Calling for a communal approach to the challenges in agriculture, he said there was a need for the international community to form funding partnerships to find more cost-effective solutions to agricultural problems affecting countries at the global level.

The theme of the AIAEE conference was "Sustainable value chain agriculture for food security and economic development".

Experts say 'sustainable value chain agriculture' means agriculture that is guided by the principle of value addition for fuller utilisation of the world's resources, including human resources.

Mutorwa's view is that developing countries need to take the value addition route if they are to escape poverty and unemployment.

He explained that value addition has a multiplier effect on an economy in that when countries embark on vigorous value addition they create employment for people who could otherwise not have found it. The employment incomes they get will enable them to operate more effectively as consumers of goods and services by buying what they could otherwise not have bought. The producers of these goods and services will then have the incentive to hire even more people so they can produce more of their products.

"Once started, value addition becomes a self-sustaining process. It is how to start it that we in developing countries need some guidance on, bearing in mind that we cannot afford to lose the export markets we already have for our raw materials."

Nearly 50 papers on various aspects of agriculture were presented at the conference and some of them will be published, according to Professor Kim Dooley from Texas A&M University who is Executive Editor of the Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education.