Federal funding from Germany has enabled the Hohenheim-based Food Security Center (FSC) to launch the latest edition of its PhD programme on “Global Food security”. FSC will award 10 scholarships for PhD students from developing countries for a period of 36 months, beginning September 01, 2012. This includes a monthly stipend of 1000 Euro (500 Euro for the time of field research), German language training, travel to Hohenheim, and help with the identification of a thesis supervisor at the University of Hohenheim. Definitively worth a try for candidates pursuing a training opportunity in neglected crops research!

This new call of the Schlumberger Foundation, which will be open for on-line submission of proposals from 12 September to 30 November 2011, specifically invites applications from women scientists in developing countries. If you 1) plan to pursue a PhD degree or Post-doc research in the physical sciences, 2) have applied to, or are currently enrolled in, a university abroad, and 3) wish to return to your home country to continue your academic career upon completion of your studies, then this is for you! Funding is in the range of US$ 25,000-50,000 per year. We believe that because of the call’s emphasis on development issues and the need for the proposed research to be relevant to the applicant’s home country, projects involving under-utilised crops should be perfectly eligible.

A commentary in Uganda’s “Daily Monitor” reminding us of the need to “invest in underutilised crops to improve crop security”  in a region of the world acutely threatened by hunger brought our attention to a recent comparative analysis of Uganda’s Political Party Manifestos. It assesses what the campaign manifestos of Uganda’s political parties for the 2011-2016 period promise the electorate, which happen to be mostly farmers, with respect to improving Ugandan agriculture. The short answer is: not much for poor producers, almost no detail, and nothing in relation to agricultural biodiversity in general and neglected crops R&D in particular.

Lucidly written by Ronald Naruwairo and published by ACODE, a policy research and advocacy think tank based in Kampala, Uganda, the study notes that none of Uganda’s political parties, including the re-elected NRM, presented a coherent agenda and failed “to provide sufficient information as to how exactly the pledges made [in relation to strengthening agriculture] will be implemented”. For example, all parties except NRM emphasised the need to revive co-operative structures to help poor farmers with agro-processing and value-adding, a proposal deemed commendable by ACODE, but no word on how the widely acknowledged political interference and politicisation that has plagued co-operatives in the past and lead to them being dismantled, can be avoided.

According to the study, the emphasis on market-oriented research embraced by aspiring policy makers “is likely to skew public research away from those crops and animals that are very vital to ensuring food security in rural areas. Crops like yams and sorghum, for example, are not ‘marketable’ in the traditional sense, but are nevertheless critical to local livelihoods—especially during periods of food scarcity. With an almost-exclusive emphasis of demand-driven, market-oriented research, such crops will not get the attention they deserve.”

Finally, the study highlights that all the party portfolios missed several important issues, inter alia action to stem the decline of agrobiodiversity and neglect of local crops despite Uganda’s obligations under the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Here we are, in the PGRFA R&D community: wrecking our brains about how we can distill our work and insights into policy advice, churning out papers and requesting funding for ever more research justified by the prospect of better policies. But nobody seems to listen out there….

The recent “2^nd International Symposium on Underutilized Plant Species: Crops for the Future – Beyond Food Security” which was held from the 27^th June to 1^st July 2011 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia has left its participants intellectually stimulated, challenged and inspired by the exchange of diverse ideas expressed at the symposium of how to best use underutilized crops.

The central theme of this symposium emphasised the potential role of neglected and underutilised plant species (NUS) to contribute to global food security and nutrition, provide a buffer against the consequences of climate change and enhance agricultural biodiversity. The symposium’s goal was to engage all participants to share and discuss strategies that aim to maximise knowledge acquisition, minimise duplication of efforts and identify priority areas for further research and development.

The symposium also included the launch of Crops for the Future Research Centre (CFFRC) by The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak. CFFRC is a new research centre located adjacent to the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, dedicated to research and development of NUS. The generous US$ 40 million pledge by the Malaysian Government for building and operating CFFRC over the next 7 years is proof of Malaysia’s vision and commitment to support the diversification of agriculture through greater crop diversity.

Here is a window to the summarized key innovative ideas that have been discussed and exchanged. It also features the great time we have had and the new networks we have established for future collaborations. We are sorry if you were unable to make it this time, but we sure hope to see you at the next symposium to be held again in 2015.
Until then, ciao…

Bakhtiar Affendi, Kwek Mei Jiun, Khoo Teng Kew from CFF and Stefano Padulosi from Bioversity International contributed to this post and linked content.

The recently established Crops for the Future Research Centre (CFFRC) is now recruiting researchers for several newly created positions (Research Theme Directors and Postdoctoral Research Fellows ) . This is also for international applicants and is a unique opportunity for those seeking a research job in the area of underutilised species.

There are 12 administrative positions offered by CFFRC as well as 10 research opportunities and with the University of Nottingham. The candidate should have interest in any of the five research themes to be developed at CFFRC: nutrition, processing and end-user value; economic and marketing potential – building value chains; physiology, agronomy and agro-ecological potential; biotechnology, breeding and seed systems; knowledge systems and modelling.

Closing date for enquiries will be on 26 August 2011 and the closing date for full applications will be 16 September 2011. International applicants are eligible for all the positions. For further details, please refer to this site or contact: email hidden; JavaScript is required and stating the position(s) in which you are interested.

Download the full vacancy announcement here.