VIP conference to revitalise Kenyan agriculture

ILRI poverty maps were snapped up at VIP conference to revitalise Kenyan agriculture held at Nairobi's Safari Park Hotel from 20-24 February 2005. Poverty maps pinpointing the greatest numbers and depths of poverty in Kenya and Uganda, as well as in the developing world as a whole, were snapped up at a major national conference on revitalizing agriculture in Kenya in February 2005. The maps were published by the Kenya-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and its partners, particularly the bureaux of statistics in Kenya and Uganda. The maps are available in print and CD-ROM versions from ILRI (g.kamau@cgiar.org) and on ILRI (www.ilri.org) and other websites. ILRI and partners published the poverty maps for Kenya in 2003, for Uganda in 2005 and for the developing world as a whole in 2002. These maps and their accompanying figures and analyses are proving key to work by Kenya, Uganda and other countries to reduce poverty and monitor progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals, particularly to halve world poverty by 2015, set by world leaders at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000. The ‘National Conference on Revitalizing the Agricultural Sector for Economic Growth’, which ran from 20–24 February 2005, was organized by the ministries of agriculture, livestock and fisheries, and co-operative development and marketing. It was held at Nairobi’s Safari Park Hotel and was officially opened by His Excellency the President of Kenya, President Mwai Kibaki, on 22 February. Some fifteen hundred agricultural experts in governmental, non-governmental, international and regional organisations gathered at the week-long conference to develop a consensus on the most appropriate road map for revitalizing Kenya’s agricultural sector, which remains the bedrock of this country’s economy. ILRI directors and senior staff from other centres belonging to the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research participated in this high-level Kenya conference. They presented research results at plenary sessions, backstopped discussion fora with scientific data and analyses, and—in an exhibit booth adjacent to the conference hall—disseminated research products to participants. The President, Vice-President and attending Ministers of Kenya all carried away ILRI’s poverty maps and other publications that provide essential information for broad-based and equitable development. Kenyan VIP Conference His Excellency the President of Kenya, President Mwai Kibaki, stops at the exhibit table of the International Livestock Research Institute to pick up Kenyan poverty maps and other ILRI research products from Ms Beatrice Ouma when the President opened Kenya’s ‘National Conference on Revitalizing the Agricultural Sector for Economic Growth’, held at the Safari Park Hotel from 20–24 February 2005.

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