Israel and Egypt have joined forces to try and alleviate starvation in Africa, by introducing profitable new crops.
by Simon Griver
The International Program for Arid Land Crops (IPALAC) aims to alleviate starvation in sub-Saharan Africa by transferring crops that have been successfully grown in other parts of the developing world, to that region.
"Crop transfer is an integral part of the history of mankind," explains Professor Dov Pasternak, IPALAC's Scientific Coordinator. "Coffee, which is one of the major cash crops of Latin America, comes from Africa, while cassava -
an African staple -
comes from America. Corn, always associated with North America comes from Asia; citrus, so popular in the Mediterranean comes from the Far East; and the potato, the European staple, comes from America."
"So there is no reason," he adds, "why sub-Saharan Africa and other hungry regions of the world should not benefit from appropriately transplanted crops."
Based at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in the southern city of Be'er Sheva, IPALAC, which is jointly funded by UNESCO, Finland's Foreign Ministry and MASHAV -
Israel's Center for International Development Cooperation -
is an integral part of the University's attempts to combat desertification and create sustainable agriculture in the world's arid and semi-arid regions. Israel in general, and the Negev in particular, offer the world's most classic example of making arid and semi-arid land fertile and agriculturally profitable.
IPALAC has so far implemented two projects in Africa: mulberry trees for silk production and palm trees for the date industry.
While introducing the drought-tolerant mulberry tree to Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda, IPALAC worked closely with Egypt, which has successfully developed a silk-growing industry near Luxor. An African Silk Workshop organized by IPALAC and the Egyptian Afforestation Agency was held in Cairo in July 1999, so that the Israeli program could benefit from Egypt's experience with mulberry trees.
"We have enjoyed great success in Upper Egypt with mulberry trees," says Dr. Mamdouh Riad Tadros, Egyptian Under-Secretary of State for Afforestation, on a recent visit to Israel to celebrate 20 years of Israeli-Egyptian agricultural cooperation. "We are now working together with the Israelis to reproduce this success in other parts of Africa."
Another important IPALAC project is the introduction of date palm trees across West Africa. With funding from the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), such palms have already been successfully planted in countries such as Mauritania, Senegal, Niger, Mali, Cameroon and Chad.
"We estimate that just ten date palms can earn an individual farmer U.S. $500 a year," explains Professor Pasternak. "That's a very handsome sum of money in these countries."
IPALAC's joint strategy with Egypt is part of the organization's policy of coalition building. It brings together national and international research institutes with NGOs and other parties to develop, evaluate and implement plant-based environmental and developmental projects. IPALAC helps with the organization of international conferences as well as the actual implementation of the projects themselves.
While currently focusing on West Africa, in the coming years IPALAC aims to focus its attention also on developing regions in other parts of the world.