Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi awarded
the first African Green Revolution Yara Prize
|
|
|
1:15PM
2005.07.19 (GMT+1) |
|
|
Oslo
(2005-14-07): The Board of the Yara Foundation has chosen to award the first
African Green Revolution Yara Prize, to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles
Zenawi, for his contribution to improved food security and human nutrition in
ways that also protect the environment. The Yara Prize will be presented by
Professor Jeffrey Sachs, director of the United Nations Millennium Project at
an award ceremony in Oslo, Norway on September 3. |
|
|
|
|
|
The Yara
Foundation Board recognizes Prime Minister Meles' decisive steps towards
increasing food production and reducing poverty in one of the poorest
countries of the developing world. He has brought about political change in
Ethiopia, and placed the rural poor first in the country's development
strategies. Ethiopia
sees agriculture as the entry point for investments in rural development,
with particular focus on women, and the creation of agro-industries. Budget
allocation to the agricultural sector in Ethiopia is above 15 %, exceeding
the goal of 10% established by the African Union. The Yara
Foundation has evaluated and emphasized the progress to date, and realizes
that there are still many unsolved challenges and shortcomings to be
addressed. A 21st Century African Green Revolution is much more than just
producing more food. It also involves providing an enabling policy
environment, securing ownership rights, improving child nutrition, making markets
work for the poor and doing all this in ways that protects and enhances the
rural environment. It is a revolution to end hunger that also empowers people
with a voice, and the opportunity to create their own future. Ethiopia
has reformed its public sector, has strengthened its human resource capital,
has trained over 45,000 paraprofessional "barefoot" extension
workers who now live and work in over 15,000 villages across the country, and
has provided microcredit to over 4.5 million smallholder farm families. The
results are among the most promising for achieving the Millennium Development
Goal of cutting world hunger in half by the year 2015. During the past decade
Ethiopia has more than doubled its food production; from 6.3 million metric
tons in 1993, to 14.3 million tons in 2004. Ethiopia's GDP grew at an average
of 5.8 % annually, with agriculture growing at an average rate of 3.1 % in
spite of the severe droughts of 1998 and 2001. During the last three years,
agricultural production has grown at 8 % per annum. In spite of the fact that
about 40% of the population is chronically malnourished, Ethiopia's food
security program aims at enabling 4-5 million chronically food insecure to
attain food security within 3-5 years, a major step towards accomplishing the
Hunger Millennium Development Goal. Meles
Zenawi has, as one of Africa's young leaders and senior statesmen, made major
contributions also on the international arena, including his membership in
the Commission for Africa. The Yara
Prize 2005 is awarded to Meles Zenawi, for his dedication and inspirational
leadership, for the results achieved in improving food security for his
people, and for Ethiopia's response to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's call
for a uniquely African green revolution for the 21st Century The Yara Price committee: Dr. Thorleif Enger, President and CEO of Yara International ASA, Oslo. Professor Pedro Sanchez, Director of Tropical Agriculture,
the Earth Institute, Columbia University, New York. Dr. Marco Quiñones, Regional
Director for Africa, Sasakawa Global 2000, Addis Ababa. Joan Holmes, President, The Global Hunger Project. Dr. Peter Hartmann, Director
General of the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA),
Ibadan, Nigeria.
Arne Cartridge, Media
Relations
Telephone
(+47) 24 15 73
01
Cellular
(+47) 47 900
900
E-mail
arne.cartridge@yara.com
Ingegerd Rafn, Media Relations Telephone
(+47) 24 15 72 46 Cellular
(+47) 91 84 06 20 E-mail
ingegerd.rafn@yara.com
The Yara Prize is established in order to commend
outstanding efforts to increase food production and availability in Africa -
as a contribution to the economic and social development of the continent,
for the benefit of its people. The Yara Prize shall contribute to the
transformation of African agriculture and food availability, within a
sustainable context, as an essential contribution to end hunger and reduce
poverty. The Yara Prize shall recognize outstanding contributions to food
availability, and serve as an inspiration and challenge in the continuous
strive towards improved agricultural output. Yara International ASA is the world's leading supplier of
mineral fertilizers with particular strength in nitrogen based fertilizers. Yara
has a local presence in 50 countries worldwide. Yara sells more than 20
million tonnes of mineral fertilizers in more than 120 countries. Yara offers
fertilizers meeting the nutrient needs of local crops supported by agronomic
advice to make farming more profitable and agriculture more sustainable. Yara
has a strong position in industrial markets in Europe as a supplier of
nitrogen based chemicals and is the leading supplier of liquid CO2. |
|
|
Yara International ASA
HUGIN Online
What is your opinion regarding the environmental implication of this prize? Click here! |