 The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) was launched in June 2004 by Kenya's Minister for Agriculture, the Honorable Kipruto arap Kirwa, at a colourful ceremony held at the Foundation headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.
The President of The Rockefeller Foundation, Dr Gordon Conway, presenting the keynote address, underscored the important role of African governments in selecting technologies suitable to addressing agricultural problems in Africa. Reaffirming the Kenya Government's commitment to promoting new agricultural technologies and information as a basis for a thriving agricultural system, the minister lauded the initiative and urged the AATF to speed up efforts to link farmers to technologies that would help them overcome pests and weeds such as the stem borer and Striga, both serious constraints to maize production in Kenya and neighbouring countries.
The AATF Board Chair, Prof Jennifer Ann Thomson, said the Foundation had a clear mandate that would support delivery of agricultural projects to resource-poor farmers without duplicating efforts. 'We must stimulate synergism – make sure we know what precisely our role is as AATF and know to whom we are delivering, in this case the resource-poor farmers,' she said.
The Executive Director, Dr Mpoko Bokanga, highlighted the foundation's top priority as attending to the smallholder African farmer.
Click on names below to download speeches in pdf
Gordon Conway
Carlos Seré
Jeniffer Thomson
Mpoko Bokanga
Eugene Terry
Kipruto Arap Kirwa
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