J.C. Tothill
Head, Plant Sciences Division
International Livestock Centre for Africa
Mr. Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development, the Commissioner for Livestock Development, Chairman Professor Lwoga, Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is a pleasure for me to be here today: firstly to pay my respects to you, Mr. Deputy Minister, on behalf of the International Livestock Centre for Africa, and secondly to compliment our hosts Professor Lwoga and conference organiser Dr. Dzowela on the organisation of this meeting, which is my first.
ILCA has been honoured and challenged by the PANESA membership, through its elected Working Committee, by being invited to be the technical partner complementing IDRC's financial partnership in this network. We have welcomed this offer because we sincerely believe we have something to offer PANESA and its membership, but we also have something to take and that is the wisdom of the membership in helping us to more effectively shape our own programme. That is, we see the interaction as two-way.
As some of you may know ILCA is presently going through a process of self examination and programme redefinition. This is calling for much greater interaction with national scientists, with much of this coming through the links that networks like this provide. The effectiveness of technology transfer can be magnified many-fold through the networking approach.
We have a strong commitment to the dual role that forages can play in both improved animal production through nutrition and crop production through better soil fertility. The two are linked through the animals that most African farms maintain.
We therefore have great pleasure in coming together to discuss these issues here in this beautiful, and I am sure bountiful, region of Tanzania, and we thank you, Sir, for this opportunity.
