The Africa Agricultural Science Week and the 4th FARA General Assembly will be held from the 10th – 16th June, 2007 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Sandton city, Johannesburg, South Africa 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Land Affairs of South Africa will co-host the fourth (4th) General Assembly of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) with the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and FARA. The General Assembly will draw together representatives of FARA's constituents from all African and non-African institutions involved in African agricultural research and development such as the Sub-Regional Organizations (SROs) (ASARECA, CORAF/WECARD, SADC/FANR and Northern Africa - AARINENA), the agricultural research institutions, universities, NGOs and private enterprises that comprise the national agricultural research systems (NARS) , non-African partner research institutions (PRIs), the international agricultural research centers (IARCs), international NGOs, policy makers, private sector, farmers’ organizations and Africa's development partners.

Theme
Promoting the productivity and competitiveness of African agriculture in a global economy

Subthemes
1. Identifying and exploiting Africa's competitive advantages in agricultural production, agri-business and related industries;
2. Developing Africa's capacity for agricultural commerce and innovation
3. Learning from past success of research in influencing agricultural policies
4. The status of the 5 requirements for turning Africa's agriculture around
5. Positioning agricultural research institutions to be fully effective
6. Learning lessons from responding to risks and disasters
7. Africa's capacity to build human and institutional capacity for the agricultural industry
8. Mobilizing civil society for agricultural development
9. Peri-urban agriculture
10. Capturing indigenous knowledge for development while respecting intellectual property rights, ethical and moral integrity and biosafety

Invitations
Participants requiring invitations to acquire visa or official mission orders from their institutions can be issued by the FARA Secretariat and the South African Ministry of Agriculture and Land Affairs. Interested Parties should contact:
FARA Secretariat
PMB CT 173, Accra, Ghana
Tel: 233-21-772823; Fax: 233-21-773676
Email: mjones@fara-africa.org

Registration on the web is ongoing for:
o individual participants
o side-events
o exhibits
o field visits

For more detailed information go to the faraweek website.