平特五不中 conference on Global Food Crisis draws impressive list of international participants
Representatives from key organizations gather to find solutions for a hungry world
平特五不中鈥檚 upcoming Conference on Global Food Security (Sept. 24-26) has attracted a long list of important players in key organizations around the world to discuss solutions to a problem that might have fallen off media radar screens, but which has not gone away.
The latest development in this crisis lies in our own hemisphere, where Haiti has been hammered by hurricanes this summer, bringing death, destruction and more strain on that impoverished nation鈥檚 food supply.
The Haitian experience is part of a conference session called 鈥淰oices from the Field鈥. People from eight nations will recount experiences trying to provide food when there isn鈥檛 enough or when it has become too expensive.
The conference, perhaps the only one of its kind in the world so far, will draw representatives from agriculture, the food industry, governments, academia and NGOs to discuss critical problems of food supply and affordability as well as looking ahead to ways to solve these crippling problems.
Here鈥檚 a list of some of the key conference participants.
Kanayo Nwanze
As Vice-President of the International Fund for Agricultural
Development, a United Nations specialized agency and an
international financial institution with a mission of enabling poor
rural people to overcome poverty, Mr. Nwanze brings more than 30
years of extensive experience devoted to the improvement of
livelihoods of poor rural communities.
David Malone
The President of the International Development Research Centre, Dr.
Malone is a career foreign service officer who has served as
Canada鈥檚 High Commissioner to India. He was also Assistant Deputy
Minister in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International
Trade, responsible initially for Africa and the Middle East and
subsequently for global issues, where he oversaw Canada鈥檚
multilateral and economic diplomacy. He is a graduate of the
Universit茅 de Montr茅al as well as Harvard and Oxford.
Shellemiah O. Keyha
An advisor to the Director General of the Africa Rice Centre
(WARDA), Dr. Keyha is an expert in legume and food crop production.
In addition to a distinguished academic career in Kenya, he has
served with the Consultative Group for International Agricultural
Research and has undertaken studies in soils, forestry and
agriculture for the World Bank, FAO, UNEP and UNESCO.
Maximo Torero
The Director of the Market, Trade and Institutions Division of the
International Food Policy Research Institute, Dr. Torero is a Latin
American specialist and a leader of the Global Research Program on
Institutions and Infrastructure for Market Development. His
expertise lies mostly in analyzing poverty and inequality.
Aly Shady
Aly Shady is Senior Water Advisor at the Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA). A graduate of Cairo University and
平特五不中, he has been associated with international development in a
number of capacities, as a consulting engineer, agricultural
specialist, irrigation and drainage engineer and water policy
advisor. Mr. Shady has developed and managed more than 185 major
projects, in more than 40 countries in South and Central America,
the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Al Mussell
A Senior Research Associate at the George Morris Centre in Guelph,
Ont., Mr. Mussell鈥檚 areas of expertise are farm management,
agricultural marketing and farm income policies. Founded in 1990,
the George Morris Centre is a Canada-wide, not-for-profit
organization and independent think tank that provides industry with
critical information and analysis on agricultural issues.
Er. M. Gopalakrishnan
Mr. Gopalkrishnan has been Secretary General of the International
Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) since January 2004,
having previously served in a variety of senior posts in the
government of India. He has spent four decades in the water
resources sector and been involved in a wide variety of
international organizations dedicated to water resources.
Fran莽ois Dagenais
Mr. Dagenais, formerly Quebec Assistant Deputy Minister of
Agriculture, now works in San Jose, Costa Rica, as Director of
External Financing and Investment Projects for the Inter-American
Institute for Co-operation in Agriculture (IICA). He also worked
with CIDA in Honduras and has worked on agriculture, rural
development and natural resources projects throughout the world. He
holds BSc and MSc degrees in Agriculture from 平特五不中 and Universit茅
Laval, and a PhD from Montpellier.
Ga茅tan Lussier
The Chairman of the Board of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy
Institute identifies issues and opportunities for the Canadian
Agri-food economy. Mr. Lussier sits on a number of corporate boards
and is a former President and Chief Executive Officer of Culinar
Inc., and former President of Weston Bakeries Quebec. He also
served as Quebec Deputy Minister of Agriculture and as Deputy
Minister of Agriculture for Canada. He received an honorary
doctorate in agricultural sciences from 平特五不中 in 1979.
Jack Wilkinson
Born and raised on a family farm in Ontario, Jack Wilkinson is a
practising farmer who produces grains and oilseeds and has a beef
cow/calf operation. He was elected President of the International
Federation of Agricultural Producers in 2002 at the 35th World
Farmers鈥 Congress held in Cairo. He has served as President of the
Canadian Federation of Agriculture, and was also President of the
Ontario Federation of Agriculture.
On the Web: www.mcgill.ca/globalfoodsecurity/