The Chennai international conference on Eliminating Hunger and Poverty: Priorities in Global Agricultural Research and Development Agenda in an Era of Climate Change and Rising Food Prices, organized at the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), met this week to discuss challenges confronting agriculture in addressing poverty, hunger and malnutrition.
Serageldin was invited to join a panel of experts from different countries at the international forum held during the conference. The panel, which was chaired by Dr. Cary Fowler and Dr. P. Thangaraju , convened by Dr. Sudha Nair , and made up of Rodney Cooke, Director, IFAD, Rome; Pedro Medrano, Regional Director, World Food Programme, Panama; Hiroyuki Konuma, Assistant Director General, FAO-Bangkok; Ashok Gulati, Director, IFPRI-Asia, New Delhi; and Ismail Serageldin, deliberated on the role of agriculture in eradicating hunger and poverty with the aim of developing a workable road map for achieving this Millennium Development Goal. Many leading experts in agriculture and rural development, as well as students and farmers attended the conference.
The conference coincides with the 85th birthday of Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, chairman of the foundation, who, in 1988, after receiving the World Food Prize, used his prize money to start the MSSRF as a non-profit organization aiming to develop and promote strategies for increased employment of the poor in rural areas.
During his visit to Chennai, Serageldin was also invited to visit the Roja Muthiah Research Library (RMRL), which is located in the same campus as the M S Swaminathan Foundation.