Kimani Chege
26 November 2004
Source:
SciDev.Net
[NAIROBI] Scientists met yesterday (25
November) in Nairobi, Kenya, to officially launch the Biosciences
for Eastern and Central Africa (BECA) facility, one year after the
initiative to improve the region's agricultural research capacity
was announced.
The facility will give African scientists
access to state-of-the-art biosciences laboratories and training,
which are expected to help reduce the brain drain of scientists from
the region to developed countries.
Researchers will use the facility — based at Nairobi's
International Livestock Research Centre in Nairobi — to develop
nutrient-rich plants that are resistant to stress and disease, and
to create safer vaccines against livestock diseases. By forming a
network with other laboratories in the region, BECA aims to promote
capacity building and research collaborations.
The US$21 million initiative was backed by the New Partnership
For African Development (NEPAD) and the government of Canada, which
provided a C$4.5 million (US$3.8 million) grant for the facility's
design and planning phase.
Speaking at the inauguration, John Mugabe of the NEPAD
secretariat, called for more commitment by African policy makers to
reduce the brain drain.
Other scientists present observed that many of their African
colleagues have left the continent for well-paid jobs in Europe and
North America.
Romano Kiome, chair of the BECA steering committee and head of
the Kenya Agriculture Research Institute, said that only a handful
of more than 70 scientists the institute has sent for training in
Western universities recently have returned home.
"We have sent many scientists to Europe, the
United States and Canada who refuse to come back," said Kiome. "We
often sack them, but they don't mind because they are earning better
salaries where they are."
Canada's ambassador to Kenya, James Wall echoed Kiome. "A lot of
scientists in the region have crossed the seas and we have to find
ways of stopping that [becoming a permanent move]. Its time they
return home to develop the continent."
The inauguration was attended by Kenya's minister for agriculture
Kipruto arap Kirwa who called on African states to share the
continent's few scientific facilities to research solutions to
problems facing Africa, rather than setting up costly facilities in
each country. Noting that science and technology issues were
getting rarely given attention from African politicians, Mugabe said
it was time for greater efforts to be directed at harnessing science
for development.
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