There s a kind of hush all over the world
Privatisation of agricultural research over recent years may have brought some benefits in terms of the resources available to researchers, but it has ushered in an insidious silence among the research community. African research networks, which used to hum with endeavour and ambition, if not with an equal amount of finance, have been falling silent. Over the past three years, researchers from Ghana to Zimbabwe have complained about how private ownership has forced them to cut down their exchanges with peers. In recent months, the signs have multiplied. In Côte d Ivoire, for example, the national centre for agricultural research CNRA has become a private company in which private capital holds a majority stake and votes on the Board. At least one international research newsletter has fallen victim to the sounds of silence. The Apomixis Newsletter, set up in 1989 to encourage exchanges between researchers working on non-sexual (unfertilised) seed production in plants, announced its closure in late1999. The editor, Yves Savidan explains: 'New barriers have been raised. Most of the major groups working on apomixis have suddenly found themselves in a new environment of proprietary information and confidentiality rules. Let us wait for better times. We had a wonderful time together.' Amen.
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| Format: | News Item biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
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Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
2000
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/46810 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/99589 |
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| Summary: | Privatisation of agricultural research over recent years may have brought some benefits in terms of the resources available to researchers, but it has ushered in an insidious silence among the research community.
African research networks, which used to hum with endeavour and ambition, if not with an equal amount of finance, have been falling silent. Over the past three years, researchers from Ghana to Zimbabwe have complained about how private ownership has forced them to cut down their exchanges with peers. In recent months, the signs have multiplied. In Côte d Ivoire, for example, the national centre for agricultural research CNRA has become a private company in which private capital holds a majority stake and votes on the Board.
At least one international research newsletter has fallen victim to the sounds of silence. The Apomixis Newsletter, set up in 1989 to encourage exchanges between researchers working on non-sexual (unfertilised) seed production in plants, announced its closure in late1999. The editor, Yves Savidan explains: 'New barriers have been raised. Most of the major groups working on apomixis have suddenly found themselves in a new environment of proprietary information and confidentiality rules. Let us wait for better times. We had a wonderful time together.' Amen. |
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