Sub-Saharan Africa’s “food insecurity” debated in London.

How to feed a growing Sub-Sahara African population will be on the agenda at a major global agri-business conference, CropWorld, to be held in London later this year.

Dr Felix M’mboyi, from the Kenyan based African Biotechnology Stakeholders Forum, will be presenting the case for allowing African farmers to have greater access to new crop technology to enable them to make an informed personal choice on which technology to use in order to improve production.

“Africa is a hungry continent and the poorest most food insecure region in the world. Even with current conventional crop improvement systems, Sub-Saharan Africa is still faced with a vicious cycle of food insecurity, “said Dr M’mboyi.

“It is therefore essential that technology involving the best of conventional crop breeding and crop bio-technology applications are utilised to optimise productivity and to contribute to sustainable food security on the continent,” he added.

Dr M’mboyi will be one of a number of international experts speaking at CropWorld Global 2011 who will be addressing the problems caused by a growing world population and mounting pressure on its natural resources. The conference, which is the only global event to embrace all aspects of crop production, will be debating how world agriculture can meet the challenges of increasing food production by more than 50% over the next 19 years.

The conference, which will be addressed by the UK’s Minister of State for Agriculture and Food, Rt Hon Jim Paice MP, as well as a range of speakers drawn from countries including Australia, India, The United States and Brazil, will run for three days from the 31stOctober to the 2ndNovember 2011 in London.

“ We see this as an unique opportunity to bring together a group of international experts of the highest level to discuss, debate and inform those attending – and a wide global audience – how agriculture is going to meet the increasing demands which will be placed on it,” said Clare King, CropWorld Conference Director.

“We are delighted that Dr M’mboyi is speaking at the conference, his unrivalled expertise and experience will make a huge contribution to our discussion,” she added.

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Andrew Kendall, 01394 610022 – Andrew.Kendall@kendallscom.co.uk

NOTES TO EDITORS:

CropWord Global 2011, is being organised by UBM with the British Crop Production Council (BCPC). UBM uses it experience in overseas markets to complement and build on the annual CropWorld conferences and exhibitions by running regional events in key crop producing regions of the world.

Further details are available for Clare King, Conference Director, UBM Conferences. Tel; +44 (0)20 7560 4364, email clare.king@ubm.com or go to www.cropworld-global.com

ABOUT UBM

UBM Plc is a leading global business media company which informs markets and brings the world’s buyers and sellers together at events, online, in print and provides them with the information they need to do business successfully.

UBM Conferences operates internationally across all UBM’s division to bring its unrivalled content and though leadership to marketers and business professionals across a wide range of markets.

Further details are available at www.ubm.com

ABOUT BCPC

BCPC promotes the use of science and technology in the understanding and application of effective and sustainable crop producing. BCPC is a Registered Charity and a Company limited by Guarantee.

Further details are available at www.bcpc.org

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