CONVENER'S ADDRESS

It is indeed a great honour for me to welcome you to the 10th Africa Horticultural Symposium on behalf of the organizers. The venue of the 1st Africa Horticultural Symposium was also Addis Ababa in 1971, and when Ethiopia was asked again at the International Horticultural Congress in Hamburg in 1982 to sponsor the 10th Symposium, we readily agreed to host it with joint sponsorship of ISHS. Later on to give it wider representation we invited the Addis Ababa University to be coorganizer with the Horticultural Development Department of the Ministry of State Farms Development.

We immediately formed an Executive Committee and different Working Groups to effectively follow and implement the numerous activities needed. Without the unreserved cooperation and assistance of this Committee and Groups, this Symposium would not have been held with such a large attendance of over 140 registered participants and about 60 scientific papers to be read. Please allow me to recognize these people: Ato Abraham Demere, Ato Tegenu Yifru, Wozero Senait Zerihoun and Dr. Aregai Waktola. I am greatly indebted to them.

One of the major activities of the Committee was to solicit financial assistance from all sources. We were very fortunate to receive early in the season a substantial sum of money from the Federal Republic of Germany through G.T.Z., and later from FAO, USAID and CIP.

The Horticulture Development Corporation, Awash Development Corporation, Agricultural Engineering Corporation, Addis Ababa University and most agricultural chemical companies accredited to Ethiopia contributed generously to cover a good portion of the local costs.

Allow me also to recognize the other distingushed guests sitting here with me in the podium. Mrs. Van der Borg, the wife of the Secretary General of ISHS, Dr. IR H.H. Van der Borg, who expressed his deep regrets for being unable to come, but sent his better-half instead. On my left is seated Dr. U. Menini, Head of the Horticulture Group from FAO, Rome, and Dr. Aregai Waktola, representing A.A. University as coorganizer of the Symposium.

The list will be too long to call the names of all who have assisted in the organization of the Symposium. I would like to sincerely thank all of them on behalf of the organizers.

Before I ask our distinguished guest, H.E. Ato Yosef Mulleta, to officially open the Symposium, I would like again to welcome all of you to Ethiopia and express my hope for a successful Symposium.

Samu-Negus Haile-Mariam
Convener


Excellencies,
Distinguished Participants, and
Ladies and Gentlemen

It gives me a great pleasure to have been given the opportunity of opening the 10th Africa Horticultural Symposium. On behalf of Socialist Government of Ethiopia and myself, I take this opportunity to extend a hearty welcome to all the participants, specifically to those friends who have come from abroad. Notwithstanding the chilly mornings and evenings, January is still one of the thirteen sunny months in Ethiopia and I hope your short stay in Addis Ababa will be an enjoyable one.

Ethiopia has had the privilege of hosting two horticultural simposia. The first Africa Horticultural Symposium was held in this city in 1971 to discuss problems connected with air shipment of fresh horticultural crops, specially those destined for the European off- season markets. We have benefited a good deal from the exchange of ideas and experiences which the forum provided.

We are equally fortunate to have the 10th Africa Horticultural Symposium held in Addis Ababa to address itself, in the main, to the problems of horticultural production in arid zones. Since most of our African Countries are engaged in developing their horticultural potentials, we find this general topic of the Symposium to be appropriate and timely.

Ethiopia possesses a wide range of soil and climatic conditions favouring the production of a large variety of fruits and vegetables. Its proximity to the major international markets further enchances these advantages. Despite this, however, we have not been able for one reason or another to take a full use of these advantages to the extent the favourable natural conditions permitted. Perhaps the same may be said for most African Countries except for Kenya and some of those located along the Mediterranean Coast. As far as Ethiopia is concerned, vegetables such as sweet pepper, green beans, eggplants, and courgettes were produced for export markets in the off-season. These vegetables had enjoyed good reputation on the European markets for their qualities. Although export of horticultural products has been going on for about 30 years in Ethiopia, the amount of annual export of fruits, vegetables, and spices has not shown very significant increase during these years.

One of the chief cause of the slow development of the horticultural sector was the absence of a central body to give it guidance and technical support. Much of the production and export activities were left to private individuals and capital, resulting in a haphazard and limited growth of the horticultural industry. This is what prevailed during the pre-revolution period. It was later recognized that the country's potential could not be exploited to a considerable extent by such un-coordinated approach, but through a concerted action at the national level. Therefore, the first step taken in this direction by the Revolutionary Government of Socialist Ethiopia was to establish in 1976 a central public body to be responsible for the promotion and co-ordination of activities in the horticultural sector. This function is now being shared by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of State Farm Development, the latter being given the responsibility of establishing and operating state farms, including horticultural farms. State operated horticultural farms are given priority considerations and are expected to play a significant role in the expansion of fruit and vegetable production.

One of the significant recent developments in this connection is the formulation of a prospective plant for a long-range expansion of the horticultural industry. In setting production targets, possible export opportunities and the growing local demand both for fresh consumption and raw materials for processing have been taken into account.

The plan envisages the expansion of area under horticultural crops from about 7 700 hectares in 1982/83 to 24 100 hectares by 1992/93 crop season, with corresponding increase in quantities produced from 53 900 tons to 235 800 tons. Fruit orchards constitute 31 per cent of the total area at the beginning of the plan and some 57 per cent at the end of the plan period. As grape production will be an important aspect of our fruit programme, it is gratifying to observe from the Symposium Programme that a good coverage is given to this crop as well as the presence of prominent experts in this subject.

In view of our current state of horticultural production technology, shortage of trained manpower, and limited infrastructure, the plan might appear rather an ambitious undertaking. But we are prepared to meet the challenge and will spare no effort in reaching the targets. As you will have the opportunity to observe on your field trips, steps are already being taken in the implementation of the programme. I trust that your discussion and comments on what you will be seeing in the field will provide us with inspiration and enhanced experience for the tasks that lie ahead of us.

We in Africa suffer from several unfortunate circumstances and constraints. Drought, shortage of food, poor diet, and unemployment are some of the problems with which we have had to contend. We believe that development in horticulture can significantly contribute to the solution of some of these problems. Being an intensive farming system in its nature and of high yielding per unit area in irrigated farming, it can ease food shortage, improve diet, help in reducing the massive unemployment that exist in some areas where horticultural crops can be profitably produced to meet the needs of our people. And yet we cannot deny that it is a neglected sector, badly in need of vitalizing.

Some countries with less advantages in terms of production conditions have taken bold steps in this direction. Through painstaking efforts, learning from bad experience, accepting windfalls and set-backs inherent in horticultural undertakings, they have managed to establish themselves over two or so decades as important producers of horticultural crops. This shows what determined efforts can achieve. Economically developed members of the international community have also a vital role to play in encouraging and sustaining such efforts by channeling more resources into this sector than had been the case in the past. Basic and applied research, post-harvest technology, marketing, are some of the areas calling for international support.

In this regard, I am happy to note that your Symposium will be enriched by the special workshop on temperate fruits that is to be conducted along with the Symposium in the interest of tropical highlands, in which distinguished scientists in this field will be participating. I am confident that useful ideas will emerge from the discussion on this topic which has received little or no attention in the past.

The Symposium should also consider the possibility of exchanging technical and other information among horticultural scientists on formal or non-formal basis. The existence of a mechanism for sharing ideas and experience in addition and outside such a Symposium will, I am sure, benefit horticultural industries in Africa.

I shall not end this brief statement without expressing my appreciation and thanks to those organizations who have lent their support in organizing this Symposium. Although the main responsibility in managing the Symposium fell on Horticultural Development Department in our Ministry, the Department has been assisted by the Addis Ababa University and the Horticultural Development Corporation as Co-organizers. All deserve our thanks. We are also grateful for the assistance provided by the Federal Republic of Germany (GTZ), FAO, USAID, CIP, ISHS, local representatives of international agricultural chemical companies, and Agricultural Development Corporations through financial contributions and sponsorship of some participants.

I now declare the Symposium open.

I wish you success. Thank you.


Mr. Minister,
Ambassadors,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Colleagues and Friends.

It is a great pleasure for me to express on this occasion of the 10th Africa Horticultural Symposium the greetings of the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to the Government of Ethiopia, to the Ministry of State Farms and to the International Society for Horticultural Science who invited me, and to all the honourable guests attending this conference.

Personally, I feel very grateful also to the 10th Africa Horticultural Symposium for the opportunity given me to take the floor to present briefly the activities of our Organization related to the promotion and development of horticultural production.

The activities related to horticulture have been considerably increased at FAO over the last five years. This is due, in my opinion, to two basic reasons; firstly, the evident need for diversification of agricultural production that has been recognized and increasing awareness that horticultural products may also be an important source of food; the second, a modern approach and methodology that has been undertaken by our Organization in relation to new production policies in development.

Just to give you some examples, at present the Horticultural Crops Group of the Plant Production and Protection Division of FAO is dealing with some 130 field development projects and about 90 additional projects are in the pipeline for the next cycle. The greater number of these projects, or 43% of the total, are located in Africa; 26% in Asia; 23% in the Near East and North Africa; and 8% in Latin America. Again, 31% of the projects deal with fruit crops in general; 28% with vegetables; 2% with mushrooms and 1% with ornamentals; and 38% with a mixture of fruits and vegetables.

The activities of the FAO horticultural country projects cover such areas as research and experimentation for the improvement of productivity of one or more crops; training of scientific researchers, agricultural technicians and farmers; and development with a view to increasing horticultural production in the wide sense of this term.

Another very important activity relates to the promotion of intergovernmental cooperation in order to expedite research programmes for the development of fruit trees and/or vegetable production. For your information, I may mention briefly:

1. The Regional Project on Olive Production involving about 12 countries of the Mediterranean basin;
2. The Date and Palm Regional Project involving about 19 date producing countries of the Near East and North Africa;
3. Intergovernmental cooperation on citrus production which is following a typical United Nations TCDC system and involves ecological regions such as the Mediterranean, Caribbean and South East Asia;
4. Nut and grape production are another two regional cooperative activities.

I do not want to take your time to indicate the ongoing work concerning vegetable production, but I would like to mention, just for your information, that FAO attaches a great attention to national and/or regional programmes related either to the development of African traditional vegetables or to more sophisticated methods of vegetable production under protected cultivation as in the Gulf States.

Concerning the development of traditional tropical fruits and vegetables, FAO has made very important efforts during the last two years with a view to identifying the traditional species that were very well known and grown in the past and represented an important source of food for those growers particularly located in remote regions.

We are indeed convinced that several of these local African species of fruit and vegetables, if appropriately selected and their productivity improved through better identification of varieties, could be easily grown in traditional systems of agriculture to provide a source of food for small-holding poor farmers who often follow only simple production techniques.

In the last two years, very promising results on the improvement of traditional horticultural crop production have been obtained in several countries of West Africa: Senegal, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Gabon, Liberia, Guinea and others. Similar and equally important activities are now being undertaken in East Africa.

Another most important preoccupations of our Organization concerns the development of tropical fruit production in humid and subhumid regions of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Several specific national projects and consultancy missions have been implemented in Sri Lanka, Kenya, Maldives, Indonesia, Senegal, Gabon and others during the last biennium in order to overcome constraints and to improve productivity of some of the most known tropical fruit species, whose biology, physiology and/or growing methods are very often little known.

Although some encouraging results have been obtained mainly through efforts made by national institutions and individual researchers, I personally feel deeply convinced that more attention it deserves should be given to this sector of production. In fact, tropical exotic fruits are not only appreciated in the country where they are grown, but are also increasingly capturing the taste of occidental people.

One sector of tropical fruit production which has a great potential for development and very little research work in support, is represented by temperate fruit species grown in the tropics. It is evident that several temperate species and varieties that can easily find their habitat in several mild climates in the tropics, could represent for the growers a very important source of income that could be obtained either on the local market and-even more so-on the international market if such products are good in quality and are produced during out-of-season periods.

Several positive activities and research works in this sector of production have been carried out by FAO in Asia (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, etc.). In Africa, a programme for such temperate fruit production development is under conception in Lesotho and Malawi.

It can be stated that, in general, the development of horticultural production in tropical countries is rather lagging behind the development of other crops.

This situation could perhaps be related to the priorities that have been given in the past to food crops. Although the nutritional value of horticultural products has been well understood in many countries, the amount of investment for research, development and training related to horticulture in general, still remains at present very marginal.

Furthermore, in regions where a fully diversified agricultural production has not yet been established, and rural populations are consequently oriented to the consumption of a limited number of crops and are making tremendous efforts for food self-sufficiency, horticultural development could represent one of the ways whereby a rapid improvement in such an unsatisfactory agricultural situation can take place.

In any case, there is evidence that at world level horticultural products are becoming more and more important in the human diet but their scarcity and limited choice can easily be noted, particularly in the tropics. Nevertheless, when development policies are formulated, much of the effort is still mainly directed in favour of major crops, although whenever I visited regions where horticulture has been developed I did not see hunger!

I express again the greetings of the Director-General and FAO and my personal thanks to the Ethiopian Government and to the organizers of this Symposium.