By Brad Haire
University of Georgia

Representatives of nine African countries toured University of
Georgia research facilities and commercial farms April 26-29.
They wanted to learn more about Georgia agriculture and
investigate potential partnerships in the state.

The delegation included the minister of agriculture from Angola
and Washington-based ambassadors from Senegal, Tanzania, Kenya,
Malawi, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Mauritius and Mozambique. Tim
Williams, a researcher with the UGA College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences, organized the tour.

“There was intense interest to come and see what is happening
in
Georgia,” said Williams, who also coordinates the Peanut
Collaborative Research Support Program at UGA.

Poverty is a problem for many of these countries, he said. For
some, as much as 95 percent of the population survives solely
on
1 to 2 acres of land. Many live on $2 per day, he said.

“You would have to go back to the days of sharecropping in the
United States to get an idea of how farming is done in some of
these countries,” Williams said.

Agricultural tour

The delegation toured an egg processing operation in Jasper
County and a broiler facility in Oglethorpe County in northeast
Georgia.

They visited a UGA broiler microprocessing facility in Athens,
Ga. It matches industry standards and provides a place for
students to learn all areas of poultry processing. They work to
develop new poultry food products there, too.

“The delegation wished to see and hear about poultry in Georgia
because they knew it was important in the state and that it was
an efficient and wholesome protein source that might help the
food and nutrition situation in their countries,” said Mike
Lacy, head of the CAES poultry science department.

The delegation went to the UGA campus in Griffin, Ga., to learn
about food science research and about Peanut CRSP projects to
combat
aflatoxin, a group of potentially deadly toxins produced by
fungi. It can appear in peanuts, corn and other crops.

“Aflatoxin exposure is a serious problem for many developing
countries,” Williams said.

In south Georgia, the delegation toured new climate-controlled
peanut warehouses in Wilcox County. And on the UGA campus in
Tifton, Ga., they learned how peanuts, cotton and vegetables
are
grown and marketed in Georgia.

Productive relations

Mozambique Ambassador Armando Panguene wants to develop
relationships between his country and learning institutions
across the United States. He hopes this will help his country
grow. About 80 percent of the population there works on
farms.

Mozambique farmers, he said, need to learn how to increase
their
production. But this will depend on developing new
markets. “The
markets for our production are very limited,” he said.

Mozambique has traditionally been linked to Europe, Panguene
said. “But now the U.S. is a new market we want to explore.”

“If we can work and trade with these countries and help them
develop,” Williams said, “it would benefit all by making these
countries less dependent on food assistance. … And there is
much we can learn from them.”

UGA, the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa and
the
U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative State Research,
Education and Extension Service sponsored the diplomats’ visit.