Foreword [Volume 16 No. 1 (2016)]

I wish to dedicate this issue to Going Beyond Borders team from the USA who have been helping to put up a hospital in my rural community. I have spent all my life working on food security and nutrition issues, to help generally, teach, do research and train and try to make a difference it the rural communities.

You do all that only to get confronted by disease ailments which should have been wiped out, or by mothers dying at child delivery because of inadequate healthcare systems, or children dying from acute malaria, and there being no ambulance to transport the very sick or no proper emergency care facilities.

Bravo to the team led by Kate Brotherson, that included two dentists and nurses, IT specialists, and for taking time away from their families, being brave enough to come despite travel advisories, running 2-day dental camps to attend to nearly 800 patients in total, bringing all those supplies (12 checked-in bags) and helping to fundraise for the hospital.

I hope it is not too late to wish everyone a great 2016. Please read the Annual Letter for 2016 of Bill and Melinda Gates. Bill takes ENERGY and MELINDA tackles TIME; it makes good and easy reading and a lot of sense too. The take-away message for me is that we need to be innovative, decisive, caring and to pray for a miracle to be able to save the world from the inevitable negative impacts of climate change.

The year past was not too interesting for some of us, especially those who may have been hit by death of a loved one or some other form of tragedy. I pray that we can put that behind us and look forward to a brighter year, this 2016.

Issue 73 is here and makes very interesting reading. We have rigorously reviewed 10 original contributions and are also carrying an invited editorial and commentaries. Sub-Saharan Africa has come a long way. There is no doubt about that. We actually have to believe in ourselves and in “Africa Rising”.

As a continent, we can no longer sit back and blame anyone. Countries which have traditionally assisted the continent now face their own serious challenges. Look at Europe with its migrant challenges. Mark also that most of the migrants right now are not even coming from Africa. It all started with migrants’ boats sinking at sea and killing many Africans who were supposedly escaping hunger, poverty, political persecution, insecurity and so on. Now what is catching the headlines is migrants from Syria and other countries.

Now, the terrorist threat is no longer facing just one part of the world; every corner of the globe faces threats and many parts are attacked brutally, with fatal consequences. My own country Kenya is under threat all the time from terrorist groups. Many Kenyans have lost their lives through these brutal attacks. Just when as a developing country we think we are moving forward, we get hit and pushed back.

When one thinks of the development aid that has come to Africa all these years, one wonders where it has gone. Now that Europe is facing major migrant challenges, there is even talk of curtailing the traditional aid and diverting it to migrant handling issues. What will happen now? Africa is such a rich continent, yet many national budgets continue to rely on foreign aid. How well is the aid used? Why are we not able to tap into internal resources to develop the continent?

I am aware Dr. Akin Adesina, President of the Africa Development Bank is pleading with African Heads of State to “pull down” the walls that divide us, and the barriers that hinder trade and communication. It is like Africa’s poverty is self-inflicted. We need to make Africa attractive for Africans, and that way our people do not have to leave the continent to go elsewhere, looking for a source of livelihood. So many decades after independence, all our villages in Africa should have been lit by now, whether with electricity or solar. At least for Kenya, by the end of this year, all primary schools should be having electricity so they can operate computers. But we still suffer a lot of blackouts. Africa has friends ready to assist, and many of whom have assisted already and even continue to do so.

If you read the Bill Gates letter, you will get a real sense of how transformative energy is to people’s lives. Everything else just falls into place. Africa with year round sunshine cannot transform the continent by investing in solar energy? Do our governments invest in research and innovation? These are questions that only African leaders can answer.

It is difficult for governments to develop without research and technology and these need to be prioritized and well financed. And guess what? Africa is a continent of extremely hard working women. But our governments do not invest enough in this resource. You just cannot go wrong when you invest in women. Again, read Melinda Gates letter and you will appreciate the strength of an African woman and that where a spouse decides to support her so both can contribute to family development, it becomes a win-win situation. I salute my rural women farmers I work with, I go out of my way to support them, and reward the men who get involved and support them. The continent needs to move forward faster. We need to get our act together. In this issue, we have must-read commentaries on GMO, and on aging in Africa. This journal tries to cover a variety of issues that face the continent and that we should be addressing. Other continents will need Africa, and very soon too. When US President Obama visited Africa mid 2015, he made a compelling speech at the Africa Union in Addis Ababa. His main message was that the time has come for Africa; that Africa played a major role to help build the USA. He lamented some of the issues that hold Africa back, including corruption, ethnic chauvenism and refusal to provide women with full opportunity in national development. David Bathrick prepared a commentary on Obama’s speech in Africa, and Dr. Edward Mabeya and Dr. Ndunge Kiiti contributed a response. We have more commentaries just before publishing by young Victoria Ndanyi and Prof Victor Temple and his colleague Peter Yearwood. We welcome more comments on President Obama’s Africa 2015 speech and as well on David Bathrick’s thought provoking commentary on the same.

Soon, we shall be carrying special issues on: Aflatoxin by ILRI, and biofortification by HarvestPlus. We invite you to discuss with us how we can produce a special issue focused on a subject matter you or your institution needs to highlight. There is a lot to do, and each one of us can make a major and lasting contribution in our lifetime that can transform society for the good of all of us including the future generations. We can all do it regardless of where we are: in Africa, Europe, Asia or the Americas.

Ruth Oniang’o
Editor-in-Chief, AJFAND