This month’s ‘view’ is not from my office. I am writing this while enjoying the view over the rolling hills of Aberdeenshire, Scotland from my mother’s house in Turriff a small town of 4000 people, where I am on leave. This is the countryside where I was brought up – in fact only seven miles from where I am sitting – on a mixed crop-livestock farm, where my father raised beef cattle and sheep and grew barley, swedes and potatoes as well as grass leys on which we fattened our Aberdeen Angus-cross cattle. The rich agricultural heritage of the region is being celebrated today (4 August) as part of the 150th annual Turriff and District Agricultural Show, when the small town of 4000 people will attract over 30,000 people, including this year, Her Majesty The Queen, who has been invited to participate in the celebrations.
On 17-18 July I was in London with Peter Thorne and staff from IITA for a meeting of the Scientific Advisory Group (SAG) of the Africa RISING program, chaired by former ILRI Board Member, Prof Maggie Gill (now chair of the CGIAR Independent Science and Partnership Council, and my former boss when I was working at the Macaulay Institute in Scotland). Salvador Fernandez-Rivera, former ILRI staff member is also a member of the Africa RISING SAG
I was back in Addis for a few days getting my house contents packed and shipped to Nairobi. Bill Gates was in Ethiopia the same week and I was invited to see him being conferred with an honorary degree from Addis Ababa University. The new CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Susan Desmond-Hellmann was also in Ethiopia and Gail Amare and I attended a ‘get to know her’ reception.
A couple of months ago, before I took up the post of DDG –IS, I was interviewed by the magazine ‘International Innovation’ on my views on international livestock research. I have re-printed the article on our ILRI clippings blog and hope you enjoy reading it. Feel free to comment.
Now I’m off to enjoy the Scottish sunshine at Turriff Agricultural Show.
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