Pan Africa Chemistry Network Congress 2017: Sustainable Agriculture; How the Chemical Sciences Can Contribute to Food Security for a Growing Population

This year's Pan Africa Chemistry Network Congress will take place in Accra, Ghana for researchers and policy-makers, to discuss current research, challenges, new developments and crucial issues on the topic of Sustainable Agriculture.
The PACN Congress is our flagship annual event for the African chemical sciences community and consists of lectures, exhibitions, posters and networking.

The Congress will reflect the diversity of science and research that can help solve challenges of food security and progress towards sustainable agriculture, with a focus on the chemical sciences.  The conference will give all participants the opportunity to engage with other scientists, hear about cutting edge research and policy and exchange ideas.  

In 2011 we held the PACN Congress in Ghana to explore “Agricultural Productivity: How the Chemical Sciences Can Help to Feed the World”, and this led to the publication of a Policy Report (see Useful Links)
Building on this, we now want to bring the community together once again to look at the progress that has been made, and the new challenges faced by African agriculture, especially with ongoing climate change.

AuthorAID Workshop: ‘Scientific Writing Skills for Early Career Researchers

We will be also co-hosting a workshop by INASP’s AuthorAID programme on 10th and 11th November, for early career researchers.  All registered participants will be eligible to apply to attend.  Please follow the ‘Useful Link’ above to complete the online form.  If you wish to be considered for this workshop, you must complete the form by 20th October 2017.

Scientific Themes

There will be 4 themes covered in the scientific sessions: 

• Chemistry for Crop Protection: 

To protect crops from pests and other degradation.  This will include strategies for crop protection, chemicals for crop protection, including natural product chemistry and/or green approaches to manufacture.  This could include ways to increase on-farm yields and issues of storage and transport, as well as topics around regulation and policy, environmental impacts and the use of banned chemicals.

• Crop and Soil Nutrition:

Ways to ensure optimal growth of crops.  Fertilisers, land management and soil science are all vital to this.   We will discuss soil health, soil protection, mapping and monitoring, as well as sustainable ways to improve soil resilience and soil quality.  We will also cover research that seeks to understand the dynamic natural processes that take place in ecosystems to use or regenerate the nutrients needed by crops.

• Sustainable Agriculture for Economic Development: The Case of Cocoa

Cocoa is Ghana’s principal agriculture export, with annual exports valued at $2.59b (OEC 2015) and so it is vital for many African economies that cocoa production is efficient and sustainable.  We will discuss the challenges faced by the cocoa industry and innovation from the chemical sciences which will benefit the industry and its communities into the future.

• Future Farming

How to ensure a nutritious food supply for a growing population. This will include the challenges of climate change and the demand for land for non-food crops.  We will discuss ways that science can make agriculture more sustainable through climate- smart- crops and crop management as well as ways to increase resilience.  This session will also cover ways to ensure the that the food supply is nutritious, and contains the micro and macro nutrients needed for health.  

We will also look at how sustainable agriculture can impact on the economic growth of African countries, many of which have been impoverished by the shift from agriculture to other economic activities such as mining and oil exploration which are having negative impacts on their environments.

Each of these topics will also include discussions on aspects of the following areas where relevant to the overall topic: Analytical chemistry; formulation science; water science; abiotic stress; regulatory issues; socioeconomic issues and work to define or understand ‘The African context’.  

This will include multidisciplinary and cross disciplinary research related to the chemical sciences.
 

Abstract Submission

Abstract submission has now closed

Posters

We welcome all registered delegates to bring a poster for display. There is no requirement to submit a poster abstract in advance, and spaces at the poster display will be allocated on a first come- first served basis at the venue​

There is NO FUNDING AVAILABLE to poster presenters.

Accra has plenty of hotel options available for delegates, from budget options to high end International hotels.  Accommodation options include: Tomreik Hotel, University Guest Centre and Volta Hall, University of Ghana.  Full details are in the attached document.