April 2002
News from the Regional Fora
Asia-Pacific
Central Asia & Caucasus
West Asia & North Africa
Europe
Asia-Pacific RegionAPAARI Expert Consultation on ARD Priority Setting
Bangkok, Thailand, 12-14 November 2001
The "APAARI Expert Consultation on ARD Priority Setting" that took place in Bangkok last 12-14 November 2001 was an integration of the results of the three sub-regional priority setting workshops that took place in South and West Asia, East and Southeast Asia, and in the Pacific Region between June and October 2001.
The comparative analysis among the sub-regions identified seven common areas for research which were then established as the regional priorities. The priority areas are: (1) Integrated natural resource management (including policy development and institutional issues related to NRM); (2) Genetic enhancement and agrobiodiversity conservation (including livestock and fisheries selection and improvement, microbial functional agrobiodiversity, bio-safety issues/policy/GMOs/IPRs); (3) Commodity chain development (Linking Farmers to Markets); (4) Meeting the Protein Demand of a Growing Population; (5) Tree and forest management for landholders (e.g., forest management, agro-forestry in production systems); (6) Information management for agricultural development (including access and use); and (7) Capacity building (i.e., human resources, institutional, and research policy development).
Workshop participants provided inputs to the CGIAR process of selecting Challenge Programmes (CPs) by identifying how the ten CP proposals relate to the seven APAARI priorities. This analysis showed that seven of the ten CP proposals are closely related to the seven APAARI priorities, namely: the CPs on Water and Agriculture, Desertification, Climate Change, Mountain Agriculture, Biofortification, Global Genetic Resources and Genomics and Animal Health and Production. In some cases the CP proposal is related to more than one regional priority.
APAARI has transmitted this congruence of regional concerns with the CP proposals to the CGIAR; they have expressed the desire to have the region's priorities considered in the decision of which CPs will move on to project preparation, and for the region to be actively involved in both the design and implementation of the CPs under consideration.
Some of the next steps identified in the workshop include conducting gap analysis; assessment of the capacity of regional networks and collaborations in ARD to address the gaps; development of new proposals for regional and/or global collaboration; identification of funding strategies for each proposal; and preparation of guidelines for the development of proposals.
APARIS
During the 6th Executive Committee Meeting of APAARI held the 12to the 14 of November 2002, the status of the development of the Asia/Pacific Agricultural Research Information System (APARIS) was revisited.
The APAARI Website has been re-designed in order to prepare it for its new role of being the electronic platform of the APARIS Regional Information System. It is now being conceived as an electronic communication platform with two major objectives: (a) to facilitate communication among APAARI members, and (b) to serve as the main platform for APARIS. This Website provides access to Regional Research Networks (RRNs) that operate in the Asia/Pacific region. The database currently contains information on 19 regional networks, and it will continue to develop in the near future in order to cover all networks that effectively operate in the region, at both the regional and the sub-regional levels.
The Website will be further developed to contain: (1) Information Tools for the monitoring of ARD activities in the region; (2) ARD project databases; and (3) NARS databases that will provide information on the institutions that make up each NARS of the Asia/Pacific region. This institutional database is being developed with the support of FAO/SDRR. Once established, it will be the responsibility of each NINP to maintain the information in the database.
An important information requirement that was identified was the need to facilitate access to scientific publications generated by agricultural research in the region. APARIS will therefore link with the regional network of AGRIS National Focal Points that the FAO has been supporting. The GFAR Secretariat will also facilitate the exchange of experiences with other regions where initiatives are being developed to facilitate access to bibliographic information on agriculture, such as in Latin America where a Regional Network of Agricultural Libraries has been established. Discussions are also underway at APAARI regarding the possibility of web publishing to facilitate on-line access to whole documents as well as bibliographic searches. This topic will be covered in the Inter-RAIS Workshop that the GFAR Secretariat is organizing for 2002.
Asia-Pacific RegionSEAFAR
Southeast Asian Forum for Agricultural Research: Prospects and Opportunities
The SEAMEO Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), in collaboration with the Philippine Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) and Thailand Department of Agriculture (DOA), organized a meeting for the establishment of the Southeast Asian Forum on Agricultural Research (SEAFAR), held last 14-16 February 2002, in Bangkok, Thailand.
The objectives of the SEAFAR meeting were:
- to get acquainted with various activities of National Agriculture Research Centers (NARCs) of the member countries of the ASEAN;
- to discuss the establishment of SEAFAR within the existing framework of ASEAN cooperation: and
- to draft a Statement of Endorsement for submission to the Senior Officials Meeting - ASEAN Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries (SOM-AMAF).
Key officials of agricultural research institutions from the 10 ASEAN member countries: Brunei, Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as a representative from the ASEAN Secretariat and the Executive Director of the ASEAN Foundation participated in the meeting. Each country representative gave a presentation on the status and experience in agricultural research of their country.
During the workshop, the participants learned that agriculture in the Southeast Asian sub-region faced similar problems and shared a common purpose: food security and poverty alleviation; food safety and quality; and sustainable development. The workshop served as a venue for these ten Southeast Asian countries to express the need for intergovernmental collaboration, technical assistance, and knowledge sharing in agricultural research for development.
Though these ten countries have different levels of development in agricultural research and knowledge management, SEAMEO SEARCA envisioned to serve as SEAFAR Secretariat, will continue to play a catalytic role in ensuring the momentum of this initiative.
As a result of the workshop, SEAFAR delegates came up with two resolutions:
Resolution 1 - The Establishment of a Working Group on Research for Development under AMAF;
Resolution 2 - Statement of Common Interest Toward the Establishment of SEAFAR.
These two resolutions serve as official endorsement of the Working Group and for consideration by the SOM-AMAF, respectively.
Dr. Alexander Flor
Dina Magnaye
(SEARCA)
Central Asia & Caucasus Region
GFAR and FAO/AGSI Launch the First Phase of "GIPhT"
With the active participation of the five Regional Fora, GFAR and FAO/AGSI launched the first phase of the Global Initiative on Post Harvest Technology. Four of the five regional consultations have taken place between September 2001 and February 2002, in Uganda, the Philippines, Egypt and Kazakhstan. The fifth consultation will be held in Ecuador in March 2002. Representatives of the GFAR Secretariat, FAO/AGSI and stakeholders in agricultural research and agro-industrial development attended the workshops.
The results of the five regional consultations will be used to formulate a regional strategy and a plan of action for the second phase of GIPhT.
For information on GIPhT please contact: , , .
Central Asia & Caucasus Region
Our Chair, Dr. Raj Paroda Honored
Dr. R.S. Paroda, CGIAR-PFU and Regional Coordinator, ICARDA-CAC, has received the prestigious Honorary Membership of the American Society of Agronomy and also the Crop Science Society of America on 23-24 October 2001.
(from CAC News)
Latin America & Caribbean Region
"FORAGRO: Integrating the Small Farmers into Agroindustrial Development"
The last of five Regional Consultation meetings on postharvest technologies (Global Initiative on Post Harvest Technology, GIPhT) is taking place this month in Quito, Ecuador, as part of an inter-regional analysis of agroindustrial development cases based on small farmers that has been supported by GFAR and FAO/AGSI, in close collaboration with each Regional Forum. In this regional workshop an analysis is being made of the factors that have led to successful cases of agroindustrial development of basic food products that play an important role in peasant economies, based on the articulation of "innovation networks" that have brought together farmers, researchers, extension agents, providers of inputs and NGOs.
The importance of this approach for developing countries is that it seeks to learn from recent research and development efforts related to the control of post-harvest losses, the conservation and handling of food crops after their harvest, and successful cases of increasing local value-added, as well as rural employment and income generation, through the development of small and medium-sized enterprises that process crops that are important in peasant economies. The results of this analysis will be useful for other stakeholder-led initiatives that are being carried out in the context of GFAR, such as the Global Partnership Programme that is being initiated in the area of orphan crops. Related to this GPP and in the context of the GIPhT regional consultations, it is important to highlight FAO/AGSI attention toward potential inter-regional market niches supporting the Orphan commodities, the Organic products and the Ornamentals. These regional cross-cutting issues are considered key-topics for research and development activities to be supported by FAO/AGSI, in particular to preserve in each region the high agricultural biodiversity, innovate and improve the quality of the products (certifications, control of quality), improve the technology, innovate and orient the results of the improved technology toward the socioeconomic benefit.
Through this collaboration, GFAR has made available to FAO its knowledge and capacity of contacts among the various stakeholders offering to FAO an important added value to the consultations, allowing to obtain an articulated picture of the Post Harvest sector in each region, a precise and homogeneous regional diagnosis to formulation the FAO intervention in the Post harvest sector at global level.
The report on the FORAGRO workshop will soon be available, along with the reports of the other four regional consultations that have taken place. The lessons learned from the inter-regional analysis that will now be carried out will be available by early summer. The FORAGRO and the other regional reports may be consulted in the EGFAR website.
Fernando Chaparro
F.A.
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA:
Changes in the African Landscape.
ASARECA is pleased to welcome their new Executive Secretary, Seyfu Ketema, who joined their team in September 2001. Dr. Ketema was Director General of EARO, the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organization. The outgoing Executive Secretary, Prof. G.C.Mrema, joined the Agricultural Support System Division of FAO. For further information please visit AGRIFORUM Web Page.
During the last Plenary Session of CORAF/WECARD, Samuel Bruce Oliver was nominated vice-chair of the Executive Committee. He will also be joining the GFAR Secretariat, hosted by FAO/SDR, in June of this year as Senior Visiting Scientist. For further information please visit CORAF Website.
Coming meetings: FARA is holding it's Plenary Session between March 17-22, 2002 during the African Agricultural Research Week in Maputo, Mozambique and CORAF/WECARD will hold it's Plenary Session in July, in Côte d'Ivoire. The second GFAR Conference is expected to take place in Dakar, Sénégal in 2003. Preliminary contacts at the highest level have begun with regards to the planning of the conference.
West Asia & Africa RegionHighlights of the AARINENA Executive Committee Meeting
The AARINENA Executive Committee meeting took place last 19-20 December 2001 in Tehran, Iran.
The meeting tackled the agricultural research priority setting process in the CWANA Region. Highlighting its bottom-up approach, this exercise involves re-visiting sub-regional and regional research priorities considering taking into account developments at various levels (from national to global). It also involves identifying the CGIAR niche within the identified regional priorities from which CGIAR strategy, action plan and activities will be formulated and implemented. Implementing activities in the region will require bringing together CGIAR offices operating in the region, AARINENA and the CAC NARS Forum. As such, operational modalities to facilitate such "integration process" is also being identified. Currently, an inventory of CGIAR activities in CWANA region is being undertaken and ICARDA is facilitating a region-wide survey on research priority setting and regional cooperation. Sub-regional brainstorming meetings on the topic are being held in each of the five CWANA sub-regions. The findings and recommendations arising from these activities will be discussed on 8-9 May 2002 in Aleppo, Syria.
Other items discussed in the meeting include (a) the outcome of GFAR meetings held in Washington D.C. in October 2001 (focusing on the comparison between GPPs and CPs as well as on the next GFAR Conference); (b) cooperation with EFARD; (c) Cairo Regional Workshop on Post-harvest; (d) RAIS Secretariat (to be hosted by Iran); (e) Date Palm and Olive Networks; (f) Seat of AARINENA Secretariat (Jordan); and (g) date of the next AARINENA General Assembly (May, 26-28 2002, Jordan).
West Asia & Africa RegionWelcome to Taraneh Ebrahimi
GFAR wishes to welcome Taraneh Ebrahimi, the new Senior Officer of the AARINENA Secretariat, from Teheran, Iran.
Miss Ebrahimi is the Web designer and web publisher for the Agricultural Research Education and Extension Organization (AREEO) as well as the Librarian of the Agricultural Scientific Information & Documentation Center (ASIDC).
Her qualifications include an M.A. from the Department of Ancient Middle East Culture and Languages of Azad University in Tehran, and a B.A. from the Department of Foreign Languages, (Italian Language) of the University of Tehran.
She brings with her eight years of experience in administration, research and training.
Welcome on board, Taraneh!
Europe2nd EFARD Meeting
Strengthening the European Contribution to Agricultural Research for Development
The 2nd European Forum on Agricultural Research for Development (EFARD) meeting, which will take place in Rome on 17 May 2002, has the primary goal of setting up a European ARD system around the four main themes identified in the 1st EFARD meeting in Wageningen (Genetic Resources and Biotechnology; Natural Resources and Agroecology; Commodity Chains and Food Safety; and Innovation, Rural Transformation and Poverty) and through these contribute to the Global Forum for Agricultural Research (GFAR) and the global agricultural research for development system.
To translate the objectives into operational proposals, the four main themes will be analyzed in light of the possibility of developing an active European scientific community, inclusive of scientists working in other regions, around a few specific action programmes, designed to reflect specific social challenges more than pure scientific concerns.
The meeting will bring together about 250 representatives of the European stakeholders in ARD, as well as policy makers, representatives of international organizations (CGIAR, FAO, IFAD, CTA, …) and of GFAR and Regional/Sub-regional Fora.
Fabien Boulier
(EFARD)
EuropeMeeting of the EIARD- Infosys Core Group and Associated Partners
The EIARD-Infosys Core Group and Associated Partners meeting was held in Bonn last February 18-19, 2002. During the first day, progress reports of the Coordination Unit, the national nodes and the working groups were presented. A particularly interesting item was the very positive report on the outcomes of the first external review of the Infosys information system. The following day, four Working Groups worked to design and develop "INFOSYS+", a project that may be submitted to the EU for funding.
The critical issues that were discussed with regards to INFOSYS+ were:
- strengthening co-operation with other EU networks ( Euforic, ETFRN, ECPDM, EADI, etc.),
- development of an outreach component with the other RAIS, in close relationship with EGFAR,
- providing support for the main goals of EIARD, in the field of Information and Communication Management,
- stronger involvement of INFOSYS+ as a comprehensive knowledge management system.
For further information please contact the Infosys Manager, .
North America Launches the North American Forum on Agricultural Development, a GFAR-North America Collaboration
GFAR is pleased to announce the launch of the North American Forum on Agricultural Research (NAFAR). Visit NAFAR Website to find links to Canadian & American institutions and organizations that are active in Agricultural Research for Development (ARD). Information can also be found on institutions and organizations working with particular themes such as biotechnology, natural resource management and particular commodities. The objective of this site is to facilitate contact between ARD stakeholders both within North America and between the North and South, and to encourage a North American dialogue on different viewpoints, interests, and perspectives in ARD. This collaboration will improve the effectiveness of North American investment in international agricultural research and make information on North American strengths and expertise easily accessible, especially to partners in the South and Emerging Democracies.
GFAR Secretariat
c/o FAO, SDR, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla - 00100 Rome, Italy
Tel. +39.06.5705.3413 Fax +39.06.5705.3898
E-mail: