After a highly successful organization of the Inter-regional Workshop on Advocacy and Inter-regional Collaboration for ICT/ICM in ARD in July 2006, in which representatives of all RFs, GFAR, FAO and other global agricultural information systems participated, APARIS focused its attention on issues related to advocacy and integration of information resources.

Accordingly, APARIS published a collection of success stories and best practices of ICT and ICM in ARD (see the cover image). In addition to a descriptive list of several current initiatives on agricultural information systems, the publication provides two different case studies – one on linking farmers with the researchers (RDA, South Korea’s Agricultural Information Service) and the other on linking farmers with the markets (India’s e-Chopal initiative). The publication was formally released and presented during the APAARI Expert Consultation on Agricultural Innovations: Linking Farmers with Markets, held from 6-7 November 2006 at New Delhi, India, just prior to the GFAR 2006 Triennial Conference. More than 100 copies of the publication were distributed to senior NARS leaders and managers. This APAARI success story publication was also presented and distributed to more than 150 participants at two other workshops – the Regional Meeting on Central Asia and Caucasus – Regional Agricultural Information System (CAC-RAIS), held from 15-16 January 2007 and National Workshop on ICT for Rural Finances, 5-6 February 2007, organized by College of Agricultural Banking, Reserve Bank of India. Lately, internationally renowned Indian School of Business (ISB) requested APAARI to grant permission to reprint the above collection of success stories in their upcoming book entitled “ICT in the Rural Development: Opportunities and Challenges.”

In other major developments, APARIS team continued its efforts on integrating information resources for the benefit of ARD stakeholders and published the following CD-ROMs (see cover images) for wider distribution through APAARI:

• APAARI on CD, version 2006
• NARS on CD – Directory of Agricultural Research Institutions of the Asia-Pacific Region
• Proceedings of APAARI-GFAR Workshop on Regional Synthesis of Research Needs, 18-19 August, 2006, Bangkok, Thailand
• Proceedings of the APAARI-GFAR Meeting of the Regional Ad hoc Working Group on Linking Farmers to the Markets, 6-7 June 2006, Bangkok, Thailand.

In 2007, APARIS team plans to undertake a major revision of APAARI web site (www.apaari.org) using newly available web technologies for a better content management system and linkages to other ARD web sites. The revised web site will also make it easier to directly upload information from decentralized input sources such as National Information Nodal Points (NINPs), spread across the Asia-Pacific Region and also globally. So, please keep visiting the site for continuous updates.