August 2002

News from the Regional Fora

Europe

Latin America & Caribbean

Sub-Saharan Africa

West Asia & North Africa

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Europe

2^nd EFARD Conference
15-17 May 2002, Rome, Italy

The 2^nd EFARD Conference was held 15-17 May in Rome, Italy. One year before, EFARD launched a consultation process at the European level, through the National Fora, aiming at identifying inputs for the development of European or Global Research Initiatives. At the same time, EFARD also interact with GFAR and the Regional and Sub-Regional Fora in the different continents, so that to collate the European 'supply' side and the developing country 'demand' side. The resulting inputs have been clustered into 19 proposals, related to the major themes identified by GFAR and EFARD. For each proposal a basic and preliminary description has been prepared which gives indication on the objectives, characteristics, participation, logic/arguments and envisaged activities, as well as on indicative funding figures, ranging from 4 to 30 million Euro. The total amount deemed necessary to carry out the full range of proposals would require 245 million Euro.

The purpose of the 2^nd EFARD General Meeting was to develop concrete outcomes for each of the Global Research Programme Initiatives, i.e. development of complementary actions based on the 19 EFARD Action Programme Proposals for the EU-NFP-instruments, the GFAR-Global Partnership Programmes and CGIAR-Challenge Programmes.

The participants confirmed the critical role of the sciences, especially Agricultural Research for Development (ARD), education and training in meeting development challenges, and recognized that Europe has an extensive and valuable expertise in ARD. They also fully recognized that knowledge, competence and expertise is shared among stakeholders both in developed and developing countries, and pledged to increase cooperation between the North and the South.

It was reaffirmed that partnership is the basis of scientific cooperation in ARD, and the importance of involving all stakeholders in setting ARD priorities, designing and implementing programmes, monitoring and evaluating their impacts, as well as in developing new approaches and methods for greater efficiency was stressed.

Participants also welcomed the concept of the European Research Area (ERA) adopted by the European Union, stressed that ARD should be an integral component of the three ERA domains, and emphasized the contribution of the European ARD knowledge base in formulating European development and science policies.

They stressed that increasing competition for funds should be rooted in a transparent and structured cooperation framework and finally they urged greater coherence in policies relevant to ARD within the European Commission, Member States and other donors, and called for better coordination between them in their support for ARD scientific cooperation, research capacity building and knowledge generation and adoption, and recognized the critical role at the policy level by the European Initiative for Agricultural Research for Development (EIARD) for such a coordination.

To translate these principles into concrete and efficient actions, participants decided to: raise European public and political awareness of the importance of ARD;develop mechanisms that will strengthen and sustain the EFARD initiative and increase its legitimacy as a key player in ARD strategy formulation and ARD policy issues in support of and in close collaboration with EIARD; promote and support research proposals that mobilize and strengthen the ERA-ARD expertise to contribute to meeting development objectives; call on the World Food Summit: five years later and the World Summit on Sustainable Development to recognize the essential contribution of ARD to achieve poverty alleviation, food security and sustainable development and, with that view, fully support the EIARD paper to the World Food Summit: five years later. Next steps include to design and implement an action plan for the 2002-2005 period that will facilitate and support: a) the development and strengthening of National ARD Fora in Europe, b) the formulation of European ARD Action Programmes, and particularly Networks of Excellence or Integrated Projects within the 6th Framework Programme of the European Union, c) the reinforcement of partnerships with partner regions and organizations, d) an increasing scientific and financial contribution from Europe to GFAR Global Partnership Programmes, CGIAR Challenge Programmes, and regional networks, e) the contribution to the organization of, and active participation in, the next GFAR global triennial meeting to be convened in Dakar, Senegal, in May 2003 and f) the participation of EFARD in relevant international Conferences, meetings and events.

Information provided by Fabien Boulier
EFARD Executive Secretary

Europe

ECART News

ECART (The European Consortium for Agricultural Research in the Tropics) was established in the early 1990's as a group of likeminded European institutions working in agricultural research for development. The current membership is CIRAD (France), GTZ (Germany), IAO, (Italy), IICT (Portugal), NRI (UK) and NRIL (UK). ECART's members represent more than 3000 professionals with experience in development across the world.

At a meeting of the Director Generals of the organisations making up the Consortium in Brussels in May, several important decisions were made. Firstly, the Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR) in the Netherlands formally joined ECART and will be represented at ECART functions by the newly established WUR North South Centre under the direction of Bram Huijsman. Secondly, the ECART DGs agreed in principle to give ECART a more formal status, probably that of an "European Economic Interest Group". Also under consideration were proposals for ECART to appoint a full time director to lead its activities and for it to have a permanent office in Brussels. Final decisions on these matters are due to be made before the end of the year with implementation starting in 2003.

In the mean time, ECART is working with NATURA and the EFARD Secretariat to facilitate an "event" as part of "Europe Research 2002" in Brussels November. Europe Research 2002 between the 11 and 13^thof November will be the formal launch of the European Research Area and the New Framework Programme. ECART is playing an active role in designing a workshop as part of this event which will present Europe's long and productive history of joint agricultural research with partners in the South and the importance of maintaining a clear profile for ARD in the future.

Guy Poulter
ECART Executive Secretary

Europe

InfoSys Workshop on Cross-Data-Base Search
Florence, Italy

In June colleagues from GFAR, METAFRO, INIA and EIARD-InfoSys where invited to IAO in Florence.

The partner institutions have developed a software for cross database search called NodeXML and have already linked their databases. NodeXML is an Open Source Software for cross-database-search.

It is being programmed and implemented in cooperation between InfoSys partners in order to allow a cross-database-search on servers in different locations. Due to the fact that a decentralised approach of dataholding has shown to allow a more efficient maintenance of dataquality, nodeXML was designed to link partners and at the same time assures that information remains in the hands of the data-holder.

InfoSys is the European web resource on Agricultural Research for Development (ARD) composed of a network of European Partners in various Nations. These Partners we call "Nodes", thus the name of our software "nodeXML".

The present status of this software can be viewed under the topic "Projects" on EIARD-Infosys Website.

Henning Knipschild
EIARD-Infosys Coordinator

Latin America & Caribbean

The Third FORAGRO International Meeting,
23-26 April, Brasilia, Brazil

The 3^rd FORAGRO international Meeting was held 23-26 April 2002 in Brasilia, Brazil, together with the 4^thFORAGRO Executive Committee Meeting.

The title of the event was "Agricultura y Desarollo Tecnològico: hacia la Integraciòn de las Amèricas".

The participants considered that as part of the process of hemispheric integration, it is necessary to promote the development of a regional agenda for technology innovation founded on alliances among the countries of the Americas. Such alliances, with the active participation of governments and members of society in general, especially those who live and work in rural areas, and the support of international technical and financial cooperation organizations, should be aimed at achieving the following purposes:

1. To shift agriculture toward an agribusiness system in order to recognize its economic and social importance and fundamental role in national development.
2. To promote increased production, productivity and quality, with a view to improving the competitiveness and diversification of agriculture in the region, food security and sovereignty and the development of new opportunities to produce and add value.
3. To balance agricultural and environmental development, promoting the use of technologies that are less harmful to the environment, and the sustainable management and conservation of natural resources, especially biodiversity and water resources.
4. To promote the combined use of new and conventional technologies, with a view to obtaining products that are profitable, of the highest quality and safe in terms of the environment, agriculture and human health.
5. To contribute to the alleviation of poverty by generating production alternatives based on technologies that will improve living conditions in rural areas and thereby stem the migration of the population, and encourage the management of fragile ecosystems, especially in the tropics.

With this in mind, the participants declared their intention:

1. To continue to identify and implement research priorities that will make it possible to tap the opportunities of the new world economic order, reduce rural poverty and conserve natural resources.
2. To ensure that the development of knowledge via agricultural technology innovations is placed high on the agendas of policy makers in the FORAGRO members countries, and of hemispheric integration efforts.
3. To optimize agricultural technology systems in the Americas, so that greater use is made of them and they have a bigger socioeconomic impact.
4. To draw attention to the need for both the public and private sectors to invest more, given the chronically low level of investment in science and technology in most of the countries.
5. To support the modernization of education based on new knowledge and technologies, but also respecting traditional practices, incorporating the new technological paradigms and taking all farmers into consideration, especially small-scale ones.
6. To work to ensure that science and technology figure more prominently on the economic integration agenda, strengthening cooperation between research and development institutions and programs.
7. To continue to call attention to the urgent need for markets to become even more open, and for industrialized countries to reduce the subsidies they grant to their farmers.

The participants considered the following topics, presented in random order, to be the most relevant in terms of hemispheric cooperation:

• Water resources (sound use, conservation, quality and availability)
• Genetic resources (conservation, characterization and use)
• Sustainable management of natural resources (soil and biodiversity)
• Promotion and development of agribusinesses
• Technologies using agroecological principles
• Incorporation of small-scale agriculture into agrifood chains
• Clean production (as a prerequisite for market opening, consumer demand and harmonization with nature)
• Development and use of new agricultural technologies (biotechnology and precision agriculture)
• Integrated pest management and integrated crop and livestock management
• Information systems and human resources training
• Climate change

To address these topics, the following proposals should be implemented:

1. To consolidate FORAGRO as the most appropriate hemispheric mechanism for facilitating dialogue among the public sector, private sector, universities, NGOs, producers and the international research sector on topics of strategic importance for agriculture, from the perspective of technology. To do this, the Executive Committee must take an active role, strengthening the development of the Technical Secretariat, so that both can participate more effectively in the global system.
2. To promote institutional strengthening, to encourage the reorganization and consolidation of agricultural research programs and networks, recognizing the importance of the Sub-Regional Fora (PROCIs), and using them, with support from the countries, as strategic mechanisms in strengthening regional cooperation.
3. To draw attention to the importance of, and strengthen, mechanisms for the funding of agricultural research, such as the Regional Agricultural Technology Fund- FONTAGRO.
4. To promote strategic alliances with the international and regional centers in areas of research that are a priority for and have an impact on the Americas.
5. To ask the General Directorate of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) to set aside time during the Ministerial Meeting held in conjunction with the Twelfth Regular Meeting of the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IABA) for the presentation of the conclusions of the Third International Meeting of FORAGRO.

All documents can be downloaded form the FORAGRO website

F.B.

Sub-Saharan Africa

The 3^rd CORAF/WECARD General Assembly
23-26 July 2002, Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire

The Third CORAF/WECARD General Assembly was held in Yamoussokro, Côte d'Ivoire from the 23^rd to the 26^th of May 2002. The opening ceremony was attended by traditional leaders of Côte d'Ivoire, the Mayor of Yamoussoukro, government dignitaries, scientists from the host NARS, scientific partners and development partners of CORAF/WECARD. The Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Sery Bailly chaired the ceremony. While declaring open the 3^rd General Assembly, he recalled the importance of agriculture to Côte d'Ivoire, and thanked CORAF/WECARD for choosing Côte d'Ivoire for the Assembly.

The Executive Secretary and the Scientific Co-ordinator of CORAF/WECARD presented the annual report of activities of the CORAF Secretariat during the end of the first morning. The afternoon session of the first day was dedicated to a set of presentations of the partners and donors. 15 presentations have been achieved during this session: (a) 5 presentations from the IARCs (ISNAR, ICRAF, ICRISAT, ADRAO and ILRI), two directors of these International Centres were attending at this General Assembly, (b) donors or support Institutions were IFS, SDC, CTA, USAID, EC/DG Research, and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. SDC announced that they were about to stop their support to the ROCAFREMI Network on Millet, (c) other partners such as Greneweca, SAFGRAD, ECART/EFARD and GFAR.

The round table discussions on NARS' evolution were articulated during the morning of the second day through three main themes: (a) privatisation of agricultural research with Dr. Sie Koffi, General Director of the CNRA of Ivory Coast, as keynote speaker, (b) the role of biotechnologies and the regional study of the P. W.Alhassan for CORAF/WECARD, (c) sustainable production systems have been introduced by Dr. Paco Sereme. Within the panellists involved in these round tables the ASTI ISNAR Initiative and the Challenge Programme led by ICRISAT on biological Nitrogen Fixation were also presented.

A specific meeting of the financial partners has been held as well as a meeting of the scientific partners of CORAF. During this meeting at which GFAR was attending, 7 issues have been addressed: (1) the African Challenge Programme at the stage of pre-request to be discussed during the next AGM in Manila. This Programme was presented as a NARS/FARA led Programme, (2) the regional programmatic integration involving ADRAO, ICRISAT, IITA and CORAF, (3) Biotechnology, (4) Private sector and access to market, (5) Impact assessment and technology transfer, (6) Scientific capacity strengthening, (7) Management of the General Assembly by the CORAF Secretariat.

The meeting of the Directors of the Institutions Members of CORAF/WECARD led to a renewal of the Executive Committee of the CORAF/WECARD.

The following key decisions and recommendations have been achieved.

New Executive Committee was elected as follows:

• Chairman Dr Koffi Sie, Director General of CNRA, Côte d'Ivoire
• Vice Chairman Dr Emmanuel Owusu-Bennoah, Director of NARP (CSIR) Ghana
• Dr Rogers A.D. Jones, Director, NARCC, Sierra Leone
• Dr Papa Abdoulaye Seck, Director General, ISRA, Senegal
• Dr Agbobli Comlan Atsu, Director General, ITRA, Togo
• Dr Bani Grégoire, CRAL/ DGRST, Congo
• The place of representatives of NGO, the Farmers' Organisation and the private sector (3 places) were left vacant pending their due nomination.

Africa Challenge Program (CP)

It was clarified that the Africa CP is at a pre-proposal stage and a stakeholders Task Force comprising sub-regional organizations and CG Centers operating in Africa are setting the stage. NARS DGs are involved in the process. The Africa CP must be led by FARA, CORAF/WECARD (for WCA) and NARS, with a Steering Committee.

CORAF/WECARD Calendar

a. Meetings of the Executive Committee:

• November 2002 in Dakar – Budget session; adoption of the work plan and annual budget. The Chair will consult with the Secretary for the choice of a convenient date.
• 3^rd week of March 2003, during the 4^th General Assembly to be held in Abuja (Nigeria) or Bamako (Mali).
• June 2003 – midterm review of the activities of Executive Secretariat and operational units.

b. CORAF/WECARD General Assembly:

4^th General Assembly: 3^rd week of March 2003 at Abuja (Nigeria) or Bamako (Mali).

JF.G.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Elements of NEPAD's Agricultural Development Strategy

The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), a commitment by Africa's political leaders to eradicate poverty and reposition Africa on the road to sustainable growth and development, has generated tremendous enthusiasm and excitement world-wide as a harbinger of economic prosperity for the African continent. Born from a merger of the Millennium Partnership for the African Recovery Programme (MAP) and the Omega Plan, NEPAD is the brainchild of five African Presidents; Bouteflika of Algeria, Mbeki of South Africa, Mubarak of Egypt, Obasanjo of Nigeria and Wade of Senegal. It was established on October 23, 2001 with its secretariat hosted in Pretoria, South Africa.

NEPAD has many diverse pillars, regrouped into three distinct but overarching areas: a) conditions for sustainable development; b) sectoral priority interventions and c) mobilisation of resources. It considers the pre-requisites for achieving sustainable development to be the following: i) peace, security, democracy and political governance; ii) economic and corporate governance; and iii) regional & sub-regional approaches to development.

Agriculture features prominently among six sectoral interventions identified as highest priority to be addressed by NEPAD. This is at a time when agriculture is begging for renewed focus, against the backdrop of too little donor and multilateral development agency commitment and support to the sector. NEPAD has recognised agriculture as a key area of intervention because of its obvious links to food security and because it is the largest contributor to employment creation and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in most African states. The other sectoral priority areas are: infrastructure (especially information, communication technologies, energy, water and sanitation); human resources (including education, skills development, reversing the brain drain and health); science & technology, environment and culture.

Considering the magnitude of the NEPAD programme, enormous resources have to be mobilised for implementation. NEPAD proposes to access resources through i) financial structures & instruments (banks; debt relief, foreign direct investment and overseas development assistance) and ii). markets (exports, product diversification, reduction of developed country subsidies, tourism, manufacturing and mining).

What are NEPAD's prescriptions for African agriculture given its generally weak and unimpressive performance? NEPAD will focus on six major constraints hindering progress in African agriculture: namely, the problem faced by rural populations in accessing resources required for investment in agriculture; inadequate and inefficient agricultural systems; low purchasing power of rural people; climate uncertainty and lack of access to irrigation; weak institutional support (e.g., research and extension services). These challenges to agricultural development will be tackled through four priority interventions (projects or programmes) to be fast-tracked for implementation in the short term (i.e., phase one projects). These programmes when implemented will contribute to improving agricultural productivity while at the same time guaranteeing the sustainability of Africa's natural resources. Of particular interest to practitioners and stakeholders in agricultural research at the national, regional and global levels is the programme being proposed to strengthen and refocus the capacity of Africa's agricultural research and extension systems. This programme will address the issue of upgrading of the physical and institutional infrastructure that supports African agriculture, and investment in effective and sustainable agricultural technology generation, adoption and education systems. Alongside this programme, are the integrated land and water management plan for Africa, promoting the expansion of rice and cotton production and resource mobilisation. A governance structure comprising a Council of Ministers of Agriculture at the highest level of decision-making is being recommended.

S.B-O.

Sub-Saharan Africa

South African National Agricultural Research Forum becomes a reality

The long-awaited National Agricultural Research Forum (NARF) was launched on the 22 – 23 May 2002 when the 'terms of reference' were adopted and a steering committee appointed. The formal establishment of the Forum will take place later in the year when Minister for Agriculture and Land Affairs, Ms Thoko Didiza approves the work plan.

The Secretariat of the Forum lies with the Department of Agriculture in the person of Mr R J Sebola, Senior Manager: Scientific Research and Development. Members of the Steering Committee were chosen from organizations doing research, government and organized agriculture.

One of the directives in the Agricultural Sector Plan is ensuring that agricultural research efforts of the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), the University Faculties of Agriculture, the Provincial Departments of Agriculture (PDA)'s and other agricultural research institutions are coordinated and focused on strategic priorities aimed at sustained competitiveness. The Forum is part of reaching this goal.

A long series of consultative sessions and extensive consultation among major stakeholders led to a consensus agreement to establish a National Agricultural Research Forum.

The primary aim of the Forum will be the facilitation of an integrated approach to agricultural research and technology development. The Forum will also act as advisory body on research and development to the Minister for Agriculture and Land Affairs, and make proposals to government on matters relating to research and technology transfer.

In her keynote address Ms Njabulo Nduli, Deputy Director-General: Agricultural Production and Resources Management, said that calls were being made to increase funding for research. Dr Owen Masemela of the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, said that government spending on research and technology lags far behind their counterparts in the southern hemisphere: 0,69 % of GNP compared to 1,49 % in Australia and 2,47 % in Korea. South Africa also has only 7 researchers for every 10 000 members of the labour force, compared to 27 in Korea and 48 in Australia.

According to Ms Nduli, the Forum would ensure better collaboration between different parties. Duplication can be avoided and assets better utilised. It would also make research more demand-driven and competitive. Mr Jack Raath, CEO of Agri SA, said that agriculture in South Africa is a success story, and that research and development made a huge contribution to that success.

Information provided by Ms Njabulo Nduli
Deputy Director-General, Agricultural Production and Resources Management, Department of Agriculture, South Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa

The First FARA General Assembly
21-22 March, Maputo, Mozambique

The transformation process from the Special Programme on African Agricultural Research (SPAAR) under the World Bank to an African-owned, Africa-based and African-led Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) came to an end with the holding of the 1^st General Assembly meeting of FARA in Maputo, Mozambique, March 21 – 22, 2002. A hundred participants representing a cross section of actors and stakeholders in African agricultural research attended the meeting. The FARA General Assembly was officially opened by the Mozambican Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and featured addresses from the Mayor of Maputo, the Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, representatives of SADC, the World Bank and the Chairmen of FARA.

The following significant decisions and recommendations arrived at constitute the major highlights of the FARA General Assembly:

i) Ratification of the FARA Constitution;

ii) Adoption of the FARA/FAO agreement for hosting the FARA Secretariat within the FAO sub-regional office in Accra, Ghana;

iii) FARA's new governing body elected by acclamation with members consisting of:

• Chair - Joseph Mukiibi
• Representatives of sub-regional organisations - Romano Kiome (ASARECA), Adama Traore (CORAF/WECARD) & Keoagile Molapong (SACCAR)
• Private Sector representative - Gisele d'Almeida
• Farmer's Organisation representative - Ann A. Wambaa
• NGOs & Foundations representative - Florence Wambugu
• International Scientific Partners representative - Kanayo Nwanze
• Development Partners representative - World Bank
• Ex-officio member - Monty Jones (Executive Secretary of FARA)

iv)Review and endorsement of FARA's programme proposal for NEPAD;

v) FARA to establish linkages and engage agro-industry and trading sector on the continent, UN Conventions on the environment (climate change, biodiversity and desertification), emerging initiatives on African agricultural development and political and financial bodies (advocate for increased public funding for agricultural research);

vi) Endorsement of need for national and regional level action-oriented programmes in HIV/AIDS awareness and appropriate technologies to cope with HIV/AIDS;

vii) Establishment of a working group to develop guidelines on regional competitive funds. Following the World Bank's concept note on Sustainable Financing and the presentation made by the DG Research of the European Commission, EC invited all three Sub-Regional Fora to a meeting in Brussels in order to design and harmonize the management system of competitive grant for the SRF, based on their own strategy and priorities;

vii) Endorsement of the formulation of FARA's strategic plan;

viii) Need for advocacy to stimulate recognition and legitimise FARA as the technical advisory body for agricultural research in Africa.

The FARA General Assembly was preceded by African Agricultural Research Week (March 17 – 20), during which seminars on NEPAD, Sustainable financing and HIV/AIDS were held and participants afforded the opportunity to visit the Chokwe District in Mozambique's Gaza Province, an area badly affected by flooding the past two years.

S.B-O.

West Asia & Africa

AARINENA 8^th General Conference
26-28 May 2002, Amman, Jordan

The 8^th General Conference of the Association of Agricultural Research Institutes in the Near East and North Africa (AARINENA) was held 26-28 May 2002 in Amman, Jordan.

Dr. Abed Al-Nabi Fardous, Director General of Jordan's National Centre for Agricultural Research & Technology Transfer (NCARRT), was elected President with Dr. Mohammad Roozitalab of the Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO) in Iran, as Vice-President.

During this regional conference, it was decided that the seat of AARINENA will be moved to Amman, Jordan with NCARRT hosting the Secretariat, and Mr. Ra'ed Badwan will be its Executive Secretary.

AARINENA, in collaboration will the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), will establish two networks: the first a Network on Olive (oil and crop) and second one on herbal and medicinal plants. In order to promote collaboration and synergy, the AARINENA Date Palm Network and the Global Network on Date Palm established by the United Arab Emirates University will be merged.

Other upcoming activities include a workshop on regional and national agricultural information system sin November/December 2002 in collaboration with GFAR, FAO and ICARDA.

O.O.

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:gfar-secretariat@fao.org