AARINENA
IN ACTION
Minutes
of the Executive Committee Meeting In
Tehran on 19-20th December 2001
The
AARINENA Executive Committee meeting took place at the Guest House of the Prime
Minister of Iran, Tehran on 19-20th December 2001. Upon their
invitation, the meeting was attendant by: Dr. Mohamed El Tamzini (FAO), as Trust
Fund Operating Officer for AARINENA and Dr. Mahmoud Solh, ICARDA.
AARINENA
President, Dr. Mustafa Yaghi chaired the meeting with an opening word, welcoming
the members, expressing his joy for holding the meeting in the Iranian capital,
which has made drastic changes in lots of believes, since the dawn of the
Khumeini’s Islamic revolution. He made an introduction of the main activities
in progress by AARINENA, mainly Durban meeting, Research Priorities, Cooperation
with EFARD, Post-harvest Symposium, IFAD meeting, GFAR meeting, Date Palm and
Information Networks. He stated that each Subject is going to be presented in
details by one of the attendants.
The
agenda of the meeting was adopted without any changes.
1-
Dr. Mahmoud Solh presented the Agricultural Research Priority settings (ARPS)
in the WANA Region.
-
He briefed the participants
on the main features and chronology of the ARPS process launched in April 2001
in the CWANA region in collaboration with the two sub-regional organizations
(CAC NARS Forum and AARINENA) and regional and international consultative group
CG and non-CG-centers active in the region.
-
He pointed out that the
overall goal of this process is to enhance the effectiveness of the CGIAR System
in working with the NARSs to tackle the priority sub-regional and regional
agricultural problems in CWANA region. Relying on a bottom-up approach and broader participation of various stakeholders such as farmer’s
organizations, universities, NGOs, private sector, investors, etc., in addition
to the national agricultural research institutes, the
specific objectives of this process consist in: a)
re-visiting sub-regional and regional
research priorities considering developments at national, regional and global
levels; b) identifying the CGIAR niche within the identified regional
priorities; c) defining a coherent CGIAR strategy in CWANA; d) developing an
action plan to implement such a strategy; e) harmonizing and integrating CGIAR
activities within CWANA research priorities; f) identifying operational
modalities for the integration of CGIAR activities and cooperation with AARINENA
and the CAC NARS Forum.
-
The outputs expected to emerge from such process would
consist in the following: i) a coherent strategic action plan for CGIAR in
CWANA; ii) operational modalities for integration of CGIAR activities and
cooperation with AARINENA and CAC NARS Forum; iii) identification of the steps
needed to move from the strategic action plan to implementation, with the
understanding that implementation will be initiated only after endorsement of
the “integration process” by concerned CGIAR bodies and general assemblies
of AARINENA and CAC NARS Forum.
-
Dr. Solh then outlined the main elements of the process,
which are: a) inventory study of CGIAR activities in CWANA. This inventory includes
activities of 12 CG centers (CIAT, CIMMYT, CIP, ICARDA, ICLRAM, ICRISAT, IFPRI,
ILRI, IPGRI, ISNAR and IWMI); b) a questionnaire combining questions on research
priorities Setting, regional cooperation, and cooperation with CG-Centers and
mechanism to enhance integration of the CGIAR activities within the identified
research priorities; c) sub-regional brainstorming meetings to be held in each
of the five sub-region of the CWANA region;
and
d)
a final
regional meeting (CWANA) to be held 8-9 May, 2002, at ICARDA, Aleppo (Syria),
and which would build on findings and recommendations from the sub-regional
brainstorming meeting and on results of the questionnaire. The minutes would be
prepared and the priorities drafted within couple weeks, to be approved during
the AARINENA 8th General Conference.
-
During the discussion on this subject, and in order to fulfill a
comprehensive questionnaire, the committee agreed that ICARDA would select a
focal point among experts nominated by every AARINENA country member. The
Executive Committee members showed their willingness to represent their
countries. This key person would help completing the questionnaire and
submitting it before the end of January. AARINENA would share with ICARDA the
expenses (around 300 to 500 US$ depending on the number of NARS in each country)
for assigning these focal points.
2-
Dr. Roozitalab presented a summary of Main Conclusions and
Recommendations, GFAR-SC and NARS-SC Meetings held in Washington D.C. on 27-28th
October 2001.
-
He pointed that the two modes of operation of Global Collaboration in
Agricultural Research are a) Global Partnership Programs (GPP), GFAR approved in
Dresden meeting May 2000 and b) The Challenge Program (CP), CGIAR described in
Durban meeting May 2001. These modes play different but highly complementary
role in the global scientific community of ARD.
-
The proposals for GPPs discussed in GFAR/IFAD meeting, Rome 9-10th
Oct. 2001 were listed.
-
Other areas in GFAR Business Plan and Program of Work/ 2001-2003 were
highlighted. These need more attention such as Advocacy for ARD and Key
strategic topics of agricultural research.
-
Dr. Roozitalab drew the attendants’ attention to strengthening and
improving the representation function in the stakeholder constituencies of ARD.
He pointed that it was agreed to hold the GFAR Conference in Sub-Sahara Africa
in conjunction with the FARA General Conference in 2003. The
tentative themes for this meeting include: (a) " Linking research to rural
innovation, and development" and (b) "from regional priorities to
global action".
-
The important decisions of the General meeting of CGIAR were a)
Establishment of Science Council for CGIAR (TAC Transformation); b)
Establishment of CGIAR System Office; c) Establishment of Executive Council for
CGIAR with non-rotating and rotating members which include one representative
from CWANA Region; and d) Formulation and Implementation of challenge programs
(CP) based on regional priorities and bottom-up approach.
-
Dr. Roozitalab listed and explained about the ten proposals for CPs in
the fast tracking process, pointing that only 3 would be selected and
implemented through seeking the contributions and recommendations of the
regional fora. According to his opinion the 3 proposals, which have better
chances for final selection, are "Water
and Agriculture", "Agriculture and Desertification" and
"Climate Change". The
contribution of AARINENA would be to comment and make suggestions about the
proposals with regard to the priorities of the CWANA.
-
Dr. Solh commented that if the proposal on Water and Agriculture was
selected, then it should be focused on countries of dry areas.
-
It was also agreed, after discussion, to contact Arab Fund and IFAD to
financially support the implementation of the selected proposals in the CWANA.
3-
Dr. Christo Hilan presented the Cooperation with EFARD listing all the 13
priority project proposals that were submitted to Dr. Fernando Chaparro to be
sent to EFARD. A copy of these proposal summaries was distributed to the
attendants.
-
It was strongly stressed that AARINENA cannot survive with only
contribution fees from member countries. AARINENA needs financial support and
effective collaboration and cooperation with international organizations and
regional fora in order to implement proposals of high interest and importance to
the region and the world. It is through the implementation of such projects that
AARINENA would verify the necessity of its establishment and show its effective
involvement and collaboration in research activities.
-
Finally, it was agreed to send an official letter to the President of
GFAR, copied to GFAR-Secretary, Dr. Chaparro, expressing the serious concern of
the AARINENA Executive Committee members regarding the services provided by GFAR
to the Association.
4-
Dr. Christo Hilan presented the activities concerning organizing the
post-harvest workshop and changing its scheduled date and venue due to the
critical international current situation.
-
After several discussions, final decision was taken in order to finalize
the contracts for the consultants and coordinator and all logistic arrangements
for holding the workshop.
-
It was agreed to hold the workshop on 4-6 February in Cairo. An official
letter is going to be sent to Dr. Fawzi Naim Mahrous to get the approval from
the Minister of Agriculture on organizing the workshop in Cairo.
-
Dr. El Tamzini, FAO/RNE along with Dr. Mahrous are going to send official
invitations to all participants, according to the list provided by the regional
coordinator, Dr. El Hadi, to facilitate their entry visa to Egypt.
-
Dr. El Hadi is supposed to urgently contact all speakers informing them of
the new agreed date and venue of the workshop for arranging their reports.
-
Dr. Hesham Allam, the sub-regional consultant is requested to help in
finalizing the local logistic arrangements.
5-
Subjects concerning the RAIS Secretariat were presented by Dr. Christo
Hilan:
-
A proposal for the establishment of a Regional Agricultural Information
System (RAIS) in West Asia and North Africa (WANA) was prepared by FAO/GFAR and
agreed on by AARINENA. On the other hand, some initial work has been completed
by AARINENA members to develop the basis of a new website for the association,
which should be launched soon.
-
The opinion of the members of AARINENA was sought, through contacting
them, to establish whether any member wishes to take on the duties of RAIS
Secretariat. An official positive
response was received from Iran.
-
The request of Iran was accepted and it was agreed to inform Dr.
Ghareyazie, the deputy Minister and Dr. Chaparro, GFAR Secretariat of the
approval of AARINENA’s Executive Committee on Iran hosting RAIS Secretariat.
-
During discussions, it was
highly stressed that since the proposal has been formulated and finalized, no follow-up has been
done by GFAR regarding finding financial support for project implementation or
further steps towards establishing AARINENA’s own website.
6-
The Executive Secretary presented subjects concerning Date Palm and Olive
Networks.
-
He pointed out that no activities have been established since the last
meeting in Kuwait especially appointing a consultant to visit all concerned
countries and take their inputs in order to finalize the proposal.
-
It was agreed to separate the date palm network from the olive network.
-
It was agreed that AARINENA would assign and support a consultant for each
network. The Executive Committee members are going to send nominations and CVs
for these assignments according to TOR (Term of References) prepared by Dr.
Roozitalab. The TOR are going to be commented by the Executive Committee members
within 15 days. Dr. Yaghi will make a first selection (mainly 3 names) among the
list provided but the final decision is going to be taken by the Executive
Committee members by mail.
7-
The Executive Secretary presented the progress report of other AARINENA
issues since the last Executive Committee meeting such as: Priority Settings in
CWANA Region, The Seat of AARINENA Secretariat, The Contribution Fees, The Sixth
Executive Committee meeting of APAARI, and other related issues.
7.1-
Priority Settings in cWANA Region
-
The first Brainstorming meeting was held in Cairo/Egypt on 26-27
September 2001 and Dr. Christo Hilan represented AARINENA.
-
Dr. Yaghi, Dr. Roozitalab and Dr. Christo Hilan represented AARINENA
during the next Brainstorming meeting that was held in Aleppo/ICARDA on 18-19
November 2001.
-
The President was invited along with Prof. Anthony Scicluna-Spiteri by
ICARDA to attend the third brainstorming meeting to be held on 8-9 January 2002
in Hammamet (Tunisia).
-
Dr. Roozitalab, and Dr. Christo Hilan will represent AARINENA in the
forth Brainstorming meeting to be held in Kuwait on 24 January 2002.
-
All Executive Committee members would be invited to attend the last
meeting for priority setting to be held on 8-9 May at ICARDA, Aleppo.
7.2- The Seat of AARINENA Secretariat
-
Dr. Christo Hilan listed the positive responses received from AARINENA
country members (Cyprus and Jordan) to host the Secretariat seat. The
response from Cyprus was conditioned regarding the financial support provided by
AARINENA, but the one from Jordan accepted to host the secretariat for 2 years
instead of 5 years mentioned in the Terms of Reference.
- During discussions, Dr. Solh proposed to contact the Ministry of Agriculture in Jordan to clarify that the Secretariat should be hosted for 5 years irrespective of the President mandate and according to the Terms of Reference for AARINENA Secretariat that it should be seconded by a NARS with a full time secretary.
7.3-Contribution Fees
-
Dr. Hilan listed the non-paid and paid countries according
to his inputs and some information provided by Dr. El Tamzini.
-
Dr. Hilan stated
that efforts to contact Algeria and Pakistan by fax or e-mail failed, as they
have no available information. He has no responses from Tunisia after several
contacts.
-
It was decided
to ask for the contribution fees starting the beginning of the year.
-
Since Palestine
and Iraq are facing difficult situation, it has been decided to postpone asking
for their contribution fees.
-
It has been
highly agreed on that every Executive Committee member should help the Executive
Secretary by following up the payment of the contribution fees of the member
countries in their region.
7.4-
The Sixth Executive Committee Meeting of
APAARI and Expert Consultation on ARD Priority Setting
-
The Secretary stated that he received a letter from APAARI Secretary
asking for a copy of AARINENA’s report on Priority Settings in order to
benefit from the document for revising the research priorities for South-Asia
Region.
-
It has been decided that a copy of Dr. Solh’s presentation on
“Development of Agricultural Research Priorities in Central Asia and WANA
Region” should be sent to the secretary of APAARI. Dr. Solh is willing to
supply further information upon request.
7.5-
Other Issues
-
No comments have been raised while listing the activities on
"Technical Workshop in Methodologies, Organization and Management of
Programmes of a Global Nature on 9-10 Oct 01, IFAD", Collaboration with
AOAD on a workshop, INASP Directory, and AARINENA Newsletter.
8-
Dr. Mohamed El Tamzini presented and distributed his report on financial
statement and contribution fees.
-
He stated that the AARINENA Fund Balance till 26 November 2001 is
167,720.76 US$.
-
He requested AARINENA to pay an incentive for his secretary for handling
AARINENA issues related to FAO.
-
It was stated that Dr. Bukhari has promised to help and support logistics
for AARINENA. After discussion, it was agreed that the President would re-
contact Dr. Bukhari asking for his help and support especially regarding the
incentive mentioned above.
9-
AARINENA Next General Assembly
-
The issue was discussed and it was agreed to hold the 8th
General Conference in Jordan during the last week of May, precisely 26-28 May
2002.
-
The date should be finalized with Dr. Fardous (Jordan) and Dr. Chaparro,
GFAR Secretary.
-
The General Assembly would be followed by a workshop for 2 days organized
by Dr. Maddur from FAO.
-
The Agenda of the assembly should include general progress report on
AARINENA activities to be approved, finalization of AARINENA Secretariat, and
the Presidency. It was highlighted that for the benefit of AARINENA, the
President could be elected from any member country in conformity with the
constitution and irrespectively of the hosting country. The nominee for the
presidency should read his CV before the elections.
-
Prof. Anthony
Scicluna-Spiteri proposed that
in the presentation of the constitutional amendments at the next General
Meeting, we should not include the proposal made by Dr Fadda to add French as
the third official language of AARRINENA as this will add to our expenses.
All members agreed on it.
10-
Finally, the President thanked the Executive Committee members, Dr. Solh
and Dr. El Tamzini for their contribution and support. He apologized for his
shortcomings in attending some of the meetings due to his heavy schedule. He
stressed that in each time, he asked to be presented by one the Executive
Committee members because he is sure that the success of the job is more
accountable than the work of the person. The President and the Executive
Committee members expressed to Dr. Roozitlalb their special thanks for his
hospitality and the perfect organization of the meeting.
Special thanks were addressed to Dr. ElHadi for his valuable efforts
regarding the post-harvest symposium.
The Regional Workshop on the Global Initiative toward strengthening the
Post Harvest Sector (GIPHT) for the CWANA Region was held in Cairo on 4-6
February 2002. The workshop was conducted by FAO and coordinated by AARINENA
The Agro-Industries and Post-Harvest Management Service of FAO (FAO/AGSI)
with the endorsement of Ph-Action, has launched an international initiative
geared toward facilitating development within the post-harvest sector in the
developing countries. This
initiative will be implemented in two phases:
·
Phase
1. Developing a global perspective of the post-harvest sector, through the
planning and implementation of five coordinated technical regional workshops.
The current workshop on the WANA region was the third to take place.
·
Phase
2. Conducting a five-day International Consultation on Post-Harvest, with
the objective of launching a Global Initiative on Post-Harvest (GIPhT).
FAO/AGSI is fully funding the implementation of phase 1 activities, which
is executed in collaboration with the Global Forum for Agricultural Research
(GFAR). Funds are currently being
solicited to implement Phase 2 Activities.
In Phase 1, each of the five regional workshops will appraise the current
status of the post-harvest sector from both institutional and stakeholder
perspectives. The identification of
priorities, potentials and constraints of the sector are critical, and will
provide a basis for initiating the development of an action plan geared toward
facilitating these countries to keep abreast of the changing requirements of the
sector, while fulfilling their fundamental objectives of maintaining a safe,
secure, and stable food supply. It is within this context, that FAO/AGSI, in collaboration
with GFAR, embarked upon the planning and implementation of the five Technical
Regional Workshops.
The objectives of
the workshops are:
·
Identify and analyze the
problems, potentials and constrains of the post-harvest sector in each region.
·
Assess the technical,
organizational, institutional and information needs of the post-harvest sector
in each region.
·
Identify major areas for
improvement and development.
·
Prepare a Regional Strategy
for post-harvest.
·
Identify concrete follow-up
actions to be undertaken for implementation of this strategy.
Information derived from the five Workshops will be used as a basis for
the development of a GIPhT and a plan
of action for its implementation. The
development of Concrete Action Proposals by these Workshops is therefore
critical.
·
Food production in general
is very low in the region, although varies from one country to another.
Approximately 35 million metric tons of cereals are produced annually in
the region while approximately 55 million metric tons are consumed.
Similarly, approximately 52 million metric tons of fruits and vegetables
are produced annually, while almost 80 million metric tons are consumed.
·
The region is “food
deficit” and is the largest “net food importer” among developing
countries.
·
About 60 % of the population
in the region live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their
livelihood, and thus the decreasing agricultural production has a negative
impact on food security, as well as on efforts toward poverty alleviation.
·
The region is a vast arid
area with extremely poor water resources.
·
Food consumption in general,
including the consumption of fruits and vegetables, is increasing especially due
to increased population growth and urbanization, but it is still generally low
compared to that in other regions.
·
Post-harvest food losses in
the region are very high, and estimated to exceed 30 %.
Post-harvest food losses are even higher in government and
quasi-government companies and fields due to poor management, lack of technical
experience, lack of/or poor planning, lack of motivation, inadequate
maintenance, etc.
·
The post-harvest sector in
the region is deficient in infrastructure and facilities, in trained personnel,
in appropriate technologies and in investment.
·
There is excellent potential
for export, especially to the European and Gulf markets.
However, Improvement of the export sector will require major improvements
in the production systems and in the post-harvest sector.
·
The region is rich in
indigenous plant genetic resources, but most of its diversity is threatened by
erosion, and many other environmental problems.
·
There is a strong need for
the enhancement of agricultural and rural development in the region through
fostering agricultural research and technology development, and by strengthening
collaboration within and outside the region.
·
There is a clear gender
inequality, and particular interest should be directed toward the development of
women, especially in rural areas.
·
The study and the workshop
on the WANA region were organized through collaborative efforts between The
Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in the Near East and North
Africa (AARINENA), FAO/AGSI (Rome), GFAR (Rome), and FAO-RNE (Cairo).
·
A total of 59 stakeholders
from the different sectors related to food production and handling in the region
(from 18 of the 19 countries to be studied) were contacted and invited.
The stakeholders invited included 2 from Algeria, 3 from Libya, one from
Malta, 2 from Morocco, 7 from Tunisia, 12 from Egypt, 2 from Sudan, 2 from
Yemen, 3 from Palestine, 2 from Jordan, 2 from Syria, 4 from Lebanon, 3 from
Cyprus, 4 from Iran, 2 from Kuwait, one from Qatar, 3 from UAE and 4 from
Pakistan.
·
Finally, 17 stakeholders
accepted to participate and to prepare a report on the subject assigned to them
according to their field of experience. According
to this, a new “aide memoire” and a new workshop program were prepared again
and sent to all participants on 10 January 2002.
·
The Agricultural Research
Center (ARC) in Egypt served as the host for the workshop.
Dr. Fawzi Naiem Mahrous (President), Dr. Magdy Madkour (Vice President),
Dr. Hesham Allam (post-harvest expert), and several of the employees of the ARC
made excellent efforts toward the success of the workshop in Cairo.
· It is important to note that this was the first formal gathering of post-harvest experts from the WANA region, and indeed a very positive step toward the development of the post-harvest sector in the region. Participants were all hopeful for the development of further collaboration as an outcome of this study and workshop.