Association of Agricultural Research Institutions

Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in the Near East and North Africa

A Bi-annual Publication of the Association of Agricultural Research Institutions

AARINENA 9th General Conference was held last April in Muscat-Oman at the kind invitation of the Government of the Sultanate of Oman, the conference elected new executive committee representing the five sub regions, and adopted the work plan for the next two years. The newly elected committee was pleased with the progress achieved during the past two years and appreciated the efforts of the secretariat in increasing AARINENA membership to 32 member institutions, regional and international organizations. The committee welcomed IFPRI and IPGRI as new cosponsors of the Association and appreciated the continued support of FAO, ICARDA and GFAR to AARINENA activities in order to achieve its goals. AARINENA Executive Committee will hold its next meeting at INRA in Rabat, Morocco from 21 to 23 December, 2004.The Committee will review and assess the progress on the work plan. It will also screen and assess offers received to host the permanent seat of AARINENA. The committee will also review research proposals of the olive network working groups to be submitted for funding.

AARINENA Secretariat would like to congratulate the newly elected executive committee members, and to thank those members along with the new cosponsors who responded positively to our call to join the Association. We would like to reemphasize that the main goal of AARINENA will not be realized without the members valuable contribution and interaction, particularly, information exchange of the current research activities. Such interaction will strengthen the role of AARINENA in promoting exchange of ideas and experiences and promote partnerships among the Association stakeholders.

I welcome the opportunity to address the readers of the AARINENA Newsletter. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has over the past three decades continuously been engaged in research cooperation in the Near East and North Africa, and does also so at this point in time. The themes covered range from food and nutrition security, to trade policy, to natural resource management, to water policy issues, and agriculture productivity and technology policy. IFPRI sets the research agenda demand oriented with its partners in the region. IFPRI’s recent specific work in the region includes research on property rights and collective action in natural resource management; responding to the threat of water scarcity and projections for water use to 2025; and the effects of global and regional agricultural trade. The Near East and North Africa region is making significant strides in improving agricultural productivity and reducing malnutrition. According to projections by IFPRI, child malnutrition in this region will drop by one third from 1997 to 2020, if current trends continue. With concentrated effort, however, progress could be much more dramatic. Under an optimistic scenario in which policymakers address the challenges of food and nutrition security aggressively, IFPRI projects that the number of malnourished children in the region could fall from 6 million to 1 million.

The region also presents particular challenges, especially the increasing scarcity of water for agricultural production – most likely the biggest constraint to future gains in productivity. International collaboration in agricultural research is key to resolving many of the issues facing agriculture in the region, not just water scarcity.

New technologies that increase food production sustainable, assist farmers, and enhance rural development can make huge contributions to food and nutrition security in the region. In this regard, the national agricultural research services will need to play a vital role in creating and disseminating the fruits of scientific research to farmers.

Further challenges are the appropriate role of government and public organizations and the scope for public-private partnership for enhancing competitiveness of agriculture in the region. Trade and market development within the region offer opportunities, which need to be further explored by sound analyses.

Building on the former International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR), IFPRI opened the new ISNAR division office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in April of 2004. IFPRI and especially the ISNAR division will look for opportunities to work with AARINENA and other organizations to strengthen the capacity of institutions to deliver results. The program will focus on three areas:

1) Agricultural Science and Technology Policy: examining the factors that inhibit or enhance the performance of agricultural science and technology and suggesting policies that can foster improved effectiveness.

2) Institutional Change and Agricultural Knowledge Systems: increasing institutional knowledge and developing the capacity to stimulate agricultural innovation.

3) Organization and Management for Agricultural Research: strengthening the management processes in public agricultural research organizations – especially to enable innovations to benefit the poor – and improving human resources management.

I am particularly pleased that IFPRI has become a new cosponsor of AARINENA. The organization has and will continue to make a real difference in the lives of farmers and consumers in the region. We look forward to working with AARINENA in the future.

Dr. Joachim von Braun

Director General, IFPRI

The Participants in AARINENA Executive Committee meeting, NCARTT –Jordan

AARINENA Executive committee held its meeting in Amman, Jordan at the National Centre for Agricultural Research and Technology Transfer (NCARTT) during January 4 -5, 2004. The meeting was chaired by Dr. A. Fardous President of AARINENA and attended by all members and representatives of the cosponsors FAO/RNE, ICARDA, ISNAR and by GFAR Executive Secretary. The members discussed and adopted the following:

1.Requested the secretariat to invite the cotton producing countries in the Near East and North Africa to join Inter-Regional Cotton Network.

2. Defined the important role of the cosponsors of AARINENA to provide a neutral platform and to discuss issues to strengthen partnership among various ARD stakeholders. .

4.Adopted the recommendations of GFAR meeting in Nairobi, which include: the endorsement of GFAR business plan development; strong expression of interest and commitment to GFAR by the donors; genuine acknowledgement of the role of GFAR in ARD; solid commitment to strengthen RF and enhance their inputs into GFAR activities and the firm resolve to promote interregional cooperation.

1.Regional Agricultural Information System (RAIS) activities to enhance the web site and the news letter and implement two priority projects;

2. Establishment of regional networks for Olive and Medicinal and Herbal Plants;

At the end of the meeting Dr. Ekibil Interim Director General of ISNAR made a presentation about his role to assist the board in reviewing the situation in ISNAR. He concluded that ISNAR as a centre will no longer exist beyond March 2004 and the program under IFPRI will focus its activity on sub-Saharan Africa. Based on this it was recommended that AARINENA Secretariat to send a letter to IFPRI Director General to invite him to AARINENA 9^th General conference and ask him to be one of the cosponsors of AARINENA.

The 9^th General Conference of AARINENA was held at the Sultanate of Oman from 11 to 13 April, 2004. It was inaugurated by H.E. the Special Advisor to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Sayed. The conference was cosponsored by AARINENA, ICARDA and FAO and attended by representatives from 15 member countries and 12 regional and international organizations.

The 9^th General Conference elected the following officers representing the five sub regions to serve in the executive committee for the next 2 years as follows:

The Programme of work 2004-2005 was adopted by the conference and empowered the new elected executive committee to implement the work plan.

The conference appreciated the efforts made by the ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in Oman represented by Dr. Ahmed Al-Bakri and his staff for making the meeting a success. The conference thanked the cosponsors ICARDA and FAO and GFAR and thanked the NARC leaders along with regional and international representatives for their active participation in the conference. Special thanks to Dr. R. Paroda Executive Secretary of APAARI, Dr. Monty Jones Executive Secretary of FARA and Jean – Francois Giovannetti representative of FARA For their participation

The conference responded positively to the invitation of Dr. Isamail Muharram to host AARINENA 10th General Conference at Sana'a in Yemen in April 2006.

The new elected executive committee met after the conference and took the following decisions:

FAO Regional Office in the Near East (RNE) in collaboration with AARINENA held its second post harvest training of trainer’s course in Amman, Jordan 6-8 April, 2004. About 30 trainees from 10 countries (Jordan, Islamic Republic of IRAN, Lebanon, Libya, Oman, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen) participated in the Training course.

The meeting was inaugurated by Dr. Abdel Nabi Fardous, the Director General of NCARTT, and the President of AARINENA on behalf of H.E. Dr. Hazem ElNaser Minister of Water, Irrigation and Agriculture. Dr. Ahmed ElMainiawi FAOR in Jordan and Dr. M. ElTamzini, regional FAO Agro-Industries & Technology Officer addressed the meeting. The training was held at the premises of the Jordanian National Centre for Agricultural Research and Technology Transfer (NCARTT). During the coarse each trainee was requested to submit his country post harvest profile. Supporting documents and some important publications were handed out. A CD containing all the presentations and important topics were made available to all trainees. A field visit was made to centres and laboratories dealing with food quality control. The trainees will be assigned, in due time, an assignment pertaining to the next training themes to prepare and present in the 3rd training course as part of the training. The 3rd Post harvest Training of trainers is expected to be held in Turkey or Cyprus late 2004 or early 2005.

GFAR Chair Dr. Mohammad Roozitalab welcomed the participants to the second Regional Fora Executive Secretaries meeting held on 17-18 May in Rome. The meeting served as a venue to share and discuss updates related to on-going and future GFAR activities, including implications for inter-regional collaboration. They were also apprised on the on-going GFAR Charter Review where their inputs were also solicited. An invitation to all stakeholders to participate in a competitive funding initiative - the DURAS competitive grant scheme. The DURAS Project is a three-year project supported by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The competitive grant is open to all stakeholders especially from Africa, Near East and some parts of Asia.

The Executive Secretary of AARINENA Dr. Ibrahim Hamdan attended the meeting and presented extracts of the AARINENA draft Plan of Work that could be of some considerable interest for Inter Regional Collaboration. First of all he highlighted aspects regarding the building of an information system in the region through a website, a regular newsletter, a database and the implementation of RAIS priority projects. Secondly he pointed out some networks that are growing or waiting to be further developed, such as the Olive network, the Cotton Network, the Medicinal and Herbal Plants Network and the Biotechnology Network. Together with these initiatives he highlighted some important meetings that will take place in the region.

The Executive Secretary of AARINENA Dr. Ibrahim Hamdan, attended the 36^thWorld Farmers Congress held in Washington D.C during the period from May 29, to June 4, 2004 and presented paper on “Strengthening Farmers’ Linkages & Regional Cooperation in the Southern-Mediterranean basin” on behalf of Eng. Mohamed Elkhouly an olive grower and the Egyptian Focal Point of AARINENA Regional Olive Network. The presentation highlighted the situation of the farmers in the south Mediterranean region and emphasized on the weak linkages between farmers, extension personnel, research institutions, education, and marketing bodies. This weak linkage is causing the obvious failure of effective flow and exchange of information, new technologies, problems and market exposures, assessment of constrains and activating practical solutions. In his opinion a considerable efforts should be engaged in developing the regional agriculture sector to bridge the gap in food production, provide employment opportunities and increase income.

The paper proposed main conceptual measures of the development plan for the agricultural sector of the southern Mediterranean region, these measures include:

a) Enhance the competitiveness capability of the regional agricultural products through realistic exposure and diagnosis of farmers’ problems to resolve them and through the implementation of advanced farming technologies to lower production costs, increase yields and improve the quality to meet the health and food standard specifications of industrialized countries who can very well afford to pay good prices if these requirements are met;

b) Capitalize on the environmental potentials through the selection of highly adaptable crops and varieties especially in horticulture; and

c) Strengthening national farmers’ linkages and enhancing regional cooperation as effective tools in agriculture development. The problems and bottlenecks that causing farmer's weak linkage summarized as follows:

1) On the farmers' side: mistrust in extension workers and the message they carry; mistrust in cooperatives; illiteracy; tendency towards individualism; inherited poverty from decades of centralized economy; small holdings and relative absence of collective farmers’ activities; low returns; farmers tend to take pride in the traditional methods they have inherited generation after generation; and growing low cash horticulture crops.

2) On the extension workers’ side: inadequate training; physical isolation; wages; weak extension vision; confusion of fresh graduates extension workers; and “Jack of All Trades” approach.

3) On the researchers’ Side: Irrelevant motivation; weak tendency for cooperation with other stakeholders; and ineffective interaction and discarding farmers & extension workers inputs from the research agenda.

4) On the system operability side: functioning of the system; farmers involvement within the system; extension involvement within the system; research involvement within the system; and education.

AARINENA Executive secretary participated in the first Consultative Meeting of the IFPRI-ISNAR Program Advisory Committee (PAC) which was held on July 7-9, The Chair opened the Consultative Meeting by outlining the broad objectives of the event: to listen to major stakeholders of the ISNAR program; to build a strong caucus around the program; and to decisively map a way forward for the program.

The Chair proceeded by presenting the CGIAR’s strategy for ISNAR as set forth in the report of the ISNAR Restructuring Team (IRT, dated April 30, 2003), and the roles and responsibilities of various bodies and individuals. He said that the PAC has been constituted for a period of three years to provide programmatic direction for ISNAR. The PAC’s primary function is to advise the IFPRI Board of Trustees on the ISNAR program. Management and implementation of the ISNAR program has been charged to the Director General of IFPRI.

The Chair stated that the ISNAR program needed support and protection during this three-year phase to continue and expand the focus of ISNAR’s original mandate. He reiterated that the original role and function of ISNAR remains important to agricultural development, even though ISNAR may no longer exist as a separate entity. Further, he felt that the three main themes of the new ISNAR program (Science Policy, Institutional Change, and Organization and Management) were particularly relevant to sustaining and strengthening ISNAR’s original role and function.

The Chair explained that the meetings in Addis Ababa were called to determine how the ISNAR program’s work would be conducted, and how the program will meet its primary functions. Specific topics for discussion should include

• How to conduct a research program that produces this knowledge in the form of international public goods; and

• How these international public goods will generate a felt impact on national agricultural research systems.

The Chair extended special thanks to Joachim von Braun, director general (DG) of IFPRI; Jim Ryan, interim director of the ISNAR-IPFRI program; Wilberforce Kisamba-Mugerwa, ISNAR division director-designate, for their leadership and participation.

The Director General of IFPRI thanked the stakeholders for their excellent advice and staff for sharing their interesting research and bearing with the short time allocated to their work. He also thanked the panelists for their contributions and interactions with PAC. He went on to share a conceptual challenge for the emerging ISNAR program, urging that research and capacity strengthening activities for agricultural research systems address the rapidly changing institutional and social needs of developing countries, and the growing demand for advanced human capacity.

1- IFPRI would develop a concept paper for discussion purposes that synthesizes the lessons learned from the ISNAR experience; details the justification, mechanisms and procedures for consultations; sets forth a concise strategy for the ISNAR program; and identifies flagship projects. Kisamba-Mugerwa was charged with preparation of the concept paper.

3- PAC meetings would include the presence of key staff or key program leaders from the staff, to be released when sensitive governance issues are discussed.

4-PAC meetings would, over time, includes a broader range of stakeholders for the purposes of consultation.

5-With regards to the Review of Draft ISNAR Division Logframes for the 2007-07 IFPRI Medium Term Plan It was agreed that the PAC would play a role in reviewing proposals for each of the global research programs (GRPs) proposed under the ISNAR Division’s three research themes, in conjunction with the standard IFPRI process for review of GRP proposal.

The AARINENA ICT Steering Committee was formed in February 2003. It includes representatives’ from the five sub regions in the Near East and North Africa Region, and representatives from FAO, ICARDA, GFAR, and AOAD. The first meeting of the committee was held last year in ICARDA, Aleppo, Syria. In order to plan for the RAIS implementation, three main recommendations were made by the committee namely: conduct a survey of the National Agricultural Information Systems available at the National level, conduct another

Survey on the human resources working in the ICT/M at the National level, and prepare a project proposal to be submitted to a donor to fund the first phase of the RAIS as defined in the minutes of the meeting. These recommendations have been achieved. The Second meeting of the AARINENA ICT Steering Committee will be held in Tehran, Iran, on 8th and 9th of September 2004. The agenda of the meeting includes: presentation of the current status of RAIS, reports by regional representatives, discussing the results of the human resources questionnaires, discussing the results of the information systems questionnaires, presentation of the project proposal for implementing Phase-1 of WANA/RAIS, and planning year 2005 activities.

AARINENA in collaboration with GFAR, FAO, and ICARDA and in cooperation with the European System of Cooperative Research Networks in Agriculture (ESCORENA) held an Expert Consultation Meeting on olive in Sfax-Tunisia during 16-18 February, 2004. Olive Experts from research institutions and private sector of AARINENA olive producing countries: Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and from the European side: Spain, France, Turkey, Italy, Portugal and Cyprus, attended the meeting which aimed to: a) review the current status of olive research in the participating countries;

c) Establish AARINENA olive Network for the Near East and the North Africa countries. The presented reports described the status of olive production and research in their countries and the constraints facing olive production.

AARINENA proposal for Olive Network establishment was presented by Dr. Ibrahim Hamdan the Executive Secretary of AARINENA and the following were adopted:

· Establishment of the olive tree network within AARINENA olive producing countries and selected the Olive Tree Institute at Sfax to host the secretariat and the Coordinator of the Network.

· Identification of the following countries to host the working technical groups of the Network:

· Reinforcement of cooperation between the North and the South of the Mediterranean countries.

· Reinforcement of cooperation between these two networks and the International Olive Oil Council (IOOC), the European Union, FAO, ICARDA and other Related International Centres.

· Encourage and facilitate the mobility of researchers, and technology transfer between the different Mediterranean countries.

Recognizing the importance of cotton production in a number of developing countries in Asia and North Africa, and considering the prime role and importance of cotton in the agricultural economy of these countries, producing more than half of the world's cotton production, Dr. M.H. Roozitalab, Deputy Head of Agricultural Research and Education Organization (AREEO) of Iran and Executive Secretary of Asia Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI) ; Dr. A. Satybaldin, Chairman of Central Asia and Caucasus Forum (CAC); and Dr. H. Ketata Head of Tehran Office, International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), during early 2002, and called for strengthening research collaboration among NARS. Following these discussions, an Inter-regional Workshop on Cotton Research was held at AREEO, Tehran, Iran in October, 2002.

On the basis of the recommendations of the Workshop, an Inter-regional Network for Research Collaboration on Sustainable Cotton Production in Asia and North Africa (INCANA) was established. Through common consent, Cotton Research Institute of Iran, Varamin branch, was selected and given the responsibility for establishing INCANA Secretariat in Iran.

· Increasing cotton yield in member countries through research collaboration and exchange of scientific knowledge, success stories and new technologies.

· Providing a data base on cotton research and other related issues concerning cotton production in the region to be used by the member countries.

· Increasing the knowledge of cotton experts and scientists through implementation of collaborative research activities and holding training workshops on cotton related issues.

· Establishing close cooperation with other research networks on cotton in the world (such as Mediterranean Cotton Research Network).

· Establishment of the Secretariat Office in Varamin (Iran) and equipping it with electronic and telecommunication facilities;

· Initiating connections with some international Institutes and ARIs working on cotton, such as CIRAD;

· Inviting cotton producing countries in Asia and Africa for joining the Network; until now, the following countries have agreed to join the Network: Algeria, Egypt, Sudan, Syria, and Turkey.

· Making arrangements for 2nd Annual Meeting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in September 2004.

· Receiving 189 cotton accessions from Tajikistan. These varieties have been cultivated in Khaveh Quarantine Research Station for testing their performance.

· Development of the INCANA Website (www.irnc.net) including information and data on cotton research institutes and cotton scientists of the member countries.

· Compilation of INCANA Directory on cotton research institutes and cotton scientists of the member countries.

· Preparing INCANA newsletter and a reference booklet on cotton production and related issues in the member countries.

· Establishment of Information Management System through developing website, newsletters, booklets, annual reports, etc.

· Strengthening of INCANA Website through developing databases on research programs and projects in the member countries.

The Friends Society of Date-Palm cosponsored the organization of this exhibition in collaboration with the producers and processors of dates from all centers inside and outside UAE to achieve the following goals of the exhibition:

1. Knowledge of the current status for growing palm, and to view the best date varieties that include rare varieties

2. Identify the problems facing The production and processing of dates and investigate the best solutions Encourage the date’s production and processing sector

Experience exchange and strengthen the relations between farmers, producers, and processors of the dates.

The Exhibition will display and show various date varieties, nutritional value and health benefits of dates, secondary products, tissue culture seedling, traditional show, date production equipment, books and scientific articles about date.

The participants in this exhibition will be from farmers and specialists in processing and exporting of dates, and representatives from Agriculture ministries in the dates producing countries and from research centres, organizations and international institutions.

The Exhibition will include scientific workshops that will focus on dates cultivation in UAE and the World with special emphasis on propagation techniques and date diseases and the constraints that faces date processing and marketing.

For more information about the date exhibition, please contact Dr. A. Zaid, the Date Palm Global Network Coordinator General and Chief Technical Adviser / Director of the Date Palm Research & Development Programme at UAE University and visit the following Websites at:

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) have welcomed AARINENA invitation to become cosponsors along with FAO and ICARDA.

The secretariat continued its efforts to increase AARINENA membership which resulted in two new members Mauritania and Somalia who joined AARINENA recently. Dr. Abdel Nabi Fardous visited the American University of Beirut; Faculty of Agriculture he invited them to be one of AARINENA members, his invitation was welcomed by the Dean of faculty of Agriculture Dr. Nuhad Dagher.This will increase the total membership of AARINENA to 25 Full and 7 Associate members.

The Sultanate of Oman embraces diverse agro-climatic regions and the principal occupations of the population are agriculture and fishing and employ about 80% of the population. It has very well perceived that from the point of long term national economy and food security and diversification, improvement in the agricultural potential of the country is a necessity. Export of agricultural products comes next only to export of oil that are mainly dried and fresh dates, dried limes and fresh fruits and vegetables. Over the years, the government is making concerted efforts to improve the agriculture and introduce modern techniques of irrigation and crop husbandry.

In the Sultanate, the first experimental farm was established at Nizwa in 1959 and another at Sohar in 1963. In 1971, the research station in Rumais was established and a great importance has been given to the development of Sultanate’s agriculture based on the applications of results of modern agricultural research. Immediately in the year 1971, two new agricultural research stations were established at Wadi Quriyat (in the interior) and at Salalah (in the southern Dhofar province). Subsequently, sub-centers were located at Rustaq (attached to Rumais) for honey bee research; Tanuf and Jebel Akhdar (attached to Wadi Quriyat) for fruit crops and nurseries; and Quiroon Hirati (attached to Salalah) for fruit crops. Three more research stations established at Jimah (Interior), Sohar (Al-Batinah) and Kamil (Al-Sharqiya) in the year 1992-1993 for conducting regional adaptation trials keeping in view, the needs of regions in which these sites are situated.

The research station in Rumais was upgraded in 1984 as the department of agricultural research and as a Directorate General of Agricultural Research in 1991 and in 1999 Plant Production and Protection Research Centers were established in place of Directorate of Research. However, there is a plan to upgrade the research body back to Directorate General in near future.

The agricultural research set up in Oman is experiencing a rapid expansion phase in tune with the agricultural modernization programs. Highly sophisticated research facilities and laboratories have been established at Rumais and an additional research station at Jimah has started functioning as the research station for the interior Oman.

Two agricultural research centers at Rumais are working with full efficiency and they are Crop Production Research Center, which includes Vegetable section (Lab.), Field crops section (Lab.), Fruit crops section (Lab.) and Seed & Plant Genetic Resources Section (Lab.). Crop Protection Research Center comprises of entomology section including biological control, plant pathology section including plant virology and nematode section and weeds control section, honey bee research and pesticide research laboratory (Toxicology and residual analysis). Soil and water unit consists of plant nutrition section, irrigation section, and soil survey unit and soil and water laboratory. A date palm gene bank nursery in the Oman Interior is a new addition. A tissue culture laboratory is functioning as well as producing date palm and banana offshoots. Recently, a biotechnology laboratory was established in 2000 and it is functioning fully on finger printing project of date palm.

The agricultural research centre at Rumais has a separate building for library facilities for researchers containing agricultural books, journals and CD’s.

The human resources have been composed both expatriate experts having doctoral degree of different fields of research with whom associate Omani researchers having graduate, post graduate and doctoral degree. The expatriate scientists form about 9% of human capacity. Research Assistants and Technicians and labors are Omanis. Assistant Director General of Agriculture Research and Extension will be responsible for directing various activities of research of different labs and special projects of national interest. The Station Director and Omani researchers who would look after research activities constitute the staff of the research stations at different locations. Concurrently, there is administrative section to take care of administrative responsibilities in Research Centers and Stations.