ICARDA News

INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH IN THE DRY AREAS
P.O. Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria
Phone: (963-21) 2213433, 2213477, 2225112, 2225012
Fax: (963-21) 2213490, 2225105; E-mail: ICARDA@CGIAR.ORG
Website: http://www.icarda.cgiar.org

Development of an agricultural information system for Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) took an important step forward at the first steering committee meeting of the Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in the Near East and North Africa (AARINENA)– Regional Agricultural Information System (RAIS) Information and Communication Technology (ICT), held at ICARDA headquarters 28-29 July 2003.
     The regional system is meant to enhance information management capacities of national agricultural research systems (NARS); improve communication among research and development stakeholders; and promote the use of ICT. It will be web-based and include seven distinct efforts:

• development of National Agricultural Information Systems
• design and implementation of a Researchers/Experts Information System
• design and implementation of an Institutes Information System
• design and implementation of a Projects Information System
• design and implementation of a Research Outputs Information System
  
• an Electronic Forum for discussion, and
• development of a Gateway for navigation at the national, sub-regional, and regional level.

     The meeting participants developed action plans for developing the new systems, set priorities for implementation, discussed funding and sustainability of the activities, agreed on a plan for human resource development in the area of information management, and discussed improving the AARINENA website. A draft project proposal and a concept note will be developed by the end of September and will be circulated to ensure exchange of ideas, after which a final proposal will be developed and presented by AARINENA to donors for funding.
     The steering committee comprises representatives from NARS in the five sub regions—Arabian Peninsula (Mrs Tahani Hussain, Kuwait); Mashreq (Mr Abdel Aziz AL-Louzi, Jordan); Maghreb, (Mr Abdelmajid Bencherqi, Morocco); Nile Valley and the Red Sea (Dr Ahmed Rafea and Dr Samhaa El-Beltagy, Egypt); and West and Central Asia, (Mrs Taraneh Ebrahimi, Iran)—and representatives from five regional and international organizations—Dr Abdel Naby Fardous, AARINENA; Mr Raed F. Hattar, Arab Organization of Agricultural Development; Mr Robert Portegies Zwart and Mr Magdi Latif, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; Dr Jean-François Giovannetti, Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR); and Dr Nihad Maliha (coordinator and rapporteur), ICARDA.
     The meeting was sponsored by AARINENA, GFAR and ICARDA, and chaired by Dr Ahmed Rafea.

ICARDA's (www.icarda.org) mission is to improve the welfare of people and alleviate poverty through research and training in dry areas of the developing world by increasing production, productivity, and nutritional quality of food, while preserving and enhancing the natural resource base. ICARDA is a Future Harvest Center.