CGIAR Central Asia and the Caucasus

Need for Assistance Released

After experiencing the problems facing agriculture, especially the decline of agricultural production and of the associated research systems, the eight countries started realizing the need to strengthen and revitalize their agricultural research systems. In the process, they also realized that they needed more investment in and pay more attention to agricultural research and development. They understood the need to reorganize their respective national programs and to develop linkages with other partners in the global agricultural research community in order to sustain and improve the existing research infrastructure. They expressed a desire that the CGIAR Centers assist them in their efforts in agricultural research and development.This was further confirmed at the high level meeting of policy makers from all the eight CAC countries and the representatives of donor organizations, CG Centers, leaders of NARS and other stakeholders, organized in Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan, in June 2001 in order to re-enforce the commitment to agricultural research and development.

They unanimously endorsed the “Issyk-Kul Declaration” (http://www.icarda.org/cac/issyk_kul.pdf) stating that agricultural research is to be given the highest priority and attention by the national governments in order to improve livelihoods, alleviate poverty and strengthen national economies through improved productivity and sustainability of agricultural production systems. The Declaration has paved the way for all the stakeholders to work together and benefit from a partnership approach to solve the problems of the region.

This commitment for collaboration in agricultural research for development was further strengthened by the Heads and leaders of National Agricultural Research Systems of the CAC countries during the 'Regional Research Needs Assessment' workshop held in March, 2007, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, whereby they called on the regional Governments to allocate at least 1% of agricultural GDP to agricultural research.