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
20 March 2003
For more information contact:S.Varma@cgiar.org
Improved Public Perception Critical to
Expanded Rural Development Effort
The public must be informed about the value of, and urgent need for, rural development if funding for research and development is to rise from its present low levels, participants agreed at ICARDA and World Bank-organized consultation workshops held in Cairo. The first consultation workshop for Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) focused on the "World Bank Strategy for Rural Development: Reaching the Poor," and was held on 23-24 February. It was followed by a second workshop on the proposed "International Assessment of the Role of Agricultural Science and Technology in Reducing Hunger, Improving Rural Livelihoods, and Stimulating Economically Sustainable Growth," on 25-26 February.
    At the joint opening session of the two workshops, His Excellency Prof. Dr Youssuf Wally, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Egypt, appreciated the initiative, which would greatly help in the rural development efforts in the region, he said. He extended a warm welcome to the participants and wished them a pleasant stay in Egypt.
    Dr M. Ayoub, Director, World Bank Country Department, Cairo, and ICARDA Director General Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy made opening statements. In his statement, Prof. Dr El-Beltagy emphasized that the development process was firmly in the hands of national programs and driven by them. The workshop should help in this effort.
H.E. Prof. Dr Youssuf Wally (center), Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Egypt, inaugurated the two workshops in a joint opening session. Present with him were Dr Mahmoud Ayoub (left), Director, World Bank Country Department, Cairo; Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy (second from left), Director General, ICARDA; H.E. Mr Sayed Hussain Anwari (second from right), Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Afghanistan; and Dr Kevin Cleaver (right), Director, Rural Development Department, the World Bank.
H.E. Prof. Dr Youssuf Wally (second from left) held discussions in his office with Dr Kevin Cleaver (left), Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy and Dr Fadia Nouser (right). Dr Nouser is First Under–Secretary and in charge of the International Relations Department in the Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt.

    H.E. Mr Sayed Hussain Anwari, Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Afghanistan; Dr A. Fardous, Director General of National Center for Agricultural Research and Technology Transfer (NCARTT), Jordan, and President of the Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in the Near East and North Africa (AARINENA); Dr Nasri Haddad, from the University of Jordan; and Dr William Erskine, Assistant Director General for Research, ICARDA, made presentations emphasizing a regional perspective; Dr Richard Thomas, Director of ICARDA's Natural Resource Management Program, outlined the goals of the consultation workshop; and Drs Kevin Cleaver, Latitia Obeng, and Csaba Csaki, from the World Bank, presented the latest strategy papers from the Bank.
The first workshop sought to:

  • find new ways to link research and development to advance rural development in the region
  • assess the congruence of the Bank's strategy and national rural development strategies
  • assess the constraints to rural development in the region, and
  • consult with experts in the region on the need for a proposed assessment of science and technology.
    The workshop reinforced the commitment for rural development. However, there is a challenge to change the prevailing public perception in order to overcome the insufficient commitment from both the developed and developing countries," Prof. Dr El-Beltagy said.
Participants in the ICARDA–World Bank-organized Workshop on Rural Development in Central and West Asia and North Africa, held in Cairo, 23–24 February.
    "The very low public expenditure of 2-4 percent of gross domestic product for rural development needs to be increased to improve the welfare of rural people," said ICARDA socioeconomist Dr Aw-Hassan in summarizing the views of the broad group of international participants.
    The consultation workshop, including two days of presentations and round-table discussions, was followed by a visit to the Central Laboratory for Agricultural Expert Systems and the Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute of Egypt, as a prelude to the second workshop on the role of science and technology in rural development. Welcoming the participants to this meeting, Prof. Dr El-Beltagy highlighted the peculiarities of the CWANA region and emphasized the need for a regional approach to the assessment of science and technology. Opening remarks were made by Drs Kevin Cleaver and Ismail Serageldin, Director Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt. Dr Robert Watson, Chief Scientist, the World Bank, outlined the scope of the proposed international assessment of the role of agricultural science and technology in rural development
    The Bank's strategy provides a useful framework for implementation, but thorough, informative, and productive consultation is critically important. The consultation process will give clear voice to the rural poor, and take into account a broad range of other stakeholders, including civil society and the private sector, in the process of developing national strategies. The importance of research and technology is acknowledged, but to achieve real success, research outputs must find a use in the wider rural community.

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.
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