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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: www.icarda.org
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Media contact: Surendra Varma (s.varma@CGIAR.ORG)
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Developing
CAC Strategy on PGR for Food and Agriculture
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A National
Coordinators’ Meeting on Plant Genetic Resources was held on
26-27 January 2006 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, to develop a Regional
PGR Strategy. The meeting was chaired by Dr Raj Paroda, Head, PFU-CGIAR
and Regional Coordinator, ICARDA-CAC, and co-chaired by H.E. Dr Khanazarov,
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Water Management, Uzbekistan, who
is also Director General, Uzbek Scientific-Production Center for Agriculture
and Chairman, Central Asian and Caucasian Association of Agricultural
Research Institutions (CACAARI).
It was agreed that all National Coordinators should take initiatives to develop a PGR Strategy for their respective countries. The Working Group, approved earlier by the Steering Committee of the CGIAR Program for CAC, will then develop a draft CAC Regional Strategy and share it with all NARS partners for their suggestions. The National Coordinators decided that the Strategy should consider all aspects of conservation of valuable genetic resources in the region such as collection, documentation, evaluation, long-term storage and exchange, in addition to the issues related to capacity building, training in PGR (including legal aspects, exchange and benefit sharing). Also, the participants agreed to have more effective regional cooperation with technical support from CG centers and donor support from the Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT) and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The effort to improve the draft Regional PGR Strategy should continue by the Working Group in view of suggestions made during the meeting. The revised version of the draft Strategy will then be discussed at the forthcoming PGR Network (CATCN) Steering Committee Meeting sometime during the second half of the year. For more information contact: Dr Raj Paroda |
About
ICARDA: Established in 1977, ICARDA (www.icarda.org)
serves the entire developing world for the improvement of barley, lentil,
and faba bean; and dry-area developing countries for the on-farm management
of water, improvement of nutrition and productivity of small ruminants
(sheep and goats), and rehabilitation and management of rangelands. In
the Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region, ICARDA is responsible
for the improvement of durum and bread wheats, chickpea, pasture and forage
legumes and farming systems; and for the protection and enhancement of
the natural resource base of water, land, and biodiversity.
The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) (www.cgiar.org) is a strategic alliance of countries, international and regional organizations, and private foundations supporting15 international research centers that mobilizes cutting-edge science to promote sustainable development by reducing hunger and poverty, improving human nutrition and health, and protecting the environment.