Second week publicity on E-consultations for Central Asia and the Caucasus Region

Date: 2009-08-31 18:19:05

Welcome to the e-consultations! We would greatly appreciate your active participation in the e-consultation process.

We will conduct e-consultations by email list and on the website.  To get your name included in the email-list, please register at http://www.egfar.org/egfar/website/gcard/regional-consultations/cac/participate

E-consultations will be devoted to specific research and other issues that are important for agricultural development in the region. A note on the “Key issues in agricultural research for development in Central Asia and the Caucasus” was posted on the CACAARI webpage on 27 August. It is hoped that this summarized document would form a good basis of discussion and exchange of views and opinions among the participants who will take part in the e-consultations on Central Asia and the Caucasus (CAC) region.

You may please go through the document by downloading it at: http://www.cacaari.org/filesarchive/reports/KeyIssues_CAC-II_Final_26Aug.pdf .

Also, please do refer to the issues highlighted on the regional Review at the end of our message.

Here are some basic points that you may like to consider for E-consultation:

• In spite of tremendous potential that exists in the region, why agriculture has not been able to develop to its full potential and provide improved livelihoods to the farmers and people in the rural areas? What drastic changes (research systems, institutions, educational systems, extension systems, policies, etc.) are needed to achieve the required results to fulfill the agricultural development agenda of the region?
• What, in your opinion, is the most important factor which is responsible for withholding the progress in the development of effective agricultural research to meet the challenges in agricultural development in the region, and how addressing this factor would ensure the desired progress?

We are looking forward to your active participation in and contributions to the E-consultation process.

Surendra Beniwal (Email: sps.beniwal09@gmail.com)

Anvar Rahmetov (Email: a.rahmetov@cgiar.org),

Facilitators of the Central Asia and the Caucasus E-consultation

Web: http://www.egfar.org/egfar/website/gcard/regional-consultations/cac

Some Questions Highlighting the Regional Review

1. Do you feel that the important challenges facing agriculture in the CAC region (food security, improving declining living standards and improving livelihoods, protecting the environment, achieving structural reforms, meeting special challenges and strengthening national and agricultural research systems) and highlighted in the Research Review Report have been appropriately identified, which would effectively help meet the development goals of the governments of the region? Any other challenging issue(s) that is (are) important in your opinion? How would you prioritize these challenges?
2. In your opinion, do you believe that the problem of hunger exists in the CAC region? Similarly, is poverty an important issue in the region? Do you believe that they are important issues and need to be systematically studied in details? If yes, do you believe that only increasing agriculture production and developing agriculture sector are sufficient in alleviating them? What role, in your opinion, the diversification of incomes of farmers and rural populations could play in alleviating these problems, and what other measures could you suggest for improving the problem of hunger and poverty in the region? Any drastic measures that you think could be useful in alleviating them in the region?
3. Do you agree that the agriculture sector in the region has tremendous potential to contribute to the development goals of the region? What single factor, in your opinion, can help realize this potential? How important is focusing and improving research vis-а-vis improving structural and policy issues in the region? What structural changes together with changes in policies could you think will make good and positive impacts on agriculture development?
4. In your opinion, is the financing of agriculture and farms to support the newly-emerged small-scale farmers in the region by different governments of the CAC region is sufficient to meet their requirements? Some quarters in the region believe that increasing farm sizes of the existing small farms will help increasing agriculture production and improving the livelihoods of the farmers? This is contrary to the results from dekhon farming (which is like mini-farming in household plots/kitchen garden), is doing pretty well in supporting livelihoods of a large populations in rural areas and to some extent in urban areas. So what, in your opinion, should be done to make the small-scale farming a success in the region? Do you think dekhon farming needs better support to increase the incomes of household farmers? And how?
5. Improving productivity and production in agriculture is an important way to increase overall agricultural production and livelihoods of farmers and rural population in the region. Options are increases in irrigated areas and in rainfed/less-favored/lagging areas. Which in your opinion, is more important and why? How do you the think the gains in agriculture productivity could be achieved in these areas?
6. There are several important sub-sectors in agriculture that are important in the region (crop production, livestock production, horticulture (fruits, vegetables and vinery), forestry, and fisheries and can play important role in food security and improving incomes and livelihoods of farmers and the rural populations. Do you think adequate attention has been paid to all these sub-sectors? Whether the current research is focused on the right and deserving issues that can help the resource-poor farmers and consumers in the CAC region? Where do you think the emphasis and progress is lacking? In your opinion, what should be their priorities across the region considering their importance?
7. In your opinion, how important for the region is to protect its environment? What, in your opinion, is the most important issue that must be addressed for this, and do you think is receiving the necessary and required attention from researchers, development people and the governments in the region?
8. As you know, the region inherited the research and education systems from the former Soviet Union. In your opinion, are the required needed changes in research systems, institutions supporting research, research processes and extension as well as investment (financial, infrastructure and capacity development), highlighted in the review report enough to meet the present/future challenges of agriculture in the CAC region? In the same context, how important are the linkages in research and education at the national, sub-regional, regional and international levels? And how to make them more effective?
9. It is known that extension is a weak linkage in the agricultural research process and technology transfer and in interactions with farmers. How the system should be organized and strengthened so that it becomes a strong link between research, education and farmers and rural markets, and is able to serve the desired objectives of being proactive, dynamic, development-oriented, and a strong vehicle for technology transfer?.
10. It is generally realized that the farmers in the region need tremendous support in marketing of their produce (crops, fruits/vegetables, animals, milk and milk products) at profitable prices. What systems and mechanisms to operate them should be created and organized to provide a viable alternative to farmers? How the farmers could be organized to utilize the marketing opportunities in their countries, region and outside the region, and to link them to the global markets?
11. In your opinion, has the approach to deciding the research agenda for agricultural development in the region been appropriate? Have all the stakeholders of agriculture in the region have been involved in setting the research agenda for agriculture? What changes could you propose for this process? Do you feel a need for greater involvement of civil society organizations and private sector and the eight governments of the region and their policy makers in deciding the research agenda so that it addresses the ownership and answerability issues?

Regional Brainstorm meeting for Transforming and Strengthening of Agricultural Research and Innovation Systems in Central Asia and Caucasus

Tashkent, 29-30 November, 2011
Samarqand, 01-03 December, 2011

• CACAARI Constitution
• CACAARI Regional Strategy
• GCARD Synthesis Report
• GCARD Road Map