1. A meeting of the IFAP Science and Technology Committee was held at the end of
May 2002 in Cairo, Egypt during the 37th World Farmers Congress. This meeting
was also co-chaired by Ms Sara McHattie of GFAR Secretariat then. The
discussions of the meeting mainly centred on the general sharing of information
on ARD issues as well as Farmer and Farmer Organisations participation in
agricultural research at various levels - local to global levels. Further elaboration
and suggestions on the improvement of the 1.8 M Euro GFAR Initiative on
"Strengthening the participation of Farmers Organisations and of NGOs in the
global agenda for Agricultural Research for Development," were also made
during this meeting. The GFAR Initiative is well complemented by the IFAPISNAR
Cooperative Project Proposal which was highlighted by Dr Hellen
Hambly of ISNAR. One of the main outcomes of the meeting was the strong
suggestion for rebuilding the researcher-scientist-extension-farmer relationship so
that farmers can ensure that research is user oriented and relevant to their needs.
2. Another major decision at the Science and Technology Committee of IFAP whose
membership is open ended was the constitution of the focal points at the regional
and sub-regional level. A summery of the names and level of representation is as
follows: