It has been five weeks since the CACAARI Secretariat launched the online consultations on “The role of Agricultural Innovation Systems in Central Asia and Caucasus countries and China towards more sustainable food security and nutrition.” During this time, the e-discussion hosted on the regional platform of the FAO Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition has harvested 83 comprehensive contributions coming from 48 experts!

 

Ministries of agriculture, scientific and research institutions, high education and post-graduate institutions, and farmer’s organizations among many other actors from the agricultural sector have contributed with their views to what has turned out to be a truly inter-regional multi-stakeholder dialogue.

 

The geographical scope of participants was wide, drawing from 18 countries of different regions as well as from developed and developing economies. People from 73 countries visited the discussion’s webpage and above 10,000 people received information on the consultation.

 

Roughly 35% of the participants who have taken part in the discussion were women and 10% young professionals. Additionally, some participants have kindly shared several analytical documents for further reading.

 

Ultimately, the different contributions to the online consultations will feed into a side event at the 6th Annual Meeting of the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services in September 2015, and support an establishment of a window for future collaborations between countries of Caucasus and Central Asia (CAC) and China under the “One Belt One Road” initiative.

 

These will also help better understand the current role of Agricultural Innovation Systems in countries of CAC and China, and contribute to the overall inclusive dialogue on Food Security and Nutrition issues in Europe and Central Asia.

 

Click here to read the complete proceedings in English, Russian and Chinese. Participants will be informed on the E-discussion’s outputs through both emails and the FSN Forum web-site.

 

The online consultations were initiated by Central Asia and the Caucasus Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in close collaboration with the Chinese Northwest Agriculture & Forest University and supported by FAO’s Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition in Europe and Central Asia. The consultation form part of the GCARD3 process of consultation.