A 'Regional Research NeedsAssessment' Workshop was convened in Tashkent in March 2007 to involve the eco-regional fora such as CACAARI, APAARI, AARINENA, together with GFAR, farmer associations and private sector organizations. It provided a unique opportunity for developing a common vision on the nature and extent of agricultural problems. Participants revisited the CAC regional priorities and defined the needs for agricultural technologies/information for improving the productivity of the prevalent farming systems for improved livelihoods of the people who depend on agriculture.

Irrigated and rainfed agriculture together with livestock production systems are important components of the economies of Central Asian and the Caucasus (CAC) republics. Mixed crop-livestock production systems have been the mainstay of livelihoods of the rural people since many centuries. Recent changes consequent to the break up of the Soviet Union have a significant impact on agriculture and the people who depend on it. Agricultural research needs assessment is a continuous process in view of the fast changing socio-economic and policy scenarios and emergence of many other stakeholders, not involved earlier. Whereas many agricultural problems are country specific, there are some problems which are common to all the countries in the region (e.g. river water salinity, climate change etc.) and could be best tackled by joint actions of the governments in CAC. 
Handling scalar issues of the dimensions encompassing the whole region requires funding support from the international community and active technical backstopping from the CG centers and other advanced institutions. Experiences of APAARI, GFAR, FAO and AARINENA will also prove very relevant in any priority setting exercise. 
In the current agricultural regional research needs assessment (RNA) and prioritization exercise, efforts have been made to involve stakeholders in NARS of all the CAC countries, CG centers, global and regional fora and international organizations active in the region. It is an important step for advancing agricultural research in the region. This event has also
demonstrated that the Central Asia and the Caucasus Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (CACAARI) has become a viable forum for coordinating regional agricultural research activities. It has had some farmer participation, which I believe will grow further. This provides the farmers with a forum for articulating their demands for additional need based
research.

The report of the Expert Consultation is available here.