In the globalized world that characterizes this turn of century the Regional/Sub-Regional
Organizations (ROs/SROs) play a key role in facilitating scientific and technological
cooperation among groups of countries. Through cooperative action, the ROs/SROs facilitate
joint research efforts, seeking to assure a critical mass of human and financial resources in
strategic areas of research, and to promote concerted action among the various stakeholders of
agricultural research for development (ARD). Given the increasing institutional diversification

During the first GFAR Conference held in Dresden, Germany, in May 2000, the responsibility to
explore ways and means to develop and strengthen research partnerships for ¿Under-utilized and
Orphan Commodities¿ (UOC) was assigned to a specific Working Group. This Working Group
strongly recommended an involvement of GFAR in this topic of UOC in order to: (a) increase the
visibility and valorize the work already done on neglected commodities at all levels; and (b)

The objective of the Global Facilitating Mechanism is to support and facilitate the work of networks and other stakeholders on UOC in cooperation with international organizations such as FAO, ICUC, IPGRI

This report has been produced to provide a succinct overview of the global research activities on underutilised crops. It is aimed at policy makers, funding agencies and research administrators but it is hoped that it will also be of use to the scientific community.
The report results from a request from a workshop convened by the Genetic Resources Policy Committee for the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. The workshop was held at the M.S.S. Research Foundation, Chennai, India in 1999.

The proposed International Technical Consultation which will be funded by FAO in conjunction with funds solicited from donor organizations, the private sector and post-harvest organizations, is scheduled to take place over a five-day period at FAO Headquarters in Rome, during the month of April 2002. A maximum of four hundred invited participants, including post-harvest scientists, policy makers, educators, the private sector, donor and development agencies, NGOs, and governments are expected to attend.

The main objective of this thematic study is to present an overview of the achieved IFAD experience in financing projects and programmes for the Rural Development and Market Mechanisms for the Rural Poor.

This proposal addresses the issues outlined during the regional priority exercise that GFAR has supported in the last year. All the regional and sub Regional Fora have identified the importance of creating programs to support innovative projects of agroindostrial development. Also there is a full recognition that knowledge, competence and expertise has to be shared among stakeholders both in developed and developing countries, and pledge to increase co-operation between the North and the South.

Phase 1- Developing a global perspective of the post-harvest sector, through the planning and implementation of five coordinated technical regional workshops.
¿ Phase 2- Conducting a five-day International Technical Consultation on Post-Harvest, with the objective of launching a Global Initiative on Post-Harvest Technology (GIPhT).