Within the context of the globalization of agriculture, the main challenge facing NARS is to
contribute to the development of a competitive agricultural sector. A sector that is highly
productive and efficient, that supplies a variety of quality and safe products that not only meet
domestic food security demands but also targets and penetrates other markets. Unfortunately,
the development of such a competitive, broad based agriculture will have to take place under
conditions characterized in many countries today by a dwindling natural resource endowment
The term ARIs, Advanced Research Institutions, was used by the original GFAR design team to define research institutions from industrialized countries as one stakeholder group. Presently, in the GFAR Charter, three seats are allocated to the ARIs in the GFAR Steering Committee: one for North America, one for Europe and one for Asia¿Pacific. There are many topics which could be discussed to improve the contribution of ARIs in the GFAR
process, however it is suggested to focus discussions on three crucial topics:
¿ past experience and future representation of ARIs in GFAR
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
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
Sharing agricultural information in an open platform or ¿information reservoir¿ is a step towards building a
global knowledge system. The term 'Information Reservoir' is used instead of ¿system¿ since the information
reservoir is a product of various information systems that are increasingly interlinked. The actors that manage
information are stakeholders in the south, north and international agencies. Several principles and key demands
are attached to the concept of a Shared Information Reservoir (SIR).