Crop and livestock production systems are the basis of the rural economies of humid and
sub-humid tropical regions. However, tropical ecosystems are suffering the consequences
of an accelerated deterioration in its ecological capital and most agriculture production
systems of the region show high degree of environmental degradation, as indicated by
declines in soil fertility, vegetation cover, biodiversity loss and increases in soil erosion.
The underlying causes of environmental degradation in tropical ecosystems include the

The main objective of GFAR in promoting the development of Global Programmes is
to mobilize the different stakeholders in order to address together
problems/challenges that have been identified at a global level. The first Global Programme that was developed, PROMUSA, focussed on the genetic
improvement of Musa and has been considered as a model by the GFAR Steering
Committee who recommended that this model be adapted to the needs of other
crops. The Montpellier Facilitation Unit has, for the last two years, been working to help the

The justification, aims, activities and expected outputs of the proposed programme on ¿Promoting
Local Innovation in Ecological Agriculture and Natural Resource Management¿ (PROLINNOVA) can
be found in the short information sheet (Oct. 2001) in the annex to this paper and in the longer
concept paper on the website of the NGO Committee of the CGIAR (www.ngoc-cgiar.org). In
essence, PROLINNOVA seeks to strengthen the capacities of rural people and local agricultural

The Mashreq / Maghreb project is an adaptive research program for the development of
integrated crop/livestock in the low-rainfall areas of West Asia and North Africa. It
encompasses two WANA sub-regions: West Asia and North Africa. The project has evolved
from technology component testing to an integrated adaptive research comprising from
technical, socio-economic, cultural, institutional and policy perspective with the full
participation of all stakeholders: NARS, NGO, Farmers, development agencies, policy

In September 2003, FARA was entering its second year and was well aware that its credibility depended on making tangible progress in its three main functions, i.e., advocacy, promoting partnerships and improving access to and exchange of information.