The Asia Pacific region is agriculturally the most vibrant globally. At the same time it sustains more
than fifty percent of the world population as well as the maximum of poverty. The Green and White
Revolutions have also been witnessed in this region which have provided the means to cope with the
rapidly increasing population and ensure household food security.
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Fortunately, all these accomplishments could be possible due to the cutting edge of science. The

Livestock is essential to poverty reduction and to prevent rural poor vulnerability in Africa. Moreover, thanks to the increasing demand in animal products and the emerging urban markets, livestock sector development is probably now the best opportunity to fight poverty in rural areas in the region. The proposed collaborative program could play an important role in the process of strategy formulation and implementation. The program arises from strong country demand and is built on lessons learnt from recent country and donor experience in the sector.

The 2nd Inter-Regional Consultation was held at CLAES, ARC, Cairo, Egypt from
the 10th to the 11th of May 2005, to enable RAIS stakeholders of Regional Fora to achieve
the following objectives:
a) To present and discuss their respective regional Plan of Work and Budget (POW&B)
for 2005 in the area of ICM for ARD and the development of their RAIS
b) To take stock of existing initiatives and discuss fresh initiatives from the Regional
Fora in the area of ICM for ARD in order to launch collaborative platforms between
and amongst RAIS

NARS are constituted by the organizations and entities in a given country that are responsible for the generation, adaptation, validation and transfer of the technology that farmers require, and by the systematic interactions that emerge among them in carrying out their respective programs. The systemic interaction among its members and with end-users plays a key role in the functioning of NARS as an effective innovation system. Agriculture is understood to include not only crops, but also livestock, forestry and fisheries

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