.Hubertus Franzen, Christiane Weigner

Jan Mark Pohlmann, Frank Begemann

Eiard Homepage:http://www.eiard.org/

Table of Contents

I INTRODUCTION

II METHODOLOGY

III RESPONSES

IV INSTITUTIONS WORKING IN SUBJECT-ORIENTED RESEARCH NETWORKS

1. Integrated Pest Management Network - EUROPE (IPM-EU)
2. Bureau for the Development of Research on Tropical Perennial Oil Crops (BUROTROP)

V EUROPEAN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CONSORTIA

1. European Consortium for Agricultural Research for the Tropics (ECART)
2. Network of European Agricultural (Tropically and Subtropically oriented) Universities and Scientific Complexes Related with Agricultural Development (NATURA)

VI EXAMPLES OF EUROPEAN RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT CAPACITIES IN ARD ACCORDING TO SPECIFIC SECTORS

1. Aquaculture and Fisheries
2. Training in Aquaculture and Fisheries
3. Forestry

VII NATURA PILOT SITES OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTERS WITHIN THE EIARD MEMBER STATES

1.Natural Resources Institute (NRInternational), Instituto de Investigacao Cientifica Tropical (IITC), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Developpement (CIRAD), University of Hohenheim, University of Wagenningen, University of Florence

VIII CONCLUSION

IX RECOMMENDATIONS

X ANNEX 1

XI ANNEX 2

Acknowledgement

We highly welcome the opportunity given by NATURA to execute the present study on the characterisation of the European institutional resource base for agricultural research for development. We are especially grateful to Ms Isabelle de Keyzer, who was very supportive in proposing to make this EIARD activity part of the emerging European Information System (InfoSys). Furthermore, we would like to thank all those researchers and officers of research adminstration who contributed by sending us detailed information about their respective organisations. Finally, we would like to thank the European Commission for providing funds for the execution of this study.

ATSAF/ZADI/IAC Wageningen

I INTRODUCTION

The integration of the European sciences working in the field of agricultural research for development (ARD) in a worldwide system of agricultural research for development calls for enhanced coordination and collaboration within the European ARD research landscape. Additionally, mechanisms are needed which support the creation of an environment enabling scientific interaction, making the European efforts in ARD more visible, more effective, more creative and in alignment with the needs of research partners and farmers in countries of the South

The European Initiative for Agricultural Research for Development (EIARD), launched under French Presidency in early 1995, takes up the opportunity offered by increased European collaboration by taking the lead for a better integration of the European contribution to ARD. Thus, the European Colloquium held in Montpellier in September 1997 prepares the ground for the European Forum which will serve as a platform for interaction between various European stakeholders on issues of tropical and subtropical agricultural R&D.

A first step towards enhanced European cooperation is the preparation of a knowledge base of the European involvement and capacities in ARD in order to improve the information flow on European institutions and expertise in this area. In the framework of the preparation of the EIARD colloquium in Montpellier, NATURA was asked to execute a survey on European institutes in the field of ARD. In view of the limited time frame for the preparation of such an overview, NATURA decided to focus on the evaluation of selected examples of current research activities and institutional capacities in ARD and to elaborate on common information exchange formats, respectively. In order to gradually complete the inventory of European capacities in ARD following the Montpellier symposium, NATURA promoted the integration of these activities into the upcoming EIARD Information System (InfoSys) right from the beginning. For this reason, the preparation of institutional and project inventories of ARD was commissioned to two members of the InfoSys Core Group (IAC and ZADI/ATSAF) which were asked to present their findings at the EIARD Colloquium in Montpellier on 25 and 26 of September.

II METHODOLOGY

For the characterisation of the European institutional ARD base the following procedures were chosen:

a) selected inventories were analysed

b) research networks and consortia (BUROTROP, EU-IPM, NATURA, ECART) were interviewed by questionnaires

c) INTERNET downloads were executed to complete the inquiries

d) pilot sites (CIRAD, NRI, IICT, University of Wageningen and DLO, University of Florence and University of Hohenheim) were selected and requested to present their respective institute profiles and ARD project activities.

In addition, the aforementioned pilot sites have been assigned the task to assist in the development and evaluation of a common format for the description of European institutes in ARD.

In total 258 questionnaires on institutional profiles have been distributed via e-mail, fax and regular mail (for the questionnaire see Annex 2). The total number of European institutes included in the present evaluation amounts to 228. The quality and scope of responses to the inquiry varies considerably. However, in many cases missing information could be obtained from other sources, as there are: hard copies, INTERNET or personal communication. The result of this investigation yielded a comprehensive set of information which has been arranged in a Meta- Info-Database on the InfoSys homepage. Major parts of the institute profiles have been made public under the URL address: http://www.eiard.org/

Beside the collection of relevant data on European ARD institutes, draft formats of institute and project profiles have been prepared in close collaboration with IAC Wageningen and submitted to the pilot sites for further evaluation. These draft standard formats have been published for downloading on the InfoSys Homepage and can be accessed through the following links:

http://www.eiard.org/docu/whatsnew.htm

http://www.eiard.org/docu/final6.htm

The results of the inquiry have been analysed using a spreadsheet programme (Excel). Due to the heterogeneity of the data and the lack of time, the analysis, however, mainly refers to the information obtained from inventories, hard copies, or the homepages of the institutes, and only to a minor extent to the questionnaire.

III RESPONSES

In general, the response to the inquiry was not really satisfactory, merely yielding a feed back of 9 - 38%. However, due to the rather narrow focus of the inquiry (networks, consortia, pilot sites) the missing information could in most cases be completed by information already available either in libraries or on the INTERNET.