Abstract
In order to be meaningful, agricultural research has to provide solutions to problems, especially in the international agricultural research system which is designed to contribute to enhanced food production and improved rural livelihoods in the lesser-developed world. Training and human resource development, whether at the technical support or research scientists/managerial level, is fundamental to an effective agricultural research and technology transfer system. By comparison with the developed world, the national agricultural research systems (NARS) in developing countries are weak, often with ineffective extension programs, as typified by the West Asia-North Africa (WANA) region, which is served by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). Despite the potential benefits of enhancing human skills, training and human resource development activities are often under-valued and under-funded in international research centers that serve developing countries. By highlighting training at ICARDA and its mandate countries, we sought to give renewed focus on this important component of the mission of the Consultative Group on Agricultural Research (CGIAR). In this article, we considered ICARDA’s philosophy and concepts on training, collaborating institutions, educational materials, categories of training, development of training courses, significant outcomes of training, shifting paradigms, and future directions. ICARDA’s innovative collaborative approach is a model to be emulated not only by the Centers but by other international institutions involved in agricultural and rural development in the developing countries. At this crucial time of restructuring of the CGIAR, renewed emphasis on training has never been more urgent.
Highlights
Following a century of continuous breakthroughs in agricultural research and its application at farm level, with phenomenal increases in agricultural output, in the developed countries of West, the complacency about world food supplies has given way to disquieting concerns about mankind’s capacity to feed itself (Borlaug, 2007)
In order to be meaningful, agricultural research has to provide solutions to problems, especially in the international agricultural research system which is designed to contribute to enhanced food production and improved rural livelihoods in the lesser-developed world
By comparison with the developed world, the national agricultural research systems (NARS) in developing countries are weak, often with ineffective extension programs, as typified by the West Asia-North Africa (WANA) region, which is served by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA)
Summary
Following a century of continuous breakthroughs in agricultural research and its application at farm level, with phenomenal increases in agricultural output, in the developed countries of West, the complacency about world food supplies has given way to disquieting concerns about mankind’s capacity to feed itself (Borlaug, 2007). While many international and national institutions, both public and private, have agricultural development agendas to varying degrees, a major entity in development in the past few decades has been the international network of research centers sponsored by the CGIAR The goal of this network of global centers (Figure1), mainly located in developing countries, is to mobilize international scientific resources in order to underpin relevant and applied research initiatives to boost food resources and enhance the quality of life for the world’s 1 billion poor and hungry people (Deane et al, 2010). Aspects of training that are considered include: 1) underlying training philosophy, 2) training categories, 3) educational materials, 4) training course development, 5) changing themes, 6) collaborating institutions, 7) participants in training, 8) specific examples of capacity development in the NARS of the Center’s mandate region, with examples from Pakistan (rural livelihoods), Afghanistan (seed improvement), and Morocco (biotechnology), 9) training program assessment, and 10) future perspectives. The article concludes with a plea for increased emphasis on training and capacity-building to enhance technology transfer efforts of international agricultural development institutions
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