development
projects
locations Malawi, Pakistan, Philippines dates January 2008 – June 2010 project team Janice Osborn Jane Frances Asaba Janet Halsall Chris Parker Mahrukh Siraj Qiaoqiao Zhang
developing a global agricultural research archive
Worldwide concern about food security and climate change is at an all-time high. It is widely accepted that these issues will hit the most vulnerable communities, those in the tropical regions of the developing world, hardest.
so what’s the problem? Investment in international agricultural research is being increased to meet the threats of poor food security and climate change and technological innovations offer great promise for improved food output in the future. At both local and national levels, much knowledge already exists which, if effectively disseminated and implemented, could immediately improve yields and reduce losses. However, this information is not readily accessible in developing countries, nor is it in a form that allows it to be shared within countries, let alone across regions.
what is this project doing? CABI is helping solve this problem by creating a network of agricultural information for the world’s researchers to share through our GARA initiative. The aim is to preserve and disseminate valuable agricultural material and associated knowledge for the benefit of current researchers and generations to come. The Global Agricultural Research Archive (GARA) has been developed to capture research digitally and create a knowledge archive on behalf of three developing countries in Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia – Malawi, Pakistan and the
KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE
Philippines. The archive is centrally managed and maintained to enable preservation, disaster recovery, and the long-term protection of knowledge which may be lost for ever. It is a vital resource within these countries, and also offers the potential to create an information network that could be shared across the region. Improving access liberalizes agricultural knowledge. When research succeeds and outputs are documented, disseminated and preserved, one small team of researchers can raise the productivity and income of millions of farmers. For developing countries this will mean: • information sharing across borders • agricultural knowledge can become integrated into the burgeoning knowledge economy similarly to that of developed countries • local knowledge will become preserved for future local use
results so far Successfully developed and demonstrated at CABI’s Global Summit on Food Security in October 2009, GARA contains more than 1,500 easily accessible full text records from key institutional partners in Malawi, Pakistan and the Philippines. • 520 full text articles from Malawi • 550 full text articles from Pakistan • 680 full text articles from Philippines These digitized database records include reports, conference proceedings, journal articles and newsletters. In the last year, over 13,000 people have visited the site to use the documents held there. The top ten countries for usage are: 1. Pakistan 2. India 3. Philippines 4. USA 5. UK 6. Iran 7. Malawi 8. Malaysia 9. Australia 10. South Africa It’s good to see that this small collection of documents is being used and that the countries participating in the project are in this list. It’s also good to see that this work is now being accessed throughout the world. The challenge going forward is how to expand this approach.
www.cabi.org/gara sponsor CABI Development Fund (CDF)
contact CABI, Nosworthy Way, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, OX10 8DE, UK T: +44 (0)1491 832111 F: +44 (0)1491 829198 E: enquiries@cabi.org www.cabi.org
ID-GARA-10-12
Janice Osborn, Project Manager