Iaas world 2005

2005

IAAS HEADQUARTER

Faculty of Applied Bioscience and Engineering Kasteelpark Arenberg 21, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium Tel. +32 (0) 16 321 736, Fax. +32 (0) 16 321 958 E-mail: iaas@iaasworld.org http://www.iaasworld.org

What is IAAS ?

IAAS aims to gather all students in agricultural and related sciences from the whole world in one big network in order to provide an international dimension to their education, views and activities. By organising a wide range of activities on the local, national, continental and global level and by spreading information and news, IAAS tries to increase international understanding, agricultural and social awareness, cultural openness and respect among students from the whole world.

In this way, we hope to contribute to a world-wide social sustainability movement, because being aware of causes and consequences of world problems as hunger, poverty, biodiversity loss, global change, environmental deterioration and many more is the first step towards sustainable solutions. In practical terms IAAS gathers students studying, majoring or researching in all fields of sciences that are closely related and through their scope compatible with broad sense of agricultural sciences, e.g. environmental sciences, forestry, food sciences, nutrition, landscape architecture, biotechnology, rural development etc. Most of them could be classified under a wide term of applied biological sciences. Its committees are spread over more than 50 countries worldwide.

The mission of IAAS is defined as to promote the exchange of experience, knowledge, and ideas, and to improve the mutual understanding between students in the fields of agriculture and related sciences all over the world. To achieve this, the committees from all over the world organise activities such as topic oriented seminars, working camps, discussion forums, international and national meetings, exchange weeks, international exchange program for practical experience (ExPro), smallscale development projects (VCP: village concept programs) etc.

IAAS World is the official publication of the International Association of Students in Agricultural and Related Sciences. This magazine is distributed free of charge to all members over the whole world. The redaction is autonomous and is not responsible for the content of the advertisements. Please, feel free to have a critical and multilateral view on all publicity you find in the magazine.

The articles do not necessarily reflect the general opinion of IAAS. Photos belong the article authors, except page 3 (Lynn Simmonds ), page 22, 30 (IAAS-Croatia) , page 18(Stefan Krisna), page 30, 32 (Mette Hessel).

Articles should be submitted to the Redaction as email file attachments in MS Word, rtf, txt format or as email text. Authors are kindly asked to include pictures with their articles, either as file attachment in tiff or jpeg format, or sent by postal mail.

The redaction reserves the rights not to publish the material that is not found to be of sufficient quality. Authors are asked to provide contact email address or telephone/fax number to be included with the article. We apologize for eventual mistakes in the articles.

IAAS World Redaction

Promotion and adverstising

Kastelpark Arenberg 38 B-3001 Heverlee Belgium Iaas@iaasworld.org www.iaasworld.org Tel : +32 (0) 16 32 17 36 Fax : +32 (0) 16 32 19 58

IAAS Excecutive Committee iaas@iaasworld.org Tel : +32 (0) 16 32 17 36 Fax : +32 (0) 16 32 19 58 Donations can be made to the following Account : KBC bank account IAAS International : 744-4291561-80 Address: Naamsesteenweg 167, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium

Editors :Stefan Krisna Priawan, Ninkabou Idrissou, Mette Hessel Layout and page designer: Stefan Krisna Priawan Illustrator : Ninkabou Idrissou

IAAS Executive Committee 2004-2005 President : Ninkabou Idrissou (Togo) Secretary General :Mette Hessel (Denmark) Vice President :Stefan K. Priawan(Indonesia)

IAAS World as Electronic version : www.iaasworld.org Printed in Belgium

Subscribe?

This magazine is distributed to all member-committees of the Association over the whole world. Individuals may subscribe this magazine from IAAS Headquarter.

2

IAAS WORLD 2005

Contents

From the President We are almost fifty years old and we have grown since

# From the Redaction the first informal meeting in Bucarest (Romania) in 2. What is IAAS? 2. IAAS World Redaction 1954 and the first World Congress in Tunis (Tunisia), official birth act of our organisation in 1957.

3. From the President The road has been bumpy and tiresome, we experienced difficult and joyful # IAAS World 2005 moments but we are still together, forming one of the largest and joyful 4. Student Mobility; Studying Agriculture students families in the world; a wonderful place in the sun where there is care Abroad and respect for and from everybody, no matter what is his belief, race or culture; 11. Exchange Programme a place where we share our experiences, ideas, knowledge and opinions; a place and Human Capital Development

where we have created a spirit refered to as “IAAS Spirit”; a spirit you can only find within IAAS and nowhere else. Yet, whenever we come out of the IAAS 13. An Experience from World and dive into everyday’s life, we face the same things as the common of Sweden: Working With human beings: the world is full of fears and challenges but also full of promises Pigs in Aneby and opportunities.

15. Student Mobility: Talking about challenges, IAAS was created within circumstances that justify Europe, Brain Drain to a large extent its aims: the Cold War. Fifty years after, the war is over; the Africa winners shared the booty and imposed their pace to the losers, but also to the 16. ICA and It’s Activities neutrals: a New World Order has come. Within that order, each for himself and With Regard To God for all. In that poker party where the game is supposed to be played Student Mobility according Hoyle, watertight regulations do not give any chance to poor, who, # Other Topic 6. Does Africa Need help willy-nilly stepped into a race they lost in advance. Yet, by hook or by crook, everybody tries to find pathways to keep their head above water. for Development ?

We do not constitute an exception to that situation; we have to find pathways to 17. Food Quality And keep IAAS running while meeting our praiseworthy goals which did not Plant Nutrition change, though the world has gone through a lot of changes and is more and 18. Plant Species: The more pitiless. Until this day we have done quite well, we have proved to our Tools partners, ranging from fellow students' organisations to the UN agencies, how Decomtaniminating serious we are and now most of our projects are looked at as benchmark works Polluted soil in our for a student-run organisation.

Environment 19. Child Academic Reengineering and ReOrientation 20. Concepts Related to GMO's 21. Recommendation of APRM 2005 # IAAS Meetings 21. Asia Pacific Regional Meeting 2005 In Indonesia 24. The Sub Regional Meeting For The First Time In Poland 26. Regional Meeting in Europe 2004/2005 27. Seminar in Macedonia 28. General Assembly Croatia # The University 31. AGA going to places 32. Agriculture in the Beating Heart of a Bustling City

What about tomorrow?

If we do have challenges, we do have opportunities as well. Taking advantage of those opportunities might be the key for the future. It is a duty for us to leave IAAS as a legacy to the next generations, to give them the chance to have a wonderful experience through student organisations as this one; enjoy their period as students while learning and getting ready to face their future responsibilities. This implies that we need to refocus a bit on our commitment and give more importance to long term perspective in our everyday tasks, even if we are not professionals as some sing all day long. Among other things, we have as an opportunity our most old and most performant project: the Exchange Programme. How can we redress the trend and increase the number of students involved in the exchange programme? How can we increase student mobility which has been significantly decreasing since a couple of years? How should we get more involved in small-scale development projects, alone or in partnership with other students organisations? Those are among other things challenges we have to meet and take in a near future. This issue of IAAS World deals mainly with the mobility of students and all what it implies as advantages and hindrances. However, other relevant topics are dealt with as well.

We hope that reading the articles in this issue will give food for thought to each of you. Enjoy your reading and keep the IAAS Spirit!

Ninkabou Idrissou 47th IAAS President

IAAS WORLD 2005

3

By Erakhrumen Andrew A. Department of Forest Resources Management; University of Ibadan, Nigeria

The Reasons To Discover Other Places There are more disadvantages in living an isolated life than the advantages. Nobody is an island; even recluse do have contacts. Since the being of time, moving from one part of the world to the other has been in practice for various reasons .

If one takes a critical look at the mobility of humans across the globe, it is discernible that there have been changes in the perception of human to life as a result of culture and ideological contacts. These contacts almost always lead to the awareness of the fact that there are other cultural and ideological concepts in other parts of the world. What I am driving at here?

When a child is brought up in a particular part of the world, it is expected that child will grow up to know more about that part of the world. What such child grows up to know about other parts of the world might be hearsay which might have even been distorted by those he obtains the information from, probably for their own benefit. It is only when such child has the opportunity of knowing what exists in such part of the world by physically visiting the place, that he might have a better and balanced view of the operations there. It is thus, imperative to look at this social and educative aspect of human life pointing our searchlight to student mobility, since the academic sector is assumed to hold the most objective and open-minded human beings.

Firstly, we need to know what mobility is all about. This is the ability to move from one point to the other. In the case of student mobility, from one part of the world to the other, in search of knowledge and experience in this

4

new place. Therefore, in order for this mobility to be completed, there must be a migration from one geographical location to the other.

There are many advantages that accrue to the individual that engages in such mobility. Some of them are : ● The student who engages in student mobility, in this case exchange programmes acquires experiences and knowledge from other parts of the world visited. It is an established fact that experience is the best teacher, therefore, the student who leaves his country of birth or study for another, stands a better chance because he will have the knowledge about how things are done in other part of the world visited other than his and will benefit him in his future endeavor. ● This kind of programme also assists in changing the perception of people about other parts of the world.

There are long time held preconceptions about some parts of the world by people and such a kind of mobility will help to clear these misconceptions since student will see things for themselves. ● There will be a sort of cultural and ideological mix.

Since culture is dynamic, contacts will definitely modify culture and beliefs of those that engage in such exchange programmes, in this case for good, which assists in making the world a global village. ● More friends are made during exchange programmes, which can be of advantage in their intellectual endea vour. ● This kind of programmes also assist in discovering and developing talents and brains which might not

IAAS WORLD 2005

have been identified if this kind of mobility have not been embarked upon. ● Wider range of opportunities that are available are discovered and are put to use. ● There is opportunity for sharing ideas with colleagues. ● These kind of programmes facilitate the meeting of resource persons worldwide. There is the opportunity of students meeting teachers, lecturers, researchers, writers and academic gurus of international rating during this kind of mobility. This kind of mobility assists in exposing students from educationally less developed parts of the world to other parts of the world where the education and educational facilities are at its highest.

Constrains and barriers As laudable as this idea of student mobility is, there are many constraints which limits its success in many parts of the world, most especially the less developed countries, in this case African countries. There is no gainsaying that in this part of the world, the economic status is poor and this definitely affects students in this part of the world. What am I saying? Students are always interested in engaging in exchange programmes but the cost of flight tickets, exchange fees, basic travel allowance, visa fees etc are always frightening. If there are no sponsors, and the student is not from an average home, the interest in exchange programme diminishes.

This constraint has made us lose students with bright minds, who are supposed to embark on such academically motivated journey. Another constraint to this programme is lack of information. Most students in this part of the world do not have access to information about exchange programmes, thus limiting their scope of international academic pursuit. In a situation whereby students have the information and all legal traveling documents and funds to embark on such exchange programmes, some embassies, consulates and High Commissions in countries in Africa make it very difficult for students to participate in exchange programmes.

It seems they do not have effective mechanism in place, to identify those with genuine intention of traveling to their home countries. An example of such situation is when the Italian Embassy in Nigeria scheduled the delegates for the world congress from Nigeria for an interview on September 13, 2004 for the World Congress which ends on the 15 August 2004!

Language differences have been a barrier to easy movement of people from one part of the world to the other from time immemorial. For example, if a student has an interest in a particular field in a country or region but does not understand the language it would be almost impossible to go to that part of the world which

thus, limits the exchange programmes potential.

For example students with English language background will find it difficult to go for exchange programmes in countries where Spanish is the official language except there are guides or translator but the student might not be able to afford this service except, of course, if it is free. P o l i t i c a l instability in some parts of the world has really affected student exchange programmes, example is in the case of some parts of Eastern Europe and Africa where there are wars, it will be very difficult to encourage students to embark on exchange programmes in such countries. There has never been any foolproof concept or ideology but what matters most is for the idea or concept to be worked upon for improvement.

Some ideas to mend Some of the recommendations that are expected to be considered in order to make the student mobility concept in this case exchange program work better are: ● Since the major factor that contribute to the failure of the programme has been identified to be lack of or inadequate financing, efforts should be intensified on how funds can be generated for the benefits of students who want to engage in exchange programmes. The executive committee on behalf of the students in this part of the world, who want to engage in such programmes for academic purpose, should contact funding agencies. ● Students from this part of the world should be encouraged to be information conscious because as it is said information is power and there is nobody to be blamed except oneself if one is not exposed to information. Thus, students in this part of the world should continuously seek for information as regards the exchange programmes which will be beneficial to their academic pursuit. ● The knowledge of other people's language is part of education so students should learn languages other than the languages they speak in their place of domicile. This will help them whenever they move out as international students and will also aid research and academic pursuit. ● Organizers and participants in exchange programmes should try as much as possible to make sure that time is put into consideration when scheduling these programmes. This will afford all that are concerned the opportunity to be adequately prepared for the administrative bottlenecks in the embassies

IAAS WORLD 2005

5

DOES AFRICA NEED HELP FOR DEVELOPMENT ?

From Structural Adjustment Policies to Debt Cancellation

By Ninkabou Idrissou

Every now and then, we hear now and then talking about poor countries' debt and “negotiations” for cancelling it.

Most of very poor indebted countries are in Africa. Since the collapse of the Communist Block and the raise of the “New World Order”, Africa is looked at as the ailing baby of the planet, to a point that a special G8 summit took place with some African heads of states as special guests to launch the NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa Development), a new concept that is supposed to be designed by Africans, and when implemented, should alleviate Africa from their burden of poverty. You see, sometimes people just seem to have a short memory. A few decades ago, a similar plan was launched with a lot hope, the Lagos Action Plan (LAP). The plan was in those days looked at as a miracle that will pull Africa out from poverty’s mud. It is useless to recall that none of the points of that plan was implemented and today we even got poorer (at least in Togo). Like the NEPAD, the LAP was supposed to be designed by Africans in order to eradicate poverty and the “International Community” was supposed to fund the plan through help for development. Here we go.

Through this article I would like to raise a concern and draw the attention of my fellow students, mainly from Africa, on an attitude that contributes a lot to maintain us Africans as perpetual beggars of the world.

Lessons of democracy In the beginning of nineties, African countries' leaders were gathered in La Baule, France within the framework of the Franco-African summit that takes place very often. But that particular one has a very important meaning as in his inaugural speech, the French president told to his African partners that they have to open up their regimes to more freedom and democracy, and hence forwards, assistance and help for development will be conditioned by democracy. One decade after, some concepts like good governance have been added to democracy by other “International Community” members as conditions to grant an aid for development.

Meanwhile, the total help for development sunk dramatically

6

and Africans' everyday life went worse. The idea of conditioning help with democracy and good governance is praise worth but the aims are suspicious as we will see later.

When I analyse the whole issue, I notice two main points; one internal to Africans and the other external that keep us as slaves until today.

There is no saint in the world Many Africans welcomed with enthusiasm the recommendations of the La Baule summit, as if democracy as conceived and exported by their colonial master was aimed to make them move forward and if these latter just became saints. We have to analyse history the last forty years and take into account the current facts to notice that in fact all that play takes place in a large strategy that makes the so called New World Order.

Those who behave today as democracy champions are not as they seem. Most of our countries got their independence after a long struggle and sometimes by war.

At independences, most of countries kept freedom of speech, multiparty system and other facts that characterize any democracy. Presidents were elected through free and fair elections. Yet, whenever a president or a regime was suspected to be close to Soviet Union, or simply not behave as the colonial power wanted, our democracy champions financed military men to overthrow him very quickly. Thus, people like N'krumah, Tolber, Alende, Olympio and Lumumba paid dearly for not being faithful to their colonial masters or for enancing a policy that irritated democracy champions, no matter if they were elected or not.

As the Soviet Union collapsed and there is no longer a balance in the world, the former colonies could be now controlled through a legal process. This includes defining watertight regulations on an international level to take control of resources, very important for West economy or

IAAS WORLD 2005

through structural adjustments policies to take control of national companies; putting on power marionettes through fraudulent elections or overthrowing a government through mercenaries as recently a simple businessman, namely Sir Mark Thatcher, backed by democracy champions, financed mercenaries to overthrow the government in Equatorial Guinea, just to take control of the oil in that country regardless to how many citizens could die in the civil war that could break out. In Latin America, democratically elected presidents are looked at like undesirable by democracy champions just because they define their own policies and implement them. They do not give opportunity to any teacher to give them lectures in that matter.

Profit, not ethics Among democracy champions, we have international institutions as well; the most famous are World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Funds (IMF). Those institutions openly make understood that they want to fund development and democracy and that good governance are their main criteria reportedly. They are looked at as the main financers of the Millennium Goals, including education for all within few decades. But so far, their actions did not and are not helping democracy and development at all. One of their policies is the disengagement of the States in national economies, mainly in poor countries. As consequence, vital fields like health, education and other relevant infrastructures construction are handed to the private sector. But what does private sector mean in a country like Burkina Faso, Niger, Malawi or Togo?

According to the UNCTAD (1), the first impulsions for economical growth can only come from the State, that afterward should not merely take into account market mechanisms but also reinforce institutions to underpin economic development. The disengagement of the State in our countries weakened them more. To illustrate the drama that is being played I will give the example of Togo. The income per capita is 280 euros per year. Under the pressure of those institutions, the State got disengaged from financing higher education and tuition fees at university were multiplied 10 times, rising from roughly 10 euros to 100 euros. It means that an average Togolese who has three children cannot afford to pay their tuition fees at university, in other terms less than 30 percent of Togolese have access to higher education today, given to their income. How can a citizen participate in democracy if he is not educated? As for the health system, public hospitals are falling apart everywhere, only the rich can afford going to abroad (Europe) to be taken care of. We are 5 years away from 2000 and 20 years away from 2025. The millennium goals as set had as main deadlines 2015 and 2025 for achieving major steps in eradicating poverty . 5 years after the year 2000 nothing has been undertaken; meanwhile meetings, summits and talks went on. Much ado about nothing. As you may see, only the profit matters, forget about ethics.

A personal friend Democracy champions openly support heads of states, well known for their tyranny. A very poignant example is the French current head of state, Mr. Jacques Chirac, who backed many tyrannies in Africa and referred to the former Togolese

president as “good friend of France” and also his “personal” friend. The same Chirac publicly denied an Amnesty International report on massive human rights violations in that country as he was on official visit in 1999.

More significantly, after a coup in Togo two weeks ago on th February 5 , France did not condemn the action, since it was the son of their “personal friend”who stepped into power.

More than a decade after the La Baule Summit and democracy lessons given by François Mitterrand, for 52 countries in Africa only 18 countries implement “more or less” democratic principles. Seventeen pretend being democratic, 11 are engaged in civil war and 6 experienced a coup recently. In the countries cited as reference of democracy in Africa (Benin, Ghana, Mali, etc..), the majority of citizens do not even know the content of the policies carried out by their politicians who barely care about their opinion, and their every day's life did not improve at all. The standard of living sunk significantly compared to 20 years ago and life is a struggle for survival.

Indeed, for an African decision maker, legitimacy in front of financers is worthier than legitimacy in front of their populations, those they are supposed to represent. This attitude is wide spread among Africans, ranging from the farmer to the minister and comes form a simple fact: an inferiority complex we have vis-à-vis foreigners and mainly vis-à-vis westerners, or to call a spade a spade, visà-avis white persons. Unlike Asians, the self- confidence of africans is not so high. Many Africans feel inferior whenever they interact with white people. This is a major source of the problems we face today. For most of African decision makers, the point of view of a local scholar is less important than the one of an “expert” from France, UK, Canada or whatever. That's why our policies are designed from abroad and submitted to us for implementation without consultation. This makes us look silly as we give the impression of putting the trail before the truck all the time. How is it that somebody living in a snow area should conceive a programme for somebody living in a place like the Sahara Desert? We call upon others to tell us what we should do and when we should do it. If you are African you should know what I talk about.

Run computers with sunlight Today, it's about ICTs everywhere, even in agriculture and health systems in developed countries. As we do not believe in ourselves and our capabilities, “experts” tell us that we could improve our yield in agriculture or we could make a better control of diseases by using ICTs. Financers tell us that they are ready to fund the use of ICTs in Africa.

Now in all African forums, it is about ICTs and development, only because people tell us that we should use it. Even the NEPAD is highly involved in that issues and a conference has recently been organised in Tchad by public health responsibles from various countries on the use of ICTs in combating epidemies in Central Africa.

The new topic Uganda leaders are working on now is eschools in Uganda funded by HP Corporation. At the same time, the ordinary Ugandans are still suffering from

IAAS WORLD 2005

7

war, scattered in refugees camps or have no mosquito net, and malaria pills are out of reach. More dramatic is the energy and time that is put in debating about ICTs in agriculture in countries where blackouts are common. I have been surprised to read some of my fellow students talking about the use of ICTs in teaching agriculture or simply using ICTs in agriculture as a way of addressing hunger in Africa. In a country like Nigeria, you barely watch an entire movie without being interrupted as blackouts are normal in that country. Moreover, in Togo, one of the largest producers of phosphates in the world, access to fertilizers is a huge privilege for farmers, and if fertilizers are available, their price is out of reach. The electricity failure as well as the lack of agriculture inputs are serious hindrances in almost all African countries, and yet we do not think about addressing them first, we just think about ICTs since our masters want us to always put the trail before the truck, as if we should be running computers with sunlight.

The failure of defining our own priorities and always giving way to imported policies makes things even worse. By now in Togo and in maybe in the whole West Africa, farmers should not be complaining about inputs such as fertilizers, or event pesticides. Research carried out by local scholars showed that local resources such as neem seeds or camel grass could be used to prepare clean, more efficient and safe pesticides for both plant and animal protection. Yet, none of Togolese decision makers thought to develop a fertilizer industry or fostering the use of local resources, as no “expert” from overseas told them to do so. Few times ago in 2004, Ghana government, under the leadership of Mr John Kufor dared to protect small scale rice producers by putting taxes on imported rice. Our overseas “experts” taught Mr Kufour and his government that they did not master the lesson enough; the lesson says that they should abandon small rice producers to their fate and open up the market (the country?) for foreign control and so they did! I do not think that an Asian country should have behaved in the same way. As I said, health system in our countries are getting from bad to worse. In Togo, most of hospitals are in lack of infrastructures. Mr Eyadema should have not died in his plane on the way to Europe to be taken care of, if he did not fail providing his country, after 38

8

years of absolute reign, with an acceptable health system.

He even had a plane to rush to Europe to be taken care of, how many Togolese have access to malaria tablets? He was probably waiting for “experts”to teach him what to do.

Another poignant example is the attitude we African we adopt in front of the “International Community”.

Less worthier than a maggot’s life Have you ever wonder who is the “International community”? I did and I asked. The answer I got was not clear but I understood. Two events in the last decade made me understand that in the world an African's life is considered less worthier than a maggot’s life. In 1994, over a million of persons were killed in Rwanda in less than two moths. In a first time, the “International Community”, our democracy champions, refused to acknowledge a genocide that they contributed actively and passively to carry out by their attitude and policies (2). Later they acknowledged the genocide but no tribute was paid to victims, no country in the world mourned the victims and put their flag in half mast, even in Africa, except Rwanda.

7 years after, September 11 happened, officially some 3000 persons died in that terrorist attempt. All the countries in the world, except two or three, showed their sympathy, put their flags in half mast and special ceremonies were organised here and there, including in all African countries. Almost all countries in the world decreed official mourning days including all African countries. In Togo, the mourning lasted 3 days. When I analyse these two attitudes, the conclusion is that 3000 dead in the USA are considered more important than one million dead in Rwanda. Meaning that a person that dies in the USA is 333 times more important than a person that dies in Rwanda, in other terms, for the world, an African's life is 333 times less important than a westerner's life, and we Africans we contribute to maintain that mind set, we act as if our culture was the worse one and as if our human characteristics were below ’standards’.Very few african ladies do not perm their hairs. For them, having permed hairs sounds like having the key for meeting ‘standards’ or being accepted ( I wondering by who? ). Some even bleach

IAAS WORLD 2005

The Grain and Feed Trade Association Become a GAFTA Member, the benefits are:

GAFTA Headquarters:

The support of GAFTA to promote the

-

Traders

-

GAFTA's Office in Ukraine 8 Saperno Slobodskaya Street Office # 1 Kiev 03026 Ukraine Tel: +380 44 524 0329 Fax : +380 44 524 0231 E-mail: golodova@gaftakyiv. com

Professional

their so beautiful skin to become ‘white’. They end up looking like a zebra; mainly men but also women as you will see in Hedzranawoe market (Lome) how Ibos look like. If they do not look like zebra, they just look pink like Michael Jackson.

Do we really need help for development? Do we need to bend on knees for charity? Why should we run away from ourselves?

Few weeks ago, media talked about a project of debt cancellation for 18 countries in a near future. I laughed as many persons praised with joy that fact in Africa and overseas.

Unlike those persons, I was eager to burry my head in the shame. What we Africans forget often is that the hand that gives is always above the one that receives. According to World Bank figures, Sub-Saharan Africa paid back four times their debt since 1980 but they are still three times indebted.

Between 1998 and 2000 sub-Saharan Africa paid back 16 billions US dollars, more than they got as loan those years (3).

The fight against poor Have you ever seen a country where people express their happiness only because European Union announced that they could restart their cooperation with that country? This can only happen in Africa. In November 2004, some 13 persons died (official sources) in Lomé (Togo) as they were demonstrating in favour of the EU announcement according to which there might have a resume of co-operation between Togo and EU. The funniest is that we have survived without co-operation with EU more than a decade. In the end of 1990s, the world saw pictures of Comorians demonstrating on the island of Anjouan asking to go back under French

rule, more than 20 years after their independence. Most of us think that without co-operation with EU, WB or IMF etc., we can't survive. This not true at all. They benefit more from co-operation than we do. According to the UNCTAD, 40% of Africa incomes in 1990s went back to lending countries as interests and benefits (4). More significant, 60% to 80% of EU help for development goes back to EU every year as equipment purchase, payment of services and so on (5). Let’s have look at that. It means if you get 1 euro from EU on the 1st of January by 31st of December, EU has taken back 80 cents, and you are left with 20 cents to work. On the 1st of January of the following year, you have a debt of 1 euro to pay back to EU, though you only worked with 20 cents. If the interest is 1 %, then your debt is 1.01 euros. To sum up, for each euro you use from EU; you pay back 5.05 euros. In that sense, adjustment policies as they are designed by “experts” were supposed to underpin the private sector and governments should free capital movements, sink taxes for private companies, lower public intervention in economy etc. But today the reality denies that view. Over 20 years, there had no improvement of private investment but on the reverse it has been noticed that capital flew from Africa to North countries as funds movements were liberalized, in other terms our money goes to oil their economy (1). As you see, they milk us and feed from our flesh; that's why we are skinny and bonny. If Togo was capable to live more than a decade without EU's economic help, it means that Africa can live without co-operation, at least in the way it is now. None will design solutions for our problems if it does not benefit him first. In the French

IAAS WORLD 2005

9

new African co-operation policy, a special stress is put on the French language. We must speak French if we want to get any help for development. Have you ever seen a people get developed while speaking somebody's language? Some say that we have so many languages in Africa and we cannot promote our languages; if that's true, it's also true that Singapore, India or Indonesia have many languages as well, but so far none of them speaks French or English exclusively.

To me the fight against poverty sounds like the fight against poor.

Get rid of the slavery As you see, when one analyses Africa's situation today and all what is going on, one comes to conclude that in fact, all what is being said is very far from the truth. We are made to believe that we cannot take our fate in hands, and everything that is decided or designed is made for our own good. We are not cursed and we can get rid of the oppression. This is only possible if we change our attitude and mind set, because we cannot stand external domination if we do not define clearly our priorities. Is it because people use internet in someplace in the world that I should also use internet while I am not able to secure food production or while the transportation facilities are not yet existing? Should I invest in Cell telephony while not having yet secured that I have a mosquito net? I do not think so. Hunger is squeezing people in Niger, but if you check really you will find some farmers with mobile phones, without food to eat and begging for help. The same in Togo, some farmers have mobile phones but no money to buy fertilizers. This is snobbish, we want to prove that we are somebody but we are nothing yet. As soon as there is a new type of mobile phone, you will see people showing off with it.

We know better than anybody what we need and when we need it. Defining our priorities means we should go by our standards, go step by step, no matter if somebody somewhere is using whatever technology. Can you lay in your bed without sitting down first? The current leaders should know that it's no use rolling out the red carpet for a simple World Bank president or ordering a luxury cars for guests no matter they are, while there is no products for laboratories in the universities; they should offer only what we can afford for the moment. They should not be living above our means because living above our means is the major source of corruption in Africa. It's no use promising miracles to people; tell them truth, that they have to sweat, they will even lose their life but that's the price to pay to get rid of slavery. Those who give us

lessons today dedicated a whole literature to refer to China and criticize them, but today they are the same persons that are running to China, getting supplied by China.

As future decision makers in Africa, we students should be aware that the chicken is only fattened to be sent to the slaughter house, and likewise, the help is not meant to free us. We should know now that there is no success without sacrifice, and mainly those who give us lessons and tell us what to do today will never let us grow, simply because they need us as poor, they need our resources. I imagine if Africa starts consuming as China does now, the price of oil will grow out of control, other resources you only find in Africa will not be available, their economy will collapse, they will become poor, meaning that they will take our place and we will take their place. For that each of us should be prepared and know that we will sweat, cry and maybe die to achieve the goal but our fore children will be free, none will look down upon them whenever they reach an airport; no police man will ask them questions only because they have an African country's passport; nobody will look their visa with special lenses because it's issued in Africa. We must understand that the biggest asset a nation can have is it’s citizens mind set. You have maybe already experienced how humiliating it is to apply for visa as African in a western country's embassy; you always look suspicious, just because you are poor. That will last some decades more but, as sure as the sun will rise from the East and set at the West, it will come to an end.

The cool pride Until that day, we have to be proud; we have to express that cool pride you feel of being African. Our smile should reflect how the sun shines in Africa. If the Japanese are proud because sun rises in Japan, then you can understand that I am as twice as proud because the sun comes to shine in Africa, the center of the world. If the first human being appeared in Africa, for sure the last human being will disappear there. To my fellow African students, I just ask them to be African, to be what they are before being what people want them to be References 1- UNCTAD,Africa development, a comparative approach; Geneva 1998 2- Linda Malvern, A people betrayed: the role of West in Rwanda Genocide, Zed books Ltd London 2000.

3-World Bank Data, Washington 2001.

4-UNCTAD, Capitals flows and growth; Geneva 2000 5-Raoul-Marc Jenar, Nouvelles formes de colonialisme europĂŠen. L'accord de Cotonou, les habits neufs de la servitude. Colophon, 2002.

IAAS comes to Asia.......

10

IAAS WORLD 2005

EXCHANGE PROGRAMME AND HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT

By Ninkabou Idrissou

All the quotations given here are from students' evaluation forms or reports; some are as old as nine years. As matter of fact, after the exchange programme each student is requested to fill out an evaluation form (mandatory) and write a report (not compulsory but highly recommended) that is sent to his country's exchange coordinator and a copy sent to the host country's exchange coordinator. Anonymity is kept and student's names undisclosed.

In the context of the globalization of marketplace, the actors have to develop the capability of generating perceptions and adapting their behaviour to the cultural context while keeping a global perspective of thinking and decision making. One of the pathways of developing such a capacity is to involve students, viewed as future actors, in an international context of learning through students' exchange programmes. IAAS through her exchange programme seeks to prepare her members to face their in future challenges in an international context.

Types of exchange programme Two programmes enable to carry out the aims of IAAS exchange programme.

Ceres and Archimedes are the types of exchange programmes offered by IAAS. Ceres is so far the most popular programme in terms of participation. Ceres is the exchange programme that enables students to acquaint practical experience in working in a farm and, most of the time, living with a host family. It offers an opportunity to meet and live with people with different culture in a different country. Archimedes is the exchange programme that consists of all trainings that cannot be classified as farm work. Hence, Archimedes provides students with practical training in research institutions, in agro-industry companies and in forestry and nature conservation abroad. Students with a good knowledge of theory can gain experience by working with professional research in different parts of the world.

The exchange Programme is aimed at students and graduated students in their first year of graduation in agricultural and related sciences from IAAS member countries and individuals (students) granted with the correspondent membership.

The aims of IAAS Exchange Programme In accordance with IAAS mission statement, the exchange programme aims at: - Embracing intercultural and technical experience of students relative to their studies, - Fostering and strengthening the cooperation between students and their future employers, - Promoting symbiosis sharing of ideas, knowledge and experience between employers and students, - Developing friendship and understanding among IAAS members from a general standpoint all the stakeholders (students, farmers, employers) involved in the exchange programme contribute actively to the achievement of the goals.

Impact on participants The impact of taking part to the exchange programme is palpable from the exchangees. Depending on their origin and the host country, exchangees have different experience. For students from North (North points European countries and South under developed countries) the first remark they do make during their stay in a South country is the contrast between the abundance in their home country and the severe lack of commodities in their host country. A belgian student summed up saying: «I think that every day's life here is a constant struggle for survival, I feel very bad when I think about all what I have at home. » Another belgian student reports: «My farmer did all so that I feel comfortable, I was served chicken thighs every time he slaughtered some. But the thing is even thighs were so skinny that I ate the skin as well. What shocked me is that as I finished eating, children will come and ask me if they can take the bones; they were eating even bones and I cannot forget that. » After overcoming the shock created by the contrast, the next step is to get accustomed to local customs and context. Here man lives very close to nature and almost everything that happens is supposed to reflect God's will.

«The difficulties encountered in every day's life have developed a deep faith in God, that's amazing. » writes a swedish student. Some simply join the local church and enjoy themselves as this belgian student: «Church looks like a disco on Sundays; people dress very colourful and nice cloths and dance during the mass with a very nice and rhythmic music with percussions. I think belgian priests and bishops should do an internship here to make church more attractive to young people in Belgium. I never liked church as here. » The same student continues: « I also went to muslims prayer of Friday. As any woman I had my head half-veiled, the oldest wife of the farmer provided me with a veil (the farmer has three wives) for the circumstance. As my name is Sarah, I was called Sa'ada, the muslim equivalent of Sarah. Islam here is not what I see on TV and I liked it. » « I jumped in the fire and remained for a while without getting burn».

Some even got initiated to local animist ceremonies that are normally aimed to some people forming a caste in the society as this belgian student who reports: « My family is “democratic” and open minded in the sense that the farmer is animist and member of the “fire dancers” caste but his children feel free to chose which religion they want to belong to. Some are Roman Catholics, some

IAAS WORLD 2005

11

«I went to Muslims ’ Prayer on Friday »

Protestants and some animists as their father. I was initiated to ceremonies in order to be “fire dancer”; I jumped in the fire and remained for while without getting burn during a performance. I was given the name of Damba, which means “first daughter in the family”. » «Nobody is allowed to eat as long as all of them are not present: solidarity is taught from the childhood! » Others are amazed by the way the society is organised as this spanish student: « What I like the most is the family structure, and the way they live together. You have like three or four families living together: the farmer and his two wives, his brother and his wife, their cousin and his two wives. And all the children eat together in the same dish, girls have their dish and boys have their dish, the dish for young girls and boys is common. Nobody is allowed to eat as long as all of them are not present: solidarity is taught from the childhood! And each wife treats all the children as her children. What I could not understand is how do they manage to keep such a big family together? I liked that very much. » However, not all students felt at ease and experienced wonderful things; a belgian students reported: «I was treated like a prince, the farmer was a former ministry of defence and a rich man, so there had men at my disposal and were doing everything, I felt bad since I only met the “farmer” once or twice during my stay. I could not accept that; I was not there for that».

Some completely got upset with the way things work as this French student: « I had to wait six good hours before the bus left. I was the first traveller and had to wait until the bus gets full. As it was not the market day, travellers were rare and I had to wait all that time! » «Nobody dared listen to me as I was asking my way» On the reverse, students from under developed countries practicing in North countries make a totally different experience. Here time is ruthless. A Togolese student reports: «The first thing I learnt there is time management. When I reached Geneva central station, nobody dared listen to me as I was asking my way; all of them seemed in hurry. The sixth person however told me in few words where I should find the pay-desk. » They discover that all is not so automated in Europe as it seems viewed from overseas (sometimes with disappointment), the whether is rude, handwork is still present and in the farm they have to work more than they expected, an Indonesian student who practiced in Germany reported: «At the beginning I nearly gave up, the work was tough with this cold weather, I was not prepared for that. But on the other hand it was like a challenge, if they can work under the sun, then I can also work in the snow. But believe me; Europe is not as I thought It should be. A ghanean student reported: «Before going to Switzerland, I never

12

thought that one should work in Europe more than eleven hours a day. We even don't reach one tenth of their development and yet, this farmer should be in Ghana, he should only be coming now and then to ask how the work is going and then go and relax, he won't even touch anything. » They also discover at the same time that traditions are still kept in Europe. The Ghanaian student quoted above continues «I did not expect that there should have traditional feasts. In my host village they have feast called “herbsfäst”, that day no car is allowed in the village; at the same time people think in Africa that we should abandon our customs. » What most of students stress on in their reports is the technological experience they got from practicing in North countries. «It's obvious that there is no computer for animal feeding I could programme in my country but at least I can plough with a tractor and I learnt this from Denmark. » writes a Togolese student. The same student continues: «I am more skilful now; I increased my human capital somewhat. » «A parent must be allowed to bring back his child to the right way if this latter misbehaves too much» The difference of the social structures between North and South also has an impact on students as this ghanaian student who wrote: « Here, a parent is not allowed to even touch his child, no matter how bad he misbehaves.

Teachers are upset with difficult children at school. I don't wish this in Ghana, a difficult child deserves cane. I think that to an extent, a parent must be allowed to bring back his child to the right way if this latter misbehaves too much». And the same student concluded: «The social and cultural impact on my life during the exchange programme in Sweden has been very drastic, influential and has really changed my perspectives on so many issues around our globe and mainly in Africa. However the thing is you cannot change a society with a single snap of fingers and we should not accept all what comes from abroad, we should only pick what does fit us better». Farmer and employers also reported being influenced by hosting students from other countries. Those from whom we got a feedback are from North countries. Most of them said having increased their language fluency, as this swedish farmer: « The very first IAAS exchange student I got was from Ghana. At the beginning I had all the time a bilingual swedish-english dictionary in the pocket to look for words. Now my english is ten times better and I can even speak a little bit of spanish and know some French words.

IAAS WORLD 2005

«I was initiated to Ceremonies»

» A swiss farmer wrote «In Switzerland they speak many languages and here (Zürich) we speak only german.

Students from East Europe do also speak german. But IAAS students from Togo do speak mainly French and I improved a lot my french with them. » Besides improving their language skills, some acknowledge having broadened the scope of intercultural knowledge. A French farmer reports «What I learnt the most from hosting students is human resources management. Each student comes here with a total different mindset; the ways he does things which is different from the way other students did the same things. And I have to find the way to bring him slowly in the system without frustrating him or giving him the impression of knowing nothing. I learnt to be patient with IAAS exchange students. » The swedish farmer quoted above continues: « Now I know very much about Africa and Latin America. I have already been in Spain to visit the family of a former student who was with me for practice. I have also been in Colombia. Now I plan to visit Africa: Togo and Ghana. Most of the time I explain to my fellow farmers in the area how things are in those countries. They are afraid of hosting a student from another country and culture, but I think that with time they will imitate me. Next time I will ask for a student from Thailand or Indonesia» And he concluded: «I understand better why young people in those countries

want to come here. My hope is that the little I give them during their stay here should help them in future. » From all what is developed above it is clear that the IAAS exchange programme enables students: - To increase the knowledge of host countries, - To discover another culture, analyse it, compare it with their own culture and hence lessen their complex while interacting with people from other cultures, - To increase their skills in technology, - To have contacts, friends and relations in other countries.

To farmers and employers, the exchange programme enables to: - Increase their foreign languages fluency, - Get acquainted to other cultures, - Increase their human resources management, - Make friends in other countries.

The exchange programme exposes students to other countries, systems and cultures. In addition, the programme contributes to one's human capital development and changes one's perspective on so many issues around the globe. If globalization has really come to stay, then student mobility should be increased and students given more access to such programmes to sharpen their human capital

AN EXPERIENCE FROM SWEDEN: WORKING WITH PIGS IN ANEBY

By Ninkabou Idrissou

Blond ladies with blue eyes and legendary beauty Within The framework of IAAS Exchange programme, I have got the opportunity to make an internship at Dämparps Lantbruk, a pig production company located in Aneby, Jönköpings Län in Sweden. Though this was not my first time to step in Europe, I was excited as it was my very first time to step in Scandinavia, not in any country, I was going to Sweden and I read and heard more or less many tales about Vikings and their conquests; blond ladies with blue eyes, legendary smiles and beauty, bewitching looks that make you fall down etc. From Brussels I decided to go by bus, an opportunity to see the landscape on the way. I forgot that in winter you don’t have so much to look at in Europe. I was even excited as I was getting closer to the country. I entered Sweden and the first surprise was the landscape; here everything is monotonous: trees are almost all coniferous; in addition it was almost night all day long and the cold was penetrating me until bones. For an African it was amazing, «Here we are» I thought. I finally reached my destination which was Nässjö, where I was picked up by a friend of my farmer and the student that was ending his internship. The first thing I heard was «Välkommen till Sverige! Welcome to Sweden! » I was dying of cold despite the heavy jacket and the gloves I wore. I thought that the cold in Belarus was the worse one could live, I was totally wrong.

Indeed, welcome to Sweden!

The driving licence and the test As strange as it may seem, I got an internship at Dämparp not because I was speaking swedish or I had a very good experience in pig production management. I got the internship only because I was speaking spanish, thought my

spanish was very broken at that time. But the funniest is that I did not use spanish during the internship, at least not for professional purposes. As each student making an internship at Dämparp, I was supposed to have a driving licence at least and be able to use other relevant machines if possible. First the police had to confirm that I could use a driving licence delivered by Togo in Sweden. This being confirmed, I was surprised that I had to be tested by my boss! I finally understood that the reason was that the first student who came as trainee had a very genuine driving licence. But he could not start a car! After the test, he said «This is the car's key, that is the reservoir of fuel…»

Dämparps Lantbruk Dämparps Lantbruk is a swine production centre with around 300 sows made into 11 groups of 28 sows. The centre uses the two-week weaning system; in other words weaning is carried out every two weeks on Thursdays. The centre is divided into five units which are: Breeding unit, Lactation unit, Grower unit, Fattening unit, Grain and machinery. Every morning, the trainee goes around each unit for a general inspection with the aim of detecting problems. After the inspection, all droppings are cleaned using a scraper. The Breeding unit contains sows pregnant sows. Sows with problems, especially lameness are treated as quickly as possible. Sows that show signs of happiness are inseminated; sometimes the gilt is used based on one's own judgement. Hay is distributed to sows after treatment. All treatments and inseminations are recorded in a file using the date, sow ID, type of drug/sperm, number of days of treatment. In the Grower unit, all

IAAS WORLD 2005

13

TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES ON AN AUSTRALIAN FARM Travailler en Australie pour un temps, Ça vous tente?

Do you want to live and work on an Australian farm? Take the chance of learning farm skills and horse riding in Australia! In addition you will have good rates...Don't miss this!

For further inquiries, feel free to send your questions to the following e-mail address for brochure and application form: tyndallfarm@bigpond.com

automatic troughs/feeders are filled with feed. Animals with where any question can be asked to the veterinary for scours or diarrhoea/dysentery, lameness, respiratory problems further clarification. are treated between three and five days.

The Grower unit contains one to two months old piglets. In that From forestry machines to pigs production unit, tail biting is very common. Tail biting should be treated with At the begenning, what is the current Dämparps seriousness and the biting animal is picked from the batch. The Lantbruk was a hobby for Magnus Karlsson, the breeding unit contains pregnant sows. In that unit (as in all the company manager. He bought his parents' farm in other units except grower unit) the feeding is computer 1975 as he was 21 years alod and was planing to settle controlled. It often happens that sows do not eat and the trainee with his girl friend, his current wife, « my Croustilla» as has to regulate the amount of feed from the computer. The he affectionately calls her. He was then manager of a weaning take place each two weeks as said before, the sows that are forestry machinery company. At that time the farm weaned get inseminated on the next Tuesday two times: in the had some 20 sows and few cows and he added 40 sows morning and in the afternoon and on Wednesday morning. Every more. In 1986, he got some subsidies for cows and insemination is recorded and the farrowing date calculated. On a increased the number of sows. In 1989, he extended monthly basis, a veterinary visites the centre in order to control if his farm by buying the current fattening unit. In 1994, the production follows the company got to its current national standards: all size. Every year some 6000 pigs the medecines, are sent to the slaughter houses in va c c i n e s a n d t h e Sweden and in other countries components of the like Germany from the Center. feed is checked as well But that did not help to save the as the number of company and it was declared in animals with health bankruptcy in May 1999 and was problems, the type of put in liquidation. But nobody desease and the wanted to buy the auctioned duration of treatment. company. Then Magnus dealt This gives an idea with another Bank, Nordea, to about the trends of rebuy this company. Today the animal deseases and company is booming and the veterinary takes production is steadily increasing, notes. That's the time a renewal of equipment and an A lunch time at Dämparp: one talks about all and nothing

14

IAAS WORLD 2005

extension are foreseen.

The first contact with IAAS According to Magnus, the contact with IAAS was made during the summer holiday in 1999 on the isalnd of ﾃ僕and, as a farmer on that island was already working with IAAS. He got in touch the swedish National Committee in Uppsala and hosted his first IAAS exchange student, that student was from Ghana. But, now according to him, IAAS no more so efficient in Sweden, currently there is no Exchange

Coordinator and he has to process the student'application himself at immigration service and also to get him a permit of work. This discourage some potential employers and they go rather for other types of exchange programmes as there are different programmes offered by professional confederations. In addition, many employers do not IAAS and there is a need of advertisement from the swedish committee, because there are a lot of employers who could be interested if they knew what it is and how it works. A lot of job is waiting for the swedish committee

STUDENT MOBILITY

EUROPE, BRAIN DRAIN AFRICA By: ELIKPLIM DEMANYA, IAAS-GHANA. EMAIL: delin2@hotmail.com

The Case of Africa It is uncommon to find a student leaving one university to do a brief course in another university in the same country. Intracountry student mobility in African countries like Ghana is either nonexistent or negligible.Mostly the universities offer separate categories of programme like Education, Science and Technology, Art and Humanities. So students offering a Science programme have no other institution to go and continue the programme. It is only in recent times that the universities offer all-round curricular.

With the exception of language courses, the Educational System as it exists in Africa does not really allow for student mobility where you start your degree programme and go to another university abroad to do a course and come back to continue or complete your degree programme. The type of Student mobility most common in Africa is where one finishes his first degree and continues to do a second degree or Masters This kind of student mobility makes the beneficiaries highly employable in their home countries.

Employers in Ghana have a disposition of employing somebody who has had a degree in countries like Canada, Britain and The USA. Normally, those who pursue such courses in a foreign land take a shorter time to complete it than their counterparts doing the same thing in their homeland. The exposure provides an avenue for graduates seeking greener pastures in countries with higher income levels and living standards. It is in this particular benefit that African leaders and governments identify a threat. This threat is usually punned Brain Drain.We witness a mass exodus of the elite, skilled and talented from their home regions where they have enjoyed subsidized education with the hope that they will become future assets to the nation. It impedes the development of second degree programmes like Masters Courses in Higher Education Institutions of Africa which may already have well established first degree programmes.

Agriculture courses which are identified as national development programmes in Ghana with special attention through incentives and support suffers a great loss because agricultural student who go out to continue their education abroad, end up dropping the Agricultural or any related field to agriculture but seek other fields that are more lucrative

financially in their host countries.

The financial implication of living in a foreign land with a higher cost of living also means that, some students cannot readily live up to their purpose for going abroad to get better education. They have to juggle two to three part-time jobs together with their education to pay for the education. Also in some cases, language barrier and culture shock tend to impede academic capabilities.

In this increasing globalized world, student mobility becomes a phenomenon for the sustenance of globalization. It gives the opportunity to learn from other countries, enjoy what they have; political stability, economic flexibility, healthy environment and peace. All in all, it is an educational tool that endows beneficiary students and nations with enriched experience and high human resource capacities respectively.

To encourage student mobility, Higher Education schools should forge genuine networks on common grounds where students can be exchanged. Our schools could actually form an academic network where students go abroad to take a semester programme as part of their home degrees. With a programme of exchange, governments will be confident with student mobility on the basis that, for every student that goes out, there will be an equal student coming in from a foreign country.Standardization of the educational system has to be looked at, so that students can easily transfer qualifications from one institution to another.

Student mobility can be promoted as a requirement in some courses so that, before one even applies for a University programme, the student will be aware that, he or she will go abroad for a certain period. This will give ample time for preparation to travel.Financing through grants, scholarships and loan packages will greatly disseminate the benefits of student mobility to a wider range on students. Student mobility will not only be enjoyed by those who can pay for it

IAAS WORLD 2005

15

Interuniversity ConsortiumofAgriculturalandRelatedSciencesin Europe(ICA) ICA and its activities with regard to student mobility

By Kerstin Trieb, ICA Executive Secretary

Have you already heard about ICA? If not, it is high time, as IAAS is one of the standing committees of this organisation!

ICA the Interuniversity Consortium of Agricultural and Related Sciences in Europe (see also http://www.boku.ac.at/ica) - is a non profit-making organisation and aims to develop concerted actions in the field of higher education and research in agricultural and related sciences in Europe. ICA is active in the fields of Agricultural sciences and techniques (including socioeconomic sciences), Biotechnologies, Civil and rural engineering, Environmental sciences, Fisheries, Aquaculture, Food science and technology, Forestry, Horticulture, Land development, Landscape architecture, Natural resource management and Water management. Founded in 1988, ICA's member lists now comprises 74 higher education institutions from member states of the European Union and countries of Eastern and Central Europe.

ICA aims are: - to promote the development of the European dimension of Higher Education in Agricultural and related Sciences - to contribute to the improvement of education and teaching in these fields - to represent and defend the interests of European higher educations, to promote, facilitate, organize activities in the field of European co-operation (teaching, research, development...)

- to co-ordinate the various initiatives or networks designed to promote and extend interuniversity co-operation, to avoid the scattering of the means and sterile competition, to mobilize European skills for common projects, including in partnerships favouring rural development and European citizenship ICA objectives are: - to stimulate the development of European dimension and co-operation - to improve the quality of higher education and research - to co-ordinate the actions and initiatives of different disciplines in this field - to represent the general interest of higher education and research at the European Union and elsewhere - to secure funds to reach these objectives - to co-operate with other relevant academies and professional organisations and this “co-operation with other relevant organisations” is the place where IAAS comes in as a Standing Committee: The Standing Committees are responsible for the organisation of a certain discipline within the scientific field of ICA or for certain activities within the general aim. In addition to IAAS, the following organisations are Standing Committees of ICA: - IROICA -European Network of International Relations Officers at Higher Education Institutes for Agricultural and Related Sciences

16

- SILVA - European Forest Science Academic Network - MBA in Agrobusiness - ECHAE European Congress of Higher Agricultural Education - NATURA - Network of European Agricultural [Tropically and Subtropically Oriented] Universities and Scientific Complexes Related with Agricultural Development - USAEE - University Studies of Agricultural Engineering in Europe ICA is administrated by an Executive Committee that decides about the projects and publications related to education, training and research that are carried out by the association. One important aspect of ICA's activities is student mobility, as ICA holds the view that a European dimension and co-operation in higher education is best developed by motivating students to “look over the rim” of their university and to broaden their horizon by studying abroad or also by meeting foreign students at their own campus.

In the past, the ICA standing committees SILVA and MBA in Agribusiness have developed European Master Programmes that include compulsory study abroad periods in their curricula. More details on these Master programmes can be found on the websites of the two organisations, accessible via the ICA homepage.

IROICA, another standing committee of ICA, is constantly working on improving student exchanges. The network publishes guides of good practise and organises training workshops for International Offices in order to help them to organise student mobility more efficiently.

In order to analyse the current curricula offered to students, ICA (with support from IROICA) has just carried out a survey on Bachelor and Master programmes in agricultural and related sciences. This survey also included a questionnaire on the use of ECTS, the European Credit Transfer System which helps to transfer the exam results from the host institution to the home university. Both surveys contain valuable information for students planning their study abroad period. The results of the survey are soon going to be published on the ICA website, linked to the IAAS homepage (as a similar analysis has been made by the International Association of students in Agricultural and related Sciences).

In the future, ICA is going to concentrate on promoting European Curricula in the area of agriculture and related sciences. This will contribute to focus even more intensively on student mobility. An application for an ERASMUS MUNDUS project has just been submitted among others, with IAAS as partner. The project is meant to enhance the visibility and attractiveness for students from outside Europe of Masters degree programmes at

IAAS WORLD 2005

European higher education institutions in agriculture and related sciences. In addition, the project aims to assist European universities to improve the successful integration of international students within the academic and social environment of their institution, and to develop and test a common methodological framework and quality criteria for the comparative international quality assurance of Master degree programmes in our disciplines within higher European education. Through the project, ICA plans - to develop an online searchable portal of Master degree programmes, - to identify good practice in the academic and pastoral care

of third country Master students through a survey and workshop as well as handbooks - to disseminate the outcomes and share good practice at three international conferences.

One of these conferences is going to be organised by IAAS, so this is already one of the hopefully many joint activities that ICA and IAAS are going to carry out in the future. In case you want to find out more about ICA, please do not hesitate to contact us via the abovementioned website or e-mail (ica@boku.ac.at) we will be pleased to answer your questions

!

Food quality and plant nutrition at this year's IAAS Congress

By Miles Harriman, Yara International

For the sixth year running, Yara is sponsoring the annual World Congress of

IAAS, the International Association of Agronomy Students. This year, the theme of the congress was Mediterranean food culture, and the congress and subsequent two-week study tour is taking place first in the Croatian city of Split and then Italy. Yara's message to the students was that mineral fertilizer does make a difference to food quality, because it helps growers provide the high quality raw materials demanded by all chefs de cuisine - from the small to the greatest - for their excellent cooking.

From bustling street markets, to a cafĂŠ culture quite on par with what can be found on the Mediterranean seafront elsewhere, the historic Croatian city of Split has it all. It is not surprising that when the IAAS (International Association of Agricultural Students) decided to hold their world congress in Croatia, Split was at the top of the list for host venues. The aim of the IAAS is to foster a worldwide culture for the exchange of ideas related to agriculture. Events such as their world congress forms one of the main platforms to achieve this objective. With over 100 students attending from around the world, the audience is very diverse in the education and views of new technology.

So where does Yara fit into the IAAS World Congress? - Yara has sponsored the IAAS over the last 6 years in order to invest in the future minds of our agricultural industry. Part of this sponsorship takes the form of offering a speaker for one of the technical sessions. This year Miles Harriman, Agronomic Information Manager at Yara Specialities, was asked to speak about the "role of mineral nutrition in food quality".

"I was particularly impressed by the level of knowledge and the type of questions I received from this student audience", Miles states, reflecting on the event and the ambiance. "Many students had not realised the impact of nutrient source, timing and balance on food quality. How potassium gives evenly ripened fruit, or calcium enhances firmness and storage potential. The efforts the farmer makes to optimize all inputs to achieve the best balance of yield and quality to maximize his income surprised some students."

In addition to fresh knowledge about the direct link between correct plant nutrition and plant health and in turn crop quality, students also take back a clearer picture of the role of the fertilizer industry and Yara's commitment to promote sustainable agriculture, beneficial both to farmers, consumers and the environment.

And to those that, like Yara, are supplying the input materials.

Link to Yara's presentation at the Congress

IAAS WORLD 2005

17

By Adewunmi A. Fashina.

Fisheries Technology Department, Federal University of Technology,Minna, Niger State, Nigeria.

Agricultural and Industrial Revolution which is the use machineries and science informing which have for-reaching results in changing the way in which people lived and worked dated back since XIX th century and is still going on. The revolution has helped mankind in many ways which cannot be disputed. It has also raised the living standards, has broken down barriers between people and nations also has transformed backwards lands into modern states.

On the other hand, many serious problems have resulted from the changes which we call the Agricultural and industrial revolution. Some of these are still adequately unsolved.

Included among these "headaches" are (1) Technological unemployment which resulted from the use of labour -saving arising farm (2) A continuing struggle between capital and labour, arising from the attempts of labour to improve its condition (3) Occupational diseases and industrial accidents (4) Periodic depressions, bringing insecurity and suffering to many unko wns (5) Bad living conditions in the great cities with major difficulties in such fields as housing, transportation, crime control and public health (6) Pollution of the environment from the Industrial and Agricultural wastes on the soil.

Scientists believed that plants may solve the problem of contamination of polluted soils following their discovering that a small but growing number are capable of accumulating very high concentrations of metals in their stems and leaves.

However, more than 70 species are now known to be what are classified as hyper accumulators. Hence, these contain hundreds to thousands times larger metal concentrations in their above ground parts than normal and ranges from herbaceous flowering plants to trees.

Therefore, the discovering of an increasing number of hyper accumulators has opened up the prospects of seeing contaminated and abandoned site "growing clean" with a cover of yellow and white flowers of accumulator plants. At present there are no techniques for such a clean up which are low cost and retain soil fertility after the metals contamination have been removed Examples of hyperaccumulator plants include Sebertia accuminata, which is native to nickel/chromium rich soil.

Sebertia acummata is an old name of Uapaca accuminata (Hatch) Pax & K. Hobbiu. This is a medium- sized tree with much smaller leaves than the other hapacas occurring in Nigeria which extends from south-eastern Nigeria to cabinda. It is sometimes placed in a separate family, Uapacaceae.

The flowers have no petals but are surrounded by petal-like bracts causing the heads to look like moderately large and conspicuous flowers on stout stalks; the males with many stamens and the females with a typical Euphorbiaceous ovary capped by thick, much branded styles. In both sexes there are one to a few inflorescences in the leaf-axis of the fallen leaves.

The fruits are usually 2.5cm or more across, more or less globuse, often sparsely covered with conspicuous warts. All

18

the uapacas have their leaves at the ends of the branch lets in conspicuou s upright lefts. The leaves are often large, mostly obovate or oblanceolate with entire margin and prominent lateral nerves. The under-surface is covered with minute glandular dots which are sometimes very noticeable. All the Nigerian species are trees, mostly with silt-roots.

The latex in this tree contains more than 11 per cent (11%) nickel and is blue because of this. An obvious application would be to tap such trees for nickel, in an analogous way to that for rubber.

Nickel is the seventh most abundant transition metal and the twenty-second most abundant element in the earth's crust. Nickel occurs in nature mainly in combination with arsenic, antimony and sulphur. For example, as millenite (N,S), as a red nickel ore that's mainly NI AS. It's commercially important ones are of two types: (1) latentes; which are oxide/silicate ores such as germinate, (NiMg) 6Si4010 (OH)8 and nickeliferous limonite, (FeNi) O (OH) NH2O which have been concentrated by weathering in tropical rain belt areas. (2) Sulphides; such as pentlandite, (Nife) S8, associated with copper, cobalt and precious metals so that the ores typically contain about 1 ½ % . Nickel and these are found in more temperate reigns of the world. The bulk of this metal is used in production of alloys both famous and nonfamous Nickel can be used with steel in armor plating. Stainless steels contain up to 8% Nickel and the use of "Alnico" steel for permanent magnets. The non-ferrous allo y is used as nickel silver or German Silver which contain 1030% Ni, 55-65% Cu and the rest Zn which electro-placed with silver. Model (68% Ni, 32% Cu, traces of Mn & Fe) is used in apparatus for handling corrosive materials such as F2; Invari, which has a very small coefficient of expansion are other well-know Nickel alloys and smaller

IAAS WORLD 2005

amounts of Nickel are used as catalysts in the hydrogenation of uncharted vegetable oils with the ability to absorb molecular hydrogen to produce margarine.

Furthermore, mixture of species be grown in future rather than the monocultures used now in tests in order to remove several metals simultaneously where there are the usual multiple contamination. Because hyper accumulator plants are still relatively rare and found only in remote areas, there was an urgent need to collect and cultivate them also to establish a germ plasma facility for their large-scale production.

Future work could involve genetic engineering to further improve metal-uptake characteristics once the genes for metal accumulation had been identified. The possibility thenexisted to transfer genes for metal hyper accumulation into a productive but inedible host plant.

Finally, my appeal goes to the Government both States and

Federal to invests more into research work in our Universities and Research Institutes to carry out. More experiments on more species that will suit particular environmental soil problems to reduce our soil contamination for optimum use for agriculture and other purposes References 1) Keay, R.W.J. (1989),"Trees of Nigeria", First Edition, Clarendon Press Oxford 2) Greenwood, N.N. and Earnshaw, A., (1984), "Chemistry of the elements, "First Edition, Pergamon Press Ltd., London.

3) Cotton, F.A. and Wilkinson, G., (1988), "Advanced Inorganic Chemistry", Fifth Edition, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., U.S.A. 4) Groisser, (1975), "Mastering History", Revised Edition, Keys and Education Press Adewunmi Fashina at 5, Ibukun Oluwa Street, Ilupeju Estate, Mushin,100008, Lagos State, Nigeria.

CHILD ACADEMIC RE-ENGINEERING AND RE ORIENTATION Ilori Adebambo, National Director, IAAS Nigeria.

As IAAS is tending towards the 50

th

anniversary, it is imperative to take new dimensions and affect the lives of the junior ones in high school. This is package could be done with the FAO, UNESCO and other stakeholders- an outreach to get the upcoming generation informed.

I really do not know the general opinion about courses in Agriculture and the related sciences in the developed world.

In Nigeria (I am sure it is the same in other African countries) If you perform a survey, you may not have one out of 20 students willingly deciding to opt for a course in Agriculture.

Those that find themselves in the Department of Agriculture are still trying to change their course of study in the first, and even in the second year. This leaves a lot of undergraduates frustrated, disturbed and eventually they finally come out of the university with poorer grades than their capabilities. The ones still applying, at the end spend a lot of years chasing shadows. They also become frustrated, lose their productivity, and have their psychology affected.

I therefore see a need for re-orientation and re-engineering.

Agriculture needs popularity, and not only that, it provides solutions for virtually all the problems of the world, from clothing, shelter, feeding, energy and sustainability of the world. In IAAS we have been trained to face the world and the challenges. In the twentieth century, things are taking new dimensions, and professionalism is being watered down, especially in the developed world. So called lawyers have been relegated to the “charge and bail” officers, medical doctors are taking up unrelated jobs in banks, and are taking up the teaching jobs, pharmacists are doing all sorts of jobs unrelated to their profession.

This is because the world is producing too much of them than can be employed. In Nigeria, so many medical graduates do not get postings for house jobs. Many law students have to wait for one more year before they go to the law school. But agriculture provides solutions to all global problems. We are

the present help for the problems tearing the world apart, from environmental pollution, to starvation, drought to mention but a few, and we have not been able to address the problems.

We are the present and the future within the most important life sciences. The platform on which the sustainability movement of the world is hinged, there is barely any course like Agriculture the oldest profession.

And none can stand the watering down of professionalism, and the scourge of joblessness. So let's cry out loud and emphasize the importance, the lucrative ness, the prospects and the challenges of Agriculture.

In Nigeria, the first package will be for the undergraduate, most of who will find themselves in agriculture and the related sciences without dream. It will be tagged “towards professionalism”, where speakers shall come to emphasize the importance of agricultural education, and the opportunities inherent. We also plan to extend the move to the federal ministry and senate committee for agriculture and rural development, to provide incentive for graduates to encourage the study of its related sciences.

The second package will be tagged Child academic reorientation & re-engineering. It shall be taken from one school to the other, highlighting the prospects of courses in Agriculture, what each is all about, the prospects, the future and opportunities. I believe that thousands of people can be saved from frustration and willingly pupils will opt for careers in Agriculture by this move. I also hope this might be adopted by other communities all over the world

IAAS WORLD 2005

19

The 18th of May was a very important date, because the issue about GMOs (Genetic Modified Organisations) came back to the forefront. At this date, after the decision of the EU council, was succeeded the removal of the prohibition for the import of GM corn and other plants in the markets of the EU. In the last 6 years there was an interdiction for the imports of GM products in EU with destructive effects in the agricultural sector of the US, which considered that this policy was against the general trade agreements of GATT and reacted by demanding compensation for the lost profits ut there is another aspect, which claims: and they were ready to put new tariffs in some EU exporting products, if the EU continued to follow the same policy That the annual productive quantity of food is over enough to cover the total need for food. So, the matter is about GM products. rather the redistribution of the products than the At this point should be increase of the production. mentioned some data The regions with GM crops, it is used more about the current amounts of fertilizers and pesticides, and situation: definitely this does not contributes to the 7 million farmers in 18 solution of soil pollution. In addition, it is c o u n t r i e s c u l t i va t e strongly supported that a long-term GMOs. consumption of these products, creates T h e l aw d o e s n o t health problems (damages in the immune obligate the enterprises system and in other major parts of the body). to inform the consumers A small detail: no research is financial that their products come supported by the multicultural companies from GM ingredients. related with the GMOs, about the Since 1996 there are (at consequences in humans' health. That fact limited scale) GM corn forces me to believe that this subject is not and Soya which are used only scientific, but also has political and, of mostly for animal course, economic dimensions. feeding.

My meditation moves around the question if it does worth to play with ut, really, what's the main purpose of nature while not paying attention to the consequences that could result and threaten our future's welfare...

GMOs production? What benefits could we Finally, i would like to close this text by mentioning one more phrase: earn from this attempt? Some scientists claim "Are we allowed to create whatever we want, only because we are able to that this sector could solve problems such as do it?". (Albert Einstein). starvation in 3rd world countries and soil

By Orestis CHATZOPOULOS orestis_dimosin_gr@yahoo.gr pollution (fewer fertilizers).

B

B

IAAS, LC THESSALONIKI, GREECE

"Implementation of HACCP system at food Industry" ON THE NEXT IAAS EDM 2005 European Capital), and for tourists, with hotels and services of It gives us great pleasure to present you

international standards. To those who know it, or have heard of it, it is a region emerging on the map with its unique and diverse beauty of its large lakes, high mountains, virgin woods and brooks, many cultural monuments and warm, proverbially hospitable people. The traces of rich culture, tradition and history on every step, unusual customs, sunny and green world of nature with lakes, mountains and rivers, colorful countryside scenery, food and drinks with trade mark “ecological sound�

our country and to offer you some exciting things from Republic of Macedonia as your next travel destination for the next IAAS EDM 2005. To some people the word Macedonia may sound like an echo from a remote past (Philip and Alexander the Great), or a distant region IAAS Macedonia wishes you an enjoyable stay and relax IAAS (somewhere on South-East fringes of EDM in our country.

Europe). It is a true that is a country with many layers of the past, discovered and Looking forward to welcome you, in near future. open to visitors or still hidden although O.C. IAAS EDM 2005 present and almost at hand yet, it is a quiet open to modern communications IAAS Macedonia (only a few hours by plane from any Http://www.zf.ukim.edu.mk/iaas/default.htm

20

IAAS WORLD 2005

Asia Pacific Regional Meeting (APRM) 2005 Dian Safarina , Local Committee of Brawijaya University, Malang Indonesia

The 3rd IAAS Asia and Pacific Regional Meeting (APRM) 2005 was organized by IAAS Indonesia Local Committee of Brawijaya, University in Malang. The event has all gone through 10 days from February 18th till 28th 2005. This event has been supported by the Government of Malang City, Malang regency, Kediri City, and Brawijaya University. APRM 2005 gathered 30 students from 7 countries (

Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, East Timor, Belgium, The Netherlands and Mexico) under the topic “Agriculture In Globalization�.

The globalization creates

social change not merely in developed countries but also through Asia and pacific countries. During the meeting we have had lectures and conferences on the phenomenon and the way it affects rural population in Asia and Pacific countries and how they are takling problems by that phenomenon

Trigger The Implementation Of Kyoto Protocol By Improving Stakeholder Responsibility Trough Government Policy And Agricultural Practice

BY THE 3rd IAAS APRM PARTICIPANTS

INTRODUCTION The Kyoto protocol of 1995 is an international agreement to assess the environmental problem in the world, especially global warming.

Global warming is a term used to describe an increase over time of the Earth's average temperature. The negative effects of this phenomenon are: increased frequency of extreme weather conditions (storms, floods, droughts), loss of biodiversity, longer growing seasons, increasing incidence of pests and diseases, more unpredictable farming conditions in tropical areas, loss of fertile coastal lands and dramatic changes in distributions and quantities of sea food (FAO, 2001).

The presence of different stakeholders contributes to the negative effects. Examples of stakeholders are: governments, agricultural and industrial producers and society on family scale in general as well. This article will focus only on agricultural policy and practices.

The first key issue is the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol on national level. Besides the ratification, each country has to implement the protocol by putting as the causes and effects of global warming.

The government has to use a transparent way of communicating on national and international level by making the results of their policy and measures public. Up to now developing countries do not have to ratify Kyoto protocol, although most of them did.

Kyoto Protocol obliges developed countries to implement climate friendly techniques in all pollution sectors.

A GENERAL CONCERN All countries agree that global warming is an issue that concerns all living species on this planet and therefore has to be reduced. Even developing countries, which are not obliged to ratify the Kyoto

IAAS WORLD 2005

21

Protocol, take their responsibility in this process. But still, there is a long way to go.

Most the global warming reducing techniques used in developed countries are not to be implemented in developing countries, because of the low budget for environmental policies.

Even without the necessary budget there are many ways

sustainable development of a country, good agricultural policies and practices are needed. The use of these good agricultural practices is a shared responsibility between government and farmers.

As subscribed in the Kyoto Protocol, the government should first of all implement a measurement system. If a country wants to reduce global warming then it has to look at the most pollution causing sectors. The measures have to take place in an objective way, under supervision of on independent authority, and need to include all the different pollution sectors, i.e. ag riculture, industr y and transportation. The results of these measurements should be published annually.

The second key issue is also a responsibility of the government: to organise a transparent communication system that helps stakeholders to gain access to correct information. In inter national meetings, government policies also need to

to asses the problem as will be stated below.

Agricultural policies In most of developing countries agriculture is a key issue in development strategies (IFAD, 2001). To ensure the

be made clearly. The most important task of the government is to make rules and regulations. In most countries there is a need for regulations on the uses of slash and burn techniques, tree cutting, the standard

When you are in the USA, visit the Nation’s finest pumpkin patch and the World’s best hayride!

22

IAAS WORLD 2005

emission of public transportation, the use of pesticides and the emission of greenhouse gasses in industry.

The budget for supporting agriculture could be linked to the stimulation of using global warming reducing techniques. Farmers using these techniques, in the rest of the paper mentioned as Good Agricultural Practices or GAP, should be rewarded. These techniques do not necessarily need a lot of capital investment as will be explained further in this article.

Agricultural practices In general, Good Agricultural Practices include using cropping techniques and systems that have minimal impact on the environment. Recycling, forest protections, the production of green energy to improve selfsustainability are only a few examples.

developing an implementation of alternatives programs for slash & burn techniques. There has to be a follow up of the alternative programs to ascertain the continuation.

In some countries, there is a need to expand the agricultural area. But in most developing countries, like Indonesia, the global warming can be assessed by changing the land use to more intensive and multi cropping systems. Some agricultural crops are able to capture a lot of carbon dioxide and by that reducing the emission of greenhouse gasses.

CONCLUSIONS The global warming effects are a very complex

The excessive use of pesticides and fertilizer, machinery and burning activity increase the emission of greenhouse g a s s e s. U s i n g t h e s e techniques more efficiently will cause a decrease in global war ming effect without any capital investment. Research and agriculture consultancy can help by determining the efficiency of agricultural practices Fo r t h e c o n t r o l o f machinery's emission, the farmers can change the fuel to bio-ethanol, this fuel not only decreases the emissions but is also most cost efficiently if its production is linked with the production of sugar. This alternative combined with the use of filters can significantly reduce the emissions. The government can stimulate the use of filters by providing cheaper loans or simplify the loan application procedures.

The use of some pesticides can be replaced by biodegradable pesticides which have less negative effects on the environment, for example the azadirachtin, which is an extract of Neem tree with insecticide characteristics.

The Neem tree is very effective in tropical climates.

Slash and burn activities are still used in many developing countries to improve their soil fertility, especially in areas with a thin top soil layer is the use of slash and burn very destructive for the soil. At the first year, the fertility of the soil will increase but then it will irreversibly decrease (Swennen, 2003). To avoid this kind of activities, not only farmers but also a synergetic activity between the farmers, government and institutes of education can contribute in

problem in which many stakeholders are involved.

Governments are responsible for communication, measurement systems, regulations and supporting programs for farmers. The government together with educational institutes can determine Good Agriculture Practices while farmers are responsible for implementing it REFERENCES - Food and Agricultural Organisation. 2001.

Notes On Global Warming.

Http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg2/index. htm - IFAD. 2001. Rural Development Poverty Report 2001. IFAD, Rome, 265 pp.

- Swennen, R. 2003. Paper on farming systems in the Tropics. KULeuven, Leuven, 20pp.

IAAS WORLD 2005

23

The Subregional meeting for the first time in Poland Would you like to know more about Polish IAAS team? SRM made by us: how was it, who appeared, where were we, did we succeed....? Do not hesitate, read ....:) Polish committee took the challenge for organising the meeting of following countries: Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands, UK, Ireland and Poland. As a phoenix, which emerged from the ashes, ambitious Polish people started to broaden idea of IAAS organisation in Poland.

After 9 years of stagnancy in the active participation in the IAAS events and organisation, Poles took the advantage to organise SRM. The Subregional Meeting was organised on 10-14 November 2004.

Preparation for SRM Polish committee at Warsaw A g r i c u l t u r a l U n ive r s i t y managed to organise their own office, which is equipped with a computer, printer and fax machine. About 30 people were involved in organisation of Subregional Meeting The coordinator of organisation of the SRM was Wojciech Ciolkowski.

Localisation After a short brain storm within the Polish OC, the main

with getting up for the breakfast the next morning. th The 11 of November was a sightseeing day, which started with visiting the Warsaw Uprising Museum. The next point of our excursion was the Palace of Culture and Science.

The main attraction of that building was th The entrance to the 30 floor, where we were able to see the panorama of the Warsaw, despite the cloudy weather, which we had during that day. The last of the schedule of

decision about the location was made. Thanks to the Administration of Warsaw Agricultural University we could host our guests in University's Student Residences. The main advantage of this accommodation was the fact that it was closely located to the place where the plenary session was held as well as to the canteen.

Lecture room, that was the place of our plenary session, was organized in the building of Economics faculty. Available lecture place was well equiped in slide projector and what is more, air-conditioned and 200 seating places were available.

Eating places The Polish students' canteen at the Agricultural Faculty of Warsaw Agricultural University was the main place of meals for our participants.

Our guests had possibility to try the traditional Polish food in following places:

The restaurant Tawerna- designed in the atmosphere for the Polish sailors.

The restaurant “Pod Lwem” in Blonie

The restaurant Reserv'at, located in the students campus Besides, our participants tried delicious pizza from Pizza Hut The meal took place in the Students' club “Przyzba”.

Overview th The first participants of SRM came in the afternoon 10 of November. The primary introduction was made during the dinner at the students' canteen. After that we had unforgettable welcome party at the one of the famous Warsaw Clubs “HYBRYDY”. After having small ”fight” with the long queue and many people inside the club, all people seemed to have great fun that night and small troubles

part of the article you can find information about lectures and the topic of the presentations. During the workshops we had opportunity to compare different styles of teaching in higher education. Furthermore, we had a discussion about importance of gaining international experience through practical placements.

The trip to the Dawtona was the last planned event in the schedule of SRM in Poland. The Dawtona is a Polish vegetables and fruit processing company, located in Blonie, about 22 km from Warsaw. Dawtona's processed fruit and vegetables are sold not only in the European Union countries, but in the USA, Canada, Russia, Ukraine and Cuba. We had possibility to observe the processing of fruit and vegetables and opportunity to ask questions about the management of the company and trade issues.

After that trip people could relax in swimming pool or take part in team sports at our University gym. In the evening the final party with Polish traditional alcohol had taken place.

What is more, those people who stayed one day longer had possibility to visit with us the Wilanow Park with an old castle.

Lectures during the Plenary Session The first presentation started with the subject “Bologna Process” made by Professor Sławomir Podlaski. Current Pro-Rector for Didactics at our University, as well as Dean for Faculty of Agriculture at Warsaw Agricultural University. The Rector is the member of International Institute for Beet Research. He is author of more than 130 scientific publications.

Dr Maria Parlińska was the next lecturer, and she was

24

that day was the sightseeing of Old Town of Warsaw with one of our friends as a guide- Tomek Orlowski, who had experience in this kind of activities before.

The third day of the SRM was the Plenary Session, which was the most important event during whole meeting. “Theory and practice in the process of learning at agricultural universities” were the subjects of workshops and lectures, but not only that. In the following

IAAS WORLD 2005

taking about “The possibilities of education based on the European programmes”. She is plenipotentiary of Dean for European Projects Faculty of Agricultural Economics and lecturer- tutor -Department of Econometrics and Informatics at Warsaw Agricultural University. Maria Parlinska has 25 years of experience using mathematical and statistical methods in agriculture, 10 years of experience statistics in economy, 6 years of experience in lecturing and teaching the international group of students within the Socrates Erasmus Program.

Professor Mieczysław Adamowicz provided the presentation about „Agriculture and rural areas in Poland and knowledge based economy”At present Prof. Mieczyslaw Adamowicz is a head of the Depar tment of Agrarian Policy and Marketing in Warsaw Agricultural University, Coordinator of the Graduate Studies “Management and Marketing and Agribusiness” and “Management and Marketing in Tourists”, and the Head of Institute of Economics and Management, High State School, in Biala Podlaska.

Author of more than 120 scientific publications.

The last presentation was made by M.Sc Anna Kłoczko-Gajewska, who was talking about the Myths and stereotypes in the opinion of Warsaw Agricultural University on Polish Agriculture.”

She is a graduate of Warsaw School of Economics (2003) and post-graduate studies in social sciences (2004).

Currently she is a teacher in a high school and works voluntarily in the Faculty of Rural Economics in Warsaw Agricultural University.

Financial Support The strong point of the SRM in Poland was the financial support which the OC managed to obtain. The cost of participation fee was only 25% of the all costs spent on organisation of SRM. The total budget of the event was about € 6000. The main sponsors were: Ministry of National Education and Sports, Warsaw Agricultural University, Sky Europe, Dawtona, Dar Natury, TJK Design, and Lajkonik.

Media & SRM Polish team managed to make the media coveruse of the meeting. The PR team started the difficult task to find the interested parties that would like to be involved in sharing the information about SRM. The press, radio and television were astonished by our achievement, as we finally succeeded organizing the meeting. The short information about SRM was shown inthe news on the regional television- TVP3.

What is more, the following students newspapers gave the

information before and after the meeting: “Pod prad”, “Student News”, “Forum akademickie”, “Semester” as well as “Przeglad”. The information was available online: at the Warsaw Agricultural University student's portal www.napis.waw.pl and www.iaas.pl Opinion of the participants

“To be honest this was my first SRM, so I can't compare but it also know that it was your first SRM to organize and I think you guys did very wel.l I really had fun. You picked us up at the airport and brought us back, thank you very much for that! I liked the lectures (...), especially about the future and agronomy in Poland, I liked the museum also very much, but it was too crowdy so maybe we also could have walked and explored everything by ourselves (...). I also liked the sport activities, it was good for teambuilding and doing some exercises, cause all the drinking made us lazy :) The night-activities were also great and we danced a lot, we loved it!!! The food was also very good, sometimes too much but that's the same when I go to my grandmother :) You had lovely facilities, a very nice swimming pool, a very nice University, very nice people and students, a city of rich history, very nice parks we visited on the last day (...). I will come back one day to explore Poland's rich nature... So I thank you guys. You should be proud of yourselves, because you did a terrific job and we had a wonderful time! We saw and learned a lot!”- Fré ”It was great to meet so much people from different countries and all interested to socialize and listen to other people with open mind. It was also interesting to meet people from Poland because Poland was for me a little bit an "exotic" country: I didn't know much about it. Warsaw is a great city and I'm interested to do my Erasmus there. But I think that Warsaw is much different than the other parts of Poland, like most capitals, so I'm very curious to see more of Poland. The parties were great, food was good, and the visits were nice... It really amused me (...)” Bert Written by Ania & Ela

IAAS WORLD 2005

25

Regional Meetings in Europe 2004/2005

By Mette Hessel In October 2004 students from the North-East European Region came to a magnificent bright-autumn St-Petersburg, Russia for their Regional Meeting[RM]. We were happy to meet IAAS-friends from Headquarter[HQ], Belarus, Ukraine, Denmark, Norway and Finland. It was a special meeting as it was held back to back with the Meeting of Task Force Leaders for Sustainable Agriculture Baltic'21 (www.baltic21.org). The topic of the Seminar was “Ways for sustainable development of agriculture in Baltic Region”.

We had an interesting program: we worked a lot and had much fun as well. As usual, we had interesting informative lectures, discussions, trips, visits and of course a cultural program.

The participants visited All-Russian Institute of Plant Industry, ScienceResearch Institute Belogorka, Soil Science Museum and farm Suida, -took part in the Meeting of Task Force Leaders for sustainable Agriculture Baltic'21 and presented reports about a youth view on modern agricultural education in Russia and Europe. We are so proud of being a native of our wonderful and unique St-Petersburg and we were happy to share it with everybody; its beautiful sights and particularities and to show everyone Russian culture and traditions. Remember pancakes??? May be you think now why I didn't mention vodka… Ok, it is also a tradition; people have to stay warm during cold Russian winters somehow! We walked in the parks, watched the Old Tsars' Residencies and visited the world famous Hermitage. In the evenings? …yes, - parties and of course our favourite Trade Fair. It was our first experience of organizing such kind of event. We learnt a lot about how to do it better. And we are going to organize more and more meetings in future.

Sasha from Russia with LOVE, Local Committee of St-Petersburg, RUSSIA The North-East European Region had their spring RM in Norway in March 2005 with the topic “Small scale business”. The RM started in Aas with a welcome-party at IAAS-Norway's university. The following days where spent in a lovely wooden house in Telemarken, on the way there we visited a school of Forestry and during the stay one of the oldest farms in Norway (dated back to 1350 ) the farmer there is the father to Knut from IAAS-Norway and he was a member of IAAS-Norway back in the 1970's. Pretty cool!

On the 5th we spent a fantastic afternoon cross-country skiing through the beautiful Norwegian landscape and ended with bonfire/BBQ in the snow. IAAS members from HQ, Finland, Sweden, Denmark & [obviously] Norway were present - and exchange students from Australia, Austria, Belgium and Canada also joined in to help make this a truly international meeting.

The South-East RM was hosted by LC-Athens, IAAS Greece in April 2004. IAAS Members from HQ, Spain, Italy, Portugal and (of course) Greece took part, plus a couple of guests from Denmark and Belgium. The topic was “Sheep & goat milk products: the nutritional value & the economical importance.” We had lectures about the topic at the university, a sponsor presentation and IAAS discussions.

We visited a dairy company that gave us a tour and endless amounts of free yoghurt and a bag + football for all the participants. After that we went for a picnic on the beach, some were even brave enough to go in the [still cold] water, brrr!

One excursion went to the historical Temple of Poseidon at the very tip of cape Sounio and another one was a wonderful guided tour of the amazing Acropolis that left several of us sunburnt We enjoyed Greek specialties such as feta, souvlaki, feta, mousaka and last but not least tzatziki till we dropped: YUM! And we had a fantastic “national evening” where we joined other Greeks at a local Taverna with a night of Greek music & dancing. Conclusion is that this was a great introduction to Athens and Greece, I'm sure many of us will be coming back for more.

26

IAAS WORLD 2005

The Central Eastern European Region also had their RM in April and it was hosted by LC-Novi Sad, IAAS-Serbia & Montenegro. The topic was “Alternative swine and cattle breeding in Vojvodina”.

IAAS participants from HQ, Macedonia, Slovenia and Serbia & Montenegro took part in the RM. We had IAAS discussions and did sightseeing in Novi Sad, had our meals at the university, experienced the nightlife in the vibrant city visited the impressive Petrovaradin Fortress including the underground vaults. We had a day in Belgrade where we visited LC-Belgrade and had a lecture at their university as well as a guided tour around the city. The day with the most amazing weather we drove up on a mountain where we had a picnic-barbeque in a forest while singing along to songs played on the guitar. Definitely a wonderful atmosphere and the biggest burger I've had in a very long time!. During an excursion we visit the most modern & brewery in Serbia & Montenegro, which was a very impressive high-tech and computer run plant. Towards the end we had a tour to the beautiful and old town of Subotica in the north where we had a special Serbian lunch and then went to a nice lake nearby where we enjoyed the afternoon some with a cup of coffee and others by visiting the zoo.

Cheese is cheese, wine is wine, some of you will say, but did you taste Macedonian cheese and wine?! You didn't, maybe you did, because you were one of us, who attended the seminar “Production of wine and cheese” in Republic of Macedonia, March 2004.

Skopje The capital of Macedonia, our meeting point and the right place to start discovering Macedonia. It is a place where many civilizations have met and mingled. There is a good preserved old stone bridge, fortress in center of town with great view, well-known church of Holy Salvation with the marvelous wood-carved iconostasis and many more things!

We visited here winery of “Skovin”, vineyards are located in regions far from industrial facilities, covering area of 450ha, there is a quality red and specially white wine (Chardonnay) Of course we've tasted it…

Kavadarci This is a town who lives for wine, historically vine-growing has started back in the IV century B.C.(In this moment 4500ha under grapes, it's more then 15% of total country area!) If you want to taste good beer go to Munchen, for quality wine just go to Kavadarci!

This is also cultural center of Macedonia, with many beautiful and good preserved churches and monasteries from XIV and XV century! We visited two wineries: ”Tikves”-the largest one in Macedonia and most famous worldwide with 25 different types of red and white wine! “Fonko”-the new, private winery, with high technology, situated in Negotino, one little town near Kavadarci. At Dojran Lake near border of Greece we had a show time-Trade Fair

Ohrid First of all, I must tell you, here we had the best accommodation in IAAS events ever, believe me! This is the most famous tourist center in Macedonia, with many hotels, lovely beaches and good nightlife! Really beautiful town, rich with culturalhistorical monuments, it was a seat of Cyril and Methodius, who invented the first Slav (Glagolitic) alphabet! Before we arrive in Ohrid we visited private cheese farm in Bogdanci, primary production of this farm is goat-cheese, after that, cheese and milk company (the biggest one in Macedonia) “IMB” in Bitola, they certified by ISO standard of quality. As you know(for older member) we had every night the greats and crazies parties!!

Thank you IAAS-Macedonia for wonderful seminar!

Miroslav Mikavica ,IAAS-Serbia & Montenegro

IAAS WORLD 2005

27

THE END It all does seem like a movie... Those two years of preparing, making a story, gathering the working team, gathering the actors and waiting for the premiere!

One thing is sure, we enjoyed making our big movie, the 47th General Assembly. All those tons of documents sent out, millions of picking up the telephone, all those lines millions times said to possible sponsors, all those e-

EL FIN ¡Todo parece como una película... Dos años de preparaciones, haciendo la historia, reuniendo el equipo, reuniendo los actores, y esperando la premiere!

Pero algo está seguro, disfrutamos mucho haciendo nuestra película grande, la 47a Asamblea General

mails exchanged and problems that occured resulted to what we've all gone through from the 18th to 31st of July 2004, in the city of Split and we hope you all liked it!

The 47th IAAS General Assembly has been organised under the patronage of the Ministry of agriculture, forestry and water management of Republic of Croatia and with the support of Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia, Faculty of Ag riculture University of Zagreb and the Ministry of Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development of Republic of Croatia.

Suffering high temperature, warm mediterranean climate and always crazy and warmed up IAAS atmosphere, we had a great time exchanging ideas, giving reports, sharing experiences, broading knowledges, discovering Croatia and making new friendships.

We survived! And we want to thank you all for coming and making this croatian General Assembly that good, contributing to the sucees of the another IAAS annual gathering. There were 24 countries present: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Guatemala, Indonesia, Italy, Macedonia, Mexico, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, Spain, Togo, Uganda, USA, Zimbabwe, with the presence of 95 students.

We had had 10 plenaries, working group sessions, discussions. A welcome was given to Ninkabou, Stefan and Mette to the new EC of the year 2004/2005 as well as to Rosemary, Stefanie, Pernille and Leone to the new CC of the year 2004/2005, as well as to Guatemala to the

28

¡Todas esas toneladas de documentos enviados, millón de llamadas hechas por teléfono, las mismas frases millón veces dichas a patrocinadores potenciales, todos esos correos electrónicos intercambiados y problemas que ocurrieron resultaron a lo que todos hemos vivido y pasado del 18 al 31 de julio, en la ciudad de Split y esperamos que les gusto!

La 47a Asamblea General ha sido organizada bajo el patrocinio del Ministerio de Agricultura, Forestria y Manejamiento de aguas de la República de Croacia y con el apoyo del Ministerio de Ciencia, Educación y Deporte de la República de Croacia, la Facultad de Agricultura de la Universidad de Zagreb y el Ministerio de Mar, Turismo, Transporte y Desarrollo de la República de Croacia.

Sufrimos de la temperatura alta, del clima mediterráneo caleinte y siempre loca atmósfera de IAAS, pasamos tiempo maravilloso intercambiando

IAAS WORLD 2005

big IAAS family! Also, we got a new host for the GA 2006 which will be organized by the danish committee in Malaysia!

Lecture sessions begun with the presentation of t h e I A A S Wo r l d sponsors Yara and Monstanto, followed by the introductory lecture anticipating the FORUM day which was given by prof. dr. sc. Ivica Kisic from Faculty of Agriculture University of Zagreb about the croatian ag riculture.

FORUM day was held under the main topic of the whole Congress, containing the lectures on rural development, typical croatian products, winemaking and vineyarding, mediterranean fruit growing, mariculture and Croatian native and protected breeds.

As of the technical and cultural visits, we had some problems in gathering you all in the mornings and getting you on the bus, because of the eternal short night sleep desease which caught us all. But even though some of us could hardly stand with their eyes opened, we had great day in the national park of Kornati, on the island of Brac where we had a typical dinner with lamb and typical music, vineyards of Primosten which are under UNESCO's protection, the olive orchard of the SMS industry Split, where we barely stayed alive, some of the sun, some of the climbing problems , the city of Sibenik where we also visited the vinary of Vinoplod and had a short guided sightseeing tour, fertile Neretva river valley with apple orchard and watermellons and nice boat tour, and last but not least, sugar comes at the end - amazing city of Dubrovnik.

Twelve days of being together did bring up a lot of results, another IAAS reunion, new plans made, new ideas spread and at least a little sun-tanned skin! As of the croatian OC, it was great for us, despite of a lot of work, to see you all running through the corridors, see different faces, students from the faculties from all over the world talking together, it was great to hear all those languages laughiing, discussing, yelling, all of us gathered together working on one thing. It is the experience worth all the work we have done to host you.

Thanks guys.

We hope we presented to you our country Croatia, its agriculture, its culture and nature in a colourful way, we

ideas, dando los reportes, compartiendo las experiencias, aumentando los conocimientos, descubriendo Croacia y creando nuevas amistades.

Sobrevivimos! Y queremos agradecerlos todos por haber venido y por haber hecho esta Asamblea General croata tan buena, contribuyendo al exito de otra reunión anual de IAAS. Había 24 países presentes : Austria, Bélgica, Bulgaria, China, Croacia, Dinamarca, Finlandia, Francia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Italia, Macedonia, México, Noruega, Perú, Portugal, Rusia, Serbia y Montenegro, Eslovenia, España, Togo, Uganda, EEUU, Zimbabwe, con la presencia de 95 estudiantes.

Tuvimos 10 plenarias, los grupos de trabajo, las discusiones. ¡La bienvenida fue dada a Ninkabou, Stephan y Mette al EC nuevo del año 2004/2005, igual como a Rosemary, Stefanie, Pernille y Leone al CC nuevo del año 2004/2005, a Guatemala a la familia grande de IAAS! ¡También, obtuvimos organizador nuevo para el GA 2006 que que es el comité danés y lo organizaran en Malaysia!

La conferencia introductoria que anticipo el día del Foro fue dada por el profesor dr. sc. Ivica Kisic de la Facultad de Agricultura de la Universidad de Zagreb sobre la agricultura croata. El día del Foro, en relacion con el topico principal del Congreso entero, contuvo las conferencias sobre el desarrollo rural, los productos tipicos, produccion del uva y vino, frutas mediterráneas, maricultura y razas nativas y protegidas croatas.

En cuanto a las visitas técnicas y culturales, tuvimos algunos problemas en reunirlos todos ustedes por las

IAAS WORLD 2005

29

hope you enjoyed it and again, thank you all for coming, hope you will have a fruitful year and see you in Togo & Ghana in 2005!

On behalf of your lovely OC (Marta, Ivana, Zeljka, Domagoj, Marko & Ana)

mañanas y encerrarlos en los autobuses, a causa de la enfermedad eterna del sueño corto que nos agarró a todos. Pero aunque algunos de nosotros apenas podríamos mantenernos parados y con los ojos abiertos, tuvimos gran día en el parque nacional de Kornati, en la isla de Brac donde tuvimos una cena Ana Raguz típica con cordero y música típica, las viñas de Thank you!!

Primosten que están bajo la protección de la UNESCO, la ciudad de Sibenik donde visitamos también la fabrica del vino ''Vinoplod'', la valle fertil del rio Neretva con vergel de las manzanas y una ruta con barco, y al fin, lo ultimo pero muy bonito, la lindisima ciudad de Dubrovnik.

Los doce días que pasamos juntos nos trajeron muchos resultados, otra reunión de IAAS, nuevos planes hechos, nuevas ideas ocurridas y por lo menos un poco de la piel bronzeada! Y hablando del OC croata, era maravilloso para nosotros, a pesar de mucho trabajo, ver todos ustedes corriendo por los pasillos, mirando las caras diferentes, los estudiantes de las facultades de todo el mundo hablando juntos, era maravilloso oír todos esos idiomas riendo, discutiendo y gritando juntos, todos nosotros reunidos a trabajar juntos en una misma cosa. Es la experiencia que valio la pena todo el trabajo que hemos hecho para recibirlos todos. Gracias! ¡Esperamos que hemos presentado nuestro país Croacia, su agricultura, su cultura y la naturaleza en una manera interesante, esperamos que lo disfrutaron y otra vez, gracias a todos por haber venido venir. Esperamos que tengan un año fructífero y que nos volvamos a ver en Togo & Ghana en 2005!

A favor de su lovely OC (Marta, Ivana, Zeljka, Domagoj, Marko & Ana) Gracias!

Ana Raguz

30

IAAS WORLD 2005

AGA y los lugares que van Universidad de Estado de Illinois en Champaign

AGA Going to Places University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Un origen agrícola La Universidad de Illinois en Urbana-Champaign era fundada en 1867 como una institución de tierra-beca con dos profesores, cincuenta estudiantes, y dos programas académicos. Estos programas incluyeron la Ingeniería Agrícola y la Educación Agrícola. Desde entonces la Universidad ha crecido para incluir hoy 38 000 estudiantes, 4000 cursos 2000 miembros de la facultad, y 150 programas académicos diferentes. Para estudiantes que son interesados en la agricultura y campos relacionados nosotros tenemos el Colegio de la Agricultura, el Consumidor y las Ciencias Ambientales (ACES). Este programa incluye los programas la contabilidad de agrícola, la administración natural de recurso, la ingeniería agrícola, los estudios humanos del desarrollo y la familia, el liderazgo agrícola, ciencias de animales y hospitalidad.

An Agricultural Back Ground The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was founded in 1867 as a land-grant institution with two professors, fifty students, and two academic programs.

These programs were Agricultural Engineering and Agricultural Education. Since then the University has grown to include over 38,000 students, 4,000 courses, 2,000 faculty members, and 150 different academic programs. For students who are interested in agriculture and related fields we have the College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES). The college includes curriculums such as agricultural accounting, natural resource management, agricultural engineering, human development and family studies, agricultural leadership, animal sciences and hospitality management.

Give To Students An International Experiences Dar a cada estudiante una experiencia Inter- One of the initiatives of the College of Agriculture, nacional Consumer and Environmental Sciences is to give all students Una de las iniciativas del Colegio de la Agricultura, Consumidor y las Ciencias Ambientales es dar a todos los estudiantes la oportunidad de estudiar al exterior o de aprender sobre una diversa cultura. Los Embajadores Globales de los ACES (ACES Global Ambassadors AGA) son uno de los muchos grupos internacionales disponibles para los estudiantes. El propósito de AGA's es crear un hogar para los estudiantes internacionales que están estudiando en ACES. También dar a los estudiantes Estadounidenses que vuelven la oportunidad de compartir sus experiencias con otros estudiantes. AGA tiene actualmente cerca de 20 miembros; seis son oficiales de ejecutivo. Las actividades del grupo incluyen visitas al museo de Spurlock, a la cena progresiva internacional, visitas a la casa de Japón y muchos otros.

Uno de los sellos de los embajadores globales de ACES incluye el viaje anual del estudio. El grupo ha viajado a las localizaciones tales como Sudáfrica, Nueva Zelanda, Honduras y el último viaje- Costa Rica. Los viajes del estudio se centran no solamente en agricultura, pero también el ambiente político, social, económico y cultural. Así, se invita a cada estudiante que participe en estos viajes del estudio no solamente los que están estudiando un programa de agricultura. El estudio de viaje generalmente dura cerca de 1214 días y el viaje no esta muy caro porque el grupo tiene recursos para ayudar a reducir el precio.

Ver como se hace el café que uno toma menu-do El viaje a Costa Rica era a partir de enero 2-14, 2004. Diez estudiantes y un consejero de la facultad participaron en el viaje del estudio. El tema principal del viaje del estudio de Costa Rica era la producción del café. Los estudiantes pasaron muchas horas escogiendo el café, y viendo el proceso de producción, el control de calidad y el proceso de la comercialización. Algunos de los sitios que visitaron eran hacienda Pozo Azul, una granja de la producción de los

the opportunity to study abroad or learn about a different culture. The ACES Global Ambassadors (AGA) is one of the many international groups available to students. AGA's purpose is to create a home away from home for International students and to give returning U.S. students the opportunity to share their experiences with other students.

AGA currently has about 20 members; six serve on the executive board. The group's activities include visits to the Spurlock Museum, International Progressive Dinner, the Japan House and many others.

One of the hallmarks of the ACES Global Ambassadors includes the annual study tour. The group has traveled to locations such as South Africa, New Zealand, Honduras and it latest trip Costa Rica! Not only do the study tours focus on agriculture, but also the political, social, economic and cultural environment.

Thus, everyone is invited to participate on these study tours even if they are not studying agriculture related fields. The study tours usually last about 12-14 days and the tour is reasonably priced since the group does a lot of fundraising to help reduce the cost.

Learn How Coffee is processed from the fild to the cup Our trip to Costa Rica was from January 2-14, 2004, 10 students and a faculty advisor participated in the study tour.

The main theme of the Costa Rican study tour was coffee production, students spent hours picking coffee, and saw first hand the production process, quality control and the marketing process. Some of the sites that were visited were Hacienda Pozo Azul, a dairy cattle production farm, the group also went whitewater rafting in the Arapiqui River and they visited a coffee cooperative called Libertad-Cooperativa de Caficultaores de Heredia. The group also attended a tour on how Costa Rica's economy is changing and how ecotourism is benefiting the country. Of course there was time spent on the beautiful seaside.

IAAS WORLD 2005

31

ganados lecheros, el grupo también fueron transportaban en balsa en el río de Arapiqui y también ellos visitaron un café cooperativo llamado Libertad-Cooperativo de Caficultores de Heredia. El grupo también atendió una lectura en cómo la economía de Costa Rica está cambiando y cómo el ecoturismo está beneficiando el país. Por supuesto había tiempo para pasala en la playa!

Ahora, el viaje siguiente es en enero de 2005 y AGA irá al país hermoso de Egipto! AGA tiene muchas ganas a visitar El Cairo, las pirámides y el río del Nilo. Embajadores Globales de ACES y los EE.UU. son orgullosos en ser miembro candidato de la organización de IAAS y esperamos que en el futuro podemos planear viajes del estudio a su país y que usted puede venir a nuestro país también.

Now, the next trip is in January 2005 and AGA will be going to the beautiful country of Egypt! AGA cannot wait to visit Cairo, the pyramids and the Nile River. ACES Global Ambassadors and the US are proud of becoming Candidate Member of the IAAS organization and we hope that in the future we can plan study tours to your country and that you can come to our country as well La version español escita por Raqel Garciá Alvarez Presidente del Comité Nacional, IAAS-USA. The English version is from Adam Schwartz and Raquel Garciá Alvarez

Agriculture in the Beating Heart of a Bustling City

by Christina Hove Odgaard

Situated in the heart of Copenhagen, Denmark, is the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University KVL for short. Here, 3500 students and another 400 researchers are committed to studying, teaching and discovering as diverse fields as agriculture, horticulture, veterinary medicine, biotechnology, parasitology and many other fields relating to agricultural and life sciences.

The university was in founded in 1858 based on a school of veterinary medicin dating back to 1773 and built to ensure the King's horses the best veterinary care possible. In 1858 agricultural science was added to the university's curriculum, and horticulture followed in 1863. Back then, these fields related to primary production. Students were mainly young sons of farmers, moving to the “King's Copenhagen” from Jutland to learn more about farming.

From production to consumption Today, studies reflect modern society's needs and concerns: The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University's fields of research and study relate to the entire supply chain from primary production to consumption from farming and land management to the consumer. Topics such as food quality and safety, effects of farming on the environment, natural resource management at home and abroad are among the today's topics for The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University students. And they are no longer sons from provincial farms. Today, more than 2/3 of the students are female, mainly coming from Denmark's bigger cities.

Danish society's development from primary production to processing is reflected in the multifaceted nature of the degree offered in Agricultural Science. Students of Agricultural Science have the choice of 12 specializations and may end up with degrees specializing in fields as different as biotechnology, ecology, biosystems engineering and animal production to name a few.

The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University has a strong commitment to sustainable production and development, both at home and abroad: The MSc degrees in Agricultural Development and Environment and Natural Resource Management give students the opportunity to develop a distinct profile focusing on capacity building and

32

sustainable production in the third world.

Courses and programmes More than 35% of the courses offered are taught in English.

This means that exchange students have a wide choice when putting together their individual study programme. The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University also offers 5 MSc degrees in English. Apart from the two mentioned above, these are the Danish Swedish Horticultural Degree, Dairy Science and Technology and Parasitology. Courses that form part of these can also be chosen for individual programmes. The wide variety of courses may seem a jungle when you enter the course database, and the international student counselors are ready to help international students put together a relevant study programme.

Real problems real knowledge Case studies and group work form an integral part of teaching and learning at The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University. You can expect fewer traditional lectures and more hands on involvement. The goal is to prepare students for real life problem solving, and teachers encourage critical and individual thinking. The tone between students and teachers is informal feel free to take advantage of this and approach your teachers with any questions or queries.

IAAS WORLD 2005

Campus Facilities He Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University comprises two campuses one on the heart of the city the other in Taastrup, some 16 kilometers from Copenhagen. The Frederiksberg campus is home to a number of departments, the KVL administration, green houses and animal clinics.

The Taastrup campus houses the 4 experimental farms, one of which is run on organic farming principles. A shuttle runs between the two campuses, ensuring the students easy transportation. Due to Danish-Swedish collaboration n the field of horticulture, some courses are also offered at the Swedish Agricultural University campus in Alnarp, Sweden, only 45 minutes away. Few other universities can offer their students the possibility of experiencing campus life in two countries in one go!

Student life Students are active in many aspects of campus life: The University fosters a close community and our students are actively involved in all aspects of university life. Students are involved in university politics, engage in sports, arrange excursions and run the Friday bar. Student initiative brings the campus alive, and the university is known for the very best study milieu.

Feeling at home With more than 400 international exchange, degree and PhD students, the campus has a definite international atmosphere.

Danish students appreciate and take advantage of the international contacts and many participate in the buddy programme, “First Contact”: Upon arrival, each international student is assigned a Danish student, who will pick them up at the airport and help them get settled. At the

beginning of each semester, a weekend trip is arranged for the international students, and First Contact also organizes events during the semester parties, excursions to Danish highlights, dinners. First Contact is the international students' short cut to life in Denmark and at the university.

An integral part of any culture is the language, and although most Danes speak English, it is useful to be able to get by in the supermarket and around town. That is why all international guest and exchange students are offered free Danish language courses during their stay.

Application and admission If your university does not have a bilateral agreement with The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, you can apply as a guest student. There is no tuition fee for students studying at The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University between 3 and 12 months.We look forward to welcoming you to The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University.

Fact box: The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University accepts exchange students through Socrates, Nordplus and a number of bilateral agreements.

Check with the International office at your home university.

Application deadlines: 1 November for spring semester and 1 June for the autumn semester.

F o r m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n : w w w. k v l . d k o r international@kvl.dk. Real problems, real knowledge

From page 10

The World Congress of IAAS is the world’s largest gathering of students of agricultural and related sciences and in 2006 the plan is to increase the number of participants, so it will be the largest gathering of students of agricultural and related sciences ever.........?

The 2006 meeting will be organised and hosted by IAAS-Denmark, but to have a truly worldwide meeting we have chosen to host this in Malaysia.

The location in Malaysia give us the opportunity to organise this meeting on the topic of “Sustainable Development – Environmental Protection and Agricultural Innovation” in a place, which offers good facilities as well as a wide variety of possibilities for site visits and interesting discussions The cooperation between a developed and a developing country in the organisation of this seminar will ensure the diversity in the topics and viewpoints to be presented in the final programme.

By hosting this seminar in Malaysia, it is also our intention to make agricultural students in Asia more aware of the possibilities offered by international student associations, such as IAAS. On this website you will be able to find more information about the meeting in the articles, download area and the links pages.

The IAAS World Congress consists of the seminar on sustainable development and the IAAS general assembly. The general assembly will take place during a 7 days period and will be followed by the seminar, which will last for 14 days.

IAAS-Denmark is proud to be able to organise and host the IAAS World Congress 2006 and we look forward to a good cooperation with you as a possible participant, partner or sponsor ( http://www.malaysia2006.dk )

IAAS WORLD 2005

33

The flour used to bake these breads is made from high quality grain ensuring the nutritious value and the baking properties needed for a first class result. Yara is supplying mineral fertilizers to more than 120 countries the world over, bringing plant nutrition to farmers and their grain fields and thus richer harvests to the people of the world.

Yara is the world's leading supplier of mineral fertilizers, based on minerals that are found in nature and acting to realize the natural growth potential of plants.

Foto: Jarle Ree

Delicious and nutritious bread.

The crowning of his efforts – and ours.

This is good news to farmers, because mineral fertilizers are very effective and increase the yield of their land and the pay off of their work. It's good news to consumers, because mineral fertilizers are natural and give safe nutritious food.

And it's good news for the environment, as the high yields they provide, help protect unfarmed land. It all adds up to sustainable growth, in every meaning of the word.

www.yara.com