NEPAD Tertiary Institutions Dialogue

Participants at the NEPAD Tertiary Institutions Dialogue with Dr. Monty Jones (ED FARA) in the middle and Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki (CEO NEPAD) at the extreme right.

28 - 30 July 2009, Accra, Ghana. NEPAD Tertiary Institutions Dialogue. NEPAD, in collaboration with the African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources Education (ANAFE), the Regional Forum for Agricultural Capacity building (RUFORUM), the African Technology Policy Studies (ATPS), the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), the University of Ghana, the Maseno University of Kenya, the University of Malawi and CTA, is organizing a workshop at FARA.

This workshop is a follow-up to the NEPAD-SADC Regional Stakeholder workshop held in Johannesburg (4-5- December 2008), which recommended the need for a “Road Map” to outline the interaction and collaboration between NEPAD and African Centres of Knowledge. While the agriculture core group has taken shape, interaction of this group with other disciplines at the forthcoming platform will assist in bringing them into motion for important objective of harnessing Africa’s human resource.

Objectives: This workshop aims to:

• Identify concrete ways to assist NEPAD to engage with universities and research institutions in Africa; and sensitize them on NEPAD and its programmes, with particular reference to the NEPAD/AU Capacity Development Strategic Framework (CDSF);
• Brainstorm on NEPAD and how regional Centres of Knowledge can effectively contribute to this vision “…to determine our own destiny and call on the rest of the world to complement our efforts”;

Kenynote speaker Dr Monty Jones (ED FARA) on "Championing the NEPAD vision for Africa's future through Science, Technology and Innovations"

• Develop strategies to create a collaborative platform to encourage a change of mindset toward training in capacity development, in a way that pays attention to both “tangible” (evident/hard) and “intangible” (Less evident/soft” skills) in order to consolidate and improve on the relevance of networks and institutions allowing them to work together in multi-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary ways, and to share knowledge at the local, national and global level;
• Support national governments, regional and continental organization to determine the capacity requirements and identify existing gaps necessary to provide technical expertise to implement CAADP more efficiently at all levels; and
  Identify the market (production) and non-market (policy; institutional) challenges necessary to create an enabling environment for countries in Africa to attain the critical mass required to deliver the desired output in enhancing sustainable development.

References:

• 12 August 2009 ScienceAlert Research must reach farmers
• 3 August 2009 SciDev.net Get agricultural research to farmers, universities told

Promoting agro-businesses in Africa’s industrialization efforts

22-24 July. An eperts meeting at the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, have called for the promotion of agro-businesses as an essential element of Africa’s industrialization efforts.

The expert meeting conclude with the preparation of a draft document on using public-private partnerships as a vehicle for promoting agro-industry and agribusinesses. Some key issues addressed by the experts included: the increasing disconnection of African farmers from both input and product markets; the extreme fragmentation of the African food and agricultural markets; how to improve the conceptualization of regional agricultural value chains; and inter-institutional collaboration for promoting regional value chains.

Reference:
Afrol News 28/07/2009. Agro-industries essential for Africa’s development – experts

Update edition of infonet-biovision is online

15th of July 2009. An update edition of infonet-biovision is now online. http://www.infonet-biovision.org/ is a web-based information tool offering trainers, extension workers and farmers mainly in Africa a quick access to up-to-date and locally relevant information in order to optimise their livelihoods in a safe, effective, and ecologically sound way.

The information presented is specifically relevant for the african continent and its inhabitants, many examples and case studies are from Kenya or East African countries, but can be useful for other tropical countries as well. The topics presented on infonet like crop managment, diseases, pests and environmenally sound technologies are focused on the ecology and the species that are prevalent in East Africa.

Hereunder follows an interview with Gladys Nyambura who gives trainings to farmers about the use of Infonet in Kenya. She tells about the difficulties for farmers to access information on CDroms and on Internet. But once they are able to do this http://www.infonet-biovision.org/ is recognized as a unique and very rich source of information.

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Using the mobile to create social groups around a value chain

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16th of July 2009. Interview with Mark Davies, Esoko and Founder of Busyinternet, Accra, Ghana after the panel Discussion on: Public private partnership in m-agriculture at the end of the second day of the IAALD Africa Chapter Conference.

Mark explains how social groups can be created around a value chain or a specific commodity - similar as social groups on Facebook.

He recognizes that this has yet not be tried out but he expects this will be the future as long a this can be done in a very cheap way. This can initially been driven by companies like Unilever of Nestle because they have their networks and need to be able to communicate more quickly and more effectively with the small distributers. This is presently very expensive. Using the mobile for data exchange is an obvious solution.

"The value change we think of is probably more around successful commercial businesses to start with"

Why M&E is crucial for mobile phone use in agriculture

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16th of July 2009. Interview with Mark Davies, Esoko and Founder of Busyinternet, Accra, Ghana after the panel Discussion on: Public private partnership in m-agriculture at the end of the second day of the IAALD Africa Chapter Conference.

Mark explains why Monitoring and evaluation is so crucial for the use of mobile phone in agriculture, that it is not fair towards Ministries of Agriculture to expect they would remain abreast of the latest mobile phone technological developments. He also shares his thoughts about the potential of videos for farmer extension messages. But he wonders whether the mobile phone screen is the most appropriate format?

Nokia and the quest for relevant farmer content

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Interview with Sean Paavo Krepp, Head, Nokia Africa & Middle East Emerging Markets Services, South Africa after the panel Discussion on: Public private partnership in m-agriculture on 16th of July 2009 at the IAALD Africa Chapter Conference.Accra, Ghana.

Sean explains:

1. why relevant content for farmers is so important,
2. why it is important to collaborate with the public sector,
3. if funding for re-packaging of agricultural information and research findings is not a big problem.

He also shares his thoughts about civil servants in Ministries of Agriculture who feel they can not cope with the quickly evolving mobile phone technology

Nokia Tune Arabic Re-Mix !

The consequences of climate change for poor farmers in Africa

Two new IFPRI research papers focus on the consequences of climate change for poor farmers in Africa and provide policymakers with adaptation strategies.

Two new IFPRI research papers focus on the consequences of climate change for poor farmers in Africa and provide policymakers with adaptation strategies.

Economywide Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa analyzes two possible climate change adaptation options for the region. The paper uses two scenarios: the first doubles the irrigated area in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2050 but keeps total crop area constant; and the second scenario increases both rainfed and irrigated crop yields by 25 percent for all Sub-Saharan African countries. Due to the limited initial irrigated area in the region, an increase in agricultural productivity achieves better outcomes than an expansion of irrigated area. Both scenarios help lower world food prices, stimulating national and international food markets.

Soil and Water Conservation Technologies: A Buffer against Production Risk in the Face of Climate Change? investigates the impact of different soil and water conservation technologies on the variance of crop production in Ethiopia to determine the risks of the different technologies for different regions and rainfall zones. The results show that soil and water conservation technologies have significant impacts on reducing production risk in Ethiopia and could be part of the country’s climate-proofing strategy. However, one-size-fits-all recommendations are not appropriate, so policymakers will have to use careful geographical targeting when identifying appropriate agricultural practices to act as a buffer against climate change.

Refererences:
IFPRI blog 22/07/09

Funding trends in agricultural research for development

A June 2009 paper (GFAR, 26 pages) takes an in-depth look at funding trends in agricultural research for development.

In this briefing paper Ruben G. Echeverria and Nienke M. Beintema examine past and current trends in the funding of agricultural research and analyze various agricultural research funding mechanisms that have been used in the past and should be explored today in order to increase agricultural research outputs in developing countries. Much was discovered through their research and analysis.

Despite recent increased international awareness of the importance of agriculture as a generator of income, employment, foreign exchange and tax revenues as well as its association with poverty reduction and the preservation of natural resources, there is still a need for increased awareness of the important role that agricultural research for development (AR4D) plays in the above issues.

The great potential of AR4D in issues of food security, poverty reduction, and preservation of natural resources must be emphasized in order to overcome the perpetual under-investment in public agricultural research in developing countries.

CGIAR gets itself a climate change blog

The Communications Team in the CGIAR Secretariat launched a new blog a few weeks ago called “Rural Climate Exchange: Connecting Agricultural and Environmental Science to the Climate Agenda.” It looks nice. It seems to have all the requisite bells and whistles.

The Centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and their partners generate a wealth of knowledge that can better enable rural people in developing countries to mitigate climate change and adapt to its impacts. The purpose of this blog is to help bring such knowledge to light, so it can better serve global efforts to cope with climate change.

E-farmer

14th July. The Microsoft Imagine Cup, an international student technology competition, now in its seventh year, aims to identify and reward those operating at the forefront of technological innovation, namely students. This year’s finals were held in Cairo in Egypt and drew more than 300000 entrants from more than 120 countries, with the top 444 students descending on the city to compete in the final round.

Team Uganda devised a two-tiered system for farmers called E-Farmer; a mobile auction system that allows farmers to trade produce before making a costly and time-consuming trip to the market as well as allowing them to seek advice on weather patterns and other agricultural issues. The second makes use of high-end imaging software to analyse diseased crops and make suggestions as to how best to combat blight, especially for the widely cultivated cassava plant, currently afflicted by disease.

e-Farmer provides access to relevant agricultural information, prevailing market prices, online produce auctioning, weather forecasts and expert advice via SMS messaging on virtually any mobile phone.

The 2009 Imagine Cup is the second time around for development++ and their e-Farmer application. According to Joseph, last year the team had inadequate time to prepare, but this year they collected extensive user research, a required component for this year’s Unlimited Potential Design for Development Award. Joseph and his colleagues interviewed farmers, conducted focus groups, observed farming practices and, in some cases, helped around farms.

“What stood out was how much the rural farmers were being ripped off,” says Joseph. “They have no knowledge whatsoever of the prevailing market prices out there, so when the middlemen go deep into the villages, they buy the produce at ridiculous prices. And the farmers are really helpless because they don’t have storage facilities, and they can’t keep the crops around once they are harvested because they will go bad.”

Reference:
The Times 14/07/09 Students win at mind games
MicroSoft Press 09/06/2009 Imagine Cup Teams Face Off in Contest of Creativity and Technological Prowess

Third and last day of the IAALD Africa Chapter Conference

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17th July 2009. The last day of the IAALD Africa Chapter Conference was devoted to the IAALD Africa Chapter Business Meeting and the Conference Report & Recommendations.

Peter Ballatyne gives his impression on the conference (his take home message) and the participants. He says that the debate during the second day about Public Private Partnerships in mobile telephony use for agricultural information demystified the impression that agricultural research centres are "sitting on a lot of information" which just needs to be tapped on.

On the contrary, a lot of energy will go into repackaging agricultural information into useful formats.

Second day of the IAALD Africa Chapter Conference

Panel Discussion on: Public private partnership in m-agriculture

From left to right: 1. Jonathan Petko, Regional Alliance Builder, USAID Ghana Office,
Accra, Ghana / 2. Sean Paavo Krepp, Head, Nokia Africa & Middle East Emerging
Markets Services, South Africa / 3. Jonas Wanvoeke, Research Assistant, Learning & Innovation
Systems Program, Africa Rice Center (WARDA), Cotonou, Benin / 4. Mark Davies, Esoko and Founder of Busyinternet, Accra, Ghana

16th of July 2009. Second day of the IAALD Africa Chapter Conference. The second day had some lively debates on:

Intellectual Property Rights and Open Access to Knowledge in Agricultural Sciences and Technology.

Opening Access to Knowledge in Agricultural Sciences and Technology: International, Regional, National and Institutional Initiatives.

• Davy Simumba of the Zambia Agricultural Research Institute reported on a survey of attitudes to open access among agricultural researchers in Zambia. More than 85% of survey respondents indicated that their research is funded through public sources. Hence, it could be reasonable that the results would be publicly and openly accessible. Read more at IAALD 16th July Prospects for open access to AgInfo in Africa

Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia

View more presentations from iaaldafrika.

• Complementing Simumba’s survey, Frankwell Dulle from the Sokoine University of Agriculture reported on a survey of open access attitudes among university policy makers Tanzania. The overwhelming majority (95%) of respondents indicated that “dissemination of research outputs was a problem” in their institutions. Read more at IAALD 16th July Prospects for open access to AgInfo in Africa
  
  Fostering open access publishing in Tanzanian public universities:

  View more presentations from iaaldafrika.

Advocating for Opening Access to Knowledge in Agricultural Sciences and Technology in Africa: the Way Forward

Panel Discussion on: Public private partnership in m-agriculture: roles and incentives of stakeholders. Organized by: The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa

Inauguration of Africa Liaison Office of the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS)

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The Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) is located in Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, with Dr. Kenji Iiyama as President. JIRCAS has set up recently its Africa Liaison Office in Accra, Ghana inside the premises of Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA).

Its inauguration ceremony was held on 14th July 2009. During this event Dr. Masami YASUNAKA, vice president of JIRCAS was interviewed.

Recently, there has been an increasing expectation for Japans contribution to agricultural research in Africa since the creation of the Yokohama Action Plan during the TICAD IV Meeting held in May 2008, which states that Japan will provide assistance to the development of agricultural research, extension, and training services for the improvement of agricultural technologies for Africa such as for variety improvement and improvement of soil fertility.

Accordingly, JIRCAS research activities in Africa are being strengthened and its share for research in Africa has been increasing rapidly. Furthermore, JIRCAS will also join the Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD) as a member of the steering committee and hopes to contribute to research and development of rice technologies in Africa.

To strengthen the base and strategy of agricultural research activities in Africa hereafter, it is necessary to build a system that attaches great importance to the collaborative relationships among national and regional agricultural research organizations in Africa and research networks on both crop and subject basis.

Dr. Masami YASUNAKA answers the following questions:

1. What is JIRCAS' vision to collaborate with Africa
   
2. Why was Ghana and FARA choosen to establish a liaison office?
   
3. Is climate change one of JIRCA's research topics?
   

JIRCAS establishes its Africa Liaison Office in Ghana

14th July 2009. Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) establishes its Africa Liaison Office in Accra, Ghana -As a base station for agricultural research for Africa conducted by Japanese researchers-

Dr. Masami YASUNAKA Vice president of JIRCAS
presents the JIRCAS activities in Africa.


JIRCAS has recently set up its Africa Liaison Office in Accra, Ghana inside the premises of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA). Its inauguration ceremony was held on 14th July and was attended by guests and representatives from regional offices of international organizations for agriculture, agricultural research institutes in Ghana, as well as staffs of Japanese organizations in Ghana.


A Regional Coordinator was assigned to the Liaison Office to carry out important tasks such as information collection and coordination of research activities, that are relevant to the fulfillment of its function as a base station for agricultural research for Africa conducted by Japanese researchers.

Dr. Monty Jones welcomes warmly the opening of the JIRCAS liaison office inside the premises of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa.

The main tasks of the Liaison Office are as follows:

Establishment of close relationships with the international organizations located in Ghana, such as FARA, FAO Africa Regional Office, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) Ghana Office, International Water Management Institute (IWMI) West Africa Office, to enable efficient collection and distribution of wide-ranging information on the present situation of African agriculture by meeting with them and by having dialogs with them.

1. Collection and distribution of the latest information on agricultural research and on the needs for collaborative research by periodic visit to national agricultural research organizations, universities, and governmental organizations in West Africa.
2. Communication, coordination of and assistance for research activities of JIRCAS and concerned organizations in West Africa.
3. To introduce JIRCAS activities and to collect information by participation in the meetings to held in Africa.

Reference:

News of the ceremony on the JIRCAS webpage: Establishment of the JIRCAS Liaison Office in Africa

CIARD Africa Advocacy Consultation

14th July 2009. The Coherence in Information for Agricultural Research for Development (CIARD) initiative is working to make agricultural research information publicly available and accessible to all. This means working with organisations that hold information or that create new knowledge – to help them disseminate it more efficiently and make it easier to access. A consultation was organised at FARA on CIARD for the RAILS national learning teams which attended previously the RAILS side event at IAALD.

The purpose was the creation of a core group of African senior research information specialists at regional, sub-regional, and national level in Africa who are familiar with the CIARD manifesto and principles and understand the main implications/challenges of trying to achieve institutional change and implement the CIARD Checklist and actions.

The second purpose was to agree on an agenda for action to advocate the CIARD agenda amongst key audiences in African agricultural research, namely: (a) research managers and decision makers, (b) researchers and academics, (c) information specialists.

When the UK DFID (Department for International Development), aware of the value of putting research into use, commissioned FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) with the task of catalyzing efforts to ensure that agricultural research information and knowledge become public domain, it triggered the formation of a global partnership on Coherence in Information for Agricultural Research for Development (CIARD). The partnership includes FAO, EGFAR, the CGIAR, and others in the agricultural research community.

The partners in the CIARD initiative are committed to promoting the sharing of data, information and knowledge to empower the various stakeholders involved in agriculture. To begin with, CIARD outlined a checklist – the Triple A checklist that defines what is meant by ensuring your research outputs are Available, Accessible and Applicable.

CIARD pathways will help researchers identify a publisher who has more flexible policies on open access, so that they do not have to sign away all rights to their journal article. These pathways will also help a senior manager understand the value of institutional policies that enable sustainable development of repositories for their center. They will be brief and to the point. Where users like the IT unit and librarians, want more detail i.e. on Creative Commons, there would be linked resources on the web.

The pathways could broadly be clustered as:

• General – strategic and policy issues, organizational issues which need to be addressed in handling research outputs.
• Capture, Collection and Curation of research outputs – ensuring that all the outputs are described in a form that makes them available and accessible.
• Managing Web Presence – using the internet to make the information accessible to others.

First day of the IAALD Africa Chapter Conference

From left to right: Kevin Painting (CTA), Hon. Sherry Ayiteh (Minister for Environment, Science and Technology), Dr. A.B Salifu (DG Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Ghana), Dr. Monty Jones (E.D FARA), the representative of FAO

13 - 17 July 2009, Accra, Ghana. Second IAALD Africa Chapter Conference. The theme of the conference is Towards Opening Access to Information & Knowledge in the Agricultural Sciences and Technology in Africa:

initiatives aimed at opening access to AS & T information and knowledge including open access/archives initiatives,

the challenges faced by institutions in the agricultural sciences and technology field in Africa, and the way forward.

Presentation of eRAILS by Myra Wopereis of FARA

The discussions of the first day focused on following sub-themes:

Access and dissemination of knowledge in agricultural sciences and technology in Africa – mapping the landscape, major challenges,

Opening access to publicly funded research – views from research scientists, policy makers, development partners/funders of research and information professionals, and experiences and lessons from the North

Opening of the IAALD confence by Hon. Sherry Ayiteh (Minister for Environment, Science and Technology), Dr. A.B Salifu (DG Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Ghana).

In the keynote address to the IAALD Africa conference, Monty Jones – Executive Director of FARA and World Food prize laureate - argued that open access, to transform African agriculture, must:

• catalyse innovations
• improve African knowledge management
• strengthen Africa’s capacities to build its own capactities
• promote enabling policies
• facilitate access to markets

Arguing that “all of us should be doing advocacy in one way or the other,” He also posed some key questions to attain opening access:

• Are we advocating to the right people and the right institutions?
• Do we have the right systems for the intended users?
• Do the users have the skills and infrastructure to access the Knowledge?
• Do we have the appropriate institutional policies?
• Do we have the platforms that practitioners need to share and learn?
• How do we build and how do we manage knowledge - among all the different actors?

Speaking in the opening plenary of the IAALD Africa conference, Krishan Bheenick of the SADC Secretariat traced the development of AIMS – the Agricultural Information Management System of SADC.

Facilitation of Information Sharing on Agricultural R&D in the SADC Region

View more documents from iaaldafrika.

References:

• IAALD Programme (pdf)
• IAALD 15 July 2009 Monty Jones on open access to AgInfo in Africa
• IAALD 15 July 2009 AgInfo management system for Southern Africa
• IAALD 15 July 2009 Knowledge creation and knowledge systems for African agriculture
• Ghana News - Accra,Ghana General News of Wednesday, 15 July 2009 Research and Development output to be made public - Sherry Ayittey

Reaction of a participant at the RAILS side event at IAALD

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Issel Ould Abdatt Centre national d'élevage et de recherches vétérinaires. CNERV. Directeur General adjoint, Nouakchott Mauritanie gives his impression about his attendance at the RAILS Side-event at the 2nd IAALD Africa Chapter Conference on the theme Towards Opening Access to Information & Knowledge in the Agricultural Sciences and Technology in Africa.

He explains what the RAILS programme does in Mauritania and how the workshop has clarified the expectations and what should be done.

Participants to the RAILS side event at IAALD

12-13 July 2009. RAILS Side-event at the 2nd IAALD Africa Chapter Conference on the theme ‘Towards Opening Access to Information & Knowledge in the Agricultural Sciences and Technology in Africa’.

Participants:

JANVIER Nkunzebose
Institut Des Sciences Agronomiques du Burundi (ISABU),
Bujumbura Burundi.

Rachel Rege
Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), Assistant Director, Information Documentation Services Nairobi.Kenya

MAQALIKA MATSEPE
Agricultural Information Services Ministry Of Agriculture And Food Security, Senior Agricultural Information Officer, Lesotho

Mohammed Sannoh

Senior Communications Officer, SLARI, National Agricultural Research Coordinating CouncilFreetown - Liberia
Francois Stepman
Communications Expert

FARA

Jacqueline Nyagahima

ASARECA

Uganda

Paula Pimentel
Agricultural Research Institute of Mozambique (IIAM),Researcher - Technology Transfer And Information Systems DirectorateMaputo, Mozambique

Jacky Nnam
Knowledge Sharing Officer

Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa.
Accra- Ghana
Keven Nancy Principal OfficerResearch and DevelopmentSeychelles Agricultural Agency Republic of Seychelles

Ifidon Ohiomoba PSTAD OfficerForum for Agric Research in Africa. Ghana

Sostino Mocumbe Communications Officer Institute of Agricultural Research of Mozambique Maputo, Mozambique

Abdoulaye Aziz BANGOURA
IRAGResponsable Information Scientifique & TechniqueConakry - Guinee

Francine Rasolofonirina
Ministry of Agriculture-Livestock and fisheries -Head, Extension Service and Farmer's Training DepartmentDirectorate of Extension Service and Farmer's Support Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and FisheryAntananarivo - Madagascar

Richard AWAH NCHE
Director, Department of Communication and Documentation,Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD),Yaounde - Republic of Cameroun

Issel Ould Abdatt
Centre national d'élevage et de recherches vétérinaires. CNERV. Directeur General adjoint. Nouakchott Mauritanie

Dady Demby

Forum for Agric Research in Africa. RAILS Program OfficerAccra- Ghana

Hadiza Gabey
INRAN, Chef De La Division Information. Valorisation et Documentation. Niger, Niamey

Justin Chisenga
Information Management SpecialistFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations – FAO - Regional Office for AfricaAccra, Ghana

Jocelin Makoko
INERA-Chef deDivision Biométrie & Informatique Président du Comité National de Pilotage (CNP) du Réseau Régional de l'Information Agricole (RAIN ) RD Congo

Claudine Umukazi
Institut des Sciences Agronomiques du Rwanda (ISAR)

Kigali Rwanda

KONE Yékéminan Anatole
Information/Communication Manager

CORAF/WECARDDakar - Senegal

Myra Wopereis
Forum for Agric Research in Africa. Director, Access to Knowledge and TechnologyAccra- Ghana

Kedro Diomande
Centre national de recherche agronomique, directeur des systemes d'informationAbidjan Cote-d’ Ivoire

Emmanuel Mbembe
Chef de service de la Communication et de la Vulgarisation,
Délégation Générale à la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique/Centre National de Documentation et d’Information Scientifique et Technique ( CNDIST),
Congo-Brazzaville

Frank W Dulle
Sokoine University of Agriculture,P.O.Biox 3158, Chuo kikuu,Morogoro-Tanzania.

Krishan Bheerninck
Regional Information, Communication and Training Officer,Implementation & Coordination of Agricultural Research & Training(ICART) projectFood, Agriculture and Natural Resources (FANR) DirectorateSADC Secretariat, GaboroneGaborone, Botswana

Goliath Leon Mwale
ZARI Lusaka, Zambia.

Davy Simumba
Zambia Agriculture Research Institute -Mount Makulu Central Research StationChilanga - Zambia

Joel Sam
Deputy Director
CSIR-INSTIAccra-Ghana

AHLAM ISMAIL MUSA
Agricultural Research Corporation (ARC), Central Library,Head Librarian And Manager Agris Resource Centre Of The Sudan,Agricultural Research Corporation (Arc)Sudan

Rafaa Ashamallah Ghobrial
Information Research Assistant Professor Head of Information Services and Systems Documentation and Information Centre National Centre for Research Ministry of Science and TechnologyKhartoum, Sudan

RASOANINDRAINY Andrianjafy
CAETIC-IT & Project Management specialistAdministratorCAETIC DevelopmentAntananarivo, Madagascar

Grace Kamau
Head - InfocentreInternational Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)Nairobi Kenya