Mr Moïse Sonou, the first President/Coordinator of the Association introduced this regional network (Annex 8). A summary of his presentation follows.
(a) Establishment process
- 1995: assessment of the need for the Association;
- early 1996: feasibility study;
- July 1996: constitutive meeting in Ouagadougou when RAID was established comprising seven participating countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Niger and Senegal).
(b) Objectives of the Network
- to promote the sustainable development of irrigation and drainage in West and Central Africa;
- to promote the establishment of national Committees of the International Commission for Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) in the Region;
- to develop South-South and North-South exchanges of technical knowledge and information.
(c) Major Activities of the Network
- to organize thematic seminars and workshops;
- to publish a bulletin and specialized thematic books;
- to organize on-the-job training;
- to create a specialized database.
(d) Lessons learned from the Network experience
- it has been created in response to a clearly expressed need;
- it has resulted from a three-stage preparation process;
- external resources have been available to support network activities;
- overcoming language barriers between members from different countries has been a costly prerequisite for effective communications and exchanges of information;
- the quality of local communication infrastructure in the member countries has had a direct impact on the effectiveness of technical cooperation.
The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) was founded in 1967 with a mandate for improving food production in the humid tropics and to develop sustainable production systems. Its headquarters is in Ibadan, Nigeria, with stations in Benin, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire and Uganda. It is funded by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Its mission is to enhance food security, income and well being of resource-poor people in its mandate area, through research and related activities. IITA is involved in a large number of networks dealing with research in a variety of crops in many agro-ecological areas of Africa.
IITA is the coordinating centre for the Ecoregional Programme for Humid and Subhumid Tropics of Subsaharan Africa (EPHTA), a collaborative venture of the national agricultural research systems in 13 countries and five international agricultural research centres, as well as of other organizations and research institutions. EPHTA membership includes five types of partners:
- International Agricultural Research Centres (IARCs) and Advanced Research Institutions (ARIs);
- national agricultural research institutes, universities, extension services, private researchers, etc;
- non-governmental organizations with an interest in agriculture;
- farmers' organizations;
- regional research coordinating organization.
The role of IITA in EPHTA consists of:
- providing logistic and communication supports for the coordinating office;
- appointing and administrating EPHTA staff;
- soliciting funds for EPHTA activities;
- hosting meetings of EPHTA's Review and Work-planning Workshop and Programme Management Committee.
Additional information on IITA and EPHTA is given in Annex 9.
The West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA) is an autonomous intergovernmental research association with a mission to strengthen Sub-Saharan Africa's capability for technology generation, technology transfer and policy formulation, in order to increase the sustainable productivity of rice-based cropping systems while conserving the natural resource base and contributing to the food security of poor rural and urban households.
WARDA, one of the 16 CGIAR international research centres, was founded in 1971 by 11 countries with the assistance of the United Nations Development Programme, FAO and the Economic Commission for Africa. It now comprises 17 member states: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
The main research centre and headquarters of WARDA are in M'be, near Bouaké in Côte d'Ivoire, with regional sites at Ndiaye near Saint-Louis in Senegal, and at IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Research focus and programmes
The goal of WARDA research is to increase the sustainable productivity of intensified rice-based cropping systems in a manner that improves the welfare of resource-poor farm families and that conserves and enhances the natural resource base.
Research focuses on the arid and semi-arid tropics, the warm subhumid tropics and the warm humid tropics of West Africa. It is organized within four inter-related programmes:
- Rain-fed Rice Programme, based near Bouaké in Côte d'Ivoire;
- Irrigated Rice Programme, based at Ndiaye in Senegal;
- Policy Support Programme;
- Technology Transfer Programme.
Collaborative research programmes have been established with national scientists through the Task Force mechanism, which brings together regional scientists working on similar research problems.
WARDA-based Research Networks
WARDA is also the host institute for two regional research consortia: the Inland Valley Consortium (IVC) and the Regional Rice Research Network (RRRN).
(a) The Inland Valley Consortium
It brings together the expertise of five international institutions (IITA, Winand Staring Centre, Agricultural University of Wageningen, Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche agronomique pour le Développement, WARDA) and eight national agriculture research stations (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone) to characterize inland valleys with respect to their development needs, to develop improved low-cost water management systems, and to test improved agronomic technologies.
The IVC Steering Committee includes representatives of member countries and international institutions, with the Conférence de Responsables de Recherche Agronomique Africains (CORAF) and WARDA as observers. There are also a Regional Coordinating Unit (for network and research coordination) and National Coordinating Committees.
(b) The Regional Rice Research Network
It is a CORAF-WARDA Task Force merger which includes seven thematic Research Groups, with WARDA being the facilitator and providing e-mail list services.
Its Steering Committee includes a Chairman, seven Task Force representatives, and two WARDA scientists, with the DDG-P and CORAF as observers. There is also a Coordinator/Secretariat.
Focus is on research: planning, harmonization and exchange of research results are facilitated by bringing researchers together, by learning from each other, by organizing monitoring tours and training programmes, and by publishing journals.
