AIRCA launched at GCARD2

Dr Ismahane Elouafi, ICBA Director-General, attended the GCARD2 (Second Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development) conference, Foresight and partnership for innovation and impact on small-holder livelihoods, held from 29 October – 1 November in Punta del Este, Uruguay. 

The conference, which is the second in a new series of global conferences held by the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR http://www.egfar.org/) in collaboration with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) every two years, focused on how to implement actions and assess their impacts identified in the GCARD RoadMap. The RoadMap, which was an outcome of the 2010 GCARD1 conference, highlights the changes required in Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D) systems to reduce hunger and poverty, create opportunity for income growth while ensuring environmental sustainability and meeting the needs of resource-poor farmers and consumers. 

The forum also provided the ideal high-profile opportunity for the launch of the Association of International Research Centers for Agriculture (AIRCA). Speakers presented to the delegates the vision for AIRCA to drive the global push for Healthy Landscapes in order to increase global food security by supporting smallholder agriculture within healthy, sustainable and climate-smart landscapes. 

As ICBA is an inaugural member of AIRCA, Dr Elouafi also met with the other heads of the nine-member alliance to progress AIRCA programs.