09.30 hrs, 15/9/1999 at Canada Room (A-356)

Mr. Eckebil presented the Co-operation between FAO and CG Centres including IRRI, WARDA, ICRISAT, and CIAT. Collaboration between FAO and IRRI has been strengthened especially in the field of hybrid rice development and use. Recently FAO and IRRI signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Several meetings were organised by IRC for technical units at HQs to discuss the programme of collaboration with IRRI. From these meetings, three projects were prepared by AGPC, AGPS, and SDRE and submitted to the Steering Committee of the ADB-funded project on Hybrid Rice Development and Use in Asia, which is executed by IRRI.

Co-operation between FAO and WARDA, was recently strengthened, after the visit of the Director-General of WARDA and subsequent discussions between him and Senior Officers of FAO on the mechanism for strengthening of the co-operation for promoting the sustainable rice production in West Africa, especially via the activities of the Special Programme for Food Security. The Director-General of FAO has approved, in principle, the establishment of a MOU to provide guidelines for the co-operation between FAO and WARDA. The draft document of MOU has been submitted by AGP to the Legal Office for comment and clearance. Recently officers of FAO and WARDA jointly undertook a mission to visit the SPFS in Burkina Faso, Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire. A study tour was proposed, for the Co-ordinators of SPFS and leaders of the Rice Research Programme in these countries, to visit WARDA, to get acquainted with promising rice technologies available at WARDA, and to discuss the programme of co-operation. A copy of the proposal was sent to TCOS for comment and clearance.

FAO co-operated with ICRISAT in the development of a method for rapid composting of rice straw and has been contacting FLAR/CIAT regarding the possibility of organising an electronic-mail conference on Integrated Crop Management for sustainable irrigated rice production in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Mr. Mbabaali presented the activities of the project on Sustainable Productivity Improvement for Rice in Inland Valleys in West Africa, funded by the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) and executed by WARDA with FAO's supervision. Mr. Mazaud outline the collaboration, between AGSI and CG Centres, especially IRRI, on activities in post-harvest operation and technologies for rice. Mr. Zapata-Arias presented the activities conducted at AGE/Joint Division on rice and other crops and suggested a joint collaboration amongs AGE and other technical units, especially in the field of plant mutation and training. Mr. Tran presented the co-operation between FAO and advanced national rice programmes such as CIRAD/INRA in France, EMBRAPA/CNPAF in Brazil and FEDEARROZ in Colombia. Mr. Nguyen presented the FAO-WARDA collaborative activities with regard to the collection, analyses, and dissemination of information on promising varieties and production technologies for rice production under different ecologies in West Africa.

Followings are the main recommendations of the Meeting after the discussions on the above presentations:

• The present collaborative activities, among FAO and CG Centres, are essential for sustainable production of this vital commodity. FAO's technical units should give support to these collaborative activities, especially in the framework of SPFS.

• Co-ordination among technical units of FAO in activities supporting sustainable rice production in Member Countries should be strengthened. The Steering Committee of IRC should implement a mechanism aimed at strengthening the co-ordination of the activities on rice within the various technical units of FAO. The Meeting recommended that the Secretariat of IRC organise ad-hoc working groups for this matter. The Rice Project, proposed by some members of the Steering Committee, during previous Meetings of the Steering Committee, could serve as a starting point for the discussion of the ad-hoc group.

• Information on co-operative activities on rice, among FAO's technical units, including the AGE/Joint Division, and CG Centres should be sent to Mr. Eckebil, as SDRR is the focal point for Co-operation between FAO and CG Centres, and Mr. Tran, the Executive Secretary of IRC

• AGSI was requested to submit a short document regarding the findings on effects of HYVs of rice and post-harvest operation for publication in the next issue of AG21

• ESCB should review with WARDA the possibility of including the activities of SPFS in Burkina Faso, Côte D'Ivoire and Nigeria, as well as post-harvest activities and gender issues in the Common Fund Project. However, ESCB pointed out that it was too late, at this point in time, to introduce additional components to the project since it had already been approved by the sponsoring body (CFC) and implementation is ongoing. ESCB indicated that, where applicable, the project-implementing agencies were encouraged to work in collaboration with the national co-ordinators of SPFS.

Mr. Tran invited the participants to provide comments and suggestions on the Draft Agenda and Calendar for the Global Expert Consultation submitted and circulated by AGPC and the Secretariat of IRC before the Meeting. Mr. Tran informed the participants of the Meeting that AGSP (through Mr. Baker) has agreed to prepare a paper on "Socio-Economic Aspects of Yield Gaps and Productivity Decline" for the Global Expert Consultation. In general, the participants approved the proposed Agenda and Calendar with the following recommendations:

• IRC should provide clear guidelines for the preparation of case studies on Yield Gap and Productivity Decline;

• An ad-hoc working group, composed of 4 to 5 representatives of the technical units, especially AGLN and SDWW, should be convened by the IRC Secretariat to prepare these guidelines;

• SDWW should provide inputs to AGSP in preparation of the paper on Socio-economic Aspects.

Mr. Duwayri, Chairman of the IRC Steering Committee, informed the participants of the Meeting that FAO received an invitation from IRRI to establish/announce an International Rice Year. The participants support the establishment/announcement of an International Rice Year, in collaboration with IRRI and other CG Centres. The Members of the Meeting proposed the year 2002 for the International Rice Year. The 20th Session of the IRC will be organised in the year 2002.