A major stumbling block in the development of agriculture, fisheries and forestry across the developing world, and in particular in the Low Income Food Deficit Countries (LIFDCs), is the lack of application of well proven available technologies that have made significant contributions to agricultural development elsewhere. Lack of awareness of and easy access to information on already established and proven technologies becomes a priority. Very often, established technologies are not well documented and experiences of their application rarely adequately described.

     Furthermore, the capacity for the assessment and or the modification of particular technologies to suit local conditions is often a main constraint in the technology transfer process. It was repeatedly noted that proven technologies were not being applied, for various reasons, including the need to prescribe methods and protocols for the assessment and transfer of these technologies.

      Against this background, FAO developed a set of criteria and indicators and for technology assessment and transfer and commissioned field studies for testing these tools and instruments in a number of countries. The results of the study along with the assessment concepts and methodologies were presented in two FAO regional expert consultations in the Sub-Saharan and Asian-Pacific regions. A core objective in these events was to create enabling environment and supporting instruments for sharing experiences and to facilitate discussion and evaluation of the broad applicability of the identified methods and thematic instruments of technology assessment among the national research institutions in the participating countries.

      Two important outcomes resulted from these discussions:

(1) a sub-regional programme led by FAO and financed by UNDP and

(2) an electronic interactive Meta-Data Base Inventory of Proven Technologies.

     The former programme aims to establish permanent and sustainable linkages among policy makers, research scientists and technology transfer specialists in the agricultural sectors across four Northeast Asian countries to underpin specialised training, on-farm demonstrations and the building of effective communication networks that facilitated technology sharing and transfer.

     The latter is an electronic interactive Meta-Data Base Inventory of Proven Technologies in which selected technologies and the contexts of their application is documented along with an assessment template which describes the socio-economic, bio-physical and technical dimensions pertaining to the successful application of the technology. The descriptions of these technologies will be assessed and field-tested by FAO’s assistance by potential NARS users of these technologies.

      Recognising this limitation, FAO assists developing country governments and national research organisations to address the fundamental aspects of research organization and management. Training and research management support is a very important component of the research Master Plan outlined above; as a follow-up to the Master Plan exercise, the Organization also provides specific management training in specifically agreed areas of research management which have been identified as being deficient in the particular NARS in question.

      Flexibility is a feature of these institution-strengthening projects; each project is specifically tailored to the needs of the research system in question and can vary in scale, technical inputs, time frame and financial cost dependent on the initial strengths of the institutions being addressed, national government finances and donor commitment. In an attempt to address this problem in a holistic manner, FAO has produced a comprehensive training manual, which addresses the various aspects of agricultural research management.