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In this issue

Message from the Chairman of GFAR

INCANA Establishment

Brief Report from the Second INCANA Meeting

New Secretariat Management Team of INCANA

International Cotton Conference and Events-2005

IPM News

Global Post-harvest Initiative Planning Meeting - Antalya-Turkey

Supply and Distribution of Cotton -December 2004

Message from the Chairman of GFAR

It is my great pleasure to see that the first issue of  INCANA Newsletter is published by the Secretariat. The establishment of the Inter-regional Cotton Network in Asia and North Africa (INCANA) was a milestone for partnership among NARSs of three important regional fora, i.e. AARINENA, APAARI and CACAARI. This network initiated its activities on the recommendation of an Expert Consultation Meeting held in Tehran, Iran in October 2002. Cotton is a major commodity cultivated in many developing countries under different agro-climatic zones. Increasing productivity of cotton farming system is highly important for alleviating poverty, attaining food security and creating employment in the cotton producing countries.

There is no international research center mandated to support the NARS of developing countries facing the challenge of sustainable cotton production. Therefore, establishment of an Inter-regional Network on Cotton is highly important for the exchange of information, knowledge and technologies amongst these countries. Inter-regional collaboration is also one of the main pillars of GFAR Business Plan for 2004-2006. Partnership among NARSs of AARINENA, APAARI and CACAARI regions on sustainable cotton production is a good example of strengthening collaboration between South-South  on which GFAR puts a great emphasis.

I would like to congratulate the INCANA Secretariat for publication of this Newsletter and to express my best wishes to the relevant regional fora and their NARSs for successful collaboration on increasing productivity of cotton farming system.

M.H. Roozitalab

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INCANA Establishment

Recognizing the  importance of cotton production in a number of developing countries in Asia and North Africa, and considering the prime role and importance of cotton in the agricultural economy of these countries, producing more than half of the world's cotton production, Dr. M.H. Roozitalab, Deputy Head of Agricultural Research and Education Organization (AREO) and Vice President of the Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in the Near East and North Africa (AARINENA) made initial contacts with Dr. R.S. Paroda, Chairman of Global Forum of Agricultural Research (GFAR) and Executive Secretary of Asia Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI); Dr.A. Satybaldin, Chairman of Central Asia and Caucasus Forum (CAC); and Dr. H. Ketata Head of Tehran Office, International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), during early 2002, and called for strengthening cotton research collaboration among NARs. Following  the  discussion, the Inter-regional Workshop on Cotton Research was held at AREO, Tehran, Iran in October 2002. On the basis of the recommendations of the workshop, an Inter-regional Network on Cotton in Asia and North Africa (INCANA) was established.

Missions:

• Establishing regional collaboration for improving cotton production technology in Asia and North Africa through research, workshops and training programs.

•  Establishment of an information management system on cotton

•  Exchange of germplasm

•  Publication of  INCANA newsletter regularly  and success stories 

•  Organizing conferences, workshops and training courses

•  Organizing the annual meetings of the Network's Steering   Committee in member countries

INCANA Members

Countries:	1-  Azerbaijan	7-     Pakistan
	2-     Egypt	8-   Syria
	3-   India	9-   Tajikistan
	4-   Iran	10-  Turkmenistan
	5-   Kazakhstan	11-  Uzbekistan
	6-   Kyrgyzstan

Organizations:	1- AARINENA
	2- APAARI
	3- CACAARI
	4-ICARDA
	5- CIRAD

Objectives:

• Increasing cotton yield in the member countries through research collaboration and exchange of scientific knowledge, success stories and new technologies

• Providing a database on cotton research and other related issues concerning cotton production in the region to be used by the member countries

• Increasing the knowledge of cotton experts and scientists through implementation of collaborative research activities and holding training workshops on cotton related issues

• Establishing close cooperation with other research networks on cotton in the world (such as Mediterranean cotton research network)

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Brief Report from the Second INCANA Meeting

The second meeting of INCANA was held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from 6-8 September 2004. The Meeting was organized by PFU and ICARDA-CAC regional office under the umbrella of Central Asian and Caucasian Association of Agricultural Research Institutes (CACAARI). The Meeting was co-sponsored by the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), Association of Agricultural Reseach Institutions in the Near East and North Africa (AARINENA), Asia Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI) and CACAARI.

About 35 scientists participated in the Meeting from different countries including Iran, India, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Greece, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan.  The Meeting was inaugurated by H.E. Mr. Ikramkhon Najmetdinov, Minister of Agriculture and Water Management of Uzbekistan. The Meeting included three technical sessions on country representations, new developments in cotton research and strengthening research collaboration as well as round table discussions.

Topics of Technical Sessions were as follow:

• Regional Varietal Trails

• Application of IPM in order to reduce the cost of cultivation and eco-friendliness of the technology.

• Hybrid and Bt cotton technology

• Cotton-wheat rotation

Agreed Workplan for 2005-2006:

• Proceedings  to be brought out as soon as possible
• Development of INCANA Website as soon as possible
• Preparing a good project proposal for donor support (IDB could be a potential donor)
•  Bringing out INCANA events every quarter
•  Printing of success stories
• Organizing Bt Cotton workshop in India and cotton IPM workshop in Syria
•  For needed resources, GFAR, AARINENA, APAARI and ICARDA are again requested to provide similar support in future to INCANA. Also FAO be approved to support for this inter-regional initiative.
•  Syria and Egypt have come forward to hold the 3^rd INCANA Meeting in 2006. It was agreed that based on written request from the respective countries, INCANA Secretariat could take a final view for hosting at either of these countries.

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New Secretariat Management Team of INCANA

After a wide range of consultations at AREO for strengthening the INCANA's Secretariat, it was decided that the Secretariat should be strengthened and enjoy the contribution from the following scientists:

• Dr. A. Heydari,  Ph.D  from University of Arizona, Tucson, USA, a distinguished plant pathologist and Coordinator of National Cotton IPM Project, from the Plant  Pests and Diseases Research Institute affiliated to AREO.

• Ms. Z. Hosseini- Nejad, MSc. from Tehran University, a distinguished and well respected cotton breeder with 30 years of experience on cotton improvement in Iran. She has recently retired from the Cotton Research Institute and now is a part time lecturer in Tehran University.

• Ms. A. Gharedaghli, MSc from the ITC in Netherlands, an expert on informatics and GIS with a lot of experiences on developing websites and managing agricultural data bases.

 Ms. A. Gharedaghli will act for the time being as the Coordinator and Dr. Heydari and Ms. Hosseini- Nejad as the members of Secretariat Management Team. The CV of the Secretariat Team is available on  the Network's website (www.irnc.net) .

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Conferences and Events — 2005

International Seminar:

Expanding Trade in Cotton Textiles
Taipei, China (Taiwan). 1 October, 2005

ICAC  64^th Plenary Meeting:

Liverpool, United Kingdom
25-29 September, 2005

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IPM News

During the 63rd  plenary meeting of International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) which was held in November 2004 in Mumbai (India), the use of IPM strategies for cotton pest control was strongly recommended. Several seminars were presented by senior researchers from different countries (Dr. Russel from UK, Dr. Heydari from Iran, Dr. Guerro from Columbia, and....) regarding IPM application in cotton fields in different parts of the world. In these seminars, the results of IPM programs and projects were presented and described by the speakers. the ultimate goals of IPM which include: Reduction of pest damage, reduction of pesticide use and reduction of environmental risks can be achieved by the use of prescribed strategies and instructions.

The use of biological agents (natural enemies for insect control and microbial antagonists for disease control) as an important component of IPM was also discussed and recommended by the cotton researches in ICAC plenary meeting in Mumbai. The cotton research scientists from different countries emphasizes that biological control play very important role in cotton pest management.

The use of transgenic cotton (boll worm resistant and herbicide resistant) was also one of the major discussion subjects in Mumbai meeting. Planting transgenic cotton in several major cotton growing countries (USA, China, Australia, Argentina and India) has resulted in significant reduction of pesticide application in these countries. Transgenic cotton varieties should be considered an important component of IPM package in controlling cotton pests in all cotton growing countries.

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Global Post-harvest Initiative Planning Meeting- Antalya, Turkey

The Association of Agricultural Research Institutes in the Near East and North Africa, AARINENA, held a planning meeting at the University of AKdeniz in Antalya, Turkey on 24 and 25 March 2005 within the framework of the Global Post-harvest Initiative (GPhI) - Linking Farmers to Markets, which is jointly coordinated by FAO/AGS, GFAR and PhAction,. The objective of the planning meeting was to a) identify cross-cutting needs of AARINENA's four commodity networks (olive, date palm, cotton and medicinal plants) in the area of post-harvest handling, processing, marketing and enterprise development, b) prioritize three project ideas and c) establish a plan of work for the subsequent development of the ideas into full proposals.

The meeting was attended by 18 persons, including the commodity network coordinators, the leaders of the respective post-harvest working groups for each commodity, resource persons and selected national experts and was held back-to-back with a joint AARINENA - FAO - RNE  training on marketing and post-harvest handling and processing of fruits, vegetables and flowers.

The principle outcome of the two day meeting was the prioritisation of three project ideas, out of a total 9 that were considered to be of importance for the networks, the three project ideas, and the persons designated to lead the preparation of the corresponding concept notes are:

1- Market-orientation for the AARINENA networks and their members, convened by prof. Abdelouahhab Zaid, Coordinator of the Global Date Plam Network;

2- Innovative and effective market-oriented and demand-driven extension services, convened by Mohamed El-Kholy, who represented farmers' organizations;

3- Organic production of olive, cotton, dates and medicinal and herbal plants, convened by Nabeel Abu-Shriha, who represented the NGO sector in the meeting.

Source: GFAR Newsletter  Issue 13/2005

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Source: Cotton: Review  of the World Situation