University of Arizona, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
OFFICE
OF INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS
|
University of Arizona, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences |
This report provides a summary of the Office of International Programs' (OIP) activities and accomplishments during the second quarter of fiscal year 2002-2003. It also highlights College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) participation in international research and development during this period.
INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS GENERAL ACTIVITIES
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CALS to Join Pragma Corporation in USAID Bid
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is joining a consortium led by The Pragma Corporation in a bid to participate in the RAISE Plus IQC project to be awarded by USAID. Rural and Agricultural Incomes with a Sustainable Environment Plus will provide short-term and long-term assistance worldwide to foster more competitive, prosperous, and sustainable agriculture and natural resource management. Various agriculture and natural resource issues will be addressed, including crops, livestock, forests, fisheries, tourism, wildlife, and agriculture related business. Approaches to be used are 1) sector strategies and program development; 2) trade strategy development; 3) broad policy analysis; 4) input market systems; 5) sustainable production; 6) post-harvest storage and processing; 7) product market systems; and 8) producer organization and enterprise development.
USAID expects to award indefinite quantity contracts (IQCs) to five consortiums, which will provide technical assistance services in the areas to be addressed. The cost for the five-year program is estimated at a total of $500 million, with $20 million to be awarded to a small business consortium and the remaining $480 million going to four full-service consortiums. RAISE Plus is the expanded second phase of a $100 million project begun in 1998.
The Pragma Corporation is a leading USAID contractor in Central Asia. Since 1977 Pragma, a private international development-consulting firm based in Washington, D.C., has completed over 500 projects in 65 countries. Pragma specializes in providing technical capabilities in enterprise development, capital and financial market development, export promotion, and privatization.
CALS will contribute expertise in natural resource management and arid and semi-arid agriculture, especially in the areas of watershed management, reforestation, GIS, remote sensing and natural resource modeling, irrigation systems and management, and soil and water resources.
INTERNATIONAL VISITORS
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Dr. Nasrat Wassimi and the Future Harvest Program, Afghanistan
Drs. Ken Foster, Jim Chamie, and Bob Freitas of the Office of Arid Lands Studies (OALS) and Dr. Amir Ajami of OIP met on October 30th with Dr. Nasrat Wassimi. Dr. Wassimi, a naturalized American citizen of Afghan origin, visited IALC/OALS with the purpose of introducing himself and his USAID funded Afghan program, Future Harvest. Dr. Wassimi has a background as a plant breeder and geneticist, and has a home with his family in Tucson.
Dr. Wassimi’s program in Afghanistan is devoted to helping Afghan agriculture re-start production through the location and preservation of remaining seeds in Afghanistan and by introducing improved varieties of a number of important crops. He has established six field stations and has organized a group of Afghanis to work on the program thoughout the country. Part of his effort has been devoted to the training of this group.
The Future Harvest Program, operated through ICARDA, has wide and diverse participation from NGOs, Universities, USAID, and multi-lateral institutions. The project has just completed a country-wide assessment of the status of the soil, plant, and water resources of Afghanistan related to food production. The assessment was done by 18 experts organized in six teams. Dr. Wassimi has extensive contacts in Afghanistan, especially with the University of Kabul and its faculty, and has considerable knowledge of Pakistan and the Agricultural University (AU) of the North West Frontier Province.
Dr. Wassimi made a strong case for the IALC Sustainable Drylands Project to begin to work directly in Afghanistan. He stated that training of local people can be much better done in-country rather than relying upon Pakistani resources. He also said that relations between individual Afghanis and Pakistanis are strained because of the recent history of Afghanis as refugees during the Soviet occupation and continuing during the recent Taliban regime. However, he admitted that there had been a lot of destruction of useable facilities in Afghanistan, and commented that finding adequate hotels is a problem.
Dr. Wassimi feels that the “train-the-trainers” approach is a model to follow and that critical needs exist in knowledge of agricultural sciences (agronomy), water efficiency and management (irrigation), water harvesting, and rainfed agriculture. Water is the critical issue. When asked about long-term degree training, he stated that BS and MS degrees were very important and thought that getting the students young was important. Dr. Wassimi spoke of the importance of language compatibility, which the UA would offer, and discussed the possibility of having UA faculty perform training in Kabul.
Difficulties and instability are still very present in Afghanistan, according to Dr. Wassimi. The security situation outside of Kabul is not safe for expatriates and the international peacekeeping force’s influence is limited to Kabul and its surroundings. In addition, the visa section of the US Embassy was not yet functioning, and getting visas for Afghanis to come to the U.S. will be very difficult until these services are re-started.
The meeting ended with Dr. Wassimi offering to help provide contacts and potential candidates for training under the IALC Sustainable Drylands Project. The OALS/IALC group believes that Dr. Wassimi could be very valuable in helping this project to get off the ground in Afghanistan and will try to develop this relationship.
At press time Dr. Wassimi was in Afghanistan.
ACTIVITIES
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Annual Meeting of the Bioactive Agents from Dryland Biodiversity of Latin America Project, Pucon, Chile
Barbara Hutchinson, Director of the Arid Lands Information Center in the Office of Arid Lands Studies, attended the annual meeting of the Bioactive Agents from Dryland Biodiversity of Latin America project, held in Pucon, Chile during the first week of November 2002. This project is in the final year of two concurrent five-year awards given through the International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups program which receives funding from six units in the National Institutes of Health, as well as from the National Science Foundation, the USDA, and previously, the US Agency for International Development. It addresses biodiversity conservation and the promotion of sustained economic development through drug discovery from natural products. Besides the University of Arizona, partners include the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile; the National Autonomous University of Mexico; the National Institute of Agricultural Technology of Argentina; the National University of Patagonia, Argentina; the Institute for Tuberculosis Research at the University of Chicago-Illinois; and the Wyeth Research pharmaceutical company.
Ms. Hutchinson is Principle Investigator for the Information Management and Dissemination component of the project and has been involved with the project since its inception in 1993. The goal of this component is to support the research, conservation, and economic growth efforts of the overall project by building information handling capabilities at all project sites and by promoting the exchange of resources, information, and ideas through formal linkages between cooperating institutions. The primary vehicle for information dissemination is the project’s web site located currently at: http://cals.arizona.edu/OALS/ICBG/bio-home.html.
PROJECT REFERRALS
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Executive Director of the Binational Fulbright Commission Visits UA
Dr. Ann B. Radwan visited the UA campus on December 6th, 2002. Dr. Radwan has
been the Executive Director of the Binational Fulbright Commission (a collaboration
between Egypt and the United States) since 1984. She met with Dr. Kennith E.
Foster, Dr. Jim Chamie, Dr. Donald Slack, Dr. Amir I. Ajami, and Ms. Carol Bender
in the Office of Arid Lands Studies to discuss opportunities for UA faculty
and professionals under the soon-to-be-implemented Fulbright Senior Specialists
Program. This new program offers short-term grants, varying from two to six
weeks, across all fields of study. For further information, visit their Web
site at www.fulbright-egypt.org or contact Dr. Radwan via email at infogrant@bfce.eun.eg.
PEACE CORPS
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Jeff Ogren, UA Peace Corps Recruiter, reports that his office is on pace to exceed last year’s volunteer recruitment total with 35 nominations so far for the 2002 – 2003 school year, compared with a total of 36 nominations for 2001 – 2002. Jeff can be reached at (520) 621-7188 or at pcorps@cals.arizona.edu.
| Number of Inquiries | 475 |
| Number of Applications Distributed | 53 |
| Number of Applications Received | 11 |
| Number of Applications on File | 14 |
| Number of Interviews Conducted | 13 |
| Total Nominations | 13 |
Fall Semester 2002 Activities:
October:
November:
December:
Upcoming Recruitment Activities:
January:
February:
March:
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For further information or to submit an item for a future Quarterly Report, please contact:
The University of Arizona
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Office of International Programs
P.O. Box 210436
Tucson, Arizona 85721-0436
Tel: (520) 620-9374
Fax: (520) 882-2980
Email: intagric@u.arizona.edu
Updated: 2 March 2004.
URL: http://cals.arizona.edu/oip/2ndquarter02.html
Copyright the Arizona Board of Regents 2004.