The National Agricultural Research Systems in the West Asia and North Africa Region

Abstract

After a brief record of some basic data on the economy and agriculture of the West Asia and North Africa countries, which stresses on the strategic potential role of agricultural research for solving the difficult food challenges facing these countries at present and in the long term, the publication presents the methodology followed in the study. It then presents the monographs of the national agricultural research systems of the 18 participating countries: Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia in North Africa; Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Sudan in the Nile Valley and Red Sea sub-region; Cyprus, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria in West Asia; Iran and Turkey in the Highlands; and Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen in the Arabian Peninsula. These monographs, prepared in 1998/99 by small, highly qualified national teams according to precise guidelines, have provided the background for a global and cross-country analysis, which demonstrated the large diversity of the national agricultural research systems, their structure, human and financial resources, research activities, and relations with development.