The Asian Farmers Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA), a regional alliance of national farmers’ organizations representing 11 million small scale women and men farmers, was invited to participate in the second Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD2), proposed to be held during 29 October – 1 November 2012, at Punta del Este, Uruguay. The global conference is expected to provide opportunity to all sectors and regions to report their activities since 2010, and to agree on collective actions and the next steps for the implementation of the GCARD Road Map. Knowing the strategic value of effective AR4D for resource-poor farmers, AFA in collaboration with Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI) decided to have a strategy paper developed for required intervention in GCARD2, to ensure that the farmers’ perspectives and experiences are brought to the discussions and its outputs are beneficial to the farmers. In view of this, the “Regional Consultation on Agricultural Research for Development” was jointly organized by AFA, APAARI and GFAR at Bangkok on 10-11 September, 2012. The consultation provided a neutral platform to the 24 representatives of different Farmers’ Associations in Asia, APAARI and GFAR to discuss the priority needs and expectations of the farmers and farming communities and bring out useful recommendations.
This publication summarizes the proceedings and recommendations of the regional consultation and aims to generate awareness and draw attention for appropriate action by national and international organizations. It is expected that this publication will also be of considerable use to the planners, administrators, researchers, farmers and other stakeholders in understanding the priority needs for both research and development so as to find effective solutions aimed at improved livelihood of farmers in the region.
