Submitted to: Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/3/2003
Publication Date: 11/6/2003
Citation: WHITE, J.W., THORNTON, P.K., SOMMER, R. 2003. ICASA AND CGIAR CENTERS - PAST COLLABORATIONS AND NEW INITIATIVES. AGRONOMY ABSTRACTS. CD-Rom (A03-White693123-oral). Interpretive Summary:
Technical Abstract: The Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and ICASA are logical partners. The 16 centers of the CGIAR face many research issues where models and related systems approaches have relevance. The Centers offer "first world" facilities, including support staff and computer facilities, directly in or linked to developing countries. Their research frequently deals with regional issues, with variation in climate and soils posing numerous applications for modeling. Nonetheless, collaborations to date have fallen short of many peoples' expectations. Reasons include promotion of models as generic tools vs. focusing on specific research issues, resource constraints both in Centers and ICASA, poor integration with information technology (IT) initiatives for data management and GIS, low "IT literacy" among Center directors, specific weaknesses of models or tools, concerns over intellectual property, and the "not-invented-here" syndrome. Future collaborations should strive to improve credibility of ICASA by solving well-defined problems with tangible outputs and relevance to the Centers. Examples of new initiatives that illustrate the potential for more problem-oriented collaboration include modeling crop response to tillage and residue management and modeling livestock systems.