ECO countries with an abundance of agricultural resources ECO region and blessed with different types of soil, climatic and environmental conditions suitable for the different varieties and types of the agricultural products offer a great potential for the development of the agriculture sector and enhancing food security indicators. Recognizing the importance of the matter and the need for a closer regional cooperation, ECO the Secretariat started a food security initiative in 1998 with the decision of the 8th Meeting of Council of Ministers. The matter has also been evaluated in the context of ECO Capacity Building Project implemented jointly by UNDP. In this regard, a sub-project, Regional Cooperation on Food Security, launched at the end of the year 2000 comprised two phases. The first phase, consisting a desk study by the ECO Secretariat and field visits to selected ECO countries, concluded with drafting of a Concept Paper by the UNDP consultant. In the second phase, a workshop on Food Security and Agricultural Cooperation was held on 29-30 May 2002 in Istanbul - Turkey. The outcomes of the workshop served as the groundwork for the First ECO Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture that was held on 23-25 July 2002, in Islamabad, Pakistan.
ECO activities addressing food security related issues summarized below.
In October 1998, ECO and UNDP agreed on the Project Capacity Building of ECO Secretariat, initiated at the preparatory level in August 1997. The project contributed to improvement of the institutional capacity of ECO Secretariat and ECO-specialized agencies in pursuit of the ECO objectives.
Recognizing the fact that more than 58 million people of ECO region suffer from the lack of sufficient food supplies to live healthy and the need for collaborative efforts to tackle the food security regionally, the matter has been taken up in the context of ECO Capacity Building Project implemented jointly by UNDP. Thus, the sub-project, Regional Cooperation on Food Security was launched at the end of the year 2000. This project mainly aimed at evolving a policy approach to food security based on regional cooperation among ECO countries.
In the context of the project, a UNDP consultant and the concerned Director visited four ECO Member States, namely Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey and prepared a Concept Paper on food security in the region which was circulated among the Member States.
In order to address the issues of food security and agricultural development and as second phase of the above-mentioned Sub-project: "Regional Cooperation on Food Security", a two-day regional workshop on food security and agricultural cooperation was organized from 29-30 May 2002 in Istanbul, Turkey by the Secretariat of Economic Cooperation Organization in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) of the Republic of Turkey.
The main objectives of the workshop were to identify the major issues for effective agricultural cooperation among the Member States and food security related projects for bilateral and multilateral cooperation, and to specify the mode of actions on the collaborative projects.
The Participants specified below a number of critical issues for possible cooperation among the ECO member countries taking into account their impact on food security and sustainable agricultural development in the member countries.
It was commonly agreed that in order to tackle the issues of food security and agricultural development in the region, it is necessary to elaborate an overall strategic Framework for Agricultural Development. During the workshop, the participants also emphasized that there should be special attention to assist Afghanistan in revitalizing its agricultural sector particularly focusing on crop substitution and forestry rehabilitation.
In the process of food security initiative of ECO, in 2000 the ECO Secretariat with the assistance of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and financial support from Islamic Development Bank (IDB) initiated a joint identification mission to selected ECO member countries to assess the possibility of preparing a regional project document on ECO cooperation in agriculture to be submitted for donors considerations.
During the visits to selected ECO member states that were carried out in August and November 2000, the mission held extensive discussions with task forces established in the federal ministries concerned and government Officials and donors in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan. Based on these discussions, the mission identified major constraints, agricultural development issues and priorities, and identified specific project ideas within a holistic regional programme approach that cover major developmental themes for the sub-region.
The project ideas, identified so far, fall within five themes, namely; Livestock-Feed Development, Plant Production and Protection, Agricultural Marketing and Market Development, Resource Management and Environment, and Management of the Agriculture Sector.
As a follow up to the World Food Summit: five years later held in Rome, 10-13 June 2002 where a specific Side-Event was held to discuss a regional food security strategy for ECO region and in line with the decisions of the 1st ECO Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture held on 23-25 July, 2002 in Islamabad, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) provided technical assistance to ECO Secretariat and its Member Countries.
In this context, the Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) to support ECO for preparation of a Regional Programme for Food Security (RPFS) was signed by the ECO Secretary General and the FAO representative in Tehran, on April 7, 2003.
The Technical Cooperation Programme envisages the preparation of an updated Regional Strategy for agricultural development and food security in ECO region and the Central Asian sub-region and formulating Regional Programme for Food Security for the ECO region, based on the national strategies for agricultural development of the Member States. It will start first with upgrading the skills of the ECO Secretariat and the Member States for their direct involvement in situation analysis, formulation, appraisal, monitoring and evaluation of activities related to the Regional Programme for Food Security and its sub-programmes.
Moreover, the TCP includes preparation of selected bankable projects for donor consideration. Due to importance of the TCP project, it will be elaborated as a separate section in this paper (Chapter V).
In accordance with the paragraph 20 of the Istanbul Declaration, concerning measures to be taken to prevent dissemination of plants and livestock diseases, two meetings i.e. First Task Force Meeting for Establishment of Buffer Zones in Border Areas of ECO (Tehran, 30 June to 02 July, 1996) and Second Meeting of the Task Force on the Establishment of Buffer Zones in Border Areas of ECO for Animal Quarantine, (Istanbul, 07-08 December, 1998) were held with the participation of relevant experts from the Member States to prepare a plan of action to handle the problem of transboundary animal diseases.
In pursuance of one of the recommendations of the 2nd Meeting of the Task Force on the Establishment of Buffer Zones in the Border Areas of ECO Member States for Animal Quarantine, the Iranian authorities hosted a Workshop on Diagnosis of Rinderpest in December 2002 in Tehran.
The second meeting also recommended the Establishment of a Commission for Prevention and Control of Livestock Diseases for proper monitoring of the livestock diseases situation in the region. Accordingly a draft proposal for the Establishment of a Permanent Commission on Prevention and Control of Animal Diseases prepared by the Secretariat has been circulated among the Member States. In order to discuss and finalize the objectives, scope, structure and functions of the Commission, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has offered to hold the First Meeting of veterinary organizations of the member states in February 2004. These issues will also be considered by the Senior Officials (relevant deputy ministers of MS) Meeting to be held in November 2003, in Iran.
The effective plant protection and production is one of the most essential components of food security and is crucial for general economic development as well as for conservation of the environment through the development of agricultural biological resources. To this end, a number of activities have been proposed in the past during the technical meetings as well as the Regional Planning Council (RPC) and Council of Ministers (COM) meetings. But not much progress could be made so far.
Only an Ad-Hoc Experts Meeting on the Plant Quarantine was held in Adana/Istanbul (Turkey) in October 1998 with the participation of relevant experts/professionals of the Member States. The participants, while fully supporting the need to establish ECO Plant Protection Organization (EPPO), recommended that a High Level Experts Group of ECO Member States be constituted to firm up necessary details of the proposed Organization. That group would formulate its recommendations, incorporating necessary details of the proposed Organization, which would be submitted to ECO decision-making organs for approval.
Consequently, the ECO Secretariat prepared a draft contract for establishing the ECO Plant Protection Organization (ECO-PPO), and circulated the same to all Member States in March 1999. Favorable views have been received from some member states in this regard, but no serious action has been carried out due some specific reasons.
Also, considering the recommendations of the Second Expert Group Meeting on Agriculture held in Ankara during November-December, 1993, the Secretariat has evolved a proposal for developing cooperation among the Member States in identification and development of dwarf fruit trees, particularly apple, bananas, mangoes, date palms, grapes and citrus fruits and requested all Member States to furnish requisite information on the matter. Based on information received from Iran, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, the Secretariat prepared a write-up which was circulated among the Member states in January 2002.
The Secretariat for strengthening cooperation among Member States in the area of seed development and production has also prepared a proposal which is under consideration by the Member States. So far the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan have conveyed the requisite information.
The ECO Member States have a number of research and training institutions and highly qualified experts and professionals in the agriculture sector whose services and works can be utilized by other Member States on need basis. The core capacity for agricultural knowledge and technology in the region needs to be adopted for promoting agricultural growth.
In order to facilitate the exchange of information/data and expertise among the Member States by providing an updated data bank for agriculture sector in the ECO region, the Secretariat has started to collect information and data on; (i) agricultural research and training institutes; (ii) experts and professionals in agriculture sector; and (iii) exportable surpluses and importable deficits. So far, information received from the Member States is not sufficient to give a complete picture in terms of the time span and coverage.
In this regard, the Regional Planning Council (RPC) in its 11th Meeting held in March 2001, while emphasizing the importance of accurate and updated information and data on agriculture sector to increase awareness of opportunities, endorsed the Secretariat's proposal to link the survey on exportable surpluses and importable deficits to the ITC project conducted by the directorate of Trade and Investment. The first step of the project, namely the trade flow analysis of ECO Member Countries has been completed by ITC and the results showed that the agricultural and processed food sectors display the highest level of trade potential in the region. At a more disaggregated level, within the agro-based and processed food sector, trade opportunities have been identified for cereals, especially rice and wheat, for rough tobacco, frozen meat, pastry and sugar confectionery, and sunflower oil. In order to capitalize this potential, a "Buyers and Sellers" meeting on Agro-products was held in 2003 in Almaty within the context of project.
Moreover, the Member States other than the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Republic of Turkey have been requested to furnish the list of agricultural research and training institutes and experts and professional in agriculture sector.
It should also be mentioned that a Booklet on Agricultural Statistics for the ECO Region was prepared by the Secretariat and circulated among the Member States in April 2002.
