UN helps Middle East data centre set pace as agricultural online trendsetter

In a part of the world where mounting epidemics and animal health risks, chronic lack of food and scarce water pose serious challenges in the war on hunger and poverty, the United Nations is helping the United Arab Emirates (UAE) enhance its role as a regional and inter-regional online resource for agricultural information.

The UAE Agricultural Information Centre (UAE-AGRICENT), established in 2001 as a national centre by the government with help from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is embarking on a new strategic phase to tap information resources in the region for ready access by local, regional and, eventually, worldwide users.

This "goes far beyond assistance or capacity-building per se, as it actually involves working closely, hand in hand, to serve common goals," FAO project coordinator Francisco Perez-Trejo said of the five-year plan.

"Actually, FAO is delegating authority. It has used its expertise to set up systems in areas of need in the region, and these systems have extended spontaneously through local use, and in line with specific needs, to be applied in ways we would have never dreamed of," he added.

The centre currently provides up-to-date data in Arabic and English on a wide variety of farming, fisheries, forestry, and food security topics, including animal genetics, health hazards, safe breeding practices, plant science and production and natural resource management. It also plays an increasingly important role in issuing early warning reports on emergencies such as water shortages and plant and animal disease outbreaks.

FAO can use the lessons learned from its collaboration here to improve data management in other regions, Mr. Perez-Trejo said. "Think of the enormous momentum that could be generated by enlisting the capabilities of Australia or Japan for example, in collaboration with FAO, to set up agricultural information centres in Small Island Developing States and making a priority of connecting small developing economies to the global information society," he added.

"The process has a long way to go towards creating regional institutions to address specific problems with tailor-made solutions and hands-on experience in the all-embracing framework of e-agriculture," he conceded. "But we are off to a good start."