The UN Conference on Environment and Development the Earth Summit - in 1992 placed technology transfer on the international agenda as an essential factor in development programmes.	Lo-Trau stove fuelled by rice husks.	Meal cooked using biogas made in the family's own yard using fermented organic waste.
	New technology using waste materials is spreading throughout the developing world.

Exchange of ideas, skills and techniques is vital if the majority of the world's people are to benefit from technological advances. There is nothing new about this: the Babylonians taught the ancient world how to make bricks. Since the colonial era, technology transfer has tended to be a matter of patronage between developed and developing countries, rather than an equal exchange. While this type of cooperation continues to be necessary, technical cooperation among developing countries (TCDC)

is becoming increasingly important. Technologies passed from one developing country to another may work better than those evolved in the developed world.

Channels for technology transfer include regional centres for integrated development in the Near East (CARDNE), Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) and Africa (CIRDAFRICA); technical cooperation networks (in 1994 there were some 25 of them linked to institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean); and global

information networks, such as AGRIS/CARIS, set up by FAO to provide information on agricultural research and technology. By mid-1995, 73 countries and 2 700 experts were participating in AGRIS/CARIS.

Examples of TCDC include:

• The adoption of Asian equipment by rice growers in the Sahel. This includes push rotary hoes and weeders, for swift weeding, and a stove developed in Viet Nam which burns rice husks. By burning hitherto unused residues from rice mills, the stoves reduce pressure on forests for fuelwood and charcoal. They produce no smoke, and the ash can be used as fertilizer.
• The transfer of a model biogas digester from India to Cambodia. The digester was developed for use in India by a local NGO, Action for Food Production (AFPRO), which has now adapted it for Cambodia, where deforestation has been exacerbated by two decades of social upheaval.
• An agreement between India and the Philippines which provides for study visits, consultancies and the exchange of information and germplasm. The two countries are engaged in training each others' technicians in a wide range of fields. These include fish farming and vaccinology (from the Philippines to India), and animal health, farm machinery and the postharvest treatment of cashew nuts (from India to the Philippines).
• A regional workshop in Buenos Aires in 1992, attended by 19 Latin American and Caribbean countries and China, Nigeria and the Philippines. Over 270 joint projects were agreed. They included Guatemalan training of Argentinians in control of the cattle worm; Argentinian help to Nigeria on potato and sunflower production and marketing; Chilean advice to China on wine production; and the transfer of an ancient Inca method of preserving potatoes from Peru to Guatemala, Cuba and Colombia.

Some technology transfer opportunities

LAND/WATER

• assessment of agroecological potential
• sustainable resource management
• improved water management technologies

CROPS/LIVESTOCK

• seed/fertilizer production and distribution
• integrated pest management (IPM)
• re-evaluation of traditional crops
• use of animal power
• dairy cooperatives
• animal breed improvement
• pest/disease control
• food processing
• post-harvest loss prevention

FISHERIES

• resource surveys
• aquaculture
• fish processing and marketing

FORESTRY

• community forestry and agroforestry
• policy development
• nurseries and plantations
• forest industries

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

• people's participation
• access to markets and credit
• agricultural training
• appropriate technology to assist rural women
• rural energy

FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION

• quality control
• early warning systems
• remote sensing
• food stock management and distribution

Major FAO information systems

• AGRIS (International Information System for the Agricultural Sciences and Technology)
• ARTEMIS (Remote Sensing Database)
• ASFIS (Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Information System)
• CARIS (Current Agricultural Research Information System)
• FAOSTAT (Statistical Database for WAICENT)
• FISHDAB (Fisheries Statistical Database)
• FIPIS (Fishery Project Information System)
• FORIS (Forest Resources Information System)
• GDAGR (Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources)
• GIEWS (Global Information and Early Warning System)
• GIS (Geographic Information System)
• GIS-DAD (Global Information System for Domestic Animal Diversity)
• GLOBEFISH (International Fish Market Indicators)
• Land Resource Data Bank
• Plant Nutrition Data Bank
• Seed information System
• WAICENT (World Agricultural Information Centre)
• WIEWS (World Information and Early Warning System on Plant Genetic Resources)
• World Forest Resources Inventory

Regional centres and organizations

Regional centres and organizations provide technical inputs, research, training, and disseminate information to promote regional cooperation. They include:

• CARDNE (Centre for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development in the Near East)
• CIRDAFRICA (Centre for Integrated Rural Development in Africa)
• CIRDAP (Centre on Integrated and Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific)
• SADC (Southern African Development Community)

Regional networks and programmes

Regional networks/programmes coordinate research, information and technical cooperation. They include:

• Coordination of Rinderpest Eradication in West Africa project (including cattle vaccination) 11 countries
• Latin American Technical Cooperation Network on Watershed Management- 20 countries
• Near East Regional Research and Development Network on Small Ruminants -10 countries
• Pacific Island countries cooperation in root crop production and development- 12 countries
• Regional Cooperative Programme for Improvement of Food Legumes and Coarse Grains - 14 Asian countries
• Regional Cooperative Research Programme (Network) on Fish Technology in Africa - 16 countries

Selected examples of technical cooperation among developing countries

The map shows some selected examples of technical cooperation among developing countries.
Click here to see the map