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October - December
1998, Vol. XXI, No.4
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From mid-1997 and through 1998, FADINAP undertook a series of missions to selected countries of the region for the purpose of reviewing their current information capabilities and assessing their preparedness in adopting information technology. FADINAP wanted to be assured of the seriousness in commitment of the participating countries - whether government or private sector - of human resources and facilities that would be made available for such an undertaking to becoming successful. FADINAP presents the current information scenarious in selected countries.
Fertilizer information in China is extremely fragmented, the many responsibilities for the fertilizer sector, being split among the various government ministries. Inquiries for information are processed according to the need of the particular institute. Fertilizer information flow is further constrained by the Chinese law forbidding release of the most up-to-date statistical data. Data can be released only in October of a year, and that only for information pertaining to the previous year. There appears to be no communication or exchange of information between the various fertilizer agencies and government ministries. A proposal to establish a national fertilizer information unit has been put forward, but no definitive action has been taken in this direction. The ministries or agencies involved in fertilizer data collection, compilation analysis and dissemination are:
The National Agro-Technical Extension Services Center (NATESC) is the main agency under the purview of the Ministry of Agriculture dealing with fertilizers. Established in 1995, the functions of the center include organizing technology transfer to the farmers, seed/fertilizer/ plant quarantine, training and inspection, seed distribution, and machinery testing. The center has about 150 staff. NATESC received substantial funding from the Ministry of Agriculture for its operation. There appears to be some World Bank involvement, but the full extent of the cooperation is still unclear. The Fertilizer Division of NATESC, which has a staff component of six, is responsible for soil testing/fertilizer and quarantine. The Division collects statistical data on fertilizer consumption, imports, and production, as well as on prices, mainly for internal use. The data are stored in a computer in spreadsheet format. No effort has been made to publish and disseminate statistical data. The Soil and Fertilizer Institute (SFI) of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) was founded in 1957 to conduct studies on soil, fertilizer, tillage, soil-microbiology and practical problems related to agriculture. There are about 200 scientists, of whom 70 are senior scientists. SFI is responsible for the operation of the National Network on Fertilizer Experiments, National Network on Green Manure Experiments and nine National Bases on Long-term Soil Fertility Monitoring. SFI receives its operational funds mainly from the National Science and Technology Commission and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Government of China. Some of the work at SFI appears to duplicate NATESC, but it was pointed out that SFI's work was mainly academic and research-oriented while NATESC is an integral component of the Ministry of Agriculture and works under the ministry's authority. Since 1995, SFI had been seeking operational funds for the National Fertilizer Information Centre of NFIS which FADINAP helped establish, with human resource training. The proposal included the development of a database covering the entire fertilizer spectrum from soil analysis/testing, fertilizer usage, fertilizer recommendations, general agricultural situation, climatic conditions, fertilizer demand, balanced fertilization, and environmental concerns on the production and use of fertilizers (e.g. nitrate concentrate in drinking water). A prototype of the database is already available. However, the center receives no funds from the Ministry of Agriculture and is desperately searching for an international donor to fund its work. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had carried out a large-scale fertilizer programme from May 1992 in three phases, which ended in 1997. All indications show an extension to the project. UNDP would like that FADINAP keeps UNDP informed of all correspondence with the Ministry of Agriculture and other offices so that they can facilitate and intervene when necessary to help FADINAP's work in the country. UNDP has an Internet page with information of status of project activities in China. Fiji dominates fertilizer use in
the Pacific accounting for approximately 86 per cent of total usage in
the sub-region. It is also the only South Pacific country with a facility
for blending fertilizers. At least 95 per cent of fertilizers are applied
in sugar plantations.
With regard to fertilizer information management, the company lacks the staff with adequate technical skill on computer database management. However, equipped with only basic knowledge of Lotus 123, the company manager himself is able to put into the computer the basic statistics which aid in monitoring the company's performance. These statistics include weekly, monthly and yearly imports, sales and prices. SPF also provides on regular basis some statistical data to government offices and international organizations such as FADINAP. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries (MAFF) is the Technical Liaison Office (TLO) of FADNAP. The ministry's statistics section is responsible for maintaining a data bank on agricultural statistics such as production, prices, imports and values of agricultural products. According to the officer-in-charge of agricultural statistics, the ministry does not as yet have an organized statistical database. Most of the data are stored in word processing files, which cannot be used for further manipulation or processing. The statistics section has just begun setting up the computer equipment to computerize the ministry's database. One major constraint in the computerization is the low computer literacy of staff in the ministry. There is also a concern about accuracy of the data collected by the ministry. With regards to its Internet access, the ministry was expected to be given free access from a private Internet service provider some time last year. MAFF does not maintain a databank specifically on fertilizer use and trade. It however collects such data upon request from international organizations such as FADINAP, FAO, and IFA. In this regard, it relies heavily on the South Pacific Fertilizer Limited (SPF) for data. The ministry's library has a collection of about 500 journals and is staffed by one librarian. Information search is mainly by index card, though plans are underway to computerize the library. FADINAP publications such as Agro-chemicals News in Brief, the Fertilizer Trade Monthly Bulletin and ad hoc publications were all displayed in the library. There are two other important sources of fertilizer bibliographic information in Fiji, namely: Central Planning Unit, Ministry of Finance in Suva and Sugar Cane Research Centre in Lautoka. The Ministry of Finance monitors and evaluates all agricultural projects receiving funding from the government and/or external donor, and therefore has access to project reports, technical bulletins and other documents produced from these projects. It maintains a library which holds a good collection of local government documents/reports, including annual statistics which FADINAP requires. The Sugar Cane Research Centre in Lautoka has a rich collection of research reports on fertilizer use in sugar plantations over its 93 years of existence. Information on fertilizer recommendations on sugar fields is also available through the Centre's Fertilizer Advisory Service. In general, the level of information management in Fiji is rather poor. Aside from the lack of equipment (e.g. computers), there is a dearth of skilled personnel in computerized data management. All libraries visited use index card searching method and were staffed by a single librarian. Computer database is almost non-existent. Even the statistical section of MAFF does not have a database though work on computerization has just begun. The use of Internet is also in its infancy in Fiji. There are indications that this technology will soon become available, but all offices visited in the past year had no access to Internet. Three major agencies - Fertiliser Association of India (FAI), the Department of Fertilizers of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, and the Department of Agriculture and Cooperatives of the Ministry of Agriculture - share the main responsibility for collecting, compiling and disseminating fertilizer related information in India. The Fertiliser Association of India(FAI), FADINAP's National Fertilizer Information Centre, is the main source of statistical data on fertilizer capacity, production, stocks and sales as well as numerous bibliographic materials through its various regular seminars, workshops and training programmes. The association collects statistical data on fertilizer production and sales (for consumption figures), directly from its members, comprising 147 fertilizer companies in India and for data on fertilizer trade and relevant agricultural indicators from government agencies. Data collection is done mainly through a standardized questionnaire, which is filled up monthly by fertilizer companies as members of FAI, mandated to provide the association with required statistical information. FAI has no difficulty in obtaining timely and comprehensive data on fertilizer capacity, production and sales. However, since the liberalization of fertilizer imports in 1992, collection of import data, except for urea, has become problematic because all importers may not be associated with FAI. FAI disseminates information as printed publications, journals and newsletters which are distributed to fertilizer manufacturers, traders, distributors, government agencies, research and academic institutions, individual subscribers and international organizations such as, FADINAP, IFA, etc. The association's printed matters are distributed through a postal system, which causes long delays and sometimes non-delivery of mail. FAI has been recently considering the possibility of using the Internet in information dissemination in order to reduce the delivery time and costs. The Library and Documentation Unit of FAI provides a wide range of reading materials on fertilizer sector developments and related subjects. It is considered one of the best libraries that specializes in the fertilizer industry. The bibliographic collection of the library are recorded and disseminated to FAI members through the monthly `FAI Abstract Service', which is generated from CDS-ISIS database introduced by FADINAP in 1990. As of November 1996, the database contained about 3,500 abstracts of fertilizer articles available in the FAI library. Updating is on-going. FAI has begun to establish a database listing of journals, books and publications in the FAI library. About 100 records have been entered so far. Two problems have been encountered with the CDS-ISIS software: (i) the absence of facilities to make backup copies by batch and (ii) the difficulty in making presentation printouts. The Department of Fertilizers of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, the government designated Technical Liaison Office for FADINAP looks after the development of domestic fertilizer production industry and management of fertilizer subsidies. As such, it is the main source of information of numerical data on fertilizer production (including new and planned capacities), import, export and subsidies. The Department of Fertilizers is also setting up its own World Wide Web site through its integrated fertilizer Management Information System (MIS). The Department of Fertilizers with technical assistance from the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and a loan from World Bank of US$ 300,000 is currently expanding its integrated fertilizer Management Information System (MIS). The MIS will allow all organizations involved in fertilizer activities to connect through a nationwide computer network for data collection and dissemination. The computerization of MIS started in 1985 and the system is currently providing statistical information on fertilizer production, imports, consumption, etc. Access to facilities is still very limited at this stage, because most fertilizer organizations do not have computer links to the Department of Fertilizers. However, it is planned that all organizations involved in fertilizer data collection, dissemination and analysis both at the state and national levels will be linked through computer network at NIC. Plans to expand the current fertilizer information systems to include decision support models for planning purposes are in the pipeline. The expansion of MIS is expected to provide the main gateway for fertilizer organizations to the Internet. The Internet services of the Department of Fertilizers would include basic e-mail facility and access to World Wide Web (WWW). Most officials in the Department of Fertilizers, have an e-mail account which FADINAP could utilize in collecting and disseminating fertilizer information with the Department of Fertilizers. However, the more powerful graphic facility of the WWW is scarcely used, considering the current extremely slow access time. It took almost 10 minutes to link to FADINAP homepage using the best computer at the Department of Fertilizer. However, NIC is expected to speed up access to WWW once it gets a high-speed satellite link (64 kbps) to the Internet by early 1997. It is therefore technically and practically feasible to utilize both e-mail and WWW in fertilizer information exchange. The Department of Agriculture and Cooperatives works closely with the Department of Fertilizers in ensuring availability of fertilizers to farmers in adequate quantities, and at the appropriate time. While the Department of Agriculture and Cooperatives works towards promoting the balanced use of fertilizer to boost agricultural production, the Department of Fertilizers facilitates growth of the fertilizer industry, specifically the production, import and distribution of fertilizers within the country. The Department of Agriculture and Cooperatives produces an annual statistical report on the agricultural sector which includes data on fertilizer consumption and retail prices of major fertilizer products. The Department of Agriculture and Cooperatives collects monthly fertilizer consumption data from lead fertilizer companies in each stage through its state offices. Fertilizer production data is also obtained from these companies on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis. Since the decentralization of fertilizer imports, collection of import data has become difficult, except for urea, since importing agencies are not obliged to supply import data to the government. Crop-wise fertilizer consumption has not been collected since the 1980 survey. Most government officials in the Ministry of Agriculture have mainly e-mail access to Internet. However, access to the graphic World Wide Web is still very limited due to lack of powerful computers. It was indicated that the Government of India is currently working on getting full Internet connection in major government offices. There is no single source for fertilizer information - bibliographic or numeric - in Indonesia. Various institutions need to be contacted to collect bits and pieces of fertilizer information (Table 1). This difficulty is further compounded by the fact that information is in Bahasa Indonesia and translation is not easily available. This could be the underlying reason for the difficulty in obtaining information from the Directorate of Food Crops and Horticulture, Ministry of Agriculture, FADINAP's Technical Liaison Office. The key to greater access to fertilizer information in Indonesia is to sustain contact and good relations with the various institutions. Table 1. Sources of fertilizer information in Indonesia
P.T. Pupuk Sriwidjaja (P.T. PUSRI)
in coordination with other fertilizer producers, is responsible for the
collection of basic data on fertilizer production, stock, consumption,
based on sales figures and retail prices. Data on fertilizer production
is collected weekly from all the five fertilizer producers in the country,
while data on fertilizer sales and stocks are received daily and weekly
from its 25 regional marketing offices. The company also collects data
on world market prices and global fertilizer production on a monthly basis
mainly from the FERTECON publication. Data on fertilizer stock allocation
requirement per province are obtained from the government and other information
related to the fertilizer sector are collected through APPI. The process
of data collection is illustrated in Figure 1.
The data compiled by P.T. PUSRI is
also available with the Association of Fertilizer Producers in Indonesia
(APPI), which represents all six fertilizer producers in the country, all
state-owned, except for P.T. PUSRI Aceh Fertilizer. In addition, APPI compiles
data on fertilizer imports and export. Data related to decontrolled products,
e.g. KCL, MOP, etc., are not that easily available, primarily because of
a lack of systematic monitoring of actual sales from all distributors of
decontrolled products.
The Directorate of Food Crops and Horticulture of the Ministry of Agriculture in conjunction with BIMAS is responsible for generating data on national fertilizer demand projections. The Directorate is the repository of all FADINAP publications, which may not be accessible to users, other than the immediate staff of the Directorate. Interestingly, the Directorate has a functional Internet connection and the staff have been cruising the Internet for fertilizer-related information. Since the Directorate is mandated to monitor fertilizer use in major food crops, it also collects information on fertilizer consumption both province-wise and crop-wise. It is unclear to what extent such data collection is undertaken, since fertilizer consumption data, based on sales is kept by P.T. PUSRI, the sole distributor of controlled fertilizer products in Indonesia. In addition, actual fertilizer consumption data in the country is either unavailable or incomplete. Most of the available data is in Bahasa Indonesia. There appears to be a wealth of information and reports on the fertilizer sector with the Directorate. BIMAS Directing Board in collaboration
with the Directorate of Food Crops and Horticulture is responsible for
the preparation of an annual report on fertilizer use projection which
covers both crop-wise and province-wise fertilizer demand over a five-year
period, fertilizer prices, recommended application rates and other related
information which FADINAP needs for its numerical database. Since the report
is in Indonesian, some translations are needed to make full use of the
document.
The Directorate for Chemical Industry of the Ministry of Trade and Industry handles the licensing of fertilizer producers and quality control of fertilizer products. It also monitors on a monthly basis fertilizer stock and supply namely urea, AS and TSP, which are still under government control. The Directorate relies heavily on APPI for data on fertilizer stock and supply. The Ministry publishes a statistical report on imports which contains a section on fertilizer materials. Information on major fertilizer products, e.g. urea, TSP, DAP such as the volume of imports, c.i.f. value and country of origin are available in this report. It has become clear that the Internet is a functional and practical medium of collecting and disseminating fertilizer-related information to FADINAP's main contacts in Indonesia. All offices visited have either direct or indirect access to the Internet with some, already having established homepages on the World Wide Web. It is recommended that FADINAP improves its presence on the Internet by maintaining good quality and quantity of information through its homepage, thereby advertising its presence on the Internet to all target users. Until recently, the Agricultural Inputs Corporation (AIC), a public sector corporation, and FADINAP's Technical Liaison Office that operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Agriculture, was engaged in most of the data collection, compilation and dissemination of fertilizer statistics in Nepal. It also served as repository of books, reports, and other bibliographic materials related to the fertilizer sector. AIC collected fertilizer import data through the border custom officers and fertilizer consumption data through its 87 field offices covering all districts in the country. Since the country does not produce fertilizer, data on fertilizer production and exports do not exist. The Information Unit of AIC collects bibliographic materials along with data on international and border prices of fertilizers. Nepal has a long open border, which has encouraged the unauthorized flow of fertilizer either way. Monitoring of border prices has always been necessary for policy decision-making. Apart from fertilizer statistics, AIC also published a statistical yearbook, brochures and programme yearbook. It has published a handbook on agricultural inputs since 1980 and is in the process of publishing its latest handbook on agricultural inputs covering the period 1980 to 1997. All publications are circulated to concerned agencies, government organizations and general public on demand. The main users of AIC publications are research scholars, policy-makers and government officials. The process of data collection, compilation and dissemination is done manually. Printed forms are used to collect sales and imports figures from field and/or custom offices, which are then recorded in books at the AIC headquarters in Kathmandu. AIC lacks computer facilities as well as skilled operators to computerize its data management system. High turnover of staff and frequent scandals involving staff of AIC had also adversely affected the management of fertilizer data at AIC. FADINAP has been experiencing poor response to request for data because key contact personnel at AIC had resigned and made no proper turnover of responsibilities to replacing staff. In November 1997, as part of the reforms required to obtain a major agricultural and rural infrastructure loan from the Asian Development Bank, amounting to approximately US$ 50 million, the Government of Nepal enacted a major policy involving full deregulation of the fertilizer sector. Specifically, the policy required the immediate removal of price subsidies on all kinds of fertilizers except urea; gradual reduction of subsidy for urea, until its complete removal by December 1999, removal of retail price control, and abolition of AIC's monopoly on fertilizer imports. This policy change also brought about the establishment of the Fertilizer Unit under the purview of the Monitoring and Evaluation Division of the Ministry of Agriculture. The Fertilizer Unit would be responsible for the overall management of the fertilizer sector from projection of annual demand to monitoring of distribution and retail prices, in order to ensure the right quantity and quality of fertilizers traded in the country. The Fertilizer Unit would eventually become the major agency responsible for the collection, compilation and dissemination of fertilizer statistics and bibliographic materials. At present, the Fertilizer Unit is collecting the following data: international prices, retail prices, distribution, consumption and imports. Table 2 provides the sources of these data. Table 2. Type and sources of data compiled by the Fertilizer Unit.
Information is disseminated through national newspaper, workshops, seminars and discussion groups. The unit is planning to publish a quarterly fertilizer bulletin to inform farmers, extension staff, dealers, retailers and importers on the latest developments in the fertilizer sector. In addition, a video production is also envisaged to educate farmers and the general public about low-grade fertilizers sold in the country. The lack of skilled personnel in data management and processing coupled with the lack of experience in fertilizer management, are two major setbacks of the recently established Fertilizer Unit. It is especially crucial that information and advisory support are available so that the unit could respond to the challenges of a newly liberalized fertilizer sector. There is a need to improve data management in the unit as well as access to information from international agencies such as FADINAP. The Internet has been seen as very critical in this regard. Apart from AIC and the Fertilizer Unit, at least four more institutions are involved in fertilizer and related information collection, compilation, analyses and dissemination. These are the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), Agricultural Project Services Centre (APROSC), Winrock International and the Independent Analytical Unit of the National Planning Commission. The National Agricultural Research Council was created in 1985 to coordinate all agricultural research and extension services of the Ministry of Agriculture. Among others, it was decided that NARC should become a major repository of bibliographic materials related to the fertilizer sector, in particular, and the agricultural sector, in general. In 1990, NARC was appointed as FADINAP's National Fertilizer Information Centre, of the Network of Fertilizer Information Systems (NFIS) in Nepal and its staff were given training on the use of CDS/ISIS to build a bibliographic database on fertilizer and related topics. However, owing to lack of personnel and funds, the center has been unable to fulfil this role and to supply bibliographic materials on a regular-basis to FADINAP. It was also found that NARC does not have personnel who could perform simple maintenance and troubleshooting tasks of its computers. Consequently, computers and other equipment donated by FAO to NARC's documentation unit have not been fully utilized, or properly maintained. The Agricultural Projects Services Centre (APROSC) is an autonomous research institution established in 1975 that undertakes project studies, policy research and training activities mainly on agriculture and rural development. Relevant studies included an action plan on fertilizer deregulation and effectiveness of hill transport subsidy on the fertilizer programme, which were both submitted to the government for action. In addition, APROSC has a large collection of books, reports, articles and dissertations on agriculture and rural development. There is no overall coordination between various agencies collecting data. When NARC was created with the responsibility for national research, it was decided that NARC would undertake all work pertaining to documentation of information for the entire agricultural sector. This has, so far, not materialized, and updating of data is done by individual agencies. Prospects for the use of Internet in fertilizer information is rather poor, although officials from these institutions were very keen in getting access to the Internet and participating in FADINAP's proposal for an Internet-based networking. Some of the constraints identified were:
The National Fertilizer Development Corporation (NFDC) is the sole organization that collects, compiles and disseminates fertilizer related statistics and bibliographic information at the national level. It was established in 1977 with a mandate for providing policy guidance to the Government of Pakistan on fertilizer trade and use. Information has been a major activity and service of NFDC. NFDC has established a national computerized database based on FoxPro 2.1 (DOS version) to compute statistical data on fertilizer production, consumption, import, export and prices involving various fertilizer products and crops. Data are received from both government and private organizations in a standard printed form and are entered into the database (Table 3). The computerized database is capable of generating various reports through the screen or printer. Dissemination of reports is through publications such as the Monthly Fertilizer Review, Annual Fertilizer Review, Statistical Bulletin and through various studies and technical reports. The main target users are government policy planners, fertilizer industry, and various public and private organizations. The main problem in data management is the slow postage service in the country. It is not possible at present for users to access the database on-line. Shortage of trained staff is also a major limitation. At present, there are only three staff carrying out all data management work. Table 3. Type and source of fertilizer data compiled by NFDC.
Delays in data dissemination can be solved with the use of the latest information technology, particularly the Internet. The availability of Internet services in Pakistan is increasing and very soon many institutions will be connected to the Internet. NFDC has already established an Internet connection, but requires training on the use of the technology, especially on the development of Web sites. The Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA), FADINAP's Technical Liaison Office and the National Fertilizer Information Centre for NFIS is the main agency which collects, compiles and disseminates fertilizer statistics and to a limited extent related bibliographic materials. FPA has the mandate for regulating fertilizer and pesticide importation, manufacture, formulation, distribution, delivery, sale, transport and storage. Statistical data compiled by FPA include fertilizer production, exports, imports, sales (apparent consumption), retail prices and consumption, which have been collected from fertilizer companies, Bureau of Customs, Bureau of Agricultural Statistics and private information agency, e.g. the Société Générale de Surveillane (SGS). On the issue of bibliographic data, FPA opened a library, where a good collection of local and international newsletters and publications including FADINAP publications are kept. It also maintains newsletter clippings on fertilizer and related issues. Surprisingly, it has no budget for paid subscription except for the local newspapers. FPA has a major difficulty in collecting basic fertilizer data because of:
FPA's information unit is managed by a section head and two statisticians. The unit publishes a quarterly newsletter on developments of the fertilizer sector and activities of the regulatory agency. Publication of the newsletter has always been delayed, because of limited staff resources. Unlike fertilizer regulatory agencies in other countries, FPA does not publish an annual report on fertilizer sector development. It is presently preparing a report of developments of the fertilizer sector. The unit also maintains statistical data, which is limited to national figures on production, import, export, sales, and retail prices. Some important information, such as province-wise distribution of fertilizer use, has not been collected. FPA gathers data on retail prices and sales at the retailers' level through its field personnel who are required to submit monthly reports to FPA. This process however suffers from a three-month delay. On many occasions, the data could not be gathered because of limited field personnel. The agency maintains only one regional officer and one provincial coordinator. There are no staff assistants. These two officers perform all FPA activities (e.g. inspection, licensing, monitoring, training, etc.) in their respective area of responsibility. The following recommendations to improve data collection were made:
More recently FPA has announced a monitoring system known as the ?Fertilizer and Pesticide Watch?. This system was conceived to generate and disseminate statistical data on fertilizer and pesticide through establishing linkage and coordination with various institutions involved in data collection. A memorandum of agreement or understanding with other government agencies, non-governmental organizations, fertilizer companies and local government units is expected to effect the required coordination. The National Fertilizer Secretariat (NFS), the government designated Technical Liaison Office for FADINAP, and National Fertilizer Information Centre of NFIS is responsible for the collection, compilation and dissemination of fertilizer related statistics at the national level. Because of the moves of NFS from the Ministry of Planning to the Ministry of Agriculture, much of its responsibilities have been diluted. The collection of bibliographic materials is mainly undertaken by research institutes such as the Tea Research Institute, Rubber Research Institute, Coconut Research Institute, Ceylon Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, Department of Agriculture and University research centers. The Secretariat has a small library. The most important statistics compiled by NFS include:
Delays and disruption of the postal services in the country remains the main obstacle in ensuring timely collection and dissemination of data. Distribution by fax is an alternative but this proves to be very costly for a low budget office. In addition, because of the lack of skill and knowledge, staff are still involved in various time consuming paper work, which could have more easily been accomplished with the use of computer. NFS had recently purchased its first pentium with an Internet connection. FADINAP would give the first training on internet, and the development of a national homepage. General observations on the fertilizer information situation in the region FADINAP made the following general observation on the status of fertilizer information in the region:
Internet technology has been seen as a means of revolutionizing fertilizer information management in the FADINAP network by facilitating rapid and wider access and dissemination as well as allowing the full utilization of available information. Internet technology is seen as having the great potential to facilitate instantaneous rapport with data management, and participants would no longer be slave to delays caused by poor postal services in many FADINAP member countries. Internet further offers the possibility of substantial reduction in costs of mailing, faxing and other telecommunication expenses. Only five years ago, it was still a dream to many information specialists in the United Nations to develop a practical and working computer system that allowed remote access to information and databases. Current technology at the present time, not only allows us to do these, but has also made the system extremely efficient, practical and low-cost, far beyond all expectations. FADINAP, recognizing these benefits, had included a component on Internet-based networking in the ESCAP-GTZ Regional Fertilizer Distribution and Marketing Assistance Project for the period of two years, beginning January 1998 to December 1999. The aim of this component is to assist selected member countries to actively involve in the supply of, and access to information through the use of the Internet technology, thereby ensuring the continuity and sustainablility of FADINAP's information services beyond the ESCAP-GTZ project (December 1999). The countries chosen are India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines and Sri Lanka. A direct result of this project would be the creation of Internet Web sites in the participating countries/agencies, to contain a general description of the particular organization and agency, to provide recent developments and other data and information on fertilizer and agro-chemicals sectors in the respective countries. All these Web sites would be linked to the FADINAP Web site, which in turn is linked to fertilizer-related international organizations, hence creating a one-stop electronic networking that would provide information on recent developments agriculture and plant nutrients in the region. The creation of national Web sites would give countries equal access to information available on the World Wide Web and thereby improve their competitiveness on the global market. As the amount of information and data stored, disseminated, and retrieved via the Internet grows, so too would the need to educate end-users in the methods and tools employed by the networked medium. FADINAP recognized that need for training, or human resource development in its participating agencies, to be able to participate in and benefit from this global information network. This demand for education falls squarely on all management, technical and administrative units, that play a role in providing information services to the end-users within their organizations. While some organizations are able to accommodate the challenges this trend presents with regard to budget, growth, and professional development, most FADINAP participating agencies find their resources strapped, as they endeavour to keep pace with their expanding responsibilities. Rapid growth and change in network technologies further increase the pressure on intermediaries to stay one step ahead of their constituent audiences. Consequently, many organizations find themselves needing to constantly educate, and re-educate, staff in end-user support roles in order to fulfill their missions. This need to "train the trainer" is the basis for FADINAP's plan to assist the selected member countries to keep up with the latest information technology. The goal is to fill this need by providing those individuals on the front lines of information exchange with the skills and knowledge necessary to fully utilize the features of the Internet. More specifically, the programme intends:
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