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The Institute is directed by Dr. Preston LaFerney, who reports directly to the Dean and Associate Vice President for Agriculture and Research, University of Arkansas. He also has direct access to the Chancellor of the University at Fayetteville. Funding for the IIA s core activities has been provided both by the College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences and the University.
Current activities managed through the IIA include providing the institutional support in food science and technology to the Opportunities for Micronutrient Interventions (OMNI) and Experiment Station Operations and Management (ESOM) training and technical consultancies, principally through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank.
Through the Global Marketing Support Services (GMSS) program, IIA is also playing a catalytic role in the creating a number of campus-based services for local businesses seeking to develop or improve their international commercial activities (USDA Grant).
The University has also fulfilled previous commitments to USAID projects in the Philippines, Egypt, and Panama. The "Farming Systems"- based technology development and transfer projects have much in common with the approaches that will be essential to the developing fruits and vegetable production, processing, and marketing capacity in many proposals under review. This approach provides for the simultaneous monitoring and extension of new technologies that should be a fundamental component of developing this grass-roots-level agribusiness capacity.
The USAID and other funded technical assistance has been managed by the Institute or its
predecessor office for more than 15 years. Several of the University's current and past
international activities are discussed in more detail later in this section.
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University Policies
International Agricultural Programs, UofA operates under a specific and comprehensive set of
policies and procedures covering the University's personnel, activities, levels and location of
specific responsibilities, accounting, contracts, subcontracting and grants for their international
activities. This framework for international operations has been in place for several years and
tested in executing several USAID and other contracts and grants during that period. Appropriate
professional and financial rewards for faculty participation in international activities is central to
the personnel provisions covered. Selection procedures for both long and short-term assignments
are also defined.
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On-Campus Project Manager
Mr. Phil Serafini is the on-campus project manager for the Institute. He is currently the program
development officer for IIA and also acts as the University's program coordinator for the ESOM
program. He has lived in West Africa for over 15 years. Six of those were in Mali where he was
the Principal Agronomist and Team Leader for the International Crops Research Institute for the
Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRlSAT) bilateral program, which was funded in part by USAlD/Mali. He
was a member of the original design team for this project. He is fluent in French and conversant
in Bambara. He continues to be directly involved in Mali through ESOM activities there.
His technical and administrative background in West Africa is unusually broad. He is
familiar with Malian and Sahel operational and management conditions and has traveled and been
involved in agricultural research in much of the area. He also has agribusiness and other
commercial agricultural experience both in the U.S and internationally. He has been a member of
the faculty for more than 5 years and shoulders major managerial and administrative functions
among current responsibilities. His participation gives the University a special qualitative
sensitivity in supporting and responding to the project's administrative and logistic needs.
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Financial Management
The Institute has an experienced financial management person within its administrative office with
many years of experience in financial management within the University and in managing and
reporting on the financial activities relating to IIA's GMSS and international development
contracts and grants. This experience includes dealing with multi-partner consortia.
Additional control is provided through the financial office of the College of Agricultural,
Food and Life Sciences and the University's office of Research and Sponsored Programs. All
contracts, budgets, financial reports and billings are reviewed and approved by these offices. The
University has a full-time internal audit that is also responsible for the integrity and rigor of IIA's
financial practices.
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Training Capabilities
Administered by the Institute, the International Agricultural Students Program (IASP) averages
40 funded international students along with several technical training programs each academic
year. More than 500 international students representing 88 different nations are currently enrolled
on the Fayetteville campus.
Under the auspices of the UofA Rwanda Farming Systems Research Project and Burundi Small Farming Systems Research Project, IAP placed and monitored 28 academic degree-seeking trainees from both countries at universities across the nation. Three Malians were administered by the IASP for the Institute d'Economie Rurale (IER). Funding support for these students was provided through the World Bank.
The Institute regularly responds to short-term training requests (from one to six weeks or more in duration) and designs individually tailored technical programs for one to 15 participants. A Poultry Production Systems short course (six weeks' duration), Experiment Station Operations and Management (ESOM) Program, and cooperative participation with Mississippi State University's Seed Improvement Training Program are examples of short-term training opportunities. Approximately 50 to 100 short-term, on campus trainees are administered by IIA each year.
Internationally, short-course and other specialized courses have been given both as a part of
our major projects in Burundi, Rwanda, Haiti and Egypt as well as under the ESOM program.
Two ESOM courses were successfully completed for the Institute d'Economie Rurale in Mali at
the Cinzana research station. The first of these emphasized budget development while the other
covered station financial and other management generally. These training activities are a
fundamental component of the restructuring effort underway in Mali that involves the
establishment of an operations and service unit within each of their agricultural research facilities.
The curriculum materials used in these ESOM courses were developed and initially used with
financial support provided by USAID. While the technical material delivered differed from that in
the ESOM program, it was consistent with the needs of the Mali project.
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Travel
All travel arrangements are handled through the UofA at Pine Bluff's contractual travel agent
(GA). As a result the Institute has significant input into the quality of the service received. This
arrangements also often results in substantial savings on ticket prices. Passport and visa
arrangements are handled directly through IIA and a visa-service firm in the Washington D.C.
area.
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Medical Services
Faculty and consultants have access to University's Health Services for consultative and other pre-
and post-travel requirements. This service and pharmaceutical products are available below
prevailing costs.
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Relevance of International Activities to the State of
Arkansas
The State of Arkansas gains by the many visits of agricultural by the many visits of agricultural
scientists, agribusiness leaders, growers, and officials from the far corners of the world. These
visitors bring to Arkansas many years of experience working in environments similar to those in
this state. The exchange of information is two-way, with Arkansas agriculturists sharing their
insights and sometimes traveling overseas to witness and suggest answers to problems there.
Those who keep up with technological change and adapt to changing conditions reap early benefits. The U.S. leads the world in highly productive and extensive technology-intensive agriculture, but is a net importer of agricultural and food processing technology. To be aware of cutting-edge developments, Arkansas scientists must interact with their counterparts in areas of specialization throughout the world.
The complexity of agricultural production today, coupled with a global economy and a rapidly growing population challenge U.S. University and Extension Station personnel to keep up with these changes, and serve as resources in understanding them, and in alerting Arkansas citizens to their significance.
Supporting each agricultural production and market advance is a base of research, traditionally performed at Universities and disseminated by Extension personnel. International Agricultural Programs links these important activities in the global dimension, to assure a steady flow of new information and its application.
Through the GMSS, University experts, and connections overseas IIA assists Arkansas agribusiness to penetrate these markets and promote Arkansas products. The GMSS continually gathers up-to-date data on the location, size, and quality of markets in other countries and produces information useful to the needs of local firms. Growers and processors who spread their production capacity over ecological zones greatly increase the likelihood that they will have commodities to market despite variable climatic conditions. In this way, they can access markets where scarcities exist from adverse conditions.
Opportunities for lucrative investments exist in agricultural production and infrastructure throughout the world. The IIA serves as an information resource for these investments.
Rice, wheat, poultry, pork, and beef have become upscale foods for a growing middle class in the developing world. As incomes increase, consumers there spend a disproportionate share of their income on these items. In situations where the pasture and range resources have reached their carrying capacity, poultry becomes the most economical and easily expanded source of high- quality animal protein.
A concern for the global environment prompts alternative methods for sustainable agricultural production. These methods, being tested in sensitive areas of the world, provide valuable lessons for domestic production in the face of legislative and other controls to protect forest, soil, and water resources. Exchange of information in this area is essential for ensuring food security as well as a safe environment into the 21st century and beyond.
For a long time, crop scientists have sought and developed new, superior plant varieties
resistant to ever-mutating disease around the world. This research has yielded superb results, and
owes its success by our ability to draw on exotic genetic material and the opportunity to test them
on a continuous basis in favorable climates most of the year.
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Current and Recent International Projects
The UofA continues or has successfully completed a number of major international activities
through the Office of International Agricultural Programs (IAP), which on July 1, 1995 became
the Institute for International Agriculture.
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