1. Access to Global Research in Agriculture to Support National and Regional Research and Academic Programmes
Gracian Chimwaza
Executive Director, ITOCA

2. SCIENTIFIC AND KNOWLEDGE GAP
Researchers: Total world share (Source: UNESCO1)
Africa
2.2%
Canada
1.9%
USA
20.0%
Asia
40.9%
From the UNESCO Science Report 2010
World Intellectual Property Indicators 2010
Patent application share (Source: WIPO2)
Developed Countries
74.1 %
Rest of the World
25.9 %

3. African Agricultural Research OUTPUT landscape
ACCESS ISSUES
INFRASTRACTURE: IT/Internet connectivity
Initiatives to address high bandwidth costs
CONTENT: Digital collections growing
Initiatives to improve access
SKILLS AND AWARENESS ISSUES
Information competence skills
Low uptake and usage issues
Scientific writing + publishing skills
AGORA
Increase access to high-quality, relevant literature in agriculture
Improve the quality and effectiveness of education and training.
Improve food security
Improve research in agriculture and related sciences
You can be an important ambassador for AGORA and Research4Life, especially by using these resources in your research, publishing and teaching.

4. Internet broadband expansion
Undersea Cable Expansion
Over 10 Tb + growing
Inland connections still to come
Last mile challenges
- government, pvt, agents, NRENs,

5. Research investments of $ millions in the past 3 decades
CONTENT ISSUES
The most up-to-date research knowledge found in digital collections, databases ( e-journals, e-books, IR)
Subscriptions increasing at 11-16% annually3
Research investments of $ millions in the past 3 decades
Limited access to the world’s published knowledge results in
Duplication of efforts
Limits in innovation and diminished ROI
Offline access to literature is still necessary for some institutions due to limited Internet infrastructure

6. FROM CLASSICAL REFERENCE LIBRARY TO DIGITAL
Juristische Landesbibliothek München

7. EFFORTS TO IMPROVE CONTENT ACCESS
OA initiatives
AGRIS
AgriKnowledge.org
OER’s
Institutional Repositories
PLOS
Research4Life is the collective name for four programmes: Hinari, AGORA, OARE and ARDI that provide lower income countries with free or low cost access to academic and professional peer-reviewed content online.
Research4Life is a public-private partnership of the World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, United Nations Environment Programme, Cornell and Yale Universities and the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers in addition to over 200 publisher and technology partners.  
Research4Life’s goal is to reduce the scientific knowledge gap between higher income and lower income countries
Examples of bridging solutions (not OA)

8. Delivering access to more than 68 000 of the world’s leading primary research and review journals

9. OFFLINE RESOURCES
Offline electronic access (no Internet required) – available on LAN’s
Instantly access thousands of full-text articles from about 500 journals in agricultural and related sciences
750,000+ peer-reviewed published journal articles
100+ publishers
Access to 20 years journal collection + updated annually
Full text PDF articles
Available in 109 countries

11. Thank YOU
AGORA
Increase access to high-quality, relevant literature in agriculture
Improve the quality and effectiveness of education and training.
Improve food security
Improve research in agriculture and related sciences
You can be an important ambassador for AGORA and Research4Life, especially by using these resources in your research, publishing and teaching.