CIGR Newsletter No 57

CIGR NEWS

NEWS FROM THE PRESIDIUM

Report of the Secretary-General

On proposal of the German Association of Agricultural Engineers (VDI-MEG), the General Secretariat of CIGR was transferred to Bonn in 1998. Prof. Peter Schulze Lammers was elected in February 1998 on the General Assembly in Rabat, Morocco to succeed to Prof. Jan Daelemans from Merelbeke, Belgium, who had held the office from 1989 to 1998.

The Secretary General was inaugurated at Bonn after a meeting of the Presidium and the Executive Board in Oslo. Fortunately Prof. Daelemans continued to support the activities of the General Secretariat until the middle of the year by editing the CIGR Newsletter and by performing numerous other jobs. Part of the administration of CIGR was extended to Ireland, where Dr. Da-Wen Sun took over the responsibility for creating an internet presence for CIGR and for keeping it updated. As another activity in the field of electronic communication, Dr. Friedrich from FAO AGSE launched the CIGR FAO Global Network, which consists of a newsgroup for each of the seven (formerly six) technical sections of CIGR, and which is based on the computer facilities of FAO. Operating since 1998 and moderated by the section chairs or by nominated deputies, the network has become an important channel of information on topics of interest to all active CIGR members. By presenting an award to Dr. Friedrich, who has been active as the network's administrator to the present day, CIGR has tried to express adequate recognition of his services.

With respect to international membership, CIGR was able to welcome three new members in its ranks, i.e. with the Bangladesh Society of Agricultural Engineers, with the Iranian Agricultural Engineering Research Institute (IAERI), and with AMIA, the Mexican Society of Agricultural Engineers.

In 1999, CIGR saw a change of presidents. Prof. Kitani from Japan was succeeded by Prof. Bill Stout from the USA. The high efforts of these two presidents had a very positive effect on the extension of membership to more and more countries and regions of the world. Consequently, the General Secretariat was confronted not only with increasing membership operations but also with a more reliable financial basis for the activities of CIGR. This situation facilitated the Secretary General's task of keeping the budget in balance, as Prof. Daelemans had admonished him to do when he handed over the office.

The periodical meeting of Executive Board and Presidium was held in 1999 along with the ASAE/CSAE Meeting in Toronto. One of the main achievements was that CSAE decided to join CIGR as a direct member in the following year instead of being represented as an affiliated member of ASAE, as it had been before. In 1999, CIGR was able to welcome the Group of Individuals from the Philippines in its ranks.

In January 1999, the five-volume printed version of the CIGR Handbook on Agricultural Engineering was first published by ASAE. Between January 1999 and January 2002, CIGR sold 352 full sets of the printed edition, 165 CD-ROM editions, and a remarkable number of single volumes (I: 173; II: 111; III: 149; IV: 86; V: 80). Thanks to the generosity of the contributors who donated their royalties to CIGR in order to sponsor free copies for libraries in developing countries, CIGR was able to distribute 29 full print sets as donations. FAO sponsored 20 CD-ROM.

In the year 2000 CIGR associated with several other agricultural engineering societies apart from CSAE, such as the Society for Engineering in Agriculture (SEAg) of Australia, the Turkish Chamber of Agricultural Engineers, and The Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery. With the support of Honorary CIGR President Prof. Egil Berge, the Republics of the former Soviet Union saw the foundation of Agricultural Engineering societies. In April 2000, a group of six European and Asian countries founded the Euro-Asian-Association of Agricultural Engineers in presence of the CIGR President and applied for membership in CIGR, which was to commence with the following year.

The work of the General Secretariat in 2000 was dominated by preparations of the XIV Memorial World Congress in Tsukuba, Japan. These included new elections of board members, a revision of the CIGR statutes and awards program, as well as a special issue of the CIGR newsletter. In Tsukuba, the General Assembly approved the decision of the Executive Board that Bonn, Germany, is to host the XVIth CIGR World Congress in 2006, after the General Secretariat had received the bidding submitted by the German association of agricultural Engineers, VDI Max -Eyth Gesellschaft.

In 2001, Prof. El Houssine Bartali from Morocco took over the Presidency of CIGR from Prof. Stout and Prof. Munack from FAL, Braunschweig, Germany started his activity as Incoming President.. Prof. Bartali is the first President of CIGR to come from the African continent. Past President Prof. Stout focussed his efforts on the CIGR Electronic Journal, specifically to accelerating the processing of numerous received papers for publication in the journal, and to improving the journal's representation in libraries all over the world.

For the General Secretariat, the year 2001 started with a variety of post-conference activities after the Memorial World Congress in Tsukuba. Lists of the elected section members and the revised statutes were distributed to all member organisations.

CIGR was happy to receive a remarkable amount of levies from the Memorial Congress in Japan, which improved the financial situation of the CIGR General Secretariat. On the other hand, the funds for free copies of the CIGR Handbook on Agricultural Engineering petered out. Therefore the Secretary-General appeals to the generosity of sponsors so that future requests of free copies can be dealt with.

Also in 2001, the brochure on CIGR topics was redesigned to represent CIGR in colour. From issue number 54 onwards, the newsletter has appeared with a new design as well.

Mr. Thomas Pesch, M.A., who had worked for 2 years for CIGR, passed his teacher's exams in English in the summer and subsequently left the General Secretariat. The task of supporting CIGR Secretary Ms. Frauke Beeken was taken over by Mr. Ludger Tolksdorf, M.A.

Some of the awardees of the Memorial Congress dedicated their grants to a proposed foundation. After an examination of tax questions and different proposals for possible foundations by the General Secretariat, it was decided that the money will be an asset in the CIGR budget if it is used for refunds of travel expenses incurred by CIGR authorities attending CIGR board meetings.

In addition to the Euro Asian Association of Agricultural Engineering (EAAAE), CIGR was able to welcome 14 West-African countries as members thanks to the initiative of President El Houssine Bartali: EIER (Ecole Inter-Etats d'Ingénieurs de l'Equipement Rural) has joined CIGR as a corporate member. Finally, in autumn, a new Agricultural Engineering Association for South-Eastern Europe (AESEE), founded with the assistance of the CIGR Secretary General, applied for membership to CIGR.

With the progression of the year, the preparation of the World Congress in Chicago, USA, jointly organised with ASAE, became the dominant theme in the General Secretariat. After the interim presidium meeting on April 4, 2001, in Paris, hosted by the member of the Executive Board, Ir. Souty, the activities of the General Secretariat focused on the preparations of the meetings of the Presidium, the Executive Board, and the Technical Board in Sacramento. By the end of the year 2001, preparations of the Board meetings and General Assembly as well as elections of CIGR authorities in Chicago assumed predominance.

Thanks to a renewed contract between CIGR and the German Federal Ministry for Consumer Protection, Food, and Agriculture, the CIGR General Secretariat will be able to continue working under the present conditions at the University of Bonn in Germany until the end of 2005.

Peter Schulze Lammers

CIGR Secretary General

Minutes of the Meeting of UNACOMA/Club of Bologna and the CIGR Presidium
November 18, 2001

Place: EIMA - a room at the Press Office

Participants: ASAE (W. Skaggs); CIGR (H. Bartali; B. Stout; O. Kitani; A. Munack; P. Schulze Lammers); Club of Bologna (G. Pellizzi; M. Fiala); UNACOMA (C. Ambrogi).

Goal of meeting: to define the relationships between UNACOMA-Club of Bologna and the main International Associations of Agricultural Machinery and Mechanisation, particularly, the organisation of the first part of the 13th Club of Bologna meeting on occasion of the XV CIGR-ASAE World Congress in Chicago (July 28-31, 2002).

CIGR-ASAE Congress 2002 - Chicago: Pellizzi explains the draft program of part 1 of the 13th meeting of the Club of Bologna on occasion of the XV CIGR-ASAE World Congress which will be held in Chicago in July 2002.

The meeting of the Club should be held - in agreement with W. Skaggs, President of ASAE - the day before the opening of the CIGR-ASAE Congress, that is, on Saturday July 27, 2002. The meeting will have a one-day duration, and UNACOMA should pay the hospitality of participants at the Hyatt Hotel, where the CIGR-ASAE Congress and the Club meeting will take place.

UNACOMA Prize: UNACOMA will sponsor the UNACOMA Prize of CIGR. UNACOMA is suggested to nominate a representative within CIGR. Pellizzi suggests that, in principle, the prize should be given alternatively, one time to an expert from industrialised countries and the other time to an expert from developing countries. The proposal is unanimously accepted.

General relationships between UNACOMA - Club of Bologna and CIGR: in order to optimise the operational relationships, CIGR President Bartali suggests to invite Prof. Pellizzi, honorary President of CIGR and President of the Club of Bologna, to the next Presidium meeting in April in Morocco, especially to prepare the 2002 CIGR Congress. Ambrogi agrees that UNACOMA will cover the expenses for this activity.

12th Club of Bologna Meeting on "Strategies for the Development of Agricultural mechnisation": Conclusions and Recommendations

54 experts from 42 Countries and representatives from FAO, UNIDO and CIGR took part in the 12th Club of Bologna Meeting, organised by UNACOMA under the aegis of CIGR, to examine and discuss the following topics:

1. Development of agricultural mechanisation to assure long-term global food supply

2. Code of Ethics as a contribution to a proper agricultural mechanisation.

1. Development of agricultural mechanisation to assure long-term global food supply.

This important subject was divided into 4 main topic areas that were discussed separately. The introductory presentation on the general aspects, by J. Pawlak, G. Pellizzi and M. Fiala, provides a thorough analysis of the food requirements in the various areas of the world where specific agricultural practices are adopted as a function of the different local climatic, pedological and vegetative conditions. In some of these areas - and in particular sub-Saharan Africa - the annual growth in food demand is in the order of twice that of local food production, which is very low because of insufficient use of yield-increasing inputs and lack of proper technical field and post-harvest equipment. There is therefore a need to identify mechanisation solutions that can help to increase yields while at the same time limiting the degradation of the soil, and minimising production losses both inside and outside the farms.

This has to run parallel to efforts to create a system for the international distribution of foodstuffs able to ensure that the offered food effectively reaches the target populations.

In any case, an appropriate mechanisation must take into account the local agricultural habits and the purchasing power of the various populations. For its promotion it is necessary to set up--within the various countries--a network of activities aimed at providing an essential contribution to the rational development of mechanisation. This should include post harvest technology, with particular reference to the storage of the products.

In consequence, there is also a need to establish a broad base of effective educational and training programs for young farmers, and to promote the introduction of I.T., through which the experiences of the industrialised countries can suggest new ideas, which can be applied in the developing countries. It is therefore necessary for the various countries to understand the need to develop and adopt complete "mechanisation systems" tailored to the local conditions, rather than - as has often been the case until now - to offer individual mechanical components designed to autonomously perform only a single task. In this context, an important role will be played by contractors.

A second presentation addressed the topic of "New technological solutions appropriate to Developing and Industrialised Countries" and consisted of two reports by: U.Peiper and Y. Alper for the emerging countries; J.Gilles for the industrialised countries.

Peiper and Alper, writing a report concerning the need of an appropriate mechanisation for developing countries, discussed the general topic of ensuring enough food production for the world population in a proper way, learning from the experiences and avoiding the mistakes made by the industrialised countries. In the opinion of the authors, an appropriate mechanisation for emerging countries lies in adaptation of existing machines (as far as design, manufacturing, materials and maintenance are concerned) and methods known by the Agricultural Engineering Community of the developed countries. The problem, in fact, is to provide tools and methods appropriate to obtain a sufficient food production.

The report by J.Gilles first of all recalled what will be the requirements of agriculture for the near future. For the industrialised countries, all this will require an increasingly intensive use of I.T., in order to optimise the management of agriculture, which is based both on commercial ventures and family run farms. For both types it will be necessary to offer integrated management systems for the sector.

A third presentation dealt with the "Role of ICTs for an appropriate world market development" and was prepared by F. Sevila and S. Blackmore. The paper implies a very general and diversified overview: to try to envision future developments in the agri-food system, to consider the development of ICTs in all technical and economic aspects. After an introduction concerning the food world system, it deals, in chapter 2, with the non-machinery users and, in chapter 3, with the machinery related aspects. Chapter 4 moves back to a more general comment on ICTs developments in order to point out the deontological aspects to be kept in mind by designers of future ICTs applications for the food chain and the rural world.

The ICTs have pervaded the modern world, finding an increasing interest also in the developing countries where they can play a very important role for the development of agriculture; but their utilisation requires an adapted deontological approach at the very beginning of the food systems and products.

The last presentation, by B. Snobar and P. Schulze Lammers, dealt with the issue of "New educational requirements" and was divided into two sub-topics pertaining to university education and technical training respectively.

B. Snobar first of all called attention to the increasing need for education and training - given the extremely rapid evolution of the agricultural-mechanical sector in the 20th century - in order to equip young people with a valid, up-to-date background of knowledge necessary for working in the sector, and covering both the engineering aspects dealing with the design of machines and the agricultural aspects necessary for making appropriate mechanisation management decisions in relation to the specific agronomic, technical and social needs of the different countries. In view of the fast growing Information Technology, Globalisation and World Trade Agreements, the following educational developments at University level are required:

P. Schulze Lammers pointed out that agricultural food production needs skilled workers and technicians, and asserted that non-academic education addresses itself to the development of these skills, which are predominant in non-mechanised agriculture. With increasing mechanisation, more operational skills are required, and in the industrialized countries new technology demands expertise and knowledge for the control of mechanised processes and for the diagnosis of errors in electronically controlled processes. There are different systems of learning and training for introducing and using mechanisation efficiently. Competence Based Training and the Dual System are two forms of education widely used, which can be applied to extend the skills of farmers and contractors as users of mechanisation, of technicians maintaining, repairing or manufacturing agricultural machinery, as well as of advisors and dealers. New requirements on education to give incentives for an efficient use of mechanisation must be systematically differentiated with reference to the remarkable regional differences in the level of mechanisation, in production and socio-economic conditions, and the kinds of crops. Regional adoption of globally standardized education systems is a major requirement for a worthwhile contribution of non-academic education to the task of assuring food supply in all parts of the world.

Recommendations: Following extensive and in-depth discussion, the participants:

2. Code of Ethics for the agricultural machinery-manufacturing sector

This important subject had been preliminarily discussed during the XI Club of Bologna meeting held in Tsukuba (Japan) at the end of November 2000. After a deep discussion the participants agreed on the need to go one step further and examine and approve a final version of the code hopefully to be accepted and signed by all manufacturers. The preparation of this proposal has been committed to Y. Sarig, leading a work group composed by: L. Clarke, I. De Alencar Nääs, R. Hegg, A. Munack, G. Singh.

The document, following a brief introduction which sets out its objectives, is divided into two main sections which cover the general principles and the specific areas dealing with workers and purchasers. In particular, for what concerns purchasers, the document states that agricultural machinery manufacturers should: answer the expectations of their purchasers; supply safe, high quality products which are able to deliver good performance, long life and compliance with the prescribed technical requirements; guarantee conformity of their products to the environmental and workplace safety regulations of the various countries; supply products complete with full documentation so that the information can be widely spread among purchasers. In any case, the responsibility for operations - which must be appropriate in terms of performance, safety, the health and well-being of workers and animals - falls to the machinery manufacturers.

The participants express, with a large majority, their full unanimous agreement with the proposal - based on the codes already in use - to which they suggest some minor amendments.

The general recommendation is made that each country should draft and adopt its own code of ethics, based on the specific standards already in place within the country itself, thus allowing the purchasers to decide which machines to use, based on the quality assurances offered by the different manufacturers and dealers.

The participants moreover recommend that the Associations of Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers, in conjunction with the public and private organisations of the sector, including the research institution and the extension services, actively cooperate to promote the widespread adoption of the Code of Ethics. This with particular emphasis on machinery developed for transfer or sale to the emerging countries, where the creation of technical training and educational structures is becoming increasingly important.

Giuseppe Pellizzi

Honorary President CIGR

President Club of Bologna

CIGR World Congress 2010

CIGR member societies may now start bidding for their country to host the XVIIth CIGR World Congress to be held in 2010. Bids are to be directed to: Prof. Peter Schulze Lammers, CIGR Secretary-General, Institut fuer Landtechnik, Nussallee 5, D-53 115 Bonn, Germany, Tel.: +49 2 28 73 23 89 Fax.: +49 2 28 73 96 44 e-mail: cigr@uni-bonn.de

AAAE President and Secretary-General Appointed

At a recent meeting in Shanghai, China, the Executive Board of the Asian Association for Agricultural Engineering (AAAE) endorsed the appointment of Professor Vilas M. Salokhe as the President of AAAE for the years 2002 and 2003. He will succeed to Professor Makoto Hoki (Mie University, Japan) in January 2002. Established in 1990, AAAE has over 500 members throughout the world.

Prof. Salokhe is currently working as Professor of Agricultural Engineering at the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand. He is known for his research in agricultural soil mechanics specially for paddy fields. He has published extensively in international refereed journals and in conference proceedings. He is also a recipient of 16 awards/honors for his professional contributions.

Prof. Salokhe has been closely associated with the AAAE. He has been Secretary-General of AAAE since its inception. On behalf of AAAE, he is also working as an Editor of International Agricultural Engineering Journal (AEJ).

Dr. Sudip Kumar Rakshit, AAAE Foundation Member and Associate Professor of Bioprocess Technology at AIT, will take over as Secretary-General of AAAE. Before joining AIT, Dr. Rakshit worked as Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras.

SIDRE Award for CIGR Member Mihara

Dr. Machito Mihara has been awarded the JSIDRE (Japanese Society of Irrigation, Drainage and Reclamation Engineering) Award for outstanding research presented in his "Study on Soil and Eutrophic Component Losses in Erosion Processes and Conservation Strategy." Dr. Mihara is Associate Professor at the Department of Bioproduction and Environment Engineering at the Tokyo University of Agriculture.

German Environmental Award goes to Prof. Auernhammer

Professor Auernhammer and two others share this year's Environmental Award of the German Federal Foundation for the Environment (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt). Auernhammer was honoured as a forerunner of ecofriendly farming where modern technology facilitates a regulation of weeds and fertilization geared to smallest sites. Auernhammer is Professor at the Department for Biogenetic Raw Materials and Technologies in agriculture at the Technical University Munich. CIGR's recognition of his achievements were expressed at the CIGR Congress in Tsukuba, Japan, in 2000.

CIGR on the world-wide web

The CIGR web page has got a new URL: http://www.cigr.org/ The contents and services remain the same. Please note that the CIGR electronic journal, which can still be accessed from the CIGR homepage, remains at http://www.agen.tamu.edu/CIGR/.

NEWS FROM SECTIONS AND WORKING GROUPS

Report on the IV International Conference "Microprocessor Systems in Agriculture" 28-29 May 2001, Plock, Poland

The IV International Conference "Microprocessor Systems in Agriculture" was held on May 28-29, 2001 in Plock, Poland. Main organizer was the Institute of Mechanical Engineering of Warsaw University of Technology. Co-organizers were CIGR-Section III, the Institute of Production Engineering and Building Research of the Federal Research Centre Braunschweig-Völkenrode (FAL) and the National Scientific Centre „Institute for Mechanization and Electrification of Agriculture" Ukrainian Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The purpose of this Conference was to provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of the state of the art in microprocessor systems in agriculture and related areas. Apart from updating knowledge in the area of microprocessor systems, the Conference was expected to create new ideas and international scientific co-operation. It had a special importance in memory of the 175th Anniversary of Warsaw University of Technology.

The Conference was started with the Opening Session on May 28. Welcome Addresses and congratulations were extended by the Vice-Rector for the University Centre in Plock Prof. J. Zielinski, and other key organizers along with a message from CIGR-Section III by Dr. B. Jasinski (board member of Section III). The Plenary Session was started by keynote speeches with the following titles: "Development of Agricultural Field Robot in AVSE, Hokkaido University, Japan" by Prof. H. Terao, and "The Role of Information Technologies for the New Agriculture" by Prof. N. Sigrimis (Agricultural University of Athens, Chairman of CIGR-Section VII). The next keynote speeches dealt with "Spray Application Technique in Precision Agriculture - Trends in Development of Orchard Sprayers" by Prof. Holownicki (Research Institute of Pomology and Floriculture in Skierniewice), and "The Coming Digitization of Agricultural Sector. Economic, Social, Systems and Technological considerations" by Prof. A. Straszak (Polish Academy of Sciences).

On May 29 Technical Sessions were organized where 24 papers were orally presented. Subjects were grouped into five major areas: Modelling of processes and artificial intelligence, Microprocessor systems for automation of plant production and storage, Contribution of microprocessor systems to development of precision and pro-ecological agriculture, Advances in mechatronics and robots, and Information technologies.

About 100 participants from 6 countries attended the Conference. Proceedings, containing 39 papers (all in English) by 65 authors from 16 foreign and 10 domestic research centres, have been published as a book (ISBN 83-908324-8-8) which is available at the Institute of Mechanical Engineering in Plock.

The general evaluation was that the Conference was successful in terms of organisation and the level of active participation in all conference programs. Experiences shared by foreign delegates notably enriched the discussions. It is hoped that this Conference covering exceptionally important scientific and technological subjects on Microprocessor Systems in Agriculture will contribute to a broad exchange of scientific research achievements among many scientists from different countries. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to organizers and individuals for their vital contributions to the success of the IV Conference, and I am looking forward to seeing them and new ones in the next, V Conference in 2003 in Plock, Poland.

Bogdan Jasinski

Conference Scientific Secretary

Board Member of CIGR Section III

Minutes of the Workshop on "The Challenge of Precision Farming in Latin America" in Foz do Iguaçu, PR, Brazil

On August 2, 2002, during the Brazilian Congress of Agricultural Engineering, SBEA (Brazilian Society of Agricultural Engineering) President Professor Irenilza A. Nääs welcomed the members and guests. Dr. Evandro C. Mantovani welcomed the presenters and the audience in the name of Section III, and gave the floor to Dr. José Paulo Molin, moderator of the section. Dr Molin introduced the theme and presented the speakers, representatives from technology users, and researchers from Brazil and Argentina.

Panel composition:

Jaime Aguiar; Farmer, Chapadão do Sul, MS, Brazil.

Herbert Schlatter, Farmer, Chapadão do Sul, MS, Brazil.

Marcos Valentini; Agronomist, Fundação ABC, Castro, PR, Brazil.

Jorge Hilbert, Researcher, INTA,Castelar,BA,Argentina

Ten minutes were set aside for the panel members to present their views on the subject and relate them to the ways in which precision farming is being used in their sectors/themes. The following points were made:

The presenters brought up the following issues and observations:

After the debate the following questions and statements were raised:

The moderator resumed and thanked all for a useful discussion and closed the Workshop.

Evandro C. Mantovani

Section III

Minutes of Meeting CIGR Section IV on 29 August 2001

this meeting took place on 29th August 2001 in the Pendet Room, The Grand Bali Beach Hotel, Indonesia.

A. Ramdani (Chairman, IV., Morocco); Kamaruddin Abdullah (IPB, Indonesia); Makoto Hoki (Mie Univ., Japan); WWS Charters (Melbourne Univ., Australia); Giovani Riva (Univ. of Ancoma, Italy); Zoltan Sibalskzky (Magyar Elektrotechnical Egyesulet, Hungary); Osamu Kitani (Nihon Univ., Japan); Bill Stout (CIGR/Texas, A&M, USA); Abubakar Salem (Sebha Univ., Libya); R. Zengiz Akdeniz (Ege Univ.-Izmr, Turkey); George Srzednicki (Univ. of NSW, Australia); Edy Hartulistiyoso (IPB, Indonesia); Masaki Honda (Unesco)

Prof Ramdani introduced and welcomed new board members from Turkey and Germany, who had already been approved at the Congress in Japan.

Networking among CIGR members should be established; CIGR has 7 listserve mailing lists representing the 7 Section of CIGR. To maintain networking efficiently, Section IV recommended to assign a list moderator for: moderating, asking questions, choosing topics, following up conference topics. Prof. Kamaruddin Abdullah was approved as moderator of the CIGR Section IV mailing list.

Responses from CIGR members to the CIGR E-Journal have been very positive since it was initiated two years ago. All members are invited to submit papers for publication.

Some of the papers presented at CIRERD can be published in the e-journal. Published papers will be enclosed on a CD-ROM which, accompanied by an official letter from CIGR, will be sent to libraries all over the world. It is recommend also to send the papers to UNESCO and FAO Global Network

26 Participants from overseas, 92 Participants from Indonesia; Invited ministers: 1) Minister of Agriculture of the RI; 2) Minister of Energy and Mining Resources of the RI.

There were attendants from various disciplines but covering good issues. The discussion on CIRERD01 covers the issue of current scientific verification of RE, agenda/program of government and involvement of the private sector to take over the implementation/practical aspects.

R&D should focus on local and practical conditions.

Follow-up to the conference should be established. It can be discussed through mailing list.

The 25th Conference of CIGR Section IV is approved to held in 2003, at Alexandria Univ., Egypt. The 26th Conference of CIGR-IV is recommended to be held in 2004, in Budapest, Hungary (Person in Charge: Prof. Sibalszky). The 27th Conference of CIGR-IV is recommended to be held in 2005, in Turkey (Person in Charge: Prof. Akdeniz).

It is recommended to improve communication between CIGR and ASAE. Prof. Stout suggested to put ASAE representative as ex. Officio member of the board of CIGR Section IV.

Information on other conferences: 1) Energy Eff. & Agr. Eng., April 4 - 6, 2002, University of Rousse, Bulgary, Reg.: 120 DM 2) Agric. Eng. Conference, 28th Nov. - 1st Dec. 2001, Shanghai.

Kamaruddin Abdullah

Chairman of the International Scientific Committee

Vice-Chair CIGR Section IV

 

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