Most of the South Asian countries are primarily agricultural. Their economy is also based largely on agriculture. The World Bank and other statistics clearly bear out the above proposition, and attribute rural poverty in these countries to poor agricultural productivity.

The GDP shares of agriculture sectors of the SAARC countries are: Bangladesh-30 per cent, Bhutan-45 per cent, India-31 per cent Nepal-45 per cent, Pakistan-25 per cent and Sri Lanka-25 per cent against the shares of industrial sectors that stand thus: Bangladesh-14 per cent, Bhutan-25 per cent, India-29 per cent, Nepal-14 per cent, Pakistan-24 per cent and Sri Lanka-26 per cent.

The labour force engages in agricultural sector in SAARC countries are: Bangladesh-65.5 per cent, Bhutan-90 per cent, India-63.2 per cent, Nepal-91.7 per cent, Pakistan-47.4 per cent, Sri Lanka-49.1 per cent and the SAARC average-67.8 per cent.

The above statistics clearly indicate the fact that increase of agricultural productivity is one of the key to poverty alleviation in the SAARC countries. Therefore, the stimulating factor in economic growth is agricultural production. These factors conclusively indicate that utmost priority is set for improvement of agriculture in the SAARC countries. The first and foremost aid to agricultural development is “information”. Sound information infrastructure is thus essential for agricultural research, education and extension. The SAARC Agricultural Information Centre (SAIC) started functioning in Dhaka, from January 1989. Of the SAARC’s five regional centres, the SAIC is the first such regional institution of SAARC. The other fours are the SAARC Tuberculosis Centre (STC) in Kathmandu, the SAARC Documentation Centre (SDC) in New Delhi, the SAARC Meteorological Research Centre (SMRC) in Dhaka and the SAARC Human Resources Development Centre (SHRDC) in Islamabad.

The heads of state or government noted that the SAARC Regional Centres have an important role to play in harnessing the resources and capabilities within the SAARC region in addressing specific and shared concerns of member states. They stressed that regional centres should implement action and result oriented programmes and highlighted the importance of rationalising the functioning of these centres.

Agriculture being the life-blood of the SAARC countries, was given priority by the Member Countries. The main objective was sharing information mutually for the advancement of agriculture, livestock, fisheries, forestry and allied disciplines. The problems and prospects of agriculture and ecology of the SAARC countries are more or less the same. united by same geographical boundaries and historical ties, sharing of common experience shall be mutually helpful for all. The teeming millions of the region should be well fed and well clad and march for further progress for the achievement of a common desired goal-self-sufficiency in all areas of national arenas. Common efforts and mutual transfer of technologies shall enhance the onward march towards prosperity and peace. The SAIC has established a database on a number of crops and agricultural topics. Some of them are given below:

Potato: Potato is an important supplementary and complementary food item in the region. The SAIC has established a database on potato containing over 2000 citations from 1975 to 1990. This database has also been circulated to all focal points and relevant institutions of the SAARC countries. Further, information on potato research carried out in India from 1935 to 1990 is also available in this database. The same can be made available in the form of micrograph to the scientists on demand.

Fish diseases: Recently fish diseases have become an acute problem in the South West Asian region. The SAIC has compiled a database on fish diseases in the SAARC region for convenience of research work of the fishery scientists. The outputs are available in the form of mimeograph.

Biotechnology: The Role of scientific information is becoming increasingly important in the modern context of technological revolution. Availability and accessibility of requisite information is an important facility and its timely absence is irreparable loss. Agricultural information is key for more production and sustainable agriculture. It is more valuable for countries which have to depend more on agricultural production for their socio-economic development. Modern biotechnology which covers recently developed technologies like cell culture, tissue culture, embryo culture techniques, recombinant DNA technology, etc is a priority area of research. The new technologies so developed need to be implemented which have the potentiality to bring further revolution in agriculture.

One of the objectives of the SAIC is to collect, coordinate, process and disseminate useful information to the farm scientists community of SAARC countries for their mutual sharing and benefits. In conformity of this the SAIC have brought out database on agricultural biotechnology in the SAARC countries. This database covers valuable information on agricultural biotechnology which would not only accelerate further search in this field but may help in taking these technologies from lab to land for the benefit of the end users. This database is also available in computer retrievable format. Post-harvest technology: The importance of post-harvest technology can hardly be overemphasized in the present context of high agricultural production. Production technology alone can not serve ultimate objective unless it is supplemented by processing, distribution, marketing and consumption technologies. SAARC countries, of course have made significant contributions in agricultural research as a whole but there are still such areas which need more attention and priority. Cost effective post-harvest technology is one of them. In practice, even the accepted technologies are not being utilized due to various reasons. One of them is lack of awareness and absence of well established information network. With these facts in view the SAIC has compiled and published a database on post-harvest which brings together research output from SAARC countries to bridge this gap. The database is also available in computerized retrievable format.

Renewable energy resources: The industrial revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, through the steam engine gave human beings access to the energy stored in the chemical compounds of fossil fuels i.e. coal, oil and gas. Today basic human needs are traditionally defined as food, clothing and shelter. They might better be described as energy materials. It does not need any emphasis that energy plays a dominant role in our all spheres of life. Almost all our household appliances and office equipments consume energy, its failure or non-availability affects badly our day to day activities. In fact, our dependence on energy is increasing more and more for efficiency and sustained economy. Our resources are scare but their consumption is more. Therefore, needs and requirements are for more generation and renewal of energy resources.

What is required today is innovative technology which can promote generation, conversion of natural resources into useful energy form. This bibliographical database contains 277 citations on renewable energy from the SAARC countries.

Improved equipment: Mechanization is part and parcel of the modern policy making system for moving forward in the agriculture and allied sectors of any developing country. The total production system in the agricultural and allied sector and the farmer himself can be made more dynamic through the application of machinery and modern scientific technology. This publication has opened up new vistas for selection and use of efficient and more productive equipment for the farm people of the region.

Problem soils: The problem soils, specially the drought-prone and salt-affected soils, are identified as mutual cooperation through exchange of ideas, expertise and information. This volume contains information on 2386 researches and other related publications that were published on the new technologies for reclamation of problem soils, introduction of new crop varieties, selection of proper cropping system etc., for salt-affected and drought-prone areas of the SAARC region.

Transfer of technology: This publication contain twenty-two success stories on transfer of farm technologies in SAARC Countries.

Hybrid and high yielding crops: Plant breeders and genetic engineers have accomplished miracles in the development of more productive crop varieties. These high yielding varieties (HYV) and hybrid seeds can be used to end hunger in the SAARC region. The publication of the book has become a valuable source of technological information for mutual benefit.

Innovative technologies: The agricultural institutes in the SAARC countries have generated, developed and disseminated several innovative technologies in different sectors of agriculture such as crops, livestock, fisheries, agro-forestry and such other related sectors including agricultural management. Many of these technologies have been diffused in the respective countries and some have also been transferred to other neighbouring countries either officially or unofficially.

Quarterly Bulletin: The SAIC has been collecting, collating and compiling relevant data like production, anticipated demands, likely shortfalls, surplus etc of major food grains of SAARC countries which is being distributed among the concerned organizations in the region. The SAIC is about twelve years old, and is therefore in mature stage. The growing activities and achievements are becoming more and more meaningful as well are progressing. Every effort is being made to make them increasingly useful for the benefit of not only the farm scientists but also the farmers, and all those interested in agricultural development in the SAARC region.