News and press releases of the Centre de cooperation internationale en recherche agronomique pour le developpement, the French Center of agricultural research for developing countries

A large number of video and audio recordings are to be made available on line, subject to registration, to facilitate access to the symposium and reduce the carbon cost of air travel.

CIRAD, the French government and the Réunion Regional Council signed a general partnership agreement on 24 April 2008, covering the period 2008-2013. The agreement sets out the lines of CIRAD's intervention in Réunion, notably four scientific priorities that will steer the research conducted under the partnership.

Following the 2002 and 2006 symposiums in Montreal, Canada, a third Fair Trade International Symposium (FTIS) will be held in Montpellier from May 14 to 16, 2008.  The theme for the symposium will be ?New Dimensions in Fair Trade: Implications and Challenges?.

On-line news about the scientific cooperation foundation set up to promote the advanced thematic research network on agricultural research and sustainable development Montpellier Agronomie et Développement Durable.

Contains a report on fire management.

A fine book on the research and studies conducted at the site where the Lapérouse expedition was shipwrecked.

Following the 2002 and 2006 symposiums in Montreal, Canada, a third Fair Trade International Symposium (FTIS) will be held in Montpellier from May 14 to 16, 2008.  The theme for the symposium will be ?New Dimensions in Fair Trade: Implications and Challenges?.

Wild cocoa trees in French Guiana have natural defences against the fungi and insects that attack cocoa pods. Researchers from CIRAD and its partners have set out to compile new data on this little-known resource, through the "Dicacao" research project.

CIRAD will be hosting an international conference on cotton in Montpellier, from 13 to 17 May 2008. It is specifically devoted to an analysis of the rationales behind and changes in cotton policies in the main producing countries worldwide.

In recent decades, agricultures worldwide have seen unprecedented changes. The development of competition between production systems the world over has led to various types of restructuring, in terms of both what is produced and how, and of technical systems.

Many causes have been suggested since the start of the food crisis in developing countries. What role have these various causes really played in the current situation? What will be the consequences of rising prices for food security and agriculture in these countries? What are the possible means of managing and finding a way out of this crises? Some hints can be gleaned from CIRAD researchers' expertise in this field.

Many causes have been suggested since the start of the food crisis in developing countries. What role have these various causes really played in the current situation? What will be the consequences of rising prices for food security and agriculture in these countries? What are the possible means of managing and finding a way out of this crises? Some hints can be gleaned from CIRAD researchers' expertise in this field.

Growing numbers of cetaceans are becoming beached along the coasts of France, notably due to a fast-spreading virus, or more precisely a morbillivirus. Other morbilliviruses also affect carnivores and domestic and wild ruminants.

CIRAD is again in the forefront of the fight against avian influenza, more precisely in Africa, through a project ordered by the FAO, entitled EPIAAF (EPidémiologie de l'Influenza Aviaire en AFrique).

There are many issues surrounding natural resource management in Africa, and almost as many responses. Almost forty experiments in French- and English-speaking Africa are to be used as the basis for a comparative analysis, coordinated by CIRAD.

The book sets out scientific alternatives to neoclassical economic theory applied to development.

CIRAD is coordinating a project aimed at setting up an observatory for the forests of central Africa (OFAC). The observatory will be the focal point of all the available information on the forests of the Congo Basin. Interview with Alain Billand, CIRAD project leader.

Surveillance networks are of vital importance for managing animal diseases. However, such networks need to be assessed if they are to be made more efficient. CIRAD is currently working to adapt a new assessment method, which is both objective and economical, for developing countries.

The main crop techniques specific to tropical fruit production.

A CIRAD researcher has come up with an original way of avoiding unnecessary pesticide use: protecting market garden crops under mosquito nets. The technique, which is being tested in a village in Benin, has given spectacular results so far. Watch the video (in French)