The European Consortium for Agricultural Research in the Tropics (ECART-EEIG) is a grouping of six research institutes from five countries in Europe which aims to promote sustainable development in the developing world. The Consortium was established in 1984 and member institutes formalised their collaboration by creating a European Economic Interest Group (EEIG) in November 2004. Each of these institutes has teams with complementary disciplinary and interdisciplinary research expertise, as well as considerable experience in institutional development and capacity building. ECART-EEIG thus provides a large pool of research and technical staff covering a wide range of themes related to developing country agriculture. The Consortium is committed to developing and strengthening partnerships with different stakeholders in agricultural research for development. A particular interest is in the provision of academic and professional training within the broader context of capacity strengthening. An example of ECART-EEIG’s current work is this field is a research partnership with the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP). ECART-EEIG is working with IFAP and its networks in developing countries to strengthen their capacity to improve the enabling environment for the empowerment of farmers in markets[PDF 1.78Mb]. This will be addressed through the emergence of stronger and more effective producer organisations.

The members of ECART-EEIG are:

For a short summary of the member organizations see: ECART-EEIG members[pdf 270Kb]

Further details of ECART-EEIG are available on its website: www.ecart-eeig.org

See also: ECART-EEIG partners[pdf 107Kb] and ECART-EEIG and the MDGs[pdf 419Kb]