1. Objective, means and deliverables of AGRI sub-network
2. Approach
3. Milestones AGRI of the first year
4. Work plan AGRI for the second year

Annexes (3)
Presentations at the Kick-Off-Meeting
1. “Understanding water crisis in Northern China: What government and producers are doing?”
2. “Integrating hydrologic and economic approaches to increase water use efficiency”
Comments and suggestions by the EU-representative

1. Objective, means and deliverables of AGRI sub-network
Objectives of the ASEM WaterNet platform (DOW, section 2)
The overall goal of the four-year Coordination Action ASEM WaterNet is to promote science and technology co-operation between Europe and Asia on water resources management by focusing on five main issues (River Basin Management, Water use efficiency in agriculture, Floods, Pollution, Governance) and strengthening the links between knowledge and action.
The five sub-objectives of the Platform are:
WP1       to promote water management at the basin scale seeking transparency and equitable and sustainable benefits (BASIN);
WP2       to help improve efficiency in agriculture for greater welfare and sustainable use of water resources (AGRI);
WP3       to develop and/or reinforce approaches for the prevention of floods, as well as mitigation of their effects and preparedness (FLOOD);
WP4       to increase knowledge on soil and aquifer pollution, in order to propose prevention and remediation strategies (POLLUT);
WP5       to explore and promote best practices in water governance with emphasis on the human and institutional dimensions and participatory approaches (GOVERN).
Human resources WP2, AGRI (DOW, section 8.2)
To pursue its objective WP2 the AGRI sub-network avails of human resources amounting to a total of 20 person-months over the four-year duration of the network, i.e. 5 person-months per year, , plus provisions for the involvement of experts, for the contribution of the sub-network to the general web-site, and for other technical assistance. The total of 20 person-months is spread over the 8 partner institutes as follows.
Two coordination partners (4 months each)
CCAP/CAS   China, Centre for Chinese Agricultural Policy, Chinese Academy of Sciences
SOW-VU      The Netherlands, Centre for World Food Studies, Vrije Universiteit
Four Asian main partners in the AGRI sub-network (2 months each)
HNU             China, Hunan University
HNAF           China, Hunan Academy of Forestry
IOM              Vietnam, Institute of Mechanics, National Center for Science and Technology
VIWRR  Vietnam, Vietnam Institute for Water Resources Research
Two European main partners in the AGRI sub-network (2 months each)
UPC              Spain, Technical University of Catalonia
RES              United Kingdom, Rothamsted Research
Of these partners, CCAP/CAS and SOW-VU, as well as HNU and RES are coordination partners in the consortium, and, they are directly contracted through the consortium agreement. UPC is subcontracted by SOW-VU, while HNAF, IOM and VIWRR are sub-contracted as a main partner by a coordination partner not directly involved in the AGRI sub-network.
Financial resources WP2, AGRI (DOW, section 8.1)
Financial resources managed in the AGRI sub-network total € 158,710, of which € 45,860 is contracted within the consortium to CCAP/CAS, € 99,170 to SOW-VU, and € 13,680 is a sub-contract between UPC and SOW-VU.

Budget lines indicate that a lion’s share is immediately related to the remuneration and mobilisation of the 20 person-months (€ 95,135, first 4 lines), while the rest consists of various provisions, including a provision for involvement of experts in the AGRI sub-network (€ 31,975), a provision for AGRI’s contribution to the ASEM Waternet web-site (€ 8,000), a provision for technical assistance (€ 18,600) and, finally, a provision for seminars (€ 5,000).
Deliverables WP2, AGRI (DOW, section 7.6)
The AGRI sub-network will mobilize its human resources and allocate its financial resources in pursuit of its objective: “to help improve efficiency in agriculture for greater welfare and sustainable use of water resources”. The list of deliverables is to reflect the success of the activities undertaken.

R = Report, D = Demonstrator, O = Other, PU = Public.

2. Approach WP2, AGRI

General approach (DOW section 7.1)
For all of the five sub-networks, the activity planning is divided in three steps: consolidation, solution and integration.? Step 1 (first year) consists of the building of the network, gathering of the metadata, definition of evaluation criteria, and the setting-up of communication and information systems. Step 2 (years 2 and 3) is the innovation part of the Coordination Action on the Science and Technology S&T level. During this phase, the five sub-networks will be searching for innovative solutions in their respective fields and will rely on the comparative analysis and debates carried out through the seminars. Step 3 is scheduled from the third year on and consists of assessing the first results of the projects against compatibility with ASEM Waternet imperatives.
Specificities for WP2, AGRI (DOW, section 6.1 and section 7.4)
CCAP/CAS and SOW-VU share the management and coordination of the AGRI sub-network. They are in charge of the organisation of the sub-network life, the time-bound planning of activities, and the sharing of work and responsibilities among partners of the sub-network. Coordination activities include organisation of workshops, exchanges of personnel, exchanges and dissemination of good practice, and definition, initiation and management of joint or common initiatives. The objective and sub-objective of the platform are ambitious. In the AGRI sub-network for example, the objective is “to help improve efficiency in agriculture for greater welfare and sustainable use of water resources“. The main vehicles to pursue this objective are the participation and contribution to the 3 meetings of the ASEM Waternet platform, and the effectuation of one or two sub-network workshops in between.
CCAP/CAS and SOW-VU will work in close collaboration. In tandem they will participate actively in the three ASEM WaterNet meetings: the kick off meeting, the mid-period meeting and the concluding International Conference. They will further stimulate activities of the 8 partners in the sub-network, amongst others by organizing a thematic workshop in China and, provided that resources allow, another one in The Netherlands. The thematic workshops are scheduled to take place in preparation of the intermediate and final ASEM WaterNet meeting, respectively.
The objective of the workshops will be twofold: first, to analyse water use efficiency in agriculture for selected river basins in China and Vietnam under prevailing agro-ecological conditions, and, second, to sketch prospective developments under alternatives policies. A main challenge to water management in Asia is the continual pressure on water resources due to the irrigation needs of increased production (both surface water and groundwater) and the rapidly increasing water demands in urban area. Therefore the analysis and the sketch of prospective developments will focus on existing projects that stimulate water use efficiency in agriculture (best practices under rainfed conditions and under surface and groundwater irrigation), while acknowledging that technology is not easily transferable and should aim at tailor made solutions that aim at improving the interaction between water demands in agriculture and increased urban water demands. Participants from the 8 partners will be invited to present a review paper at the workshop that addresses, for one or two selected basins, one of the themes proposed in the DOW.
1.    Canal and irrigation system (changing institutional arrangements)
2.    Conversion of water into food (changing technology of cereal production)
3.    Sustainable water use for agriculture (changing groundwater tables)
4.    Conversion of forest to agricultural land and vice-versa (changing land use patterns)

3. Milestones AGRI of the first year
Activities in the AGRI sub-network during the first year gained momentum after the signature of the consortium agreement in February, 2006, focusing on focused on the preparation of the Kick-Of-Meeting in May, 2006.
Regarding administrative issues, SOW-VU prepared the sub-contract with UPC which was signed early May, 2006. Unfortunately the representative of UPC was prevented from attending the Kick-Of-Meeting. Another matter concerned the contribution by AGRI to the ASEM Waternet web-site. It appeared to be too early to start activities in the first year. The general set-up of the site still needed further elaboration, while the elements to be contributed by each sub-network would need further precision (e.g. links; work plans; software; proceedings of workshops; e-mail conferencing). Hence deliverable D12 is postponed to the second year.
The Kick-Off-Meeting provided a first opportunity to bring together all partners in the ASEM Waternet, to exchange expertise and discuss modalities for cooperation. The two coordination partners of AGRI used the opportunity to present their work on the subject. The presentations “Understanding water crisis in Northern China: What government and producers are doing? “ (CCAP/CAS, presented by J. Wang) and “Integrating hydrologic and economic approaches to increase water use efficiency” (SOW-VU, presented by G. van den Boom) are annexed to this activity report. During the workshop the two coordination partners established a good working relation. In the absence of the sub-contractor UPC and without presentations by the other partners in the AGRI sub-network it though appeared difficult to already involve all 8 partners in the first year activities. Nonetheless, during parallel meetings at the Kick-Off-Meeting, the two coordination partners drafted a work plan for the second year that specifies the role and the possible contribution of each partner and that identifies opportunities, while addressing the challenges.

4. Work plan AGRI for the second year
The work plan benefited from suggestions made during the meeting. In particular its orientation derives from the 10 conclusions drawn by the EU representative that are annex to this report for ease of reference. The following are the key elements.
1./4. Societal challenges, recent trends, long-term perspective
Activities and assignments in AGRI will be based on societal challenges, see section 2 above. The activities and analysis will focus on recent trends in water use efficiency, and relate these to long-term trends in population growth and urbanisation and in crop production and land use patterns.
2. Beyond physical aspects of water
The need to look beyond the physical is pressing, as fresh water is getting scarcer and the allocation of scarce is more and more determined by economic and social institutions. In fact the two presentations at the Kick-Off-Meeting annexed to this report put particular emphasis on the impact that socio-economic reform might have on the efficient and equitable use of water.
3./7./8. Involvement of institutions; engagement with ongoing initiatives
The focus of the work will on selected watersheds, see for example http://www.iucn.org/themes/wani/eatlas/html/flash_asia.html, and the selection will be done in consultation with the other ASEM sub-networks. An overview will be made of institutions that execute irrigation projects, manage land use changes, and design policies to increase water use efficiency in the selected watersheds. Individual policy makers and researchers in those institutions will be briefed on the activities, and, to the extent that resources allow, review papers will be commissioned to them on relevant topics for presentation at the AGRI workshop and the ASEM meetings.
5./6. Review papers and publications
The activities to write review papers and to publish findings have yet to take momentum, and little resources have been spent for that purpose in the first year. The momentum will be created through the organisation of an AGRI sub-network workshop which is scheduled towards the end of the second year, which will involve all 8 AGRI partners and which will set the stage for AGRI’s contribution to the second ASEM Waternet meeting.
9./10. Sharpening work programme and amendment of the contract
To encourage active participation of the partners it is proposed to use the budget for experts to commission a particular task, in accordance with selected tasks and topics. Individuals from participating institutes and other experts will be invited to prepare a presentation for presentation at the AGRI sub-network which is scheduled towards the end of the second year. The review papers that will be commissioned on relevant topics will set the stage for AGRI’s contribution to the second ASEM Waternet meeting.