Institutional Background
Formal agricultural research in Tigray started in 1972 with the establishment of Mekelle Research Center. The center was initially supported by the FAO multidisciplinary team of experts to focus on dryland crop variety development which later expanded to include research on natural resource management. In the late 1990s the regional government underscored the importance of establishing regional Agricultural Research Institute that can proactively respond to the increasing regional demand for agricultural technologies. The institute is given the mandate to undertake and coordinate agricultural research in the region. Thus, TARI came into existence in 1999 by the regional proclamation No. 36/1991 Ethiopian Calendar, as the apex body to conduct, coordinate and manage agricultural research, and provide agricultural related consultancy in Tigray. Following the establishment of TARI, five additional agro-ecology based research centers were established and number of research centers raised to six: Mekelle, Alamata, Abergele, Axum, Mai Tsebri, and Humera research centers. In 2005, Agricultural Mechanization and Rural Energy Research Center and two soil research centers (Mekelle and Shire) added to the portfolio of TARI’s research centers. In 2020, TARI opened two specialized research centers: Mekelle Honeybee Research Center, and Humera Begait animals research center in Western Tigray. These increased the number of research centers under the institute to eleven.
Institutional Set-up:
Currently, TARI is organized under five technical research directorates:
Administrative matters under the institute are also organized under five support processes;
Research capacity
In terms of human capacity the institute is in a good position. There are 310 researchers in various disciplines of whom 9% are qualified at PhD level, 85% MSc and 6% at BSc level. The agro-ecology based research centers distributed all across the region is the other physical resource which laid the ground to address location specific research agendas. However, taking the ever-increasing demand for agricultural technologies, the institute still faces critical shortage of research infrastructures and facilities (offices, laboratories, field equipment, ICT facilities, vehicles, storage facilities, etc).
Research partnership and networking
Research networking is vigorous for the implementation of the planned strategy. Networking in research is thought to facilitate the development of personal and professional opportunities and contribute to organizational functioning by supporting greater organizational communication and access to resources. Strong networking of the institute within and with outside organizations such as other national and international research organizations, universities, international funding agencies, scientific communities and NGO’s and Government agencies will allow it to get access into research findings and disseminate its research outputs.
TARI has already established formal and informal linkages and research collaboration with the following local, national and international organizations:
Different research projects have been implemented in collaboration with these partners in such a modality that TARI hosted the projects with the financial, material and technical supports from the respective partners.