An example to follow

Very positive: the report on the Second International Papaya Congress

In a previous text I forwarded the opinion that a large loss of valuable ideas resulted when a technical or scientific meeting is closed without producing a document containing conclusions or recommendations. In addition to that, it means a high degree of "social irresponsibility", since this type meeting is often financed with a high participation of public funds. 

It is common to find reports that are intended merely to paraphrase the agenda of the meeting, without even mentioning what has been said or what has been discussed at the round tables. 

On the contrary, the report of the Second International Symposium on Papaya, written by Dr. N. Kumar, is, in my opinion, an example of how these documents should be made. 

The Second International Symposium on Papaya, was held from December 8^th to 12^th 2008 in Madurai, India, and the report is published Chronica Horticulturae, the journal of the International Society for Horticultural Science, in its number 1 of the 49^th volume (2009). The author, Dr. N. Kumar is Professor in the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India. 

This is a commendable article by its brevity, covering three pages of the Chronica, including photos, and organized chronologically. This last aspect could be irrelevant – after a while, it is not important if the field trip took place on the second or the third day - , but the central issues of each session are highlighted, adding also the recommendations and conclusions reached during the meetings. There are also references about the "tone" that surrounded the panel, and also author's recollections and opinions. Those last aspects are also very welcome, coming from an experienced scientist like Mr. Kumar. 

To achieve this result, meetings organizer´s should request from chairmen and moderators of different sessions to draw up a document including relevant information discussed and the ideas and suggestions arisen during the meetings.  

These documents constitute an update of the “state of the art "and a sketch of the roads to travel in the future. Something that the technicians responsible for "governing" agriculture and taking decisions should be happy to have in their hands. Documents that the organizers of congresses, symposia, workshops and other meetings should be proud to lie before ministries, universities, associations, etc. devoted to this problems.  

The article of Dr. N. Kumar is available under http://www.actahort.org/chronica/pdf/ch4901.pdf Dr.Kumar, pages 40-42.

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