1.1. Background
1.2. Implementation of 1992 Recommendations
1.3. The Framework for Priority Setting: 1998-2000
1.4. The CGIAR's Missions and Goals
1.5. Outline of the Report
This report presents TAC's views on CGIAR priorities and strategies and deals with critical issues relevant to resource allocations for the period 1998-2000. Basic to its development are the goals of the CGIAR as formulated in the Lucerne Declaration and reaffirmed in Milestones of Renewal 1.
1 CGIAR. Milestones of Renewal, October 1996
TAC periodically updates the CGIAR's priorities and strategies. The draft version of the report which follows was discussed with the Group at MTM96. Earlier reports were prepared in 1973, 1976, 1979, 1986 and 1992. While the 1992 report lay the basis for resource allocation from 1994-1998, considerations emerging from the CGIAR's renewal process and the emphasis given to ensuring that priorities better reflect the current concerns of the Group, necessitated an early rebalancing of priorities and the work of the centres. This report incorporates those considerations and contains TAC's views on their implications.
As in the past, the Committee's recommendations are made at the broad System level. Some of these recommendations were introduced to the Group at MTM96. As a result of the discussions which took place, the recommendations have been refined and have oriented the development of the centres' Medium Term Plans (MTPs) and TAC's interactions with the centres during this process. The MTPs, and other considerations pertaining to 1998-2000, were discussed by the centres and TAC at the March 1997 meeting.
The remainder of this Chapter comments briefly on the extent to which the recommendations of 1992 have been implemented and the progress that has been made in meeting the 1992 strategies. It concludes with a brief statement about the System's focus, goals, concerns and tools; the elements which guided the preparation of this report.
1.2.1. Progress in Meeting 1992 Recommendations on Priorities
1.2.2. Progress in Meeting 1992 Strategies
TAC made recommendations on future CGIAR priorities by region, activity, commodity, agroecological zone and production sector.
With regard to regional allocations, TAC had recommended reductions in the allocations to sub-Saharan Africa and West Asia-North Africa (WANA), and increases to Latin America and particularly Asia. Overall the broad directions were followed, although the share of resources to Asia are still well below the recommended level.
Recommendations pertaining to activities were largely followed and investments in natural resources conservation and management, and in public policy and management increased while those in production-systems work and strengthening national research systems were reduced. That said, TAC has noted with concern the erosion of support to research on germplasm enhancement and breeding.
TAC's 1992 recommendations were largely followed with respect to commodities, except for those related to a reduction in work on pigeon pea and the need to increase investment in livestock research.
With respect to agroecological zones, TAC favoured a greater effort in tropical areas and the available data shows movement in that direction.
Finally, although no specific recommendation was made for production sectors, it was recommended that funding for work in forestry and fisheries, which were at that time new programmes, should not be financed at the expense of critical research needs for crops and livestock. Subsequently, it was recognized that while some new funding had accompanied the inclusion of the two new production sectors, the expansion of work in the newer areas has led to an apparent competition with work in crops and livestock.
Under this rubric four themes were considered. The first dealt with partitioning the System's work into global and ecoregional activities. However, further reflection on the concepts of ecoregional research suggested that TAC was really dealing with an approach to structuring research rather than a class of research. By 1993, TAC had adopted the ecoregional approach, noting that such work had well-defined characteristics and should be encouraged. Because effective research paradigms for the ecoregional approach are unknown, their development and deployment is a goal of international relevance and significance. Work on paradigm development is well underway.
The second, concerning collaboration with others, especially NARS and advanced research institutions, has received considerable emphasis recently and TAC reinforced the System's interest in its expanded use. Much is underway, more is being developed, and TAC will continue its assessment of the implications and effectiveness of such collaboration. Among other things, TAC sees collaboration as an important factor in enhancing the scientific excellence of the System.
While TAC had examined possible alternative structures and institutional options for the System for the third theme, the Group decided that consideration of the changes that might ensue should be postponed until after the renewal process. As announced in the 1992 report, TAC undertook stripe reviews of rice, genetic resources, roots and tubers, livestock, policy and management, institution strengthening, CGIAR commitments in West Africa, and harvest and postharvest research. In addition, TAC undertook a strategic study on natural resources management research, with emphasis on soil and water. These are reported upon in Chapter 4.
Finally, in 1992, TAC recommended that the Group should support Systemwide programmes which bring together several centres and other relevant institutions with common interests. Several such programmes have been developed and implemented, and are reported upon elsewhere in this report.
CGIAR decision making is guided by the System's:
· focus on poor people, especially poor females;· goals of poverty alleviation and protecting the environment in order to achieve sustainable food security; and
· concern for efficiency and effectiveness.
Central to its strategy are increased productivity within Agriculture 2 and more effective management of natural resources (especially biodiversity, land, and water). For the poorest countries, it is recognized that the alleviation of present and future poverty must rest on productivity increases and that the CGIAR's special role in facilitating such increases is by research on technology and on policy, two of the primary vehicles in achieving productivity increases.
2 For the purpose of this report, Agriculture (capitalized) includes crops, livestock, fisheries and forestry.
The System recognizes that increases in productivity lead to increased growth in Agriculture and to growth in the real incomes of urban dwellers, and that growth in Agriculture is the most expeditious route to increasing growth in other sectors of the economy. This is essential if long-term poverty is to be alleviated. With regard to natural resources, the System recognizes the multiple reasons for their protection and stresses the special role they play in powering sustainable food security.
What is more, the System is aware that under-investment in research aimed at increasing productivity and ensuring appropriate environmental safeguards opens a major threat to the environment. Unless there are increases in productivity, poverty will drive many of the poor to have large families and practise production strategies with few environmental safeguards, bringing further problems for tomorrow.
These are the major considerations that shaped TAC's analysis of priorities and its recommendations for resource allocations for 1998-2000. Each element is developed in more detail in the chapters that follow.
The activities carried out by the CGIAR are undertaken in order to fulfil both its mission: to contribute, through its research, to promoting sustainable agriculture for food security in developing countries and its goals: to alleviate poverty and protect natural resources so as to achieve sustainable food security.
The CGIAR's programmes are classified under five headings: increasing productivity, protecting the environment, saving biodiversity, improving policies and strengthening national research programmes. These research and research-related themes are grouped into 26 major activities which are carried out by the CGIAR centres through the means of projects. Where applicable, a Systemwide approach is used in areas of common concern which can benefit from further emphasis on collaboration between the CGIAR centres and their partners.
In Chapter 2 an overview is given of the various environments that have influenced CGIAR planning, emphasizing the changes that have occurred since 1992 when the last report was delivered. A discussion of the analytical framework, focusing on various considerations regarding poverty, is given in Chapter 3, and Chapter 4 reports on the outcome of the regional fora and global forum initiated in 1996. In Chapters 5, 6 and 7, TAC's views on the future direction of strategic research activities, the commodities and production sectors, and Systemwide Programmes are highlighted. The implications of CGIAR priorities and strategies on TAC's views on medium-term resource allocations for 1998-2000 are discussed in Chapter 8.
