11.1. Background
11.2. Policy Research to Date
11.3. Global Change and Evolution in the CGIAR: the Implications for New Policy Research Priorities
11.4. Policy Research and Formulation Capacity in Developing Countries
11.5. Human Linkages
11.6. Public Management Research
The mission and goals of the CGIAR are unlikely to be achieved without a conducive policy environment. National policies in developing countries have to strike a delicate balance between the interests of different groups, but they must be favourable enough towards small-scale producers to persuade them to adopt the technology produced by research. Government policy must also favour the strengthening of national research systems, if CGIAR efforts in this direction are to succeed. Well managed public-sector research systems are more likely to gain the confidence and hence the support of government. This is the foundation of the Group's commitment to research on socioeconomics, public policy and public management.
The effects of policies on innovation and thus on research and development are profound and multifaceted. The designation of policy beneficiaries, the setting of economic goals and ranking of national priorities, the regulation and de-regulation of product, input and credit markets, the raising and allocation of government revenues -each has implications for the relative importance of new technology in different sectors and in the different enterprises of each sector, and for the ease of technology mobilization and adoption. Policy issues in each of these areas carry major implications for targeting and priority setting in research.
National policies interact in the international arena. Developed country policies, and increasingly regional policies, with the EEC and the Inter-American trade agreements as examples, affect the export and production opportunities of developing countries. Restrictive policies mask their true comparative advantage, distort their priorities for research and inhibit their development.
It can be argued that on the whole, with some exceptions to meet the need for equity targeting, a policy environment that seeks to exploit long-term comparative advantage will provide a sound basis for identifying research priorities. Policies disguising comparative advantage may radically distort priorities and may render long-term research programmes unsustainable.
The CGIAR's main group of beneficiaries, small-scale producers, have frequently been neglected and even disadvantaged by the policy environment in developing countries. Political considerations have biased policies towards meeting the needs of the more vocal urban populations, at the expense of agriculture. In addition, much of the stagnation in developing countries dependent on agriculture has its roots in the unfavourable terms of trade, national and international, for their agricultural products. Structural adjustment programmes are now promoting the role of agriculture as the engine of development in such economies.
New technology is widely perceived as the fuel for the engine of agricultural development. The CGIAR, as an international agricultural research organization, has an unrivalled overview of both the agricultural technology needs in developing countries and of the global technological opportunities in agriculture relevant to those needs. This overview, and the importance of equity in the mission and goals statement of the System, are primary components of the perspective which the CGIAR brings to policy research.
At the country level, policy research institutions are primarily driven by national considerations. At the international level, the UN agencies, the World Bank, the regional banks, and some developed country universities which do policy research, have missions and intended beneficiaries in common with the CGIAR. They lack, however, the CGIAR's capacity to identify and generate new agricultural technologies to meet developing country needs. It is this capacity, together with its political independence and its established reputation and track record, that allows the CGIAR a unique stance in policy research.
The CGIAR recognizes that its capacity for policy research will of necessity remain modest. TAC has emphasized that the CGIAR will remain no more than a catalyst in the field, as the resources invested will continue to be but a fraction of the total national and international resources invested. Where there is no advantage from its unique perspective, the CGIAR should rely on other agencies. Its main inhouse tasks are to understand the interactions between government action and human behaviour in relation to agriculture, technology, natural resources, and consumption, and to collaborate with national systems in identifying policy options that will improve the welfare of the System's beneficiaries.
The CGIAR System's lead centre in policy research is IFPRI. Many other centres, notably ISNAR and IIMI, but also the 11 commodity and regionally mandated centres, cover certain policy topics. The policy focus in these centres is always closely related to their mandates, while IFPRI addresses situation- and country-specific questions to which the research approaches and findings of other centres can provide only partial answers.
IFPRI implements research at global, regional, national, community and household levels to determine the impact of policies on small-scale farmers and low-income people generally. Five programme divisions reflect the current emphases in IFPRI's research: Environment and Production Technology, Markets and Structural Studies, Food Consumption and Nutrition, Trade and Macroeconomics, and Special Studies.
New global and regional economic trends and the evolving role of the CGIAR bring changing emphases for policy research as well as for other research activities. In increasing the priority for policy research in 1986, TAC emphasized that problems arising from policy distortions of comparative advantage were likely to grow more acute with the increasing pressure of population on finite natural resources and the continually escalating demand for food. These problems call for new priorities in policy research, with greater attention to the issues of environmental degradation and its relation to poverty.
The new emphasis on generating income streams for poor people widens the horizons of the CGIAR from the earlier, narrower objective of self-sufficiency in food. However, the ripple effects of new technology have always required research beyond the immediate, explicit policy dimensions. Important work has already been done in these wider policy areas in the CGIAR. For example, IFPRI has completed a number of studies which found no evidence of negative impacts from the introduction of cash cropping on household food supply and family nutrition. Embracing the goal of self-reliance does not, therefore, require new CGIAR priorities in policy research, which has always ranged over a wider field to understand interactions at each level from the farm to the global.
As noted, the CGIAR expansion into forestry, and possibly into fisheries, and the new priority given to research on natural resource management imply new priorities in policy research. Historically, the CGIAR has focused mainly on commodities, with some incursions into research on farming systems. In 1990 TAC concluded and the CGIAR accepted that effective research in natural resource management must address both the technical and the human sides of the problem at both the farm and community levels. It is clear from the forestry research agenda that small-scale cultivators must have a say in deciding optimum land use strategies for forestry or agriculture. The forests themselves are a subset in the common property issues raised by land and water. They too warrant policy research to improve our understanding of alternatives for their management.
An early priority is to understand more about how people degrade the natural resource base - and especially the effects of poverty on the environment. Degradation in the marginal agricultural areas and at the forest edges highlights the need to reduce the human pressures on them. This need brings with it an important set of policy research issues:
· the creation of alternative employment opportunities in both the farming and non-farming sectors;· the management of migration, both intra- and internationally;
· the management of community resources;
· the balance between research to generate technology and the development of marketing channels and investment in infrastructure;
· the choice between investments in the high-, medium- and low-potential agricultural areas.
These issues have major implications for the future focus of agricultural research efforts, at both national and international levels. There are considerable differences in the research needs for high- and low- potential agricultural areas. At one extreme, in the high-potential irrigated areas of Asia, biological limits are beginning to constrain further development. In some areas even the current high yields may not be sustainable. At the other extreme, managing risk in the variable rainfall conditions of the vast semi-arid and subhumid areas of Africa remains a challenge to both technical and policy research.
Policy is a key tool for influencing human behaviour at the farm and community levels. Centres involved with forestry and natural resources research will increasingly be involved in the analysis of policy options for dealing with resource management problems. Policy research, including better understanding of the ways of using policy to promote technology diffusion, will receive increased priority in the CGIAR and will be a vital component in the search for sustainable natural resources management. This increased priority will be manifest in greater policy research capacity, particularly at those centres taking on ecoregional mandates.
The role of international trade in providing food security for developing countries is gaining in importance. This leads to greater reliance on international markets, the need to encourage the development of exports, and an obligation to develop appropriate policies regarding food aid. Intraregional trade is also gaining in importance. These areas of policy research merit continuing attention by the CGIAR.
In its 1986 priorities and strategies report, TAC highlighted the need to build a capacity for policy research in developing countries. The emphasis was placed on training in methods of policy analysis useful in developing countries. Capacities remain limited, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, with the result that training in policy analysis should remain a priority.
A new priority is research to identify policy processes and organizational models which are friendly to disadvantaged groups. The disadvantaged have always faced difficulties in having their voices heard and making their needs felt. That is why they remain disadvantaged. Women in agriculture face special difficulties, often because authority and wealth, in both the rural community and the research and extension system that is intended to serve it, remain in the hands of men. A lack of grassroots information on disadvantaged groups distorts policy formulation. Policy processes should allow policymakers to weigh the needs of such groups and, after decision, implementation channels should take programmes to the intended beneficiaries without dilution or distortion by stronger interest groups.
Policy research can also play a role in securing sustained funding for national research services. Research budgets are always cut in times of recession; those in developing countries have been particularly vulnerable in recent years, owing to structural adjustment. Highlighting the link between research in agriculture and national economic development can be a powerful tool for convincing politicians of the need to reverse this trend.
Impact studies can serve this purpose and satisfy other needs at the same time. If focused on technologies that the international centres have helped to generate, such studies can also meet some of their needs for evidence of impact.
Research on human linkages, particularly the analysis of human nutrition and of gender issues, merits continuing attention. To incorporate nutritional objectives into agriculture, forestry and fisheries research programmes, functional classifications of target populations are required. There is also an urgent need to identify more robust indicators of malnutrition, and to collect relevant information on time and labour allocation of members of the household. Decision-making processes are often still poorly understood, as well as factors that influence adoption of improved technology. The CGIAR should support research on household food consumption linked with key social and economic variables, spanning the seasons within regional agroecological zones. National research systems should provide information on food production and consumption by rural households as a component of onfarm research studies. Nutrient content, value and bio-availability can be modified by plant breeding and agronomic practices. The goal of CGIAR research should be to retain or improve the content of key nutrients and minimize content of anti-nutritional or toxic factors. In general, the CGIAR also needs to pay greater attention to the structures and processes by which its research products reach and are utilized by rural producers and rural and urban consumers.
Concern about the ineffectiveness and inefficiency of public-sector organizations has spawned substantial programmes of research on this problem, especially in developed countries. In the CGIAR context, research in this field is needed to underpin the strengthening of national research systems and to improve the management of common property resources such as irrigation. Research is needed on the policy context of national research and on the organization and management of national research systems. Examples of specific research topics are the development and analysis of a knowledge base on national research systems, and the development of improved management concepts and tools, including methods for research priority setting and management information systems. To ensure that the research is relevant, close collaboration with national research agencies is required.
In terms of agricultural productivity, irrigation water is undoubtedly the most important common property resource. Poor management of irrigation systems by government and farmer organizations leads to the wastage of water through leakage, poor control and timing of water delivery, and commonly to the inequitable distribution of water. Field research is needed to diagnose constraints to effective irrigation management and to develop management innovations to overcome the problems. TAC believes that some of the principles developed from research on the organization and management of irrigation systems may be applicable to other common property resources under public or communal management, such as wastelands and some types of rainfed farming. This is an area for further consideration in the future.
