Opening Session
External Programme and Management Reviews
First External Review of the Systemwide Genetic Resources Programme (SGRP)
Centre Financing Plans
TAC Study of CGIAR Commitments in Latin America and the Caribbean
1998 King Baudouin Award
CGIAR Logframe and Activity Classification
Future Reviews
CGIAR Study On Marginal Lands
Strategic Issues
Future Meetings
Other Business
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SEVENTY-FIFTH MEETING OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY MEETING TO THE CONSULTATIVE GROUP ON INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH CIMMYT, El Batan, Mexico - 21-26 September 1998 |
The TAC Chair, Dr. Donald Winkelmann, opened the meeting of TAC 75 by welcoming the 10 TAC Members present and acknowledging apologies received from Drs. Jacques Faye (Senegal) and Justin Lin (China). The Chair announced that Dr. Lin had, with regret, resigned from the Committee owing to pressures on his time. On behalf of TAC, the Chair expressed the Committee's gratitude to Dr. Lin for his distinguished service. He then noted with appreciation the presence of Dr. Louise O. Fresco, representing FAO; several Centre Directors General; Board Chairs; and EPMR Panel Chairs; the Chairs of the CBC and CDC; as well as observers from France, South Africa, and United States of America; and staff of the TAC and CGIAR Secretariats. Dr. Timothy Reeves, Director General, CIMMYT, welcomed participants on behalf of the host Centre. The report of TAC 74 was adopted without amendments. There were no matters arising from the report of TAC 74. The agenda of TAC 75 was adopted with minor amendments.
Dr. Manuel Lantin reported on behalf of the Executive Secretary of the CGIAR on major developments in the System since MTM'98. Highlights included progress on creating a Central Advisory Service on Intellectual Property and Biosafety; and launching of the Central Asia and Caucasus Programme. The System Review Panel Report will be presented and discussed at ICW'98. External Review Reports will be considered by open ad-hoc committees in parallel sessions, rather than by the full Group, unless Members indicate plenary consideration is warranted. CGIAR funding was on target for 1998 at about US$ 335-345 million.
Dr. Jeffery Burley, Panel Chair of the First CIFOR EPMR, presented the Panel's report highlighting major findings and recommendations. TAC considered the report in the presence of CIFOR Director General, Dr. Jeffrey Sayer who presented the Centre's response. TAC then prepared a commentary for consideration by the CGIAR at ICW'98. The Committee was pleased with CIFOR's progress, endorsed the Panel's recommendations, inter alia, on the need to improve priority-setting and to expand social science research in support of work on devolution, smallholder forestry, and forestation of marginal lands. TAC recommended that CIFOR and ICRAF undertake a joint strategic planning exercise to identify opportunities for collaboration and ensure the complementarity of their respective programmes.
Dr. Jochen Heuveldop, Panel Chair of the second ICRAF EPMR, presented the Panel's report highlighting the major findings and recommendations. TAC considered the report in the presence of the Vice-Chair of ICRAF's Board of Trustees, Dr. Maria de Lourdes de Freitas, and ICRAF Director General, Dr. Pedro Sanchez, who presented, respectively, the responses of the Board and Centre. TAC then prepared a commentary for consideration by the CGIAR at ICW'98. The Centre was found to be playing a major role in agroforestry, and poised to contribute significantly to integrated natural resources management. TAC agreed with the Panel's recommendations, notably on the need for ICRAF to update its strategic plans to ensure a cohesive vision and programme. TAC recommended that ICRAF and CIFOR undertake a joint strategic planning exercise to identify opportunities for collaboration and ensure the complementarity of their respective programmes.
Dr. Jaap Hardon, Panel Chair of the First External Review of the Systemwide Genetic Resources Programme (SGRP), presented the Panel's report highlighting major findings and recommendations. TAC considered the report in the presence of Dr. Geoffrey Hawtin, SGRP Programme Leader and Director-General of IPGRI, the convening Centre; Dr. Joel Cohen, Chair of the ICWG-GR; and Dr. Jane Toll, Coordinator, SGRP Secretariat. Drs. Hawtin and Cohen presented the respective responses of SGRP and ICWG-GR. TAC then prepared a commentary for consideration by the CGIAR at ICW'98, mindful that the outcome of the System Review may affect future governance of genetic resources in the CGIAR. TAC endorsed the Panel's recommendations on monitoring and analyzing policy decisions at national, regional and global levels; preparing a strategic plan with prioritized objectives and areas of research/activity; and making SINGER more user-friendly and user-responsive to a wider range of stakeholders. The Committee emphasized that the SGRP's functions in the areas of policy, representation, information, and public awareness remained critical to the CGIAR and should be implemented on a priority basis, particularly the maintenance of all in-trust materials at acceptable international standards. In TAC's judgement, and pending the outcome of the System Review, careful consideration should be given to having these priorities carried out by IPGRI, with ICWG-GR serving as an advisory body to the Institute.
TAC reviewed the 1999 Financing Plans submitted by Centres in terms of their congruence with the substance of the 1999 Research Agenda approved by the Group at MTM'98 and programmatic implications of potential financing gaps. It was aided by the CGIAR Secretariat's synthesis of the financial data. The Committee prepared its report on the Plans for consideration by the Finance Committee at ICW'98. TAC found general consistency between the Plans and the Group's endorsement of the Centres' proposals at MTM'98. However, the Committee was concerned about the System's persistent relative underinvestment in livestock research and water management research, shifting shares in the commodity portfolio compared to endorsed levels, underinvestment in absolute terms in virtually all commodities and Centres, and potentially significant financing gaps faced by several of the smaller Centres. TAC made recommendations to the Group to rebalance investments to correct these apparent anomalies.
Dr. Lucio Reca, Chair of the Panel that conducted the TAC Study on CGIAR Commitments in LAC, presented the Panel's report highlighting the major findings. The study emphasized trends toward declining public sector support for agricultural research, privatization of agricultural technology development and growing acceptance of intellectual property rights in LAC countries having well-developed NARS. Such trends had serious implications for the international public goods nature of CGIAR commodity investments in LAC. Also of concern was weak public sector investment in NRM research owing to delayed returns associated with such investments. TAC's consideration of the report yielded suggestions to identify more specific opportunities for CGIAR collaboration with NARS and regional organizations; to broaden the study's geographic scope to include poorer countries in the Andean, Central American and Caribbean sub-regions; and to explore alternative strategies for rural income generation in the context of the rapid urbanization underway in LAC.
The Committee considered submissions from seven centres (CIP, ICARDA, ICRISAT, IFPRI, IITA, IPGRI and IRRI) for the 1998 King Baudouin Award in the light of the criteria established at TAC 74 - direct or indirect, actual or potential impact on resource-poor farmers and low-income people; direct or indirect, actual or potential impact on sustainable production systems; innovation in science; and partners and collaboration. The Committee selected the winning submission which is to be announced at ICW'98. It also prepared a commentary on the selected submission evaluating its contributions against the four criteria for the award.
TAC discussed a paper proposing a logical framework (logframe) designed to improve research planning, communication, and impact assessment in the CGIAR. The paper emerged from a series of workshops and consultations convened in 1997-98 under TAC's auspices and with support from the Government of Germany and DSE. Comments on the proposal by Centre Directors and others were also considered. Uwe Nagel (Germany) led the TAC discussion. The proposed logframe would shift the CGIAR away from an activity/input to a project/output focus, improve transparency of the linkages of outputs to System goals, and thus enhance accountability of Centres to Members and other stakeholders. TAC's analysis focused on the relationship between Centre and System level logframes; a typology of System outputs, purposes, and goals; and a synopsis of output indicators. Suggestions were made to streamline the paper for presentation to the Group at ICW'98.
The Committee noted progress in the organization and implementation of the EPMRs of ICLARM and ILRI and discussed the planning, organization and conduct of the future external reviews of IIMI, ICARDA, WARDA, CIAT, IITA, and CIP. TAC also considered progress in the planning and organization of the Review of Ecoregional Programmes. It deleted the stripe review of cereals from its work programme in view of other, more pressing priorities.
The Committee considered results of TAC's Strategic Study on Marginal Lands, commissioned in 1996 to assist the CGIAR in setting its priorities and strategies for poverty alleviation. The study found, inter alia, little evidence to support the view that the incidence of poverty was consistently greater in marginal than in higher potential lands, or that the poor were the prime cause of resource degradation in such lands. It noted that the biophysical characteristics of land were insufficient to explain the locus and incidence of poverty. Thus, suitable strategies need to include not only biophysical characteristics but the institutional, policy, infrastructural, and human capital determinants of poverty in a given area. TAC decided to conclude the Study by preparing a synthesis paper for TAC 76 drawing conceptual, definitional, and data inferences for the poverty dimension of its 2010 priorities and strategies exercise.
TAC considered three strategic issues that have figured in its previous deliberations: (a) Rapid advances in biotechnology and the impingement of intellectual property rights on agricultural technology development: what will be the projected impact of these trends on the CGIAR's portfolio of international public goods in 2010 and how should TAC and the CGIAR respond to these changes? (b) The characteristics of the CGIAR Centres' working relationships with NARS and extent to which they are consistent with the best interests of the System, (c) The characteristics and extent of partnerships more generally in the CGIAR and the degree to which they are congruent with the System's goals. Plans were endorsed regarding modalities for moving further on these issues. Progress will be reported at TAC 76.
TAC reconfirmed and/or amended dates and venues for the following meetings:
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TAC 76 |
FAO, Rome |
22-27 March, 1999 |
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TAC 77 |
ISNAR, The Hague |
20-25 September, 1999 |
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TAC 78 |
IITA, Ibadan |
27-31 March, 2000 |
The Committee considered the report of the TAC-initiated study on the rates of return of agricultural R&D to NRM and decided to provide further guidance to the consultant with a view to completing the study for TAC 76. The Committee was briefed on TAC interaction with the NGO Committee as facilitated by Dr. Lucia Vaccaro and the TAC Chair. Dr. Maria Antonia Fernandez reported on the ISNAR workshop, 'Assessment of Institutional Impacts', 4-6 August 1998, which she attended on behalf of TAC. Dr. Alison Withey (USAID) presented a progress report on the USAID inventory of CGIAR activities related to Global Climatic Change. The Committee considered other items raised during the course of the opening session.
