At TAC 65 the Committee considered a proposal for a Strategic Study on natural resources management research in the CGIAR. The identification and assessment of major suppliers to that field of research was among the terms of reference endorsed by the Committee, including an analysis of the current and planned work of the CGIAR Centres. Convenors of the Study requested then TAC Secretariat a first "in-house" attempt at such an assessment.
Initially the information was compiled exclusively from what was available in the Medium Term Plans (MTP) and the Program and Budget (P&B) proposals for 1996, and the useful compilation done by CIAT on current research in Soils, Water and Nutrient Management 1. Not having had the time to consult the Centres on the interpretation given to the information contained in these documents, the preliminary report was limited to proposing an analytical framework and to make a tentative identification of the current Soils and Water (S&W) research at the Centres.
1
CIAT-SWNM Secretariat, 1995. Intercenters SWNM Initiative.
Following discussions at TAC 67, it was decided to take this part of the study a step further by:
i) focusing on S&W-related activities, with emphasis on those having a resource-conserving perspective; andii) consulting Centres on the validity of the information compiled;
iii) analyzing the information required for TAC's priority-setting exercise.
In this context, this desk-study attempts to answer three questions concerned with the current S&W-related research at the CGIAR Centres:
1. Which types of agricultural lands are the main targets of CGIAR research?;
2. Where in the systems scale are Centres concentrating their research efforts?;
3. What research strategy are the Centres pursuing?
