The CGIAR at 31 : An Independent Meta-Evaluation of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, Revised Edition
The original mission of the CGIAR was a strategic, science-based focus on increasing "the pile of rice on the plates of food-short consumers," as characterized by a former chairman. It was to use the best science in advanced countries to...
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| Format: | Publication |
| Language: | English en_US |
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Washington, DC: World Bank
2013
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2004/02/3038487/cgiar-31-independent-meta-evaluation-consultative-group-international-agricultural-research http://hdl.handle.net/10986/15041 |
| Summary: | The original mission of the CGIAR was a
strategic, science-based focus on increasing "the pile
of rice on the plates of food-short consumers," as
characterized by a former chairman. It was to use the best
science in advanced countries to develop technologies for
the benefit of food deficit countries and populations. But a
rapidly changing external environment has led to an expanded
mission and mandate. The mission statement adopted in 1998
is "food security and poverty eradication in developing
countries through research, partnerships, capacity building,
and policy support, promoting sustainable agricultural
development based on the environmentally sound management of
natural resources." Several forces continue to
influence the CGIAR's mandate. First, the rise of civil
society organizations and the empowerment of marginal groups
and women have increased donors' attention to social
concerns. By restricting their funding to preferred programs
and areas, donors are altering the composition of CGIAR
activities. Second, water shortages, soil degradation,
climate change, and loss of biodiversity have increased the
prominence of natural resource management (NRM), policy, and
social science research. The new research topics (in which
proponents argue the CGIAR has developed a "dynamic
comparative advantage") are downstream activities,
closer to the farmer, which entail local expertise and
solutions, while traditional germplasm improvement research
builds on the CGIAR's historical comparative advantage.
Third, the growing importance of genetic resource
management, the biotechnology revolution, intellectual
property rights (IPR), and private sector research call for
System-level responses, strategies, and policies. |
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