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August 2003
Issue 7/2003
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Editorial

Pre-GFAR 2003 CSO Workshop

Keynote Addresses

From Dresden to Dakar

Roundtable Discussions

Poster Session

Side Events

Sub-plenary Session on GPPs

Stakeholder Consultations

GFAR 2003 Conference Evaluation

 

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List of Acronyms 

 

Side Events

Presentation of CGIAR Regional Priority-setting Report

During the GFAR conference three parallel side events took place at the lunch breaks, and provided an opportunity for stakeholders to share information, knowledge and experiences in ARD.

This side event was organized by the interim Science Council (iSC) of the CGIAR. The main purpose of this session was to present a progress report on the ongoing consultative process that will contribute to the development of Centres' research priorities and program implementation strategies.

Session Highlights

The presentation highlighted the need to define common priorities for the increasing number of cross-centre initiatives in large and complex research projects undertaken by the CGIAR Centers, such as: (1) collaborative research projects; (2) system-wide programs; and (3) CPs. Priorities and strategies are also needed to guide the multiple partnerships between the Centres, regional organizations and NARS, including NARIs, private sector, NGOs and producers' organizations. Donors also need to have an overall view of priorities in order to allocate resources to system and Centres projects.

Compared with the approach previously followed by the CGIAR in establishing priorities, the current approach complements the traditional congruence analysis with a broad consultation with stakeholders and scientists. The consultative approach consists of the following three steps:

  1. Consultation with five panels of stakeholders, one for each of the four recognized regions and one global. These panels were set up in consultation with GFAR stakeholders and were asked to identify and prioritize critical issues that require attention by the CGIAR and its partners in a bid to reduce poverty and hunger, and to enhance sustainability of resource use
  2. Open electronic consultation with CGIAR stakeholders to prioritize issues identified by the panels and gathering additional suggestions and comments
  3. Brainstorming sessions by a panel of scientists from the Centers, NARS and northern research institutions to translate the identified priorities of stakeholders into feasibly researchable issues under the five CGIAR thematic focus areas: (1) germplasm collection and conservation; (2) germplasm improvement; (3) sustainable production systems and NRM; (4) socio-economic and policy research; and (5) institutional capacity-building.

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This consultation is still in progress and some results from the first stage were presented. They are briefly summarized as follows.

Some of the main prioritized critical issues identified in the LAC region were in the area of affordable biotechnology to fight poverty, genetic resources management of crops from the region, water management, particularly in the context of climate change, and pro-poor agricultural policies.

In Sub-Saharan Africa interest was focused on germplasm improvement and the enhancement of traditional African crops. Also considered as priorities were the improvement of sustainable production systems and INRM, policies to improve incentives and access to markets, strengthening NARS and the development of new research tools.

In the Central & Western Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region attention was drawn to issues regarding the utilization of genetic resources, genomic techniques and plant breeding to improve water-use efficiency. The need to foster research to improve the productivity of water in both irrigated and dryland farming, water-harvesting and its quality and efficient utilization, and the intensive integration of crops and animals in mixed farming systems were highlighted.

Finally, consultation in Asia identified the following priorities: (1) collection, conservation and enhancement of germplasm through both conventional approaches and biotechnology; (2) improving the sustainability of production systems; (3) strengthening of NARS and rural institutions; and (4) collection and conservation of germplasm.

The global panel worked towards the definition of cross-cutting priorities among regions. These were identified as the need to: develop research priority-setting methods based on poverty criteria; maintain and improve the efficiency of natural resources management supporting agriculture; enhance knowledge management and the capacity of NARS; estimate the impact of resource use and climate change on agro-ecosystem and wild resource systems over the next 25 years, and, finally, work towards the conservation and utilization of germplasm and raise the productivity and resilience of farming systems.

The issues presented were an early reading of results from the consultations. The overall balance of recommendations, at this early stage of the consultation, would suggest a resource allocation across CGIAR outputs with 35% allocated to germplasm conservation and enhancement, 35% to farming systems and NRM, and 30% to policy research and the enhancement of institutions. The presentation was followed by active discussions and it was concluded that research priorities will be developed in collaboration with the World Bank's assessment of agriculture, and with GFAR consultation on the role of science. As a follow-up to this side event, the participants were invited to join the open consultation by visiting the web site.

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