Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research - CGIAR
From: The Secretariat
August 1998
CGIAR Mid-Term Meeting
May 25-29, 1998
Brasilia, Brazil
Fourth External Program and Management Review of CIMMYT1
¹Extract from Summary of Proceedings and Decisions: Mobilizing Science for Global Food Security, CGIAR Mid-Term Meeting 1998, Brasilia, Brazil.
At a parallel session chaired by M. Badawi, members discussed the fourth external review of CIMMYT. Review Chair G. Jenkins presented a summary of the panel's findings and recommendations, and Board Chair Wally Falcon and Director General Tim Reeves presented the center's response. Lucia de Vaccaro presented the TAC commentary, which was followed by an open discussion.
Highlights of Panel Recommendations
The panel's overall view of CIMMYT is extremely positive. The panel felt that the center has impressive achievements, good management, and vigorous leadership. The panel testified to the quality of research and its relevance and impact on the daily livelihood of millions of rural and urban poor.
The panel made 20 recommendations, which TAC broadly endorsed. Highlights include the following:
Research Programs
· Ensure that CIMMYT's wheat germplasm carries effective combination of genes resistant to all three rust diseases and incorporates both improved yield potential and increased stress tolerance.· Increase information and germplasm flows between headquarters and regional offices.
· Increase collaboration between the biotechnology center and research programs.
· Investigate why farmers have not adopted improved maize open-pollinated varieties and hybrids on more than 40 percent of the maize area in developing countries.
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Crosscutting Programs
· Strengthen CIMMYT's work on natural resources management and better integrate the economics and research programs.· Improve priority setting and the linkages with resource allocation.
Governance and Management
· Develop full costing of the outputs of all breeding programs.· Strengthen management information systems and improve the flow of budgetary information to the Board.
· Commission an external review (CCER) of the project management system.
Discussion and Conclusions
Participants commended the Panel for an outstanding report that clearly identified important issues and made strategic recommendations. They recognized that some of the management issues resulted from a difficult financial situation in the mid-1990s. They discussed and endorsed the recommendations, noting that:
· more than 70 percent of the wheat area in developing countries (excluding China) - up to 50 million hectares - is planted with CIMMYT-derived materials;· CIMMYT is undergoing an impressive renewal after a difficult period that was aggravated by a funding crisis; there have been many managerial improvements;
· partners from national agricultural research systems hold CIMMYT in high esteem.
Participants urged improving procedures to allocate resources to newly defined projects in the mid-term plan, recognizing that increased reliance on restricted funding makes the task more difficult. They stressed the need to generate increased synergies between CIMMYT's biotechnology, economics, and natural resources management research and its maize and wheat projects, and further improve internal priority-setting processes. They also encouraged CIMMYT to determine why such a high portion of the maize area in developing countries is not planted with improved maize materials. In addition, they called for a repositioning of the maize program to improve yields and yield stability in marginal environments.
Participants noted that the panel expressed concern about the continuing viability of CIMMYT's programs in triticale and barley (jointly with ICARDA), recommending that additional funds be sought as needed. They called for improved information flows between maize researchers in headquarters and regional projects, and greater collaboration between the biotechnology center and the wheat and maize programs. They also called on the economic program to strengthen its presence in Asia and place greater emphasis on determining how macroeconomic policies affect wheat and maize in selected countries.
CIMMYT's responsiveness to the panel's recommendations encouraged the participants. The CIMMYT Board will commission an external review by mid-2000 to asses progress toward implementing the panel's recommendation of a project-based approach to research management.
The Group accepted the recommendation to:
· fully endorse the review panel's report and commend the panel for an exemplary effort;· commend CIMMYT's Board and management for its impressive record of scientific research and for a well-governed and managed center;
· take appropriate steps to enable centers to charge full costs for their projects;
· maintain strong support for this flagship center.
