CONSULTATIVE GROUP ON INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH
TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Donald L. Winkelmann
Chair
Dear Mr. Serageldin,
15 April 1996
It is my pleasure to submit to you the report of the strategic study on "Harvest and Postharvest Problems in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries - The CGIAR Contribution to Research", accompanied by two supporting annexes. One is a synthesis of responses to a TAC Survey on "Appropriate Areas and Organizational Models for Harvest and Postharvest Research in the CGIAR", and the other an "Overview of Harvest and Postharvest Research in the CGIAR". The report has been prepared by an external Panel led by Dr. Mike Arnold.
The study was commissioned by the Committee at TAC 67 to provide an input to the current discussions on CGIAR priorities and strategies. During the course of the study, the Panel interacted with the CGIAR Centres, national research institutions in the developing and developed countries, and members of the Group.
Given the CGIAR's focus on sustainable food security through poverty alleviation and protection of natural resources, the Panel visualizes that the potential income benefits from higher production could be more fully realised not only by increasing the efficiency of production but also by reducing postharvest losses and diversifying end uses. Consequently, the Panel has suggested that greater efforts should be devoted to the harvest and postharvest components of the production-consumption continuum, and that this broader perspective on "utilizable production" should be explicitly reflected in the CGIAR mission statement.
However, the Panel has concluded that the CGIAR should accept the responsibility for filling appropriate gaps in the continuum in a selective manner for different commodities, and that the Centres take full advantage of opportunities to collaborate with public and private sector organizations, including industrial manufacturing and processing companies. TAC has endorsed the above recommendations.
On behalf of the Committee, I commend the report to you and to the Group for careful consideration, and we hope that it will make a valuable contribution to the work of the Centres, including in the development of their Medium Term Plans.
Mr. Ismail Serageldin
CGIAR Chairman
World Bank
1818 H Street, N.W.
Washington D.C. 20433
USA.
Mail address: 355 E. Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 87501 · TEL: (1-505) 988-1284 · FAX: (1-505) 988-1285 · [email protected]
I would like to sincerely thank the Panel for its insightful contribution, and for the innovative and cost-effective manner in which it has conducted the study. I also wish to acknowledge the cooperation that was extended to the Panel by the CGIAR Centres, national research institutions, and by the members of the Group. Finally, I would like to express the Committee's appreciation to the TAC Secretariat without whose continuing support the study could not have been conducted.
Sincerely yours,
Donald L. Winkelmann
