The need for greater efficiency in the use of primary products, as well as demographic changes associated with urban expansion, call for changes in international research and development programmes in agriculture, forestry and fisheries. Alleviation of poverty and the sustainable management of natural resources must be seen as being dependent on increasing incomes, not only from primary production, but also from the whole chain of operations leading from primary production to final use.
Within this "production-consumption continuum" numerous research issues can be identified that would benefit from an international approach. They cover technological, sociological, economic and policy issues and call for collaboration among numerous institutions and organizations, including agro-industrial enterprises.
Current work under the auspices of the CGIAR covers a wide range of problems in harvest and postharvest research, closely related to the mandates of the individual Centres. Their most significant contributions have been built around the genetic improvement of quality and storage characteristics of food commodities. At present, however, the emphasis is on productivity research with no coherent strategy for ensuring that priorities are set in the broader context of the production-consumption continuum.
In our view, if the full benefits of productivity research are to be realized, there must be complementary attention to efficiency in product utilisation. Changing the emphasis in this way has implications for all elements of the CGIAR System. It implies reviewing the expertise available to TAC and the Centre Boards, as well as reconsidering the staffing patterns at the Centres, themselves. It also implies establishing or strengthening linkages, not only with appropriate organizations in developing countries, but also with a range of advanced research organizations, development agencies and industrial companies involved in relevant areas of work.
We see a need for a diversity of collaborative arrangements from which informal mechanisms of coordination could evolve as needed. There will also be a need for a Systemwide strategy for funding projects in harvest and postharvest research and a more explicit responsibility for monitoring and evaluating their efficacy through normal review processes. We make recommendations accordingly.
