The Panel Chair was briefed by the iSC Chair, Emil Javier, and the iSC Secretariat at FAO on 22 January 2003. The Panel Chair and the Panel members appointed by that time visited the ICRISAT HQ from 10-14 March 2003 for an initial design visit. The visit was planned to coincide with the Board meeting. Senior management and research staff made presentations on ICRISAT's vision, strategy and programmes. The Panel members attended the meetings of the Programme Committee and the Technology Exchange Committee of the Board where presentations were made on three of the six thematic programmes, information management and resource mobilization. The Panel had a special session with the Board to discuss issues and challenges facing ICRISAT. Enroute to ICRISAT, the Panel Chair visited Delhi to meet the DDG Education of ICAR who contributed to the World Bank meta evaluation of the CGIAR System in which ICRISAT was evaluated.
In May, the Panel Chair and one Panel members visited ICRISAT's regional team based at the ICRISAT Sahelian Centre, Niamey. Aside from site visits to Sadoré and off station, the Panel members were briefed extensively by the ISC and Mali staff. An overall presentation was followed by a presentation on the Medium Term Strategy for WCA and the Desert Margin Programme. Subsequently, the cereal and groundnut breeding programmes were discussed followed by the New Sahel initiative. Finally some economic thoughts on the shift from commodities to systems were shared with the Panel. These led to numerous discussions with staff members in the course of 3 days. Also visits were paid to the various stakeholders such as EU rep, INRA director and his staff, FAO rep, and two regional meteorological bodies; ACMAD and AGRYMET. In addition, a meeting with NGO's (Africare), farmer associations and private dealers in inputs, seed and produce was arranged in Niamey with a free and open exchange of views. The Panel Chair also visited the Director of INERA in Ouagadougou, Burkina Fasso and several of the senior staff members.
Also in May, one other Panel member and the iSC Secretariat resource person visited the ICRISAT teams in Southern Africa and Eastern Africa. The visit to Southern Africa included a meeting with the regional team members at Matopos, Bulawayo, who made presentations on the emerging regional strategy as well as on the work being done on sorghum, millet and groundnut crop improvement and seed systems, crop and natural resources management, marketing and commercialization, networking and resource mobilization. In Bulawayo, discussions were also held with the national collaborators: the Directors of AREX and Livestock Production, the Managing Director of the African Centre for Fertilizer Developments and a representative of CARE Zimbabwe with whom ICRISAT collaborates. In Harare, discussions were held with: Principal Director, Ministry of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Settlement; the Director, SADC Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN); the FAO Regional Representative for Southern and Eastern Africa and Regional Technical Officers in charge of the NRM work in the region and of the emergence operations in Zimbabwe; Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of Zimbabwe and collaborators in NRM; representatives from Seed Co. Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe Fertilizer Company. Discussions were also held with the CIMMYT Team Leader in Zimbabwe.
The visit to Eastern Africa included meeting with the regional team members at ICRAF, Nairobi, where they are housed, and visiting ICRISAT's field work in and near Kiboko some 90 km east of Nairobi. The field visit included visiting a participatory pigeonpea improvement location near Kiboko. The ICRISAT regional team members made presentations on the overall strategy, crop improvement, priority setting process, public-private partnership in the context of seed systems, soil and water and biotechnology. Discussions were also held with collaborators: the Director of KARI; Kenya Agricultural Commodity Exchange; and Nestle Ltd.
The Panel undertook a main phase visit to the HQ from 16 to 26 June 2003. The Panel updated by the senior management on the evolution of ICRISAT's strategic framework and the evolving global strategy. The Panel also had an opportunity for further discussions and clarifications with staff. Also, a roundtable half-a-day meeting was held at CRIDA with senior representatives of a range of stakeholders including ICAR, national crops research programmes, research institutes, universities, private sector biotech and seed companies, extension agency and NGOs. On 26 June, the Panel Chair presented the main findings and recommendations initially to ICRISAT management group and then to the staff.
