4.1 Partnership with NARS
4.2 Training
4.3 Donor Relations
4.4 Host Country
4.5 Collaboration with Other CGIAR Centres
4.6 Private Sector
4.7 NGOs
4.8 Systemwide Programmes
As a major international research centre, CIMMYT serves many publics: the NARS, Host Country, the scientific community, financial partners, and the CGIAR System. However, the most important partner in its major research activities are the NARS. The impact of CIMMYT's output, be it research or training or networking, in an important sense is determined by its relevance to the agricultural growth and environmental protection in developing countries, more particularly the disadvantaged groups. CIMMYT has accepted this responsibility and incorporated it explicitly in its mission statement.
CIMMYT has involved NARS in developing and implementing its programmes in a careful way. The Panel has commented on the existing as well as emerging relationships in previous sections. In the area of developing research ideas, involvement of NARS in CIMMYT's programme planning exercises, particularly in the development of the MTP, has been quite serious and fruitful. It goes to the credit of the Centre that the consultations with the NARS were not restricted to the formal meetings in its Headquarters. The senior staff of the Centre attended all five regional NARS fora as well as the Global NARS forum. We commend CIMMYT for its keenness to listen to, and consult with, the NARS.
The continuing dialogue with NARS is facilitated through CIMMYT's regional programmes and networking activities as well, as noted earlier. It is important in this context to emphasize the role of CIMMYT's outreach staff. It was heartening for the Panel to observe that in all the four regional locations visited, CIMMYT scientists were held in high esteem. They serve as the partners of the NARS and act as important conduits between the regions and Headquarters.
CIMMYT's role in regional networks has proved to be invaluable. It is acting as a catalytic agent in all such arrangements. The NARS in a region are sometimes constrained by the political relationship between their respective governments, but when it comes to the breeding or extension of CIMMYT materials such boundaries are not insurmountable. This speaks well of the confidence and good relations that CIMMYT scientists have created in the regions in which they are located.
The strengths of NARS, however, in terms of research capacity and resources, differ. It is important that CIMMYT recognizes such differences. The Centre will be well served if the stronger NARS are taken as full partners and some of the activities of the Centre where they have a comparative advantage, are devolved to them. At the same time, some "weaker" NARS will require special attention and support. There could be active involvement of CIMMYT staff in the institutional and human development tasks with these NARS. In other words, a more discriminatory, need-based strategy should be developed for building partnership.
The training of wheat and maize scientists from developing countries has been one of CIMMYT's most important contributions. Over the years, the level of training activity, the location and content of courses being offered, and the manner in which partnerships with NARS is expressed, have changed. The cut backs experienced for two years in the early 1990s, which were partly due to funding constraints, and also because it was assumed that most NARS could finance their own training needs in production systems and agronomy -have been addressed. CIMMYT is again according high priority to training activities.
The major emphasis in the four years since the IER have been some 200 scientists attending group training courses and workshops at Headquarters and in the regions; the funding of some 400 visiting scientists who have benefited from the opportunity for gaining cutting-edge knowledge in their particular disciplines and research interests; and the operation of a small fellowship programme, funded by a few donors (notably, CIDA, Japan, and UNDP), for M.Sc. and Ph.D. students sponsored to several universities.
The training budget has gone up from US$ 1 million in 1995 to a projected US$ 2.5 million in 1997, and is expected to increase further to US$ 4.5 million in 1998 in the MTP document.
One of the commendable changes is that training in agronomy has been largely devolved to the NARS and regional and outreach programmes. CIMMYT has forged relationships with agricultural training institutions in NARS, for example in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Central America, and the Panel has observed how much of this training is also linked to the activities of the maize and wheat networks. A total of 350 scientists have benefited from CIMMYT's regional training courses in Kenya, Thailand and Argentina and key NARS scientists participate by presenting lectures at these courses. These initiatives have resulted in financial savings for CIMMYT, but certainly improve the ownership and relevance of the training provided, and increase the spill-over effects to other capacity-building activities of the NARS and regional organizations,
Specialist training has also been provided meeting the needs of people from advanced NARS in such areas as the use of biotechnology, genetics and GIS, economic analysis of research, impact assessment methodologies, and computer simulations for natural resource management. These programmes have been organized at El Batan through the interaction of the respective programme staff. The visiting scientists have appreciated these courses and preliminary plans are being developed for new courses utilizing inputs from multidisciplinary projects.
Two major new initiatives are being planned. The new project GP8 relates specifically to Building Partnerships through Human Resource Development. The project coordinator has been appointed, a coordinating committee has been formed with representatives from each of the programmes, and the Panel is informed they are about to develop the detailed project plan with the appropriate needs assessments and strategies.
A new course in sustainable cropping systems has been in the process of development for the past year and some US$ 75,000 has been spent consulting with partners in NARS and ARIs, and with staff, on the needs for and expectations of this new course.
One overall observation the Panel would make is that there is an ongoing need for consultations with NARS about the scope and content of training programmes. Such consultations are being held in some areas and regions and these have resulted in identifying new training programmes and the improvement of existing programmes. The Panel hopes that this process will be strengthened by the implementation of the new project GP8.
The Panel commends CIMMYT for according due importance to training, the commitment to the relevance of the training and for the efforts in continually evolving new approaches to maximize the Centre's contribution in this important area. The Panel also encourages CIMMYT to continue this process, utilizing results from evaluations of the various courses and measurement of their impact assessment.
CIMMYT receives funding from about 40 "financial partners", with annual contributions ranging from less than US$ 100,000 to about US$ 5 million. Significantly improved relationships with each of these partners have been developed, carefully cultivated and maintained by the Director General himself and the staff of the External Relations Programme, established in 1996.
As a result of this systematic fund-raising effort, based largely on a strategy of tailoring special project proposals to the perceived interests of particular donors, this special project funding has increased from US$ 6 million of a total of US$ 26.4 million in 1995 to US$ 14.3 million of a total of US$ 30.4 million in 1997. Total income for 1998 is budgeted at US$ 35.5 million, of which US$ 16 million is expected from this source. While this increased reliance on restricted funds has its limitations (discussed elsewhere in this report), the steady increase in CIMMYT's aggregate budget during the past few years attests to the attractiveness of the Centre's revamped research programme, as well as to the success of its targeted fund-raising approach.
The credit for developing fundable project proposals has to be shared by those playing important roles in the process. Priorities are determined by programme scientists, through discussions with NARS partners and with input from staff of External Relations. Concept notes are prepared and discussed at the RCC prior to submission to possible donors. This process of involving all stakeholders generates increased donor confidence in CIMMYT's ability to deliver on its research proposals. The Executive Officer is now responsible for ensuring that the required contractual documents are completed, financial accountabilities established within CIMMYT, and that progress reports are submitted to various donors once the project activities get underway.
The Panel therefore wishes to commend the many CIMMYT staff involved.
CIMMYT has enjoyed generally good relations with its Host Country Government, which were formalized in the Headquarters Agreement signed in May 1988. This has benefited the Centre in many ways, including the agreement by the Mexican Government to rebate value- added tax (IVA) payments from CIMMYT, estimated to be worth US$ 0.5 million to the Centre in 1997. The presence on the Board of Trustees of the Executive Director and the Director of Agricultural Research of INIFAP as ex-officio members, nominated by the Government, has greatly facilitated CIMMYT's cooperation with the Host Country.
At the research scientist level, there appear to be good and frequent contacts between INIFAP and CIMMYT in the form of workshops, technical meetings, and individual contacts. Discussions between the Panel and the host NARS revealed a few issues requiring attention, although some of these appeared to be due to misunderstandings caused partly by recent turnover of senior administrative staff in both organizations. The Panel hopes that most of these matters will be resolved by a meeting between the respective directors scheduled for early 1998.
In addition, the Panel believes that better interaction with the Host Country NARS would be facilitated by a more formalized arrangement for an annual review of matters of common interest, perhaps under the aegis of the RCC. Accordingly, the Panel recommends that:
CIMMYT establish a regular annual review of issues of common interest between INIFAP and CIMMYT, with each organization represented by a small group of senior administrative and research officers.
On a more positive note, the Panel is pleased to note the excellent support that CIMMYT has received from the Mexican authorities, which has greatly facilitated the day-to-day operations of CIMMYT and its staff in Mexico. It also wishes to note the excellent collaboration which has resulted in the formulation of biosafety regulations for glasshouse and field work with transgenic plants.
CIMMYT has a wide range of collaborative working relations with many of the CGIAR Centres. The most prominent are: IITA, with whom it shares the mandate for maize in West Africa; ICARDA, with whom it shares the mandate for wheat in WANA and for barley in Latin America, as well as working closely in the coordination of its work in Central Asia; and IRRI and ICRISAT, with whom it has a joint collaborative research programme on Rice/Wheat Production Systems in the Indo-Gangetic Plains.
Working relations with centres with a shared mandate appear to be excellent, in contrast to the time of the last EPMR in 1988 when problems existed with both IITA and ICARDA. We understand that these conflicts have now been fully resolved and that relations with those centres are now strategic and productive. Collaboration with IRRI on the Rice/Wheat Programme is also excellent. More specific comments on this Systemwide Programme are made in Section 4.8.
CIMMYT also has close collaboration with CIAT on maize production systems in this Centre's hillsides programme for Central America and several Systemwide Programmes as discussed in Section 4.8, with ICRAF in its Highlands and Slash-and-Bum Systemwide Programmes, with CIP in the Mountain Agriculture Programme, with IPGRI on biodiversity issues and on Genetic Resources and the Systemwide Programme in this area, and with IFPRI in the work of the Economics Programme with respect to future projections and trends in wheat and maize.
All these relations with the other centres appear to be functional and no particular issues were brought to the attention of the Panel by the collaborating centres or by CIMMYT.
A survey conducted by the Private Sector Committee of the CGIAR in 1996 identified CIMMYT as one of four centres (the others being CIAT, ICRISAT, and IRRI) having the broadest involvement with private sector institutions. CIMMYT was also identified as one of five centres showing the largest increase in expenditure on biotechnology in the preceding two years. The areas of product transfer and research agreements were those identified by CIMMYT to be the most likely to increase in the near future.
CIMMYT interacts with the private sector at several levels, the interactions ranging from sponsorship of conferences to seed multiplication, to the presence of a Board member from the industry, to the negotiation of agreements with biotechnology companies. It was the last aspect with which the CGIAR survey was primarily concerned.
In biotechnology, CIMMYT has a research agreement with Novartis to provide Bt maize for research purposes and Pioneer and Novartis have provided some support for a training course on molecular markers. There are in existence a number of Material Transfer Agreements for research purposes. Also, as part of the ORSTOM-ABC-Maize Programme project on apomixis, negotiations are underway with Pioneer and Limagrain to decide the acceptability of exclusivity agreements in countries where the companies are active and which are also within CIMMYT's mandate.
Given the greater involvement of private companies in maize research and development, there are more opportunities for interaction with CIMMYT in the case of this commodity than with wheat. The manner in which this interaction may be extended is discussed in the review of the Maize Programme (Chapter 2). Several leading companies in the USA are involved in germplasm exchange and collaborative evaluation and they also provide some support for training. A Latin American Programme was funded by Pioneer to evaluate maize germplasm in genebanks in the region. Preliminary discussions are in progress on a tripartite agreement involving CIMMYT and Monsanto but with the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) as the lead institute, for an evaluation of Striga control using herbicide resistant maize in Kenya. The Programme Committee of CIMMYT's BoT discussed this issue and agreed that for experimental purposes this was a justifiable use of herbicide, given the overwhelming severity of the Striga problem in Africa.
There has been good interaction between the Maize Programme and the private sector in Thailand, with exchange of germplasm and support provided to the Regional Maize Programme and in TAMNET. In Brazil there exists a unique interaction between the NARS and the private sector, involving substantial royalty payments to the public sector. CIMMYT benefits from this in its interaction with CNPMS, facilitating a two-way flow of germplasm with private companies. The Panel supports CIMMYT's contention that Brazil provides an excellent model for the extension of interaction with the private sector (see Chapter 2). The regional programme for maize based in Zimbabwe is discussed in Section 3.6. CIMMYT's activities have greatly assisted the operation of the local seed company (National Tested Seeds), which is active in assisting NGOs and other organizations to supply seed of OPVs to war affected countries in the region.
The Wheat Programme has received financial support from the major Mexican flour milling company Bimbo for improving bread making quality, although the Panel understands that the transference of these funds currently awaits the resolution of discussions with INIFAP. For many years CIMMYT has received considerable support, both financial and in kind, from the farmers' association (Patronato) at the Obregon field station. There are exchanges of germplasm and visits with the private sector in Argentina and the UK. Discussions are also in progress with Monsanto for the exploration of the use of that company's gametocide in producing wheat hybrids.
There is limited interaction with some of CIMMYT's other programmes. For example, the private sector has been involved in discussions with the Economics Programme on Maize Impact Studies and the NRG has been involved in informal collaboration in Mexico and Brazil on zero-till machinery.
With respect to the commodity programmes, interaction between CIMMYT and the private sector in the past appears to have been conducted in a spasmodic, ad hoc manner. The Panel strongly supports the recent initiative of the CIMMYT Board to encourage a more systematic approach to discussions with the private sector. (See Chapter 2 and Section 3.2.) CIMMYT could also consider opening discussions with representative bodies of private plant breeders such as ASSINSEL or groups of smaller companies to discuss principles for a modus operandi across the whole range of issues affecting germplasm enhancement and release.
Inevitably, discussion of interactions with the private sector involve the related but not identical issue of IPR. CIMMYT's involvement in this area, in relation to CGIAR initiatives, is discussed in Section 5.7.
CIMMYT works closely with NGOs in several of its projects covering both its commodities in each of the major developing country regions. In Mexico, CIMMYT has had continuing collaboration since 1992 with a Mexican NGO on hillside maize systems. There is further planned collaboration through the Hilton Foundation on maize system development and water resource development for maize systems in the area of Oaxaca. CIMMYT is also working with Sasakawa Global 2000 in four countries in Africa (Ethiopia, Mozambique, Benin, and Ghana) in technology transfer and QPM. In Central America, there is ongoing collaboration with the regional entity PASOLAC that brings together NGOs and provides the link between them and the regional maize research network. In Bolivia, CIMMYT collaborates with a farmer organization in the development of direct sowing conservation tillage practices for wheat systems. In Bangladesh, CIMMYT's whole family training project has a rich set of NGO linkages. In Nepal, CIMMYT works with farmer groups in testing and adaptation of tillage methods for wheat. In Southern Africa, CIMMYT works with World Vision on multiplying and distributing maize seed and has plans to work with NGOs in Zimbabwe and Malawi on a risk management project.
Overall, the Panel commends CIMMYT for its close collaboration with NGOs. Representatives of the CGIAR NGO Committee reported to the Panel their broad satisfaction with CIMMYT's activities, although they would prefer the Centre to place more emphasis on cropping systems rather than on crops. They would also prefer CIMMYT to work more directly with small farmers and to further integrate natural resources management into the breeding approach.
CIMMYT participates in the Systemwide Programmes listed below with the Convening Centre given in parenthesis:
· the Rice-Wheat Consortium for the Indo-Gangetic Plains (ICRISAT);
· the African Highlands Initiative/Mountain Agriculture (ICRAF/CIP);
· the Latin American Ecoregional Programme (CIAT);
· the Systemwide Programme on Genetic Resources (IPGRI);
· the Systemwide Programme on Integrated Pest Management (IITA);
· the Ecoregional Programme for the Humid and Subhumid Tropics and Subtropics of Asia (IRRI);
· the Systemwide Programme on Participatory Research and Gender Analysis (CIAT); and
· the Soil, Water and Nutrient Management Programme (CIAT).
An assessment of these Systemwide Programmes was beyond the mandate of the Panel. However, the Panel did interact with CIMMYT staff and other stakeholders of the Rice/Wheat Consortium. The Panel senses that since the establishment of the formal CGIAR Rice/Wheat Ecoregional Programme, emphasis in the programme has been given to developing regional mechanisms for cooperation and the conduct of workshops at the expense of research on the ground. The Panel wishes to bring this perception to the attention of TAC as it will conduct an External Review of Systemwide Programmes during 1999.
