CONSULTATIVE GROUP ON INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE
TAC 76
FAO Headquarters, Rome: 22-26 March 1999
REPORT OF THE MEETING
Opening Session
Report on System Review Matters
Strategic Issues and Forthcoming Studies
External Programme and Management Reviews
The 2000 CGIAR Research Agenda and Initial Proposals for 2002
Finalising Earlier Studies
Future Reviews
Future Meetings
Other Business
The TAC Chair, Dr. Donald Winkelmann, opened the meeting of TAC 76 by welcoming the nine TAC Members present and acknowledging the apology received from Dr. Cyrus Ndiritu (Kenya). He then noted with appreciation the presence of Drs. Henri Carsalade and Louise O. Fresco, representing FAO; Dr. Uttam Dabholkar, representing UNEP; Mr. Alexander von der Osten Executive Secretary, CGIAR; several Centre Directors General; Board Chairs; EPMR Panel Chairs; the Chair of the CDC; Drs. Hans Gregersen and Guido Gryseels, representing IAEG; Dr. Fernando Chapparo, representing the NARS Secretariat of GFAR; as well as observers from China, France. Germany. Netherlands, South Africa. United Kingdom, and United States of America: and staff of the CGIAR and TAC Secretariats. Dr. Carsalade welcomed participants on behalf of FAO and its Director-General. Dr. Jacques Diouf. The report of TAC 75 was adopted without amendment. There were no matters arising from the report of TAC 75. The provisional agenda for TAC 76 was adopted without amendment.
The Executive Secretary of the CGIAR, Mr. von der Osten, reported on major developments in the System since ICW'98. Highlights included processing of System Review recommendations by the Consultative Council, Brussels. January 1999: preparations for MTM'99. Beijing, which will review proposals for implementing SRP recommendations, consider the EPMRs of ILRI and ICLARM, review the 2000-2002 CGIAR Research Agenda, and hear reports on knowledge management, global climate change, and the logframe. CGIAR funding for 1999 was reported to be on target at an estimated US$ 345-350 million.
The TAC Chair reported on the work of the CGIAR's Consultative Council on the System Review recommendations, particularly those involving proposals and commentaries to be prepared by TAC for MTM'99. He noted TAC's progress in: developing terms of reference for a Systemwide review of plant breeding; preparing TAC commentaries on the CDC's proposals on integrated natural resources management, policy, and gender; drafting terms of reference for an analytic review of partnerships in the CGIAR; formulating advice to the CBC on review of Systemwide programmes; and preparing TAC's proposals on its own terms of reference, streamlining evaluation, and the integration of IAEG into TAC. The Committee took steps to finalize these inputs to MTM'99.
a) CGIAR Collaborative Relationships with NARS
b) Global Climate Change
c) CGIAR Partnerships
d) CGIAR Portfolio in 2010
Dr. Hans Gregersen presented the findings of a background study commissioned by TAC on CGIAR Collaborative Relationships with National Agricultural Research Systems addressing the strategic issue of the characteristics of CGIAR Centres' working relationships with NARS. The study treated issues related to CGIAR activities in the areas of institution strengthening, extension and diffusion. Noting the changing institutional environment within which the CGIAR operates, the study recommended that TAC's next priorities and strategies exercise address the implications for the System as a whole of such developments as the evolution of regional and subregional groupings of NARS, including regional fora, and the potential for increased leadership of NARS within Systemwide programmes employing an ecoregional approach. The study recommended that TAC prepare a paper on alternative approaches to CGIAR-NARS collaboration with a view to developing a strategy for strengthening relationships in the context of changing global agricultural research management and funding environments. After consideration, the Committee decided to pursue this theme further in the context of TAC's review of partnerships in the CGIAR with particular emphasis on future relationships with elements of NARS in the private sector, universities, and other institutions.
TAC Member Elias Fereres presented an overview of the issue of global climate change and its implications for the CGIAR with a view to developing TAC's position on this issue for consideration by the Group at MTM'99. The presentation dealt with the positive and negative impacts of climate change on agriculture and food production; the current status of research using yield trend analyses and simulation modelling; the activities of the major research entities in the field, including the International Geosphere Biosphere Program (IGBP), particularly the Global Change in Terrestrial Ecosystems Group (GCTE). TAC's discussion of research strategy treated adaptation and mitigation measures, many related to carbon sequestration, which could be subsumed in a code of best agricultural practices. Recent developments in the CGIAR, notably the USAID-sponsored inventory of Centre activities and the proposal to USAID of the Inter-Centre Working Group on Climate Change (ICWG-CC) figured in TAC's discussion. TAC continues to examine the issue of climate change. A report on the Committee's position will be made to the Group by Dr. Fereres at MTM'99.
The TAC Chair reported on progress in planning a TAC strategic study of CGIAR partnerships to be undertaken collaboratively by TAC and the CGIAR Secretariat. At the request of the Consultative Council, terms of reference for the study will be presented to the Group at MTM'99. The overall objectives of the study are to evaluate Centre experience with research and research-related partnerships, characterise the relative significance of various types of Centre partnerships, assess the factors that contribute to the success of partnerships, and suggest which types of partnerships might be most effective in the future in achieving CGIAR goals. A three-phase study is planned: (1) clarification of concepts and development of a typology of partnerships based on function and form; (2) preparation of an inventory of current partnerships and measures of success; (3) evaluation of a sample of Centre partnerships for purposes of recommending best practices for the CGIAR in the future. Broad-based Centre participation in the study is envisioned. The study would be conducted over an 18-month period following MTM'99, with deliverables keyed to three successive CGIAR meetings: literature review (ICW'99); Centre case studies and survey (MTM 2000); stripe review (ICW 2000). Strong consideration will be given to a session on partnerships at ICW'99 featuring a few speakers from outside the CGIAR with broad experience in managing partnerships.
A report on progress in planning the TAC strategic study of the CGIAR's research portfolio in 2010 was presented to the Committee by the Chair of the Standing Committee on Priorities and Strategies, Dr. Alain de Janvry. The study would assess, inter alia, the strategic implications for the pattern of the CGIAR's investment in the 2010 portfolio of developments and trends in the following possible areas: evolving concepts of intellectual property rights and international public goods; growing private investment in research for tropical and sub-tropical staple crops; changes in the location, causes and dynamics of poverty and criteria for prioritising research on direct and indirect instruments for poverty reduction; privatisation and the challenge of ensuring access by the poor to the potential benefits of biotechnology; public-private-civil sector partnership arrangements in a context of intellectual property rights; emerging international legal and regulatory frameworks for genetic resources and their effects on the needs of poor farmers; the potential role of production ecology science in ensuring complementarity between productivity gains and sustainable management of natural resources; and the technical, legal, financial and informational requisites for effective long-term management (ex-situ) of germplasm in the CGIAR. TAC discussed the study's prospective themes and the timetable and modalities for its completion, deciding that it should be linked to the Committee's next priorities and strategies paper tentatively scheduled for initial discussion at MTM 2001.
The report of the Second External Programme and Management Review of ICLARM was discussed at TAC 76 in the presence of the Panel Chair, Dr. Hans Gregersen, the Chair of ICLARM's Board, Dr. Kurt Peters, and the Director General of ICLARM, Dr. Meryl Williams. TAC generally endorsed the recommendations of the Panel and prepared a commentary for consideration by the CGIAR at MTM'99. The Panel found the Centre had made significant progress since the Mid-Term Review of 1995, and was a well-managed research institution with enhanced capacity for delivery of output and impact. TAC commended ICLARM's research in the areas of fish genetics, conservation and health, and the increased emphasis of its policy, economics and social science research on aquatic resources productivity. The Committee supported ICLARM's decision to move its headquarters to Penang, Malaysia, noted the orderly planning guiding the change, and recommended that the CGIAR be prepared to assist the Centre in making a smooth transfer. TAC concluded that ICLARM was positioned to take up new challenges in aquatic resources research. The positive outcome of the Review and the realization that global fish production is more important than previously thought justified continued investment in fisheries research by the CGIAR.
The report of the First External Programme and Management Review of ILRI was discussed at TAC 76 in the presence of the Panel Chair, Dr. Samuel Jutzi, the Chair of ILRI's Board, Dr. Neville P. Clark, and the Director General of ILRI, Dr. Hank Fitzhugh. TAC endorsed, in general, the recommendations of the Panel and prepared a commentary for consideration by the CGIAR at MTM'99. TAC commended ILRI's Board and management for the progress made since ILRI's foundation in integrating the former ILCA and ILRAD, as well as the new Centre's significant scientific output. TAC strongly endorsed Panel recommendations that ILRI give immediate attention to revising its strategic plan and establish an explicit priority setting process clearly linked to resource allocation. It endorsed the Panel's analysis of issues to be addressed in setting a global animal science research agenda. TAC agreed that ILRI was best placed to carry out strategic research in biotechnology and genomics applied to livestock production and diseases as well as strategic research on feed resources and animal nutrition. Like the Panel, it questioned the desirability of further research on a trypanosomiasis vaccine in view of the low probability of success. It agreed as well there was need to broaden leadership, delineate lines of responsibility between Board and management, create stronger mechanisms to ensure scientific quality, and demonstrate impact through ex-post evaluation. TAC also emphasized the need for ILRI to develop capacity in sociological research. It concluded that implementation of the Panel's recommendations would help ILRI to realise its potential as a world leader in livestock research and reaffirmed its support for research on livestock.
The Committee considered proposals from the 16 CGIAR Centres for the 2000 Research Agenda and initial proposals for 2002 in the context of CGIAR priorities and Centre Medium-Term Plans for the period 2000-2002. The Committee then prepared a report to the Group providing an overview of the criteria used in its analysis, highlights and evaluations of Centre proposals, and an analysis of the implications of the proposals for CGIAR priorities. Overall, TAC saw few programmatic departures from the already endorsed 2000 plans, which had not been justified in terms of the criteria applied. The Committee found that projections to 2002 were, in most cases, largely consistent with established guidelines. The remaining departures, as in the past, were divergences of individual Centre shares of the CGIAR Research Agenda from Group-endorsed levels, allocations to CGIAR Undertakings that were off target in two cases, and proposals for commodities and sectors that were not on trend toward endorsed goals. The TAC Chair will present TAC's report to the Group at MTM '99. It should be read in conjunction with the document prepared by the CGIAR Secretariat on The Financial Requirements of the 2000 CGIAR Research Agenda.
TAC took decisions to finalize the report of the Study of CGIAR Commitments in Latin America and the Caribbean, which had been revised by the Panel Chair, Dr. Lucio Reca, in light of comments made at TAC 75. TAC will present the report with its commentary to the Group at ICW'99.
The Committee also considered a synthesis, prepared by Dr. de Janvry, of the CGIAR Study on Marginal Lands. TAC noted the study's findings that relationships between poverty and degradation were not consistent, nor were those between the degree of marginality and the number of poor. Thus, future research on the relationship between poverty and the biophysical environment should take into account other variables that influence the relationship and create an association between poverty and agroecological context. TAC will present the report together with its commentary at ICW'99.
TAC noted progress in the organisation and implementation of the EPMRs of ICARDA, IWMI, and WARDA and discussed the planning and organisation of EPMRs of CIAT, CIP, and IITA, based on a report presented by Dr. Lucia Vaccaro, Chair of the Standing Committee on External Reviews. TAC also considered the desk study prepared during the first phase of the Review of Systemwide Programmes with an Ecoregional Approach and progress in planning and organising the main phase of that Review. It considered terms of reference for the Systemwide Review of Plant Breeding in the CGIAR, to be presented at MTM'99, and discussed options for streamlining reviews and their management, including EPMRs and special reviews. TAC favourably considered a plan for revising the process through which review teams are selected and guided, in the expectation that the revision will make that process more efficient.
TAC reconfirmed dates and venues for the following meetings:
|
TAC 77 |
ISNAR, The Hague |
20-25 September 1999 |
|
TAC 78 |
IITA, Ibadan |
27-31 March 2000 |
|
TAC 79 |
ICARDA, Aleppo |
25-29 September 2000 |
|
TAC 80 |
CIFOR, Bogor |
26-30 March 2001 |
TAC considered some 20 pre-proposals from Centres for projects of potentially high priority within the CGIAR's Research Agenda. Seven were selected as possibly qualifying for support from funds set aside by the Finance Committee, and Centres were encouraged to develop these into full proposals for TAC's further consideration and recommendation. The Committee also identified two themes it considered of strategic importance to the CGIAR - production ecology and intellectual property rights - and invited specific multi-Centre proposals for possible set aside funding.
The Committee considered the report of the TAC-initiated study on rates of return to agricultural research and development prepared by IFPRI. TAC will interact further with the Centre before disseminating the paper.
