The scope for food and agriculture policy research in Central Asia and the Ca...
CGIAR Platform on Agriculture and Health
1. CGIAR Platform on Agriculture and
Health
Joachim von Braun
Director General
International Food Policy Research Institute
Geneva
June 25, 2007
2. Overview
1. What is our platform?
2. Conceptual framework
3. Main issues
4. Priority-setting
5. The way forward
Joachim von Braun, IFPRI, June 2007
3. 1. What is our Platform ?
• Late 2004, CGIAR working group on agriculture
and health was formed
• April 2006, Platform on Agriculture and Health
Research was endorsed by the CGIAR Alliance
Executive (the 15 centers) and welcomed by
the Science Council of CGIAR
• We focus on agriculture – health linkages that
are relevant for the poor
Joachim von Braun, IFPRI, June 2007
4. CGIAR - A Strategic Alliance
• Created in 1971
• 64 public and private members
- Including 25 developing and 22
industrialized countries
• 4 Cosponsors (World Bank, FAO, IFAD,
UNDP)
• 15 CGIAR Centers
• Key products –Knowledge, technology,
policy, services
• Partners in academia, civil society, private
sector, and national ag. research institutions
(North and South)
• 8,500 scientists and staff
Joachim von Braun, IFPRI, June 2007
6. What is our platform? Not just parallel
extraction and burning of existing knowledge
Not this
Joachim von Braun, IFPRI, June 2007
7. What is our platform? creating new
knowledge…
…by bringing the research communities of
agriculture and health to more productive harmony
Joachim von Braun, IFPRI, June 2007
8. …and who and how?
• Agriculture and health researchers
• Development partners / investors
Operational aspects of the platform
[virtual, lean, open, network mode;
research implementation through existing
mechanisms]
Joachim von Braun, IFPRI, June 2007
10. 3. Main issues
Distinguishing between “big issues” and
“main issues” for the platform
“Big issues” of agriculture and health
• Producing the needed food and
providing access to it
• Agriculture, urbanization and health
• Sustainability of food and water
systems and health
Joachim von Braun, IFPRI, June 2007
11. Land use, productivity and health
the next “green revolutions”
Joachim von Braun, IFPRI, June 2007
14. “Main issues” of
agriculture and health research
Some preliminary priorities:
Nutrition, Diet, and Health
Food Supply Chains and Food Safety
Water Management and Water-Borne Diseases
Animal diseases, Avian Flu and Livelihoods
HIV/AIDS (and …) and Nutrition and Agriculture
Suggestion: Focus on “main issues” while
keeping the “big issues” in the background
Joachim von Braun, IFPRI, June 2007
15. 4. Priority-setting ?
Determine priorities by exploring opportunities
and synergies between …:
Diet and nutrition Low-cost, high-
quality foods
Value chain
Food safety management of food
safety
Water-associated Irrigation, water
diseases quality
Joachim von Braun, IFPRI, June 2007
16. Priority-setting (cont.)
HIV/AIDS Agriculture and
livelihood
Avian flu Animal health
Occupational health, Labor, agriculture
child labor (livestock productivity, poverty-
disease, crop reduction through
disease, pesticides) agriculture growth
Joachim von Braun, IFPRI, June 2007
17. 5. Way forward from this meeting
Help to set priorities [for the CGIAR and
for the global agriculture – health
research community (criteria)]
Help to coordinate research on
agriculture and health [with a focus on
the linkages between the two sectors]
Joachim von Braun, IFPRI, June 2007
18. …Way forward
Desired products of the platform:
- Proposals for research
- Team formations
- Funding strategies developed
- Monitoring of progress in agriculture
and health research
Joachim von Braun, IFPRI, June 2007