On the occasion of the G20 Conference on Agriculture Research Development (September 12-13, 2011, Montpellier) CGIAR Consortium Board Chair, Carlos Pérez del Castillo addressed the gathering of high-level agricultural experts. He began with the message “food security for our world is in a state of urgency” – and went on to outline the need for increased funding, and stronger co-operation and co-ordination in agricultural research for development. Perez de Castillo assured the G20 nations that the CGIAR can now be their strongest ally in the task of making “a more food secure future for our world”.

1. G20 Conference on Agriculture Research Development
Montpellier, September 12-13, 2011.
Promoting Scientific Partnerships for Food Security
Session 1: Stronger Co-operation and Co-ordination for Agriculture
Research for Development and Food Security1.
Thank you for the opportunity to talk to you on this important subject.
Lloyd Le Page, the CGIAR Consortium CEO, was unable to join us today,
because of a last minute impediment requiring his urgent attention. He
asked me to convey his regrets, and as Chair of the Consortium, I am
happy to take his place in this occasion.
Today, I would like to address 3 key areas key to promoting scientific
partnership through stronger cooperation and coordination for AR4D.
The urgency for more agricultural research.
The food security for our world is in a state of urgency.
Climate change, economic instability, persistently high food prices, and
rapid population growth – all coming at the same time – are amounting to
a perfect storm for our societies and our collective food security.
In the Horn of Africa, for example, we are seeing a food crisis and famine,
caused by multiple factors, including a drought and policies that have
perverse effects on agriculture on a scale that is deeply troubling to all of
us who have devoted our careers to agricultural research for
development.
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Speaker: Carlos Pérez del Castillo, CGIAR Consortium Board Chair.
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2. Worldwide, we have seen strong volatility and uncertainty in commodity
markets, since 2008. Ultimately they have led to major price hikes in key
staples, which are having the greatest impacts on those who can least
afford them. It is the poor in developing countries – who already spend
up to 80% of their income on food (compared to about 10% for you and I)
– who are the ones most affected by the rising costs of basic food staples.
As we have seen in recent years, food price hikes and pressures on supply
can trigger major waves of social unrest. In 2008, we saw food riots in
more than 30 countries. That social unrest can create a force that can
potentially jeopardize, even topple, national governments – or destabilize
entire regions.
We are rapidly approaching the 2015 deadline for achieving the
Millennium Development Goals. The first of these regards reducing the
proportion of hungry people by half. While hunger has dropped by about
25% since 1990 – there are still a billion people worldwide facing chronic
hunger. And with the drought, political instability, overall insecurity and
growing famine in the Horn of Africa, we may see those numbers worsen
further.
Why are we starting to lose the battle against hunger against which we
had made such strides in the past?
There are short and long-term causes behind the increase in the numbers
of people that go hungry ever day. One of the primary long-term causes is
the decreased investment in agriculture and in agricultural research for
development. There is broad consensus on this.
Since the Green Revolution in the 1970s, there has been a steady decline
in investments in agriculture. While the investment in agriculture grew
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3. annually at 1.1% in the period 1975–1990, the rate was only 0.5% during
1991–2007, according to FAO’s data.
The success of the Green Revolution saved millions of lives, but it also
bred complacency and today we face the need for a new revolution in
agriculture.
With declines in agricultural investment have come declines in
productivity and sustainability. Meanwhile, the emergence of other
factors - the energy, economic and financial crises, climate change,
increased urbanization, and further rapid degradation of soils and water -
has deepened the needs of the poorest and increased the challenge of
managing our natural resources sustainably.
In 2009, the FAO´s High Level Experts Forum established that the annual
gap between current and required investment in agriculture in developing
countries is US $67 billion annually. This would require a 50% increase
compared to current funding. And it includes increased funding for
research, among other measures, to boost agriculture productivity.
The G20, along with a myriad of international organizations involved
directly or indirectly in food security, agree: Increased funding for
agricultural research is fundamental.
We know that it is a good financial investment. Even the most
conservative estimates of returns on investment in the CGIAR have shown
rates of return equivalent to at least twice the investment – in some cases
reaching as much as $9 of benefit for each $1 invested.
But that is not the only reason we need more funding for agricultural
research. If we are to improve food security, combat poverty, improve
health and nutrition, all while better managing our natural resources – the
mandate of our Consortium – we must design and implement different
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4. policies and approaches to research that result in greater farmers
empowerment, for them to face the emerging and multiple challenges I
already mentioned.
The need for stronger co-operation and co-ordination in agricultural
research for development
So along with the urgency for greater funding, we also must urgently build
the mechanisms and strategies for stronger co-operation and co-
ordination in agricultural research for development
For example, the CGIAR Consortium which I have the honour to chair, has
thousands of scientists, who work in partnerships with policymakers,
national agricultural research services, and a wide range of private sector,
academic, and non-profit partners to develop innovations that aim to
improve farm productivity and increased incomes by increasing farmer’s
access to proven interventions.
The main thrust of our strategy includes a coherent set of integrated
research for development activities that produce, for instance, improved
crop varieties that remain highly productive under climate stress, such as
drought, floods, salinity, pest infestations. We also undertake research,
through these partnerships, that results in crop varieties that have a
higher nutritional content and significant health benefits for farmers and
consumers. A third example is the improved water and soil management
practices that increase agricultural productivity and resilience. Another
area of research is related to post harvest losses and means of controlling
them through better storage and processing options that allow more of
what farmers produce to reach markets and thereby boost farmers’
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5. incomes. Public policies and investments are also the subject of our
research, aiming at, for example improving farmers’ access to better
infrastructures, including access to market, or improved food safety.
The challenge we face is complex indeed. However, progress can occur if
we focus on long-term solutions appropriate for farmers - and if we can
work together with you, and our other public and private partners, to
develop policies that remove barriers impeding the progress to long-term
food security.
Our strategy is to continually increase investments in the longer-term
strategies that we need to develop higher yielding, and more
environmentally resilient and diversified agricultural systems. These are
essential to feed a growing world population whilst minimizing the carbon
and environmental footprint of our production systems.
The CGIAR – partnering and collaborating to enhance impacts
The CGIAR consortium is composed of 15 international agricultural
research centers that operate through a number of research sites in over
120 countries. The reach and strength of that partnership is further
enhanced by the relatively recent creation of extensive global, regional
and national networks of institutions and stakeholders that work with the
CGIAR Consortium within the framework of well defined agricultural
research for development programs. This significantly increases our ability
to create impact on the ground in terms of our four major objectives,
defined in our new strategy: reducing poverty, improving world food
security, ensuring environmental sustainability and improving nutrition
and health. These networks incorporate National Agricultural Research
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6. Services, regional organizations, rural development specialists, members
of the scientific community, civil society groups, and organizations with
strong links to farmers and innovation systems.
Recently, the CGIAR has embarked on a deep structural reform to better
meet the needs of our partners and end-users. This is allowing us to:
(1) define our research priorities so that new knowledge and technologies
respond to countries’ needs and research outputs are focused on
delivering direct solutions to the world’s food security problems;
(2) integrate different competencies across the 15 centers to create
critical mass and a greater impact on the ground through their collective
action; and
(3) review our partnering approaches to involve the relevant stakeholders
in the best possible way, not only in research, but also in translating
research into innovations and benefits for smallholder agriculture.
Our current CGIAR research programs were developed in consultation
with scientists and partners in all the countries where we work. This
contributed to a strong sense of ownership on the part of all partners, in
the design of the new CGIAR research strategy tailored to meet the
challenges and realities of the coming decades.
This new strategy provides an analytical frame for the new CGIAR research
programs (CRPs). These programs are the main mechanism through which
we conduct our work and collaborate with partners. The 15 CRPs address
seven key areas. These are: agricultural production systems, policies and
markets, commodity improvement, agricultural nutrition and health,
water and soils, forestry and climate change. Priority is given in all these
programs to cross-cutting issues such as gender and capacity
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7. strengthening to ensure that research and resulting benefits are as
effective and equitable as possible.
This new research portfolio represents an unprecedented level of
collaboration among centers and with their partners. These partners
include a number of institutions in the G20 countries. The portfolio builds
on past achievements, adding value by linking activities, and creating
dynamic synergies among them. They will benefit from the CGIAR's critical
mass of leading researchers and its strong links with national research
programs and other partners, especially farmers.
One of the real innovations in new CGIAR research approach is the focus
on setting common objectives with our partners – linking science to the
needs of people in resource-poor areas. We are also taking the concept of
partnerships and ways to tap comparative advantages to a whole new
scale. One example of particular relevance for us today is the potential of
public/private partnerships to identify and advance positive policy
changes, to fill gaps in access, or to spur innovation within a context of
corporate social responsibility and sustainable use of natural resources.
As I noted in the beginning of my presentation, the investment in
agricultural research is urgent – and will have high returns.
With the participation of more institutions and our approach to research
partnerships through the G20, those returns can be even greater and long-
lasting. What’s more, we know that payoffs in investments also translate
into non-monetary gains that also lead to improved lives: gains in social
cohesion, in human capital, in natural resources, and in physical resources
and technology.
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8. To conclude, I would like to summarize my answers to the questions we
were asked to address in this session.
Firstly, we definitely coincide with the importance of sustainable food
production and productivity increase and sustainable resource
management in agriculture as the key operational objective of agricultural
research for development concerning food security.
Secondly, I have already highlighted the priorities, imbedded in the CRPs,
that we are pursuing and which we consider essential to achieve global
food security.
Thirdly, I want to stress the importance of establishing partnerships at
national, regional and international levels to produce a greater impact in
the field.
Fourthly, I would like to submit that our 15 CGIAR research programs are
an important mechanism around which better coordination and
cooperation of research efforts can be organized, including among the
G20 agricultural research systems.
Fifthly, some very valuable example of such collaboration and
coordination are already in place in all the CRPs. We would welcome the
opportunity to further strengthen our cooperation with research
institutions from the G20 countries.
Sixthly, pervasive computing and low-cost connectivity are transforming
the ways that science and development are conducted. Innovative use of
Information and Communication technologies and processes make
collaboration more feasible across country and institutional boundaries.
This “democratization” of science is transforming agricultural science,
research and technology into an effective participatory and innovations
system approach.
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9. I am confident that the G20´s new perspective will have a decisive role in
addressing these questions, and ensuring a more food secure future for
our world. And I assure you that the CGIAR will be one of your strongest
allies to make this happen.
Thank you.
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