The first-ever Science Forum “Global Agricultural Science for Impact” kicked off the stakeholder session of the 2005 Annual General Meeting.

Opening session at AGM05 Science Forum

A major highlight of the Science Forum was a discussion of the “ System Priorities for CGIAR Research for 2005-2015” whose overall goal is to improve the livelihood of low-income people in developing countries through reduced poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition, and to foster better institutions, policies, and sustainable management of natural resources of importance to agriculture and poor people.

The priorities, subsequently approved by acclamation by the CGIAR, are fully compatible with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The five system priorities for research approved by the CGIAR are:

• Sustaining biodiversity for current and future generations
• Producing more and better food at lower cost through genetic improvements
• Reducing rural poverty through agricultural diversification and emerging opportunities for high-value commodities and products
• Promoting poverty alleviation and sustainable management of water, land, and forest resources
• Improving policies and facilitating institutional innovation to support sustainable reduction of poverty and hunger

At the Science Forum, participants used the recommended priorities as the basis for engaging in discussion and debate at ten parallel sessions. The first group of parallel sessions, entitled “CGIAR Priorities: Science for the Poor” looked at specific sub-priority areas as starting points for discussion.

• Sustaining biodiversity: conservation of indigenous livestock. The livestock economy is dynamic and changing rapidly, requiring farmers to adapt and respond faster than ever before. Conserving livestock is a global public good. International, regional, and national policies for livestock conservation need to be coherent so as to better serve the needs of poor pastoralists and herders
  
• Genetic improvement: genetic enhancement of selected species. This session discussed genetic improvements through marker-assisted selection, the move from trait-based to recombination-based selection, and improvement of techniques to identify diversity, management of alleles at target loci, and targeted use of genetic interventions. A wide-ranging discussion ensued, with active participation by representatives of African national programs
  
• Agricultural diversification and high-value commodities and products: Increasing income through fruit and vegetables : Participants discussed the research niches for CGIAR research, high-value commodities (e.g. indigenous but neglected crops), chain of value creation (quality seeds, plant breeding, biotechnology, seed delivery, post-harvest technologies) and the need to help farmers better manage risks associated with high-value commodity markets.
  
• Sustainable management of water, land and forest resources: Integrated land, water and forest management at landscape level. Presentations and discussions highlighted the need for interdisciplinary approaches, including socioeconomics, policies, and institutions. Participants noted that time and effort should not be expended on defining scale in advance. Rather, scale is an outcome of a problem-driving process of progressive contextualization and empirical research.
• Improving policies and facilitating institutional innovation: Improving policies, institutions and technologies to support sustainable poverty reduction . The term ‘poverty trap’ is more widely used than precisely understood. Case studies presented pointed to the fact that sustainable poverty reduction depends upon research, including on policy and institutions, and this has consequences for setting priorities in biophysical and social science research. More cooperation with national agricultural research systems (NARS) is needed, especially since they have the capacity of delivering strong social science components with greater proximity and access to the societies they serve.

The second set of parallel sessions addressed the key area of “Strengthening Research-for-Development Capacities,” and featured presentations from national partners and farmers. Session topics included:

• Farmers as research and technology transfer partners. T his session featured presentations by three farmers (from Egypt, Jordan and Syria) who spoke about their experiences in participatory plant breeding (PPB). Successful examples of PPB being implemented by ICARDA and Africa Rice Center were highlighted. The PPB approach allows the democratization of science and facilitates ownership and transfer of scientific outputs to farmers.
  
• Local, regional and global science capacity . T he role of capacity building is crucial to sustain public agricultural research at all levels, and priorities should focus on the development of pro-poor technologies, and facilitating research partnerships. Research alone was felt to be insufficient. The role of innovation, sound policies and effective institutions is also important.
  
• Embedding Research in a System of Innovation . The opening presentation compared agricultural innovation systems to agricultural research systems. By definition, research is an integral part of a system of innovation. However, research is not in the center of an innovation system; there are many other players such as farmers, policy makers, extension agents, civil society, and the private sector. Scientific research on its own is not sufficient – it needs to be complemented with other research (e.g. markets, policies, extension, and civil society) and supported by government policies and community actions.
  
• Evaluation of CGIAR training . Results from a study commissioned by the Science Council were presented, and showed convincing evidence of the relevance and quality of CGIAR training activities for strengthening NARS capacity in order to undertake collaborative scientific research.
  
• Scientific capacity and economic growth : This presentation provided a global overview of the structure of science and technology and research-for-development activities in industrialized, emerging, and low-income economies. Questions posed by the presentation relate to the bias toward food crops produced in less favorable zones in developing countries, and the need for diversification in the rural economy. However, country and regional specificities, time dimension, and distributional effects on income from the shift toward diversification need to be thought out. Hybrid business environments (relating to intellectual property) may be a model that could be considered. Different partnership models for research in high-value commodities (including public, private, and civil society) must be explored.

At an evaluation in the business meeting, CGIAR Members gave high marks to parallel sessions, appreciating the format and quality of presentations as well as the extensive opportunities for discussion and debate by CGIAR stakeholders.

Jordanian farmer Kewila Omar Kewila Hamad