Do public-private partnerships in agricultural research and innovation offer a new way to reduce poverty and improve food security in developing countries? Can the public and private sectors find common ground for a common good?

To answer these questions, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has brought together key decision-makers, policy experts and private sector representatives. Over the past year, IFPRI convened a series of meetings around the world to explore how public-private partnerships can contribute to food security, poverty reduction and economic growth in developing countries. Workshops and conferences were held in New Delhi (in collaboration with the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)), Nairobi (in collaboration with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)), Nicaragua and Bolivia, to explore the challenges and opportunities of public-private partnerships and strengthen capacity for developing these collaborations. An international dialogue took place in Washington, DC, to discuss these country-specific experiences.

These dialogues coincide with increased private sector interest in developing country markets, rapidly growing private investments in agricultural research, and the advent of new technologies. At the same time, progress toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals is faltering, particularly for issues related to agriculture. Forging partnerships and collaboration across sectors in agricultural research and development could help reverse this trend.

Participants at these events contended that the rapidly changing global food and agricultural system — the commercialization of smallholder agriculture, for example, and the growing emphasis on markets and market regulation — demands new strategies and behavior from poor farmers in developing countries. Smallholders increasingly bear the brunt of change while hampered by limited access to new knowledge and technologies, weak bargaining power in global supply chains, and minimal input into policymaking processes. Public organizations, private firms and civil society can help bring smallholders into the global system as equal partners.

Participants were quick to illustrate these principles with examples of partnerships that have benefited smallholders by focusing on knowledge sharing, joint learning, resource pooling or risk sharing. Examples include

• germplasm exchanges to promote breeding,
• multiplying and distributing improved crop varieties,
• partnerships to commercialize and distribute post-harvest technologies, and
• collaborations designed to develop entire value chains.

Participants cautioned that public-private partnerships, while promising, are not a panacea for the many development challenges facing smallholders. More analysis is required to determine how cross-sectoral barriers to partnerships can be overcome, how policies and regulations can foster greater partnership, and how these partnerships can be better organized and managed.

IFPRI, in collaboration with the CGIAR System and many of its Centers, intends to answer these questions and help unleash the positive potential of pro-poor public-private partnerships. With cooperation and investment, these efforts may yield tangible results for the poor.

Please see the following stories submitted by ICRISAT and IITA highlighting successful public/private partnerships.