This paper by the Global Authors’ Team (GAT, composed by Uma Lele, Jules Pretty, Eugene Terry, and Eduardo Trigo with assistance from Maggie Klousia) has been commissioned by the Global Forum on International Agricultural Research (GFAR) as an input into the Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD).
It builds on the consultations conducted over nearly a year as part of the GCARD process, in Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, the North Africa and West Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia and the Caucuses, Western Europe, with additional contributions from China and other Emerging Economies. Some 2000 stakeholders of agricultural research from different sectors participated in these consultations. The paper also draws on the team’s analysis of the state of the world agricultural research undertaken by or for the benefit of developing countries and the rapidly changing international context in which the research is conducted.
The Team reviewed nearly 300 recent and historical documents, drew on their own collective experience of nearly 35 years each in different parts of the world as well as benefiting from perspectives and comments on the earlier draft from the authors of Regional Papers, leaders of international, regional and national research systems, colleagues in IFAD, FAO, GFAR, the CGIAR, the World Bank, IDS and many others. The team will reflect the discussions at GCARD and the paper will be finalized by the end of April 2010.
The views expressed in the paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the GFAR Steering Committee, its constituents or the donors who have financed GFAR and the GCARD process Comments are welcome from all readers.
Download the executive summary
Download the full report (2.5 Mb)
Read the press release
Read also the BBC coverage ”Big food push urged to avoid global hunger“
Filed under: 2010 Conference Tagged: | GAT, Press release
[...] two leading agricultural experts, Drs Monty Jones and Uma Lele, lead author of the global author’s report released on the eve of the conference, highlighted the need for a new global research agenda that [...]
[...] “The report cites a World Bank estimate that 1.4 billion people were living in poverty in 2005, since the economic crash of 2008 estimates are another 100 million people have joined that list. The group says a steady decline in policy attention to agriculture and rural development has been a major cause for the increase. It charges that while short-term emergency food aid has increased, little has been done to address hunger long-term in developing and developed countries. Except for China, India and Brazil, ‘capacity of most developing countries in agricultural research and development has been winding down.’ Just four countries, the United States, Japan, France and Germany, accounted for 66 percent of all global agricultural public research and development in 2000. Meanwhile, 80 countries with a combined population of 625 million people conducted only 6.3 percent of total agricultural R & D.” [...]