Institute of Development Studies

Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development

09 April 2010 - Yvonne Pinto

There are more than a billion poor and hungry people in the world today, one in six of us is hungry and yet the commitments towards official development assistance to agriculture has been declining over the last twenty years, from USD 8 billion in 1984 to USD 3.5 billion in 2005.

Laboratories and research institutions around the world are working on ways to enhance food production and greater adaptability leading to improved nutrition, but the innovations being developed are not reaching the small-scale farmers in the areas where the highest number of the poor and malnourished live. Yet, these farmers control 20% of the global food trade. The International Fund for Agricultural Development estimates that roughly 500 million small scale farmers worldwide support 2 billion people.

Research systems and innovation pathways aimed at poor farmers

The first Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD), which was held in Montpellier from 28-31st March, came about in direct response to these issues. Organised by the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) and with support from the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research Centres (CGIAR) and Agropolis International, the conference attracted over 1000 policy makers, researchers, farmers, civil society, donors and ministers from every region of the world to develop a new agricultural research for development (AR4D) architecture geared towards the reduction of poverty and hunger.

The conference aimed to translate commitments for investment in agricultural development into concrete actions required to strengthen national agricultural research for development systems and drive reform and reorientation of agricultural research systems and innovation pathways for delivery to meet the demand for improved livelihoods of resource poor farmers. It brought together all the key players to iron out and build consensus for an action plan that would take the research system towards greater impact for small scale farmers.

Improving partnerships on the ground

There was broad acceptance and commitment to drive a focus for research on poor farmers and that improved partnerships will be the key necessity to achieve impact on the ground. IDS Director, Professor Lawrence Haddad, presented on the Agricultural Learning and Impacts Network (ALINe) (links to PowerPoint presentation). ALINe enables different partners, including farmers to be involved in the design, planning and monitoring and evaluation, rather than implementation only of AR4D activities. ALINe provides a mechanism to establish partnerships based on principles of mutual trust, respect, transparency and accountability and on common and agreed goals and outcomes. It recently inaugurated the Farmer Voice Awards, which celebrate leading examples of development organisations successfully nurturing and responding to smallholder farmers' own efforts. The Awards aimed to showcase organisations that listen and respond to what farmers say, throughout the course of their activities, and are part of ALINe's approach to piloting innovation.

A more effective AR4D system geared towards the reduction of poverty and hunger

Whilst there was acceptance too that declarations, commitments and speeches don't feed hungry people, the stakeholders committed to a road map towards a more effective AR4D system which would reflect the following components:

• Adopts a problem-solving approach to priorities with a focus on selectivity, with regional and regional organizations as the foci
• Focuses on researchable or proven technologies and/or their delivery to meet farmer constraints on technology adoption
• Addresses constraints identified through regional consultations e.g., human resource development, incentives for scientists, accountability and effectiveness of multiple partnerships
• Facilitates the rapid generation of innovations in support of the spread of knowledge and technologies to small holders and delivery of services to reach the poor
• Promotes effective use of collective capacities, particularly networks, by strengthening key relationships among research, development (extension, seed suppliers, the banking sector) and farmer actors
• Actively achieves increased investments in human, institutional and financial resources
• Promotes coordinated operational linkages among donors and development partners, aimed at measurable development impacts
• Increases mutual and equal accountability among all stakeholders
• Commits to action
• Achieves credible monitoring, evaluation and reporting on what has changed.

In two years time, these stakeholders will return to assess progress against these goals.

Yvonne Pinto is the Director of ALINe and, until the end of March, was also the Programme Manager organising and delivering the Global Conference Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD).

Image credit: Richard Hawkins

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