Technical Advisory Committee Seventy-Fifth Meeting, 21-26 September 1998: Report of the Meeting

Abstract

Report of TAC 75, held at CIMMYT, El Batan, Mexico, September 21-26, 1998, Don Winkelmann presiding. (Draft approved without change.) TAC prepared commentaries on the EPMRs of CIFOR, ICRAF, and the first external review of the SGRP. TAC agreed that CIFOR should improve priority-setting, and expand social science research to support work on devolution of management, smallholder forestry, and reforestation of marginal lands; and that ICRAF should update its strategic plan. TAC urged a joint strategic planning exercise. TAC judged that IPGRI, with advice from the Intercenter Working Group on Genetic Resources (ICWG-GR), should be responsible for implementing SGRP functions critical to the CGIAR, but noted the System Review would resolve this issue.TAC reviewed 1999 center financing plans in terms of congruence with the approved research agenda and the implications of potential financing gaps. It recommended that the CGIAR to redress relative underinvestment in livestock and water management, shifting shares in the commodity portfolio, absolute underinvestment in most commodities and centers, and financing gaps faced by several smaller centers.The Committee suggested broadening the study on CGIAR commitments in Latin America and the Caribbean. It selected ICRISAT to receive the King Baudouin Award for pigeon pea research (commentary attached). TAC discussed the proposed logical framework (logframe) for the CGIAR and suggested streamlining it for presentation at ICW98. The study of marginal lands would be concluded with a synthesis paper for TAC 76.TAC discussed, and agreed to consider further, three strategic issues: a response to rapid advances in biotechnology; IARC working relationships with NARS; and, partnerships in general. TAC also considered poverty in priority setting, an IFPRI study of rates of return to research, a report on interaction with the NGO committee, and an inventory of center activities related to climate change.