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The CGIAR at 40: A Celebration ... “Remarks on Multilateralism in the New CGIAR”
I feel very honored to speak at today’s celebration, and would like to thank FAO for hosting
this important event. I would also like to thank all of the distinguished guests—many of
whom are long-time partners and supporters of the CGIAR—for joining us to mark the
impressive achievements of the past four decades, achievements that have played a
critical role in providing pathways out of extreme poverty and hunger.
As Executive Secretary of the CGIAR Fund Council and Head of the Fund Office, I am
extremely aware of how investment in agricultural research in general, and in the past 40
years of CGIAR work in particular, has been instrumental in improving the lives of millions
of people across the world. If not for the CGIAR and its many partners, developing
countries would be producing 7-8 percent less food and consuming 5 percent less per
capita, and our planet would also have been more seriously damaged by greater
environmental degradation. Because spending on agricultural research has lifted millions
out of poverty and hunger, it has been a very wise investment. In terms of overall
economic gains, the benefits of CGIAR research have been, at a bare minimum, roughly
nine times the investment—and some estimates show considerably higher returns.
Despite the remarkable successes of the past 40 years, if the CGIAR is going to continue
to have significant impact and spur positive changes in the lives of poor people in the face
of new and growing challenges, investment in public agricultural research must rise
substantially, and become more stable, reliable, and predictable. To achieve these
objectives, the reforms of the past two years include fundamental changes in how the
CGIAR secures and allocates funding. Guided by the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid
Effectiveness, the CGIAR created the Fund—which is governed by the Fund Council—to
ensure that the resources are used effectively, efficiently, and strategically.
Nearly 10 years after the First High Level Forum took place here in Rome, marking the first
occasion at which the principles of aid effectiveness were outlined in concrete terms, this
week, the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness was held in Busan, South Korea.
Donors and developing countries participating in the Busan forum reaffirmed their
commitment to inclusiveness, transparency, results, and untied aid. These are the very
principles that the new CGIAR has incorporated into its strategy to manage funding and
donor involvement. They include:
- pooling resources in a common fund and harmonizing donor investments and
- reporting requirements to ensure mutual accountability;
- shifting from institutional to programmatic funding based on agreed strategies and
- priorities;
- reducing thousands of small, unrelated and restricted projects driven by donors to
- avoid the fragmentation and duplication of the past;
- setting out clear and measurable output and outcome indicators in the Performance
- Contracts between donors and those who implement the research; and
- establishing robust monitoring and evaluation processes to track impact.
In keeping with a focus on results, the new research programs are required to outline their
expected achievements and provide ambitious but realistic and verifiable targets—with
clear timelines—against which progress can be monitored and evaluated. The
performance and impact of the CGIAR will be assessed through comprehensive,
independent, and publicly disclosed evaluations.
One year after the CGIAR Fund was opened, donors have already contributed about half
of their overall funding to the CGIAR multilaterally, through the Fund. Of that, about 80
percent is untied aid—evidence of the multilateral approach in action. The CGIAR’s
proposed research programs will require at least $1 billion in funding per year by 2013. As
the Fund continues to grow, our aim is to ensure that the proportion of untied aid also
continues to increase, thereby maximizing donor harmonization.
Unfortunately, time is not on our side. The global population is expected to reach more
than 9 billion people in 2050. To feed everyone, we will have to increase food production
by an astounding 70 percent. Today, nearly one billion people remain undernourished.
Annual growth in cereal yields has decreased from about three percent in the 1970s to
only one percent today due to underinvestment in agricultural research and development.
The time between investing in research and realizing increased productivity is long,
measured in decades rather years. And we still do not know the full implications of
persistent underinvestment in agriculture. To make matters worse, there is little room for
expansion of arable land, and water resources for agriculture are declining. Over the next
50 years, climate variability and weather related-stress, such as severe droughts and
floods, are predicted to diminish average crop yields by 16 percent globally and by 28
percent in Africa, the most food insecure region of the world.
If we’re going to substantially improve future food security, we have to act today. The
CGIAR Centers formed a Consortium to address priority global issues, and the CGIAR
Fund allows donors to pool their resources, similar to other global initiatives, to provide the
necessary financing for research solutions. The CGIAR Fund needs commitments of multiyear funding to enable long-term planning of research, allocation of resources based on
agreed priorities, and to disburse funding in a timely and predictable fashion.
In celebrating the successes of the CGIAR, we must recognize the unfailing contributions
of all our donors. Today, as we implement a multilateral approach to funding, we thank
those donors who have shown faith in this approach and encourage other donors to join
the CGIAR’s global Fund, which is the largest public vehicle for financing the technological
advances needed to secure an adequate global food supply. “How” we invest is as
important as “how much,” and “how soon” we adequately finance the pursuit of
technological solutions will determine whether everyone’s right to food is finally
guaranteed.
As we celebrate our remarkable mutual accomplishments of the past four decades, we
look forward to working in tandem to achieve many more successes on behalf of the poor,
marginalized, and less fortunate people of this world. Now is the time for action. Now is the
time to redouble our investments, to intensify our commitments, knowing that the scourge
of chronic hunger and poverty can be, and must be, eliminated.
Thank you very much.
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