Rome, Italy
June 6, 2008
Bioversity
International, one of the 15 international agricultural
research centres supported by the Consultative Group on
International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), today broadly
welcomed the declaration adopted yesterday by the High-Level
Conference on World Food Security in Rome.
"While there was a lot that governments could not agree on, such
as trade agreements and biofuels, two things were mentioned in
almost every statement; the need for humanitarian aid and the
need to invest more in agricultural research and development,"
said Emile Frison, Director General of Bioversity International,
who represented the CGIAR at the High-Level Conference.
Thanks to pledges of additional support, The World Food
Programme and others will be able to help those in greatest
need.
"That's excellent, but we also need to see money to match the
rhetoric of more research and development. Otherwise, when the
food crisis reoccurs, as it will, it will be even worse than
this time," Frison warned.
The Declaration "urge[s] the international community, including
the private sector, to decisively step up investment in science
and technology for food and agriculture".
Among the many delegates calling for greater support for
research and development was Ed Schafer, US Secretary of
Agriculture.
"We must invest in scientists and research institutions," he
told the conference on the opening day. He also said that he had
discussed how to increase agricultural productivity in
developing countries with Norman Borlaug, the Nobel Laureate
whose work with the forerunners of the CGIAR produced the Green
Revolution and is estimated to have saved a billion lives.
"That's ironic," Frison said. He noted that the US government
has cut its allocation to the CGIAR by about US$30 million this
year, equivalent to eliminating one entire centre and
effectively blocking all new research.
"Dr Borlaug has written several letters to the administration
asking them to reconsider the decision to cut funding," said
Frison. "I hope that with all the promises made here in Rome
they will now reconsider."
The Declaration separates immediate and short-term measures from
medium- and long-term measures. Among the former, it calls for
support to give the worst affected farmers "access to
appropriate locally adapted seeds, fertilizers, animal feed and
other inputs ... to increase agricultural production."
An Action Plan for coping with the current food price crisis
drawn up by the CGIAR Centres and presented to the meeting
indicated that this was one area in which the Centres were ready
to contribute right now.
"With donor support, CGIAR Centres can certainly provide the
seeds, technology and know-how that partners can then use to
help farmers increase their harvests," Frison said.
For the medium and long term, the Declaration points out that
"it is essential to address the fundamental question of how to
increase the resilience of present food production systems to
challenges posed by climate change."
"The Declaration says that 'maintaining biodiversity is key to
sustaining future production performance'. I'd go further than
that. We need to make much greater use of agricultural
biodiversity now," Frison said.
"This is a very important point," he continued. "The farming
systems of poor people in marginal lands can become more
productive and more resilient in the face of external pressures,
and not just those of climate change. That will take research,
and to do that will take additional investment." |
|
