Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)

Useful Links

CGIAR

http://www.cgiar.org/

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) is a strategic alliance of countries, international and regional organisations, and private foundations supporting 15 international agricultural Centres, that work with national agricultural research systems and civil society organisations including the private sector. The alliance mobilises agricultural science to reduce poverty, foster human well being, promote agricultural growth and protect the environment. The CGIAR generates global public goods that are available to all.

CGIAR research focuses on improving every critical component of the agricultural sector including agroforestry, biodiversity, food, forage and tree crops, pro-environment farming techniques, fisheries, forestry, livestock, food policies and agricultural research services. CGIAR focuses on five areas:

• Sustainable production (crops, livestock, fisheries, forests and natural resources)
• Enhancing national capacities (through joint research, policy support, training, and knowledge-sharing)
• Germplasm improvement (for priority crops, livestock, trees and fish)
• Germplasm collection (including holding in public trust the world's largest seed collections in 11 genebanks)
• Policy (fostering research on policies that have a major impact on agriculture, food, health, spread of new technologies and the management and conservation of natural resources)

DFID is one of the founding members of the CGIAR and provides continuing unrestricted core funding to all 15 centres and all 4 Challenge Programmes. The emerging purposes of DFID’s engagement with the CGIAR is to improve its effectiveness in terms of poverty reduction and gearing towards achievement of Millennium Development Goals. DFID actively participates in the governance systems of the CGIAR and supports the reform programme in which the system is engaged, seeking to ensure that the CGIAR’s Science and Executive Councils have the authority and governance mechanisms to establish system-wide policies, priorities and strategies.

DFID continues to work with the European Initiative for Agricultural Research for Development (EIARD) for the adoption of Europe-wide positions on Agricultural Research for Development and supports initiatives such as the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) to secure better engagement between IARCs and developing countries. DFID works to establish a more effective voice for poor farmers, consumers and others who depend on agriculture in the CGIAR system. The aim is to establish a policy framework that increases poor people’s voice throughout the system.

DFID also works to promote more effective relationships between the CGIAR, the private sector and national systems, to respond to priorities, to ensure effective capacity building in developing countries, to effectively balance private and public sector initiatives in line with their comparative advantage and to identify new areas for further collaboration and partnership.