World’s top agri scientists meet in RP

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna – Some 500 research administrators and scientists from various parts of the world began their five-day meeting in the Philippines here yesterday, confident that research can considerably help enable countries to feed their burgeoning population.

The optimism was echoed by Dr. Ian Johnson, chairman of the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), who said: "Yes we can."

However, he said at a press conference later that more funds should be funneled into research to develop cutting-edge technologies that can effectively address such issues as food security, resource management, and environmental management.

The CGIAR official asserted that there should be more investments in agriculture, particularly in the developing countries.

Earlier at the opening program of the CGIAR annual general meeting (AGM) held at the UP Los Baños auditorium, Dr. Johnson underscored the need to earnestly address the formidable challenge of producing enough food for the rapidly increasing world population, particularly the "poorest of the poor in our societies."

There will be "doubling of demands" not only in food needs but also in incomes in at least four decades, he said, adding that the 16 Future Harvest Centers of CGIAR are addressing crucial issues in close partnership with national agricultural research systems (NARS).

Washington, DC, USA-based CGIAR is a strategic alliance of 16 international agricultural research centers (formally called Future Harvest Centers), 58 members (including 22 developing and 21 industrialized countries), investors, and hundreds of partner-organizations that mobilize science to benefit poor people.

CGIAR sponsors include the World Bank, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN-FAO), UN Development Program (UNDP), UN Environmental Program (UNEP), and the European Union.

This is the first time that CGIAR is holding its annual general meeting outside Washington, DC.

Another opening program speaker, Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Q. Montemayor, spoke in the same vein, saying: "It is worth investing in agricultural research."

He stressed: "We have to invest more on developing and adopting new technologies that reduce production costs, boost productivity, enhance competitiveness, and increase our farmers’ earnings."

In the past 50 years, he noted, agriculture research has demonstrated its ability to improve the productivity of farmers. However, we also learned that the opportunity to increase productivity does not materialize unless producers gain access to markets.

He further asserted that agriculture research plays an important role in the quest for world peace and progress for five reasons:

• Poverty provides the spawning ground for local and global conflicts and terrorism.

• In practically all the countries in the South today, including the Philippines, poverty is principally a rural phenomenon.

• Central to the improvement of the lives of the rural poor is boosting agricultural and farm incomes.

• Agricultural research is the major instrument in the development of productivity enhancing technologies in the context of sustainable production systems.

• Increases in agricultural productivity must be accompanied by increased access to global markets, especially by the small producers.

Finally, Montemayor proposed that CGIAR partners agree on increasing their financial contributions to the CGIAR, "which will after all redound to our common welfare and interests."

Other opening program speakers were Dr. Angeline Kamba, chairman of the board of trustees of the International Rice Research Institute, who talked on IRRI and the Philippine-IRRI partnership; Director Eliseo R. Ponce of the DA-Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR), who spoke on the Philippine agriculture R&D and partnership with CGIAR; Los Baños Mayor Caesar Perez; UP Los Baños chancellor Dr. Wilfredo David; and Laguna Governor Teresita Lazaro (through a representative).