Dar completes tour of duty

MANILA, Philippines - The only Filipino to date who has served as head of a global agricultural research institute will relinquish his post on Dec. 31, 2014, after an unprecedented three,  five-year term, leaving behind a legacy benefitting millions of farmers in India, Africa, and other dryland countries in the world, including the Philippines.

Dr. William Dollente Dar, 61, from Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur, who is the director general of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), based in India, has transformed ICRISAT into one of the best agricultural research institutes in the world in terms of innovative research programs, impact to clienteles, and financial health and stability.

Through his strong and transformative leadership and astute governance, Dar has quadrupled the income and investments poured into ICRISAT since he took over in 2000 from $21 million to $85 million as of 2014.

“We have turned around ICRISAT into a financially-stable, and a leading global research institute, receiving several awards particularly from the CGIAR,” said Dar, who served as Philippine Agriculture secretary from July 1998 to May 1999. 

CGIAR is a consortium of 15 research institutes in the world that also include the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines.

With the innovative research-for-development (R4D) programs he introduced, ICRISAT continues to attract much-needed R4D investments for the development of modern, climate-smart and sustainable crop cultivars and technologies of its five major commodities (pearl millet, chickpea, cowpea, groundnut and sorghum) which  are farmed by millions of smallholder families in semi-arid countries.

 The top donor of ICRISAT to date is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, contributing about $18 million per year, which is allotted to the conduct of ICRISAT’s major R4D initiatives.

Two projects being funded by the foundation are the HOPE project (Harnessing Opportunities for Productivity Enhancement of Sorghum and Millets) and the Tropical Legumes II (TL-II) project.

The HOPE project seeks to increase by 30 percent the productivity of sorghum and millets in 200,000 farmers’ fields in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, while TL-II aims to enhance productivity of six legume crops (groundnut, cowpea, common bean, chickpea, pigeonpea and soybean) by at least 20 percent through improved cultivars and management practices and the development of markets and value chains.

ICRISAT has also partnered with the Philippines’ Department of Agriculture, through the Bureau of Agricultural Research, sharing modern sustainable farming technologies and cultivars of sweet sorghum, peanut, cowpea (garbanzos) and chickpea (garbanzos) to  farmers in rainfed areas of Cagayan Valley, Ilocos, Southern Luzon and  Southern Mindanao.

The other notable achievements of ICRISAT under Dr. Dar’s  watch include:

1. The formulation of a new, more dynamic institutional strategy known as Inclusive Market-Oriented Development (IMOD) which shifted ICRISAT’s focus towards enabling poor farmers to harness markets for poverty escape.

2. Establishment of centers of scientific excellence for genomics, transgenic and climate change research, and information and communications technology (ICT) innovations for agriculture.

3. An inclusive and technology-based entrepreneurship and agribusiness program through public-private partnerships to bring science-based technologies and products to the market for the benefit of smallholder farmers.

As he is set to return to the Philippines, Dr. Dar will share his management and technical experience and knowledge with Filipino farmers, particularly in transforming barren and unproductive farmlands into productive, sustainable and climate-smart farms through an agri-based movement called Inang Lupa.