Hyderabad, India
15 February 2013

The power of market opportunities to offer more prosperous lives for smallholder farmers and their families in the dryland tropics was the focus of the Global Planning Meeting of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) held this week (11-15 February) at its headquarters in Patancheru near Hyderabad.

Tackling the complexity of challenges in the tropical drylands of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the GPM was attended by about 160 senior scientists and managers from ICRISAT’s locations in India (headquarters), Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA), and West and Central Africa (WCA).

"We should never forget to connect the improvement of our crops to the improvement of the poor peoples’ lives," said ICRISAT Director General William Dar in his address at the opening program of the GPM.

“We must ensure that our agricultural research for development initiatives, which we implement with hundreds of partners like public and private institutes and organizations, governments, and farmers globally, help the dryland poor move from poverty to prosperity by harnessing markets while managing risks – a strategy we call Inclusive Market Oriented Development (IMOD). We must make value chains truly work for the poor! That is IMOD,” Dr Dar stressed.

The focus on IMOD was discussed at the GPM in the context of how to transition the Institute’s work most effectively into the new CGIAR Research Programs. ICRISAT is leading the CGIAR Research Programs on Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals, two of the sixteen multi-Center CGIAR Research Programs and the most comprehensive research-for-development (R4D) efforts undertaken thus far on once ‘orphan’ or neglected crops. ICRISAT is also an active partner in the implementation of five other CGIAR Research Programs on: Dryland Systems; Policies, Institutions and Markets; Agriculture for Nutrition and Health; Water, Land and Ecosystems; and Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security.

According to Dr Dar, “the best partnerships are those that share a common purpose, with clear roles and responsibilities and sharing of decisions from beginning to end – we call this ‘partnerships with purpose’. Advancing IMOD under the CGIAR Research Programs, our partnerships must uphold the value of mutual respect – we would co-develop and co-deliver the technology to the poor on an equal partner basis.”

“This year’s five-day GPM particularly provided opportunities to better understand the CGIAR Research Programs, and for all ICRISAT scientists to agree that the Institute’s commitments to the outputs and outcomes of the programs will be achieved,” said Dr David Hoisington, Deputy Director General for Research, at the meeting’s closing program.

ICRISAT’s Global Planning Meeting is held every two years, and convenes the Institute’s senior scientists and managers primarily to discuss and prioritize research-for-development work plans and critical focus areas, and promote and internalize team development and cultural change.
 

Website: http://www.icrisat.org

Published: February 15, 2013