The
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has reached agreement
with CGIAR (Consultative Group on
International Agricultural Research) Consortium to collaborate more closely in order to
increase the effectiveness and impact of their work.
They
have pledged to establish “a strong and long-lasting collaborative effort
building on the different institutional strengths of both organizations”.
The
CGIAR Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers integrates and
coordinates agricultural research programs of 15 centres around the world.
The
Consortium, together with its financing arm, the CGIAR Fund, was established in
2010 in a reform of the Consultative Group on International
Agricultural Research, a worldwide network of agricultural research centres
created four decades earlier.
One
particular area of cooperation involves making new breakthroughs and
technologies developed by CGIAR and others available to small-scale farmers.
CGIAR
research in 2010 accounted for $673 million or just over 10 percent of the $5.1
billion spent worldwide on agricultural research for development.
The
benefits are estimated to be billions of dollars, and it is estimated that
one dollar invested in CGIAR research yields about nine dollars in increased
productivity in developing countries.
CGIAR
research is funded by more than 25 nations and several international
organizations and NGOs (non-government organizations).
It
is aimed at reducing rural poverty, increasing food security, improving human
health and nutrition, and ensuring the more sustainable management of natural
resources.
