Message from Mr Mark Holderness, Executive Secretary, GFAR Those of you who were with us in the GCARD 2010 in Montpellier, France, last March will know the excitement and energy generated in that event around transforming agricultural research for development. GFAR, together with the CGIAR, are now initiating preparations for the next Conference in the … More Invitation to express your country’s interest in hosting the GCARD 2012 Conference

Message from Mr Mark Holderness, Executive Secretary, GFAR Following requests at the recent (July 2010) CGIAR Fund Council meeting, the CGIAR Consortium Board has now compiled and made available a list of all the consultations with partners that are being organized by the CGIAR Centers around their development of proposed Mega-program concepts. The purpose of these … More Get involved with the CGIAR Mega-program Consultations

Montpellier, 27 April 2010. Mark Holderness (GFAR) was one of the five keynote speakers in the opening session at the International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists IAALD 2010 Congress. He stresses the need for rethinking the way we look at agricultural research and the role of agricultural information. How can these made accessible, available and … More GCARD2010: Rethinking The Way We Look At Agricultural Research

Global Conference Helps Set CGIAR Research Agenda April 9, 2010 The food price crisis of 2008 revealed serious failings in the global food system. The global community responded with renewed commitment to agricultural development, as evidenced by a series of immediate actions as well as an agenda for mid- to long-term initiatives designed to avert … More GCARD2010: World Bank Analysis GCARD

From Freetown to Nairobi to Delhi, London, Sydney, and host city Montpellier, GCARD related media coverage reached far and wide on news pages, airwaves, and web pages in every region of the world. Several dozen media outlets covered a wide range of topics underscoring the unique diversity of GCARD participant, their viewpoints, and stories. Nature … More GCARD2010 Media Wrap-Up

“Montpellier Roadmap” Outlines Priorities of Farm Research for Development Agenda; Focus on Farmers, Women in Decision-making For more information, please contact: Jeff Haskins at +254 729 871 422 (Kenya) or jhaskins@burnesscommunications.com Denise Young at +33 6 7115 4670 (Paris) or dyoung@burnesscommunications.com For Immediate Release MONTPELLIER (31 March 2010) —Failure to prioritize agriculture and rural development … More GCARD2010 Press release: Historic Dialogue between Agricultural Scientists, Farmers, Policymakers, and Other Key Development Actors Charts New Path

Parallel sessions addressed systematic/strategic reform needs, action plan and framework components generated from the 2009 GCARD consultations. Discussion of key strategic needs across systems included: Better Benefiting the Poor through Private Sector Innovation and Actions Managing Risks to Farmers in a Time of Change Knowledge, information and advice in agri-foods systems Thinking Forward: Better Predicting and Addressing Future Needs … More GCARD2010: What needs to change for agricultural research and extension systems to be more effective agents of development?

Mark Holderness, Executive Secretary of GFAR, opened Day 3 of the conference by calling upon the participants for decisive collection action: “We’ve set the theme over the last two days. I can see you are all fired up to do something; now is your chance.” Dr. Mahmoud Solh, Director General of ICARDA, affirmed the need … More GCARD2010: Research themes for the CGIAR: A discussion

On behalf of the NGOs Dr. Assetou Kanoute of the Association for Development of Production and Training Activities, Mali red the following statement: We appreciate the support that enabled the participation of NGOs at this first Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development.  However, our presence here should not be seen as an automatic endorsement of … More NGO Statement at GCARD 2010

This statement represents perspectives of the young researchers at GCARD 2010, a group of 40 young male and female researchers from 26 countries who participated in the Young Researcher’s Seminar organized by the French Initiative for International Research (FI4IAR: a joint venture of INRA and CIRAD) in collaboration with Agropolis Fondation. We represent a range … More Statement of young researchers at GCARD 2010

Radio France Internationale ran a half-hour programme on March 31 on their environmental daily show called “C’est Pas Du Vent” devoted to GCARD. The programme was recorded in the studios of France Bleu in Montpellier, and featured studio guests Emile Frison of Bioversity and Omar Diouf of CARBAP, as well as two segments pre-recorded from the … More GCARD2010: GCARD “C’est Pas Du Vent”

Download the newsletter of the third GCARD day. See all videos See all the photos

Montpellier, France March 29, 2010 Thank you and Good Evening to all.  I was recently appointed a Special Advisor to USAID Administrator, Dr. Rajiv Shah and to stand in for him at this meeting. It is an honor for me to be here with you today, and particularly to come before you carrying a message … More A Message to GCARD2010 from USAID Administrator, Dr. Rajiv Shah

In his video address to GCARD, the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan highlighted that “our goal must be to support the small resource poor farmers and the people who rely on them”. For this to happen we need to establish parallel funding flows , build dynamic national systems, and we need an agricultural value … More GCARD2010: Day 4 starts with a Kofi Annan video address to GCARD

“If we can provide the farmers with |high technologies, or good technologies, that’s fine. But if we cannot, yten we must look into the farmers’ technology. Research should not be for the purpose of research or for the purpose of publications. There are a lot of innovations in the field with the farmers.” AKM Zakari, … More GCARD2010: Scientists have produced quite a number of good technologies

Organized by the Farming First Coalition and chaired by Lindiwe Sibanda of FARNPAN and Joyce Cacho of Novus Int., the session covered a myriad of issues and perspectives, including: clarity in identifying and addressing the problem; careful choice of partners; explanation on how and when the poor will benefit; the importance of indicators; simplicity of … More GCARD2010: Better Benefiting the Poor through Private Sector Innovation and Actions

The session focused on the challenges of climate change, uncertain markets and price volatility, and competition for land and water for other uses than food production. Participants called for risk management plans and adaptation tools for small-holder farmers. “We face price volatility that is perhaps more severe now than ever,” said Jack Wilkinson, Vice Chairman … More GCARD2010: Managing Risks to Farmers in a Time of Change

Agricultural research and innovation are vital mechanisms for AR4D that should be driven directly by stakeholders participating in innovation systems, according to participants of the Knowledge, information, and advice in agri-food systems session. Participants noted that public research systems, by design, are based on the open and free exchange of ideas, and public access to … More GCARD2010: Knowledge, information and advice in agri-foods systems

This session, chaired by President of Agropolis International Dr. Bernard Hubert, provided participants with the most recent “forward looking” research for world agriculture, including the IAASTD and the 2008 World Development Report (WDR).  Respondents from the GFAR regional fora commented on the convergent and divergent views of the steering committee research prepared for the session. … More GCARD2010: Thinking Forward: Better Predicting and Addressing Future Needs