Researchers vow to work for the poor<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A group of international agricultural
\nscientists, acknowledging the difficulty of maintaining the
\ncurrent levels of food crop yields, has agreed to prioritize its
\nresearch programs on ensuring food security for the poor.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the Consultative Group on International
\nAgricultural Research (CGIAR) Ismail Serageldin told a press
\nconference here yesterday that CGIAR members are aware that the
\nworld's increasing population and the stable level of food stocks
\nhave raised questions on whether current food productivity levels
\ncan meet rising demand.<\/p>\n
\"I don't know whether we can expect food prices to go down,
\nbut this is needed for the poor. This is the purpose of CGIAR...
\nand if we don't start (research) now, when will we start?\"
\nSerageldin said.<\/p>\n
The CGIAR, the world's largest international research
\nconsortium for agriculture, ended its four-day mid-term meeting
\nyesterday after its members agreed to focus more on poverty
\nalleviation, food security and conservation of the environment
\ntowards the year 2000.<\/p>\n
He added that maintaining current food yields and prices is
\nalready difficult enough. It will be even harder to increase the
\nyields to bring prices down to levels which are affordable to the
\npoor.<\/p>\n
Serageldin, who is also vice president of the World Bank's
\nprogram for environmentally sustainable development, noted that
\npresently some 800 million people -- half of whom are in Asia --
\nare still poor, most of them suffering from hunger and
\nmalnutrition.<\/p>\n
CGIAR's research programs are aimed at developing more
\nsustainable and productive cultivation of basic food crops such
\nas grains, roots, tubers and legumes.<\/p>\n
These crops form the bulk of poor people's diets and, overall,
\naccount for 75 percent of the calorie and protein intake in
\ndeveloping countries.<\/p>\n
CGIAR consists of 52 member countries, with representatives
\ncoming from both governments and private sectors. The group,
\nestablished 25 years ago, is jointly sponsored by the United
\nNations Food and Agriculture Organization, the UN Development
\nProgram, the UN Environment Program and the World Bank.<\/p>\n
CGIAR presently oversees 17 research agencies, including the
\nBogor, West Java-based Center for International Forestry
\nResearch, the International Rice Research Institute and the
\nInternational Center for Research in Agro-forestry. (pwn)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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