Poverty Alleviation, Plant Biotechnology and the Importance of the CGIAR International Agricultural Research Centres

Abstract

Abstract Over 75% of the 1.2 billion who live in extreme poverty currently live in rural areas, and over half of the poor will still be located in rural areas by the year 2025. Food staples can absorb half the consumption of the poor who live on less than US $1 per day. At present the rural poor who subsist on less than a dollar a day are not a target market for any research and development efforts funded by venture capital. Agricultural biotechnology can contribute to poverty alleviation if public sector research funding and activities are targeted towards the needs of the poor. Such pro‐poor agricultural biotechnology will be most effective if it is integrated with existing poverty reduction approaches and measures. Most agricultural biotechnology research and development is conducted in institutions that have minimal multi‐disciplinary capacity or expertise to accurately assess the livelihood needs of the rural poor. Many public sector agricultural research institutions such as NARs, universities and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) play a vital role in conducting applied agricultural research to meet the needs of the poorer groups of society, who do not represent a lucrative commercial market for most companies. In particular, the CGIAR is an example of an institution, which is explicitly mandated to perform ‘public good’ oriented agricultural research to meet the needs of the poor. Yet, public funding for pro‐poor agricultural research (including biotechnology) is declining, even though alleviating rural poverty is central to meeting the primary Millennium Goal of the world's governments who stresses the broad global commitment to halve the proportion of people living in extreme income poverty (less that 1$ a day) by the year 2015. Sustainable funding strategies for pro‐poor agricultural biotechnology research will require a clearer definition of pro‐poor research targets and objectives. In this regard, there are lessons to be learnt from the innovative funding strategies developed recently by the pro‐poor biomedical research community. There remains a pressing need to actively develop policies, mechanisms and/or institutions that ensure that the poor could benefit from agricultural biotechnologies.