Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Respected colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to be here in Uruguay and I would like to thank our hosts for convening us in Punta del Este.

I would also like to thank my colleagues at the Global Forum on Agricultural Research, for organising this second conference of GCARD.

Two years ago we gathered to discuss how to shape the future. The world, our world, has changed enormously in that time.

Two years ago, we were still calling on nations to make investment in agriculture a priority. Two years ago, despite the L’Aquila food security initiative, it still seemed too often that our call was falling on deaf ears. And two years ago, sustainable development was still not part of the mainstream of development discourse.

Not today.

We no longer have to plead our case. The need for agricultural development – and for development that is inclusive of smallholders – is now widely acknowledged at the country level, the regional level and internationally.

Agriculture has become a permanent fixture in the G20 work-stream. This year, the G20  established a platform for greater knowledge sharing among agriculture scientists in G20 countries.

In the G8 context, 2012 saw a new and important initiative, the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition. It aims to catalyse investment in African agriculture -- with smallholders at the centre -- through public-private-donor partnerships.

The CGIAR has also made large strides in its reform process. I have been impressed by how quickly discussions have been followed by action, such as the large thematic research programmes (CGIAR Research Programmes) which we discussed as a concept two years ago. We have now finalized the design and some are well into implementation. This is a huge achievement.

Today, we are in the spotlight. There is interest, commitment and funding. This is good news for everyone working in agricultural research and development. It is good news for the CGIAR. And it is good news for IFAD.

So if we do not seize this opportunity, so that agricultural research can contribute to transforming the lives of poor rural people, we will have only ourselves to blame.

The question is, therefore, how do we seize this opportunity?

First, we must never be satisfied with a “business as usual” approach. Our work must respond to the reality on the ground. But here there is much to be done. We must show results.  We must show transparent accountability.  And we must show the tangible impact  of our work in the lives and livelihoods of the people we serve – poor rural smallholders – women, men and children. 

In the two years since we last met, some parts of the world have seen crops scorched by severe droughts, while in others they have been submerged in floods. In some, changing weather patterns mean that traditional crops are no longer suitable. How do we ensure that our research responds to this new reality?

As you know, I have spent a good part of my life in agriculture, including 30 years with the CGIAR. For 20 of those years I was a research scientist myself. I understand the deep satisfaction of doing research.

But we must be bold in pushing the frontiers of knowledge and experimentation and not shy away from  questioning the logic and sequence of events and processes, as I will explain in a minute.

In my years of working in development, specifically at IFAD, I have learned that science and technology have the greatest impact when we look beyond the biological and chemical processes and combine them with an understanding of other dimensions – the social, the institutional, the cultural, and the unconventional. 

For example, consider that women are often the farmers of the developing world. Simply giving women the same access as men to agricultural resources and inputs could increase production on their farms by as much as 30 per cent.  

We should ask ourselves, is the technology we are developing suitable for women and their needs? For poor rural women, saving time and labour is often more important than generating more income. As scientists, are we researching ways to do this?

And, of course, productive, sustainable and resilient agriculture is essential to inclusive growth.  In the years ahead, more research will need to be directed towards climate-smart agriculture and green growth.

And this means that agricultural growth must be ecologically sustainable and that a diverse range of options, genetic variation and ecosystems is necessary in order for the land to provide for future generations of farmers.

We must also accept that scientific ideas and discoveries are not the purview of scientists alone.

Take the case of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), which aims to increase yields in irrigated farming with approaches that challenge conventional practices. Why have some rice scientists rejected SRI when farmers all over the developing world – in Africa and Asia – have adopted various aspects of SRI technology to great success?

I have met farmers in Rwanda whose rice production had more than doubled using SRI methods. IFAD is closely involved in efforts to test SRI in countries like Burundi, Rwanda and Madagascar, where it was first developed in the 1980s.

As scientists, we know the value of observation. Sometimes, those best placed to observe are the people on the ground.  After all, Gregor Mendel was a priest, not a scientist with a PhD. And so was Father Henri de Laulanié, the father of SRI.

To really boost the productivity of smallholders, our work must start in the field… with close observation of people, their beliefs, their culture and other local variables.

Indeed, sometimes the best approach is to think small. In many developing countries, simply optimizing conventional approaches, such as the micro-dosing of fertilizers and micro-irrigation, could yield dramatic results.

The fertilizer micro-dosing technique developed by ICRISAT and its partners is helping farmers grow more food by using a bottle cap to measure out small, affordable amounts of fertilizer.

Our challenge is to take what we know works, to develop what we know is needed, and to apply our knowledge, country-by-country, region-by-region, throughout the world.

Even if what works challenges conventional wisdom—even scientific conventional wisdom—we must be open to investigation, to thinking outside of the box.

And we cannot afford to go at it alone.  Partnerships at the grassroots are fundamental, but so are they with other multilateral and bilateral development partners, NGOs, CBOs, the private sector, and R&D institutions.  This is what GCARD is all about.

The CGIAR itself is the best known partnership in agricultural research for development – of a unique global membership of shareholders and stakeholders – just as my institution, IFAD, arose from a partnership of the OECD, OPEC and the G-77.

Partnership helps us optimize research and development, scale-up innovations, deepen our learning and share our growing knowledge.  They allow for greater synergies, complementarities and value for money.

Partnerships for innovation, partnerships for scaling-up, measuring results and impact are the way forward for increased knowledge-sharing and for expanding our reach beyond our individual goals. 

IFAD has committed itself to help 80 million poor people move out of poverty during the 2013-2015 programme cycle.  It is not the size or the number of programmes and projects, or the amount of investment that will be the measure of success.  Our results measurement framework has been refined at all levels down to the lowest granularity for every dollar of investment per beneficiary.  We believe it is quite robust, but we will not stop there. 

During the 2013-2015 period we will be undertaking 30 impact evaluations to assess the impact of our investments on the livelihoods of poor rural populations.  This is where I see the CGIAR centers as key partners in this study.  The studies will be rigorous and robust and we will be working with some of you here and your institutions.  And I hope that the Fund Council will be asking the same questions of the CRPs and of the Centers – to demonstrate concrete, tangible impact – dollar for dollar.

It is our job to ensure that science and technology contribute to the improvement of rural areas, while also nurturing and preserving ecosystems.  That assurance only comes from evidence based results – results that change lives.

Agricultural research can ensure that poor rural people – the smallholder, the pastoralist, the forest dweller, the herder and fisher folk – whose lives and livelihoods depend on the earth’s productive capacity, have the means to adapt to climate change and have the means to produce more and to produce it better. 

From what I have seen so far at GCARD, the CGIAR transformation is happening on all fronts and is ready to deliver on the promise of reform.  IFAD will continue to lend its support to this process.

In a short while we will be sitting down to dinner.  But we should remember that today, 870 million people are not getting enough food for their most basic dietary needs.  Whether the number is 1 billion or 950 million or 870 million is irrelevant.

Until the day comes when not one child dies of hunger or suffers from malnutrition, our work will not be done. 

That is our real challenge!

Punta del Este, Uruguay
27 October 2012