The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research's (CGIAR) 2nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held at the end of October in the Philippines. It was the first time that this gathering had been held outside the confines of the World Bank in Washington DC. On the opening day at the Shangri-La Hotel, farmer's groups, peoples' movements and civil society from countries as far flung as Colombia and Senegal marched together in the “People's Street Conference” in Manila. With colorful exhibits on participatory research, sustainable agriculture and community seedbanking, they converged in the city's business district with a shared conviction: the CGIAR has consistently failed to meet the needs of poor farmers with its top-down, one-size-fits-all approach to research that ignores the knowledge of farmers, farming communities, and indigenous people. Their call: to dismantle the current international agricultural research system and redirect public funds into one that is farmer-led, pro-poor, and rooted in the principles of farmer's rights, genuine land reform and food sovereignty. Over the years, the CGIAR has shown itself unable and unwilling to change despite its abundant rhetoric to the contrary. Worse, it has become a champion of the biotech industry, increasingly following a corporate-led agenda. A testimony to this is CGIAR's acceptance of the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (wholly owned by Syngenta, the world's largest agrochemical company) as a new member. This announcement was made during the AGM without prior discussion within the CGIAR itself, a move which even caught some of the CGIAR members off guard. Another surprise was the announcement by the CGIAR's NGO Committee (NGOC) of a “freeze” in NGOC membership. NGOC co-chair Monica Kapriri said that this freeze means that the NGOC will not act upon any new membership nor participate in any decision-making exercises of the CGIAR, pending an assessment of the relationship between civil society and the international agricultural research bodies. NGOC was set up by the CGIAR in 1995 to strengthen partnerships with NGOs, but there has been a growing sense of powerlessness within NGOC over its ability to influence the CGIAR at all. Even prior to the AGM, a number of the NGOC members had resigned. According to NGOC, the CGIAR and its centers: * Have failed to support an immediate moratorium on the release of GM crops in their centers of origin and diversity following GMO contamination in Mexico (see p 4) * Have failed to uphold the principles of the FAO-CGIAR trust agreement that requires all germplasm and its genetic parts and components currently in the CGIAR genebanks to be kept in public domain * Are actively promoting genetic engineering technologies and products, which are incompatible with farmer-led agroecological research, and are promoting biotechnology as the answer to world hunger. As one ex-NGOC members who puts it, “If the CGIAR is genuinely commited to an agricultural research agenda that serve the needs of the poor, it needs to go straight to the people.” Not much has happened since the AGM. According to NGOC co-chair Patrick Mulvany, the task ahead is to come up with the assessment and start discussions with the wider civil society. This dialogue needs to cover institutional issues and more fundamental questions about what kind of agricultural research is needed and how to deliver it. Parallel to this, the CGIAR's Executive Committee will be conducting its own evaluation of its relationship with NGOs and Farmers' Organisations. The extent to which the two evaluations converge or diverge will be interesting to watch. With or without engagement with the CGIAR, the need to strengthen existing alternatives and partnerships and establish new ones remains. For those who choose to engage with the CGIAR, the potential for co-option is great – especially if there are no strong and clear strategy and alternatives in place. There is a need for a new platform to carry forward genuine participation from farmers and other stakeholders in shaping up a new agricultural research and development system that is more sustainable and responsive to the needs of the poor. The desire to establish such a system has long been there, but the support systems, the tools and appropriate processes that will help realise these ideals is wanting. Sources: For documentation and reports on the “People's Street Conference”, see RESIST's website at www.geocities.com/resist_agtncs. For further information and updates on the CGIAR NGOC, contact Patrick Mulvany, Food Security Policy Adviser, Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG), Schumacher Centre, Bourton, Rugby, CV23 9QZ, UK. Email: Patrick_Mulvany AT CompuServe.com. Tel: +44 1788 661169. Reference for this article: GRAIN, 2003, SPROUTING UP - NGO committee shuns the CGIAR, Seedling, January 2003, GRAIN Website link: www.grain.org/seedling/seed-03-01-6-en.cfm What is Seedling? Seedling is the quarterly magazine of GRAIN. It provides thought-provoking articles on all aspects of GRAIN’s work and more. 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