1.1 Origin, Mission and Mandate
1.2 Maize an Wheat in the Developing World Economy
1.3 Changes in CIMMYT's External Environment
1.4 CIMMYT Today
1.5 Strategic Planning, Priority Setting, and the 1998-2000 Medium-Term Plan
1.6 CIMMYT's Impact
1.7 Conduct of the Review
CIMMYT was established in 1966 with a mandate to promote and carry out, nationally and internationally, programmes to improve in all its aspects maize and wheat production... through research, the distribution of germplasm, training, scientific and technical meetings, and information. Its mission was to increase the quantity and quality of maize and wheat produced in the developing countries of the world.
Although the Centre's mandate has remained the same over the years, it has been subject to different interpretations. During the 1980s, the Centre began to view its mission as one of improving productivity of agricultural resources rather than increasing the production of maize and wheat per se. Emphasis was also starting to be given to the importance of increasing agricultural productivity for poverty alleviation, protecting natural resources, and collaboration with national research systems.
CIMMYT's current mission statement is to help alleviate poverty by increasing the profitability, productivity and sustainability of maize and wheat farming systems.
The Centre underwent its third External Programme and Management Review (EPMR) in 1988 which made a number of recommendations on programmes, governance, and management. Rather than having another full-scale external programme and management review in 1993, which would have followed the normal five-year cycle, TAC and the CGIAR Secretariat initiated an experiment (which has not been repeated since) and commissioned an Interim External Review (IER), of a more limited scope than a regular EPMR, so as to allow the period between two regular external reviews to be extended from five to about seven or eight years. The purpose of the 1993 IER was to look at major changes in strategic direction that had taken place at the Centre since the 1988 external review, to highlight the main achievements, impact and challenges facing CIMMYT, and recommend issues that required a more comprehensive examination by the Centre and the next regular external review. The Panel was not expected to carry out a thorough assessment of CIMMYT but to make an independent general appraisal of the Centre by identifying and focusing on significant trends and critical issues. All in all, this interim review found that the recommendations of the 1988 EPMR had been implemented with very minor exceptions and concluded that the Centre was "well governed and managed overall". The IER was conducted in a ten-day period and made only two major recommendations, namely, that CIMMYT should give greater emphasis to natural resources research (NRR) and create a NRR unit, and that the Centre should consider according programme status to the applied molecular biology unit. Both of these recommendations have been implemented.
[1 Compiled from CIMMYT's 1998-2000+ Medium-Term Plan and from TAC's Report on CGIAR Priorities and Strategies for Resource Allocation During 1998-2000.]
Maize and wheat together amount for more than half of the cereals consumed in the developing world. Among the food crops, after rice, wheat and maize are the most important commodities both in terms of calorie consumption and value of production. They are significant staples in the diets of billions of poor in the developing world and variations in productivity can profoundly influence their well-being. Developing countries now account for more than 44% of total world production of both cereals, compared to around 30% in the early sixties. This has been due to the tremendous growth in productivity. Between 1961 and 1995 maize production in the developing world has grown at an annual rate of 3.6% and wheat production at 4.5%. At the same time, imports by developing countries have increased rapidly because of expanding consumption due to rapid population growth, per capita income growth and a decline in real prices. Today wheat and maize account for two-thirds of all developing country food imports.
Over the next 30 years, it is expected that overall wheat and maize demand will continue to grow at an annual rate of 2.2%. In the case of wheat, it is expected that the increased demand will be the result of substitution of coarse grain cereals as incomes rise and populations become increasingly urban based. While the per capita demand for maize in human diets is expected to decline in all regions except sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the demand for feed maize is expected to rise substantially as a result of the rapid increase in demand for livestock products. Projections estimate that by 2020, 67% of world wheat consumption and 55% of world maize consumption will occur in developing countries.
In recent years, CIMMYT has faced a rapidly changing external environment necessitating the Centre either to reposition itself strategically or to adapt the ways in which it was conducting its work. Some of the important changes can be highlighted as follows.
· Renewal Process of the CGIAR: After its 1992-93 financial crisis, the CGIAR embarked on a renewal process in 1994, leading to the Lucerne Declaration in February 1995, in which greater commitment was made to developing partnerships with the south, to poverty alleviation as the driving motivation behind all of the CGIAR's work, to the need for greater emphasis on natural resources management and conservation efforts, and to new approaches to governance and management. New financing arrangements came into play which encouraged entrepreneurship in centre fund raising but which also led to a greater share of funding being provided as restricted funding rather than as unrestricted core. The CGIAR also embarked on the introduction of project-based research management to enhance accountability, promote multidisciplinarity, strengthen impact assessment and an output orientation of research, and to facilitate priority setting. Moreover, the CGIAR decided to expand its work into central Asia and eastern Europe. All of these developments had major consequences for CIMMYT's work and the way it conducted its business.· Developments in Science: New scientific developments have provided new opportunities for approaches to research that increase chances of success and reduce the time required to obtain results. Many of these opportunities arise from the progress in the applications of biotechnology, primarily molecular genetics and genetic engineering, to the major problems faced in maize and-wheat production. Other important scientific developments are in the areas of information technology in general and geographic information systems in particular, and participatory research approaches.
· Alternative Sources of Supply: Alternative suppliers of research on maize and wheat include other international agricultural research centres, advanced research institutes, national agricultural research systems (NARS), the private sector, and NGOs. CIMMYT shares the mandate for wheat in the West Asia-North Africa (WANA) region, and for barley in Latin America, with ICARDA, and the mandate for maize in West Africa with IITA. A substantial amount of wheat and maize research is conducted in developed countries but mostly in temperate conditions rather than the tropical or sub-tropical environments of the developing world. Some NARS have considerably strengthened their capacity to develop cultivars. Some of the larger countries particularly, such as India, Brazil, and China, where both maize and wheat are dominant food staple crops, have rapidly increased their capacity both in strategic and applied research. Of major importance to CIMMYT is the fast development in private sector involvement, particularly in the hybrid maize seed industry. This highlights the increasing importance of giving attention to issues related to intellectual property rights (IPR) and, where appropriate, partnerships with the private sector. NGOs have also expanded their involvement with the global agricultural system. One important positive development is also the emergence and growth of regional NARS organizations and the development of regional fora. This will encourage and facilitate more effective partnerships.
· Intensification of Wheat and Maize Cropping Systems: In response to rapid and continuing increases in demand for maize and wheat in developing countries, and the import status of many of these countries, both maize and wheat cropping systems have been intensified. To sustain yield gains, this intensification process includes the use of increasing amounts of fertilizers, pest management strategies, and sometimes changing from mono- to double- and triple-cropping on the same piece of land each year. Because the arable land available for cereal production in developing countries is not expected to increase and cereal demand continues to grow, continued intensification of maize and wheat cropping systems is anticipated. A key challenge will be to sustain yield increases while preserving natural resources and environmental quality. It will therefore be necessary to place greater emphasis on strategic research to increase the efficiency of applied nutrients and reduce dependence on chemical control of pests through ecological approaches to disease, insect, and weed management to ensure food security and environmental protection.
· Availability of Resources: Many countries of the north have reduced their investment in development assistance and funding for agricultural research is increasingly scarce. In recent years, the proportion of total CGIAR funding that is restricted has increased rapidly. In view of the limited resources available, despite the enormous research challenge CIMMYT is facing, there is an ever-increasing need to develop strategic alliances and research partnerships.
Since the 1988 EPMR, CIMMYT has undergone substantial changes in its internal environment. The Centre went through a period of deep financial difficulty between 1989 and 1993, necessitating a down-scaling of its operation and a repositioning of its work. During that time, its expenditures for the agreed research agenda decreased steadily from US$ 27.9 million to US$ 23.1 million. The number of both locally and internationally recruited staff was reduced by a third. In particular, its involvement with adaptive agronomic research, training, and outreach was cut substantially. The underlying principle was to leave the germplasm enhancement programmes essentially intact since these were identified as CIMMYT's traditional strengths.
A new Director General, Tim Reeves, took office at the end of 1995 and has made major efforts to develop a more participatory approach to management as well as to instilling a new culture in the organization. Major efforts were made to improve funding and to improve relations with national programmes. He has also promoted the transition from a programme-based to a project-based research organization which is output oriented, more multidisciplinary, and is taking major steps to address long-standing management problems in the areas of finance, human resources, and information technology.
In 1997, CIMMYT has a budget of US$ 32.4 million and is staffed by 83 internationally recruited core-funded staff, of whom seven are seconded from other organizations, and by 18 post-doctoral fellows and associate scientists. The Centre also has a total of 708 locally recruited staff. CIMMYT has research programmes on wheat, maize, economics, natural resources and applied biotechnology. Of the US$ 24 million assigned to these research programmes, 38% is assigned to the Maize Programme, 39% to the Wheat Programme, 9% to Economics, 5% to Natural Resources, and 9% to Biotechnology. These are complemented by a programme on external relations which includes communications, information, publications, and fund raising. CIMMYT is governed by an international Board of Trustees and has international organization status. CIMMYT's Headquarters are in Mexico but the Centre has scientific and outreach staff based in 15 developing countries. Regular collaboration takes place with more than 100 NARS. CIMMYT participates in nine Systemwide and ecoregional initiatives and programmes, with a particularly large involvement in the Rice/Wheat Programme, Latin American Ecoregional Programme, the Systemwide Programme on Genetic Resources, and the Systemwide Programme on Participatory Research and Gender Analysis.
During 1997, CIMMYT allocated 35% of its resources to activities associated with Increasing Productivity, 19% to Protecting the Environment, 12% to Saving Biodiversity, 4% to Improving Policies, 22% to Strengthening National Programmes, and 7% to Systemwide Programmes. On a regional basis, 32% of resources are allocated to SSA, 10% to WANA, 32% to Asia, and 26% to LAC.
CIMMYT's activities are guided by its strategic plan, which was published in 1989 and has been updated by a series of "evergreen reports" in which the key issues concerning CIMMYT's programmes and operating environment were assessed and amended as necessary. This approach to setting priorities complemented the 1989 strategic plan and has provided guidance to the Centre in assessing the appropriate balance of resource allocation between wheat and maize, among regions, and between breeding and crop management. CIMMYT's priority-setting process considers the importance of maize versus wheat for producers and consumers, the size of mega-environments,1 alternative sources of supply, likelihood of success, poverty, and the relative strength of NARS. For the 1998-2000 medium-term planning process, gender was added as a further criterion, as well as the expected impact of CIMMYT's work on poor urban and rural women, particularly in SSA and southern Asia.
[1 Mega-environments are broad areas, defined by similar biotic and abiotic stresses, cropping system requirements, consumer preferences, and, for convenience, by a volume of production of the relevant crop sufficient to justify the attention of an international breeding programme.]
During 1997, CIMMYT developed a new medium-term plan (MTP) which now also serves as its current views on strategic planning and priority setting. It is based on activities organized through 21 projects: eight with a global theme, five with a regional focus, seven frontier projects, plus a special focus project geared to the problems of the newly independent states. Compared to the previous MTP, greater emphasis is given to the activities related to saving biodiversity, protection of the environment, and increasing productivity. Fewer resources will be allocated to activities specifically associated with strengthening NARS. Funding for research on improving policies and the Systemwide programmes will remain constant. By the year 2000, it is estimated that 40% of CIMMYT's resources will be allocated to SSA, 30% to Asia, 20% to Latin America, and 10% to WANA. On the basis of priority setting, CIMMYT's investment should be slightly higher in wheat than in maize. Increased donor interest in maize compared to wheat, however, provides more restricted funding for maize, resulting in a higher investment by the Centre in maize than the relative priorities of maize and wheat would indicate.
The 1998-2000 MTP now serves as the basis for further internal planning to operationalize project-based management and to implement the 21 projects. This planning process will be discussed elsewhere in this report.
[2 Based on "A Sampling of CIMMYT's Impacts", CIMMYT, 1997.]
CIMMYT's impact has been tremendous. More than 70% of the wheat area in the developing world, excluding China, is now planted with CIMMYT-related wheat varieties covering more than 50 million ha. Over 80% of the wheat varieties released by national programmes are derived from CIMMYT germplasm. The varietal impact of CIMMYT-related bread wheat alone accounts for an extra 11 million t of grain each year, worth over US$ 2 billion (in 1990 dollars) to developing country wheat farmers.
About 55% of the area planted with improved maize varieties, or more than 14 million ha of non-temperate maize, is now sown to CIMMYT-related cultivars. Nearly 80% of the maize varieties being released by public sector national programmes were related to CIMMYT materials and these CIMMYT-related cultivars are worth US$ 1 billion per year in extra grain.
In China, CIMMYT-related wheat varieties are grown on 10 million ha, and CIMMYT-related maize varieties on 1 million ha, leading to an approximate additional value to this country alone of US$ 500 million. CIMMYT's maize and wheat varieties account for over US$ 3 billion (in 1990 dollars) in extra grain production each year around the developing world. More than 5000 researchers from around the world are alumni of CIMMYT's training programmes thereby substantially strengthening national capacities in maize and wheat research. Finally, CIMMYT's activities also have a major impact on the conservation of genetic diversity and of natural resources.
The review started with the Panel Chair, accompanied by the Consultant on Board matters, attending CIMMYT's Board meeting in Mexico in April 1997. The whole Panel then attended the initial phase of the review (23-27 June 1997), for which CIMMYT provided in-depth briefings on its programmes and management. The Panel's Consultant on biotechnology also attended part of this phase. At this stage, the Panel decided that its review would cover the period starting from the IER of 1993. Members of the Panel subsequently visited the Centre's operations in southern Africa (Zimbabwe and Swaziland), southern Asia (India and Nepal), Guatemala, and Bangkok, thereby broadly interacting with national programmes of those regions as well as with CIMMYT's outreach staff. The Panel Chair and one member attended ICW97 and took the opportunity to obtain the views of a number of CIMMYT donors, the Chair of the NGO Committee, and a number of representatives of national research systems of the different regional fora. They also attended the meeting of the Board of Trustees which was held in Washington, D.C., on 1-2 November 1997.
The Panel conducted a survey of staff perceptions through a questionnaire, in addition to conducting a large number of interviews with staff. The main phase of the review took place from 12-28 November 1997, during which the Panel interacted with staff and management and prepared the following report. The Panel Chair also met with the representative of the Host Country and the Head of the Mexican NARS. Panel members also visited CIMMYT's research stations at El Batan, Ciudad Obregon, and Tlaltizapan. Prior to presenting the final report on 28 November to the Chair and Members of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees, the Director General, senior management, and staff, early drafts of the report had been shared with the Director General for any comments, in particular on errors of fact.
