Cash starved

AGRICULTURAL research is going to hit
rock bottom very soon and plunge the
entire Third World into a state of severe
food crisis - if more money to fund it
does not come in immediately. The
international agricultural research network is facing an acute resource crunch,
according to the Genetic Resource
Action International (GRAIN), a global
NGo active in agricultural biodiversity research.

GRAIN has 16 units functioning
under it - all of which are striving
to feed the teeming millions in the
developing nations - and its budget is
a meagre us $272 million. Owing to
the lack of funds, major research
programmes have been put on hold ald
30 per cent of the staff have been retrenched.

But the body which is more
seriously cash-strapped is the
Philippine-based Consultative Group
for International Agricultural Research
(CGIAR), with which GRAIN interacts
in the capacity of a consultant. CGIAR
is so tied down by its financial
constraints that it is finding it extremely
difficult to cope with thepressure
of competition from organisations
involved in commercial agriculture
and biotechnology research and development.

Over 20 international agricultural
research groups and NGOs have jointly
urged the CGIAR to remould itself and
work towards a research and benefit-
sharing agenda.