|
From the Director General
Potato and sweetpotato remain an important food crop throughout the world and will inevitably become more important to food security as the world’s population increases in the future. The Millennium Development Goals provide entry points that we can use to achieve impact in the communities that most demand our attention, among the poor, hungry and sick in the developing countries. With such a wide demand, we are looking closely at where we direct our work, as well as making efforts to carefully measure our impact. CIP, in fact, was the first of the CGIAR centers to base its work on the Millennium Goals.
By realigning our program to match the objectives of the Millennium Goals, it is clear that we are pursuing economic gains to reduce poverty and improve living standards. The innovative participatory market chain approach that Papa Andina is pioneering as a way of adding value to a product is a good example of this. It is also becoming clearer that the operation of our Partnership programs can add value and increase earnings by including products and processes other than those we traditionally deal with. The relationship of sweetpotato and pigs or the nexus of potato production and mountain resources management illustrate the value of extending our traditional mandate.
During the year the reorganized research and program structure generated some significant advances in knowledge that contribute directly to the crucial aspects of food security and poverty alleviation. The research program made fundamental advances in the fight against late blight and considerable progress against bacterial wilt. We also saw the security of CIP’s germplasm collection increased through the work of the ‘Potato Park’, a local initiative dedicated to in situ conservation of potato biodiversity.
The Partnership programs, which are, in fact, extensions of the research process, are often applying the results of Divisional work directly in their operations. For example, the Vitamin A for Africa (VITAA) program is linking breeding activities of orange-fleshed sweetpotato with active health programs in the community, blurring the lines between mandated research and operational development.
2004 was a year of consolidation and renewal for CIP. Consolidation in the sense that we were able to concentrate on our core work, guided by the visioning exercise that we completed in 2003. Renewal in the sense that the process of management succession was completed and the leadership of CIP will be assumed early in 2005 by the chair of CIP’s Vision, Dr. Pamela Anderson. Buoyed by a history of solid research achievement, CIP is also now on a secure financial footing. Our income continues to grow, with the increased restricted and unrestricted funding reflecting the confidence of our donors in the Center. Through good management practice, our financial security also increased during the year.
Although this report deals with the highlights of the year 2004, I am writing this introduction in March 2005. I will be retiring in April, not with reluctance, because I know the future of the Center is secure, but with great emotion. For the past 14 years my life has been inextricably bound up with CIP and I am proud to have had the opportunity to direct its course for so long. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our donors for the commitment they have shown to our work. I would also like to acknowledge my debt to our many partners, without whom we could not operate, and CIP’s staff, in headquarters and in the regions, who show levels of dedication and brilliance I could never really demand. My wife Ilse and I will be retiring to Canada, but we will be taking a piece of Peru, and CIP, with us in our hearts.
With thanks and best wishes for the future.
 |
Hubert Zanstra
Director General |
|
