"CGIAR IN CRISES" SAYS NGO CRITICS

Manila, Philippines - 30 October 2002

Farmers groups and civil society organizations from different parts of the world criticized the CGIAR yesterday, the international alliance of agricultural research centers, having their Annual General Meeting in here in Manila, for its failure in meeting the needs of Third world farmers.

"The CGIAR is in crisis, and if they do not own up to their failure, they will further plunge the world's farmers into deeper poverty, misery and starvation," said Mr. Pat Mooney, the Executive Director of the ETC Group, an international civil society organization based in Canada who is currently meeting other civil society groups from different parts of the world to conduct a series of parallel workshops and activities side-by-side with the CGIAR's activities.

The genebanks managed by the CGIAR in 16 countries of the world are faced with severe funding constraints, putting in doubt the crop diversity collections numbering over 5 million samples of crops, grown in every climate and every condition.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations or FAO has established with the CGIAR, the Global Conservation Trust, a US$ 260 million endowment to provide permanent support for major plant genetic resources collections in genebanks.

The problem however with the said Trust according to civil society organizations is the way the funds will be managed, as the governance structure being proposed largely minimizes the role of farmers while putting more emphasis on the role of its private corporate funders.

The corporate funders of the Trust are largely identified with corporations whose interests do not exactly coincide with that of the small farmers, what with the Third World's negative experiences with agrochemical-based agriculture and now, with the very controversial and the largely untested genetically modified crops.***