In food crisis, US may cut support for ag research
By Missy Ryan
WASHINGTON, April 24 (Reuters) - The United States may slash support for pioneering agriculture research this year, just as surging food prices and supply concerns prompt increasingly urgent calls for a revolution in global farm productivity.
A network of premier research centers, which helped drive the first Green Revolution in the 1960s, which transformed crop yields and saved millions from starvation, is predicting a "major reduction" in some of its work if Washington follows through with plans to cut core support by 75 percent.
The cut in fiscal 2008 from the centers' biggest funder "seems to be a done deal," said Ren Wang, director of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, which includes 15 centers around the globe.
That move, he said, would undercut research aiming to boost rice yields, potentially feeding another 180 million poor people in Asia, to make rice and beans more nutritious, or to improve irrigation in the tropics.
The U.S. Agency for International Development, which provided a total of $56 million last year for the centers, says no final decisions have been made.
"Our response has to be made in the context of uncertainty regarding how concern over this new reality may translate into action," a USAID official said on condition of anonymity.
USAID blames the looming cut on congressional earmarks that have eaten up a greater share of its budget.
The uncertain support for the centers, which focus on individual crops like rice or potatoes, or on tropical agriculture, biodiversity and other areas, comes as a crisis in soaring food prices takes root across the globe.
Many experts say the response to soaring commodity demand -- from increasing consumption in emerging markets, funneling of food crops for bioenergy, and volatile weather -- must include far higher farm productivity.
The trend has brought unrest in the developing world, where people spend the lion's share of their incomes on food, with protests in Afghanistan, South Africa and other countries.
Many nations have imposed export restrictions or are taking other extraordinary steps to ease the price pain at home.
There are few signs the record run on commodity markets will subside any time soon -- food prices shot up 40 percent last year, and have increased even more quickly since then.
The centers say they can help staunch the crisis, even within in the next few years, by disseminating seeds for drought-tolerant maize, developed by the centers' scientists, for Africa or using other technologies in the pipeline.
"We need to start that action right now," Wang said.
Joachim von Braun, who heads the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, is holding out hope.
Such a cut in today's ever-more-desperate climate would look "just too ridiculous," he said, "that at the same time the U.S. would cut back on a proven, sound investment to address the food security and agriculture crisis."
While no staff has been let go, Wang said the focus is now turning to ensuring funding is not cut in 2009.
The centers typically receive U.S. funding in November, after the fiscal year is concluded, so it could be several months before USAID makes its verdict public.
Henrietta Fore, USAID's administrator, praised the centers in a speech last week, saying they had supported some of the "greatest successes" in agriculture in the developing world.
In an interview, Fore said the current crisis required donors, including the public and private sectors, to renew their support for agriculture in a big way.
"This is something that is a fundamental change in terms of demand and supply ... It is important to see this as both a short-term and a medium- and long-term challenge," she said. (Editing by Matthew Lewis)
WASHINGTON, April 24 (Reuters) - The United States may slash support for pioneering agriculture research this year, just as surging food prices and supply concerns prompt increasingly urgent calls for a revolution in global farm productivity.
A network of premier research centers, which helped drive the first Green Revolution in the 1960s, which transformed crop yields and saved millions from starvation, is predicting a "major reduction" in some of its work if Washington follows through with plans to cut core support by 75 percent.
The cut in fiscal 2008 from the centers' biggest funder "seems to be a done deal," said Ren Wang, director of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, which includes 15 centers around the globe.
That move, he said, would undercut research aiming to boost rice yields, potentially feeding another 180 million poor people in Asia, to make rice and beans more nutritious, or to improve irrigation in the tropics.
The U.S. Agency for International Development, which provided a total of $56 million last year for the centers, says no final decisions have been made.
"Our response has to be made in the context of uncertainty regarding how concern over this new reality may translate into action," a USAID official said on condition of anonymity.
USAID blames the looming cut on congressional earmarks that have eaten up a greater share of its budget.
The uncertain support for the centers, which focus on individual crops like rice or potatoes, or on tropical agriculture, biodiversity and other areas, comes as a crisis in soaring food prices takes root across the globe.
Many experts say the response to soaring commodity demand -- from increasing consumption in emerging markets, funneling of food crops for bioenergy, and volatile weather -- must include far higher farm productivity.
The trend has brought unrest in the developing world, where people spend the lion's share of their incomes on food, with protests in Afghanistan, South Africa and other countries.
Many nations have imposed export restrictions or are taking other extraordinary steps to ease the price pain at home.
There are few signs the record run on commodity markets will subside any time soon -- food prices shot up 40 percent last year, and have increased even more quickly since then.
The centers say they can help staunch the crisis, even within in the next few years, by disseminating seeds for drought-tolerant maize, developed by the centers' scientists, for Africa or using other technologies in the pipeline.
"We need to start that action right now," Wang said.
Joachim von Braun, who heads the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, is holding out hope.
Such a cut in today's ever-more-desperate climate would look "just too ridiculous," he said, "that at the same time the U.S. would cut back on a proven, sound investment to address the food security and agriculture crisis."
While no staff has been let go, Wang said the focus is now turning to ensuring funding is not cut in 2009.
The centers typically receive U.S. funding in November, after the fiscal year is concluded, so it could be several months before USAID makes its verdict public.
Henrietta Fore, USAID's administrator, praised the centers in a speech last week, saying they had supported some of the "greatest successes" in agriculture in the developing world.
In an interview, Fore said the current crisis required donors, including the public and private sectors, to renew their support for agriculture in a big way.
"This is something that is a fundamental change in terms of demand and supply ... It is important to see this as both a short-term and a medium- and long-term challenge," she said. (Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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