A piece of prize: ZEF is part of a prize-winning CGIAR research consortium

CGIAR’s biennial “King Baudouin Science Award for Outstanding Partnership"

awarded to its Program for Sustainable Agriculture in Central Asia and the Caucasus (CAC)

Maputo, Mozambique, December 2008. This year’s winner of the CGIAR’s King Baudouin “Science Award for Outstanding Partnership” is the CGIAR Program for Sustainable Agricultural Development in Central Asia and the Caucasus (CAC). CGIAR, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, awards this prize biennially to “acknowledge and stimulate agricultural research and other activities relevant to the CGIAR System and recognize an International Center’s contribution to the development of the Third World”.

The CGIAR Program for Sustainable Agricultural Development in Central Asia and the Caucasus (CAC) was established 10 years ago and is implemented by a consortium of partners, among them the Center for Development Research (ZEF) of the University of Bonn - since 2008. Further members of the consortium are the eight National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan as well as eight International Centers of the CGIAR – Biodiversity International, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), International Potato Center (CIP), International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), International Center for Water Management (IWMI) and two other International Centers – AVRDC - the World Vegetable Center, International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA); Michigan State University (MSU).

The CAC Program, which was established to facilitate the transition to modern science approaches in countries of the former Soviet Union, made achievements in germplasm improvement, seed supply systems, cropping systems and agricultural diversification, integrated system of livestock and fodder production, integrated on-farm soil, water and salinity management, conservation of plant genetic resources, small ruminants breed characterization, socioeconomic and policy research. The Program’s efforts for capacity development and in strengthening the regional and international cooperation are well recognized by the NARS partners.

ZEF contributes to the CAC program with its trans-disciplinary research, linking different disciplines to develop integrated science-based solutions for development issues.

Christopher Martius, a ZEF senior researcher and associate professor at Bonn University, who is currently on leave for working as Head of the CAC Program’s Facilitation Unit (PFU) based in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, received the prize in the name of the whole CAC Consortium. Being honored with the Award at a ceremony in Maputo, Mozambique, Martius, as the representative of the CAC Program stressed that this represents an immensely satisfactory recognition of the current and past efforts, which renews the program’s members’ commitment to increase their efforts for agricultural development in poor rural areas of the region. Providing better land use technologies and linking poor farmers to markets through agricultural development will provide opportunities for the predominantly rural populations in these countries.

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), established in 1971, is a strategic partnership whose 64 members support 15 international Centers, working in collaboration with many hundreds of government and civil society organizations as well as private businesses around the world. CGIAR Members include 21 developing and 26 industrialized countries, four co-sponsors as well as 13 other international organizations. Today, more than 8,000 CGIAR scientists and staff are active in over 100 countries throughout the world. The CAC Program is a flagship by coordinating the work of 12 partner centers in 8 countries.

Contact:

Christopher Martius

c.martius@cgiar.org

or via presse.zef@uni-bonn.de, phone # 49 (0) 228 731846