The Challenge Program on Water and Food: A new paradigm for research in the CGIAR 1

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) has always been about food security. It started over 40 years ago in 1971 with four Centers focused on breeding better staple food crops. In 2000, when it consisted of 16 Centers, it asked its Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) to address its future for the next decade, what it should be doing and producing; how it should be doing it and with whom. TAC produced A Food Secure World for All: Toward a New Vision and Strategy for the CGIAR ² to guide it through the coming decade (Box 1.1), which was approved at International Centers’ Week, 2000. ³