Technical Advisory Committee Forty-Seventh Meeting, 24-29 October 1988: Report of the Meeting

Report of TAC 47 held in Washington DC, October 24-29, 1988, Alex McCalla presiding. TAC considered the external program and management reviews of CIMMYT, and concluded that significant changes would be warranted in CIMMYT's draft strategic plan. It sent the reviews to the CGIAR with a commentary. IITA's medium term plan was approved with a resident scientist activity demoted from "essential" to "desirable." IFPRI's MTP was also approved by TAC, noting that the expansion requested was entirely in the "desirable" category. TAC requested changes in ICRISAT's MTP, being considered for the second time, and also in WARDA's MTP, being considered for the first time. These items would be reconsidered at TAC 48.The appraisal of non associated centers was considered on the basis of a draft paper by the TAC chairman. The Committee endorsed the main directions proposed. TAC also set up panels composed of members and outside experts to visit each of the candidate centers and report at TAC 49.TAC discussed, jointly with the center directors, an FAO paper on trends in world agriculture. The paper would be revised to serve as an input to TAC priorities work and the consideration of non associated centers. A representative of the International Institute for Environment and Development discussed sustainability in relation to agricultural development