Top Filipino Agri Scientist is Coming Home

The only Filipino to date who has served as head of a global agricultural research institute relinquishes his post on December 31, 2014, after an unprecedented three five-year terms, leaving behind a legacy benefiting millions of farmers in India, Africa, and other dryland countries in the world, including the Philippines.

Dr. William Dollente Dar, 61, from Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur, who is the Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), based in India, has transformed ICRISAT into one of the best agricultural research institutes in the world in terms of innovative research programs, impact to clienteles, and financial health and stability.

Through his strong and transformative leadership and astute governance, Dar has quadrupled the income and investments poured into ICRISAT since he took over in 2000, from US$ 21 million to US$ 85 million as of 2014.

“We have turned around ICRISAT into a financially-stable, and a leading global research institute, receiving several awards particularly from the CGIAR,” said Dar, who served as Philippine Agriculture Secretary from July 1998 to May 1999. CGIAR is a consortium of 15 research institutes in the world that also include the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines.

With the innovative research-for-development (R4D) programs he introduced, the institute continues to attract much-needed R4D investments into the development of modern, climate-smart and sustainable crop cultivars and technologies of its five major commodities (pearl millet, chickpea, cowpea, groundnut and sorghum) that are farmed by millions of smallholder farm families in semi-arid countries.

The top donor of ICRISAT to date is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, contributing about US$ 18 million per year, which is allotted to the conduct of ICRISAT’s major R4D initiatives. Two projects being funded by the foundation are the HOPE project (Harnessing Opportunities for Productivity Enhancement of Sorghum and Millets) and the Tropical Legumes II (TL-II) project. The HOPE project seeks to increase by 30% the productivity of sorghum and millets in 200,000 farmers’ fields in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, while TL-II aims to enhance productivity of six legume crops (groundnut, cowpea, common bean, chickpea, pigeonpea and soybean) by at least 20% through improved cultivars and management practices and the development of markets and value chains.

ICRISAT has also partnered with the Philippines’ Department of Agriculture,through the Bureau of Agricultural Research, sharing modern sustainable farming technologies and cultivars of sweet sorghum, peanut, cowpea (garbanzos) and chickpea (kadyos) to farmers in rainfed areas of Cagayan Valley, Ilocos, Southern Luzon, Southern Mindanao.

The other notable achievements of ICRISAT under his watch include:

1. The formulation of a new, more dynamic institutional strategy known as Inclusive Market-Oriented Development (IMOD) which shifted ICRISAT’s focus towards enabling poor farmers to harness markets for poverty escape. 2. Establishment of centers of scientific excellence for genomics, transgenic and climate change research, and information and communications technology (ICT) innovations for agriculture. 3. An inclusive and technology-based entrepreneurship and agribusiness program through public-private partnerships to bring science-based technologies and products to the market for the benefit of smallholder farmers.

As he is set to return to the Philippines, Dar will share his management and technical experience and knowledge with Filipino farmers, particularly in transforming barren and unproductive farmlands into productive, sustainable and climate-smart farms through an agri-based movement called Inang Lupa.

The social movement aims to enhance the food, nutrition and energy security, increase the productivity and incomes of small, marginal Filipino farmers in through soil rejuvenation, sustainable and integrated natural resource management, use of improved cultivars and hybrids, and advocating for relevant policies and reforms in agriculture.

Source: www.da.gov.ph

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