It will promote CGIAR platform to develop an agriculture system that enhances farmers’ livelihoods and mitigates the impact of climate change
Top officials of Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) led by its Vice Minister, Le Quoc Doanh, discussed the future directions of the research collaboration between MARD and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in a virtual meeting on 18 September 2020. Dr. Doanh acknowledged the fruitful 60-year partnership between IRRI and Vietnam, specifically on sharing rice varieties, providing capacity building, and expanding support to climate change and resource management.
IRRI was represented by Jim Godfrey, IRRI Board of Trustees (BOT) chair, Matthew Morell, IRRI Director General, former MARD Minister Cao Duc Phat and current member of the IRRI Board, and Dr. Yurdi Yasmi and Dr. Bjoern Ole Sander, the institute’s regional representative for Southeast Asia and country representative to Vietnam, respectively.
“I expressed my gratitude to Vietnam’s strong support for and collaboration with IRRI that has contributed significantly to the development of the rice sector in the country,” said Dr. Godfrey who acknowledged the importance of the relationship between the two during the meeting that discussed the One CGIAR reform. “I look forward to the same level of commitment under the new CGIAR platform.”
One CGIAR, which started on 1 October 2020, would place the 15 CGIAR Centres under one governance to enable its partnerships, knowledge, assets, and global presence to reach greater integration and impact in the face of the interdependent challenges facing today’s world.
“CGIAR is concerned with developing an agriculture system that enhances farmers’ livelihoods and adapts to and mitigates the impact of climate change,” said Dr. Morell. He stressed that under One CGIAR, CGIAR centres working in Vietnam will be an integrated system for collaboration and resource sharing to address climate-related risks such as salinity intrusion and drought. IRRI has asked MARD to make Vietnam’s position clear on the One CGIAR process in terms of its commitments and the support.
Source- IRRI
