The human dimension

ICARDA’s relationship with the US is not only institutional and financial; it is also human. The current chairman of ICARDA’s Board of Trustees is Mr Robert Havener, of Sacramento, California, who was elected in 1999. He was one of the moving forces behind the founding of ICARDA and served on the first BoT in 1977-78. Other American scientists, who have served as Board members are Dr Lowell S. Hardin, a former Vice Chairman (1979-85), Prof. Carl Gotsch, of Stanford University (1986-92), and Dr William Ronnie Coffman, of Cornell University (1993-99).
     Over the years there have been many other contributions to furthering ICARDA’s aims and scientific programs from distinguished US citizens. Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Robert O. Blake was guest speaker at the 1996 ICARDA Annual Presentation Day. Ambassador Blake, who chaired the Committee on Agricultural Sustainability of the CGIAR and also co-chaired a special CGIAR committee dealing with NGO collaboration, stressed in his address the crucial importance of institutions such as ICARDA in safeguarding the future. He estimated that support for research aimed at alleviating poverty would need to double or even triple in future.
     In his speech he highlighted three key points as being most relevant to ICARDA’s research:

• “It is important to remember one basic fact; that all our efforts to feed the world depend on serving the farmer. It’s a point that is too often lost, but it’s the basis for all that ICARDA does.
• Only by the best science, and the best systems for natural resource protection, will the problems be solved.
• Support for agricultural development and research is declining at a disastrous rate just when it is needed most.”

    ICARDA benefits under its ‘Mentor’ scheme from the expertise of Prof. Theodore C. Hsiao, of the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, University of California, Davis. One of the world’s most renowned scientists in the field of plant-water relations, Prof. Hsiao is Advisor for ICARDA’s water-related research. He provides scientists and management with advice and recommendations on how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their research efforts to improve the productivity of agricultural water use in the dry areas. Dr Vernon W. Ruttan, Regent Professor, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, and Dr Earl D. Kellogg, Associate Provost for International Affairs, University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign, are serving as Mentors on socioeconomics.
     American scientists have long been pacesetters in ICARDA’s research. Current and former American senior staff include a former Deputy Director General and 24 other Americans. Visiting American scientists and technicians have also played – and continue – to play an important role in widening contacts between the USA and scientists working in CWANA. Scores of other ICARDA scientists have obtained their advanced degrees in the US. Several have benefited from sabbatical study leave at various U.S. universities.