Editing CGIAR (section)

=== Early years (1971-1990) ===
[[File:IITA Agricultural Officers Weigh Cassava.jpg|thumb|IITA agricultural officers weigh cassava in 1970.]]
CGIAR arose in response to the widespread concern in the mid-20th century that rapid increases in human populations would soon lead to widespread [[famine]]. Starting in 1943, the [[Rockefeller Foundation]] and the [[Federal government of Mexico|Mexican government]] laid the seeds for the [[Green Revolution]] when they established the Office of Special Studies, which resulted in the establishment of the [[International Rice Research Institute]] ([[IRRI]]) in 1960 and [[International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center]] (CIMMYT) in 1963 with support from the [[Rockefeller Foundation]] and [[Ford Foundation]]. These centers work toward developing high-yielding, disease-resistant varieties that dramatically increased production of these staple cereals, and turned India, for example, from a country regularly facing starvation in the 1960s to a net exporter of cereals by the late-1970s.<ref>{{Cite report |last=Baum |first=Warren |title=Partners against hunger : consultative group on international agricultural research (CGIAR) |url=https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/568651468162563497/Partners-against-hunger-consultative-group-on-international-agricultural-research-CGIAR |access-date=2022-12-14 |publisher=[[World Bank]] |language=en}}</ref>

But it was clear that the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations alone could not fund all the agricultural research and development efforts needed to feed the world's population.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Barbara Shubinski and Barry Goldberg |date=January 6, 2022 |title=The Birth of International Agricultural Research Institutes in the Mid-20th Century |url=https://resource.rockarch.org/story/the-birth-of-international-agricultural-research-institutes-in-the-mid-20th-century/ |access-date=2022-12-17 |website=[[Rockefeller Archive Center]] |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1969, the [[Pearson Commission on International Development]] urged the international community to undertake "intensive international effort" to support "research specializing in food supplies and tropical agriculture".<ref name="Model-Development">{{cite journal | last1=Byerlee | first1=Derek | last2=Lynam | first2=John K. | title=The development of the international center model for agricultural research: A prehistory of the CGIAR | journal=World Development | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=135 | year=2020 | issn=0305-750X | doi=10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105080 | page=105080| s2cid=225007416 }}</ref>

In 1970, the Rockefeller Foundation proposed a worldwide network of agricultural research centers under a permanent secretariat.<ref name=":1" /> This was further supported and developed by the [[World Bank]], FAO and UNDP. The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) was established on 19 May 1971, to coordinate international agricultural research efforts aimed at reducing poverty and achieving [[food security]] in developing countries.<ref>{{Cite report |author=[[World Bank]] |date=1971-06-01 |title=CGIAR First Meeting, Washington, D.C., May 19, 1971: Summary of Proceedings |url=https://cgspace.cgiar.org/handle/10947/260 |language=en}}</ref>

Australian economist [[John Crawford (economist)|Sir John Crawford]] was appointed as the inaugural chair of the Technical Advisory Committee.<ref name="fund">{{cite web | title=Sir John Crawford | website=The [[Crawford Fund]] | url=https://www.crawfordfund.org/about/sir-john-crawford/ | access-date=24 July 2021}}</ref>

CGIAR originally supported four centers: CIMMYT, IRRI, the [[International Center for Tropical Agriculture]] (CIAT) and the [[International Institute of Tropical Agriculture]] (IITA). The initial focus on the staple cereals—rice, wheat and maize—widened during the 1970s to include cassava, chickpea, sorghum, potato, millets and other food crops, and encompassed livestock, farming systems, the conservation of [[genetic resources]], plant nutrition, water management, policy research, and services to national agricultural research centers in developing countries.<ref name=":0" />

By 1983, there were 13 research centers around the world under its umbrella.<ref>Establishment of CGIAR - see Mark Dowie, ''American Foundations: An Investigative History'', [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]: [[MIT Press]], 2001, (p.114)</ref>