Technical Advisory Committee Sixth Meeting, 25 July-2 August 1973: Draft Report

Report of the TAC meeting held in Rome from 25 July to 2 August 1973, TAC Chairman Sir John Crawford presiding. TAC endorsed all existing and proposed IARC research programs for 1974 with the qualification that the financial requirements these implied were at present outside TAC's purview - underscoring one of the Chairman's introductory points that TAC needed financial guidelines and a clearer idea of existing and anticipated funding constraints (including inflation) in order to responsibly formulate recommendations - a requirement in line with the forward financial planning being called for by some CG members, and with the needs of those receiving CG support who sought indications of continued support in the future. The meeting saw discussion of the ongoing exercise on TAC priorities in international agricultural research. Findings and recommendations on meeting agenda items included: recommendation for CG support to WARDA's coordinated field trials of rice varieties and related training programs; endorsement of the proposed University of Illinois-based INTSOY program on soybean research and a CGIAR role in its outreach functions; the suitability of a cooperative research program on protein production in Latin America between CIAT, CTEI, and other regional and national institutes (rather than an independent IARC for this purpose); and recommendations on two proposals on plant disease research involving fusarium control and horizontal resistance to wheat disease. TAC recommended non CG support to a French-Upper Volta initiative on trypanosomiasis, and to a proposed project on agricultural mechanization in West Africa. Agenda items carried over to TAC 6 included: the management, operations, financial requirements, and collaboration with other IARCs of the proposed network for plant genetic resources; the report of the Research Review Mission to the Near East and North Africa; and the report of TAC's expert panel on aquaculture.