marker-assisted selection in wheat - ictsd

446Marker-assisted selection – Current status and future perspectives in crops, livestock, forestry and fishand programmes; sector-wide approaches(SWaps) that are aligned with the MDGs;and national and regional programmes forfood security that are supported by FAOand its donors. In one form or another,these documents describe national macroeconomic,structural and social policiesand programmes to promote growth andreduce poverty, and map out plans for theirattainment and priorities for both domesticand external assistance. With respect tothe latter, the 2005 Paris Declaration onAid Effectiveness provides a multidonorcommitment to improve aid effectivenessthrough harmonization, alignment andmanaging for results (see, for example,www.oecd.org/document/18/0,2340,en_2649_3236398_35401554_1_1_1_1,00.html).Significant within essentially all of theseprocesses is the shift from the traditionalagenda of “raising productivity” for agricultureto the broader agenda of improvingrural livelihoods in both economic andnon-economic terms. Also significant is thefact that despite their positive track records,agriculture and, even more so, agriculturalresearch are not high on the list of prioritiesin country PRSPs. This points clearly to theneed for agricultural ministries and NARESto engage more actively in the process ofrevising future PRSPs. However, successin elevating the priority given to agriculturewithin PRSPs will only be achievedby formulating and delivering agriculturalR&D policies, programmes and activitiesthat are coherent within the agriculturalsector, with national PRSPs and with theMDGs. Noteworthy here is that in 2004 the Economic and Social Council of theUnited Nations (ECOSOC) underscoredUN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)Resolution 2004/68 “Science and Technology forDevelopment” (E/2004/INF/2/Add.3).that most developing countries are unlikelyto meet the MDGs without a clear politicalcommitment to making S&T among the toppriorities in their development agendas, andrecommended that governments increaseR&D expenditure to at least one percent ofgross domestic product (GDP).Comprehensive agriculturaldevelopment policiesDefining these policies basically entailsdetermining the broad-based objectivesof the sector, which, in the new contextof development, also needs to includegoals for enhancing social equity and naturalresource sustainability. Essential tothe process is “mapping the terrain”. Thisrequires evidence-based stocktaking of pasttrends within each subsector (e.g. withrespect to production, marketing and legislation),and identifying barriers to realizingopportunities for expansion, strategic alternativesfor moving forward based on anassessment of what the future is likely tohold, and the instruments and means fortheir implementation (e.g. through newlegislation, administrative decrees, publicand/or donor investment, and participationby the private sector and civil society).Preparation then moves on to developan integrated sector-wide package of policiesto guide implementation, including aninvestment programme. Policies directedtowards rural poverty reduction throughagriculture must be based on (a) determiningwhere poor people intersect mostprominently with agriculture and the majorrisks they face (e.g. drought, salinity, diseaseoutbreaks); (b) the types of productionsystems and commodities they produce;In many countries, forestry and fisheries areseparate sectors with ministries responsible fordeveloping National Forestry or Fisheries Actionor Development Plans