ATTENTION: The 2001 Call has been extended until July 15, 2001

Background

The Regional Fund for Agricultural Technology (FONTAGRO) is a consortium of countries and development institutions whose mandate is to promote strategic agricultural research with a regional interest. It seeks to set priorities and finance research projects with the direct involvement of Latin American and Caribbean countries.

The Fund consists of an equity account or endowment fund that is expected to reach US$200 million by 2005, mostly from contributions of countries within the region. The annual proceeds from these resources will be used to provide competitive, non-reimbursable financing for research projects in priority areas identified in the 1998-2000 Medium Term Plan.

The overall management of the Fund is in the hands of the Board of Directors, which is designated by the member countries and organizations. The Board is in charge of setting policies, priorities and operational procedures to allocate funds for research projects. In support of the Board, a Technical-Administrative Secretariat, located in the headquarters of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Washington, D.C. during FONTAGRO's initial period, coordinates and implements tasks delegated by the Board. The members of the Fund have established the following mission and objectives:

To increase competitiveness in the agricultural sector, ensuring the sustainable management of natural resources and the reduction of poverty in the region through the use of regional technologies based on public-goods, while facilitating the generation and exchange of scientific knowledge between institutions, both within the region and throughout the world.

Objectives

To establish a sustainable financing arrangement and a forum for discussion of priority issues regarding technology innovation by countries within the region, strengthening the role of such countries in the drafting of a regional research agenda. Furthermore, the Fund aims to:

 

• Expand the research base in order to successfully meet technology development challenges requiring a cooperative approach, since many countries are not in a position to face the challenges individually.

• Increase availability and ensure the continuity of resources geared toward activities with an aim to produce public goods that can be used in more than one country and that complement agricultural research at the national level.

• Promote cooperation among different research organizations for the implementation of projects.

• Enhance participation and decision-making power in the countries of the region in connection with agricultural research activities at the international level.

Analysis and Recommendations Based on the 1998 and 1999 Calls for Proposals

• A total of 70 proposals from the 1998 and 1999 Calls have been submitted to external peer evaluation according to the procedures set forth in FONTAGRO's Manual of Operations. The breakdown of the proposals by region was as follows: Southern Cone, 22; Andean Zone, 28; Amazon and Tropical Savannas, 10; Central America, 19. Some of the proposals from Central America also encompassed the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean countries. This breakdown is an indication that the region's ability to develop projects is even and is not biased toward a particular sub-region. Even though the three countries that comprise the Gran Chaco (Southern Cone) megadomain are members of the Regional Fund, no proposals have been received from that region.

• The distribution of projects according to priority subject areas has been rather consistent as well, with a slight preference for proposals that include genetic improvement as one of the key technologies. Improvement of business management and small-scale agricultural technologies have been relatively overlooked, despite the opportunities identified in these two areas in several megadomains.

• FONTAGRO has financed twenty-one projects from both Calls (twelve from 1998 and nine from 1999) (26% of the total number of proposals submitted to external evaluation) for a total of US$4.2 million. On a by-region basis, six proposals came from the Southern Cone, nine from the Andean Zone and six from Central America.

• The total and partial scores of the proposals from both Calls as regards their economic impact, technical quality, institutional capacity, and environmental impact are similar. In 1998, the average score of the top ten proposals was 73.80 out of 100, compared with 77.0 in 1999. The proposals continued to score low in terms of their economic-financial-social impact, although the 1999 Call showed a noticeable improvement from 1998. In the 1998 Call, the average point loss was 52%, as opposed to 42% in 1999. According to independent evaluators, a certain number of proposals-roughly 30% of the total-showed conceptual limitations from scientific and operational perspectives.

• While the correlation between these two relatively more important technical criteria has been significant-that is, proposals that scored high on economic impact also scored high on technical quality-there have been a few exceptions. For example, in the areas of genetic resources, tropical fruits and agribusiness, there were projects of excellent scientific quality, but of low economic impact, due likely to problems in the economic valuation of the projects. Such was the case of some proposals received from the Amazon megadomain.

• Proposals covering two or more megadomains (multi-megadomain) have been scarce: four from the 1998 Call and two from 1999. At the regional level, priority areas have a strong impact and are cost-efficient, but require more coordination efforts in terms of both project design and implementation.

The recommendations for the 2001 Call for Proposals are the following:

• The 1998-2000 Medium Term Plan (MTP 1998-2000) is still in effect and many of the research opportunities it outlines for each megadomain or for the region as whole continue to be valid. Please refer to MTP 1998-2000.

• The value-added, private sector, and final consumer guidelines contained in the terms of reference of the new Call can also be found within the framework of research opportunities of the MTP 1998-2000.

• FONTAGRO's Manual of Operations should be carefully studied in order to improve the overall design of the proposals and to obtain higher economic impact and technical quality scores. The consistency between the budget requested and the planned activities should also be verified.

• It is important that the proposals be prepared jointly by the national institutions and the individuals in charge from each consortium. In some instances, this process has been facilitated by regional mechanisms and institutions linked to agricultural research activities (e.g. PROCIs, CATIE, and the International Research Centers). These serve as gatherers-facilitators for the preparation of proposals. FONTAGRO's Technical-Administrative Secretariat can also play this role as needed, particularly for those megadomains that lack the required mechanisms.

Priority areas

As provided by FONTAGRO's Board of Directors, the 2001 Call will be set against the same priorities of the of the 1999 Call (see Table with production categories and sector activities and their corresponding key technology groups). The preparation and evaluation of the proposals will be subject to the conditions of the Manual of Operations. However, the Board of Directors has devised a special category for the following type of research proposals:

1. Research proposals aimed at creating some type value added throughout agri-food chains products or processes.

2. Proposals involving joint research activities between the national and international public and private sectors of FONTAGRO's member countries, leading to the creation of synergies and complementarities in common interest and strategic areas in Latin America and the Caribbean.

3. Proposals with research activities revolving around processes and products that directly benefit the final consumer through the production of foods with higher nutritional value and/or functionality for groups of consumers.

Proposals prepared according to these categories should indicate so by including the following legend underneath the title: "Additional Orientation Category". The set of proposals with this orientation will be evaluated under the same technical criteria indicated in the Manual of Operations.

Implementation Period

Up to 3 years.

Grant Limit and Eligible Expenses

The maximum amount to be financed by FONTAGRO remains at US$500,000 (five hundred thousand dollars) per project, and the eligible expenses are the following:

Eligible Institutions

The institutions eligible to submit project proposals to FONTAGRO as implementing agencies are the public or private organizations of the Funds' TWO OR MORE member countries, acting as regional consortia. The consortium(a) may also include regional and international research centers, universities, and research institutions from outside the region.

Evaluation of Proposals and Execution of Projects

The proposals that meet the conditions set forth in this Call and that are in accordance with e Fund's Manual of Operations will be evaluated by independent experts. We suggest a careful review of Annexes I and II of the Fund's Manual of Operations (July 1998).

Period of the 2001 Call for Proposals

ATTENTION: The 2001 Call has been extended until July 15, 2001

The proposals for research project will be received between May 1st and June 30th 2001. The Technical-Administrative Secretariat will welcome at any time profile-type consultations about priorities, consortia and other operational issues related to the proposals.

Available Resources

The resources available for this Call are estimated at US$2 million, coming from the earnings of FONTAGRO's endowment and other contributions from interested donors in Latin America and the Caribbean. At the most, ten projects are expected to be financed, with disbursement of funds beginning in July 2002.

Method of Sending the Proposal

PLEASE SEND THE PROPOSAL BY E-MAIL TO: fontagro@iadb.org

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