I note with dismay that there is slow progress against hunger in 2003/04. But at the same time I am encouraged by political leaders' broader recognition of the hunger problem, and by some actions initiated around the world based on a new understanding of the importance of agricultural and rural growth and good nutrition and health for development. Demand for IFPRI's work is changing and growing. A number of strategic issues loom large for us, including rapid political change in the developing world, the end of some conflicts, increased decentralization of policymaking, globalization, and polarized global trade negotiations. The linkages of HIV/AIDS and other health crises to agriculture, food, water, and nutrition are increasingly seen as a challenge to which also IFPRI must respond with research and capacity strengthening. There is woefully inadequate progress on gender inequality and other discrimination, despite the key role of women in agriculture and nutrition.

IFPRI staff in cooperation with other CGIAR centers and other partners are rising to these challenges. For example, together with CIAT, we implemented the CGIAR HarvestPlus Challenge Program, which focuses on breeding micronutrient-rich staple crops. We are undertaking new work on biosafety systems in developing countries. Comparative work on rural development policy in India and China is progressing and IFPRI helped organize a dialogue among leading policy analysts of the two countries.

A major highlight of the early months of 2004 was the very successful all-Africa conference on "Assuring Food and Nutrition Security in Africa by 2020," held in April in Kampala, Uganda. It was attended by over 500 policy makers, scholars, farmers, and development practitioners, and was designed and organized by a committee composed primarily of our African partners. Three African heads of state, two Nobel Prize winners, and three World Food Prize winners were among the many eminent people addressing the gathering. The follow-up to the conference is ongoing with partners in Africa, including the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and at subregional levels.

In June 2004, the heads of state and government attending the Group of Eight Summit pledged their support for our work on "Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support Systems" for agricultural and market analysis in Africa as part of an overall strategy to end the cycle of famine, raise agricultural productivity, and promote rural development. It is most gratifying that our work is getting even more attention from people in a position to do something about hunger and malnutrition.

Research excellence remains our foundation. IFPRI staff published 13 books through both IFPRI's own imprint and prestigious academic presses such as Johns Hopkins University Press, Oxford, and Elsevier Science, covering such topics as gender and food security, policies to end hunger, fish supply and demand to 2020, and institutions for natural resource management. IFPRI researchers also published numerous chapters in books and articles in peer-reviewed scholarly journals, including many top rated development, economics, and science journals. That IFPRI is an important part of the global stream of knowledge creation for improved food policy is also demonstrated by the fact that we presented our research findings at nearly 300 conferences, seminars, and workshops in 2003. An annual report can barely capture the innovations, their scale and relevance, and the commitment of IFPRI staff and partners that is driving these achievements.

IFPRI is decentralizing its operations and deepening its collaborative relationships. The number of staff posted with partner organizations increased in 2003 and will further rise in 2004. We believe that this approach to our operations will broaden and deepen our collaborative relationships in developing countries and strengthen our ties to research networks on the ground. In 2003 we worked with local partners in more than 70 countries. We spent 50 percent of our research budget in Africa and another third in Asia. Our long-term strategy centers on research, capacity strengthening, and policy communication. In 2004, we will work on enhancing our strategies for communications and capacity strengthening.

Communications activities will increasingly be of a two-way nature. We will work to enhance our website, which is already the most visited of any CGIAR center, with over 3 million downloads since January 2003.

Capacity strengthening--rooted in research--is essential for facilitating sound policy changes. IFPRI's new ISNAR Division in Addis Ababa will further enhance capacity for the CGIAR and the national agricultural research systems in the developing countries. We gratefully note the cooperation of past ISNAR management and Board in the transition phase of 2003/04 and the support by the investors.

IFPRI staff conducted courses and training workshops for hundreds of partners in developing countries in 2003, and this will now accelerate even further with the ISNAR Division. We provided training materials to support programs carried out by development organizations, and 33 training programs put on by universities and other institutions in developing countries. In addition to long-standing capacity strengthening activities, IFPRI is facilitating the development of a collaborative master's degree program in agricultural economics with several East-African universities and is working on a global distance-learning initiative with other CGIAR partners. Our finances remain sound. Revenues grew 8 percent in 2003, and are expected to rise another 30 percent in 2004, due to initiatives by our new Development Strategy and Governance Division, integration of the International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR) program into IFPRI, and expansion of the HarvestPlus program.

Our mission is to provide policy solutions that reduce hunger and poverty. We strive to maintain academic excellence as a research institute, but always with that overarching goal in mind. In this regard, the essay in this volume on the role of agriculture in achieving the Millennium Development Goals--the international community's pledge to make the world a better place over the next decade--is meant to encourage both research and action. IFPRI actively supports the UN-Hunger Task Force as well as the World Economic Forum Initiative on the Millennium Development Goals with analyses and background research. With three out of four of the world's poor people living in the rural areas, there can be no sustainable solution to poverty that does not include agriculture and rural development as integral elements.