William Dar

William Dollente Dar (born April 10, 1953) is a Filipino horticulturist and civil servant who served as the Secretary of Agriculture under the Duterte administration. He was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte on August 5, 2019, to replace Emmanuel Piñol.

ICRISAT

ICRISAT, which is an international agricultural research center in the consortium of CGIAR centers had faced multiple crises in the 1990s. The issue at the core had to do with whether ICRISAT should focus entirely on the arid land agricultural challenges of sub Saharan Africa, and move the headquarters to a location in Africa. The continued differences at the level of Governance over this matter had led to lack of clarity in research priorities and programs. During 1997–1999, there were three successive Directors General. William Dar is credited with steering this debate from one of India-versus-Africa to a more fruitful discussion on India and Africa. Agencies in India have granted significant financial resources to ICRISAT since 2002. An example is the Dorabji Tata Trust, one of the large charities connected to the House of Tata. In spite of increased support and expressions of relevance of ICRISAT research in India, a set of external reviews commissioned by the World Bank and the CGIAR Science Council in 2003 recommended the shifting of ICRISAT headquarters to a location in sub Saharan Africa. This recommendation was not accepted by the membership of CGIAR in the Annual General Meeting of CGIAR in 2003. Since then, investor confidence in the stability of ICRISAT has grown. The annual revenues grew from less than US$24 million in 2003 to $52 million in 2009. Major investors now include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, besides the Governments of US (USAID), UK (DFID)and India (ICAR and DBT besides State Governments).

An important development in this period was the formation of a wide range of partnerships with non-corporate as well as corporate private sector in India. Some of the international administrators considered this development a risk to the reputation of an inter-governmental organization and it was included as a term of reference in an externally commissioned review in 2009. This external review in 2009 analysed the developments and agreed that there was indeed evidence of stability in programs and confidence among partners and investors.