As we near the threhhold of the 21st century the world is faced with an increasingly complex challenge of feeding its growing population, while assuring an equitable and sustainable development. Scientific and technological progress is generating the knowledge and the tools to make this possible. Nevertheless, the environmental and socio-economic deterioration that is being confronted in many parts of the world poses an unprecedented challenge of mobilizing and applying the potential capacity scientific progress has generated, to the solution of these problems and to generate a sustainable and equitable development process. The capacity to respond to this situation will have an impact on the wellbeing of all societies, making it a global issue. And the rapid process of deterioration, with its long-term and pervasive impacts, gives it a sense of urgency that requires an effective and collective response.
This challenge is being confronted in a context characterized by profound processes of transformation in a rapidly changing world. Key changes are taking place in four main dimensions that are leading to a transformation of agricultural research for development, and to the new strategic role this area of science plays. These four dimensions are: (a) the socio-economic context, (b) the knowledge or science context, (c) the institutional context, and (d) the process of globalization. A brief analysis of these four dimensiomns follows.