Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
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From: The Secretariat
August 1993
Rice research in the CGIAR System 1/
1
/ Extract from "Summary of Proceedings and Decisions", CGIAR Mid-Term Meeting 1993, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Issues concerning rice research in the CGIAR system were examined in relation to the External Program and Management Reviews (EPMRs) of IRRI and WARDA, the two centers' MTPs, an intercenter rice review, and TAC's draft Strategy Statement on Rice Research.
The agenda was structured in such a way that members of the Group could comment on matters specific to the two centers as well as on broad strategic issues including intercenter responsibilities and resource allocations.
The EPMRs were introduced by the chairmen of the review panels - David Bell (IRRI) and Declan Walton (WARDA). The centers were represented by Board Chairs and Directors General - Walter Falcon and Klaus Lampe (IRRI); Henri Carsalade and Eugene Terry (WARDA). Grant Scobie, chairman of the panel, introduced the intercenter rice review.
Inaugurating discussion of the agenda item as part of a unified theme, the Chairman reminded the Group that consideration of individual center programs and plans could lead to the emergence of major issues that relate to rice research generally, to the niche of CGIAR centers in global rice research activities, and to continental rice research responsibilities. He suggested that the Group should consider center-specific discussions as entry points for consideration of broader issues.
Some major questions that he felt the CGIAR system should address were the need to double rice production in 30 years, the need for higher yields, concern about declining yields, and the need to balance productivity with sustainability.
Setting the context for a consideration of rice research issues, TAC's draft strategy statement pointed out that rice is the most important food crop in the world and is the major staple for 2.7 billion people in Asia alone. Over 90 percent of the world's rice production is both produced and consumed in Asia. Global demand for rice is projected to grow at a rate at least equal to population growth rates and by the year 2030 the amount of rice needed will be more than double present output. Of the extra output of rice to be produced, 91.3 percent will be needed in Asia, 3.8 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa, 3.8 percent in Latin America, and 1.1 percent in West Asia/North Africa (WANA).
Currently, the TAC statement said, the CGIAR allocates 65.6 percent of core expenditures for rice improvement to Asia, 21.4 percent to Sub-Saharan Africa (17.1 percent to West Africa), 10.7 percent to Latin America and the Caribbean, and 2.3 percent to WANA.
TAC observed, as well, that there are four major themes in international rice research to which the CGIAR must make a major contribution:
· Raise the yield ceiling, which has not increased significantly since IR8 was released in 1966;· Close the gaps between potential yields and those achieved in farmers' fields;
· Sustain current yields - sustainability issues in this connection include the problems of the less favorable rainfed environments as well as those of yield decline in irrigated systems; and
· Build or strengthen national research capacity.
In the course of the discussion, the chairmen of all three review panels emphasized the importance of rice research in the CGIAR system. Mr. Scobie said that research is an essential component of the increased productivity that will be required to meet the world's growing food requirements. Mr. Bell said that major strategic problems such as the yield ceiling and the decline in factor productivity were not likely to be overcome unless IRRI takes the lead in mobilizing scientific and financial resources to deal with them. Mr. Walton, who described rice as "a star crop" in West Africa - on account of the high rate at which the demand for rice is increasing - argued the need for a major rice research program in the region.
Mr. Bell presented a highly positive assessment of IRRI. The central finding of the review panel, he said, is that IRRI has emerged successfully from a period of change and is ready to settle down to a period of solid, productive work.
On the program side, he said, the review panel found the center to be well into a major transformation, with more emphasis on strategic research, more attention to less favorable rice growing environments, more concern with equity, sustainability, and resource management, all carried out without diverting the center's attention from germplasm improvement and production in more favorable environments.
In the area of management, he said, IRRI has made major changes in scientific organization, management systems, financial administration, and Board functions. Under a new organizational pattern, research at IRRI is organized by ecosystem, irrigated, rainfed, lowland, upland, deep water, plus a cross-ecosystems program to attend to subject matter that does not fall neatly into the ecosystem categories.
Other developments drawing positive comment from the review panel included staff changes with a consequent transfusion of new ideas; a range of improvements in the management of center affairs; and relations with national agricultural research systems that were creative as well as productive.
Mr. Walton commended WARDA for having responded to the challenge posed by the CGIAR in 1986 when the Group urged that the center should undergo a substantial transformation. In 1993, Mr. Walton said, WARDA is depoliticized and well managed with a soundly designed program that holds out the prospect of a significant impact within a reasonable time.
WARDA successfully reconciles its dual personality as an instrument of 17 member states in the region and as an autonomous international research center within the CGIAR system, Mr. Walton added. WARDA's Council of Ministers had proved to be an asset, providing the center with policy level access in all member states.
He commended WARDA's model of collaboration with national research systems, which is based on joint task forces that share out research tasks among WARDA and individual national systems on the basis of comparative advantage.
Noting that there is a strong need for rice research in West Africa, Mr. Walton said the review panel had examined various alternatives by which this research could be carried out - including a merger of WARDA with IITA - and concluded that WARDA remains the best option. WARDA must have a reasonably assured future, he said.
Mr. Scobie summarized the conclusions of the intercenter rice review within a framework of major issues such as population, equity, technological change, sustainability, and resource allocation.
The crux of the review panel's approach was that rice research in the CGIAR system should concentrate on global needs, both in its elaboration of research programs and in its allocation of resources. The current regional balance of funding is not aligned with the future needs for increasing rice production. Dealing specifically with the two rice centers, whose work was being discussed, the review argued that:
· IRRI, the center responsible for global commodity leadership and for Asia must have funding commensurate with its task, and· WARDA cannot continue to operate as an independent commodity-based center for a relatively small region with reduced funding.
Mr. McCalla suggested that discussion of rice research issues should not focus solely on regional perspectives, a single region, or a single institution. The major issue was how best the CGIAR system could respond to the needs of developing countries. The system's response would involve not only IRRI and WARDA but also CIAT, IITA, IFPRI, IBPGR, IIMI, and ISNAR.
Commenting on resource allocation for rice research in West Africa, Mr. McCalla noted that WARDA as an institution needs to be sustained but that it is at or below critical mass level. There was a need for research to be done, he added, on the sustainability of rice-based cropping systems in West Africa, and both WARDA and IITA have important roles to play.
The Group commended review chairmen and center representatives for frank and transparent presentations. There was general agreement on the need for rice research to continue within the system at a high level of intensity and intercenter collaboration. IRRI and WARDA were both commended for having managed a series of changes and for their willingness to continue undertaking other changes that might be necessary. IRRI's role as a flagship center of the system was recognized and the center was urged to "serve the whole world" with its efforts. IRRI's program emphases were considered to be consistent with the development needs it seeks to satisfy.
Some reservations were expressed about the case for a single center rice program in West Africa, and about the critical mass of scientists at WARDA. Overall, there was a consensus that the Group should continue to support WARDA.
Summing up the discussion, the Chairman said that the Group had reaffirmed the importance of rice as a crop that is the most used staple in developing countries. The external reviews of both centers were endorsed. TAC's recommendations on their MTPs would come up at ICW93 for decision-making by the Group. The Group wished that the CGIAR system should intensify and consolidate its rice research programs so as to continue its contribution toward increasing the productivity of rice and promoting the sustainability of production. The Group agreed that many centers should be involved in different aspects of this activity.
The Chairman said IRRI's role as a mature center that has made many innovations and is engaged in programs that are relevant to current production or environmental problems was widely acknowledged. IRRI was commended for its relations with national systems and for its development of creative partnership arrangements.
The Chairman noted a strong sentiment for the Group to continue supporting WARDA and encouraging its innovative mechanisms for collaboration with national systems. The Group felt that for WARDA to fulfil its role it should be funded at or about the current level. While WARDA was urged to continue its own research programs, it also was advised to undertake research partnerships with IITA on rice-based farming systems in the inland valleys of West Africa. WARDA's role in ecoregional research was viewed as requiring further elaboration.
