IRRI - INTERNATIONAL RICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
15 February 1993
Dear Drs. von der Osten and McCalla,
On behalf of IRRI's Board of Trustees and Management we are pleased to respond to the recommendations and helpful suggestions presented in the report of the fourth IRRI external program and management review.
The report gives a clear and perceptive account of IRRI's strategy, programs, and plans for the future; and provides insights into the changes made since 1988. In its recommendations, it also identifies a number of important activities which the Centre is anxious to strengthen.
We are grateful to the review panel for its thoughtful analysis of future rice demands and supplies in the various regions of Asia. We support the view that: "IRRI's research is still urgently needed to lead the way in addressing the most difficult research problems" and that there is a compelling case for continuing research in all major rice ecosystems.
The Board and Management are pleased with the review panel's approval of the overall directions and balance of IRRI's research activities and its support of the matrix-based research management system introduced in 1990. This system has made IRRI's goals in the various ecosystem-based research programs more explicit. At the same time, disciplinary excellence has been supported.
The Panel's conclusions regarding the major research priorities for the future are congruent with those of IRRI. These include the following:
· Critical problems of decline in factor productivity;· Use of new and innovative technology, including molecular biology, to raise the yield ceiling of rice;
· Development and dissemination of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) technology; and
· Greater integration of the social sciences with concerns for IRRI's impact on disadvantaged rice consumers and producers.
We concur with these conclusions and agree that IRRI must continue strategic research on natural resource management as it impinges on the long term productivity of the rice systems, in addition to its research on the genetic improvement of rice. Thus, IRRI must continue its global responsibility as well as play a pivotal role for ecoregional research for selected rice-based agroecosystems in Asia.
IRRI will continue to respond with energy and enthusiasm to these challenges, within the capacity of its resources, and with the support and advice of its partners within the respective agroecological regions. In view of the magnitude of the problems and the size of the respective rice ecosystems, these tasks can and must be undertaken within new collaborative settings. IRRI has over the last few years initiated several forms of linkages with national systems and will continue to do so.
P.O. Box 933 · 1099 Manila Philippines · Telephone: City office - 88-48-69: 88-83-51 to 53; Research Center - 818-1926 Cable: Ricefound Manila. Telex: (ITT) 45365 RICE PM, 40890 RICE PM; (RCA) 22456 IRI PH; (EASTERN) 63786 RICE PN · FAX: (63-2) 817-8470; (63-2) 818 2087
The request for widened responsibilities must also be linked to resource allocation. IRRI's rationalization efforts have already led to the:
· Abolishing of 720 positions;
· Freezing of Internationally Recruited Staff positions;
· Rationalizing and streamlining of operations; and
· Modernizing of facilities with consequent reductions in operational costs.
Given the present resources, we are considering the reduction of the size of the experimental farm at IRRI Headquarters, and undertaking another staff reduction program.
Our responses to the 11 specific recommendations made by the review team are attached. Beyond these 11 recommendations, the report contains a valuable set of proposals and expressed views which we have also carefully studied. We wish to assure you that IRRI's Board and Management will make full use of these suggestions in our ongoing effort to adapt the Institute and our work to continuously changing needs.
We would like to express our great appreciation to the Review Panel for the valuable report, and to the TAC and CGIAR Secretariats for the assistance and support provided to the review.
Respectfully submitted,
Klaus Lampe
Director General
Walter P. Falcon
Chairman, Board of Trustees
Dr. Alexander von der Osten
Executive Secretary - Secretariat
Consultative Group on International
Agricultural Research (CGIAR)
The World Bank
1818 H Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20433
U.S.A.
Dr. Alexander McCalla
Chairman
Technical Advisory Committee (TAC)
University of California
Department of Agricultural Economics
219 E Street, Suite 2C
Davis, CA 95616
U.S.A.
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IRRI
INTERNATIONAL RICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
IRRI's Board and Management Joint Response to the Report of the Fourth External Programme and Management Review of September 1992
Chapter 3 - Research Programmes
Recommendation 3.1
The Panel, recognizing the threat posed to food supplies by yield decline and decreasing factor productivity in intensively managed ricelands, recommends that IRRI lead a major research effort enlisting the best talents available in the world, to seek solution for this complex of problems - a task that may take a decade or longer to complete.
We agree with the External Review Panel's assessment of the seriousness of the stagnation in yield and the decline in productivity issues, and welcome their according such high priority to them. As the Panel rightly notes, these are highly complex issues which affect not only the goals of increasing productivity and farm incomes, but also the fundamental issue of sustainability.
There is strong evidence that these phenomena are not restricted to intensive rice systems. Some aspects may be common to other intensive cereal systems, such as the rice-wheat rotation. The kind of international effort involving institutions from both the rice-growing and industrialized countries, which the Panel has suggested, and the needed resources of $50 million over 10 years are not unrealistic.
We are firmly committed, and have already begun, to seek answers to these problems. On the basis of available information, we are developing a number of hypotheses to guide experimentation to understand better the factors controlling the long-term sustainability of intensive systems. More work, however, is needed in the region to document the magnitude of the problem in farmers' fields. This information will also help refine the hypotheses upon which to develop a full research agenda.
In our view, this issue is a problem of fundamental importance that demands our immediate attention and concerted effort. The Panel's independent assessment leading to the same conclusion - at a time when the medium term plan decisions for IRRI have to be taken - is most encouraging.
Recommendation 3.2
The Panel recommends that IRRI explore the feasibility of combining with cultivated rice the ability of some wild species to grow under low solar radiation, in order to increase wet season rice productivity.
We feel committed to exploring a wide range of new and novel mechanisms that have the potential to enhance the productivity and sustainability of rice and rice-based systems. Examples include a new plant type with a target of 25-30% yield increase, symbiotic N2 fixation in rice, and a perennial rice plant for the uplands.
We have used and continue to use the genetic variability of wild species of rice to enhance stability and durability to biotic and abiotic stresses. Indeed, much of our biotechnology initiative has been conducted to ensure our ability to transfer these genes through wide hybridization.
The Panel's recommendation to target improvement in the efficiency of photosynthesis at low light intensity will require further investigation. Many factors are involved. Their interrelationships and importance can best be examined initially by a process-based rice growth model that will define the range of productivity responses to changes in photosynthesis with changes in radiation. An ex ante impact assessment will guide the wide hybridization program.
Chapter 4 - Research Management
Recommendation 4.1
The Panel recommends that IRRI adjust the matrix management system to provide the Divisions more authority and means to strengthen disciplinary capabilities and rigour, and to ensure that the emphasis on ecosystem research programmes does not lead to an erosion of disciplinary expertise.
In this recommendation, the Panel has recognized the fundamental task of the matrix management system to balance between ensuring the dedication of a critical mass of scientists of several disciplines to the pursuit of solutions to a mission-stated problem and providing excellence in disciplinary knowledge and skills.
We judge this recommendation to be a restatement of the importance of that balance. We concur that the matrix must ensure outputs of disciplinary knowledge and capacity for vigour and excellence from the divisions along with outputs, technologies and tools from the programs. Our second medium-term plan (1994-1998) identifies resources for use by the divisions in pursuing and strengthening disciplinary knowledge and scientific vigour.
IRRI Management will continue to fine-tune the research matrix, and the Board and Management will carefully monitor the appropriateness of the outputs.
Chapter 5 - International Programmes
Recommendation 5.1
The Panel recommends that IRRI make every effort to mobilize required resources to protect the integrity and the worldwide effectiveness of INGER, and to maintain the high level of management capability required for INGER's success.
We appreciate and fully concur with the Panel's recognition of the importance of INGER. We firmly believe that INGER and the International Rice Germplasm Center (IRGC) are key activities of IRRI which have played and will continue to play pivotal roles.
INGER's evolution since 1989 testifies to our recognition of its vital role. It is true that funding constraints and the need for reorganization and rationalization of IRRI have forced a restructuring of INGER, with a concomitant prioritization and concentration of activities. We regard INGER as a vital component in our collaboration with NARS and an integral part of IRRI's core activity, and are making all efforts to seek the financial support needed for its full implementation. We have been successful in finding additional donor support for INGER regional activities in Africa, and are hopeful for the support of other INGER components as well. This will allow us to maintain the high level of management capability required for INGER's continuing success, to better serve our NARS collaborators.
Recommendation 5.2
The Panel recommends that, in replacing its retiring librarian, IRRI employ a professional who has demonstrated competency as an international leader in the diverse areas of library and information services management.
We fully agree with the Panel's recommendation. The valuable collection of the IRRI's Library is irreplaceable. The present head of IRRI's library has been the key person in the development of this unique accumulation of knowledge over more than 30 years. We agree that this treasure must be properly and effectively managed, and also kept up-to-date in view of new technologies. The Library information services need to be modernized through expanded application of electronic communication devices, to better serve the needs of IRRI and NARS scientists.
When the current Librarian retires at the end of 1992, we intend to search internationally for a highly qualified professional to assist us in further modernizing the Library service. Special funding has assured that the Institute will be able to renovate the Library, provide the collection with safe storage facilities, and install the electronic systems needed to serve scientists worldwide.
Recommendation 5.3
The Panel recommends that IRRI, together with colleagues from national research systems, seriously consider the future of and IRRI's participation in the two Networks: ARFSN and INSURF.
We are cognizant of the rapidly changing research and information environment within which the two networks operate. The establishment of the ecosystem-based research consortia places a different perspective on the role of these networks. In line with an IRRI Management initiated Peer Review on Networks, Management has begun in early 1992 discussions on the reorganization of existing networks. Several options are being explored, one of which is for the networks to operate around the ecosystems framework and to be closely associated with the research consortia. These options are now being discussed with our NARS partners, and corrective measures will be taken as part of the Medium Term Plan (1994-1998).
Chapter 7 - Organization and Management
Recommendation 7.1
The Panel recommends that the Board further improve the way it selects and orients its new trustees.
The Board is working to improve its procedures for selecting new Trustees - a task that is a specific responsibility of the Nominating Committee of the Board and the general responsibility of the Board itself.
The current practice follows accepted procedures for CGIAR centres. Prospective Trustees are identified through an interactive process involving IRRI Board members, IRRI Management, and the staff of the CGIAR Secretariat, with the help of the Secretariat's new database of potential Trustees. In addition, the Board canvasses a wide range of other contacts in developing and developed countries to identify prospective Trustees.
The Board is aware of the need to maintain a balance between Trustees from industrialized- and agriculture-dominated countries, and for representation from the regions of the world where IRRI is most active. The selection also takes into account the need to have a range of appropriate professional experiences and skills represented in its membership.
The Board is working to increase the number of female Trustees (there will be two as of March 1993). All twelve elected Trustees serve in their individual capacities and, with the exception of the three additional ex officio members, all have terms of three years, renewable once.
The Board accepts that it can improve its orientation procedures for new Trustees, and has established a more formal procedure to do so. A new subcommittee of three trustees, including the Chairman, has accepted the responsibility of ensuring that all new Trustees are effectively briefed before their first Board meeting. In addition, new Trustees will arrive early for their first Board meeting, so that they may be briefed by the Chairman and one or more experienced Trustees, meet the staff, and be given a guided tour of Institute facilities.
Recommendation 7.2
The Panel recommends that future peer reviews include a critical assessment of scientific quality.
IRRI's peer review process is an instrument for internal monitoring and evaluation. The reviews are management initiated and conducted by outside peers. They have replaced the previous system in which individual scientists presented their results in a seminar type of exercise.
A variety of areas has been reviewed, and our experience over the last years suggests opportunities for further improvement. Two elements that we want to improve further are that
· peer review team members be identified independently of the group being reviewed, and· the scope and terms of reference of the review be identified by Management and be sufficiently precise and focused to ensure full coverage of research excellence.
This recommendation of the Panel is, therefore, fully endorsed. Scientific quality and relevance have been and are key concerns of IRRI. The introduction of management-initiated external peer reviews is one of the tools to ensure high quality. The written reports of review panels document are only part of the outcome of the reviews. Thorough discussions, both on and off the record, between the Panel Members and Management give additional insights and bases for decisions.
Recommendation 7.3
The Panel recommends that IRRI continue to conduct impact assessment studies.
We appreciate the Panel's confirmation of the importance of impact analysis. We interpret this recommendation as supportive of both ex ante and ex post assessments.
We place high importance on ex ante impact assessment as a component in setting priorities, assessing equity and environmental impacts, and planning better use of scarce resources.
In the past, IRRI socioeconomic activities included involvement in large ex post impact studies. In the future, we will be increasingly selective in undertaking such studies, with the primary focus on collaborative studies with NARS.
Chapter 8 - Administration and Operations
Recommendation 8.1
The Panel recommends that in reality the HRD Manager report directly to the DDG for Finance and Administration and that human resource management responsibilities be consolidated.
We concur with the Panel's recommendation. In the current organizational structure, both the Director for Administration, who handles IRS personnel matters, and the HRD Manager, who handles NRS personnel matters, report to the DDG for Finance and Administration. This structure will be implemented more strictly when the position of the HRD Manager, which has been vacant since April 1992, is filled.
Recommendation 8.2
The Panel recommends that the Chief Security Officer position be filled by a person from outside IRRI's present staff and that IRRI increase the proportion of contract security officers among its security staff.
We appreciate the importance the Panel has placed on the security issue at IRRI. We have, for several years, initiated steps to improve security, and we will continue to do so with the Panel's suggestions duly noted and with the special care needed in the local environment.
