The international agricultural research institute as a source of agricultural development

Abstract

It seems clear that the returns on investment in agricultural research by the donors to the new international research systems (the members of the Consultative Group on International Research) have been exceptionally high relative to other development assistance opportunities available to the donors. The initial results obtained by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) have, however, created expectations of performance by the newer institutes which will be difficult to duplicate. There are also a number of weaknesses in funding and administration which may act to limit the effective development of the international system. In this paper I attempt to (a) place the evolution of the international agricultural research institute model within the context of post World War II agricultural development assistance thought and experience; (b) indicate some of the organisation and management issues that have confronted the international agricultural research system during its evolution, and (c) present some of my own perspectives on future policy and programme directions for the international agricultural research system. Before proceeding to these three tasks, however, I would like to make three observations which condition my discussion of the more general problem of transforming knowledge into food. First, the output and productivity gains available to agriculture will come with greater difficulty and at greater cost in most poor countries in the next decade than in the last decade.