IRRI Pioneer Interviews--Challenges for IRRI: M.S. Swaminathan

M.S. Swaminathan, IRRI director general, 1982-88; currently chairman of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation There are challenges and Im sure the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI; http://irri.org ) is aware of them as it modifies its mandate. During its first decade [1960s], IRRIs challenge was to improve productivity. The second decade [Nyle Brady era] had the challenge of putting it into a farming systems background. During my decade, we had the challenge of mainstreaming considerations of ecology and equity in technology development and dissemination and also building national rice research institutions, including one in the Philippines. IRRIs greatest challenges today are against the backdrop of globalization. The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) present a challenge for IRRI because, for 40% of the worlds population, rice is a staple. So, the very first MDG, reducing hunger and reducing poverty, depends greatly on IRRIs work, along with its national partners. So, there is a great responsibility. Then, of course, MDG number 3 is gender equality [and empowerment of women], where again IRRI has been the flagship of the gender equity movement in the world, the first scientific institution, which started strong gender mainstreaming of its work [see IRRIs 1985 book, Women in Rice Farming, and 1988 book, Filipino Women in Rice Farming Systems]. I would say the number-one challenge is this new vision for IRRI, which places poverty alleviation and hunger elimination at the top of its agenda. Another challenge is dealing with the public/private partnerships in an IPR [intellectual property rights] environment. This problem came to the fore with Golden Rice; how do we really develop public/private partnerships under the conditions of IPR? Increasingly, scientific work is being protected by IPR. As they commonly say, the Green Revolution was a public-sector enterprise, while the Gene Revolution is a private-sector enterprise. So, how are we going to develop this new kind of partnership between the public and private sector without compromising IRRIs commitment to help the poor farmers? Social inclusion for access to new technologies should be the bottom line of IRRIs technology dissemination policy. And a third very important challenge is in the area of germplasm exchange in conjunction with the Convention on Biological Diversity [and The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture], which concerns biodiversity as national property. IRRI and its national partners now use the material transfer agreement, a methodthat shows we are not taking somebodys material and giving it away to somebody else. Theres a lot of suspicion as to whether the IRRI gene bank will be exploited by the private sector for private profit. IRRI is now working in a more difficult environment, both political and economic. One more challenge, I would say, is to use the new technologies of communication effectively. The whole world is different today. IRRI has to be a leader in terms of communication, through the Internet, through its databases, etc. We now have much faster methods of disseminating information around the world and we can leap from there. So, life becomes more interesting when some old challenges are solved and new challenges come along. We need new challenges as we enter the 21st century, and as you can see we have them. An institute should always be ready to change course. If it is not, it will be passed by others.