TAC MEMBERSONLY Working Document THE CONSULTATIVE GROUPON INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE Forty-Ninth Meeting, Rome (Italy), 19 - 24 June 1989 . REPORT OF THE TAC FACT-FINDING MISSION TO THE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE OF INSECT PHYSIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY (ICIPE) TAC SECRETARIAT l?OODAND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS May 1989 -- i Table of Contents Page 1. BACKGROUND 1 . 2. THE CENTRE PROGRAMME 2 a.-.71 Strategy 2.1.1. The planning process 2.1.2. Main thrusts 2.1.3. Quality Control 2.1.4. Implementation 2.2. The Research Programmes 5 2.2.1. Crop pests 5 2.2.1.1: Activities 6 2.2.1.2. Contribution of research support units 7 2.2.1.3. Impact 7 2.2.2. Livestock Ticks 7 2.2.2.1. Activities 8 2.2.2.2. Contribution of research support units 9 2.2.2.3. Impact 9 2.2.3. Tsetse 10 2.2.3.1. Activities 10 2.2.3.2. Contribution of research support units 11 2.2.3.3. Impact 11 2.2.4. Medical Vectors 12 2.2.4.1. Activities 12 2.2.4.2. Contributions of research support units 12 2.2.4.3. Impact 12 2.3. Training, Networking and Publications 13 2.3.1. Training 13 2.3.2. Networking 14 2.3.3. Publications 14 2.4. Regional Distribution of Programmes 15 2.5. Future Plans 15 3, RESEARCH RESULTS AND IMPACT 16 ii Page 4. GOVERNANCE,MANAGEMENT AND METHODSOF OPERATION 17 4.1. Governance and Structure 17 4.2. Methods of Operation 18 4.3. Relations with Other Institutions 18 4 5. A PROFILE OF RESOURCES 20 5.1. Physical Facilities 20 5.2. Human Resources 20 5.3. Financial Resources 20 6. ISSUES AND CONCERNS 25 Annexes: Annex I - Terms of Reference Annex II - Composition of the TAC Sub-Group to ICIPE Annex III - TAC Sub-Group Review Programme Annex IV - Persons Met by the TAC Sub-Group TAC FACT-FINDING MISSION T,O THE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE OF INSECT PHYSIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY (ICIPE) (Nairobi, Kenya, 24-30 April 1989) 1. BACKGROUND l The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) was established in 1970 to do basic and applied research in insect science. It was initially incorporated in Kenya under the Companies Act with an international mandate as a non-profit company limited by guarantee and not having capital. In 1986, the ICIPE became an autonomous, non-profit, international organization with legal status established by international charter. The Centre has its headquarters on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. It has one major sub-station and eight other field sites. The sub-station at Mbita Point, on the shores of Lake Victoria in Western Kenya at an altitude of 1250 m, was established in 1979. The mandate of the Centre is to undertake research in integrated control methodologies for insect pests of crop and livestock and other related arthropods; insect vectors of tropical diseases crucial to rural health in the tropics, particularly in Africa; as well as the strengthening of the scientific and technological capacities of developing countries in insect science and its application through training and collaborative research. In pursuit of its mandate the ICIPE has four principal objectives: to undertake research on selected insects and arthropods, to study their identity, abundance, distribution, ecology, behaviour, physiology, pathology, genetics, and the application of this knowledge to the problems of integrated pest and vector management problems as well as the beneficial use of insects; to establish research cooperation with key international research centres and advanced laboratories throughout the world; and with the national programmes in Kenya and other parts of Africa to facilitate research on, and the testing and demonstration of pest - control si-rategies; to establish advanced training in research methods and techniques for pre-doctoral and post-doctoral fellows as well as for young practitioners in insect science and technology; ro provide an international forum for the discussion and exchange of knowledge among scientists through seminars, symposia, conferences, training workshops, and publications on new advances in insect science and management strategies fox tropical pests and disease vectors. Since 1987, the operational mandate has been slightly modified and expanded, Perhaps the most significant change in relation to the formal 2 mandate is the term "fundamental research" instead of "research" in the first operational objective. Although the mandate does not exclude global responsibilities, it directs the research of the Centre in particular to Africa. Although this is not mentioned in the mandate, the main beneficiaries of the research are considered to be the resource poor, small-scale farmers in the tropics. This appears to cast the net so wide, that it encompasses the vast majority of farmers and farm lands in Africa for the present and for years to come. Therefore, this formulation does little to focus the research, except for excluding * plantation farming and westernized agriculture as intended beneficiaries. It may be inferred from the document that the clients of research are national agricultural research and extension systems in the tropics in general, and in Africa in particular, and other international centres within and outside the CGIAR. ICIPE distinguishes itself from most other international centres because it considers the international science community explicitly as a client. To transfer its knowledge, ICIPE is active in training and has a dedicated policy of publishing in refereed international journals. Also, national research scientists are invited to annual conferences that precede Programme Committee meetings of the Governing Council. This enables scientists of national agricultural research systems (NARS) to contribute to the strategy and priority setting of the Centre. The Centre appears to have active and continuing interactions with national research systems mainly through its training and collaborative network activities. Scientists in national research programmes are, according to representatives of the NARS and of the Ministry of Agriculture in the host country, the most appropriate clients of ICIPE. 2. THE CENTRE PROGRAM@3 2.1. Strategy 2.1.1. The planning process The main elements of the strategy and programme of the Centre were set out in a Council-approved, three-year strategic plan for the years 1987-1989, which-was published in May 1987. A preliminary draft of the strategic plan for the years 1990-1992 was made available to the TAC Sub-Group. These strategic plans are in fact programmes of work with their budgetary consequences that contain, in addition, strategic elements and long-term perspectives. ICIPE aims at a comprehensive planning process, as presented in Fig. 1. However, a strategic plan for ten years or more would not be too useful in the present situation because of the lack of continufty in funding. As ft stands, the strategic plan of ICIPE provides a good overview of past achievements, present activities, perceived results and the constraints to be addressed- Figtire. MOM of I ct PE strategic plambg pm= HaMlNG - RESEARCH COMMTTEE + . 11 , -.- . .. 4 2.1.2. Main thrusts ICIPE focuses on the generation of low cost pest management techniques which will help farmers in the tropics to increase their food production and which will improve the health of rural communities. In order to sustain this work, ICIPE is committed to strengthening insect pest science in developing countries and to forge linkages with national agricultural research and extension systems. This focus may require the Centre to build up its expertise across the whole spectrum from basic research to development of techniques arid to include the implementation of actual pest management techniques. It will be a formidable task to build up expertise over such a wide range. Moreover, like all research with a farming systems perspective, the research on implementation begs the question where the responsibility of international centres ends and that of national systems begins. 2.1.3. Quality control ICIPE uses three methods of assessing and maintaining the quality of its research and training activities. These are: annual peer review of its scientists by a panel of both internal and external scientists; reviews of each individual core programme or research unit by a panel of external experts that is supplemented by members of the Programme Committee of the Governing Council; and simultaneous external reviews of all'ICIPE's activities and programmes. The frequency of the latter two reviews will be extended from three to four years. The publicly available reviews of recent years are helpful in the assessment of the Centre, although some of them reveal more about the quality of the examiners than of the Centre's programme. In addition, there are annual research conferences, strategic planning exercises, and reviews by NARS directors within the frame of network activities. 2.1.4. Implementation Within the context of its strategy, the mission-oriented research of ICIPE addresses constraints related to crop pests of economic importance in the tropics, to livestock pests that reduce animal productivity and are related to the challenge by tsetse flies and by ticks, and to insect vectors of major human diseases. These four problem areas are addressed in ICIPE's programme of research. Innovative research on these and other insect-related constraints require the input of disciplinary-oriented research efforts that may run across the problem-oriented programmes. Such commonality could be a strong argument to concentrate strategic insect-related research in a specialized centre, rather than its decentralization over commodity orientated research organizations. ICIPE supports five disciplinary orientated units. The Chemistry and Biochemistry Research Uni i isolates and characterizes antigen proteins; isolates, identifies and synthesizes insect-active compounds; and is engaged in exploratory research in areas of arthropod chemistry. The Cell Biology Research Unit carries out research on the form and c function of cells and tissues of target insects, pathogens and pathological materials, and is also engaged in complementary research within ICIPE's mandate.