The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) as an International Agricultural Research Center (IARC): From the Cold War to One CGIAR

This paper takes a modest step in sketching the history of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) from its Cold War origins to the present. Consolidating different sources to tell this narrative, this paper aims to fill in some gaps in the narrative of IRRI’s development, offer some additional details thereto, and extend it to cover IRRI under One CGIAR. The geopolitical rivalry between the United States of America (thereafter US) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (thereafter the Soviet Union) during the Cold War helped establish IRRI in the Philippines in 1960. This ushered the Green Revolution. Formed in the crucible of Cold War geopolitics, IRRI then underwent changes after 1991, such as: (1) formal recognition of IRRI as an International Agricultural Research Center (IARC); (2) stability, increase, and eventual decline of public spending in agriculture research post-2014 (Beintema and Echeverria 2020); (3) the post-Cold War involvement of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) in IRRI’s activities (Medina 2020); and (4) the expansion of BMGF’s corporate involvement, which was facilitated through the centralization of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) under One CGIAR. This paper offers some insights on the implications of post-Cold War develpments in IRRI for global food security, arguing what states, scholars, and/or members of civil society can and should do in light of these developments.

Food security, Cold War, IRRI, CGIAR, BMGF