New Delhi

A row is brewing over plans to relocate the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), currently based in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Plans to move the centre — one of a global network of 16 Future Harvest centres dedicated to food security and environmental issues — have angered staff and scientists across India, who fear that this will disrupt its research projects.

The proposal came in a report released earlier this month from an independent five-member panel set up by the Washington-based Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), which runs the Future Harvest centres. The panel said that ICRISAT's outstations in Kenya, Niger and Zimbabwe need strengthening, and that the best way to do this is to relocate the institute to Africa.

ICRISAT, which carries out research on crops that are important to the arid regions of Africa and India, such as millet and groundnut, has claimed some notable successes, such as trebling chickpea yields by introducing new varieties. But the panel concluded that its research would have more impact if it were based in Africa.

Budget cuts forced the loss of some 200 positions at ICRISAT last year, but it could be spared further job losses, as the panel concluded that the institute's programme to identify beneficial genes and improve crops through conventional breeding and genetic modification should still be based in India.

The institute will respond to the relocation plan when its board meets in September. “This recommendation is unfortunate,” says Raj Paroda, director of the CGIAR programme for central Asia and the Caucasus. He adds that it would adversely affect the growth and development of the institute, as India has stronger national research organizations than Africa.

→ http://www.icrisat.org