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22.
WHAT’S IN A NAME? IGNRM.
A PHRASE OR SOME OTHER NAME
WOULD BE NICE
IGNRM? The full word is at the tip of my tongue, but I can’t say
it. Ignoring it is what I have been doing. But there comes a
time when you can no longer ignore the technical term, that
which I suspect was invented to add some mystery to the
science. Or that which was designed to confound science
writers like me who already have enough problems grasping for a
metaphor or two. A metaphor for a mouthful. IGNRM: integrated
genetic and natural resource management. And what would that be, I ask? The name
‘IGNRM’ is a long way from a rose memorable by its pleasant smell. A phrase or some other
name would be nice.
I anticipate a steep learning curve here, a giddy ride up and down. IGNRM is the strategy adopted by the International
Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in her campus in Andhra Pradesh, India to carry out
its world-wide mandate (icrisat.org), and since I’m applying myself to a study of ICRISAT as an exemplar of a
global agency engaged in international research for development (iR4D) in the Age of Information, one that
goes from theory to practice in a continuous motion, from poor farmer back to poor farmer, in many different
places at the same time, I have to confront this problem of translating the technical to the practical. So whether I
like it or not, as an interpreter of research for development, I have to translate this:
ICRISAT adopts integrated genetic and natural resource management (IGNRM) as its overarching research strategy
to attain scientific excellence and relevance in agriculture in the semi-arid tropics, focusing on key livelihood and
income opportunities to improve the well-being of the poor with equity, multi-disciplinarity, sustainability and
community participation as core principles.