Vision
To be a regional facility for coordinated rice research
that provides solutions towards increasing production in
unfavorable environments to ultimately uplift the quality
of life of farmers in these areas.
Mission
To provide a mechanism to conduct rice research
in a holistic systems approach with a high degree of integration
of various disciplines that address the prevailing issues
in fragile environments. |
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General
Objective
The goal of CURE is to improve productivity and stability of rice
production in unfavorable, rainfed rice environments through research
on rice as an integral component of the livelihood systems of
farmers.
The specific objectives of CURE are as follows:
- To
serve as a platform and forum for identifying and prioritizing
the rainfed rice research needed to generate impact in farmers’
fields;
- To
coordinate IRRI-NARES research on the participatory development
and testing of technologies in partnership with farmers;
- To
provide logistical and administrative support for IRRI-NARES
strategic research collaboration at Consortium sites; and
- To
promote resource-sharing and information exchange across national
programs.
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Background
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The greatest challenges facing rice research are found in the rainfed
and marginal environments where few of the modern technologies
targeted at high productivity through high levels of input are appropriate.
To make rice research more relevant under rainfed conditions, it
is necessary to conduct the research on site in a wide range of
environments that present specific constraints to production. Therefore,
since 1991, IRRI had worked in partnership with the national agricultural
research and extension systems (NARES) of the major rice-producing
Asian countries to conduct rice research in unfavorable environments
by forming research consortia
for the rainfed lowland and upland rice ecosystems. |
A
Center-commissioned external review
of these consortia conducted in 2001 noted that the consortium approach
has shown notable successes in developing new technologies that
are more suited to these environments, and recommended for a re-structuring
of the consortia to consolidate the research programs and focus
on increasing impact through wider dissemination of the research
findings.
Following the recommendation, a restructured Consortium for Unfavorable
Rice Environments (CURE) was formed as a collective agreement among
the NARES and IRRI, and the first meeting of the Steering Committee
(SC) was held in June 2002. CURE is now a more streamlined Consortium
that adopts a holistic and systems approach aimed at achieving a
higher degree of integration of the disciplines in identifying and
addressing problems relating to agricultural production and rural
livelihoods involving but not confined to rice. The Consortium members
agree on the research framework within which the different research
components fit, and seek broader-based partnerships among NARES,
International Agricultural Research Centers (IARCs), Advanced Research
Institutions (ARIs), and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) to
harness complementary mandates and skills and to increase impact. |
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| Definitions |
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| Fragile
rice environments are characterized
by |
- high degrees
of spatial heterogeneity and temporal variability;
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- high-risk
farming, which discourages farmers from investing in yield-enhancing
inputs and adopting input-intensive high-yielding varieties;
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- poverty,
malnutrition, and underemployment among farmers in these
areas;
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- unstable
and low yields at 1.8 to 2.3 tons per hectare;
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- high population
growth and where greater need is quantity more than quality;
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- rice being
grown in more than 60 million hectares worldwide, accounting
for 45% of the total planted rice area, and about one-third
of the total riceland in the world;
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| A
consortium is defined by IRRI as a group
of a limited number of national and international institutions
formally organized to collaborate in research, training, and
technology-generating activities designed to meet mutually-agreed-upon
objectives. It
is a group of institutions formed to undertake an activity
that is beyond the capabilities of individual members.
IRRI uses the
consortium approach to conduct research to address the complex
problems faced by farmers in different unfavorable ecosystems
by sharing responsibilities according to each partner’s
interests and capabilities. It combines IRRI’s strength
in basic and strategic research and the NARES capacity for
applied and adaptive research.
The
Center-commissioned external review was conducted
in 2001 to evaluate the Rainfed Lowland Rice Research Consortium
(RLRRC) and the Upland Rice Research Consortium (URRC). Among
the recommendations that the panel gave were the following: |
- Reorganize
projects in Program 3 on an ecosystem basis to integrate
crop improvement and natural resources management
research;
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- Establish
a single steering committee for “poverty-focused
rice research in resource-poor environments”; and
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- Undertake
more IRRI research at consortia sites in order to
generate critical mass and synergies
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