IRRI nominates the IRRC for the King Baudouin Award 2008

Because of a consistently impressive performance of the Irrigated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC) over the past 4 years, it was recently nominated by the management of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) for the 2008 CGIAR King Baudouin award. CGIAR stands for Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, of which IRRI is a member.

In 1981, after consultations with the Kingdom of Belgium, the CGIAR established the biennial King Baudouin Award "to acknowledge and stimulate agricultural research and...to recognize an achievement stemming from the work of a center and its partners."

Nominations are invited from each CGIAR Center, and IRRI has chosen the IRRC to represent the Institute in the prestigious competition. The winner will be chosen based on the following guidelines: direct or indirect, actual or potential impact on resource-poor farmers, low-income people, and sustainable production systems; innovation in science; and partnership/collaboration.

Direct or indirect, actual or potential impact on resource-poor farmers and low-income people

Since the start of Phase 3 in 2005, the IRRC has created major impacts by reducing the economic burden of more than 250,000 smallholder farmers. Our greatest impact on the ultra-poor has been on those living in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Farmers there face high costs and labor and water shortages. The IRRC tackled these problems by introducing alternate wetting and drying (AWD, an innovative water-saving technology) and direct seeding (an alternate way of crop establishment).

IRRC technologies are reaching Vietnamese farmers through coffee shops in An Giang Province. (Photo by G. Singleton)

Direct or indirect, actual or potential impact on sustainable production systems

Through the IRRC country outreach programs (ICOPs), the IRRC provides a platform to integrate technologies for sustainable rice production. IRRC technologies have been adopted by more than 250,000 farmers across Asia because they are a win-win benefit in economic and environmental terms. These technologies include AWD, postharvest technologies such as dryers and airtight storage bags, site-specific nutrient management, and an environment-friendly community method to control rats.

Innovation in science

The IRRC successfully promotes findings from high-quality science in natural resource management and social anthropology. The social anthropology link provides a way to give feedback to researchers and extensionists on how farmers adopt and adapt technologies, and in creating new ways to use IRRC technologies in the community. Some
cutting-edge IRRC technologies that have made their way into inexpensive technologies and processes include the Super Bag, which can store 50 kilograms of seeds for the next planting season using a membrane impermeable to oxygen. Another example is the graduated bamboo tube used for monitoring water levels.

Partnership/collaboration

With a strong multi-stakeholder partnership, the Consortium has been integrating a multidisciplinary network across 11 Asian countries involving more than 70 public, private, and teaching institutions. The IRRC has also been strengthening the capacity of national research systems and public-sector partners through more than 100 training courses and more than 100 sponsored cross-country visits, and international conferences.

Looking ahead

By 2018, the world will need to produce 50 million tons more rice annually than it does now. So, there is a great necessity for increased production from the irrigated lowlands, which places an increased focus on the potential impact of the IRRC's technologies and its consortium structure on the livelihoods of smallholder rice farmers in Asia.

The winners of all CGIAR awards will be announced at the Science Awards Ceremony at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the CGIAR in Maputo, Mozambique, in early December 2008.

Grant Singleton (g.singleton@cgiar.org) and Trina Mendoza (t.mendoza@cgiar.org)

News archive