Media hotline

An information summary for supporters of international rice research

Published by the INTERNATIONAL RICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE Vol. 13 No. 4, December 2003

In this issue:

International Year of Rice launched in New York

Jacques Diouf, director general of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, formally launched International Year of Rice 2004 at a special event on 31 October at the United Nations headquarters in New York. 

International Year of Rice 2004 is an international drive led by FAO and supported by governments and international organizations, including IRRI, to focus attention on the vital role of rice in ensuring global food security and alleviating poverty and malnutrition. Forty-four UN member countries endorsed a proposal initiated by the Philippines to dedicate 2004 to this important crop.

“Almost a billion households in Asia, Africa and the Americas depend on rice systems as their main source of employment and livelihood,” Dr. Diouf told UN delegates during the launch. “About four-fifths of the world’s rice is produced by small-scale farmers and is consumed locally. Rice systems support a wide variety of plants and animals, which also help supplement rural diets and incomes. Rice is therefore on the frontline in the fight against world hunger and poverty.”

Dr. Diouf added that rice production and consumption is a pivot of many cultures around the world. Calling rice “a symbol of cultural identity and global unity,” he pointed out that it shapes religious observances, festivals, customs, cuisine and celebrations.

“It’s time for the global community to work together to increase rice production in a sustainable way that will benefit farmers, women, children and, especially, the poor,” Dr. Diouf stressed. “The Year of Rice will act as a catalyst for country-driven programs throughout the world. We aim to engage the entire community of stakeholders, from rural farmers to the scientific institutions that mapped the rice genome, in the mission to increase rice production in a manner that promotes sustainability and equity. Many member countries have already formed national committees for the International Year of Rice, and they will serve as the dynamic link between our international vision and the practical realities in local people’s lives.”

Launch activities included an International Year of Rice exhibition on 27-31 October at UN headquarters in New York that featured rice plants from Cornell University, literature on rice (including Rice Today, International Rice Research Notes, Rice Almanac and Graindell), a slide show, photographs and posters, and demonstrations of the FAO and IRRI Web sites, including the Rice Knowledge Bank and the educational children’s site developed by IRRI to accompany its Graindell storybook. 

The following month, IRRI had an exhibit promoting International Year of Rice at the annual FAO Council and Conference in Rome. The other exhibitors were the Philippines, which formally proposing the year tag to the United Nations, and an Italian rice-growers association. Albert Atkinson, the IRRI training and courseware specialist who leads the ongoing development of the Rice Knowledge Bank, represented IRRI at the week-long exhibit. IRRI also supplied FAO with exhibit materials from Riceworld for displays around its main headquarters during the conferences.

Gates Foundation announces $25 million grant for HarvestPlus

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced on 14 October a US$25 million grant to HarvestPlus, a global research initiative to breed and disseminate crops for better nutrition. Using an innovative approach called biofortification, agricultural and nutrition scientists are working to breed crops with higher levels of micronutrients such as iron, zinc and vitamin A.

The collaborative initiative is a challenge program of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, combining the expertise and resources of eight of the group’s 16 international research centers and an array of governmental, nongovernmental and academic partners around the world. Leading HarvestPlus are the Colombia-based International Center for Tropical Agriculture and the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, D.C. IRRI is a major player in HarvestPlus, responsible for developing varieties of rice biofortified for enhanced nutrition.

“Hidden hunger” for essential micronutrients still afflicts more than 2 billion of the world’s poor. Vitamin A deficiency alone causes more than 1 million deaths and 400,000 cases of blindness each year. Iron deficiency and associated anemia affect billions of people, impairing mental development, weakening immune systems and reducing stamina. 
As the daily food of more than half of humanity and most of the world’s poor, rice offers enormous potential for improving public health through biofortification. In the Philippines, Bangladesh and eastern India, for example, rice provides 50-80 percent of the calories people receive. A small increase in its nutritional value would have significant benefits for poor consumers’ health. 

The initial focus of HarvestPlus is to boost the presence of iron, zinc and vitamin A in rice, maize, beans, wheat, cassava and sweet potatoes -- the first tier crops identified by the program. The last in a series of start-up meetings for each crop took place on 6-8 October at IRRI, where biofortification of rice is already underway. One highlight of the meeting was the announcement that a conventionally bred high-iron line of the popular variety IR68, pre-released in the Philippines as Maligaya Special #13, looks likely to be disseminated as a national variety before the end of 2003.

“Two strategies for delivering micronutrients have so far demonstrated their worth in the battle against malnutrition,” said Howarth Bouis, director of HarvestPlus. “These are distributing dietary supplements to the poor and fortifying foods with conventional additives. However, neither of these strategies reliably reaches the most remote and inaccessible communities, which often suffer the greatest need. Biofortification promises to do just that by breeding micronutrients directly into the staple crops that farmers grow for their own table and that sustain the poorest consumers.”

Agriculture group meets in Kenya

On 23 October, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research welcomed almost 1,000 international and Kenyan policymakers, agricultural research experts, scientists and development specialists to its annual general meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. 

The IRRI delegation included Director General Ronald Cantrell, Deputy Director General for Research Ren Wang, Director for Program Planning and Coordination Mike Jackson, International Programs Management Office Head Mark Bell, Spokesperson Duncan Macintosh, and Finance Director Kwame Akuffo-Akoto. Participants discussed agricultural research and technology, food policy initiatives, and new ways of working to ensure that world-class science continues to address critical global challenges while delivering real benefits to the poor.

Achieving Millennium Development Goals begins with rice research

The Millennium Development Goals spelled out by the United Nations 3 years ago hinge on policymakers recognizing the essential role rice plays in the lives and livelihoods of most of the world’s poor. This warning came a few months before the launch of the United Nations’ International Year of Rice 2004.

IRRI Director General Ronald P. Cantrell said that achieving at least two of the eight millennium goals depends heavily on continued and strengthened research efforts to help farmers grow rice more efficiently, profitably and sustainably. These two goals are eradicating extreme poverty and hunger and ensuring environmental sustainability, according to Dr. Cantrell.

“The first and most important millennium goal of halving the number of poor and hungry by 2015 concerns rice consumers and producers more than any other group in the developing world,” Dr. Cantrell said. “That’s because they are among the poorest and the most deprived of access to food.”
Dr. Cantrell said four other millennium goals that could be directly advanced through continued rice research are achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality, and improving maternal health.

Top award for scientific support team stays in Philippines 3 years running

Filipino researchers have won, for the third consecutive year, the world’s most prestigious award for a scientific support team in publicly funded agricultural research. The award was announced in October during the annual general meeting of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in Nairobi, which each year presents the CGIAR Excellence in Science Awards. 

The winning team comprises 33 Filipino scientists working in IRRI’s Genetic Resources Center. The researchers operate the center, which manages the International Rice Genebank, and play a central role in the center’s achievement of significant scientific advances in the conservation and use of rice genetic resources. This year’s winners are responsible for maintaining and making accessible to farmers, plant breeders and other scientists the world’s most comprehensive collection of rice genetic resources -- about 110,000 samples of traditional and modern varieties of cultivated rice, as well as wild species. Since 1986, the genebank has distributed 250,000 seed samples, facilitating the free movement of germplasm among 96 countries. This includes repatriating 32,000 rice samples to 34 countries of origin. 

Restoring traditional rice varieties can increase farmers’ income, as dramatically demonstrated in the IRRI-led project Exploiting Biodiversity for Sustainable Pest Management, which netted last year’s support team award. The research saw high-value but disease-susceptible traditional rice varieties interplanted with disease-resistant hybrids to produce, with reduced spraying of fungicide, a healthy crop worth nearly US$280 more per hectare than a crop of hybrids alone. 

Access to the traditional varieties stored by the GRC was pivotal to the project’s success. Genetic resources also support IRRI’s hybrid rice breeding team, which won the award in 2001.

IRRI director general updates staff

IRRI Director General Ron Cantrell addressed staff on 21 November to update them on the results of two important meetings -- the IRRI Board of Trustees meeting in Bangladesh in September and annual general meeting of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in Kenya in October. His key points included the following:

1) While there was some good news concerning IRRI’s financial situation -- such as the strength of the euro and the yen and the possibility of no cuts from Japan this year -- the institute continues to face some major challenges concerning donor funding.

2) Two new board members have been appointed to replace the outgoing Mike Gale and Angeline Kamba. They are Ronald L. Philips from the United States and Ruth Oniang’o from Kenya. Dr. Philips is Regents’ Professor and McKnight Presidential Chair in Genomics and director of the Center for Microbial and Plant Genomics, University of Minnesota. Prof. Oniang’o is a professor of food science and nutrition at Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

3) IRRI’s most important activity for International Year of Rice 2004 will be a world rice research conference in Japan on 4-7 November, which will include the International Rice Research Conference.

4) At the CGIAR meeting, it was agreed to freeze the activities of Future Harvest and the Public Awareness and Resource Committee, and that the International Service for National Agricultural Research would merge with the International Food Policy Research Institute in May 2004.

IRRI and Philippine partner discuss agricultural innovation systems

A policy dialogue on “Maximizing impact of agricultural innovation systems in rice production” on 21-22 October attracted to the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) representatives from IRRI, the Department of Agriculture, nongovernmental organizations, media, farmer groups and provincial agricultural offices in Aklan, Albay, Bohol, Camarines Sur, Iloilo, Quezon, Sorsogon, Western Samar, Zamboanga del Sur and Isabela. The dialogue, led by IRRI Social Sciences Division Head Mahabub Hossain and Ed Redona, deputy executive director for Research and Development of PhilRice, aimed to assess and map a response to the technology needs of farmers in provinces with low rice yields. A policy brief featuring highlights of the discussion will be published soon.

Sixth IRRI external review in progress

IRRI is undergoing its sixth external program and management review. The preliminary phase was on 28 November-5 December, and the main phase is expected to take place on 13-23 March 2004. The panel chair is Dick Flavell, and members are John Griffith, Huhn-Pal Moon, Ann Hamblin, Martin Kropff and Ammar Siamwalla. Sirkka Immonen joined the panel as resource person for the Science Council of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. Jack McKim serves as a consultant on management issues.

New coordinator for Golden Rice Network joins IRRI 

Gerard F. Barry recently joined IRRI as the new Golden Rice Network coordinator. Dr. Barry holds BS and MS degrees in microbiology from University College, Cork, Ireland, and a PhD in biological sciences from Columbia University, New York. Before joining IRRI, he was director of research for product and technology cooperation at Monsanto in Missouri, USA. His major responsibility at IRRI is to work with plant breeders, biotechnologists, intellectual property rights specialists, and biosafety and regulatory agencies in Asian countries to facilitate the development and deployment of transgenic Golden Rice. This effort aims to alleviate vitamin A deficiency among the poorest rice consumers.

Former IRRI scientist named a challenge program director

Robert S. Zeigler, former IRRI plant pathologist (1992-98), has been named director of the challenge program Unlocking Genetic Diversity in Crops for the Resource-Poor. Dr. Zeigler has 20 years’ experience in international agricultural research and management, in particular in developing and managing multi-institutional international research programs. At IRRI, he conceptualized and led the Rainfed Lowland Rice Research Consortium and the Irrigated Rice Research Consortium, which between them undertook strategic and applied research across virtually all major rice growing countries in East, Southeast and South Asia.

In the United States, Dr. Zeigler is one of the leaders of the newly formed National Plant Diagnostics Network, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. His current position is head of the Department of Plant Pathology and director of the Plant Biotechnology Center at Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas.

Dr. Zeigler will be based at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico. 

IRRI head receives honorary degree from Indian university

IRRI Director General Ronald Cantrell received in November an honorary doctorate degree from the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The degree recognizes Dr. Cantrell’s guidance of IRRI’s outstanding collaboration with university scientists to develop new technologies to improve the lives and social status of Indian farmers. Vishu Kant Shastri, governor of Uttar Pradesh, presented to Dr. Cantrell his honorary degree.

Also recognized at the ceremony were M.S. Swaminathan, chairman of the Swaminathan Research Foundation and former director general of IRRI (1982-88); R.S. Paroda, coordinator of the Regional Program for Central Asia and the Caucasus of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and former IRRI board member; Mangla Rai, director general of Indian Council of Agricultural Research; M.C. Saxena, assistant director general at large and acting assistant director general of ICARDA; the religious and social activist Swamy Kalyan Deo Ji; and the social worker Jagdish Prasad Mathur. All were cited for having contributed to improving the livelihoods and social status of Indian farmers.

Three Reductions project in Vietnam wins Golden Rice Award 

The Three Reductions Initiative, locally called Ba Giam Ba Tang, won the 2003 Golden Rice Award for best agricultural innovation from Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Vice Minister Bui Ba Bong presented the winners’ plaques to the team on 8 December during the Cantho International Agricultural Fair.

The team of nine led by Nguyen Huu Huan, vice director general of the Plant Protection Department, includes Pham Sy Tan and Pham Van Du of the Cuulong Delta Rice Research Institute; Pham Van Quynh, director of plant protection in Cantho Province; Nguyen Van Ngau, director of agriculture in Cantho Province; and V. Balasubramanian, R. Buresh, M.M. Escalada and K.L. Heong of IRRI. The team developed a poster, a leaflet, a radio drama and a TV drama, some of which are available for viewing at the Rice Knowledge Bank’s Vietnam country site.

The project, first developed by Dr. Huan in 2000, uses popular media to motivate farmers to experiment with reducing seed rates, fertilizer and pesticides. After the launch on 8 March 2003, the three-reductions practices spread to more than 90% of the farmers in the target sites, Omon and Vi Thuy. Most participating farmers found that they could reduce input costs by as much as US$50-100 per hectare. The radio and TV broadcasts, supplemented by farmer interviews and game shows, reached thousands in other provinces and prompted three provincial governments and the Danish International Development Agency to allocate additional resources to extend the initiative.

IRRI holds integrated pest management training in Laos and Cambodia

The IRRI Training Center recently conducted a CD-based integrated pest management (IPM) training course at the National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) of the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (NAFRI) in Vientiane, Laos. The course, jointly sponsored by IRRI and the Lao-IRRI Project, and implemented by NAFRI and NARC, trained 26 professionals in various disciplines including rice pest management research, extension, education, and mass media in the public and nongovernmental organization sectors. 

The course included modules on ecology, pest management techniques, and sociology and communication aspects of IPM. Most of the lessons were delivered as CD lessons followed by reviews. Zahirul Islam from the IRRI Training Center was the course coordinator and resource person. Participants also did exercises on yield-loss calculations and interaction with farmers to explore folk knowledge and taxonomy of rice pests. Most participants said they preferred CD-based training because it helps them compensate for language problems.

Meanwhile, IRRI and the Cambodian Agriculture Research and Development Institute (CARDI) sponsored a 2-week IPM course in Phnom Penh. Sixteen agricultural research, education and extension specialists attended the workshop, which made use of CD-based lessons and farmer focus group discussions to explore folk knowledge on different groups of rice pests. IRRI IPM specialist K.L. Heong and entomologist Gary Jahn lectured in the course, which was coordinated by Dr. Islam and P. Visarto, head of CARDI’s Plant Protection Program.

Workshop on rice in drought-prone areas

Participants at an IRRI-hosted workshop in November for the Challenge Program on Water and Food, Theme 1, examined ways to improve water and food productivity in drought-prone and saline areas. The five research themes of the program are 1) crop water-productivity enhancement, 2) multiple uses of upper catchments, 3) aquatic ecosystems and fisheries, 4) basin-level water management, and 5) national and global policies for water management.

Rice production systems workshop held in India

More than 40 senior policymakers, researchers and agricultural development practitioners participated last November in a workshop on “Socioeconomic dynamics of rice production systems in eastern India” in New Delhi. The workshop was sponsored by the joint Indian Council of Agricultural Research-IRRI Project, which aimed to document and analyze patterns of change in rice production systems of eastern India over the past 30 years in order to inform technology design and policy improvement. 

Leadership course for women held at IRRI 

A deputy director, an accountant, a plant breeder, a manager and many other mid-level career women participated in IRRI’s recent “Leadership course for Asian women in agricultural research and development.” The 17 participants -- from Cambodia, China, East Timor, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam -- listened to the testimonies of three outstanding Filipino women who have made their mark in agriculture R&D in the Philippines: Cynthia Mamon, chief executive officer of SunMicrosystems, Philippines; Cristina Padolina, commissioner for higher education; and Dory Torres, chief executive officer and president of the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development. Participants also participated in various experiential learning activities and exercises to enhance their communication and leadership skills, team building and project management.

Seed health recommendations

The Philippine Bureau of Plant Industry and IRRI’s Seed Health Unit held a workshop on “Rice seed health testing policy for safe and efficient germplasm movement” at IRRI in November. Participants reviewed current knowledge of rice seed-borne pathogens and policies on seed health testing and made recommendations on developing seed health testing standards, plant quarantine policies, pest identification, and testing procedures and methodologies.

Training on adaptive management in Thailand

Twenty-eight participants from Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Bhutan, Germany and France attended the regional training course “From progress to adaptive management: Challenges for systems modeling” recently conducted at the Multiple Cropping Center of the Faculty of Agriculture at Chiang Mai University in northern Thailand. Supported by the Asia IT&C Initiative of the European Community, IRRI and the Center for International Cooperation in Development-oriented Agricultural Research, the course aimed to improve participants’ knowledge of concepts and methods regarding participatory approaches, adaptive management, discovery learning, and new challenges for multi-agent systems modeling and integrated natural resource management.

Workshop on rice technology transfer systems in Asia

Sixteen extension specialists from 12 countries successfully completed in October a 2-week training workshop on rice technology transfer systems in Asia at the International Technical Cooperation Center of the Rural Development Administration of South Korea. IRRI Training Center and International Programs Management Office (IPMO) Head Mark Bell, IPMO Manager Julian A. Lapitan, and Training Center Assistant Manager Gina Zarsadias served as resource persons, coordinators and facilitators of the course. The participants prepared and presented action plans for implementation in their respective countries based on what they learned from the course and exposure to Korean agriculture.

Scientific writing and presentation skills course at IRRI 

Twenty-one participants from Cambodia, East Timor, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Philippines recently completed a course in scientific writing and presentation skills held at IRRI. The course aimed to help IRRI scientists, staff, scholars and trainees, as well as professionals from national research organizations, universities, nongovernmental organizations and private institutes, to develop their skills in written communication and sharing their knowledge of rice science. David Shires served as course coordinator and Achu Arboleda as course facilitator.
• January-March 2008

• October-December 2007

• July-September 2007

• April-June 2007

• January-March 2007

• October-December 2006

• July-September 2006

• April-June 2006

• March 2006

• December 2005

• September 2005

• June 2005

• December 2004

• June 2004

• April 2004

• December 2003

• October 2003

• June 2003

• March 2003

• December 2000

• September 2000

• June 2000

• April 2000

• December 1999