IRRI 2000-2001

Rice Research:

The Way Forward

Rice Research: The Way ForwardIRRI Will Concentrate On Delivery and Impact

2 Golden Rice: The Eyes of the World Are Watching5 The Largest Human Feeding Trial: 300 Catholic Sisters Standing By7 International Rice Parks9 SOIL10 Land Preparation Is on the Level12 Soil Salinity: Breeders Try Something New14 Precision Farming: A New Concept17 WATER18 Where Does the Water Go?20 “Aerobic” Rice: Preparing For a Water Crisis22 The Fight Against Weeds25 AIR AND SUNLIGHT26 The Consequences of Global Warming28 A New Plant for a Changed Climate31 BIODIVERSITY32 A Clean and Simple Success Story34 The Misuse of Pesticides37 INTEGRATION38 Achieving a Balance42 Green Revolution Hero Bows Out45 Genomics: The Way of the Future48 IRRI: “University Without Walls”50 The Unsung Heroes55 Research Highlights64 Institutional Activities66 IRRI Board of Trustees 200167 Staff71 IRRI Financial Statement72 Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research

IRRI’s Mission Statement

Our goalTo improve the well-being of present and future generationsof rice farmers and consumers, particularly those with low incomes.

Our objectivesTo generate and disseminate rice-related knowledge and technologyof short- and long-term environmental, social, and economic benefitand to help enhance national rice research and extension systems.

Our strategyWe pursue our goal and objectives through• interdisciplinary ecosystem-based programs in major rice

environments• scientific strength from discipline-based divisions• anticipatory research initiatives exploring new scientific opportu-

nities• conservation and responsible use of natural resources• sharing of germplasm, technologies, and knowledge• participation of women in research and development• partnership with farming communities, research

institutions, and other organizations that share our goal

Our valuesOur actions are guided by a commitment to• excellence• scientific integrity and accountability• innovation and creativity• diversity of opinion and approach• teamwork and partnership• service to clients• cultural diversity• gender consciousness• indigenous knowledge• environmental protection

Many viewing the cover of this latestIRRI annual report may think thatscientists have ambitions to grow rice onsome distant planet. However, althoughone day there may well be rice on Mars,this is not the message we want peopleto get from reading the following pages.

Instead, we hope that at long lastpeople will realize that, while rice is thebasis of a production system that feedshalf the planet, it is also a system thatallows a wonderful balance betweenhumans and the environment.

Put simply, we at IRRI firmly believethat it is possible to feed three billionpeople in a safe and sustainable way thatdoesn’t damage the environment, destroytraditional practices, or leave little ofnature for our children.

How? The answer to this simplequestion is perhaps one of IRRI’s best-kept secrets and also the reason for theenvironmental theme in this annualreport. Since they first started work morethan 40 years ago, the scientists at IRRIhave (a little unfairly) mostly been seenas focusing solely on production increasesas a way to ensure food security. How-ever, production increases cannot beachieved in a vacuum. Instead, they verymuch rely on the environment in whichrice is grown.

As a result of four decades of suchwork, IRRI has amassed a great store ofknowledge on rice environments and ecosystems. As far as this Institute is concerned, the days of unsustainable high-input riceproduction are a thing of the past and the era of the rice farm as a sustainable, balanced ecosystem of its own is here to stay. Theworld’s rice-growing regions should be seen as unique ecological regions no different from the great forests and vast oceans of theplanet—especially as they cover about 11 percent of Earth’s arable land and are the largest single area dedicated to feeding theworld.

But before anyone decides that IRRI has washed its hands of its traditional goals and mandate, please let me assure you thatthis is not the case. Food security and improved incomes remain our fundamental goals for poor rice farmers and consumers.However, with the latest advances in science and technology, I’m pleased to report that these can now be achieved with littleimpact on the environment.

Using the scientific knowledge and expertise gained over the past 40 years, rice farms of the future will be not only clean andefficient producers but also safe and environmentally sensitive. Considering the enormous role that rice plays on this planet, interms of both the area it covers and the number of people it feeds, this must be seen as a worthy goal deserving the support andcommitment of all those involved in rice and its future development.

The urgency and importance of the problems facing rice farmers and consumers remain IRRI’s primary focus—whether it begrinding poverty or a lack of food—but it’s clear that these wars no longer need to be waged at the expense of the environmentor human health. Clearly, rice research is the way forward not just for rice farmers and consumers but for the entire planet aswell.

Dr. Ronald P. CantrellDirector General

Rice Research:

The Way Forward

Early in 2000, IRRI undertook a landmark revision of its research program. The aimwas to refocus our scientific efforts on a broad range of new imperatives.

More than ever before, there is a need to conserve natural resources in the face ofcontinuing population growth and the inevitable intensification of rice production. But,as vital as this job is, IRRI’s commitment to the alleviation of poverty remains un-changed.

It is therefore fortuitous that the biological sciences are providing an attractivearray of new research opportunities. In this new environment, IRRI needs, first of all, tofocus on those research opportunities that offer a real chance of tangible impact ratherthan those that do not. And fast-tracking that impact means that IRRI must also bridgethe gap between research and extension.

Guided by these issues, the Institute’s research activities have been restructuredinto just 12 projects, grouped within four programs: enhancing productivity andsustainability of favorable environments; improving productivity and livelihood forfragile environments; strengthening linkages between research and development; andgenetic resources conservation, evaluation, and gene discovery.

Our research effort will be guided by two principles: we will concentrate on productdevelopment and delivery, rather than simply talking about it, and we will mobilize allour efforts and innovative approaches toward achieving impact.

We must secure what I call IRRI’s “heartland,” that is, the International RiceGenebank and its deposits of germplasm, held in trust for future generations. Theunfettered exchange of germplasm and information between the Genebank and ricescientists around the world must be maintained. In this, as in our entire researchprogram, we must strive to maximize the benefits of our partnership and collaborationwith national agricultural research and extension systems.

The time has also come for IRRI to transfer the knowledge and management tacticsit has developed for intensive irrigated rice-growing systems to the rainfed lowland andupland ecosystems. This is clearly where we can most effectively have an impact on thelivelihoods of the poorest rice farmers and consumers.

One of our first priorities will be the development of “aerobic” rice, which will notneed standing water in order to grow. It will mark a fundamental change to rice cultiva-tion within the rainfed and upland environments. Our goal is to have the plant varietiesready, together with crop management systems, within five to seven years.

Functional genomics and gene discovery are new sciences that are already drivingrice-breeding programs. IRRI must not only be a prominent player in the search for newgenetic information, it must also continue to develop an international public platformfrom which the resources and tools of these new sciences will remain freely accessible toall rice researchers.

We will also continue our very promising development ofnutritionally enriched rice, dense in micronutrients and high in

protein. Indeed, the eyes of the world are watching closelyour efforts to produce rice rich in beta-carotene, theprecursor of vitamin A.

To confront the challenges of the 21st century, IRRI’sresearchers will, more than ever before, study socioeco-nomic and environmental issues. We will make medium-

and long-term projections of rice demand and supply, andassess changes in socioeconomic conditions and policies.

These changes will give IRRI a head start in thecontinuing race to improve the lives of billions of rice

farmers and consumers. We will strive to succeedthrough scientific teamwork, innovation, effi-

ciency, and strong, harmonious relationshipswith our research partners around the world.

Dr. Ren WangDeputy Director General for Research

IRRI WillConcentrateOn Deliveryand Impact

2

Golden Rice:

“The Eyes of the WorldAre Watching”A major new chapter in IRRI’s work for the well-being of present and future genera-tions of rice farmers and consumers opened up on 19 January 2001.

The first research samples of the genetically modified provitamin A-enriched“golden rice” were delivered to the Institute’s researchers by their German co-inventor, Dr. Ingo Potrykus. At the same time, the three genes that were used toachieve the transformation were also handed over to IRRI’s plant biotechnologists bythe other co-inventor, Dr. Peter Beyer, from Germany.

Work began immediately on what amounts to a race against time, and goldenrice is just a start: IRRI’s biotechnologists hope they will be able to create rice plantsthat deliver not only vitamin A but also iron and zinc (see following story) and, later,increased levels of protein.

The project stirs additional excitement because it represents the first majorcollaborative effort between the private-sector corporations that own many of thetechnologies and public-sector institutions such as IRRI that are capable of deliveringtheir benefits, free of charge, to the poorest of the world’s poor.

The genetically modified golden rice contains beta-carotene, the precursor ofvitamin A. It was developed with the sole intention of combating vitamin A defi-ciency, which is responsible for about half a million cases of irreversible blindnessand up to one million deaths per year among the poorest people in the world.

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Back to BasicsThe first job is to investigate the safetyand efficacy of golden rice. In charge ofthe pioneering project is IRRI’s chiefplant biotechnologist, Dr. Swapan K.Datta. Although his work involves state-of-the-art genetic engineering, his firststep involved a return to a basic under-standing of the relationship betweenplants and their natural environment.From hundreds of popular, high-yieldingindica rice varieties, he had to select thefirst candidates for genetic transforma-tion.“We don’t choose these plants

randomly, with nothing more in mindthan a successful transfer of genes,” Dr.Datta explains. “These must be popularand successful plants within particularenvironments, plants with which we aretotally familiar, plants that we under-stand in totality.”

The first move was to identify thoseparts of Asia most in need of a vitamin Adietary boost. Then local plant breederswere asked to help.“One plant that we have chosen is

BR29, from Bangladesh. It has goodcooking quality and moderate diseaseand pest resistance, and it is well andtruly adapted to its environment. Thefarmers are happy with it, the market ishappy with it, consumers are happy withit. We, and our counterparts in Bangla-desh, know this plant through andthrough. All we have to do is engineerBR29 with the beta-carotene pathwayand, since we are totally familiar withthe original plant, we will be able toquickly but thoroughly analyze theoutcome of the genetic modification, andmake sure nothing else has changed. Wewon’t have to worry about pest anddisease resistance, grain flavor, accept-ability, or anything like that.”

Dr. Datta points out that biotechnol-ogy research is, in many respects, thesame as any other field of plant science,in that it demands a thorough under-standing of both the living raw materialand its relationship with the natural,social, and commercial environments inwhich it is grown.

As well as Bangladesh, the searchfor candidate plants has centered on

Vietnam, India, the Philippines, andMozambique in East Africa. Between sixand ten varieties will be chosen for thefirst batch.“We have a fundamental responsibil-

ity,” Dr. Datta says. “We must be abso-lutely sure of the food safety andbiosafety of the plants we produce.”

For each of the varieties chosen fortransformation, large numbers of differ-ent “lines” will be engineered. Some maybe unhealthy, others may not produceenough seed, some may not produceenough beta-carotene, but some willhave the desired characteristics.

When acceptable plants have beendeveloped, they will be released to thenational agricultural research andextension systems in their countries oforigin so that they can proceed withtheir own analyses.

Within One YearDr. Datta believes that, within one year,his team at IRRI will have the first batchof transgenic golden rice plants. Theywill probably still be at the tissue culturelevel, but some may be growing in soilwithin secure greenhouses.

The three vital genes, meanwhile,have been “stored” in living bacteria,which are also busily multiplying theirnumber. When the time comes, a speck oftissue weighing about one millionth of agram will be transferred from thebacteria to the chromosomes of riceembryos, and researchers will begin theprocess of coaxing new life from theresulting tissue.

Dr. Datta explains that rice plantsalready have the pathway for producingbeta-carotene. “It exists in the roots,stems, and leaves, but not in the seeds,so by adding appropriate genes we aredirecting the pathway to accumulatebeta-carotene in the rice seeds.”

The inventors, Drs. Ingo Potrykusand Peter Beyer, created their originalvitamin A-enriched rice by implantingtwo genes from a daffodil and one morefrom a bacterium into a japonica ricevariety called T309. It is not a commer-cial variety, but it is regularly used inbiotechnology experiments because it isvery responsive to tissue cultures.

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Never Seen Such a ProjectFor the IRRI researchers involved, thegolden rice project is already unlikeanything they’ve ever worked on before.“I’ve never seen such a project,

ever,” Dr. Datta says. “The eyes of theworld are watching. Everyone wants toknow about the work. We all know that ifthis is successful it may open up a newdimension in research collaboration withthe private sector.

“Frankly, I enjoy the pressure. Ithink the private companies who handedus this technology have adopted afantastic humanitarian attitude. We nowhave the responsibility of carrying thework forward.”

IRRI’s work with golden rice followsthe donation of intellectual property

licenses from Syngenta Seeds AG,Syngenta Ltd., Bayer AG, MonsantoCompany Inc., Orynova BV, and ZenecaMogen BV. Each company granted, free ofcharge, the use of technology employedin the research that led to the originalinvention, with the intention that goldenrice should ultimately benefit poorerdeveloping countries.

A humanitarian board, composed ofseveral public- and private-sectororganizations, has also been formed tohelp expedite the introduction of goldenrice to developing countries. One of itsseven members is IRRI’s deputy directorgeneral for partnerships, Dr. WilliamPadolina.

Drs. Karabi Datta, Swapan Datta,Ingo Potrykus, and Peter Beyer.

5

The Largest Human Feeding Trial:

300 Catholic SistersStanding By

The unpredictable weather of the western Pacific has delayed plans for the largesthuman feeding trial ever conducted involving a staple food.

The trial, which will now begin early in 2002, aims to convince nutritionists thata variety of rice rich in iron and zinc, developed by IRRI in the Philippines, is capableof reducing the incidence of iron-deficiency anemia among countless millions of theworld’s poorest people.

It was to have begun in April 2001, but two typhoons swept across the Philip-pines as supplies of the all-important iron-rich rice were being grown for the trial,and the harvest was inadequate.

The rice, known simply as IR68144, has already been tested by 27 youngreligious sisters from a Manila convent, who ate it exclusively over a period of sixmonths. The serum ferritin levels in their blood leaped, sometimes two or three timeshigher than normal. But nutritionists remained unconvinced, and that trial is nowbeing regarded as a “dress rehearsal” for the main event.

Instead of the original 27, the new trial will involve 300 religious sisters fromeight convents in the Philippine capital. The procedure has been refined and the trialwill be supervised by nutritionists from Cornell University and Pennsylvania StateUniversity in the United States. It will be conducted by the Institute of HumanNutrition and Food (IHNF) at the College of Human Ecology, University of thePhilippines Los Baños (UPLB), on behalf of IRRI’s sister center, the InternationalFood Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), in Washington, D.C.

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Greater SignificanceThe trial is expected to be an event withfar greater implications than earlierefforts to prove that the iron in IR68144can be absorbed and used by the humanbody. Several of IRRI’s sister agriculturalcenters are also developing staple foodsrich in micronutrients, such as wheat,maize, and cassava, and the trial ofIR68144 is being widely regarded as anattempt to prove the concept that staplefoods enriched with micronutrientsdirectly benefit human nutrition. If thetrial establishes that proof, researcherswill have convincing support for theirclaims for urgent funding.

The trial of IR68144 is now part ofa larger initiative by the ConsultativeGroup on International AgriculturalResearch, the U.S.-based organizationresponsible for funding IRRI and 15other such research centers around theworld. It is being coordinated by IFPRIand is funded by the Asian DevelopmentBank, with additional support fromDenmark and Canada.

IRRI’s main involvement is growingand milling the trial quantity ofIR68144, as well as supplying a similarquantity of a control rice with normaliron and zinc levels. The first attempt togrow sufficient rice for the big trialended in disarray after two typhoons in2000. Only 16 tons of the iron-rich grainwere harvested and a further fourhectares had to be planted in 2001. Therice will be milled at IRRI to avoidpossible damage through overmillingand contamination.

In the trial, about half of the 300sisters will be fed IR68144 and the restwill eat normal rice for up to ninemonths. The sisters, who are 20 to 35years old, are particularly suitable forthe experiment because of their disci-plined lifestyle and modest diet, whichnormally leaves them slightly anemic.

A team of workers, includingnutritionists, is being trained tosupervise the preparation of the sisters’food during the trial. Each location willbe linked with networking computersand new utensils will be supplied to theconvent kitchens.

Revealing Every DetailDespite the weight of scientific supervi-sion, the effectiveness of the trial willdepend heavily upon the tireless help ofthe sisters themselves, who must notonly submit to regular weight checks andblood tests, but must also reveal everydetail of their food intake, their physicalcondition, how they’re sleeping, andeven their mental state, during thelengthy course of the trial.

As well as trying to prove that thehuman body beneficially absorbs the ironin variety IR68144, a broad variety ofother tests will also examine the inter-play of minerals and nutrients within thebody to discover whether, for instance,the presence of one enhances absorptionand metabolism of another.

The scientific teams, including plantscientists, nutritionists, and statisticians,will, for the first time, also involvepsychologists.

It’s long been believed that irondeficiency reduces a person’s workefficiency and powers of concentration.This will be put to the test by constantlyexamining the sisters’ cognitive func-tions and capacity to concentrate.

The feeding trial is expected to endwith a wealth of new detail about thehuge complexities of human nutrition.Specifically, it is hoped that it willconfirm the benefits to mankind of a newrice variety rich in both iron and zinc,which was bred quite by chance in anunrelated effort at IRRI to find rice withtolerance of low temperatures.

It’s been estimated that about one-third of the world’s population suffersfrom iron-deficiency anemia. About 60percent of all pregnant women in Asiaand 40 percent of schoolchildren areiron-deficient. It impairs immunity andreduces physical and mental capacities.It accounts for up to 20 percent of allmaternal deaths.

The data from the feeding trial willbe analyzed at Pennsylvania StateUniversity, with input from the IHNF atUPLB, Cornell University, and AdelaideUniversity in Australia.

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International Rice Parks

Rice production areas, especially those for lowland rice, can be seen as uniqueecological regions no different from the great forests and vast oceans of the planet,except that they are major bastions of food production.

I would like to go so far as to introduce the concept of calling these areas “interna-tional rice parks” instead of commercial production zones or food factories. These riceparks cover 146 million hectares, or about 11 percent of the world’s arable land. Theysweep across borders and represent the largest single land use focused on feeding theworld.

Dr. Ronald Cantrell, IRRI’s director general,speaking to a conference of theAsia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutionsat Chiang Rai, Thailand, 8 November 2000

soilRice-growing soils are arguably among the world’s most vitalnatural resources. Certainly, flooded rice ecosystems are amongthe most sustainable uses of agricultural land on Earth.

A long-term experiment at IRRI’s headquarters in the Philip-pines has delivered 111 crops of rice over 37 years of continuousproduction, and three crops every year still yield a total of tentons per hectare. Yet the crops get no nitrogenous fertilizer and,despite the removal of crop residues, there has been no decline insoil organic matter, nor has there been any change in the abilityof the soil to deliver nitrogen to the crops.

The future, however, has big demands for rice producers andthey, in turn, will make extraordinary demands on their soil.

In many parts of Asia, rice production has already intensifiedto the stage where scientists are worried about the ability of thesoil to meet further demands. Without nitrogenous fertilizers,yields are grossly insufficient to meet food needs, so nutrientinputs are essential. But there’s increasing scientific evidence thatexcessive or ill-managed applications of nitrogenous fertilizer bothenhance soilborne rice diseases and increase the plants’ use ofother soil nutrients. Under these conditions, the soil is “mined”for its nutrients and loses its ability to sustain heavy cropping.

Diversification of farming, by rotating flooded rice withdryland crops, may also cause problems. Extended periods ofdrying may lead to reductions in soil organic matter and harm theability of the soil to supply nutrients.

Soil scientists are well on the way to understanding thehugely complex processes at work in rice-growing soils. Theirevidence suggests that rice farmers of the future will need a fargreater technical knowledge if they’re to manage their mostimportant resource—the soil—so that it nourishes intensivecropping without being irreversibly damaged in the process.

Bicol, Philippines

Land PreparationIs on the LevelOne of IRRI’s recent success stories, the Cambodia-IRRI-Australia Project (CIAP), willfinish at the end of 2001 after 13 years in which it has helped Cambodia to recoverfrom the devastation of war, reestablish its agricultural systems, and become anexporter of rice.

CIAP’s story is replete with achievements, from restoring seed supplies ofCambodia’s traditional rice varieties to introducing new techniques for soil, water,and crop management and training hundreds of new scientists to take over when itleaves.

One such achievement concerned farmers’ land and the simple principle that, ifit is to be flooded and puddled, the soil should have a perfectly level surface. Whatbegan as a mild interest soon became so successful that it turned into a virtualstampede.

IRRI agricultural engineer Joe Rickman recalls the conviction, in about 1995,that Cambodian rice farmers didn’t know enough about land preparation. A closerlook, through the weeds and patchy crops, showed that uneven fields were at theheart of the problem. They were parched in high spots and flooded in the hollows,rice crops were developing unevenly, weeds dominated drier areas, and, in the worstcases, grain yields were pitiful.

“We decided to try some landleveling, strictly behind closed doors atthe start, on a 2.5-hectare block,” Mr.Rickman explains. “We used tractors withback blades to level half of the block.The rest we left alone. We found that wedoubled our yield on the leveled areaand had better water control and betterweed control.“What we didn’t realize was that

farmers were looking over the fence. Verysoon we were getting direct requeststhat we go and level their fields, so wedecided that we’d better get the rightequipment.

“We built a 2.2-meter levelingbucket to tow behind a tractor in thedriveway of my home in Phnom Penh. Itwas the only place where we could getenough electricity to run a decent-sizedwelder.“Then, out of the blue, I received a

telephone call at 11:30 one night froman American company called SpectraPrecision. They manufactured laser-leveling equipment and wanted to bepart of what we were doing. I told themwhen we were starting and said, ‘If youwant to be on board, I’ll see you there.’”

At the start of the next dry season,Joe McNamara from Spectra arrived inPhnom Penh with a collection of un-tested equipment; the untried steelbucket was hooked up to a tractor, and agroup of Khmer farm workers undertook ahigh-technology land-leveling exercise.“Just 12 months earlier, the only

thing some of these operators had drivenwas a bullock,” Mr. Rickman says, “butthey learned quickly, and the equipmentworked really well. So we then made anadditional machine out of an old discplow to repair and build the bundsaround our freshly leveled fields.

“Then we put the tractor and theequipment on a truck and went out intothe provinces. We found farmers willingto participate, and leveled one hectare oftheir land. Then, by way of a demonstra-tion as well as an experiment, we tookover half of that hectare and managed it,and its rice crop, to the best of ourability. In the first year, we did about 40fields like this, in four provinces. Since

then, on-farm demonstrations havespread to more than 120 fields in 13provinces.“All of a sudden, with all this new

technology, yields were increasing by atleast 30 percent and, in some cases, asmuch as 50 percent. Farmers wereclamoring for their fields to be leveled;private companies were eager to get intothe land-leveling business.“Then, we were accused of bringing

in equipment that the farmers couldn’tafford,” Mr. Rickman says. “We were stillusing the laser equipment because it wasfast. So we had to rethink.“We decided to set aside the new

technology and train extension officersand farmers to level their fields using theequipment available to them. We taughtthem how to use walking tractors, oxen,and even buffaloes to level their fields,and we used garden hoses to monitorlevels in the field. The deal was that wewould teach them how to do it if theyagreed to then go out and level at leastone field in their district as a demonstra-tion to others. Some of them wentbeyond that. They’ve now becometrainers in their own right.”

Mr. Rickman’s group also organizedfield days and “farm walks” to demon-strate the leveling technology.

“It’s difficult to say how much theleveling technology has meant toCambodia’s farmers on its own,” Mr.Rickman says. “In the fields we moni-tored, we reduced water use by about 10percent and reduced weed pressure byabout 40 percent. Farmers have foundthat they can now use direct seedingmore effectively, and their crops maturemore evenly.”

Further studies on newly leveledfields found that rice yields increased by15 percent as a consequence of theleveling, and by another 15 percent iffertilizer was applied.

Joe Rickman became the head ofIRRI’s Agricultural Engineering Unit inthe Philippines in 2001. However, there’sno stopping his land-leveling technology.With IRRI’s support, Thai and Indianfarmers are now being taught how tolevel their fields.

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Soil Salinity: BreedersTry Something NewIRRI scientists have begun a ground-breaking experiment in plant breeding that theyhope will overcome the seemingly intractable problems of providing rice plantscapable of thriving in saline soils.

For the first time, a breeding program that begins with the latest biotechnologywill end only after several seasons in farmers’ fields, when the farmers themselvesbecome the final arbiters and select plants for their own conditions.

Soil salinity, in its many forms, is a growing problem throughout Asia. Often,flooded paddies raise local groundwater levels, bringing salts to the surface. Else-where, chemical processes within the soil itself result in both acidity and toxic levelsof various minerals. And rising sea levels because of global warming are expected totransport saltwater inland, thus polluting coastal wetlands.

The new approach represents a challenge to plant breeders, who are used todeveloping new plants according to known parameters and delivering the finishedarticles for release to farmers. In the case of saline-tolerant plants, this procedurehas rarely been successful.

According to IRRI plant breeder Dr. Glenn Gregorio, there has been scant recog-nition of the variety of soil conditions described broadly as “saline.” He says thatsaline soils can be acid, acid sulfate, peat, or alkaline. Most are lacking in phosphorusand zinc, and some have toxic levels of iron or aluminum. This variety extends acrossthe normal range of rice-growing environments, pest and disease problems, and grainqualities.

“In the past, national agriculturalresearch and extension systems (NARES)have tended to select salinity-tolerantvarieties for release by averaging theirperformance over a range of saline soils,”Dr. Gregorio says. “This has worked for afew farmers where the plants were ableto adapt to the soil conditions, but it’sfailed for the rest. A lot of people outthere don’t recognize the differencebetween salinity and alkalinity, muchless the other differences.“So we realized the need for a large

range of plants capable of adapting todiverse soil conditions. What we’ve comeup with is almost site-specific breeding.”

IRRI’s plant breeders began bydeveloping a large number of plantswhose genetic salinity tolerance hasbeen proven by molecular-assistedselection. They are the raw material forthe new approach, and the coastalwetlands of Bangladesh are the trialground.

The project involves two procedures:farmer participatory variety selection andfarmer participatory plant breeding.

In the first, a collection of salinity-tolerant varieties will be grown underdifferent soil conditions by local farmersthemselves and they will be asked toselect varieties according to theirperformance on soils similar to theirown. The chosen varieties will then begrown in national trials prior to release.

The second procedure is moreradical. About 15 farmers, each with onehectare of land or less, have been chosenas the first farmer-breeders. Becausethey’re poor and the experiment will usea large plot of their land, deals havebeen made to guarantee their normaldomestic rice supplies.

In the first season, each farmer willreceive seeds for as many as 20,000different plants, to cover the widestpossible range of adaptability. Theseplants will be traditionally bred crossesbetween salinity-tolerant varieties andpopular high-yielding varieties. They willhave undergone screening for salinitytolerance using molecular markers andadvanced through six generations toensure their genetic stability.

The farmers will be asked to watchcarefully how the plants compete withweeds, how they develop and yield undertheir normal management practices, andhow the grain suits their tastes. They’llbe asked to identify the best plants inthe crop, perhaps as many as 100 plants.

Researchers will then help thefarmers gather seed from their selectedplants and, in the following season, onerow of seed from each selected plant willbe grown in the same field. Once more,the farmers will watch carefully andselect only the best rows, cutting theshort-listed varieties down to about ten.

Seed will once more be collectedfrom the chosen rows and, finally, thefarmers themselves will plant these seedsin plots, using their own procedures andsystems. At the end of the third season,they will select the best plot and thatvariety will thereafter be theirs to grow.The farmers will choose the variety thatmost successfully adapts to the specificconditions of their individual farms.

“We expect the technology to spreadrapidly because the farmers themselveswill be involved; they will regard theirchosen varieties as their own,” Dr.Gregorio says. “But I don’t expect it tobe easy. We will have to teach them tobe brutal in their assessment of theplants. They must learn to discard thegood ones and keep only the best.“It’s also going to be difficult for

us, as plant breeders, to accept adifferent way of doing things,” he adds.“It’s not all science any more. We’ve gotto learn to work with the farmers, tospend time with them, to use theirlanguage, and to listen to what theysay.”

Watching the procedure with greatinterest will be scientists from NARES inIndia, Thailand, Indonesia, and SriLanka. These are the countries most inneed of successful salinity-tolerant ricevarieties.

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Precision Farming:A New ConceptWhere it comes to providing staple food for huge numbers of people, no soil on Earthis more precious than that of the Indo-Gangetic Plains, lying between the tropicalheart of the Indian subcontinent and the foothills of the Himalayas.

Here, 13.5 million hectares of land grow rice in the wet season and wheat in thedry winter season. In large part, it is a modern, mechanized farming system usingrecently developed, high-yielding varieties of both rice and wheat. A staggering onebillion people depend on its output for their staple grain.

Since 1985, however, grain production from the Indo-Gangetic Plains hasstagnated and there have been signs of declining productivity. This has prompted thequestions: Is the intensively irrigated rice-wheat cropping system, in its existingstate, basically unsustainable, and is the ecosystem beginning to degrade under thecropping pressure?

A large team of scientists says “no” to both questions, provided the farmerslearn to be more efficient.

But the threat of declining productivity in such a vital area has drawn togetherresearchers from the national agricultural research and extension systems of India,Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh and scientists from international agriculturalresearch centers such as IRRI, CIMMYT, ICRISAT, IWMI, and CIP and other institutionssuch as Cornell University, in the United States.

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Glimpse of the FutureAfter several years of intensive study,under the umbrella of the Rice-WheatConsortium for the Indo-Gangetic Plains,scientists have begun teaching farmersnew agronomic techniques and cropmanagement methods. These bringpractical science to the farmers’ fieldsand demand, in the process, that farmerslearn new knowledge-intensive technolo-gies. It is a glimpse of the future ofagriculture across the entire Asianregion. The scientists call it “precisionfarming,” or “conservation farming,” andtheir results so far suggest that it willincrease crop productivity, reduce thecosts of crop production, boost farmers’income, and maintain the quality of thefarming system.

According to IRRI soil nutritionistDr. J.K. Ladha, the sites showed evidencefrom some long-term experiments thatsoil nutrients had become depletedbecause of years of intensive cropping.Evidence also showed changes in the soilthat reduced the availability of nutrientsto the plants. On top of this, theinappropriate use of fertilizers waswidespread.“We found that soil nutrient

characteristics varied, not only betweenregions and between farms, but from plotto plot,” Dr. Ladha says. “There was norecognition of this, and fertilizer regimeswere more or less general for entireregions or districts. Many farmers sawnitrogenous fertilizer as something thatwould boost their yields, regardless ofwhether the crop required it or not. Somefarmers were putting on too much—sometimes 25 or 40 percent more thanthe recommendations, and this excessiveuse of nitrogenous fertilizer was threat-ening to pollute both the air and thewater.”

The range of measures beingintroduced to the rice-wheat systeminclude laser-guided leveling of ricefields to save water; direct seeding ofrice to cut the costs of crop establish-ment, save irrigation costs, and savelabor; and incorporation of crop residuesinto the soil to improve fertility andprotect the environment by retainingcarbon and providing better conditionsfor the growth of microscopic life. There

is also balanced nutrient management,and that’s the most complex measure.

Under the precision-farming system,farmers are taught “field-specificnutrient management.” They learn how totest their fields themselves for levels ofthe nutrients nitrogen, potassium, andphosphorus. Then, according to whatthey find, they apply enough potassiumand phosphorus to avoid its depletion byanother crop, and apply nitrogenthroughout the growth of the cropaccording to the demand of the plants.This demand is measured by using leafcolor charts that indicate the nitrogenlevel in the leaves of the plants. Whenthe leaves turn a little yellow, they needmore nitrogen.

The research teams have alsoconducted successful experiments withdeep placement of nitrogen fertilizertablets or briquettes, and with con-trolled-release fertilizers. They’veconcluded that both procedures arecapable of reducing farmers’ applicationsof nitrogenous fertilizer by up to 30percent.

Rice on Dry Raised BedsThe researchers have also been experi-menting with the cultivation of ricecrops on raised irrigated beds, ratherthan in puddled soils with standingwater, and this has achieved a watersavings of around 40 percent. As well, ithas integrated rice production more

comfortably with the soil conditionsneeded by the following wheat crop.

Dr. Ladha acknowledges that poorfarmers with low productivity will find ithard to adopt the new knowledge-intensive technologies over the comingten years. “But these are the kind ofpeople who need more of our help.They’ve been overlooked in the past. InNepal, for instance, with good technicalsupport, they can easily double their riceproduction.”

Conclusions to date suggest that, byadopting field-specific nutrient manage-ment practices, farmers can increasetheir income by US$35 per hectare percrop in the first year, but by $50 perhectare per crop in the second year.“Precision technologies that

conserve resources have an enormouspotential for increasing yields andnutrient efficiency in rice cultivation,”Dr. Ladha says. “What’s more, productiv-ity improves over time, due to both alearning effect and a gradual improve-ment in soil fertility.”

The research team is continuing itsintensive monitoring of the rice-wheatecosystem, further refining its under-standing of soil, water, and nutrientprocesses, and continuing to fine-tuneits advice to farmers on nutrient levels invarious soils and the measures necessaryto make continued intensive cultivationsustainable.

waterAsia produces more than 530 million tons of rice every year. Toproduce just one ton of it requires between two and three Olym-pic-sized swimming pools full of water.

Nearly 90 percent of fresh water diverted for human use inAsia goes to agriculture and, of this, more than 50 percent is usedto irrigate rice.

China’s mighty Yellow River, which flows 4,600 kilometersthrough some of Asia’s richest farmland, has run dry nearly everyyear since 1972. Such is the demand on its water that, in 1997,its final 600 kilometers were dry for more than four months.

In India, the Ganges and Indus rivers have virtually nooutflow to the sea in the dry season, and inland, in the inten-sively cultivated states of Punjab and Haryana, groundwater tablesfall about 70 centimeters per year.

Among them, China, India, and Pakistan have 120 millionhectares of irrigated farmland upon which they depend for abouthalf their domestic food production. Yet salinization has alreadydamaged up to 17 percent of it, through mismanagement ofirrigation projects. Salinization, the process by which saltsaccumulate in soil and make it unsuitable for most crops, isspreading worldwide at a rate of two million hectares per year.

Agriculture faces increasing competition from cities andindustry for available water supplies. Yet rice production, the mostwater-intensive of all agricultural systems, needs to keep pacewith population growth. Helping rice farmers to become moreefficient users of water is a major issue now influencing much ofIRRI’s research.

Guilin, China

Where Does the Water Go?Because farmers in large irrigation projects pay next to nothing for their water,nobody should expect them to become responsible and efficient in its use.

This is one prominent conclusion drawn by a group of IRRI researchers after fouryears of work in a large Philippines irrigation system. They aim to develop water-saving technologies able to be applied at the field level by individual rice farmers.But their studies have led them inevitably to consider a broader picture, and they’vebegun thinking of the problems associated with water use in an unconventional way.

Their studies have been driven by clear evidence that water for agriculture willsoon be an essential commodity in short supply and, since rice production is easilythe biggest user of agricultural water, rice farmers must learn to use it more effi-ciently. However, efforts to convince farmers of the need to be more efficient are notalways met with understanding compliance.

Leading the IRRI team, water scientist Dr. Bas Bouman says that inefficiency isworsened by lack of cost.

“Upstream farmers in the irrigationsystem waste a lot of water, even thoughthey know others downstream will gowithout as a consequence,” he says. “Thewater system management has spent alot of energy trying to make them moreresponsible in their use of water. Butthis has not worked.”

Dr. Bouman says that economistshave been advising for some years thatefficient use will come only when a priceis attached to water supplies. However,rather than stepping into what heacknowledges is the “sensitive area” ofcharging for irrigation water, Dr.Bouman’s team is investigating adifferent approach.

It begins with the questions, Wheredoes the water go after wasteful farmershave spilled it? And how can it berecovered and used again?

Although conventional water-savingapproaches tend to concentrate onpreventing water loss from canal systemsand convincing farmers of the need forgreater efficiency, the IRRI team hasbegun mapping water flows beneath thesurface and listing the options availablefor intervention in water systems tocontrol or avoid wastefulness and recoverspilled water.“As well as saving water at the field

level, we’re trying to reuse waterefficiently,” Dr. Bouman explains. “Ifwater lost in the fields seeps in a certaindirection, or into a river, can we pump itback again and use it elsewhere? Canirrigation systems bypass wastefulusers?”

Of additional interest is the factthat the irrigation system in whichthey’re working is currently beingexpanded from 100,000 to 120,000hectares. Two new dams and an infra-structure of tunnels and canals will soonsee it serving more than 50,000 familiesin Central Luzon.“There is a problem common to most

large irrigation systems,” Dr. Boumansays. “Technical options are consideredby engineers at the design stage, theproject is built and delivered, andthereafter it receives little or no mainte-nance. Physical deterioration seems notto be considered.”

“We want to list all possible optionsfor interventions that will make for moreefficient use of water across an entireirrigation system.”

Meanwhile, the team has not relaxedin its job of helping individual farmers tobecome more efficient.“A considerable number of farmers in

this project have bought pumps todeliver additional water from groundwells or drainage canals,” Dr. Boumansays. “They pay to run their pumps, andthey’re very careful about their wateruse.“There are also groups that use a

communal pump. They’re also verycareful. These are the people we want tohelp—the farmers who have to makeconscious decisions on when and how touse irrigation water most efficiently.”

Dr. Bouman says that, rather thantrying to enforce rules and restrictionson the use of freely delivered irrigationwater, system managers should beconsidering handing over parts of anirrigation system to groups of farmers,and allowing them to become self-regulatory.

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“Aerobic” Rice:Preparing For a WaterCrisisScientists at IRRI have begun the task of creating a high-yielding tropical rice plantthat grows on dry but irrigated land instead of in flooded paddies. They have dubbedthe new plant “aerobic rice” and given themselves five years to complete its develop-ment. But they face formidable challenges, including inexplicable “yield collapse.”

The project is driven by the knowledge that water resources for agriculture areshrinking, as supplies are increasingly diverted to big cities for domestic or industrialuse. Traditional rice cultivation requires that fields remain flooded for four to fivemonths for every crop, and water losses through percolation into the soil, evapora-tion, and seepage are substantial.

IRRI has formed an Aerobic Rice Working Group, involving plant breeders, plantphysiologists, and water and soil scientists, to meet the many difficulties of takingrice out of its natural environment and developing a complete management systemfor dryland crops using perhaps only half the water. Although rice varieties that growin dry upland fields already exist, they cannot match the yield potential of conven-tional commercial varieties, nor do they respond to irrigation or fertilizers.“We’ve got a long way to go,” says water scientist Dr. Bas Bouman. “First of all,

our plant breeders must come up with tropical varieties that grow in dry soil. Thenwe’ve got to understand the problem of yield collapse. After that, it’s a matter ofworking out crop management: How much water does the crop need? How do wecontrol weeds? And what nutrients does the crop need?”

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The project has begun quickly, bystudying aerobic varieties developed innorthern China and Brazil. These weredeveloped for subtropical and temperateclimates, so the early aim is to test theiradaptability to the tropics. They’re beinggrown experimentally in China and thePhilippines and will soon be grown inIndia, where water shortages are becom-ing a serious problem. Meanwhile, IRRI’splant breeders are working with manyother rice varieties, selecting those thatexhibit different reactions to drought,soil quality, and environmental condi-tions.“We already have upland rice

varieties that can withstand drought, butthey’re low yielders and they don’trespond to fertilizer inputs,” says watermanagement engineer Dr. To Phuc Tuong.“Our aerobic rice must be able towithstand dry soil, respond to irrigationand to fertilizers, and deliver a highyield.”

Another big problem is weeds.Normally, they’re suppressed by flooding,but on dry land rice can easily lose thebattle for dominance. So the workinggroup expects weed tolerance to be a bigissue.

But these problems may fade intoinsignificance alongside yield collapse.

In experimental dryland rice cropsgrown to date, the harvest is good in thefirst season but drops by about 20 per-cent in the second and may fall a further70 percent in the third. Thereafter, plantsdon’t develop properly, grow enough til-lers, or set grain. Nobody knows why thishappens, much less has an inkling ofhow it can be overcome.

Yield collapse doesn’t occur whenrice is rotated with other crops. This ishow aerobic rice continues to play animportant role in Brazil, where it is growncommercially under irrigation on 250,000hectares. But IRRI plant physiologist Dr.

Renee Lafitte, who is a member of theAerobic Rice Working Group, believesthat yield collapse may be a fundamentalobstacle to the development of aerobicrice as a permanent, intensive crop.“It’s not simply a matter of finding

the correct germplasm for new varietiesthat will be free of yield collapse,” shepoints out. “I believe it’s a problem ofthe agricultural system in which theseplants are grown.”

Dr. Lafitte says that among the areasthat might benefit most from the devel-opment of aerobic rice is eastern India,where seven million hectares are devotedto annual crops of upland, or dry, rice. Inthis area, farmers who grow nothing butrice can’t achieve harvests better thanone ton per hectare, no matter how theytry to improve their productivity.“I believe that these low yields are

actually a situation of yield collapse, andwe should begin our efforts to developaerobic rice by investigating what ishappening in eastern India,” she adds.

In another example, farmers inMindanao, in the Philippines, were givena new upland variety to replace low-yielding local varieties. Many enthusiasti-cally adopted the new variety in the firstfew years, and their yields grew, in somecases fourfold. Then, suddenly, theyabandoned the new variety, reverting tothe old ones. When asked why, they saidthe new variety had “broken down.” This,Dr. Lafitte believes, was yield collapse.“In some cases,” she continues,

“there were buildups of microscopicworms called nematodes in the soil thatmay explain the yield collapse. But wealso see the same yield reductions infields with no nematode problem.“In situations where rice is grown in

rotation with other crops, the problemdoesn’t seem to exist. So, do we needsome kind of insistence upon farmersrotating their crops?”

Dr. Lafitte says that her work “at theborder of plant breeding” will includeintensive studies of the rice plant itself.“Water shortages are going to

become a major issue in the future,” shesays. “So we need to know what it isabout the physiology of the rice plantthat makes it demand so much water,and what it is that makes it so sensitiveto fluctuations in water supply.”

The imminent need for rice farmersto save water has already led to trialsinvolving a variety of irrigation regimesand seeding techniques.

Dr. Tuong says that one techniquepracticed in China as an alternative topermanent flooding of rice fields involvesflooding to five centimeters in depthevery few days and allowing the water torecede before the next flooding. He saysthat conventional rice yields do notsuffer under this method, and the cropuses 10 to 20 percent less water.

But aerobic rice is another thingaltogether. One of the first tasks facingthe working group is a geographic one.The researchers are mapping the areaswhere they believe their aerobic riceshould be grown.“Obviously, we’ll target areas with

water scarcity first, places such asnorthern China and some parts of India,”Dr. Tuong explains. “But think of thePhilippines, for instance. The dry seasonhas only enough water to grow rice onhalf of the irrigated land. With aerobicrice, we could encourage farmers to makebetter use of their land and producemore food.“If there is no need to flood fields,

the benefits will not end with a savingsin water. There will be much less effecton the environment. Water percolationfrom traditional flooded rice fields raisesthe groundwater table and can createsalinity problems. If rice is grown in drysoil, much less percolation will occur.”

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The Fight Against WeedsWeeds, the bane of any gardener’s life, are looming as an even bigger problem for thefuture of Asian rice. So much so that IRRI has begun a concerted scientific effort tounderstand the complex relationships between rice plants and their unwantedcompetitors.

It has all come about because of shortages of water and farm labor, and aconsequent move away from water- and labor-intensive transplantation toward directseeding of rice crops.

The head of IRRI’s Crop, Soil, and Water Sciences Division, Dr. James Hill, likesto refer to weeds as the “neglected pest” when it comes to rice research. Traditionaltransplanted crops are weeded by hand, so weeds don’t create anything like thelosses arising from disease epidemics or large-scale insect attacks. So they’re notseen as a major threat.

“But they’re always there, competing with the rice,” he says. And that competi-tion has lately taken on a greater significance.

He explains that transplanted rice seedlings in flooded fields have a majoradvantage because water controls the early growth of weeds. However, the old systemof flooding and puddling rice fields before transplanting is threatened in many partsof Asia by increasing scarcity of water and the lack or high cost of farm labor, sofarmers are turning to direct seeding of their rice crops. The seed is usually broadcastonto wet soil that is not flooded until the seedlings are 12 to 14 days old. But bythen the weeds have become just as well established as the rice.

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What’s worse, those weeds that dobest in shallow water or puddled soil arefar and away the most competitive.

Dr. Hill says that IRRI’s weed projectteam is trying to overcome the disadvan-tages of direct seeding by exploiting thelife habits of the weeds themselves, andby learning to regain control overunwanted species by flooding the fieldsat different times. Trials with earlyflooding, within three to seven daysafter seeding, found that, although thewater favored the rice crop and reducedthe number of surviving weeds, it alsoreduced the number of surviving riceplants.

It may seem that just a few dayswouldn’t make much difference, butearlier flooding has a huge influence onthe types of weeds that survive. “That’swhy it will be critical, when developingnew rice varieties, to look for very earlytolerance of submergence,” Dr. Hill says.

He believes that, in creating newhigh-yielding rice varieties, plantbreeders have unwittingly lost some ofthe plants’ capacity to compete againstweeds. His team’s first task will be tobegin studying the nature of plantcompetitiveness.“What is it that helps plants to

dominate their competitors?” he asks.“Although a few studies have tried toidentify improved traits that would give

rice a competitive advantage againstweeds, we don’t really know much abouthow rice varieties differ in early growth,let alone which traits are most importantin giving them a competitive edge.

“Nevertheless, we’re working withbreeders to establish what traits can bestbe used to develop new, highly competi-tive plants,” he says, “and we’ve got toachieve that without losing any of theattributes such as high yield and goodgrain quality that make these varietiespopular with farmers and consumers.”

Adding urgency to the project is thefact that, of all the agricultural pesti-cides in use in Asia, farmers’ largestexpenditure is on herbicides.

“Herbicides are an importantcomponent of integrated weed manage-ment and their use is rising rapidly,” Dr.Hill says. “But along with it, weedresistance to herbicides is also risingswiftly. Ten or 15 major weeds of rice arenow showing resistance to herbicides. Wewant to develop strategies against weedsthat will minimize both herbicide useand the development of weed resistanceto herbicides. Improving both thecompetitiveness of rice and its tolerancefor submergence has potential for doingthat. The potency of these herbicides isnot going to last if farmers are com-pletely dependent upon them.”

air and sunlightHuman life ultimately depends on the peculiar combination ofenergy from the sun, the molecular composition of the atmos-phere, and the physical and chemical structure of Earth’s surfacematerials.

Plants use solar energy for photosynthesis, and this fuels thebiological processes that manufacture the food on which humanlife depends. Earth’s atmosphere, as well as being a source and asink for the molecules essential to sustain life, wraps the planet ina “blanket” that helps regulate its surface temperature. At a“stable” average environmental temperature, the radiationentering Earth’s atmosphere equals the amount leaving. Currently,that is not the case. Increasing concentrations of “greenhousegases” in the atmosphere are absorbing more infrared radiation.“Global warming” and “climate change” are the consequences.

The greatest challenge facing mankind, and Asia in particular,is how to produce increasing amounts of food in an environmen-tally benign way. Recent research at IRRI has shown that methaneemissions from flooded rice fields are much smaller than oncethought. However, in the short term, increasing quantities of grainwill require increasing amounts of nitrogen, from organic andinorganic fertilizers. Fertilizer-use efficiency is usually less than50%, so gaseous nitrogen in the form of nitrous oxide will find itsway into the atmosphere. Nitrous oxide is one of the worstgreenhouse gases. It also damages the ozone layer.

Various solutions exist in theory. They are dependent, atleast, on the latest biotechnology to make fundamental changesto the rice plant itself. Until these theories become reality,researchers will pay increasing attention to the delicate relation-ship between the world’s rice crop and the atmosphere thatsupports all life on Earth.

Mt. Mayon, Philippines

Alongside global warming, the grow-ing scarcity of water for agriculture is amajor environmental issue affecting worldrice production. But there is little comfortin the fact that draining paddies at timesduring crop growth both reduces methaneemissions and saves water.

Drying the flooded soil sometimesgives rise to an even worse gaseousemission: nitrous oxide. The gas isproduced in a complex process involvingnitrogen from both organic matter andfertilizers that remain in the soil as itbecomes aerated when paddies aredrained. Whereas one molecule ofmethane is 21 times worse than one ofcarbon dioxide in its contribution toglobal warming, nitrous oxide—betterknown as laughing gas—is 310 timesworse than carbon dioxide.

So the question among IRRI’s soiland water scientists is, Should the hard-ware and methodology used to fix theamount of methane rising from floodedpaddies be shifted directly into measur-ing the nitrous oxide rising from rice soilthat is partly dry and partly wet?

According to the deputy head ofIRRI’s Crop, Soil, and Water Sciences Div-ision, soil chemist Dr. Guy Kirk, nitrousoxide emissions from rice fields are not aserious problem in continuously floodedsystems. However, since rice farmers facethe need to save water, this cannot bedismissed as a problem in the near future.

IRRI scientists are currently prepar-ing for a water-scarce future by perfect-ing a rice plant that will grow in aerobic,or dry and aerated, conditions, much likewheat or maize (see “Aerobic” Rice: Pre-paring For a Water Crisis, page 20). It isenvisaged that the aerobic rice will beirrigated and will need fertilizer.

“Water-saving practices are going topush us toward nitrous oxide emissions,”Dr. Kirk says. “But we don’t yet have thenecessary information to quantify theproblem. We are therefore developingresearch plans.“One problem is that nitrous oxide

emissions are very transient, so you needcontinuous measurement to record them.”

IRRI crop ecologist and modeler Dr.John Sheehy agrees.“Interfering with water use by

changing flooding to irrigation is rather

difficult and dangerous because waterstress is the main factor limiting yield inagriculture and, if irrigation is continu-ous, it’s not likely to save water,” hesays. “Furthermore, we will have toconsider the effect on gas emissions withevery proposed change in crop manage-ment. We will have to ask, What is thisgoing to do to nitrous oxide emissions,on the one hand, or methane emissionson the other? Like it or not, rice cropswill always grow at the interface be-tween aerobic (with oxygen) andanaerobic (without oxygen) conditions.”

Dr. Sheehy is eager to investigatethe benefits to rice farmers that mayarise from global measures to mitigateemissions of greenhouse gases. He notesthat provision has been made for so-called “clean development mechanisms,”in which developed countries, or evenpolluting industries, can pay for projectsthat reduce emissions in other parts ofthe world.

The resulting reduction in emissionscan then be reckoned as part of thatdeveloped country’s promised contribu-tion to global reduction. For instance, anindustry that emits 100,000 tons ofcarbon dioxide into the atmosphere everyyear can pay for the planting of a newforest in another part of the world thatwill capture 100,000 tons of carbon inits trees, thereby reducing the industry’s“carbon balance sheet” to zero. Thedevelopers of the forest reap the mon-etary rewards.

Trading in “carbon credits” began inJanuary 2000, and Dr. Sheehy believesthat the market will soon be worthbillions of dollars per year.

“I think rice straw and rice hullshave potential in this area,” he says. “Wemust be able to work out how to seques-ter the carbon in straw and hulls. Perhapswe turn it into building material or woodsubstitutes, and save trees. Perhaps weuse it to produce ethanol, as a fuel,thereby reducing the need for petroleum.

“Rice farming produces 500 milliontons of straw every year,” Dr. Sheehyadds. “If the carbon in it is worth tendollars a ton, that makes it worth fivebillion dollars. That’s a bit better thandumping it back into the paddies andfueling methane emissions.”

The Consequences ofGlobal WarmingGlobal climate change and its expected consequences in rice-growing regions havebecome a growing influence in much of IRRI’s current research. Average temperaturesare expected to rise by up to three degrees Celsius. There will be more carbon dioxidein the atmosphere, and increased ultraviolet radiation.

One fear is that yields could fall by 50 percent if air temperatures rise to 37 °Cwhile the plants are flowering. So a search of germplasm has begun in the Interna-tional Rice Genebank to see if genes exist that control the time of day at which riceflowers. The hope is to develop plants that flower only in the cooler parts of the day.

Not least among other concerns is the continuing scientific debate about thepart rice farming plays in global warming by the emission of so-called “greenhousegases.” At one time, rice farming was thought to be one of the main culprits becauseof the amount of methane gas emitted into the atmosphere from flooded paddies.

However, research begun by IRRI in the early 1990s measured methane emissionsfrom flooded paddies, and they amounted to only 12 percent of the global total, con-siderably lower than previously thought. Management practices have been developedto help minimize emissions, mainly involving water and crop-residue management.Methods have also been developed to assess the effects on emissions that result fromchanges in farming practices.

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A New Plant for aChanged Climate

IRRI has been urged to direct its research efforts toward thecreation of a new rice plant capable of thriving and producingheavier crops in a world changed by global warming.

It will be a world with higher temperatures, with morecarbon dioxide and pollutants in the air, and where extremes ofweather are commonplace. Less water will be available toagriculture, so the new plants will have to use less. And,because poor management of nutrients over vast tracts of riceland risks making the climate even worse, the new plants willhave to use nitrogenous nutrients very efficiently.

The Institute’s plant breeders have already created a newplant type in a scientific effort that has so far taken nearly 12years’ work (see Green Revolution Hero Bows Out, page 42). Ithas been designed to boost the potential rice yield in thetropics, from the current 10 tons to 12 tons per hectare, as afirst step toward meeting the huge additional demand for ricethat will follow population increases over the next few decades.It is expected to be released in about four years. But alreadythe Institute’s biotechnicians and plant breeders have beenurged to begin again, this time on a more challenging path:the creation of a more environmentally friendly rice plant thatuses sunlight more efficiently to grow and produce grain.

According to IRRI crop ecologist and modeler Dr. JohnSheehy, rice plants are less efficient in their use of solar energythan some other crops, such as maize. He contends thatbecause of this there is a biophysical limit to the amount ofgrain a rice plant can yield.

“It is often suggested that continuation of existing trendsin cereal yield will be sufficient to meet future demands forfood,” he says. “However, the linear trend of the past 30 yearscan be extrapolated only if there are no foreseeable limits toyield, and limits do exist.”

He says that the potential yield is a theoretical figurenever achieved on the farm. The best farmers can reach isabout 80 percent of the figure, so the present practical maxi-mum yield for rice with a 110-day growth period grown onordinary farms in the tropics is 8 tons per hectare. With theintroduction of new cultivars and improvements in agronomy,the maximum limit on the farm may be raised to 9.6 tons perhectare. But this, he says, will be the absolute limit.

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“The current technology is going torun out of steam in about ten to 15years. Present rice plants will be unableto convert any more solar energy intobiomass and grain. They will havereached their limit.”

Dr. Sheehy takes this scenario andplaces it alongside predictions of futureconditions for rice farming and estimatesof future demand.“The population of Asia is expected

to increase by 44 percent in the next 50years,” he says. “At present, more thanhalf the people in Southeast Asia have acalorie intake inadequate for an activelife, and ten million children die annuallyfrom diseases related to malnutrition. Yetsimply to maintain our present per capitaconsumption, we will need 44 percentmore rice within 50 years. The area forrice cultivation is continually beingreduced by expansion of cities andindustries, to say nothing of soil degra-dation. So we will need rice plants todeliver maybe 50 or 55 percent more.”

Dr. Sheehy points out that moreefficient farmers will soon reach the yieldlimit, and the job of filling future needswill depend upon the less efficientfarmers lifting their productivity. Thisprospect, he says, casts a dark shadowover future food security.“We’re trying to improve yields

against a background of climate changeand increasing competition for resourcessuch as land and water. If, by using allthe tools available to modern biotech-nology, we can create a new plant thataddresses many of these problems, thenwe should be doing it.”

He recalls that, in the past, higheryields have depended on increased use oforganic and inorganic fertilizers tosupply nitrogen to the plants. But this,he says, no longer represents the wayforward because the use of organicfertilizer often stimulates the emission ofmethane and inorganic nitrogen fertiliz-ers can stimulate the emission of nitrousoxide. Along with carbon dioxide, theseare the two most damaging greenhousegases and any proposal to boost riceproduction simply by increasing fertilizeruse would risk making the world’sclimate even worse.

Dr. Sheehy believes, along with agrowing body of scientific opinion, thatthe only way to achieve the rice harvestsneeded for the future is to change thebiophysical structure of the rice plant,making it a much more efficient user ofenergy from the sun. Plants use solarradiation to grow—to develop leaves,roots, stems, flowers, and seeds in aprocess known as photosynthesis.

Rice has what is known as a C3

photosynthetic pathway, less efficientthan that of maize, which has a C4

pathway. Converting a plant from C3 to C4

would involve a rearrangement of cellularstructures within the leaves and moreefficient expression of various enzymesrelated to the photosynthetic process.“All the components for C4 photo-

synthesis already exist in the rice plant,”Dr. Sheehy says, “but they’re justdistributed differently and are not asactive.”

He believes that a significant part ofIRRI’s biotechnology and functionalgenomics programs should be targetedspecifically at the conversion of rice to aC4 photosynthetic pathway. Work shouldalso begin on screening likely candidatesin the more than 100,000 germplasmsamples held in the International RiceGenebank for varieties that lean toward aC4 anatomy, or that have greater enzymeefficiency.

Dr. Sheehy believes that currenttrends leave about 15 years in which toinvent a C4 rice, and that IRRI should beencouraging the formation of an interna-tional partnership to use all availablebiological tools to achieve it within thattime frame.

“Plants with a C4 photosyntheticpathway are better equipped to copewith the climate changes that areexpected as a consequence of globalwarming,” he says. “They operate well athigh temperature, they’re extremelywater-efficient, and they require lessnitrogen.“This is the single most important

change that can be made to rice, andthere’s no doubt that, eventually, it willhappen. If IRRI doesn’t do this, andothers succeed, then people will beasking, ‘Where were you guys?’”

biodiversityIncreased rice production has generally been achieved by plantinga few improved plant varieties over large areas. This monoculturecropping has reduced the biodiversity of the rice landscape andhas created genetic uniformity that exposes rice crops to attacksby disease pathogens and insects. Once a pest or pathogen hasadapted to one plant, it is ready to attack the rest of the crop.

Pest management has depended upon the development ofdisease- and pest-resistant varieties, and the use of pesticides.But when a single pest-resistant variety is planted over largeareas, the insects and pathogens soon learn to overcome itsnatural resistance. Likewise, insect pests and disease organismsdevelop resistance to pesticides, and farmers are tempted toincrease their application of chemicals.

Traditional rice-growing environments with a rich diversity ofplant varieties rarely suffer serious epidemics or insect outbreaks.Natural checks and balances among plants, herbivores, predators,pathogens, microbial antagonists, weeds, and other organismsprevent the increase of one population at the expense of the rest.However, traditional agriculture would never have succeeded infeeding the world’s modern population.

The challenge is to maintain the high productivity of modernrice varieties while reversing the trend toward monoculture, andpromoting a greater diversity of plant varieties growing in anysingle field. Taking this a step further, scientists have alreadybrought economics and social acceptance into the equation, andthey’re working out which varieties should be grown side by sidefor ease of crop management, to maximize profitability, and toprovide a natural hedge against domination by any single destruc-tive species.

Tashigang Dzongkhag, Bhutan

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This technology involves a practicecalled “interplanting,” which is based onthe knowledge that monoculture crops—large areas of one plant species—areacutely vulnerable to attack fromdiseases and insect pests. After apathogen adapts itself to the physiologyof one plant, it is then ready and able toattack the remainder of the crop. If, onthe other hand, the pathogen is sur-rounded by dissimilar plants, it isunlikely to achieve a population explo-sion and the scale of its depredations islimited.

In 1997, the fungal disease blastwas threatening to wreak havoc on theChinese rice crop. So, a team of IRRIscientists led by Dr. Tom Mew, head ofthe Institute’s Entomology and PlantPathology Division, in collaboration withscientists from Yunnan AgriculturalUniversity, interplanted its first crop ofhybrid rice and glutinous rice, four rowsof one, followed by one row of the other.The striped fields of two-tone green havenow grown to represent a significant partof the entire Chinese rice crop.

The success of the system hasastounded even those closely involved.Incidence of blast has been dramaticallyreduced, and farmers claim to be enjoy-ing additional income of up to US$150 ahectare.

There has been an equally dramaticreduction in pesticide use. Before theinterplanting experiment, farmers wereknown to spray fungicide up to seventimes on one crop. Follow-up surveyshave found that 87 percent of farmersusing the interplanting system are usingless fungicide.

Dr. Mew says that the next move willbe to introduce the technology tonortheastern Thailand, Vietnam, and thePhilippines, where, as well as minimizingdisease damage and reducing the use ofpesticides, he hopes that the biologicalcontrol of blast by interplanting willoffer another vital benefit.

He says that natural resistance toblast, carefully bred into rice plants byincorporating resistance genes, lasts onlythree to five years in monoculture cropsbecause the blast pathogen quicklyadapts itself to the resistant plants.However, when the virulence of thefungal attack is blunted by providing adiversity of rice varieties in any field, theresistance can last a lot longer.

This may be particularly importantin northeastern Thailand, where farmersgrow a well-known traditional varietycalled Khaaw Dok Mali, or jasmine rice.Although there are about 38 varieties ofKhaaw Dok Mali, only 12 of them areknown to have blast resistance genes. Ifthese genes are incorporated, one afteranother, into field crops, but last onlyabout four years each, then the knownstock of resistance genes will run outwithin 50 years.

“For the current generation offarmers, that’s fine,” Dr. Mew says. “Butwhat about their children? If blast is stilla problem, what do we do?”

He hopes that, as well as minimiz-ing blast damage in the new areas andcutting back on pesticide use, hisinterplanting procedure will extend theeffectiveness of blast resistance genes ina famous and popular rice variety.

A Clean and SimpleSuccess StoryOf all the new technologies developed by IRRI scientists, few have spread likewildfire to transform rice-farming practices over thousands of hectares in just threeyears.

But such has been the success of an IRRI project called “Exploiting Biodiversityfor Sustainable Pest Management.” It has used a simple ploy to dispel a seriousfungal disease that was threatening China’s rice crop and, at the same time, hasboosted yield and farmers’ income and has substantially reduced the use offungicides.

What began in 1997 as a small-scale trial now covers about 42,500 hectares inYunnan Province and is being adopted by farmers in a further ten provinces repre-senting China’s rice-growing heartland. The New York Times has referred to it as thelargest agricultural experiment of all time.

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The Misuse of PesticidesReducing the use of pesticides has become an urgent issue in many rice-growingcountries, and IRRI scientists have developed some unusual but extremely successfulapproaches to the problem.

They’re working against a background of official and scientific reports thatcontinue to outline a horror story of misuse, widespread sickness among farmers, andexploitation of inadequate government controls.

The damage is being compounded by the fact that many pesticides commonlyavailable in Asia are classified by the World Health Organization as extremely hazard-ous and are either banned or severely restricted for use in the developed world.

Repeated calls have been made for a tightening of regulatory controls andincreased farmer education and, these days, these tend to be based on economicissues, rather than the more obvious environmental costs of pesticide use.

For instance, a report prepared for the Institute of Agricultural Economics inHanover, Germany, estimates that nearly 40,000 farmers in Thailand suffer fromvarious degrees of pesticide poisoning every year, and that their associated healthcosts amount to more than US$300,000. It goes on to estimate that the externalcosts of pesticide use in Thailand, including health, monitoring, research, regulation,and extension, amount to as much as $127.7 million per year.

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A similar report called “The impactof pesticides on farmer health: a medicaland economic analysis in the Philip-pines” (Pingali, P.L. et al., 1995) claimsthat the value of crops lost to pests isinvariably lower than the cost of treatingdiseases caused by pesticides. It saysthat the health costs incurred by farmersexposed to pesticides are 61 percenthigher than those of farmers who are notexposed.

The Thai report details the prolifera-tion of trade names used there inmarketing agricultural chemicals. Onechemical is marketed under 296 differenttrade names, another under 274, and, asthe report points out, this makestransparency for users and monitoringand control by government agenciesnearly impossible.

The effects on the Thai environmentare equally dramatic. Studies have shownpesticide residues in more than 90percent of samples of soil, river sedi-ment, fish, and shellfish. Seventy-threepercent of tangerines tested in onesurvey contained pesticide residues, andmore than a third of all vegetables werecontaminated with organophosphorusinsecticides.

Against this backdrop, an IRRI teamis helping to introduce to Thailand aneducation program that has alreadyproven very successful in Vietnam.

Under the banner of the RiceIntegrated Pest Management Network,the campaign reduced insecticide use inVietnam’s Mekong Delta by an estimated72 percent. What’s more, the number offarmers who believed that insecticideswould bring higher yields fell from 83percent to just 13 percent.

As in Vietnam, the new Thailandcampaign will involve cartoon characters,billboards, information handouts, and,most importantly, brief and humorousradio programs. Local actors will play outa series of brief comedies, using rusticsituations and solid scientific facts, tomake their audience laugh. The basicpremise is that farmers’ perceptions,rather than economic rationale, are usedin most pest management decisions.“We want to motivate farmers to

think of the benefits of not usingpesticides,” says IRRI entomologist Dr.K.L. Heong. “Most of the farmers in theproject area spray their rice crops threeor four times. In fact, some of them arenot even using insecticides againstinsects. They’re using them to kill snails,because they believe they’ve got noother option. Pesticide use is regarded asa big problem in the Thai countryside.We are trying to reduce it by one half.”

Dr. Heong will be helping localresearchers to develop the antipesticidecampaign. It will be centered on thetown of Singburi, north of Bangkok, inThailand’s famous “central rice bowl.”

integrationAs Earth’s population continues to grow beyond the six billionmark, pressure on the quality of our natural environment alsocontinues to grow. As demands on our soil, water, air, andbiodiversity increase, our ability to adjust one part of this lifesupport system without simultaneously affecting the rest isdiminished. We therefore need to do more than carefully manageeach of our natural resources: we need to integrate those manage-ment regimes so that, with every contemplated scientific interven-tion, the effects on all natural resources are taken into account.Hence, integrated natural resource management.

Many Asian rice-farming traditions will undergo widespreadchanges within the next 20 years. There will be a far greaterbusiness orientation, mechanization will begin to replace manuallabor, land ownership will be consolidated, and regulations willincrease to control the exploitation of natural resources. On top ofthese will be a tide of agronomic measures and new plants withwhich farmers will struggle to satisfy demand.

But these changes involve practical application, whereas thebiggest revolution of all may be more a philosophical one: arecognition that nothing must be achieved at the expense offurther damage to the environment.

By 2020, we hope that the world’s rice producers will supplyenough rice to feed half the world’s population. More certainly, alarge number of them will be practicing a form of agriculture thatis environmentally sustainable.

IRRI, Philippines

Achieving a BalanceThe single most important question facing agricultural science today is whether thefarmers of the world can feed humanity without irreversibly damaging the naturalenvironment.

Most opinions suggest, with some confidence, that they can. But the confidenceis tempered with caution, because Earth’s finite natural resources are being widelymismanaged and there are no straightforward solutions to the problems.

So IRRI has joined a scientific movement that is coming to grips with the crucialneed for sustainability and balance in the world’s farms and fields. One of its corner-stones is the recognition that pressures upon natural resources have become sointense that no single aspect of a farming system can be changed or manipulatedwithout it affecting the rest, even including social and institutional considerations.

This calls for a new approach, integrated natural resource management (INRM),which aims at making agricultural production environmentally, socially, and economi-cally sustainable.

At the heart of IRRI’s commitment to the concept is Dr. Suan Pheng Kam, theInstitute’s Malaysian-born specialist in geographic information systems (GIS). Dr. Kamis team leader of a project titled “Ecoregional approaches for integrated naturalresource management and livelihood improvement.”

Past ResearchIn the 1960s, even when researchfocused on yield alone, it was drivenpurely by the need to feed hungry peopleand it still had its environmentalpayoffs. The much larger harvests fromthe new rice varieties with which IRRIcontributed to the Green Revolutionmeant that farmers didn’t have to breakin new land to make enough money tolive comfortably. The Intercenter WorkingGroup on Climate Change says that theGreen Revolution saved more than 400million hectares of forest and grasslandsfrom conversion into farms. As a conse-quence, the atmosphere was spared theemission of an estimated 600 milliontons of carbon per year over the past 30years.

The “additional benefits” of theGreen Revolution were probably not evenconsidered in the 1960s. Therein lies abasic difference between agriculturalresearch then and now. With the currentheightened environmental consciousness,the development and use of new agricul-tural technologies to enhance agricul-tural productivity should be carefullyconsidered in the light of their satisfyingthe food needs of the world’s populationwhile maintaining Earth’s environmental

balance and protecting its naturalcapacity to produce more.

“We need to understand how anagricultural system works,” Dr. Kamcontinues, “and understand that howfarmers use and manage their land, soil,and water is driven by their livelihoodneeds and aspirations, and moderated byinstitutional policies.“IRRI has been contributing

significantly to natural resource manage-ment (NRM) research and to protectingthe integrity of the rice-growing environ-ment. Its forte has been NRM research atthe field and farm level, building strongscientific foundations for the manage-ment of crops, soil, nutrients, water,pests, diseases, and weeds.“There has also been a concerted

move toward more integrated ap-proaches, such as integrated pestmanagement and integrated nutrientmanagement, taking into accountinteractions among nutrients, water,plant varieties, and the environment,” Dr.Kam says. “This is one dimension ofintegration in NRM that will producefield-level technologies aimed at moreefficient use of natural resources andagricultural inputs, making rice produc-tion more environment-friendly.”

Increasing ImpactHowever, she says that this researchtends to be site-specific, and thechallenge is to make INRM capable ofbenefiting large numbers of farmers,particularly the poor, across large areasand within reasonable time frames.“In many Asian situations,” Dr. Kam

adds, “rice is not the only crop thatfarmers grow, cropping is not the onlyagricultural activity that they engage in,and farming is not their only source ofincome. So the way farmers act and thedecisions they make may not be basedsimply on rice.”

So researchers team up withdevelopment and extension workers,

including nongovernment organizations(NGOs), to identify farmers’ technologyneeds based on an understanding oftheir constraints and opportunities.Then, different combinations of tech-nologies, “a basket of options,” will beoffered, tested by the farmers in theirown fields, and chosen according to theircircumstances. This approach hastens thetransformation of INRM research resultsinto practical technologies that are morereadily acceptable to farmers becausethey participate and adapt to meet theirneeds.

This approach is already being triedout in the Mekong River Delta in Viet-nam, on the Indo-Gangetic Plains of

India, in northeastern Thailand, and inthe Red River Basin in Vietnam.

However, Dr. Kam says that, toensure long-term sustainable agriculture,the natural resource base needs to bemaintained over broader geographicalareas.“If we’re investigating integrated

pest management, to reduce the use ofpesticides,” she adds, “we’re talkingabout biological control of some kind,and obviously you’re not dealing withone individual farm, you’re dealing withthe entire landscape.“If you’re developing a technology

that is labor-intensive, you may have toconsider the availability of labor at thecommunity or even regional level.“Managing water at the farm level

may affect an entire irrigation system.Conversely, operating an irrigationsystem correctly may influence all thefarms within it. So these things must betackled at both the farm and policylevel.”

A Step Closer to FarmersFarmers in general put their immediateconcerns of food security and increasedproductivity above the broader effects oftheir activities on the environment orthe longer-term concerns of ensuringthat natural resources remain in goodshape for future generations.

INRM research also needs to betargeted at local and national agenciesand policymakers. Computer-basedanalytical systems and models have beendeveloped to help these people exploreoptimal land uses and resource alloca-tions according to different regionalobjectives. These tools have already beentested at six sites in five countries. Theyhave been well received, and their usehas even been extended to areas outsidethe pilot sites in a few cases.

INRM also takes IRRI a major stepcloser to the end users of its researchand, to those involved in “building thebridge between research and extension,”it’s a step long overdue. One of them isthe head of IRRI’s International ProgramsManagement Office, Dr. Mark Bell.“Scientists often say, ‘I have the

answer to a particular problem, but thefarmers haven’t adopted it,’” Dr. Bellsays. “I ask, ‘What was the benefit tofarmers in adopting it in the first place?’And they often cannot answer.“If farmers don’t adopt a particular

piece of technology, then there are twobroad reasons: either they don’t knowabout it or it simply doesn’t appear tomeet their needs. Often researchershaven’t listened to what farmers want.They haven’t communicated clearly, orthere’s been no consideration of the kindof incentives farmers need to adopt anew technology. To us it has to bescience-logical, whereas to farmers it hasto be lifestyle-logical. If a technologycan be proven to save them money, lowertheir risk, give them greater yields, orreduce their workload, then we’reproviding the correct incentives for itsadoption.”

Dr. Bell’s office is involved inidentifying new partners in the rice-growing countries to help delivertechnological innovations to the endusers, the farmers. Many organizationswith the potential to bridge the gapbetween scientists and farmers are thesedays found among NGOs and privatecompanies, whereas, in the past, IRRIrelied solely on the national agriculturalresearch and extension systems of rice-growing countries to communicate newtechnologies to farmers.

Green RevolutionHero Bows Out

he man who is often referred to as one of the fathers of the Green Revolution in rice farming, Dr. GurdevKhush, retires this year as head of IRRI’s plant breeding program after working for the Institute for 34 years.It is a measure of Dr. Khush’s stature as the world’s foremost rice breeder that, in any rice field,

anywhere in the world, there’s a 60 percent chance that the rice was either bred at IRRI under his leadershipor developed from IRRI varieties.

It is a measure of the man that, on the eve of his retirement, he hotly denies that IRRI should berecognized solely as a center for germplasm development, and not for its extensive research in the field ofnatural resource management.

“Less than 30 percent of IRRI’s budget over the years has been spent on crop improvement and en-hancement of germplasm,” he declares. “The rest has been spent on the multitude of issues that might,these days, be regarded as integrated natural resource management.” With a smile, he adds, “We used to callit agronomy.”“The idea that IRRI is only a breeding center is a misconception,” he continues. “We focus our research

programs on the known needs of farming communities. Natural resources, and their management, are thevery first things we consider. The issues that drive a breeding program include yield, diseases, pest manage-ment, responsiveness to nutrients, and tolerance for abiotic stress and weeds. All of these things have to dowith the natural environment.”

New Plant TypeIn his 34 years at IRRI, Dr. Khush has become one of the world’s most decorated scientists, winning theJapan Prize in 1987, the World Food Prize in 1996, and both the Wolf Prize from Israel and the Padma ShriAward from his native India in 2000.

In his final months at IRRI, he received news that, at a ceremony in the Great Hall of the People inBeijing, the State Council of China had awarded him the China International Scientific and TechnologicalCooperation Award for 2001.

Dr. Khush’s final work, the creation of IRRI’s new plant type, is almost complete. The plants are alreadyyielding strongly in temperate areas of China, and they are expected to be ready for farmers in tropical Asiaby 2005. Developing the new plant type has taken nearly 12 years of hard and sometimes dishearteningwork. It is designed to yield up to 12 tons per hectare in irrigated tropical conditions, but adjusting itsgenetic characteristics to match tastes and environmental conditions has been more difficult than expected.Nevertheless, it’s almost “ready for the road.”

T

“I expect it to move very quicklyinto farmers’ fields once it is released,”Dr. Khush says. “It will give farmers thechance to increase their yields, so it willspread quickly. Already it is yielding 13tons per hectare in temperate China.”

Looking back on his three and a halfdecades with IRRI, Dr. Khush says he hascome to love the Institute as his home.“It provided me an excellent opportunityfor professional development and allowedme to contribute to world food security.”

He believes that IRRI will have animportant role to play in developingtechnologies for food security, environ-mental protection, and poverty allevia-tion for many years to come. He alsobelieves that the Institute should bedeveloping collaborative arrangementswith private-sector corporations.“IRRI has tremendous assets that

the private sector does not possess, suchas genetic resources, knowledge, andlinks with the national agriculturalresearch and extension systems of rice-growing countries. The private sector, onthe other hand, has resources to investin cutting-edge science and the genera-tion of technologies. So, the roles ofIRRI and the private sector should besynergistic.”

A Farmer’s SonGurdev Singh Khush was born the son ofa farmer in the village of Rurkee, inPunjab, India, in 1935. After excelling athigh school, he went on to graduatefrom Punjab Agricultural University witha bachelor’s degree in science, majoringin plant breeding.

Determined to further his studies inthe United States, the young Khushborrowed money from relatives and wentto England, where he worked as a laborerin a canning factory to earn his fare toAmerica. There, he obtained a scholar-ship to study genetics at the Universityof California, Davis, and did so well thathe gained his Ph.D. in genetics in lessthan three years. He was not yet 25years old.

Dr. Khush then spent seven years atthe University of California, Davis,researching the cytogenetics of toma-toes. He joined IRRI as a plant breederin August 1967, when he was 32, and

immediately began to make his mark onfood production in a hungry developingworld.

He has since played a key role indeveloping more than 300 rice varietiesin IRRI’s race to keep rice productionahead of population growth. One ofthem, IR36, was released in 1976 tobecome the most widely planted varietyof rice, or of any other food crop, theworld has ever known. It was planted on11 million hectares in Asia in the 1980s,yielding an additional five million tonsof rice a year, boosting rice farmers’incomes by US$1 billion, and, because ofits resistance to pests, saving an esti-mated $500 million a year in insecticidecosts.

IR64 later replaced IR36 as theworld’s most popular rice variety andIR72, released in 1990, became theworld’s highest-yielding rice variety.

The Nobel laureate, Dr. NormanBorlaug, has summed up Dr. Khush’scareer by saying, “The impact of Dr.Khush’s work upon the lives of theworld’s poorest people is incalculable.”

Busy RetirementDr. Khush will move to California uponhis retirement at the end of August, buthe won’t be away from IRRI for long. Hewill return for a few months every year towork as a consultant.

Aside from this work, Dr. Khushlooks forward to a busy retirement. Heintends, first, to write about 10 researchpapers from information he has beenunable, for lack of time, to compile. Thenhe intends to write a book on aspects ofrice culture, possibly for use in highschools. After all that, he might consideran autobiography.

As well, Dr. Khush has been invitedto serve on the boards of several compa-nies, but he hasn’t accepted anythingyet. First, he intends to spend more timewith his family. His wife, Harwant, has aPh.D. in educational management, hisson Ranjiv is a molecular biologist, hiseldest daughter Manjeev and youngestdaughter Kiran are medical doctors inSan Francisco, and a third daughter,Sonia, is an economist with the Save theChildren Foundation in Washington, D.C.

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Genomics: The Way ofthe FutureThe years 2000 and 2001 have seen wildfire growth in the new scientific field ofgenomics, which is expected to revolutionize the breeding of future food crops.

Rice, the staple grain for half the world’s population, remains at the forefront of thelatest advances and, through judicious planning and participation, IRRI has consolidatedits role in the tide of discovery as well as promoting access to the new science for therice-growing world.

The high point was the announcement in January 2001 that the multinationalagribusiness corporation, Syngenta, had completed the sequencing of the rice genome,and was happy to release its results to freely benefit poor farmers and consumers in thedeveloping world.

The announcement came when an international effort to sequence the genome wasprogressing well. This effort was expected to complete one of the largest chromosomesin early 2001. Sequencing involves the painstaking ordering of DNA sequences thatencode about 50,000 genes in the rice genome. The genome of rice has 12 chromosomesconsisting of 430 million base pairs of DNA. Each gene consists of about 3,000 basepairs.

Rice is the first of the world’s major food crops to have its genome fully sequenced.The end result is a “map” that identifies every gene on the 12 chromosomes.

The next big step is discovering what the genes do: how they function, how theirfunctions combine with those of other genes, and for what purpose. This is called“functional” genomics, and this is where IRRI holds a unique research position.

One way to track down the function of any one gene is to simply delete the genefrom the chromosomes of a rice plant using chemical or irradiation processes, thenexamine the plant as it grows. By looking for what is missing, what characteristics theplant does not have, researchers are able to deduce the function of the missing gene.The plants are called “deletion mutants,” and IRRI now has a collection of 18,400 ofthem, with different genes deleted. By the middle of 2002, the collection will havegrown to about 40,000.

Dr. Hei Leung.

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The Institute’s functional genomicsproject is also developing a largecollection of what are called “intro-gression lines,” plants that carry a widerange of unique chromosome segmentsimplanted from commercial varieties andwild rice. These will be used in thediscovery of the functional diversity of thegenes, and to understand the overallgenetic, biochemical, and physiologicalsystems in the rice plant.

Backed by the unique collection ofrice germplasm in the International RiceGenebank, IRRI researchers are multiplyingtheir collection of modified plants—whatthey call their “genetic resources”—sothat mutants and introgression lines canbe supplied to other institutions assistingthem in the challenging task of assigningfunctions to all the rice genes.

According to the plant pathologistand geneticist leading the IRRI team, Dr.Hei Leung, the Institute has benefitedfrom the rice sequencing projects of boththe private and public sectors. It has beenworking with information as it has becomeavailable. The international consortium ledby Japan is expected to finish itssequencing effort in two to three years,and this is particularly significant becauseof its anticipated accuracy and the factthat it will be completely open to publicaccess.

Dr. Leung’s favorite analogy for thefunctional genomics project is that, afterthe genome is fully sequenced, scientistswill have a dictionary full of words, witheach word representing a gene, but withno definitions giving the words meaningor purpose.

The job of the IRRI team is to give ameaning to every “word,” to find afunction for every gene. Already, bystudying the deletion mutants andintrogression lines, Dr. Leung’s team hasidentified several genes giving the plantsenhanced resistance to various types oforganisms that cause disease. Mutantswere isolated for genetic analysis afterdisplaying tolerance for submergence. Theteam has also produced plants containingsmall chromosome segments from wildspecies that confer resistance to multiplediseases and insects.

The scientists also found intro-gression lines and mutants that grew andyielded well in soil with too much or toolittle water. They studied the drought-response process in rice plants beinggrown under different water conditions,and identified a variety of proteinsproduced by the plants in the process ofresponding to drought and salinity stress.Such studies allow them to better under-stand the way rice plants respond tostress, and to find genes for use in plantbreeding. For example, more than 100genes that can help the plants defendthemselves against pathogens have beenfound and are already being used to selectbetter disease-resistant rice varieties.

Dr. Leung says that an exciting aspectof genomics is that tools for genediscovery are constantly being improved.He and his team hope eventually to beginusing “gene chips,” or “microarrays,” intheir search for an understanding ofgenetic function. This relatively newtechnology involves massing about 20,000genes on one display slide. This so-called“chip” can then be used as a sensor todetect genetic messages that are turnedon or off when the plants are exposed tostress.

The expression of the genes can berecorded and analyzed to give a totalpicture of how the plant behaves underdifferent conditions. In this way, scientistswill be able to identify hundreds or eventhousands of genes that may combine andinteract to achieve a particular function,such as tolerating drought, resistingdisease, or producing more nutritiousgrains.“This technology allows us to

discover in weeks what would, in the past,have taken maybe two years of work,

Functional genomicswill help overcomedisease.

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looking at the genes one at a time,” Dr.Leung says.

Of paramount importance in IRRI’sfunctional genomics project are efforts toprotect the interests of rice farmers andconsumers from the private exercise ofintellectual property rights, which couldlead to increased prices or delays in theextension of benefits to the public.

To broaden access to information,IRRI has launched a database on theInternet to describe the biologicalcharacteristics of its collection of deletionmutants. Another similar database hasbeen developed for information on stress-response genes. These will be linked togenome sequence databases to facilitateinformation exchange.

The Institute has also established anInternational Rice Functional GenomicsWorking Group (http://www.cgiar.org/irri/genomics/) as a first step toward develop-ing a public research platform to acceler-ate gene discovery. Dr. Leung says thatmore than 14 research groups, includinglaboratories and institutions from theinternational rice research community,have agreed to contribute resources andexpertise, and to promote the sharing ofgenetic stocks.“Contributions from the IRRI team

are now crucial to the success of thispublic research platform,” he says. “Wemust produce tangible things, makediscoveries, and develop materials to giveaway. Within three years, I wantresearchers around the world to see thebenefits of working with us. We don’twant to be the only player on the field,but we would like to be the preferred

player because of IRRI’s mission and thequality of our work.”

He says that it’s critical that thenational agricultural research and exten-sion systems (NARES) from rice-growingcountries become involved in the workinggroup.

“We need to make sure that this isnot seen by the NARES as research beyondtheir reach. They must have a commonplace in which to work with someone theyknow and trust. We will make all ourgenetic resources and tools available toour partners.”

So far, the process of unraveling thesecrets of the rice genome has been aharmonious combination of public andprivate efforts, and Dr. Leung says he’sbeen impressed with the readiness ofprivate organizations to contribute.“I think they’ve gradually realized

that rice improvement is a longer-termprocess than they thought, and that thereare no quick returns. They’ve alsorecognized that their benefits will accruefrom better welfare for rice consumers inthe developing world.”

Dr. Leung believes that it will takeabout ten years for scientists to completethe writing of the functional genomics“dictionary.” It will begin with theassignment of functions to every gene inthe rice genome, but he points out thatthe true biological function of the genes isbeyond that, and he quotes a few figuresto illustrate the vastness of the job.

“There are 50,000 genes, but thefunction of each may vary in every ricevariety because the genetic background ofone is different from that of another. Justthink, the International Rice Genebankhas 110,000 different samples of ricegermplasm.”

Ultimately, plant breeders may beable to refer to a database to findprecisely which genes they need toachieve specific plant characteristics.Then, using “maps” of the genome, they’llselect the genes and mix them, accordingto their plans, and the resulting plantshould be just what they’re looking for.But Dr. Leung concludes that, “like wordsin poetry, the creative composition ofgenes is the essence of successful plantbreeding, and it will come down to howwell we can use the dictionary.”

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IRRI: “UniversityWithout Walls”

IRRI’s new determination to tailor its research programs for maximum impact ishaving a profound effect on the Institute’s Training Center.

For some years, advice from many quarters has been urging IRRI to convert theCenter into a “university without walls,” to pass on the results of the Institute’sscientific research. But, until the Internet made substantial inroads into rice-growingcountries, this was not practicable.

In 2000, however, the enormous task of digitizing the Center’s entire traininglibrary began in earnest and, using the endless reach of cyberspace, the IRRI univer-sity without walls will soon be reality.

“I can’t reach every farmer in Asia,” laments Training Center Head Dr. PaulMarcotte, “but I can get to anyone who owns or can beg, hire, or borrow a personalcomputer with Internet access. We’re not bound by the walls of a classroomanymore.”

The Center will soon have a staff of about ten experts creating a universityfaculty at IRRI to deliver rice-related information via the Internet. They will includeagriculturists, distance learning experts, and information technologists. As well, afresh effort has been made to find out what training services are needed in rice-growing countries.

Expert ConsultationIn January, about 50 people were invited to an “expert consultation” conference inThailand. They included the heads or directors of training from the national agricul-tural research and extension systems (NARES) in 15 countries stretching from Mada-gascar through South, Southeast, and East Asia to Korea. Representatives fromnongovernment organizations in each of the countries were also invited, along withIRRI’s country representatives.

“We wanted to know what their training needs were and what they needed fromus,” Dr. Marcotte says. “We also asked them about the impact of IRRI’s training intheir countries. We have never conducted a training needs assessment in this fashionbefore.” And the outcome? The first priorities of most participants were training of

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trainers, integrated nutrient manage-ment, integrated pest management, andresearch station management.

The NARES representatives were alsoasked to detail their information technol-ogy capabilities.

Demand for IRRI training courseshas, meanwhile, reached unprecedentedlevels, and the Training Center is workingat full capacity to convert the entiregamut of its training resources to digitalform for use on the Internet, on compactdiscs, and in the classroom.

Its first electronic training orinformation packages were available afew years ago and most have beenupdated.

The most popular is called TropRice.It offers noninteractive, grass-roots “howto” information for farmers, includingdetails on plant varieties, planting times,management practices, and even eco-nomic assessments. In its original form,it was spoken in English, but it has sincebeen translated into Thai, Vietnamese,and Indonesian and is widely and freelyused throughout South and SoutheastAsia. It has been updated about six timesto keep abreast of advances in technol-ogy and is kept under constant review.Among many other places, it is used inuniversities in Indonesia, at Thailand’sKasetsart University, and at farmer fieldschools throughout Bangladesh.

TropRice has been supplemented byelectronic information packages on hybridrice and reaching toward optimumproductivity. A start has now been madeon the creation of TropRice Two, aversion that will allow researchers in rice-growing countries to contribute changesand incorporate the results of their localresearch.

Electronic training courses preparedby the Training Center include “DigitalLiteracy for Rice Scientists” and “Englishfor Agriculture.” Both are interactive.

Staggering ScopeAnother course, called “ExperimentalDesign and Data Analysis,” illustrated thestaggering scope of electronic distancetraining. It was offered for the first timeearlier this year. A printed study guidesupported the Internet lessons.“We used a virtual classroom, but in

multiple locations,” Dr. Marcotte explains.“We were teaching the course as if wewere in a classroom with 20 pupils. We

had real-time lectures, exercises were set,there were question-and-answer sessions,and we even gave homework. We arerestricting our on-line courses to 100students at the same time because ofmanageability problems, but the amazingthing is that we could deal with as manyas 1,000 students. Our ability to reachpeople has accelerated by geometricprogression.”

The Center is now working on thecreation of a series of major trainingmodules that will be offered freely on theInternet, or on CDs.

The first, titled “Growth Stages ofthe Rice Plant,” was completed in 2000and the second, “Stem Borer,” earlier in2001. Both offer the latest scientificinformation supported by color photo-graphs.

Work is currently under way on“Farm and Experimental Station Manage-ment,” “Pests, Weeds, and Diseases,” and“Integrated Natural Resource Manage-ment.”“We are painstakingly working our

way through the current state of knowl-edge in rice science,” Dr. Marcotte says.“By creating these modules, theseclusters of training tools, we’ll havestand-alone products to put on theInternet. They are very large pieces ofinformation. Imagine the issues in ‘Howdo you run a farm?’ There are a hugenumber of techniques and procedures,but we have all that information, andwe’ll make it freely available.”

The new training thrust at IRRI isbuoyed by a structural change that, forthe first time, brings training under theresearch umbrella.

“Training is now correctly placed forimpact,” Dr. Marcotte says. “We’re incoalition with people in the field. Inreality, this is a new day for training atIRRI. We’re not just talking about it,we’re doing it.”

High Numbers in TrainingA total of 126 rice scientists and profes-sionals took part in IRRI’s degree andpostdegree on-the-job training programin 2000. They represented 26 countries inAsia, Africa, Europe, and North America,although 87 percent of them came fromAsia. Twenty-two of these completedtheir Ph.D. program, six their M.S.program, and 36 their respective on-the-job training courses or internships.

Ninety-five scientists also upgradedspecific skills by participating in 11group training courses conducted by theTraining Center at IRRI headquarters inthe Philippines. They represented 14countries in Asia, Africa, and Europe.

During 2000, IRRI also organized 20group training courses for a total of 590scientists employed by the NARES of rice-growing countries. Eighteen of thesecourses were held in the countriesconcerned. Two others, however, one inThailand and the other in China, wereinternational courses attended by 27scientists from ten Asian countries. Thecourses brought to 4,000 the number ofrice scientists and professionals IRRI hastrained in their home countries over thepast ten years.

IRRI expects to assist about 130degree and postdegree scholars and on-the-job trainees during 2001, and about25 training courses will be held atheadquarters in the Philippines.

The Unsung Heroes:Quality Is a Way of Lifef any one group of people were to besingled out as the “unsung heroes” of

IRRI’s research effort, it would probablybe the staff of the Institute’s AnalyticalServices Laboratory.

The modern facility with thedaunting workload is run by an efferves-cent Filipina grandmother whose pride inthe laboratory is rooted in the fact that,ten years ago, she took a leading role inits design.

Ms. Bernardita Mandac joined IRRI’sstaff 32 years ago with a master’s degreein plant biochemistry and an idealisticurge to support IRRI’s mission. Today,she heads a service that is a linchpin tomuch of the Institute’s research, and isknown to one and all, simply, as Bernie.

With her staff of ten, she maintainsan extraordinary turnover. The laboratoryis called upon to analyze soil, plants,fertilizers, solutions, and water, and thestaff now performs about 28 analyses perperson per day—a total of about 35,000individual tests during 2000.

The workload has been worse. Muchworse. In 1998, for instance, she had astaff of about 30 people, and theyperformed 61,000 tests in one year.“When we reached 60,000 we had to

call for emergency help,” she recalls. “Wehad two people in here just to do thedishes! The scientists always want theirdata yesterday.”

Throughout, the Analytical ServicesLaboratory has maintained the highest ofstandards. “Quality is a way of life here,”Bernie explains. “It has to be ingrained.And we’re a team. If one of us goeswrong, then the whole team falls down.But it’s not hard to keep our standardshigh. They all know how I can scream ifthey do anything wrong.”

Perhaps the secret of BernieMandac’s success is running the labora-tory like it was her home, and caring forher staff like they were her family. She

She recalls the difficulty of being aworking mother with a young family. “Iwas lucky because I always lived acrossthe street,” she says. “One of my girls atthe laboratory had trouble feeding hernew baby. I couldn’t do without her, sothe baby and her housemaid moved inhere.

“It takes a lot of guts to do thesethings, and to be able to compete withmen,” she adds.

Her work philosophy is one oflooking beyond the performance of asimple analytical service. “I’d like to seethe laboratory geared to the solution of

problems by providing analytical tools toresearchers, rather than serving only toprovide data for others to interpret.”

Bernie Mandac is also workingtoward a personal dream. Her husband of25 years, Abe, is an adviser to a UnitedNations drug control program inMyanmar. He took the two-year assign-ment so that he and Bernie coulddevelop their 10-hectare retirementproperty at Isabela, in Northern Luzon.“He’s a Filipino farmer at heart,” she

says, wistfully. “We want to try our handat agroforestry.”

has one son, two daughters, and onegranddaughter, all living within walkingdistance of IRRI’s headquarters. Is thereany conflict between motherhood andher job? “I will look after my kids first,”she says, almost fiercely. “My familyalways comes first.”

I

The Unsung Heroes:The “Spider Man”of Los Baños

octor Alberto Barrion, “Bert” to his friends, is a man with a great fondness forspiders.His desk is crowded with jars full of defunct arthropoda; he has spent much of

his life visiting them in the dank and gloomy undergrowth of countless rice fields,and he is the proud curator of IRRI’s arthropod reference collection.

But spiders are simply the stars in Bert Barrion’s teeming world of rice-fieldinsects. For 24 years he has been an entomologist on the staff of IRRI’s Entomologyand Plant Pathology Division and, in 2000, he was named Outstanding Local Scientistby the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research in Washington, D.C.,for his contributions to IRRI research.

In his present position as a senior associate scientist, Dr. Barrion plays aprominent role in the vital research field of integrated pest management. He preachesantipesticide sentiments with an almost evangelical zeal. And, just occasionally, oneis left to wonder whether he feels more for the farmers or for the beneficial insects ofthe rice-growing environment.“Farmers generally know that pesticides will kill pests,” he says. “What they

don’t know is that many of these chemicals are nonselective, broad-spectrum prod-ucts. They kill everything. They’re detrimental to the environment; they’re even a riskto the farmer and his family.

D

“What we’re promoting is naturalbiological control of rice pests. Ricepaddies have a very rich array of benefi-cial arthropods—predators, parasites,and parasitoids—and, if the rice environ-ment is regarded in a holistic way, thenencouraging these beneficial arthropods,instead of wiping them out, is clearly thebest way to control pests.”

He goes as far as reassuring farmersthat they shouldn’t panic and run for theinsecticide when they see pests on theirrice crop. “If you kill all the bad ones,there won’t be any food for your benefi-cial friends,” he explains. “Insecticidesshould only be used when there’s anoutbreak of some kind, because thatmeans that, for some reason, biologicalcontrol is no longer working.”

Dr. Barrion’s work has led to the useof naturally occurring biological controlagents to control insect pests, resultingin increased farm profits without resortto chemical pesticides.

Much of his career has been aneffort to understand the complexrelationships between the tiny, oftenunseen, creatures that live in tropicalrice fields. One of his best knownpublications is an insect identification

kit for rice pests and their naturalenemies, used widely by scientists,researchers, and students.

In the course of his studies, hekeeps finding new, previously unrecordedcreatures. He’s named eight genera and270 species of spiders new to science,and he’s working on describing 28 newtaxa. His review of Philippine chalci-doids, the tiny wasps that kill the eggsof rice leafhoppers and planthoppers,yielded 23 species. Of these, eightgenera and 15 species are new Philippinerecords. In the search for names, he onlyhas to pick up the IRRI staff list.

Three of the latest are Oligositacantrelli (after IRRI’s director general,Dr. Ronald Cantrell), Paracentrobia wangi(after IRRI’s deputy director general forresearch, Dr. Ren Wang), and Oligositamewi (after the head of IRRI’s Entomol-ogy and Plant Pathology Division, Dr.Tom Mew). All are tiny parasitoid waspsnative to the Philippines rice-farmingecosystem.

Dr. Barrion is the head of IRRI’staxonomy laboratory. He is recognized asone of Asia’s top entomologists andaraneologists.

55

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Only the Best Seeds

It couldn’t be simpler: plant only thebest seeds and you’ve got a far betterchance of a good harvest. It’s a principlebeing taught to farmers in Bangladesh,and one that has already proven capableof boosting that country’s annual riceharvest by an astounding two milliontons of grain a year.

Although most farmers are preoc-cupied with soil, the weather, watersupplies, or fertilizers, IRRI scientists areurging them to pay more attention tosomething they nearly always overlook:the condition of their seeds.

It’s a project being led by Dr. TomMew, head of IRRI’s Entomology andPlant Pathology Division, whose work inChina has already seen a major ricedisease problem overturned by a simpleexercise in biodiversity (see A Clean andSimple Success Story, page 32). In thiscase, he is collaborating closely with thehead of IRRI’s Social Sciences Division,Dr. Mahabub Hossain, and with theBangladesh Department of Agriculture,the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute,and four nongovernment organizations.

Dr. Mew explains that farmers inSouth and Southeast Asia have longreported a problem that many know as“dirty panicles,” especially from wet-season crops. There is an apparentdecline in the productivity of seedssaved from previous harvests, and

farmers have felt compelled to changetheir seeds or face continuing cropdeterioration.

The problem appears to have comehand-in-hand with more intensivecropping and a lack of farm labor. Bothfactors tempt farmers to overlook theironce scrupulous but time-consuming carein choosing and storing seeds for thefollowing season’s crops. Instead ofbeing painstakingly selective, they’vebeen content to simply scoop a stock ofseed from the general harvest.

This practice has coincided with atrait common to modern rice varieties:they don’t wait for good weather andflower even if it is raining heavily. Whenthey are at their most vulnerable, thedeveloping grains fall under constantattack from diseases and insect pests.Seeds harvested from such crops oftencarry the consequences of these attacksinto the following season.

Dr. Mew says that the situationbecomes worse when the seeds must waitin poor storage conditions for up to ninemonths before planting, allowing moldsand other contaminants to furtherdiminish their quality.“Nobody thinks of seed health,” Dr.

Mew says. “In rice production, we tendto think only of crop management. But ifthe seeds are not good, then the farmersare building their agriculture on a poorfoundation. The genetic potential of theplants will never be reached.”

Working closely with their localpartners over the past two years, theIRRI team has taught 560 Bangladeshifarmers how to sort their seeds andreject the poorly filled, diseased, andcontaminated ones. They were taughthow to recognize poor grains by theirphysical appearance. Commonly, at leasthalf their seed was discarded. In somecases, more than 80 percent of it was invery poor health.“Then they were told to grow a plot

of the good, healthy seeds alongsidetheir normal unsorted seeds,” Dr. Mewsays. “Even at the start, the good seedsgerminated uniformly and the groundcover was very rapid. The farmers neededto hand-weed the crop from the goodseeds only once, and the rest of itseveral times.”

When it came to the harvest,farmers whose yields had previouslyamounted to 5.1 tons per hectare werereaping about 5.8 tons per hectare byusing the healthy seed. Across the entire560 farms, yields from the sorted seedswere, on average, nine percent higher.Applied to the entire Bangladesh ricecrop, this would mean an increase of twomillion tons of grain.

Dr. Mew says that his team hopes togive “hands-on” seed health training toenough Bangladeshi farmers, especiallythe women farmers, to guarantee thatthe technology spreads to all ofBangladesh’s 13 million rice farms.

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Rice Plants That Do Not Die

Curious new plants growing in IRRI’sexperimental fields at Los Baños in thePhilippines are living evidence of howclose the Institute’s researchers havecome to creating a perennial rice plant.The leaves look like rice, but the plantsgrow in sizable clumps, and vigorousstems creep outward on the surface ofthe soil, putting down new roots andgrowing fresh leaves at every node.

So far, the plants have been growingfor nearly two years and they’ve beenharvested about four times.

According to the leader of theInstitute’s perennial rice project, Dr. ErikSacks, some of the plants could probablylive indefinitely, if properly cared for.However, much still needs to be done toprepare them for the often harshconditions of upland cultivation.

Researchers have been working forsix years to create an upland rice plantthat doesn’t die at the end of oneseason, and that can be grown in virtual“hedgerows” across mountain slopes. Theaim is a perennial that delivers a cropand is cut back every season, but which

continues to grow to deliver anotherseason’s harvest, and so on.

The “hedgerow” idea would preventerosion by providing living barriers tosoil movement on sloping land, helpingto stop not only the loss of precioustopsoil in upland regions but also thesilting of rivers and irrigation systemsdownstream. Farmers would have a ricecrop at least once a year without all thehard labor and expensive inputs ofannual cultivation.

Dr. Sacks says that some of the mostpromising plants will soon be sent forfield trials in China and India so thattheir reaction to real upland conditionscan be assessed.

These plants are the result of atraditional breeding effort involvingthousands of crosses of wild anddomesticated species from Asia andAfrica. One of the ancestors of modernrice, a wild Asian species called Oryzarufipogon, is the parent believed to havegifted the new plants with their seemingperenniality.

The aim now is to give the newplants panicle characteristics that aremore like those of cultivated rice. In

addition, adding resistance to pests anddiseases and to attack by microscopicworms called nematodes will help ensurethat the plants survive and yield. Theywill also need the capacity to competewith weeds. It may be another five yearsbefore they are ready for handing over tonational agricultural research andextension systems and, from them, toupland farmers.

Meanwhile, among the thousands ofcrossbred plants in the project, some bigsurprises have occurred. Some plants notonly developed root systems capable ofkeeping them alive for several years, butthey also survived experimental droughtstress and, on top of that, yielded moregrain than expected.

Dr. Sacks explains that, in ordinaryrice plants, many of the plant’scarbohydrates are dedicated to theprocess of flowering and developingseeds; little surplus energy remains forvigorous growth after harvest. So thenew plants are under close scrutiny tofind out how they gathered all theirenergy (see next story).

Dr. Erik Sacks.

57

An Unexpected Offspring

Breeding new varieties of rice normallyinvolves a painstaking process of trialand error in which countless thousandsof crosses are made between hugecollections of parent plants. With eachbatch of newcomers, plant breeders hopeto find the genetic traits they are tryingto create.

In the mix and match of countlessgenes, surprises are sometimes in store.Occasionally, breeders inadvertentlycreate plants with attributes totallyunrelated to the aim of their project, butnonetheless fascinating and valuable. Inthe effort to create a perennial riceplant, IRRI’s plant breeders may havestumbled upon a plant with an enhancedcapacity for using sunlight.

For many years, scientists havetheorized that the productivity of ricecould be boosted if its photosyntheticpathway—the way plants use energyfrom the sun to fix carbon from theatmosphere—could be made moreefficient (see A New Plant for a ChangedClimate, page 28).

Maize and sorghum are both plantswith what is known as a C4 photosyn-thetic pathway. In most respects, it ismore efficient than the C3 pathway ofrice, wheat, and potatoes. Recently,biotechnicians in Japan and the UnitedStates have been transferring genes frommaize into rice in an attempt to create aC4 rice.

The question sparking interest atIRRI is whether or not the new plantsbred in the search for perenniality haveunexpectedly progressed a step or twodown the path toward greater photo-synthetic efficiency.

A recent arrival from China to IRRI’sscientific staff, Dr. Ming Zhao, a plantphysiologist, has been examining first-and second-generation plants that wereamong the best performers in theperennial rice project. He has found anuncommonly high photosynthetic rateamong second-generation plants,markedly higher than that of the plants’parents and their first-generation family.

The rate at which a plant assimilatescarbon dioxide in sunlight is the usualmeasure of photosynthesis. In normal

rice plants, it is about 36 units,compared with maize, whose rate isslightly more than 50. The experimental,second-generation rice plants, grown inthe hope that their mix of genes wouldmake them perennial, register carbondioxide assimilation rates as high as 46units, about 90 percent of the rate ofmaize grown under similar conditions.

The next step will be a comparisonof the second-generation plants withtheir third-generation offspring. If thereis a strong association between thephotosynthetic performances of parentsand progeny, then the researchers willfeel confident that the special ability isa genetic trait, rather than somethinganomalous that may disappear within afew generations.

Dr. Ming is optimistic. “This newmaterial may be very good for improvingmodern varieties,” he explains. “Im-proved photosynthesis can have theoutstanding benefits of high yield alongwith greater efficiency in the use of bothwater and nitrogen.”

58

Hybrids for the RainfedLowlands

IRRI’s hybrid rice breeding program hasalso set its sights on the rainfed lowlandecosystem.

Until now, tropical hybrids havebeen bred only for irrigated cultivation.They’re a recent appearance in tropicalAsia, requiring fresh seed purchases withevery crop and special care in cultivation,but they yield up to 20 percent morethan the best semidwarf inbred varieties,upon which the rice crop of Asiadepends.

China has about 15 million hectaresplanted in hybrid rice, mainly in itssubtropical and temperate regions. Thatis about half the country’s rice-growingarea. Vietnam has become the leadinggrower of tropical hybrids in Asia, withnearly 300,000 hectares. It is followedby India (180,000 ha), Bangladesh(30,000 ha), the Philippines (15,000ha), and Myanmar (5,000 ha). Indonesia,Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Korea are justbeginning to show an interest, alongwith Egypt.

IRRI’s hybrid rice breeder, Dr. SantVirmani, says that the Institute hasprojects aimed at boosting yields fromhybrid seed production plots and making

the development of hybrid technologymore efficient.

However, having perfected a rangeof hybrids for irrigated farming,researchers are now turning to therainfed lowland ecosystem, where anyincrease in yields will have a directimpact on poverty.

Breeding hybrids for this ecosystem,which is often beset by droughts, floods,or both, has now become a concertedeffort. Already, some newly developedexperimental hybrids have been sent toresearch stations in India, Thailand, andthe Philippines.

At the same time, IRRI’s researchersare also developing a package ofagronomic measures aimed at helpingfarmers who adopt hybrid technology.These mainly involve seeding andseedbed management, along withnitrogen management.

“We want to see how far we canspread this technology,” Dr. Virmani says.“To get the maximum out of hybrids, wehave to make sure the farmers can use anagronomic package.”

Unlike many other areas of IRRI’sresearch, the tropical hybrid programstirs considerable interest from privatecompanies. This is because of the needto continually produce new seed, whereas

in conventional rice cultivation farmerssimply plant seeds saved from theprevious season’s crop.

First-generation hybrids benefit froma phenomenon known as hybrid vigor.They perform better than both theirparents. But this lasts for only onegeneration, and seeds kept from hybridslose their superior yield and produce anonuniform crop with mixed grain types.

Private companies are attracted tohybrid rice technology because of theopportunity to profit from seedproduction. There is another reason,prompted by the one-season-onlyrestriction.“Some big multinational companies

with genetically altered rice plants in thepipeline can protect their investment inthese plants by using them as one of theparents of a hybrid,” Dr. Virmani says.“Then they cannot be copied. Thefarmers have to buy new seeds everyseason.”

He says that IRRI’s hybrid programwill take advantage of any developmentsin the conventional breeding program.For example, hybrid breeding has alreadybegun with IRRI’s new plant type linesand hybrids will be developed fromvitamin A, or “golden rice,” lines as soonas they are available.

59

Gathering Genetic Resources

The year 2000 was a busy one for IRRI’sGenetic Resources Center (GRC) and theInternational Rice Genebank.

Among other things, it saw thecompletion of a six-year project called“Safeguarding and Preservation of theBiodiversity of the Rice Genepool.”According to the head of the GRC, Dr.Michael Jackson, the project had a majorimpact on the worldwide conservation ofrice germplasm. More than 24,700samples of cultivated rice and 2,400samples of wild rice were collectedduring 165 missions in 22 countries inAsia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Costa Rica.

Despite it having been the project’sfinal year, the Genebank still received forsafekeeping nearly 700 samples of Oryzasativa, the predominant Asian ricespecies, together with 84 samples ofdifferent wild species from the Lao PDR,Tanzania, the Philippines, and CostaRica.

More than 80 percent of thecultivated samples and nearly 70 percentof the wild samples collected under thisproject are now preserved in theInternational Rice Genebank.

During 2000, thousands of newsamples were grown and their seedsmultiplied and tested for germinationand health before they became“accessions” in the International RiceGenebank. The Genebank’s “active”collection received 4,035 newaccessions, and the “base” collection,where the seeds remain in long-termstorage at minus 20 ºC, received 4,716new accessions.

Germplasm from new samples wasmultiplied and 1,978 O. sativa accessionsand about 130 O. glaberrima accessionswere rejuvenated. Seed stocks of about1,000 wild species and newly acquiredsamples were also successfully increasedin the nursery screenhouse.

Staff at the Genebank also preparedroutine descriptions of 1,640 O. sativa

accessions and 345 samples of wildspecies.

The Genebank distributed almost7,000 seed samples during 2000 inresponse to 173 requests from scientistsfrom 24 countries. Of the samples sentout, 1,661 were of wild species.

The International Rice GenebankCollection Information System (IRGCIS),which contains the International RiceGenebank’s database and manages allseed stocks and exchanges of germplasm,was also updated during the year toallow greater flexibility of datamanagement resources. This alsoprovided a better link to the SystemwideInformation Network for GeneticResources (SINGER) on the World WideWeb (http://www.singer.cgiar.org).

60

Domestic Water Contamination

A survey of groundwater contaminationby agricultural chemicals in Luzon, thePhilippines, has shown that the threat tohuman health from fertilizers andpesticides is not as high as generallybelieved.

The survey, conducted by IRRIscientists over at least ten years,involved drawing monthly samples frommore than 50 domestic wells used tosupply families with drinking andhousehold water. The water came fromshallow aquifers beneath agriculturalland. The researchers also investigatedthe history of agrochemical use at eachof the three sites involved.

Two of the sites were in irrigationprojects in the provinces of Laguna andNueva Ecija, where most farms grow tworice crops per year. The third site was inthe northern province of Ilocos Norte,where rice is grown in the wet seasonand sweet pepper in the dry.

The researchers found that in theirrigation projects average fertilizer usehad risen fivefold, from less than 20 kg

per hectare in the mid-1960s to between80 and 90 kg per hectare in the wetseason and 100 kg per hectare in the dryseason in the mid-1990s. Over the sameperiod, there had been a roughlyequivalent rise in pesticide use, settlingdownward to between 0.65 kg and 1.4 kgof active ingredients per hectare in the1990s.

In Ilocos Norte, the wet-season ricecrop received an average of 60 to 110 kgof nitrogenous fertilizer and 0.6 kg ofactive pesticide ingredients per hectarein the 1990s. But the sweet pepper cropwas given about 446 kg of nitrogenousfertilizer and 6.1 kg of active pesticideingredients per hectare.

Out of 633 well samples taken in theirrigation projects, less than half haddetectable levels of nitrate, and only onesample exceeded the World HealthOrganization (WHO) safe limit of 10 partsper million in drinking water. There wasno evidence of any accumulation ofgroundwater nitrate from 1989 to 2000.

At the Ilocos Norte site, nitrateconcentrations varied from 5 to 12 partsper million, with the WHO safe limit for

drinking water being exceeded in July,October, and November. The relativelyhigh contamination was attributed to thehigh use of nitrogen fertilizer in thesweet pepper crop. Low levels of nitratecoincided with a high incidence of wet-season rice cultivation.

The researchers found that averagepesticide concentrations in domesticwells at all three sites were generally oneor two orders of magnitude below theWHO safe limit of 0.1 parts per billion forsingle pesticides. However, there wereisolated instances at all sites where thelevel of a single pesticide was as much as40 times higher than the WHO limit.

They concluded that human healthwas not threatened by nitrate concen-trations in drinking water beneathirrigated, double-cropped rice systemsand that pesticide residues did notgenerally exceed safety limits.

They added that both theenvironment and the history of the studyareas suggested that the results of thesurvey could be characteristic of manyparts of tropical Asia where rice-basedcropping had intensified since the 1960s.

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Targeting the Rainfed Lowlands

More than 700 million of Asia’s poorestpeople get up to 80 percent of theircalories from rice grown in fragileenvironments such as rainfed lowlands. Thesoils here are poor, each new season bringsrisks of drought or flood, or both, and thenthere are pests and diseases. But, evenwith all this difficulty, the rainfed lowlandsmake up about a quarter of the world’stotal rice-growing area.

Modern high-yielding rice varieties donot adapt well to these ecosystems, sofarmers grow traditional varieties that yieldabout two tons per hectare, less than halfthe average harvest from irrigated farms.

IRRI’s scientists have begun the taskof developing for rainfed lowlands modernhigh-yielding varieties of rice that showenhanced seedling vigor and are betterable to withstand submergence, drought,sodium, iron, and aluminum toxicity,phosphorus and zinc deficiency, pests, anddiseases. They are also formulating bettercrop management practices.

Armed with recent advances inbiotechnology, IRRI’s scientists are workingwith an almost impatient confidence. Theirefforts are buoyed by the knowledge thatproductivity improvement in the rainfedlowlands will more effectively combatpoverty than any other process.

Among the problems of the past wasidentifying dominant environments in thediverse rainfed lowlands to providesubstantial targets for plant breeders.

Conversely, plant breeders needed tochoose from scores of genotypes andgenetic traits those best suited toparticular environments.

According to IRRI crop physiologist Dr.Len Wade, the quandary was well illustratedin an experiment in 1995. Thirty-one ricevarieties were grown at nine locations inThailand, India, and the Philippines to testyields. Researchers found that 40 percentof yield variation was due not simply tosite conditions or plant characteristics, butrather to complex interactions between theplants and their environments.

It was impossible to match suitablevarieties with every one of millions ofrainfed rice farms. So, working withresearchers in five countries, Dr. Wade andthe head of IRRI’s biometrics unit, Dr.Graham McLaren, sought “repeatablepatterns of risk” within the myriadinteractions between scores of ricevarieties and hundreds of possible growingenvironments.

Instrumental in the new research willbe recent advances in molecular biology,including the tagging and characterizationof genes and gene transfers, improvedmethods in physiology, and better tools fordata analysis. The potential gains to foodsecurity, human nutrition, povertyreduction, and environmental protectionare immense.

Using about 48 rice varieties, the1995 experiment was expanded to spreadover 37 environments in India, Bangladesh,Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

Patterns of interaction between theplants and their diverse environments havebeen plotted. The like behavior of differentvarieties has led to the formation of groupsand, from each of these, one variety hasbeen chosen as a representative “referenceline.”

From the original 48 varieties, theteam now works with just 10 referencelines. Plant breeders aiming to develop newplants for specific rainfed environmentscan link plant characteristics and genetictraits with environmental factors. They canmultiply and use the reference linesthemselves, or breed new plants withsimilar patterns of adaptability.

The achievement has not been lost onplant breeders in national research systems.Such has been the demand for full sets ofthe reference lines that IRRI’s besiegedseed multiplication program is takingorders for delivery next year.

Dr. Wade says that over the next threeto five years the reference lines will begrown in a the widest possible variety ofenvironments, and their reactions carefullymeasured.“We’re now using the plants to assay

the environmental conditions,” Dr. Wadesays. “We might think that two soils arevery different, but if one plant variety doesequally well on both, then the soildifference means nothing to that plant.Such groupings simplify the targets forplant breeders.”

62

After the Fighting,“Seeds of Life”

IRRI has joined an international effort torestore principal food crops to war-ravaged East Timor.

The project, called “Seeds of Life—East Timor,” follows the tide of violencethat swept the territory in late 1999,after the people voted for independencefrom Indonesia. The fighting causedwidespread destruction of property andmassive displacement of the population.In its wake occurred an acute shortageof planting materials for new crops.

Funded by the Australian Centre forInternational Agricultural Research(ACIAR), the three-year Seeds of Lifeproject is a collaborative effort involvingthe United Nations TransitionalAdministration in East Timor, WorldVision, Catholic Relief Services, and fiveof the 16 CGIAR centers: IRRI, CIMMYT,CIAT, CIP, and ICRISAT.

It seeks to restore East Timor’scrops of rice, maize, cassava, cowpea,soybean, mungbean, potatoes, sweetpotatoes, and peanuts.

According to the coordinator of theInternational Network for GeneticEvaluation of Rice, Dr. Edwin Javier, IRRIhas supplied 15 varieties of irrigatedlowland rice, 11 varieties for rainfedlowlands, and 13 varieties of upland rice.

All were chosen for their potentialadaptability to the East Timoreseenvironment, and sufficient seed wassupplied for small replicated field trials.

The seeds were planted betweenDecember 2000 and March 2001. Dr.Javier returned to East Timor in April2001 to monitor the field trials, and willreturn later in the year, when theexperimental crops are mature and readyfor harvest.

The varieties most suited to localconditions will then be identified, withthree or four varieties chosen from eachcategory. More seed from each will thenbe multiplied in IRRI’s fields in thePhilippines and shipped back to EastTimor for the next stage in the project.

Local farmer-cooperators will thengrow the three or four selected varietiesin each of the targeted ecosystems, andwill be asked to select the variety theythink is best suited to local conditions,local tastes, and local managementpractices.

Seed production from the mostpopular varieties will then be organized

locally and, with continuing IRRI andACIAR support, rice production in EastTimor will begin to recover from theravages of war.

Assisting various nations around theworld to recover from devastatingconflicts has become a familiar role forIRRI.

In the late 1980s, the seeds ofCambodia’s traditional rice varieties werefound in safekeeping in the InternationalRice Genebank at IRRI and were returnedto that country so its agriculturalproduction could begin a 20-yearstruggle toward self-sufficiency followingyears of war.

IRRI also sent shipments of seeds toRwanda, in central Africa, where years ofinternal warfare had left the country’sagricultural and social systems in chaos.

Ethiopia was another nation thatreceived seeds from the InternationalRice Genebank in an effort to feed itswar-weary population.

63

Sharing Rice Resources

The International Network for GeneticEvaluation of Rice (INGER) continued itsleading role in the worldwide distributionand sharing of rice genetic resourcesduring 2000.

A total of 729 breeding lines wereorganized into seven ecosystem trialsand three stress trials. The latter aimedto screen the plants for their tolerance ofproblem soils and resistance to blast andtungro disease.

About half of the seeds for the trialnurseries had come from the nationalagricultural research and extensionsystems (NARES) of 35 countries. Theother half came from internationalagricultural research centers (IARCs),including IRRI.

As well, 281 nursery sets were sentout to 29 countries for evaluation at test

growing sites. Most of them went tocountries in Asia, but others were sent toEthiopia, Mozambique, Senegal, Bolivia,Brazil, Suriname, Venezuela, and Italy.Some also went to the West Africa RiceDevelopment Association (WARDA).

INGER also prepared 12 sets of yieldnurseries covering irrigated lowland,rainfed lowland, and upland ecosystemsfor the “Seeds of Life—East Timor”project, funded by the Australian Centrefor International Agricultural Research(see opposite page). In response torequests from rice scientists worldwide,509 seed samples were also processedand distributed to 24 countries and toresearchers at IRRI and WARDA.

Eleven types of nurseries wereprepared for distribution during 2001.They were composed of 859 breedinglines that came from researchers in 32countries, as well as five IARCs. A total

of 432 nursery sets were produced fordistribution in 2001.

During the year, INGER began todistribute electronic field books tocollaborators for recording data fromINGER nurseries. These will serve as dataentry tools to the International RiceInformation System (IRIS) and the INGERInformation System, INGERIS. Develop-ment and testing of the INGERIS, and itslink to IRIS, were completed, and a newseed inventory system was developed.

Of the many rice varieties tested inthe 1999 INGER trials, 287 were used asparents in the hybridization programs often countries. They had originated frombreeding programs in 27 countries. Aswell, 519 breeding lines were selectedfor follow-up yield trials by NARES in 13countries.

64

New Medium-Term PlanTo hasten the impact of IRRI’s research,the new MTP provides strong bridgesbetween the Institute’s research activi-ties and the national agriculturalresearch and extension systems (NARES)of rice-growing countries and IRRI staffposted outside the Philippines.

The new MTP consists of 12 focusedprojects across four programs. Theyrenew IRRI’s commitment to the conser-vation of genetic resources, improvementof germplasm with classical methods,integrated pest management, integratednutrient management, and ecoregionalresearch. This research places increasedemphasis on the more fragile environ-ments and the associated problems ofbiotic and abiotic stresses.

The new plan also outlines theInstitute’s commitment to the newscience of functional genomics to solvethe old problems of agronomic perform-ance and to address some new opportu-nities for improving the nutritionalquality of rice. As well, it identifies newopportunities and approaches in theeffective transfer of technology.

New PositionsTwo critical positions, head of the PlantBreeding, Genetics, and Biochemistry(PBGB) Division and IRRI’s first intellec-tual property specialist, were filled. Theappointees are Dr. David Mackill and Dr.Thanda Wai, respectively.

On 31 December 2000, Dr. GurdevKhush officially retired as head of thePBGB Division and leader of variousresearch programs. He will continue toserve as IRRI’s principal plant breederand as a member of the managementteam until the end of August 2001. Dr.Khush served as PBGB Division head fornearly three decades. Dr. Sant Virmani isserving as PBGB interim head until thearrival of Dr. Mackill.

Awards and HonorsThe list of awards to individuals washeaded once more by Dr. Gurdev Khush,in the year before his retirement. Dr.

Khush received the B.P. Pal Gold Medaland the Padma Shri Award, both from hisnative India. He also received the WolfPrize from the President of Israel, andwas awarded honorary doctorates fromCambridge University in the U.K. andfrom Assam Agricultural University inIndia. Dr. Khush was also made anhonorary professor of the University ofTehran, in Iran, and an honorary re-searcher of the China National RiceResearch Institute.

Drs. James Hill and Roland Buresh,both from IRRI’s Crop, Soil, and WaterSciences Division, were made fellows ofthe American Society of Agronomy, andentomologist Dr. K.L. Heong received anhonorary doctorate of science from theUniversity of London.

The Prime Minister of Cambodiabestowed a Distinguished CollaborationAward on Dr. Harry Nesbitt, leader of theCambodia-IRRI-Australia Project, and theOfficer Award for Collaboration on INGERcoordinator Dr. Edwin Javier and agricul-tural engineer Joe Rickman.

Entomologist Dr. Alberto Barrionreceived the Outstanding Local ScientistAward for 2000 from the CGIAR inWashington, D.C. As well, he received thePest Management Council of PhilippinesPest Management Award for 2000 and theGawad Saka Special Citation from thePhilippines’ President.

Intellectual PropertyIn 2000, the second phase of theInstitute’s intellectual property manage-ment review (IPMR) was completed,

including an IP audit. It focused on theIP implications of germplasm-relatedtechnologies deployed by IRRI, func-tional genomics and bioinformaticsactivities carried out by IRRI researchers,the new plant type, and use of third-party proprietary technologies toenhance the nutritional value of rice.

The results indicated that IRRI’scapacity in trait discovery, in collabora-tion with its NARES partners, is animportant inventive activity.

In considering the IP implications ofthese issues, the IPMR investigated theextent to which defensive publication ordefensive registration might be used todeal with some IP problems. One themerunning through the review was thenecessity for IRRI to consider its IPmanagement in the wider context of itsmembership in the CGIAR.

The IPMR identified a need toconsolidate the office of the deputydirector general for partnerships (DDG-P)as IRRI’s “single-door” IP unit, handlingall IP issues and acting as a depositoryof IP documents.

Knowledge Management andInformation TechnologyIn 2000, IRRI established a task force toexplore the creation of a global knowl-edge system for rice. The question ofwhether enough people will have accessis no longer of concern. Rather, theconcern is whether or not IRRI can beready soon enough, with expertise andleadership, to help its partners integrateinto a global knowledge system.

Institutional Activities

65

The task force recommended thatIRRI should not only plan for a globalknowledge system for rice, but it shouldclearly define its role in such a system.It recommended that IRRI becomeactively involved with other institutionsplanning or creating global knowledgesystems on agriculture and developmentand, by doing so, ensure the involvementof its NARES partners.

The task force concluded that, bytaking advantage of the opportunitiesafforded by new information and commu-nication technologies, IRRI can integrateits research and information activitieswith those of its partners, thus achievinga true science partnership from the ricefields of Asia to the molecular laborato-ries and supercomputers of the devel-oped world.

IRRI’s Outreach ProgramsThe International Programs ManagementOffice (IPMO) has made significantprogress in improving the day-to-daymanagement and coordination of IRRI’soutreach activities, as well as theirintegration with activities at headquar-ters in the Philippines.

In 2000, IRRI had substantialresearch activities in 18 countries andmaintained liaison offices in ten coun-tries. However, the full range of itsinternational activities covered morethan 70 countries.

Scientific PublishingIRRI’s four Web sites—the IRRI homesite (www.cgiar.org/irri), Riceweb,Riceworld, and the IRRI Library site—continue to grow in popularity. Therewere nearly 210,000 visitors to the Websites during 2000. They made more than780,000 “hits,” or movements within thesites. More than 100,000 files of popularinformation products were downloaded,including installments of the discussionpaper series, stories from the 1999-2000annual report, and sections of theInternational Rice Research Notes andannual program reports. IRRI-developedsoftware also proved popular. An examplewas more than 1,000 downloads of thepopular IRRISTAT program for statisticalanalysis.

During the year, the Web sites wereenhanced by the addition of electronicversions of the three 2000 issues of theInternational Rice Research Notes, theProgram Report for 1999, and recent IRRIconference and workshop proceedings.New sections were created for ricegenomics, rice bioinformatics, decisionsupport tools, and software downloads.

Sixteen titles were produced anddistributed, including seven IRRI books,four installments of the IRRI discussionpaper series, and one installment of thelimited proceedings series. One of thebooks, Redesigning Rice Photosynthesis toIncrease Yield, was a dual imprint withElsevier Science.

More than 139,000 photographs inthe IRRI archives, dating back to 1960,were assessed, classified, catalogued, andindexed. Of these, about 3,500 of the bestimages were scanned and made availablefor searching and downloading viaInstitute computers.

Public Awareness, Visitors,Exhibitions, and ConferencesAfter a fire in 1999, the RiceworldMuseum was closed for part of 2000 butreopened in time for the Institute’s 40thanniversary activities in April. However,the Chandler Hall Auditorium, which wasalso damaged by the fire, remained closedthroughout 2000 and reopened in early2001.

During the year, the public aware-ness unit produced 28 press releases and27 photo releases, delivered more than100 broadcasts on “The IRRI Hour” radioshow, produced the 1999-2000 annualreport, The Rewards of Rice Research, anda 2001 wall calendar, “Rice Science for aBetter World.” The unit also created anew Internet homepage and producedfour editions of “The IRRI Hotline.”

The Institute also welcomed about50,000 visitors to its headquartersincluding ten state ministers, 35 ambas-sadors and members of the diplomaticcorps, and 15 representatives of donorand international organizations such asthe United Nations Development Pro-gramme, Food and Agriculture Organiza-tion of the United Nations, and AsianDevelopment Bank.

The 40th anniversary events kickedoff with an international rice researchconference titled “Rice Research for FoodSecurity and Poverty Alleviation,”beginning on 31 March. It attracted 243researchers from 35 countries. Eventsculminated with the Fourth InternationalRice Genetics Symposium in late October,which brought 507 participants from 32countries. It is believed to have been arecord gathering at IRRI headquarters.

LibraryDuring 2000, more than 8,000 referenceswere added to the rice bibliographydatabase, bringing the total to morethan 188,300. The on-line catalog grewto 60,715 bibliographic records. Toprovide electronic access to rice litera-ture prior to 1970 and to benefitscientists who have no Internet access,the International Bibliography on RiceResearch, 1951-2000, was published inCD-ROM format in December.

The library added 277 rice disserta-tions to its collection, most of whichcame from China and major Europeancountries, and acquired 33 videocas-settes for the audiovisual learningcenter. The main library collection nowcontains 116,655 monographs and 1,536active serial titles.

Dr. Ron Cantrell and Swiss Foreign MinisterJoseph Deiss.

66

IRRIBoard ofTrustees2001Dr. Sjarifudin Baharsjah (chair)Independent ChairFood and Agriculture Organization of theUnited NationsKomplek Perumahan Pejabat TinggiJalan Duta Permai V/1Pondok Indah, Jakarta 12310, IndonesiaFax: (62-021) 766-0020E-mail: baharsjah@hotmail.com

Mr. Fazle Hasan AbedFounder and Executive DirectorBangladesh Rural Advancement Committee(BRAC)BRAC Centre356 Mohakhali C/A, Dhaka 1212, BangladeshE-mail: general@brac.bdmail.net

Dr. Shigemi AkitaProfessorThe University of Shiga Prefecture2500 Hassaka-cho, HikoneShiga 522-8533, JapanTel: (81-749) 28-8200

Ms. Makiko Arima-SakaiPresidentYokohama Women’s Association forCommunication and NetworkingForum Yokohama BranchLandmark Tower 13 F2-2-1-1 Minato Mirai, Nishi-kuYokohama 220-81, JapanFax: (81-45) 224-2009E-mail: arima@women.city.yokohama.jp

Dr. Ronald P. Cantrell (ex officio)Director GeneralInternational Rice Research InstituteDAPO Box 7777, Metro Manila, PhilippinesFax: (63-2) 891-1292/761-2404E-mail: r.cantrell@cgiar.org

Dr. Michael Denis GaleAssociate Research DirectorJohn Innes CentreNorwich Research ParkColney, Norwich NR4 7UHNorfolk, United KingdomE-mail: mike.gale@bbsrc.ac.uk

Dr. Siene SaphangthongMinisterMinistry of Agriculture and ForestryP.O. Box 811Vientiane, Lao PDRFax: (856-21) 412-344

Dr. Emanuel Adilson Souza SerrãoDirector GeneralEMBRAPA Eastern AmazonCPATU/EMBRAPACaixa Postal 4866.420 Belém, Pará, BrazilFax: (091) 276-9845, 276-0323E-mail: aserrao@cpatu.embrapa.br

Dr. E.A. SiddiqNational Professor (ICAR)Directorate of Rice ResearchRajendranagarHyderabad 500030, A.P., IndiaE-mail: pdrice@x400.nicgw.nic.in

Dr. Jian SongVice Chairman, Chinese People’s PoliticalConsultative ConferencePresident, Chinese Academy of EngineeringSciences3 Fuxing RoadBeijing 100038, ChinaFax: (86-10) 6852-3054E-mail: xuan@mail.ied.ac.cn

Mrs. Angeline Saziso Kamba3 Hogsback LaneP.O. Box BW 699BorrowdaleHarare, ZimbabweE-mail: askamba@samara.co.zw

Dr. Lene Lange (vice chair)Director, Molecular BiotechnologyNovozymes A/SKrogshoejvej 36, bldg 1AMS.04DK-2880 Bagsvaerd, DenmarkE-mail: lla@novozymes.com

Leonardo Q. Montemayor (ex officio)SecretaryDepartment of AgricultureElliptical Road, Diliman1100 Quezon City, PhilippinesFax: (63-2) 929-8183/928-5140

Dr. Francisco J. Nemenzo (ex officio)PresidentUniversity of the Philippines SystemDiliman, Quezon City, PhilippinesE-mail: pfn@surfshop.net.ph

Dr. Calvin O. QualsetDirectorGenetic Resources Conservation ProgramDivision of Agriculture and Natural ResourcesUniversity of CaliforniaOne Shields AvenueDavis, CA 95616-8602, USAE-mail: coqualset@ucdavis.edu

Board of Trustees 2001 with IRRI senior management.

67

Administrative Personnel

Ronald P. Cantrell, PhD, director generalWilliam G. Padolina, PhD, deputy director

general for partnershipsRen Wang, PhD, deputy director general

for research4

Gordon B. MacNeil, MBA, director forfinance

Ian M. Wallace, MLS, director for adminis-tration and human resources

Henrik Egelyng, PhD, institutional issuesspecialist1

Mercedita Agcaoili Sombilla, PhD, policyeconomist and head, Liaison, Coordina-tion, and Planning

Fe V. Aglipay, BS, manager, humanresource development

Melba M. Aquino, BS, manager, budgetDouglas D. Avila, BS, manager, physical

plantGlenn A. Enriquez, BS, manager, security

and safety officeWalfrido E. Gloria, MBA, manager, legal

officeRamon R. Guevara, MBA, manager,

materials managementMa. Obdulia B. Jolejole, BS, manager,

food and housing servicesAlfredo M. Mazaredo, BS, manager,

physical plantMario F. Ocampo, MBA, manager, systemsElisa S. Panes, BS, manager, cash

managementEnrique O. delos Reyes, BS, manager,

physical plantManuel F. Vergara, BS, manager, transport

office

Staff Based at Headquarters

Agricultural EngineeringMark A. Bell, PhD, interim headRobert Bakker, PhD, affiliate scientistJoseph F. Rickman, MS, agricultural

engineer6

Lita Norman, MS, collaborative researchfellow3

BiometricsChristopher Graham McLaren, PhD,

biometrician and headRichard M. Bruskiewich, PhD,

bioinformatics specialist4

Staff Communication and PublicationsServicesEugene P. Hettel, MA, science editor and

headBill Hardy, PhD, science editor/publisher

Computer ServicesPaul O’Nolan, MS, IT manager

Crop, Soil, and Water SciencesJames E. Hill, PhD, agronomist and head,

program leader, irrigated rice ecosystemresearch

Guy Joseph Dunn Kirk, PhD, soil chemistand deputy head

Roland Buresh, PhD, soil scientist4

Jean Christophe Castella, PhD, IRSseconded from IRD

Barney P. Caton, PhD, visiting scientist3

Madduma P. Dhanapala, PhD, affiliatescientist4

Achim Dobermann, PhD, soil nutrientspecialist1

John L. Gaunt, PhD, IRS seconded fromthe Institute of Arable Crops Research1

Thomas George, PhD, IRS seconded fromNifTAL

Corinta Q. Guerta, MS, senior associatescientist

Motoyuki Hagiwara, PhD, visiting scien-tist1

Wenxin Hu, collaborative research fellowOlivier Huguenin-Elie, collaborative

research fellow1

Abdelbagi M. Ismail, PhD, plant physiolo-gist4

Satoshi Kubota, PhD, project scientist1

Jagdish K. Ladha, PhD, soil nutritionistRenee Lafitte, PhD, plant physiologistRhoda S. Lantin, MS, senior associate

scientistLumin Liu, PhD, project scientistChantal Loyce, PhD, project scientist3

Bernardita E. Mandac, MS, senior associ-ate scientist

Veeragathipillai Manoharan, PhD, projectscientist1

Zhao Ming, PhD, affiliate scientist4

AbuBakr AbdelAziz Mohamed, PhD,project scientist4

Andrew Martin Mortimer, PhD, weedecologist

Takuhito Nozoe, PhD, agronomist4

Maria Olofsdotter-Gunnarsen, PhD,affiliate scientist1

(as of 31 Dec. 2000)

68

Shaobing Peng, PhD, crop physiologistGyaneshwar Prasad, PhD, project scien-

tist1

Wolfgang Reichardt, PhD, microbiologistReimund P. Roetter, PhD, systems network

coordinator1

John E. Sheehy, PhD, systems modelerand crop ecologist

Pierre Siband, PhD, IRS seconded fromCIRAD

Virendra Pal Singh, PhD, agronomistDomingo F. Tabbal, MS, senior associate

scientistGuy F. Trebuil, PhD, IRS seconded from

CIRADTo Phuc Tuong, PhD, water management

engineerRomeo M. Visperas, MS, senior associate

scientistLeonard J. Wade, PhD, agronomistAlan K. Watson, PhD, IRS seconded from

McGill University1

Christian Witt, PhD, project scientist1,affiliate scientist4

Haishun Yang, PhD, project scientistWoon-Ho Yang, collaborative research

fellow4

Entomology and Plant PathologyTwng-Wah Mew, PhD, plant pathologist

and head, program leader, upland riceecosystem research

Kong Luen Heong, PhD, entomologist anddeputy head

Ossmat Azzam, PhD, virologist1

Alberto T. Barrion, PhD, senior associatescientist

Emerlito Borromeo, PhD, project scientistPepito Q. Cabauatan, PhD, senior associ-

ate scientistMichael Benjamin Cohen, PhD, entomolo-

gistBart Cottyn, MS, affiliate scientistAhmed Dirie, PhD, project scientist1

Francisco A. Elazegui, MS, senior associ-ate scientist

Sung-Kee Hong, collaborative researchfellow4

Gary C. Jahn, PhD, entomologist6

Jan Leach, PhD, adjunct scientistSe-Weong Lee, visiting scientist3

Seung-Don Lee, collaborative researchfellow4

Hei Leung, PhD, plant pathologistGeorges Reversat, PhD, IRS seconded

from ORSTOM

Elsa Rubia-Sanchez, PhD, project scientistKenneth G. Schoenly, PhD, insect ecolo-

gist1

Lene Sigsgaard, PhD, collaborativeresearch scientist1

Wazhong Tan, PhD, project scientist1

Xiaoping Yu, PhD, project scientist1

Wenjun Zhang, PhD, project scientist1

Zeng-Rong Zhu, PhD, project scientist

Experiment StationTomas P. Clemeno, BS, managerArnold R. Manza, MS, managerGeorge F. Pateña, PhD, manager2

Genetic Resources CenterMichael T. Jackson, PhD, headEdwin L. Javier, PhD, INGER coordinatorFlora C. de Guzman, MS, senior associate

scientistGenoveva Loresto, MS, project scientist1

Bao-Rong Lu, PhD, germplasm specialist1

Stephen Morin, PhD, anthropologistJean-Louis Pham, PhD, IRS seconded

from IRD1

Chang-In Yang, PhD, collaborativeresearch fellow1

International Programs ManagementOffice(Headquarters-based)Mark A. Bell, PhD, agronomist and head5

Vethaiya Balasubramanian, PhD, agrono-mist/CREMNET coordinator

Julian A. Lapitan, MS, senior associatescientist

Plant Breeding, Genetics, andBiochemistryGurdev S. Khush, PhD, principal plant

breeder and head, program leader, cross-ecosystems research

Sant S. Virmani, PhD, plant breeder anddeputy head

Fida M. Abbasi, PhD, collaborativeresearch fellow3

Ilyas M. Ahmed, PhD, project scientist1

Abubacker J. Ali, PhD, project scientist4

Gary N. Atlin, PhD, upland rice breeder4

Man-Kee Baek, collaborative researchfellow1

Navtej S. Bains, PhD, project scientist1

Niranjan Baisakh, PhD, project scientist4,visiting scientist3

Sena Balachandran, PhD, project scientist4

Dr. Gary Atlin and Dr. Seiji Yanagihara.

69

John Bennett, PhD, senior molecularbiologist

Fu Binying, PhD, project scientist4

Darshan S. Brar, PhD, plant breederYoung-Chan Cho, PhD, collaborative

research fellow4

Im-Soo Choi, PhD, visiting scientist3

Normita M. dela Cruz, MS, senior associ-ate scientist

Swapan K. Datta, PhD, plantbiotechnologist

Karabi Datta, PhD, plant biotechnologistYoshimichi Fukuta, PhD, plant breederGlenn Gregorio, PhD, affiliate scientist4

Woon-Go Ha, PhD, collaborative researchfellow4

Shailaja Hittalmani, PhD, visitingscientist3

Louise Friis Bach Jensen, MS, collabora-tive research fellow

Kuk-Hyun Jung, visiting scientist3

Kyung-Ho Kang, PhD, collaborativeresearch fellow4

R.P. Kaushik, PhD, project scientistArumugam Kathiresan, PhD, project

scientistBo-Kyeong Kim, collaborative research

fellow1

Nguyen Thi Lang, PhD, visiting scientist4

Deung-Don Lee, PhD, collaborativeresearch fellow4

Moon-Hee Lee, PhD, IRS seconded fromRDA-Korea

Zhikang Li, PhD, plant molecular geneti-cist

Lijun Luo, PhD, visiting scientist4

Chang-Xiang Mao, PhD, project scientist4

Kenneth McNally, PhD, affiliate scientistHanwei Mei, collaborative research fellow3

Shin Mun-sik, PhD, collaborative researchfellow1

No-Bong Park, PhD, visiting scientist3

Madasami Parani, PhD, visiting scientist3

Tilathoo Ram, PhD, project scientist4

Sabariappan Robin, PhD, project scientist1

Erik Sacks, PhD, affiliate scientistAlma Sanchez, PhD, project scientist1

Surapong Sarkarung, PhD, plant breederJagir S. Sidhu, PhD, project scientist1

Yu Sibin, PhD, project scientist1

Sanjay Singh, PhD, project scientistYou-Chun Song, PhD, collaborative

research fellow3

Jumin Tu, PhD, project scientistC.H.M. Vijayakumar, PhD, project scientist4

Parminder Virk, PhD, affiliate scientistXu Weijun, PhD, project scientistChangjian Wu, PhD, project scientist1

Li Xiaofang, PhD, visiting scientist3

Bi Xuezhi, PhD, project scientistSeiji Yanagihara, PhD, rice breeder4

Public AwarenessDuncan I. Macintosh, AB, headOlivia Sylvia O. Inciong, MS, manager,

public awarenessMario M. Movillon, MS, manager, visitors,

exhibition, and conference services

Social SciencesMahabub Hossain, PhD, economist and

head, program leader, rainfed lowlandrice ecosystem research

Sushil Pandey, PhD, agricultural econo-mist and deputy head

David Dawe, PhD, agricultural economistChristopher Edmonds, PhD, affiliate

scientist1

Esteban Godilano, PhD, project scientistChu Thai Hoanh, PhD, affiliate scientistAldas Janaiah, PhD, project scientistSuan Pheng Kam, PhD, GIS specialistNguyen Tri Khiem, PhD, project scientist1

Li Luping, collaborative research fellow3

Piedad F. Moya, MS, senior associatescientist

Thelma R. Paris, PhD, affiliate scientist

Training CenterPaul Marcotte, PhD, head4

Abdul Karim Makarim, PhD, projectscientist4

Madeline B. Quiamco, PhD, seniorassociate scientist

Staff Based in NationalAgricultural Research andExtension Systems

BangladeshSadiqul I. Bhuiyan, PhD, IRRI representa-

tive for Bangladesh and water scientist

CambodiaHarry J. Nesbitt, PhD, agronomist and

team leaderPeter G. Cox, PhD, agricultural economist

ChinaSheng-Xiang Tang, PhD, liaison scientist

for China

Drs. Sushil Pandey, David Dawe, andMahabub Hossain.

70

IndiaR.K. Singh, PhD, representative and

liaison scientist

Indonesia/Malaysia/BruneiDarussalam

Mahyuddin Syam, MPS, communicationspecialist and liaison scientist

JapanHiroyuki Hibino, PhD, liaison scientistKazuko Morooka, BA, librarian

Lao PDRJohn M. Schiller, PhD, agronomist and

team leaderBruce A. Linquist, PhD, upland research

specialist

MadagascarMartha M. Gaudreau, PhD, cropping

systems agronomist and team leader1

MyanmarArnulfo G. Garcia, PhD, cropping systems

agronomist and IRRI representative1

ThailandBoriboon Somrith, PhD, liaison scientist

1Left in 2000.2On study leave.3Joined and left in 2000.4Joined in 2000.5Transferred from Agricultural Engineering Unit.6Transferred from Cambodia-IRRI-Australia Project.

IndiaE-mail: irri@vsnl.comPhone: (91-11) 582-5802, 582-5803Fax: (91-11) 582-5801Contact: Dr. R.K. Singh

Indonesia, Malaysia, BruneiDarussalamE-mail: irribogr@indo.net.idPhone: (62-251) 334-391Fax: (62-251) 314-354Contact: Dr. Mahyuddin Syam

JapanE-mail: irrijp@jircas.affrc.go.jpPhone/fax: (81-298) 386-339Contact: Dr. Hiroyuki Hibino

Lao PDRVientianeE-mail: j.m.schiller@cgiar.orgPhone: (856-21) 412-352, 414-373Fax: (856-21) 414-373Contact: Dr. John M. Schiller

Luang PrabangE-mail: b.linquist@cgiar.orgPhone/fax: (856-71) 212-310, 212-765Contact: Dr. Bruce A. Linquist

MyanmarE-mail: irri.mya@mptmail.net.mmPhone: (95-1) 663-590Fax: (95-1) 642-341Contact: Dr. Mark Bell

ThailandBangkokE-mail: irri-bangkok@cgiar.orgPhone: (66-2) 579-5249, 579-9493, 561-1581Fax: (66-2) 561-4894Contact: Dr. Boriboon Somrith

UbonE-mail: irriubon@cscoms.comPhone: (66-45) 344-100, 344-101Fax: (66-45) 344-090Contact: Dr. Surapong Sarkarung

VietnamE-mail: irri-hanoi@netnam.org.vnPhone: (84-4) 823-4202Fax: (84-4) 823-4425Contact: Dr. Mark Bell

How to Contact IRRI Offices

BangladeshE-mail: irri@bdonline.comPhone: (880-2) 882-7210, 881-3842Fax: (880-2) 882-5341Contact: Dr. Sadiqul I. Bhuiyan

CambodiaE-mail: irri-cambodia@cgiar.orgPhone: (855-23) 219-692Fax: (855-23) 219-800Contact: Dr. Harry J. Nesbitt

China, People’s Republic ofE-mail: irricaas@public.east.cn.netPhone: (86-10) 6218-4732Fax: (86-10) 6217-5611Contact: Dr. Sheng-Xiang Tang

Paul O’Nolan, Dr. Tom Mew,Dr. Sant Virmani, and Dr. Emil Javier.

71

German Agency for Technical Cooperation

Asian Development Bank

Australia

Bangladesh

Belgium

Brazil

Canadian InternationalDevelopment Agency

China

Denmark

European Commission

France*

International DevelopmentResearch Centre (Canada)

German Ministry for EconomicCooperation

Japan

Korea

Mexico

Netherlands

Norway

Philippines

Rockefeller Foundation

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

Thailand

United Kingdom

United States Department ofAgriculture

World Bank

Others

USAID

1,107,991

2,267,312

145,635

10,000

106,519

692,937

200,288

130,000

1,178,103

1,413,877

438,322

377,120

741,207

158,064

162,705

142,692

8,193,930

314,710

15,000

597,277

116,276

212,146

1,021,827

25,000

397,797

India

International Fund forAgricultural Development

Iran

2,700,500

25,000

2,521,931

3,960,285

164,672

4,068,159

188,160

* The Government of France also provided personnel and other services valued at F2.19 million.

IRRI Financial Statement (US$)

IRRI’s audited financial statements, which providedetailed information about the Institute’s finances,are available from the office of the director forfinance. This graph provides information on supportfrom IRRI donors in 2000, which totaled $33,795,442.