RiceToday Vol. 4, No. 1

8/9/2019 RiceToday Vol. 4, No. 1

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ISSN 1655-5422

www.irri.org

International Rice Research Institute April 2005, Vol. 4 No. 1

Game of life

Farmers play gameswith scientists

Rice year wrap-upPutting rice back

on the map

A farm boy's taleRice leader heads home

Intensify to diversifySmarter rice growing helps Cambodian farmers


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INTRODUCING IRRI

Proud to leadthe way

The world was a terrifyingplace in 1952-53. Theperiod saw the first use ofpopulation explosion in

Time magazine and a cruel irony thefirst detonation, over the Pacific Ocean, of

a hydrogen bomb. It also brought acrossthe Pacific two senior Rockefeller Founda-tion agriculturalists to study how to end

2 decades of stagnating rice yields in Asia.By 1960, the population explosion was acover story in Time, and the InternationalRice Research Institute (IRRI) was estab-lished in the Philippines to shore up globalfood security in the face of exponentialpopulation growth.

Along with the other midwife of theGreen Revolution, the Mexico-basedInternational Maize and Wheat Improve-ment Center, IRRI was a prototype for aglobal network of research centers that,since 1971, have found common purpose

within the Consultative Group on Interna-

tional Agricultural Research. With morethan US$400 million in annual fund-ing from its 63 cosponsors and memberstates and organizations in particularthe World Bank and developed countries

in North America, Europe andthe Asia-Pacific the 15-centergroup represents the worldslargest investment in mobiliz-ing science to generate publicgoods for poor farm com-munities.

Since IRRIs release in1966 of the first modernrice variety, the insti-

tute has led the way indeveloping improvedrice cultivars and other

agricultural technologiesto benefit Asias 200 million rice

farmers and the billions of rice consumers

who depend on them for reliable, afford-able supplies of their staple food. IRRIs

work, on its research campus at Los Baosand across Asia in collaboration with thenational partners it has nurtured, hasgreatly contributed to the near doubling of

the Asian rice harvest since 1970.Today, the institute combines rice-

biodiversity conservation, gene discovery

and plant breeding with natural resourcemanagement, integrated pest manage-ment, agricultural engineering andpostharvest technologies, and social andpolicy studies to develop ecologicallyand economically sustainable strategiesto reverse a troubling new stagnationin rice-yield improvement. This trendoccurs in the contexts of slowing popula-tion growth and Asian farmers enjoyingan average yield more than double that oftheir parents and grandparents at IRRIsfounding. It nevertheless threatens to

undermine the indispensable agricultural

foundation of development, thus sabotag-ing the prospects of todays 600 millionpoor in rice-producing Asia and a largeportion of the billions to be born in theseveral decades before the global popula-tion finally stabilizes.

People at IRRI take pride in howthey, their colleagues and their prede-cessors going back to the shell-shockedmiddle of the 20th century have helpedto make the world a more prosper-ous, safe and hopeful place. But muchremains to be done to achieve the UnitedNations Millennium Development Goalsand so alleviate hunger, want, prevent-

able disease, ignorance, inequality andenvironmental degradation. With contin-ued support, IRRIs 1,000 scientists, ad-ministrators, support staff and contract

workers will contribute much more thantheir share.


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DONORS CORNER

5Rice TodayApril 2005

Forging partnershipsin agricultural research

by P e t e r C o re

The Australian Centre for Inter-national Agricultural Research(ACIAR) contributes to the

Australian Governments OfficialDevelopment Assistance programby forging partnerships in agricul-tural research and development.

The key to ACIARs operationsand success has been partneringwith agricultural research organiza-tions, including the InternationalRice Research Institute (IRRI) and

other Consultative Group on Interna-tional Agricultural Research (CGIAR)centers, to develop solutions to theproblems and barriers that limit pro-ductive and sustainable agriculture.

ACIAR works with IRRI in twoways: we provide Australias corefunding contribution to CGIARcenters, and we commission IRRIto undertake specific projects.

In 2003-04, Australia contribut-ed US$650,000 in core funds to IRRIout of a total of $4.2 million allocated

in core funding to CGIAR centers.Another $3.5 million was distributedamong the centers as project-specificfunding, based on the comparativeresearch strengths each offeredin addressing issues that matchedAustralias regional priorities.

Project-specific funding aims tobuild three-way linkages by connect-ing the specialist research skills andknowledge of CGIAR centers withAustralian and developing-countryagricultural research institutes, ulti-

mately breaking down barriers thathamper agricultural productivity.

ACIARs annual budget of ap-proximately $38 million is com-paratively small in a global context.Our activities are therefore carefullytargeted, recognizing that sustainableand environmentally benign pro-ductivity enhancements can unlockagricultural potential. This remainsa proven avenue out of poverty for

the rural poor if not for todaysfarmers, then for their children.

ACIARs project activities, and itssupport for IRRI and other CGIARcenters, are based on both formal andinformal consultations with part-ner countries an approach thatreflects ACIARs mandate to solvethe problems of developing-countryagriculture through partnershipsin research and development.

Every 4 years, ACIAR consultswith major partner countries to setbroad priorities, from which moredetailed annual priorities are set,and outlined in ACIARs AnnualOperational Plan. Projects, devel-oped against these annual priori-ties, harness research and extensionexpertise to overcome obstacles tosustainable productivity increases.

By involving developing-countryagricultural research institutions and,where appropriate, CGIAR centers

including IRRI, projects deliverapplicable results as well as buildscientific capacity, creating home-grown and home-owned solutions.

ACIAR focuses on delivering thesesolutions in the Asia-Pacific region,home to more than half the worldspopulation and almost two-thirds ofthe worlds poor. Many of these poorhave not benefited as much as theyshould have from the Green Revolu-

tion. While global food productionhas more than matched populationgrowth in the past three decades,agricultural productivity amongthe rural poor remains low.

ACIAR works to raise pro-ductivity in a range of areas. TheACIAR-funded Seeds of Life projectmatches crops to growing conditionsby tapping the genetic resourcesof five CGIAR centers, includingIRRI, to introduce improved and

better-suited crop varieties to thefledgling nation of East Timor.Another sustained research

effort, supported by ACIAR and ledby IRRI, is developing so-calledapomictic hybrid rice varietiesthat reproduce asexually, arehigh-yielding, and whose seeds aregenetically identical to those of theparent plant, overcomingthe high cost and inflexibilityof hybrid seed production.

ACIAR-IRRI collaboration is

also helping the cropping systemsof Laos and Cambodia. Research-ers are introducing plant breedingstrategies for lowland rice, intensi-fying rice-based cropping systemsin rainfed lowlands, developingdirect-seeding technology, increas-ing the productivity of dry-seasonirrigated rice, and developingagroecological maps for Laos.

ACIARs investment in globalagricultural research and develop-ment is carefully targeted. This

focus is reflected in our investmentin, and support of, rice research. Byworking with stakeholders in settingand addressing research priori-ties, ACIAR ensures that benefitswill continue to flow to the ruralpoor of the Asia-Pacific region.

IRRI has been, and remains,vital to ACIARs efforts to deliver re-search results that improve the liveli-hoods of the people most in need.

Mr. Core is Director of the Australian Centre for

International Agricultural Research.

ACIAR

by Peter Core


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NEWS

Briefly Briefly Briefly

6 Rice TodayApril 2005

Establishing trustThe Global Crop Diversity Trust, set up tohelp conserve forever the planets agricul-tural biodiversity, is now an independent

international organization. To be recognizedunder international law, the trust required12 signatories from five world regions. On21 October, Sweden, as well as pledging 50million kroners (US$7.3 million), became therequired 12th signatory, joining Cape Verde,

Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan, Mali, Mo-rocco, Samoa, Syria, Tonga and Togo.

New board membersEmerlinda Roman,Elizabeth Woods andTony Fischerhave been appointed to IRRIs

Board of Trustees. ProfessorRoman becameex officio member when she was appointed19th President of the University of thePhilippines in February. Dr. Woods, execu-

tive director of research and developmentstrategies at the Australian Department of

Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, andDr. Fischer, South Asia program adviserfor the Australian Centre for International

Agricultural Research, assumed their boardduties on 1 January.

Communication innovationEighty scientists from organizations includ-ing the World Bank, IRRI and the Foodand Agriculture Organization of the United

Nations gathered on 24-26 January at theInnovations in Communication for RuralExtension workshop in Ho Chi Minh City,

Vietnam. Supported by the U.K. Depart-

ment for International Development, theworkshop explored new innovations in com-munication to improve rural extension.

Lasting grainsIRRI has developed a farmer-friendly superstorage bag that allows cereal grains to be

safely stored for extended periods. Madefrom laminated, three-layer plastic, theSuper bag is a liner used inside a normalstorage bag. The impermeable middle layerkeeps both water and oxygen out (regular

Rice knowledge helps tsunami recovery

MIRACULOUSLY UNHARMED: Sri Lankan rice farmer Mr. Farookstands at the edge of his field in the east coast town ofNintavur, from where he was swept away by the Indian Oceantsunami on 26 December. The waves, which reached the top ofthe palm trees behind him, carried Mr. Farook inland for nearlya kilometer and dumped salt water and sand over his farm.

MARKBELL

Salt-tolerant rice varieties have beenshipped to communities in severalcountries devastated by the Indian Oceantsunamis of December 26. The tsunamisaffected more than 1 million hectares ofrice growing land an area that suppliesfood for at least 30 million people. The

shipments, part of a coordinated responseby agricultural research institutes includ-ing IRRI, aimed to quickly reestablish foodproduction in the worst hit areas and helpaffected communities rapidly regain foodself-sufficiency.

IRRI experts are also studying therice production problems that farmersare encountering in the battered areas ofIndonesia, India and Sri Lanka. Officialsin Myanmar, Bangladesh and Thailandreported that their main rice-growing areas

were mostly unaffected. The institutes RiceKnowledge Bank, an electronic repository

of rice-related training and technology in-formation, is providing essential advice ongrowing rice in the aftermath of the tsunami(www.knowledgebank.irri.org/Tsunamis-

AndRice/default.htm).The salty waters that surged into coast-

al rice fields destroyed crops, equipmentand seed stocks, killed farm animals, and

damaged storage and processingfacilities. The invasion of salt

water can affect rice productionin several ways, including directcrop losses, soil damage via ero-sion or salt contamination, andstorage losses.

Many of those affected bythe tsunami depended on localagriculture not just for food butalso for their livelihoods, and riceobviously played a particularlyimportant role in many regions.Its essential to the success of anyrecovery effort that agriculture inthe region gets back on its feet asquickly as possible, IRRI DeputyDirector General for ResearchRen Wang said.

Dr. Wang estimated that IRRI had ac-cess to more than 40 different rice varieties

that tolerate salty conditions, and could beused either immediately by farmers in suit-able areas or in breeding programs to adaptto salty conditions local varieties that werealready popular with farmers.

IRRI is working closely with its 14 sistercenters of the Consultative Group on Inter-national Agricultural Research (CGIAR) to

ASEAN nations endorse IRRI 10-year, 3-point plan

IRRI has formed a major new alliance withthe worlds largest and most important as-sociation of rice-producing nations. The newpartnership follows an invitation from the10-nation Association of Southeast AsianNations (ASEAN) for representatives fromIRRI to attend last years 26th Annual Meet-

ing of the ASEAN Ministers on Agricultureand Forestry (AMAF) in Myanmar in Octo-

ber. Coming after ASEAN agreed to establishformal relationships with IRRI in August,the gathering endorsed a 10-year, 3-pointplan presented by Myanmar that focused onthree major rice production challenges fac-ing Asia water shortages, global warmingand inadequate human resources.

The AMAF urged international donorsto strengthen their support for IRRI and

released a statement inviting IRRI and otherconcerned agencies of ASEAN to developa detailed blueprint for the plan and coor-dinate its implementation to minimize theimpact of these major threats to ASEAN rice

production.The ASEAN countries are Brunei Darus-

salam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailandand Vietnam. Plus 3 nations China, Koreaand Japan also attended the meeting.

help tsunami-affected nations recover theiragricultural productivity. Other CGIAR

centers involved in the effort include fourinstitutes based in the worst-hit countries:the International Water Management In-stitute in Sri Lanka, the WorldFish Centerin Malaysia, the Center for InternationalForestry Research in Indonesia, and theInternational Crops Research Institute forthe Semi-Arid Tropics in India.


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IRRI and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYTby its Spanish acronym) have forged a new

Alliance aimed at boosting internationalefforts to fight rural poverty and strengthen

food security in the developing world.Because rice, maize and wheat areall cereals, the two institutes believe thatresearch on the crops sustainable develop-ment and use can be better coordinatedthrough a strong Alliance. The three staplesprovide 60 percent of global food needs an-

plastic is only effective against water). Thebags, which can double seed life, help farmerscontrol grain moisture levels, maintain seedgermination and viability for a much longer

period, control grain pests without usingchemicals, and improve grain quality.

New environmental councilThe IRRI Environmental Council was estab-lished in November to ensure the long-termimplementation, continued development

and success of the IRRI Environmental Agenda. The council is responsible forthe implementation of the Environmental

Agenda launched at the World Rice Re-search Conference in Japan, also in Novem-

ber and will be the main advisory body forsetting the institutes environmental guide-lines and policies for all activities related toresearch, operations and interactions with

the local community.

Gates money for BangladeshThe Bangladesh Rural Advancement Com-mittee (BRAC), founded by IRRI Boardof Trustees member Fazle Hasan Abed,received the $1 million 2004 Gates Award

for Global Health, funded by the Bill andMelinda Gates Foundation. BRAC is cred-ited with improving the health and welfareof tens of millions of destitute Bangladeshis,and has become a global model for rural

development groups. Dr. Abed also receivedthe 2004 United Nations DevelopmenProgram Mahbub ul Haq Award for Out-standing Contribution to Human Develop

ment, in recognition of his commitmento empowering the poor and his successin providing opportunities for women andother marginalized groups in Bangladesh.

Rice-wheat project beginsThe project Enhancing farmers income

and livelihoods through integrated crop andresource management in the rice-wheat sys-tem in South Asia, sponsored by the AsianDevelopment Bank, commenced in DhakaBangladesh, in February. The 3-year project

An internationally respected plantpathologist with more than 20years experience in agricultural re-search in the developing world has

been named as IRRIs next directorgeneral. Robert Zeigler, 54, takes overfrom Ronald Cantrell, who retired in

December (See The tale of a Texas farm boy, pages 18-21). The Illinoisnative was scheduled to assume hisnew duties on 1 April.

Dr. Zeigler earned his Ph.D. inplant pathology from Cornell University in 1982. After working oncassava at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT),he spent time in Burundi as a technical adviser for the nations maizeprogram before returning to CIAT as a senior staff plant patholo-gist, ultimately taking over as the head of its rice program. In 1992,Dr. Zeigler moved to IRRI, where he led the Rainfed Lowland RiceResearch Program and the Irrigated Rice Research Program. After

6 years, he left the institute to become head of the Department ofPlant Pathology and director of the Plant Biotechnology Center at

Kansas State University in the U.S., before working in Mexico asdirector of the Generation Challenge Program of the ConsultativeGroup on International Agricultural Research. IRRI Deputy Di-rector General for Partnerships William Padolina served as actingdirector general following Dr. Cantrells departure.

Robert Zeigler named IRRI director general

The institutes board chairs, Keijiro

Otsuka of IRRI and Alexander McCalla oCIMMYT, said the Alliance will focus on mo

bilizing and applying science for increasedimpact in the developing world.

The process should lead to a continuous evolution toward even closer integra

tion of certain research programs to betterachieve the missions of both centers,Drs. Otsuka and McCalla said in a jointstatement, adding that the Alliance wouldenhance the institutes partnerships withthe national agricultural research systemsof developing countries.

nually, and cover more than 70 percent ofthe planets productive cropping land.

The boards of trustees of IRRI and the

Mexico-based CIMMYT met on 7-9 Janu-ary in Shanghai, China, to identify research

priorities for the new Alliance. They selectedfour areas intensive crop productionsystems in Asia; the formation of cerealsinformation units; training and knowledge

banks for rice, maize and wheat; and climatechange research directed at adapting thethree crops to global changes.

New research Alliance to help fight poverty

DURING NEPALS International Year of Rice celebrations on 17 December,the Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Hom Nath Dahal, inauguratedthe Nepal-IRRI office in Kathmandu. The National Agricultural ResearchCouncil (NARC) and IRRI exchanged a Memorandum of Agreement regardingthe operation of the Nepal-IRRI office and the Nepalese version of IRRIs

electronic rice training and extension service, the Rice Knowledge Bank.NARC Executive Director D. S. Pathik (center) is seen here signing thememorandum, as IRRI Senior Scientist Sushil Pandey (left) watches, alongwith NARC and Ministry of Agriculture senior staff.

C.ZEIGLER


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NEWS



led by IRRI Senior Scientist J.K. Ladha, isdesigned to improve farmers income andlivelihood through technologies identifiedfor dissemination and promotion in the

rice-wheat cropping system covering theIndo-Gangetic Plains in Bangladesh, India,Nepal, and Pakistan.

Arizona OryzaMore than 240 rice researchers convergedon the University of Arizona on 15-17

November for the 2nd International Sym-posium on Rice Functional Genomics.Participants presented the latest researchresults on the genome sequence of rice andexplored ways of discovering the function

of rices 50,000 genes. IRRI attendeesincluded bioinformatics specialist RichardBruskiewich, plant breeder Darshan Brarand plant pathologist Hei Leung.

Regional hub for LaosAt the Lao-IRRI Rice Research and Train-ing Project annual meeting in Vientiane on27 January, IRRI announced that it willestablish a regional hub in Laos to boostthe institutes commitment to that country

and regions beyond the projects auspices.National Agricultural and Forestry ResearchInstitute officials and Ty Phommasack, viceminister of the Lao Ministry of Agricultureand Forestry, welcomed the development.

The Lao-IRRI Project, which started in 1990,has substantially contributed to researchinfrastructure, national research capacityand national self-sufficiency in rice.

Great wall of riceGlutinous (sticky) rice has been revealed asa secret ingredient used by ancient Chinese

builders to strengthen their constructions.During recent maintenance work on thecity wall of Xian, capital of Shaanxi prov-

ince, workers found that plaster remnantson ancient bricks were difficult to remove.Chemical and physical tests showed thatthe plaster contained glutinous rice, whichevidently helped make a better mortar.

The CGIAR Science and Communication Awards were presented at the annualgeneral meeting of IRRIs parent organiza-tion, the Consultative Group on Interna-tional Agricultural Research (CGIAR), heldin Mexico City on 25-29 October.

The Outstanding Scientific Article

award went to a team of IRRI scientists led by Marta Vasconselos (pictured at rightwith, from left, Deputy Director Generalfor Research Ren Wang, Director GeneralRonald Cantrell and Director for ProgramPlanning and Coordination Mike Jackson).The IRRI teams article, Enhanced ironand zinc accumulation in transgenic ricewith the ferritin gene was published in

Plant Science and shows the potential ofusing rice to deliver improved nutrition

IRRI researchers win best article award

QUALITY CENTER: Plant nutrition

expert Robin Graham (right),from the University of Adelaide,and former IRRI cereal chemistBienvenido Juliano (left) cut theribbon at the 15 December openingceremony of IRRIs new Grain Qualityand Nutrition Research Center(GQNRC) while GNQRC Head MelissaFitzgerald and IRRI Director GeneralRonald Cantrell look on. The newcenter will help IRRI develop ricevarieties of improved visual, sensoryand nutritional quality. The GQNRCwill also be a training hub, wherescientists from national agricultural

research systems can learn the mostup-to-date, efficient and cost-effective methods of evaluating ricequality and nutrition. Read more inQuality time on pages 26-29 ofRiceTodayVol. 3 No. 4.

to millions of poor rice consumers. IRRIwas also represented in the King BaudouinAward, won by the Rice-Wheat Consortiumof the Indo-Gangetic Plains for pioneeringresource-conserving technologies in South

Asias breadbasket.

Meeting highlights included Farm-ers Dialogue an innovative approachto reaching out to farmers in developingcountries and a ministerial roundtable

where Ministers from Colombia, CtedIvoire, Mexico and Venezuela, plus twoprivate sector representatives, discussedhow public-private partnerships could spurrural innovation and benefit poor farmers.

In a speech delivered by AgricultureMinister Javier Usabiaga, Mexican Presi-dent Vicente Fox pledged Mexicos sup-port for rural development and expressedconfidence in the countrys long-standingpartnership with the CGIAR. Other speakersincluded CGIAR Chair Ian Johnson, WorldBank Chief Economist and Vice PresidentFrancois Bourguignon, and CGIAR ScienceCouncil Chair and World Food Prize laure-ate Per Pinstrup-Andersen.

AILEENDELROSARIO-RONDILLA

OFFICIALPHOTO


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RICE IN THE NEWS


Last Decembers devastating tsunamisstruck a double blow for many rice-growing communities. Besides the humantoll, the waves brought salt and sand intocoastal rice fields, destroying crops, killingfarm animals, wrecking farm machinery andobliterating seed stocks. Seeds of salt-toler-

ant rice varieties have already been sent toMalaysia and more assistance is planned forother affected areas (seeNews on page 6).

The need to replace seeds and intro-duce new varieties is fueled not only bynatural disaster, but also by war, whichin many countries has resulted in thecomplete loss of varieties of rice and othercrops. A new book, released by IRRIs par-ent organization, the Consultative Groupon International Agricultural Research(CGIAR), examines its constituent centers

roles in rebuilding agriculture in countriesaffected by conflict and natural disasters

over the past 30 years. Authored by MarkWinslow and Surendra Varma of the Inter-national Center for Agricultural Researchin Dry Areas, the book, Healing Wounds,

was featured in the January 22 edition ofNew Scientistmagazine (www.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg18524831.000).

The article, by Fred Pearce, recountsseveral examples of the effects of conflicton agriculture, including the rescue of Iraqsblack box. The box contained seeds fromthe countrys main seed bank, which was

Healing wounds destroyed following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. There aresimilar tales from Afghanistan,Rwanda and the Democratic

Republic of Congo. Pearce alsomentions IRRIs role in the re-patriation of rice varieties col-lected from Cambodia months

before the Khmer Rouge took

over (see The burning of therice on page 15). But hundredsof varieties have been lost for-ever. Pearce quotes an IRRIstudy that found that in onedistrict, the 15 most promi-nent and adapted deep-waterrice varieties were all lost. Hepoints out that, along with therice, traditional knowledgeabout what to plant where alsodisappeared on a catastrophic

scale.The Cambodian experi-

ence also made the Cana-dian airwaves. Former IRRIscientist Harry Nesbitt wasinterviewed in February onthe Canadian Broadcasting Corporationradio program, The Current, about IRRIsrole in helping restore Cambodias riceindustry after the Khmer Rouge fell frompower. On 10 January, the same programinterviewed IRRI Senior Scientist AbdelbagiIsmail about the effect of the Indian Oceantsunami on rice production in South and

Southeast Asia. Dr. Ismail estimated thatthe tsunami affected more than 1 millionhectares of rice land, which had previ-ously provided food for at least 30 millionpeople. He also discussed the short- andlong-term damage to rice production. See

Healing Wounds online at www.cgiar.org/publications/index.html.

Global warming and rice still a hot issue

A paper co-authored by IRRI scientists has made

Discover Magazines list of the top 100 science

stories of 2004. The list, in the magazines

January issue, had Rice yields decline with

higher night temperature from global warming

at number 68. Written by a research team from

IRRI, China and the United States, the study

was led by IRRI crop physiologist Shaobing

Peng. The paper, published in the 6 Julyissue of PNAS (www.pnas.org/cgi/content/

full/101/27/9971), reported that field studies

conducted at IRRI confirmed predictions from

theoretical studies that global warming will

make rice crops less productive.

Citing the IRRI-led study as evidence that

global warming could hurt food production, a

story by Robert Pore in the 23 January issue of

The Independentreports on work by the United

States Agricultural Research Service. The study

Saving time and money in India

Regional Indian-language newspapers ran

more than 20 articles on a project to develop

and introduce direct-seeding technology and

integrated weed management to major rice

producing areas of India. English-language

national newspapers carrying the story

included The Times of India and the Hindustan

Times. The papers reported that IRRI weed

scientist David Johnson, along with Martin

Mortimer from the University of Liverpools

School of Biological Sciences, visited field

trials of direct-seeding and weed managemensystems that could help rice farmers save

water, time, labor and money.

Swiss rice

Even the Swiss have been celebrating

International Year of Rice, with the new

Website www.swissinfo.org visiting Ticino in

December to find out about rice growing, Swiss

style. Ticinos Mediterranean climate is idea

for the cultivation of the risotto rice Loto.

suggests that as atmospheric carbon dioxide

levels rise, crops may need more nitrogen

and therefore more fertilizer to grow.

Harvest shortfalls still a concern

Poor harvests last year, particularly in China,

prompted coverage of the issue in major

newspapers across the world. The New York

Times andAsian Wall Street Journal are among

the publications that published features

suggesting causes for declining harvests and

soaring prices. IRRI has warned about the

threat of ongoing shortages as rice prices haveundergone a 40% price increase in the past

year. Website Oryza (www.oryza.com) reported

IRRI Director General Ron Cantrell as saying

that Asias ability to feed itself cannot be

taken for granted. In addition to demand-

increases from a rapidly growing population,

Dr. Cantrell identified four other factors that

pose threats to the supply of rice water

shortages, global warming, scarcity of rice

farmers and decreasing area planted to rice.

Also...


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RICE IN THE NEWS


Pros and cons of genetically modified rice in China

Genetically modified (GM) rice in Chinahas received widespread media cover-age, with articles in major magazines The

Economist, Science and Newsweek, plusa swathe of local and other internationalstories. Following Chinas Ministry of Agri-culture announcement last December thatthe country would officially begin safetyevaluation of GM rice, debate has ragedabout the potential benefits and risks ofthe commercialization of GM rice in Chinaand elsewhere.

Some reports have surmised that, withpressure mounting on Beijing to boost do-mestic grain production and farmer income,China the worlds largest rice producerand consumer could release GM rice asearly as next year. The 18 November issue ofThe Economistsuggests that China is ready

to go GM because it consumes most of therice it produces. The proportion of rice thatChina trades is small enough, says the maga-zine, that Chinese growers and consumers

stand to gain much more than the countrymight lose in exports to GM-wary nations.Moreover, China is technically advanced inGM research and, according to a survey bythe Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy,there is relatively high consumer support.TheEconomistarticle, along with a featureon Chinas GM-rice issues in the 20 De-cember issue ofNewsweek (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6700914/site/newsweek/),

proposes that if China does push aheadsuccessfully with commercialization, itcould spur other developing countries withrelatively advanced research systems, suchas India and Brazil, to do the same.

More recently, news agency Reutersposted a 28 February report quoting CliveJames, chairman and founder of the In-ternational Service for the Acquisition of

Agri-biotech Applications, a group thatadvocates biotechnology as a means to helpend global hunger. Dr. James suggestedthat China could be ready to commercialize

GM rice within 2 years and, once they do,it will move throughout Asia. Its the mostimportant food crop in the world. Theyve

worked on this very carefully and hadlarge-scale field trials for several years, hereportedly said.

However, following a Chinese biosafetycommittee meeting in December, Chinadenied it is definitely gearing up for the com-mercial release of GM varieties. On 2 De-

cember, Chinese news agency Xinhua statedthat there were no genetically modified rice

varieties in China being issued with safetycertificates. The 10 December issue ofSci-ence reported Fang Xiangdong, director ofthe China Ministry of Agricultures Officeof Biosafety, as saying that no applicationhas been approved or rejected so far. The

journal added that if China does delay theintroduction of GM rice, a blight-resistantGM rice variety now undergoing field trialsin the Philippines could be the first in the

world to win approval.

PUBLIC RICE: PLoS Biology, a journal published by the Public Library ofScience (PLoS), focused on rice in its February 2005 issue. The GenomesofOryza sativa: A History of Duplications, by Jun Yu, Jun Wang, Wei Lin,Songgang Li, Heng Li, et al., compares the DNA sequences of the indica and

japonica subspecies of rice, and reveals that duplication of genes has stronglyinfluenced the evolution of other grass genomes. The article is accompaniedby a synopsis, Rice Genome Approaches Completion, written to give non-experts insight into the works significance. All works published in PLoSBiology are open access, and freely available. See www.plosbiology.org.

Englands Telegraph carried on 26 November the story of a dinnerhosted by Tony Hall, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nationsfood agencies in Rome. Hall, in an effort to remind his diplomatguests of the realities of world hunger during International Yearof Rice, split diners into three groups, representing three levels of

wealth. The richest third received a delicious gourmet meal, themiddle class got rice and beans, while the poor guests were lockedoutside in the garden with a few handfuls of cold rice and a leafletthat explained they were representing the 60% of the worlds 6

billion people who struggle to find each meal. The leaflet alsoinformed the bemused guests that the rice would fail to stave offtheir hunger. Many refused to eat and were eventually let back infor their real dinner.

The Vietnam News Agency looked at International Year ofRice in the context of the history of rice production in Vietnam. The

report, by Huu Ngoc, stated that the rice year declaration greatlyinterests Vietnam, where 80% of the population lives in rural areasand essentially survives on rice farming, and also where during thedouble rule of the Japanese and the French in 1945, a famine tooka toll of 2 million lives.

Calling rice the web of life in Vietnam, the story notes thecountrys success after the policy ofdoi moi(renewal) was insti-tuted in 1986 to curb a prolonged economic crisis that lasted formany years, and to revive agriculture by giving farmers the fullscope of production.Doi moi, Ngoc adds, ended Vietnams peren-nial food shortage and helped turn it into the worlds third-largestrice exporter.

Washington Times reporter Takehiko Kambayashi interviewedInternational Rice Commission Executive Secretary Nguu Nguyenabout International Year of Rice 2004. The interview, which ran inthe papers 29 October issue, covered the years accomplishments,

the reason behind devoting a year to rice, and how to increaseEuropes and North Americas interest in rice issues.

Reality check for rice year dinner guests

PHOTOBYLEIXU

ANDFANGCHEN,BEIJINGINSTITUTEOFGENOMICS


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Other publications raised concernsabout the environmental and human healthimplications of releasing GM rice. TheChina Daily said in a 13 December articlethat people should not be used as guineapigs with food they eat every day, and thatthe impact of genetically modified foodson human health, the environment and

biodiversity has not yet been thoroughlystudied under current levels of science and

technology.Meanwhile, the Food and Agricultural

Organization of the United Nations (FAO)has voiced its support for GM crops. At aconference in December, the FAO declaredthat biotechnology and hybrid strains could

be used by rice growers to reverse falling yields. In an 8 December report, Reuterscited Mahmoud Solh, FAO director of plantprotection and production, as saying, Thesuccessful mapping of the rice genomesequence offers still further opportunitiesto identify and characterize the genes and

biochemical pathways for increasing rice yield [...] and improving rice quality forconsumer preference.

However, in another Reuters story car-ried by the 28 October issue ofThe ManilaTimes, the FAO also urged governmentsto act with caution before giving the go-ahead to commercial planting of GM rice.He Changchui, FAO Asia-Pacific assistantdirector, reportedly said that governments

should undertake extensive risk assess-ment on food safety and study consumersentiment before giving approval, addingthat countries intending to commercializegenetically modified rice should go througha very strict, science-based analysis.

In further GM developments, an articlein the 10 February issue ofNature revealsthat scientists from CAMBIA, a researchcenter affiliated with Charles Sturt Univer-sity in Canberra, Australia, have developednew ways to genetically modify plants. Theuse ofAgrobacterium previously thought

to be the only bacteria capable of transfer-ring genes to plants is restricted by patentprotection. The CAMBIA researchers, however, managed gene transfer using severadifferent bacteria. CAMBIA plans to makethe technology freely available throughopen source licensing, meaning that scientists will be able to use the technique withoutlicensing costs. On the same day, The NewYork Times ran an article discussing the

breakthrough and its implications.Finally, looking at an altogether dif-

ferent GM rice issue, Reuters reported inFebruary that Japanese scientists havedeveloped GM rice that may help allevi-ate hay fever. A Farm Ministry official wasreported as saying that the new strain ofrice contains a gene that produces the al-lergy-causing protein. The rice treatment

worked like other allergy therapies wherea small amount of the allergy-causing substance is released into the body to allowresistance to build up.

Japan Today, The Australian, Reutersand a host of other news publicationsand organizations ran reports about Aus-tralian chefs and aid workers who on 26November celebrated International Yearof Rice by cooking a world-record 7.5-ton

bowl of risotto.With the Sydney Harbor Bridge in the

background, the team used large paddles tostir together 1.6 tons of arborio rice, 4,400

What's rich, creamy, delicious and weighs 7.5 tons?

liters of stock, 800 kg of frozen peas, 1.5kg of saffron, 600 kg of cheese and butter,20 kg of garlic, and 400 kg of onions andcelery.

The risotto, cooked over 3 hours in a10- by 3.6-meter steel pan, was fed to on-lookers for a small donation, which went tocharity group CARE Australia.

Philippine news service ABS-CBN andAustralian newspaper The Sydney Morning

Herald were among those reporting thaFilipinos also put rice in the record bookson December 9, when residents of NuevaEcija, in the northern Philippines, made a2.54-tonBiko ng Mundo(Rice Cake of the

World).Some 3,000 residents from 37 villages

helped to prepare thebiko,which is made byboiling glutinous (sticky) rice with coconutmilk and brown sugar.


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Rice TodayApril 2005 Rice TodayApril 2005

Every year since 1995,Cambodia has produced

a rice surplus. It isan impressive recordgiven the agricultural

devastation wrought by the violenceof the 1970s. Yet many Cambodian

rice farmers still harvest yields ofonly 2 tons per hectare, barely enoughto feed their own families. Rice is the

most important source of income andemployment for rural Cambodians,and the source of around three-quarters of the average Cambodians

calories. Productivity gains in rice,more than in any other crop, willtherefore help reduce poverty.

One of the proven routes outof poverty is income diversification

if the rural poor can make moneyfrom a number of enterprises, notonly does this provide extra income,

but it also offers them a buffer when

things go wrong, such as crop failure.Moreover, rice farmers perched onthe edge of self-sufficiency are deniedthe chance to improve their lot. Theyare forced to devote all their energies

to rice just to stave off hunger forthemselves and their families. Inshort, better rice production opens

the door to more lucrative farming.A short drive out of the

Cambodian capital Phnom Penh,Preap Visarto, head of the PlantProtection Program at the Cambodian

Agricultural Research and

Development Institute (CARDI), andInternational Rice Research Institute(IRRI) Senior Scientist Gary Jahn areconducting the Farmstead field trial,a 3-year project supported by the

Australian Centre for InternationalAgricultural Research (seeDonorscorner on page 5). Farmsteadconsists of around 6 hectares ofrice fields in a relatively favorable

rainfed environment. Standingfor Fish and Rice ManagementSystem to Enable AgriculturalDiversification, the project fields are

located by a canal that can providesupplemental water to nearby fields,although not enough to grow a fullyirrigated dry-season rice crop.

Farmstead aims to help farmers

intensify their rice production,thereby allowing the small amount ofextra water, land and other resourcesconsequently freed up to be invested

in growing other crops, which canprovide supplementary income forfarmers. In addition, the project aimsto design systems of intensificationthat complement, rather than hinder,

ricefield fish farming, an importantsource of income and protein formany farm families in this region.

diversify

Intensify toStory and photography

by Leharne Fountain

Smarter rice growing gives Cambodian

farmers an opportunity to try new

crops and gain more income

CAMBODIAN RICE FARMER, Marie, is participatingin a field trial that should enable her and herfellow farmers to grow more rice while savingmoney and resources that can be invested in othercrops. The intensified system has some farmersgrowing the fast-maturing aromatic variety, PhkaRumduol (right, above and top). During the trial,farmers also use traditional methods and varieties(opposite bottom and right).


13/37


he trial will compare intensifiedlds with conventionally managedlds, focusing on yields, crop loss,ofit margins and fish production.

Two rice varieties are grown ine intensified fields. Farmers firstow an IRRI-developed modernriety known as IR66, whichatures in 2 months. Once IR66

harvested, they plant a varietymed Phka Rumduol, which wasveloped for rainfed systems by

ARDI and matures in 3 months.

hese varieties, each planted once aar, during the rainy season, wereosen because they can be grownd harvested in synchronizationth the 5-month variety, named

hka Khnhei, traditionally grownthe region. The total growingriod is crucial, as sufficient water

available for only 5 months.Other considerations were

mproved yield, grain quality andarket value. Phka Rumduol, forstance, fetches a higher marketice because of its aromatic

ualities. The CARDI-designedarmstead system also seeks tocrease yields by leveling fields,

mproving fertilizer applicationd water management, and using

rtified seed to ensure seed quality.Starting in 2004, the project

s already delivered promisingsults. The intensified fieldsPhka Rumduol produced

gnificantly higher yields thanaditional farmers fields 3.3ns per hectare, compared withly 3 tons per hectare in fields

anted to Phka Khnhei. Add tois another 3 tons per hectareom IR66, and the intensifiedlds are yielding more than double

hat they produced in the past.

Dr. Jahn and his CARDIllaborators are also measuring cropss from pests. Small subplots withine intensified and conventional fields

e either treated with pesticide orft untreated, regardless of whather management practices arerried out (seeReason to cheer ince Today Vol. 3 No. 4, pages 12-17).

This will allow us to determinehat level of control is required foraling with insect pests, Dr. Jahn

Like many aspects of normal life in the country,

agriculture in Cambodia was devastated during

the reign of the Khmer Rouge. But, during

the International Year of Rice 2004, just a few

decades since the demise of the regime, Cambodia

celebrated ten years of rice self-sufficiency. This

remarkable recovery began when in 1985 IRRI

was invited to work with Cambodian scholars

and scientists to help re-establish the countrys

rural economy. Supported by funding from the

Australian Agency for International Development,

the venture was called the Cambodia-

IRRI-Australia Project (CIAP) and

was led by Australian agronomist

Harry Nesbitt (see Rice Today Vol.

1 No.1, pages 14-19). Scientist Don

Puckridge, a member of the IRRI team

sent to Cambodia, has chronicled the

events that led to the rejuvenation

of Cambodias rice production in a

new book titledThe Burning of the

Rice. The following excerpt from

Chapter 2 describes some of the

enormous challenges faced by the

CIAP team when the project began.

"An enduring memory of Prey

Veng Province was of a narr ow dusty road on

the bank of a canal drawn straight across the

landscape. It was a typical example of Khmer

Rouge changes to rice culture in which they

dug canals to follow grid lines of a map without

reference to the topography. A few diminishing

pools of water along the bottom of the canal

were a reminder of the futility of trying to keep

the dry-season drought at bay. Another more

fortunate canal was half full of muddy water,

with a bamboo fence placed across it to trap

fish as the water level dropped. Nearby were four

substantial wooden houses on stilts, scattered

as if they avoided associating with each other.

Conical stacks of straw near each house were

being undermined by bites from cattle taking

respite from the dry and almost barren fields.We stopped at a group of huts and saw an

orphan girl of about sixteen years of age tending

an earthen fireplace in the open, boiling sugar

palm juice in a large wok to make palm sugar,

a common ingredient in cooking for those who

could afford it. Seeing this girl and other orphans

in that place made more impact when we learnt

that Prey Veng had over 34,000 widows and

10,000 orphans in a population of about 700,000.

Seventy percent of the men had died under the

five years of Khmer Rouge rule and sixty-five

percent of the remaining population was

Kampong Speu Province had 17,000 wido

7,000 orphans, Kampong Chhnang Provin

widows, and so on. In the sixteen to for

five age group of Prey Veng Province, fem

outnumbered males by about three to on

This disproportionate ratio of the s

resulted in social disruption and lack of

muscle power for heavy far m work. Cons

women were often obliged to perform ta

were traditionally done by men, such as

preparation and application of farmyard

and chemical fertilizer to crops. The loss

animals due to the effects of war, wides

disease and overwork took their toll as w

People without animals had to hire them

payment usually in rice or labor, or to do

work by hand. On one occasion we even

young woman with a yoke over her shou

straining to pull a plough while an old w

behind it guided the blade in the f urrow

A social survey a few years later fou

such women had less access to animals a

resources, were the major borrowers of i

loans and had less access to infor mation

though they may have been the only adu

family, there was still the cultural perce

that they were not farmers, but were heand housewives. In families without cat

buffaloes for ploughing and raking of th

it was the women who were almost a lwa

ones who repaid the labor owed as paym

borrowed draft animals. One morning of

and raking was usually repaid by a full d

pulling seedlings and transplanting. Wom

who did not own animals also provided l

exchange for cow manure for use as ferti

on their fields and they were often explo

because they lacked cash or other assets

THE BURNING OF THE RIC

THE FARMSTEAD TRIAL assesses crop

loss from pests to see if the intensified

farming system leads to greater damage

from insects such as stem borers, which

sever the rice-bearing panicles and cause

white head, so-called because the

grains turn white as they die.

POPULATIONAND RICEPRODUCTION, CAMBODIA1961-2000


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plains. It is generally assumedat there will be a significant cropss from pests. This experiment willow us to actually measure what

rcentage, if any, is lost when nosticides are used in each system.

Initial results of the no-pesticideals show a 7% yield drop caused bysts in the intensified fields, but no

gnificant loss in the conventionallds, indicating that intensificationay increase levels of crop loss.

While intensification increases

elds, says Dr. Jahn, it also appearsincrease the percentage of the total

eld that is lost through damage bysect pests. Theres a trade-off, andell perform an economic analysis

determine whether or not itsnancially worthwhile to controlsts in the intensified system.

arvest helparie is one of the participatingrmers. Her farm has a total areaaround 1.5 hectares, in fourparate fields, all of which are

volved in the Farmstead trialssome as intensified fields, otherse farms using her own methods.er husband is a teacher at thecal primary school and she has

ur children aged 12 to 17. They we visited, her eldest son wasrvesting rice along with two hired

borers. She told us that her youngerildren, who were at school, also

lp with the harvest on Sundays.Maries farm presents a typical

ene. All around, rice plants liet, as though blown over by a

rong wind. Marie explains thate flattens them herself becausee Phka Khnhei she grows is talld difficult to harvest when theants are upright. Bundles of

ce, evidence of the days work,rm curved rows and snake innding paths to the laborers.

Marie pays her laborers 8,000

els, just over US$2, per 100 riceundles. They harvest approximately00 bundles of Phka Khnhei perld, for a total labor cost of $16 perld. She sells her rice at 400 riels

0.11) per kilogram and, with a yieldclose to 2 tons, receives around

200 income from her harvest. With

Cambodia this year suffering fromdrought that has destroyed a fifthof the countrys wet-season crop,

Marie may earn up to 600 riels perkilo. She is a long way from being

wealthy but, as far as rice farmers go,Marie is doing OK. Much room forimprovement remains, though, and

by adopting Farmsteads intensifiedsystem she stands to gain a better,more stable income to support herfamily. Importantly, she will also

get a chance to farm other crops.Although the system is proving

successful, Dr. Jahn says that it mayneed to be linked with a microcreditor livelihood improvement scheme.

The farmers really like the systemand can recognize the benefits itprovides, but some farmers may

need initial income to implementit extra money to buy goodseed, fertilizer and labor.

The flexible approach theresearchers are taking to Farmsteadallows problems to be solved asthey arise. One thing preventing

widespread adoption of the IR66-

Phka Rumduol combination iscrab damage. Phka Rumduol isplanted several weeks later thanPhka Khnhei, leaving seedlings

susceptible to attack by a particulartype of crab that matures at the sametime. Marie says this would preventher from planting the two modern

varieties in the lower-lying fields that

the crabs inhabit. It is a dilemmafor many farmers with low-lyingfields in the area. In response, Mr.

Visarto and Dr. Jahn plan tothe Farmstead system to incla crab management strategy.

In its first year, Farmstehas shown that farmers havepotential to double their riceFarmstead farmers, having othe systems benefits, plan to

the combination of modern vin their fields next season. Aimprove their rice productiofarmers can start to diversify

crops and their income, whiultimately means a better lifthem and their families.

Leharne Fountain is an Austral

Youth Ambassador assigned fo

year to IRRI, where her duties

serving as deputy editor ofRic

EVIDENCE OF HARD WORK bundles of harvested riceline the fields at the end ofthe day.

FARMSTEAD SCIENTISTSGary Jahn (left) and PreapVisarto (middle) ask Marieabout her experiences withthe field trial.


15/37


I

f his beginnings amid the dustand dirt of a Texas farm shapedRonald P. Cantrells outlookon life, it was a storm in West

Africa that helped define his career.I worked on a farming systems

project and we were doing village-level studies, recalls Dr. Cantrell,who last December retired after morethan 6 years as director general ofthe Philippines-based InternationalRice Research Institute (IRRI). Wehad a whole array of technologies atvarious stages of trial in this village.

It was the end of my secondyear, almost the end of thecropping season, and there was thistremendous storm. The wind justlaid everything down.Everything.It was a complete loss of crops.

Ronald P. Cantrell, the Texas farm boy made good, heads home after more

than 6 years at the helm of the International Rice Research Institute

I couldnt find any of the farmersin the fields. So I drove aroundand I finally found them all, sittingunder a big tree, drinking beer at

about 10 oclock in the morning. Ijoined them and said, You know, Imreally sorry about what happenedto your crops. They said, No, no,thats all right. This happens allthe time. What were really sadabout is the fact that you lost yourtrials, and youll probably leave.

I already knew I was leaving.I told them, Hey those trials, Iwasnt that sure of them. I didntknow if some of them were goingto be of any benefit to you or not.

And this village chief said to me,Doctor, we knew the stuff you had inthose trials wasnt going to work. But,

as long as youre here, that gives ushope that well have a link into whatwe know will help us in the future.

It may have been a humbling

experience for a young researcher,but it proved priceless. Dr. Cantrellrealized that his project hadntestablished any linkage with thenational agricultural programs.Without a conduit to the nationalsystems to feed knowledge in where itwas needed and extract local know-how and experience, there was nosustainability no way to makelasting improvements to local farmingor, ultimately, to their livelihood.

Timely lessonThis lesson was etched in Dr.Cantrells mind when in 1984 hejoined the International Maizeand Wheat Improvement Center(CIMMYT, by its Spanish acronym)in Mexico, as director of its MaizeProgram. CIMMYT, along with IRRIand 13 other institutes, is part of theConsultative Group on InternationalAgricultural Research (CGIAR).

I liked what I saw there,

he explains, because I saw aninternational center that was notthere just to do the research. Theyclearly recognized that their purposewas to strengthen and complementthe national programs becausethats the only sustainable way.

Although the family farmprovided more than mere subsistencefor the Cantrells, the young Rongrew up truly poor. Two generationsof family members before him had

The tale of a Texas farm boyby Leharne Fountain

EARLY DAYS in 1998, asRobert Havener (left),interim director generalof IRRI, hands over thereins to Ronald Cantrell.

JESSEVICTOLERO


16/37

19ARIEL JAVELLAN


17/37


worked the land and he recalls clearlyhis fathers feelings about his future.

I knew one thing from myfather, says Dr. Cantrell, and thatwas that I was going to college.He had started farming duringthe Great Depression and he wasconvinced that his childrens

future should not be on the farm.He saw that the best way out ofthat was through an education.

Needless to say, Dr. Cantrellsrural upbringing influenced hisdecision to study agriculture. Hisfamily property was a combinedfarming ranch with both cattle andcrops, and his early inclinationswere toward veterinary science.But when I switched schools fromone university to another, hesays, I ended up in agronomy.

To support his studies,Dr. Cantrell found a job at anagricultural station working for asorghum breeder. He acknowledgesthis as a pivotal moment in hiscareer, but admits that it wasthe Vietnam War that ultimatelydrove him to pursue research.

On graduation, everyone wasgoing to Vietnam. But someonecame in and explained a programwhere you could get an educationaldelay, recalls Dr. Cantrell. Idnever considered going to graduateschool. None of my family had evergone to college before, let alone

beyond. They were just delightedthat I was going to finish.

After completing his Ph.D.at Purdue University in 1970, Dr.Cantrell worked as a maize breederat the Cargill Corn Research Stationin Nebraska. In 1975, he headedback to Purdue to become associate

professor of agronomy, and wasappointed full professor in 1981before heading to CIMMYT 3 yearslater. Following his stint in Mexico,he moved to Iowa, where he spent8 years as head of the AgronomyDepartment at Iowa State University.In September 1998, he returned to theCGIAR as director general of IRRI.

Having never previously workedwith rice, Dr. Cantrell recalls boththe trepidation and excitement hefelt when he arrived at IRRI.

It was daunting, not havingworked on such an important cropbefore, or the environment that thecrop grows in. Rice is a fascinatingcrop, probably the most difficultcrop that I ever worked on. Youtry to make genetic improvementsand at the same time maintain thatunique taste and aroma. Some of themost sophisticated palates I knoware rice eaters, he says, touchingon one of rices biggest challenges.

Wheat is mainly processed,explains Dr. Cantrell. In Africa,people always eat sorghum with somesauce. Same with maize, its alwayseaten with something. Preservingrices unique aroma and quality isreally difficult. Rice consumers are sodemanding, since they eat it alone.

As he settled into IRRI, onething in particular jumped out athim: I was very impressed withthe staff; I thought they were of a

very high quality, especially thenationally recruited staff, he recalls,referring to the Filipino researchers,managers and field workers thatmake up around 90% of the institutesemployees. I couldnt recall any ofthe other international institutes Idseen having national staff capable of

assuming the same responsibilities.The first major issue Dr. Cantrell

faced was the imminent loss ofseveral plant breeders. Longevity iscrucial in breeding, especially for self-pollinating crops like rice; replacingpeople like Gurdev Khush, who hadbeen at IRRI for over 30 years, wasgoing to be a real challenge, hesays, recalling the retirement of theformer IRRI principal plant breederand 1996 World Food Prize laureate.But Im delighted with the transition

thats been made. We now have threepeople committed long term who aredoing an excellent job in breeding.

Major challengesKeijiro Otsuka, chair of the IRRIBoard of Trustees, notes that Dr.Cantrell led the institute throughmany major challenges and decisions.A continuing decline in funding hitIRRI hard in 2002, causing painfulstaff cutbacks. Added to this was thegrowing international debate overbiotechnology and how it could beused to benefit poor rice farmers andconsumers. Dr. Cantrell providedthe steadying hand, strong leadershipand intelligent management IRRIneeded, says Dr. Otsuka.

Dr. Cantrell was a firm believerthat the quality of research andthe credibility of the institute restupon the quality of the staff.

He was never concerned aboutmaking IRRI the biggest research

center, just the best, says DaveMackill, head of Plant Breeding,Genetics and Biotechnology atIRRI. He always focused onquality, and he convinced us toalways take the high road to doeverything with a sense of purposeand not get distracted from our coreresearch for short-term gain.

Equally important for a directorgeneral was the ability to see thebig picture and remember why the

AN INDIAN FARMERpresents a token offriendship toDr. Cantrell.

JESSRECUENC

O

JKLADHA


18/37


institute existed in the first place toimprove the well-being of present andfuture generations of rice farmers andconsumers. Dr. Cantrell emphasizedthe importance of focusing on alllevels of food security, from thenational level to the household level.He understood that simply because a

country produced enough rice for itsentire population, that did not meanthat everybody had enough to eat.

Looming issuesDr. Cantrell leaves IRRI at a timewhen many issues for rice researchloom ominously on the horizon.He believes that climate changewill increasingly affect all of rice-growing Asia, particularly after arecent IRRI-led study indicatedthat warmer temperatures may

threaten rice yields. But mostprominent among the challengesis the availability of fresh water.

Of all the fresh water usedin agriculture in Asia, rice uses50%, says Dr. Cantrell. Riceproduction will suffer as waterbecomes increasingly scarce.And we already see it happening.Theres a whole realm of researchcentered on decreasing the needfor water in growing rice.

He cautions, though, that,With less water, there will be moreweeds. Managing weed populationsis going to be a huge area.

The greatest advances in theshorter term, says Dr. Cantrell,will come from closing the gapbetween theoretically potentialrice yields and the yields thatfarmers actually achieve, as wellas reducing large postharvestgrain losses. One way to do this,he says, is simply to adapt existing

technologies to local environments.In the next 10 years or more,

he adds, looking further ahead,tools such as biotechnology aregoing to do some great thingsto help minimize the use ofchemicals, increase productivityand maximize water efficiency.

Dr. Cantrell would be the firstto admit that he has received asmuch as he has given at IRRI. Inthis light, he offers some advice to

Bob Zeigler, the incoming directorgeneral: Listen to the staff. Wehave excellent people who knowand understand the demandsfrom our partners. Just listen andthen try to create an ever-growing

environment, he says, underscoringthe need for both increased fundingand a scientifically creative setting.

The former farm boy keepsreturning to one subject, an ideathat cannot be emphasized stronglyenough. It is the philosophy ofinclusiveness that has underpinnedhis journey from the Texascountryside to the upper reachesof agricultural research theneed to workwith the national

agricultural research and trainingsystems that must ultimately helppeople improve their lives.

While our goal may be theelimination of poverty, he says, wecannot do that by going and doingthe job ourselves at the producerlevel. We can only strengthen andcomplement the local organizations.

FAMOUS LIAISONS: during his 6 years at IRRI, Dr.Cantrell met with world leaders from across the

globe, including (clockwise from top) His MajestyThe King of Thailand Bhumibol Adulyadej, PhilippinePresident Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, former Philippinepresident Joseph Estrada and former Chinese Presi-dent Jiang Zemin.

OF

FICIALPHOTO

OFFICIALPHOTO


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Drive 60 kilometers southof Manila and you willfind a farm where, on anygiven day, more than 300

people are hard at work. Mechanicsfix machinery, rat catchers laytraps, laborers transplant seedlings,workers dig irrigation channels anything you might expect tofind on a commercial rice farm.

But this is no ordinarypiece of land.

Occupying nearly 200 hectares,the International Rice ResearchInstitute (IRRI) Experiment Station,known simply as the farm, is whereIRRI scientists take their research outof the lab and into the wider world.

The farm reveals the truth ofour research, says Joe Rickman,head of the Experiment Station.We can develop new technologiesand breed new varieties, but if wedont test them in the field, and if

we dont understand large-scaleproblems and farm managementissues, then weve failed.

Lowland flooded rice fieldsmake up 160 hectares and there

are some 40 hectares of uplandrice fields. The farm also featuresnearly 50 greenhouses, glasshousesand screenhouses, as well as a ricemill and a controlled-environmentlaboratory known as a phytotron.

So, what kind of researchtakes place on this prized realestate? Plant breeders, who usejust less than half of the field area,are the biggest customers. IRRIsEntomology and Plant Pathology

Division, Genetic Resources Center,and Crop, Soil and Water SciencesDivision each use less than 10%.The Experiment Station uses theremainder to produce seeds and rice.

In plant breeding, we look forrare plants, explains Dave Mackill,head of IRRIs Plant Breeding,Genetics and BiotechnologyDivision. We take several differentstrains and breed them together toproduce new ones. Out of a million

A Day on the

by Leharne Fountain

photography by Ariel Javellana

Home to research that helps feed the worlds poor, 200 hectares of landin the northern Philippines might just be Asias most valuable real estate

JOE RICKMAN, head of theIRRI Experiment Station,contemplates the institutesfarm. Across a field (above),sit protective screenhouses.


20/37


rice plants produced this way, onlya relative handful will have thecharacteristics that we want.

Dr. Mackill points out thatplant breeding is partly a numbersgame the more plants you cantest, the greater your chances ofidentifying those that have thefeatures youre looking for. Butdealing with such large numbers ofplants obviously requires space.

More space means more plants,

says Dr. Mackill, and that meansa greater chance of success. Thatswhy the IRRI farm is so important.

Dr. Mackill points out thatalthough we often dont knowprecisely which genes give rise todesired traits, they are expressedphysically in the growing rice plants:Thats the basis of our breedingtrials. We visually inspect the plants,and select the ones that show thequalities were seeking. After several

generations, we end up with a selectgroup of several hundred, whichwe then grow in yield trials.

Take the quest for resistanceto the rice disease bacterial blight.Its very obvious which plants areinfected and which ones arent,says Dr. Mackill. We select theplants that show some resistanceto the disease and grow them inthe next generation of the trial.

Millions of plantsBreeding trials are a seriousinvestment of time and resources.Each may run for several generations,spanning periods of up to 5 years.Millions of plants can be sown onmore than 60 hectares in each ofthe wet and dry seasons every year.The farm must provide more thanjust space, too. It also providesdifferent environments nutrient-deficient soils, for example where

varieties are tested for toleranceof environmental stresses.

But the farms value reaches farbeyond merely providing space forresearch. IRRIs International RiceGenebank holds in trust for humanitynearly 107,000 cultivated and wildvarieties of rice. It is the worldsmost comprehensive repositoryof rice germplasm (seeds and thegenetic material they contain).

This agricultural vault holds

seeds that can help save lives, ashappened when Cambodian seedscollected before the devastation ofthe 1970s were used to reestablishthe countrys ruined rice industryand help end mass starvation.Furthermore, the genebank is asource of genes that carry traits thatcan be harnessed to improve riceplants from tolerance of climaticextremes of cold, heat and drought tosurvival in nutrient-poor soils, to pest

RKERS HARVEST seeds among a mosaic oferent varieties grown for the Genebank;ntinuing clockwise) Soccie Almazan, curatorwild rice species, inspects wild rice in theenhouse; wild rice variety Oryza longis-inata is the source of a gene that confersstance to bacterial blight; the IRRI rice mill.


21/37


and disease resistance. And scientistsaccess the genebank to tap into otherqualities, such as nutritional value,flavor and the physical appearance

of rice grains. For all that, though,where does the farm fit in?

The genebank isnt static,explains Pola de Guzman,the genebanks curator. Weperiodically test the seeds and anyvarieties that fall below a certaingermination rate we plant out onthe farm to harvest new seeds.

Multiplying genebank seedon the farm is crucial, she says,not only to ensure the viability ofthe current collection, but also tosatisfy international seed requests,and to grow and characterizenewly acquired varieties.

We get requests for seeds fromscientists and farmers all aroundthe world, explains Ms. de Guzman.And, as was the case for Cambodia,we supply seeds to countriesthat have lost their own storesthrough war or natural disaster.

Indeed, the genebank allowedIRRI to supply Malaysia and Sri

Lanka with the seed of salt-tolerantrice varieties that will grow in areasdevastated by last Decemberstragic tsunami (seeNews, page 6).

In any given season, thousandsof different varieties from thegenebank will be grown on the IRRIfarm. Growing so many differenttypes of rice, side by side, brings itsown challenges. Because such largenumbers of varieties are planted,those that need similar growing

conditions, or have similar maturityperiods, are grouped together toease management and minimizethe chance of mix-ups. Harvesting

needs to be timed for optimumseed-storage potential. The farmalso has a quarantine area, whereall newly acquired seeds are grown,to ensure that the seed produceshealthy plants and, if it is harboringdisease, doesnt infect other plants.

Mini-hospitalServing as a mini-hospital insidethe IRRI farm complex is thescreenhouse facility. This is whereresearchers grow varieties that aresensitive to an open-fieldenvironment, including wild species,which tend to be more difficult togrow than cultivated varieties.

We really baby them, saysSoccie Almazan, curator of the wildspecies. Different wild specieshave very different needs. Someneed partial shading and specialsoils because they grow in forests;others grow well in full sunlight.

PLANT BREEDER Dave Mackill checks on breeding trials while a tractor levels a field using laser-levelingtechnology (bottom).

Some need to be submergedbecause theyre from swamps.

Sometimes, even the screenhouseenvironment is too variable.Varieties that are very sensitiveto environmental conditionscan be grown in the controlledenvironment of the phytotron, where

factors such as daylight hours andtemperature can be manipulated.

In areas of the farm not usedfor research, rice is grown forproduction. The harvest fromthese fields is processed in theIRRI rice mill and distributed tostaff. By-products, such as branand broken grains, are sold. Themill also facilitates research intoimproving rice milling techniques.

The production areas expandand contract as research demand

for land fluctuates each year.But, as Mr. Rickman explains,efficiency is fundamental.

Although its a research station,he says, we try to run the farm oncommercial lines. We try to make itas efficient as possible in terms ofboth labor and dollars and cents.

The value of the farm, though,is not in the rice produced. Itsworth lies in the opportunity itprovides scientists to put theirresearch to the test researchthat aims to help poor farmersproduce more rice, economicallyand sustainably, and so improve thelives of some of the worlds poorestand most vulnerable people.

In many ways, the IRRI farm isthe institute itself. Without the farm,there is no IRRI, says Mr. Rickman.If we lost the farm, we would losemuch of IRRIs value and, ultimately,our contribution to the poor.


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Imagine, for a moment, thatyou are a Bhutanese farmer.Farming has been in yourfamily for generations. You

manage your farm now in the sameway your father, and his father,managed the land. The otherfarmers in your village run thingsin much the same way. As far asyou know, it has always been thus.

Since you took the reins from

your father, you have grown rice anda few other crops in high-altitude,terraced wetland irrigated by waterfrom a nearby stream. But in thelast few years things have started togo awry. You struggle to get enoughwater to transplant your rice on time.Farmers from a neighboring village,situated farther up the mountainside,divert almost all the streams waterinto their crops. You know thisisnt fair, but your hands are tied

but nothing is changing. How doyou change things so that all thepeople have what they need?

This scenario is not uncommonin Bhutan. A fifth of the farminghouseholds in this small,mountainous kingdom northeastof India cite access to irrigationwater as a major constraint toagricultural production. In recentyears, the system of customary

rights to natural resources that hasserved Bhutan for centuries hasbecome bumpier as the previouslyunfelt influences of economicdevelopment, commercializationand globalization have distortedage-old traditions. Conflict overresources is bringing about socialtensions across whole societies.

In the past few years, however,one approach has emerged thatmay help to quell confrontation.

A fresh approach to the challenge of sharing agricultural

resources has rice farmers playing games with scientists

by Franois Bousquet, Tayan Raj Gurung and Guy Trbuil

The game of life

history and culture dictate thatthis is the way things are done. Theother village can take as much wateras it likes, no matter how little is leftfor you and your fellow villagers.

Lately, the dearth of waterhas been worse than usual,and the situation has becomevolatile. Tempers are fraying,

A FARMER CLEANS the water-intake point of theDompola village canal in west central Bhutan. Situated1,8002,000 meters above sea-level, Lingmuteychuwatershed sports terraces of flowering rice (top).

TAYANR

AJGURUNG


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Agricultural scientists FranoisBousquet and Guy Trbuil seconded in 2001-04 to theInternational Rice Research Institute(IRRI) Social Sciences Division fromthe French Agricultural ResearchCentre for International Development(Cirad by its French acronym)

have set about implementing aninnovative method for managingrenewable resources in Asia.

Social factorsDrs. Bousquet and Trbuil embarkedon their project knowing thatthere is much more to establishingsuccessful, sustainable agriculturalsystems based on rice farmingthan simply providing technicalinformation and technologies.Researchers sometimes ignore

the social and economic factorsthat need to be reconciled withany new way of doing things.

According to Dr. Trbuil, itis an increasingly complex taskto manage scarce and degradingcommon resources such as water,land and biodiversity in farmingecosystems. As technology permitspreviously isolated communitiesto connect, the differing viewsand needs of more and morestakeholders must be considered.

However, he says, therehas been a recent trend towarddecentralizing natural resourcemanagement, which has givenus a chance to reassess howagricultural scientists work indeveloping countries. Scientistsapproach problems and challenges

uses a combination of field

surveys, role-playing and simplecomputer models that simulatedifferent members of a communityand their interactions whenexploiting a common environment.

Fun and gamesComMod allows allthe peopleaffected by a community problemto examine it together and builda shared understanding of itsnature and causes. They can thenuse ComMod simulations to findacceptable solutions. The trick is toensure sustainable use and equitabledistribution of resources. Easiersaid than done, to be sure, but itsnot all hard work. At least some ofit is, quite literally, fun and games.

As well as computer simulations,ComMod makes use of role-playinggames. These effectively act assimplified simulations that allowpeople to understand what thecomputer is doing when it simulates

a given scenario, and how thingswould work if the rules of resourcemanagement were changed.

Both of these low-tech gamesand high-tech simulations, saysDr. Bousquet, help researchersunderstand the properties ofcomplex biological or social systems.Once we validate a new model,we can work with stakeholdersto assess future scenarios andagree on collective action.

in a particular way, but this is

only one of many legitimate pointsof view. Managing rice-basedecosystems should be seen as acollective learning process.

Starting in June 2001, Drs.Bousquet and Trbuil helpedtheir colleagues from the nationalagricultural systems of Bhutan,Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnamand Indonesia to investigateresource management problemsin rice-growing communities.To do this, they used the so-called companion modelingapproach to test the effectivenessof their research methods andconsequently improve them.

Companion modeling knownappropriately as ComMod, whichmeans convenient in the nativetongue of Drs. Trbuil and Bousquet

GUY

TRBUIL(3)


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Back to our village. In May 2003,

Drs. Trbuil and Bousquet, alongwith fellow ComMod researcherTayan Raj Gurung, visited BhutansLingmuteychu area, a 34-square-kilometer watershed drained bythe 11-km-long Limti Chu stream.Lingmuteychu features 180 hectaresof terraced wetland belonging to 162households that make up six villages.The villages access water according toa long-established first-come, first-served rule meaning that a villagein the upper catchment can divertany or all water from the stream.The real-life conflict that has beentaking place concerns Limbukha,a higher village, and Dompola, alower village. After the 10th day ofthe fifth lunar month (in June orJuly) of each year a date set bylocal custom according to Bhutanstraditional calendar Limbukhashares half the stream flow withDompola at rice transplanting time.Before this date, however, Limbukha

does not allow Dompola to accessany water at all for growing rice.

With local agricultural officers,the research team initiated aComMod process designed toimprove communication amongvillagers and explore alternativemethods for making decisions aboutsharing irrigation water between thetwo communities. The new scenarioswere designed to help people assessthe effect of their decisions on water

and land use in both villages.

The process included two gamingworkshops in May and December2003, involving six farmers eachfrom Limbukha and Dompola. Thefirst gaming session was based onthe researchers understanding of thesystem; the second included playerssuggestions such as an exchange oflabor for water and a reduction inavailable cash. One gaming protocolallowed the players to swap roles,giving them a sense of what lifewas like in the others shoes.

Real-life trialsFollowing the role-playing, Dr.Bousquet and Mr. Raj Gurungdesigned a computer simulation thatacted as a more complex versionof the games themselves. Thirty-six different scenarios simulatedcombinations of factors that wereknown to influence water allocation,including three types of socialnetwork, two rainfall patterns and

six exchange protocols (exchanginglabor for water, for example). Farmersand researchers together assessedthe most promising and acceptablecombinations, which will this yearundergo real-life trials. Preliminaryresults suggest that a social networkcomprising both villages and asystem in which farmers exchangewater for either labor or cash maylead to more efficient water use.

The researchers point out that

participants feel less threatened

in role-playing scenarios or whenasked to discuss the virtual results ofcomputer simulations. The methodallows nonconfrontational interactionand more effective collectivelearning. The players knowledgeand understanding of water-sharingincreased significantly betweenthe two role-playing workshops,emphasizes Mr. Raj Gurung.

The ComMod collectivelearning process, says Dr. Bousquet,makes the community better-informed and more able to agreeon decisions, plans and actions,which therefore have a better chanceat successful implementation.

Despite or because of itsplayful appearance, the techniqueis having a real, positive impacton rice-producing communities inAsia. The last word is perhaps bestleft to one of the participants in aComMod workshop in northeastThailand. Following a role-playing

session, Thongphun Kalayang, afarmer from Khon Kaen Province,reminded us that, It looks likea game, but this is our life.

Dr. Trbuil, a systems a gronomist, andDr. Bousquet, are currently implementinga ComMod project at ChulalongkornUniversity in Bangkok . Tayan RajGurung works for Bhutans Ministry ofAgriculture on the Community-basednatural resource management initiative.

IRRIGATED RICE TERRACES (left) flank the main Chu river at the bottom of the Lingmuteychu watershed. Role-playing farmers (above) from Dompola and Limbukha observe others land use decisions, assess and comparethe results of their previous decisions and cropping activities, and exchange information, water or labor. TayanRaj Gurung (below left, at right) watches a farmer allocating his selection of crops to his fields during a May2003 gaming session in Dompola village.


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It is difficult to find an imageof rice farming that is not,figuratively speaking, all wet.

Pictures of green paddies with sunglinting off dark water, or of farmersplowing muddy fields with waterbuffalo, are bound up with our

mental image of rice production.But the irrigation water on which

this picture depends is starting torun critically short. About half of allthe fresh water used in Asia supportsirrigated agriculture. An astonishing90% of this flows straight into ricepaddies. This already unsustainablesituation is now combined withrapidly rising water demand fromAsias booming industrial sectorand fast-growing cities, as well asfrequent droughts. Competition forwater is intensifying and, if nothingchanges, will soon be out of control.

The Indian state of Tamil Nadu,for example, once farmed around 2million hectares of rice. In 2002 and2003, drought reduced the area ofirrigated rice production to less than300,000 hectares, and is inciting adispute over water allocation withneighboring Karnataka. Problemslike this are only getting worse more than 12 million hectares

of irrigated rice lands in SouthAsia alone are likely to face severewater shortage within 20 years.

In the face of this looming crisis,researchers in several countries areimagining a different picture forsome of Asias rice fields. In theirvision of the future, rice crops, ratherthan standing in water, are grown indry fields, like maize or soybeans.

But how to create such a ricecrop? Part of the solution has existed

for thousands of years. Traditionalupland rice varieties (seeHighs andlows, opposite) have been selectedover hundreds of generations fortheir ability to grow in free-draining,aerobic, or oxygenated asopposed to flooded soil conditions.

But these varieties help solveonly part of the problem. Althoughthey are deep-rooted and tolerant of

drought, desirable traits in any ricevariety designed for dry soils, theyalso suffer from low yields. Evenwith ample water and fertile soils,traditional upland varieties rarelyyield more than 3 tons per hectare,and often produce less than half thatin farmers fields. Farmers of irrigated(lowland) rice regularly achieveyields of 58 tons per hectare. And,

in fertile environments, upland riceis prone to lodging (falling over)under the weight of its own grain.

Rice breeders at the InternationalRice Research Institute (IRRI) wantthis to change. They are developingnew varieties that combine uplandrices adaptation to dry soils with thefertilizer responsiveness and yieldpotential of modern high-yieldingvarieties. The first generation ofthis so-called aerobic rice has been

A dry visionAs Asias irrigation water becomes increasingly scarce, researchers

are developing rice varieties that can thrive in dry conditions

by Gary Atlin

FARMERS at Tarlac, Philippines, give feedback to researchers on new IRRI aerobic rice varieties in 2003. IRRIscreens thousands of potential aerobic rice varieties under stressful conditions (top) every dry season. Farm-

ers cover aerobic rice seed (bottom) in Batangas, Philippines.

GARY

ATLIN

(4)


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developed by crossing irrigated high-yielding varieties with traditionalupland types, and selecting theprogeny under dry soil conditions a breeding strategy pioneered byresearchers at China AgriculturalUniversity in Beijing, and at theBrazilian Agricultural Research

Corporation (Embrapa). The resultingvarieties are direct-seeded intodry soil in nonflooded fields andmanaged like a high-yielding wheator maize crop. Irrigation is appliedif available and needed, but nostanding water is held in the fields.

Aerobic rice has already movedoff the research farm and intofarmers fields in China, Brazil andthe Philippines. In northeasternChina, farmers are growing aerobicvarieties, developed by researchers

at China Agricultural University, onabout 150,000 hectares of previouslyirrigated rice lands, in rotationwith maize, wheat and other crops.Producing 45 tons per hectare,these varieties use about half as muchwater as traditionally transplantedlowland rice confirming thatthe system can be an economicallyattractive alternative to lowland riceproduction when water is limiting.

In the cool highl

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