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114 History of the International Rice Research InstituteBy 1967, Philippinefarmers wereobtaining rice harvestsfrom IR8. This crop inLaguna Provinceyielded more than 5 t/ha — where the samefarmers previously gotyields of less than 3 t/ha with traditionalvarieties.a Seed Board that made all the decisions as to the cultivars that would qualifyas official “Seed Board varieties.” IRRI had observers on the Board and alsosupplied foundation or registered seed to the Bureau for distribution toselected cooperating farmers who produced certified seed. To streamline thespread of IR8, the RCPCC did not bother with seed purer than “good” seed.The mechanisms involved in producing certified seed were too complex toallow rapid progress in distributing a new variety, and in the Philippines, eventoday only a small portion of the rice is grown from certified seed.In IRRl’s home province, Laguna, the dissemination of IR8 had the backingof Governor San Luis. As early as January 1966, San Luis (who is still governorof Laguna) told me that he was anxious to increase rice production in hisprovince, and that Wesley Haraldson of the USAID office in Manila wasstarting a project called Operation Spread and had offered financial andtechnical assistance to promote the replacement of the traditional rice varietieswith the modern ones along with the necessary changes in managementmethods. IRRI, pleased to cooperate, provided the basic seed, and its scientistswere called upon for technical advice. By late 1967, with Governor San Luis’enthusiastic leadership, 52% of the rice land in Laguna Province had beenplanted to IR8. Only 18 months earlier, the number of farmers growing thevariety could be counted on the fingers of one hand. San Luis was so deeplyinterested in the new technology that he enrolled in Golden’s course in riceproduction and thus became well-versed in the elements of modern riceproduction.Counting, in addition to IR8 and IR5, such improved varieties as C4-63developed by the College of Agriculture and BPI-76 bred by the Maligaya RiceExperiment Station of the Bureau of Plant Industry, the area planted to modern
Early research and training results 115rice varieties in the Philippines by the end of 1968 was about 750,000 ha. By1970, the area had increased to 1.5 million ha, or essentially 50% of the landdevoted to rice in the nation. The varietal composition changed, of course, assuperior cultivars from the breeding programs became available.The Philippines became self-sufficient in rice in 1968 and 1969 for the firsttime in decades, but as a result of bad weather and disease outbreak, it lost thisadvantage in the early 1970s. During the last several years, however, it hasregained its self-sufficiency and is making a major effort to continue to producea surplus of rice.Concurrent with the spread of IR8 in the Philippines, sizable shipments ofseed were sent to other countries. In 1966, a total of 5.2 t was shipped to Burma,Colombia, India, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, and South Vietnam. Smallsamples went to 60 other countries that showed an interest in testing IR8. Noattempt is made to outline the spread of IR8 (and IR5) in the various countries,except for brief descriptions of developments in Burma and India — Burmabecause it was a major rice-producing country that had been isolated frominternational activities for years, and India because it had the largest ricegrowingarea among countries except the People’s Republic of China, whichat that time was not in a position to cooperate with IRRI.From about 1962, Burma had barred most foreign visitors, except touristswho could visit Rangoon for a 24-hour period. Consequently, IRRI made noattempt to develop a cooperative program with that country.On 24 December 1965, a trade delegation from Burma came to Los Baños tovisit the College of Agriculture. In the morning, Dean Umali mentioned thatthe International Rice Research Institute was close by. Lt. Col. San Win, whoheaded the trade mission, said that he and his group would like to see theInstitute. At Umali’s invitation, I joined them for lunch at the InternationalHouse on campus and afterward took them to IRRI. At the time, the plots ofIR9-60 were looking especially good, and San Win asked whether IRRI wouldsend seed to Burma if requested. I answered affirmatively and San Win said hewould talk to the minister of Agriculture in Burma and, if he wished some seed,would be in touch with IRRI.Within a few weeks, a request was received from Burma for a 45-kg sack of1R9-60. It was immediately dispatched. Nothing further was heard for about6 months; then a cable arrived asking for more seed of IR9-60. I replied that abetter selection, IR8-288-3, with similar characteristics was available, and IRRIshipped about 100 kg to Burma in time for planting in June 1966.Although a major rice-producing country, Burma has never been a largeuser of modern rice varieties. Nevertheless, from the small shipments fromIRRI, the country multiplied seed and in 1968 planted about 165,000 ha of IR8.In April of that year, the government invited me to spend 5 days in Burma.During my visit, I gave a talk before a meeting of Burmese scientists and wentto their experiment station at Hmawbi. From that time on, IRRI had goodrelations with Burma. Other scientists from the Institute were invited to visitthe country and Burmese research scholars were sent to IRRI. Today, IRRI hasa small research team in Burma, and although that country still has a relatively
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An Adventurein Applied Science:A HI
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ContentsDedication viiAbout this pu
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About this publication . . .In 20 y
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xiname, and release varieties. Thus
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PrefaceThe International Rice Resea
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CHAPTER 1An international institute
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An international institute for rice
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CHAPTER 2Developing and staffingthe
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Developing and staffing the program
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Page 100 and 101: 86 History of the International Ric
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Page 163 and 164: Financing of IRRI 149foreign assist
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168 History of the International Ri
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Aerial view of IRRI in1981.However,
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IRRI today 181neering Department: K
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IRRI today 183In spite of this high
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IRRI today 185turn, received geneti
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IRRI today 1871. Research to assist
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Appendices 189materials could readi
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Appendix 2OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENTINTER
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Appendices 193ate to concentrate on
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Appendices 195estimates for buildin
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Appendices 197(4) Development of pr
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Appendices 199was approved for the
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Appendices 201association, or perso
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Appendices 203b. To pass upon the b
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Appendices 205Article VIIMISCELLANE
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