An adventure in applied science - IRRI books - International Rice ...

Developing and staffing the program 77year onward, the demand for training at IRRI was so great that some applicantsfrom most countries had to be placed on a waiting list.As mentioned, IRRI’s training program during 1962 and 1963 was confinedto research scholars assigned to senior scientists. It was administered byWortman, and the day-to-day problems were handled by the scientists towhom the scholars were assigned. The operation of that segment of theprogram has continued in similar manner to the present day. However,beginning in 1964-65, IRRI’s training program was expanded.The most important factor in that expansion undoubtedly was the arrival ofWilliam G. Golden, Jr., in February 1964. He had written to IRRI earlier, statingthat he was a rice specialist in the agricultural extension service at theUniversity of California and had a sabbatical leave due in 1964. He was anxiousto get acquainted with rice growing in the tropics and asked whether IRRIwould be able to accommodate him for a one-year period. Wortman was ableto meet him and his wife in California in late 1963 and was favorably impressedwith his energy, enthusiasm, and knowledge of rice production in California.In our discussions later, Wortman and I decided that Golden would be usefulin putting together — in terms that would be understandable to extensionworkers and literate farmers in such English-comprehending countries as thePhilippines, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka — IRRI articles and bulletins onsome of the developing techniques. However, after Golden arrived and had alittle time to get settled into the department headed by Byrnes, it became clearthat his real interest was in training people in the area of rice productiontechniques and in testing IRRI’s findings on farmers’ fields. He immediatelyfound a kindred spirit in Byrnes, who was highly interested in improvingcommunication among scientists, extension personnel, farmers, and the generalpublic as well.After Golden had had time to become familiar with IRRI’s research programand to travel throughout the Philippines observing agricultural research andextension work pertaining to rice, he saw the need for better-trained extensionpeople and for the testing of IRRI’s findings in farmers’ fields.At that time, the agricultural extension program of the Philippines wasconducted by an agency called the Agricultural Productivity Commission,which was directly responsible to the President rather than to the Secretary ofAgriculture and Natural Resources. In mid-1964, the agency’s Commissionerasked Golden if he could run a one-year training course in rice production forfive technicians from the rice-producing districts of the Philippines. Afterdiscussion among Golden, Byrnes, Wortman, and me, the decision was forIRRI to undertake the operation even though at the time, it was expected thatGolden would return to California in February 1965.Golden and Byrnes set up a program for IRRI’s first rice production trainingcourse. The first half was devoted largely to having the trainees grow a cropof rice on IRRI’s experimental fields, doing every operation from preparing theland with a carabao to harvesting and threshing the crop. Much of the practicalwork was done in the morning, with afternoons devoted to classroom studies.