A sunburned grain Stamps of approval Pockets of gold in ... - adron.sr

More documents

Recommendations

Info

COUNTRY HIGHLIGHT:IRRI in ThailandCompiled by Sophie ClaytonThe International Rice ResearchInstitute has had a longstandingrelationship withThailand. The first formal linkwas made in 1960—the year IRRI wasestablished—when Thailand’s PrinceChakrabandhu became a foundingmember of the IRRI Board of Trustees.Following this, in 1966, IRRI’s Thaioffice was established in Bangkok withthe appointment of the first IRRI scientistassigned to Thailand. During that year,the IRRI variety IR8-288-3 was crossedwith tall Thai rice cultivars to produceRD1 and RD3—the first nonglutinous,semidwarf, photoperiod-insensitive,high-yielding varieties released tofarmers in the country.IRRI has maintained a closerelationship with Thailand over the last50 years and, within this period, fourThai scientists have worked at IRRIheadquarters. Moreover, between 1966and 2009, IRRI received 191 scholarsfrom Thailand.Thailand’s royal connectionwith IRRI has continued throughoutthe years. In July 1963, His MajestyKing Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX)visited IRRI to show his support for thefledgling institute and then, in 1996, hebecame the first and only Royal Patron ofIRRI. Recently, in November 2009, HerRoyal Highness Princess Maha ChakriSirindhorn came to IRRI to launch theInstitute’s 50th anniversary.Rice in ThailandRice is the most important crop ofThailand. It occupies about 55% ofThailand’s total arable land. Rice isalso the staple food of all Thai people,regardless of income.Thailand is the world’s biggestexporter of rice. In 2008, it exportedabout 10 million tons of rice (milledequivalent), which makes up about 33%of the world rice trade.If there is anything this countryis famous for, it is Thai jasmine rice, ahigh-quality, long-grain, aromatic whiteMAP BY NEL GARCIA AND ARNEL RALARice production areasThailand: fast factsPopulation 67 million 1Rice production area 10 million hectaresTotal land area 51 million hectares 2Average rice yield (2007) 2.97 tons per hectare 3Total rice production (2008) 31.7 million tons 3Rice exported (2008) 10 million tons(milled equivalent) 31World Bank2CIA world fact book3FAOrice, which commands a price advantageover lower grades. According to theBoard of Trade of Thailand, the biggestimporters of Thai jasmine rice in 2009were China, the U.S., and Malaysia.Countries such as Singapore, Japan,Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa haveall become major importers of Thailand’smany other grades of rice that includePathumthani rice in whole grain andbroken and white rice in parboiled,broken, and glutinous rice. Thailand’srice products cross the wide spectrumof rice available for trade in the world.Interestingly, the country’s export riceprices are commonly considered to be thebenchmark price for rice products fromother nations.Helping Thai rice production with IRRIscienceSome prime examples of IRRI’s researchtargeted at helping rice production inThailand are pest management research,genetic diversity conservation, the ThaiRice Knowledge Bank, and growing ricein unfavorable environments.Pest management. Brownplanthoppers (BPH) are a major pest inrice fields. In the recent 2009-10 season,BPH have reached plague proportions inThailand and may cause yield losses ofup to 30% in affected paddies.IRRI helps farmers manage pestsin a sustainable way by developingpest-resistant rice varieties, integratedpest management (IPM) strategies, andecological engineering approaches.IRRI has been monitoring the BPH andassociated virus situations across Asiawith increasing concern over the pastseveral years.In line with this, IRRI hasrecommended some practices to reducethe onset and severity of BPH outbreakssuch as adopting IPM practices,limiting pesticide use, careful nutrientmanagement, planting resistant varieties,synchronizing rice plantings, andencouraging beneficial insects.For more information on managingBPH problems and preventing futureBPH outbreaks, visit the Ricehopper blogat http://ricehoppers.net/.Sharing the genetic diversity ofrice with Thailand. The InternationalRice Genebank currently has 5,185types of rice received from Thailandthat are available for sharing under theInternational Treaty on Plant GeneticResources for Food and Agriculture.Another 417 are also conserved, but notshared, as requested by Thailand.Thai rice breeders and farmers can42 Rice Today April-June 2010
Paddy rice (tons per hectare)5.04.54.03.53.02.52.01.51.00.0Data source: FAOSTATWorldThailandAverage rice yield1961 1965 1969 1973 1977 1981 1985Yearaccess this rice and other non-Thai ricefrom the International Rice Genebank’scollection of more than 110,000 types ofrice. So far, 5,245 different rice sampleshave been dispatched to Thailand to helpbreed new rice varieties.The integrity and uniqueness ofThai jasmine rice will not, however,be compromised through this sharingprocess because the unique aromaticproperties of Thai jasmine rice are acombination of the presence of variousaroma genes and the climatic and soilconditions where Thai jasmine rice isgrown. Such conditions are not easilyreplicated outside of Thailand, thusprotecting the prestige of Thai rice in themarket for many years to come.Moreover, IRRI scientists havediscovered that the version of the majorPercentage of rice export trade bycounty in 2007Egypt4%China4%UnitedStates 6%Pakistan11%Vietnam17%Data source: FAOSTATOthers8%Thailand27%India23%gene for fragrancefound in Thaijasmine rice isshared with at least300 other varietiesof aromatic ricefrom 17 Asiancountries. Theresearch suggeststhat the aromagene did notoriginate in Thaijasmine rice.Thai RiceKnowledge Bank.In 2007, Thailand’sRice Department,under the LinkingResearch andExtension Needs through InformationTechnology (LEARN-IT) Project,launched the Thai Rice KnowledgeBank (RKB), an online tool that rapidlydisseminates current rice productioninformation to extension workers andfarmers. The original concept of theRice Knowledge Bank was developedat IRRI to ensure that farmers quicklyand efficiently receive consistent andhigh-quality rice production knowledgegenerated from the latest scientificadvances.An evaluation of the Thai RKBshowed that extension officers eachsaved, on average, about US$2,500 a yearwhen they used the RKB. This is basedon the time they saved searching forinformation and revisiting farmers, andthe costs they saved on photocopying.More importantly, Thai farmers whoused the RKB had fewer costs, higherrevenues, and a total net income of $60per hectare more than non-RKB users.The evaluation also suggested howto increase the use of RKB information,including encouraging farmers toparticipate in RKB meetings andimproving the general knowledge offarmers about computers. This feedbackwill be used to further improve theextension of the RKB program (seeBanking our rice knowledge on pages 36-37 of Rice Today Vol. 8, No. 3).The second version of the Thai RKBis now in use by extension workers inmany major rice provinces in Thailand.It has also been reported that somecommunity radio stations in the rice-1989 1993 1997 2001 2005“Rice is the backbone of Thai society andcountries of Southeast Asia and thereforeits development is tantamount to thedevelopment of these countries.I believe that the work IRRI has doneover the years has benefited the well-being ofpeople across the globe, improving their foodsecurity and income.I would like to congratulate IRRI onits anniversary and wish the Institute everysuccess.”Her Royal Highness Princess Maha ChakriSirindhorn of Thailand, speaking at the launchof IRRI’s 50th anniversary on 17 November2009 (see YouTube video at snipurl.com/v4a2x).producing provinces in the north-centraland northeast regions of Thailand areusing the Thai RKB as a source of newrice technologies and information forbroadcasting.Growing rice in unfavorableenvironments. Rainfed drought-proneand submergence-prone areas dominateThailand’s rice-growing regions.IRRI has been working with its Thaicolleagues to solve rice productionproblems in these areas for the last 20years.As part of the Consortium forUnfavorable Rice Environments (CURE),IRRI and its national agriculturalresearch and extension system partnersin Thailand are helping develop droughttolerantrice and improved managementpractices for nutrient and weedmanagement.With Thailand’s Rice Department,IRRI is also adapting submergencetolerantrice to Thai conditions andlooking at ways to facilitate adoptionand build capacity of local rice breedersand rice scientists. Thai rice breedershave also contributed to IRRI’s rainfedrice breeding program by providing thematerial for rice varieties now used allover Laos.Rice Today April-June 201043
Page 1 and 2: www.irri.orgWELCOME ALUMNIIRRI Home
Page 3 and 4: contentsEDITORIAL .................
Page 5 and 6: Hidden Treasure*The Chinese New Yea
Page 7 and 8: NEWS http://ricenews.irri.org 7and
Page 9 and 10: PEOPLETR AINING COURSES AT IRRIIntr
Page 11 and 12: Bearish? Where is the economy going
Page 13 and 14: ainRICEGROWERS' ASSOCIATION OF AUST
Page 15 and 16: COLEAMBALLY RICE farmer Lynne Stuck
Page 20 and 21: RACHELLE WARD, a Yanco cereal chemi
Page 22 and 23: JOHN LACY, industry leader (rice fa
Page 24 and 25: Isagani Serrano24 Rice Today April-
Page 26 and 27: Mayon volcanoMAYON REVISITED:Courag
Page 28 and 29: Ketsana, which struck on 26 Septemb
Page 30 and 31: MAPSMapping genebank colThe genetic
Page 32 and 33: R. RAMANTODAY, INDIGENOUS African r
Page 34 and 35: Made for theTROPICSCHRIS QUINTANA (
Page 36 and 37: Operation20/20:Theclearpathtoasusta
Page 38 and 39: IRRI ARCHIVEIN 1990, Dr. McCouch an
Page 40 and 41: IRRI welcomesits alumni to a homeco
Page 44 and 45: RICE FACTSGlobal rice crisis hurts
Page 46 and 47: grain of truthLearning lessons from
Page 48: 8-12 November 2010Vietnam National

A sunburned grain Stamps of approval Pockets of gold in ... - adron.sr

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?