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NEWS http://ricenews.irri.orgFinding water to feed Singapore riceSingaporeans consume around275,000 tons of rice each year, whichrequires 688 billion liters of water to beproduced—2.5 times Singapore’s annualdomestic water use.Competition for water is gettingfiercer and water supplies are dwindling,yet Singapore can contribute to securingits rice supply by joining the globalcommunity in helping farmers becomewater-wise. This is the key message fromDr. Bas Bouman of the InternationalRice Research Institute (IRRI), whopresented “Preparing Rice for the GlobalWater Crisis” as part of the Environmentand Climate Change Seminar Series ofthe Institute of Southeast Asian Studies(ISEAS), Singapore, on 10 March 2010.“To produce one bowl of rice, ittakes about 500 liters of water,” said Dr.Bouman.“For a city like Singapore, thequestion is whether the 688 billion litersof water needed to produce the country’srice will remain available.”Worldwide, water for agricultureis becoming increasingly scarce asgroundwater reserves drop, water qualitydeclines because of pollution, irrigationsystems malfunction, and competitionfrom urban and industrial users increases.Climate change will also reducewater availability in large parts of theworld. And, by 2025, 15–20 millionhectares of irrigated rice will suffer somedegree of water scarcity.“Farmers can reduce the amount ofwater they use to grow rice by 10–30%if they adopt water-saving technologies,such as alternate wetting and drying,” saidDr. Bouman (see Every drop counts onpages 16-18 of Rice Today Vol. 8 No. 3).“The hardest part is to deliver thesetechnologies to farmers. The publicand private sector need to mobilize topromote and implement the existingwater-saving technologies throughpolicies, partnerships, and extension andeducation efforts.“At the same time, investments inresearch to develop new water-savingtechnologies need to be increased sothat the future of rice production issafeguarded.”DR. BAS BOUMANDr. Bouman’s visit to Singaporewas part of IRRI’s 50th anniversaryactivities, which included the launch ofthe IRRI Fund Singapore and a campaignto raise US$300 million to support riceresearch, to help ensure sustainability ofrice production, to reduce poverty andhunger, and to improve the welfare ofrice farmers and consumers.Source: www.irri.orgVietnam: Facing a one-in-100-year droughtf there is no water in the coming“Idays,” says 59-year-old farmer VuThi La, who just planted her spring riceseedlings, “it will all die.”Across Vietnam, high temperaturesand parched rivers are setting off alarmbells as the nation grapples with what’sshaping up to be its worst drought inmore than 100 years. At 0.68 meter high,the Red River is at its lowest level sincerecords started being kept in 1902.Soaring temperatures in the centralpart of Vietnam have unleashed aplague of rice-eating insects, damagingthousands of hectares of paddies. “It’sthe beginning of everything,” NationalCenter for Hydro-MeteorologicalForecasting Vice Director Nguyen LanChau says gloomily.The region most affected is theMekong River Delta in the south. Waterlevels in the nation’s rice bowl havefallen to their lowest points in nearly 20years, threatening the livelihoods of tensof millions of people who depend onthe river basin for farming, fishing, andtransportation.The biggest problem, however, isnot the water. It’s the salt. During the dryseason, when channels and tributariesrun dry, seawater can creep more than 30kilometers inland. Vietnam has installeda series of sluice gates to hold backhigh tides and control annual monsoonflooding. This has allowed farmers toswitch between growing rice in the wetseason and raising shrimp in the brackishwaters in the dry period. In turn, thishas resulted in a more effective land useand higher crop yields, and a doubling offarmers’ incomes in the Delta since 1999.Those high-yield days may be over.As the drought intensifies, in some placesseawater has crept nearly 60 kilometersinland, says Dam Hoa Binh, deputydirector of the Irrigation Department atthe Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment in Hanoi. Most of thewinter-spring crop has already beenharvested, but saltwater is reachingwhere it has never gone before, puttingthe summer-fall crop in jeopardy, saysBinh. “We are trying to strengthen ourirrigation systems to prevent furthersalinization,” he adds, but the extremeconditions are making it “one of the mostdifficult situations in 100 years.”Source: www.time.comDrought threatens Philippinerice terracesThe famous rice terraces of Banaue inIfugao Province of the Philippineshave been placed under a state ofcalamity due to the continued dry spellcaused by El Niño phenomenon.“The terraces have practically driedup to the extent that even a slight raincould cause landslides,” said BanaueMayor Lino Madchiw.The dry spell has affected thousandsof hectares of agricultural crops andlivestock nationwide, and the droughtnow threatens Banaue’s world famousrice terraces, leaving the paddies parched6 Rice Today April-June 2010
NEWS http://ricenews.irri.org 7and highly vulnerable to erosion.Because of the drought, largeearthworms have penetrated the paddiesand endangered the terraces, which area World Heritage Site and one of thecountry’s top tourist attractions.The perceived lack of interest amongyoung Ifugao natives in taking care of thecenturies-old terraces has aggravated thedegradation of the site, sometimes referredto as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.”“At least 25% of the terraced ricefarms have already been affected by thedry spell. [We fear] that our terraceswill all be affected if the situation willcontinue for 4 more months,” Madchiwsaid.The dry spell has also put in perilthe Tinawon red rice, Ifugao’s specialrice variety, which is sought after by bothlocal and foreign tourists. Besides itshigh economic value, the Tinawon rice isalso part of the Ifugao culture. It sells for60–120 pesos (US$1.30 to $2.60) a kilo,making it a high-value crop.Source: www.philstar.comMalaysian rice farmers risklossesThe prolonged heat wave in the stateof Kota Baru is threatening to ruinabout 6,000 hectares of paddy becausewater for irrigation is drying up.Kemubu Agriculture DevelopmentAuthority (Kada) General ManagerIbrahim Mat said that the affected paddyfields were mostly in Pasir Mas andTumpat.He said that the fields could not beadequately irrigated because water couldnot be drawn from the Kelantan River—the main source of water for irrigation inKada areas.“Since the water level of the riveris very low now, the water cannot bepumped into the irrigation canals,” hesaid, adding that this had disrupted theirrigation schedule.Ibrahim said that Kada wouldconstruct an embankment across theriver at Kampung Kubang Pak Amin inPasir Mas to raise the water level.“We will use about 100,000 bags ofsand to put up a wall across the width ofthe river so that our pump house can drawenough water when the level rises.”According to Wan Mohd Rudin WanAbdul Ghani, Kampung Kubang PakAmin village head, about 500 farmersand 1,776 hectares of paddy fields wereaffected by the dry season.“The paddy plants, which are about80 days old, are wilting. The plants needsufficient water to produce healthy ricestalks. If there is still no water over thenext week or so, the chances are that theirpaddy plants might be damaged.“With insufficient irrigation, theharvest for the farmers could be very lowthis season,” he said, adding that theyrisked losses estimated at more than 10million Malaysian ringgits (about US$3million).Source: www.nst.com.myPhilippines: More rice importspredictedThe Department of Agriculturedisclosed that the country’s riceproduction loss caused by the dryweather may be more than the estimated800,000 tons, raising concerns that theshortfall may deepen.“Even with our assistance like cloudseeding, crops just dried out in sometowns,” Agriculture Undersecretary JoelRudinas said.Increased losses may cause thegovernment to boost imports beyond therecord 2.45 million tons planned for 2010after rains last year wiped out 1.38 milliontons of the September-December harvest.Source: www.businessweek.comAfrica Rice Congress endorses the Global Rice SciencePartnershipAbout 500 participants from 54 potential,” the Congress providedcountries attending the Africa Rice opportunities for the many stakeholdersCongress 2010 in Bamako, Mali, 22-26 of Africa’s rice sector and their partnersMarch, called for greater investments in to discuss strategies to significantlyAfrica’s rice sector, highlighted the need increase rice production in Africa,for a Marshall Plan for building capacity develop competitive and equitableacross the rice value chain, approved rice value chains, reduce imports, anda task force model to tackle major rice enhance regional trade.challenges in Africa, and endorsed the Rice farmers, seed producers, riceGlobal Rice Science Partnership (GRiSP) processors, input dealers, manufacturersinitiative of the Africa Rice Center of agricultural machinery, and(AfricaRice), International Rice Research representatives from agriculturalInstitute, and International Center for ministries, national rice researchTropical Agriculture.and extension systems, internationalWith its theme “Innovation and and advanced research institutes,partnerships to realize Africa’s rice nongovernment organizations, the donorcommunity, andother developmentIRRI DIRECTOR General RobertZeigler (left) participates in partners activelythe Africa Rice Congress 2010, participated inBamako, Mali, 22-26 March. the event, whichwas organized byAfricaRice underthe aegis of theMalian governmentin collaboration withthe Malian nationalresearch institute, theInstitut d’économierurale (IER).Source: Africa RiceCenterRice Today April-June 2010
Page 1 and 2: www.irri.orgWELCOME ALUMNIIRRI Home
Page 3 and 4: contentsEDITORIAL .................
Page 5: Hidden Treasure*The Chinese New Yea
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 42 and 43: COUNTRY HIGHLIGHT:IRRI in ThailandC
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

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