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www.irri.orgInternational Rice Research Institute April-June 2009, Vol. 8, No. 2"<strong>Scuba</strong> rice"New varieties save farms from floodsZero-till heroDrought-proof rice in AfricaRice science in the digital ageBangladesh copes with the hunger monthsUS$5.00 ISSN 1655-5422Rice Today April-June 2009
Gene Hettel (2)<strong>Scuba</strong> riceby Adam BarclayNew versions of popular varieties of rice, which can withstand 2 weeks of complete submergence,are set to make a big impact in South AsiaScientists had long knownof an Indian rice variety,unromantically dubbed FR13A,that could handle a week ormore of complete submergenceand recover sufficiently to offer areasonable harvest. Rice, althoughoften grown in standing water, willdrown like any other plant if hit withsevere flooding.Despite its remarkableproperties, FR13A (FR stands for“flood resistant”), as a low-yieldingtraditional variety grown acrosslimited areas in the Indian stateof Orissa, was never expected tomake a big impact on a wide scale.Nevertheless, rice breeders—includingDavid Mackill, a young Californianplant breeder working at theInternational Rice Research Institute(IRRI) in the 1980s—saw the potentialto breed FR13A’s sought-after traitinto some of the modern high-yieldingrice varieties planted over vast floodproneareas across Asia.His reasoning, which emergedfrom discussions with IRRIdeepwater rice breeder DerkHilleRisLambers, was that a floodtolerantversion of a popular modernvariety could have an enormousimpact. In Bangladesh and India,for example, farmers suffer annualcrop losses because of flooding of upto 4 million tons of rice—enough tofeed 30 million people. To the farmfamilies and workers, and to the poorconsumers who rely on rice for thebulk of their food, flooding can betruly disastrous.So, the IRRI breeders—peoplewho spend their careers mixingthe genes of plants to develop newvarieties that can handle harshclimates, or resist diseases and pests,Even after 17 days of submergence in IRRI researchplots, Sub1 rice lines show their “waterproof” trait asthey are still standing to the left, right, and furtherbehind IRRI plant physiologist Abdel Ismail.Stemming the tide in flood-prone South AsiaIRRI plant breeder Dave Mackill (right) swapsnotes at BRRI’s Rangpur station with UC DavisProfessor Pam Ronald.or cope with problem soils—tried.And they succeeded. Sort of. Theycreated higher-yielding rice plantsthat could handle major floods,but they never even got close toreleasing them to farmers. During thebreeding process, which transferredto the modern varieties whichevergenes were giving FR13A its floodtolerance, too many unwanted genesmoved across as well. The resultwas poor-tasting, flood-tolerant ricethat yielded no more than existingvarieties. And so the idea moved tothe back burner.In 1991, Dr. Mackill left IRRIfor the University of California (UC)at Davis. With FR13A still on hismind, he and his graduate studentKenong Xu took up the challenge ofidentifying the genes responsiblefor FR13A’s scuba abilities. Theyeventually pinpointed the precisestretch of DNA that made the varietyso interesting, and named theassumed gene SUB1.The group subsequently teamedup with another UC Davis researcher,Pamela Ronald, an expert in isolatinggenes that give plants particulartraits. Working in Dr. Ronald’s lab,Dr. Xu and his wife, Xia, discovereda single gene, which they namedSUB1A, and demonstrated that thisalone was responsible for most of theflood tolerance.Dr. Mackill, who by now hadreturned to IRRI, realized that theFR13A game was back on. By thattime, 25 years after the first breedingattempts, agricultural science hadcome a long way. A new “precisionbreeding”method, known as markerassistedselection (MAS; see On yourmark, get set, select on pages 28-29of Rice Today Vol. 3, No. 3; also seeFrom genes to farmers’ fields onpages 28-31 of Rice Today Vol. 5, No.4), allowed breeders to do much oftheir work in the lab. The new methodshortened the breeding process andvastly improved the precision withwhich specific traits could be movedfrom one variety into another. Heand his team were able to transfer1A Biblical name used to connote apparent restoration to life.adam barclayDr. Ismail and UC Riverside scientist Julia Bailey-Serres share a laugh at BRRI’s Rangpur station.SUB1A into widely grown modernrice varieties without affecting othercharacteristics—such as high yield,good grain quality, and pest anddisease resistance—that made thevarieties popular in the first place.By 2006, the first Sub1 varietieswere ready for testing at IRRI. Theresearchers set up plots of whatthey hoped would be flood-tolerantversions of several varieties—IR64,Swarna, and Samba Mahsuri—next toplots of their non-Sub1 counterparts.Once the plants had establishedthemselves, the plots were flooded,completely submerging the rice for 15days. Next, the water was drained toreveal muddy plots of limp, flattened,deathly looking plants.Then, a remarkable thinghappened. Within 2 weeks of theflood, almost all of the Sub1 plant<strong>sr</strong>ecovered. They came back to lifeas if coached by Lazarus 1 himself. Afew scattered clumps of the originalversions made a comeback, but therewas no comparison. At harvest, theSub1 rice yielded more than twiceas much as its neighbor (to view adramatic time-lapse video of theexperiment, visit http://snipurl.com/ebql8).Around the same time, followingDr. Ronald’s group’s success inproving that SUB1A was indeed theright gene, Julia Bailey-Serres, ageneticist from UC Riverside who alsoworked on the gene’s identification,began investigating exactly howSUB1A confers flood tolerance. Itturns out that the secret is all aboutsaving energy.With colleague Takeshi Fukao,Dr. Bailey-Serres has determinedthat, when submerged, rice withoutSUB1A responds by increasing thepace of its elongation in an attempt toescape the submergence. Deepwaterrice varieties are able to do thi<strong>sr</strong>apidly enough to succeed. In modernhigh-yielding varieties, however, theelongation is insufficient. If the floodlasts for more than a few days, thenormal varieties expend so muchenergy trying—unsuccessfully—toescape that they’re unable to recover.Submergence of FR13A or any ofthe new Sub1 varieties, on the otherhand, activates the SUB1A gene,which suppresses this elongationstrategy, effectively shunting the riceplant into a dormant state until thefloodwaters recede. Thus, the plantsconserve their energy for a postfloodrecovery.“Understanding things from thisvery basic perspective should allow usto achieve an even better plant morerapidly,” says Dr. Bailey-Serres.According to Dr. Mackill, theSub1 project has shown the advantageof combining practical, applied worksuch as breeding and upstream,fundamental research.““Knowing the exact generesponsible for a trait is not absolutelynecessary for the MAS breedingapproach, because a larger pieceof the chromosome is transferred,normally containing many genes,”he says. “However, by understandingthe processes triggered by SUB1A indetail, “we hope to improve on theexisting Sub1 varieties by identifyingnovel flood-tolerance genes thatallow us to develop hardier plantsthat survive even longer periods of26 Rice Today April-June 2009Rice Today April-June 200927
flooding, yet retain the characteristicsthat farmers want.”With the Sub1 concept well andtruly proved, seeds were sent fortesting and refinement to nationalorganizations in South Asia, includingthe Bangladesh Rice ResearchInstitute (BRRI) and, in India, theCentral Rice Research Institute(CRRI) in Orissa and NarendraDev University of Agriculture andTechnology in Faizabad, UttarPradesh. The trial results there werealso extremely promising.In short, scientists had developedrice that could handle more than aweek’s flooding with almost no lossof yield (1 week is enough to severelydent the harvest of the nontolerantversions) and would recover toproduce a reasonable yield after even2 weeks’ submergence (enough toalmost wipe out nontolerant versions).Aside from the flood tolerance, thenew varieties were virtually identicalto their counterparts: farmers wouldbe able to manage them in exactlythe same way and, in the absence offlooding, achieve the same yield.But, as any agricultural scientistwill tell you, there is a vast gulfbetween the tightly controlledenvironment of the experimentstation and the more capriciousnature of a real farm. By 2007,the time had come to test the Sub1BRRI Former Director General Dr. Md. Nur-E-Elahi(left) and BRRI scientist M.A. Mazid explain theflood-tolerant rice trials carried out at BRRI’sRangpur station.adam barclay (5)BRRI scientist M.A. Mazid (second from right) speaks to onlookers about the success of farmer MostafaKamal’s (right) flood-tolerant rice trials. Mr. Kamal’s neighbor, Mohammad Shahidul Islam (left), is keen togrow the new varieties himself.varieties in farmers’ fields. Inthis setting, there was no way ofcontrolling when flooding wouldoccur, how long it would last, orwhether it would even happen at all.Moving forward to November2008, to a small farm in RangpurDistrict in northwestern Bangladesh,researchers from IRRI, UC, andnational institutes in India andBangladesh commenced a SouthAsian tour to mark the completion ofthe project From genes to farmers’fields: enhancing and stabilizingproductivity of rice in submergenceproneenvironments, funded from2004 to 2008 by Germany’s FederalMinistry for Economic Cooperationand Development (BMZ).If ever there was a country withflooding problems, Bangladesh is it.More than 1 million hectares—20%—of the country’s rice lands are floodprone.“In those areas where floodingoccurs once or twice and recedeswithin 12–14 days,” says BRRIPrincipal Scientific Officer M.A. Mazid,who has overseen the Sub1 trials atBRRI’s Rangpur station, “the Sub1varieties could survive and improveyields by up to 3 tons per hectare.”Given that Bangladesh is forcedto import around 2 million tons ofrice each year, BRRI Director GeneralMohammad Firoze Shah Shikdersays that successful flood-tolerantrice could substantially reduce, if noteliminate, the country’s imports.“Sub1 varieties will add to thetotal production of the country,” hesays. “They will save a lot of moneythat would otherwise be used forimporting rice.”Moreover, within that single,large-scale outcome, there would bethousands and thousands of equallypositive, smaller-scale achievements.Many farm families, eking out a livingon less than a hectare, could ensurethat they had enough rice to eat yearround.Others would harvest enoughto sell their surplus on the market andincrease their income.Mostafa Kamal is one of thefarmers BRRI recruited to test theSub1 varieties in his field. He and hisbrothers have a 6-hectare farm—largeby Bangladeshi standards—that needsto produce enough rice each year tofeed 22 members of the Kamal family.The farm suffers heavy losses becauseof flooding every 4 out of 5 years.“In the past, many of my plotsbecame fallow because they wereflooded too often,” says Mr. Kamal,referring to the lowest-lying 2hectares of the farm. “If we cancultivate on these plots, it will helpus produce rice to sell on the market.Two extra hectares is a big jump.”So, how did the flood-tolerantvarieties fare? Twenty-three daysafter the 8 July transplanting ofthe 2008 wet-season crop, the farmwas hit by a 15-day flood. When thewaters receded, Mr. Kamal witnesseda wonderful thing. In his Sub1 plots,95–98% of the plants recovered. Inthe non-Sub1 plots, the figure was10–12%. Many of his neighboringfarmers, who were not involvedin the trial, lost their entire crops.So encouraged was Mr. Kamal, heplanned to give away—not sell—akilogram of flood-tolerant seeds toeach of his neighbors.“When I saw Mostafa’s fieldflooded, and then saw it recover, I wassurprised—it was like magic,” recallsMr. Kamal’s neighbor, MohammadShahidul Islam. The annual flashfloods mean that Mr. Islam grow<strong>sr</strong>ice on only the upper half of his 1.6-hectare farm in the wet season. Eachyear, he needs to buy 1 to 2 months’worth of rice to cover his family’sshortfall. He believes that floodtolerantvarieties will allow him toplant on his low-lying 0.8 hectare andcover that shortage. “These varieties,”“Forget Swarna! Go for Swarna-Sub1!” saysBasant Kumar Rao, a rice farmer from NuagaonVillage near Cuttack in Orissa. Here, he stands inhis crop of Swarna-Sub1, which recovered well aftertwo floods hit his farm in the 2007 wet season.Following a 10-day flood, Orissa farmer BidhuBhusan Raut saw his Swarna-Sub1 recover wellwhile his nontolerant Gayatri perished. “Betteryielding is better living,” he says.he says, “will mean more food, higherincome, and a better livelihood.”Observing the success of theflood-tolerant varieties in Bangladeshwas a watershed moment for SigridHeuer, an IRRI molecular biologistwho contributed to the analysis ofSUB1A.“I knew all along SUB1A wasworking in any type of rice we put itin,” she says. “I’ve seen it many timesat IRRI and I’ve seen the data fromthe field experiments in India. But I’dnever seen it in farmers’ fields withmy own eyes. Here, I’ve seen it afternatural flooding for 15 days—themaximum time we think SUB1Ashould be able to withstand—and it’sworking. It’s really fantastic.”A short flight away in easternIndia, it is the same story. The statesof West Bengal and Orissa, alongwith Uttar Pradesh in the northeast,have all seen equally promising trialresults and plan to completely replaceSwarna with Swarna-Sub1 as soonas it is officially released by stateseed certification agencies. In WestBengal, Swarna dominates, with 80%of the rice area already planted tothe variety. A move to Swarna-Sub1would therefore be relatively easy andstands to have enormous impact.“Forget Swarna! Go for Swarna-Sub1!” is the advice from BasantKumar Rao, a rice farmer fromNuagaon Village near Cuttack inOrissa. “I trust Swarna-Sub1. I’ll keepgrowing it. I got good money for it in2007,” he says.That year, his farm was hit bytwo floods, one of 11 days and oneof 7 days. The flood-tolerant ricerecovered after both floods and,although he was able to salvage alittle of his regular Swarna, it yieldednowhere near as well.“Better yielding is better living,”according to another Orissa farmer,Bidhu Bhusan Raut. In the 2008 wetseason, Mr. Raut grew Gayatri, apopular Indian variety, and Swarna-Sub1 on his entire 1-hectare farm.The development and testing of flood-tolerant rice varieties—on show here at BRRI’s Rangpur station—have attracted keen interest from plant scientists across the world.28 Rice Today April-June 2009 Rice Today April-June 2009 29
adam barclay (4)After a 10-day flood, the Sub1 plant<strong>sr</strong>ecovered well, while the Gayatriplants perished.According to CRRI DirectorT.K. Adhya, the release of floodtolerantrice has become more andmore important as India has growneconomically.“People used to grow rice in morefavorable areas, where you had anassured source of water and good soilquality,” he explains. “Now, thoseinterior areas are being taken overby human habitation and industry,so farmers are forced onto marginallands in the coastal areas whereflooding, salinity, and many otherproblems occur. In the past, farmerssimply had to face flooding and blametheir luck if they didn’t get a harvest.”IRRI plant physiologistAbdel Ismail, who is studying themechanism of SUB1A’s action, saysthere is a strong case for rapid releaseof the new varieties.“When you develop varietiesusing marker-assisted selection,” hesays, “you do not change the varietymuch. Because the SUB1A gene isvery specific in its expression andaction during submergence, the Sub1varieties should not have any otherproblems—such as susceptibilityto diseases or insects—that theirnontolerant counterparts wouldn’thave also. In the future, we expectExamining trials at BRRI headquarters in Gazipur, K.M. Iftekharuddaula (right) has bred flood toleranceinto popular Bangladeshi rice variety BR11, which accounts for more than one-third of the country’swet-season plantings.many new varieties to come outas products of MAS. If you have asubmergence-tolerant or salt-tolerantvariety, for example, you want it togo to the field as quickly as possible,where it can make a big difference.”N. Shobha Rani, principal scientistat India’s Directorate of Rice Research,says that traditionally bred rice mustundergo testing for 3 years in all-Indiatrials, but this has been reduced to 2years for MAS-derived varieties.“The second year of testing is2009,” says Dr. Rani, “so, April 2010is the earliest time the Sub1 varietiescould be recommended by the CentralVariety Release Committee fornational release.” She notes, however,that release could occur on a statebasis before then.In fact, on 27 February 2009,only a few months after Dr. Ranitalked to Rice Today, the UttarPradesh State Varietal ReleaseCommittee officially releasedSwarna-Sub1. Being nearly identical—apart from its flood tolerance—toSwarna, this inaugural release ofa Sub1 mega-variety occurred veryquickly: only 6 years after the firstcross was made at IRRI.A quick release is also possiblebecause plants developed throughMAS are not transgenic (that is,genes of interest are transferred tothe target species or variety usingparticular biotechnological tool<strong>sr</strong>ather than conventional breeding).Therefore, the new Sub1 varieties areA patch of the popular rice variety Swarnalies flattened and dying after several days offlooding. In contrast, the flood-tolerant version,Swarna-Sub1, rebounds to good health.not subject to the regulatory testingthat can delay release of transgenicproducts for several years.The Sub1 trait also came alongwith an additional bonus, a genelinked to SUB1A that turns thenormally golden color of the hull ofSwarna into a straw color. Althoughthe hull color is not considered animportant varietal requirement,this allows the seeds of Swarna-Sub1 to be easily distinguishedfrom those of Swarna. This will beuseful to maintain seed purity asseed producers start ramping up theproduction of foundation seed fordistribution to farmers.Another success to emergefrom the Sub1 work has beenthe strengthening of nationalorganizations such as BRRI andCRRI.“In India now, MAS has a lot ofsupport from the government,” saysDr. Ismail. “In Bangladesh, BRRI hasits own lab for MAS, and not just forSUB1. In the national agriculturalresearch and extension systems, theproject has boosted capacity throughresources and expertise, and alsothrough government support.”BRRI researcher K.M.Iftekharuddaula is a good example.He carried out his Ph.D. researchunder Dr. Mackill’s supervision atIRRI headquarters in the Philippines,developing a flood-tolerant versionof popular Bangladeshi variety BR11,which accounts for more than onethirdof the country’s wet-seasonplantings. After completing his thesi<strong>sr</strong>esearch, he returned to Bangladesh,where he is now the BRRI breederresponsible for refining BR11-Sub1varieties for official release.“We are very much hopeful thatwe’ll be able to release at least twovarieties from our efforts,” says Mr.Iftekharuddaula, who is also workingwith IRRI to incorporate diseaseresistance and salinity tolerance intoBR11-Sub1.As Sub1 varieties are officiallyreleased over the next 2 years,the key will be dissemination tosmallholder farmers in flood-proneareas. IRRI is leading this initiativethrough the project Stress-TolerantRice for Poor Farmers in Africaand South Asia, funded by the Bill& Melinda Gates Foundation. IRRIis also collaborating with nationalorganizations to test Sub1 varieties inSoutheast Asian countries, includingLaos, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia,Vietnam, and the Philippines,through a project funded by Japan’sMinistry of Foreign Affairs.Dr. Ismail adds that SUB1A’seffectiveness offers hope for researchinto tolerance of other so-called abioticstresses, such as drought and salinity.“The general notion with abioticstresses used to be that it would bevery difficult to find a single gene thatcan make much difference,” he says.“This work has shown that you canget a single gene of great agronomicvalue. I think this has set the tone forsolving other major difficulties in thefield, such as problem soils.”The story of the SUB1 researchunderscores the capacity of scienceto improve people’s lives, as wellas the power inherent in a gene. Itseems a long and unlikely journeyfrom experimental plots in thePhilippines and the laboratorybenches in California to a small farmin Bangladesh.For Drs. Ronald and Bailey-Serres, the chance to get out of thelab and see the Sub1 varieties infarmers’ fields has been a profoundexperience.“It was amazing to see that thisdetailed genetic and physiologicalanalysis ultimately has potential for agrand impact on people who are oftenliving in pretty desperate situations,”Dr. Bailey-Serres says.Even Dr. Heuer, who, through herwork at IRRI, is no stranger to Asia’<strong>sr</strong>ice fields, has been moved. “I had noidea about the impact we can havebefore seeing it with my own eyes,”she adds. “I’ve learned about thepower of agricultural research here.I think it will have a huge impact.”Mr. Barclay is a freelance writerbased in Australia. See www.irri.org/flood-proof-rice.IRRI molecular biologist Sigrid Heuer (center) with her Ph.D. student Namrata Singh (left) and IRRIassistant scientist Darlene Sanchez at the Chinsurah Rice Research Station, in West Bengal, India.30 Rice Today April-June 2009Rice Today April-June 200931
In Bangladesh, hunger and povertyare part of the sad reality. Here,in one of the poorest and mostdensely populated nations inthe world, millions of people sufferfrom severe hunger each year. Thestreets of Dhaka City are dotted withmen, women, and children beggingfor alms. In the north, however,life is even harder. In five districts(Rangpur, Nilphamari, Kurigram,Gaibandha, and Lalmonirhat) 7 hoursaway from the country’s capital, afamine known as monga occurs fromSeptember to November each year.Monga (hunger months) occursafter the previous season’s food ha<strong>sr</strong>un out, before the transplanted riceis harvested in December. Millionsof rural families who rely mostlyon farm work for their livelihoodare jobless and cannot afford to buyfood in the market. In Rangpur, onefarmer shared that he simply tries tosleep off the pangs of hunger duringthis period. He gets up only when heneeds to check his field and if he hasmoney to buy food in the market.A team from the IrrigatedRice Research Consortium (IRRC)journeyed to these districts inOctober 2007 to learn more aboutthe yearly famine and to see howEasing thePlight of theHungrysome management options couldhelp soften the blow on the people.The IRRC is a regional partnershipprogram of the International RiceResearch Institute (IRRI), with 11countries committed to developingrice-growing technologies anddisseminating these to farmersacross South and Southeast Asia(see Hungry for knowledge, pages32-33 of Rice Today Vol. 7, No. 2).The IRRC teamed up with theBangladesh Rice Research Institute(BRRI) and a local alliance calledthe Northwest Area Local Forum,which is composed of governmentby Trina Leah Mendoza and David JohnsonMonga (hunger months) occurs every year in Bangladesh.Researchers revisited the country in 2008 to find out howsome farming technologies were able to help families copeduring these tough timesA farmer takes a break from weeding his field and eats lunch brought byhis wife. For many farming families, lunch consists of just rice and curry.institutions and nongovernmentorganizations (NGOs), includingRangpur Dinajpur Rural Service,Solidarity, Intercooperation, andGrameen Atto Unnayn Sangstha.Together, they are promotingearlier harvests through the useof a shorter-duration rice variety(BRRI dhan 33), direct seeding,and weed control options.Compared with the traditionalpractice of transplanting, with directseeding of rice, seeds are sowndirectly into an unflooded field,either as dry or “wet” pregerminatedseeds. But, without the flooding ofA mother feeds her daughter<strong>sr</strong>ice and curry for lunch.trina leah mendoza (2)fields, weeds are a major problem,and timely and appropriateweed management is essentialto avoid drastically low yields.On two visits to these districtsin Bangladesh, Florencia Palis, IRRIagricultural anthropologist and IRRCsocial scientist, interviewed landlessand marginal farmers about theirhardships during monga and howthey cope during these tough times.Joshna, a 35-year-old farmerfrom Nilphamari, used to transplantrice in her small upland and lowlandfields (a combined area of less thanone-third of a hectare). In 2006, sheharvested a meager 243 kilograms ofrice from her upland field sown withSwarna, a traditional variety. Butfloods damaged her lowland fields.Heavily in debt, Joshna sold her twogoats and a few small trees for woodto be able to buy food for her family.Ironically, while Bangladeshifarmers suffer from annual floods,they also rely heavily on monsoonrains to prepare the land for rice.If the rains are too late or too little,farmers may not be able to plantthe crop on time. Transplantingespecially requires large quantities ofwater to flood the fields. For Joshna,there was not enough rainfall toquench the thirst of her fields.In 2007, Joshna decided to trydry direct seeding using a lithao (atraditional hand-drawn tool) to sowthe short-duration BRRI dhan 33.This decision changed her family’slife. At harvest time, her fieldsyielded 560 kilograms of rice andgained an additional US$50 grossincome. Now, her family no longergoes hungry. Joshna was able to payher debts and buy a pregnant cow.Most Bangladeshi families considercows very special investments thatprovide them with milk and cowdung (manure) for fertilizer. Asidefrom being able to buy meat andfish, Joshna is able to send herchildren to school and buy themother things such as notebooks,books, clothes, pencils, and bags.Following the establishmentand dissemination of rice-growingtechnologies among the farmers inBangladesh, the IRRC came backDr. Flor Palis, IRRI agricultural anthropologist, interviews farmer Joshna Rahni about her struggles duringmonga and how direct seeding using an early-maturing variety has changed her family’s life. Md. AnarulHaque (far right), a BRRI staff member, and Dr. M.A. Mazid (far left), head of the BRRI Rangpur station,translate for Dr. Palis.in July 2008 to probe deeper intohow these technologies benefitedthe farmers. They saw how thingshave improved and found out thatthe farmers are now singing a happytune. These changes were capturedin the video Easing the plight ofthe hungry, available in English(http://snipurl.com/d2018) andBengali (http://snipurl.com/d2ufv).Moreover, other than Joshna,Panchu and his family also benefitedfrom these technologies. At first,Panchu’s wife was hesitant to trydirect seeding in their small fieldin Rangpur. But Panchu convincedher that, if they tried direct seedingusing BRRI dhan 33, they couldmake use of the growing seasonand eventually harvest three cropssuch as rice, potato, and maize.True enough, they saw good yieldsat harvest time and appreciated thebenefits of direct seeding. Now, theyworry less about what they are goingto eat next or where they can getmoney for their children’s needs.Other farmers tried thetechnologies for the same reasons:they can harvest earlier, sell at ahigher price, and grow crops suchas potato, maize, and chickpea.IRRI agricultural economistand IRRC team member AreleneMalabayabas trained localinterviewers to collect rice and othercrop production data from 200farmers through household surveys.BRRI dhan 33 direct-seeded duringthe aman (wet) planting season fromJune to July is harvested 30–37 daysearlier on average than transplantedlong-duration varieties. The earlyharvest generated employment ofabout 60–63 person-days per hectare,which means that landless laborerscan earn wages during monga.Direct seeding of an earlymaturingvariety combined withproper weed management has helpedease the suffering during monga.This has increased people’s accessto an early food supply, createdjobs for the landless, and generatedincome for farmers to buy food fortheir families, and has significantlyimproved the quality of their lives.The Bangladeshi government hasadopted these approaches andtechnologies for a national programfor monga mitigation with a 3-year (2008-10) action plan.Linking governmentorganizations with NGOs that haveactive programs in the countrysideand working closely with farmers’groups and rural communities haveimproved technology transfer.Thanks to these developmentsand the active participation of thelocal partners, the farmers leadhappier and healthier lives as theyno longer worry about where to findfood and employment when mongacomes.Ms. Mendoza is a communicationspecialist with the IRRC. Dr. Johnsonis a senior weed scientist in IRRI’sCrop and Environmental SciencesDivision.md. ahadat hossain32 Rice Today April-June 2009 Rice Today April-June 2009 33
gene hettel (3)The irri pioneer interviewsConducted by Gene HettelIn the Punjab—an outstanding farmer revisitedOn 5 June 1985, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) honored 14 exceptional farmers in 10 Asian nations—trulypioneers in their own rite—by inviting them to the Philippines to participate in a special multilevel symposium that broughttogether outstanding scientists, farmers, and political leaders—all part of IRRI’s 25th anniversary celebration. As IRRIapproaches its 50th anniversary in 2010, we are trying to locate these same farmers 25 years later to find out their progressand get some updates. The first one we found is Sardar Jagjit Singh Hara who farms in Punjab, the breadbasket state of India.In November 2008, departing Rice Today editor Adam Barclay and I visited him on his farm about 12 km outside of Ludhiana.He was billed as a progressive Punjabi seed farmer 25 years ago. Since his recognition then, Mr. Hara has often been visited byagricultural researchers and leaders who have come to see and evaluate his farming practices. Perhaps the most dramatic visitwas the simultaneous appearance of a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and a future World Food Prize Laureate on the same day.Something I had never dreamed ofMy father, S. Ram Singh,was a progressive farmerand I would say that Iinherited from him thegene that bestowed upon me mylove for agriculture. After earningmy master’s degree in economicsin 1960, I worked full time onthis farm to produce seeds, as myfather had. I also continued to growvarious crops [wheat, potato, corn,ground nut]. In 1966, when the ricerevolution came, I started to growrice, not only as a commercial cropbut also for seed production.In 1985, to my great surprise,I got a big honor when I wa<strong>sr</strong>ecommended for an IRRI awardas an outstanding farmer. Mywife, Surjit, was also invited but,because of family reasons, shecouldn’t accompany me. It was agreat occasion. I was so excited andelated that such a huge internationalhonor would come to me—somethingI had never even dreamed of. Itwas gratifying to meet the 13 otherAsian farmers recognized that day.I was unique [among that group]because I was a seed producer.I returned home with a “chargedbattery” because I had seen so manyfield trials at the IRRI researchcenter—how to add fertilizer, thelatest hybrid rice technology, etc.I wanted to share those things Ilearned with my fellow farmers here.I acquired this culture of sharingexperiences from the InternationalFarm Youth Exchange Program inAmerica, which I attended in 1966.Generally, people want to keep theirknowledge to themselves, maybe toput it in book form and sell it. But Ihad a commitment, a vow, to sharemy experiences, such as those I hadat IRRI. When I came back fromadam barclayIRRI, around 100 farmers cameto me and asked many questions,which I tried to answer. So, I wouldsay I was married to IRRI.Two more memorable occasionsOn 22 April 1987, one great occasionhappened. Norman E. Borlaug [the1970 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate]visited me on my farm and, justby coincidence Gurdev S. Khush[IRRI’s then principal plant breederand future 1996 World Food PrizeLaureate] also came. So, hangingon my wall now is a unique and rarepicture (photo opposite page) of thesetwo world-renowned scientists—awheat breeder [Borlaug center] anda rice breeder—with one fortunatefarmer. It is difficult to describein words how I felt that day.In September 1991, [the thenIRRI director general, 1988-95]Dr. Klaus Lampe visited the nearbyPunjab Agricultural University (PAU),an institution I am deeply associatedwith. They told him about me, thatI am an IRRI outstanding farmerawardee, and so he came to see me.When he saw my setup, he invited meto come to IRRI again. I told him, “Dr.Hara family archivesLampe, some of my farmer friendswant to come with me.” He said,“Okay, we cannot pay your airfares,but all other arrangements for yourstay will be taken care of by IRRI.”Six of us came to IRRI in September-October 1992. It was a wonderfuloccasion. In my life, I have had manygreat experiences, but my two visitsto IRRI and the visits of Drs. Borlaugand Khush to my farm on the sameday are the most memorable ones.Hara farm—a showcase forthe rice-wheat rotationToday, our farm is a joint familyventure of 60 acres (around 25hectares). Since my brother worksin California, in the U.S., as anelectrical engineer, I manage thingsaround here. This is a large-scaledemonstration farm, which is stillin the process of resolving a bigcontroversy. There is an ongoingdebate in Punjab and all over Indiaconcerning whether or not wheatand paddy can be profitably grownin rotation. But when disbelieverscome to my farm, I can proveto them that these two maincereals can be grown together.Prior to the Green Revolution,rice was not popular in Punjab. Itwas grown only in the low-lyingareas along the riverbeds and wasnot a regular crop like wheat, cotton,corn, etc. But, with the arrival ofIR8 in India in the 1960s, alongwith the package of practices for thePunjab cropping pattern, the crophas been grown here ever since eventhough the water table is gettinglower in this part of the country.Previously, government expertscouldn’t convince farmers totransplant late. They transplantedearly because there was a lack ofmechanization, and diseases andinsect pests were less of a problem.Recently, the government persuadedmany farmers not to transplantbefore 10 June. Now, this year [2008],the results are very good. The watertable is recharged and, luckily, themonsoon has also been favorable.Wheat and rice are like twowheels on the same vehicle. If onewheel goes down, the other wheelcannot function either. I thinkthese two “wheels,” wheat and rice,complement each other. This year,the yields and the price of bothcrops have been good, rice witha slight edge over wheat, I think.Most importantly, we are feedingthe people. I feel proud that I’mproducing good-quality seeds formy farmer friends so that they canhave better and better yields (Formore on South Asia’s rice-wheatcropping system, see Strengtheningthe system on pages 18-23).Convincing the young thatagriculture is a noble profession[In his 1985 interview, Mr. Harasaid that he would not pressure hisson, Gurshaminder, to follow in hisfootsteps on the farm. And, trueenough, “Dr. G. Hara” is a seniorconsultant surgeon at the OswalCancer Treatment and ResearchFoundation in Ludhiana. Nownearing 70, Mr. Hara worries aboutwho will take over the family farm—maybe his grandson, Tejeshwar,but that is by no means certain.]It is a burning issue these daysthat no young educated, dedicatedperson wants to be in agriculture.Why? First, it is a very hard job.Second, opportunities for growthare limited. Most importantly,agriculture in developing economieslike India’s is considered as a wayof living, not as a profession. Whentrying to persuade my only son tostay on the farm, I suggested thathe would get an opportunity to goabroad to see farms in America andAustralia and to observe the researchtrials and experiments at IRRI. Buthe ultimately still said, “No. Whatis life on the farm? You work like ahorse and there is no social life.”Indeed, professions in the cityare more glamorous and the currentgeneration is more money-mindedrather than service-oriented. Whyam I in agriculture? I wanted to beindependent and to not be tied tothe monotony of the same chair inthe same office with the same job.And, secondly, God is my boss. Ilearned to drive on a John Deeretractor when I was 13 years oldand that hooked me on agriculturedespite the drudgery and the risk.Now, the situation is changing;the world is crying for food security.I hope good sense will prevail andthat, someday soon, the world willdeclare agriculture to be a nobleprofession just like medicine, law,and education.In the complete transcript of thisinterview at irri.org/today/Pioneer_Interviews.asp, Mr. Hara discussesmechanization, water management,economics, and the major challengestoday in Punjabi agriculture.34Rice Today April-June 2009Rice Today April-June 2009 35
Asian consumption to drivemarkets in 2009 by V. SubramanianWorld Grains Trade Summit sees Asian consumptiondriving the world grains market in 2009The global financial crisismay have slowed theconsumption of variouscommodities, but Asiandemand for grains (as food and feed)remains strong. The first WorldGrains Trade Summit held on 17 to18 February 2009, organized by theCentre for Management Technologyin Singapore, reported that demandfor 2009 will largely come from Asia.As the world continues to recoverfrom the effects of the 2008 crisis,the Summit expressed concerns aboutthe current grain market riddledwith risks and slowed by the worldeconomic downturn. The participantshoped for the market to be lessvolatile, but the Summit reportsindicated that this year’s marketwill be affected by policies, climatechanges, and other factors that maydi<strong>sr</strong>upt supply such as pests andnatural calamities.The growing Asian populationAccording to Diego Barber, globalhead of grains at Noble Group,Asia is home to 60% of the world’spopulation, which continues to growat 1–1.4% per year. He stressed thatthe region will play an importantif not critical role in bringing moredemand to trade in grains. In thesevolatile times, Asian grain demandhas been upheld by populationgrowth, rising per capita incomes,strong food policies, as well asdecreasing energy and food prices,which helped reduce the risk ofinflation.“Global inflation reversed itssharp upward trend after 2008as energy and food prices fell as aresult of the economic slowdown,”Barber said. “Lower inflation ratesand declining food prices gave Asianconsumers some relief, which helpedmaintain consumption patterns.”Challenges emerged, however,from the global credit crunch, thedeclines in economic growth rates inkey emerging markets (the economiesof China and India were expectedto drop by 3–5%), and increasedawareness and policy initiatives toensure food security.Nevertheless, the changingnutritional trends in the emergingAsian markets and the regionalgovernments’ efforts to maintainand protect strategic reserves havecreated a positive demand for grains,which would help drive consumptiontrend.False sense of comfortRajeev Raina, head of OlamInternational’s Rice Division,said that, following the marketdevelopments of 2008 and theirimpact on trade this year, ricemarkets may offer the world a falsesense of comfort.Not known to many, the worldsaw high production from 2003 to2008. This increase in productionis misleading because, for 4 years(2003-06) within that period,consumption exceeded production.Stock amounts also rose since late2008 on the back of food securitymeasures. Since 1991, yields havebeen falling behind populationgrowth, which suggests that theproduction comfort zone has, for 18years now, been eroded by the risingtide of consumption. Raina said thatthe world needed a 1.5% yield increaseevery year for the next 12 years just toretain the current balance.Production increased last year inThailand, India, Pakistan, and evenVietnam because of the rice pricehike. Prices subsequently went down,which gave consumers a relative senseof security. This false sense of reliefmay be further exacerbated by India’sJean Craven, Export Trading Corporation, detailingthe finer points of trading with Africa.possible return to the market. Indiabanned exports of nonbasmati ricelast year following the food crisis. If itlifts the ban soon and releases its ricestocks, chances are prices will comefurther down. Many fail to realize,however, that the fundamentals havenot changed. The world continuesto consume at a rate faster thanproduction growth. The marketneeds efforts to overcome this gap.But, results do not happen overnight.It may take more than 10 years tosee the results from any researchinitiative; hence, we can expect riceavailability to be tight over the nextdecade.In addition, although bufferstocks are rising, amounts remainrelatively low. Hence, potentialshort-term imbalances in supplyand demand are becoming morepronounced. Government exportrestrictions as well as climate changescan easily tip this finely balancedsituation over to the critical side.The Summit cautioned theparticipants against the possiblerisks of today’s market. Among themany key features that would affecttrends were the financial crisis,how investment funds will react orwhen they will return, the long-termpromise of research, and the potentialbenefits offered by geneticallymodified crops. The event’s presenterspinned much hope on Asia’s strongconsumption trend, which wouldhelp keep demand firm. Prices andpolicies, however, will still greatlydetermine the market’s capacity tomeet these future needs.v. subramanian36 Rice Today April-June 2009 Rice Today April-June 2009 37
MapsWater mapping with satellitesby Yann Chemin and Robert HijmansRice is often producedin the lowest parts ofthe landscape. Theseare good places togrow rice because of the clayey soilsand the relatively humid conditionsbecause the groundwater is nearby.However, this low position, often inthe floodplain of a river, makes thecrop prone to flooding. If excessivewater causes the crop to submerge,serious yield losses can occur. It hasbeen estimated that, in Bangladeshand India alone, approximately 4million tons of rice are lost everyyear. In South Asia, this is aboutequivalent to the amount annuallyconsumed by 30 million people.However, these estimates ofproduction loss are rather uncertainbecause flooding is highly variablein time and space, and farmershave, in part, adjusted theircropping practices to expected floodoccurrences. We would like to havea clearer understanding of where,when, and for how long floodingis likely to occur. This could helpus understand where the benefitsof submergence-tolerant varieties,which the International RiceResearch Institute has developed (see<strong>Scuba</strong> rice on pages 26-31), would begreatest, and where these varietieswould most likely be adopted byfarmers.We use satellite remote sensingto map the area of rice productionand the occurrence of flooding inAsia. We use freely available datafrom the Modis (Moderate-resolutionImaging Spectroradiometer) 1 sensor.This sensor is on board the Terraand Aqua satellites. These satellitescreate a daily record for each placeon Earth at a spatial resolution (pixelsize) of 250 to 1,000 m. Because ofclouds, however, the rainy seasoncan have many days when certainareas do not have values, but,generally, one can expect to get atleast one good observation per week.The Modis sensor record<strong>sr</strong>eflectance (the fraction of incomingradiant energy that is reflectedfrom a surface of the Earth) in 36different wavelengths across theelectromagnetic spectrum—fromthe visible to the thermal infrared(0.4 µm to 14.4 µm). Water canbe easily identified by combiningreflectance in the red, near-infrared,and shortwave. Rice is identifiedusing a combination of waterand vegetation indices computedfrom the reflectance data.The large map illustrates theresults using the Modis data foridentifying water. The lower leftmap shows surface water during4-12 August 2007, whenparts of eastern India andBangladesh were affectedby severe inundations.The three small maps ofnortheastern Thailandshow areas with waterin three different years:7-15 October 2002, 21-29September 2004, and15-23 October 2006.Identifying surfacewater is relatively simple.The challenge is tointegrate it with data on rice plantingand development to see where fieldsget submerged, and during whichstage of crop development. We arealso trying to identify areas wherefarmers delay planting until the riskof submergence has diminished.The availability of free dailysatellite images, and algorithmsimplemented in open-source softwarefor geographic data analysis, suchas GRASS and R, allows us to usesatellite technology to map riceareas and some of the constraintsthat farmers have to deal with. Inthe future, we also plan to estimateyield loss caused by drought.Dr. Chemin is a postdoctoral fellowand Dr. Hijmans is a geographer inthe IRRI Social Sciences Division.1See http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/ and http://onearth.jpl.nasa.gov/.38 Rice Today April-June 2009 Rice Today April-June 2009 39
Drought-proof ricefor African farmersby Savitri MohapatraResearch institutes, donor agencies, and community representativescollaborate to develop drought-tolerant rice for African farmerssIt takes, on average,2,500 liters ofwater (by rainfallor irrigation) toproduce just 1 kilogramof rice using traditionalcultivation methods.Considering the effectsof climate change, canfarmers continue to growrice if the water supplybecomes increasinglyscarce?Drought is particularlydevastating to Africa’s riceproduction since almost80% of the region’s ricearea is rainfed. ManyAfricans still rememberthe terrible droughts of1972-74 and 1981-84,which ravaged the Saheland the Horn of Africa and causedimmense suffering and severelyaffected farming—the principalsource of livelihood for millionsof poor people. Over the last fourdecades, Africa has suffered fromseven major episodes of drought.Fortunately, rice has a significantgenetic variation in traits related todrought tolerance, such as earliness,root architecture, and water-useefficiency. Scientists desperatelylook for these traits in varieties tobe used in breeding programs andto develop improved high-yieldingdrought-tolerant varieties.“One striking example ofdrought-tolerant local rice isOryza glaberrima, which wasdomesticated in West Africa about3,500 years ago,” says Dr. Moussarv raman (2)The Africa Rice Center gene bank conserves seeds of African rice species and sharesthem with rice breeders around the world.Sié, program leader for GeneticDiversity and Improvement atthe Africa Rice Center (WARDA).“It can recover after droughtswhen water is available again.”Plasticity and the capacityto regenerate quickly are themain advantages of African rice.“That is why, although it is notparticularly high yielding, ourrice farmers continue to growit in pockets,” Dr. Sié adds.The development of droughttolerantAfrican varieties is one ofthe solutions to increase rice yieldsin drought-prone environments.Generous support from donors,such as the UK Department forInternational Development andthe World Bank, has allowed seedsof these precious varieties to bepreserved in theWARDA gene bank,and then shared withresearchers aroundthe world throughthe InternationalNetwork for theGenetic Evaluationof Rice-Africa.This collection ofAfrican rice geneticresources was the keyto the developmentof NERICA ® —a crossbetween Africanand Asian ricevarieties—by WARDA(see In search of newseeds, pages 30-31of Rice Today, Vol.6, No. 1). Africanrice farmers haveshown particular interest in theearly maturity of NERICA, whichcan be flexible enough to avoiddrought and allow double cropping.Some NERICA varieties suited forrainfed production systems are nowgrown in several African countries.In addition to the indigenousAfrican rice, the African cultivatedrice gene pools also have thousandsof Asian rice (O. sativa) varieties.Although these varieties havejust been introduced recentlyin the region, they have evolvedlong enough in Africa’s harshconditions and have developed acertain degree of resistance to localstresses such as blast and drought.Now, WARDA scientists andtheir partners are investigatingthese gene pools. They are40 Rice Today April-June 2009 Rice Today April-June 200941
RICE FACTSGlobal rice trade:What does it mean for futurefood security?Rice is different from other majorfield crops such as wheat, maize,and soybeans because of its highgeographical concentration inproduction and consumption (around90% in Asia), literally making it anAsian crop. Historically, a very smallproportion, around 5–7%, of totalrice production has been tradedcompared with 20% for wheat, 13%for maize, and 30% for soybeans.More importantly, four of the top fiveexporters, with a 70% share of totalglobal rice trade, are from Asia, forwhich domestic food security comesfirst and trade is a distant second (Fig.1). For these rice-producing countries,trade is an afterthought whendomestic need and an adequate bufferstock are secured. However, on theimport side, the top five rice importdependentcountries accounted foronly 29% of the total trade in 2007-08(Fig. 2). Even the top ten importersaccounted for only 45% of the totaltrade in the same year.After almost two and a halfdecades (the 1960s to late 1980s) ofbeing stagnant, rice trade zoomedupward in the wake of tradeliberalization by many countries in thelate 1980s and the General Agreementon Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1994.2007-08 export shareData source: USDAFig. 1. Dominance of Asian rice producers in theglobal market.Fig. 2. Countries dependent on rice imports.by Samarendu MohantyHead, IRRI Social Sciences Division2007-08 import shareData source: USDAAs part of the GATT market accesscommitments, countries partiallyopened up rice trade, which causedthe volume to rise more than 50% inthe past decade. Rising trade flows inthe 1990s, characterized by a growingdependability between exporters andimporters, contributed to the highdegree of price stability during thisperiod.Political repercussions of the rice crisisThe recent crisis that triggered riotsand protests in different parts of thedeveloping world has put a big questionmark on the future of global rice trade.The market was primed for such acrisis with the drawing down of stocksin the last few years to fill the supplydemandimbalance arising from theslowdown in yield growth, drought,and pest problems. However, thesituation did not warrant the triplingof rice prices in the span of six monthsbetween November 2007 and May2008. Rising wheat prices due to theexpansion of biofuel crops put pressureon rice, which led to trade restrictionsin many rice-producing countries andunprecedented rises in prices.Measures taken by manyexporting countries to ensure theavailability of rice in the domesticmarket have affected many importingcountries that rely on rice in the worldmarket. In many rice-consumingcountries, rice self-sufficiency hasbecome a sensitive political issue,prompting policymakers to implementprograms to reduce dependence on theglobal market.Since rice is a staple food for abouthalf of the world, it is understandableon the part of rice-consumingcountries to protect domestic supplyin uncertain times either by imposingtrade restrictions or by expandingdomestic production. These actionsof both the exporting and importingcountries are likely to reverse therecent upward trend in rice trade.The United States Department ofAgriculture’s rice outlook report nowprojects 2009 global rice trade to be8% below the record level witnessedin 2007. All this points to lower tradeand the risk of making shortages andhigh prices more frequent. It maysound odd to argue in favor of freetrade in the face of the ongoing globalfinancial crisis, but, for rice, whichis highly protected and regulated,further protectionism can be severelydamaging for the food security ofmillions of poor people.What needs to be done?The crisis has renewed the call for asecond Green Revolution to revampthe sagging yield growth to feed thegrowing global population. In 2008,the International Rice ResearchInstitute (IRRI) identified investmentin agricultural infrastructure andrice research and extension asone of the keys to improving riceproduction. All members of theAssociation of Southeast AsianNations have endorsed this position.Several constraints, including landand water scarcity, environmentaldegradation, and high input prices,will make achieving higher rice yieldschallenging. But, we have proven oursuccess in delivering research-drivensolutions to farmers that increase yieldand, with further investment, we cancontinue to do this. However, noneof this is possible without supportivepolices and institutions in place.Apart from revamping the yieldgrowth, the conduct of the world ricemarket, which played an importantrole in magnifying the intensity ofthe recent crisis, needs to be reinedin if future crises are to be averted.The rice crisis starkly reminded usthat the current structure, in whichthe majority of exporters are residualsuppliers, does not bode well for thefuture of the global rice market. Thefuture stability of the rice marketclearly hinges on re-establishing therelationships between exporters andimporters. It may be worthwhile tohold a summit of major riceexportingand -importingcountries to build thoserelationships, and at the sametime collaboratively developsome basic rules in ricetrading. Another option, whichcould be expensive but worthconsidering, is to rebuildbuffer stocks in the majorrice-producing countries,particularly in China andIndia, to have a calming effecton the market.Aside from makinginvestments and changes toincrease rice yield withinAsia, another potentiallong-term solution to thisproblem lies in developingrice exporters outside Asiawhere rice can be producedprimarily for export. Thetransformation of the globalsoybean market threedecades ago may give a clueas to what is needed in therice market. In the soybeanmarket, the United Statesused to be the big guy on theblock, accounting for around80% of world productionand 95% of total exports throughoutthe 1960s and 1970s. The ban onsoybean exports imposed by the U.S.in the early 1970s changed the entirelandscape of soybean production andtrade when other countries startedlooking for alternative suppliers ofsoybeans. Although the soybean crisisended in a few months, the confidencein the U.S. as a reliable supplier wasgone. Two South American neighbors,Argentina and Brazil, emerged fromthis crisis to become formidablecompetitors for the U.S. in the worldsoybean market. Currently, these twocountries account for around half ofthe global soybean trade (Fig. 3). Theemergence of multiple dependablesuppliers also convinced manycountries, including China, Japan, theEuropean Union countries, Taiwan,South Korea, and others, to liberalizetheir oilseed sector and depend onimports. This is clearly evident forChina, with 38 million tons of importsin 2007-08, accounting for 76% of theData source: USDAFig. 3. Transformation of the global soybean market.Data source: USDAFig. 4. Chinese dependence on foreign soybeans.total domestic consumption (Fig. 4).It is true that the current situation,in terms of land and water availability,is quite different from what it wasin the 1970s and 1980s. Nobodyexpects countries to give up riceproduction and become dependent onthe international market even if newsuppliers emerge. But, more surplu<strong>sr</strong>ice produced by new suppliers couldhelp stabilize the market and reassurethe importing countries.Within Asia, Myanmar andCambodia potentially seem tohave surplus rice production. Riceproduction in these countries canbe expanded through intensificationand by bringing additional fallowland into production. However, this ispossible only under stable political andeconomic conditions. Outside Asia, thepotential to increase rice productionexists primarily in South Americaand Africa. Currently, South Americais more or less self-sufficient in riceand has the land mass to expand riceproduction if the underlyingeconomics make sense.Africa, on the other hand,probably has more potentialthan even South Americabecause of its underusedland and water resources.But, Africa requires a stablepolitical environment andthe necessary investment forinfrastructure and marketdevelopment to boost its riceproduction.Nonetheless, the bottomline is that the rice supplyneeds to increase to improvefuture food security. Riceyields within existing ricegrowingregions in Asia canbe increased if technologydrivensolutions are deliveredto growers through effectiveextension mechanisms, and ifinvestments are made. Betteragricultural infrastructureand policies must supportthis to improve the reliabilityof supply. Finally, newinternational suppliers of ricecould also play an importantrole in providing new sourcesof rice to importers.44 Rice Today April-June 2009 Rice Today April-June 200945
grain of truthcan less favorable areasobtain food security?by Gelia T. CastilloRice is life. So, when theglobal rice crisis hit in2008, it threatened manylives. The year became wellremembered for the soaring prices, thelong lines in the market, the panic, theblame game, and the social unrest indifferent countries. A sense of alarmgrew when rice, known to be themost “affordable” food for the poor,suddenly became “unaffordable.” Itreminded the world of rice’s crucialrole in human existence. It alsorevived interest in agriculture.Researchers often focus onfarming on irrigated, favorable,and accessible farms. But we mayfail to realize that many farmerscontend with unfavorable areas justso their families can have enoughrice to eat and survive. These socalledunfavorable areas are rainfedparcels; uplands; drought-prone,flooded, and submerged farms;farms with saline soils; etc.For a long time, rice sciencedid not favor investing in unfavorableareas as they were too diverse,complicated, and difficult. Comparedwith irrigated farms, these topographically,ecologically, and climaticallychallenged areas provided meagerharvests. When the internationaldevelopment community adoptedpoverty as its flagship challenge, theopportunity came to establish theConsortium for Unfavorable Rice Environments(CURE) in 2002. Fosteringcooperation between the nationalagricultural research and extensionsystems and the International RiceResearch Institute, this initiativeinvolves 10 countries: Bangladesh,Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR,Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines,Thailand, and Vietnam. As CUREfocuses its research on the developmentof less favorable areas, the goalis to provide more food security forthe poor families in the marginaland diverse rainfed environments inmonsoon South and Southeast Asia,through more sustainable and resilientrice-based production systems.Using an ecosystems paradigm,the research sites under the CUREproject include drought-prone plateauuplands, drought-prone lowlands, saltaffectedlowlands, sloping rotationalupland systems, the submergenceproneenvironment, and the intensiveupland systems with long growingseasons. The project uses a commonapproach to examine eight genericthemes (germplasm improvement, riceUsing science in combinationwith local practices to meetthe challenges of diverse riceenvironments, CURE maderice security in less favorableareas a realizable goal.varietal diversity, seeds and seedlingmanagement, crop establishment,cropping system enhancement, upscalingactivities, patterns of labor use,and food security) across the differentsites, but the resulting technologiesare specific to each ecosystem.Among these technologies, theprimacy of seeds is the most recurrent.For the Filipino farmers in the ArakanValley, for example, rice seed securityis food security. When they run outof food, the people start to eat theirseeds. Hence, they set up a communityseed bank.Through participatory varietalselection, farmers chose seeds amongdifferent varieties that performedwell in the field compared with thetraditional ones. Along with this,CURE introduced the concept of cleanand healthy seeds, lower seeding rates,and quality seedlings. Direct-seedingtechnologies resulted in earlier cropestablishment and harvest, lesslabor, and better weed control. Withshorter-duration varieties and timesavingcrop establishment, it alsobecame possible to grow nonricecrops for cash and employment.Anthropologist Stephen Zolvinskiobserved some of the technologiesthat resulted from the process. Thesubmergence-tolerance gene knownas SUB1A was transferred to Swarna,a popular variety in South Asia (see<strong>Scuba</strong> rice, stemming the tide in floodproneSouth Asia on pages 26-31).The development of this variety isan example of how modern scientifictools are combined with locallypopular varieties to produce improvedvarieties that are stress tolerant andacceptable to farmers. The SUB1A genecan now be found in Samba-Mahsuri-Sub1, IR64-Sub1, and Swarna-Sub1.More importantly, these technologieshave helped reduce the number offarmers who migrate to nonfarm jobsduring the hunger months.“If we have enough rice to eat,why would we leave the village?” thefarmers said.In summary, to achieve thegoal of rice security, CURE’s generalstrategy involves early-duration andhigher-yielding varieties; improvedlabor-saving practices; and earlier cropestablishment and harvest, which allowa nonrice crop to be sown on time andintensify system productivity, enhancefood security, and generate income.Using science in combination withlocal practices to meet the challengesof diverse rice environmentsthrough a common approach, CUREfound the common denominatorsand made rice security in lessfavorable areas a realizable goal.Dr. Gelia T. Castillo is a nationalscientist of the Philippines and IRRIconsultant.46 Rice Today April-June 2009 Rice Today April-June 200947
You want rice. We have rice.Let’s trade!48 Rice Today April-June 2009
contentsVol. 8, No. 2EDITORIAL................................................................. 4Reasons for hopeHIDDEN TREASURE................................................... 5NEWS.......................................................................... 650 years of rice research helps feed the worldDr. Khush donates to Punjab Agricultural UniversityNew rice plant could ease threat of hunger forthe poorNobel Laureate Dr. Norman Borlaug calls for secondGreen RevolutionIRRI enters into two new rice research partnershipsRats destroy rice crops in BicolFrom agricultural waste to useful energyPEOPLE.................................................................... 10Awards and recognitionKeeping up with IRRI staffRice science in the digital age ...................... 13irri books move from dusty shelves to the virtuallibrary. Need a book? Google it!NEW BOOKS............................................................ 16Trust in the SeedDrought Frontiers in Rice: Crop Improvement forIncreased Rainfed ProductionPathways from Poverty: The Process of Graduation inRural BangladeshSTRENGTHENING THE SYSTEM............................. 18For 15 years, the Rice-Wheat Consortium of the Indo-Gangetic Plains has been working to help SouthAsian farmers reduce their costs, increase theirproductivity, and help the environmentSNAPSHOT............................................................... 24IRRI and UC researchers with Harir Danga communityin northwestern Bangladesh<strong>Scuba</strong> Rice............................................................. 26Stemming the tide in flood-prone South AsiaEASING THE PLIGHT OF THE HUNGRY................. 32Monga (hunger months) occurs every year inBangladesh. Researchers revisited the country in2008 to find out how some farming technologieswere able to help families cope during these toughtimesPIONEER INTERVIEWS............................................ 34In the Punjab—an outstanding farmer revisitedASIAN CONSUMPTION TO DRIVE MARKETS IN2009..................................................................... 37World Grains Trade Summit sees Asian consumptiondriving the world grains market in 2009MAPS........................................................................ 38Water mapping with satellitesDROUGHT-PROOF RICEFOR AFRICAN FARMERS...................................... 41Research institutes, donor agencies, and communityrepresentatives collaborate to develop droughttolerantrice for African farmersRICE FACTS.............................................................. 44Global rice trade: What does it mean for future foodsecurity?GRAIN OF TRUTH.................................................... 46Can less favorable areas obtain food security?On the cover:Flood-tolerant Sub1 rice lines thrive—in contrast totheir non-Sub1 counterparts—even after 17 days'submergence in the field at IRRI headquarters in thePhilippines. Learn about the importance of this “scuba”rice to flood-prone South Asia, beginning on page 26.Rice Today is published by The Rice Trader Inc. (TRT) in association with theInternational Rice Research Institute (IRRI).TRT, for 19 years, brought its subscribers crucial, up-to-the-minute informationon rice trade through its weekly publication, The Rice Trader. Acknowledged asthe only source of confidential information about the rice market, this weeklysummary of market data analysis has helped both the leading commercial ricecompanies and regional government officials make informed decisions, which arecritical in today’s market.IRRI is the world’s leading international rice research and training center. Basedin the Philippines and with offices in 13 other countries, IRRI is an autonomous,nonprofit institution focused on improving the well-being of present and futuregenerations of rice farmers and consumers, particularly those with low incomes,while preserving natural resources. It is one of the 15 nonprofit internationalresearch centers supported, in part, by members of the Consultative Group onInternational Agricultural Research (CGIAR – www.cgiar.org) and a range of otherfunding agencies.Responsibility for this publication rests with TRT and IRRI. Designations usedin this publication should not be construed as expressing TRT or IRRI policy oropinion on the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area, or its authorities,or the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.Rice Today welcomes comments and suggestions from readers. Potentialcontributors are encouraged to query first, rather than submit unsolicitedmaterials. Rice Today assumes no responsibility for loss of or damage to unsolicitedsubmissions, which should be accompanied by sufficient return postage.The Rice Trader Inc.2707 Notre Dame Blvd., Chico, CA 95928Web: www.thericetrader.comInternational Rice Research InstituteDAPO Box 7777, Metro Manila, PhilippinesWeb (IRRI): www.irri.org; www.irri.org/ricetodayWeb (Library): http://ricelib.irri.cgiar.orgWeb (Rice Knowledge Bank): www.knowledgebank.irri.orgRice Today editorialtelephone: (+63-2) 580-5600 or (+63-2) 844-3351 to 53, ext 2725; fax: (+63-2) 580-5699or (+63-2) 845-0606; email: mia.aureus@thericetrader.com, l.reyes@cgiar.orgcover photo IRRIpublisher Jeremy Zwingerassociate publisher Duncan Macintoshmanaging editor V. Subramanianeditor Mia Aureusassociate editor Lanie Reyescontributing writers Gene Hettel, Sophie Clayton, Sam Mohanty, Leah Baroña-CruzAfrica editor Savitri Mohapatra (Africa Rice Center – WARDA)copy editor Bill Hardyart director Juan Lazaro IVdesigner and production supervisor Grant Lecetaphoto editor Chris Quintanaphoto researcher William Sta. Claraadvertising manager Logan Wilsoncirculation Lourdes ColumbresWeb masters Forrest Orndorff, Serge Gregorioprinter Print Town Group, PhilippinesCopyright International Rice Research Institute 2009 Rice Today April-June 2009This magazine is copyrighted by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License(Unported). 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ariel javellanaIRRI has helped rice farmers raise theproductivity of their farms for almost50 years, and plans to continue formany more.NEWS http://ricenews.irri.org50 years of rice research helps feed the worldThe International Rice ResearchInstitute (IRRI), Asia’s largestand oldest international agriculturalresearch institute, will mark its50th anniversary in 2010.In 50 years, IRRI’s highyieldingrice varieties have helpedsignificantly increase world riceproduction, especially in Asia,saving millions from famine whileprotecting the environment andtraining thousands of researchers.“We look forward to celebratingthis achievement and many otherswith all our partners,” said IRRIDirector General Robert Zeigler.“We also want to thank ourhost nation, the Philippines, andrecognize the hard work andcommitment of the thousands ofscientists and collaborators whohave worked with IRRI,” he added.IRRI’s Golden Jubilee comesas Asian and world food securityface unprecedented challenges,and at a revolutionary time forrice research. The sequencingof the rice genome provide<strong>sr</strong>esearchers with new knowledgethat allows them to attack manyold problems with new solutions.Dr. Zeigler said IRRI’s 50thanniversary celebrations wouldespecially emphasize the enormouschallenges faced by poor ricefarmers and consumers. “Wecan never forget the strugglesof the poor farmers,” he said.Several major events are plannedfor the anniversary, including• The launch of IRRI’s 50thanniversary by Her RoyalHighness Princess MahaChakri Sirindhorn of Thailand,17 November 2009, at IRRIin Los Baños, Philippines.• HRH Princess Maha ChakriSirindhorn will also openthe 6th International RiceGenetics Symposium, 16-19November 2009, in Manila.• The 50th annual meeting of theInstitute’s Board of Trustees,12-17 April 2010, followedby an alumni homecomingfor all former IRRI staff andscholars, both in Los Baños.• The 3rd International RiceCongress (IRC2010), 9-12November 2010, Hanoi, Vietnam.The IRC2010, the world's largestgathering of the rice industry,has the theme Rice for FutureGenerations, and will includethe 28th International RiceResearch Conference, 3rd WorldRice Commerce Conference, 3rdInternational Rice Technologyand Cultural Expo, and other 50thanniversary activities of IRRI.Other events are expected to beheld around Asia in 2010 as eachrice-producing nation celebratesits research and productionachievements.New rice plant could ease threat of hunger for the poorAn ambitious project to re-engineerphotosynthesis in rice, led bythe International Rice ResearchInstitute (IRRI) through a globalconsortium of scientists, has receiveda grant of US$11 million over 3years from the Bill & Melinda GatesFoundation. As a result of researchbeing conducted by this group, riceplants that can produce 50% moregrain using less fertilizer and lesswater are a step closer to reality.Currently, more than a billionpeople worldwide live on less thana dollar a day and nearly one billionlive in hunger. Over the next 50years, the population of the worldwill increase by about 50% and waterscarcity will grow. About half of theworld’s population consumes riceas a staple cereal, so boosting itsproductivity is crucial to achievinglong-term food security. IRRI isleading the effort to achieve a majorincrease in global rice productionby using modern molecular toolsto develop a more efficient andhigher-yielding form of rice.Photosynthesis, the process bywhich plants use solar energy tocapture carbon dioxide and convertit into the carbohydrates required forgrowth, is not the same for all plants.Some species, including rice, have amode of photosynthesis (known asC 3 ), in which the capture of carbondioxide is relatively inefficient. Otherplants, such as maize and sorghum,have evolved a much more efficientform of photosynthesis known as C 4 .According to IRRI scientist andproject leader Dr. John Sheehy, intropical climates the efficiency ofsolar energy conversion of cropsusing the so-called C 4 photosynthesisis about 50% higher than that of C 3crops. Given the demands from anincreasing population, combinedwith less available land and water,adequate future supplies of rice willneed to come in large part throughsubstantial yield boosts and moreefficient use of crop inputs.“Converting the photosynthesisof rice from the less-efficient C 3form to the C 4 form would increaseyields by 50%,” said Dr. Sheehy,adding that C 4 rice would alsouse water twice as efficiently. Indeveloping tropical countries,where billions of poor people relyon rice as their staple food, “Thebenefits of such an improvementin the face of increasing worldpopulation, increasing food prices,and decreasing natural resourceswould be immense,” he added.“This is a long-term, complexproject that will take a decadeor more to complete,” said Dr.Sheehy. “The result of this strategicresearch has the potential tobenefit billions of poor people.”The C 4 Rice Consortiumcombines the strengths of a rangeof partners, including molecularariel javellanaDr. John Sheehy, IRRI senior scientist, leads theproject to re-engineer photosynthesis in rice topotentially double rice yields.biologists, geneticists, physiologists,biochemists, and mathematicians,representing leading researchorganizations worldwide. Membersinclude Yale, Cornell, Florida, andWashington State universitiesin the United States; Oxford,Cambridge, Dundee, Nottingham,and Sheffield universities inBritain; the CommonwealthScientific and Industrial ResearchOrganisation (CSIRO), AustralianNational University, and JamesCook University in Australia;Heinrich Heine University and theInstitute for Biology in Germany;Jiangsu Academy in China; theUniversity of Toronto in Canada;and the Food and AgricultureOrganization of the United Nations.Dr. Khush donates toPunjab Agricultural UniversitySetting an example of a true alumnus, Dr.Gurdev Khush, former IRRI principalscientist, donated approximately US$700,000 toPunjab Agricultural University (PAU) in India.Dr. Khush, an internationally acclaimed ricebreeder and geneticist, announced this afterdelivering his convocation address at the PAUCollege of Agriculture in January 2009.“The amount,” he said, “was accumulated fromthe prize money of various international awardsthat I have received.” He asked that the donationbe used for strengthening PAU’s research work.Dr. Gurdev KhushChrisanto quintanaIRRINobel Laureate Dr. Norman Borlaug calls for second Green RevolutionDr. Norman BorlaugThomas Jefferson once said,“Every generation needs a newrevolution.”If that is so, then Dr. NormanBorlaug, father of the original GreenRevolution, is inviting this generationto begin a second, more extensive,rebellion against world hunger.“The Green Revolutionhasn’t been won yet,” said Dr.Borlaug, who turned 95 in March.“Developing nations need thehelp of agricultural scientists,researchers, administrators, andothers in finding ways to feedever-growing populations.”A Nobel Peace Prize laureateand Congressional Gold Medalrecipient, Borlaug has been creditedwith saving more lives than anyonein history. His work has led tobreakthrough high-yield, diseaseresistantwheat harvests in Mexico,India, Pakistan, and countriesthroughout Latin America, Africa,and the Near and Middle East. Asa result, hundreds of millions ofpeople have been provided with anotherwise unavailable food supply.Source: AgNews site of Texas A&M University Rice Today April-June 2009 Rice Today April-June 2009
NEWS http://ricenews.irri.orgduncan macintoshIRRI enters into two new rice research partnershipsIRRI has entered into two new riceresearch partnerships: one with theNational University of Singapore andthe other with the Indian Council ofAgricultural Research.The National University ofSingapore and IRRI have signed aMemorandum of Understanding(MOU) to facilitate cooperation,IRRI Deputy DirectorGeneral for ResearchAchim Dobermann signedthe MOU with ProfessorBarry Halliwell, deputypresident (research& technology) of theNational University ofSingapore.research collaboration, andstudent exchange. Possible areas ofcollaboration include research intothe biology of rice crops and thedesign of new rice strains to improveproductivity, nutritional value, andresistance to hotter climate or harshenvironments.The MOU will help Singaporecontinue to engage in high-impactresearch and secure its food supply.This is especially important forSingapore as it relies on neighboringcountries to produce food.In India, an internationalagreement between IRRI and theIndian Council of AgriculturalResearch will support and facilitateIndia’s rice research for the nextthree years, helping the nation’s riceproduction at a time of unprecedentedprice volatility and subsequentneed for the revitalization of foodproduction.The work plan includesagreements on three major projectssupported by the Bill & MelindaGates Foundation: Stress-TolerantRice for Poor Farmers in Africa andSouth Asia (STRASA), the CerealSystems Initiative for South Asia(CSISA), and Creating the SecondGreen Revolution by SuperchargingPhotosynthesis: C 4 Rice.Rats destroy rice crops in BicolIRRI rodent expert Grant Singletonand Ph.D. rodent ecologystudent Nyo Me Htwe traveled tothe Bicol region on 6-8 Februaryafter receiving numerous reportsof a rat population outbreak.“Rodent damage to the rice cropsin the 3 barangays we visited in Albayand Camarines Sur was severe,” saidDr. Singleton. “Indications are thatthe losses at these specific sites willlead to majorlosses in yield.”Surroundingtowns alongthe roads inAlbay Provinceshowed obvioussigns of rodentdamage. Asubsequentvisit by NyoMe Htwe inJose Raymond PanaliganMarch to Libon Municipality inAlbay quantified rodent losses in2 barangays as greater than 35%.Dr. Singleton recommends farmerparticipatory research into effectivemanagement of rodents, and atraining and communication programon community-based ecologicalmanagement of rats in the area.From agricultural waste touseful energyWho would have thought thatrice husks, which are justthrown around and left to catchfire in fields, could be a sourceof abundant energy that wouldbenefit people around the globe?Engineer Alexis Belonio of IloiloCity in the Philippines realized thatthe by-product of rice could be usedas fuel in his Rice Husk Gas Stoveinvention, a winning entry in therecent Rolex Awards for Enterprise.“I thought of rice husk as fuel forthe stove since there is an abundantsupply of this biomass waste inour country,” explained engineerBelonio. “This can be tapped as analternative source of fuel for domesticcooking to help households copewith the high cost of conventionalfuel like LPG [liquefied petroleumgas] and kerosene.” His pastexperience in the mid-1980s at theInternational Rice Research Instituteinspired him to invent things.Source: Business MirrorRice husks—an abundantsource of energy.ariel javellana$10 million scholarship programfor young rice scientistsMonsanto Company has pledged$10 million to establish theBeachell-Borlaug InternationalScholars Program to identifyand support young scientistsinterested in improving rice andwheat research through plantbreeding techniques. The programhonors the accomplishmentsof Dr. Henry Beachell and Dr.Norman Borlaug, pioneers in plantbreeding and research in rice andwheat, respectively. Apply at www.monsanto.com/mbbischolars.Critical gene for enhancing China'ssuper rice yield identifiedChinese scientists have identifieda gene, DEP1, and its mutant,dep1, which have played a key rolein increasing the yield of China'shigh-yielding super rice. The dep1gene, which can accelerate the celldivision of rice and lead to moregrains per panicle, will become animportant tool for rice breeding.Fu Xiangdong, a researcherat the Institute of Genetics andDevelopmental Biology, ChineseAcademy of Sciences, said that histeam has found the gene dep1 inhigh-yielding rice varieties mostlygrown in the Yangtze Plains andnortheastern China. Fu added thatthe gene can have a similar functionin other crops such as wheat andbarley, raising hopes of breedinghigh-yielding cereal varieties.Source: XinhuaGM rice that protects poultry frombird fluChinese university scientists in HongKong say that they have createdgenetically modified rice that canprotect poultry against bird flu. Therice is modified using a gene from theChinese plant Yuzhu, which is used intraditional medicine. Their researchshows that a protein found in Yuzhu isa strong inhibitor of the bird flu virusH5N1, which has killed 248 peoplesince 2003, according to the WorldHealth Organization.Source: SciDevNetGene found for rice root developmentScientists from the HuazhongAgricultural University in Chinafound that a gene in rice, namedWOX11, is involved in the activationof crown-root emergence and growth.In rice, the shoot-borne crownroots are the major root type andare initiated at lower stem nodes aspart of normal plant development.Source: Plant CellModified rice may resist disease inSoutheast AsiaResearchers at the Donald DanforthPlant Science Center say that theyhave discovered how to geneticallymodify rice to make it more resistantto a disease that is ravaging Asianrice farms. A viral disease, known a<strong>sr</strong>ice tungro, destroys about US$1.5billion worth of rice every year inSoutheast Asia. That’s roughly 5–10%of the yield in major rice-growingareas in the Philippines, Malaysia,Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, andThailand. Scientists from theDanforth Center have been lookingfor a solution for about 20 years.Recently, they discovered that atransgenic, or genetically modified,rice produces certain proteinsthat are more tolerant of infectionfrom the rice tungro virus. Theyannounced their findings in January.“The breakthrough came when weunderstood how the virus made theplant sick,” said Roger N. Beachy,president of the center. “Then weused that information against thevirus.” The technology is viable inthe greenhouse and in the laboratory.The next step is to test it in the field.Source: St. Louis Post-DispatchAgricultural policy of emergingeconomies analyzedThe most recent offering fromthe intergovernmental thinktank, the Organisation forEconomic Cooperation andDevelopment (OECD), is a reporttitled “Agricultural Policies inEmerging Economies: Monitoringand Evaluation 2009.” The years2006-08 were marked by asignificant increase in world pricesfor most, but not all, agriculturalcommodities. This report analyzespolicy developments during thisperiod in seven emerging economies:Brazil, Chile, China, India, Russia,South Africa, and Ukraine.Source: OECDNew irrigation system cutswater useThe United States AgriculturalResearch Service (ARS) andcooperating scientists are studyinga system that, in rice field tests,cuts water use by 24%. The system,called multiple-inlet rice irrigation(MIRI), involves laying disposable,thin-walled, polyethylene irrigationtubing to connect rice paddies asthey are flooded with water. Thi<strong>sr</strong>educes the amount of water wastedcompared to the common method ofdischarging water directly into thehighest paddy and allowing waterto overflow into lower paddies.Source: USDA Agricultural Research ServiceRice and electronic gadgetsNext time your iPod or mobile phonegets wet, try nature’s desiccant, rice,to revive it. That’s what ErnestoLondoño of the Washington Postdid to fix his BlackBerry when it gotwet. His advice? Just turn off thedevice and cover it with uncookedrice to help absorb the moisture andprolong the life of your gadget.Source: Washington Postchrisanto quintana Rice Today April-June 2009 Rice Today April-June 2009
peopleSPECIAL REPORT peopleAwards and recognitionChromewell Agustin R. Mojica,former intern in the InternationalNetwork for the Genetic Evaluationof Rice, won BestUndergraduateResearch for histhesis, MolecularMapping ofQuantitative TraitLoci (QTL) forHeat Tolerancein Rice (Oryzasativa L.) During ReproductiveStage Using Microsatellite Markers,by the Philippine Society forthe Advancement of Genetics inNovember 2008. Another finalistin the competition, John Eric B.Canicosa, was also a former internat IRRI. Both are graduates of theUniversity of the Philippines LosBaños. Mojica has now joined IRRI asa researcher at the T.T. Chang GeneticResources Center.J.K. Ladha, senior scientist andRice-Wheat Consortium coordinator,and S.K. De Datta, former IRRIagronomist and principal scientist(1964-91), were named fellows ofthe American Association for theAdvancement of Science on 14February in Chicago.Jessica D. Rey,postdoctoral fellowat the T.T. ChangGenetic ResourcesCenter, won the2008 OutstandingThesis andDissertation Award(advanced S&T for biology and relatedfields) from the Philippine Councilfor Advanced Science and TechnologyResearch and Development. Her thesiswas titled Quantitative resistance loci(QRL) against bacterial blight (causedby Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae)and leaf blast (caused by Pyriculariaoryzae Sacc.).Gisella Cruz García, a Ph.D.candidate from theCrop and WeedEcology Group,Wageningen, andstudying with theWeed Group in IRRI’sCrop and Environmental SciencesDivision, was invited to join theWomen in Science Week (28 February-6 March) in Paris, France. She is oneof 15 who received the UNESCO-L’Oréal international fellowship awardfor young women in the life sciences in2007.Betty Sarah R. Carreon,assistant managerin the FinancialOperations Unit,will leave forKansas, USA, on 5April as a memberof the 2009 GroupStudy ExchangeTeam of RotaryInternationalDistrict 3820. The GSE program isfunded by the Rotary Foundation andis a unique cultural and vocationalexchange opportunity for businesspeople and professionals between theages of 25 and 40 who are in the earlystages of their careers.Syed M.A.Jabbar, an affiliatePh.D. researchscholar at IRRI, wasconferred a lifetimemembership bythe Gamma SigmaDelta HonorSociety of Agriculture-Universityof the Philippines Chapter for hisoutstanding academic achievement inhis Ph.D. program. Jabbar is pursuinghis doctorate in soil science, with aminor in agronomy, at UPLB.Keeping up with IRRI staffRichard Bruskiewich, seniorscientist (bioinformatics), waselected to an adjunct faculty positionin the Department of MolecularBiology and Biochemistry at SimonFraser University, Burnaby, BritishColumbia, Canada.Kanayo F. Nwanze, formerdirector general of the AfricaRice Center, or WARDA, hasbeen appointed president of theInternational Fund for AgriculturalDevelopment of the United Nations.Nwanze becomes the fifth presidentof IFAD when he takes up his post on1 April.Sophie Clayton arrived fromCanberra, Australia, in Februaryto begin her work as IRRI’s newspokesperson and media relationsmanager.Newly appointed scientists atIRRI are Sarah J. Beebout (soilchemistry), Ruben Lampayan(water management), Tao Li (cropmodeling), Florencia Palis(social anthropology), EndangSeptiningsih (molecular genetics),and Michael Thomson (moleculargenetics). Jagadish Timsinajoined the IRRI-Bangladesh office inDecember 2008 as senior scientist.New associate scientists are Ma.Socorro Almazan, Lolita Garcia,and Ma. Elizabeth Naredo; newassistant scientists are CrisantaBueno, Teodoro Correa Jr.,Manuel Esguerra, Joie Ramos,and Dennis Tuyogon.Wei Zhou joined the PlantBreeding, Genetics, and BiotechnologyDivision as visiting research fellow.Helal Uddin Ahmed, JohnDamien Platten, and KurniawanRudi Trijatmiko are IRRI’s newpostdoctoral fellows.Himanshu Pathak, seniorassociate scientist and co-facilitatorof the Rice-Wheat Consortium at theIRRI-India office, left on 17 Januaryafter completing his 3-year stay andreturned to his parent organization,the Indian Agricultural ResearchInstitute in New Delhi, as seniorscientist. Virender Kumar will takeover from Dr. Pathak until the vacatedposition is filled.Mohammad Asaduzzamanof the IRRI-Bangladesh office, CaoMeng of the IRRI-China office,Somayanda Impa, postdoctoralfellow, and Obdulia Jolejole,senior manager of Food and HousingServices, have left IRRI. Ms. Jolejole,though, will stay for a few moremonths in a consulting role untilsomeone is identified to replace her.Rice: Research to ProductionIRRI Training Center, Los Baños, Philippines, 18 May-5 June 2009The course aims to create a new generation of plant scientiststhat are well networked in the international community andunderstand the importance of innovative plant science in tacklingglobal problems. Topics include an understanding of the basics ofrice production in Asia; familiarity with the germplasm collectionat IRRI and current issues related to germplasm exchange andintellectual property; an appreciation of the research issues of IRRIand its developing partners; hands-on skills related to rice breeding,molecular genetics, and genomics; an understanding of howto structure effective international collaboration; and a plan andpersonal contacts to work effectively as part of the internationalresearch community in the future.Basic Experimental Design and Data Analysis Using CropStat(2nd offering)IRRI Training Center, Los Baños, Philippines, 22-26 June 2009The course is designed to acquaint researchers with the principlesof experimental design, basic experimental designs used in riceresearch, analysis of variance and regression, and correlation analysis.It also introduces CropStat, a microcomputer-based statisticalpackage that facilitates the analysis of experimental data.Rice Breeding Course: Laying the Foundation for the SecondGreen RevolutionIRRI Training Center, Los Baños, Philippines, 1-16 September 2009The course aims to develop the next generation of rice breedersadept in using modern tools for enhancing the precision andefficiency of their breeding programs. It will provide the theoreticalbackground on modern breeding methods and techniques,including the use of biotechnology; planning and informationmanagement tools and experimental techniques and software; theopportunity to share experiences with other rice breeders; and thelatest updates on areas relevant to rice breeding and the worldwideexchange of rice genetic resources. The course is for breeders andagronomists working on variety development or testing in both thepublic and private sector.Moving onHans-Jochen de Haas, formerBMZ Germany representative tothe CGIAR and member of IRRI’sstrategic planning external panel,passed away on 29 January.TR AINING COURSES AT IRRIRemedios Corral, who servedas matron of Food and HousingServices for 29 years, passed away on3 March.Mixed Model Analysis Using CropStatIRRI Training Center, Los Baños, Philippines, 5-9 October 2009The course is designed to acquaint researchers with mixed modelanalysis and introduce CropStat’s module on Mixed Model Analysisusing REML (restricted maximum likelihood). It employs a combinationof lectures and hands-on exercises on CropStat to help theparticipants become more familiar with basic statistical methodssuch as computing descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, andanalysis of variance.Those interested in registering must have experience in dataanalysis and knowledge of at least one statistical software.Leadership Course for Asian Women in Agricultural R&Dand ExtensionIRRI Training Center, Los Baños, Philippines, 19-30 October 2009Topics include Asian women in the workplace, mainstreaminggender concerns in the workplace, leadership and management,personality development, developing work-related knowledge andskills, and relating to others.For more details, contact Dr. Noel Magor, head, IRRI Training Center(IRRITraining@cgiar.org) or see www.training.irri.org.The 3rd International Rice Congress (IRC2010), set for 9-12November 2010, in Hanoi, Vietnam, is the world's largestgathering of the rice industry. With the theme Rice forFuture Generations, it will include the 28th InternationalRice Research Conference, the 3rd World Rice CommerceConference, the 3rd International Rice Technology andCultural Expo, and 50th anniversary activities of theInternational Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Watch for moredetails in future issues of Rice Today.macky montecillo10 Rice Today April-June 2009 Rice Today April-June 200911
1rice sciencein theDIGITAL AGEby Henry Sackville HamiltonIRRI books move from dusty shelves to thevirtual library. Need a book? Google it!231. RICE TODAY at Mt. Pinatubo,Philippines: (frontrow, left to right) VivaySalazar, Mary Burac, ShielaQuilloy-Mercado, TintinDoctolero, and EJ Azucena;(back row, left to right)Denis Diaz, Yohei Koide,Icoy Mercado, DarleneSanchez, Pogs Manalili,Tanguy Lafarge, and EdselMoscoso.2. Calvin, Victoria,and Craig, children ofDavid and Mariju Dawe,pose with Rice Today atNapapiiri Arctic Circle,Rovaniemi, Finland.3. MIA AUREUS, Rice Todayeditor, takes the magazineto Chinatown, Singapore.From its huge volume ofresearch results on riceand rice-related subjectmatter, the InternationalRice Research Institute (IRRI)has, for nearly 50 years, generatedand disseminated knowledge andtechnology as public goods to ricefarmers via its partners in thedeveloping and developed world.Since 1962 (when IRRI beganpublishing), the Institute hasproduced some 500 scientific titlesencompassing around 100,000printed pages, in the form ofmonographs, workshop proceedings,field guides, and manuals. “Thesebooks have always been distributedfor free or at minimal cost to ourpartners in the developing countriesprimarily through their institutionallibraries,” says Gene Hettel, headof IRRI’s Communication andPublications Services (CPS). “Manytitles are published solely by IRRI;some are copublished with reputablescience publishers, such as WorldScientific, Elsevier, Wiley, Kluwer,CABI, and others.”For a time during the 1980s intothe 1990s, IRRI was undoubtedly thelargest publisher of scientific booksin the Philippines, according to TomHargrove, CPS head during thosedays and most recently coordinator ofthe Information and CommunicationsUnit at the International Centerfor Soil Fertility and AgriculturalDevelopment in Muscle Shoals,Alabama, USA. “We published 18to 25 books annually back then,” hesays. “By 1990, at least 130 editionsof 33 books (particularly field guidesand manuals) had been publishedby collaborating publishers in 29countries and in 42 languages. Thelinchpin among these, A Farmer’sPrimer on Growing Rice (42languages including 10 Philippinedialects), was easily the world’s mostwidely published agricultural book.”A popular field guide in thisimpressive family of extension-typepublications, Friends of the RiceFarmer: Helpful Insects, Spiders, andPathogens, just had its tenth printingin English in March 2009, thrustingthe total number of copies past the100,000 mark when adding 25 non-English editions in Khmer, Burmese,Vietnamese, Tagalog, Tamil, Nepali,and others.Although the number of IRRIproducedtitles has tapered offsomewhat in recent years due to12Rice Today April-June 2009Rice Today April-June 2009 13
declines in scientific staffand budget reductions,the Institute has stillproduced more than180 significantmonographs,manuals, reports,and proceedingssince 1995,including suchrecent titles asEconomic Costsof Drought andRice Farmers’ CopingMechanisms, WaterManagement in IrrigatedRice: Coping with Water Scarcity,Technologies for Improving RuralLivelihoods in Rainfed Systems inSouth Asia, and Direct Seeding ofRice and Weed Management forthe Rice-Wheat System of the Indo-Gangetic Plains.Mr. Hettel has observed somechanges in IRRI’s science publishingscenario since he became CPS headin 1997. “Back then,” he says, “whendetermining the pres<strong>sr</strong>un for abook, it often exceeded 1,000 copiesand we had just started to consideroccasionally producing a digitalversion for placing on a CD or on theWeb. Today, we rarely print 1,000 hardcopies (because of the now routinedigital alternatives) and, while a digitalversion is a given, we have begunasking the question, ‘Do we need toprint any hard copies at all?’”According to Mr. Hettel, sinceJanuary 2008, CPS, with the helpof IRRI's Information TechnologyServices (ITS), has been posting mostof its new books on Google BookSearch (GBS). This involves a specialpresence for IRRI on the facility evenwith its own URL: http://books.irri.org. “The new books join nearly 300historic titles from the Institute’<strong>sr</strong>ich publishing history,” he says.“Envisioning a time when it wouldbe fundamental to have our scientificbooks—current and historic—availableBook Searchdigitally via our own Web site, webegan scanning titles in our archivesin 2000. This was a slow processbecause we were scanning at a highresolution (300 dots per inch) anddoing optical character recognition(OCR) at 99% accuracy. This processstarted long before there was a GBS,but just as we finished a critical massof the project, there GBS was—onlineand ready for the ‘perfect marriage.’”According to Erik Hartmann,head of GBS Strategic PartnershipDevelopment for Southeast Asia,IRRI’s presence on Google was acollaborative effort in which a “cobrandedbook search” site was setup. “This basically means using aGBS back-end to provide a customuser-interface for a single publisher,so the search results are restrictedto that single publisher’s books andthe appearance is designed to matchthe look and feel of the publisher’sown Web site,” says Mr. Hartmann.“In IRRI’s case, they designed a verybeautiful background image and theybuilt a page on their own Web site,which allows users to download bookPDFs from their site. This page isdynamic, receiving an ISBN, which ispassed from the GBS page and thenredirects the user to the appropriatePDF download.”Mr. Hartmannpoints out that theIRRI Web team didsome really niceextra touches,which he thinkshelps makethis site sosuccessful. “IRRImade all theircopyrighted titles100% viewable andsearchable on GBSrather than the default20%,” he says. “And, IRRIchanged the text of their ‘Buythis Book’ link on GBS to ‘FreePDF download.’ The exciting thingabout this change is that the rate atwhich people click the ‘Buy this Book’link shot up overnight. Previously,about one in 100 people would clickthat link, but, after the change, theclick-through-rate shot up to morethan 10%, which is higher than anypublisher we have ever worked with.IRRI was the first publisher onGBS offering PDF downloads of itsbooks and has led the way for othercenters in the Consultative Group onInternational Agricultural Research(CGIAR) to follow suit.”“We are elated over the public’<strong>sr</strong>esponse to IRRI books on GBS,”says Mr. Hettel. “Since January 2008when our books went online at GBS,Google Analytics has recorded morethan 200,000 book visits, around 2.5million page views, and more than15,000 PDF downloads.”This collaboration with Googlegoes hand-in-hand with IRRI’s newcopyright policy announced by theInstitute’s Board of Trustees afterits September 2006 meeting, which,in part, reads, “IRRI will releaseits information products (software,documents, multimedia, data), asmuch as possible, under a suitableopen content license. Such licenseshall allow copying, distribution, and(usually) the creation of derivativegene hettelIRRI books for Africaand AsiaWith the recent closing down of the CPS book storagefacility at IRRI headquarters, about 38,450 IRRI books(with a retail value of US$384,000) were shipped viasea freight to Africa and Asia. One shipment of 17,000 bookstopped off a container shipment of agricultural equipment toMozambique at no extra charge. These books arrived at IRRI’sEast and Southern Africa Region office in Mozambique, theAfrica Rice Center’s (WARDA) office in Nigeria, and IRRI’s 11country offices in South and Southeast Asia.They are being redistributed to needy national librariesacross these regions. New IRRI publishing policies in the digitalproducts; prohibit commercialization;and require attribution as well asthe release of derivative productsunder the same license as the originalproduct was released by IRRI, hence,some rights reserved.”This new Creative Commons(CC) policy, which covers Rice Todayas well as spelled out at the bottomof the contents page, doesn’t reallychange IRRI’s long-standing policyof always granting permission touse its information products fornoncommercial purposes. “This newpolicy simply bypasses the ‘permissionrequirement’ altogether and clarifiesand enhances the Institute’s intentionwhere sharing of information isconcerned,” says Mr. Hettel.In addition to placing books onGBS, IRRI has embraced this policyby placing this same CC statementon its Web site (http://irri.org) andfeaturing some 4,500 images on thepublic photo management facility,flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/ricephotos), and some 60 videos andcounting on YouTube (www.youtube.com/irrivideo), which compositelyhave had some 75,000 views.According to Marco van denBerg, ITS manager, the digitaldistribution of IRRI informationand photos achieved via GBS andflickr gives access to audiencesthat have been difficult to reachusing traditional methods, for avariety of reasons. “Among the top25 countries that have downloadedbooks from our co-branded GBSsite are Vietnam, Iran, Indonesia,Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka,and Myanmar,” he says.Anyone can now obtain,repurpose, distribute, and evenmodify the content (self-servicepublishing) of IRRI publications,photos, and videos with properattribution using CC licenses.glenn gregorioage, which will require lower book pres<strong>sr</strong>uns in the future,negate the need for a book storage warehouse at headquarters.In the photo at left, Glenn Gregorio, IRRI’s rice breeder forAfrica based at the WARDA office in Nigeria, determines someof the titles to ship to West Africa in consultation with AnnaArsenal, former CPS marketing and fulfillment specialist.The photo above shows some of the books being used inone of their new homes, the IRRI-Office library at the WARDANigeria station of the International Institute for TropicalAgriculture in Ibadan. The users are trainees of IRRI and WARDAcoming from different Nigerian agricultural universities. Says Dr.Gregorio, “Friday afternoon is a special time for them becausethey attend lectures on rice breeding and biotechnology andthey get to use the library. Books on rice statistics, the RiceAlmanac, and biotechnology titles are their favorites.”However, IRRI’s CC policy haspresented the CPS staff with somenew challenges when they dealwith science publishers looking tocopublish some of IRRI’s books,most of whom still request exclusivepublication rights if not downrightcopyright assignment.According to Bill Hardy, IRRIsenior science editor and publisher,some conflicts with potentialcopublishers that are not on theCC bandwagon include the outsidepublisher’s interest in havinghard-copy commercial sales anda perpetual license. IRRI, on theother hand, has primary interestsin delivering global public goodsand providing free online accessto its communication products.“Even so,” says Dr. Hardy, “IRRI istackling these issues by drafting somecreative contractual arrangementsand compromises with some flexiblecopublishers, such as World Scientificin Singapore, with which IRRI ha<strong>sr</strong>ecently copublished Rice Genetics V,Charting New Pathways to C 4 Rice,14 Rice Today April-June 2009 Rice Today April-June 200915
and Drought Frontiers in Rice (seeNew Books, below).”There is a lot of interest in thepublishing world in how institutionssuch as IRRI are adopting CC anddealing with publishers who stillprefer “all rights reserved.” InFebruary and March 2009, Mr. Hettelgave presentations on Adoptingand Utilizing Creative Commonsto Facilitate the Dissemination ofRice Knowledge and Technologyat the Regional Conference onCreative Commons in Manilaand the Symposium on CommonUse Licensing of Publicly FundedScientific Data and Publications inTaipei, respectively.According to Internet WorldStats, as of 31 December 2008, only17.2% of Asia’s population and 5.6%of Africa’s use the Internet. “Becauseso many of our clients on thesecontinents are not yet wired to theInternet,” says Dr. Hardy, “traditionalbook production will be in IRRI’sfuture for some time to come,albeit in a muchsmaller volume.We will continue todistribute traditionalbooks to our nearly300 institutionaldepository librariesand to others aroundthe world indicatinga need. When werecently liquidatedthe inventory in ourclosed-down bookstorage facility onthe IRRI campus, wemade special effortsto distribute thesebooks to needy libraries instead ofshredding them.” (See IRRI books forAfrica and Asia, on page 15.)So, some may wonder, whichIRRI book is, so far, the most popularamong the more than 200,000 bookvisits and 2.5 million page views onGBS? Might it be about the lateston water management, coping withdrought, or direct seeding of rice?“None of those,” saysMr. Hettel, “althoughthere is certainlyinterest in theseimportant topics to besure. With just over5,600 book visits andmore than 71,500page views, SmallFarm Equipment forDeveloping Countries,a 22-year-old out-ofprintproceedings ofa conference of thesame name held atIRRI headquarters inSeptember 1985, winsthe prize! This just goes to show thatnewly digitized titles, which have not‘seen the light of day’ for years in theirtraditional format, can still have valueand useful information to reveal—allthanks to the digital age.”Mr. Sackville Hamilton is a formerCPS intern.www.trtamericas.comThe Rice Trader's "Rice Americas 2009" is the region’smost authoritative rice forum with powerful networkingopportunities.Experts from North, South, and Central Americaand the Caribbean will present relevant and currentinformation to prepare you for 2009.12-14 May 2009Hyatt RegencyMiami, FL, USARegister today!Trust in the SeedB. Chaudhary and K. Gaur; published byInternational Service for the Acquisition ofAgribiotech Applications.This book is the latest publication of theInternational Service for the Acquisitionof Agribiotech Applications (ISAAA). Ithighlights the significance of the seedand new croptechnologies. Itcaptures threekey developmentexperiences inIndian agriculturethat sustained itsgrowth, helpedincrease foodproduction, andeased the plightof the hungry. Inessence, the book depicts the willingnessof poor small farmers to embraceimproved seeds and adopt technologiesto overcome production constraints andincrease their income. For orders, contactthe ISAAA South Asia Office throughNew Books www.irri.org/publicationsb.choudhary@cgiar.org and k.gaur@cgiar.org. To download a PDF copy ofthe book, visit www.isaaa.org/resources/publications.Drought Frontiers in Rice:Crop Improvement for IncreasedRainfed ProductionEdited by R. Serraj, J. Bennett, and B. Hardy;published by the International Rice ResearchInstitute (IRRI) and World Scientific.This book describes some of therecent advances in drought geneticsand physiology and the integration ofhighly efficientbreeding andgenetics analysistechniqueswith functionalgenomics. Thestudy featured inthis publicationpaved the wayfor the launchingof the DroughtFrontiers project(http://seeds.irri.org/drought), whichfocuses on improving rice’s resistanceto drought. For orders, email WorldScientific at sales@wspc.com.sg.Pathways from PovertyA. Orr with B. Adolph, Md. R. Islam,H. Rahman, B. Barua, and M. K. Roy;published by The University Press Limited.This book probesbehind thestatistics showingdeclining povertyin Bangladesh toexplore the processof getting out ofpoverty. Using avariety of qualitativemethods, includingthirty householdcase studies, andbased on research in three village<strong>sr</strong>epresenting different rice ecosystems,the authors seek to understand thisprocess from the inside. For orders, emailUniversity Press Ltd. at upl@bangla.net.Build Your Brand.Sponsorship opportunities will enableyour organization to showcase your business tohundreds of industry players and decisionmakers.Gain Market Recognition.Delegate representation at The RiceTrader's "Rice Americas 2009" conferencewill show your support for the rice industryand create invaluable business opportunities.Register today at www.trtamericas.com or call +1 530.345.4140 and ask for Mr. Brad Rudkin16 Rice Today April-June 2009
Strengtheningt h e s y s t e mFor 15 years, the Rice-Wheat Consortium of the Indo-Gangetic Plains has been workingto help South Asian farmers reduce their costs, increase their productivity, and help theenvironmentIn the early 1990s, thenorthwestern Indian state ofHaryana—one of the country’smost agriculturally productive—faced a crisis. A weed,Philaris minor, hadevolved resistance toall commonly availableherbicides. Thiswas particularlyStory and photos by Adam Barclayalarming because Philaris wascausing havoc across the rice-wheatbelt, responsible for the vast majorityof the state’s wheat productionand employment. In the 1993-94season, wheat yields crashed. Theonly solution seemed to be newerbut more expensive herbicides.Haryana’s farmers andagricultural expertswere desperate.In an attempt toreduce farmers’ costsand make the newherbicides affordable,R.K. Malik andhis colleaguesat HaryanaAgriculturalUniversityin Hissarconvinced afew farmers touse a simpletractor-pulledplanting machinethat allowed wheatto be sowed withoutfirst tilling the landfollowing the riceharvest. The usualpractice was to tillJagdeep Singh Dhillon tows a Happy Seeder behind atractor. Punjab State’s first farmer to sow his entirewheat crop with a Happy Seeder, he has pledged to“never, ever burn rice residue again.”the land six to eight times beforeplanting rice. Although zero-tillagewheat would undoubtedly save laborcosts, previous efforts to test themethod had failed to gain traction.This time around, however, thingswould turn out rather differently.To Prof. Malik’s happy surprise,not only did zero tillage cut costs, italso solved the Philaris problem—theweed seeds inhabited the upper5 centimeters of the soil; any sortof tillage resulted in substantialPhilaris emergence. Better still,it saved farmers 2 weeks after therice harvest, allowing wheat tobe planted at the optimal time inearly November. When farmersspend time tilling the land afterharvesting rice, wheat planting tendsto occur later than is ideal, withthe attendant lower temperaturesleading to a yield penalty of around50 kilograms per hectare for everyday that planting is delayed.“Although zero tillage wasn’t apart of the management strategy forPhilaris,” recalls Prof. Malik, “themagnitude of the problem meant thatfarmers were desperate, and thereforevery open to new technologies.”Prof. Malik says that thisatmosphere converged with theestablishment in 1994 of theRice-Wheat Consortium (RWC),currently led by the InternationalFor more than 15 years, agronomist R.K. Malik hasadvocated zero-till wheat in the rice-wheat regionof Haryana State.Rice Research Institute (IRRI) butled then by the International Maizeand Wheat Improvement Center(CIMMYT) under soil scientist PeterHobbs, now at Cornell University.With farmers open to change and theRWC bringing together researchers,policymakers, and the privatesector, momentum built quickly.“The process of doing researchchanged,” says Prof. Malik. “Wewent straight to farmers’ fieldsand started to make farmers ourpartners. The RWC provided uswith four zero-tillage machines,which we immediately used toplant trial wheat crops in fourvillages in different districts.“We weren’t even sure if thecrop would grow,” he added. Wevisited some of the fields, about 70kilometers away, every day. Our firstobservation was that not only did thecrop emerge, but it emerged at least2 days earlier than with conventionalpractice. With those four machines,we planted about 6 hectares, all ofwhich performed wonderfully.”In the 1994-95 season, despitemuch initial resistance from farmers,Haryana Agricultural University, withthe support of the RWC, expandedthe zero-tillage trials to around 25hectares throughout the rice-wheatarea of Haryana.Feeding half the worldWhat is the Rice-Wheat Consortium and why is it important?More than 3.1 billion people livingin South Asia and China—almosthalf of humanity—depend on rice andwheat production for food. In a rice-wheat“system,” farmers grow at least one riceand one wheat crop on the same piece ofland each year. In South Asia, the ricewheatregion occupies nearly 13.5 millionhectares across the Indo-Gangetic Plains ofBangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. Thi<strong>sr</strong>egion alone is home to 1.2 billion people,nearly 40% of whom live in extremepoverty. Rice and wheat account for 90%of the region’s total cereal production and,with the population growing at more than2% annually, there are more than 20 millionadditional mouths to feed each year.Over the past 30 years, the ricewheatsystem has emerged as the region’smajor production system, accountingfor more than 30% of the total rice areaand 40% of the total wheat area, andproducing nearly one-third of the region’<strong>sr</strong>ice and more than half of its wheat.During the Green Revolution era,production increases resulted fromexpansion in both rice-wheat area andproductivity. Now, however, with littleadditional land available, future demandgrowth will have to be met mainly throughincreases in yield. Further, the average 2%per year rice and wheat yield increasesseen from 1970 to 1990 have droppedoff with a combination of environmentalfactors—such as declining soil health andaccess to irrigation—and reduced supportfor public agricultural research causingyields to stagnate over the past 2 decades.The challenges are to producemore food at less cost and to improvewater productivity. Farmers needalternatives to help them conserveenergy and water resources, reducegreenhouse gas emissions, and improvethe quality of life for farm families. Toaddress these challenges, the Rice-WheatConsortium (RWC) for the Indo-GangeticPlains was established in 1994 by theConsultative Group on InternationalAgricultural Research (CGIAR).The consortium brings togetherthe national agricultural systems ofBangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan(with China as an associate member);CGIAR-supported centers, includingthe International Rice Research Institute(IRRI), the International Maize andWheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT),the International Water ManagementInstitute, the International Crops ResearchInstitute for the Semi-Arid Tropics,the International Potato Center, andthe International Livestock ResearchInstitute; the Asian Vegetable Researchand Development Center; and severaladvanced research institutes, includingCornell University, CABI, the InternationalAgricultural Centre Wageningen, andRothamsted Research. Currently, IRRIserves as the convening center.The RWC’s key roles are asan innovator and supplier of newknowledge for the rice-wheat system,a “clearinghouse” for new approachesand technologies, and facilitator andcatalyst of research for development.The development and disseminationof resource-conserving technologies area key goal for the consortium. By the endof 2007, around 0.5 million farmers usedsuch technologies on 4 million hectaresof agricultural land: zero till, reduced till,surface seeding, and bed planting of wheat(1.94 million hectares); direct-seeded rice(0.19 million hectares); laser land leveling(0.07 million hectares); crop diversification(1.80 million hectares); the leaf color chart(0.06 million hectares); and unpuddledtransplanted rice (0.01 million hectares).The further development of therice-wheat system received a boost inearly 2009 with the announcement ofa major new project named the CerealSystems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA).With funding from the Bill & MelindaGates Foundation and the United StatesAgency for International Development, theinitiative will be led by IRRI in partnershipwith CIMMYT and the InternationalFood Policy Research Institute.18 Rice Today April-June 2009Rice Today April-June 2009 19
“There was a huge gain inproductivity,” says Prof. Malik. “Atthe height of the Philaris problem,farmers would harvest 1.5, 1.6,maximum 2 tons per hectare.With zero tillage, they wereharvesting 4.5 tons or more.”The technology providedadditional opportunities for income,too. After the second year, somefarmers bought machines and, aswell as sowing their own fields, hiredthe machines out to their neighbors,a practice known as custom hiring.Support for zero tillagegrew among farmers as well aspolicymakers, with the stategovernment in 1998-99 offeringa 50% subsidy to farmers to buytheir own machines. Commercialopportunities for the private sectorwere boosted accordingly—whensubsidies were introduced, therewere only two manufacturers ofzero-tillage machines. By 2003-04, this number had reached70 across Haryana and theneighboring state of Punjab, andin 2007-08 was close to 100.With the RWC acting as acatalyst, national and internationalinterest grew among researchorganizations, nongovernmentalorganizations, governments, andthe private sector. More fundingagencies came on board—particularlythe Asian Development Bank, theAustralian Centre for InternationalAgricultural Research (ACIAR),Agricultural engineer Harminder Singh Sidhu, with an early-generationHappy Seeder, says that farmers must combine a range of resource-conservingtechnologies if they are to achieve the productivity gains required to meetgrowing demand.the United States Agency forInternational Development, and theUnited Kingdom’s Department forInternational Development—andthe Indian Council for AgriculturalResearch put its weight behindthe initiative. The number of RWCprojects grew rapidly and, accordingto R.K. Gupta, former regionalfacilitator of the RWC, a critical massof scientists turned their coordinatedattention to the rice-wheat system.In Haryana in 2007-08, 0.6million hectares of agricultural landwas planted using zero tillage. Thefigure across the rice-wheat regionof the Indo-Gangetic Plains wasalmost 2 million hectares out of atotal of almost 13.5 million hectares.But it is not only the resultson the land that have benefitedfarmers. Prof. Malik says that oneof the most important things tocome out of zero tillage and theaccompanying movement, knownas conservation agriculture, is thechange in the way research is done.“Scientists and policymakers arenow convinced that the participationof farmers in research—the bottomupapproach—is really morefruitful,” he says. “The managementof site-specific issues has to bedone in a participatory way.”In Punjab, immediatelynorthwest of Haryana, scientists atPunjab Agricultural University (PAU)in Ludhiana are concerned aboutmaintaining the high productivityenjoyed byfarmers in thisstate, knownas India’sbreadbasket.Despite relativelypoor soils, Punjabachieves thecountry’s bestrice and wheatyields, but thesehave stagnatedin recent years.“Punjabsoils arecharacteristicallylow in organicmatter,” explainssoil scientistA farmer inspects a seed drill at a Central Soilsalinity Research Institute field day in October2005 at the institute headquarters in Karnal,Haryana.Bijay Singh, “so, if we want tosustain high productivity, it’s very,very important that farmers adoptresource-conserving technologiesthat can improve soil health.”Development and disseminationof resource-conserving technologiesare a key plank of the RWC. As wellas zero-till wheat, such technologiesinclude a leaf color chart that allowsfarmers to easily determine when andhow much nitrogen fertilizer shouldbe added to their rice crop, and laserland leveling, which promotes bettercrop establishment and reduces wateruse by up to a third. This technology,which should be used once every 3years or so, has been a big success inPunjab, with the number of levelingmachines growing exponentially eachyear: one in 2005, eight in 2006,150 in 2007, and 650 in 2008.Another key resourceconservingactivity—performed incombination with zero tillage—i<strong>sr</strong>eturning to the soil rice straw leftin the field after harvest, ratherthan removing or burning it.“When you till, you lose organicmatter, which leads to poor soilhealth,” says Prof. Bijay Singh.“By avoiding tillage and keepingresidue in the field, we returnorganic matter to the soil, whichmaintains or improves soil health.”Further, by returning residueto the soil, farmers circumventwhat has become a major problemin the rice-wheat region of India.Despite laws (which are generallyJ.K. Ladha, Rice-Wheat Consortium coordinator.unenforced) to the contrary, mostfarmers deal with rice straw byburning it, with dire environmentaland health consequences. The air inPunjab and Haryana in November,just before wheat is sown, is thickwith an acrid smoky haze, theresult of tens of thousands ofhectares of burning rice straw.The problem for Prof. BijaySingh and his PAU colleaguesYadvinder Singh, a fellow soilscientist, and Harminder SinghSidhu, an agricultural engineer,is that by avoiding tillage—whichallows incorporation of rice residueinto the soil—farmers were left withfields full of thick, hardy rice strawthat needed to be removed. Theirchallenge was to enable farmersto sow their wheat while leavingtheir rice residue in the field.“Early zero-till machines couldn’toperate through rice residue,”explains Dr. Sidhu. “Farmerswanted to adopt the conservationagriculture technologies but hadno option other than to burn.”Enter the Happy Seeder. Throughfunding from ACIAR, the RWC andPunjab Agricultural University haveworked to refine and distribute thismachine, which can sow wheat seedsthrough rice residue into untilledsoil while simultaneously applyingfertilizer. The Happy Seeder wasfirst developed in the early 2000sby John Blackwell, professor ofagricultural water technology atCharles Sturt University in Australia,Zero-till heroAround 10 years ago, Indian ricewheatfarmer Raj Kumar planted and more drills keep coming intosays Mr. Kumar. “The fact that morehis wheat without first tilling histhe village is a sign of success.”soil. His neighbors laughed, tellingWith better incomes, farmershim he had wasted his seed.are able to buy more land and better“Then, when they saw my crop,” vehicles, and send their children to goodrecalls Mr. Kumar, “they becameschools. It also means less drudgery.converts to zero tillage themselves.”“My family feels good because I canMr. Kumar had been introduced to finish sowing in 1 week and spend morezero tillage by R.K. Malik, an agronomist at time with them,” says Mr. Kumar. “MoreHaryana Agricultural University working income means our standard of livingwith the Rice-Wheat Consortium (RWC). and overall happiness have gone up.”Now, most of Mr. Kumar’s fellow farmersMr. Kumar says that the participatoryin his home village of Bainsi, as well as process fostered by the RWC, in whichin many other villages in Rohtak District, farmers work much more closely withHaryana State, use the zero-till approach. scientists, is mutually beneficial. TheIn the 2008-09 wheat season, Mr. farmers get access to new technologiesKumar planted his entire 24-hectare farm and the scientists get excellent feedbackusing zero tillage. Using his “zero-till seedcum-fertilizerdrill,” he was able to finish Mr. Kumar has no doubt that it is theon their work. In the case of zero tillage,planting in the first week of November, way of the future in this region.around 20 days earlier than when he used “To progress, farmers in the ricewheatsystem need to adopt zero tillage,”to till the land six to ten times prior tosowing. As a result, the wheat is planted he says. “If they don’t, they’ll be behind.”when temperatures are optimum and hisyields are around 0.5 tons per hectarehigher. Not only that, without the need *Exchange rates are approximate for 14 January 2009.to till, his tractor experiences less wearand tear and he spendsless money on diesel.Growing zero-till wheatcosts Mr. Kumar 3,750 Indianrupees (US$75) less perhectare than when he tilledand his income is $200−250per hectare higher. Theseed drill itself cost $600and he made that moneyback through increasedprofit in the first season.“Other farmersin the district havehad similar results,”Rice-wheat farmer RajKumar (left) stands in hi<strong>sr</strong>ecently planted wheatfield with neighboringfarmer Dinesh Kumar. Usinga zero-till drill to sow hiswheat seeds, Raj Kumarcuts his labor requirementsand plants his wheat at theoptimum time of year, around20 days earlier than when heused to till.20 Rice Today April-June 2009 Rice Today April-June 2009 21
Recently planted wheat seedlings emerge through rice straw in Raj Kumar's untilled field (see Zero-tillhero on page 21).who was at that time working atthe Commonwealth Scientific andIndustrial Research Organisation.“I’d been asked to think aboutsowing wheat into rice residue,”recalls Prof. Blackwell, “and therewas no easy answer. Rice has veryheavy yields of straw so any seed drilltends to get blocked. Using disks tocut the straw works for a while butthe disks quickly lose their edge inrice straw because of its high silicacontent. Then the straw ‘hairpins’and is pushed into the seed furrow bythe disk so the seed sits on top of thestraw and doesn’t germinate. This iswhy burning is the preferred residuemanagement method—it’s so simple.“Initially, I thought it wasimpossible but I had a ‘Eureka!’moment. All around the world,people manage grasslands withsomething called a forage harvester,which picks up grass and carts it tocattle, or a silage pit, or whatever. SoI thought, why not just use a forageharvester and mount a direct drillbehind it, so the drill is presentedwith basically a bare surface.”The first Happy Seeder was builtout of scrap at PAU and, although itworked, it was a large, cumbersomemachine. Over the years, theconcept has been refined to thepoint that the current generationworks well in up to 10 tons ofresidue per hectare. Happy Seedersare now being commercialized inIndia and Pakistan, and there isinterest in China. Prof. Blackwellnotes that only a few hundred havebeen made, but, as more farmersuse them, others are seeing theresults and the rate of adoption isaccelerating. “That’s how it has to go;you can tell people how wonderfulit is as much as you like, but theyneed to experience it,” he says.“If we can prevent burningin South Asia and China—what amarvelous achievement!” adds Prof.Blackwell. “The health problemsassociated with burning, both humanand animal, are quite horrific.”As with zero-till seed drills,he notes that custom hiring andgovernment assistance will benecessary if the machine is tobe adopted widely: “A farmercan afford a match but notnecessarily a Happy Seeder.”According to Dr. Sidhu, thecombination of these technologies willallow farmers to make huge strides.“If we laser-level first, then use aHappy Seeder, the performance ismuch better—we have to superimposethese technologies,” he says.To do this, says Dr. YadvinderSingh, “We need local champions—people like Jagdeep SinghDhillon—to spread the word.”Mr. Dhillon, who grows riceand wheat on 6.5 hectares in KanoiVillage, Sangrur District, Punjab, wasin 2008 the state’s first farmer to sowhis entire wheat crop with a HappySeeder. For the previous 7 years, hegrew zero-till wheat but, withouta Happy Seeder, burned his riceresidue. Now, the rice straw remainsas mulch. Not only does he avoid theproblems of burning, but the mulch,by trapping moisture and preventingweed growth, also saves one to twoirrigations per wheat crop and allowsMr. Dhillon to avoid using herbicides.So impressed was he withthe results of the Happy Seederthat Mr. Dhillon visited his SikhTemple and pledged to “never,ever burn rice residue again.”As a member of PAU’sprogressive farmers’ club, an RWCCommercial manufacturers such as National Agro Industries, which manufactures zero-till seed drills likethis one, both help and benefit from the growth of resource-conserving technologies. The company, co-ownedby Manmohan Singh (far right) along with his son Rajdeep Singh (second from left), employs 50 people.J.K. Ladha (center) and R.K. Gupta (second from right), former regionalfacilitator of the Rice-Wheat Consortium, inspect direct-seeded rice infestedby wild rice.initiative, Mr. Dhillon has beenswapping ideas with the researchersthere since the mid-1990s. As such,he is a prime example of the “farmerof the future,” sorely needed acrossthe rice-wheat belt. By adoptinga suite of resource-conservingtechnologies—including laser landleveling, the leaf color chart for rice,the use of legume crops that act asgreen manures, and a tension meterthat indicates when irrigation isnecessary—Mr. Dhillon has achievedimpressive results. In 2008, forexample, as well as recordingexcellent rice yields of 9 tons perhectare, he has reduced the drudgeryand cost of farm work substantially.“Ten years ago,” says Mr. Dhillon,“I spent all of my time from morningBefore planting wheat, most rice-wheat farmers opt to burn their ricestraw—with dire environmental and health consequences. The Rice-WheatConsortium has developed alternatives, such as the Happy Seeder, thatenable farmers to keep rice residue in their fields.to evening onthe farm. I wasalways busy. Nowthat I’m usingresource-savingtechnologies, myproduction is upby 20% to 25%,and my laborrequirementsand cultivationcosts are down.I have a lot morefree time duringwhich I can helpother farmers.”Before working with the PAU andthe RWC, Mr. Dhillon would hire threeor four laborers to weed, irrigate, andapply fertilizer. Now, he hires oneor two workers (a doubly good thingwith many farm workers movingto the city to work in the industrialsector). By saving water, he savesmoney needed to buy diesel to workthe irrigation pump. The leaf colorchart has enabled him to reduce by20% his fertilizer applications to rice.Mr. Dhillon’s improvementshave not only saved him moneybut also helped him improve hisincome. With his spare time andmoney, he has also bought ninebuffaloes and begun a dairy business.He plans to buy his own HappySeeder and laser leveler, which hewill hire out to other farmers.According to J.K. Ladha, RWCcoordinator and IRRI representativefor India, one of the consortium’sgreatest achievements is bringingfarmers into the research process asparticipators, not merely spectatorsor recipients.“The RWC has applied anew model for farm technologydevelopment and dissemination,”says Dr. Ladha. “We have encouragedfarmers, researchers, and extensionagents to work as teams, withfarmers actively participating intesting, refining, and promotingtechnologies. Now, researchersoften go straight to farmers’ fieldswith promising innovations, ratherthan spending years in testing andrefinement on research stations.”With the new Cereal SystemsInitiative for South Asia (see Feedinghalf the world, page 19), the RWC is setto continue its evolution into a majorforce for agricultural development.“The returns of the RWC farexceed the investment made,”says Dr. Ladha. “The consortiummust continue to broaden itsscope to embrace the emergingchallenges in South Asia.”Mr. Barclay is a freelance writerbased in Australia and former RiceToday editor.22 Rice Today April-June 2009 Rice Today April-June 200923
GEne HettelRice 24 Today April-June 2009, Vol. 8, No. 2Rice Today April-June 2009 International Rice Research Institute and University of California researchers Rice visit Today the April-June women 2009 and children of Harir Danga Village in northwestern Bangladesh 25near Rangpur. They are soliciting views on the flood-tolerant Sub1 rice varieties being planted in nearby fields. See following article on scuba rice.