RiceToday Vol. 4, No. 2

8/9/2019 RiceToday Vol. 4, No. 2

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ISSN 1655-5422

www.irri.org

International Rice Research Institute September 2005, Vol. 4 No. 2


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contentsVol. 4, No. 2

International Rice Research InstituteDAPO Box 7777, Metro Manila, PhilippinesWeb (IRRI): www.irri.orgWeb (Library): http://ricelib.irri.cgiar.orgWeb (Rice Knowledge Bank): www.knowledgebank.irri.org

Rice Today editorialtelephone (+63-2) 580-5600 or (+63-2) 844-3351 to 53, ext 2725;fax: (+63-2) 580-5699 or (+63-2) 845-0606; email: [email protected]

cover design George Reyes, Juan Lazaro IV publisher Duncan Macintosheditor Adam Barclayart director Juan Lazaro IV designer and production supervisor George Reyes

deputy editor Leharne Fountaincontributing editors Gene Hettel, Bill Hardynews editor Juanito Goloyugophotographer Ariel JavellanacirculationChrisanto Quintanaprinter Primex Printers, Inc.

Rice Today is published by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the worldsleading international rice research and training center. Based in the Philippines and withofces in 11 other countries, IRRI is an autonomous, nonprot institution focused onimproving the well-being of present and future generations of rice farmers and consumers,particularly those with low incomes, while preserving natural resources. IRRI is one of 15 centers funded through the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research(CGIAR), an association of public and private donor agencies. For more information, visitthe CGIAR Web site (www.cgiar.org).

Responsibility for this publication rests with IRRI. Designations used in this publication

should not be construed as expressing IRRI policy or opinion on the legal status of anycountry, territory, city or area, or its authorities, or the delimitation of its frontiers orboundaries.

Rice Today welcomes comments and suggestions from readers. Potential contributorsare encouraged to query rst, rather than submit unsolicited materials. Rice Today assumes no responsibility for loss or damage to unsolicited submissions, which shouldbe accompanied by sufcient return postage.

Copyright International Rice Research Institute 2005

A TIME OF REVOLUTION .......................................... 4

Recent developments in rice research haveset the stage for an exciting future

THE WEB OF RICE ...................................................... 5

With 40 million web pages on rice, how can you

separate the rice from the chaff?

NEWS ......................................................................... 6

Milestones in rice researchSoap opera wins World Bank prizeResearch offers drought hopeDrought inicts a heavy tollTsunami damage less than expectedIRRI-India workplanClimate change pessimismLong road to genetically modied rice

commercializationChinese rice consumptionEarly China boosted by rice?Accolades for hybrid pioneerHybrid happeningsNew digital chlorophyll meter to help optimize

fertilizerFormer IRRI director general passes awayKeeping up with IRRI staff Achievements

DONORS CORNER ................................................... 13

Paving the way forward through research: TheSwiss Agency for Development and Cooperationsupports agricultural research that helps the poorand disadvantaged achieve food security andenvironmental sustainability

DREAMS BEYOND DROUGHT ................................. 14

For the rural poor, drought delivers heartbreak andtears communities apart but promising newresearch can help rice farmers and their familiesavoid devastation

DRUMMING UP SUCCESS ....................................... 22

An improved way of planting rice is increasingfarmers incomes and strengtheningcommunities in Bangladesh

A HYBRID PIONEER ................................................. 28

Over the past 3 decades, Sant Singh Virmani the man who put hybrid rice on the mapin tropical Asia has fought a winningbattle to help feed the hungry and poor

UNLOCKING THE GENETIC VAULT .......................... 32

Buried deep within the International RiceGenebank are little pieces of genetic

treasure but how do we nd them?

BUILDING A BET TER RAT TRAP .............................. 34

Amid the spectacular mountains of thenorthern Philippines, an improved rat trapis helping farmers prevent rodents fromdevastating precious rice elds

BOOKS ..................................................................... 36

Novel ways to share knowledge: Innovationsin Rural Extension describes new andcreative ways to share knowledge with farmers

RICE FACTS .............................................................. 37

Does rice research reduce poverty in Asia?Improved technologies can have anenormous impact

GRAIN OF TRUTH .................................................... 38

Successful technology adoption needssupport from both farmers and governments
http://www.irri.org/http://ricelib.irri.cgiar.org/http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/http://ricelib.irri.cgiar.org/http://www.irri.org/


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5Rice Today September 2005

The web of rice

Search for rice on the Internetand youll get around 40 millionresults. Among this multitude

of Web pages, there are plenty on thestaple grain that feeds over 3 billionpeople. But to nd them, youll have tonavigate around pages discussing U.S.Secretary of State Condoleezza Riceslatest foreign policy comments, theresearch coming out of Rice University,and tribute pages to author Anne Rice,among many others. So how can yound the best resources about rice on the Web? In short, how do you separate therice from the chaff? Checking out the Web pages featured here is a good start.

Learn about riceThe U.S. Rice Producers Associationhas created Rice Romp (www.riceromp.com; pictured at right) for teachers andstudents. Although it focuses on riceproduction in the USA, it also containsmore widely relevant information. Thesite offers games and learning modules,and students can select their schoollevel from kindergarten through tonal-year high school. There is a choiceof study areas covering mathematics,science, health and social studies. Aftercompleting all the study areas for a givenschool level, students are ready to play Rice Rampage, a rice trivia game. Thesite also contains teaching resources foreach study area, across all school grades.

Rice collaborationsThe Internet is a natural place forscientists to collaborate in rice research by sharing resources and informationand making their research available

to others. The Rice Rise InformationSystem (http://rise.genomics.org.cn/rice/), hosted by the Beijing GenomicsInstitute, houses up-to-date, integratedinformation resources for rice genomes.Other sites offering researchers similaranalytical tools and data include TIGR Rice Genome Annotation (www.tigr.org/tdb/e2k1/osa1), hosted by theInstitute for Genomic Research, and theKorea Rice Genome Database (http:// bioserver.myongji.ac.kr/ricemac.html).

Rice industriesFor the latest news on rice prices, marketconditions and the world rice industry,

check out Oryza.com (www.oryza.com).The site provides daily market informationand instant news updates, and has featuresto help industry participants connect with the world rice community. There areforums on a range of topics fromtrends in the rice millingindustry to new technologiesand research in farmmanagement. Other featuresinclude an industry calendar,statistics and an extensiveglossary of rice terminology. Another industry site, RiceOnline (www.riceonline.com)contains information on riceprices, industry news and asearchable industry directory.

Rice industry sitesfrom a range of countriesoffer information about theenvironments and conditionsof rice production around the world. These include the USA RiceFederation (www.usarice.com), CaliforniaRice Research Board (www.carrb.com), andthe Australian Rice Growers Association(www.rga.org.au). Rice Farming magazine(www.ricefarming.com) provides articlesabout research and industry newsrelevant to rice farmers in the USA.

Rice and developmentThe Association of South East AsianNations (ASEAN) plus China, Japan

and Korea has formed the East AsiaEmergency Rice Reserve (www.eaerr.org) to provide food aid for assistance in

disaster areas and to alleviate poverty.The United Nations Convention onTrade and Development hosts a Web sitethat houses economic information abouta number of commodities

Long live the International Year of RiceThe International Year of Rice 2004 (IYR) saw an explosion of Web-based resourcescentered on rice. Although IYR has passed, its message is as relevant as ever.The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, ofcial home toIYR, continues to host its IYR Web site at www.fao.org/rice2004. The site coversinformation on culture, nutrition, livelihood, economics, science and gender. Thereare interesting facts about rice for kids, rice recipes from around the world andstunning photos from the IYR global photography contest: Rice is Life.

The Global Education Web site (www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au) provides teaching resourceson a number of global issues, including rice. Follow the homepage link to Rice for information aboutIYR plus a range of teaching modules. Teachers on the Web host an IYR site (www.teachers.ash.org.au/jmresources/rice/year.html) that contains links to pages on growing rice, history of rice, nutritionand rice around the world, as well as lesson plans, quizzes and games. Australias EdNA online housesan IYR page (www.edna.edu.au/edna/page2394.html) that has links to numerous IYR and general rice Web sites.

and crops, including rice. The site offersa synopsis of international market andrice policies of the main rice exportersand importers at http://r0.unctad.org/infocomm/anglais/rice/ecopolicies.htm.

And of course dont forgetthe International Rice ResearchInstitutes own site, www.irri.org. Also see www.irri.org/science/links.asp for links to the Web sitesfeatured here plus many more.


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NEWS

6 Rice Today September 2005

Its been an extraordinary few monthsfor rice research as scientists continue tounravel some of the secrets of the staple thatfeeds half the world. The nalized sequenceof the complete rice genome was scheduledto be published just after Rice Today wentto press in August, helping to further open

the door to improved rice varieties that can better help the poor and hungry. Other sig-nicant advances include a new version of Golden Rice with much more beta-carotene the building block of vitamin A and thesequencing of the rice blast genome.

Five years ago, many hailed the discovery of the original strain of golden rice as a break-through for the estimated 500,000 childrenaround the world who go blind each year because of vitamin A deciency. However, therice contained insufcient beta-carotene tomeet childrens vitamin A requirements.

The April 2005 issue of Nature Bio-

technology reported that Syngenta scien-tists have now developed a new strain of Golden Rice that contains around 20 timesmore beta-carotene. The achievement camethrough replacing the daffodil gene original-ly added to Golden Rice with a counterpartgene found in maize. Syngenta is making thetechnology freely available to public researchinstitutions in developing countries.

Despite strong enthusiasm from many quarters, concerns about biotechnology and genetically modified foods continueto be raised. A report by BBC environmentcorrespondent Richard Black stated that,

Not everyone believes golden rice is the best answer to Vitamin A deciency. Someagricultural experts and environmentalgroups say aiming for a balanced diet acrossthe board would be a better solution.

But the Golden Rice HumanitarianBoard, which oversees developments in theplants technology, emphasized that the crop was never intended to be the sole solution to

vitamin A deciency and that Golden Ricecould contribute to a better overall diet.

Researchers now have invaluable new information in the battle against the ricefungal disease known as rice blast ( Mag-

naporthe grisea ) following the sequencingof its genome by a team of scientists led by Ralph Dean of North Carolina State Univer-sity, heading the International Rice BlastGenome Consortium. Rice blast, consideredone of the most destructive diseases of rice,can completely wipe out young seedlingsand destroy grain in older plants.

Milestones in rice research

the award from then World Bank PresidentJames Wolfensohn), along with NguyenHuu Huan of the Vietnam Ministry of Ag-riculture and Rural Development, and VuHuu Ky Ba of the Voice of Ho Chi Minh, wereawarded the prize at a May 25 ceremony in Washington D.C.

Soap opera wins World Bank prize The new environmental radio program will build on the success of earlier IRRI-ledradio projects (see www.irri.org/radio) and will promote environmental sustainability inrice ecosystems using entertainment-educa-tion principles. More than 100 new episodes will feature environmental health in rice eco-systems, including soil health, crop residuemanagement, natural biological control con-servation and reduction of farm chemicals.The project team will join social scientists,ecologists and creative writers to create aninformative, entertaining and motivationalradio soap opera. The programs messages will be reinforced through activities such aslocal competitions, printed materials and video, ultimately expanding the radio audi-ence to 10 million farm households.

This project will establish a uniqueplatform for partnerships between andamong scientists, creative writers andextension staff to develop stories that willmotivate farmers to use environmental bestpractices, said project leader Dr. Heong.

The prize includes US$131,800 to sup-port project implementation. The win wasalso reported in the 9 June issue of Nature in a story titled Soap opera reaps prize forits clean message.

A radio-based environmental educationprogram has been awarded one of 31 World Bank Development Marketplace Awards for 2005. Developers of the En- vironmental Radio Soap Opera for Rural Vietnam project, IRRIs K.L. Heong andMonina Escalada (pictured above receiving

Blast-affectedrice plants

N A N C Y C A S T I L L A ( 2 )

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Research offers drought hope

New research funded by the RockefellerFoundation and conducted by IRRI onthe impact of drought in rural India is one of the rst major efforts to fully understand theeconomic consequences of drought in Asia,especially in relation to rice. The researchresults, detailed in the report Economic

costs of drought and rainfed rice farm-ers coping mechanisms in eastern India ,coincided with severe drought in several Asian countries.

IRRI Director General Robert Zeiglernoted that despite droughts devastatingeconomic and social costs, drought-alle- viation research is relatively underfunded.He points out that, despite this, public riceresearch in Asia is developing a range of new technologies and strategies to help poorfarmers combat drought.

What we need to do now is make surethese technologies get fully developed and

Lands inundated with salt after lastDecembers Indian Ocean tsunami arerecovering faster than expected, accordingto a recent study by the United NationsFood and Agriculture Organization (FAO).Despite fears that the salt-logged lands would remain unsuitable for most types of cultivation in the long term, the FAO sur- vey shows that 81% of the 47,000 hectaresof agricultural land damaged by tsunami

waves in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives,India and Thailand can be used for cultiva-tion this year.

But Daniel Renault, FAO coordina-tor for agriculture in tsunami-affectedcountries, warns that other problems stillthreaten farmers livelihoods. An Associ-ated Press report quotes him as saying that,

Tsunami damage less than expected

Many elds have been covered by soil sedi-ment and trash and have been damaged by massive soil erosion. In addition, there is ashortage of labor for cleaning and cultivat-ing elds. Many farmers also lack capitaland tools to resume production.

Meanwhile, the tsunami prompted theInternational Crops Research Institute forthe Semi-Arid Tropics and the M.S. Swami-nathan Research Foundation to join forces.

The institutes are screening crop varietiesfor salt tolerance, selecting varieties throughcommunity participation, establishing localseed banks, and rehabilitating tsunami-af-fected soil and water systems. IRRI has alsoprovided seeds of salt-tolerant rice varietiesthat have been held in the institutes Inter-national Rice Genebank.

Drought inicts a heavy toll

Media reports earlier this year broughtnews of drought-stricken countriesacross Asia. Several news agencies, includ-ing Bloomberg and Agence France Press,reported that half a million people in Cambo-dia are struggling with food shortages due toprolonged drought. An April report by Indianonline news service Kerala Next quoted TaMom, chief of Paing Lovea village in one of the kingdoms hardest hit provinces, as say-ing that, The drought is so bad these lastmonths that we have lost our entire harvest.Its a disaster.

Also quoted was World Food ProgramCountry Director, Thomas Keusters. Ex-pressing concern over the droughts long-term consequences, Keusters reportedly said that more people die of hunger thanof AIDS, T.B. and malaria combined. Sothere is no doubt that if the people are in apoor nutritional status, they are much more

vulnerable to all sorts of illnesses. Vietnams Thanh Nien News reportsthat rice crop area in the countrys MekongDelta is set to be reduced by more than130,000 hectares due to drought. Deputy Agriculture Minister Bui Ba Bong is quotedas saying that, the coming summer-autumncrop in the Mekong Delta is very important,much more than in previous years.

A story from news agency Reutersquoted a report on drought in the China Daily . Vast stretches of cropland aredesperately parched due to inadequateirrigation from dry rivers and reservoirs,

said the newspaper. Drought in China hasreportedly left more than 9 million peoplefacing drinking-water shortages.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press brought news of a less conventional attemptto tackle drought. Female rice farmers insouthwestern Nepal are reportedly plowingtheir elds at night in the nude to pleasethe rain god. A 35-year-old farmer, AmbikaTharu, was quoted by the Himalayan Timesnewspaper as saying, My mother-in-law said the god would be pleased and makerainfall if women till the land naked.

reach the farmers who need them so they will have a better chance of avoiding thepoverty and hardship drought can so easily cause, said Dr. Zeigler.

Drought-ghting approaches includenew rice varieties that are better adapted todry conditions and new irrigation water, soilfertility and weed management strategies.For more on drought, see Dreams beyond drought on pages 14-21.

Tsunami-affectedland in Sri Lanka

M A R K B E L L


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NEWS


The Indian Council of Agricultural Re-search (ICAR) has entered into a new workplan agreement with IRRI to supportand facilitate its national rice research ef-forts over the next 3 years. The agreementfocuses on genetic enhancement or the development of improved rice varieties, natu-ral resource management focusing on envi-ronmental sustainability, and training andtechnology transfer. The agreement aims tomake the latest technologies and ideas easily available to Indias rice farmers and ensure

IRRI-India workplan that other rice-producing countries benetfrom the best Indian research.

Some of the new technologies that IRRIhas been working on with ICAR and other

partners in Asia include the development of a submergence-tolerant version of the popu-lar Indian rice variety Swarna; the develop-ment of rice varieties with improved levels of nutrition, including rice with higher levels of vitamin A; new fertilizer strategies for farm-ers; and the continuing development of theIndian version of the Rice Knowledge Bank,the worlds rst digital extension service forfarmers and extension workers.

Commercialization of genetically modi-ed (GM) rice in China has again fea-

tured prominently in recent news reports, with the country eld-trialing three typesof GM rice that are candidates for com-mercialization.

Although no varieties have been giventhe commercial go-ahead, the South China Morning Post ( SCMP ) reported on 9 July that mainland farmers are continuing togrow GM rice against both Chinese law andthe advice of concerned critics.

The SCMP quoted farmer Tian Zihai of Hubei province, who claims he grows about0.7 hectares of GM rice a year, selling someand saving the rest for his family to eat. Ihave eaten it for 4 years with no problem atall, he reportedly said.

The article recalled a December 2004 Newsweek report that quoted Zhang Qifa of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciencesand Central Chinas Huazhong AgriculturalUniversity, who conducted Chinas largestfield trials on GM rice. Professor Zhangreportedly said that farmers living near theGM test areas in Hubei grew and ate suchrice without any side effects and that a local

company sold GM rice seed to local farmers.This prompted Greenpeace to launch aninvestigation, collecting rice samples andsending them to Germanys GeneScan labo-ratory for testing. According to Greenpeace,the tests proved the rice was identical to therice researched by Professor Zhang.

The article went on to say that theChinese Ministry of Agriculture refused toaccept the test results. Its biosafety ofce vice director, Fang Xiangdong, reportedly called for extreme caution, emphasizingthat legal action would be taken in the faceof concrete evidence.

Meanwhile, the New York Times re-ported on 16 April the concerns of someChinese growers and foreign specialistsover the selling of GM rice on the openmarket in Chinas Wuhan region and insmall villages in Hubei province. The paperquoted a Greenpeace spokesperson as say-ing, If biotech rice has found its way intothe food system here, China has becomethe rst place in the world where a majorcrop, in this instance rice, is being directly consumed by humans and without regula-tory approval.

China is tapping its state reserves to ad-dress its rice supply shortfall during the

2005-06 marketing year. In its June ricemarket monitoring report, the Ministry of Agriculture indicated that the demand forrice outstripped supply despite a recovery inproduction in the previous marketing year.The ministry is optimistic that Chinas 2005rice acreage will increase as farmers areexpected to step up their rice planting dueto a minimum purchase price policy.

Long road to genetically modied rice commercialization Chinese rice consumption

Archaeological evidence uncovered innorthern China suggests rice and maize

not only millet, as earlier thought wereimportant sources of food in early China.The discovery was made by anthropologistsfrom the University of Toronto, who believethe successful cropping combination was thelikely stimulus for rapid growth in the earli-est cities in northern China, starting as far back as 2400-2000 B.C. Lead anthropologistGary Crawford claimed that the early riceproduction, in combination with millet and wheat, could help explain the foundation of Chinas current huge population.

Early China boosted by rice?

Climate change pessimism

A study presented at the UKs Royal Soci-ety in April painted a gloomy picture forthe effect of climate change on food produc-tion. The paper, presented by a team fromthe University of Illinois Departments of Plant Biology and Crop Sciences, states thatcurrent projections of global food security

under the global atmospheric change antici-pated for the second half of this century arelikely over-optimistic.

Newly developed technology allowedthe researchers to test the effect of global warming and elevated carbon dioxide (CO 2)levels on open-air crop areas much largerthan had previously been possible usingcontained chamber studies. Chamber stud-ies, which are known to be unreliable, hadpredicted that the yield-boosting effects of more CO 2 would to some extent offset the yield-reducing effects of higher tempera-tures. However, the study results showed

that for the worlds major staples rice,maize, wheat and soybean the yield in-crease due to CO 2 was only half as great asearlier chamber studies had shown.

Team member Steve Long was reported by New Scientist as saying that, We needto seriously re-examine our predictions of future global food production, adding thatcrop output is likely to be far lower thanpreviously estimated.

MANGALA RAI (left ) andRobert Zeigler, directorsgeneral of, respectively,

ICAR and IRRI, sign the newworkplan agreement in June.

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ALLIANCE GETS ROLLING:Three initiatives will pavethe way forward for the newAlliance between IRRI andthe International Maize andWheat Improvement Center.The initiatives are: a new jointprogram for intensive farmingsystems in Asia; a single uni-ed crop information systemfor rice, wheat and maize anew integrated cereal informat-ics center; and an integratedcereal systems knowledge-sharing portal for extensionworkers and national programs.Each activity reects acontinuum from basic researchto practical applications. TheAlliance also emphasizes thecomplementarities of maize,rice and wheat in protability,nutrition, genomics and farm-ing systems. Participants at

an Alliance meeting at IRRI inApril are pictured atright .

Hybrid happenings

Agricultural policymakers, researchersand scientists from 13 countries, plusrepresentatives from the Asian Develop-ment Bank (ADB), the Food and Agricul-ture Organization of the United Nations,IRRI, nongovernment organizations andthe private sector converged at the ADBheadquarters on 6-8 June for the Regional Workshop for Development and Dissemina-tion of Hybrid Rice Technology.

Workshop participants discussed key results achieved so far and the challengesfaced by hybrid rice programs in improvingfood security in Asia. Also considered werethe roles of government policies, public-private sector partnerships and promotion

R ecently retired IRRI principal scientistand plant breeder Sant Virmani is widely recognized for his role in the devel-opment and dissemination of hybrid ricetechnology throughout tropical Asia. Inrecognition of this, he has been awarded the2005 Monsanto Crop Science DistinguishedCareer Award from the Crop Science Society of America, to be presented in September.

Dr. Virmani was also recognized by theGovernment of India during the 40th RiceResearch Group Meeting on 6-8 April inBangalore and by the Indian Seeds Industry Association and Seedsmen Association ata 13 April ceremony held at the AcharyaN. G. Ranga Agricultural University inHyderabad.

At the 3rd national Workshop onHybrid Rice, held on 7 June in Manila,the Philippine Department of Agriculturegave Dr. Virmani a plaque of gratitudefor more than 25 years spent developinghybrid rice technologies suited to thePhilippines.

Following his retirement, Dr. Virmaniplanned to continue at IRRI as a consultantunder the project Sustaining Food Security in Asia through the Development of HybridRice Technology, from 6 July to 31 August. To learn more about his distinguished ca-reer and discover the ups and downs thatmark the history of hybrid rice in the tropics,see A hybrid prioneer on pages 28-31.

Accolades for hybrid pioneer

K wang-Ho Park of the Korea Na-tional Agricultural College in

Seoul has developed a new digitalchlorophyll meter ( pictured ) that willallow researchers, extension workersand farmers to precisely measure arice elds total nitrogen content andrecommend the amount of urea to be applied. Excess application of ni-trogen can cause plants to lodge (fallover) and can lead to environmentalpollution and pest infestation. Thenew device can also be applied to vegetables and fruits.

New digital chlorophyll meter to help optimize fertilizer

of hybrid rice technology.The 3rd Philippine National Workshop

on Hybrid Rice was held in Manila on 7-9June. Focusing on the theme Harnessing Hybrid Rice Technology through Policy Advocacy , the workshop determined policy directions in sustaining the use of hybridrice in the Philippines.

Hybrid rice is already grown on morethan half a million hectares across ve statesin India. The area is this year expected torise to 0.8 million hectares, according to areport on the rice industry Web site Oryza.com. Hybrid rice seed production gener-ates an estimated $118 million in annualrevenue and yields obtained from hybrid varieties are 1-1.5 tons per hectare higherthan nonhybrid varieties.

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NEWS


Sturdier rice plantsScientists in Japan and China have devel-oped a rice plant that better resists lodging(falling over) in bad weather. Motoyuki Ashikari of Nagoya University and HitoshiSakakibara of the Plant Science Center in Yokohama discovered that plants contain-ing a gene that expressed low levels of aparticular enzyme produced 23-34% moregrains per plant than control plants. Moreseeds, however, can make plants top-heavy and susceptible to lodging. The scientistscombined plants that produced more grains

with those that had a gene favoring shorterplant height. The paper, published in the24 June issue of Science , also explains thatthe scientists genome-scanning approachcould be used to identify genes for diseaseresistance and stress tolerance.

Successful project shines onBangladeshi nongovernment organization AID-Comilla has secured funding from theUS Agency for International DevelopmentsIntegrated Pest Management Collaborative

Research Support Project to continue the work of the IRRI-led Livelihood Improve-ment Through Ecology (LITE) project. LITEshowed that applying insecticide to riceelds was essentially a waste of time andmoney and led to thousands of Bangladeshirice farmers eliminating insecticide useand reducing their fertilizer applicationsto optimal levels. Unsprayed crops had thesame or greater yields than sprayed crops,and farmers saved money and reducedharm to their health and the environment(see Reason to cheer on pages 12-17 of Rice

Today Vol. 3, No. 4).

Environmental Agenda on the webIRRI has launched the BETA version of itsEnvironmental Agenda Web site, GreenRice.net, which will provide a wide range of com-munication tools and access to informationabout rice and the environment. Users canregister to receive updates and can sendcomments to the site development team.The site also showcases the IRRI Environ-mental Agendas seven key areas of concern:

poverty and environment, farm chemicalsand residues, land use and degradation, water use and quality, biodiversity, climatechange, and use of biotechnology. Visit thesite at www.greenrice.net.

New CGIAR donorMalaysia has become the newest donor tothe CGIAR, starting this year with an initialcontribution of US$300,000 to the Inter-national Plant Genetic Resources Institute,the WorldFish Center and IRRI. Malaysiasfunding to IRRI will help support research

activities in crop improvement and theenvironmental sustainability of rice produc-tion systems.

Environment and livelihoodMore than 150 people from 20 countriesattended an international conference on En- vironment and Livelihoods in Coastal Zoneson 1-3 March in Bac Lieu, Vietnam. IRRI,the International Water Management In-stitute (IWMI), the WorldFish Center, CanTho University, and the Peoples Committee

R obert D. Bob Havener, IRRI interimdirector general in 1998, passed away on 3 August at his California home, aged75. Although his 8-month stay at IRRI wasonly brief, he had a big impact, steeringthe institute through a difcult period and winning the hearts of its staff. Mr. Havener(pictured above right in 1998 with, from left ,then Head of Public Awareness Robert Hug-gan, Head of Communication and Publica-tions Services Gene Hettel and then Deputy

Director General for Research Ken Fischer) was a champion of international agriculturalresearch, having devoted more than 50 yearsof his life to agriculture for development. Healso worked as interim director general of theInternational Center for Tropical Agriculturein 1994-95 during a time of crisis. In 1978-85,he was director general of the InternationalMaize and Wheat Improvement Center, which, under his leadership, became recog-nized as the leading center in its eld.

Former IRRI director general passes away At a memorial service on 8 August atIRRI, Director General Robert Zeigler gave amoving tribute, noting that one of the many things Mr. Havener will be remembered foris his effort in establishing the InternationalCenter for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in the 1970s.

He is seen as the founding father of ICARDA, said Dr. Zeigler, and reveredthroughout the Middle East as someone with great compassion and commitment tothe region, and someone who has made agreat contribution.

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sion along with Kumi Yasunobu , whocomes to IRRI from Japan.

Recently joining IRRI as postdoctoralfellows are Xuemei Ji (PBGB), Bert Col-lard (PBGB) and Chitra Raghavan (Ento-mology and Plant Pathology Division).

Entomologist Gary Jahn has movedto Laos to serve as IRRIs new projectmanager for the Swiss Agency for Develop-

ment Cooperation-funded Lao-IRRI RiceResearch and Training Project. He will alsoact as IRRI representative and coordinatorfor the Greater Mekong Subregion andhas taken over management of the AsianDevelopment Bank-funded Linking Exten-sion and Research Needs with InformationTechnology (LEARN-IT) Project, which will build electronic linkages between regionalresearch and extension agencies.

International Research Fellow M. Zai-nul Abedin (SSD) is now based in Ethiopiaas a farming systems specialist.

International Programs Management

Ofce and the Training Center Head Mark Bell has left for Davis, California, along withspouse Renee Latte, crop physiologist inthe Crop, Soil and Water Sciences (CSWS)Division. Dr. Latte has taken up a job inthe private sector after 8 years working ondrought research at IRRI. Dr. Bell, whocontinues to act as a consultant to IRRIsRice Knowledge Bank, also received on April 20 a Gratitude Plate from the RuralDevelopment Administration of Korea for

of Bac Lieu cosponsored the conference, which focused on the management of inlandcoastal zones affected by salinity intrusion, with emphasis on conicting resource uses. About half the worlds population dependson coastal resources for industry, trade,recreation and their livelihood. Participantsalso recognized the importance of protect-ing coastal zones from shock events like theDecember 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Managing rice landscapesParticipants from India, Laos, Nepal and

Vietnam met with representatives from theInternational Fund for Agricultural Devel-opment (IFAD) and IRRI on 18-20 April forthe inception and planning workshop onthe IFAD-supported project on Managingrice landscapes in marginal uplands forhousehold food security and environmentalsustainability. The project aims to improvethe livelihood of upland farmers while con-serving fragile natural resources throughidentifying, validating and disseminatingimproved rice-based agricultural technolo-

gies suited to upland farmers diverse liveli-hood strategies.

Rice technology transfer systemsThe Rural Development Administration(RDA) of Korea and IRRI signed a Letter of Agreement on 20 April, formally extendinguntil 2009 the two organizations existingcollaboration in implementing the Train-ing Workshop on Rice Technology TransferSystems in Asia the rst of its kind in theregion. This years course is scheduled for4-17 September at the RDA campus in Su-

weon, Korea. RDA provides funding supportfor all participating national agriculturalresearch and extension systems while IRRIprovides course materials, key resourcepeople and facilitators.

Money for AfricaThe IRRI Board of Trustees is allocating upto US$1 million to support the Institutesstrategic initiatives in certain key areas andcountries, with the rst priority being thedevelopment of a major program in Africa.

IRRI Senior Scientist Vethaiya Balasubra-manian will be IRRIs Africa Coordinator.

Future collaborationIRRI and Australias Charles Sturt Univer-sity, signed a Memorandum of Understand-ing on 25 April. IRRI became an afliateinstitute of the university, setting the stagefor future collaboration in rice researchand training.

Asian labor out-migrationTrends in Asian modernization have found

men taking advantage of the growing jobmarket in the rural nonfarm economy. Asa result, women are being left behind tomanage the farms. This observation sur-faced when participants from Australia,Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines met at a 26-27 April conference at IRRI on Impact of laborout-migration on rice household economy with emphasis on gender issues. Led by IRRI Gender Specialist Thelma Paris, theconference focused on the prevalence and

K eeping up with IRRI staff

The China Jillian University in Hangzhouhas appointed IRRI entomologist K.L.Heong as visiting professor to the Univer-sitys School of Life Sciences. Dr. Heong will work with the Schools Dean, Professor Yu Xiaoping, to develop new curricula and

research themes that will focus on environ-ment and sustainable development.Philippe Herve recently joined the

Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biotechnol-ogy (PBGB) Division. He comes to IRRIfrom Crop Design, in Belgium, where he worked as a plant and cell biotechnology project leader.

Rakish Kumar Singh has joined PBGBas an international research fellow to work onthe salinity project and research funded by theChallenge Program on Water and Food.

Grant Singleton of Australias Com-monwealth Scientic and Industrial Re-

search Organisation has been selected asthe new Irrigated Rice Research Consortiumcoordinator. He was scheduled to begin work at IRRI in September.

Nobuya Kobayashi has joined PBGBto take on responsibility for the IRRI-JapanCollaborative Research Project.

Economist Deborah Templeton , who previously worked at the AustralianCentre for International Agricultural Re-search, has joined the Social Sciences Divi-

his outstanding contributions to the Train-ing Workshop on Rice Technology TransferSystems in Asia.

Swapan and Karabi Datta (PBGB)depart having both advanced rice biotech-nology during their time at IRRI.

Matthias Wissuwa , internationalresearch fellow in CSWS has moved toTsukuba, Japan, to work at the Japan

International Research Center for Agricul-tural Science. Dr. Wissuwa made invaluablecontributions to the understanding of themolecular and physiological bases of nutri-ent deciency tolerance in rice.

Departing postdoctoral fellows are De- vendra Dwivedi (PBGB) and HumnathBandari (SSD). Dr. Bhandari has since re-turned to SSD as a visiting research fellow.

Martin Kropff , IRRI agronomistand crop modeler in 1990-94, has been ap-pointed rector of Wageningen University,the Netherlands. Prior to his appointment, which was scheduled to begin in September,

Dr. Kropff was chair of the Crop and WeedEcology Group and director general of theUniversitys Plant Sciences Group.

Modadugu Gupta , Assistant Director General (International Relations and Partnerships) of theWorldFish Center in 2003-04, is the winner of the2005 World Food Prize. WorldFish is, along with IRRI,one of the 15 centers that make up the ConsultativeGroup on International Agricultural Research.

Also...


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NEWS


patterns of labor out-migration and theirimpact on livelihood, rice farming efciency and gender roles.

Sri Lankan rice self-sufciency A recent report in Indian newspaper The Hindu quoted Sri Lankan AgricultureMinister Anura Kumara Dissanayakesannouncement that Sri Lanka has becomeself-sufficient in rice production. Theminister reportedly said that the countrysper-hectare productivity had increasedfrom 3.82 to 4.1 tons, thanks to innovativemeasures such as the revival of an age-oldirrigation system, returning abandoned landto cultivation, and supplying quality inputsand subsidized fertilizers to farmers. SriLanka previously imported rice from India,Pakistan and Vietnam.

Unfavorable rice environmentsEighty participants from national agri-cultural research and extension systems(NARES) and IRRI met on Lombok Island,

Indonesia, on 24-27 May for the Fourth Annual Steering Committee Meeting of theConsortium for Unfavorable Rice Environ-ments. The meeting served as the key policy-making and agenda-setting forumfor IRRIs research partnership with NARESinstitutions that are conducting researchin the unfavorable rainfed ecosystems. Theconsortium is engaged in a 3-year programof collaborative research with NARES part-ners through the Asian Development BanksRegional Expertise Technical Assistanceprogram.

Private collaborationIRRI and the India-based Mahyco ResearchFoundation (MRF) signed a Memorandumof Agreement on 27 June. MRF is a privateresearch and development foundationfounded by Maharashtra Hybrid SeedsCompany Limited (Mahyco). Establishedin 1964, Mahyco focuses on plant geneticresearch and hybrid rice seed production.The memorandum covers collaboration in

the areas of functional genomics for brownplanthopper resistance, capacity buildingthrough human resource development andtraining for marker-assisted selection, andexchange of germplasm.

Rice policy strategy for West AfricaExperts from Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria,Niger, the Economic Community of West African States and the Africa Rice Center(WARDA) have agreed to form a ricepolicy research and advocacy platformthat will help develop policies to promotethe regions rice sector as well as developand implement a common agenda for ricepolicy research. They will also developmulticountry project proposals based onregional research priorities and jointly source funds to carry out the projects. Theexperts agreed that local rice would never become competitive unless favorable andconsistent policies and effective institu-tional arrangements are developed andimplemented across the region.

IRRI Deputy Director General for Part-nerships William Padolina has beenawarded the prestigious 2005 ASEAN Sci-ence and Technology Meritorious Service Award. The award, which Dr. Padolina was scheduled to receive on 11 August,

recognizes Association of South East AsianNations (ASEAN) senior ofcials and ad-ministrators for their efforts and signicantcontributions toward the promotion anddevelopment of regional cooperation inthe scientic and technological elds andthe upgrading of regional, scientic andtechnological capabilities.

Two entries with IRRI ties won majorawards in a success story competitionsponsored by the Swiss Agency for Develop-ment and Cooperation (SDC) for countriesin its East Asia Division . Three Reductions,Three Gains Program to improve envi-

ronment and livelihood of millions of rice farmers in Vietnam received 2nd prize andGenuinely Lao the story of the project that revolutionized rice production in Laos (pictured at right ) won 3rd prize. You canread them at www.irri.org/media/impact/three1.asp and www.irri.org/media/impact/laos1.asp, respectively.

For his 33 years of outstanding volun-teer efforts and service, IRRI Communica-tion and Publications Services Head GeneHettel received the 2005 Service Award of the U.S.-based Association for Communica-

tion Excellence in Agriculture,Natural Resources, and Lifeand Human Sciences during itsannual meeting in San Antonio,Texas, in June.

The Philippine Society of Agricultural Engineers(PSAE) named IRRI AssociateScientist Ruben Lampayan

as 2005 Outstanding Filipino Agricultural Engineer in thefield of Irrigation Researchand Development during the55th PSAE Annual NationalConvention in General SantosCity in April.

IRRI Senior ScientistThelma Paris received theHonorary Fellow Award fromthe Federation of Crop Sci-ence Societies of the Philip-pines (FCSSP) during its 18thScientific Conference held

in Cagayan de Oro City inMay. IRRI Assistant ScientistMarianne Samson won theconferences best paper com-petition in the downstreamresearch category . Benets of real-time N-fertilizer management during four years in two long-term experiments was coauthored with E.V. Laureles, W.M.Larazo and R.J. Buresh from IRRI and H.C.Gines from the Philippine Rice ResearchInstitute (PhilRice).

Assistant Scientist Teodoro Migo won

Achievements

the Best Paper Award (weed science) at thePest Management Council of the PhilippinesConference at PhilRice, Nueva Ecija, in May.The paper Response of lowland rice weedsto submergence and the effect of herbicidedose was co-authored by O.S. Namuco, A.M.Mortimer and D.E. Johnson.

P H O T O B Y P E T E R F R E D E N B U R G


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DONORS CORNER


T he driving policy and guidingprinciples of the Swiss Agency for Development and Coop-eration (SDC) aim to help partnercountries overcome endemic poverty and to achieve food security and envi-ronmental sustainability. To managethis support efciently, SDC promotesgrowth among the most disadvan-taged groups in society by helpingthem improve production, manageenvironmental problems and provide better accessto educationand basichealth care. We recognizethat the focusof developmenttoday is onachieving com-munity-levelimpact through better-harmonized programs andprocedures, and actively assess-ing impacts against the aims of theUnited Nations Millennium De- velopment Goals and World Bank Poverty Reduction Strategies .

SDCs key mandate is to improvethe living conditions of the rural poor, who represent 80% of the worlds850 million chronically or acutely malnourished people. This mission in- volves advancing sustainable agricul-ture for food security, livelihood im-provement and pro-poor growth. The

major challenge ahead will be to meetgrowing food demand with limitedland resources, and without sacric-ing natural habitats or causing furtherdeforestation and loss of biodiversity.

New approaches to agricultureconfront producers in an increas-ingly liberalized market, in whichthere is unequal access to assets andlimited participation in decision-making. SDC believes research andknowledge can pave the way forward.

We recognize that the agriculturalsector will grow and improve itsefciency only if research deliversappropriate results along with practi-cal and locally adapted solutions.

Within this focus, SDC supportsthe International Rice Research In-stitute (IRRI) and other ConsultativeGroup on International AgriculturalResearch (CGIAR) centers, and has been an active member of the groupsince its inception. The CGIARs

research isone impor-tant link ina chain of knowledgegenerationfor develop-ment. SDCssupport foragriculturalresearch

goes hand-in-hand with buildingcapacity in human resources andstrengthening institutions. This sup-port is based not only on the researchfocus, but also on whether appropriatepartnership arrangements and imple-mentation mechanisms exist. And while we do not try to turn researchinstitutions into development agents, we believe the targets of research the poor and disadvantaged mustalways remain in sight. Research fordevelopment is about exchangingknowledge and building ownership,

and this requires focused, procientpartner institutions that are dedi-cated to improving life for the poor.

SDCs support for the CGIAR system is threefold. First, unre-stricted grants to core center-specicprograms and the CGIAR ChallengePrograms have remained steady overthe past few years at US$10 millionper year. Second, projects based inspecic target countries receive asimilar amount. Third, to maintain

a critical mass of expertise in agri-cultural research for development,SDC helps build networks betweenSwiss research centers and those of the CGIAR, and provides resourcesfor the Junior Professional OfcerProgram. In total, SDCs commit-ment to the CGIAR approaches$20 million annually, making SDCthe groups 8th-largest donor.

IRRI is an important partner of SDC, particularly in Asia. The Lao-IRRI Rice Research and TrainingProject and the Asia-wide Irr igatedRice Research Consortium (IRRC)are two typical examples of suc-cessful partnerships with a concreteimpact on food security and liveli-hoods. Tools developed by the IRRC,for example, are gaining tremendouspopularity among Asian rice farm-ers. In Vietnam, the impact of the Ba Giam, Ba Tang (Three Reduc-tions, Three Gains) campaign isexpected to reach and improve thelivelihood of more than 12 millionrice farmers by decreasing theirdependence on insecticides. This,in turn, increases farmers incomes while reducing unnecessary healthhazards and environmental pollution.

Getting technologies into farmerselds requires researchers to work

closely with farmers and involve themin all steps of research, from analyz-ing their problems through to ndingnew technologies. The measure of researchers success should be theadoption rate of appropriate technolo-gies at the farm level, rather thannumber of publications or scienticrigor alone. In this vein, SDC willcontinue its support for research thatleads to tangible improvements in thelives of the poor.

Paving the way forwardthrough researchby Katharina Jenny

Dr. Jenny is senior advisor in the NaturalResources and Environment Division of the SwisAgency for Development and Cooperation.


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F or the rural poor, droughtdelivers heartbreak and

rips communities apart but

promising new research can

help rice farmers and their

families avoid devastation

Dreams beyond

DROUGHby Adam Barclay

DROUGHT that causesrice elds like this also

forces women to travel longdistances to nd drinking

water (inset ). A R I E L J A V E L L A N A

H U M N A T H B H A N D A R I


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droughts impact is gradual, soit receives less attention frompoliticians and policymakers.Nevertheless, prolonged severedrought causes the breakdown of livelihoods and rural economies andthe failure of social support systems.The impact is disproportionately high on poor householdsthat are less able to cope because they do not ownor have access to theresources they need toescape the worst effects.

In 2004, widespreadsevere drought in much of Asia not only resulted inagricultural productionlosses of hundreds of

millions of dollars but alsopushed literally millions of peopleinto poverty. In Thailand, droughthit 70 of the countrys 76 provincesand affected more than 8 millionpeople. Production loss from majorcrop failures covering 2 millionhectares is estimated at US$326million, resulting in a 3.9% decline inthe 2004 agricultural gross domesticproduct (GDP). More than half of therural population of Thailand relies on

farm income for their livelihoods. Thestory is the same all across developing Asia, where well over half thepopulation depends on agriculture.

Reports from numerouscountries have a depressing samenessto them. In 2004, the normally lushtropical southern Chinese island of

Hainan suffered its worstdrought in 50 years, with12 million hectares of farmland affected. Mediareports claimed that morethan 9 million Chinesefaced drinking-watershortages. Vietnamseight central highlandprovinces suffered their worst drought in 28 years,

affecting around 1 millionpeople and causing an estimated $80million worth of crop losses. In March2005, Cambodian Prime MinisterHun Sen called for internationalassistance for a national campaign tohelp farmers who are short of water.Coping with recurrent drought is partof life for millions of Asias rural poor.

Just over two-thirds of India issusceptible to drought and more thanhalf of Asias drought-prone rice lands

The headlines dont screamat you from the front page.But their effect builds and, if youve followed the news fromacross Asia this past year or

so, you will understand the scale of the problem. Drought doesnt havethe immediacy of a tsunami or aood, but it can kill just as effectively.Its method is slow, insidious and,in the end, more painful, grindingpeople slowly into the dust thatlies where crops once stood.

Essentially, drought is anextended period of substantially lower-than-usual rainfall, leadingto a shortage of water for domesticuse and agriculture, and ultimately to nancial, physical and social

hardship. And it happens over andover again in Asia, where around afth of all rice area is drought-prone.

The consequences of droughtread like a description of theapocalypse: decline in foodproduction, hunger, malnutrition,disease epidemics and other healthproblems, famine, displacement of people, loss of assets, starvation the list goes on. Where oods andtyphoons inict instant damage,

The consequences

of drought read

like a description

of the apocalypse

L E H A R N E F O U N T A I N


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Rice Today September 2005 Rice Today September 2005

e located in eastern India alone.ought is one of Indias foremostnstraints to increased and stablericultural production. The lastntury has seen the country rockedsevere droughts in 1918, 1965,

72, 1979, 1987 and 2002. Withriculture contributing around aarter of Indias GDP, severe droug htrectly sties economic growth.

The 2002 drought ranks as onethe most severe in Indias recorded

story. More than half the countrysea and around 300 million peopleross 18 states felt its impact. Theck of rain caused a 15% drop inal food grains and a 19% drop ine production 31 million tons

and 17 million tons, respectively compared with what was expected

based on agricultural trends. TheIndian Department of

Agriculture estimatedthat the 2002 drought

year resulted in a 3.2%decline in agriculturalGDP, a $9-bil lion loss inagricultural income andthe loss of a staggering1.3 billion person-days in rural employment due toshrinkage of agricultural operations.

What do these numbers actually mean, though? First, you have toremember that India is home to morethan a sixth of the planets population

almost 1.1 billion, and rising. Soa little economic push here or shovethere can affect a lot of people. In just

three states in easternIndia, Chhattisgarh,Jharkhand and

Orissa, the 2002drought slashed farmhousehold income by 40-80% and shoved13 million people

below an already-low poverty line. In short, a lotof people who werent doing too badly became poor and a lot of poor people became a lot poorer.

Sushil Pandey, a senioragricultural economist at the

Drought is a major issue for rainfedrice cultivation in eastern India.In Chhattisgarh state in 2002-03,for example, drought led to a halvingof rice production, hampering the rural economy and forcing farmers into debt.

Rice cultivation in this region isoften performed by direct seeding, ratherthan transplanting. One drawback of this technique is that weeds can be abig problem. The chief method of weedcontrol in Chhattisgarh is through thetraditional practice of biasi , which isheavily dependent on adequate andtimely rainfall to impound about 10-15 cm of water. Around 30-50 daysafter sowing, farmers run a narrow plowthrough the mix of crop and weeds. Al-though disruptive for the seedlings, themethod keeps weeds under control, andallows farmers to redistribute seedlingsand ll any gaps. But a lack of enoughrainfall can delay or even prevent biasi ,and weeds soon out-compete the rice,causing severe declines in yield.

One solution is to sow the rice inlines using a seed drill a device thatopens furrows in the soil and dropsseeds into them with different weedmanagement strategies not dependenton impounded water. The technology isnot new but, until recently, has not beenadopted in Chhattisgarh due largely to

a lack of access to seed drills ators. Now, IRRI and the IndirAgricultural University, with funthe International Fund for AgrDevelopment, are helping remers to adoption by taking a momunity-oriented path. The researecently helped farming commuup a hiring system and encourcal entrepreneurs to purchase dtractors that could be hired out small farmers.

Importantly, line-sown ricup to 10 days earlier thanPreviously, farmers grew varietiferent durations, which were hrelatively late and at different timhibiting a second crop under resimoisture conditions during the ofallow period. Cropping intensicreased because the farmers nowsame early-maturing rice varieing production of a h igh-yieldinof chickpea after the rice harve

Line sowing is gaining pamong farmers and helping themduce higher yields and income. Mweeds in line-sown crops is eaas it isnt dependent on the highrequired for biasi . Gaining accsowing technology has helpedthe cooperation of local comthat has really made the differe

International Rice Research Institute(IRRI), led a recent RockefellerFoundation-funded study into theimpact of drought titled Economiccosts of drought and rainfed rice farmers coping mechanisms ineastern India . He points out that

the impact at a national level tendsto be moderated because a wholecountry is rarely in drought at once,and areas experiencing a good year will to some extent buffer the hardesthit areas. If you take a look at theeffect on localized groups, though, you see a much bleaker picture.

When you zoom in on specicareas, you see the impact muchmore, says Dr. Pandey. Its po ssibleto have very little uctuation

FARMERS gather in the village of Kap40 km from the Chhattisgarh c apital of Rto share their drill-seeding experiences wscientists from Indira Ghandi AgricultuUniversity.

Community action combats droughby Leharne Fountain

DROUGHT takes its toll,ployment for agricul-al workers also dries up,cing them into inactiv-or migration to cities insearch for work.

The 2002 drought ranks

as one of the most

severe in memory


L E H A R N E F O U N T A I N


17/33


FARMERS IN CHHATTISGARH tell IRRIs Humnath Bhandari ( seated at right ) about how drought has affected their lives and what they do totry and cope. A woman checks a public tube well (below ) for drinkingwater. In the background is a parched farm pond, which in better years provides water for domestic use and livestock.



18/33

19

To get a sense of life during an Indian drought,let us examine the case of one farmer.Nandu Bhoi farms a half-hectare block nearDatarengi village in the Raipur district of IndiasChhattisgarh state. The areas soil retains verylittle rainwater; crops here depend on consistent,

timely rains. It is an unforgiving place to eke outa farm living.Despite droughts in 1997, 1998 and 2000,

Nandu managed to produce a little rice. Then,in the 2002 monsoon season, the rains dried upcompletely and he neither planted nor harvesteda single grain. Six years earlier, he had bought abullock to help with land preparation and to hireout to other farmers. In the absence of rain, Nandusimply grazed his bullock in his barren rice eld,but by 2002 there were not even enough weedsto feed a single draft animal.

With his family becoming hungrier andhis bullock fast losing weight, Nandu decidedto sell. Many of his fellow farmers in similarlydire circumstances were doing the same thing,so prices for bullocks had hit rock bottom. Hereceived a paltry sum for the sickly beast but atleast it was one less thing to worry about. Unableto produce food himself, though, Nandu becamemore and more desperate, selling his farm toolsand some cooking implements.

When food is in short supply in this partof India, women are given whatever is left overafter the men, the children and the elderly haveeaten. Nandus pregnant wife, Sulochana, had thusbecome weak, barely able to gather the energy to

join the other farm wives foraging in the nearbyforest for food. Most days, Sulochana was helpedby her 12-year-old-son and 10-year-old daughter.Together, they would spend up to 12 hours each

day collecting rewood, timber, medicinal plantsand food. Keeping a small portion for themselves,they sold the bulk of it at the market, earningaround 50 rupees (US$1.15) per day.

The children no longer attended school and although people harvest forest products innondrought years, the practice increases sharplyduring drought, contributing to rapid depletion of useful plants and severe deforestation. Foragersalso risk an unreliable market, low prices and

exploitation by middlemen.With his options rapidly dwindling, Nandu

moved to Maharashtra, hundreds of kilometerssouthwest of Raipur, to perform manual labor ata brick-producing kiln. To do this, he borrowedRs 1000 ($23) from a local money lender, whocharged him 40% annual interest. In Maharashtra,he worked a punishing 15-hour day for a paltry

Rs 50. Meanwhile, Sulochana gave birth to a5-week-premature boy who, underweight andunderfed, died a week later.

In 2003 the rains finally returned toRaipur and Nandu moved back to Datarengi tore-establish his farm. Already owing money, hehad no alternative but to plunge further intodebt. Having previously sold his bullock and farmtools, he borrowed enough money to hire whathe needed to plant a rice crop. Forced to wait

for the equipment until its owners had nishedwith it, Nandu planted his crop late, resultingin considerable production losses. For the rsttime in years, though, he was able to provide hisfamily with food that he had grown himself, andso begin the long, hard journey to recovery. Butif another drought hits any time soon, Nandu andhis family will nd themselves rapidly ground into

the dust once more.The story of Nandu Bhoi and his family

represents the heartbreaking reality for anenormous number of farm families across Indiawho continue to suffer from recurrent drought.Poverty and debt feed on themselves and, whenthe rains fail, already-struggling farmers quicklynd their circumstances spiraling out of control,unwitting players in a potentially deadly chainreaction.

Tears in the dust

and loss of production at the

national level at the same time asmassive production losses 60-70% in the affected areas.

Although the direct impactof drought is production loss andconsequent income loss, this is only the start of a farmers problems.

The local economy in a ruralarea depends on agriculture, saysDr. Pandey, and if the local economy isnt functioning well, the otheremployment disappears. You have a

cumulative effect. The total economic

cost of drought is several-fold higherthan the value of the production loss,and farmers coping mechanismsare usually inadequate to prevent ashortfall in consumption, particularly among vulnerable groups. Whenpeople are unable to pay off theirloans, they go deeper and deeperinto debt, ultimately losing theirland and whatever else they own,and become completely destitute.

Sukraram Dhuru, from Raipurs

Kumarkhan village, sums things

by saying a 1-year drought createsa 5-year problem. Imagine, then,the ruin inicted by 2, or 3, or 5consecutive years of poor rains.Some farm families are simply pushed so far down they never maketheir way back up, condemned to asubsistence of monotonous, unskilledlabor, drudgery and malnutrition.

Whats more, this sort of tragedy happens again and again. It is bothencouraging and sobering to realize

WOMEN FROM POOR, drought-affectedhouseholds in Chhattisgarh collect kenduleaves from the forest. They can makea little money selling these in the localmarket, but the practice, which peaks indrought years, contributes to deforestation.



19/33

Drought what is IRRIdoing?IRRI is developing a range of strategies to tackle drought. Read on for a

summary of some of the institutes key research.

Breeding for drought toleranceIRRI researchers have demonstrated that some ricevarieties (including some hybrids), are much moretolerant than mainstream high-yielding irrigatedvarieties to periods of soil drying during the critical owering and early grain-lling stages. Luckily,this characteristic does not seem to undermineyield under favorable conditions. Rice breeders cannd the most drought-tolerant varieties through ascreening process wherein plants are deprived of water around the owering period, and then thebest-yielding candidates are selected. Since 2004,IRRI has identied many varieties combining highyield when conditions are good with theability to produce yields of 2-3 tons perhectare under conditions that are sodry that many popular varieties produceless than 1 ton per hectare. IRRI andcollaborators are studying the geneticbasis for this tolerance.

Aerobic riceRice breeders at IRRI are developing newtypes of rice that combine the ability of some traditional but low-yielding varietiesto grow in dry soils with the fertilizerresponsiveness and yield potential of

modern high-yielding varieties. The rstgeneration of this so-called aerobic ricehas been developed by crossing irrigatedhigh-yielding varieties with some of the traditional types and selectingthe progeny under dry soil conditions.Researchers in China and at the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation pioneered this breedingstrategy. The resulting varieties are direct-seededinto dry soil in nonooded elds and managed likea high-yielding wheat or maize crop. Irrigation isapplied if available and needed, but no standingwater is held in the elds.

Crop management strategiesIRRI is researching a range of crop managementstrategies that have the potential to reduce theimpact of drought. Dry direct seeding plantingseeds directly into nonooded elds instead of transplanting seedlings into ooded elds hasthe potential to help farmers avoid late seasondrought, increase rice yield and gain opportunitiesto grow extra crops. Researchers are also quantifyingdrought effect on crop development, growth andyield, then using the Oryza2000 crop modelingsystem (co-developed by IRRI and WageningenUniversity in The Netherlands) to simulate ricegrowth under drought conditions. Such modelinghas already allowed scientists to analyze yield

constraints and explore management options toincrease the yield and stability of rainfed lowlandrice in Indonesia. Land leveling can help farmersuse water more efciently. Studying how soil andhydrological characteristics vary according totopography and how this affects soil nutrients,water availabil ity and yield will help researchersdevelop improved, site-specific managementstrategies for drought conditions.

Deletion mutantsDeletion mutants offer an exciting way of exploringthe effect of unknown genes on drought tolerance.

IRRI scientists have created more than 40,000deletion mutants where chemicals or radiationwere used to knock out random segments of thechromosome. The resultant plants the deletionmutants are then screened under drought stressin the eld, or by applying drought-related planthormones in the laboratory, to identify drought-tolerant or drought-susceptible mutants. By carefullyinvestigating different physiological characteristicsof the tolerant mutants a picture of the mechanismsimportant for drought tolerance in rice is beginningto emerge. Work is also under way to identify whichdeleted genes are responsible for this effect.

Physiological, anatomical and molecularbases of drought sensitivityThe reproductive stage of rice is the most sensitiveto drought stress. Inadequate rainfall during theowering and grain-lling stages can lead to largeyield losses in many leading rice varieties. One of the reasons for reduced yields is that the panicle(the owering section of the rice plant) does notfully emerge from the leaf sheath. For the panicle

to fully emerge, the plant needs to produce aparticular hormone (gibberellin). Under droughtstress, however, the plant decreases production of gibberellin and increases production of a differenthormone (abscisic acid), which works in oppositionto gibberellin. This same phenomenon is responsiblefor poor pollen release under drought conditions,which also inhibits yield. IRRI scientists areexamining the genes that control the productionand release of these hormones, as well as thecorresponding proteins. Ultimately, researchers hopeto develop rice plants that maintain reasonable

yields under drought conditions.

Molecular breedingAlthough drought-resilient rice varietiesdo exist, it has proved difcult to combinedrought tolerance and high yields. To linkthese two traits, scientists at IRRI and theChinese Academy of Agricultural Sciencesinterbred popular high-yielding varietieswith more than 100 varieties from diverseorigins. This produced a large number of breeding lines, which were then screenedfor high yield under drought stress.Researchers identied many lines whosephysical appearance and performance

were similar to the popular varieties theywere derived from, but with improvedyield in a range of drought environments.These lines are now being eld-tested indrought-prone environments in South andSoutheast Asia. This approach has also

helped scientists identify many genes and parts of the genome that inuence drought tolerance.

The Challenge Program on Water and FoodThe Challenge Program on Water and Food is one of several high-impact, collaborative research programsthat target major global and regional agricultural issues. The Challenge Programs are an initiative of IRRIs parent organization, the Consultative Groupon International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).Ultimately, the Water and Food program will helpfarmers grow more food with less water. IRRI isleading the programs Crop Water ProductivityImprovement theme, which seeks to increase cropwater productivity to ensure food security andimprove farmers livelihoods without increasingwater used for agriculture over the amount used inthe year 2000. Researchers from ve CGIAR centersand several additional partners aim to achieve thisby developing water-efficient crops, improvingfarming practices to optimize water use, andpromoting policies and institutions to help farmersgain access to new technologies.

AEROBIC RICE varieties, like thesebeing trialed at IRRI, can grow in

conditions far too dry for commonlygrown modern varieties.

G A R Y A T L I N


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that the worst consequences can be avoided. We may not have theability to prevent drought, but wehave the chance to soften its effectsand give people who depend onagriculture a ghting chance.

The answer lies in threeinterconnected areas research,effective long-term drought-mitigation policies and relief strategies. There is an urgent needfor policies that give farmers accessto markets and affordable credit.Improved irrigation systems andsoil and water conservation, through better approaches to managingnatural watersheds, can help easethe effects of drought. Access toimproved agricultural technologies

that increase productivity will helpfarmers diversify their incomesources, giving them opportunitiesto earn a living from more than just one type of crop and from viable nonfarm activities.

Farmers need nonagriculturalincome so even when there isagricultural failure, they can earnmoney, explains Humnath Bhandari,a visiting research fellow at IRRI whocoauthored the India drought report.

Effective drought relief, such asemergency food supplies, is crucial,says Dr. Bhandari, but people only receive assistance when a droughtactually happens. Millions of relief dollars are spent but with little impacton long-term mitigation. Unless we

focus on long-term strategies, we wont nd a solution, but governmentsare now starting to realize how serious this issue really is.

In research, we nd thepotential for truly sustainableimprovements. IRRI has takenon a suite of different approaches,from breeding rice varieties thatare better able to tolerate droughtconditions, to improved crop and water management strategiesthat help conserve and reducethe need for water (see Drought what is IRRI doing? , opposite).

In combination with inadequatecoping mechanisms, drought notonly perpetuates poverty but alsodeepens it, forcing more people below the poverty line and draggingthose already there deeper down. At the same time, improvements borne by research can have theopposite effect, nudging people back up into better circumstances.

What would happen, asks Dr.Pandey, if we could halve the rice yield loss suffered during drought years? This alone would preventabout 4 million people in easternIndia from falling into poverty.

Combine that with improvedpolicies, effective relief and betterinfrastructure, and you give farmersand their families a chance to keep water in their elds, their crops aboveground and their heads above water.

JOBLESS AND APPREHENSIVE, people wait anxiously for relief to arrfarmers gather to sell their bullocks at a weekly market in Orissa (below ). A

drought-induced hardship forces more and more farmers to sell thproductive assets, such as farm animals, prices drop lower and low

H U M N A T H B H A N D A R I ( 2 )


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A lmost 90% of the 11 millionhectares of rice that areplanted each season inBangladesh is transplanted

seedlings are grown in nurseriesthen moved to the eld. It is aheavily labor-intensive process,requiring nearly half-a-billionperson-days across the country. Inthe past, rural laborers abounded, but increasing labor out-migrationto city areas and a shift towardsalternative rural employment hasseen a severe shortage of handsavailable for transplanting rice.

This scarcity of farm workersis hurting Bangladeshi rice farmerson several fronts. The most obviousimpact is an increase in labor costs. Also, the optimal planting periodsfor the boro (dry) and aman (wet)

seasons are relatively short. A lack of workers

means not allfarmers can

plant theirrice on time.Delayedplantingleads to late-maturing rice,

increasingthe risk of crop

losses at the tailend of both seasons

due to hailstorms orooding from rain during

the boro season and due to drought

during the aman season. Thesefactors, combined with increasingcosts of other inputs and a falling orstagnant market price for rice, arediminishing the economic viability of rice production in Bangladesh.

But a simple, inexpensive piece of equipment has the potential to changethe face of rice farming across thecountry. The drum seeder (see photo,opposite ) is a lightweight devicemade from high-density plastic witha cost of around US$40 and a life of

6-8 years. Originally designed bInternational Rice Research Ins(IRRI), improvements by reseaand manufacturers in Vietnam hsubstantially reduced the weighand usability of the device. It coof six to eight cylindrical drumalong a central axis. Each drumstudded with holes through whipre-germinated seeds drop neatrows on puddled soils as the druseeder is pulled along. The drumsupported by a large plastic wheach end, allowing the whole syto be easily pulled along by a siuser at walking pace. Drum seehas already had success in Vietnas a seed-saving strategy, but itscapacity to save labor is profoun

while it may take up to 50 persodays to transplant 1 hectare of r

direct wet seeding with a drumseeder takes barely 2 person-da

Bangladeshs rst drum-setrial, conducted during the 2003aman season a collaboratio

between IRRI and the BangladRice Research Institute (BRRI)funded by the International Fun

Agricultural Development (IFA was a comprehensive succesthe trial, led by M. Zainul AbedFarming Systems Specialist in

s u c ce s sDr u m m ing up


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FARMER Jamal Sheikh (opposite)discusses his drum-seeding expwith Channeli director Shykh Sthe Pabna eld day. Looking onMinister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Ala(in white ), BRRI Director of RNiloofar Karim (right of minister Dr. Abedin (left of Seraj ).

RIs Social Sciences Division,d implemented by BRRI Chief ientic Ofcer Musherraf Husaind participating farmers, drumeding resulted in an average% higher yields and 6% reducedsts compared with transplanting,d drum-seeded crops maturedaverage 10 days earlier. Whats

ore, drum-seeded rice gave anerage gross return 21% higheran for transplanted rice. Thisnslates to more than double theerage prot a boost of around20-150 per hectare per crop.

All those involved saw thechnology as cheaper, requirings labor, producing higher yieldsd resulting in better plant growth.e only areas of concern were

e potential cost of acquiring aum seeder, uncertainty overailability, and weed management.ore recently, though, a follow-IFAD-funded project, aimingaccelerate the adoption of the

chnology, has given IRRI andRRI, with the assistance of

the Bangladesh Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE),the chance to solve some inherentproblems and lead the spread of drum seeding in Bangladesh.

Dr. Abedin developed guidelinesfor technology adoption using acommunity participatory approachto research and extension. One key to the approach is a pre-adoptionanalysis that takes into considerationinstitutional, technical, policy,social and economic factors thatmay help or hinder adoption. Thismeans understanding an entirefarming community, not justindividual farmers. Many farmersgrow other crops in addition torice, so the approach must considerhow drum seeding will affect their

whole farming system. The productof a Bangladeshi farm family himself, Dr. Abedin emphasizesthe value of allowing farmingcommunities to make their owndecisions, and to recognize they have the ability to experiment, takecalculated risks and innovate.

Fifty-six groups across thecountry decided to try drum seedingduring the 2004 boro season, in thehope the technology would spreadout from these points. Establishinga drum-seeded crop requires earlierirrigation than does transplanting,so owners of tube wells eachof which usually irrigates severalrice farms were the rst peoplecontacted in each location.

Its useless, says Dr. Abedin, toget the farmers involved if they cantirrigate their crop at the right time,so it was crucial that we includedthe well owners. Understanding,and working within, the existingcommunity structures is essential.

Extraordinary paceNow, after just three growing seasons,the popularity of drum seeding isspreading at an extraordinary pace.Some 4,000 Bangladeshi farmers inmore than 300 groups are already using the technology, with hundredsmore seeking access to drum seeders.

Dr. Abedin attributes thesuccessful adoption of drumseeding in large part to theprojects community participatory approach and, critically, the early

establishment of research linkages with development and policy makers, entrepreneurs and themedia. Ultimately, though, it comesdown to the farmers themselves.

It was the farmers whoexperimented with the technology and were condent of success, evenin the face of skepticism, he says.The researchers were continuously learning from farmers and integratingthese lessons into the work plan.Farmers also trained other farmers. Working with groups of farmershelps establish ongoing, community-level monitoring and evaluation, andensures that drum-seeding successstories spread rapidly to neighbors.

The project abounds with storiesabout farmers like Abdul Aziz, fromGazipur district northeast of thecapital, Dhaka. Aziz soldiered on even while neighboring farmers scoffed, believing he wouldnt harvest any rice from his drum-seeded crop. At55 bigha, or just under 8 hectares (7

bighas equal 1 hectare), Azizs farmis large by Bangladeshi standards.He started growing drum-seededrice during the 2004-05 boro season.Previously, his entire crop wastransplanted, requiring 25 laborersper 5 bigha. For the same area, drumseeding required just a single laborer.

Aziz explains that on top of the labor savings, he increased his yield by 0.5-0.8 tons per hectare,and he harvested 10 days earlierthan previously with transplantedrice. He has more money in hispocket and he intends to invest itoutside of rice farming, to increasehis earning capacity and diversify his income. Many of Azizs fellow Gazipur farmers are now eager to

try drum seeding for themselveand he is only too happy to sharknowledge and experience ahis drum seeder with them.

Its a common theme: skepneighbors become true believerMohammad Ghiasuddin, who oa very small farm in Mymensindistrict north of Dhaka, has alreharvested three drum-seeded cr

After just one season, both he aneighbors, who had originally thhim mad, were convinced of th

virtues of drum seeding, and hehas shared the technology with

In this way, from farmer tofarmer, the technology is spread


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Field days, often attended by hundreds of farmers, give drum-seeding converts the chance toinspire others to try the technology. At a eld day in April 2005, threefarmers shared their experiences of drum seeding with a crowd of nearly 400 farmers and extension workersfrom around Pabna, 240 km west of Dhaka. One of the speakers, JamalSheikh, described the experiment heand some fellow farmers performedto try and reduce both the needfor irrigation and the cost of landpreparation by adopting a zero-tillagetechnique that made use of residualmoisture in his eld from recedingoodwaters and which, in concert with drum seeding, gained them yields at least 20% higher than fortransplanted rice. It is this spirit

of innovation and determinationthat has stirred pride in those

already drum seeding andinspired their counterparts.

Involving Bangladeshi policy makers in the adoption processprovided a major boost. From anearly stage, Dr. Abedin realizedgovernment support would becritical (see Grain of truth on page38). The team fostered relations with the Bangladesh Ministry of Agriculture and subsequently securedgovernment funding of 10 millionBangladeshi taka (US$156,000), which was mainly used to buy an extra 2,500 drum seeders.The government also pledged tosubsidize the cost of drum seeders forfarmers. The media have also beeninstrumental in increasing awarenessof drum seeding. Many people notonly rice farmers approachedBRRI and DAE for information ontrying drum seeding after seeingstories about the technology ontelevision or in the newspapers.

But there is still work to bedone. Research is still identifying

the varieties and areasmost suited to drumseeding, particularly taking into accountland, soil and existing

cropping systems. Weedmanagement is also an issue,

as is the availability of the drumseeders, and the possible need

for adaptations. And althoughscarcity of labor is the primary

basis for using drum

seeding, in some areas the technology has the potential to displace jobs.

Researchers need to be awareof their social responsibility to seethat there is no serious effect on ruralemployment, cautions Dr. Abedin.However, the economic boost caused by drum seeding should create jobselsewhere to absorb displaced labor.

IRRI, BRRI and the DAEare currently in discussions withBangladeshi entrepreneurs interestedin manufacturing drum seederslocally, and two companies havealready manufactured prototypes.This sort of enterprise can helpthe availability of drum seedersmeet the rising demand.

Major shiftDrum seeding represents a majorshift from transplanting, and thereis a need to manage the changeand create an environment thatallows change nationally. Training

farmers and both government andnongovernment extension workersis of paramount importance. AnIRRI-led meeting in June 2005,attended by senior governmentofcials and high-level research,extension, nongovernmental,media and business personnel,established a 5-year plan fortransferring drum-seedingtechnology. Following this, thegovernment has given the go ahead

TOWEL BUSINESSMAN Haji Shahabuddin (above) approached BRRI, eager to try drum seeding on his land, after seeing the technology showcased on the localtelevision program Soil and man . Farmer Mohammad Ghiasuddin (above right ) stands in front of his drum-seeded crop. Filling drum seeders is easy for Filipino farmer Hernando Bambo (below ) simply open the hatch in each drum and pour in the pregerminated seeds.


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to the project team for an additionalinvestment of around 100 milliontaka ($1.56 million) to continuethe work to spread drum-seedingtechnology across Bangladesh.

Originally, the only planned benet of drum seeding was thecost saving from reduced laborrequirements. It was expected,however, that this would be offsetslightly by an increased need for weed management. As it turnsout, farmers have also experiencedimproved plant growth, increased yields and earlier plant maturity,and they have used fewer seeds.

The latest results of drumseeding across the country show yield increases of up to 20% in both boro and aman seasons,

and up to double the net prot,translating to additional income,over transplanted rice, of 7,000-10,000 taka ($110-160) per hectareper season, a signicant boost formost Bangladeshi rice farmers. Drumseeding also frees family labor, whichhas wide-ranging social benets.

Even with modest projections,Dr. Abedin believes drum seedingcan have a profound impact. If drum seeding works on only 4

million hectares, he explains,a 15% yield increase equates to3 million tons of extra rice with very little extra investment. I believe drum seeding has thepotential to change the landscapeof rice farming in Bangladesh.

Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service,a participating nongovernmentalorganization, sees early harvest andincreased yield as more than just a way to reduce monga (starvation)during the pre-harvest period inOctober and November. First, early harvesting generates employmentfor landless laborers, providing themincome to buy food. Second, the early harvest and increased productionmake food available to vulnerablefarmers during the monga period.

The farmers themselves areoverjoyed by the results and areeagerly sharing the technology withother farmers. Dr. Abedin has also witnessed

Documents

RiceToday Vol. 4, No. 2