IRRI and Philippine Science and Technology Department partner to advance scientific and technological collaboration

26 March 2018, Los Baños, Philippines – The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Philippine Department of Science and Technology (DOST) strengthened their partnership by signing a new agreement expanding their scientific and technological collaboration today.

Through this partnership, DOST and IRRI will share their expertise in high performance computing, data storage and cloud resources as well as bioinformatics, genomics, computational/systems biology, and other areas relevant to rice science.

“Our goal at DOST is to make science and technology of real service to the people. This collaboration will advance our research and development agenda and expand the services we are able to offer,” said Secretary Fortunato de la Peña. 

Golden Rice gains health and safety nod from Health Canada

Health Canada has notified the International Rice Research Institute that it has no objection to the food use of Provitamin A Biofortified Rice Event GR2E (Golden Rice). The Department conducted a comprehensive assessment of this rice event according to its Guidelines for the Safety Assessment of Novel Foods, which are based upon internationally accepted principles for establishing the safety of foods with novel traits.

Paving the way for sustainable rice production in Asian countries

Farmers from Chainat Province share their experiences about using Laser Leveling. “Before, we experience lodging. After using Laser Leveling, I noticed an improvement in my crops and there was less lodging,” said Mr. Chaleaw Noiseang

IRRI, in strong collaboration with national partners, is implementing innovative pathways to alleviate poverty and promote gender equity by optimizing productivity and environmental sustainability of irrigated rice production systems. The Closing Rice Yield Gaps in Asia with Reduced Environmental Footprint (CORIGAP-PRO) project, which is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), brought together national partners from eight countries during its annual meeting to discuss key outcomes for 2017 and to plan activities for the next year.

“In 2017, the best management practices promoted by CORIGAP have currently reached more than 375,000 farmers across the six target countries (China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam), with yield increase ranging from 14 to 30%,” according to Grant Singleton, IRRI Principal Scientist and CORIGAP project coordinator. “With this exciting outcome, we will hear how each country has progressed and their plans for future initiatives to take us closer to our target in 2020 of reaching 500,000 farmers,” he added.

Giving Cambodia Youth a taste of rice science

His Excellency Hang Chuon Naron, Ambassadors Heidt and Longhurst graciously took time to join the taste test

IRRI collaborates with USAID in engaging the youth into rice science while showcasing IRRI’s innovation and leadership in breeding, varietal development, climate change adaptation, and yield gap reduction.

The fourth Cambodia Science and Engineering Festival was a large celebration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. During the three-day event, the IRRI Cambodia Team engaged more than a thousand students and other young professionals through various interactive activities highlighting rice science.

Agriculture Minister, key stakeholders praise progress of Golden Rice in Bangladesh

March 6 2018 - DHAKA, BANGLADESH – “Bangladesh will march forward on Golden Rice” said H.E. Matia Chowdhury, Minister of Agriculture for Bangladesh as she acknowledged the positive impact of biotech crops and their potential to help Bangladesh meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of zero hunger by 2030. 

“Inspired by the success of the country's first commercially released biotech crop in 2013, Bangladesh is now field testing three more crops developed through applications of agro-biotechnology, including Golden Rice. The government has every intention to support genetically modified crop cultivation in the future.” says Chowdhury.

Scaling-up opportunities for unfavorable rice environments

Centering around the theme: “Capitalizing on gains made: Towards enhanced nutrition, livelihood, and equity in unfavorable rice ecosystems,” the Consortium for Unfavorable Rice Environments (CURE) through the project, Reducing Risks and Raising Rice Livelihoods in Southeast Asia, held a workshop in Bangkok, Thailand on February 21-22.

Led by IRRI Regional Representative to Southeast Asia, David Johnson, and IRRI Theme Leader for Equitable Innovation, Ranjitha Puskur,  consortium partners from Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam participated in the workshop’s plenary sessions, discussions and brainstorming activities to reflect on the outcomes and learning, major successes and gaps, distill implications for succeeding plans by building on key learning, and articulate a new vision for the future.

IRRI, Paul Hastings LLP collaborate to strengthen legal agreements with private organizations

IRRI extends its gratitude to Paul Hastings LLP for its excellent work in helping the Institute improve its templates of legally binding agreements with private organizations, and ensure that our public-private partnerships deliver impact acceleration that benefit smallholder rice farmers, in a way that is fully aligned with our vision and our mission.

Since 2016, Paul Hastings has provided pro bono representation to IRRI on a number of framework agreements, including licensing of IRRI-owned intellectual property and products, with several seed and agro-supply companies.

Dr. Krishna Joshi appointed as IRRI Representative in Nepal

IRRI is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Krishna Joshi as the Institute’s representative in Nepal, effective 12 February 2018. Dr. Joshi will lead the Institute’s key initiatives in the country and will serve as the focal person for all endeavours in strengthening IRRI’s partnership with key stakeholders.

Dr. Joshi is an agricultural scientist specializing in plant genetics, crop improvement, seed systems and value chains. With over two decades of experience in the agri-sector, he has led several key agricultural Research for Development (R4D) projects in Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and India, pertaining to rice and other staple crops. Having worked in multi-disciplinary settings at international research and development organizations, civil society and private sector organizations, he is uniquely positioned to leverage his knowledge and skills in furthering IRRI’s mission to improve livelihoods and nutrition, and abolish poverty, hunger, and malnutrition among those who depend on rice-based agri-food systems.