Dr. Hari Sankar Nayak, a post-doctoral fellow with Cornell and IRRI, joins a pool of agriculture experts to receive the International Fertilizer Association (IFA) Emerging Scholar Award. He is honored by the IFA for his research on leveraging data-driven approaches to enhance sustainable rice production and optimize nitrogen use efficiency.
From November 12–14, 2024, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) hosted the CGIAR Breeding and Research Services (BRS) Shared Services Workshop for Asia at its headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines.
Empowering rice breeders and market researchers to align demand-driven product development of rice varieties with major value chain actors.
As Bangladesh's climate and market conditions evolve, rice production must adapt to meet consumer preferences and environmental challenges. Market-aligned breeding supports this, addressing both the demand for rice and resilience against major climatic stresses.
An extensive training program by IRRI Bangladesh and USAID empowered 39 rice breeders to enhance climate resilience in Bangladesh’s agriculture, specifically on rice breeding for abiotic stress tolerance.
In a strategic move to bolster rice production against the backdrop of climate change, IRRI Bangladesh, supported by USAID’s Feed the Future (FTF) initiative, hosted a day-long training in Dhaka on November 12, 2024, focused on developing rice varieties capable of withstanding abiotic stresses like cold, submergence, heat, and salinity.
07-18 October 2024 (Los Banos, Laguna) - Genebanks hold a lifeline to the future. To ensure their operational sustainability for generations, the Fit for Future Genetic Resources (FFGR) Unit at IRRI, Biodiversity for Opportunities, Livelihoods and Development project of the Global Crop Diversity Trust (BOLD-GCDT), Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF), CGIAR Genebank Initiative, and the Mexican Government sponsored a Capacity Development and Knowledge Exchange Training. The goal is to empower staff of national genebanks in key areas, including seed characterization, multiplication, germplasm handling, and data management, aligning with FAO’s standards for genebank operations. The training was conducted by the team of Dr. Venuprasad Ramaiah, unit leader of FFGR.
The 2024 Annual Activity Review Workshop for the CGIAR Initiative for Mixed-Farming Systems (MFS) project brought together key stakeholders to assess the progress and future directions for sustainable farming in Bangladesh. This initiative addresses the need for resource-efficient, climate-resilient practices by integrating crop and livestock production, providing targeted innovations like crop diversification, improved fodder varieties, and gender-sensitive mechanization. A major takeaway from the workshop was the positive impact of collaborative efforts on enhancing farm productivity, income, and resilience in local communities.
4-5 July 2024 (Los Banos, Laguna)—The Seed Health and Logistics Unit (SHU) and the Breeding Operations Unit - Cross Cutting Operations (CCO), in partnership with HR - Learning and Development (HRL&D), conducted two transformative training sessions on the Sampling of Seedlots and Consignments for Seed Health Testing. This initiative aimed to empower Research Technicians (RTs) by enhancing their proficiency in performing seed sampling according to the established protocols of SHU and CCO.
