Supporting food security from space

The Sentinel-1A mosaic stretches from Pakistan to the Philippines, with green areas showing vegetation, including rice (SAR imagery from ESA: Sentinel-1A © Copernicus data (2015). Background from Google Earth © Google Inc. Sentinel 1A mosaic created by sarmap and IRRI using Mapscape-RICE).

Los Baños, Philippines and Purasca, Switzerland – Standing rice crops in some parts of the world are routinely devastated by storms and extreme weather events, threatening the food security and livelihood of half of humanity. “sarmap and IRRI have developed tools that bring more transparency and accurate information to those who manage rice production, which is certainly important in general, and absolutely crucial for meaningful and targeted disaster response,” said Robert Zeigler, director general of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). “Decision-makers need to know when and where rice is planted and harvested.”

IRRI and the National Museum feature the genius of Manansala, the heritage of Cordillera rice farmers, and nearly 100 wild bird species

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the National Museum will hold a trifecta of grand events celebrating the genius of National Artist Vicente Manansala, heirloom rice treasures of the Cordilleras interpreted for the palate by the country’s top chefs, and the breathtaking natural beauty and awe of wild bird diversity in the Philippines.

Sharing the harvest, on 12 November 2015, at 6:30 pm at the National Museum, spotlights the original studies (rendered in watercolor) of the two large Manansala paintings that opened for public viewing in the museum’s IRRI Hall on 14 May 2015. Another study of the artist’s oil painting Prayer Before Meal will also be on display for the first time.

ASEAN supports building the next generation of rice scientists

Los Baños, Philippines - In a shared pledge to ensure food security and strengthen cooperation in agricultural development across the region, ASEAN ministers and senior agriculture officials voiced their unequivocal support for the Agriculture Innovation and R&D Fund (AIRDF) last September 12 at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines.

The AIRDF is designed to provide scholarships to selected young individuals who wish to pursue a career in the agricultural sciences, as long as they are admitted to the university of their choice.

"So their studies would be about rice or the priorities of ASEAN countries in agricultural development,"said Bruce Tolentino, deputy director general for communication and partnerships of IRRI. "It's a very competitive scholarship." he said.

Robert Zeigler, IRRI director general, explained that one of the objectives of the AIRDF trust fund is to help finance in a sustainable way the next generation of rice scientists.

He said that rice farming for the next generation will be very different from that of today. “I talked about technology that is available or becoming available, but it will be impossible for us to use that technology without a trained scientific core,” he said.

Philippine Secretary of Agriculture Proceso Alcala said that he is in support of putting AIRDF into operation and has, in fact, already allocated a certain amount, which they will be defending in front of congress next year.

“Without science, without research, without fresh minds and people in any endeavor in the government and industry, we are bound to fail,” he noted.

Undoubtedly, “capacity building remains crucial to the success of any development endeavor despite how rich a country is endowed with natural resources or science and technology,” said His Excellency U Myint Hlaing, Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation of Myanmar.

He urged all member-states to closely cooperate with IRRI to help shift farming from a livelihood associated with poverty to that of prosperity.

Participants to the AIRDF discussion included high-ranking officials and heads of delegations from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The pledges to support AIRDF come at a significant moment, alongside the 37th meeting of the Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF), in addition to the 15th AMAF Plus Three Meetings with China, Japan, and South Korea hosted this year by the Philippines.

Photos 

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DA and IRRI to host ministers from ASEAN Plus Three and India tomorrow

Los Baños, Laguna — Ministers and dignitaries from 11 Asian countries will visit the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) headquarters tomorrow, 12 September. The visit is part of the 37th meeting of the ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF), in addition to the 15th AMAF Plus Three Meetings with China, Japan, and South Korea hosted by the Philippine Department of Agriculture, led by Secretary Proceso Alcala, this year. India will also participate.
"IRRI supports ASEAN members in their national rice and food security programs by providing the necessary scientific research as well as technical support and capacity-building," said Robert S. Zeigler, IRRI director general.

The ASEAN Integrated Food Security Framework, along with the Strategic Plan of Action on Food Security in the ASEAN Region, enables sharing of any agricultural commodity. A careful assessment of  the various ASEAN+3 countries reveals extensive variation in natural resources for rice production. This is also the case for other crops and agricultural commodities.

"In effect, each ASEAN nation has a country food security agenda.  Each country’s national strategy is linked to the ASEAN regional agenda, bound together by shared aspirations, and facilitated by trade. ASEAN countries could look at exporting high-quality rice to Europe, for example. And Africa is a major growth area because of its rising demand for rice. All these topics, including IRRI’s support to the Philippine Department of Agriculture’s Food Staples Sufficiency Program will be part of the discussions during the ASEAN event," Zeigler noted.

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Food security a top priority for ASEAN ministers and senior officials

"It is high time for ASEAN member countries, which are in the largest rice-growing regions of the world to support the scientific research necessary for the sustainability of their rice sectors," said Bruce Tolentino, deputy director general for communication and partnerships of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), on ensuring food security and strengthening cooperation in agriculture across the region.

Sixteen ministers are scheduled to visit IRRI on 12 September as part of the 37th meeting of the ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF), in addition to the 15th AMAF Plus Three Meetings with China, Japan, and South Korea hosted by the Philippines this year.

"The crucial role that IRRI fulfills is providing the scientific foundation, technical support, and capacity-building to each of the ASEAN member-countries in pursuing their own national rice and food security programs," Tolentino said.

Each ASEAN member-nation has its own strategy and approach for meeting targets in this area.

Some Southeast Asian countries, such as Vietnam or Thailand, export rice, while the Philippines or Indonesia, among others, are rice importers.

Myanmar is on its way to regaining its agricultural competitiveness. In the 1950s Myanmar led the ASEAN countries in rice exports.

Brunei and Singapore, on the other hand, do import rice, and only the best quality rice. Moreover, Singapore is making investments to become the ASEAN center for biotechnology.

"So, each of these countries has differing approaches to achieving their food security goals. But all of these countries are bound together because there is a common ASEAN-wide framework for food security," Tolentino explained.

That framework, according to him, which also includes a strategic action plan on food security, does not simply focus on strengthening the national capacity of each of the ASEAN member countries to produce any agricultural commodity, but also facilitation of trade.

The strategic action plan was conceptualized as part of the ASEAN member states’ need for a long-term agricultural development plan that focuses on sustainable food production and trade, especially in the context of problems brought about by the food price crisis in 2007–2008.

The ASEAN Integrated Food Security Framework, along with the Strategic Plan of Action on Food Security in the ASEAN Region, enables sharing of any agricultural commodity. A close inspection of various countries reveals variation in natural resources for rice production. This is also the case for other crops and agricultural commodities.

"In effect, there will be a country agenda and there will be a regional agenda, tied together by trade. ASEAN countries could look at exporting high-quality rice to, say, Europe, for example. And Africa is a major growth area because of its rising demand for rice. All these topics, including IRRI’s support to the Philippine Department of Agriculture’s Food Staples Sufficiency Program will be part of the discussions during the ASEAN event next week," he noted.

Bill Gates asks a question

“Who will suffer most from climate change?” Bill Gates poses this question in his latest blog post and what the Gates Foundation and its partners are doing to help.

“The world’s poorest farmers show up for work each day for the most part empty-handed. That’s why of all the people who will suffer from climate change, they are likely to suffer the most,” Gates wrote. This aligns with IRRI’s mission on the challenges of growing rice in the midst of the changing climate. Bob Zeigler, IRRI director general, pointed out that many farmers who belong to the poorest of the poor have not benefited fully from the first Green Revolution of the 60s-70s. This time around, the second Green Revolution seeks to leave no farmer behind.

Gates is optimistic, mentioning that many of the tools these farmers need to adapt are quite basic, including better seeds, fertilizer, and training:

“The Gates Foundation and its partners have worked together to develop new varieties of seeds that grow even during times of drought or flooding,” he adds. The tools he mentioned included the “scuba” rice, a flood-tolerant rice variety that can survive underwater for up to 2 weeks. So far, ten million farmers in South Asia have access to scuba rice, among other climate-smart rice varieties.

Scuba rice is being promoted by the Stress-Tolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia (STRASA) Project, an IRRI-led project supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

In April of this year, senior officers of the Gates Foundation came to IRRI headquarters to see for themselves the work being done at the world’s premier research center on rice. They toured IRRI’s research facilities and heard updates on the science and partnership between the two organizations, including the latest on climate change-ready rice varieties.

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NFA and IRRI partner on improving rice quality

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna - The National Food Authority (NFA) signed earlier today (5 June 2015) a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) on improving rice quality in the Philippines.

Under the MOU, the NFA and IRRI commit to promote and accelerate research on rice and rice-based farming systems toward establishing international-level standards for rice quality.  Joint work will also be done toward consistent application of such standards for the benefit of all players in the Philippine rice industry, from farmers to consumers.

"Through this agreement, the NFA hopes to maximize IRRI's research in achieving our food security mission of providing the country’s rice requirements in terms of volume and quality. This will also guide us in our decision-making, not only in our operational activities but also in our policy-formulation, in anticipation of future developments such as infrastructure build-up," said NFA Administrator Renan Dalisay.

Rice quality encompasses rice farming technologies and practices that help ensure sustainable agriculture, improved farmer welfare, grain quality, and dietary practices that support improved nutrition and health among consumers.

"We are happy to share technologies, some partly developed through work funded by the Department of Agriculture on grain quality and forecasting, with NFA," said IRRI Deputy Director General Bruce Tolentino.

Tolentino assured Dalisay of IRRI's support to NFA's efforts to make good quality rice available to consumers, as well as to adapt better to the effects of climate change, citing damage to rice storage infrastructure when Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines in 2013.

NFA and IRRI will collaborate in these specific areas: grain quality improvement, including assessment of consumer preferences and research to enhance quality; rice breeding, production, and processing (postharvest)technologies; and the establishment of quality standards in relation to the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP), a key mechanism through which rice quality standards are promoted internationally.

NFA and IRRI will also be sharing scientific data and research results as well as strategic analysis of developments and trends in international rice trade.

The NFA is mandated to ensure the country’s food security and stability of the supply and price of rice, the country’s major staple. This collaboration is part of the NFA’s efforts to widen its partnership with both public and private sectors toward finding long-term and sustainable ways to achieve national food self-sufficiency and security.

IRRI is the world’s premier research organization dedicated to reducing poverty and hunger, improving the livelihood of rice farmers and health of rice consumers, and ensuring environmental sustainability through rice science.

Earlier, the NFA also signed a memorandum of agreement with the Kaya Natin! Movement, a civil society organization advocating good governance and ethical leadership, for a “Bantay Bigas” project to ensure that the NFA’s inexpensive quality rice will be continuously available, accessible, and affordable to poor consumers who are its intended beneficiaries.


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Rice research benefits farmers, deserves long-term support – DA chief

QUEZON CITY, Philippines – Filipino rice farmers are poised to gain even more from government efforts to help increase rice productivity as Philippine Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala acknowledged promising results from the field and pledged continued support to rice research.

In a briefing on 1 June 2015 with project implementers of the rice research component of the Food Staples Sufficiency Program (FSSP), Secretary Alcala lauded progress covering various aspects of the country's rice industry and vowed to make sure technologies and interventions will benefit farmers.

The rice research component of the FSSP is jointly implemented by the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

“I am optimistic of the collaboration’s impact at the farmers’ level,” Alcala said. “Efforts like these deserve long-term support, and I intend to present these to the country's economic managers to make sure that support is sustained.”

IRRI Deputy Director General Bruce Tolentino assured the secretary of IRRI’s continued support to DA’s goals of helping the country’s rice farmers become globally competitive.

Not only does Alcala want to see farmers make use of research-informed interventions, he intends to make use of documented results to help advise the government on sustainable expansion of agricultural areas, not only for rice but for other crops. He cited encouraging results from the accelerated development and deployment of improved varieties and from promoting the use of a suite of associated technologies to help increase yield in rainfed rice environments.

The secretary instructed his technical advisory group (TAG) to apply lessons learned from the Philippine Rice Information System project to create information systems for other crops. He proposed intensified inter-agency collaboration to improve the capacity of agriculture extensionists, and encouraged visits to Heirloom Rice Project sites in the Cordillera region.

The FSSP’s rice research efforts are funded by the DA Rice Program through the DA-Bureau of Agricultural Research. Implementing partners are the DA-Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), DA-Agriculture Training Institute, DA-Bureau of Plant Industry, and regional field offices.

Alcala and the TAG were joined by Undersecretary for Field Operations Emerson Palad, Assistant Secretary for Field Operations and PhilRice Officer-In-Charge Edilberto de Luna, Director and Special Technical Adviser for the National Rice Program Edmund Sana, and DA-BAR Director Nicomedes Eleazar. Also present were implementers from IRRI and DA attached bureaus and agencies.


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Myanmar poised to regain major role in global rice trade

IRRI Director General Robert Ziegler (2nd from left) presents the Myanmar Rice Sector Development Strategy with  former IRRI representative for Myanmar Madonna Casimero (left most), Myanmar President U Thein Sein (3rd from left), and MoAI Minister U Myint Hlaing.

NAY PYI TAW, Myanmar - The Republic of the Union of Myanmar is poised to not only transform its rice sector but to also recapture its prominence in the international rice market.

The Myanmar government made this commitment via the launch of the Myanmar Rice Sector Development Strategy (MRSDS) on 20 May 2015 at the Department of Agricultural Research in Nay Pyi Taw.

The MRSDS was drafted by the Myanmar government, led by its Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (MoAI), with technical input from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and international partners such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Bank.

Myanmar President U Thein Sein said the MRSDS symbolizes the collaboration between his country and IRRI toward a food-secure future for Myanmar and the rest of the world. He cited the work of IRRI scientists in the development of pest- and disease-resistant and stress-tolerant rice varieties; improved cropping systems; postharvest technologies; and better soil, pest, and water management practices that have raised productivity of rice systems in Myanmar, greatly benefiting smallholder farmers.

IRRI Director General Robert Zeigler said that “the wonderful scientific achievements of IRRI need to be combined with development strategies and coherent programs that governments are willing to implement over a long period of time” to ensure that farmers have access to and are able to use these.

Zeigler added that having a government demonstrably willing to transform and develop its rice sector, an environment conducive to rice production, and growing global demand for rice make Myanmar a good opportunity for investment.

U Myint Hlaing, Myanmar’s minister for agriculture and irrigation, said it is possible to break the cycle of poverty and hunger by “strengthening rural resilience, achieving social protection, and sustaining agricultural development,” all of which can be achieved through a clear road map for sustainable rice sector development such as that detailed in the MRSDS.

Also during the launch, Zeigler awarded a special rice memento to honor the Myanmar president for his visionary leadership of the rice sector and to commemorate the visit the president and his cabinet members made to the IRRI headquarters in Los Baños, Philippines, in December 2013.

A donors’ forum was held alongside the launch of the MRSDS, to provide international agencies the opportunity to discuss their respective efforts for the Myanmar rice sector. The forum, facilitated by Corinta Guerta, IRRI director for external relations, was attended by representatives from the FAO, Japan International Cooperation Agency, The World Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund, Welthungerhilfe, Mercy Corps, Food Security Working Group, Action Aid, International Fertilizer Development Center, Proximity, Korean International Cooperation Agency, and the Rural Development Administration.

IRRI has been working with the government of Myanmar since the early 1960s.

Rice farmers in China use less fertilizer, increase yield

GDRRI's Xuhua Zhong shows guests around rice plots in Gaoyao county, Guangdong, in which the 'three controls technology' was used.

     

Guangdong Province, China - “Rice farmers can decrease their nitrogen fertilizer and pesticide use by up to 20% and increase their yield by 10% by using the ‘three controls technology (3CT),’” said Xuhua Zhong of the Rice Research Institute of the Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences (GDRRI).

Zhong shared these findings in Guangzhou during the May 2015 review and planning meeting of the CORIGAP (Closing rice yield gaps in Asia with reduced environmental footprint) project led by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). 3CT involves controlling the amount of fertilizer, unproductive tillers, and diseases and insects. “This technology is now being used by around 40% of farmers in Guangdong,” said Zhong.

Zhong explained that, aside from reduction in nitrogen fertilizer use, the core change that comes with use of 3CT is that it postpones fertilizer application from the early growth stage to the middle and late growth stages.

“With less fertilizer, the rice plant is sturdy, does not lodge, and is less prone to diseases such as sheath blight, so pesticide use is also reduced,” added Zhong. “Farmers can thus save on fertilizer, pesticide, and labor costs.”

The 10% increase in yield from the use of 3CT is equivalent to an added 0.6 tons per hectare, on average.

3CT could help China increase rice production in the face of multiple challenges. Since the 1990s, China has experienced low and unstable yields, excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, environmental pollution, and low profits, according to Zongyong Jiang, president of the Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences. “These problems have become increasingly serious,” Jiang said.

In 2012, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) recommended 3CT for use in rice farming, in line with MOA's move to reduce chemical fertilizer and pesticide use.

3CT is now widely adopted by rice farmers, according to Jiang. “Because of what has been achieved through 3CT, the research team headed by Xuhua Zhong was awarded the first-class Science and Technology Prize by the Guangdong provincial government,” Jiang reported. “In recent years, GDRRI has been working with the International Rice Research Institute to develop a low-carbon and high-yielding technology, which aims to further reduce fertilizer use. The new technology, a set of crop management practices, is expected to lessen water use and greenhouse gas emissions.”

“The CORIGAP project has been an excellent platform for the collaboration between GDRRI and IRRI,” Jiang said further.

“The extension of 3CT through partnerships under CORIGAP has been instrumental in reducing the yield gap in rice production from 39% to 21%. Most importantly, this increase in rice production is not only more profitable for farmers, the reduction in fertilizer and pesticide use is also an important plus for the environment,” reported Grant Singleton, IRRI principal scientist and CORIGAP coordinator.

“It is good to see the progress that they have done in China,” said Carmen Thönnissen, senior advisor for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. “It is great to see more and more the integration of yield and sustainability, and finding ways of optimizing the whole production system in order to reduce the ecological footprint of rice as much as possible.”

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