Technological innovations abound at Hack4Rice 2019

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) along with its technical partner Amazon Web Services (AWS), organized Hack4Rice 2019, a software/hardware hackathon focused on technological solutions that can be adapted for rice research. Held at the IRRI Headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna, the theme for this year’s hackathon is “Advancing Rice Research Through Tech and Innovation” which aimed to bring people with diverse backgrounds together and nurture a community of collaboration and innovation. 

With the idyllic scenery of mountains and rice fields in the background, the participants had the opportunity to interact with IRRI specialists involved in rice research and operations, external partners, and participants from different sectors who were able to provide valuable insights about rice research in general as well as perceived pain points that the hackathon hoped to solve including challenges related to rice research and agriculture in general as well as an IRRI-specific challenge on phenotype prediction.

CORIGAP-PRO surpasses goal of half a million farmers in Asian rice granaries

According to Dr. Grant Singleton, Principal Scientist and CORIGAP project leader,
the NARES partners are instrumental to the success of the CORIGAP project
“We have surpassed our original target, that is, to reach 500,000 farmers,” he said.

A year ahead of schedule, IRRI, through the  “Closing Rice Yield Gaps in Asia with Reduced Environmental Footprint project (CORIGAP-PRO)” and its partners from China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam has already reached its goal in reaching smallholder farmers, improving yield and income through innovations towards sustainable rice-based systems.

According to Grant Singleton, project leader of CORIGAP –PRO, “Our efforts on promoting best management practices in rice have reached more than 600,000 farmers with best practices for lowland intensive rice production across six Asian countries. About 118,000 farmers have adopted best practices and increased their rice yield by 11-20%, and profit by 15-25%,” he said.

Bangladesh Government honors former IRRI Agronomist Dr. Md. M Abdul Mazid for contributions to Bangladeshi food security

Dhaka, Bangladesh—25 March 2018—The government presented the “Swadhinata Padak 2018” award to former IRRI Agronomist Dr. Md. M Abdul Mazid for his work on rice research and development that helped improve food security in Bangladesh.

The “Swadhinata Padak 2018”, more popularly known as the Independence Award, is the highest civilian honor the Prime Minister of Bangladesh awards individuals who have made remarkable contributions in their respective fields. Having devoted over 40 years in developing the rice-based agri-food systems of Bangladesh, Dr. Mazid has been given this honor for mitigating  “Monga” and accelerating agriculture research for development of flash flood submergence tolerance rice, pioneering seed production, and  training farmers in Bangladesh.

Sustainable rice projects get financial boost from UK agency

Willis of BBSRC , which funds the Newton Fund Sustainable Rice Programme, encourages researchers to look at synergies between projects, 
identify any challenges, and find solutions together.

LOS BAÑOS, Philippines—Several research projects that ensure the long-term sustainable production of rice, one of the world's most important food crops, received financial support from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).  The projects cover a wide range of important issues including rice quality; resource use and photosynthetic efficiency; resilience to pests, diseases, and environmental stresses; and novel research tool and technology development.

The 13 projects, led by top UK bioscience researchers and institutions in collaboration with research teams in China, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, were announced at the grant-holders kick-off meeting at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) on 9-11 January.  These will be funded through the Newton Fund's Sustainable Rice Programme.

In a press statement, Professor Melanie Welham, chief executive of BBSRC emphasized the critical importance of regional cooperation in addressing food security in the face of a changing world climate. This initiative brought funders from all countries together and is priming partnerships across this region that could lead to similarly important future research collaborations, according to Welham.

"Congratulations to all the project participants. It was a very competitive call for proposals,” Tim Willis, associate director of BBSRC said to around 70 delegates from IRRI and various national research institutes at the meeting.

“The Newton Fund Sustainable Rice Programme is currently the biggest and the best regional program under the Newton Fund, where several countries will work together,” Willis added. “The regional and country approaches that you are bringing here is really going to help expand Newton and, I hope, help your research look at new ideas and challenges for global food security.”

Six of the new projects are in collaboration with the Philippine-based (IRRI) and will focus on:

• Enhancing rice quality for health 
• Identifying the nutritional components of Philippine heirloom rice germplasm
• Developing real-time deployment of pathogen-resistance genes in rice
• Developing rice with deeper roots and improved drought tolerance
• Developing rice with higher salinity- and drought-tolerance
• Optimising transpiration to protect rice yields under environmental stresses due to climate change

“In the context of meeting the global sustainable development goals, it is crucial to accelerate science and explore possible innovations from sharing of resources, data, and information,” Achim Dobermann, Rothamsted Research director and former deputy director general for research at IRRI, said through a video conference call.

BBSRC is one of seven research councils that work together as Research Councils UK and provides a range of funding opportunities to enable individuals and groups to pursue world-class bioscience research. In 2015-16, it invested £473M in world-class bioscience, people and research infrastructure.

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