PhilRice opens harvest challenge

In the tradition of IRRI's own Agronomy Challenge and Rice Survivor, PhilRice is holding Palayabangan, a rice farming contest in which competing teams attempt to produce an ideal rice yield within specific farming input limits.

Former IRRI scientist now heads agricultural biology of RDA

Kyu-Seong Lee has been named director general of the Department of Agricultural Biology under the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) of the Rural Development Administration (RDA) of South Korea.

Dr. Lee is formerly visiting research fellow at IRRI's Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Biotechnology Division, seconded from RDA where he was senior rice breeder.

IRRI sponsors emergency training for UPLB personnel

Another Neighborhood Emergency Services Team (NEST) training course was conducted by IRRI, this time at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) on 27–31 May 2013.

The NEST training, the fourth in 2013, was conducted by facilitators from the emergency research team, led by Jonathan Palma and Ardith Yangzon, for 43 participants from the various units and offices of UPLB. The participants will henceforth comprise the University's risk and disaster response team.

Philippines: Stakeholders forum held on heirloom rice

A stakeholders forum was recently held in the Cordillera region of northern Philippines to bring together groups and institutions involved in the 'heirloom rice' value chain and establish linkages among them.

Stakeholders who attended were traders; producers; market facilitators; and representatives of farmer groups, NGOs, the regional, provincial, and municipal agricultural offices, and the Consortium for Unfavorable Rice Environments project.

New country rep for Bangladesh

Paul Fox

IRRI welcomes Paul Fox, who is joining IRRI as representative for Bangladesh starting 1 August 2013.

Dr. Fox is currently an IRRI consultant serving as regional program leader for the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS) based at the Southeast Asia office in Vietnam.

Benin: Gender in rice research reviewed

A workshop held recently at AfricaRice in Cotonou, Benin, reviewed gender in rice research and development, specifically the findings of the study Gender and climate change in stress-prone rice environments in Asia and Africa.

Through the workshop, participants also sought to strengthen research capacity in the region on gender issues and how these may be integrated into the processes of rice research and in technologies.

Asian forestry students come to IRRI for learning visit

Delegates from the International Forestry Students
Association learn about IRRI's work from Bruce Tolentino,
IRRI's head of communication and partnerships.

Thirty-seven delegates from the International Forestry Students Association’s (IFSA) visited IRRI on the second day (21 May 2013) of IFSA's 4th Asia Regional Meeting (ARM). The delegates come from several countries around Asia.

V. Bruce J. Tolentino, IRRI deputy director general for communication and partnerships, welcomed the IFSA members to the Institute and gave a presentation about IRRI’s work in rice science and climate change, themes that are in line with the ARM’s theme for 2013—Forestry Mega-Trends in the Asia Pacific.