ricetoday vol. 5, no. 3

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Rice trade liberalizationExamining a tricky issue

New environment sectionCan high food productionand biodiversity coexist?

The future of rice in AsiaInspiring youth to stay in the industry

ISSN 1655-5422

www.irri.org

International Rice Research Institute July-September 2006, Vol. 5, No. 3

R I C E U N L O A D E

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contentsVol. 5, No. 3

International Rice Research InstituteDAPO Box 7777, Metro Manila, PhilippinesWeb (IRRI): www.irri.org

Web (Library): http://ricelib.irri.cgiar.orgWeb (Rice Knowledge Bank): www.knowledgebank.irri.org

Rice Today editorialtelephone (+63-2) 580-5600 or (+63-2) 844-3351 to 53, ext 2725;fax: (+63-2) 580-5699 or (+63-2) 845-0606; email: [email protected]

cover photo Jose Raymond Panaliganpublisher Duncan Macintosheditor Adam Barclayart director Juan Lazaro IV designer and production supervisor George Reyescontributing editors Gene Hettel, Bill Hardynews editor Juanito Goloyugophoto editor Ariel Javellanaphoto researcher Jose Raymond PanaligancirculationChrisanto Quintanaprinter Primex Printers, Inc.

Rice Today is published by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the worldsleading international rice research and training center. Based in the Philippines and withofces in 13 other countries, IRRI is an autonomous, nonprot institution focused onimproving the well-being of present and future generations of rice farmers and consumers,particularly those with low incomes, while preserving natural resources. IRRI is one of 15 centers funded through the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research(CGIAR), an association of public and private donor agencies. For more information, visitthe CGIAR Web site (www.cgiar.org).

Responsibility for this publication rests with IRRI. Designations used in this publication

should not be construed as expressing IRRI policy or opinion on the legal status of anycountry, territory, city or area, or its authorities, or the delimitation of its frontiers orboundaries.

Rice Today welcomes comments and suggestions from readers. Potential contributorsare encouraged to query rst, rather than submit unsolicited materials. Rice Today assumes no responsibility for loss or damage to unsolicited submissions, which shouldbe accompanied by sufcient return postage.

Copyright International Rice Research Institute 2006

EDITORIAL ................................................................ 4Fighting climate change

NEWS ......................................................................... 5Climate Change initiative ramps upRice Knowledge Bank recognizedOSCAR vs. weedsPostharvest training goes digitalBangladeshi food securityChina protects new plant varietiesArchaeological nds in China and JapanReducing grain shatteringManaging sheath blightAfrican rice news

PEOPLE ..................................................................... 9Rice genetics pioneer passes awayKeeping up with IRRI staff Achievements

NEWS FEATURES .................................................... 10Setting the rice agendaBreeding rice for rainfed ecosystems

VIRTUAL CHALLENGES .......................................... 12In the fast-changing world of the digital era, the

worlds foremost collection of information on riceand rice research is moving with the times

MAPS ....................................................................... 14False color gives a true impression

KOREA-IRRI COLLABORATION MULTIPLIESBENEFITS ............................................................ 15

The Top Rice Project, launched in 2005, aimsto develop and popularize high-qualityrice in Korea

TRICKS OF THE TRADE ........................................... 16In Asia, the question of whether or not to liberalize

rice trade is a vexing one. If liberalization is tooccur at all, it needs to happen gradually and withan understanding of how peopleespecially thepoorwill be affected

SNAPSHOT .........................................................20-21A different kind of rice landscape

TRADE PERSPECTIVES ........................................... 22Opportunities beyond growing ricea farmers

perspectiveTrade liberalizationan agricultural economists

perspective

A RICE FUTURE FOR ASIA ...................................... 25Thai and Filipino high school students come together

to help ensure the rice industrys future in Asia,sparking new friendshipsand friendly rivalriesalong the way

STEINBECK AND A CALLING .................................. 28Noel Magors focus on marginal farmers in Bangladesh

derives from his childhood on a modest Australianfarm, his experience of famine in Ethiopia, and aclassic tale of dust bowl America

PEST BY PEST, STEP BY STEP ................................. 30Cambodian researchers are set to increase their

understanding of rice diseases as part of a projectthat could help lift the country off the lower rungsof Asias rice yield ladder

DIAGNOSING DROUGHT ........................................ 32Improved methods of measuring how rice plants

respond to drought in the eld are helpingscientists discover how and why some varietiestolerate water shortages better than othersknowledge that will ultimately help farmerswithstand the cruel vagaries of the weather

ENVIRONMENT ....................................................... 34Balanced on a wing. Although seemingly at odds, rice

production and biodiversity conservation can existtogetherthe trick is to nd the right balance

RICE FACTS .............................................................. 37Do rice prices affect malnutrition in the poor? Cheape

rice can help break the cycle of poverty andmalnutrition

GRAIN OF TRUTH .................................................... 38Are we at risk from metal contamination in rice?

On the cover:Leenlada "Oom" Monpo, aThai high school student,

learns how to prepare ariceeld for transplanting

at IRRI headquarters.See page 25.


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NEWS

6 Rice Today July-September 2006

No to rice futures tradingThe Japanese agriculture ministry hasdisapproved plans by the Tokyo Grain Ex-change and Kansai Commodities Exchangeto list rice futures contracts for trading onan experimental basis, saying this wouldgravely affect rice production and distribu-tion. Japan initiated rice futures tradingin the 18th century and terminated it in1939.

Highest Cambodian productionPrime Minister Hun Sen announced Cam- bodias nearly 6 million metric tons of riceharvest in 2005, the best harvest in 27 years,representing a 43% increase over 2004 anda surplus of more than 2 million metrictons above the needed rice for domesticconsumption, Oryza.com reported.

Joint forces in rice exportsOryza.com reported on 18 April 2006 that Vietnam and Thailand agreed to strengthentheir rice exports to stabilize rice prices inthe international market. Rachane Potjana-

sutom, head of Thailands Foreign TradeDepartment under the Trade Ministry, saidthe bilateral cooperation would includesupport by Thailand to improve the quality of Vietnamese rice in aspects of harvesting,storing, selling, and transportation. The twonations are creating and applying a generalmarketing strategy on a trial basis, whichcould later be applied by the worlds topve exporters, including China, Pakistan,and India.

Emergency rice Vietnam has contributed 14,000 tons of riceto the East Asia Emergency Rice Reserve(EAERR), a regional cooperation programamong China, Republic of Korea, and Japan, which aims to assist member countries cope with difculties caused by natural disastersand disease. Of the 337,000 tons of ricereserved so far, 87,000 tons come fromcountries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and 250,000 tons fromJapan. EAERR is now formulating regula-tions on rice aid action to quickly respond

to emergency cases occurring in membercountries.

Forbidden seedsThe trading of any strain of genetically modied (GM) rice is strictly prohibitedin China until it has passed a safety as-sessment, Director Fang Xiangdong of theMinistry of Agricultures Biosafety Ofcesaid in reaction to Greenpeace Chinas al-legations of illegal commercialization of pest-resistant GM rice cultivated and soldin Central Chinas Hubei Province over thepast two years.

Mice, rice enemy number 1Scientists from Vietnam, Australia, andIRRI recently held a meeting to implementa US$556,500 project, funded by the Aus-tralian Centre for International AgriculturalResearch, to control mice in the Cuu Long(Mekong) Delta, Vietnams central-coastalregion, and southern Sulawesi in Indonesia.Mice destroy 15% of the rice produced annu-ally in the Southeast Asian region. The proj-

Participants were enthusiastic aboutthe computer-based e-learning, which waspart of the overall course on improvingpostharvest management and technology to increase grain quality and reduce post-harvest losses, hence increasing income.In developing countries, inadequate post-

harvest practices are estimated to result ina 1015% loss in quantity and a 2550%loss in value.

The participants23 in Myanmarand 18 in Laosincluded extension work-ers, researchers, manufacturers, and ricemillers. The course included hands-onexercises on drying and milling systems anddemonstrations of how to set up hermeticstorage. Gummert also trained participantsto analyze rice seed and grain quality withsimple tools such as a weighing scale, athermometer, and a low-cost IRRI-designedmoisture meter.

Poverty Elimination Through Rice Re-search Assistance (PETRRA), a five- year project funded by the Department forInternational Development of the UnitedKingdom and managed by IRRI in closepartnership with the Bangladesh Rice Re-search Institute (BRRI), the BangladeshMinistry of Agriculture, and the resource-poor rice farmers of Bangladesh, ended in August 2004.

In light of PETRRAs success, theEuropean Union is funding the Food Secu-rity for Sustainable Household Livelihoods(FoSHoL) projectcoordinated by IRRI andkey NGOsto deliver PETRRA technologiesacross Bangladesh, where around half thepopulation lives below the poverty line of US$1 per day, most of them in rural areas.The project target is to reach at least 50,000food-insecure households. For more infor-mation, visit the recently launched FoSHoLat www.foshol.org.

The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture(MOA) announced in Beijing that Chinatoday ranks fourth in the world in applica-tions for protecting new agricultural plant varieties as it tightens its regulations againstcounterfeit goods and new plant varieties as

part of the countrys intellectual property rights protection strategy. According to areport carried by the Xinhua news agency on 24 April 2006, China has received 3,207applications for protecting new plant variet-ies, including 114 applications from foreignentities. The MOA said more than 700 ap-plications have been approved.

China signed the International Conven-tion for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants in 1999, becoming the 39th memberof the International Union for the Protectionof New Varieties of Plants. China refers toa new plant variety as a cultivated or de-

veloped new plant variety based on a wildplant, which is new, distinct, uniform, andstable, with a designated name. No one isallowed to grow or sell these new varieties without the owners permission.

In the last 7 years, the government hasorganized more than 30 training programsto increase the publics knowledge on plant breeders rights, and issued laws and regula-tions to ght against illegal cases violatingthose rights. More than 800 violation caseshave been investigated, 460 of which weretaken to court.

Postharvest training goes digital

Bangladeshi food security

For the rst time ever, electronic learn-ing (e-learning) has featured in an IRRIpostharvest training course. Postharvest management for improved quality of ricegrain and seed , conducted by Martin Gum-mert of IRRIs Agricultural EngineeringUnit and Geert Claessens of IRRIs TrainingCenter, was held in Myanmar on 24-26 Apriland Laos on 10-12 May.

China protects new plantvarieties

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7Rice Today July-September 2006

ect, to be completed in 2009, will be carriedout jointly by the Australian CommonwealthScientic and Industrial Research Organisa-tion, IRRI, and the Vietnamese Departmentfor Plant Protection, the Vietnam News Agency said.

Irrigation rehabRestoration work on the Philippines na-tional and communal irrigation systems isin full blast in response to President GloriaMacapagal Arroyos goal of attaining riceself-sufciency by year 2009. The projectis expected to restore the productiveness of some 12,475 hectares of agricultural landsand benefit 21,500 farmers nationwide. Agriculture Secretary Domingo Panganibansaid that the nationwide rehabilitation willresult in the efcient delivery and distribu-tion of irrigation water.

Groundwater for rice productionMahabub Hossain, head of IRRIs Social Sci-ences Division, has advised the Jharkhandgovernment in India to tap groundwater for

rice production. Speaking at a workshop onscaling up of technologies to improve rurallivelihood organized by the Birsa Agricul-ture University, in collaboration with IRRIand the states agriculture department, Dr.Hossain told The Telegraph : Jharkhandis mainly dependent on rains for irrigationpurposes. Even the Philippines has similarproblems. The farmers depend on rains orcanals that often dry up during summer.Therefore, groundwater becomes impor-

Scientists fromt h e T a m i lNadu Agr icul -tural University,India, are under-taking a study onmanaging sheath

blight disease inrice through ge-netic engineering.The authors of thestudy, Engineer-ing sheath blight resistance in eliteindica rice culti-vars using genesencoding defense proteins , which appeared in the journal Plant Science , aim to develop rice cultivars with enhanced resistance to sheath blight by genetically transforming high-yielding

indica rice cultivars with a rice gene thatencodes a protein. Pathogenesis-relatedproteins can enhance plant resistance topathogens when overexpressed.

The researchers, led by KrishnanKalpana, revealed that the engineered ricehad increased resistance to the rice fungus Rhizoctonia solani when compared withnontransformed plants. In addition tosheath blight resistance, they found thatthe transgenic lines were also resistant tothe rice sheath rot pathogen, Sarocladiumoryzae .

Scientists from Michigan State Uni- versity led by plant biology associateprofessor Tao Sang, while undertakingrice domestication research, have identi-ed for the rst time the genetic mutationthat reduces grain shattering, a feat thatcould help improve rice production. Theresearchers pinpointed a mutation inDNA causing an amino acid change in aprotein responsible for the nonshatteringof rice varieties.

According to the electronic publica-tion Science Express , which publishedthe article Rice domestication by re-ducing shattering , the researchers rst

Large quantities of rice said to be morethan 3,000 years old have been un-earthed in Zhongshui town in GuizhouProvince by archaeologists in China. Xin-hua news agency quoted researcher ZhaoZhijun of the Archaeology Institute of theChinese Academy of Social Science saying,

The rice was found in numerous pits andits believed to be upland rice, since the ricegrains are much smaller and rice shoots aremuch shorter than those of paddy rice. Thediscovery, which showed the systematiccultivation of rice in China more than 3,000 years ago, would provide valuable insights

Managing sheath blight Archaeological nds in China and Japaninto the evolution of rice strains.

Meanwhile, archaeologists in Japanhave unearthed an ancient wooden stripat the Shimoda Higashi archaeological re-mains bearing inscriptions of rice growingfrom seed to harvest. The archaeologicalnd, measuring 36.8 centimeters long and

11.1 centimeters wide, dates back to the early 9th century and bears characters writtenin Chinese ink. Ancient history professorTakehiko Yoshimura of Meiji University said the strip indicated the role of womenin growing rice and seedlings, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

Reducing grain shattering

determined rice chromosome 4 as beingresponsible for the reduced shattering.Then, plant biology research associateChangbao Li invented a process that al-lowed researchers to efciently completethe screening of 12,000 seedlings.

Science Express quoted RichTriemer, chairperson of the Departmentof Plant Biology: By tracing the breed-ing of rice and identifying the geneticmutations, the researchers have openednew doors to the science community that benet the world through a moreeffective use of the land and water usedto grow rice.

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tant. One can take out the groundwaterand use it for irrigation. Even if the waterdries up, the rain, which comes for a shortperiod, can replenish the groundwater stock for further use.

Clean boots for good cropsFarmers in the Cordilleras in northern Lu-zon, Philippines, were advised to regularly wash their boots because their soles andedges could transport pathogens or disease-causing organisms to their crops. Rhodesia

Celoy-Manzan, an IRRI assistant scientist who specializes in molecular genetics, ex-plained to farmers gathered at the BenguetState University that rubber boots, whensoiled and muddy, could become potentially hazardous in moving potent organisms fromfarm to farm and affect the natural balance between pathogenic (disease-causing) and beneficial organisms on farmlands. Heradvice also goes to some 300,000 farmersin 13 towns of the province, according to areport from online news agency INQ7.neton 21 April 2006.



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Nutrition revolution for Africa

A bout 100 leading scientists and poli-cymakers from Africa met in Kenyato discuss new technologies for fighting

malnutrition and improving health. TheForum for Agricultural Research in Africaand HarvestPlus cohosted a workshop on biofortication on 4-5 May in Mombasa.

The workshop discussed the latestresearch on biofortification (developingcrops with higher levels of nutrients), andidentied strategies to develop biofortiedcrops, including rice, in Africa and integratethem into national agricultural and healthpolicy agendas.

HarvestPlus Director Howarth Bouis,speaking to reporters in Nairobi, Kenya, saidthat addressing micronutrient malnutri-tion requires a paradigm shift. Agriculturalresearch needs to move beyond increasingproductivity to improving food quality as well. In this way, biofortication can play acritical role in improving health.

According to Professor Ruth Oniango,professor of food science and nutrition atthe Jomo Kenyatta University of Agricultureand Technology and IRRI Board of Trusteesmember, Until now, the solution to micro-nutrient deciency among the poor has fo-cused on vitamin and mineral supplements,dietary diversity, and commercial foodfortication. While these approaches haveattained some success, they have not beenable to reach all those in need, particularly people in remote rural areas. By targetingstaple food crops grown and consumed by the rural poor, biofortication can reachlarge numbers of people in a cost-effectiveand sustained manner.

Tidal irrigation in The Gambia

A Taiwanese technical mission that spe-cializes in rice cultivation has extendedits operations in the northern part of The

Gambias Central River Divi-sion by building a tidal ir-rigation system in the area toenable farmers to grow riceand other crops throughoutthe year. About 4,000 farmers will benet from the project,enabling each to cultivate 24to 26 hectares of land, the

Daily Observer reported on16 February 2006.

Conserving dollarreserves

The governor of NigeriasOsun State, Prince Olagun-soye Oyinlola, has advocateda stop to rice importation to

conserve and harness much-needed foreignreserves during the inauguration of twocommittees on the Presidential Initiative onRice Production. Prince Olagunsoye assuredgovernment support for rice processors in

sourcing modern processing equipment by linking them to areas to obtain credit.Meanwhile, committee chair and deputy governor Erelu Olusola Obada announcedthe release by the government, through theState Agricultural Development Board, of funds to purchase equipment and 13 tonsof rice seedlings, including upland andlowland seeds.

Low production in Ghana

Ghana is experiencing low levels of do-mestic rice production and the loss of thousands of jobs due to rice imports. The

extent of Ghanas rice import surge wasdiscussed during a recent workshop on Agro-import surge study: the case of ricein Ghana . Deputy Minister for Local Gov-ernment and Rural Development AbrahamDwuma Odoom said the government is con-sidering how the promotion of the produc-tion and consumption of locally producedrice could be achieved by incorporating itinto the National School Feeding Program,according to a report at Ghanaian onlinenews service www.myjoyonline.com.

New rice in Uganda and The Gambia

The Japanese government is extendingthe Grant Assistance for Underprivi-leged Farmers, through the FAO, for thedissemination of the New Rice for Africa(NERICA) and improvement of rice pro-duction systems in the Republic of Uganda.Japanese Ambassador to Italy His Excel-lency Yuji Nakamura and FAO Deputy Director General David Harcharik signedan implementing agreement in Rome early this year.

The project is intended to provide

Ugandan farmers with NERICA seedsand necessary training at a Farmers FieldSchool, an FAO training system to raise thetechnical knowledge of farmers.

A Japanese government statementsaid, In concrete terms, NERICA IV, whoseunit crop yields are 30% higher than localrice and whose growth to harvest is 2030%faster, will be cultivated on a total of 1,000

hectares of elds in the eastern, central,and western parts of the country. Farmersof 6,000 households will be provided withthe seed, fertilizer, and pedal threshers.They will also receive training in sowing andfertilizing for cultivation and postharvesttechniques after threshing. Farmers will alsolearn about self production of seed and thedistribution system.

Meanwhile, NERICA has taken itsroots in The Gambia because of its widerrange of adoption in most Gambian soils,especially on loamy clay soil, with good vigorous growth. Its importance is also at-

tributed to increased consumption due torapid population growth and the low levelof production, the Daily Observer reportedon 27 May 2006.

Famara Badjie, an agriculture exten-sion worker in the Kombo North, said thatNERICA ts very well with The Gambiaserratic rainfall pattern, adding that the2005-06 NERICA rice harvest in Jambur isthree times more than that in 2004-05.

Agricultural boost for Sierra Leone

The Chinese government donated tractorsand other agricultural implements to thegovernment of Sierra Leone, the AwarenessTimes Newspaper reported on 29 March2006. The equipment was formally handedover by the Ambassador of the PeoplesRepublic of China to Sierra Leone, HisExcellency Cheng Wenju, to Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Food Security,Sama Mondeh.

Chinas assistance to Sierra Leonestarted in 2002 by providing professionaltraining to 50 Sierra Leonean technicians inChina on rice cultivation, sending two expertmissions in 2002 and 2005 to examine thepossibility of establishing a technical hybridrice research and production team in thecountry, and sending eight experts to the Bo Agricultural Station to enhance large-scaleproduction and processing of hybrid rice.

China is also this year providing 18technicians for a food security programunder the South-South Cooperation Schemeof the Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) of the United Nations, and sendingthree senior Chinese scientists to train min-istry ofcials and senior university studentson modern rice production for 6 months.

African rice news

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Te-Tzu (T.T.) Chang, 79, passed away inTaiwan on 24 March 2006. Dr. Chang,IRRIs principal geneticist for more than30 years and head of the InternationalRice Germplasm Center when he retiredin December 1991, was considered a worldauthority on rice genetics and conservation.His research on the evolution and variationof rice led to major advances in plant breed-ing, productivity, and disease resistance with a profound impact on agricultural pro-ductivity throughout much of Asia, Africa,and South America.

Dr. Chang introduced Dee-geo-woo-gen, a Chinese dwarf rice, to IRRIs breedingprogram in 1962. That led to the develop-ment of the rst high-yielding semidwarf rice varieties. IR8, the rst such variety to be widely grown in the tropics, was releasedlate in 1966. It was followed by a successionof improved, early-maturing varieties withgenetic resistance to many of the majorinsect pests and diseases of rice.

Faced with the peril of losing geneticresources that hold the key to the futuredevelopment of newer and better rice crops,Dr. Chang perceived the danger and put

great effort into saving unimproved varietiesand their wild relatives.He mobilized international and multi-

agency resources in 14 Asian nations andseveral African nations to undertake mas-sive eld collections of nearly 40,000 speci-mens, many on the brink of extinction. Thiseffort made IRRIs rice gene bank holdingsthe largest collection in the world for a singlecrop plant. Desirable genes from this invalu-able resource continue to sustain advancesin global rice production.

Rice genetics pioneerpasses away

Keeping up with IRRI staff

Zahirul Islam , international researchfellow, has joined IRRIs Social SciencesDivision (SSD) to coordinate the IRRI-In-ternational Fund for Agricultural Develop-ment project on accelerating technologiesand adoption to improve livelihoods on therainfed Indo-Gangetic Plains at seven sitesin India and Bangladesh. Hari Gurung also joined SSD as an international researchfellow.

Yuichiro Furukawa , Ruben Lam-payan, and Rachid Serraj joined the Cropand Environmental Sciences (CES) Divisionas a project scientist, postdoctoral fellow, andsenior crop physiologist, respectively.

Inez Slamet-Loedin joined theGolden Rice Network as a shuttle scientistresponsible for developing the non-event-specic regulatory dossier for Golden RiceSGR2, while Florencia Palis is a new postdoctoral fellow with the CES Divisionresponsible for coordinating projects underthe Irrigated Rice Research Consortium(IRRC), among others. Trina Mendoza

also joined IRRC as an associate in com-munication and extension.

Adam Barclay , Rice Today editor, wona Gold Award (1st place) in the Writ-ing for Magazines Category for the article, Dreams beyond drought that appeared onpages 14-21 of Vol. 4, No. 2 of Rice Today .The award was presented by the Associa-tion for Communications Excellence (ACE)during its annual meeting in Quebec City,Canada, 2-6 June 2006. ACE is an interna-tional organization of communicators andinformation technologists that developsthe professional skills of its members toextend knowledge about agriculture, naturalresources and life and human sciences topeople worldwide. The article explored how

Appointed heads of OrganizationalUnits as part of IRRIs new strategic planare David Mackill , Plant Breeding, Genet-ics, and Biotechnology (PBGB) Division,including current PBGB staff and the plantpathology research groups of the formerEntomology and Plant Pathology Division(EPPD); T.P. Tuong , CES, including staff of the former Crop, Soil, and Water SciencesDivision and the entomology and ecology research groups of the former EPPD; Ma-habub Hossain , SSD, including currentstaff and units of SSD; Ruaraidh Sack- ville Hamilton , the T.T. Chang GeneticResources Center (GRC), including currentstaff of GRC; Graham McLaren , theIRRI-CIMMYT Crop Research InformaticsLaboratory (CRIL), including current staff of the former Biometrics and BioinformaticsUnit; and Melissa Fitzgerald , the GrainQuality, Nutrition, and Postharvest Center,including current staff of the former GrainQuality and Nutrition Research Centerand the agricultural engineering and post

harvest research groups of the former Ag-ricultural Engineering Unit.

Achievements drought in Asia delivers heartbreak and ripscommunities apart among the rural poor, but also how promising new research ishelping rice farmers avoid devastation.

Anthropologist Florencia Palis oIRRIs Social Sciences Division receivedthe Nationally Recruited Staff Award forOutstanding Scientic Achievement at therecent Board of Trustees meeting at theinstitutes Philippine headquarters. Dr.Palis was chosen for her independent eth-

nographic research that encompassed many community settings and IRRI projects,including her research for the advancementof knowledge.

Yuan Longping , director general of the China National Hybrid Rice Researchand Development Center, in April joinedthe elite U.S. National Academy of Sciencesas a foreign associate, one of the highesthonors in American science and engineer-ing. Professor Longping, 76, is known as theFather of Hybrid Rice for his contributionin developing high-yield rice in China.

Over the years, Dr. Chang had sharedhis expertise in genetic conservation withnational agricultural research centers inChina and India as they established gene banks for other crop species.

A native of Shanghai, China, Dr. Changcompleted his undergraduate degree at theUniversity of Nanking and earned mastersand Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University

and the University of Minnesota, respec-tively. He was a fellow of the American So-ciety of Agronomy, the Institute of Biology of the UK, the Crop Science Society of thePhilippines, and the Crop Science Society of America. Among his many awards werethe 1988 Rank Prize for Nutrition andthe 1999 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement.

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Global rice productionhit a world-record 628million tons in 2005,after increasing for the

third consecutive season. The all-time high was announced in the April 2006 issue of the Rice Market Monitor , published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, ahead of the 21stsession of the International RiceCommission (IRC) on 3-5 May 2006.

Growth reected relatively favorable weather conditions in Asia, western Africa, and South America, and the positive effects

of high prices in 2004, whichhad fostered a general increase inplantings, according to the report.

However, tight domesticsupplies and rising populationsleft a number of countries facingproduction shortfalls in 2004,leading to a spike in global importsin 2005 of 29 million tonsanotherrecord, but a gure that is expectedto drop slightly in 2006.

The IRC session, held inChiclayo, Peru, brought togethernearly 100 participants, includingofcials from 61 countries, IRCmembers, and partner institutions,to discuss ways and means topromote international action onthe production, preservation,distribution, and consumption of rice.

Organized by the Ministry of Agriculture of Peru and the FAO, thetheme of the 21st session was Riceis lifebringing the implementationof the International Year of Rice tofarmers elds. The United Nationsdeclared 2004 as the International Year of Rice to underline the needto coordinate efforts to combatpoverty, improve food security,and achieve the United NationsMillennium Development Goalsin the poor rice-producing areasof the world, which are home toclose to half of all humanity.

Country representativespresented and analyzed theirnational rice research and

development programs, discussingstrategies for sustainable increasesin rice production, reducingrice productions environmentalimpact, and reducing hunger inpoor rice-producing populations.

The IRC holds a session every 4 years to review emerging issues andrecent achievements in scientic,technical, and socioeconomicmatters relating to sustainable riceproduction and rice-based farming

What next?

Key recommendations to come out of the 21stsession of the International Rice Commissionincluded Member countries, fund donors, FAO, partner

institutions, and all other stakeholdersshould increase collaborative efforts andfunding support for a sustainable increasein rice production.

The pa r tne r sh ip i n r i c e r e sea rchand development among national andinternational institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector shouldbe strengthened and broadened.

Strategies and policies for sustainable riceproduction should aim to help rice farmersefficiently manage resourcesespeciallywaterand reduce the environmental impactof farming.

Support should increase for initiatives topromote the development, dissemination,and adoption of rice varieties with highnutrient content (especially iron, zinc, andvitamin A).

New rice varieties should combine highyield with increased nutritional valueand improved tolerance of salinity, hightemperature, drought, and ood.

Rice production should be viewed as anintegrated system, from selection of seedthrough to food on the table, encompassingthe interactions and relationships amongrice plants and other organisms in rice

ecosystems. To increase returns and employment fromrice production, support should increase forsmall and medium enterprises that use riceand its by-products (such as bran and husks)to manufacture value-added products.The IRC Secretariat also recommended a

Global Expert Consultation, to be held beforethe 22nd session in 2010, to review progressand to identify strategies for up-scaling thetransfer of integrated crop management systemsfor increasing yield and prot, and reducingenvironmental degradation in rice production.

Setting the rice agenda

systems. The session also helpsmember countries develop theirnational rice programs, and promotesinteraction and collaborationamong national, regional, andinternational institutions.

Rice, the main staple of around half the worlds population,constitutes one-fth of the total foodenergy intake of everyone on theplanet. In Asia alone, more than 2 billion people obtain around two-thirds of their daily dietary energy from rice and its by-products.

But rice is not the preserve of Asian countries alone. Accordingto FAO, almost a billion householdsin Asia, Africa, and the Americasdepend on rice systems for their mainsource of employment and livelihood,

and rice production in sub-Saharan Africa is now expanding faster thanany other crop but continues to beoutpaced by consumption. Further,26 countries in Latin Americaand the Caribbean cultivate rice,although the regions productionis only 4.3% of the world total. InPeru itself, rice consumptionabout50 kg of milled rice per personeach yearis higher than in otherLatin American countries.

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Asia has made remarkableprogress in boosting riceproduction and productivity over the last 4 decades. Most

of this increase has been achievedthrough the adoption of improvedrice varieties. But the progresshas remained unevencountries

that rely predominantly on rainfedecosystems continue to lag behind.Rainfed ecosystemssloping

and plateau uplands, medium todeeply ooded monsoon-dependentlowlands, and salt-affected coastalareasstill account for about 45%of total rice lands in Asia. Theseecosystems therefore remaincrucial to sustaining future growthin rice production, especially asimprovements in rice production in

irrigated ecosystems are runningout of steam, with near completeadoption of improved varietiesand narrowing of yield gaps.Compared with this success, foodinsecurity and poverty are extensivein rainfed ecosystems and thedemand for food is growing fast.

Rainfed ecosystemsare characterized by severe abiotic stressessuch as drought,submergence, problemsoils, and strong winds.These factors must be considered, along with high yield andpest resistance, in any breeding strategies forimproved varieties forrainfed systems. Todevelop high-yielding varieties appropriatefor these ecosystems,rice breeders from thenational agriculturalresearch systems of the rice-producing countries of Asia seek tocombine local traditional varietiesthat possess abiotic stress tolerance with elite lines obtained frominternational research centers.Such research involves complex breeding procedures and often hasa low probability of success, and, when a variety is released, farmersand consumers may not accept it.

We have seen promising progressin developing varieties for the rainfedupland ecosystem but many farmerscontinue to grow traditional varieties.The only major success has been inChinas Yunnan Province, where theadoption of improved varieties wasfacilitated by investment in terracingthe sloping uplands and thereby

modifying the growing environment.Substantial efforts have also been made in improving varietiesfor the ood-prone ecosystem by changing the rice plants capacity toelongate with rising oodwaters anddeveloping kneeing abilitythe ability of a plant that has been attened by oodwaters to grow upright again when the water recedes. However,farm-level data from Thailandshow limited adoption of improved

by Mahabub HossainHead, Social Sciences Division,International Rice Research Institute

deepwater rice varieties because theeffect on yield has been marginal.Rather, farmers in the ood-proneecosystem have abandoned deepwaterrice in favor of growing shorter-duration high-yielding rice varieties(often raising two rice crops in thesame year) developed for the irrigated

ecosystem, thereby substantially increasing riceproduction andincome. Thisdevelopment startedin the Mekong Deltaof South Vietnamand subsequently spread to theGanges delta inBangladesh and West Bengal,India, where it was augmented by pumpinggroundwaterthrough small-

scale irrigation. This approach isnow proceeding rapidly in the ChaoPhraya delta of central Thailand.

Progress in developing varietiesfor rainfed lowlands has beenrelatively slow. In India, for example,18 varieties were released permillion hectares in 1970-2000 forthe irrigated ecosystem, compared with only 9 for the rainfed lowlandecosystem. But there has beenconsiderable spillover of varietiesreleased for the irrigated systeminto the rainfed lowland system.However, data on the effect of adoption show that rice yield hasremained low because farmersare reluctant to invest in adequateinputssuch as fertilizerbecauseof the risks of crop failure from

drought and submergence.Recent efforts in using modern biotechnology tools to incorporatedrought and submergence toleranceinto popularly grown modern varieties may help increase riceproduction in the rainfed lowlands.

Adapted from a paper presented at the 21st Session of the International Rice Commission, held in Chiclayo, Peru, 3-5 May 2006.

Progress in breeding

rice for rainfed

ecosystems is essential

if poor farmers are to

improve both their

productivity andtheir livelihood

Breeding ricefor rainfedecosystems


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J O S E R A Y M O N D P A N A L I G A N

I n 1960, the founding fathers of theInternational Rice Research Insti-tute (IRRI) recognized the need,especially in the developing world,for accessible knowledge and infor-mation in the eld of rice research.

In his book, An adventure inapplied science: a history of the In-

ternational Rice Research Institute ,IRRIs rst director general, RobertChandler, wrote that an essential ele-ment of the institute would be a goodlibrary that would contain the worldcollection of important rice literatureand such other reference materialsas would be needed by a group of natural and social scientists engagedin an active research and trainingprogram. Furthermore, the facility should be able to make available to

In the fast-changing world of the digital era, theworlds foremost collection of information onrice and rice research is moving with the times

scientists in developing countriesany articles that they were unableto get in the libraries of the institu-tions where they were working.

Now, almost 50 years later, theprogress of rice research is availablefor all to see in the worlds largestrepository of rice literatureIRRIsLibrary and Documentation Services(LDS).

The institutes rst chief librarian was Lina Manalo, who, in the wordsof Dr. Chandler, built the best library among the network of internationalagricultural research centers.

Today, the LDS houses a total bib-liography of more than 230,000 ref-erences, including more than 138,000 books and monographs, and over1,400 journals. There are also doc-toral theses, conference proceedings,and comprehensive reference, audio- visual, and map collections. Thesepublications are accessible not only tothe librarys average 70 daily walk-in clients, but also online at http://ricelib.irri.cgiar.org. The library also houses documents in around80 languagesEnglish accounts for just over half, Japanese almost onefth, and Chinese 6%. The entire bibliography is available in print, onCD, and online, and is updated daily.

The library also offers elec-

tronic alerts, computerized lit-erature searches, and electronicand print document delivery. Justas important, the LDS trains libra-rians from other organizations,and trains IRRI staff on databasecreation and management.

At the helm of the LDS is MilaRamos. A graduate of the University of the Philippines, Ramos began atthe library in 1965. Over the ensuing41 years, she has served at the worlds

most comprehensive repository of information on rice, rising to her cur-rent position of chief librarian. Along with former LDS Head Ian Wallace(1993-99), Ramos has helped lead thelibrary into the digital era. In 2001,the LDS received the Outstanding Ac-ademic and Research Library Award

from the Philippine Association of Academic and Research Librarians.

The LDSs staff of 14smallerthan that of most comparable or-ganizationshandles admirably the challenges that come with being responsible for such an im-portant body of information.

The big challenge, explainsRamos, is being able to provideinstant and easy access to electronicsources of information, journalsespecially. But the costs of e-re-sources are rising and we can provideonly a fraction of what our scientists would like. The IRRI librarians needto be persistent and resourceful to be able to look for needed researcharticles for free or at the least cost.

The emergence of new informa-tion and communication technologies(ICT) poses another big challenge.

With the new ICTs, says Ramos,the role of the library will get biggeras the amount of knowledge availableon the Web increases at an exponen-tial rate. The task of the library is tonavigate this maze, evaluate and se-lect materials that would benet ricescientists, keep users aware of whatsavailable, and ensure quick access.

Meanwhile, assistant chief librarian and rice bibliographerCarmelita Austria points out thatprint publications remain as impor-tant as ever. Computers will notreplace books, she says. We donot simply replace old technologies

with new ones. Print and electronicresources have their own strengths.Making the ever-increasing

knowledge available to the people who need it is indeed a great chal-lenge for librarians. Failure meansthat all those print and electronicresources are consigned to gatherdustboth real and virtual in thearchives. With Ramos and her staff incharge, the needs of rice researchersacross the globe are in safe hands.

by Johnny Goloyugo

Virtual challenges


At the helm of the IRRILibrarychief librarian

Mila Ramos.


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14/36

MAPS


For this issues article on bird diversity and wetland conversion (see Balanced on a wingon pages 3436), Rice Today needed a land-

cover map of Candaba marsh to compare historicaland current conditions and plan a eld visit. Theonly available maps werent detailed enough andhadnt been updated since the mid-1970s, so theIRRI Geographic Information Systems lab usedfreely available LandSat data from the Global LandCover Facility (http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/index.shtml) at the University of Maryland in the USA.

Because of our interest in vegetation cover, satellitedata were reprocessed into false color images thatexploit the high infrared reectance of chlorophyllthegreen pigment in plantsto render vegetation patterns.

The image is termed false color because theimaging process displays the intensities of red,green, and infrared radiation recorded by satellitesensors as shades of, respectively, green, blue, andred instead (see https://zulu.ssc.nasa.gov/mrsid/tutorial/Landsat%20Tutorial-V1.html). In the resultingimage, vegetation is in varying shades of red, wateris blue, and bare or fallow areas are light brown.

Fa lse co lor gives atrue impression

After eld visits to several areas shown on the 2002 falsecolor map ( bottom right ), image-processing software wasused to characterize the spectral signature of areas underrice cultivation ( green on map below ) and sh ponds (blue).These signatures were then automatically applied to therest of the image to approximate the extent of these typesof land cover. While signicant work on the ground wouldbe needed to fully validate these results, they give a generalimpression of the extent of sh ponds and agriculturalelds and illustrate the power of remote-sensing analysisto facilitate studies of landscape-scale phenomena.

False color images of Candaba marsh on 17 March 1976 and 3 April2002. While there were small differences in the infrared data collectedbetween the two years, this comparison gives an immediate sense of the magnitude of change that has occurred to the landscape due toconstruction of agricultural elds and, to a lesser extent, sh ponds.

by Greg Fanslow

2002

17 March 1976

I M A G E P R O C E S S E D B Y A I L E E N M A U N A H A N ( 3 )

3 April 2002


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A s part of the Top RiceProject of the Republic of Koreas Rural Development Administration (RDA), 25 tons of high-quality rice seed were harvestedin February-March at the Philippineheadquarters of the InternationalRice Research Institute (IRRI).The seed was transported in aeet of trucks to the Ninoy AquinoInternational Airport, Manila, on31 March and has since made its way to the RDAs National Instituteof Crop Science in Suwon, Korea.

The Top Rice Project, launchedin 2005, aims to develop andpopularize high-quality rice in Korea. As part of this dr ive, RDA and IRRIinitiated the Large-Scale Korean SeedMultiplication Project in 2005-06.

Through this seed multiplicationproject, newly developed premium-quality varietiesknown asGopumbyeo and Unkwangbyeoare being multiplied at IRRI beforetransport to Korea and distributionto Korean rice farmers.

Multiplication of Korean rice seedat the IRRI farm in the Philippineshas been an important part of Koreasrice production for almost fourdecades. The countrys achievement

of rice self-sufciency through theGreen Revolution of the 1970s wasmade possible through similar pastcollaboration between IRRI and RDA.The rst Korean Seed MultiplicationProject, for rapid dissemination of the popular Tongil variety, occurredin the 1969-70 dry season.

Multiplication of Korean rice seedin the Philippines has also enabledKorea to accelerate its researchprograms. Since 1970, Korea hassent its rice breeding nurseries andadvanced lines to the Philippinesfor seed multiplication during the winter, thus cutting years off the time

required to develop new rice varieties.This practice has also helpedKorea protect its farmers againstproduction threats. In 1980-81, forexample, Korean rice breeders used

the Philippine-grown winter cropto gain time in a gene rotationprogram to retain blast resistancein Koreas rice crop. In November1980, 305 kilograms of Korean seed were multiplied at IRRI into 120.5tons. Once back in Korea, that seed was further multiplied on 2,544hectares during the Korean summerof 1981. The following year, it wasused to plant 130,000 hectares of Koreas then 1.2 million hectaresof rice land, so providing a genetic barrier to the spread of rice blast.

The most recent Korean rice seedmultiplication was performed in a

14-hectare upland eld at IRRI underthe supervision of Hung-Goo Hwang,a senior Korean scientist secondedfrom RDA currently working inIRRIs Plant Breeding, Genetics,and Biotechnology Division, andKyu-Seong Lee, visiting researchfellow and RDA senior rice breeder.

I am very happy that wereached our target productionand we nished our projectsuccessfully, said Dr. Hwang.

Korea-IRRI collaborationmultiplies benets

IRRI Senior Scientist Hung-Goo Hwang (center ),Visiting Research Fellow Kyu-Seong Lee (right ), andIRRI Director General Robert Zeigler inspect one o

the seed-laden trucks before its departure.

A eet of trucks loaded with 25 tonsof high-quality rice seed leaves IRRIheadquarters for Manilas Ninoy AquinoInternational Airport on 31 March 2006enroute to Korea.

Rice Today July-September 2006 15

A R I E L J A V E L L A N A ( 2 )


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Rice Today July-September 2006 Rice Today July-September 2006

But all count ries, says Dr. Dawe,including several rice exporters,complain about these problems. Although some of these problemsare important, they do not explain why the Philippines imports rice.

But then what does explain it?In a word, it is geography. SaysDr. Dawe: The Philippines importsrice because it is a nation of islands without any major river deltas

like those in Thailand and Vietnam. The major traditionalexportersThailand, Vietnam,Cambodia, and Myanmarare on the Southeast Asian mainlan

while the countries that have beconsistently importing rice formore than 100 yearsIndonesithe Philippines, Sri Lanka, JapaKorea, and Malaysiaare all isor narrow peninsulas. (See imports come with the territorypage 37 of Rice Today Vol. 3,

Although the presence or aof river deltas is the overridingfactor in explaining why some Acountries import rice and othersexport it, other reasons are also

work. In the Philippines, geograis again the culprit. Located offeastern edge of the Asian continthe Philippines bears the brunt numerous typhoons, making ricproduction more difcult, riskyand often unpredictable. Thailaand the Mekong and Red Riverdeltas are much less affected

by such recurring disasters. In

addition, the Philippines rice sehas high labor costs that must breducedwithout reducing wagorder to increase productivity.

So, what would happen if rtrade were liberalized? Would itthat the Philippines might end uimporting even more rice? To loat the consequences of such a pdecision in the Philippinesancountries for that matter Philand the International Rice Rese

Trade

The smattering of provocative headlines(at left ), appearingin recent issues of various Philippine daily

newspapers, mirrors a basic issue onthe minds of many Filipinos: Why does the Philippines import rice, and why cant the country produce enoughof its staple food to feed its people?

Indeed, in a country wherehalf-full rice bins are a cause forgreat concern in a given household,having a sufcient rice supply for all Filipinos consumption isour governments priority, saysLeocadio Sebastian, executivedirector of the Philippine RiceResearch Institute (PhilRice).

To meet this moving target,the Philippines has needed to buy rice from other countries suchas Thailand, Vietnam, and eventhe United States for most of thepast 130 years. Rice is such anintegral part of history and culturein the Philippines that, for someFilipinos, this fact is a source of

national shame, says David Dawe,Bangkok-based economist for theFood and Agriculture Organization(FAO) of the United Nations.

Many reasons are typically put forth to explain the failure toachieve rice self-sufciencyfaulty government policy, corruption,conversion of rice land to otheruses, backward rice farmers,deteriorating irrigation systems, andlack of farm credit, among others. J O S

E R A Y M O N D P A N A L I G A N ( 2 )

Tricks of then Asia, the question of whether or not to liberalize rice trade is a vexing one.f liberalization is to occur at all, it needs to happen gradually and with an

understanding of how peopleespecially the poorwill be affected

by Gene Hettel


17/36

Rice Today July-September 2006 Rice Today July-September 2006

On the other hand, the researchsuggests that lower prices resultingfrom increased imports would benet the many poor consumers who spend more than 20% of their income on rice alone. Theseconsumers consist of shers, landlesslaborers, corn farmers, and theurban poorin fact, most poorpeople in the Philippines are notrice farmers, Dr. Dawe points out.

In a trade liberalization scenariothat results in more rice imports,Filipino farmers would need toeither become more competitivein rice production or explorealternative crops. One promising way to improve competitiveness isthrough the use of hybrid rice, a new technology that could increase yieldsand prots in areas and seasons thatare suitable for its cultivation, saysMs. Casiwan. PhilRice is conducting

considerable hybrid rice researchthat will, we hope, provide farmers with this additional option.

Progressive rice farmers can andare exploring growing other crops.The choice of alternative crops will vary from province to province andsome of these alternatives are evenmore protable than rice and wouldmake farmers wealt hier, says Ms.Casiwan. But these crops are alsooften riskier to plant than rice, and

the government and private sector will need to work together to reducethe effects of this risk on farmers.(See Opportunities beyond growingrice on pages 2223, for a farmersperspective on the role of cropdiversication in the Philippines.)

Rice farmers who switch crops will not lose their household ricesecurity. They can still choose toplant some rice if liberalizationoccurs, says Ms. Casiwan. Only asmall portion of their landabout0.15 hectare of double-cropped landfor a family of veis necessary to feed their own family.

As the study found, tradeliberalization will have both positiveand negative effects. So, PhilRicesDr. Sebastian and IRRI DirectorGeneral Robert Zeigler urge that any relaxation of government importrestrictions that does occur in aneffort, for example, to benet poorconsumers should be done gradual ly,not all at once. In the foreword to the book that details the results of thisresearch, Why does the Philippinesimport rice? (see box at right ), they write that Gradual changes makeit easier for all members of society to adjust their lives to changedcircumstances. Any analyst with adose of humility must admit to beingless than perfect, and a gradualapproach to reform would allow an assessment of changes beforefull reform is implemented.

In thinking about the futureof rice policy in the Philippinesor any country for that matter, itis important to keep a balancedperspective, says Dr. Dawe. Riceis what many farmers grow, but itis also what nearly all consumerseat. In many cases, farmers have

more exibility to switch cropsthan consumersespecially pooronesdo to switch their staple food.

Although self-sufciency can be alaudable goal, it can cause great harmif it is pursued at all costs, withoutregard for the welfare of the poor.Self-sufciency pursued throughimprovements in productivity and competitiveness is much lesslikely to have negative side-effects,and is a target worth pursuing.

Emanatingfrom a 3-year jointPhilRice-IRRIstudy, this bookattempts to answerthe question onthe cover, andthen proceeds tothe even moredifcult issue of what would happenif rice trade wereliberalized andthe Philippines began to import more riAlthough written by experts on the riceeconomy and some of the countrys youeconomists, this book is intended for ageneral lay audience. The reader need nfamiliar with complex concepts and jarin economics or mathematics in order tounderstand the arguments presented. Allthat is necessary is an open mind and awillingness to think carefully.

The primary goal of this book is teducational. For example, the Philippin

imports rice because it is an island natioFilipino farmers receive high rice pricelaborers, not rice farmers, do the bulk owork producing the nations rice; and mof the poorest people in the Philippinesnot rice farmers. If readers retain just soof these facts about the rice sector in thePhilippines, and discuss them with frienand colleagues, then the publication wilbeen successful.

For more information about purcthis book, access IRRIs online publicacatalog at www.irri.org.

Why Does the Philipp Import Rice? Meeting the challenge of tradeliberalizationA book edited by David C. Dawe, PiedMoya, and Cheryll B. Casiwan and pubby IRRI and PhilRice.

Indeed, in one recent story in thPhilippine press, National Food

Authority Administrator GregoTan Jr. is quoted as saying, If wcan be self-sufcient in a compmanner, then well and good.

It is important that policymreach decisions with as muchinformation as possible. ThePhilRice-IRRI research teamhas endeavored to provide thatinformation so that decisions ca

be made to help the millions of Filipinos living in povertyricproducers and consumers alike.

PHOTOGRAPHYBY ARIELJAVELLANA,GENE HETTEL,AND JOSE RAYMONDPANALIGAN

stitute (IRRI), with the supportthe Bureau of Agriculturalsearch (BAR) of the DepartmentAgriculture of the Philippines,nducted a 3-year study of the issuesvolved. BARs support enablede research team of Dr. Dawe,ho was then still stationed in theilippines as an IRRI economist,edad Moya, senior associateentist in IRRIs Social Sciencesvision, and Cheryll Casiwan,onomist with the Socioeconomicsvision of PhilRice, to bring togetherricultural experts from many otherilippine organizations, such as the

ureau of Agricultural Statistics,e National Food Authority, andte colleges and universities.

Trade liberalization, although am used widely today, is often notoperly understood. It does notcessarily mean more imports for

commodities in all situations,plains Ms. Moya. What it doesean is that the price for a specicmmodity inside the country e domestic price) becomes the

me as the price for that samemmodity outside the country (theorld price), after taking accountthe exchange rate and any cessary transportation costs.

Generally speaking, for any mmodity that is tradable across

international borders, the domesticprice will naturally tend to equal the

world price unless the governmentintervenes with trade restrictions.If domestic prices are higher than

world prices, private traders willtry to prot by importing fromabroad, buying low, and selling high.This process will continue untilthe additional supply of importslowers domestic prices and erasesthose prots. The reverse willhappen if world prices are higherthan domestic prices: privatetraders will prot by exporting.

For rice in the Philippines,only the government has the legalauthority to arrange imports.Because the government iscurrently limiting the quantity of imports each year, says Ms. Moya,the law of supply and demandsuggests that domestic prices will

rise, and, in fact, they have.It is not widely known, even

in the Philippines, that Filipinofarmers receive much higher pricesfor their palay (rice at harvest

before the husk is removed) than dofarmers in neighboring developingcountries. Further, farm pricesfor rice have increased during thepast 10 years much faster than forother key agricultural commoditiessuch as corn. Not surprisingly

then, the very high prices received by Filipino farmers translate into very high rice prices paid by poorconsumers. The large gap between world prices and domestic rice pricesnot only harms consumers, it alsocreates opportunities for corruptionthat would disappear if the pricedifferential were much smaller.

During the past few years, thePhilippines has imported about 10%of its consumption requirements. According to May 2006 pressreports, the projected rice importtotal for 2006 will amount to around1.4 million metric tons. Becausepalay and rice prices are higherin the Philippines than on worldmarkets (sometimes nearly double world prices), the researchersanalyses show that rice tradeliberalization would most likely mean more rice imports than this.

Lower palay and rice pricesdue to increased imports would, of course, hurt pa lay farmers, says Dr.Dawe, especially those with largesurpluses to sell. Many palay farmersare poor, but many are not, and mostof the benets of high prices accrueto the larger, better-off farmers because they have the most surplusto sell. However, there is no doubtthat some small, poor palay farmers would be hurt by trade liberalization.

e is an intregral part of life, history, and culture in the Philippines.


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Rice Today July-September 2006 Rice Today July-September 2006y July-September 2006, Vol. 5, No. 3 A different kind of rice landscapehills and valleys of sacks waiting to be unloaded from a ship docked at Manila, Philippines.


19/36


I f rice trade liberalization wereto occur and result in more riceimports, one potentially viableoption for rice farmers would

be to plant alternative crops. Soils,climate, and the degree of economicdevelopment vary throughout thedifferent provinces of the Philippines.Because of these differences, riceproduction systems are different,and so are the alternative crops thatcould be grown if trade liberalizationmade rice less protable for farmers.Here, Florentino M. Santiago, aprogressive Filipino farmer fromCentral Luzon in the Philippines,offers his thoughts on diversication.

Growing up on a farm, Santiago,Jr., 36, has always known thelanguage of agriculture. As a young boy, he watched his father toil onthe farm so he could send him andhis eight siblings to school. Theonly child who studied agriculturein school, Santiago now works as

a PhilRice farmer-consultant. TheTalavera, Nueva Ecija, native iscommitted to proving that thereis indeed money in farming.

Santiagos ambition has always been to become a professionalfarmer and a role model to thefarming community. He felt a need toinuence traditional farmers when herealized their dire need for moderntechnologies. He practices land-useplanning and uses every space on hisfarm to obtain higher income. Sinceincome from rice is not enough tomeet the basic needs of his family,he intercrops gabi (taro), vegetables,and mango trees on his 3.25-hectarefarm and has also ventured into shculture. To minimize his expenseson chemical fertilizers, he usesindigenous materials available on thefarmanimal waste, rice straw, andother organic materials. He attendstraining and seminars conducted by different government and

nongovernment agencies to augmenthis practical experience in farming.

The rice yield on his farmnormally reaches 5.8 tons perhectare. Planting only rice willgive him an annual gross incomeof about 150,000 Philippine pesos(US$2,900). With 300 mango treesplanted along the dikes around hisrice farm, he is earning an additionalincome of $1,750 per year. Annualprot from gabi is higher at $2,900.Fish harvests give him an extra$580, while his vegetable produceadds $390 to his household income.Thus, adopting an integrated farmingsystem by devoting 2.25 hectares forrice cultivation and allocating smallportions of his land to sh and othercrops more than doubled his annualgross income to at least $6,600.

Diversifying his farm increasedhis family income and reduced therisk in relying solely on rice farming.Moreover, diversication benetsthe environment as it helps improvesoil conditions and forces farmers toreduce their chemical applications onthe farm. However, Diversicationdoes not mean abandoning rice, hesays cautiously, but simply usingprudent land-use planning.

For rice farmers, Santiagosees diversication as one safety net for rice trade liberalization.Unfortunately, our farmers

have not been prepared wellfor this possibility, he says. Isee capital, or lack of it, as onedeterrent to diversication formost farmers. Usually, it is simply because they are not aware of where to get additional money orthey are afraid to take risks.

In Nueva Ecija, where a distinctdry season exists, pumpswhichmay cost a farmer at least $680areneeded to irrigate farms after the

Opportunities beyond grow

ricea farmers perspectiv

FLORENTINO M. SANTIAGO tendssome of the nonrice crops on hisfarm in Central Luzon, Philippines,and (top opposite ) feeds his pigs.

P H I L R I C E ( 2 )


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Rice Today: What effects can trade

reforms have on reducing poverty?

Dr. Dawe: The effects of trade reforms on poverty andfood security are complex and will vary depending onsocial structure (e.g., the proportion of landlessnessin the rural population, inequality of land ownership),infrastructure, the specic commodity involved (e.g., whether it is preferentially consumed by the poor or well-to-do, whether it is being imported or exported in any particular country), and many other factors. This complexity means that analyses of specic countries and commoditiesare highly valuable, although some generic lessons can be

gleaned from the studies described in Trade liberalization,

poverty and food security , a part of the new publicationfrom the FAO Regional Ofce for Asia and the Pacic, The State of Food and Agriculture in Asia and the Pacic .

Rice Today: If any country decided to import morerice, in part, to benet poor consumers, can todays world market be trusted to provide those supplies?

Dr. Dawe: In the mid-1970s, the answer was uncertain. Today,however, the world rice market has fundamentally changed. World rice production is more stable because of more irrigationand high-yielding varieties with pest and disease resistance.

wet season. Restructuring of landto suit other crops also seems to be a stumbling block for farmers.Santiago quickly points out, however,that municipal government ofceshave heavy equipment that can be

rented at a minimal fee to restructurelots. Farmers also need to investsome time to learn about the cropssuited for cultivation consideringthe soil type and climate. Becausehis farm soil is mostly heavy clay,Santiago is mindful that he cannotplant onion, so he opted for other vegetables such as sitao (cowpea),talong (eggplant), and gabi. Anotherimportant issue is the high laborrequirement for planting vegetablescompared with planting rice alone.

In cases in which farmers donot diversify, Santiago assertsthat farmers are either indolent orignorant. He stresses the importance

of farmers initiative in increasingtheir household income throughdiversication. I rmly believethat farmers themselves shouldmake the rst move in obtainingtheir inputs and capital needs and

not depend on the government tosupply them with those needs, hesays. The role of the governmentand the extension service should be in making sure technologies andopportunities reach farmers.

His competence as a skilledfarmer manager was rst recognizedin 1998. From then on, Santiago hasconsistently been honored as oneof the outstanding rice farmers inCentral Luzon. Although focused onfarming, he is active in community affairs and development, servingas chairman of a cooperative andof an agrarian reform council inhis barangay (district). He still

dreams of expanding his farm because he sees opportunities infarming that would eventually make him a peso millionaire.

Adapted from Chapter 16 of Why Doesthe Philippines Import Rice?

Trade liberalization:an agricultural economists perspective Rice Today recently discussed the issue of rice trade liberalization with David

Dawe, Bangkok-based economist for the Food and Agriculture Organization of

the United Nations and former International Rice Research Institute economist.


21/36


In addition, more exporting countries are commercially orientedthe health of their own domestic rice economiesdepends on being reliable suppliers to the world market. Asproof, the world market has successfully weathered two recentevents that did not turn into crisesthe massive El Nio of 1998and Chinas rice imports in 2004 and 2005. Today, althoughprice uctuations still occur on the world market, rice pricesare more stable than ever before, and they are more stablethan world prices for other cereal grains. So, the world ricemarket can be trusted once again, just as it could in the 1950s.

Rice Today: What about price stability when opening to external markets?

Dr. Dawe: Trade can play an important role in ensuringprice stability, as in the case of Bangladesh during the oodof the century in 1998 that caused a drop in rice production.The government eliminated tariffs on rice imports duringthe crisis and the increased supplies brought in from India by private traders kept domestic prices stable. In additionto trade, government storage also has a role to play inensuring price stability, but the costs of food reserves areoften much higher than the benets. Tariffs that vary inresponse to changing world prices and domestic harvests(either according to a predetermined schedule or on an

ad hoc basis) may be a more cost-effective mechanism forstabilizing domestic prices. This is a more feasible optiontoday than it was in the 1970s, because of the increasedstability in the world rice market mentioned earlier. Suchtariffs should be imposed only for key commodities, connedto a low level, and used to moderate price uctuations,not provide protection for an extended length of time.

Rice Today : What is your take on riceexporters trying to form an organization of rice-exporting countries that would lead toa cartel of rice exporters just like in oil?

Dr. Dawe: First of all, rice is very different from oil in thatproduction comes from millions of small farmers actingindependently, as opposed to a few oil wells controlled by agovernment planner. This makes it difcult to control surplusproduction if a cartel is successful in raising prices. Second,rice is a perishable commodity, unlike oil. Thus, when surplusesaccumulate, and governments try to keep prices high by holding these surpluses off the market, they will suffer largenancial losses as the rice deteriorates in storage. Third, riceexporters have been trying to form this cartel for many years without success, as the interests of the exporters are very diverse. While some countries may try to increase world priceson their own by holding back their rice stocks, other nationsare happy to provide more opportunities for their farmers toexport at any time. In other words, enforcement is a problem,as with all cartels. Fourth, oil prices are high today becauseof recent increases in demand and the prospects of furtherincreases in demand from India and China, as well as politicalinstability in the Middle East. In contrast, rice demand isincreasing relatively slowly as wealthy and middle-class Asianconsumers diversify their diets away from staple foods in favorof meats, dairy products, vegetable oils, and fruits. Becauseof all these factors, it will be difcult for a rice exporterscartel to increase prices by more than a small amount.

For more information on this topic, see Trade

liberalization, poverty and food security in the new

publication from the FAO Regional Ofce for Asia and the

Pacic, The State of Food and Agriculture in Asia and the

Pacic . The publication can be obtained online at

www.fao.org/world/regional/rap/publication.asp

or by sending an email to [email protected] .

A R I E L J A V E L L A N A ( 2 )


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Growing up on his fathersalmond and poultry farm in Australia, NoelMagor knew from early

childhood that he would pursue acareer in agriculture. His father,one of 10 children, had grown up onthe modest 3-hectare farm that hisgrandfather had struggled to keep. Yet, with the conviction that fair play and hard work lead to success, Noelsfather succeeded in expanding thefamily farm to 12 hectares. WhatDr. Magor remembers most clearly

today is how his father repeatedly won competitions with his chickensand produced beautiful almondsusing green manure and irrigation.

What young Noel probably didnot realize in his early childhood was that other inuences wouldset him on a particular career pathleading to distant lands. From hissecondary school days, he felt anawareness of social issues brewing within him. John Steinbecks novel

The Grapes of Wrath profoundly affected his thinking. Reading atthe age of 16 about indebted farmersin the American Midwest losingtheir land, and of the hardshipssuffered by migrant farm laborers,sparked in him an interest insocial justicean interest thatlater became a commitment.

Proof of that commitment began in 1974. Upon completing a bachelors degree in agriculturalscience at Adelaide University, Noelset off to Wollo Province in northern

Ethiopia, where a devastatingfamine had struck the year before. As a volunteer, he assessed how the famine affected village familiesand sought ways to rehabilitatethe most destitute by providinggrain through food-for-work projects and by distributing seed.

Twelve months of living and working under primitive conditionsleft Noel determined to alleviatehunger and poverty. It also brought

Steinbeck

Noel Magors focus on marginal farmers

in Bangladesh derives from his childhood

on a modest Australian farm, his

experience of famine in Ethiopia, and

a classic tale of dust bowl America

by Rebecca Khelseau-Carsky

and a callingalive Steinbecks narrative on thestruggles of the working class.Some things affect you inside, herecalls. I believe that my reectionson The Grapes of Wrath , andmy growing awareness of social justice issues, prompted me tomove into development work.

Measured by his achievements,Dr. Magors decision was an answerto a calling. In 1977, simultaneously serving as agricultural service head,

Noel Magor, pictured here with wifeRose and (below and opposite) in the

eld in Bangladesh.

ARIEL JAVELLANA

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extension coordinator, and actingproject director of the KamalganjProject of HEED Bangladesh, anongovernmental organization(NGO), he started working toempower marginal farmers. Neverexpecting to pursue graduatestudies or maintain a long-term

connection with Bangladesh, he did both to support his commitment toalleviating their plight. He returned briey to Australia to earn a mastersdegree in tropical agronomy fromSydney University and a PhD inpolitics from Adelaide University.

Dr. Magor explains why hechose to enhance his scientic andagricultural background with adegree in politics: I was interestedin the importance of agriculturefor poverty reduction. I neededto know what was happening tomarginal farmers, as they seemedto be a group missed by NGOs, who keep their focus on poorhouseholds not dependent onagriculture, and by government, which concentrates on biggerfarmers. The politics departmentof the university provided the bestperspective for exploring that.

Choosing marginal farmers inBangladesh as his thesis topic, hedemonstrated that marginal farmhouseholdsthose able to grow enough rice to feed themselves foronly 35 months of the yearwererapidly becoming landless. On theother hand, small farm householdsthose able to provision themselves with rice for 68 months of the year were very resilient and incrementally increased their landholdings.Establishing eight key principles forsuccess in creating an environmentfor uplifting and empowering poor

households, he pioneered a shif t inresearch focus toward the farmingsystems of marginal farmers.

Dr. Magors inclusive approachtoward alleviating poverty foundeloquent expression in the projectPoverty Elimination Through RiceResearch Assistance (PETRRA), which he set up and managed for theInternational Rice Research Institute(IRRI), a center of the ConsultativeGroup on International Agricultural

Eliminating poverty in Bangladesh

Poverty Elimination Through Rice Research Assistance (PETRRA), a ve-year project funded by theDepartment for International Development of the United Kingdom and managed by IRRI in closepartnership with the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), the Bangladesh Ministry of Agriculture,andmost importantlythe resource-poor rice farmers of Bangladesh, ended in August 2004.

The project improved the well-being of resource-poor farm households by identifying, developing,and validating improved technology and service delivery methods, so fostering the development of ademand-led research system. PETRRA developed clear strategies and policy support documents that

enhanced the research and delivery methods used among the 45 partner organizations representingnational, international, private, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and universities. PETRRAprojects were implemented in 551 villages throughout 38 districts with more than 11,000 farmers,of whom about 40% were women.

The PETRRA Web site (www.petrra-irri.org) makes available the experiences of researchers,extension persons, and farmers and so spreads awareness of agricultural developments contribution topoverty reduction. The Bangladesh Rice Knowledge Bank (www.knowledgebank-brri.org) gives extensionworkers and farmers up-to-date information, in Bangla, on rice production and training.

In light of PETRRAs success, the European Union is funding the Food Security for SustainableHousehold Livelihoods project (www.foshol.org)coordinated by IRRI and key NGOs and now underwayto deliver PETRRA technologies across Bangladesh, where around half the population lives belowthe poverty line of US$1 per day, most of them in rural areas. The project target is to reach at least50,000 food-insecure households.

Research (CGIAR).Funded by theUnited KingdomsDepartment forInternationalDevelopment,PETRRA greatly enhancedIRRIs workingpartnership withthe BangladeshRice ResearchInstitute, theMinistry of Agriculture,and poor farmhouseholds inBangladesh. Theproject also exemplied a philosophy that Dr. Magor had nurturedover the years that combines apoverty focus, gender equity,participation, and partnership in aregional, in-country framework.

On top of developing appropriatetechnologies endorsed by farmersand new methods of extension andknowledge delivery, Dr. Magorhas found time to learn Banglato facilitate his immersion in the world of Bangladeshi farmers.That the PETRRA Web site andnewsletter appeared in bothEnglish and Bangla reects hisdetermination to develop moreeffective means of communication

and so spread awareness of agricultural developmentscontribution to poverty reduction.

With a strong enough will, wecan relieve hunger by mobilizingscience, social organizations,

governments, and farmers, hesays. I credit the CGIAR system with helping to focus science andtechnology on marshalling theefforts of different organizationsto achieve poverty reduction. But well never really know the fullextent of what weve contributed.

Reprinted from Scientists of the CGIAR , published by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research.


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Cambodias per hectarerice yield is one of thelowest in Asia. This isa signicant problemin a country wheremore than 80% of the

population is reliant on agriculturefor its primary source of income and where rice constitutes 90% of totalagricultural output. Rice is also by farthe countrys most important staplefood, with the average Cambodianobtaining three-quarters of his orher calories from rice and consuming160 kg of the grain per year.

Within the problem of low yields,however, lies a great opportunity.In November 2005, the CambodianMinistry of Agriculture, Forestry, andFisheries reported that the nationalaverage rice yield was 2.1 tons perhectarean improvement on previous years but, according to researchersfrom the Cambodian AgriculturalResearch and Development

Institute (CARDI), simply not highenough. In neighboring Vietnam,for example, the average yieldstands at 4.1 tons per hectare.

There is no doubt that, inCambodia, diseases of rice contributeto low productivity by reducing yieldand grain quality, Preap Visarto,head of CARDIs Plant ProtectionProgram, explains. Improvedunderstanding and management of pests can help pull Cambodias low

yields up to levels comparable withthose of other countries in the region.

One of Cambodias few plant pathologists, Ny Vuthy,adds that, until recently, therehas been little technical and

diagnostic interest in disease, with most scientic pest researchfocusing exclusively on insects.

Most farmers cant identify diseases, and therefore do notknow how to treat and manage

stepby stepPest by pest

by Rowena McNaughton

Cambodian researchers are set to increase their understanding of rice diseases as part

of a project that could help lift the country off the lower rungs of Asias rice yield ladder

HIN SARITH, research assistant in CARDIs Soil and Water Department, and a eld worker check on plants ina CARDI greenhouse. Thun Vathany (top left ), research assistant in CARDIs Plant Breeding Department, teststhe disease resistance of CARDI-developed orchard germplasm.Top right , a Cambodian Agricultural Universitystudent performs eldwork at CARDI.

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the increasing outbreaks that areoccurr ing, says Dr. Vuthy. They dont understand why their ricecrops are dying, and many falsely believe that, because of Cambodiastropical climate, disease is aproblem of other countries.

But, since farmers have

adopted modern techniques, both fertilizer and irrigationrates have increased. Dr. Visartoexplains that inappropriate useof both has raised nitrogen levelsand therefore contributed toincreased outbreaks of disease.

It is a critical time in riceresearch, he says. Previously unseen diseases and pests arenow becoming a problem. Blastin particular has been striking atalarming rates throughout Cambodia.In some areas, 65% of the rice cropshave been damaged by blast. Theoutbreak has been quick and farmersdo not know how to respond.

To date, general plant pathology issues have been overlooked mainly because of the lack of local expertise. Without the required knowledge andconsequent correct identicationof diseases, an understanding of their importance and, ultimately,their management in rice areimpossible, explains Dr. Vuthy.

To develop Cambodiasexpertise in rice diseases and theirmanagement, researchers at CARDIare collaborating with Australianresearchers at the New South WalesDepartment of Primary Industriesand Charles Sturt University in aproject funded by the AustralianCentre for International AgriculturalResearch, Improving understandingand management of rice pathogensin Cambodia. The project will also

help the Australian rice industry through better understandingof exotic diseases that couldthreaten Australian crops.

Several past projects inCambodia have looked at diseaseidentication, but the new projectis the rst to adopt a diagnosticapproach to disease preventionrunning tests to, step by step, ruleout possible disease causesand will also help set up Cambodias

rst-ever disease herbarium (acollection of diseased plants) andcollection of rice pathogens.

One of the goals of the new project is to train Cambodianresearchers to create and developlocal knowledge and expertisein general plant pathology andrice pathology in particular,says Dr. Vuthy, who adds that being the only plant pathologistat CARDI and one of the few inCambodia has been difcult.

Drs. Vuthy and Visarto arescheduled to travel to Australiathroughout 2006 to undertakeintensive pathology training onthe identication of importantCambodian diseases and pathogens.

Under the project aims, developmentof the Cambodian agriculturalresearch system is as importantas the research itself. In this light,CARDI staff will be trained in notonly plant pathology techniques butalso research design and reporting.

There are more than 50important diseases of rice in Asiaand other tropical and temperaterice-growing areas, all of which canlower yields and increase production

costs. However, very little is known

about the distribution, prevalence,and importance of these diseasesin Cambodian conditions. Anincreased understanding of ricedisease and managementespecially among Cambodian researchersthemselvesis a signicant steptoward improved rice production.

Rowena McNaughton worked at CARDI in 2005-06 as an AustralianYouth Ambassador for Development.

FARMERS participate at a work-

shop in Kompong Cham Province.CARDI plant pathologist Ny Vuthy

(below ) at his desk.


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The International RiceResearch Institute(IRRI) has highlighteddrought as one of the

major challenges to be tackledin its future research. Droughtis a more complex phenomenonthan most other stresses, suchas salinity, submergence, pests,and diseases. It can occur at any point during crop production andfor any length of time, affectinga large array of physiological, biochemical, and molecularprocesses. These complexities, along with the uncertainty in droughttiming, intensity, and duration,have posed a major challenge foragricultural scientists. Despitedrought having been a focus of agricultural research for severaldecades, progress in deliveringdrought-adapted rice varieties and

technologies has been relatively slow.The past

ricetoday vol. 5, no. 3

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