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International Rice Research Institute
October-December 2014, Vol. 13, No. 4
IRRI's new breeding factory
A bigger rice bowl
Rice in Mexico, the land of maize
Adding value to Africa's rice
Women who moved mountains for heirloom rice
Rice Today October-December 2014
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Rice Today October-December 2014
Transforming from research-driven to productoriented breeding processes
IRRI honors five outstanding alumni
Mexico is primed to restore the lost glory of its rice
The Cordillera heirloom rice from the Philippines has
palates half-way around the globe coming back for
A tale of how the Ifugao tribe of the northern
Philippines got hold of Tinawon rice
Vol. 13, No. 4
Fried Ominio rice à la Purple Yam
Women rising
Africa launches an ambitious project focusing on rice
postharvest handling and marketing
Asia Rice Foundation USA is making students aware of
the unique opportunities in rice research
Another green revolution is stirring in the world's
paddy fields
Policy choices in East and Southeast Asia
Rice on the move
A development economist calls for a strategic
approach with emphasis on developing human
Scientists at CIAT are crunching big data to avoid great
economic losses for rice growers
About the cover. Another revolution in rice breeding is
under way. Inspecting some of the source material in IRRI's
new breeding factory for irrigated rice are team members
of the Transforming Rice Breeding project. This multienvironment trial testing system is designed to identify
elite lines with broad and specific adaptation to irrigated
areas in Asia. Read the cover story beginning on page 14.
(Photo by Gene Hettel)
Rice Today is published by the International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI) on behalf of the Global Rice Science Partnership (GRiSP).
IRRI is the world's leading international rice research and training
center. Based in the Philippines and with offices located in major ricegrowing countries, IRRI is an autonomous, nonprofit institution focused on
improving the well-being of present and future generations of rice farmers
and consumers, particularly those with low incomes, while preserving
natural resources. It is one of the 15 nonprofit international research
centers that are members of the CGIAR consortium (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 any country, territory, city, or area, or its
authorities, or the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
Rice Today welcomes comments and suggestions from readers. Rice
Today assumes no responsibility for loss of or damage to unsolicited
submissions, which should be accompanied by sufficient return postage.
The opinions expressed by columnists in Rice Today do not necessarily
reflect the views of IRRI or GRiSP.
International Rice Research Institute
DAPO Box 7777, Metro Manila, Philippines
Web: www.irri.org/ricetoday
Rice Today editorial
telephone: (+63-2) 580-5600 or (+63-2) 844-3351 to 53, ext 2725;
fax: (+63-2) 580-5699 or (+63-2) 845-0606; email: firstname.lastname@example.com,
Rice Today Editorial Board
Bas Bouman, GRiSP
Matthew Morell, IRRI
Eduardo Graterol, Latin American Fund for Irrigated Rice
Marco Wopereis, Africa Rice Center
Mary Jacqueline Dionora, IRRI
Osamu Koyama, Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences
Erna Maria Lokollo, Indonesian Agency for Agricultural Research and Dev.
Pradeep Kumar Sharma, CSK Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University
Gonzalo Zorrilla, National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIA)
editor-in-chief Gene Hettel
managing editor Lanie Reyes
associate editor Alaric Francis Santiaguel
Africa editor Savitri Mohapatra
Latin America editor Nathan Russell
copy editor Bill Hardy
art director Juan Lazaro IV
designer and production supervisor Grant Leceta
photo editor Isagani Serrano
circulation Antonette Abigail Caballero, Lourdes Columbres, Cynthia Quintos
Web masters Jerry Laviña, Lourdes Columbres
printer Pinnacle Ads
International Rice Research Institute 2014
This magazine is copyrighted by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License
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Rice Today October-December 2014
From the editor's desk
Extreme poverty in decline,
but much more to do
s pointed out in this issue's Grain of Truth (page
47) by eminent economists from the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Bank,
the decline in poverty in Asia has been historically
unprecedented in human history. Worldwide, the number of
hungry people has dropped by more than 100 million over
the last decade and by 209 million since 1990-92, according
to a new report, the State of Food Insecurity in the World 20141
published by FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural
Development, and the World Food Programme.
Unquestionably, significant progress is being made.
However, more than one billion people are still poor and 805
million of them are still hungry. More work needs to be done.
Rice will play a continuing role in reducing these numbers.
This is so because rice is the staple food of more than three
billion people on the planet and 600 million of them are living
in poverty. Indeed, around 60% of the world's undernourished
live in Asia, where 90% of the world's rice is produced and
With these numbers, it is comforting to know that,
according to Robert Zeigler, director general at the
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), a second Green
Revolution in rice is already under way (see A bigger rice bowl
on pages 32-35). IRRI and the Global Rice Science Partnership
(GRiSP) have a clear view on what it will take to fill this bigger
rice bowl that will take another 150 million people out of
extreme poverty by 2035, only 20 years from now.
Part of the blueprint, with marginal farmers in mind,
involves the transformation of IRRI's rice breeding pipeline
into a demand-driven, lean, mean machine. This new breeding
factory, outlined on pages 14-17, is being targeted to respond
directly to farmers' needs.
As part of this process, it is very important to know more
about the farmers themselves, particularly women farmers.
What is their role on a rice farm? How much is their input in
producing the world's staple food? IRRI's Sam Mohanty looks at
these issues on pages 42-43.
As the International Year of Family Farming winds down,
we look at family farms in the remote areas of the Cordillera
Mountain region of the northern Philippines. Until just recently,
these farms were dying, with family members dispersing to
lowland cities to look for livelihood. Then, two determined
women, Mary Hensley and Vicky Garcia, arrived on the scene
to make the connection between the indigenous heirloom rice
produced in the region and consumers around the world. IRRI
is now working with them to help farm families conserve and
sustainably produce their heirloom rice and make it part of
the mainstream market (see Women who moved mountains on
pages 22-23).
Restaurateur Amy Besa is helping to make the world aware
of the Cordillera's heirloom rice—one plate at a time—at her
Purple Yam restaurants in New York and Manila. The sous chef
at the Manila branch uses Ominio, a tasty heirloom rice, in a
popular recipe in our What's Cooking? installment on page
28. And what might you read while waiting for your heirloom
rice dish to be served? How about a fable (on pages 26-27)
about the origin of Tinawon, a beloved heirloom rice of the
Philippines' Ifugao tribe?
In Africa, similar work is being done to help farmers add
value to their rice and eventually raise their income. For the first
time, researchers are looking at improving not just the quantity
of Africa's locally produced rice (pages 30-31).
Mexico, too, is on the verge of a second rice revolution as
it seeks to revitalize its rice industry (see Rice revival in the land
of maize on pages 20-21). Also in Latin America, scientists at the
International Center for Tropical Agriculture are wielding big
data tools to help farmers deal with changing weather patterns
through better management of crops (see Harnessing big data
for climate change on pages 40-41).
Speaking of climate change, IRRI's geographic information
systems team and partners are using data showing that rice
farmers in India and China are very dynamic and can adapt to
changing economic, technological, and climatic factors (see
Rice on the move on pages 36-37).
Indeed, we need movers and shakers in rice research and
development to help farming families increase their yield
and income. In fact, five innovative ones (IRRI's outstanding
alumni) are being recognized at the upcoming 4th International
Rice Congress (IRC2014) being held in Bangkok, 27 October-1
November (see pages 18-19).
Held under the patronage of the Royal Government of
Thailand, IRC2014 is being organized by IRRI and Kenes MP
Asia Pte. Ltd. With a theme of Rice for the World, this "Olympics
of Rice Science" is bringing together about 2,000 top rice
scientists and researchers from all over the world to present
and discuss the latest breakthroughs in R&D on rice, striving
to make a difference in the vital issues of poverty and hunger
alleviation and stewardship of the environment. Read about the
six renowned IRC plenary speakers and their important topics
on pages 12-13.
Happy reading!
Lanie Reyes
Rice Today managing editor
esearchers have sequenced
the complete genome of Oryza
glaberrima, which will enhance
the understanding of scientists
and agriculturists of the growing
patterns of African rice. This will
also help develop new rice varieties
that can better cope with increasing
environmental stresses such as
drought, flooding, and soil salinity.
In analyzing the 33,000 genes
that make up the African rice
genome, researchers discovered that
during the process of domestication,
Africans and Asians independently
selected for many of the same genetic
traits in the two species (the Asian
species being Oryza sativa), such as
higher nutrition and traits that make
harvesting the crop easier.
"Rice feeds half the world, making
it the most important food crop," said
Rod Wing, director of the
Arizona Genomics Institute at
the University of Arizona and
AXA-endowed scientist at the
International Rice Research
Institute, who led the effort.
"Rice will play a key role in
helping solve what we call the
9 billion-people question."
The 9 billion-people question refers to predictions that
the world's population will increase to
more than 9 billion people by the year
2050 and concerns that have existed
since the 1960s that food will become
a luxury for the rich. America alone
can feed the world but not at a reasonable cost so the question lies in how to
scientifically optimize plants so local
people can control their own food.
With the completely sequenced
African rice genome, scientists and
African rice sequenced
agriculturists can search for ways to
cross Asian and African species to
develop new varieties of rice with the
high-yield traits of Asian rice and the
hardiness of African rice.
African rice already has been
crossed with Asian rice to produce
new varieties under a group known
as NERICA, which stands for New
Rice for Africa.
Source: www.science20.com
Nigeria to receive US$79 million to help US$75 million
boost rice production
facility to boost
rice production in
he Bank of Industry is currently
Nigeria and provide five-year loans
in talks with the Federal Ministry at an interest rate of 9% per annum to
of Agriculture and Rural
farmers to establish small scale plants Ghana
Development to provide a $79 million
intervention fund to boost rice
production in the country. The fund
is aimed at establishing 10 integrated
rice mills and six cassava mills across
or mini mills to process rice.
The fund is useful for Nigeria,
which is a net importer of rice
and imports nearly half of its
rice consumption demand. The
government has been
aiming to increase
the country's rice
production and ban
imports by 2015. The
government has also
been encouraging
farmers to increase
rice production and
thereby contribute to
food security in the
Source: www.thisdaylive.
Rice Today October-December 2014
he SNV Netherlands Development Organisation has secured
$75 million from the USAID's
Financing Ghanaian Agriculture
Project to boost the capacity of
local rice producers in the three
northern regions.
The facility is expected to
allow rice farmers access the
necessary funds and logistics
to increase yields and produce
quality grain that will meet
international standards in order to
attract investors, and improve the
economic lives of farmers.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
California drought could claim quarter of rice crop Kellogg pledges support
early 25% of California's US$5
billion rice crop will be lost this
year due to lack of water, experts say.
And while analysts say the loss is
not a crisis just yet, at least one rice
producer is ready to
call it a day.
With surface
water sources drying
up from lack of rain,
the problem for rice
producers is having
enough water available
to fill rice paddies,
said Jim Morris,
manager for
the California Rice
Commission. It's not
a case of the crop being damaged, he
said, so much as it's been reduced as
farmers cut back on planting.
Source: www.nbcnews.com
Flood-tolerant rice for food security
xpanded farming of flood-tolerant
rice varieties could increase rice
production substantially and ensure
national food security despite
adverse impacts of climate change
according to speakers at the Climate
change and cultivation of flood-tolerant
rice for food security workshop
held in Lalmonirhat district town,
The speakers said farmers of
Lalmonirhat have been successfully
cultivating flood-tolerant rice with
assistance of the Stress-tolerant Rice
for Africa and South Asia project
(STRASA). They have had good yield
even after floods in recent years.
A number of farmers testified
that their yields from flood-tolerant
rice were between 4.5 and 5 tons per
hectare last cropping season despite
15-18 days of submergence.
for 15,000 smallholder
farmers worldwide
ellogg Company announced
its commitment to support the
livelihoods of 15,000 smallholder
growers around the world at the
UN Climate Summit held in New
York in September. The commitment
will enable smallholder farmers in
Kellogg's agricultural supply chain,
with a focus on rice, to improve their
productivity and reduce greenhouse
gas emissions.
"Climate change threatens
agriculture and food systems in
many regions, making it more
difficult to achieve food security,"
said John Bryant, chairman and
CEO, Kellogg Company. "As a food
company, it's our responsibility
to help ensure the long-term
sustainability of key grains,
including rice, and enable those who
help grow and supply it."
Source: http://money.cnn.com
Source: www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com
ASEAN photo contest
To celebrate the opening of the ASEAN Economic
Community in 2015, the Thai Rice Foundation under Royal
Patronage, the Royal Photographic Society of Thailand,
and others are sponsoring a photo contest. The organizers
are looking for striking and meaningful digital images that
depict people and events representing key rice-based
cultural aspects in ASEAN countries: Brunei Darussalam,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, and
Thailand. Entry deadline is 10 January 2015. For more information, go to
www.asiariceusa.org/asean-photo-contest.html or contact firstname.lastname@example.com.
Course title
Basics of Rice Production (2nd offering)
21-23 October
IRRI, Philippines
Basic Scientific Writing Course
10-14 November
IRRI, Philippines
Advanced Applications of ORYZA V3 in Rice Research
10-14 November
IRRI, Philippines
Research Data Management
18-20 November
IRRI, Philippines
For inquiries, contact email@example.com, email@example.com, or firstname.lastname@example.com. Phone: (63-2) 580-5600 ext 2538 or +639178639317; fax: (63-2) 580-5699, 891-1292, or
845-0606; mailing address: The IRRI Training Center, DAPO Box 7777, Metro Manila, Philippines (Attention: TC Course Coordinator); Web site: www.training.irri.org.
Note: Fees and schedules are subject to change without prior notice.
Rice Today October-December 2014
Apply now!
Global Rice Science Scholarships (GRiSS)
Your next discovery
could be the answer
to food insecurity
Research topics
Scholarship benefits
The GRiSS program is part of the Global Rice Science
Partnership (GRiSP). More than 50 research topics that
fall under the six GRiSP themes are offered as options for
Ph.D. scholarships. The themes are the following:
Theme 1: Harnessing genetic diversity to chart new
productivity, quality, and health horizons
Theme 2: Accelerating the development, delivery, and
adoption of improved rice varieties
Theme 3: Ecological and sustainable management of
rice-based production systems
Theme 4: Extracting more value from rice harvests
through improved quality, processing, market
systems and new products
Theme 5: Technology evaluations, targeting, and policy
options for enhanced impact
Theme 6: Supporting the growth of the global rice
Round-trip airfare and research-related travel
Monthly stipend with local medical and
accident insurance
Research support
Funding for leadership and professional
University fees (with an upper limit)
How to apply
Submit your application online on or before
30 November 2014.
Visit www.training.irri.org.
For more information,
email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Scholarship types
3–4 years for a full Ph.D. program
Up to 3 years for a Ph.D. 'sandwich' degree
Rice Today October-December 2014
Rice in the shadow of skyscrapers: Policy choices in a
dynamic East and Southeast Asian setting
Edited by David Dawe, Steven Jaffee, and Nuno Santos
Published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),
World Bank, and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).
149 pages
his compendium of policy notes is the result of cooperation
among FAO, the World Bank, and IRRI. Across Asia, rice as
food plays an important part of the human family. These policy
notes seek to contribute to the ongoing policy dialogues and
debates about rice and food security in East and Southeast Asia
and make decision-making better informed (see the Grain of
Truth on page 47).
This compendium aims to synthesize and reframe
a large body of recent literature into a readily-accessible
format for public officials, business leaders, civil society, and
other stakeholders involved in policy-making. Although this
publication focuses on the rice sector in East and Southeast Asia,
many of its key findings and conclusions will also be of interest
to policymakers who are finding solutions to similar challenges
that have something to do with staple foods in other regions.
The role of rice in East and Southeast Asia is shifting
along with broader societal changes, including what is
going on in economic structures, demography (including
rapid urbanization), rising incomes, and changes in food
consumption patterns. Just the same, the political economy
of rice remains exceedingly complex within the region.
Rice is still closely tied to food security imperatives, but
increasingly also to improving the income of rice producers,
Plant biotechnology: Experience and future prospects
Edited by Agnes Ricroch, Surinder Chopra, and Shelby J. Fleischer
Published by Springer International. 291 pages.
y 2050, there will be more
than 9 billion people in the
world—around 2 billion more
than today. This means the
world's population will increase
substantially—much of it in
regions that are already in a food
deficit. How can governments
ensure a secure and stable food
supply for their citizens? Can
current agricultural production
practices and technologies
provide for an expanding
population in a sustainable way?
Innovations through
biotechnology have played crucial roles, and will continue
to do so in the future. Students of many disciplines and
realizing commercial trade
objectives, and, more
recently, lowering the
environmental footprint of
agriculture in major ricegrowing areas.
As this compendium
seeks to support and
nurture a learning process,
it also aims to contribute
to more effective and
efficient policies and
programs. This is part of the
ongoing efforts of the three
sponsoring organizations
to win the fight against
poverty and improve food security in East and Southeast
Asia through research, sharing of knowledge, strategy
development, technical assistance, and boosting investments
in rice-related infrastructure and management systems.
Collaboration on this policy note series involved 20
authors from the three sponsoring organizations and other
partner institutions. The work was initiated and led by Steven
Jaffee, lead rural development specialist, Global Agriculture
Practice in the World Bank, and David Dawe and Nuno
Santos, senior economist and economist, respectively, in FAO.
They worked together in identifying the major themes and
contributing authors and they edited this publication. n
The PDF of the book can be downloaded free at http://irri.org/
the general public who are interested in examining the
development and adoption of these innovations that are
applied in agriculture in the world's largest economies and in
developing countries will find this book valuable.
Even with almost two decades of experience in deploying
transgenic crops in agroecosystems, we are still very much in
the early stages of technological development, deployment,
and adoption of the resulting plants (cereals, vegetables,
and trees). In relation to this, this book would like to answer
several important questions. What are these biotechnologies
that are aimed at enhancing agricultural productivity? How
are they being deployed now? What are some short-term
realistic expectations? And, ultimately, will they be a part of the
sustainable agriculture required for the future?
The book contains 20 chapters, including one by Robert
Zeigler, director general of the International Rice Research
Institute, who explores biofortification in general and vitamin A
deficiency and the case for Golden Rice specifically: http://link.
springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-06892-3_19. n
To buy copies of the entire book (US$149) or individual
chapters online, go to www.springer.com/life+sciences/
Rice Today October-December 2014
Horizons for competitiveness
The XII International Rice Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean will be held in Porto Alegre, the
rice capital of Brazil, on 23-26 February 2015. The Conference will once again be the gathering place to review
scientific and technological advances, identify new challenges and opportunities, and share knowledge and
experiences around rice.
The 2015 conference theme is Horizons for competitiveness and we invite the rice sector from the region to join
us, along with leading rice researchers and experts from all over the world, as we discuss the state of the art and
the contribution of key areas such as plant breeding, crop management, climate change, market opportunities
and partnerships to make the rice sector competitive in Latin America. The Conference will also have a field day
at the Instituto Rio Grandense do Arroz (IRGA-Brazil) Rice Experiment Station in Cachoeirinha, 15 minutes away
from Porto Alegre.
Since 1976, the International Rice Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean has been the prime
international forum for the rice sector in the region. The conference will also be a great opportunity to celebrate
the 20th anniversary of the Latin American Fund for Irrigated Rice (FLAR), a public-private partnership that has
served as an engine for research, development, and alliances of the region on rice.
The XII International Rice Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean is organized by the IRGA- Brazil,
FLAR, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), and the Global Rice Science Partnership (GRiSP).
For more information, please visit www.conferenciaarroz2015.com.br.
XII International Rice Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean
23-26 February 2015, Porto Alegre, Brazil
Rice Today October-December 2014
NAJAM WARIS Zaidi and her
daughters, Mysa and Myra, visit
a hill station in the Sonamarg
alpine valley of Kashmir State,
India, which is a popular
tourist destination. Dr. Zaidi
is a postdcotoral fellow at
IRRI. The photographer is her
husband Manzoor Hussain Dar,
senior associate scientist for
STRASA based in India.
MAKING WAVES in science and
sports. Rice Today shares a
ride with Matty Demont, IRRI
senior economist, in one of his
wakeboard adventures on Caliraya
Lake in Laguna, Philippines.
IRRI ALUMNI (international and national staff) gather in Woodland, California (near U.C. Davis), at the home of Lito and Amy Real on 4 July. This event was held in
advance of the 15th annual trustees meeting of the Asia Rice Foundation USA. See the article about ARFUSA on pages 44-45 and a video at http://youtu.be/nl-seOCk_NE
in which the persons in the photo identify themselves.
Rice Today October-December 2014
Plenary speakers provide
grist for discussion at
Games changers in agriculture, transformations in the rice value
chain, rice pricing and politics, beyond the rice genome, and
GMOs are the issues
ive experts with wide-ranging
knowledge—serving as the
plenary speakers during
the 4th International Rice
Congress (IRC2014)—will be flagging
cross-cutting issues for discussion
among the attending rice scientists
and industry players. All will be
gathering in Bangkok during the
last week of October. Their topics
are critical to assuring that there
will always be Rice for the World, the
Congress's overarching theme.
Enhancing the 6-day gathering
throughout the week will be:
Ms. Marie Haga, executive director
of the Global Crop Diversity Trust.
She joined Global Crop Diversity
Trust as executive director in
March 2013.
Dr. Thomas Reardon, a professor in
the Department of Agricultural,
Food, and Resource Economics at
Michigan State University. He
has extensive research experience
on food industry transformation,
in particular the "supermarket
Mr. Vichai Sriprasert, honorary
president of the Thai Rice
Exporters Association
and President and CEO of Riceland
International Ltd. He is an expert
on parboiling rice and was the
first to introduce this processing
technology from the United States
to Thai rice mills in 1978.
Prof. John Colbourne from the
School of Biosciences at The
University of Birmingham. He
regularly works with industry
and advises government agencies
and professional societies,
aiming to transform practices at
monitoring and protecting the
Mr. Mark Lynas, environmental
campaigner, journalist, and author.
He has written several books on
the environment, including High
Tide, Six Degrees, and The God
Agriculture—including rice—
needs game changers
Ms. Haga will point out that, in the
1960s, agriculture flourished under
the Green Revolution. Now, in light
of climate change, she believes
that agriculture needs a "Gene
Revolution" to feed the world.
"Agriculture is probably facing
its biggest challenge ever, and rice
is not immune," she says. "We need
game changers in the way we do
agriculture," Ms. Haga says. "The
diversity contained within plant
genetic resources provides a universe
of untapped possibilities.
"Crop diversity is the biological
base of all agriculture, she points out.
"But as the diversity of rice is being
lost through genetic erosion, supply
of this staple grain becomes more
Rice Today October-December 2014
In her presentation, Ms. Haga
will explain why conservation of
genetic resources of rice and other
crops is critical to agriculture and
the world's future food supplies,
particularly under rapidly changing
climate patterns.
Transformation of Asia's rice
value chain
"There is a rapid transformation
afoot in the rice value chain in
Asia," says Prof. Reardon. "The
'upstream' is changing quickly—
farmers are undertaking capital-led
intensification, and participating in
burgeoning markets for land rental,
fertilizer and pesticides, irrigation
water, and seed. And at midstream,
in wholesale and milling, there
is a 'quiet revolution' underway,
with thousands of entrepreneurs
investing in equipment, increasing
scale, and diversifying into higher
"Farmers, with better access to
improved varieties and technologies,
are producing more rice with better
quality and are moving beyond
their village markets," says Prof.
Reardon. "Instead they are starting
to sell their produce directly to mills
and wholesale market traders for
better prices. Meanwhile, millers and
traders, especially in China, with
the help of better technologies, have
started selling branded, labeled bags
to retailers.
Why rice pricing and politics
don't mix
Thailand had been the world's largest rice exporter for decades," says
Mr. Sriprasert. "The country owed
its success to the free trade policy
initiated 150 years ago by King Rama
However, that all changed when
the Pheu Thai Party made a key
promise during the 2011 election
to buy rice from local farmers at a
generous price—about 50% above the
market rates—to boost incomes for
rural farmers. It backfired because
rice traders promptly switched their
purchases from Thailand to other
rice suppliers, particularly India
which lifted its four-year-old rice
export restrictions in the same year
and stabilized the rice market and
"Farmers were not told that, at
such high prices, not all the surplus
crop could be exported," he says.
"Soon government warehouses
bulged with an equivalence of two
years unsold rice, and no cash to meet
farmer obligations."
Under the Rice Pledging
Scheme, exports dropped to third
place behind India and Vietnam.
"The lesson: prices must not by the
government," says Mr. Sriprasert
who will explain why it is best to
let the markets play a decisive role
in determining rice prices in his
Beyond the rice genome
The rice ecosystem isn't just about
the rice plants—it's the whole
landscape that includes a wealth of
biodiversity, much of it beneficial
to rice agriculture, but some
rather harmful. For example, Prof.
Colbourne asks what secrets lie in
the genome of the water flea? "They
could be the key to fighting invisible
health threas such as chemical
pollutants," he exclaims!
"The genomes of agricultural
and ecologically relevant species
can reveal how animals respond to
chemical threats that are found in
our water supply," he explains. "The
goal is to measure the changes that
happen in their genes that would
then lead to technologies that may be
able to tell us about the presence and
effects of those chemical pollutants."
Rapid technological improvements to access this "memory" encoded within genomes of populations
promises to transform how the health
of the environment is monitored and
In his presentation, Prof.
Colbourne will clarify how
the application of 21st century
technologies towards environment
and health protection can promote
not only public well-being, but
also the economy, job creation, and
global competitiveness of industrial,
agricultural, and service sectors.
Mark Lynas
John Colbourne
Vichai Sriprasert
Marie Haga
Thomas Reardon
"The transformation appears
to be improving food security for
cities, by reducing margins, offering
lower consumer rice prices, and
increasing quality and diversity of
rice." He bases this on extensive data
from unique "stacked surveys" of
all value chain segments, in seven
zones, more or less developed,
around Bangladesh, China, India,
and Vietnam. He will flesh out the
situation further during the IRC.
facts instead of muddling the issue
with baseless fear tactics. He believes
that ignoring scientific evidence
about genetically modified crop
safety and benefits is a threat to food
security and the health of hundreds
of millions of people.
"Rice remains locked out of
the two-decade-old biotechnology
revolution," he says. "Largely because
of political activism motivated
by superstition and anti-science
attitudes, there is up to now no GM
rice available to consumers anywhere
in the world."
Mr. Lynas hasn't always been a
supporter of biotechnology. "In 2008,
I was still penning diatribes in The
Guardian [a UK broadsheet] attacking
the science of GM," he admits.
He will discuss why he is now
critical of organizations that ignore
scientific facts about the safety
and the benefits of genetically
modified crops such as Golden
Rice. "If the industry self-imposed
de facto moratorium on genetically
improved rice is allowed to become
a permanent fixture, the options for
plant breeders will be constrained,
and humanity will be denied the use
of a major tool to feed the world more
sustainably." he says.
Where's my GM rice?
Finally, Mr. Lynas, will point out that
it's high time to discuss genetically
modified crops using scientific
Rice Today October-December 2014
IRRI's new breeding factory
by Lanie C. Reyes
Transforming from research-driven to product-oriented breeding processes
THE CORE TRB team members take a break in one of their multi-environment trial
plots. Foreground: Eero Nissilä; middle row (left to right): Glenn Gregorio, Bert
Collard, Richievel Ibanez; background (left to right): Rafiqul Islam, Gina Vergara,
Michael Thomson, Alice Laborte.
he road toward global food
security is not without
challenges. The population
will balloon to 9 billion in 2050.
The signs of climate change have
never been so real—frequent floods,
droughts, and storm surges. Storm
surges make farmland in coastal areas
too salty for most crops to grow. Also,
pathogens and pests evolve. Therefore,
a rice variety may lose its resistance to
new strains of pathogens or insects.
"With so many challenges
that we are facing now, we can't
just continue with what we are
doing," said Eero Nissilä, head of
the Plant Breeding, Genetics, and
Biotechnology Division (PBGB) at the
International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI). "There need to be changes in
the way we do breeding at IRRI."
IRRI plant breeder Bert Collard
agrees. "A revolution in rice breeding
is what we need now," Dr. Collard
said. "Not much has changed for the
last 50 years. The methods used today
in Asia are generally the same as the
ones used in the 1960s-'70s. More
importantly, the rate of yield increase
or genetic gain for irrigated varieties
is less than 1% per year."
Doubling genetic gains
Thus, Dr. Nissilä and his team are
now restructuring IRRI's entire
breeding operations. Transforming
Rice Breeding (TRB), a project
funded by the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation, is one important
component of this new breeding
factory, which focuses on irrigated
rice. IRRI is aiming to double the rate
of genetic gains—the increase in crop
performance that is achieved through
genetic improvement programs per
unit time of breeding—or even make
it higher (more than 2%).
"To make breeding more efficient,
we need to change how we organize
our breeding operations," Dr. Nissilä
said. "We need to restructure the
overall breeding pipeline."
A shorter cycle
Traditional breeding takes 8 to 9 years
to develop a variety and even longer
for the variety to reach farmers.
Now, the breeding process has been
shortened to about 6 years (See How
a modern variety is bred on pages 11-12,
Vol. 9, No. 1 of Rice Today).
"In breeding, one year is significant," said Dr. Nissilä. "Investments
in plant breeding with costs incurred
during the phase of developing varieties are only realized when farmers
grow the varieties. A longer breeding
cycle means economic opportunity
cost to farmers of losing the chance to
grow better varieties earlier."
A 1999 study conducted by IRRI
shows that reducing a breeding cycle
by 2 years has an economic benefit of
about US$18 million over the useful
life of the variety.1
Pandey S, Rajatasereekulb S. 1999. Economics of plant breeding: the value of shorter breeding cycles for rice in Northeast Thailand. Field Crops Research 64:187-197.
Rice Today October-December 2014
Breeding by demand
Taking a cue from breeding in
the private sector, IRRI's breeding
pipeline should run like a business
operation—production by demand.
For Dr. Nissilä, this should be the
underlying philosophy of the new
breeding pipeline.
"That's why the TRB team
is working closely with IRRI's
Social Sciences Division to better
understand the needs of farmers,"
said Dr. Collard. "This will help
guide us in 'must have' traits as
well as 'good to have traits' in our
breeding objectives."
The team recognizes that
national programs have different
needs. It could be a breeding line,
a gene donor, or a gene marker. If a
researcher needs only a gene marker
and wants to do the breeding in a lab
himself or herself, IRRI will provide
some help on how to use that marker.
If a national program is interested
only in salinity tolerance, the team
will use its trait pipeline to provide
the best package of salinity tolerance
for the national program's breeding.
On the other hand, if a national
program needs a new rice variety,
then the team will use its product
development pipeline.
"We can help organize a
national program's overall product
development and product profiling
when needed," Dr. Nissilä said. "We
will not only give a trait, say, salinity
tolerance, but, it can be combined
with many traits that one needs in
one's 'market,' so to speak. We can fit
their needs.
"But, our aim in the future is
that we won't be doing the 'job,'"
he added. "We want them to do it
themselves. Our role will be more of
a consultant and provider of training.
Then, we exit when they are already
able to do the work."
The role of hubs
"But, if national programs want us
to do this in the first round, we will
breed the variety itself," said Dr.
Nissilä. "This is where our regional
breeding hub system comes into the
THIS GREENHOUSE facility employs RGA techniques to develop new irrigated breeding populations. RGA
technicians (from left) Joseph Beredo, Rhulyx Mendoza, and Herman Hermosada grow the rice plants in
small trays to quicken flowering and maturity. Tens of thousands of breeding lines can be advanced for
3-4 generations in a year in an area of less than 400 m2.
picture. Our hubs in India, for the
South Asian region, and in Burundi,
for East and Southern Africa, allow
us to localize the breeding process—
we select and produce the material in
the region where it will be used."
IRRI now has many modern
breeding options for a more efficient
and cost-effective process than the
conventional pedigree method. The
conventional breeding way goes like
this: choose plants with the desired
trait, cross-pollinate them, wait for
the offspring to reach maturity, select
the best performers, and then repeat
the process to the nth degree until one
obtains a plant that fits farmers' need.
Today, these modern methods
include marker technology,
multilocation trials, and rapid
generation advance (RGA). RGA
produces fixed lines or plants that
no longer segregate. Scientists call
them "homozygous" or "genetically
stable." "In RGA, plants are grown
at high density with low nutrients
in greenhouses or screenhouses so
that they flower and mature earlier,
thus shortening their life cycle,"
said Dr. Collard. "Therefore, several
generations (e.g., three to four) can
be advanced in one year." In addition
to time savings, this method also
saves labor and resources, and
costs considerably less than other
New breeding pipeline model
The new structure of IRRI's breeding
pipeline will hopefully be a model
for the national programs to follow.
Historically, the national partners
have modeled their programs on
IRRI's old system.
"We hope that the new processes
of rice breeding at IRRI will help
catalyze new thinking in the
national programs so they can also
restructure their own factory," Dr.
Nissilä said.
"There is a great interest in
Africa and Asia to do the same," said
Dr. Collard. "There may be some
reluctance about specific aspects
because it is a 'big change' generally.
But with the criteria of time and
efficiency, it wins hands-down."
Rice Today October-December 2014
Breeding economics
To have an evidence-based
comparison between the old and
the new system, IRRI will conduct a
benefit-cost analysis.
"IRRI has never put value to
its costs until recently," Dr. Collard
In terms of full-cost recovery,
IRRI's breeding pipeline is working
to improve efficiency in three areas.
First is the use of knowledge capital.
The pipeline should maximize the
use of expertise in the Division.
Second is the use of a running
budget. Will it be split into a
hundred small activities or put in a
strategically based operation?
Third is the use of investment.
"This is important since it is a
technology-driven operation and
this will ensure an efficient use of
investment," said Dr. Nissilä. "This
is where our cross-cutting strategy
comes in. For instance, instead of
adding seven more molecular labs,
we will have one world-class lab!"
With one state-of-the-art facility
servicing all breeding pipelines, the
use of expertise will be more efficient
because activities won't overlap or
be duplicated compared to having
several scientists working on their
own in their respective small labs.
Moreover, Dr. Collard mentioned
that the team is implementing computerized systems for data collection and
exploring using mechanization in field
trials to save on time and labor.
So, with efficient use of
knowledge capital, a running budget,
and investment capital coming into
play, Dr. Nissilä concluded that
there is no better way of organizing
breeding operations.
Measuring success
In any business operation, one is
usually asked how to be sure that
the money is used efficiently for its
intended purpose. According to Dr.
Nissilä, the new breeding pipeline has
put in place some indicators of success.
The first is cost-efficiency. What
costs what? The second is progress.
Have we increased the genetic gain
as promised? The third is impact.
What products are used in the
MECHANIZED HARVESTING of direct seeded breeding trials greatly increases the efficiency of field
operations. This is old news for developed country or private company breeding programs, but novel for
rice breeding in Asia. Research technician Luisito Caracuel (left) watches closely as the first direct seeded
irrigated field trial (2014 dry season) is harvested using the combine harvester.
national programs? How many
farmers' seeds were produced? How
much income did these products
make for farmers?
"And, of course, one more
measure of success is making our
national partners more independent
and their breeding activities more
sustainable," Dr. Collard said.
A never-ending story of service
Will there be a time when IRRI's
new breeding pipeline will no longer
be needed in the future? "Breeding
is a never-ending story of service,
because the technology upstream is
developing," Dr. Nissilä explained.
Things that are not normal today will
be routine tomorrow. To stay alive in
this business, we need to have a very
wide product portfolio and diverse
"Besides, the needs are very
wide. For example, in Rwanda, they
Rice Today October-December 2014
will need our lines while in India we
need collaboration in genomics and
biotechnology applications."
The story has started
But, even before the funding of the
foundation arrived in November
2013, Dr. Nissilä and his team had
started carrying out some changes
in IRRI's rice breeding pipeline (See
The pipeline grows stronger on pages
14-15, Vol. 12, No. 2 of Rice Today).
They restructured the breeding
activities from research-centric to a
product-oriented pipeline. Now, the
TRB project brings the resources as
the fuel to propel the new factory of
irrigated variety pipelines.
Many examples of change are
brewing in IRRI's new breeding
factory. One is the modernization of
IRRI's data collection and analysis
and the organizing of a load of
information on rice breeding.
In fact, the Institute has come
a long way in terms of its baseline.
In IRRI's classic book on breeding
called Rice Improvement by Jennings,
Coffman, and Kauffman,2 which was
published in 1979, data or analysis
was not even mentioned, Dr. Collard
said. "During that time, plant
breeders decided whether a plant was
good or bad 'by eye assessment,'" he
Today, decision-making strongly
depends on data collection and
analysis. "After field work, we
spend a significant time in our
office analyzing data," said Dr.
Collard. "Modern techniques such
as the use of new statistical analysis,
computerized data management,
and molecular breeding approaches
may be small things. But, the sum of
all these spells a great difference in
streamlining high-quality data for a
more efficient way of breeding."
A significant improvement of
IRRI's breeding program in the
last 2 years has been its testing of
breeding materials at multilocations
much earlier than before. With
this multilocation trial system and
regional hubs, the effectiveness of the
development of new varieties will
improve. Furthermore, decentralized
breeding in hubs allows easy seed
transfer of IRRI breeding material to
the region.
With the TRB project, Dr. Nissilä
and his team in the PBGB Division
are looking forward to a future when
farmers need not wait long to plant
an improved variety apt for the
challenges of the time.
"The TRB project aims to
accelerate the current breeding
pipeline in developing varieties,
shorten the breeding cycle, and
dramatically increase the efficiency
of breeding operations," said Dr.
Collard. "But, the big picture of
this project is to help resource-poor
farmers in Asia and Africa improve
their food and income security."
Ms. Reyes is the managing editor of Rice
A COMPUTERIZED STATIONARY thresher is used to dramatically reduce the time for processing data from
field trials. Threshing and yield data are generated in minutes per sample and electronically recorded.
See http://sn.im/rice-improvement
Rice Today October-December 2014
The 2014 IRRI Outstanding
Alumni awardees
he International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is
recognizing another crop of
Outstanding Alumni during
an upcoming quadrennial ceremony.
They are Amitha Bentota, Pham Van
Du, Meas Pyseth, Ganesh Thapa, and
Chay Bounphanousay. They are truly
innovators in rice science.
The Outstanding IRRI Alumni
Awards, presented every four years
in conjunction with the International
Rice Congress (IRC), this time on 30
October at the Bangkok International
Trade and Exhibition Center in Thailand, acknowledge the international
contributions of these alumni who
have conducted their research at IRRI
as part of their graduate and postgraduate degree programs.
The awardees were selected because of their contributions in one of
five categories: rice research management (Dr. Bentota), management of
the rice crop and its environment (Dr.
Du), rice technology delivery and
extension (Dr. Pyseth), social science
and rice policy (Dr. Thapa), and rice
crop improvement (Dr. Bounphanousay). At the same time, their contributions have advanced IRRI's mission to
reduce poverty and hunger, improve
the health and welfare of rice farmers and consumers, and ensure the
sustainability of rice production.
Chay Bounphanousay
Ganesh Thapa
Meas Pyseth
Pham Van Du
Amitha Priyadarshani Bentota
Innovators in rice science
Rice crop improvement
by Alaric Santiaguel
rice production in 2015. According to
Dr. Pyseth, the country already has a
surplus for export even if its average rice
production is only 2.9 tons per hectare
and it has poor irrigation infrastructure. Dr.
Pyseth confidently predicts the country
may even triple its present rice production
if it continues to use modern varieties
along with improved irrigation and
postharvest technologies.
Rice research management
Management of rice crop and environment
Rice technology delivery and extension
Social science and rice policy
Amitha Priyadarshani Bentota
Director, Rice Research and Development Institute
Department of Agriculture, Sri Lanka
Pham Van Du
Deputy director general for crop production
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
Southern Region, Vietnam
Meas Pyseth
Director, Department of International Cooperation
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Cambodia
Ganesh Thapa
Consultant/former senior economist, International Fund
for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
eas Pyseth pursued a career in
postharvest technology to ease the
plight of the Cambodian people, especially
the farmers, who rely on rice as their main
source of food and livelihood.
Dr. Pyseth believes that Cambodia
cannot rely on manual labor if it wants
to be a major rice exporter someday and
the use of machinery is a need for its
rice sector development. He is a staunch
advocate for the importance of proper
handling of the grain. He helped raise
awareness on the losses incurred during
rice postharvest activities.
Working closely with government
agencies, the private sector, development
partners, millers, and farmers, Dr.
Pyseth ushered in an era of modern and
mechanized agriculture in Cambodia. This
resulted in improved harvesting, drying,
storage, and milling, with lower physical
losses and higher quality grain and seeds.
His efforts resulted in the adoption of
and investment in new technologies,
strategies, policies, programs, and
projects. Today, around 6,000 combine
harvesters and hundreds of grain dryers
are used by farmers across the country.
Although the equipment is mostly
imported, Cambodian manufacturers
have started producing it locally, thus
giving farmers access to more affordable
In 2009, the United States
Department of Agriculture reported
that Cambodia aims to double its
mitha Bentota, head of the Rice
Research and Development Institute
(RRDI), presently leads in formulating
and carrying out all collaborative rice
R&D plans in Sri Lanka. These include all
research programs across the country
managed by RRDI, Batalagoda, seven
satellite R&D centers in Sri Lanka, and
productivity enhancement programs with
stakeholders in the country and abroad.
One of Dr. Bentota's key achievements
is increasing the productivity of problem
soils in the low and wet zone of Sri
Lanka, particularly iron-toxic rice soils, by
developing appropriate varieties. Under
her direction and leadership, the Regional
Agricultural Research and Development
Center, Bombuwela, successfully
developed five high-yielding, iron-toxicitytolerant rice varieties with acceptable grain
quality and resistance to major pests and
diseases. The cooking and eating qualities
of these varieties are the preferred choice
of consumers in the region.
Rice varieties with tolerance of iron
toxicity allow farmers to cultivate once
unproductive rice lands continuously.
These varieties help increase rice yield in
the country's problem soil areas from 1–2
tons per hectare to 3–4 tons per hectare.
Because of the nonlodging trait of these
varieties, machinery for harvesting can
be used and can reduce the farm labor
shortage in the country. One of these
varieties has been recently released in
Bangladesh as a high-yielding variety.
Rice Today October-December 2014
rice plant pathologist, Pham Van
Du has made messages on how to
manage a rice crop easy to understand and
farmer-friendly. Dr. Du's messages have
been mainstreamed by Vietnam's Ministry
of Agriculture and promoted nationwide.
An example, among many, is the Ba Giảm,
Ba Tăng (Three Reductions, Three Gains)
program, which motivates farmers to
reduce seed rates and use less fertilizer
and pesticide.
The best of his achievements is the
Small Farmer, Large Field (SFLF), a contract
farming scheme that links big companies
with individual rice growers. The
companies provide farmers with technical
support, including dryers, storage facilities,
and milling, to ensure the quality of
their produce. The companies also buy
and export the rice. Because the model
encourages linkages among small farmers,
agricultural product dealers, traders, and
exporters. SFLF also gradually improves
the value chain.
Launched in March 2011 by the
Department of Crop Production, Ministry
of Agriculture and Rural Development,
the SFLF model spread throughout
the northern region a year later. After
3 years, the model has been applied
in 13 provinces and 150,000 farmers'
handbooks have been distributed through
extension services and the agriculture
anesh Thapa served as a senior
economist for IFAD and earlier as
a senior economist for Nepal's Ministry
of Agriculture and program leader of
Winrock International. As an economist,
he has conducted analytical and capacitybuilding work, which paved the way in the
formulation of policies and programs that
are conducive to agricultural productivity
growth and poverty reduction in many
Asian countries.
In particular, he helped formulate
IFAD's strategy for Asia and the Pacific, with
a focus on the development of less-favored
areas—mountains and uplands, marginal
coastal areas, and dryland and rainfed
areas—which led to investment projects
in many Asian countries and grant-funded
research projects.
As IFAD task manager, Dr. Thapa
worked with IRRI scientists in designing
and supervising some projects under
the Consortium for Unfavorable Rice
Environments (CURE). Thus, stress-tolerant
rice varieties have been developed
along with improved crop management
practices. These technologies are now
increasing yields in unfavorable rice
As a development economist, Dr.
Thapa also worked together with other
CGIAR centers and other regional/
international organizations in many
projects to develop new technologies and
approaches suitable for resource-poor
Rice Today October-December 2014
Chay Bounphanousay
Director, Agricultural Research Centre (ARC)
National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Lao PDR
arly in her career, Chay
Bounphanousay saw agriculture as a
powerful tool in order to meet the needs
of the growing population of Laos.
She learned about the importance
of germplasm evaluation in rice
improvement after attending training
on genetic evaluation and use at IRRI.
And, since 1995, Dr. Bounphanousay has
taken part in organizing, promoting the
accelerated collection of, and conserving
indigenous rice germplasm in Lao
PDR. Since then and until 2003, she led
and also participated in germplasm
collection missions that catalogued
more than 14,000 rice samples. With
her rich knowledge and experience,
she developed teaching materials for
local extension workers and researchers
on germplasm collection, evaluation,
conservation, and seed multiplication
to promote decentralized collection.
Lao germplasm is now the secondlargest component of the IRRI genebank
During the course of evaluation and
characterization, 45 varieties of black rice,
including two aromatic nonglutinous
black rice and two aromatic glutinous rice
varieties, were registered as Lao varieties.
Novel plant types and new traits were
also identified and, together with the rice
improvement team at ARC, more than
10 new rice varieties with higher yields,
disease resistance, and improved taste have
been released.
She is the brains behind the
establishment of the first National Gene
Bank in Laos. Now, she is involved with
the Biodiversity Use and Conservation in
Asia Program that aims to conserve plant
genetic resources and at the same time
strengthen farmer communities in Lao
PDR, Bhutan, and Vietnam.
Truly, her efforts have not only
invigorated the conservation of rice
biodiversity; she has also provided skills
that can be applied to the conservation of
other crops, and made governments more
aware of the impact of genetic erosion on
plant genetic resources.
Mr. Santiaguel is an associate editor of
Rice Today.
A FIELD of Milagro Filipino (IR8)
in Nayarit State (star on map).
policies in
the 1980s. By
2013, domestic
had steadily
declined to just
200,000 tons,
while imports
had expanded to
800,000 tons.
Even as the country was flooded
with cheap long-grain rice, Mexican
growers clung to Milagro Filipino.
The reason is that its medium-sized
grain and special cooking properties
had earned the loyalty of many
consumers in central and western
Mexico, securing a premium-price
niche for this variety in the market.
The country's rice sector faced
especially trying times in the wake
of the global food price crisis of
2007-08, explained Ricardo Mendoza,
CEO of the Mexican Rice Council,
which receives support from both
the rice processing industry and
producers. The government reacted
by eliminating rice import duties
to avoid shortages. Several Asian
countries—Pakistan, Thailand, and
Vietnam—seized the opportunity
by boosting rice exports to Mexico.
This put even greater pressure on
Mexican growers and also revealed
how excessive dependence on rice
imports was undermining national
food security.
by Nathan Russell
nyone worried about the
impacts of trade liberalization
on developing-country rice
sectors should take a close look at
Mexico's experience and learn from a
recent campaign—led by the Mexican
Rice Council and its partners—to
revive national production. That
may sound like odd advice. After all,
Mexico is not widely perceived as
being strong on rice—a distinction
that in Latin America goes instead to
Brazil, Colombia, Peru, and others.
Maize gods, move over!
On the contrary, this is the country
where, thousands of years ago,
farmers domesticated maize,
which was central to Mexico's preColumbian cultures and continues
to be a mainstay of the national
diet. More than half a century ago,
Mexico also provided Nobel Peace
Prize winner Norman Borlaug with
an ideal setting in which to breed
modern wheat varieties, which
formed the genetic foundations of
a global Green Revolution. Both
crops are now the focus of a major
initiative—called MasAgro—aimed
at strengthening Mexico's food
security, in which the International
Maize and Wheat Improvement
Center (CIMMYT) is working closely
with the country's Secretariat
of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural
Development, Fisheries, and Food
Yet, within this country's original
but eclectic culinary traditions, rice
has also found a place of distinction.
This began when rice was introduced
from Spain during colonial times
and came to fruition in the country's
postrevolutionary period. As Mexican
society quickly urbanized and
incomes rose after the 1940s, more
and more consumers turned to rice,
because it offered convenience, while
also contributing to a diverse and
nutritious diet.
The simple dish of Mexican-style
rice—prepared with a tomato sauce
and generally served separately as
Rice Today October-December 2014
ARROZ A LA tumbada, a popular Mexican mix of
seafood and rice with other local ingredients.
sopa seca (dry soup)—thus became
a standard feature of the national
cuisine. Particularly in rural areas, it
is hard to imagine a wedding or other
family gathering without big clay pans
of Mexican-style rice. The grain is
used in more elaborate dishes as well,
mixed with seafood and other local
ingredients. It even takes the form of
orchata, a refreshing drink made from
boiled rice water with cinnamon, and
a popular dessert consisting of arroz
con leche (rice with milk).
Institutional green revolution
Mexico's rice production rose to meet
increasing demand, reaching more
than 800,000 tons on nearly 270,000
hectares by 1985.
The country's varied agroecosystems provide diverse, low-lying
niches for irrigated and rainfed rice,
giving farmers a welcome alternative
for rotation with sugarcane and
other crops. Today, rice cultivation is
scattered across a dozen states, with
four of them—Nayarit, Campeche,
Veracruz, and Michoacán—
accounting for about two-thirds of
national production.
The worldwide Green Revolution
in rice greatly boosted the production of the crop in Mexico, starting in
the 1960s. Impressed with the high
yields of IR8—the world's first modern semidwarf rice—growers quickly
embraced the new variety, which had
resulted from the work of Peter Jennings and others at the International
Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Known
in Mexico as Milagro Filipino or "Philippine Miracle," it is still the country's
most widely grown rice variety.
So, just as a Mexican political
party institutionalized the country's
postrevolutionary socioeconomic
program, farmers moved to
institutionalize the Green Revolution
in rice by making IR8 an enduring
feature of the nation's diet and
agricultural landscape.
A comeback in the making
Down but not out
Mexico's rice revolution lost ground,
however, when the government
began implementing trade
DR. JENNINGS, IRRI's
first rice breeder, briefs
visitors about IR8 in
April 1966, just before
it is released to Mexico
and the world.
Rice revival in the
land of maize
RICE production regions of Mexico.
SKULL AND RICE decorate Dia
de los Muertos festival
in Mexico City.
Mexico's rice sector has confronted
this situation through a two-pronged
strategy focused on (1) creating a fair
playing field for the country's rice
producers and (2) making the home
team more competitive. The strategy's
modest aim is to restore a prudent
balance between domestic production
and rice imports.
To this end, the Mexican Rice
Council—together with the National
Rice Production Committee and the
National Council of Mexican Rice
Producers—has made a strong case
to the government for restoring a
20% duty on imported rice from
countries with which Mexico does
not have trade agreements. This
Rice Today October-December 2014
will prevent dumping of cheap
rice in the Mexican market. The
measure is strongly supported by
SAGARPA and is widely expected to
be finally approved by the Economics
Secretariat within the coming
months, according to Mr. Mendoza.
He also believes that Mexico
can be more competitive in rice
production, especially if growers take
up more productive long-grained
varieties on a large scale. To this
end, the country has introduced
experimental rice lines from the
International Center for Tropical
Agriculture (CIAT) and the CIATsupported Latin American Fund
for Irrigated Rice (FLAR). Several
new varieties developed from these
lines by researchers at the National
Institute of Agricultural, Livestock,
and Fisheries Research (INIFAP) have
been released recently.
The country's rice organizations
have also obtained extensive training
from FLAR scientists in improved
management practices (including the
use of water harvesting), which will
narrow the gaps between the high
genetic potential of the new varieties
and their actual performance in
farmers' fields. This is critical for
giving Mexican rice growers a
competitive edge in high-potential
production areas.
"FLAR's integrated approach to
crop management helped us a lot,"
said Mr. Mendoza.
If all goes well, he expects that, by
2018, Mexico's rice production should
be able to meet 40% of demand.
"We're hoping that 2015 will be the
year of the turnaround," he said.
Mr. Russell is the head of
Communications and Knowledge
Management at CIAT.
who moved
by Ma. Lizbeth Baroña-Edra
he jostling streams and
golden patches that paint the
scenery tucked deep in the
crevices of the Cordilleras
in the Philippines are common
places in the bustling communities
nearby. But to those who have
never set foot in this world, shaped
by the arduousness of the terrain
and richness of its traditions,
the Cordilleras are anything but
Mary Hensley, then a 22-yearold Peace Corps volunteer from
Montana in the U.S., was one such
person captivated by the land.
Today, Ms. Hensley is the founder of
Eighth Wonder Inc., which markets
the traditional rice grown in the
Cordilleras to the U.S., in partnership
with the Philippines nonprofit RICE,
Ms. Hensley has not only brought
the heirloom rice to the shores of
the United States, but she created
economic opportunities for what
was previously regarded as a dying
farming practice in the famed rice
terraces that UNESCO declared a
World Heritage Site in 1995.
And it all started with renewing
old friendships in Kalinga Province,
a familiar region where the Peace
MARY HENSLEY (left) and
Victoria Garcia have teamed up
to bring Cordillera heirloom rice
to the world.
The Cordillera heirloom rice from the
Philippines has palates half-way around the
globe coming back for more
Corps had originally stationed her
(see centerfold on pages 24-25).
Are you lost?
"It was usually the first question
people asked me," recalled Victoria
Garcia, executive director of RICE,
Inc., which successfully linked
heirloom rice to the market. Reaching
out to the farmers was hard because
of the fragmented communities
nestled in different corners of the
mountain range.
"At a waiting shed, I'd usually
strike a conversation with farmers
waiting for transportation," said Ms.
Garcia. "My goal was to establish contact with one farmer and, eventually,
he would take me to his relatives, and
into their community. Sometimes, we
went to farmers' meetings organized
by the local government. But mostly, it
was farmer-to-farmer outreach. Mary
happens to still have friends in the
areas where she served decades ago.
So, we started with them."
"Hope pulled me in"
However, being accepted by the farming communities was just the beginning. "When the project started, it was
like working with a clean slate," Ms.
Garcia recalled. "There was almost
Rice Today October-December 2014
nothing to start with. Farm-to-market
roads were few and there was no
electricity to run the milling machines.
I talked to the Department of Public
Works and Highways, to the National
Irrigation Authority, to electricity
providers. The idea of quality had to
be taught to the farmers."
"There was a point in the beginning when Vicky said she could not do
it," shared Ms. Hensley. "She found it
daunting." But their common passion
for community development got them
through the moments of doubt.
"The farmers are really hopeful,"
said Ms. Garcia. "They understood
that they have a chance to preserve
their traditions and heirloom rice.
Now, they have a reason to continue
planting." The hope she saw in the
farmers overpowered her initial
reluctance. "I felt as though I was
bringing the rain to them after a long
time of living with parched dreams."
Momentum of partnerships
The two women found an ally in
UNESCO Ambassador Preciosa
Soliven, who was, at that time,
advocating for the preservation and
restoration of the rice terraces.
"Their advocacy was not gaining
much traction," shared Ms. Garcia.
EXOTIC HEIRLOOM rice varieties from the Cordillera rice terraces of the
Philippines now being purchased in specialty shops in the United States.
"So, in 2006, when I heard that there
was going to be a UNESCO workshop,
I decided to attend, uninvited, and
shared the idea of marketing heirloom
rice." At this point, partnerships
started to take shape.
"Abraham Akilit, a former
director of the National Irrigation
Authority of the Cordillera
Administrative Region and now
mayor of the town of Bauko,
immediately saw how the project
complemented their work with
farmer irrigators," said Ms. Garcia.
In 2007, OB Montessori School,
through Ambassador Soliven,
donated more than PHP 100,000
(US$2,000) to RICE, Inc. Ms. Garcia
used the fund to have a milling
machine custom-made for traditional
Cordillera rice varieties. "Experts at
the Bureau of Postharvest Research
and Extension and the Philippine
Rice Research Institute provided
technical assistance," she said.
Culture is key
There is something romantic about
the role heirloom rice plays in binding
the indigenous communities of the
Cordilleras. Reverentially selected and
planted, their seeds are preserved and
handed to the next generation. But to
be part of the modern world, changes
were necessary.
"Their rice is aromatic and
beautiful. But the grains are of
different sizes and broken," Ms.
Garcia added. "We provided training
activities on quality control so they
could produce unbroken, uniformly
sized grains. We trained them to be
good entrepreneurs. We taught them
skills such as keeping tabs on how
much they produce and managing
their product.
"Being sensitive to the culture
of the different farmer groups is
key to engaging them," she added.
"We want them to be better farm
managers but without losing their
identities and traditions."
When orders poured in, farmers
were asked to make "pledges." The
project shied away from getting
"commitments" from the farmers, as
this gives a sense of being "forced" to
produce something. "The concept of
preparing and processing more rice
than they need for a couple of days is
new to them," said Ms. Hensley.
"We made them understand that
a `pledge` is something they are free
to make," Ms. Garcia explained. "We
made them understand that someone
wants to buy their rice and that it will
help their families."
One of the good things that
came out of this project was that
the Department of Agriculture has
institutionalized technology transfer
sensitivities to the Cordillera farmers.
"The government now recognizes
that it must support the traditional
way of farming" she said.
Ms. Garcia and Ms. Hensley are
now working with the Heirloom Rice
Project, funded by the Department
of Agriculture and led by the
International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI). The Project seeks to widen
the initial marketing success of Rice,
Inc. and Eighth Wonder and bring
the production of heirloom rice to the
attention of the national government
for developing policies for the
industry. The Heirloom Rice Project
will also systematically characterize
traditional varieties of the Cordilleras
and conserve them.
"A very important part of the
project is helping farmers produce
quality heirloom rice seeds, which
help produce more for the market,"
said Dr. Casiana Vera Cruz, a
scientist at IRRI and overall leader
Rice Today October-December 2014
of the Project. "We want to empower
highland smallholders to manage
their own enterprise, conserve their
rice biodiversity, and preserve their
cultural heritage."
"We are excited to build
upon the successes of Vicky and
Mary," said Dr. Digna Manzanilla,
project co-lead and coordinator of
the Consortium for Unfavorable
Rice Environments at IRRI. "The
Heirloom Rice Project, which pulls
together government agencies, local
government units, state colleges and
universities, farmers' groups, and
private entities, stands to learn from
their experiences in how to make the
value chain work."
The future of ancient rice
When Ms. Hensley and Ms. Garcia
started their project, they were told
that they would fold up after 3 years.
Now, they are in their ninth year of
providing a sustainable livelihood to
farmers in one of the most marginal
rice ecosystems in the country. In
2013, 29 tons of Cordillera heirloom
rice were shipped to the United
States, valued at $38,079. This year,
19 tons valued at about $26,000 have
been produced.
"We're working with 272 farming
families," said Ms. Hensley. "There
are about 100,000 of them in the
region. There is a long way to go."
"I believe that the farmers in the
project have found a new sense of
pride in their culture and their work,"
said Ms. Garcia.
That pride is palpable as one
traverses the mountainsides of
the Cordilleras—and it will save
the treasured heirloom rice of the
Ms. Baroña-Edra is a science
communications specialist at IRRI.
© Dave Leprozo
Rice Today October-December 2014, Vol. 13, No. 4
Rice Today October-December 2014
Harvest time in Kalinga Province in the mountainous Cordillera region of the northern Philippines. Kalinga is one of the original regions of the Heirloom Rice
Project designed to help local farmers increase production and assure
of their unique2014
indigenous rice varieties.
Rice fables: Philippines
Fire for rice:
The origin of Ifugao
Retold by Ana Dulnuan-Habbiling
Carvings by Albert Magguling
A tale on how the Ifugao tribe in the Cordillera region of the northern
Philippines got hold of the Tinawon rice from the god of the Skyworld
here once
lived two
Wigan and Kabigat, who
lived with their father,
Pudol, in Kayang, a
prosperous village in
Kiyangan. The gods
blessed them with a
good life, plenty of
chickens, pigs, ducks,
dogs, and other precious
Upon learning from
their father that the dogs
were for hunting wild
animals, the brothers
prepared for a hunting trip. When
everything was ready, they fastened
their scabbards to their waists, tucked
in their betel nut bags, carried their
backpacks, pulled out their shining
sharpened spears and then departed
with their dogs.
Upon reaching the hunting
grounds, they let loose the dogs that
ran barking and chasing the wild
animals, among them wild pigs.
When the brothers noticed that the
dogs were chasing their quarry
towards Kabunyan, where Liddum,
a god of the Ifugao resides, they
decided to follow closely fearing that
they might lose them.
Tracking the footprints of
their dogs and quarry, the brothers
entered Kabunyan. The quarry, a
wild pig, went straight to a bamboo
grove in the backyard of Liddum.
Rice Today October-December 2014
The brothers took aim
with their spears and
hit the wild pig. The
whimper of the dying
pig prompted Liddum
and his people to come
around and investigate.
When Liddum saw the
slaughtered animal, he
confronted the brothers
and accused them of
killing his people's pig.
"The animal we
killed came from the
jungle of Kiyangan and
our dogs had chased it
into Kabunyan," Wigan
explained humbly to
Liddum. He pointed out the physical
differences between the wild pigs of
Kiyangan and those of Kabunyan.
"The snout of the wild pigs of Kiyangan is longer and more pointed than
the wild pigs of Kabunyan," he said.
Liddum, being the god who
blessed them with many animals,
knew that to be true and he accepted
Wigan's explanation and made peace
with the brothers.
using the fire. To show
his gratitude for the
generosity of Liddum,
Wigan built a fireplace
and cooking place for
Then the brothers
went home feeling
good and proud. They
had not only brought
home wild pig meat but
also a wonderful rice
The brothers
planted the Skyworld
rice in their field in
Kayang, propagated
it, and shared the
seeds with other Ifugao people. As
the people tasted it and experienced
its satisfying effect, many built rice
fields across the mountain slopes and
wherever else possible just to plant
the Skyworld rice plant. Until now,
this is the only rice variety that the
Ifugao planted in their rice fields.
Because the Ifugao people
believe that it came from Liddum of
Kabunyan, they sometimes call it the
Skyworld rice. Today, it is commonly
known as Tinawon rice, which means
"planted only once a year."
thus it does not last long. Your big
granaries are filled with your harvest
but they would only last for two
months unlike our Skyworld rice that
would last a whole year."
Liddum, god of the Skyworld
and the god of plenty, traded his
aromatic large-grain rice variety to
Wigan of Kiyangan for fire. But before
Liddum handed them two bundles
of the Skyworld rice, he first taught
them the rice rituals and earnestly
told them that it is important to
perform these rituals starting from
the sowing of the rice seeds up to the
Ms. Dulnuan-Habbiling is the matriarch
of an Ifugao farming family. There are
"By observing the rituals
different local fables of how Tinawon rice
properly and religiously this rice
came to be. Excerpts from this version
variety with its aroma and good
are the closest to her beliefs. See the full
taste will be free from rice pests and
story at www.heirloomrice.com/pages/
diseases," Liddum said. "And there
Story_of Tinawon.pdf
will be a good harvest that will last
the whole year
Wigan and
Kabigat thanked
Liddum and
promised him
that they would
perform the rice
rituals in caring
for the Skyworld
Before the
brothers went
home, they taught
the Kabunyan
VISITING HEIRLOOM demonstration plots at the International Rice Research
people how to
Institute during Farmers' Day on 1 October, Ms. Dulnuan-Habbiling spotted one
produce fire and
of the glutinous Tinawon varieties that she grows in her fields--a descendant of
Liddum's Skyworld rice no doubt.
how to cook food
Wigan explained
further that most
people of Kiyangan
hunt these wild pigs for
their food
Then the two
brothers cut their
quarry and shared
some with Liddum and
his people. Much to
the brothers' surprise,
Liddum and his people
quickly gobbled up
their share of meat
together with uncooked
rice. They realized that
the Kabunyan people
eat their food raw.
Wigan decided to show them
how good cooked food tastes. He
quickly brought out his flint with a
special stone and produced fire from
it. He cooked the meat of the wild pig
and some rice, which he had asked
from Liddum, in bamboo tubes.
When the meat and the rice were
cooked, the brothers invited Liddum
and his people to eat with them. The
Kabunyan people found the aroma
of the cooked food very appetizing.
They also found out that cooked rice
was so filling that a small portion is
enough to make them feel full and
satisfied. They were really amazed.
"Fire can make food taste so
good," said Wigan.
Because of the good taste of the
cooked food, Liddum wanted to have
their fire. He offered them some of
his pigs, chickens, gold, and other
possessions in exchange for the fire.
But the brothers refused all of it
saying that they had plenty of those
things in their home in Kayang. What
they actually wanted was Liddum's
aromatic large grain rice variety that
they found to be more filling and
satisfying compared with their rice in
So Wigan asked Liddum if he
would trade his aromatic largegrain rice for their fire. Liddum was
delighted by the offer because the fire
meant so much to him and his people.
"That was a smart idea," Liddum
said to Wigan, "It is true that you
have plenty of rice in Kayang but it
is the upland rice with no ritual and
Rice Today October-December 2014
What's cooking?
by Amy Besa
Fried Ominio rice
à la Purple Yam
ers. Farmers should know who will be
eating their product. And, it is the
responsibility of a diner, a restaurateur, and a home cook to know the
amount of work it takes to produce a
grain of rice. If they understand how
rice is produced, they won't throw
away a single grain of rice. They will
respect not just the product but the
farmers who grew it.
• 300 grams Ominio rice (preferably dayold or slightly cooked)
• 50 grams carrots, diced
• 50 grams white onions, sliced
• 50 grams green peas
• 50 grams corn kernels, steamed
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons turmeric oil
• 1 egg
• Salt and pepper to taste
the rice grains. If the grains are newly
harvested, they will not require as
much water and as long a time to cook,
but if the grains have been stored for
a while, they will need a little bit more
water and longer cooking time.)
3. Spread the cooked rice on a tray to cool
down and dry off some of the excess
moisture. Set aside.
4. Dice the carrots and white onions.
Crush the garlic. Rinse the green peas.
5. Steam the corn in the husk and then
remove or scrape the kernels from the
6. In a wok, heat the turmeric oil with
crushed garlic over medium-high heat.
7. When hot, add the carrots, onions, and
corn kernels. Sauté until translucent
and soft.
8. Add the cooked Ominio rice and mix
well with the vegetables. Add the green
9. Crack the egg directly over the rice and
mix thoroughly.
10. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve
1. Rinse uncooked rice in a pot with water
and drain. Do this several times until
the water becomes clear.
2. Cook the rice in a pot with equal parts
water. As soon as the water starts to
boil vigorously, put a lid on the pot
and turn the heat down to low. Simmer
for 20–30 minutes until all the water
has been absorbed and the rice is
tender. The rice can also be cooked in
a rice cooker using equal parts water.
(Note: This can go up to 40 minutes
depending on the moisture content of
he Purple Yam is a restaurant
in Brooklyn, New York,
founded in 2009 by me and
chef Romy Dorotan, with a
branch in Manila in the Philippines.
The restaurant specializes in the
culinary heritage of the Philippines
infused with modern innovative
flair and influences from other Asian
countries, particularly Korea. In a 2009
review, the New York Times described
dining at the Purple Yam, for dishes
such as its adobo and halo-halo, as
"something worth experiencing."
Ominio fragrant rice is a
medium-grain variety cultivated
in the rice terraces of Mountain
Province and Ifugao Province in
the Central Cordillera Mountains in
northern Philippines. This heirloom
rice has a deep violet or black color
and is the preferred variety of the
indigenous people in the area for
making rice desserts and rice wine.
Ominio has been included in the
Ark of Taste, an international list
of endangered heritage food from
different countries.
In the 1990s, I was introduced to
heirloom rice and was asked to help
develop a market in the U.S. For me,
it was a no-brainer because organic
heirloom rice passes my standards of
quality ingredients. Heirloom rice is
healthy—packed with nutrients and
flavorful. In fact, it is so flavorful that,
at my restaurants, heirloom rice is not
an accompaniment but is considered
as a dish.
My mantra is that, if we want to
preserve heirloom rice, we should
eat and cook with it on a daily basis.
Preserving it is not just keeping it
and treating it just as an interesting
factoid. Eating it and bringing it back
to the table will take heirloom rice out
of anonymity and hence increase its
commercial viability.
In turn, patronizing heirloom
rice will increase farmers' incentive
to grow it and help them earn a
lucrative livelihood.
I am is also espousing establishing
a link between farmers and consum-
In a YouTube video, watch the Manila Purple Yam's sous chef, Rap Cristobal (lower inset photo), demonstrate how to make a
tasty fried rice dish using the heirloom Ominio (violet) variety: http://youtu.be/9rU0r_0Ezmo.
Rice Today October-December 2014
Rice Today October-December 2014
Adding value to
Africa's rice
by Savitri Mohapatra
1 2
3 4
bout one-third of the food
produced in the world never
reaches our plates. Not only
is this a colossal loss but
all the resources used to produce,
harvest, process, and market it are
also squandered.
Postharvest grain losses account
for US$4 billion in Africa alone,
according to the CGIAR Research
Program on Climate Change,
Agriculture and Food Security. This
is enough to meet the minimum
annual food requirements of 48
million people.
In Africa, both the quantity and
quality of rice suffer huge losses,
especially during postharvest
"The qualitative losses come
mainly as a result of poor handling
after harvesting and poor processing
techniques," wrote John Manful, a
grain quality scientist at the Africa
Rice Center (AfricaRice) in Quality
matters for rich and poor alike. (Read Dr.
Manful's full article at http://sn.im/
Quantity versus quality
Until recently, R&D thrusts in Africa
have focused mainly on how to
increase rice production but relatively
less on how to improve the quality of
"Since the food crisis in 2007-08,
governments in African countries
have made great efforts to increase
rice production, but still quality is less
emphasized," said Dr. Rose Fiamohe,
policy economist at AfricaRice.
In many African countries,
locally milled rice is of variable
quality and it has a high percentage
of broken grains. Sometimes,
unhusked grains as well as bran and
husk fractions are found in the milled
rice. The inferior quality of local rice
makes it less competitive against
imported rice on the market. Thus,
African rice farmers find it so difficult
to sell their rice because locally
produced rice is widely perceived as
being of poor quality.
"If you raise the production
of local rice but you are not doing
anything to change the perception
of the people, you will not progress
much in promoting local rice
consumption," said Ms. Lena Forson,
doing an MPhil student at the
University of Ghana.
However, Africa's rice sector
is now more aware that producing
just more rice is not enough and that
quality is essential. To be competitive,
Africa's rice sector needs to make rice
quality and marketing important.
The postharvest challenge
Rising to the challenge, Canada's
Department of Foreign Affairs,
Trade and Development (DFATD)
and AfricaRice, in partnership with
McGill University, are spearheading
an ambitious project on food security
in Africa with a focus on rice
postharvest handling and marketing.
Rice Today October-December 2014
Africa researchers are looking at every step rice goes through
to lessen wastage and improve its value to help raise income,
improve rice quality, and expand the market for locally
produced rice products.
The project involves Cameroon,
Gambia, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria,
Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Uganda.
It seeks to introduce improved
harvesting and postharvest practices
and equipment throughout the value
chain to achieve high-quality grain.
More smallholder farmers and
processors in Africa's rice sector are
women who often have fewer rights
than male farmers to access the vital
resources they need to farm, process,
and sell. The project will therefore
make sure that women farmers will
obtain their fair share of attention in
rice R&D.
The project also aims to develop
new rice-based products, explore
innovative uses of husks and straw,
improve the policy environment, and
build the capacity of rice stakeholders.
By 2020, postharvest losses are
expected to decline by 10% and this
will help increase farmers' nominal
annual income in the eight project
countries by about $32 million.
The project has conducted
baseline studies on postharvest
practices in the eight countries.
"This is the first of its kind for rice in
Africa," said Dr. Manful. "We now
have reliable data on postharvest
losses in rice from these countries."
1. GHANAIAN CONSUMERS perceive imported rice to
be of higher quality than locally produced rice. A
scene from a local rice market in Accra, Ghana.
2. LOCAL FABRICATORS in target countries are being
trained to build and maintain mini combineharvesters that will help rice farmers do timely
harvesting and threshing.
3. MCGILL UNIVERSITY is providing technical
backstopping to national partners to develop
parboiling equipment to produce high-quality
parboiled rice.
4. THERE IS demand for the new rice-based weaning
food developed by the Food Research Institute,
Surveys are being conducted
to develop a map of rice consumer
preferences for some of the countries.
Project countries have been provided
with lab equipment to do basic
quality analysis of rice.
The project is testing and
introducing mini combines,
threshers, dryers, and cleaners
that are affordable for farmers and
processors. Most of these machines
are being made and maintained
locally. Senegal, Mali, and Ghana
have started building mini combines
after receiving training. Milling
machines that will improve the
separation of husk and bran are also
being identified.
"Each project will have national
fabricators; we train one lead
fabricator who will continue training
others," said project coordinator Dr.
Jean Moreira.
In 2013, 57 fabricators from 10
countries were trained to construct
the ADRAO-SAED-ISRA (ASI)
thresher-cleaner. A light thresher has
also been developed especially for
women farmers in Uganda.
The project has promoted the
development of equipment for
parboiling. McGill University is
providing technical backstopping
to national partners to develop a
parboiling pilot plant.
The project has developed
a machine to compress rice
husks to make briquettes, which
burn efficiently in any wellventilated stove. "This, we think,
is an important step in reducing
deforestation," said Dr. Sali Atanga
Ndindeng, grain quality and
postharvest scientist at AfricaRice.
New rice-based products in Africa
Rice policy
Reusing waste products
Building capacity in rice
postharvest technology
Also, the project will enable
screening of African rice (Oryza
glaberrima) germplasm for
constituents that make cereal grain
slow-digesting to help consumers
with Type II diabetes. It is also
testing the use of low-value broken
rice as the basis of a breakfast
porridge fortified with proteinrich groundnut or soybean for
undernourished babies and children.
The project is using flour from
broken rice to prepare food products
such as noodles, biscuits, and
porridges. "Tasty and innovative uses
of rice can catalyze rural enterprises
and raise income, especially for
women farmers and processors in
our region," said Ms. Lynda Hagan,
scientist at the Food Research
Institute (FRI) in Ghana.
Rice straw: Farmers in Africa mostly
dispose of rice straw from fields by
burning it, which helps control rice
disease and pest problems. However,
burning of rice straw emits carbon
dioxide (CO2), which is the major
cause of global warming.
As part of the project, AfricaRice,
in partnership with FRI, is supporting
a study in Ghana to assess rice straw
and husk as potential substrate in
cultivating oyster mushroom. The
study also ascertained the potential of
the spent compost (the organic matter
left over after mushrooms grown on
rice straw have been harvested) as a
Rice husks: Traditionally, rice
husks (or hulls) are wasted in Africa.
Stockpiles of rice husks are either
dumped near the mills, where they
rot, producing methane (a potent
greenhouse gas), or burned in the
fields, thus polluting the atmosphere.
Rice Today October-December 2014
The project will feed into
AfricaRice's ongoing efforts to
harmonize rice policy across
the region through the regional
economic communities.
"In the long run, rice will be
cheaper when the continent is
producing most of its rice from here,"
remarked Dr. Aliou Diagne, former
program leader of Policy, Innovation
Systems and Impact Assessment at
Scientists are working with
producers to improve quality and
processing, while also working with
consumers to encourage them to buy
local rice. Experimental auctions have
revealed that consumers choose local
rice and are also willing to pay more
for it.
Building the capacity of rice
stakeholders throughout the value
chain, from farmers, through millers
and parboilers, to marketers is a vital
part of the project.
"We have had lots of crossfertilization of ideas and scientific
outputs thanks to the project,"
observed Dr. Paa Nii Johnson
from the Council for Scientific
and Industrial Research in Ghana.
"Some of the success stories can be
replicated and scaled up through
the Rice Hubs network initiated by
By helping actors along the value
chain add value to rice, the project is
helping raise income, improve rice
quality, and expand the market for
locally produced rice products.
Ms. Mohapatra is the head of Marketing
and Communications at AfricaRice.
A bigger rice bowl
Another green revolution is stirring in the world's paddy fields
sequence bred into it, which puts it
into a sort of suspended animation
when submerged. Instead of
drowning, Mr. Pal's rice sprang back
when the water receded. In a normal
year, he gets a ton or so from his
one-hectare (2.5-acre) plot; in a bad
year nothing. In that terrible flooded
season, he harvested 4.5 tons—as
good a yield as on any rainfed paddy
in the world.
Flood-tolerant rice is now
spreading as fast as the waters
themselves. Five years after the first
field trials, 5 million farmers across
the world are planting more than a
dozen varieties of rice with floodresistant genes, collectively called Sub
1. They are proliferating even faster
than new rice varieties during the
heady early days of the first green
revolution in the 1960s. "And Sub 1 is
the first of a new generation of seeds,"
says Dr. Zeigler. If all goes well, over
the next few years plants that tolerate
drought, salinity, and extreme heat
will revolutionize the cultivation of
mankind's most important source of
seed of rice that could
transform the developing
world saved Asha Ram Pal's
farm in the Indian state
of Uttar Pradesh in the summer of
2008. Mr. Pal had planted rice on
his small plot, not much bigger than
a football field. Floods are an everpresent threat in the state, making
it one of the poorest places in the
world. And that year the monsoon
was particularly heavy, remembers
Robert Zeigler, director general of the
International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI). Mr. Pal's fields flooded for
two weeks after he planted the rice
seedlings; a few weeks later, they
were inundated again. He thought his
crop was lost. His neighbors advised
him to do what they have always
done when the floods come: prepare
for hunger.
But this time Mr. Pal had planted
an experimental seed developed
by scientists from IRRI in the
Philippines. The seed has a genetic
MR. ASHA Ram Pal's rice field, Palia Goa village, Faizabad district, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Rice Today October-December 2014
FLOOD-TOLERANT Swarna-Sub1, a variety
that can survive full submergence for more
than 2 weeks. is changing the lives of farm
families who must grow their rice crop in
flood-prone areas of eastern India.
calories. But that will depend on the
technology working as promised and,
in particular, on public policies that
support a second green revolution.
Neither is guaranteed.
The first green revolution helped
save the developing world from
disaster. Two plant breeders, Dr.
Norman Borlaug with wheat and
Dr. M.S. Swaminathan with rice,
persuaded governments in Asia
and elsewhere to encourage the
planting of higher-yielding varieties,
especially of rice; 3.5 billion people,
half of mankind, get a fifth of their
calories or more from the stuff. When
the men started work in the early
1960s, China was suffering the famine
of the Great Leap Forward. And India
was widely thought to be on the
brink of starvation.
Today in Asia, famines are things
of the past. One reason is the spread
of democracy. Another is the green
revolution, which has ensured that
there is plenty of rice—India even
exports it. And demand seems to be
shrinking: the richest Asian countries,
Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea,
are eating less rice. This has led
governments, which once supported
the green revolution, to think that a
new one would be unnecessary. Rice,
they reason, is a problem that has been
solved. Better to improve the diets
that are causing obesity or change the
intensive-farming practices that are
damaging the environment.
But it is not clear that the mission
has been accomplished. In Asia as
a whole, consumption per person
is flat, not falling. The population is
still growing, so demand for rice is
rising on the continent where 90% of
the crop is raised. In Africa, where a
third of the population depends on
rice, demand is rising by almost 20%
a year. At that rate, rice will surpass
maize as Africa's main source of
calories within 20 years.
Seeds of stagnation
As a rule of thumb, if the world's
population grows by 1 billion, an
extra 100 million tons of rice is
required to feed them. Given current
world-population forecasts, total rice
consumption, now under 450 million
tons, is likely to grow to 500 million
tons a year by 2020 and to 555 million
by 2035—an increase of 1.2–1.5% a
year. That would be manageable if
rice yields were also growing at that
rate. But they are not. They are rising
at barely half that pace.
The first green revolution almost
doubled yields from 1.9 tons per
hectare in 1950-64 to 3.5 tons in 198598. Even that was only enough to keep
pace with population growth: yields
and population rose at the same rate
(1.75% a year) in the half century after
the green revolution started.
Now the gains seem to have
leveled off. Plant breeders fear that,
with current technology, 10 tons per
hectare for rice in intensive-farming
systems may be the limit, though it
is not clear why. What is clear is that,
out in the fields, output per hectare is
stalling, and in some places falling.
For over 50 years, IRRI has been
planting a field using its best seeds.
The field itself has remained much
the same: the bugs and microbes that
live in the roots of the rice plant mean
Rice Today October-December 2014
that soil fertility is maintained even
if three crops are grown each year.
But output from the plot has fallen
from 9 to 10 tons a hectare in the
early 1990s to 7 to 8 tons now, as pests
and diseases have taken their toll.
Rice yields were rising at 2.5% a year
between 1962 and 1982. But between
1992 and 2012, growth fell to just 0.8%
a year (see chart 1).
The facts of rice
Without new seeds, yields will
decline further. Global warming
will tend to push harvests down:
higher night-time temperatures
are associated with lower yields.
The richest rice-growing areas in
the world are the deltas of Asia's
great rivers, such as the Mekong,
Brahmaputra, and Irawaddy; they
are vulnerable to rising sea levels
and increased salinity, which kills
rice. The plant uses two to three
times as much water as other cereals
(largely for leveling the paddies;
the plant itself consumes no more
than wheat or maize), but water is
scarce everywhere. And each year,
the spread of Asian—especially
Chinese—cities converts millions of
acres of good rice-growing land into
buildings and roads.
The consequences could be
momentous. Rice plays a role in Asian
societies that is hard for outsiders to
appreciate. (A small example: Toyota
means "bountiful rice field" and
Honda means "main rice field.") In
the river basins that are the world's
rice bowls, nothing else will grow
with the same productivity. It is rice
or nothing, and if there are problems
with rice, there are problems with
GOLDEN RICE, which contains beta
carotene, a source of vitamin A, has the
potential to save millions of poor children
from preventable blindness.
everything. A rice shortage would
have geopolitical implications. No
Indian or Chinese government could
contemplate the possibility with
equanimity. They would do whatever
it takes to ensure they have enough
rice. If this pushes up world food
prices, so be it. If they must twist the
arms of exporting countries, they will.
If Asia's giants feel insecure, their
neighbors will tremble.
So a lot is riding on boosting
rice yields. But how likely is it that a
second green revolution will take off?
The first was a relatively simple
affair, technologically at least.
Conventional rice varieties were
long and leggy. If you gave them
fertilizer, they grew too tall and fell
over. That changed in 1966, when
IRRI released a semidwarf variety
called IR8. Because its stem was
short, it was able to absorb fertilizer
without collapsing. So now farmers
had a crop they could feed. And
with stem growth restricted, more of
the increase in plant size went into
the head of seeds (called a panicle).
IR8 spread from the Punjab to the
Philippines, transforming farming
wherever water could be controlled
and fertilizer delivered.
The second revolution will be
different. Farmers will not adopt
a single miracle variety. Instead,
researchers will tailor seeds for
particular environments (dry,
flooded, salty, and so on). And
they are also trying to boost the
nutritional quality of rice, not just
the number of calories. As a result,
the second revolution will be felt
most profoundly in the poorest areas
and among the poorest farmers. In
contrast, the first had the biggest
impact in the richest fields, with the
most water and fertilizer.
The flood-tolerant trait that
rescued Mr. Pal's crop was first
identified in the 1980s, in a few oldfashioned varieties native to Odisha,
another flood-prone state in eastern
India. After more than a decade of
false starts, plant scientists identified
the genes that make the Odisha
varieties flood-tolerant. They went
back to IR8's descendants, spliced
these genes into them and bred from
the result. Having spent years getting
nowhere with traditional plantbreeding methods, scientists went
from marking the genetic sequence to
producing flood-resistant seeds in 4
short years.
Dr. Abdelbagi Ismail, a principal
scientist at IRRI, hopes to do the
same for other traits that have so far
eluded breeders, such as drought
tolerance and heat tolerance. High
temperatures during rice flowering
can lead to sterility. If it is too hot, the
anthers of the plant, which contain
the pollen, do not open properly; the
pollen is not released, the stigmas
are not pollinated and the crop is
lost. The problem occurs during the
hour or so when the plant flowers. It
could be overcome if it were possible
to encourage rice to flower in the cool
of the early morning—as opposed to
scorching midday, its usual hour. Dr.
Tom Ishimaru, who works at IRRI
and the Japan International Research
Centre for Agricultural Sciences, has
found a gene which codes for earlymorning flowering, raising hopes of
solving the problem.
Such breeding programs will
not have the same dramatic impact
that IR8 did. But developing miracle
seeds is not the only way to boost
yields. During the 1990s, China did
it by improving hybrids: crossing
different lines to combine the
advantages of both. This is the usual
way of improving maize, but it is less
common with rice. Unlike maize, rice
breeds true in successive generations,
so farmers can retain seeds from one
harvest and plant them for the next.
Rice Today October-December 2014
Farmers will switch if a new variety
gives them a big one-off boost, but not
just to get the small increments offered
through hybrid improvements. Hence,
it takes a long time to boost yields
using hybrids—unless the government
forces farmers to use new seeds.
China's rulers could do that; less
authoritarian regimes cannot.
Cereal killers
China's experience shows that a
series of small improvements can
add up to something large. This will
be true of the second revolution on
the poorest lands. The first green
revolution had most impact on
irrigated land and, thanks to it, the 80
million hectares, which are irrigated
(an area equivalent to Vietnam, Laos,
and Cambodia put together) now
have yields of 5 to 6 tons a hectare;
they produce three-quarters of the
world's rice. But there is nearly as
much rice land which depends on
rainwater. Yields there are far lower—
between one and two and a half tons
a hectare—and rainfed lands produce
only a quarter of the world's rice.
Yields are low because almost half
this land is prone to drought and a
third to floods. Most African paddies
fall into this category, which is why
the first green revolution passed
Africa by.
Drought- and flood-tolerant seeds
could double yields from these areas.
That would boost harvests from 110
million to 220 million tons, and push
global output to 550 million tons—
enough to meet expected demand in
2035. In short, all the extra rice could
come from rain-fed areas alone.
RICE IS the staple food of nearly half the world's
7.2 billion inhabitants.
also pay farmers above the world
price. Thailand's scheme is so
generous that it ran out of money this
year. Such price distortions artificially
boost demand for green-revolution
seeds in the short run.
But high domestic prices are also
bad for the economy. They impose
heavy costs on consumers. And they
undermine incentives to export,
making world prices more volatile
and international markets thinner.
This hurts farmers who stand to
gain from the shift of comparative
advantage in rice-growing towards
India and Bangladesh thanks to the
second green revolution. If world
trade becomes even more marginal,
any advantage those countries gain
will be muted.
High domestic prices also tend
to drive up local wages, reducing the
Because yields on rainfed lands
are low, even a doubling would not
increase total production by as much
as the first green revolution did. But
the impact on poverty would be
greater. More than 500 million of the
absolute poor (those with US$1.25 a
day or less) depend on rice, far more
than on any other food (see chart 2).
A disproportionate number of them
live in northeast India, Bangladesh,
and the Irrawaddy Delta of Myanmar.
In these areas the lowest castes and
tribes have been forced onto the worst
Those are the very places
where the second green revolution
would make the biggest impact.
Flood-tolerant rice "differentially
benefits [India's] scheduled castes
and tribes", a recent study of one
of the early field trials concludes. If
these improvements were combined
with another program to boost the
nutritional quality of rice—the socalled Golden Rice project which
genetically modifies rice to include
vitamin A—then the benefits to some
of the poorest people in the world
would be vast.
The first green revolution did not
improve people's livelihoods just by
providing technological fixes. It did
so because the new seeds attracted
new capital into farming, encouraged
mechanization, credit markets,
new management techniques and
so on. The second revolution will
also do this. Already, rice farming is
changing faster than for generations.
Age-old habits of raising seedlings,
transplanting them into the fields
and threshing, drying and storing
the plant are being rejected. Now,
seeds are planted directly into the
field by machine and everything
from threshing to milling is done by
specialist firms. For such changes to
become more widespread, though,
incentives and policies need to push
in the right direction. Alas, they don't
all do so.
On the face of it, the second
revolution is subsidized. Not only
do governments finance the basic
research. In many Asian countries,
from rice importers such as Indonesia
to exporters such as Thailand, they
SMALL FARM size in much
of Asia has hindered the
adoption of mechanization
and other technologies.
Rice Today October-December 2014
competitiveness of manufacturing
and making rural labor dearer. And
by making rice farming a safe bet,
the policies blunt entrepreneurship
in agriculture too, reducing farmers'
incentives to invest in new machinery
and new ways of farming. On
balance, therefore, artificially high
rice prices make the new generation
of seeds attractive, but by less than
one might expect.
Land-use policy is equally
messed up. In America and Europe,
technological change has tended to
make farms bigger. The bigger the
operation, the greater the gains from
technology. That has not happened in
Asia. In the most productive irrigated
areas, farms are often smaller than
two hectares and, despite mass
migration from the countryside, have
been getting even smaller during the
past three decades. Governments
have intervened to prevent farm
consolidation partly because they
want to slow down urbanization,
fearing that it could drive up
unemployment in cities. Such policies
have only not done considerable
harm because of an extraordinary
proliferation of efficient rental
The original green revolution
transformed Asia from a continent
stalked by hunger into one that
could think and plan beyond the
next harvest. It helped lay the
foundation for the continent's
economic miracle and made possible
Asia's demographic transition from
high fertility and high mortality to
smaller, richer families. The second
green revolution will not do that.
But it should complete the first one,
mainly by bringing benefits to the
poorest, who missed out first time
around. It will help mechanize and
move more people off farms and into
more productive labor. And it should
prevent Asia slipping back under the
shadow of hunger and all the political
and social disruptions that such
misery causes. Few other things can
promise as much.
This article is reprinted with permission
from The Economist.
Rice on the move
by Lorena Villano, Charles Johnson, Andy Nelson, and David Dawe
nderstanding and
visualizing trends in
rice-producing countries
is a major task of the
Geographic Information Systems
(GIS) laboratory at the International
Rice Research Institute (IRRI).
Inspired by a demographic concept
of "center of population" as used by
the United States Census Bureau,
among others, we trace the shifts
in the center of a country's rice area
over time and try to understand
the reasons for the shifts (climatic,
political, or market-driven), as well
as possible future shifts and their
implications. We illustrate with
provincial data for single- and doublecropped rice in China (1981-2010) and
state data for kharif- and rabi-season
rice from India (1962-2010).
In China, the center of annual
rice area has shifted northward by
some 300 kilometers from Hunan
to Hubei Province over 30 years.
Overall, the area has decreased
slightly. But this hides two distinct
and opposite trends.
The center of one-crop-peryear rice area has shifted northeast
by more than 450 kilometers into
northeastern Henan Province and,
over time, the area has increased
substantially. One reason for this
is increasing demand for japonica
rice (as Chinese consumers become
wealthier). Moreover, new japonica
rice areas have opened up in the
far northeastern provinces, and
temperatures have become warmer.
The area planted with two
crops per year has moved in the
opposite direction by about 120
kilometers into Hunan Province and
has shrunk dramatically because of
labor shortages. Rice farming has
been abandoned or has shifted from
two crops to one crop per year in
provinces such as Zhejiang, Anhui,
and Jiangsu. Double cropping is
declining everywhere in China,
but it is increasingly concentrated
in Hunan, Jiangxi, Guangxi, and
Guangdong, which now accounts
for 83% of double-cropped area
(compared with 61% in 1979).
In India, the area for both wet
and dry seasons is increasing. The
wet-season crop (kharif) has moved to
the northwest by some 180 kilometers
over 50 years and has increased
slightly. Although area in the far
south (Tamil Nadu and Kerala) is
declining, large areas in the northern
states of Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar
Pradesh are expanding. Some of this is
due to increased irrigation investment
in the north, and may also be due
to warmer temperatures pushing
the rice area slowly northward. The
smaller rabi-season crop has grown
massively because of irrigation
expansion (especially groundwater
Shifts in the center of rice area in China from 1981
to 2010 for annual (red), single-cropped (blue),
and double-cropped rice (green).
Rice Today October-December 2014
irrigation in West Bengal) and has
raced in a northeasterly direction by
around 530 kilometers from Andhra
Pradesh into Odisha.
The trends in China are likely to
continue as the underlying drivers
of economic growth and perhaps
climate change continue. In India, the
trends may change because of water
shortages in the north and increased
investment in eastern India.
These maps show that rice
farmers are very dynamic and
they readily adapt to changing
technological, economic, and climatic
Ms. Villano is a researcher at IRRI's GIS
laboratory and Dr. Nelson is geographer
and the head of the GIS laboratory. Mr.
Johnson is geographer at the University of
Bristol. Dr. Dawe is senior economist at
the Food and Agriculture Organization in
Bangkok, Thailand.
Shifts in the center of rice area in India
from 1962 to 2010 for annual (red),
rabi-season (blue) and kharif-season
rice (green).
Rice Today October-December 2014
Reassessing Japan's
development assistance
by Keijiro Otsuka
A development economist calls for a strategic approach for Japan's official development assistance,
with emphasis on developing human capital
Japan and Asia's Green Revolution
Japan can take pride that its official
development assistance (ODA) played
a key role in all of the above success
stories. A case that I am quite familiar
with is Asia's Green Revolution.
As of the 1960s, food production
in tropical Asia was increasing much
slower than population. The room to
expand cultivation areas was less and
farm productivity was not improving
significantly. It was feared that major
food shortages would occur. But, this
was averted by the development of
new, higher-yielding rice varieties
by the International Rice Research
Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines.
These varieties were supported by
investment in irrigation.
Japanese researchers, such as
physiologist Akira Tanaka, played
a key role at IRRI as it set the stage
for the start of the Green Revolution.
From the 1970s to 2000, the yield
per unit area of rice in tropical Asia
approximately doubled, and total
rice production roughly tripled.
Thus, the warning of the danger of
famine in Asia stopped. The Japanese
government provided generous
financial support for IRRI's research
and training of its personnel. Japan
also joined the Asian Development
Bank in supporting investment in
irrigation. This is another example
of Japan's ODA producing a gamechanging advance. Only a few people
are aware of this.
Japanese development assistance
has produced other major advances
in Asia and elsewhere. But, the
track record of Japan's ODA is less
known—even to people like me, a
specialist in development economics.
Although the details await further
study, my assessment is that Japan's
aid program has contributed to
industrial development in many
countries through this combined
focus on people and infrastructure.
The need for effective strategies
Japan's ODA officers tend to think
that the aid programs aim only to
promote industrial development
in developing countries through
financial assistance. This view is
not terribly wrong, but somewhat
hat country is a major
salmon producer and
exporter to Japan? The
answer is Chile. And
what country, also in the Southern
Hemisphere, grows large amounts of
soybeans? Brazil.
But, 40 or 50 years ago, Chile
did not produce a single salmon and
Brazil was not a major producer of
soybeans. So, who started raising
salmon in Chile and who started
growing soybeans in Brazil's cerrado,
a vast savanna thought to be barren?
The Japanese people and the Japan
International Cooperation Agency
(JICA) are the answer. These accomplishments, however, are less known
in Japan and elsewhere. The World
Bank often refers to Chile's salmon
and Brazil's soybean production as
success stories, but it shows no sign of
recognizing Japan's contributions.1
Another question: Why is it that
Thailand has become a major manufacturer of automobiles, to the point
that it has been dubbed the "Detroit
of the East"? What made this possible was guidance from the Japanese,
including their companies in the auto
industry. Another major hub of car
manufacturing is the Pearl River Delta
area of southern China. Also, this has
input from Japan, namely, training of
the personnel required by carmakers.
AKIRA TANAKA (left), head of IRRI's Plant Physiology
Department (1962-66), confers with the Institute's
first breeder Peter Jennings during the early 1960s.
Dr. Tanaka contributed to the development of IR8,
the "miracle" variety that jump started the Green
Revolution in rice.
The JICA Research Institute has published a pair of interesting works concerning these two cases: Hosono Akio, Nanbei Chiri o sake no yushutsukoku ni kaeta Nihonjintachi
(The Japanese Who Turned Chile into a Salmon Exporter) (2010), and Hongō Yutaka and Hosono Akio, Burajiru no fumō no daichi 'serādo' kaihatsu no kiseki (The Miracle of
Development of Brazil's Vast, Barren Cerrado Savanna) (2012).
Rice Today October-December 2014
People first
The first priority should be human
resource development. In manufacturing, this means training of executives. No amount of fine equipment
and good infrastructure will help
a company grow unless its chief
executive knows about management
and technology. Recent research has
shown that executives in developing
countries tend to lack management
know-how and this is preventing
their companies from developing.
Advanced countries have stocks of
from countries that
are part of the JICAsupported Coalition
for African Rice
Development have
attended 16-week
training courses on
rice farming at IRRI
and other locations
in the Philippines.
They then returned to
their home countries
to pass on their
new knowledge to
At present, nowhere in the
international community of aid
donors can one find a consensus
on the strategies that can promote
development and reduce poverty in
developing countries. Aid without
a strategy is unlikely to produce
successful outcomes. It is like kicking
a ball blindly toward a goal. What is
needed is to set effective strategies.
This should be an important goal of
ODA. Although Japan's assistance
has been effective, evidence-based
results have not been collected yet.
Therefore, Japan's ODA has not been
a source of examples for other donor
countries to learn from.
People have been calling for
the reduction of poverty for years,
but the discussion of development
strategies has failed to achieve much
progress on this. The only points of
consensus are that, (1) in order to
reduce poverty, jobs for poor people
must be created; and (2) to create such
jobs, agriculture and manufacturing
must be developed through new
The theme of the World Bank's
2013 World Development Report
was "jobs," but the soon-to-bepublished 2016 edition will focus on
"the Internet and development." The
World Bank is presumably sketching
a scenario in which IT innovation
leads to industrial development, thus
creating jobs and thereby reducing
poverty. To make this happen,
however, to have strategies to spark
innovation is necessary.
superior technologies and knowledge
about management. Executives in
developing countries should tap into
these intellectual resources.
My colleague Sonobe Tetsushi
and I are currently working with
JICA and the World Bank on a
project in Africa—testing the
effectiveness of kaizen, a Japanese
management technique of
pursuing continuous incremental
improvement. So far, the results look
good. Infrastructure improvements
and loans produce more positive
results after corporate management
has become more efficient. This is
particularly effective in supporting
up-and-coming companies by
constructing plants in industrial
zones. This is our idea of a
good development strategy for
This can also be applied to agriculture. The key, as well, is human
resources, which means researchers
and extension agents to spread new
technologies. Farming technologies
depend on climate and local conditions, so they cannot simply be imported from other countries. Applied
research is needed to adjust advanced
technologies from elsewhere to work
under local conditions. Surprisingly,
in rice growing, Asian technologies
can be used in Africa without modification. So, a Green Revolution for
rice in Africa is possible even without
applied research.
In 2008, I was able to persuade
JICA to organize an initiative called
the Coalition for African Rice
Development, which aimed to double
rice production in Africa in 10 years.
Unfortunately, funding was lacking
to train extension agents, and it is
not clear whether the initiative can
double production by 2018. But, if the
training of agents progresses, the new
technologies will start to spread. So,
investing in irrigation, as well as in
transportation and communications,
will make infrastructure for
enhanced marketing more profitable.
As with manufacturing, investment
that is timed in this way is sure to
result in higher productivity for
agriculture. These are my ideas
for a development strategy in the
agricultural sector.
These strategies do not conflict
basically with the thinking Japan
has adopted up to now in its ODA.
The next step is to improve the
development strategies through
joint efforts by JICA, private
companies, and researchers, to test
the effectiveness of these strategies,
and to advertise them globally as
useful development models. If this
can be done, it will surely greatly
enhance other countries' assessments
of Japan's ODA.
Dr. Otsuka, former chair of IRRI's board
of trustees (2004-07), is a professor at the
National Graduate Institute for Policy
Studies in Tokyo, Japan.
Reprinted with permission from nippon.
com (www.nippon.com).
Otsuka K. 2014. Naze mazushii kuni wa naku naranai no ka (Why Do Poor Countries Persist?) (Tokyo: Nikkei).
Rice Today October-December 2014
Scientists at the International
Center for Tropical Agriculture
(CIAT) are crunching big data to
avoid great economic losses for
rice growers
CIAT's award-winning data crunchers:
(From left – above) María Camila Rebolledo, Daniel Jiménez,
Víctor Hugo Patiño, Juan Felipe Rodríguez.
(From left – below) Hugo Andrés Dorado, Sylvain Delerce.
big data
for climate
by Nathan Russell
Rice Today October-December 2014
GIAR scientists wielding
big data tools to blunt the
impacts of climate change
on Latin America's rice
production have been named one of
two winners of the Big Data Climate
Challenge at the recent United
Nations Climate Summit held in New
York City, U.S.A. The other winner
was the World Resource Institute's
Global Forest Watch.
The challenge was launched
in May by the Global Pulse—a UN
initiative created to harness big data,
as a public good, for sustainable
development—together with the
Secretary-General's Climate Change
Team. The initiative aims to "address
climate change by sourcing the best
ideas in the world to strengthen the
case for climate action."
Making agroecosystems more
resilient in the face of climate change
was also a key theme of the CGIAR
Development Dialogues, which took
place alongside UN deliberations
on climate change and on the
Sustainable Development Goals.
From analysis to action
Climate action is what Colombian
rice farmers desperately need, as
seemingly crazy weather—subtle
shifts in rainfall plus more extreme
climate events—forces them to toss
aside familiar assumptions on when
and what to plant. In the last 5 years,
emerging climate change impacts
have already driven down yields of
irrigated rice from an average of 6
tons per hectare to 5 tons, according
to FEDEARROZ, the national rice
growers association.
At stake is the ability of
Colombia's rice sector to remain
competitive—catering to its own
consumers while also trying to
generate export earnings—under the
country's new trade liberalization
policies. Climate change also poses
a broader threat to Latin America's
ability to reap its enormous potential
as an export-centered granary for the
rapidly growing global population.
To attack the immediate problem
faced by Colombian rice growers,
scientists at CIAT analyzed mounds
of data in close collaboration with
FEDEARROZ. The association
conducts an annual rice survey,
maintains a harvest monitoring
dataset, and recently carried out
experiments on rice sowing date.
Researchers also tapped into
streams of weather data collected
by FEDEARROZ and the Colombian
Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology,
and Environmental Studies.
Then came the fun part for
geeky data crunchers: using various
data-mining techniques (with names
such as "artificial neural network"
and "dynamic time warp"), they
analyzed all these data and came up
with some pretty straightforward
"Through a case study, we
observed that the big climate factor
limiting yields in some areas is
accumulated solar energy during
the grain ripening phase," said
CIAT researcher Daniel Jiménez.
"To ensure that crops get optimum
radiation, farmers can shift the
sowing date, and to further reduce
yield losses, they can adopt rice
varieties that are less sensitive to the
amount of radiation received."
This finding coincides with
the results of many years of field
research. But the difference is that
the big data reached this conclusion
in just one year and offers the
possibility of linking it with climate
data analysis to provide farmers
with timely and site-specific
Putting big data to work
The approach seems to be working.
"Your analysis was very helpful for
discussing possible climate change
impacts with the farmers; we were
able to avoid big economic losses
for about 170 rice growers on 1,800
hectares," said Patricia Guzmán,
who leads FEDEARROZ's technical
department, in an email reporting on
field testing of the recommendations
in Colombia's Córdoba Department.
In another case study, the
analysis of historical weather data
revealed that a diverse set of distinct
climate patterns occurring over the
years in Meta Department, a major
upland rice area, is clearly associated
with growing conditions that are
favorable or not for production. This
means that, based on seasonal climate
forecasts made with advanced
simulation tools, researchers can give
farmers reliable recommendations
about the appropriate planting date
and rice variety months in advance,
helping them to avoid losses of
1–2 tons per hectare, Dr. Jiménez
He and Sylvain Delerce, an award
co-winner, are part of CIAT's crop
and climate modeling team.Their
work on rice forms part of a major
initiative on climate change, carried
out by CIAT in partnership with
Colombia's Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Development, which
generously supports the work.
The sky's the limit
The scope of the big data approach
seems limitless: "As we get
more and more data, we'll soon
be able to develop site-specific
recommendations for every riceproducing area in Colombia," said
Dr. Jiménez. This information should
also prove valuable for rice breeders,
better enabling them to develop new
lines that are adapted to a changing
Further research will incorporate
data on soils and other factors
into the new tools to increase their
explanatory power. CIAT researchers
will also work with the Fund for
Irrigated Rice in Latin America
(FLAR) to scale up the approach with
rice growers associations in other
countries, starting with Nicaragua
and Peru.
The organizers of the Big Data
Climate Challenge referred to
the CGIAR work as a "uniquely
innovative project that uses big data
to drive climate action."
"Climate change obligates us to
manage our food systems in a more
dynamic way, and big data offers
the most effective way to achieve
this," said award co-winner Andy
Jarvis, who is director of CIAT's
Policy Analysis (DAPA) Research
Area. "Like the hoe and spade,
these new tools are becoming
crucial implements for global food
Mr. Russell is the head of Communications
and Knowledge Management at CIAT.
Rice Today October-December 2014
Women rising
Rice facts
by Samarendu Mohanty and Humnath Bhandari
Asian rice farming at a
n Asia, women are an
indispensable part of rice
farming. Their roles are
somewhat dictated by farming
practices and sociocultural norms
across countries. In general, women
are primarily involved in establishing
the crop, harvesting, and doing
postharvesting activities while men
take the lead in preparing the land,
managing the crop, operating farm
machines, and marketing (Table).
In Bangladesh, however, women's
involvement in rice farming is
minimal. It is limited to postharvest
activities mainly because of their
religious and cultural practices.
Women traditionally are in charge of
household affairs and are discouraged
from working outside their homes.
On average, Asian women
contribute nearly half of the total
labor input into rice production
ranging from 17% in the Philippines
Rice Today October-December 2014
to 74% in the Indian state of Uttar
Pradesh (Fig. 1).
More importantly, the traditional
role of women in rice farming
is rapidly changing. They are
going from farm laborers to farm
managers and owners because of
the outmigration of male farmers
to urban areas in search of better
economic opportunities. This is
reflected in the rise of women
farm landholders across Asia, with
striking increases in Nepal and
Thailand in the past two decades.
Percentage share of female and male labor inputs by rice production activities in selected Asian
countries (2008-10).
Crop care
Harvesting &
Sri Lanka
India (Assam)
of the pack is Bangladesh where
women account for only 5% of
agricultural holdings.
The role of women in rice
farming in Asia will continue to
change as the out migration of
males accelerates in the future.
This warrants crafting policies
and programs that will strengthen
women's access to resources and
services. The providers of rice
technologies, including equipment
and machinery, need to be sensitized
to women's needs.
Dr. Mohanty is the head of the Social
Sciences Division (SSD) and program
leader (targeting and policy) at the
International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI). Dr. Bhandari, who is based
in the IRRI Bangladesh Office, is an
agricultural economist in SSD.
Source: IRRI farm household survey database.
In Nepal, the share of agricultural
holdings by women made an 11-point
jump from 8 to 19% between 2001 and
2011. Similarly, Thailand witnessed
a big jump in women's agricultural
holdings from 15 to 27% between
1993 and 2003. Steady, but small
increases in agricultural holdings by
women have been recorded in both
Bangladesh and India in the past
two decades with an increase from
3.5 to 4.6% between 1996 and 2006
in Bangladesh, and an increase from
10 to 13% between 1995 and 2010 in
At the same time, in many
Southeast Asian countries such
as Thailand, Vietnam, and the
Philippines, the labor input of
women into rice farming has been
on the decline because of the
outmigration of rural women and
mechanization of rice farming. In
the past two decades, their share in
rice farm labor in these countries has
decreased by at least 10 percentage
points. This declining trend has not
been witnessed in South Asia; but,
it will not be long before this trend
will be evident in the region.
Despite many positive trends
in rice farming, the share of
agricultural holdings by women is
still very low at less than 20% for
most Asian rice economies, except
for Thailand (Fig. 2). In many other
Southeast Asian countries, such
as Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Laos, and the Philippines, the
share of women farm landholders
is surprisingly low. At the bottom
Philippines South Bangladesh Odisha
Assam Tamil Nadu Uttar
(India) Pradesh
Fig. 1. Female-male labor input in rice production (2004-10).
Source: IRRI farm household survey database.
Myanmar Philippines Thailand
Vietnam Bangladesh
Fig. 2. Share of agricultural landholdings by gender.
Source: Gender and land rights database, FAO.
Rice Today October-December 2014
a solid foundation for
the next generation
of rice researchers
by Gene Hettel
Asia Rice Foundation USA is making students aware of the unique opportunities
in rice research
of different rice cultures, and value
rice-growing land as a precious
resource to be shared with future
generations. Over the last 15 years,
its membership has grown to include
some who are retired in the U.S.
and others who are still working at
universities and organizations there.
The heart-blood of rice research
and production
Dr. Freed worked as a rice breeder at
IRRI in the 1970s, living in Sri Lanka,
Indonesia, and the Philippines, before
coming to MSU in 1980. "My 8 years
with IRRI were some of the most
exciting ones of my career—and life!"
he stated. "Even after being away for
34 years, I consider myself a part of
the IRRI family. Living in Michigan,
my kids spell it E-R-I-E (referring to
one of the nearby Great Lakes), but I
spell it I-R-R-I," he winked. "IRRI is
the heart-blood of rice research and
rice production around the world."
Many other U.S.-based IRRI
alumni, who have the same
sentiment, make up quite an
impressive list of ARFUSA trustee
or council members. These include,
among others, World Food Prize
Laureate Gurdev Khush, currently
adjunct professor at the University of
California, Davis; Jim Hill, associate
dean for international programs
and extension agronomist for rice
at U.C. Davis; Susan McCouch,
professor of plant breeding and
genetics at Cornell University; Ronnie
Coffman, international professor
of plant breeding and genetics and
director of international programs
at Cornell; and David Mackill,
leader of the IRRI research team that
y ARFUSA
experience was
extremely enriching
for me as I continue
with my PhD research on the gender
dimensions of land reform in Cambodia.
It not only provided me with resources to
undertake an extended period of research,
but also connected me with a whole new
network of wonderful Cambodian and
international scholars."
Testimonials such as this one
coming from Alice Beban, a PhD
candidate in the Department of
Development Sociology at Cornell
University in Ithaca, New York,
bring a smile to the face of Russell
Freed, board chair of the Asia Rice
Foundation USA (ARFUSA).
"I think 'mission accomplished'
whenever I get one of these messages
in my email inbox," said Dr. Freed,
whose day job is professor of
international agronomy at Michigan
State University (MSU) in East
ARFUSA is made up of a group
of mainly former staff members of the
International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI) who have worked and lived
in countries where rice is vital for
food and earning a livelihood. The
most active country chapter under
the umbrella of the parent Asia Rice
Foundation (based in Los Baños,
Philippines), ARFUSA was founded
in July 1999 at Cornell University
by a small cadre of U.S.-based IRRI
The Foundation aims to
contribute toward a world that can
feed itself, treasure the rich heritage
CORNELL PHD candidate Alice Beban (left) used her
ARFUSA travel grant to enhance her field research
in Cambodia. Here, she interviews a Cambodian
farm family about their land security.
Rice Today October-December 2014
discovered the now-famous SUB1
flood-tolerance gene in rice and
currently rice specialist with the U.S.based MARS, Inc.
"Like the SUB1 flood-tolerance
research, there is much other
tremendously exciting work involving
rice," said Dr. Mackill, vice chair of
the ARFUSA board of trustees. "I
think that, once students attending
U.S. colleges and universities realize
this and how critically important rice
is to world food security and food
production, they will become more
and more excited about it and want to
be involved."
And that has been ARFUSA's
main goal since its inception—encouraging the next generation of rice scientists by making students aware of the
unique opportunities in rice research
and helping young U.S.-based scholars
of any nationality to obtain some firsthand knowledge through its Travel
and Study Grants Program.
One scholar's experience
A case in point is the experience of
Ms. Beban, one of ARFUSA's 2013
grant winners who recently reported
her progress to Dr. Freed. "The
ARFUSA travel grant has enabled
me to go to Cambodia and conduct
substantial fieldwork," she said. "It
allowed me to expand my research
in exciting ways that I hope will be
beneficial for Cambodian farmers and
the organizations that support them."
Ms. Beban, who hails from Levin,
New Zealand, is trying to better
understand how land reform affects
livelihood strategies and household
power relations of Cambodian
rice farmers. "My PhD research is
examining this land reform and
ARFUSA TRUSTEES (from left) Russell Freed, David Mackill,
and Robert Zeigler discuss the Foundation's critical role of
encouraging and supporting young rice researchers.
the roles it plays in contemporary
Cambodian politics, society, and
ecology," she says. "I had a chance to
explore this issue with my ARFUSA
award. I spent my time mostly in
the 'rice bowl' region of Kampong
Ch'hang, an area emblematic of
national land use tensions between
corporate agriculture and small-scale
rice production.
"I conducted more than 80
semi-structured interviews and used
ethnographic methods to gain the
perspectives of government officials
at both central and local government
levels," she pointed out. "I also got
varied perspectives from people in
communities where land titles were
given out, as well as the views of
the organizations working on land
Her initial findings suggest
that land titling is equated with
land security in the policies of the
Cambodian government and donor
agencies, but a title is just one vital
part of land security. "I believe my
data show that focusing only on the
technical aspects of land registration,
rather than the social aspects of
land security, is not sufficient to
enable rice-farming families to enjoy
sustainable livelihoods from their
farms," Ms. Beban said.
She suggested that some
important social factors should
be considered. These include
recognizing elite capture [where
resources transferred for the benefit
of the many are usurped by the
"superior" few] and gender bias in
land reform, and the strengthening of
networks within communities.
According to Robert Zeigler, IRRI
director general, ARFUSA can greatly
Rice Today October-December 2014
expand its youth development efforts
for international rice research. He
believes the Foundation can do more
than assist just a few students each
year such as Ms. Beban and other
recent grant winners.
Getting on the rice research
"It is critical that we 'grow' the overall
international rice research community
and ARFUSA can and should promote
the involvement of U.S. universities
in such research," said Dr. Zeigler.
In fact, he is so fervent about what
ARFUSA's role can be in this arena
that, even as busy as he is as IRRI's
director general, he agreed to serve as
an ARFUSA trustee and attended the
15th annual meeting of the ARFUSA
trustees and council members last July
at U.C. Davis.
Dr. Zeigler told the ARFUSA
trustees that, when we think about
dealing with all the challenges facing
agriculture in the future such as
assuring food security for 9 billion
people on this planet in 2050 with the
specter of climate change dogging us
all the way, rice has to be part of any
solution equation.
He concluded, "ARFUSA is all
about fomenting a large number of
U.S. university faculty and students
to get on the rice research bandwagon
to work directly with IRRI,
AfricaRice, and other international
and national organizations."
Mr. Hettel is the editor-in-chief of
Rice Today and executive director of
ARFUSA. For more information about
ARFUSA Travel and Study Grants, see
the announcement on page 46 and go to
Rice Today October-December 2014
Grain of truth
Policy choices in East
and Southeast Asia
by David Dawe, Steven Jaffee, and Nuno Santos
uring the past few decades,
Asia has experienced a period
of rapid economic growth
that benefited many farmers
and consumers. In fact, the decline
in poverty has been historically
unprecedented in human history. The
resulting changes in demographics,
eating patterns, and overall economic
and agrarian structures will
increasingly shape the Asian rice
In light of these changes, the
World Bank, the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO),
and the International Rice Research
Institute (IRRI) joined together to
work with other researchers and
institutions in East and Southeast
Asia to review a range of existing
research that analyzes policies that
affect the region's rice sector. The
researchers then synthesized the
results into short policy notes that
are easier to digest by government
policymakers, donor organizations,
NGOs, and other interested
A range of key issues needs
to be examined. For example, rice
consumption is growing less rapidly
than the consumption of other foods
such as fruits, vegetables, meat, and
fish. Asian production systems will
need to evolve to meet this demand.
Policies that encourage farmers to
remain dedicated to rice farming—
including land-use restrictions, input
subsidies, irrigation system design,
and international trade policies—are
becoming obsolete and may make
Asia depend heavily on imports for
a range of higher-value foods. The
policies also impede better nutrition,
as healthy diets rely on people eating
a wide variety of foods.
Rice price stability is still
important for many Asian countries.
Yet, with the declining share of
rice in household spending, even
among the poor, the benefits of price
stabilization are less than they were
in the past. Thus, it will help much
if we can design more cost-effective
mechanisms to make rice prices
stable and protect the poor from rice
price shocks. Targeted social safety
nets may be an option to help the
hard-core poor, including those who
don't grow rice, cope with volatile
food prices.
Environmental concerns are
becoming more important, both in
the eyes of consumers and in the
context of greater competition for
available land and water. Yet, some
traditional policy instruments (e.g.,
fertilizer subsidies, water subsidies,
and a lack of pesticide taxes) make it
difficult to reduce the environmental
footprint of rice and meet consumer
expectations in this regard.
Pressure is increasing to support
farm income with higher prices. A
case in point is the paddy pledging
policy in Thailand. This policy
was very costly, however, and was
ultimately unsuccessful in raising
prices for farmers. Investments
in public goods (e.g., agricultural
research, rural access roads) tend to
have more sustainable and broadly
distributed results than paddy
or input subsidies. For many rice
farmers now, a better path to higher
income may come from diversifying
crops and earning money from
nonfarm activities.
In today's global economy,
increased knowledge is becoming
critical for competitiveness and
poverty reduction. Extension systems,
both public and private, need to
evolve in order to equip farmers
with the knowledge they need.
Governments need to intervene in
Rice Today October-December 2014
more innovative ways that mobilize
the private sector, especially, but not
only, in the area of postproduction.
Information and communication
technology can be used more to meet
farmer demand for knowledge and
Although rice research in the
past has primarily benefited farmers
with irrigated or well-watered land,
new technological developments are
already transforming the lives of
farmers who live in areas with poorquality land that are prone to floods
and drought. Future breakthroughs
to deal with climate change and help
eradicate poverty will materialize
only if agricultural research and
development receives continued
support from donors.
Trade in rice is important in Asia,
both as a commercial activity and
in balancing domestic supply and
demand. For net importers, efforts
to achieve self-sufficiency through
trade restrictions can have high
costs, in terms of harming consumers
and overall agricultural sector
growth. Supplementing the region's
traditional rice exporters are several
emergent players with significant
ambitions. Meeting these ambitions
will require very significant
investments, by both the public and
the private sector, and a consistent set
of supportive policies.
Dr. Dawe is a senior economist at FAO.
Dr. Jaffee is a lead rural development
specialist at the World Bank. Dr. Santos
is an economist at FAO. They have put
together a compendium of 18 policy
notes titled Rice in the Shadow of
Skyscrapers: Policy Choices in a
Dynamic East and Southeast Asian
Setting. See the Books section on page 8
for more information.
Rice Today October-December 2014