Bill Gates calls for new Green Revolution in agriculture
More than 50 years ago, U.S. philanthropy funded the first Green
Revolution to grow more food for the world, but with a billion
people going hungry today, the job is hardly complete. Now, Bill Gates, the
world's richest philanthropist, is backing a new Green Revolution.
His Foundation has infused much-needed energy and $1.4 billion of
funding into agricultural development in Africa and South Asia over
the past 3 years.
During the
Borlaug Dialogue as part of the
2009 World Food Prize ceremonies, he talked about
IRRI's flood-tolerant rice in Bangladesh and India at 10:34 into his
speech excerpts in the video: "Of course, for small farmers, too
much water can be just as devastating as too little. To support
farmers in flood-prone areas—and there are millions of them in
India and Bangladesh—we are helping develop a rice variety that can
survive under water for 2 weeks. Crop breeders have long known
about a variety of Indian rice that can tolerate submergence.... The
breeders developed a new rice variety, calledSwarna
Sub 1, and
tested it in Bangladesh. A short time after planting, the floods
came. When the waters receded, only 10 percent of the regular rice
crop was left, but the Sub1 rice flourished—95 percent of it
survived."
Access to video of Gates Speech |
Story
in Seattle Times |
Additional media coverage
IRRI at the 5th UN-APCAEM technical committee and expert group meeting
The United Nations Asian and Pacific Center for Agricultural Engineering Machinery (UN-APCAEM) held its 5th Technical Committee (TC) and Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on 14-16 October at the Splash Mountain Resort in Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines.
The theme of the TC meeting was on environmentally efficient machinery for sustainable agriculture in Asia and the Pacific, while the EGM focused on the establishment of an effective regional mechanism to promote “green agricultural machinery.” Read full story
Moni Escalada honored by UPLB as distinguished alumna in R&D
Monina Escalada received the Distinguished Alumna in Research and Development award from the College of Development Communication Alumni Association of the University of the Philippines (UPLB) during its 91st Loyalty Day celebrations on 9 October. This year is UPLB's centennial.
Dr. Escalada was recognized for actively spreading the art, science, and practice of development communication in Southeast Asia through her participatory research and extension projects; advocacy, consultancy, and training activities; internationally awarded publications; and highly informative Devcom Web site.
The farmers’ participatory research on pest management that she spearheaded in Vietnam spread throughout Asia and received various international awards from the U.S. and UK for best agricultural innovation, science communication, and environmental achievement.
Dr. Escalada was an international research fellow at IRRI in 2002-06 and has been a research collaborator of IRRI for the past 20 years. Her expertise in communication has helped IRRI researchers develop media programs that have reached millions of rice farmers in Vietnam, the Philippines, and Thailand. These programs have won several awards, including the St. Andrews Prize for the Environment, the World Bank Development Marketplace Award, the COM Plus Communications Award, and the Global Development Award.
Flor Palis honored by UPLB as distinguished alumna in extension
Florencia Palis, agricultural anthropologist at SSD, received the 2009 Distinguished Alumna in Extension Award from the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) on 9 October.
Dr. Palis received her BS and MS degrees in statistics from UPLB, which celebrated its centennial this year. The awarding was held during the 91st Loyalty Day celebrations at UPLB.
Rice and drought workshop held in Shanghai
An international workshop on rice and drought was organized by IRRI as a satellite event of the 3rd International Conference on Integrated Approaches to Improve Crop Production Under Drought-Prone Environments (InterDrought-III) held on 11-16 October in Shanghai, China.
Given the strategic importance of future research on water scarcity and rice in Asia and globally, a 1-day satellite event was organized by IRRI to discuss recent research breakthroughs and future prospects of drought-resistance frontiers in rice. The main purpose of the Rice & Drought satellite workshop was information sharing and coordination of the research activities of various ongoing projects on drought resistance in rice (IRRI-Drought Frontier Project, BMGF-STRASA, GCP, SGR, etc.). Read full story | InterDrought-III Web site
CRIL holds 2nd data management course for nonresearch staff
CRIL conducted its second offering of the General Data Management Course for nonresearch staff, held at the IT Learning Center on 13-15 October.
Eighteen participants from PMMS, FPR, IPMO, FOP, CPS, PPC, TC, ITS, and DGO finished the course. Participants learned to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of data flow from data capture to data visualization.
The problem-oriented course covers file management, organizing data in spreadsheets, managing data in a database, and a data visualization tool. It aims to drastically reduce interactive and manual (cut-and-paste) data manipulation.
The course was conducted by Thomas Metz and Emmali Manalo (CRIL), with assistance from IT Services.
IRRI staff members attend rice harvest in northwest Bangladesh
Florencia Palis, Catalina Diaz, and Arelene Julia Malabayabas—staff from SSD and the Irrigated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC)—attended a harvesting ceremony of early-maturing variety BRRI dhan 33 in Nilphamari, Bangladesh, on 2 October.
The ceremony was organized by M.A. Mazid of the IRRI-CIMMYT CSISA project and M.A. Jalil Mridha of the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) in Rangpur, in collaboration with the Research Initiative Bangladesh. Before he joined the CSISA project, Dr. Mazid was the director of BRRI Rangpur and he has been a long-time partner of the IRRC Labor Productivity and Community Ecology Work Group under the leadership of David Johnson, who is also coordinator for the Consortium for Unfavorable Rice Environments (CURE). Read full story
IRRC Phase IV Steering Committee meets
The Irrigated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC) held its first Phase IV (2009-12) Steering Committee (SC) meeting on 12-15 October in Yangon, Myanmar. The high-profile meeting was attended by more than 70 participants from IRRI, the Myanma Agriculture Service (MAS), IRRC SC members, donor representatives, the Department of Agricultural Research (DAR), Yezin Agriculture University (YAU), Agricultural Mechanization Department, FAO, UNDP, and the private sector.
On 12 October, IRRC work group leaders and Myanmar collaborators discussed the progress of the IRRC country outreach program in Myanmar and explored future linkages with DAR, YAU, and the private sector.
His Excellency U Ohn Myint, deputy minister of the Myanmar Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, gave the opening remarks on 13 October, followed by a message from Carmen Thoennissen of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and Achim Dobermann, IRRI DDG-R. Read full story
Typhoon Ondoy (international name Ketsana) aftermath
CERS drive for Ondoy victims continues
CERS will continue to accept donations of food, blankets, boots, and bottled water. There was also a request for used IRRI boots and those who have pairs to spare are requested to contact CERS. These are much-needed items in the evacuation centers and in barangays that remain under water.
Those who wish to make a donation from abroad may send it to IRRI's HSBC-Collyer Quay, Singapore Branch account number 260-659263-178. Donors must indicate "IRRI CERS-Donation for Typhoon Ondoy" as invoice title. For queries, kindly send an email to Chat Ocampo.
View news and features of the past week and earlier about rice from Web sites worldwide. The story database containing more than 4,550 articles is now searchable going back to 4 August 2005 and has been improved with new useful categories and organization. Give it a try!
Click here
to access a listing of more than 280 newspaper and magazine articles and features, audio and video clips, and external Web sites over the past year, which feature IRRI staff and rice research.
The IRRI India Office (IIO) would like to inform us of the latest at their end in their July-September 2009 report, which includes news, national level appointments, IRRI staff and VIPs who visited, IIO staff who travelled to the Philippines and other countries, status of new hires, new staff, new LOAs and MOAs, and administrative and finance matters. Brief reports on the visits of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a team from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are also included. View report
seminars
CESD Seminar | Tuesday, 20 October, 1:15-2:15 P.M., D.L. Umali Laboratory Room A Increasing rice productivity in South and Southeast Sulawesi:
working with farmers through adaptive management
By Madonna Casimero and Grant Singleton of the Irrigated Rice Research Consortium, IRRI
Indonesia is the third largest rice producer in Southeast Asia. It has an annual average production of 51 M mt in the last 15 years from a harvest area of 12 M ha. However, it has the highest population of 234 million with an annual growth rate of 1.4%. The per capita consumption of rice of Indonesians is 142 kg/year. The country’s production cannot keep pace with the demand of its increasing population. Thus, the country launched its national rice production program, Rice Production Increase Program or P2BN. The strategy adopted in the P2BN is to lift domestic rice production by raising productivity in provinces where production has stagnated, including South and Southeast Sulawesi.
South Sulawesi is the fourth largest rice growing province while Southeast Sulawesi has a high potential of increasing production. Average rice yields in these two province range from 2 to 3 t/ha, way below the national average of 4.6 t/ha. To increase rice production in these two provinces, we focus on generating sustainable, profitable productivity improvements in the irrigated rice-based farming systems by enabling farmers to improve their current rice farming practices. The target is to increase rice yields of smallholder farmers by an average of 10%. We also aim to develop pathways to support wider uptake of crop management technologies. The project adopts a participatory approach in working with the farmer groups in the communities.
The adaptive management process being implemented, the field research and capacity enhancement activities, and the results obtained during the first year of project implementation will be discussed.
PBGB Seminar | Wednesday, 21 October, 2 P.M., D.L. Umali Laboratory Room A Allergenicity assessment in transgenic plants
By Norman Oliva, assistant scientist, IRRI
Thursday Seminar | Thursday, 22 0ctober, 1:15-2:15 P.M., Havener Auditorium Climate change, agriculture, and food security: impacts and costs of adaptation
By Gerald Nelson, senior research fellow, Environment and Production Technology Division, IFPRI
Gerald (Jerry) Nelson was the Agricultural Development Council representative at UPLB from 1982 to 1985 when he joined the faculty of the agricultural economics department at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. After a 23 year career at Illinois he moved to IFPRI where he is a senior research fellow and coordinated IFPRI’s climate change research. He is the lead author of a recently released Food Policy Report called “Climate Change: Impact on Agriculture and Costs of Adaptation. “ The report finds the human cost of unchecked climate change includes an increase in the number of malnourished children of 20 percent by 2050 and the research productivity investments needed to reverse the negative effects are over $7 billion annually.
The women bowlers of the Blue Team successfully defended their ladies bowling crown against the Yellow Team for the fourth straight time. They scored 735 pinfalls to Yellow’s 708. In photo are members of the team: (L-R), Vi Ramos, Miriam Telosa, Emy Ballesfin, Irene Escoses, Lumen Oleta, Lily Aquino, and Janet Lazarte. Not in photo is Menchu Bernardo. Miriam Telosa is team coordinator.
Yellow Team retains the men’s bowling crown
The Yellow Team successfully retained their men’s bowling crown by beating Blue Team 833 to 755 pinfalls—Yellow's fourth consecutive win. Vit Lopena posted a championship match high when he scored a 2-game average of 116 pinfalls. In photo are (front, L-R) Vic Banasihan, Ruben Abuyo, Vit Lopena, and Rene Pizon; and (back, L-R) Boyet Cura, Ernie Sumague, Jun Ancheta, Caloy Casal, and Tony Evangelista. Ernie Sumague is team coordinator.
Impacts of rodent outbreaks on food security in Asia
26-28 October 2009, IRRI, Los Baños, Philippines
Rodents are major pests in agricultural production. In Asia, rodents cause, on average, annual preharvest losses of 5–10% in rice crops. A loss of 6% is substantial; this is enough rice to feed 225 million people for a year. However, occasional outbreaks of rat populations can lead to severe crop losses, particularly in upland environments where such losses can lead to major food shortages.
There is little documentation of the factors leading to these population
outbreaks, their impacts, and the successes and failures of management
action. This conference would focus on filling up this information void. The impact of ecologically based rodent management on both lowland and upland rice environments in Southeast Asia will also be reviewed. More info
TRT's World Rice Conference 27-29 October 2009, Cebu, The Philippines
The Rice Trader (TRT) is proud to deliver a timely event, the World Rice Conference 2009, TRT's latest offering to the global rice industry at a time when risk can only be better managed by access to the best market intelligence.
Market intelligence is at the heart of this conference. Did anyone predict 2008 and the volatility of 2009? TRT did. Risks will be revealed, along with opportunities! With the global financial crisis, reduced credit availability for trade, an inventory hangover, and buyers' reluctance to stock, will an Indian availability reveal more demand? Questions will be answered and the road to 2010 revealed by a panel of speakers that represent some of the biggest names in the business. Web site
BCPC Congress
9-11 November 2009, Scottish Exhibition & Conference Centre, Glasgow
Despite the global economic crisis, the threats posed by climate change, and increasing pressures from globalization, the crop production industry remains buoyant. An ever-growing population continues to ensure unrepentant strains on food supply around the world, which poses both challenges and opportunities to agriculture and the wider food supply chain.
New crop production techniques, compounds, and products are needed more than ever. Research investment and commercialization continues to challenge the scientific community and this will be one of the main themes of this year's BCPC Congress. News release | Web site
6th International Rice Genetics Symposium
16-19 November 2009, Manila, Philippines
The International Rice Genetics Symposium, now in its 6th version, is one of the world’s biggest and most important rice research conferences. Adding to its scope and significance, this event will be held in conjunction with the 7th International Symposium on Rice Functional Genomics. The 4-day event, under the patronage of HRH Princess Sirindhorn of Thailand, builds on the excitement generated by rapid advances in rice genomics and its potential benefits to food security and the international rice industry. More than 700 top international scientists and researchers from around the world are expected to attend. Web site
IRRI delegation: Those submitting for poster presentation, please use the template (download below) and fill up the additional columns in purple. Submit the completed template to Elma Nicolas on or before 11 September 2009. Template for RG6 IRRI registration and poster submission
United Nations Climate Change Conference
7-18 December 2009, Copenhagen
The COP15 conference is the 15th Conference of the Parties under the United Nations’ Climate Change Convention. The conference will take place in the Bella Center in Copenhagen. Web site
20 October: 2002, EPPD Head Tom Mew wins the Friendship Prize 2002 awarded by the Jiangsu Provincial Government for his contribution to rice protection and production in China.
21 October: 2008, at a meeting of the 10-nationAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, ministers of agriculture unanimously endorses the seven-point action plan presented by IRRI Development Director Duncan Macintosh. ASEAN includes two of the world’s largest rice exporters, Thailand and Vietnam, and several importing nations as well; Rice Today magazine—the voice of rice—becomes even stronger with a new partnership announced in Thailand between IRRI and The Rice Trader, Inc. (TRT), publisher of the world’s premier publication on rice trade issues.
22 October: 1998, IRRI is awarded a Silver award in the region’s first Asian Innovation Awardsconducted by The Far Eastern Economic Review; 2000, IRRI hosts and kicks off the 5-day 4th International Rice Genetics Symposium (Rice Genetics IV) with more than 500 participants from 28 countries, the largest meeting ever held at headquarters.
23 October: 2001, IRRI soil scientist Roland Buresh is selected as a Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) and IRRI plant breeder Sant Virmani is selected as a Fellow of the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA).
Click here
to view more significant dates in October and throughout the calendar year. If you have some dates
to add or correct, please contact Gene Hettel.
Once a month, SSS will provide you with information, reminders, tips, instructions, and advice from lessons learned involving safety, security, health, and the environment. Click here to view the October issue of Minding Safety.
Voluntary temperature monitoring stations have been set up around IRRI for your use (locations and schedules below). We advise you to take advantage of this service.
N.C. Brady Hall,
main lobby
7 a.m.-9 a.m.
Experiment Station Bldg. 1,
main lobby
7 a.m.-8:45 a.m.
D.L. Umali Laboratory,
main lobby
7 a.m.-9 a.m.
F.F. Hill Building,
lobby entrance
9 a.m.-11 a.m.
Those who are closer to Bradfield Hall may please come to the Safety and Occupational Health Office or the IRRI Clinic if you wish to have your temperature checked.
Temperature monitoring in both offices at Bradfield Hall and voluntary checkup with the doctor-on-duty at the IRRI Clinic are available throughout the day.
Question: As IRRI approaches its 50th anniversary in 2010, what do you see as the Institute's greatest challenge?
Response:Krishna Alluri, IRRI liaison scientist for Africa and coordinator, INGER-Africa, 1987-96; education specialist, food security and environment, Commonwealth of Learning, 1997-2008; currently a freelance development facilitator based in Vancouver.
A self-study course on transferring plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA), developed by Yoke Sau Metz in IRRI’s Training Center, is now available online in addition to new FAQs on the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA) recently put on the Web site. Both are accessible here. Any comments will be gratefully received! Send them to Ruaraidh Sackville Hamilton. Related information
From the GRC: revised FAQs on the
SMTA
The GRC has recently revised its FAQs to provide answers to many
of the questions it receives from people who want to obtain seed
and are wondering about the implications of doing so under the
Standard Material Transfer Agreement.
Revised FAQs on the SMTA
Outstanding IRRI Alumni Awards
Approaching its 50th year, IRRI has started a search for the best of its alumni. We are looking for people from the community of former IRRI scholars who have conducted research in the Institute as part of their graduate degree program at UPLB or elsewhere. Four awards—in rice research, rice technology development and extension, rice policy, and rice research management categories—will be given to individuals who have made an outstanding scientific contribution in these areas.
Nominations may be made by filling out the nomination form and sending it to nominations@irrialumni.org. Awardees will be invited to and honored at the 3rd International Rice Congress (IRC 2010) in Hanoi, Vietnam, and will receive a plaque and a cash award of USD 1,000. Closing date for nominations is 15 December 2009. Criteria
IRRI periodicals
Rice Today | October-December 2009 | PDFs of part 1 and part 2
d.v.d. | October-December 2008
RIPPLE | September-December 2009
The latest from RIPPLE, the IRRC newsletter. Building on the strong progress of previous efforts, RIPPLE’s latest issue (September-December 2009/Vol. 4, No. 2) takes a look at what the Irrigated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC), together with its partners, has been doing to improve livelihoods of farmers in the irrigated lowland rice ecosystems around Asia.
Rodents are major pests in agricultural production. In Asia, rodents cause, on average, annual preharvest losses of 5–10% in rice crops. A loss of 6% is substantial; this is enough rice to feed 225 million people for a year. However, occasional outbreaks of rat populations can lead to severe crop losses, particularly in upland environments where such losses can lead to major food shortages. 
Despite the global economic crisis, the threats posed by climate change, and increasing pressures from globalization, the crop production industry remains buoyant. An ever-growing population continues to ensure unrepentant strains on food supply around the world, which poses both challenges and opportunities to agriculture and the wider food supply chain. 
The International Rice Genetics Symposium, now in its 6th version, is one of the world’s biggest and most important rice research conferences. Adding to its scope and significance, this event will be held in conjunction with the 7th International Symposium on Rice Functional Genomics. The 4-day event, under the patronage of HRH Princess Sirindhorn of Thailand, builds on the excitement generated by rapid advances in rice genomics and its potential benefits to food security and the international rice industry. More than 700 top international scientists and researchers from around the world are expected to attend. 
7-18 December 2009, Copenhagen 
21 October: 2008, at a meeting of the 10-nation
22 October: 1998, IRRI is awarded a 
Once a month, SSS will provide you with information, reminders, tips, instructions, and advice from lessons learned involving safety, security, health, and the environment. 
