An international conference here on agricultural research has highlighted the arrival of a doubly green revolution in the rice fields of Asia, as farmers adopt exciting new technologies that simultaneously reduce their inappropriate use of pesticides and boost their incomes.

Speaking ahead of the annual general meeting of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) on 25-29 October, Ronald P. Cantrell, director general of the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), said that the days of unsustainable, high-input rice farming will soon be past. He described IRRI's research strategy for the 21st century as breeding improved rice varieties with durable disease resistance while developing innovative, sustainable cropping systems.

The concept of a doubly green revolution was first put forward by the former head of the Rockefeller Foundation, Gordon Conway, in a 1997 book by that name. Dr. Conway argued that the world needed a doubly green revolution that would be even more productive than the first Green Revolution and "doubly green" by conserving natural resources and protecting the environment.

"Today, we would like to suggest that, certainly in rice, the doubly green revolution has commenced," Dr. Cantrell said. "IRRI and its partners in Asia have already enjoyed noteworthy success with environment-friendly technologies for improving rice productivity and poor farmers' lives."

In Asia, the Green Revolution in rice began with IRRI's release in 1966 of IR8, the first modern, high-yielding semidwarf rice variety. Half of the modern rice varieties released in South and Southeast Asia over the subsequent 38 years derive at least partly from work by IRRI and its partners. The global rice harvest has more than doubled in that period, racing slightly ahead of population growth. Larger harvests per capita have helped to drive down world rice prices by 80 percent over the past 20 years. Poor consumers have benefited through lower prices for their staple food and their single largest expense, and farmers have enjoyed lower unit costs and higher profits. At the national level, Asians have achieved food security.

"However, as we all know, the job started in the first Green Revolution is not finished," Dr Cantrell said. "Although it did stave off hunger to a significant extent on two continents, an estimated 800 million still do not have access to sufficient food to meet their needs, and millions of farmers remain trapped in poverty.

"We have learned some important lessons over the last 40 years," Dr. Cantrell added. "Modern technologies can be environmentally sensitive if they are designed and used with the benefit of modern ecological knowledge. And IRRI is committed to ensuring a cleaner, greener environment."


Dr. Cantrell cited four environmentally focused research achievements. First, work in China has confirmed that crop biodiversity can play a key role in helping farmers improve their livelihoods while protecting the environment and their families' health. In 1997, IRRI scientists and collaborators in Yunnan started experiments with interplanting to control the devastating rice blast fungus while at the same time reducing fungicide use. The technology spread from a mere 12 hectares in an initial experiment in 1997 to 812 hectares in 1998, 3,000 hectares in 1999 and 43,000 hectares in 2000.

Between every four or six rows of a modern blast-resistant hybrid, farmers interplant a single row of a traditional glutinous rice variety that fetches a good price but is highly susceptible to blast. In the traditional variety, blast incidence dropped in 1998 to 5 percent from an average of 55 percent in monoculture. In 1999, farmers averaged US$280 more income per hectare compared to growing hybrids alone. In 2000, The New York Times described this project as one of the largest agricultural experiments ever. Today, farmers across 10 Chinese provinces interplant nearly 1 million hectares, achieving better plant protection with minimal fungicide use and preserving popular traditional varieties.

In Vietnam, IRRI and its national partners have enjoyed notable success in relaying to rice farmers the principles of integrated pest management and breaking their dependence on insecticides. Research there has shown that spraying in the first 40 days after sowing rice is a useless waste of money and a threat to farmers' health and the environment. With an innovative communication campaign that included radio dramas supported by leaflets, posters and billboards, researchers persuaded almost 2 million rice-growing households in the Mekong Delta to spray much less. Surveys in 1999 showed insecticide use had halved from an average of 3.4 applications per farmer per season to 1.7. The percentage of farmers who believed that insecticides bring higher yield had plunged from 83 to 13 percent, and those who realized that insecticides killed the natural enemies of rice pests had risen from 29 to 79 percent.

Another success story in the battle to reduce chemical use in rice farming comes from Bangladesh, where high government subsidies on insecticides until 1978 got farmers hooked on spraying. Now, after 3 years of the IRRI-led project Livelihood Improvement Through Ecology (LITE), more than 2,000 farmers have reduced their insecticide use by 99 percent. With continued donor support for the project, the next decade may see insecticide use all but disappear among the 11.8 million rice farmers of Bangladesh. The money they save will be available to buy grain to tide rice-deficit farm families over to the next harvest or to pay children's school fees.

Regarding chemical fertilizers, the challenge for farmers has always been to know when to apply them and how much. After about 10 years of development and study, IRRI is now promoting a simple site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) technique by which farmers feed the rice plant nutrients only as and when needed, when nutrients in indigenous sources - soil, water, crop residues and manure - are less than optimal.

At the two SSNM sites in Bangladesh, net return with real-time nitrogen management, compared with that of the farmers' practice, was on average US$41-65 per hectare better per season across five seasons. The benefits from SSNM multiply when improved management of phosphorus and potassium is included. Today, SSNM is being evaluated by extension workers and farmers at some 20 locations in Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam. Each location represents an area of intensive rice farming on more than 100,000 hectares with similar soils and cropping systems.

"And so, as farmers across the rice-producing world join us in the doubly green revolution," Dr. Cantrell concluded, "we are confident that food security will improve significantly for millions of impoverished people."

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is the world's leading rice research and training center. Based in the Philippines and with offices in 10 other Asian countries, it 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. IRRI is one of 15 centers funded through the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), an association of public and private donor agencies. Please visit the Web sites of the CGIAR or Future Harvest Foundation, a nonprofit organization that builds awareness and supports food and environmental research.

Web sites: IRRI Home (www.irri.org), IRRI Library (http://ricelib.irri.cgiar.org), Rice Knowledge Bank (www.knowledgebank.irri.org), Rice facts (www.riceweb.com), Riceworld Museum and Learning Center (www.riceworld.org)