Los Baños, The Philippines
October, 2007
 The ability of rice-growing
countries to develop and deliver technology-based solutions for
tackling constraints in rice production is hampered by the
limited or decreasing number of institutions and human resources
working on rice research and development, in general, and rice
varietal improvement, in particular. Hence, one of the core
goals of the new Strategic Plan (2007-2015) of the
International Rice Research
Institute (IRRI) is to develop the next generation of rice
scientists, including rice breeders and geneticists, who will
lead the realization of a Second Green Revolution.
In line with this goal, two Rice Breeding Courses (RBC) were
recently conducted at IRRI this year to increase the number of
rice breeders adept in the use of both conventional and modern
tools and techniques for increasing the precision and impact of
their breeding programs. The first course was held on 20-31
August while the second course was held 1-12 October.
Specific objectives of these two
courses were to
(1) provide theoretical
knowledge on modern plant breeding methods and techniques;
(2) teach planning and
information management tools, experimental techniques, and
software for increasing rice breeding efficiency;
(3) provide knowledge and
tools to be able to perform pre-breeding activities;
(4) share experiences and
lessons from other programs and countries; and
(5) provide the latest
information relevant to continued access to modern tools,
technologies, and rice genetic resources.
 The first RBC was attended by 23
rice researchers from 16 countries, namely, Bhutan, China, DPR
Korea, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Mozambique, Myanmar,
Philippines, South Korea, Spain, Tanzania, Thailand, Vietnam,
and the United States. The second RBC, on the other hand, was
attended by another 23 rice scientists from Bangladesh,
Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal,
Philippines, Russia, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Participants included scientists working both in the public and
private sectors.
The Global Initiative for Plant
Breeding Capacity Enhancement (GIPB), a Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO)-facilitated multi-party initiative of
knowledge institutions and programs worldwide committed to
developing plant breeding capacity globally, extended partial
funding to course including sponsoring the participation of
Flavio Breseghello of EMBRAPA, Brazil, as a resource person on
pre-breeding. This added a new dimension to the RBC curriculum
that already encompassed a broad range of subjects covering the
entire plant breeding chain, with IRRI’s senior scientists
serving as lead discussants and resource persons.
Edilberto D. Redoña,
IRRI Senior Scientist and Coordinator of the International
Network for Genetic Evaluation of Rice (INGER) served as RBC
coordinator.
The Rice Breeding Courses will be
offered again next year and interested applicants are encouraged
to contact IRRI’s Training Center (IRRI-Training@cgiar.org)
for more details.
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