The Philippines
April 11, 2008
Source:
SEAMEO SEARCA
A major new partnership between the public and private sectors
was made official at the headquarters of the
International Rice Research
Institute (IRRI) last week with an aim to increase rice
production across Asia via the accelerated development and
introduction of hybrid rice technologies. The innovative new
effort to increase rice production – and support for rice
research – comes at a crucial time for Asia as the region
struggles to deal with near record rice prices caused by
stagnating yields.
Robert Zeigler, director general of IRRI, which convened and
hosted this inaugural meeting of the Hybrid Rice Research and
Development Consortium (HRDC), said during the opening session
that there was no question the meeting represented the first
pages of an entirely new chapter in the history of rice
research. "Certainly, the success of hybrid rice in China is
well known," added Dr. Zeigler, "and the potential for hybrid
rice to have an impact across the rest of the rice-growing world
is something that we all believe is real."
IRRI and its partners in the public and private sectors have led
research, development, and use of hybrid rice technology in the
tropics for almost 30 years. Hybrid rice varieties have the
potential to raise the yield of rice and thus overall rice
productivity and profitability in Asia. Successful deployment of
hybrid rice, however, requires a more effective cooperation
between public research institutions and private sector
companies to study ways to overcome the current constraints.
Dr. Paresh Verma represented one of the 19 founding
private-sector company members from seven countries of the HRDC
who attended the inaugural meeting at IRRI. Verma, director for
research at DCM Shiram Consolidated Ltd., Hy-derabad, India,
said, "This is really a unique idea, which can strengthen public
and private sector collaboration. In recent weeks, we have been
noticing newspaper headlines around the world warning of a
likely shortage of rice, the world's most important food crop.
We know that, in the last 20-25 years, the productivity of rice
has not increased despite continuous increase in the population.
Increasing rice productivity is really the biggest challenge
before us as researchers and policy makers."
Participants in the two-day gathering, which also included 15
public sector institutions from China, India, Indonesia, Iran,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam, considered it
fortunate that this consortium is beginning now. "We have before
us a world in which we see rice prices increasing dramatically,"
said Dr. Zeigler. "Since rice is the food of the world's poor,
any increase in the price of rice has a serious impact on those
poor. There is no question that we need technologies that will
improve the productivity of rice and certainly hybrid rice is at
or near the top of the list of technologies that will help us
increase the availability of rice for the world."
The HRDC has the potential of being a trend-setting model on how
the private and public sectors can amicably work together. This
is an undertaking that will surely be watched very closely
around the world.
Dr. Verma said his company joined the HRDC because he and his
associates believe that, in the future, any significant increase
in rice productivity will come through increased adoption of
hybrid rice. "Hybrid rice adoption will increase when we have
products that better meet customer requirements," he added.
"This means that, in addition to high heterosis, new varieties
must have better resistance to diseases and insects and, of
course, the grain quality that farmers and consumers want."
During this first HRDC gathering, the participants learned about
new plant genetic resources available or under development at
IRRI, reviewed research on hybrid rice management, discussed new
research priorities, and made decisions on other Consortium
activities such as capacity building for both sectors.
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