The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has announced the resignation of its director general, Ronald P. Cantrell, effective December 31, 2004.

In a statement to the Institute's staff, the new chair of IRRI's Board of Trustees, Keijiro Otsuka, said Dr. Cantrell was stepping down for health and family reasons. Dr. Cantrell took up the position of director general in September 1998 and - over the next five and a half years - led the Institute through many major challenges and decisions.

"Ron Cantrell provided the steadying hand, strong leadership and intelligent management IRRI needed," said Dr. Otsuka, a respected Japanese agricultural economist. "For those who remember, the Institute went through an uncertain period in the mid- to late 1990s, with one director general departing unexpectedly to be replaced by a  temporary appointment. But, within a year or more of his arrival, Dr. Cantrell had got the Institute back on track."

However, he then had to deal with two of the biggest challenges facing agricultural research in the developing world today. The first was a continuing decline in funding for rice research that hit IRRI especially hard in 2002, when Japan cut its financial support to the Institute by almost 50 percent, causing painful staff cutbacks.

The second major challenge was, of course, the debate over biotechnology and how it could be used most appropriately to benefit poor rice farmers and consumers. At the center of the international storm over biotechnology was vitamin A-enhanced Golden Rice, which officially arrived at IRRI in January 2001.

"Under Dr. Cantrell's farsighted leadership, IRRI not only managed to successfully weather the disappointing downturn in donor support and the difficult staff cuts this caused, but it also played a very important role as an honest broker in the biotechnology debate," Dr. Otsuka said. "Both situations were very challenging, but the Institute under Dr. Cantrell handled them well - especially the biotechnology debate."
 
The challenge for IRRI now, according to Dr. Otsuka, is to find new candidates of a caliber similar to Dr. Cantrell's. "We especially want to encourage good candidates with outstanding expertise in rice science and who fully understand the international rice industry," he said. "The position is one of the most important and influential in the rice industry today, so the successful candidate should be someone who really understands rice and its vital importance to so many countries and cultures."
 
Dr. Otsuka also stressed that many big challenges remain for both Dr. Cantrell and the new director general, once he or she is finally selected. "The transition to the new leadership will be especially important, and I look forward to working with Dr. Cantrell in making sure the best possible candidate is chosen to replace him," he explained. "Considering what he has learned over the past five and a half years, we will also need his advice and guidance on the important issues IRRI will have to deal with over the next few years."
 
Dr. Otsuka also listed some of the other important developments Dr. Cantrell, as director general, had already contributed to:

* Helping to ensure that one of the biggest scientific breakthroughs in the history of rice research - the recent sequencing of the rice genome - would benefit those who need it most, poor farmers and consumers.
 
* Placing greater emphasis on the importance of household food security after the Institute helped many rice-producing nations achieve the key goal of national food security - historically one of  the Institute's most important objectives.

* Helping countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia and Laos achieve sustainable improvements to their rice productivity and better livelihoods for their poor farmers.
 
* Overseeing the continued development of aerobic rice, or rice varieties and technologies that would help farmers reduce their use of water in the face of Asia's looming water crisis.
 
* Leading efforts to place greater emphasis on grain quality and nutrition after decades of focusing only on increased production. Under Dr. Cantrell, IRRI has decided to establish its first-ever grain quality and nutrition facility.
 
* Holding the inaugural International Rice Congress in Beijing in September 2002, with the next one to be held in 2006. The first event ever organized for the entire international rice industry, the congress was opened by the then-President of China, Mr. Jiang Zemin, and included an unprecedented Ministerial Roundtable on Rice chaired  by Dr. Cantrell.

* Establishing formal relations between IRRI and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Plus Three, the world's largest official grouping of rice-producing and -consuming nations that includes the ten nations of ASEAN plus China, Japan and Korea.
 
Dr. Otsuka said that these achievements, while impressive, were only a summary of the many things Dr. Cantrell had contributed to during his years at IRRI. "The Board and I are very grateful for the excellent leadership and vision provided by Dr. Cantrell. Despite many difficult challenges, he has always put the interests of IRRI and its  staff first, and the results are there for all to see."
 
"Clear and emphatic evidence of this success came this year, when IRRI was successfully reviewed by an outside team of experts," Dr. Otsuka said. "Dr. Cantrell is certainly leaving IRRI in a much stronger position than when he arrived.
 
"Not only is the world celebrating the International Year of Rice this year - an idea first proposed to the United Nations in 1999 under Dr. Cantrell's leadership - but several important donors such as Canada and the UK have signaled a renewed commitment to rice research," Dr. Otsuka added.
 
"For all of this, the Institute owes Dr. Cantrell an enormous debt of gratitude."
 
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 16 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.