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Los Baños, Philippines
April 04, 2008
A major new partnership between the public and private sectors
was made official here this week (3-4 April) 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 the
International Rice Research
Institute (IRRI), which convened and hosted this inaugural
meeting of the Hybrid Rice Research and Development Consortium
(HRDC), said during the opening session that there is no
question this meeting represents 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.
 Paresh
Verma (photo) represented one of the 19 founding private-sector
company members (from seven countries) of the HRDC attending the
inaugural meeting at IRRI. Director for research at DCM Shiram
Consolidated Ltd., Hyderabad, India, Dr. Verma 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 2-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.
According to Achim Dobermann, IRRI’s new deputy director general
for research as of April 1, rice farmers in Asia particularly
will benefit from accelerated access to hybrid rice-based
technologies such as more and better hybrids, quality seed,
knowledge, and services that can be provided by this exciting
and unique public-private partnership.
Deliberations and decisions made during this inaugural meeting
will be available on the HRDC Web site at
http://hrdc.irri.org/. To
find out more on what the hybrid rice concept is all about, read
A hybrid history, a recent feature appearing in Rice Today
magazine.
The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is the
world’s leading rice research and training center. Based in the
Philippines, with offices in 13 other countries, IRRI 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 (www.cgiar.org).
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