IRRIs Mission Statement

OUR GOAL To improve the well-being of presenz and future generations of rice farmers and consumers, particularly those with low incomes. OUR OBJECTIVES To generate and disseminate rice-related knowledge and technology of short- and long-term environmental, social, and economic benefit and to help enhance national rice research systems. OUR STRATEGY We pursue our goal and objectives through interdisciplinary ecosystem-based programs in major rice environments scientific strength from discipline-based divisions anticipatory research initiatives exploding new scientific opportunities conservation and responsible use of natural resources sharing of germplasm, technologies, and knowledge participation of women in research and development partnership with farming communities, research institutions, and other organizations that share our goal OUR VALUES Our actions are guided by a commitment to excellence scientific integrity and accountability innovation and creativity diversity of opinion and approach teamwork and partnership service of clients cultural diversity gender consciousness indigenous knowledge environmental protection

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) was established in 1960 by the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations with the help and approval of the Government of the Philippines. Today IRRI is one of 1.6 nonprofit international research centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The CGIAR is sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Bank for Reconstrucdon and Development (World Bank), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Its membership comprises donor countries, international and regional organizations, and private foundations. As listed in this Corporate Report, IRRI receives support, through the CGIAR, From a number of donors including UNDP, World Bank, European Union, Asian Development Bank, Rockefeller Foundation and Ford Foundation, and the international aid agencies of the following governments: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Peoples Republic of China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Indonesia., Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Republic of Korea The Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States. The responsibility for this publication rests with the International Rice Research institute. The designations employed in the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IRRI concerning the legal status of arty country, territory, city, or area, or of its authorities, or the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Copyright International Rice Research Institute 1996 Research center: Los Baos, Laguna, Philippines Mailing address: P.O. Box 933, Manila 1099, Philippines Phone: (63-2) 818-1926, 8127686 Fax: (63-2) 891-1292 E-mail: Postmaster@IRRI.cgnet.com Home page: http ://www.cgiar.org/irri Telex: (ITT) 40890 Rice PM; (CWI) 14519 IRILB PS; (RCA) 22456 IRI PH; (CWI) 14861 IRI PS

IRRI 1995-1996 LISTENING TO THE FARMERS

LISTENING TO OUR FARMER PARTNERS IRRIGATED RICE

6 Farmers serving farmers in the Mekong Delta

8 11 12

Farmers test delayed, reduced spraying in Vietnam Rice and wheat linked in the Indo-Gangetic Plain

UPLAND RICE

18 24

Stabilizing upland rice production in Lao PDR 20 Farmers and researchers work together in the Malagasy highlands

RAINFED LOWLAND RICE

30 32

A hectic harvest/planting time for Central Javan farmers Farmers learn from on-farm research 36

FLOOD-PRONE RICE

40 46

Escaping the floods brings a better life 42 Economic boom is changing the face of rice farming in Thailand

CROSS-ECOSYSTEMS

50 55 60

Stripper-harvester catches on with farmers 52 Philippine NGO distributes salt-tolerant varieties

CONSERVING AND PROMOTING GENETIC DIVERSITY STRENGTHENING INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS

Scientists listening to farmers-making things happen 64 64

Assessing farmers roles in safeguarding and preserving rice biodiversity 60

CROP AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT NETWORK TRAINING

74 Group training at IRRI: opening doors for NARS scientists 78

70 70

Farmers give rice drum seeder high marks after CREMNET evaluation

74

INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE

IRRI welcomes farmer and NGO partners 78

FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION

Support from donors in 1995

82 IRRI celebrates 35 years of successful rice research 83

82

IRRI TRUSTEES, 1996 84 IRRI INTERNATIONALLY AND NATIONALLY RECRUITED STAFF MEMBERS, 1995 CONSULTATIVE GROUP ON INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH APPENDIX 1. INSTITUTIONS COLLABORATING WITH IRRI
89 92 88

85

APPENDIX 2. ONGOING IRRI COMPLEMENTARY PROJECTS, 1995

LISTENING TO OUR FARMER PARTNERS

n the introductory section of last years Report, I highlighted the crucial issues con cerning the availability of water resources. These are having an increasing impact on global agricultural production and, in turn, future food security. These issues were further elaborated upon as the key theme in that Report, not only in the global context, but also in terms of IRRIs partnerships with national agricultural research systems (NARSs), nongovernment organizations, and the ultimate beneficiaries-the poor

rice producers in the countryside and the poor rice consumers in both rural and urban areas. In this years Report, we have further emphasized the beneficiaries and have chosen listening to our farmer partners as our theme. Our partnerships with farmers, of course, involve our major collaborators in the NARSs and nongovernment organizations who have the greatest knowledge and. understanding of the issues con fronting farmers in individual countries.

Many of the personalized accounts of the farmers given in this years Report convey the role of farmers as coresearchers---rather than only as recipients of research outcomes which is most emphati-. cally not the case. Rice farmers in the developing world traditionally conduct experiments with their rice crops Their experiments, and the evaluation of the outcomes, have had to be as relevant and creative as any trials carried out by scientists, as the eco-

nomic and even physical survival of the farmers and their families has been totally dependent on such activities. Case histories collected firsthand in seven Asian countries and Madagascar by our staff members in Communication and Publications Services show the tremendous mutual value of using farmers as research partners, and also the especially important role that women farmers play---as they often spend more time engaged in the practical

aspects of crop production than men. Accounts of farmer circumstances have been drawn from the four production systems that categorize rice cultivation throughout the world, namely the irrigated lowlands, the uplands, the rainfed lowlands, and the flood-prone systems. Stories are also presented of farmers dealing with issues that cut across more than one produclion system. IRRI is listening to what all of these farmers have to say.

All of the stories provide striking insights into the way that the lives of farmers and their families are molded by the constantly changing external environment in which they live, and the remarkable extent to which they reveal their innate creativity and innovation to maintain and improve upon their livelihoods when major changes occur. The other amazing aspect revealed by the accounts is the extent to which some leading farmers are willing to devote part of their own, usually very limited, resources to help disseminate new knowledge as well as improved seeds to otter less advanced farmers in their communities.

In this regard, the example of advanced farmers in the Mekong Delta area of Vietnam which is unique in the developing world, is particularly revealing. There is little doubt that these farmers played a key role in the remarkable success of Vietnam turning a situation of grave domestic hardship-in the face of rice shortfalls of more than 1 million tons---to that currently existing, in which surpluses of 2 million tons have transformed the nation into the worlds third largest rice exporter. In achieving this success, it has been particularly rewarding for IRRI researchers to collaborate with these farmers and with scientists in their NARSs.

In contrast to the intensive rice production in the irrigated lowlands of Vietnam, farmers in the irrigated lowlands of India have been collaborating with scientists from the NARSs and their counterparts at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Mid Tropics (ICRISAT), and IRRI to diversify cropping options in the rice wheat system that has long been the mainstay of production in that region. In another example, from the irrigated lowlands in the Philippines, farmers have responded to problems of labor shortages at harvest by

cooperating with IRRI to see how mechanization might address these problems. This collaboration has revealed the high level of technical expertise and innovativeness of farmers in developing an appropriate stripper harvester. The remaining examples are drawn from production systems in the greatly variable and far less favorable rainfed. environments, where farmers livelihoods are much more risk-prone. The day-to-day accounts of a number of farming families in Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Madagascar highlight the challenges and difficulties that they are exposed to in deriving adequate incomes from the cultiva-

tion of rice and other crops under these conditions. In addition to the unpredictability of ramfall, farmers in these areas are also increasingly faced with labor shortages for cultural operations, including weeding and. harvesting. However, equally, the features demonstrate the extent to which these difficult challenges can be met by new technologies, and the extent to which farmers themselves have developed novel approaches that can be drawn upon in collaboration with IRRI and NARSs. The Rainfed Lowland Rice Research Consortium. has been an important mechanism for developing and enhancing these partnerships.

In the rainfed environments, the poorest rice farmers tend. to be found in the uplands, which are even more heterogeneous and. riskprone than the rainfed lowlands. Here the challenge is to develop more sustainable production systems than those of slash-and-burn. Like its lowland, analogue, the Upland. Rice Research Consortium has provided opportunities to develop partnerships with farmers. In Lao PDR, the high level of enthusiasm for collaboration with IRRI and. counterparts in the national research system is reflected in the number of farmers volunteering to provide land for onfarm, trials. Diversification of cropping has again

been the hallmark of these collaborations. In concluding this introduction, I want to mention that, in addition to the issues of partnerships with farmers that I have emphasized above this years Report also features some of the work that IRRI scientists and all those who support them continue to do in collaboration with numerous partners in the developing and developed world. These achievements have been made in the face of an increasingly difficult external environment as aid from many donor nations declines. This situation is posing particular problems for all. institutions engaged in international agricultural research.

However, as the highlights in this Report show, IRRI and its partners continue to be outstandingly successful in conducting relevant research to meet the challenge of how to significantly boost rice production through sustainable practices in the face of an ever-increasing population and static or even declining land and labor resources. This continues to provide great encouragement to IRRI and our many partners-on and off the farm.

GEORGE ROTHSCHILD Director General

Farmers serving farmers in the Mekong Delta

Gene Hettel TIEN GIANG PROVINCE, VIETNAM

ice does not give me that much income, but I enjoy doing good things for society by bringing in new technology and spreading it around to my neighbors. In spiritual terms, this is very important to me; profit is secondary, says Nguyen Van Tai, an irrigated rice farmer in southern Vietnams Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang. Mr. Tai, 50, is an extraordinary person-as one might have already guessed from his philosophy. In the terminology of officials at the University of Can Tho (UC)-Vietnams preeminent agricultural schoolhe is an advanced farmer, one of an army of some 4,000 who serve nearly 12 million fellow farmers in the 11-province Mekong Delta region. Says Dr. Vo-Tong Xuan, UC vice rector and a past member of the IRRI Board of Trustees,

I first met Mr. Tai in 1976-77 during the biggest outbreak of brown planthopper (BPH) ever to hit the countrys ricefields. He was then a young visionary, armed with a high school agriculture degree, who was among the first few farmers to really understand the value of pest resistance in rice varieties as opposed to pesticide spraying. (See feature, p 11 and research highlight, p 16.) IRRI had already sent some resistant varieties to (The former) South Vietnam in the early 1970s when the first big outbreak hit, explains Mr. Tad, So I was well aware of the value of resistance when the second major BPH flare-up struck in 1976. Most farmers in Vietnam will only believe what they see before their eyes. So, when I demonstrated this resistance on my farm, there was no need to use words-I just put out the plots and let the farmers come and see.

Planting missing hills in the Tai familys irrigated rice field.

I want to thank IRRI for helping Vietnamese farmers to improve their livelihood.

Nguyen Van Tai and son, Nguyen Baa Thinh, inspect their irrigated rice crop.

Mr. Tais generosity at that time may have been a major reason disaster was avoided. It was right after the war and we had no money at the University, says Dr. Xuan. He used his own funds to set up the demonstration plots. It was from his fields-and later from those of his neighborsthat we were able to prove to the farmers deeper in the Delta that the answer is not chemicals, but varietal resistance.

Twenty years later, Mr. Tai still allocates 0.15 of a hectare of his small 0.8-hectare farm to field experiments and observation plots for his neighbors to evaluate. He devotes the rest of his holdings to multiplying seed of newly selected. lines, which he sells or trades to some 300 farmers in his district. Over the years, says Mr. Tai, I have tested nearly 500 lines and improved varieties (mostly IRRI

materials obtained, from UC and the Cuu Long Delta Rice Research. Institute) of which I have selected about 40 varieties of various durations and. then have multiplied for distribution. IR53915 and IR55606 are two varieties that he has recently selected; both are currently being multiplied. These varieties have the short duration that Delta farmers are looking for, he says. Although in. most years the family has been lucky to break

even on the farm, Mr. Tai and his wife have raised and supported five daughters and four sons. Most of the children are grown nowseveral girls married, one son a tailor, and another a tax collector. He has hopes that his youngest boy, Nguyen Bao Thinh, 11, will take over from him someday and continue the familys tradition of service to the farmers of the district. Mr. Tai, who is not yet quite ready to retire, has a message for IRRI scientists. He says, I want

to thank IRRI for helping Vietnamese farmers to improve their livelihood, over the past 20 yearsbut your work and our work is not finished.. New varieties should have built-in BPH and blast resistance, combined with a short duration (around 90 days), like IR53915, so that we can grow three crops per year And of course, we need higher grain quality so that our harvest will get a better price on the export market.

Rice and fish: a perfect pair

he advanced farmer couple of Mr. Duong an early afternoon break to discuss their remaining work for the day.

Trung Buu and Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong take

Their 0.35-hectare farm in Thanh Binh District

of Dong Thap Province on the fringe of the Plain of Reeds features a rice - fish operation. After transplanting the first rice crop, they stock the field! pond with four silver carp and six tilapia per square meter of surface area, around 400 fish in all. We feed the fish rice bran and broken rice mixed with thinly shredded floating weeds, says Ms. Hong. They can also feed on the, algae that cling to the floating weeds. It takes them 10 months to reach harvest size. After harvesting the current rice crop, they will plant a second early rainy season crop and then harvest it with the fish when the fish price is higher. We use a stiff-strawed rice variety in the fish pond so that the crop will not lodge, says Ms. Hong. Thats one thing we dont want to feed to the fish. Mr. Buu, 47, a collaborator with, UC since 1978, has tested some 300 lines and selected around 20 for multiplying and distributing to the 100 farmers he serves in the district. Currently, Im selecting for resistance to blast, sheath blight, and the new BPH biotype, he says. Of course, Im also looking for high yield and better quality for export.

10

Farmers test delayed, reduced spraying in Vietnam

Gene Hettel MEKONG DELTA, VIETNAM he recovery of the plants has been amazing, Mr. Vo Van Ba tells Mr. Phan Van Mot, a neighboring farmer, and Mr. Pham Van Thai, an IPM official at the nearby Cai Lay District Plant Protection Station in Tien Giang Province, Vietnam. They are standing in a rice plot where Mr. Ba has delayed insecticide application for 40 days and now there is little if any evidence of earlier leaffolder damage to the foliage. (See highlight, p 16.) Although quite skeptical at first, Mr. Ba and his wife Ha had agreed to devote about one-third of their 0.3-hectare rice farm to an insecticide experiment promoted by the Station. First, Mr. Ba and about 30 other farmers took a short training course offered by Mr. Thai to learn the pesticide delay technique and understand why it works. Then he and his wife were invited to participate in the research and demonstration phase. In the early going, leaf damage by feeding leaffolders made our IR64 crop look very miserable, says Mr. Ba. Other farmers asked. why we did not spray. At the time, I was ashamed to tell them that we were participating in the experiment. They were almost on the verge of spraying-as some participating farmers did when they feared the worst upon

seeing the initial damage, says Mr. Thai, who has instructed around 150 farmers in five separate training courses in Cai Lay District. But I encouraged them not to and, bravely, they did not. Now as you can see, the rice has fully recovered and I doubt if Mr. and Mrs. Ba will find. any yield difference between the experimental plot and. the rest of their farm., which received, the normal pesticide application. Says Mr. Ba: Mr. Thai assured us that everything would be all right, so we did. not spray even when our neighbors pressured us to do so. Now, I will, tell anyone who will listen that the idea is sound. Meanwhile, one pesticide company has stepped up a campaign in the area that advises

Phan Van Mot, Vo Van Ba (center), and Pham Van Thai inspect a field where pesticide application was delayed for 40 days.

using insecticide and emphasizes a critical spraying period. during the first 40 days. Says Mr. Pham Van Khai, chief of the Party Committee of Cai Lay District, This is confusing some farmers listening to the radio when, for instance, a farm program discusses the new technologies and then immediately following is a chemical advertisement that advises an opposing strategy. I may complain to the radio station management about this, he says, but I know it is very difficult for station management to turn clown advertising income. 11

Rice and w heat linke d i n the Indo-Gangetic Plain

Bob Huggan
HARYANA AND UTTAR PRADESH STATES, INDIA

ice and wheat are the two most important cereal grains in the world. Nowhere is this more evident than in South Asia, with its burgeoning population, which now exceeds 1 billion people. Rice and wheat are cultivated in rotation on nearly 12 million hectares in South Asia-more than 9 million hectares in India alone. Rice - wheat: prominent system in Haryana. In Kaithal District in Haryana State, the rice - wheat rotation is the number one cropping system on the rich, dark brown, fertile siltloam soils. Here, where the land is well irrigated by canals and tube wells, the field work is done mostly by men while the women carry out traditional roles of rearing and. milking water buffaloes and. cows, gathering firewood, looking after the children , and taking care of the household. Near the village of Ahun, Mr. Devinder Singh, 27, farms the biggest holding of anyone in the village-about 18 hectares-on behalf of his family of eight: his wife, 5-year-old. daughter, father and mother, two younger brothers, and a sister.

Devinder Singhs 50-year-old father was a Green Revolution pioneer as a young man., adopting IR8 as soon as its potential was demonstrated by local extension workers. The family is among the progressive farmers in the district who according to Dr. Arun Kumar Sharma, plant pathologist at the Directorate of Wheat Research in Kamal, are open to adopting new technologies. In fact, the rice - wheat rotation, which is the basis of their cropping systems, was not introduced to the district by government extensionists or researchers from the Directorate. The farmers began using the system themselves and they have even added a couple of variations. One of these is rice rice - wheat, the current popular rotation in the district, which uses, in the summer months, a short-season coarse rice known locally as Sathi. Sathi is followed-in the case of

Devinder Singh constantly seeks advice from researchers. 12

Devinder Singh-by high-quality wet-season rices such as Tarawan Basmati (for export) or PR106 and PR108, both developed by Punjab Agricultural University, and finally by several varieties of dry season wheat: UP2338, PBW343, and WH896, a durum type. What sets apart Devinder Singhs family is that its members are constantly seeking input and advice from researchers and extensionists. They are always visiting the Directorate, wanting to work with us, says Dr. Sharma, always asking to try new seeds, new technologies. For instance, with the last wet

season crop, they tried zero tillage under the Directorate s guidance, and were impressed. We reduced a normal 21 days of land preparation to about 4 days, says Devinder Singh. Well be doing it again. Besides the income from their fields, the Singh family has a large herd of buffaloes and they supply milk to the village. This enterprise, in turn, provides them with manure and cooking fuel. They also have a large vegetable garden. For the future, the family plans to introduce other crops into the system. Theres a major weed problem there with the

wheat crop, particularly with Phalaris minor a weed that closely resembles wheat. It will be necessary to break the crop cycle with, for instance, sunflowers or sugarcane, both of which can help keep the weeds down. Pantnagar farmers seek alternatives. As important as the rice - wheat rotation is to the region, Indian farmers in some areas are beginning to rethink the rotation. Swaran Singh, 40, a farmer near Pantnagar in Uttar Pradesh State close to the Himalayan foothills, has stopped growing wheat for commercial purposes. His family, immigrants from the Punjab to this relatively 13

new farming area, used to have a rice - wheat cropping system on their l0-hectare farm but, 5 or 6 years ago, they switched to rice rice - peas. Wheat is just not profitable, says Swaran Singh. The market price is too low. We of course still grow wheat for our own consumption because we are not rice eaters, but we probably will not be growing wheat to sell anymore. Its the same story all. over this particular region, says Dr. P.P. Singh, Director of Extension at nearby G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology. Many farmers have given up on wheat as it doesnt bring in much revenue. Since the land around Pantnagar is a very fertile silty clay, farmers can plant almost anything here and it will do well.. So, theyve switched to peas, or rapeseed, or even potatoes. Sunflowers, sugarcane, soybeans, and lentils are other favorites. All of these generate more income than wheat. A new system these days involves agroforestry, using poplar trees. Swaran Singh likes growing peas, not only for the revenue but also because he doesnt have to harvest them. He sells the standing crop to a contractor who brings his own harvesters to gather the green pods. I sell 100 percent of both my peas and rice commercially, he says. The abandonment of commercial wheat production by farmers in this area is a repeat of what happened to another cereal in the early 1980s. Up to 15 years ago maize was the dominant crop here, with wheat second.. Then maize prices dropped, and stayed down, so the rice - wheat system took over.

Sustainability of the system. In addition to farmers concerns about the low wheat prices, sustainability of the system. itself has become an issue in recent years. As a result, the Rice - Wheat Consortium for the Indo-Gangetic Plains has been formed to evaluate the systems sustainability to come up with recommendations to reverse productivity declines in both crops. The Consortium members include researchers from the NARSs of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan and five

international centers (CIMMYT, ICRISAT, IFPRI, IIMI, and IRRI). Says Dr. Kevin Bronson, IRRI soil fertility specialist: The Consortium is building on the useful information that has been garnered by preliminary CIMMYT-IRRI diagnostic and farmer surveys, from various rice - wheat trials conducted. by NARSs, and from a long history of rice and wheat commodity research. (See highlight, p 17.)

Swaran Singh has decided to rotate his rice with peas.

14

RESEARCH

HIGHLIGHTS

Hybrid rice successes

Successful development and use of hybrid rice in China during the past two decades have demonstrated that rice yield potential can be increased by commercial exploitation of heterosis, or hybrid vigor, in this self pollinated crop. Because of the Chinese successes in temperate rice, IRRI and national rice programs have been exploring the potential of this biological phenomenon to raise yields of tropical rice, says Dr. Sant S. Virmani, IRRIs hybrid rice breeder. Results have been encouraging-particularly those in 1995-96. The yield potential of elite tropical hybrid IR68284 Hattributed to more spikelets per square meter and greater 1,000grain weight-was higher than that of IR72 when grown at two Philippine sites in 1995. The hybrids maximum yield was 10.8 tons per hectare compared with 9.9 tons for IR72. Other hybrid rice developments include the following: Tropical rice hybrids are yielding about 1 ton per hectare mare than farmers Inbred varieties.

Variation in soil N supply

Recent research results in the Philippines show an apparent large variation in the indigenous nitrogen (N) supply in double-cropped irrigated lowland rice soils. We discovered this variation as we studied the contributions to N use efficiency (NUE) of rice plants from both indigenous N resources in the soil and applied fertilizer N, says Dr. Dan Olk, IRRI affiliate scientist. The relative contributions of both components of NUE were quantified in two rice-growing domains of Central Luzon and in 10 consecutive crops over 4 years in the same field of a long-term experiment. In both situations, tremendous variation occurred in the indigenous N supply, and this variation affected the NUE of intensive rice systems as much as, or more than, did variation in the agronomic efficiency. Variation in the indigenous soil N supply was not related to soil organic matter content, adds Dr. Olk.

Hybrid CNHR 3, derived from

IRRI-bred CMS line IR62829 A and locally identified restorer Ajaya, was released for dry season cultivation in West Bengal, India. Another IRRIbred hybrid, IR58025 A/IR14075082-2-2-3, was released as DRRH-I in Andhra Pradesh, India.

In 1995, Indian farmers grew

about 10,000 hectares of rice hybrids. This is a direct result of IRRI-India collaboration on hybrid rice technology and the efforts of private seed producers in the country. The rice hybrids are yielding about 1 ton per hectare more than farmers inbred varieties.

These results have been reproduced at Mega Project on-farm sites of double-cropped, irrigated lowland rice in India, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. The Project, supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, seeks to reverse productivity declines in such intensive irrigated areas. An important objective of this work is to establish long-term trends for both indigenous soil N supply and productivity---especially when related to N fertilizer inputs. As the Mega Project continues, scientists will be using hand-held chlorophyll meters (see highlight, p 72) as tools to provide collaborative farmers with specific recommendations for how much N fertilizer to apply and how often on their crops.

15

An experiment on experimenting
How do researchers get lots of farmers to adopt integrated pest management (IPM) principles--without spending piles of money on in-depth training? Researchers from IRRI have been taking a novel approach to this problem. Theyve been inviting farmers to experiment with simple pest management concepts backed up by solid scientific findings-and theyve been using a media campaign to facilitate the process. In Vietnam, farmers are only convinced of a technology if they see it for themselves, says Dr. K. L. Heong, IRRI entomologist and coordinator of the Rice IPM Network. So, in cooperation with the University of Can Tho and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), we invited groups of farmers in Can Tho, An Slang, and Tien Giang provinces to conduct spraying experiments of their own. (See feature, p 11.) The participatory approach was very effective in communicating the concept to farmers. But we wanted to reach even larger numbers of farmers-and quicker, says Dr. Heong. So MARD, the Long An Provincial government, and the Network organized a workshop to design materials for a large-scale campaign. The experiment on encouraging farmers to experiment was launched in September 1994 in Long An Province, in Vietnams Mekong Delta. Posters were placed in markets and stores in the villages, leaflets were delivered directly to homes, dramas were broadcast on provincial radio stations, and billboards were placed at major road junctions, The message to thousands of rice farmers in the

region was clear: insecticide spraying for leaffolder control within the first 40 days after rice sowing is not necessary and that they should try this rule of thumb for themselves. In Long An Provinces Tan Tru District, researchers found thatthanks to the media blitz-at least 60 percent of the 12,500 farmers there had stopped early-season insecticide use in their autumnwinter crop of 1994. By February 1995, 88 percent of the farmers in Long An said they were aware of the

campaign. By May of 1995, officials in five other Mekong Delta provinces were promoting farmer-participatory research with similar campaigns of their own. The farmer experiments and media campaigns have been continued into 1996 by provincial agricultural departments throughout the Mekong Delta, to get the message out to the regions more than 2.2 million farmer households. MARD and IRRI scientists plan to study the long-term impact of this twopronged approach, says Dr. Heong.

16

Modeling used to study rice - wheat

The rice - wheat rotation is the predominant cropping system in the Indo-Gangetic floodplains. Degradation of soil fertility appears to be the primary reason behind a noticeable productivity decline within the system. A Consortium of scientists (see feature, p 12) is using crop modeling to understand and quantify the sustainability-related issues regarding nutrients in the system. The models are predicting--within acceptable ranges---dates of phenological events and final grain and biomass yields, says Dr. Upendra Singh, a soil scientist seconded from the International Fertilizer Development Center. These tools are already helping us to get an idea of what is involved in the interactive processes of variety, moisture, and N regimes in rice wheat sequences.

funding to complete coverage for the irrigated, rainfed lowland, and floodprone rice ecosystems. Two of the new stations are located in China (Beijing and Hangzhou) and two in India (Cuttack and New Delhi). According to Ms. Rhoda Lantin, IRRI senior associate scientist, 24hour emission patterns are relatively uniform across the nine sites and appear to be controlled by temperature and plant-derived carbon sources. Seasonal patterns are highly controlled by water regime, organic inputs, temperature, and plant growth stage, she says.

Progress with new plant type

The rice world eagerly awaits delivery of the new plant type (NPT) varieties---dubbed by the media as super rice---to farmers fields, which will take place soon after the turn of the century. The wait should be worth it, as IRRI and national program breeders continue to incorporate desired traits so that

Ricefleld greenhouse gas studied

The potential for release of methane---the second most important greenhouse gas next to carbon dioxide---from ricefields has long been noted. Nine monitoring stations for measuring methane emissions from these fields are now operating in five Asian countries to reduce uncertainties in global methane estimates. Four of these stations were added in 1995 with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

the new varieties will thrive in a host of environments and be accepted by consumers. In 1995-96, numerous advanced generation breeding lines of the NPT were evaluated for desired traits in observational trials and many new crosses were made to improve grain quality and resistance to diseases and insects. Prototype lines of the NPT had short round grains, but now a number of new lines have the long, slender grains that are preferred by consumers in the tropics and subtropics. In addition, new NTP lines are now exhibiting resistance to bacterial blight and blast. On the abiotic front, research is showing that NPT lines may have a higher crop-level water use efficiency than indica varieties. According to Dr. Gurdev Khush, principal plant breeder at IRRI, when made available to farmers and coupled with promising fertilizer management technology, the NPT varieties will likely produce 25 percent more grains---under ideal conditions---than current highyielding varieties.

Initial results from the Prachinburi, Thailand site show that deepwater rice emits more methane than irrigated rice because of longer submergence and growing periods.

17

The effects of slash-and-burn agriculture are readily evident to air travelers between Vientiane and Luang Prabang.

immediately see the consequences of the destructive practice (see photo). According to Mr. Bouathong Phounsalit, head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestrys Rural Development Committee, some 250,000-300,000 hectares of land-of which 100,000 are rain forest-are cleared by slash-andburn every year. In an attempt to drastically reduce this onslaught on the countrys invaluable forest resources, the government has begun a land reallocation program in which upland families are provided with up to four pieces of land, from 1 to 1.5 hectares each (contingent on family size).

Mr. Viengsavanh Manivong, national program coordinator of the Lao-IRRI Project, says, Families should stay on this land. and no longer slash-and-burn into new areas. We also urge farmers to grow rice on only one parcel of land at any one time and to rotate nonrice crops such as maize and mungbean on. the others or leave them fallow altogether, he says. For this scheme to work management practices unfamiliar to the farmers will have to be adopted. And thats where one component of the Lao-IRRI Project will be playing a major role. Dr. Keith Fahrney, who

joined the Project as upland agronomist in February 1996, and his agronomist counterparts at Houay Khot Station, Mr. Boonthanh Keoboualapha and Mr. Soulasith Maniphone, were delighted that 17 of the 24 farm families volunteered to get involved in the on-farm research for the coming season. Only the farmland of Mr. Ou-Phuang and Ms. Sao Hen met the experimental requirements of being first- or second-year ricefields (following fallow) that are not extremely steep, about 1 hectare in area, and a short distance from the road for others to see. However, rejection of the other farmers fields for the experiments did not douse their enthusiasm---they helped locate suitable fields belonging to others who were also interested in on-farm research. In 1962, when he was five years old, Mr. Ou-Phuang came to Xiengnguen District with his mother and father. They are Khamu ethnic people of the Lao Theung (farmers of the midland mountain slopes) who were refugees from the Indochina War---against the French---in the eastern part of the country. The thickly forested area was a popular haven for war refugees of various ethnic groups throughout the 1960s and early 1970s---and is a major reason why the land is being stretched to the limit today. Mr. Ou-Phuang and Ms. Sao Hen currently have three 1-hectare upland fields on which they grow food. for their family

22

of four children, ranging in age from 1 to 16, and both sets of grandparents. In addition to growing just one traditional variety of nonglutinous rice (called mut, the family is also growing some bananas, vegetables, and maize to supplement their diet. Last year we planted some teak, says Ms. Sao Hen proudly. Like many farmers, the couple sees the valuable forest tree as an insurance policy, which will be cashed in for their children some 20 years in the future. The family was very anxious to get the on-farm research started this year so that they could begin improving the soil of their worn-out land. In the experiment, the Lao-IRRI agronomists are trying to make the fallow more efficient by using a legume in the dry season

so that the land is not taken out of production. They planted their traditional variety using the normal practice of dropping seed into holes made by dibble sticks. After the last of at least four weedings, Ms. Sao Hen will sow seed of a legume known as stylo (Stylosanthes guianensis) tinder the standing rice crop on half of the 32 plots, each measuring 8 x 10 meters. Prior to planting the 1997 crop, the agronomists will test four residue management treatments on both the farmerpractice and legume-improved fallow plots: burning, mulching, removing, and grazing. As much I would like to stay and assist with the work, I must go off and try to earn additional money for my family, Mr. OuPhuang says. He is home now only to help with the rice plant-

ing and to confer with his wife and Lao-IRRI agronomists about implementing the experiments. Tomorrow, I must leave to find dried fish, cloth, monosodium glutamate-anything I can purchase cheaply-for resale in distant villages, he says. Such is the circumstance of many farmers in. the Lao uplands. Dr. Fahrney concludes: Farmers are willing to shift to a more sedentary agricultural system-they just dont know how. Farmers and researchers working together for a common solution seems to be the best way to go about finding sustainable methods for upland rice production.

Planting, hand weeding, and building and maintaining bamboo fences keep Sao Hen and her family busy throughout the year.

23

Farmers and researchers work together in the Malagasy highlands

Carolyn Dedolph AMBODIAVIAVY, MID WEST REGION, MADAGASCAR ike many of their neighbors, Razafimandimby, 52, and Blandine Razafimanantsoa, 46, immigrated years ago to this highland region, where the sky seems to be higher and. bluer than anywhere else on earth. The couple have nine children, ranging in age from 10 to 26; four are already married; another four are still in school. All help out on the farm. The family grows rice, cassava, maize, groundnut, and. peanut on 4.5 hectares of uplands, and. rainfed rice on 2 hectares of lowlands. They also raise cattle, swine, and. chickens. Says Mr. Razafimandimby: When we first arrived here in 1962, we grew rice on 1 hectare of lowland---all the land we had at the time. Weve been growing upland rice since 1976. Success---in Malagasy terms--has come, but not without much backache and determination. A quick look around the farm is proof. In front of their large twostory clay house, groundnuts, peanuts, and rice are spread on.. the ground in geometric patterns, drying in. the intense sunlight. A crude verandah juts out from the second level. The first level serves as a granary to store dried.

rice and maize for eating It doubles as a place for the freeranging hens to lay their eggs. We keep the seeds for planting upstairs near the ceiling---to keep them dry, explains Ms. Razafimanantsoa. The upstairs area is divided into two sparsely furnished rooms, both with dried mud and straw floors covered with mats in some places. Bible-story comic sheets adorn the walls. Five children and the parents sleep here; the others sleep in a nearby second, but smaller, structure built to accommodate the overflow of children. Since 1986, researchers from the National Center for Research Applied to Rural Development (FOFIFA have been working with, the family on new varieties and techniques for use on the farm. FOFIFA has been doing onfarm trials in maize, upland. rice, lowland rice, and in controlling weeds in upland rice. Hand weeding is a backbreaking job that men, women, and even children must do---at least twice each season in every upland field. In an effort to control weeds, the farmers have experimented with using a cono weeder in comparison with a traditional rotary weeder, says Ms. Razafimanantsoa. The testing

Groundnuts, peanuts, and rice are sun dried around the familys house.

was done in conjunction with the Madagascar-IRRI Project. The couple also tried trap and catch crop methods of controlling the parasitic weed called Striga. Peanuts, sunflower, and soybeans were tested on the farm. Other control measures were plowing under maize when the Striga appeared, and planting pigeon pea, which stayed on the field for two seasons. When the pigeon pea was harvested, it had the added effect of green

24

The future weighs heavily on the shoulders of Razafimandimby (top) and Blandine (bottom) and their nine children. varieties 3737 (CNA4196, locally known as Telorirana), 3730 (CNA4137, called Mavolamba), and. 3759 (Murium Liguie, known as Maintiloha). While these were introduced to Madagascar by French researchers, the on-farm testing was funded by the Madagascar-IRRI Project. The family keeps seeds for planting from the trials, which they continue to do with FOFIFA and IRRI. As collaborators, they told the FOFIFA and IRRI scientists which varieties and techniques they didnt like---and why. For example, one variety was difficult to sell, because of its unacceptable taste. We do on-farm research to get some knowledge, the farmer

explains. We learn how to use new techniques in managing crops, like transplanting in a line, instead of at random. We now know about seedbed. management and. about not planting too many seeds. We get to try the new varieties, and the cono and rotary weeders. The weeders are very good, but they are difficult to make locally and must be ordered from Tana (the capital city), he continues. A simple rotary weeder is on Mr. Razafimandimbys wish list. Despite advances, farmers in Madagascar still face some very basic production problems. As sail fertility continues to decrease, one of the major concerns is fertilizer, which is very expensive. Farmers apply farmyard manure but it is of poor quality. Mr. Razafimandimby says that they need techniques on how to obtain manure that will give more reliable results. The future weighs heavily on the couples shoulders. When we came here, we were only two. Now there are 11 of us. We dont know what to do, Mr. Razafimandimby confides. We would like the children to stay in farming but, because of our limited area, it will not be possible. Maybe there will be 20 or 30 of us in the future. We know that there is still free land available elsewhere, but it is not necessarily safe and security is not guaranteed. As the couple reflects, they try to laugh at their situation. Despite our problems, life is improving. At least my family has enough rice to eat, Mr. Razafimandimby concludes.

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IPM----Malagasy style: maize tempts crickets away from rice

Maize keeps crickets away from upland rice.

MAHASOLO, MID WEST, MADAGASCAR

oseph Rakotoarisoa and wife Julienne Raharisoa grow their upland rice using the simple principle that crickets may like rice, but they like maize even better. An excellent example of indigenous integrated pest management (IPM), the couple has intercropped maize with rice in their upland fields for the past 15 years. The success of this strategy is evident in their bountiful rice harvest. Of course, they still usually have some maize to harvest as well if the crickets arent too hungry. The family plants 3 hectares of upland rice, a little less than 1 hectare of cassava, and 1.3 hectares of lowland rice. They use two FOFIFAreleased varieties: 2366 on the uplands and 2787 on the lowlands. In earlier times, they used traditional varieties. We sell most of our upland rice and only keep some back for seed, says Mr. Rakotoarisoa.

The family uses a marketing strategy that is difficult to beat: they raise mostly upland rice, which sells at a price premium over regular rice. They also market their rice when the price is highest. Rather than selling it immediately after harvest (May-July) when prices are lowest, they store it and sell from November to March-when prices peak.

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RESEARCH

HIGHLIGHTS

field conditions. Experiments are continuing in this very intriguing approach to controlling weeds.

varietal performance changes substantially from site to site. According to Dr. Courtois, more than 50 percent of the yield variation of a variety across sites can be attributed to these genotype by environment (GxE) interactions. We are solving this problem by breeding fewer upland varieties at IRRI and more at national research system stations, says Dr. Courtois. This decentralization reaches all levels and involves ever-increasing farmer participation. The end result will be a basket of germplasm containing individual varieties with good specific adaptability for all possible niches instead of one favored, unique variety which has that, up-to-now, elusive broad adaptability. Better understanding of G x E interactions in upland rice To obtain a better understanding of the nature of the GE interactions that make upland rice breeding so complex (see above), a common trial was established that evaluated a set of 12 core varieties over 3 consecutive years at 11 representative sites in six countries.

Scientists seek weedkilling rice plants Weeds are the most serious biological constraint in upland rice production. IRRI scientists are now pursuing projects to learn how to manage weeds with less labor One approach is to search for rice cultivars that exhibit a characteristic called allelopathy. According to Dr. Maria Olofsdotter, IRRI affiliate scientist, allelopathic plants can prevent the growth of nearby plants through the production of biological compounds they release into the environment. We are currently looking for allelopathic rices that inhibit the growth of weeds detrimental to rice production, she says. If we are successful, we might be able---through breeding--to develop rice cultivars that control weeds themselves and thus help reduce one of the rice farmers most time-consuming chores. In field experiments during the 1995 wet and dry seasons, Dr. Olofsdotter has found several rice cultivars---including AC 1423, Kouketsumuchi, Musashikogane, Taichung Native 1, Woo Co Chin Yu, Tangan, YH1, and Takanenishiki--that can reduce the dry weight of the annual weedy grass, Echinochloa crus-galli, by more than 50 percent. These cultivars also reduced root length of germinating weed seedlings by 50 percent in laboratory tests aimed at studying allelopathic effects, she says. These preliminary studies indicate that rice allelopathy can be used for weed suppression under Weed suppression hrough allelopathy is aimed at reducing the drudgery of hand weeding upland rice, a backbreaking chore done primarily by women.

Upland breeders face special challenges Rice breeders are challenged by the extremely varied agroecology and socioeconomic aspects of the upland environment. The uplands worldwide are much too diverse for one or two varieties to be grown on millions of hectares as can be done in the irrigated ecosystem, says Dr. Brigitte Courtois, a breeder seconded from the French Center for International Cooperation in Development-oriented Agricultural Research (CIRAD-CA). The criteria that make a good upland variety for a Filipino, a Thai, or an Indian farmer are often contradictory. Even different ethnic groups in the same country, such as in the hills of northern Lao PDR, have irreconcilable views on what constitutes ideal grain for their upland varieties, says Dr. Lisa Price, IRRI anthropologist. To work with this diversity, upland rice breeders have created homogeneous subecosystems in which to target germplasm development. But even within each subecosystem,

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The GxE interactions were analyzed using additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) biometrical models, which allow for the detection and quantification of more general forms of GxE inter action than do the classical models. Such analysis can quantify the respective importance of the genotype (G), the environment (E), and the GxE interactions and help match specifically adapted varieties with appropriate sites. According to Dr. Graham McLaren, head of the IRRI Biometrics Unit, major factors influencing GxE interactions can be identified by looking for relation-ships between interaction scores estimated for each environment from the AMMI model and environmental characterization data including soil properties, climatic conditions, and cropping system information. Using this technique, we established the importance of soil chemistry and rainfall patterns at sowing and at flowering with the first years data, he says. Pattern analysis, which extends AMMI models by incorporating a clustering component and allowing more general data scaling, was used to identify groups of sites with common GxE patterns. This should make the exchange of breeding material more successful. Says CIRAD-CA breeder Dr. Brigitte Courtois: We will be able to choose better testing sites that represent the widest possible diversity and eliminate redundancies at the same time. The trial, which initially involved only the main upland rice-breeding sites worldwide, will be extended to all upland rice-testing sites through collaboration with the International Network for Genetic Evaluation of Rice. This effort should ultimately contribute to increased efficiency and decreased cost of upland rice breeding programs.

Fighting nematodes with crop rotation

Root-parasitic nematodes are omnipresent in upland rice production systems. Root lesion, nematodes (Pratylenchus species) and root knot nematodes (Meloidogyne species), which are widespread in these agricultural systems, have the highest potential to cause economic damage, says Dr. Jean-Claude Prot, a visiting nematologist. Because the nematodes themselves are so small, most infestations remain unnoticed by upland farmers---even if the pests are constraining yields. However, if they are identified to be a problem, they can be controlled by using resistant varieties and crop rotation systems with nonhost crops, says Dr. Prot. Recently, the scientist identified the weed Ageratum conyzoides as a harborer of a root knot nematode (M. graminicola) in Indonesia, Thailand, and Lao PDR-which may be the reason Lao upland farmer Sahai Boua has been noticing yellowing in his rice. His familys 1.5 hectares have an overabundance of A. conyzoides. This is the main reason we want to do a rotation

Surrounded by the weed Ageratum conyzoides, Keith Fahrney and Sahal Boua discuss the rotation experiment that will suppress both the weed and the nematodes harbored by it. experiment on that farm, says Dr. Keith Fahrney, upland agronomist with the Lao-IRRI project. (See feature, p 20.) Evidence exists that rotations of different plants, such as maize and peanut, can help cut down the nematode populations. Because of the rotation experiment designed for his farm, Mr. Boua will, for the first time in 1996, be planting nonrice crops on portions of his land. Previously these areas were destined for fallow, where A. conyzoides provided a home for the nematodes until rice was planted again. Mr. Boua has decided to plant an improved variety of maize (Hat Dok Keo 4) as his cash crop and peanut as his soil improvement crop. Perhaps my rice yields will increase as a result, says Mr. Boua hopefully. At the same time, peanuts will help make my soil more fertile, which will enable my family to stay on this land for years to come.

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later shrink to about 22 sacks, weighing around 40 kilograms each, after the grain is sun-dried to a storable moisture content. Although it appears that a bumper crop is at hand, Mr. Seman has numerous expenses. Since his family is small, he must hire contract laborers. These

seven will cost me 28,000 rupiahs (about US$12.75) today plus their three meals, he laments. Weed control is another major cost for the gogorancah crop. Hiring about 10 women to hand weed my field, usually three times between October and January, has already cost me

I hope I will be able to keep enough of this harvest to feed my family.

33

3 tons on his 0.4-hectare field. He is hurriedly preparing his land for transplanting the walik jerami. I want to take advantage of late rains that sometimes continue into June, he says. Rainfall during the wet Season in Pati District can be very unpredictable and can have drastic effects on crop performance, particularly the walik jerami. His variety of choice, IR64, often. approaches or exceeds 8 tons per hectare for the. gogorancah. My walik jerami crop of
Mr. Sumijan (above) and Mr. Sucipto (below contemplate the rice harvesting and planting activities that must be compressed over a period of just a few days.

Rp 20,000 (US$9.10), Mr. Seman calculates. Add to this the Rp 200,000 (US$90) for annual rental of the field and the 52year-old farmer will be forced to sell a substantial part of his crop just to pay his bills. I hope I will be able to keep enough of this harvest to feed my family, he says. Because he has had to wait his turn for the laborers to arrive at his field, he is somewhat behind some of his neighbors, who are already busily establishing the walik jerami crop. Nearby, a bed of IR64 seedlings awaits transplanting, which will take place as soon as the land can be prepared, because every days delay means valuable moisture lost and a reduced yield for the years second crop that will grow during the Central Javan dry season. Taking advantage of the rain. In another part of Pad, District, Mr. Sumijan, 60, a lifelong farmer, has already sted his gogorancah---

IR64 rarely exceeds 1.5 tons of grain per hectare, he says, however, the truly important product of the second crop is the rice straw, which will get my cattle through the dry season when no grass is available. Mr. Sumijan, whose four children are now grown and on their own, does not need as much rice as he used to for home consumption. I will not sell my gogorancah harvest right away, but will hold most of it--maybe into December---when I will get a better market price. Weeds are his most costly problem during the gogorancah season. I must pay contract laborers as much as Rp 80,000 (US$36) to hand weed my field at least twice, he says regretfully. Family teamwork. Farther down the road, the family and neighbors of Mr. Supar Hadi Sucipto have a set routine in which all participants have vital roles in getting the walik jerami crop established as soon as possible on his 0.2 hectare. Mr. Sucipto, his wife, and Later use large paculs (hoes) to turn over the stubble left from the gogorancah harvested just a few days before. Neighbor children bundle seedlings and deliver them to his teenage daughters, who do the laborious transplanting. Due to the efficient teamwork, an amazing area is tilled and transplanted in a very brief period of time (see photo, p 30-31). Mr. Sucipto hopes the rains will continue to be plentiful this season so his walik jerami will produce a good crop of both grain and straw. I had a reasonably good grain yield of 6.6 tons per hectare for my gogorancah this season, but I

have a lot of mouths to feed and a superior walik jerami might allow me to sell some rice later in the year, he says. Mole crickets and. weeds are the biggest headaches for the Suciptos. The family will repay their neighbors help tomorrow by working in their fields. Collaborating with IRRI. Around the bend, Mr. Juwandi stands in one of his freshly transplanted walik jerami fields with, Dr. Maddala Murty, project scientist in IRRIs Soil and Water Sciences Division. They are discussing what will need to be

replicate the experiment here in Mr. Juwandis field, explains Dr. Murty. This involves checking the lateral water flow with vertical plastic barriers that are placed at strategic points across the bunds. At first, Dr. Murty had. difficulty finding the right field for his experiment. I spent several days surveying the Jakenan region looking for the long, narrow piece of ground I would need to properly conduct the experiment. I was almost ready to give up when my driver, who turned out to be

done in an on-farm experiment Mr. Juwandi has agreed to participate in. In 1995, Dr. Murty conducted experiments at the nearby Jakenan Experiment Station that show lateral flow in the soil is possibly a more important factor in water loss than percolation in the rainfed lowlands of the Jakenan region. To confirm this hypothesis, I am about to

Dr. Maddala Murty (right) reviews an on-farm experiment with collaborating farmer Mr. Juwandi.

Mr. Juwandi, said, Why dont you use one of my fields? Mr. Juwandi is happy to collaborate with IRIRI. I feel my contribution to agricultural research is now much more substantial than just being a driver for the experiment station, he says proudly.

35

Far mer s lear n fr om on-far m resear ch

Carolyn Dedolph RAJSHAHI, BANGLADESH utside of the city, one side of the road is lush and green with irrigated dry season rice. The other side is fallow, dusty, and. brown-theres not even enough water for the weeds. The farmers who work this land, who follow the traditional cropping pattern of growing only one crop of wet season rice a year, must wait for the rain to come in July before planting. Now, thanks to deep tube wells, the cropping pattern has been shifting around Rajshahi to irrigated dry season rice followed by a rainfed wet season crop--and. dramatically increasing output. Mr. Mohamed Map Uddin and his family are collaborators with the Rainfed. Lowland Rice Research Consortium. Rajshahi, which means kings place, is one of the. Consortiums five key sites.

The head of family, who was away when we visited, has been farming for nearly 25 years with his wife. His sons, Salah Uddin, 28, and Omar Faruk, 25, are actively involved in the farm. There are 11 children in the family, although two of the young men are no longer at home. All of the children have studied through secondary school. We are getting educated to help our father in agriculture, says Salah, who has a masters degree. But he really hopes to get a job in industry some day. Meanwhile, he and Omar supervise the laborers working in the fields. The family has been collaborating with Consortium researchers on direct dry seeding of rice. They became involved in on-farm research because their father is interested in rice research and motivated to participate, says Salah.

And yes, the sons know about IRRI. Recites Salah: IRRI is an international institute that does research on rice. The goal of the familys current collaborative work is to spread the potential risk of drought damage by carrying out four seedings over 2 months. Seeding is done every 15 days, explains Salah. The first one is done around the first of June, then a second in a different plot around June 15. Two more seedings follow.
Salah Uddin helps his father on the farm, but his real dream is to work in Industry.

R ESEARCH

HIGHLIGHTS

Shaking up theories about blast pathogen diversity

In three valleys of western Bhutan, an unprecedented outbreak of rice blast disease occurred in 1995. Farmers lost their entire crops to the disease in the most severely affected areas. Although commonly observed in fields in Bhutan, blast had apparently never before caused serious losses. So why then? DNA fingerprinting of the blast pathogen (Magnaporthe grisea) revealed an extremely diverse population in the affected areas. So a novel introduction wasnt the reason for the epidemic, says Dr. Robert Zeigler, IRRI plant pathologist. After talking with farmers and examining weather records, scientists concluded that unusual weather at critical crop stages probably triggered the indigenous pathogen population to explode into an epidemic. But there may be more to it than that. Earlier work by Dr. Zeigler and his colleagues to characterize the blast pathogen population in the Himalayas of India revealed genetic diversity far greater than that of populations previously studied. Theres strong evidence that sexual recombination may be occurring in the field Dr. Zeigler says. This finding challenges assumptions that M. grisea reproduces strictly by cloning itself and that different lineages are genetically isolated. The implication: even apparently simple blast pathogen populations in the Himalayas may be the source of new types of pathogen that could potentially threaten millions of hectares of rice growing in the Gangetic plains.

Characterizing rainfed lowlands accurately

For years, scientists who have tried to characterize the rainfed lowland rice areas of the world have ended up frustrated. The sheer diversity and unpredictability of the climate make it extremely difficult to reliably classify the rainfed lowland areas into a particular subecosystem category of favorable, submergence-prone, drought-prone, or drought and submergence-prone. A given area could be classified as being in one subecosystem this year but in a different subecosystem the next year, explains Dr. Virendra P. Singh, IRRI agronomist. Consequently, scientists could not develop a technology and recommend it with confidence to farmers. But things have changed for the better Using remote sensing and geographic information systems, Dr. Singh and his collaborators developed a new methodology to reliably characterize and delineate an area into a subecosystem category.

Twenty-four districts covering about 3 million hectares in eastern Uttar Pradesh, and some districts in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Assam, India, were used to test the methodology in a massive collaborative effort involving researchers from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, agricultural universities in India, and IRRI; workers from state remote-sensing application centers and nongovernment organizations; and farmers. We found that in 9 out of 10 cases, the classification derived using this system is correct, Dr. Singh says. Scientists can now pinpoint where specific technologies will be useful for farmers---and just as importantly, where they will not. For example, varieties with tolerance for drought can be recommended---with confidence---as appropriate for an area. This couldnt be previously done, Dr. Singh says. Rainfed lowland rice varieties and associated crop management techniques are now being tested in farmers fields in eastern India based on these new classifications.

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Expanding the research base

After only 5 years of existence, the Rainfed Lowland Rice Research Consortium (RLRRC) is having a major impact on its targeted ecosystem. The challenges facing the Consortium are huge, including increasing productivity, sustaining these increases, and doing so with technologies that could be adopted by resource-poor farmers. Consortium scientists are working to expand and strengthen the research base for the rainfed lowland rice ecosystem to generate new technologies that have local, regional, and international applications, says Dr. Robert Zeigler, leader of IRRIs Rainfed Lowland Rice Ecosystem Program. IRRI joined forces with relatively strong national agricultural research systems (NARSs) from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand to form the Consortium. Initially funded only by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the consortium now also enjoys the support of the Dutch Government. Participating institutions have embraced the multidisciplinary research model embodied in the consortium approach and have restructured their relevant programs accordingly. As a result, there are now fully decentralized rainfed lowland rice breeding programs in northeast Thailand, Indochina, and eastern India. These programs built upon local farmers knowledge and germplasm, and now have highly productive, adapted, advanced lines under evaluation in farmers fields, Dr. Zeigler says. The Consortium is really a major step in the evolution of CGIAR and NARS partnerships in research,

says Dr. Zeigler. It has now reached the stage where complex and potentially high-payoff strategic research is being conducted in a truly collaborative mode.

Perfecting direct dry seeding of rice

Scientists and farmers are working together to perfect the practice of dry seeding rice. The ultimate goal is to get more farmers---where appropriate---to adopt this economical, time-saving establishment technique in which rice seeds are broadcast directly in dry plowed or moist unpuddled fields. In four villages in Pangasinan Province, Philippines, dry seeded rice systems were found to out perform transplanted systems. Although rice yields were similar in the two systems, dry seeded rice farms produced higher total annual income because enough residual soil moisture remains to grow mungbean after rice. Dry seeded rice uses rainfall more efficiently than transplanted rice, says Dr. Sadiq Bhuiyan, IRRI water resource specialist. After sowing, dry seeds can remain viable in dry soil for 15-20 days. They germinate with the first significant rains. In the transplanted rice culture, rice cannot be established until enough rain has accumulated for plowing and puddling says Dr. To Phuc Tuong, IRRI water management engineer So by dry seeding, farmers could gain a month or two that otherwise would be spent preparing land, allowing them to potentially grow a second crop. Farmers can also benefit from another simple practice. In a different study, research on 50 farms showed that, through better land leveling and bund management, yields of dry seeded rice would be increased by about 1 ton per hectare. Rainwater capture and use is more efficient in fields that are well leveled and partitioned into plots) says Dr. Bhuiyan.

Farmer-participatory brooding
Why arent more farmers using modern rainfed rice varieties? The question is a serious one for breeders. They realize that the rainfed rice environments are complex and that their breeding strategies must take this complexity into account./ Farmer input to the breeding process can be most useful in the beginning, at the problem identification stage, and in the later phases of selection, says Dr. Ken Fischer, IRRI deputy director general for research. This will help to ensure that rice varieties developed are selected and evaluated for specific adaptation to farm microenvironments. During a think-tank meeting on farmer-participatory breeding at IRRI in March 1996, participants from around the world shared experiences and discussed expectations of farmer participatory breeding projects. Scientists, research managers, farmers, and government and nongovernment representatives attended. IRRI scientists have been making use of the farmer-participatory breeding concept for some time now. Advanced breeding lines originating from the Thai-IRRI Shuttle Program are being tested in farmers fields in northeastern Thailand and in eastern India. Lines from populations developed using modern and traditional varieties are under evaluation and selection in farmers field in Bangladesh.

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Escaping the floods brings a better life

Carolyn Dedolph TANGAIL, BANGLADESH n a land with no stones, where theres either too much water or not enough, and where nearly 900 persons inhabit every square kilometer of land., living is difficult---and, farming is tough. Mohamed. Abdul Makim Talukdar and. his wife Joygun Nessa live in rural Tangail, Bangladesh. The area is in the heart of the traditional deepwater rice area where the clays are a tawny-orange color. The houses are perched on earthen. platforms to keep them above the flood.waters that come with the monsoon every year. Farming, however difficult or challenging, is the only life most Bangladeshis know. I have been a rice farmer for 35 years, says Mr. Talukdar. I started when I was 10. But farming has been undergoing many changes during his life. One of the most dramatic has been a shift in the kind of rice that farmers grow, and the changes this has caused. in the cropping patterns. Traditionally, farmers broadcast floating rice about 2-3 months before the onset of the monsoon in April to early May, and harvest it in November or December, after the floods have receded. These floating rice plants are uniquely adapted to this floodprone ecosystem: they can elongate their stems rapidly in response to rising floodwater growing as much as 20 centi-

All members of the family---sometimes even young children---are expected to work on the farms in Bangladesh.

meters a day in waters more than a meter deep. Amazing growers they may be, but these rices yield only 0.5-2.5 tons per hectare in average years. And in some years there is no harvest at all because of severe flooding or drought---or both. In recent years, many farmers have substituted a dry season crop of irrigated rice, commonly called boro rice, for one wet season crop of floating rice, more than doubling the yield.. Groundwater irrigation projects using tube wells and suitable varieties with tolerance for cold temperature have been mainly responsible for this shift. The water for irrigation comes from shallow groundwater aquifers that are replenished. yearly. The adoption of dry season irrigated, rice has improved both the availability of food, and

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farmers incomes. Farmers can now consistently get about 5.5 tons per hectare using the modern varieties. Although. the production cost of irrigated rice is almost three times more than that of floating rice, a farmers net income ends tip being twice as high, and the actual expense

per ton of grain produced is almost 40 percent lower with irrigated rice. Innovative farmers, in collaboration with scientists from national agricultural research systems and IRRI, have been developing intensive cropping systems with nonrice crops

before or after rice. New seeding and crop production methods to fit in with the flood pattern are also being developed. Some farmers, such as Mr. Talukdar, are combining irrigated. rice in the dry season with deepwater rice in the wet season---instead of leaving the

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Ill continue to farm the land, but I would really like to go abroad to work, perhaps to Saudi Arabia as a laborer to make more money, Mr. Talukdar says.

fields fallow during the rains. He grows an irrigated crop of BR14 and IR8, called IRRI8 in Bangladesh, during the dry season (mid-November to late April/ May). After the irrigated crop is harvested, he grows deepwater rice during the wet season. He also tries new technologies on his nonirrigated land.. This year, he is planting a mixture of Datury, a local early wet season or summer (April-August) rice variety, and Alloy, a deepwater rice. We are now just waiting for the rains, explains the farmer. For the transplanted wet season crop, he uses the modern variety BR11 and a local variety Nigershail. Half of his land, which is rainfed and low-lying, is planted. from April. to November to a deepwater crop of Chamara. The family also raises rainfed jute, wheat, potato, pulses, lentils, and sugarcane. Some of the produce is sold, but most is

consumed by the family. Vegetables, including bottle gourd, pumpkin, and. beans, are also grown. We sell mustard and about half of the rough. rice, says Mr. Talukdar. He explains that the going rate for rough rice is 300 taka (US$7.25) for 40 kilograms. For each bigha (0.13 hectare) of land, he grosses 3,600 taka (US$87). His expenses--irrigation, fertilizer, labor, and. one pesticide application for stem borer-total about 2,000 taka per bigha (US$362 per hectare), leaving him with 1,600 taka per bigha or US$174 on his 0.6-hectare farm. I make a profit, says Mr. Talukdar, smiling. To get modern varieties to produce up to their yield potential, Mr. Talukdar usually applies some chemical fertilizer. Getting fertilizer when he needs it is the major constraint he faces. In addition to the cropping enterprises, the family also owns eight head of cattle and raises some goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, and pigeons. Ms. Nessa is in charge of the animals. Fodder must be brought to them, for no land is available for grazing. Weeds---roots and all---are sometimes dug up and washed for fodder.

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When producing well, the two cows give about 4 kilograms of milk each day, most of which is sold. Ms. Nessa is also a successful entrepreneur with her own puffed rice business. She sells the snack food in the familys grocery store. (See sidebar.) Ms. Nessa stores her own rice and wheat seeds in bins in their 10-year-old house, its walls made of woven bamboo mats. The seed potatoes are stored in a wooden box kept under the bed. So how does Mr. Talukdar get the idea to do all of these things? Sometimes he goes to the agricultural officer if he needs advice, but most of the time Im doing these things myself, he says. When Mr. Talukdar was involved a few years ago in onfarm research on wheat, rice, and mustard with the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, researchers would. regularly visit him. Mr. Talukdar takes the lead in working his ricefields, although he does hire laborers. The couples 15-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son dont have much tine to work on the farm because they are both busy at school. Their patents believe education is very important. The son also runs the small grocery store in the nearby village. I want him to am the business and farm in the future, Mr. Talukdar. And I want my daughter to be a professional. When asked about his future as a rice farmer, a grin slowly spreads across Mr. Talukdars weathered face, and he laughs. Ill continue to farm the land, but I would really like to go abroad. to work, perhaps to Saudi Arabia as a laborer to make more money.

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ago, flanked by small ricefields tended by the entire family. Now huge areas have been converted. to industrial parks for factories and commercial centers---ricefields are rarely seen. Where agriculture is still, practiced, large tractors do the tilling and combines on caterpillar treads do the harvesting. Farm labor is very scarce as laborers and young people, such as those in the Amphansri and Sarakam families, have already found or will soon be seeking jobs in the city and in industry. In Ayutthaya Province, Somchit Pudchon, a deepwater rice farmer, surveys the activities around his 0.8-hectare farm where a large two-story house is under construction. All of the nearby development is causing a basic change in the area, he says. Water stays in the fields longer so he and his neighbors must go to the nearby Huntra Rice Experiment Station to ask for varieties that mature later so that their crop will be able to wait out the longer standing deep water. The new topography has altered the whole system. The best option, says Mr. Pudchon is to sell the land for house construction. Ten years ago, he sold more than half of

his landsome 20 rai (around 3 hectares)for 80,000 baht (US$3,200) per rai. But now he knows he was too hasty. Today, I could sell that same land for 1 million baht (US$40,000) per rai, he says with regret. Closer to the main highway, some farmers are getting 3 million baht (US$120,000) per rai. At prices like that, not many farmers are going to hold. on to the land to pass on to their children, says Mr. Pudchon. With all the development in this area, rice growing will disappear soon. The concern for the future of rice farming is certainly legitimate in provinces such as Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani, which are close to booming Bangkok. But in Prachin Buri Province, some 100 kilometers

Somchit Pudchon is financing the building of his new house not from deepwater rice profits, but from income generated by his son who is working In Thailands booming construction business.

northeast of the capital, there is also apprehension among the farmers. In Kabinburi District, Ahd and Saboo Sriwong, both in their late 60s, have been growing floating and deepwater rice for nearly half a centuryand recently some rainfed lowland riceon their 32-hectare farm. Nineteen of the hectares are devoted to rice and 12 hectares to fruit trees. They have successfully raised six children, but the Sriwongs are concerned that none of them will follow in their footsteps. Farming has such a low income and there are no guarantees, Mr. Sriwong says as he points to one of the pylons below his raised house showing the waterline left by 1995s devastating floods. As a result of the prolonged flooding, they harvested only 9 tons of floating rice (on 13 hectares), 3 tons of deepwater rice (on 4.8 hectares),
Samvuey and Jumras Amphansri do not see much of a future for young people in rice farming.

Ahd Sriwong would like to see one or two of his children take over his farm, but he doesnt know if It will happen.

composite deepwater cross (a mixture of some 100 crosses in which there is some IRRI germplasm). Although it has not yet been officially released, I have been growing it on demonstration yield plots on my farm and. have been selling it as seed to about 100 farmers, he says. In addition to better quality, it has increased our yields nearly 1 ton per hectarefrom 1.8 to 2.7 tons. Prachin Bun researchers will be sending some seed of the composite cross to the Flood-prone Rice Ecosystem Program at IRRI for further testing. I dont sell the seed to make extra money, he emphasizes, but to spread the new varieties as quickly as possible. I am happy to do this for my neighbors and perhaps provide an incentive for them to stay on their farms.

and 1 ton of rainfed. rice (on 0.8 hectare), compared with the 19, 12, and 3 tons, respectively, they would. normally harvest. jobs in factories and industry are more secure and regular, concludes Mr. Sriwong. There is just too much fluctuation in farming. In a neighboring district, Mr. Juan Kongklom, 42, has resisted the lure of the boom to the southwest and has decided to stay on his familys 104-rai (16-

hectare) deepwater rice farm. He has been managing the operation since his father died. and. is supporting his wife, Payao, his two Sons, mother, and sister. For the past 3 years, Mr. Kongklom has been assisting the Prachin Buri Research Center scientists in experiments with a
As the sun sets, Juan Kongklom, takes time out to contemplate the approaching planting season and the future with his 6-year-old son, Piyachet.

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RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS Preventing the dangers of acid sulfate soils farmers To reclaim acid sulfate soils,
commonly use rain and irrigation water to wash the acidity away. But the drainage water, which is contaminated with toxic aluminum (AI), is usually washed downstream-to become the next farmers problem as it pollutes the surface water. If the concentration is high enough, plants and aquatic animals in the canal network die, and the water becomes unfit for drinking. Scientists from the University of Can Tho, Vietnam; Wageningen University, Netherlands; and IRRI are working to solve this dilemma in Vietnam, where about 25 million hectares of land are affected. They have been investigating the effects of land management on the amount of AI accumulated in acid sulfate soils during the dry season. The researchers found that the amount of water evaporating from the soil surface dictates the rate of AI accumulation, overwhelming the effects of chemical reactions within the topsoil. Mulching with straw can reduce dramatically the amount of AI accumulated in the top 20 centimeters of soil, and early plowing in the dry season reduces the accumulation by about half. Less aluminum accumulation in the topsoil reduces hazards because less toxicity will be leached to the environment during the wet season, explains Dr. To Phuc Tuong, IRRI water management engineer. Scientists from the University of Can Tho and IRRI are also working on how to lessen the negative effects of leaching from acidic soils. They found that the amount of acid leached by rain depends on the size

Crystal clear water in the canals of Vietnam signal a sterile environment caused by pollution from aluminum leaching.

New test for salinity tolerance

Scientists have been struggling for years with trying to accurately determine the level of salinity tolerance in rice during the reproductive stage. Field tests were not reliable and took 3-4 years to do, and laboratory and greenhouse techniques were horribly expensive. Using common salt and plastic pots, scientists at IRRI have recently devised a salinity tolerance test that is simple, fast, and inexpensive, according to Dr. D. Senadhira, the IRRI plant breeder whose research team developed the procedure. Done in the greenhouse, the test is based on the principle of osmotic adjustment between soil and a salinized water bath. Scientists in the national systems and elsewhere will now be able to effectively screen for salt tolerance in rice, says Dr. Senadhira. Tests with well-known tolerant and sensitive varieties revealed the technique to be reliable and easy to use. IRRI scientists are employing the procedure to test advanced lines in breeding programs for salttolerant varieties. 49

of the cross-section and perimeter of the large water-conducting pores in the soil. Farmers in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam typically construct raised beds for upland crops because of annual flooding. This practice, however, contributes to a lot of acid being leached into the environment and polluting it. Certain management practices contribute to leaching, while others lessen it. The pores of the soil in raised pineapple beds, for example, are compressed because the soil is not disturbed for two years. This lessens leaching. But in raised yam beds, the soil is tilled every year and the plants are uprooted. All of the disturbances in the soil prevent the pores from being compacted, and this means a lot of leaching can occur, explains Dr. Tuong. The scientists goal is to come up with effective ways to modify how farmers reclaim acid sulfate soils, including assessing the associated environmental hazards of the process.

Stripper-harvester catches on with farmers

Sylvia Oliver-Inciong AKLANPROVINCE,PHILIPPINES r. Bayani Blas Salvador was impressed as he watchedavideoof the IRRI-designed SG800 stripperharvester in action during a 1991 rice seed growers seminar. I need this for my farm, he thought. Well, he got it. Today, Mr. Salvador is the only owner-operator of an. 36800 harvester in Aklan Province on Panay Island in the central Philippines. The machine, an alternative to manual harvesting, his rice harvest is for seed mechanical reapers, and. small production. combines, allows harvesting and A delay in threshing can threshing to take place simullead. to crop losses during the taneously. (See sidebar, p 54.) wet season. If it rains during harFor most farmers, the wait vesting, the cut, unthreshed crop and see attitude prevails before will become wet, causing adopting any technology. But Mr. spoilage and ruining seed Salvador knew immediately that viability, says Mr. Salvador. A the stripper-harvester was what member of the Aklan Seed he needed. Growers Association, Mr. It usually took us 1 month to Salvador sells his harvest to finish harvesting and threshing various farmers groups and during the wet season and about cooperatives in Aklan and nearby 3 weeks during the dry season provinces. using the traditional method, After seeing that video, he says Mr. Salvador. Employing immediately placed an order manual harvesting, it takes 3 or for the stripper-harvester with 4 days to harvest and. thresh IRRI engineers present during 1 hectare-but only 1 day is the seminar. He needed the needed to harvest 1 hectare machine in time for the coming using the stripper-harvester. wet season harvest, so With a l0-hectare lowland. arrangements were made with a irrigated farm, the timely manufacturer in Calauan, Laguna, to fabricate it. For P80,000 harvesting of the rice crop isalways a concern for Mr. (US$3,075), a stripper-harvester

In the thick of the action, Bayan i Salvador (far right) supervises workers using the stripper-harvester on his farm

Salvador because 90 percent of and engines were shipped to 52

Aklan in early 1992. Two staff members of IRRIs Agricultural Engineering Division provided hands-on training on the machines basic operation, repair, and maintenance for two of Mr. Salvadors farm laborers. Mr. Bernardo do Juan, a 42year-old hand tractor operator, learned to operate the unit in just an hour. I find the machine easy

to operate, Mr. de Juan says. Having worked. on Mr. Salvadors farm For 4 years, he is paid either in cash or in kind, depending on his preference ..Mr. Antonio Sabino, 32, the other farmhand trained to operate the machine, comments: With the stripperharvester, I can finish the work faster, which allows me to have more time for my family and

other activities. Both operators can also work on other farms from time to time. They have, in turn, trained coworker Mr. Rodel Concepcion to operate the machine. The simplicity of the stripperharvester makes it suitable for local manufacture and maintenance by workers in small-scale rural workshops.

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With the stripperharvester, I can finish the work faster, which allows me to have more time for my family and other activities.

Maintaining the machine is no problem for Mr. Salvador, who is a mechanical engineer by training. Working abroad as a seaman-engineer for almost 15 years, he had to delegate farm management to his wife, Jessica. In 1991, he left the sea and returned to the land. to farm fulltime as a seed producer. Their five children have professional careers off the farm, so the couple are now on their own. and jointly manage their farm enterprise. She takes charge of financial matters while he attends to the field operations It has been a winning combination. I am satisfied with the performance of the stripperharvester, says Mr. Salvador, who recouped his investment after only 2 years operation

Stripper-harvester developed to help small-scale farmers

The Salvadors constantly eye new technologies for their farm.

Mr. Salvador recommends that one should have at least 5 hectares to make owning a stripper-harvester profitable. However, he quickly adds with a smile: Farm size should not necessarily be a deterring factor. After all, one can always accept contracts for harvesting jobs on the side.

he scene is a common one these days:agricultural workers cannot earn a decent living, so they leave the countryside for large urban centers in search of better paying jobs. Small-scale farmers in irrigated and rainfed ecosystems, who depend on hired laborers to harvest their crops, have problems finding people to do the job. IRRI researchers observed the dilemma of these farmers and developed a machine that could help: the stripper-harvester. Large-scale farmers have been able to deal with this problem by adopting combine harvester technology from Europe and North America, explains Mr. Boru Douthwaite, an IRRI agricultural engineer. IRRI researchers began developing a small-farm stripper-harvester in 1990, in collaboration with the Silsoe Research Institute in the United Kingdom. The British Overseas Development Administration supported the development of the technology. The German Agency for Technical Cooperation is now supporting the transfer and testing of the equipment in four Southeast Asian countries. One of the unique features of the stripper-harvester is that it does not cut the rice stems, as farmers Usually do when they harvest by machine or by hand. The dripper-harvester instead makes use of a rotor, a cylindrical device fitted with teeth made from old auto tires. Because the machine harvests less straw, rethreshing and cleaning are easier and cheaper, and it can handle a lodged (fallen over) crop efficiently. Since 1993, IRRI has coordinated the shipment of more than 20 prototypes of the stripper-harvester to national agencies, manufacturers, and farmers in 14 countries in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Thanks to the input of Mr. Salvador on Panay island and other stripper-harvester owners, the machine that is available now performs better than the initial version. (See feature, p 52.) Scientists at IRRI and the Philippine Rice Research Institute have Incorporated many farmers suggestions and manufacturers modifications. The result is the Mark II SG800 stripper-harvester, which is stronger and more rugged than the Mark I stripperharvester that Mr. Salvador purchased. Mr. Douthwaite explains that good engineering design is impossible without this feedback from the producers and users of the machine. IRRIs Agricultural Engineering Division provides, for free, working drawings of the stripper-harvester to interested manufacturers.

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Philippine NGO distributes salt-tolerant varieties

Sylvia Oliver-Inciong BULACAN PROVINCE, PHILIPPINES r. Isidro Manalo is always ready to try new things. Prominent among his contemporaries, he was chosen by the Hagonoy Municipal Council as the towns outstanding farmer in. 1975. For many years, his farm on Luzon Island has been used for trials by the Department of Agriculture and private companies. So, in 1995, Mr. Manalo, 66, welcomed the news that Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Inc., a nongovernment organization, was distributing seeds of two salttolerant rice varieties that can survive-and thrive-in salty soils that usually stunt plant growth. In a truly collaborative effort, the IRRI-developed varieties (PSBRc48 Bicol [IR988454-3.-1E-P1] and PSBRc50 Hagonoy [IR51500-AC11-1] were rigorously tested by several organizations. The Rice Varietal Improvement Group of the National Seed Industry Council (NSIC) and Philippine Rice Research Institute conducted laboratory tests and field experiments. The nongovernment organization did large-scale on-farm testing in Bicol.. province. The results of the work have been extremely positive. Salinity is often a serious problem in the flood-prone rice ecosystem and-as in the case of Mr. Manalo-in the irrigated rice ecosystem as well. When he

Isidro Manalo (left) and Jose P. Roxas, IRRI senior research assistant, work together to perfect salt-tolerant rice varieties in the Philippines. noticed the white traces of salt residue on land that he had farmed, for 45 years, he felt that a truly salt-tolerant rice variety would provide brighter prospects of increased yields and a better life for his family. He felt there was no harm in testing one of the varietiesPSBRc50 Hagonoy. I had some doubt about how it might perform at first, he says, so I decided. to allocate just a 3,000-square meter section for observation. When he harvested the crop in February 1996, he was pleased with the varietys dry season performance, which yielded nearly 170 cavans (3.4 tons) per hectare.

Up to then., Mr. Manalo and neighboring farmers had been planting primarily Wagwag, a local variety that yields, on average, only 70-80 cavans (1.4-1.6 tons) per hectare. Aside from its higher yield, the new variety matures in 120 days-60 days sooner than Wagwag. Although he takes risks, he does not believe in putting all his eggs in one basket. I plant at least two rice varieties. If one variety fails, I still have another one that will hopefully succeed. In addition to rice, the enterprising farmer raises tomatoes and fish. Mr. Manalo plans to do his own research. I will compare the varietys wet season performance with the dry season harvest, he says. Eventually, if all goes well, I will make the salt-tolerant variety a mainstay on my farm.

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RESEARCH

HIGHLIGHTS

Arthropod diversity: looking beyond the ricefields

IRRI entomologists have been studying the food web in irrigated and rainfed ricefields in a massive effort to develop more stable integrated pest management strategies. Now theyre moving beyond the ricefields and are examining nonrice habitats. Scientists have discovered that rice ecosystems-in the broad sense-are richly endowed with numerous predatory species that live outside the ricefields on weedcovered bunds, uncultivated vegetation, and other crops, such as banana and maize. The trick is to learn how to maintain an area so that an available pool of beneficial insects is always ready for migration into a ricefield as soon as a crop is planted, explains Dr. K. L. Heong, IRRI entomologist. Rice farmers often eliminate the weeds on their bunds with herbicides-primarily for cosmetic purposes. But they may be missing an important opportunity of making natural enemies work for them, he says. Scientists are currently studying habitats dominated by Paspalum conjugatum (a kind of grass) where two cricket species, Anaxipha longipennis and Metioche vittaticollis, commonly live. These crickets are efficient predators of hopper nymphs and lepidopteran eggs. The dynamics of the two species and their roles as natural biological control agents of rice pests are being examined. We need to know about the ecological relationships among 56

organisms living in both rice and nonrice habitats so that we can ultimately design rice production systems that have consistently low pest levels-naturally, Dr. Heong concludes.

adaptation to unfavorable environments, explains Dr. John Bennett, senior molecular biologist at IRRI. Two types of tests are necessary before transgenic programs can be fully evaluated. Field tests are required to confirm that the yield is Biotechnology for unaffected by the transformation better rice, faster procedure, and taste trials are Biotechnology is seen as an needed to confirm that eating important tool in the search for quality is maintained. higher yields through sustainable It is possible to use transagriculture. In the case of rice, this formation to improve high-quality target can be achieved through rice varieties in a short time-less increases in yield potential and yield than 1 year-without breaking up stability. genetically complex traits such as Unlike conventional breeding, grain quality, says Dr. Bennett. genetic engineering does not disrupt Research highlights from this complex genetic traits carried by work (also see the separate recipient cultivars such as high highlight on Bt rice) include the yield, excellent grain quality, and following items:

Biotechnology enables scientists to develop superior rice plants, more quickly. Transgenic rice with submergence tolerance. Pyruvate decarboxylase and Adh genes (sense and antisense orientation) were introduced into japonica and indica rice varieties by biolistic and protoplast methods to confer tolerance for submergence. Southern blot analysis revealed the integration of these genes, and the plants set seeds. The levels of submergence tolerance, enzyme assay, and pleiotropic charactersif any-of transgenic plants are now being determined through collaborative work with scientists from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australia, and Purdue University, USA.

Basmati rice transformed. Basmati, a high-quality aromatic rice, has important commercial value-but it is extremely vulnerable to both diseases and lodging. in collaboration with researchers at Kansas State University, USA, a transformation system for Basmati rice has been established using biolistic and protoplast systems. So far, transgenic plants have been obtained carrying several genes, including a Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) gene. One of them is pMSC, a chitinase gene from the insect Manduca sexta that confers resistance to sheath blight and fungal diseases. Transgenic Basmati 370 has produced seeds. Molecular data showed that genes are integrated and inherited. Chitinasegeneandsheath blight. A rice chitinase gene under the control of the CaMV35S promoter was used to increase resistance in rice to sheath blight, caused by the fungus Rhizoctonia solani. The coding sequence of the chitinase gene was cloned from rice genomic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and transferred to indica rice. The first and second generations of transgenic rice expressed the chitinase gene based on molecular analysis. Nearly 500 transgenic plants from the first generation were grown in the transgenic greenhouse and later inoculated with R. solani The degree of resistance displayed was correlated with the level of chitinase expression in the plants. Bioassays of additional selected second-generation plants will help scientists to determine whether transgenic rice plants with the chitinase gene will be useful in managing sheath blight, says Dr. Swapan Datta, plant tissue culture specialist at IRRI. Researchers have now introduced several other chitinase genes (vacuolar and nonvacuolar accumulation) in rice; their functions are yet to be determined.

Timing is everything when applying nitrogen

The rice root system has an amazing capacity to take up nitrogen (N) fertilizer broadcast into irrigation water. But unless fertilizer applications are timed properly, the plant will not sink the nutrients into producing grain. Scientists have confirmed that rice plants can produce 5-30 percent more grain-using the same amount of N-if fertilizer applications are properly timed. Out making use of this knowledge in the field will require researchers to develop a new generation of appropriate informationbased technologies. To more thoroughly understand the phenomenon, a systems modeling computer program known as MANAGEN was created by scientists in the Systems Analysis and Simulation for Rice Production (SARP) research network. The program takes into account soil, crop, and weather properties when recommending the amount of N for a desired yield level. Cooperating SARP network scientists from Bangladesh, China, and India verified the program by comparing local farmers N application practices with those suggested by MANAGEN. These recommendations consisted of applying several splits of N timed to match the rice plants needs at various growth stages. Total N applied ranged from 80 to 200 kilograms per hectare. The results show the importance of matching the rice plants need for N during the growing season and using new tools, such as MANAGE-N, says Dr. John Sheehy, IRRI crop ecologist and modeler. IRRI scientists envision that the futures precision farming will be rooted in these new information-based technologies.

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Fighting insects with Bt rice

Bt rice is rice that has been modified, through biotechnology techniques, with genes from a soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). These genes produce crystalline (Cry) proteins that are highly toxic to specific insect groups but are nontoxic to humans and other animals. The insecticidal protein accumulates in the leaves and other green tissues of the plant but not in the grain, says Dr. Michael Cohen, insect host plant resistance specialist at IRRI. Bt rice is targeted at controlling stem borers, which are chronic pests in all rice-growing countries of Asia. Although moderate resistance to stem borer has been introduced into many modern rice cultivars, high level resistance has not been found in any germplasm to date. The transformation of rice with the cry/A (b) gene was accomplished at IRRI in 1995 using the highquality, aromatic cultivar Tarom Molaii, which is very susceptible to stem borer Tissue culture cells derived from its mature seeds were bombarded with gold particles carrying the bacterial hpt gene for hygromycin B resistance and a synthetic cry/A (b) Bt gene for insect resistance. The first generation of this plant proved to be highly resistant to striped stem borer and produced second-generation plants containing both genes and showing resistance. The third generation was highly resistant to yellow stem borer in the vegetative and booting stages. Lines that are true-breeding for resistance to both kinds of stem borers have been identified and are now being evaluated as donors of

The yellow stem borer larva died after 4 days on a fit rice plant (top). The other larva was still healthy on a non-Bt plant (bottom).

high-level stem borer resistance in rice breeding programs. Although rice can be made highly resistant to stem borers by genetic engineering with genes for Bt toxins, the risk remains that stem borers will in turn evolve resistance to these toxins. IRRI scientists are evaluating various approaches to slowing the evolution of Bt resistance in

stem borers. Genetic engineering of rice with multiple toxins may be one useful component of a resistance management program, says Dr. Cohen. Another component should be the establishment of refuges of non-Bt plants in areas where Bt rice is being grown. Refuges will maintain a supply of stem borers that are susceptible to Bt-toxins, and which can mate with Bt-resistant insects that develop on Bt-rice plants. The offspring of matings between Bt-resistant stem borers and Bt-susceptible stem borers will generally be Bt susceptible.

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Refuges can be established within fields by sowing mixtures of seeds for Bt and non-Bt plants, or among fields by planting some fields to non-Bt plants. The maintenance of refuges will require farmer cooperation to achieve the full potential of Bt rice, says Dr. Cohen.

Using fungal pathogens to control weeds

Researchers from IRRI and McGill University, Canada, have been working to find ways to biologically control major weeds in rice with indigenous fungal plant pathogens. Their main targets are problem weeds in the less favorable rainfed lowlands and uplands: Cyperus difformis, C. iria, C. rotundus, Echinochloa colona, E. crus-galli, Fimbristylis miliacea, Mimosa in visa, Monochoria vaginalis, and Sphenoclea zeylanica. Women and children, who do most of the hand weeding, will be the main beneficiaries of this work, says Dr. Alan Watson, a weed specialist seconded from McGill University. Researchers have collected and isolated virulent fungal pathogens that have the potential to control all nine original target weeds with the exception of M. vagina/is. Six pathogenic fungi have so far been isolated from Echinochloa species. Fungi Exserohilum monoceras and Bipolaris sacchari were virulent on three Echinochloa species, nonpathogenic to rice, and needed the least dew period duration among the fungi tested. Consequently, they were selected for further development as biocontrol agents in rice. Echinochloa isolates suppressed up to 80 percent of the weeds in

initial field experiments. A drawback, however, was that once weed leaves became too dry, the isolates had limited use as control agents. A dry powdered formulation, floated on the water surface in the field, effectively delivered the inoculum to the target weeds-with no adverse effects on rice-and controlled the Echinochloa seedlings. The next step is to assess the efficacy of the isolates in collaboration with scientists in national research systems in Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam through the Rice IPM Network, says Dr. Watson.

Mapping genes for resistance to bacterial blight

Bacterial blight emerged as a serious constraint to rice production at roughly the same time IRRI was releasing its first modern highyielding varieties. IRRI scientists quickly located a powerful resistance gene in an Indian rice variety and incorporated it into the Institutes breeding lines. This approach was remarkably effective for several years, but IRRI breeders and pathologists knew that single-gene resistance is inherently unstable. So they continued to work on new nonchemical ways to contain the disease, using a mix of biotech and conventional approaches. Plants with multiple major and minor resistance genes provide much more durable protection against disease. Scientists at IRRI and in collaborating institutes are searching for additional sources of genetic resistance to bacterial blight-and designing better ways to use that resistance in farmers fields.

Recent research achievements include the following: * Modern molecular tool used to improve rice breeding efficiency. New breeding lines showing higher levels or different forms of resistance to bacterial blight and other biotic stresses-and some with multiple-resistance geneshave been developed by IRRI scientists with the aid of a modern molecular tool: DNA marker-aided selection. Using molecular markers, scientists can much more consistently produce varieties with complex and durable bacterial blight resistance than if they used other methods. One of the limiting factors of marker-aided selection has been its high cost. IRRI scientists have, however, streamlined the procedure and made many technical improvements to simplify it. Cost was reduced from US$20 per sample to less than US$2 per sample. Thanks to the now low cost, marker-aided selection can be used routinely in IRRIs breeding program, making lines improved with the tool readily available to researchers in national systems. * Pyramiding genes gives broad-spectrum resistance. To enhance bacterial blight resistance, scientists are using DNA markers linked to resistance genes to pyramid genes. Plants with two genes, Xa4 and Xa13, were selected. inoculation results showed that the selected plants are resistant to pathogen races that attack plants with individual genes. The plants with a broad spectrum of resistance are useful donors in breeding programs and for studying interactions between pathogen and host, says Dr Ning Huang, IRRI plant molecular geneticist.

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information-and previously uncollected traditional varietiesat this first stop and. others later in the week made it all worthwhile. Mr. and. Mrs. Ganasi were an ideal couple to interview simultaneously, but separately, with the same set of questions. We want to ascertain the different roles that males and females may play in the managernent and maintenance of rice diversity-both from their own and their spouses perspective, Dr. Bellon explains. As Dr. Bellon and Ms. Ammayao began the interview with Patricia, Mr. Erasga and Mr. Fiesta did likewise with Martin. Mr. Calibo and Mr. Sanchez started selecting from a collection of some stored panicles of traditional varieties used by the family (see photo, p 60).

The medium-term (20-40 years) storage facility of PhilRice now has more than. 3,000 trad.itional varieties, of which Mr. Sanchez himself has collected around 1,000 in his travels across the 7,000-island archipelago over the past 5 years-either in conjunction with IRRI projects or independently. While Mr. Sanchez collected seeds of varieties such as Mimis and Alindayo, Mr. and Mrs. Ganasi answered many specific questions about them, such as how long they have planted. them, where they got the seeds, how often they renewed their seeds, and what the varieties estimated. yields were in good and bad years. They were asked to rank the varieties for a host of traits ranging from yield. to tolerance for various stresses, to cooking quality, to whether they are good fodder for animals.

Although it does not look attractive, upland farmers of the Sierra Madre successfully rotate rice and other crops in a delicately balanced kaingin (slash-and-burn) system.

They also provided similar information on traditional varieties they no longer use. After a very informative stay at the Ganasi farmstead, the survey and collection team ventured farther into the uplands and visited six more families. Mr. Sanchez collected 19 samples of traditional varieties used. in the upland fields, three modern varieties used mainly in some small irrigated plots, and one mixture of four varieties. And Dr. Bellon accumulated. a mountain of data on farmers seed management and conservation practices to analyze in the coming months. %

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PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
Preserving biodiversity: the Lao PDR example
About 85-90 percent of the traditional varieties in the landlocked Lao PDR are sticky rices, preferred for their eating quality. However, new high-yielding varieties are rapidly replacing traditional ones, especially in the southern provinces. We have concentrated collection efforts in the South during our first year in the country, says Dr. Seepana Apa Rao, a Lao-based project scientist with the IRRI Genetic Resources Center. Dr. Rao is referring to a concerted 4-year effort, which began inAugust 1995, to collect local varieties for present and future use in rice improvement. The Lao Department ofAgriculture and Extension and IRRI are jointly collecting traditional rice germplasm through a network that uses the expertise of local farmers and extension officers in the southern and central regions. T date, we have collected more o than 2,000 samples of cultivated rice and 72 samples of wild rice consisting of Oryza rufipogon, O. officinalis, and O. granulata, says Dr. Rao. We have also found some interesting interspecific hybrids derived from the spontaneous crossing of wild and cultivated species.

The collected germplasm is being preserved in the countrys new lowtemperature seed storage facility at the Naphok National Research and Seed Multiplication Center while a duplicate set is being kept at IRRIs International Rice Genebank (IRG) for long-term preservation. Lao PDR is one of 10 countries participating in a biodiversity project sponsored by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. These countries all have large areas that germplasm collectors have never visited.

INGER celebrates 20 years of global rice germplasm exchange

The International Network for Genetic Evaluation of Rice (INGER) observed its 20th year in 1995 as a vital conduit for the flow of rice germplasm within and between continents. INGER has facilitated the global exchange and evaluation of more than 40,000 breeding lines and varieties since 1975, says Dr. Ram Chaudhary, the Networks global coordinator. It has proven to be a powerful platform for international cooperation in improving rice varieties for farmers everywhere. National breeding programs have used more than 3,000 breeding lines and varieties from INGER to improve local varieties. Four hundred and thirteen entries have been released as 591 varieties in 64 countries. Economists estimate that the annual value of each of these varieties to the world economy is around US$2.5 million. Less developed countries, such as Myanmar and Cambodia, have made excellent use of breeding lines developed elsewhere. Myanmar has recently become an important exporter of rice-thanks mainly to the countrys active involvement with INGER, according to the Myanmar Minister of Agriculture. Myanmar farmers now grow some 26 released varieties supplied through INGER. Between 1988 and 1993, 10 of 12 improved varieties released in Cambodia came directly from INGER nurseries. In the years ahead, INGER aims to address the needs of other ricegrowing areas, such as Central and West Asia and countries of the former Soviet Union. %

Material transfer agreement protects germplasm exchange

A material transfer agreement (MTA) for the exchange of rice germplasm from the IRG collection has been in effect since September 1995, as agreed to in IRRIs intellectual property rights policy. Under the terms of IRRIs agreement with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), all rice germplasm in the IRG is designated as part of an International Network of Ex Situ Collections. According to Dr. Michael Jackson, Genetic Resources Center head, the MTA will facilitate the continued free exchange of germplasm with, rice scientists around the world and will ensure that this valuable material cannot be misappropriated for commercial purposes.

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In these efforts, we have emphasized on-farm experiments with new IRRI varieties for the rainfed lowlands, says Dr. Martha Gaudreau, cropping systems agronomist and team leader of the Madagascar-IRRI Rice Research Project. Mr. Rados group is heavily involved in farmer-participatory research, and. its members, in addition. to learning, have also been teaching the researchers. The members plan their activities in conjunction with the researchers. They constructively criticize one anothers suggestions, providing valuable help to each other. Researchers respect me because I give my opinion openly, says Mr Rado. A few years ago, I didnt know many things about farming. Now, I can do research myself and. find out what works and what does not, and which technologies to use, he says. Two years ago, researchers gave the farmers 500 to 1,000 grams of seeds of each of five new rice varieties. The farmers

were asked to try the varieties and. then tell the researchers what they thought. They did. And after cleaning their harvest, they started. multiplying the seeds. In 1995, the farmers had. 4 tons of seed to sell. This season, Mr. Rado planted nine new varieties from FOFIFA and IRRI. Among them are X2509, X236, 2787, 1579, 1580, and Tsemaka. The objective of the trial is for the farmers to determine which varieties perform the best under different soil conditions. The main varieties being multiplied and shared are X265, X236, and X2509. Mr. Rado, however, doesnt simply sell seeds. He takes on a much more important role as a farmerextensionist. When someone is interested in buying seeds, he explains to them the kinds of soils for which the varieties are best suited. To prove his point, he recites, X265 is for soils that are droughtprone; X236 is for sandy soils; X2509 does well on very rich soil-and theres no lodging problem.

In 1995, he sold 1.5 tons of seeds from these three varieties for 1,500 Malagasy francs (US$0.38) per kilogram. I didnt get much benefit from doing this because of the high production costs, he says. But Mr. Rados motives are more than economic: I really want to share these seeds with others, so I sell them cheaply. On-farm research is like an invitation from the researchers to do more. But the work is not only for the researchers. Its also for me, Mr. Rado says. %

A few years ago, I didnt know many things about farming. Now, I can do research myself and find out what works and what does not, and which technologies to use, says Mr. Rado.

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PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS Strengthening partnerships

Accelerating progress in selected national research systems through country- and ecosystem-specific support programs and networks requires a strong commitment from all concerned partners. Increasing the research capacity of IRRIs national system partners helps to foster closer working relationships that ultimately benefit rice farmers and consumers in those countries. Through this program in 1995, IRRI worked with national systems in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Iran, Lao PDR, Madagascar, Myanmar, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Activities from selected countries are highlighted.

will also provide feedback to IRRI on agricultural research needs of the Asian region, develop concepts for an ecoregional approach for research on rice and rice-based farming systems, and facilitate linkages with advanced institutions conducting relevant rice research. The founding members of the Council are Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. As the agencies through which IRRI makes contact with farmers, the NARSs provide the conduit for the flow of feedback on farm-level production constraints and on opportunities for improving farmers productivity, says Dr. Ken Fischer, IRRI deputy director general for research.

Ten Asian countries sign accord to strengthen partnerships

During a March 1996 meeting at IRRI, representatives from the national agricultural research systems (NARSs) of 10 rice-growing countries in Asia established a Council for Partnership on Rice Research in Asia (CORRA). CORRAs aims are to guide, facilitate, support, and strengthen partnerships among NARSs in Asia, and between the NARSs and IRRI and other relevant institutions, in an effort to better satisfy rice research needs. CORRA, through the NARSs, CambodiasgovernmentagronomistSuy Sakkunthea(left),apartnerofCIAPs socialsciencesteam,andNGOextension workerThiangChinda(2ndfromleft) discusscroppingpracticeswithmodel farmersSuamY andPhanSuan. a

Cambodia produces first rice surplus in 25 years

Measuring the impact of research and research support is often difficult. So many factors combine to create successful harvests that ifs often impossible to single out any particular element as the key one. However, in the case of rice production in Cambodia, the unique

circumstances make impact measurement much easier to obtain. Throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, agricultural production and research in Cambodia were in a precarious state. Seriously affected by the US-Vietnam war, by its own civil war, and gravely damaged in the years of Pol Pots Khmer Rouge regime, the research and extension infrastructure had been totally destroyed by the time that relatively peaceful conditions were restored. Much of the irrigated riceland was unusable, due to the destruction and lack of maintenance of the irrigation systems and to the largescale laying of anti-personnel mines in and around the ricefields where battles were being fought. The agricultural research facilities no longer existed. Most of the researchers had disappeared-into the killing fields or out of the country. Many of Cambodias traditional varieties were lost as the rice area contracted to 20 percent of its former level and seed stocks were consumed by hungry war refugees. The chances of the country producing enough rice to feed its people did not look good. Then, in 1986, the Cambodian government invited IRRI to help it

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Checking the quality of seed from new rice varieties, Kap Srau Rice Research Station, Cambodia.

restore its rice production capability to what it had been before the troubled 1970s, when the country was an exporter of the cereal. In 1987, with financial support from Australia, IRRI launched the Cambodia-IRRI-Australia Project (CIAP) to help the countrys Department of Agronomy-and recently the Department of Agricultural Engineering also-establish and implement national research and development programs in rice production systems. Since then, CIAPs international and Cambodian national researchers and support staff members have worked hand in hand with government departments, nongovernment organizations, and Cambodian

farmers to help the country improve its rice production figures year by year. Researchers and engineers have been trained, the infrastructure rebuilt, and Cambodias national rice genetic resources restored from seed previously collected by IRRI and preserved in the International Rice Genebank. The proof of the impact of CIAP became most clear in the first quarter of 1996 when a crop and food supply assessment, carried out by a joint mission of the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UNs Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), showed that not only had Cambodia achieved self-sufficiency in rice production for the first time in 25 years, it had produced a surplus for export.

Based on data from the government and from a communitylevel survey, the mission calculated that 3.3 million tons of wet and dry season rice were produced in 199596, 40 percent more than in 199495, and 30 percent higher than in the 5 preceding years. It then estimated that this would produce a rice surplus of 139,000 tons. Factors affecting the increase in production have been given as the switch to higher yielding varieties, better pest management-both of which are technologies introduced by the CIAP team-and increased distribution and use of fertilizer. The team leader of CIAP, Dr. Harry Nesbitt, gives full credit for the dramatic improvement of the countrys rice production to the excellent spirit of partnership that has existed between our team and our Cambodian counterparts. He adds: Cambodians especially can be proud of this achievement. It is a landmark in the recovery of the country. Specific accomplishments of CIAP during 1995-96 were significant: Cambodian farmers began once again to grow varieties that were lost during the countrys civil strife. Sampies of the seeds were, fortunately, preserved in IRRIs International Rice Genebank and later restored through CIAP. Six of these pureline rice selections were released in 1995, turning in impressive results during the wet season on more than 200 on-farm sites. About 450 samples of traditional varieties and 120 wild rice relatives were collected by CIAP staff in cooperation with, the provincial agriculture authorities. About 550 traditional varieties collected in 1993 and 1994 were evaluated for

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drought tolerance and photoperiod sensitivity A germplasm catalog of this collection is being prepared. CIAP staff documented the pest management practices and perceived pest problems of more than 1,000 rainfed lowland rice farmers. To manage pests, farmers employ biological and cultural control, home-made botanical pesticides, and chemical pesticides. Of particular interest are reports of a plant used for crab control. The public awareness video Grains of life was translated into the Khmer language and released along with seven new IRRI training videos, bringing the total videos produced by CIAP to 16. All are in Khmer and are broadcast regularly on national television. A Lao farmer sows seed of the shrubby legume Leucaena on contours, part of his on-farm research collaboration with the Lao-IRRIProject.

Lao PDR: building for the future

IRRI has been working with the Lao Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry since 1990. The Lao-IRRI Project is helping to develop a national rice research capability in the country, thereby improving productivity in the rainfed lowland, rainfed upland, and irrigated ecosystems. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation financially supports the Lao-IRRI Project. Project highlights during 1995-96 include the following: Cooperation between the Department of Agriculture and Extension and Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Offices has resulted in the establishment of a national rice research network. By the end of 1995, the network incorporated all 16 provinces of the country and also Vientiane Municipality. More

than 100 scientists, technicians, trainers, and coordinators are active in the network. A cool storage facility for seeds and a glasshouse were completed at the National Agricultural Research Center near Vientiane. Also constructed were combined administrative-laboratory facilities at the Northern Upland Crops Research Center in Luang Prabang Province and office extensions at the southern regional rice research station in Campassak Province in southern Lao PDR. These facilities add to earlier infrastructure development aimed at providing facilities capable of supporting the countrys national research and training needs. Lao PDR was granted associate membership in the Upland Rice Research Consortium and the Rice IPM Network.

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Madagascar and IRRI sign agreement on research cooperation

The Ministry of Research Applied to Development (MRAD) of the Republic of Madagascar and IRRI signed an agreement to continue scientific and technical cooperation on highpriority research for improved rice production and productivity. This work will focus on varietal adaptation, nutrient management, crop establishment and weed control, water management, integrated pest management, agricultural engineering technologies, and human resource development. Activities will be undertaken by MRAD-through the National Center for Applied Research on Rural Development (FOFIFA)-and IRRI The United States Agency for International Development has been funding the Madagascar-IRRI Rice Research and Training Project since 1984. Important achievements in 1995 include the following:

Five varieties resistant to rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV) were tested on 25 farms at two locations in the NorthWest Region.While all were found to be resistant in the field, farmers preferredTOX3211-1-1-2-2-1, T0X3219-51-1-3-1-2B, and T0X323331-6-2-1-1A because of their good yields and short growth duration. Representatives of FOFIFA, the Plant Protection Service of the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), and IRRI met in November 1995 to review research results and discuss plans for controlling RYMV. Breeding for resistance will be the priority. To speed up diffusion in the North West Region, GTZ agreed to immediately support the multiplication of three RYMV-resistant varieties. Farmers from the Marovoay Plain, Port Berge, and Mandritsara tested the animal-drawn single- and double-gang cono-puddlers as an alternative method for land preparation. Farmers who no longer have access to tractors prefer this technology over the traditional method of

A days threshing is completed in Madagascar.

trampling land with a herd of oxen. One Marovoay farmer who has tested the cono-puddler for two seasons said that he has higher yields because the puddled layer of soil is deeper, his field is more level, and he has fewer Cyperaceae, making it easier to weed. A womens group in Bealanana tested the Indonesian model of a rice hull stove. The women found that the stove stays hotter longer, and it is more efficient than the ones developed locally. Mailaka (IR15579-24-2) is now widely grown throughout the Mid West Region after being introduced by the IRRI/FOFIFA regional research team during the 1992 main season. Several farmers have multiplied their first acquisitions of 500 grams into several tons and are selling seeds to their neighbors. Mailaka is now the variety to beat as farmers search for higher yields. %

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A reliance on herbicide alone for managing weeds predisposes for the development of resistant weeds, cautions Dr. Vethaiya Balasubramanian CREMNET coordinator. A strategic combination of biological, cultural, mechanical, and. chemical methods must be used for effective weed management on direct seeded rice. The drum seeder places the seeds in neat rows that can be conveniently weeded with pushtype mechanical weeders, says Mr. Antonio Morales, IPM assistant scientist. It permits uniform seeding at fairly low rates ranging from 60 to 75 kilograms per hectare. Using IR41996 and IR64 rice varieties, the cooperating farmers evaluated, the performance of the machine during the 1995 dry season. IPM, through PhilRice, loaned, the equipment to the participants. Mr. Ramos, 66, found the machine valuable because he was able to cut in half the amount of seeds required under the normal broadcast operation. Farmers in Barangay Baloc usually broadcast 120-150 kilograms of seeds per hectare. Mr. Ramos, who has been farming since 1940, both transplants and broadcasts rice on his 3hectare irrigated farm. On aver, age, his crops yield 120-150 cavans (2.7-3.4 tons) per hectare. With the help of his son and two hired laborers, he is able to harvest two rice crops annually.

Mr. Ramos is optimistic that he will save on labor costs once he acquires his own drum seeder. He has plans to expand the drum-seeded area during the next cropping season. Other cooperating farmers have similar findings to report Mr. Armando Agapito found that, by using the drum seeder, he could save from P1,300 to 1,500 (US$50-58) per hectare in transplanting labor costs. He broadcasts and transplants on. his l0-hectare farm and, like Mr. Ramos, wants to try the drum seeder on a much larger area next time. Mr. Leandro Cedario, a 60-year-old retired geodetic engineer, returned to his 7-hectare irrigated, rice farm in 1987 after completing an overseas assignment. Now harvesting two rice crops per year, he complains of the high cost of commercial seeds sold locally. During the last cropping season, rice seed cost him P700 (US$27) per 40-kilogram sack.

After seeing the results of using the drum seeder on his farm, he plans to direct seed an entire hectare with the machine during the upcoming wet season. He has decided to purchase his own drum. seeder and predicts that, with his initial investment of around P4,000 (US$154) for the machine, he will save in the long run from reduced labor costs. During every cropping season, I pay around P10,000 (US$385) for transplanting labor. Widowed 4 years ago, Ms. Penny Punzalan, 60, now manages the 2,4-hectare home farm with the help of hired. hands. She has also decided to buy her own drum seeder after testing the machine. With the drum seeder, I dont have to hire additional labor for doing the transplanting work, she says. While other farmers allocated. only 250 square meters to test the new seeding technology, 50-year-old Mr. Jaime de la Rosa jumped right in with 500 square meters. He was so happy with the results, he has decided to use the seeder to plant 1 hectare in the coming wet season. A farmer since he was 12 years old, Mr. de la Rosa feels that being an IRRI farmercooperator has enabled him to acquire critical, knowledge on direct rice seeding for rice. If I can save some extra money over and above what I need to send. my children to school, I will buy a drum seeder, he says. I believe it would be a wise investment that I could easily recoup in labor and seed savings.

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PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS Evaluating information-intensive technologies: CREMNET in action

Sustainable increases in rice productivity in the future will require new information-intensive technologies that can address site- and season-related variability, assure higher input use efficiency, and maintain resource quality. Scientists are already creating appropriate mechanisms for packaging research outputs into simple techniques or methods that extension workers and farmers can easily understand and use. Efficient communication and appropriate training techniques are critical to these efforts. The Crop and Resource Management Network (CREMNET) is designed to address the issues of packaging, testing, and disseminating appropriate informationintensive technologies and decisionmaking aids to promote precision

rice farming, says Dr. Vethaiya Balasubramanian, IRRI-based coordinator of the network. CREMNET is currently working with national research and development organizations to facilitate the free exchange, participatory evaluation, and promotion of promising components and concepts of information-intensive technology for efficient crop and resource management in rice-based systems. The network is also sharing new tools and approaches that will increase productivity and reduce drudgery. Information being generated by CREMNET is providing important feedback on the relevance of research to field problems. Currently, 11 Asian countries are members of CREMNET: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Chlorophyll meter for efficient N management. One example of a decision-making aid is the chlorophyll meter: a simple, quick, and reliable diagnostic tool that can assist farmers-and extension workers and researchers-in deciding how often to apply N fertilizer, how much to apply, and when. Deep-placing urea tablets with a hand applicator is a common practice in Indonesia.

Without destroying plant tissues, the chlorophyll meter accurately estimates the rice leafs N status, thereby indicating when a topdressing of N should be applied. in 1995-96, CREMNET distributed 25 such devices to the national agricultural research systems of Bangladesh, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, and Vietnam. Many factors, such as environmental conditions, can affect chlorophyll meter readings. So we have asked researchers in these countries to further test the tool to confirm its utility under their conditions, says Dr. Balasubramanian. If everything checks out as we hope, this will be a useful method to use when extension workers and researchers must come up with area-specific N fertilizer recommendations. Dr. Balasubramanian, however, does not expect to see many individual farmers actually owning a chlorophyll meter for use in their fields. But they may soon be using a spin-off technology. He explains: A leaf color chart, reproduced on a small poster board that contains gradient strips of green, can be standardized using the chlorophyll meter. Farmers can then use this inexpensive color guide to decide for themselves how much N to apply and when to do it. It will be a complementary tool to the chlorophyll meter.

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Urea tablets: old technologynew applications? Scientists have proven that deep placement of urea tablets is a highly efficient method for applying N fertilizer to rice crops. The Indonesian Government has been promoting the technology by locally manufacturing and distributing urea tablets to rice farmers, which gives CREMNET members an opportunity to critically evaluate the potential of urea tablet use in other countries. Using a hand applicator, farmers bury the urea tablets about 8-10 centimeters deep in the center of four hills of rice plants, about 5-15 days after transplanting or 15-30 days after direct seeding. According to CREMNET reports, the additional rice yield is about 20-25 percent more than that from urea broadcast at the same rates of 29-87 kilograms of N per hectare. This technology is particularly suited to rainfed lowland rice systems where flood water conditions are uncertain and timely N topdressing is not suitable, says Dr. Balasubramanian. Stripper-harvester being tested. CREMNET evaluated the performance of the stripper-harvester (see feature, p 52.) in Myanmar and Senegal in 1995. After field testing, the harvesters were modified to operate efficiently under local conditions. The Myanmar Government has since produced 1,000 harvesters for farmers to rent. The final step will be to train operators in proper use and maintenance of the machinery. In Senegal, a prototype stripperharvester has been field tested in collaboration with the West Africa Rice Development Association. Farmers have shown a lot of interest in this machine, and further testing and evaluation are ongoing, says Mr. Boru Douthwaite, an IRRI agricultural engineer. %

Seeing Is believing: hydrotiller catching on in Vietnam

HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM

n the Mekong and Red River deltas in Vietnam, the demand for agricultural equipment has been steadily rising over the years. In response to this trend, IRRI agricultural engineers introduced in the Can Tho area the hydrotiller, a small machine used to prepare land. It is particularly useful for working soft boggy soils and fields in undulating areas, says Mr. Herbert Manaligod, the IRRI agricultural engineer who was instrumental in designing the machine and bringing it to Vietnam in late 1991. Through collaborative efforts with the University of Can Tho (UC) and the Center for Agricultural Technology and Extension (CATE) of Ho Chi Minh, hydrotillers started to reach farmers in the area after a few years. From April 1995 to May 1996, UCs Agricultural Engineering Division sold 24 hydrotillers to farmers, and two entrepreneurs in Ho Chi Minh City manufactured 85 units. Farmers have now been using the machines for more than three seasons. CATE organized farmer meetings in Thu Duo and Cu Chi districts to discuss farmers experiences with the hydrotiller. The endeavor was supported by CREMNET and IRRIs Agricultural Engineering Division and Training Center. The farmers had hands-an training after field demonstrations at two sites. Most farmer-owners and operators were highly satisfied with the hydrotillers performance in preparing land and puddling. Sample comments from farmers who have used the machine included: I have increased my income by preparing land for other farmers, and I am using the extra money to educate my children. I can transport the hydrotiller without the engine to the field using a bicycle. In the first trip, the unit is carried. Then, I take the engine on the bicycle during the second trip. Farmers who have seen the hydrotiller in action have been easily convinced about the machines utility. In fact, they often end up ordering new units from the same fabricators, or they offer to buy the unit from the farmer-owner, Mr. Manaligod says. If the machine catches on in a big way, manufacturers will eventually have to establish after-sales service and rural repair facilities.

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The benefit of these courses to rice researchers over the years has been impressive, says Ms. Ruby Rosa Cruz, a Ph D candidate at the University of the Philippines Los Baos whose dissertation examines the impact of IRRIs group training program on rice scientists and their institutes. Ms. Cruz analyzed. the results of a previously conducted survey of 1,077 trainees who attended selected short-term courses on tissue culture, crop modeling, training management, and participatory research from 1981 to 1990. She personally interviewed 70 trainees and 18 supervisors who visited IRRI in 1995. A quick picture of the trainees. Most of IRRIs trainees have been men with bachelors degrees. Their mean age was 35 years at the time of the survey. Most held senior level positions in government research institutes in Southeast Asia. Almost all of the trainees and supervisors interviewed agreed that IRRIs group training courses were informative, timely, and. focused on current rice-related technologies. Trainees become trainers. It appears that the spirit of training is infectious. IRRItrained staff members often become trainers in their own institutions, Ms. Cruz says. Former trainees reported that they share their new skills and knowledge with their colleagues through informal discussions and training, as well as with extension workers and farmers through on-farm trials. They also formally train other rice researchers and extensionists, thereby increasing the human resource capability of local agencies working with rice.

Moving up in the rice research world. Many of the professionals reported that after training, they had higher levels of technical capability, human relations skills, communication skills, and self-confidence. The knowledge and skills they acquired were relevant, useful, applicable, and appropriate to their jobs, Ms. Cruz reports. Within a few years of their IRRI training, some of the former trainees had assumed new leadership roles in national and. international projects as project leaders, section heads, coordinators, and members of national and international projects. Some of the former trainees disclosed that their supervisors perceived them to be more competent to do research after their IRRI training, so they were given additional responsibilities. Many have been asked to be lecturers and trainers at both their home institutes and. other institutions in their countries. Others said that training changed their outlook, and they became interested in working in other aspects of rice research. For example, Filipinos who attended the courses on genetic evaluation and utilization (GEU) and hybrid rice production became members of the National Rice Varietal Improvement Group. A Thai participant in a deepwater rice course became a research site coordinator, while other Thai trainees became involved in the International Network for the Genetic Evaluation of Rice (INGER). In Africa, a Malagasy trainee became the head of the Rice Varietal Improvement Program 2 years after his IRRI training, and. a GEU trainee from Mozambique

became the leader of the national rice research. program. Impact from training is real. Some of the professionals went back to their institutes and immediately applied, what they had learned at IPM. One Indonesian trainee received the 1995 Outstanding Young Women in Rice Science Award. (given by IRRI) for her pioneering work on small-farm reservoirs. Because of her research and extension work, many farmers in Sukamandi are now planting two rice crops a year instead of only one. In Lao PDR, knowledge and skills learned by trainees in a cropping systems course facilitated the adoption of the rice legume, rice - vegetable, or rice rice cropping patterns by 100 farmer-cooperators, resulting in increased production and. income. Trainees also mentioned that working relationships seemed to improve within and among divisions in their institute after some staff members attended IRRI? training. When several IRRI trainees with different disciplines work in the same organization, they often apply the multidisciplinary approach to research and open communication lines. A former trainee from Madagascar said. that the multidisciplinary approach has discouraged independent work within each department of the institute. Instead, they now work across disciplines. These examples suggest that attending a. group training course often signifies the beginning of new career opportunities and challenges for the trainee-and long-term benefits for the rice world.

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PROGRAM

HIGHLIGHTS

An IRRI scholar back home

DAUDKANDI, COMILLA, BANGLADESH

Scientists advance through degree and postdegree training

Scientists from national agricultural research systems (NARSs) can take advantage of opportunities for professional advancement through masters and Ph D scholarships and postdegree fellowships. Degree studies are pursued at universities with which IRRI has formal collaborative agreements. In 1995, 182 scientists from 28 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, and Oceania participated in degree and postdegree training at IRRI. Forty pursued masters degrees, 80 were Ph D candidates, and 62 underwent on-the-job training. At the end of the year, 113 had completed their respective programs, among them 22 masters and 34 Ph D scholars.

hat happens to IRRI scholars when they lea the Institute?

Most return home to help farmers. Dr. Uttam Kumar Deb, an agricultural economist at the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, is a good example. Despite having earned his Ph D only slightly more than a year ago, he is already beginning to have an impact on the farmers of Bangladesh. He is working to improve the sustainability of saline lands. We are documenting farmers: cropping patterns and then determining what kind of research interventions are needed, Dr. Deb explains. He is collaborating on the project with Dr. Mahabub Hossain, head of the IRRI Social Sciences Division. After earning his bachelors degree, he joined the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute in 1989. A mere 2 years later, he left all that was familiar to him to pursue a masters degree at the University of the Philippines Los Baos (UPLB). Once at UPLB, he applied to be an IRRI scholar and earned a Ph D in agricultural economics 4 years later. Dr. Deb thinks that he has been very fortunate to go to school and receive training outside Bangladesh. He was one of five selected-out of 80 candidates-to work for a Ph D through a British Governmentfunded program. His roots, however, are still deep in the clay of Daudkandi. His family owns a simple, airy house. they rent out their land-less than 1 hectare-in exchange for half the harvest. His mother, a widow, has emphasized the importance of education to her children: all six of them have advanced degrees or are currently studying toward one. I feel fortunate to have been at IRRI, says Dr. Deb, It changed the way I look at things. Now hes using what he learned to help the people who matter the most.

In-country training for regional and national needs

Training partnerships and linkages among rice research institutions and universities are promoted through in-country courses. Regional collaborative courses are for an international audience, while national courses are adapted for a national audience. Almost 300 scientists from 16 countries updated their rice science skills during the year through collaborative in-country training: 43 participated in three regional courses, 178 in 14 national courses conducted in five countries, and the rest in courses conducted in relation to network or consortium activities, or in those conducted collaboratively with other international institutions.

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Short-term courses: evolving to meet the needs of scientists

IRRI offered numerous short-term group training courses in 1995 in which 195 scientists from 18 countries participated. Short-term group training courses are aimed to upgrade the skills and knowledge of scientists in specific areas of rice science. These courses are conducted at IRRI, and usually last from 2 to 16 weeks, explains Dr. Robert Raab, acting head of the IRRI Training Center. Six of the courses were new: Instructional Video Production, Introduction to Genotype x Environment Analysis and Interpretation of Results, Geographic Information Systems, Transformation and Molecular Analysis of Transgenic Rice, DNA Marker-facilitated Quantitative Trait Loci x Environment Analysis in Rice, and Frontiers of Social Science Research Methods. Four previously offered courses were also conducted, as were three special courses.

Assessing training needs

Two IRRI missions that included training needs assessment were conducted during 1995. One was to Papua New Guinea (PNG) to finalize a project plan for the PNG-IRRI Rice Research and Training project being supported by Trukai Industries Pty. Ltd. and the PNG Government. The collaborating parties agreed on a 3-year training plan patterned after successful training programs. Another mission explored the possibilities for collaboration between IRRI and the Technical Assistance Center for the Development of Rural and Urban

Poor (TACDRUP), a nongovernment organization based in Davao, Philippines, that works on organicbased rice production. The team gathered information on the research and training needs of TACDRUPs farmer cooperators and program implementers.

Supporting IRRI scholars and trainees

A new project, Developing Human Resource Capabilities for Rice Research in Southeast Asia will support training in selected disciplines for two rice scientists from Southeast Asia. They will study at the University of the Philippines Los Baits. Funding is from the

German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ). Another project, Training and Professional Advancement of Rice Farming Systems Scientists from Africa, will annually support two rice scientists from Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe in obtaining masters degrees. This effort is part of IRRIs commitment to enhance research capacities of NARSs in Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa. The first two scholars will come from Mozambique. The Government of Japan is funding the project. Sixteen scientists from the Cuu Long Delta Rice Research Institute in Vietnam will be undergoing on-the-job training at IRRI throughout 1996. Funding is from the World Bank. %

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The Farmers Day at IRRI attracted more than 600 farmers, provincial and municipal agriculturists, extension workers, and agricultural technicians from four Philippine provinces. The farmers made field. visits to demonstration stations on the long-term study of biofertiizers, integrated pest management, small farm machines, methane emission and climate change, the genebank, biotechnology, the transgenic greenhouse, and the new plant type. In the open forum, they peppered staff members from IRRI and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) with comments and questions. IRRI scientists emphasized that they have keen interest in having feedback from farmers, especially on technological problems related to rice production, so that the Institute can better respond to their needs. Ninety-one representatives from 34 NGOs attended the NGOs Day at IRRI and made field visits similar to those in the farmer program. They also ended their day with a broad-ranging open-forum discussion with IRRI and PhilRice staff. This has resulted in several proposals being put forward for cooperative research. In the forum, IRRI Director General George Rothschild recognized, the important work being done by NGOs, especially in helping shape IRRIs research agenda. I look forward to increased collaboration between NGOs and IPM, he said.
As a part of the Festival of Rice, staff members from IRRIs partners, CIRAD and ORSTOM, create a ricefleld with potted plants In Montpelliers main square.

PROGRAM

HIGHLIGHTS

Rice festival a big success

A ricefield in the middle of a French city? Unusual-but true-if you were in Montpellier, France, during the Festival of Rice, held 6-8 October. The 500-square-meter ricefield, which was constructed in Montpelliers large main square, drew thousands of visitors during the festival and helped to raise awareness about the key role of rice in feeding the world. Other attractions included a science village with a variety of research-related exhibits and a rice film festival where two of IRRIs video documentaries dubbed in French were shown to the public. The opening day of the festival revolved around an international symposium of scientists and policymakers debating three major rice-related issues, according to Mr. Bob Huggan, head of the IRRI

Information Center. A different day was devoted to tours of Frances Camargue ricefields and riceprocessing plants, he says. Festival organizers said that the most visited exhibit was the tent organized by IRRI Riceworld, which featured a display of tools, costumes, household utensils, and other cultural artifacts from Asian rice-growing countries. From a public awareness point of-view, the festival was a major success according to IRRIs French partners. French national and local TV channels, radio, and print media provided extensive coverage. The Festival of Rice was organized by a consortium of 12 French organizations-scientific institutions, rice farmers and processors associations, the French cities of Montpellier and Aries, the southern French region of Languedoc-Roussillon, and the French governments Regional Bureau of Science and Technologyin partnership with IRRI.

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IRRI and rice in prominent media

Contacts with news outlets continue to be numerous. More than 125 international and Philippine journalists visited IRRI in 1995. From their work, prominent stories on rice and IRRI were featured in Australia (Canberra Times, The Australian), France (2001, Iodyssee du riz), Germany (EPI Verlag, GEO, GeoJournal), India (Hindu Newspaper), Indonesia (Antara, Indonesian Observer, Indonesian Times, Polka), Thailand, (Bangkok Post), United Kingdom (International Agricultural Development, New Scientist), USA (The Rice World, Newsweek Magazine, Time Magazine, International Herald Tribune), and the Philippines (Agriscope, The Bus mess world, Mod, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila Bulletin, Philippine Star). Asiaweek Magazines 20th anniversary issue featured its choice of 20 great Asians, three of them connected with IRRI: Mr. Rodolfo Aquino, IRRI senior associate scientist, Mr. Mechai Viravaidya, current member of the IRRI Board of Trustees, and Dr. Muhammad Yunus, former IRRI Board member.

automated card catalog, says Ms. Carolyn Dedolph, IRRI science editor and writer. IRRI will also be launching a second Web page on rice as a commodity, aimed at familiarizing the general public about rice-from how the plant grows to making sushi-with links to many other Web pages around the world. With these two Internet sites, we can create much greater awareness of the importance of rice and the issues related to increasing productivity, says Ms. Dedolph.

Card catalog goes high-tech

After 35 years of service, the IRRI Library card catalog was closedand an electronic version opened to clients around the globe. Several years in the coming, IRRIs automated library system is one of the finest and is used by many other top libraries. Clients who are on line anywhere in the world can have access to IRRI Library resources through two means: the World Wide Web and telnet links to other libraries. Once connected, scientists can search the catalogs as though they were at IRRI themselves. In addition, it is possible for users to link to hundreds of other libraries, to read electronic journals online, and to send saved searches to any e-mail address. The library does not charge for this service. The automated system vastly improves worldwide accessibility to the IRRI Library resources, says Mr. Ian Wallace, IRRI librarian. Of course, not all rice scientists have access to the Internet, but more and more are going online each day. The future is very bright. The IRRI Library has the worlds largest collection of rice literature. Scientistsaroundtheworldcannow searchforriceliteratureusingtheInternet.

Excellence in scientific publishing

IRRIs scientific publishing program continues to produce high quality, reasonably priced materials for the worlds rice researchers. The Institute published 11 new books in English in 1995, either independently or as dual imprints with major science publishing houses in Europe and North America, says Mr. Gene Hettel, IRRI science editor and writer. We distributed about 50,700 copies of major publications. Four issues of the International rice research notes were distributed to about 9,000 institutions and individuals in 139 countries. Three titles were produced in the IRRI discussion paper series.

IRRI enters new information age

With the launching of its home page (http://www.cgiar.org/irri) on the World Wide Web in mid-1996, IRRI can now share informationinstantly, electronically, and economically-with people around the globe. The home page features information and graphics on critical issues, hot news, facts about rice and IRRI, and information resources, the most exciting of which is a direct link to the librarys

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Manual for producing hybrid rice seed in six Indian languages

An IRRI manual for producing tropical hybrid rice seed has been translated into six Indian languages: Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telegu. Staff members of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) translated and copublished the manual with the support of the Mahyco Research Foundation, from which the editions are available. The manual, originally published in English by IRRI, was authored by Drs. S.S. Virmani and H.L. Sharma. Designed for easy translation and inexpensive copublication, the manual describes and illustrates the many steps involved in producing hybrid rice seeds. The procedures are based on experiments at IRRI and on the experience of China in producing temperate hybrid rice seed. Hybrid rice can increase yields by 15-20 percent (1 ton per hectare) beyond those achievable with improved semidwarf, inbred varieties. During the past several years, India and Vietnam have initiated commercial cultivation of hybrid rice. The manual helps producers learn specialized skills and provides them with a thorough understanding of practices that minimize costs and maximize returns-and will make hybrid rice seed technology economically viable, says Dr. Virmani, IRRI hybrid rice breeder. IRRI has also produced a video on hybrid rice seed production to supplement this manual. It is available for dubbing into different languages.

IRRI Riceworld is giving thousands ofschool childrenthe opportunity tolearn aboutrice.

Big jump in number of visitors to IRRI

Visitors to IRRI in 1995 increased by more than one-third over 1994from 35,000 to 48,000. The reason? IRRI Riceworld. 1995 marked the first full year of existence of the permanent museum and learning center with exhibits of artifacts and implements from the rice-growing world. The Science and Technology Museums Association of the Philippines has been particularly instrumental in getting the word out about the center. The group is under the umbrella of UNESCOs International Commission on Museums. IRRI Riceworld is extremely popular with school groups, says its manager, Mr. Mar Movillon. Many people find a visit to the exhibit to be a unique experience. They learn to appreciate the differ-

ent ways rice is grown, the many varied places it is planted, the challenges involved in improving productivity, and the problems associated with sustainable rice production. They can also see how rice genetic diversity is conserved and freely exchanged globally, and how research is being done to solve rice production problems. A special exhibit, Milestones at IRRI: 1960-1995" captured highlights of some of the major events that took place at the Institute during the past 35 years. IRRI Riceworld was opened on 22 September 1994 by H.E. KarlFriedrich Gansuer, then Ambassador of Germany to the Philippines. Germany provided most of the funding for establishing the exhibit, which is dedicated to rice farmers around the world. %

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Separate booklet for IRRIs audited financial statements IRRIs audited. financial statements, which provide detailed information on the Institutes financial circumstances and which used to be part of the Corporate Report, are now being published in a separate booklet. It is being automatically sent along with this Corporate Report only to donors and others who require the detailed, financial information. This is in. addition to the certified audited statements sent directly by the Director for Finance. Additional certified copies are available on request from the Office of the Director for Finance. See the graphic (right) for information on support from donors in 1995. Also see Appendix 1 for the list of institutions collaborating with. IRRI and. Appendix 2 for ongoing IRRI complementary projects for 1995. Integrated voice and data network (IVDN) The Institute was connected. to the IVDN in 1995. In addition to internet access, the IVDN provides toll-free telephone service between 10 connected CGIAR centers and allows for any international calls to be charged at U.S. domestic rates. Use of IVDN for telephone and fax transmissions to and from the Americas, Europe, and Africa will significantly cut communication costs. As of August 1996, other on-line CGIAR centers included CIAT, CIMMYT, CIP, ICLARM, ICRAF, ICRISAT, IFPRI, ILRI, and IPGRI.

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IRRI trustees, 1996

DR. EMIL Q. JAVIER (ex officio) (Board Chair, Jan-Apr) President University of the Philippines Quezon Hall Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines DR. ROELOF RABBINGE (Board Chair, May-Dec) Professor Department of Theoretical Production Ecology Wageningen Agricultural University Bornsesteeg 47, 6708 PD Wageningen P.O. Box 430, 6700 AK Wageningen, The Netherlands MS. MAKIKO ARIMA-SAKAI President Yokohama Womens Association for Communication and. Networking Forum Yokohama Branch Landmark Tower 13 F 2-2-1-1 Minato Mirai. Nishi-ku Yokohama 220-81, Japan DR. SJARIFUDIN BAHARSJAH Minister Ministry of Agriculture Gedung A. Lt. II Jl. Harsono Rm No .3, Ragunan Pasar Minggu Jakarta Selatan 12550, Indonesia DR. VIRENDER L. CHOPRA National Professor; B. P. Pal Chair National Research Center for Plant Biotechnology Indian Agricultural Research Institute New Delhi 110012, India DR. DONALD N. DUVICK P.O. Box 446 6837 N.W. Beaver Drive Johnston, Iowa 50131 USA HON. SALVADOR H. ESCUDERO III (ex officio) Secretary Department of Agriculture Elliptical Road Diliman, Quezon City 3008 Philippines DR. SAMUEL C. HSIEH Chairman of the Executive Board Chinatrust Commercial Bank, Ltd. 18F, 3 Sung Shou Road Taipei, Taiwan, China DR. PRISCILLA W. KARIUKI Professor Department of Psychology University of Nairobi RO. Box 30197 Nairobi, Kenya DR. LENE LANGE Senior Principal Scientist Novo Nordisk A/S Enzyme Research Nova Alle 1, 1 As 31 DR 2880 Bagsvrd, Denmark DR. GEORGE H. L. ROTHSCHILD (ex officio) Director General International Rice Research Institute P.O. Box 933 Manila 1099, Philippines DR. SIENE SAPHANGTHONG Acting Minister Ministry of Agriculture and, Forestry P.O. Box 811 Vientiane, Lao PDR DR. SHINYA TSURU Director, Regional Research Institute of Asia and the Pacific, and Professor, College of Bioresource Sciences Nihon University 1866, Kameino, Fujisawa 252, Japan MR. MECHAI VIRAV AIDYA Chairman Population and Community Development Association 8 Sukhumvit 12 Bangkok 10110, Thailand

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Internationally and nationally recruited staff members, 1995

KLAUSJ.LAMPE,PhD,director general1 GEORGEH.L.ROTHSCHILDPhD, directorgeneral3 FERNANDOA.BERNARDO,PhD, deputydirectorgeneralfor internationalservices KENNETHS.FISCHER,PhD, deputydirectorgeneralfor research MICHAELF.L.GOON,MBA,deputy directorgeneralforfinanceand administration ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL DOUGLASD.A VILA,BS,manager, physicalplant JOSEM.BELMONTE,BS,manager, cityoffice,communications, travelandcentralfiles GELIAT.CASTILLO,PhD. consultant RUBYU.CASTRO,MS,manager, analyticalservicelaboratories MA.MIMOSAM.CA TRAL,BS, manager,budget CARLITOF.FABREGAR,BS, manager,physicalplant W ALFRIDOE.GLORIA,MBA, manager,legaloffice KW ANCHAIA.GOMEZ,PhD, statisticianandhead,liaison, coordination,andplanning RAMONR.GUEV ARA,MBA, manager,purchasing,materials management VOLKERHELL,senioradvisor. consultant BERNDJOPP consultant2 , ALFREDOM.MAZAREDO,BS, manager,physicalplant CHRISTOPHERGMcLAREN,PhD, . actinghead,computerservices ERNESTW NUNN,PhD,director, . operations1 MARIOF OCAMPO,MBA,manager, . accounting EXALTACION C. RAMOS, MA, manager, human resources development ENRIQUE O. DELOS REYES, BS, manager, physical plant ALFREDO F. ROSILLO, BS, manager, physical plant ORLANDO G. SANTOS, MPS, consultant EDW ARD N. SAYEGH, BBA, director, finance UNIDO C. TELESFORO, BS, manager, internal audit MARINUS CORNELIS V DEN AN BERG BS, head, computer , Services1 BENITO S. VERGARA, Ph D, director, administration, and parttime liaison scientist for China OUTPOSTED STAFF Cambodia HARRYJ. NESBITT, Ph D, agronomist and team leader ALAN CARPENTER, BS, consultant2 GARYC. JAHN, Ph D. crop protection specialist3 EDWIN L. JA VIER, Ph D, plant breeder JOSEPH F. RICKMAN, MS, agricultural engineer3 PETER WHITE, Ph D, soil scientist India BRIJNANDAN P. GHILDYAL, Ph D, liaison scientist1 R.K. SINCH, Ph D, liaison scientist3 Indonesia/Malaysia/Brunei CEZAR P. MAMARIL, Ph D, agronomist and liaison scientist Japan TADASHI MORINAKA, Ph D, liaison scientist ELISAS. PANES, BS, manager, accounting Lao PDR JOHN M. SCHILLER, Ph D, agronomist and ream leader TAWEEKUPKANCHANAKUL, Ph D, lowland agronomist Madagascar MARTHAM. GAUDREAU, Ph D, cropping systems agronomist and team leader TOMAS M. MASAJO. Ph D, plant breeder Myanmar ARNULFO G GARCIA, Ph D, . cropping systems agronomist and IRRI representative Nigeria KRISHNAALLURI, Ph D, liaison scientist and INGER coordinator forAfrica Thailand DONALD W. PUCKRIDGE, Ph D, agronomist and IRRI representative, and program leader flood-prone rice ecosystem STAFFAT HEADQUARTERS Agricultural Engineering GRAEME R. QUICK, Ph D, agricultural engineer and head1 MARK BORU DOUTHW AITE, MS, project scientist MARTIN GUMMERT, MS, project scientist INGE HAKANSSON, Ph D, consultant2 REYNALDO M. LANTIN, Ph D, visiting scientist and acting head

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Agronomy,PlantPhysiology, andAgroecology KENNETHG CASSMAN,PhD, . agronomist and head PRAMODK.AGGARW PhD, AL, visiting scientist1 P ANA TDABHEKASUT,PHD, collaborative research scientist2 Y ANPINGCEN,PhD,project scientist2 QUIJIE DAI, Ph D, project scientist W ANGDALI,PhD,projectscientist MARC H. ELLIS, Ph D, consultant2 THOMASGEORGE,PhD,visiting scientistsecondedfromNifTAL WILHELMINOT.HERRERA,MS, senior associate scientist ROBERTHORTON,BS,consultant2 SHAOBAI HUANG BS, consultant2 , MOTOHIKOKONDO,MAgr, agronomist FELINOLANSIGAN,PhD,visiting scientist1 TSUTOMO MA TSUI, BS, consultant2 KEITH MOODY Ph D, agronomist1 , TOLENTINOMOY PhD,affiliate A, scientist DANIELOLK,PhD,affiliatescientist MARIAOLOFSDOTTERGUNNARSEN,PhD,affiliate scientist SHAOBING PENG Ph D, associate , crop physiologist XINXIANGPENG PhD,project , scientist3 COLINPIGGIN, Ph D, agronomist and program leader, upland rice ecosystem research3 P RAM, Ph D, visiting scientist2 .C. W ALTERRODER,PhD,agronomist ELSAG RUBIA,PhD,consultant1 . GENAROO.SANV ALENTIN,PhD, agronomist2 TIMOTHYL.SETTER,PhD,plant physiologist1 JOHNSHEEHY PhD,crop , ecologist/crop modeler3 UPENDRASINGH,PhD,IRS seconded from IFDC VIRENDRAP SINGH,PhD, AL agronomist T.M.THIY AGARAJAN, Ph D, visiting scientist2 PONGMANEETHONGBAI,PhD, collaborative research scientist2 GUYTREBUIL,PhD,visiting scientist

LEONARD J. WADE, Ph D, agronomist CHUFU ZHANG Ph D, visiting , scientist3 LEWIS ZISKA, Ph D, visiting scientist1 Entomology and Plant Pathology TWNG W. MEW, Ph D, plant pathologist and head. OSSMA AZZAM, Ph D, virologist3 T J.S. BENTUR, Ph D, project scientist3 TIM C.B. CHANCELLOR, Ph D, project scientist MICHAEL COHEN, Ph D, insect host plant resistance specialist BART COTTYN, BS, project scientist WILMA CRUZ, Ph D, consultant3 RAMON M. CU, Ph D, project scientist CHEN DAHU, Ph D, project scientist1 KARABI DATTA, Ph D, consultant2 FRANCISCOA. ELAZEGUI, MS, associate scientist CHRISTOPHER FOOT, MS, project scientist3 MA. LUZ C. GEORGE, Ph D, consultant SAM GNANAMANICKHAM, Ph D, visiting scientist2 AHMED HAFIZ, Ph D, project scientist SEAN HEALY BS, consultant2 , KONG LUEN HEONG, Ph D, entomologist ZAHIRUL ISLAM, Ph D, project scientist BRAD KLEPETKA, Ph D, project scientist2 JATINDER KUMAR, Ph D, project scientist HEI LEUNG, Ph D, consultant2 JUJU MANADHAR, Ph D, project scientist1 FILOMENO G MEDRANO, MS, . senior associate scientist CHRISTOPHER C. MUNDT Ph D, visiting scientist2 REBECCA J. NELSON, Ph D, plant pathologist JEAN-CLAUDE PROT, Ph D, visiting scientist A.D. RAYMUNDO, Ph D, consultant SERGE SA ARY Ph D, IRS seconded V , from ORSTOM3

P C.SHARMA,PhD,visiting AM scientist2 P S.TENGPhD,plant AUL , pathologistandprogramleader, cross-ecosystemsresearch NGUYENTHITHUCUC,PhD, visitingscientist3 EMMANUELTIONGCO,PhD, projectscientist ALANW TSON,PhD,IRSseconded A fromMcGillUniversity MICHAELW YPhD,consultant2 A, LAETITIAWILLOCQUETPhD, , projectscientist1 JOACHIMWUNN,PhD,project scientist2 ROBERTS.ZEIGLER,PhD,plant pathologistandprogramleader, rainfedlowlandriceecosystem research CHENZHIYI,MS,consultant3 PlantBreeding,Genetics, andBiochemistry GURDEVS.KHUSH,PhD,principal plantbreederandhead RODOLFOC.AQUINO,MS,senior associatescientist JOHNBENNETTPhD,senior , molecularbiologist DARSHANS.BRAR,PhD,plant breeder BRIGITTECOUR TOIS,PhD,IRS secondedfromCIRAD-CA SW ANK.DA A,PhD,tissue AP TT culturespecialist SHAILAJAHITT ALMANI,PhD, consultant2 JIZHANGHUANGPhD,consultant1 , NINGHUANGPhD,plant , moleculargeneticist TOKIOIMBE,BS,plantbreeder ZHENGKANGLE,PhD,visiting scientist2 DA ANIDHIMAHAP TRA,PhD, Y A visitingscientist3 S.MUTHUKRISHNAN,PhD,visiting scientist2 T AMARANAUMOV PhD, A, consultant2 NAMKYUP ARK,PhD,visiting scientist1 PRIKSHITPLAHA,PhD,project scientist SURAPONGSARKARUNGPhD, , plantbreeder

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VERONIQUESCHMITT,PhD, affiliate scientist DHARMAW ANSASENADHIRA, Ph D, plant breeder KAPILDEOSINGH,PhD,visiting scientist3 KULDEEPSINGH,PhD, consultant1 SUKHWINDERSINGH,PhD, visiting scientist2 VIVIANP S.TOLENTINO,PhD, . consultant1 S.RAORAJAVENKITESH,PhD, consultant2 SANTSINGHVIRMANI,PhD, plant breeder SAE JUNY , Ph D, visiting ANG scientist3 Social Sciences MAHABUBHOSSAIN,PhD, agricultural economist and head SAGRARIOFLORO,PhD, consultant1 SEANPHENGKAM,PhD,GIS specialist MA.LUCILALAP PhD,project AR, scientist SUSHILP ANDEY PhD,agricultural , economist THELMAR.PARIS,MS,senior associate scientist PRABHULPINGALI,PhD, agricultural economist and program leader, irrigated rice ecosystem research LISAM.L.PRICE,PhD,visiting scientist MERCEDITAA.SOMBILLA,Ph D, affiliate scientist3 Soil andWaterSciences HEINZ-ULRICHNEUE,PhD,soil chemist and head J. R. M.ARAH, Ph D, visiting scientist2 W BARRAQUIO,PhD,visiting .L. scientist2 RAJIB M. BHAGA Ph D, project T, scientist SADIQULI.BHUIY PhD, AN, water resource specialist and interim liaison scientist for Bangladesh KEVINBRONSON,PhD,affiliate scientist3 CHRISTIANW CHRISTIANSEN. WENIGER,PhD,affiliatescientist ACHIM DOBERMANN, Ph D, affiliate scientist3

LARRY GUERRA, MS, consultant2 SHIZHEN HUANG, Ph D, consultant2 NGUYEN TRI KHIEM, Ph D, consultant3 GUY JOSEPH DUNN KIRK, Ph D, soil chemist HILARIUS KLUDZE, Ph D, project scientist JAGDISH K. LADHA, Ph D, soil microbiologist RHODA S. LANTIN, MS, senior associate scientist N. MIAH, Ph D, consultant2 MADDALAV MURTY Ph D, .R. , project scientist3 PALA VOLLU M. REDDY Ph D, , project scientist WOLFGANG REICHARDT, Ph D, microbiologist JON R. STOLTZFUS, BS, consultant2 B. P. TRIPATHI, Ph D, consultant2 TO PHUC TUONG, Ph D, water management engineer ZHEN PING WANG Ph D, , consultant2 REINER WASSMANN, Ph D, visiting scientist Central Research Farm MARK A. BELL, Ph D, visiting scientist and head LAWRENCE C. KIAMCO, MS, manager ARNOLD R. MANZA, MS, manager GEORGE P. PATEA, MS, manager Biometrics CHRISTOPHER G McLAREN, Ph . D, head Genetic Resources Center MICHAEL T. JACKSON, Ph D, head SANG-WONAHN, Ph D, plant pathologist MAURICIO BELLON, Ph D, affiliate scientist3 PAM CHET CHAUDHARY Ph D, , global, coordinator INGER GENOVEV C. LORESTO, MS, A senior associate scientist BAO-RONG LU, Ph D, germplasrn specialist JEAN-LOUIS PHAM, Ph D, IRS seconded from ORSTOM3

SEEP ANAAPP RAO,PhD,germplasm A collector-projectscientist,basedin LaoPDR InformationCenter ROBERTD.HUGGAN,MJ, communicationspecialistand head RAMIRO&CABRERA,BF A, manager,creativeandproduction services,communicationand publicationsservices CAROL DEDOLPH,MS,science YN editorandwriter EUGENEPHETTEL,MA . scienceeditorandwriter3 L.REGINALDMACINTYRE, visitingscientist1 MARIOM.MOVILLON,MS, manager,visitors,exhibition, andconferenceservices W TERROCKWOOD,MS, AL consultant2 DA SPURGEON,MS, VID Consultant2 IANW ALLACE,MLS,librarian InternationalProgramsManagement Office GLENNL.DENNINGPhD,scienrist , internationalcollaborationandhead VETHAIY BALASUBRAMANIAN, A PhD, agronomist/CREMNETcoordinator JULIANA.LAPIT MS, AN, associatescientist WERNERSTR,PHD, affiliatescientist(CIA -IRRI) T T rainingCenter ELLISL.MA THENYJR.,PhD, , head1 DULCEMIRANDA,PhD, visitingscientist3 ENRIQUEL.NA ARRO,MS. V associatescientist JANICEPUCKRIDGE,BS, consultant1 ROBERTTRAAB,PhD, . trainingandcourseware specialistandactinghead
1 2

Leftduringtheyear Joinedandleftduringtheyear 3 Joinedduringtheyear 87

Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)

he CGIAR is a worldwide network of 16 research centers supported by an international donor group. IRRI is part of this global system. Through research and education, the CGIAR helps make farming in developing countries more productive-the first stepping stone out of poverty. For farmers and the rural poor, increased agricultural production leads to better nutrition, higher incomes and improved standards of living. Increased and more stable production of food staples also leads to lower prices, which allow poor people in the cities to satisfy more of their food needs. Some 1,000 internationally recruited scientists representing 60 different nationalities conduct research at CGIAR centers and in collaboration with national program scientists in some 40 developing countries.

Mission of the CGIAR

Through international research and related activities, and in partnership with national research systems, to contribute to sustainable improvements in the productivity of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries in developing countries in ways that enhance nutrition and well-being, especially of low-income people. CIAT-Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical CIFOR-Center for International Forestry Research CIMMYT-Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maiz y Trigo CIP-Centro Internacional de Ia Papa ICARDA-International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas ICLARM-International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management ICRAF-International Centre for Research in Agroforestry ICRISAT-International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics IFPRI-International Food Policy Research Institute IIMI-International Irrigation Management Institute IITA-International Institute of Tropical Agriculture ILRI-International Livestock Research Institute IPGRI-International Plant Genetic Resources Institute IRRI-International Rice Research Institute ISNAR-International Service for National Agricultural Research WARDA-West Africa Rice Development Association

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Appendix I. Institutions collaborating with IRRI

Appendix 1. Institutions collaborating with IRRI. Australia Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) Australian National University (ANU) Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) University of Melbourne Yanco Agricultural Research Institute Bangladesh Bangladesh Agricultural Research Center (BARC) Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) Ministry of Agriculture Belgium Belgian Agency for Development Cooperation (BADC) Rijkuniversiteit Gent Universite Catholique de Louvain Bhutan Ministry of Agriculture: Research, Extension, and Irrigation Division (REID) National Resources Training Institute (NRTI) Brazil Centre Nacional de Pesquisa de Arroz e Feijo (CNPAF/ EMBRAPA) Brunei Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources Cambodia Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) Canada Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS) Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) International Development Research Centre (IDRC) McGill University Universite Laval China, Peoples Republic of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Mechanization Sciences (CAAMS) Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) China National Rice Research Institute (CNNRI) Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences (FAAS) Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences (HAAS) Ministry of Agriculture Provincial Academies of Agricultural Sciences (e.g., Guangdong, Hunan, Fujian AAS) South China Agricultural University Southwest Agricultural University University of Beijing Zhejiang Agricultural University Cuba Cuban Rice Research Institute State Committee for Economic Cooperation of the Republic of Cuba Denmark Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University (RVAU) Egypt Agricultural Research and Training Center Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation France Centre de coopration internationale en recherche agronomique pour le dveloppement, departement des cultures annuelles (CIRAD-CA) Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) Institut franais de recherche scientifique pour le dveloppement en coopration (ORSTOM) Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA) Germany Deutsche Welthungerhilfe (DW) Entwicklungspolitische Informationen (epi) Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation (BMZ) Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Zur Forderung Der Angewandten, Forschung E.V. (FhG) German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) Justus Liebig-University of Giessen Max-Planck institute (MPI) University of Goettingen University of Hohenheim University of Leipzig India Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University Assam Agricultural University Central Rice Research institute (CRRI) Directorate of Rice Research The Government of India, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) Indian Institute of Technology Indira Gandhi Agricultural University

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Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology Punjab Agricultural University Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) University of Agricultural Sciences Indonesia Agency for Agricultural Research and Development (AARD) Center for Agricultural Research Programming (CARP) Central Research Institute for Food Crops (CRIFC) Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB) Ministry of Agriculture Universitas Gadjah Mada Iran, Islamic Republic of Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Organization of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development University of Guilan Israel Hebrew University of Jerusalem Kazakhstan Kazakh Academy of Agricultural Sciences Kazakh Grain Research Institute Japan Hokkaido University Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) Mie University National Agriculture Research Center (NARC) Plantech Research Institute Kenya Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) Korea, Democratic Peoples Republic of Rice Research Institute, Academy of Agricultural Sciences (AAS) Korea, Republic of Rural Development Administration (RDA)

Lao PDR Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) Madagascar Ministry of Research Applied to Development: National Center for Research Applied to Rural Development (FOFIFA) University of Antananarivo Malaysia Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) Universiti Pertanian Malaysia Mozambique Instituto Nacional de Investigacao Agronomica (INIA) Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Sementes de Mocambique, Lda (SEMOC) Myanmar Ministry of Agriculture: Myanma Agriculture Service (MAS) Nepal Department of Agriculture: National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) Nepal Agricultural Research Council Netherlands C. T. de Wit Graduate School of Production Ecology (PE) Information Center for Low External Input and Sustainable Agriculture (ILEIA) Institute for Agrobiological and Soil Fertility Resource (ABDLO) Wageningen Agricultural University (WAU): Center for Agrobiological Research (CABO) and Theoretical Production Ecology (TPE) Pakistan National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC)

Papua New Guinea Department of Agriculture and Livestock Trukai Industries Pty. Ltd. Philippines Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) Central Luzon State University (CLSU) Department of Agriculture (DA) Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Los Baos Science Community (LBSC) Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) National Irrigation Administration (NIA) National Postharvest Institute for Research and Extension (NAPHIRE) Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD) Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) University of the Philippines Los Baos (UPLB) Visayas State College of Agriculture (VisCA) Western Mindanao State University (WeMSU) Sri Lanka Department of Agriculture (DOASL) Sweden Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with Developing Countries (SAREC) Switzerland CIBA-GEIGY Ltd. Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Taiwan, China Ministry of Agriculture, Project Management Office

90

Tanzania Ministry of Agriculture: Department of Research and Training Thailand Asian Institute of Technology Chiang Mai University Department of Agriculture Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives Kasetsart University Pathumthani Rice Research Center Population and Community Development Association (PDA) Rice Research Institute United Kingdom Imperial College, University of London Natural Resources Institute (NRI) Overseas Development Administration (ODA) University of Birmingham University of Nottingham University of Oxford University of Reading University of Sheffield USA Disney World Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Ford Foundation, Inc. (FF) Michigan State University National Seed Storage Laboratory, Fort Collins North Carolina State University (NCSU) The Ohio State University Oregon State University Rockefeller Foundation (RF) Soil Management Collaborative Research Support Program Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University University of Arkansas University of California, Davis University of Florida University of Georgia University of Hawaii: IBSNAT Project, NifTAL Project, and the Research Corporation (RCUH) University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP)

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) United States Department of Agriculture (USDA): Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Washington State University Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development Uzbekistan Uzbekistan Rice Research Institute Vietnam Cuu Long Delta Rice Research Institute (CLRRI) Institute of Food Crops Research Institute of Plant Protection Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Ministry of Education and Training (MET) University of Agriculture and Forestry (UAF) University of Can Tho Vietnam Agricultural Science Institute (VASI) International Organizations Asian Development Bank (ADB) Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC) Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience international (CABI) Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maz y Trigo (CIMMYT) Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE)

International Center for Living and Aquatic Resources Management, Inc. (ICLARM) International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) International Food Policy and Research Institute (IFPRI) International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) International Irrigation Management Institute (IIMI) International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) International Mycological Institute (IMI) International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR) Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) UNDP: Global Resources Information Database Component (UNEP-GRID) West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA)

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Appendix 2. Ongoing IRRI complementary projects, 1995

NO PROJECT TITLE DONOR BUDGET (US$) PROJECT START PROJECT END

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38

Asian Rice Biotechnology Network - Part 1 Rainfed Lowland Rice Ecosystem Research Analysis of Nitrogen and Starch in Tropical Crops Using NIR Spectroscopy Managing Rice Diseases through Seed Health and Rice Seed-associated Bacteria - A Key Component of IPM Cambodia-IRRI-Australia Project (Phase III) A Sustainable System for the Uplands: Developing a Perennial Upland Rice INGER 2000 Nitrogen Dynamics in Lowland Rice as Affected by Organic Farming Practices Disease Management in Rainfed Lowland Rice with Special Reference to Characterization of Microenvironment for Extrapolating Technology Postharvest Technologies for Rice in the Humid Tropics (Phase II) Appraiser/Consultant for Postharvest Technologies Asian Rice Biotechnology Network (ARBN) - Part 2 Held Variabilities of Soil and Plant: Impact on Rice Productivity and Use in Modeling of Soil Kinetics and Rice Yield Strengthening INGER in Africa (ECSA Portion) The Economics of Integrating Fish into Rice-based Farming Systems in Asia Developing Human Resource Capabilities Assessing Opportunities for Biological Nitrogen Fixation in Rice Managing Weeds With Less Herbicides-Allelopathic Activity of Rice Germplasm Support for International Rice Research Conference Integrated Pest Management Training for Thai National Scientists Systems Analysis and Simulation for Rice Production (SARP3) Improving Farming Systems Productivity and Sustainability in the Hilly Regions of Myanmar Adapting Relevant Small-scale Farm Tools and Equipment for Enhancing Productivity and Encouraging Rural-based Manufacturing Enterprises in Lao PDR Cambodian Refugee Training Support Project Effects of UV-B and Global Climate Change on Rice FAO-IRRI Collaboration and Participatory Research in Pest Management Development of Ecosystems Analysis and Farming Systems Research in Eastern India (Phase II) IRRI-Myanmar Low-cost Sustainable Rice-based Farming Systems Project for the Hilly Regions of Myanmar Agricultural Economics Capacity (Vietnam-IRRI)-(Phase II) Asian Rice Farming Systems Network Bhutan-IRRI Rice Farming System (Phase II) Wetland Production System in Bhutan Iran-IRRI Collaborative Project Improving Sustainability through Increasing Rice Productivity in the South and Southeast Asian Uplands Medium and Long-term Rice Supply and Demand (Phase II) Assessing Opportunities for Nitrogen Fixation in Rice Training and Professional Advancement of Rice Farming Systems Scientists in Africa Korean Seed Multiplication Project

ADB ADB ACIAR AGCD AusAID BMZ/GTZ BMZ/GTZ BMZ/GTZ BMZ/GTZ BMZ/GTZ BMZ/GTZ BMZ/GTZ BMZ/GTZ BMZ/GTZ BMZ/GTZ BMZ/GTZ DANIDA DANIDA Denmark Denmark DGIS DW DW

900,000 1 Jan 93

1,100,000 1 Jan 95 22,112 1 Jun 94

31 Dec 95 31 Dec 97 30 Jun 95 484,711 1 Nov 94 31 Oct 96 1 Jul 91

30 Jun 96 31 Dec 97 31 Dec 97 1,022,000 1 Mar 93 30 Jun 96 106,800 1 Nov 91 31 Oct 96

8,136,060 1 Jan 95 889,000 1 Jan 95 228,518

1 Jul 93 1 Jan 94 25,000 1 Jan 93 1,380,000 1 May 92

114,423 187,275 800,000 19,600 120,281 610,000 625,000 25,000 15,000 1,612,808 65,000

30 Jun 96 31 Dec 95 31 Dec 95 31 May 95 31 Dec 95 30 Jun 95 31 Dec 98 31 Dec 96 31 Dec 96 17 Feb 95 8 Dec 95 31 Dec 96 30 Apr 96 30 Jun 96

1 Aug 92 1 Jul 92 1 Jul 95 1 Jan 94 1 Jan 94 13 Feb 95 4 Dec 95 1 Jan 92 1 Jan 94

68,500 1 Apr 95

DW EPA FAO FF IDRC IDRC IDRC IDRC IDRC Iran Japan Japan Japan Japan Korea

30 Jun 95 1 Oct 90 30 Sep 96 6,655,738 15,000 1 Jan 92 31 Dec 95 200,000 1 Dec 92 31 May 95
305,561 1 Aug 92 191,312 5 Oct 94 458,720 1 Apr 92 330,055 1 Apr 90 250,000 1 Apr 95 500,000 1 Jan 94 400,000 1 Jan 94

65,000 1 Jan 91

31 Jul 96 4 Oct 96 31 Mar 95 31 Mar 95 31 Mar 99 31 Dec 95 31 Dec 98

734,267 1 Nov 94 31 Oct 96 637,230 1 Nov 94 31 Oct 96 218,751 1 Jan 95 31 Dec 97 18,000 1 Nov 94 31 Oct 95

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NO 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75

PROJECT TITLE IRRI/RDA Collaborative Project IRRI-NRI Collaborative Research on Rice Tungro Disease: Epidemiology and Vector Ecology Methane Generation and Consumption in Ricefields Characterization and Evaluation of Key Seedborne Fungal Pathogens in Rice Molecular Markers and their Use in Organizing Plant Germplasm Collections PNG-IRRI Rice Research and Training Project Establishment of an International Rice Drought Screening Facility at Ubon Rice Research Center Training and Technology Transfer Fellowships in Rice Biotechnology Developing Marker-aided Selection Techniques for Identifying Flood-tolerant Rice Genotypes Rice Research Prioritization (Phase II) The Study of Impact of Knowledge-Intensive Crop Management Technologiesthe Case of IPM Terminal Sequencing of Mapped Rice Genomic Probes Research on Application of Molecular Markers to Rice Breeding Genome Mapping and Molecular-assisted Plant Breeding Molecular Mapping of Genes Controlling Cytoplasmic Sterility and Fertility Restoration in Rice Production of Transgenic Rice Containing Putative Insect Resistance Genes Transformation of Indica Rice Toward Transgenic Male Sterile Line Improvement and Diversification of CMS Lines and Transformation in Rice Rice Improvement through Wide Hybridization: Characterization of Alien Introgression and Transfer of Useful Genes from Wild Species of Rice Use of Molecular Markers Linked to Disease Resistance Genes to Estimate Resistance Genotypes of Rice Varieties Resistance Management on Bacillus thuringiensis Mapping Genes for Resistance to Yellow Stem Borer in Rice via DNA Marker Mapping Genes for Resistance to Bacterial Blight in Rice via DNA Marker Development of Sustainable Production Systems in the Pulangi River Watershed Developing Research for Increasing Yield in a Sustainable Rice Production System (Phase II) Integrated Pest Management Research Network (Phase II) Lao-IRRI Rice Research and Training Project (Phase II) Safeguarding and Preservation of the Biodiversity of the Rice Genepool (Phase I) Wetland Production System in Bhutan IRRI Collaboration with FAO/ICP An Interregional Program on Methane Emission from Ricefields Strengthening the Cuu Long Delta Rice Research Institute Induction of Nodules on Rice Roots by Rhizobium Crop Residue Decomposition and Trichoderma for Disease Management in Ricebased Cropping Systems IRRI-Madagascar Rice Research Project (Phase III) China-IRRI Agricultural Support Services Project An Ecoregional Approach to Research and Development in the Humid/Subhumid Tropics of Asia

DONOR Korea NRI ODA ODA ODA PNG RF RF RF RF RF RF RF RF RF RF RF RF RF RF RF RF RF SANREM/USAID SAREC SDC SDC SDC SDC SDC UNDP UNDP USAID USAID USAID WB

BUDGET (US$)

PROJECT START

PROJECT END 31 Oct 96 31 Dec 95 31 Mar 96 31 Mar 97 31 Dec 96 31 Dec 97 31 Mar 96 31 Jul 96 30 Apr 98 31 Dec 96 30 Nov 97 31 Dec 95 24 Apr 95 31 Mar 95 31 Dec 97 31 Dec 95 31 Dec 97 31 Mar 97 31 Mar 98 31 Mar 96 30 Jun 98 31 May 98 31 May 98 31 Dec 95 31 Dec 95 31 Dec 96 30 Jun 96 31 Dec 98 31 Mar 99 31 Dec 97 31 Dec 97 31 May 95 31 Aug 95 30 Sep 97 30 Jun 97 31 Dec 97 31 Dec 95

60,000 1 Nov 94 351,425 1 Jan 91 23,135 1 Mar 93 306,000 1 Apr 94 40,000 1 Jan 93 504,882 1 Jan 95 78,900 1 Apr 93 270,480 1 Aug 93 74,300 1 May 94 175,125 1 Jul 95 117,370 1 Dec 95 118,000 1 Aug 93 88,000 24 Apr 93 154,000 1 Apr 94 34,000 1 Jan 95 20,500 1 Jan 95 34,400 1 Jan 95 57,100 1 Apr 95 24,900 1 Apr 95 31,700 1 Apr 95 74,500 1 Jul 95 59,100 1 Jun 95 37,100 1 Jun 95 100,000 1 Jun 94 744,486 1 Jul 89 1,088,548 1 Jan 94 3,540,000 1 Jul 93 3,286,000 1 Nov 93 250,000 1 Apr 95 180,000 1 Jan 94 4,403,400 1 Jan 93 481,125 1 Jun 92 53,700 1 Jan 93 110,000 1 Dec 93 5,600,000 1 Jan 90 716,811 1 Jun 93 200,000 1 Jan 95

93

On Assignment
During early 1996, seven staff members of IRRIs Communication and Publications Services (CPS) accepted some assignments quite different from their regular duties at the Institutes headquarters in the Philippines. Leaving their computers and darkrooms behind, they grabbed their notebooks and cameras and went out to capture glimpses of the lives of farm families in Vietnams irrigated ricelands in the backwaters of the Mekong Delta, Indonesias rainfed lowlands in Central Java, traditional deepwater rice areas of Bangladesh and Thailand, the rugged uplands of Lao PDR, Madagascar, and the Philippines, and Indias vast rice wheat areas. And they listened to what these farmers had to say. The result is an IRRI Corporate Report that brings to its readers the real life circumstances and viewpoints-through images and words-of a sampling of the worlds rice farming families. According to managing editors Gene Hettel and Carolyn Dedolph, the assignments successfully achieved the original goal of featuring farmers and, perhaps more importantly, they put names and faces on IRRIs ultimate partners. Getting acquainted with some of these truly remarkable people made it easy for the CPS staff members to place renewed vigor toward accomplishing IRRIs mission of improving the wellbeing of present and future generations of rice farmers. We hope that IRRI stakeholders who read these pages will share our enthusiasm as well.

How to contact IRRI Offices

IRRI collaborates with researchers throughout the world. To sustain our global reach, we maintain offices in 11 countries in addition to the Philippines. Lao PDR Lao-IRRI Project P.O. Box 4195 Vientiane Fax: (856-21) 414373 Primary contact: Dr. John Schiller Madagascar Madagascar-IRRI Rice Research Project B. P. 4151 Antananarivo (101) Fax: (261-2) 34883 (Attn. IRRI) Primary contact: Dr. Martha Gaudreau Myanmar IRRI Representative Office P.O. Box 1369 Yangon E-mail: garcia%remote.undpmya@nylan.undp.org Fax: (95-1) 667991 Primary contact: Dr. Arnulfo Garcia Nigeria IITA c/o L. W. Lambourn & Co. Carolyn House, 26 Dingwall Road Croydon CR9 3EE, England E-mail: k.aliuri@cgnet.com Fax: (234-2) 241-2221 Primary contact: Dr. Krishna Alluri Thailand IRRI Cooperative Project P.O. Box 9-159 Bangkhen, Bangkok 10900 E-mail: irri-bangkok-t@cgnet.com Fax: (66-2) 561-4894 Primary contact: Dr. Donald Puckridge Vietnam Vietnam-IRRI Dept. of Science and Technology & Product Quality Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development 2 Ngoc ha, Ba dinh, Hanoi E-mail: irri-hanoi@cgnet.com Fax: (84-4) 823-4425 Primary contact: Mr. Phi Manh Hung

Bangladesh IRRI G. P.O. Box 64, Ramna Dhaka 1000 E-mail: irri .dhaka@drik.bgd.toolnet.org Fax: (880-2) 885341 Primary contact: Mr. Salim Ahmed Cambodia Cambodia-IRRI Australia Project P.O. Box 1 Phnom Penh E-mail: irri-cambodia@cgnet.com Fax: (355-18) 810796 Primary contact: Dr. Harry Nesbitt India IRRI C-18, Friends Colony (East) New Delhi 110 065 E-mail: irri@giasdl01.vsnl.net.in Fax: (91-11) 692-3122 Primary contact: Dr. R. K. Singh Indonesia/Malaysia/Brunei Darussalam Cooperative DEPAGRI-IRRI Program P.O. Box 205 Bogor 16002 E-mail: irri-bogor@cgnet.com Fax: (62-251) 334391 Primary contact: Ms- Francisca Herjati Japan IRRI-Japan Office and Library Office c/o Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences Ohwashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305 E-mail: kfb03331@niftyserve.or.jp Fax: (81-298) 386639 Primary contact: Dr. Tadashi Morinaka