IRRI’s Strategy for Addressing Needs,Challenges and Opportunities
2007-15
Robert S. Zeigler
Director General
International Rice Research InstituteIRRI’s Mission
To reduce poverty and hunger, improve thehealth of rice farmers and consumers, andensure environmental sustainability throughcollaborative research, partnerships, andstrengthening of national agricultural researchand extension systems.
IRRI Board of Trustees, April 2006

IRRI’s Response to a
Changing World
Challenge: Relating IRRI’
IRRI’s research agenda to
the Millennium Development GOALSFive Strategic Goals:• Poverty Alleviation• Human Health and Nutrition• Protecting the Environment,• Access to Information• Genetic Resources

90% of the world’s rice isproduced and consumedin Asia.
~70% of the world’s poor
live in Asia.

…and nearly all ofthem eat rice two or
three times a day!

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If we want to do something
about poverty
It is clear that we must
invest in rice

But where and how?

World’World’s Greatest Concentration of Poverty is in Rainfed
Lowland Rice Areas of South And Southeast Asia

Almost all of SSA Rice is Rainfed

There is a clear relationship between theprevalence of rainfed rice and the level of poverty.

Rainfed rice farmers aretrapped in a vicious circle.

Rainfed Rice Characterized
by Harsh Environments• Drought, prolonged submergence, andsalinity create yield unreliability• Discourage investments and market
oriented diversification

IRRI’s research can move theminto a virtuous circle.

Reliably improving productivity in rainfed riceenvironments will give farmers options
to diversify their income sources.
A clear entry point for poverty alleviation.

is to focus on rainfed rice systems

A Fundamental Change inIRRI’
IRRI’s Approach

Trend in poverty (% of population) inSouth Asia and Africa
Percent5045• If we focus primarily on a larger pile ofrice (food security), then we invest in thefavorable intensive systems.

40• If we focus on helping to lift the poor –especially the rural poor – out of poverty,
then we invest in difficult rainfed
environments.

2044

47

49

49421990
1996
2002

35
30

29

25
15
10
50

South Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa

Sources of raw data:
No. of people living on less than US$1/day: World Bank. Attacking Poverty: World Development Report 2000-2001.
United Nations Development Programme 2005.
Total population: Source: Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations
Secretariat, World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision; World Urbanization Prospects: The 2003 Revision,
http://esa.un.org/unpp.

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Sub-Saharan Africa: The Other Major
Concentration of Poverty

A Nearly
25% Increase

This region is the world’s fastest growing riceconsumer and will also grow as a producer.

A Focus on Poverty and Its
Consequences Drives IRRI to Africa• World’s second largest concentration of poverty

IRRI Will Begin
Its Africa Program
In Eastern AfricaWhat Is Special
About Mozambique?

• Rice is increasingly important- Rural income source- Affordable and prized urban staple• Lessons from Asia can be applied- Tools of molecular biology help unlock genetic potential- Relevant traits for rainfed systems- Renewed interest by private sector prompt investments inirrigation, land and water management

East African Rice
Farmers Are
More Commercial
Advantages andDisadvantages

Major River Deltas

A History of Rice
Cultivation &Market Orientation

Research Challenges in East Africa• Market orientation competes with Asia
– Price and grain quality• Seed availability and quality• Rehabilitation of irrigation schemes• National support capacity, research andextension• Crop management and land preparation• Water – borne diseases• Transport for inputs and harvest

Increasing urbanization means IRRI must assure
affordable rice supplies for urban poor, as well.

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Inexpensive rice for poor consumers versus aliving wage for farmers is a constant tension.

GOAL: Reduce poverty in rice-dependent
regions of endemic poverty throughimproved and diversified rice-based systems• Abiotic stress tolerance to stabilize and raise yields andpermit diversification in rainfed systems.
– Progress in salt, drought, submergence, and phosphorus• Ensure adequate and affordable food supplies for poor riceconsumers through further increases in productivity andprofitability in irrigated rice systems.
• Improve food security and farmers’ income in rice-growing
countries in East and southern Africa through improved rice
varieties and cropping systems.

Increased productivity and profitability in rainfed environments address rural poverty and inexpensive ricefrom irrigated lands addresses urban poverty.

Malnutrition:
A Consequence of Poverty
Hidden hunger: vitaminand mineral deficiencies
from inadequate diets rob
the poor of productive
lives.
The number ofaffected poor in Asia
dwarfs that of any otherregion of the world.

• Understand high-value, quality rice.

Irrigation water from tube
wells polluted witharsenic can contaminate
rice grains in the field.
Microbial toxins in poorly
processed and stored
rice and heavy metals,
such as Cadmium, incontaminated soils canalso threaten the healthof rice farmers andconsumers.

GOAL: Improved health and nutritionof poor rice consumers and farmers• Nutrient-enriched rice.

• Substantial capacity and progress in pro-vitamin A, Fe,and Zn…high throughput transformation; analyticalcapacity• Healthy rice.
• Differential uptake of As, Cd• Backstop NARES in postharvest storage• Digestibility…diabetes increasing• Establish partnerships with rural health forwaterborne diseases.

Rice–based systems in Asia arechanging rapidly.
Maintain a long view of theenvironment for future
generations.

4In Asia, 80 percent offreshwater drawn isused in agriculture
and nearly 80
percent of the waterin agriculture is usedin rice cultivation.

Many dramatic changes willaffect agricultureenvironment interactions.

Competing demands
from industry, urban
areas, and higher
value crops meanless water available
for rice cultivation.
Impact of climatechange likely tochange water
availability in rice –growing areas

Retaining productivity levels while using
less water will be a major challenge
confronting IRRI over the next decade.

Labor is becoming aserious constraint.
A “feminization ofagriculture” is occurringwith continued
urbanization and outmigration of men.

Crop establishment, water,nutrient and pest
management...all will
require from fundamental toapplied research forsustainable systems at field
and landscape levels.
But…the social dimension?

Crop diversification shouldraise income, yet will also raise
challenges for sustainability andenvironmental impact.
A switch from flooded to aerobic
systems can have dramatic
impact on green house gas
emissions and nutrient leaching
into ground and surface water.

What technologies and practices must change toaddress this new reality?

Climate and Rice• Global climate change is areality and will affect rice
farmers for decades to come.
• Rising temperatures cannegatively affect yield.
• Extreme environmental
events can increase
frequency of drought,flooding, and sea water
intrusion.
• Changing production
practices will affect GHGemissions.

There is a clear and important role for developing rice
varieties and cultural practices that can copewith climate change.

Rice and Climate
Change Consortium1• Minimize the impact of rice production on
greenhouse gas emissions but also change the“balance” sheet such that productivity andenvironmental quality can be sustained.
• Decipher the mechanisms involved and to improve
germplasm adaptation to expected future climaticconditions.
• To develop genetic and NRM technologies tomitigate the negative effects of agriculturalactivities on climate.
1Planning meeting written up in Science5

GOAL: Ensure that rice production issustainable and stable, has minimal
negative environmental impact, andcan cope with climate change

Research for Development• The challenges are great
Ten years ago tolerance in productive rice
varieties to drought, submergence, and salt wasconsidered to be practically impossible.

• Process-based research on indicators of sustainability
in intensive systems.
- Field to landscape-level research in rice dominatedsystems- GHG emissions expertise• Resistance to temperature stress, flooding.
• Pest–disease complexes under Δ T°.
• Assess alternative water management.
• Backstop IPM and INM activities in NARES.
• Address critical social issues as rural economies
undergo dramatic changes.

• The opportunities are real
Advances in molecular biology and data analysis
make yesterday’s dream tomorrow’s reality.

A Real World Example

A Real World Example ofScience for Development

Flooding and ProlongedSubmergence Common in Asia and SSA:
A Consequence of Climate Change

Sub1A is an ethylene-response-factorlike gene that confers submergence
tolerance to riceLong considered to be an
intractable problem…

(Nature, Vol. 442, 10 August 2006)
Kenong Xu1, Xia Xuc, Takeshi Fukao2, Patrick Canlas1, Reycel
Maghirang-Rodriguex3, Sigrid Heuer3, Abdelbagi M.
Ismail3, Julia Bailey-Serres2, Pamela C. Ronald1 and David J.
Mackill3
1

Department of Plant Pathology, University of California,Davis, California 95616, USA

2 Center for Plant Cell Biology, Department of Botany andPlant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, California
92521-0124, USA
3 International Rice Research Institute, DAPO Box 7777,

Metro Manila, The Philippines

In late 1980s, submergence tolerant,
but otherwise undesirable accessions
identified in rice gene bank…
extremely difficult trait to transfer

A deep understanding of genetics
and mechanisms allows:• Precise manipulation of traits

Swarna-sub1

Swarna• Systematic screening of genebank for variants of genes• Differentiation among
mechanisms conferring thesame trait…stacking forresiliency• Rapid development of varieties
with high adoption probability

Sequence data from this article have been deposited with the EMBL/GenBankData.
Libraries under accession nos. DQ011597-DQ011607 and DQ453964DQ453966.

A mega variety for flood prone
rainfed lowlands in South Asia converted to Sub1 tolerance by MAS

Frontier Projects: Major Challenges,High-Risk, But Massive Payoff
We must look beyond today’s problems
to find tomorrow’s solutions to secure
opportunities for future generations.
• IRRI’
IRRI’s strategic frontier projects accentuate theInstitute’Institute’s commitment to challenges beyond MDGs
- Novel and focused research on problems of strategic
importance to the future rice production and the environment.

• Potential to make an impact at the level of the Green
Revolution, or greater- Generate a sense of excitement- Position IRRI in the global scientific community

Precision Breeding.

6Frontier Projects• Rice and climate change• Drought-tolerant rice
• C4 rice• (Associative N-fixation inrice; apomixis)

Approach and feasibility to be determined byhigh-level scientific planning workshops

Take Some Tricks From theOther Grasses?

• Available water will decrease• Temperatures will increase• Societal tolerance for impact of N
fertilizers will decrease- Prices likely to increase

What do we do about it?

A New Photosynthesis
System for Rice

Addresses poverty, environmental,and productivity concerns
Rice (C3) → (C4)

Drought and Productivity in
Unfavorable Rice Environments• Drought tolerance trait is strongly
influenced by genes with large
effects.
• Detection, analysis and delivery foruse in marker-aided breeding.
• Incorporating genes from rice andother species into widely grown or“mega” rice varieties.
• Broad and new partnerships will benecessary to take the genetic
findings from the laboratory tofarmers’ fields in a wide variety ofrainfed conditions.

- Available land will not increase significantly- Pressure for alternative uses of crops may grow(biofuels and replacement) and increase demands
on remaining areassystems• Much greater efficiency in use of waterand nitrogen• Greater tolerance of rainfed conditions

Greater water
use efficiency,
greater N-Useefficiency,
higher yield inmaize due to C4

Recipe for success inrainfed systems?

• Productivity must increase• Increase productivity for intensiveGenes?

Maize (C4)What About Rice Overthe Longer Term?

Why Do We Think Investments InFrontier Projects Makes Sense?
• History tells us so– From IR8 to Sub1

• Not that there are no dangers– Failure in some is assured– Financing horizon is very different

7Compelling Convergence• Required traits for improving productivity
in rainfed rice systems:

Gauging IRRI’s Relevance

Drought, submergence, and salt tolerance• For African rice systems
Drought, submergence, and salt tolerance

Millennium Development Goals• For adaptation to climate change
Drought, submergence, and salt tolerance
A carefully defined research agenda can address awide variety of globally important issues.

Rice is central toachieving the MDGs,
particularly those
aimed at poverty,
human health andnutrition, and theenvironment.
This strategy
positions rice
research to address
key global concernsand helps assure
IRRI’s continuedrelevance.

A Challenge to the Social Sciences
Priority research areas• Analysis of rice-based livelihood systems andpathways out of poverty in “poverty pockets”(Goals 1 and 2).
• Impact assessment, both ex-ante and ex-post
focusing especially on NRM technologies.
Institutionalization of ex-ante analysis for researchplanning and prioritization (Goals 1, 2, and 3).

A Challenge to the Social Sciences

A Challenge to the Social Sciences

Priority research areas

Priority research areas• Analysis of the nature and patterns of shifts incomparative advantages and areas of major
cereals (rice, wheat, and maize) under likely
future scenario of shifts in demand and supply
factors including trade liberalization (Goals 1and 2).

• Ex-ante socioeconomic analysis of biotechnology
products to address public perceptions, bio-safety
considerations and potential impact (Goals 1, 2
and 3.
• Analysis of water pricing and policies, andopportunities and institutional reforms for increased
adoption of water efficient technologies (Goals 1 and 2).

8Thank You

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