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