Asian rice bowls threatened by budget cuts

Asian rice bowls threatened by budget cuts

By Martin Abbugao

MANILA (AFP): A budget shortfall is threatening research at
the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) south of here
which aims to increase yields and feed Asia into the next
century.

Even a potential "super rice" is under threat, bad news for
Asians, the world's most voracious rice consumers.

Director George Rothschild said the institute, which has,
since the late '60s, given the region its "miracle" rice
varieties, will seek help from the private sector in a major
campaign to keep the agency afloat.

"There are some projects that will be curtailed," Rothschild
said in a recent interview. One example, he said, are studies on
the conservation of soil and water resources to ensure
sustainability of the environment.

"In addition, there will be impact on the speed with which we
can produce new rice varieties which will yield much higher than
present ones," he said.

Cutbacks and realignment by donor countries such as the United
States and the European Union has led to a deficit of over six
million dollars in IRRI's proposed 37-million-dollar budget this
year.

This forced IRRI to retrench 550 employees, or almost 50-
percent of its core staff, to save money to maintain its
laboratories, a rice gene bank, other vital facilities and its
dwindling crop of world-class scientists.

Washington, with a bulk of its foreign aid allotted to
preserving peace in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, has cut
back its two-million-dollar annual contribution to the institute
by about 40 percent.

The EU has realigned its donations, while the United Nations
Development Program trimmed its share. Japan, the biggest
contributor, has not made any cuts, Rothschild said.

IRRI, an autonomous, non-profit agricultural training and
research center, is currently perfecting a new rice variety,
dubbed by the media as "super rice", that will increase yields by
about 25 percent from 10 tons a hectare (acre) to 13 tons.

The plant's prototype has already been developed but
scientists are laboring to implant characteristics that will make
it resistant to pests and disease, as well as perfect a taste to
suit the palates of Asians.

IRRI's principal plant breeder Gurdev Khush said the institute
had originally planned to distribute the plant to farmers by the
end of the decade.

Rothschild, however, said that even research on the "super
rice" is imperiled, although he stressed that "this is a high
priority project, we're trying to protect it at all costs."

IRRI, which lies in the sleepy town of Los Banos south of
here, has been credited with developing the IR8 high-yielding
rice variety that staved off massive famine in the region.

But IRRI now faces a more formidable challenge with the
growing population threatening to overwhelm its meager resources.

"The challenge now is that everyday, 2.5 billion people eat
rice. By 2025, or just over a generation, that number will be
four billion and that means we have to produce 70 percent more
rice from less land with less water and less labor," he said.

"Of course, that means new technologies. There are no quick-
fix solutions. Solving it needs solid, good research and this
requires secure core funding," he said.

IRRI is launching a campaign to expand its funding base to
include big corporations in the private sector, arguing that food
security makes good economic sense.

The increase in rice harvests over the past three decades has
pushed the price of the cereal down by 40 percent, stemming a
potential source of social unrest, Rothschild said.

Next month IRRI will launch, in Bangkok, the Asian Rice
Foundation, where the private sector and other donors can channel
funds, he said. The U.S.-based Rockefeller Foundation, a major
IRRI backer, will provide the seed money.

Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej has agreed to join the campaign
to rescue IRRI, which has trained many southeast Asian
scientists, including Thais, Rothschild added.

He said IRRI would likewise seek increased financial
contribution from China, India and Indonesia, which together
produce and consume over 60 percent of the world's rice.

The institution has already devolved some of its functions to
the rice research institutes of other countries, and has
contracted out services such as catering and vehicle maintenance.

The IRRI was set up in 1960 by the Ford and Rockefeller
Foundations with the help of the Philippine government. It is one
of 18 non-profit international research centers supported by the
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
(CGIAR). CGIAR is sponsored by the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization, the World Bank and the UN Development Program.