Creating an Online Catalog of Rice Genes Change Is Coming To
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www.irri.org International Rice Research Institute riceTODAY November 2016 Change is coming to Philippine agriculture Creating an online Improving the livelihood of Pakistan's basmati rice farmers catalog of rice genes Searching for a new Mexican "rice miracle" US$5.00 ISSN 1655-5422 Rice Today • November 2016 1 The number one partner of choice for rice processors worldwide. Present in over 140 countries, our global reach gives rice processors unparalleled access to a wide range of capabilities including a comprehensive machine portfolio, supported by our turnkey capabilities - successfully delivering equipment, service and support locally. Got a question? Let’s talk about it. [email protected], www.buhlergroup.com/rice 4 2 3 8 9 5 6 7 11 1 10 12 Additional services Engineering, technology and project management Research and development support Processing of by-products Education and training programs Local on-site services Weighing, Paddy storage dosifying and Additional Pre-cleaning systems Hulling Grading bagging services 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Paddy Paddy drying Cleaning Whitening and Optical sorting Automation reception and systems polishing systems handling Innovations for a better world. 2 Rice Today • November 2016 From the editor’s desk 4 riceTODAY November 2016 5 Books 6 What’s cooking: Arroz abanda 7 Rice Today around the world 8 Guanyin's gift: White rice, red rice 10 Change is coming to Philippine agriculture 14 From crop production to market: Improving the livelihood of Pakistan's basmati rice farmers Digital genes 17 CONTENTS 22 Shalabh Dixit: The link between rice genes and rice farmers 26 Searching for a new Mexican "rice miracle" 28 "Dam" good heroes About the cover Maps: Rural poverty and rice The 3K Rice Genome Project demonstrates the 30 power of deep exploration of the International Women on the path to progress Rice Genebank and offers opportunities to 32 understand the richness of rice diversity. The Why invest in optimizing water use in rice farming? database derived from the 3,000 genomes, now 34 available online, is being widely used by the global community and enables breeders to search 37 Rice facts: The real-life heroes for genes for specific geographic and climatic adaptation not present in the current gene pool of 39 Grain of truth: Empowering women farmers in the polder cultivated rice. (Photo by Isagani Serrano) communities of Bangladesh Rice Today is published by the International Rice Research International Rice Research Institute Institute (IRRI) on behalf of the Global Rice Science DAPO Box 7777, Metro Manila, Philippines Partnership (GRiSP). Web: ricetoday.irri.org IRRI is the world’s leading international rice research and training center. Based in the Philippines and with Rice Today editorial offices located in major rice-growing countries, IRRI is an telephone: (+63-2) 580-5600 or (+63-2) 844-3351 to 53, autonomous, nonprofit institution focused on improving the ext 2725; fax: (+63-2) 580-5699 or (+63-2) 845-0606; well-being of present and future generations of rice farmers email: [email protected], [email protected] and consumers, particularly those with low incomes, while preserving natural resources. It is one of the 15 nonprofit editor-in-chief Lanie Reyes international research centers that are members of the CGIAR managing editor Alaric Francis Santiaguel consortium (www.cgiar.org). Africa editor Savitri Mohapatra Responsibility for this publication rests with IRRI. Latin America editor Neil Palmer Designations used in this publication should not be copy editors Bill Hardy, Gene Hettel construed as expressing IRRI policy or opinion on the legal art director Juan Lazaro IV status of any country, territory, city, or area, or its authorities, designer and production supervisor Grant Leceta or the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. photo editor Isagani Serrano Rice Today welcomes comments and suggestions from circulation Antonette Abigail Caballero, Cynthia Quintos readers. The opinions expressed by columnists in Rice Today Web master Jerry Laviña do not necessarily reflect the views of IRRI or GRiSP. printer CGK formaprint International Rice Research Institute 2016 This magazine is copyrighted by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License (Unported). Unless otherwise noted, users are free to copy, duplicate, or reproduce, and distribute, display, or transmit any of the articles or portions of the articles, and to make translations, adaptations, or other derivative works under specific conditions. To view the full text of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/. Rice Today • November 2016 3 From the editor's desk A cathedral of rice A man came upon a construction site where three people were working. He asked the first, “What are you doing?” The man replied, “I am laying bricks.” He asked the second, “What are you doing?” The man replied, “I am building a wall.” As he approached the third man, he heard him humming a tune as he worked, and asked, “What are you doing?” The man stood, looked up at the sky, and smiled, “I am building a cathedral!” –Author unknown* t is not difficult to see the bigger picture of the newly elected Philippine leader, the new or a “higher purpose” if one works at the secretary of agriculture Emmanuel Piñol is positive International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). that the country will attain its vision of rice self- Rice is the staple food for more than 3.5 billion sufficiency. (Read Change is coming to Philippine Ipeople in the world including around 600 million agriculture on page 10-13.) people living in poverty. Moreover, rice is the fastest In Mexico, the new rice varieties resulting from growing staple in Latin America and Africa. It is a public-private partnership have already started not hard to imagine rice research as a tool for easing gaining ground. This year, they were sown on more poverty and hunger. than 3,000 hectares and will enter the Mexican To learn more about rice being an entry point in market for the first time. (See Searching for a new poverty alleviation, see a South Asian map on Rural Mexican "rice miracle" on pages 26-27.) poverty and rice on pages 30-31. Similarly in Pakistan, a shining example of Rice varieties that can withstand drought, a public-private partnership is also making a flooding, and salinity are not only feeding millions difference in a program for improving the country’s of people in South Asia; it is also improving the basmati rice not only for local consumption but for livelihood of farmers and their households. Most the export market. (Read Improving the livelihood of of all, women farmers are becoming visible as Pakistan's basmati rice farmers on pages 14-16.) economic contributors in a male-dominated society In Africa, read about a small dam in M’bé, Côte in which they are often relegated to secondary status d’Ivoire, which became an instrument of helping within the household and fields. Some have even more than 300 farming households survive a difficult accomplished what was unthinkable only a few time. Read "Dam" good heroes on pages 28-29. decades ago: becoming entrepreneurs and leaders On the cultural aspect of rice, a Chinese rice in their communities. Read about these successful legend and the great compassion of the goddess women farmers in Three great heroes on pages 37-38 Guanyin is said to have created the staple food of and Women on the path to progress on pages 32-33. half of the world’s humanity. (See Guanyin’s gift: Success stories like these have inspired young White rice, red rice on pages 8-9.) IRRI scientist Shalabh Dixit to pursue plant breeding. Lastly, learn how to cook Arroz abanda from With microscopic genes as his building blocks, Dr. Spanish chef Jose Luis “Chele” Gonzalez. Arroz Dixit is constantly developing new rice varieties that abanda is an inspired combo of two great cultural he hopes will change the world in a big way. Learn heritages: a Philippine heirloom rice variety and the more about him and his work on rice genetics on iconic Spanish paella. pages 22-24. Speaking of genes, read about IRRI’s plan to Enjoy reading! create an online catalog of rice genes from which breeders can choose from hundreds of thousands of genetic materials in the way people shop online (see pages 17-19.) With the availability of rice farming technologies Lanie Reyes developed at IRRI plus the political will-of-steel Rice Today editor-in-chief *www.storlietelling.com/2013/08/14/bricks-walls-cathedrals-a-story-bite-to-lead-with-vision/ books Rice diseases: Their biology and selected management practices by T.W. Mew, H. Hibino, S. Savary, and C.M. Vera Cruz Published by the Global Rice Science Partnership (GRiSP) his online resource is Tauthored by 23 global rice disease specialists who are covering the importance of plant diseases in rice production, the biology of rice diseases, and selected rice disease management practices. It is published through GRiSP, the CGIAR research program on rice, with the assistance of partners: Rice: Cherished stories of the world’s favorite grain including the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), by Alice Flinn-Stilwell Africa Rice Center, and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). Published by Aster Publishing. 159 pages. Part I covers the importance of rice diseases and their impact his collection of legends puts this cherished simple grain on rice crop production in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Part Trespectfully in the lead role. The 31 legends in this book II focuses on the biology of rice diseases caused by various come from 16 countries.