No farmer left behind by International Rice Research Institute

Five-point rice strategy out of poverty

Bas Bouman, director of the Global Rice Science Partnership (GRiSP), talks about the importance of rice in poverty alleviation. Rice is the staple food of more than 3.5 billion people, and almost one billion of them live in poverty. If the way farmers grow rice can be improved, increase their income, help them produce more rice of higher quality, then a huge impact can be made in improving food security and alleviating poverty and hunger in the world.

Dr. Bouman discusses the challenges of some structural transformation in the rice sector that can be turned into opportunities. He mentions the five-point strategy that will help the rice sector to be vibrant and profitable. The five-point strategy for rice includes (1) sustainable intensification, (2) land consolidation, (3) mechanization, (4) entrepreneurship, and (5) strengthening the value chain.

GROWING HOPE WITH GREEN SUPER RICE

More than two years after Typhoon Haiyan devastated the island of Leyte in the Philippines, the survivors, especially the farmers, are still struggling to rebuild their lives. Green Super Rice (GSR) is giving them a fighting chance. Read more.

THE LEARNING ALLIANCE: A COALITION FOR CHANGE

Through Learning Alliance IRRI facilitates a network of stakeholders in the context of improving rice postharvest management. The alliance in Myanmar, composed of farmers and IRRI’s local partners from the rice value chain, aimed to produce better-quality rice and sell it to larger markets. Read more.

Rice against the tide

A new breed of rice is helping Filipino farmers in Bohol cope with seawater encroaching on their paddies. But in the race against climate change impacts such as rising sea levels, will rice scientists be able to stay one step ahead of the game? Read more.

Yield rises with WeRise

A weather-rice-nutrient decision support app is helping farmers ensure yield in rainfed areas. Read more.

Dr. Myo Aung Kyaw, IRRI consultant, explains to farmers how the flatbed dryer works. (Photo: Chris Cabardo)

Antonia Quimson can grow rice in the saline areas using Salinas 11 that she obtained from municipal extension officer Lito Oroyan.

More than 2 years have passed since Typhoon Haiyan devastated the island of Leyte in the central Philippines in November 2013. It took many lives. the damage it caused won‘t easily be forgotten by survivors featured in this video who continue to struggle to rebuild their lives.

More than seeds

Climate-smart rice varieties developed at IRRI and multiplied and distributed under the Stress-Tolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia (STRASA) project, are already creating a major impact and have improved the lives of 10 million farmers in South Asia and Africa. Read more.

Sowing their choices

IRRI has been working with its partners in Myanmar to provide new options for rice production along the coastal areas of the Ayeyarwaddy Delta. The Livelihood and Food Security Trust project introduced farmers’ participatory varietal selection (PVS) of high-yielding varieties for favorable areas and stress-tolerant varieties for salt- and flood-prone areas. Read more.

Modernizing Asian rice production

A comprehensive action plan to transform rice farming into a vibrant and profitable business. Read more.

Sudhanshu Singh talks with the farmers in a village in Odisha to monitor the performance of flood-tolerant Swarna-Sub1.

Women farmers from Labutta Township in Myanmar evaluate and select their most preferred varieties.

Under the "Mansholt Plan" for rice in Asia, governments are urged to expand farm size, promote mechanization, and improve yields.

Breeding for tough times ahead

Green Super Rice is making its way to farmers’ fields. Read more.

Appeasing ‘nine dragons’ enraged by climate change

One of Southeast Asia’s top rice exporters finds ways to deal with the wrath of climate change. Read more.

Eyes on the prize

When today’s farmers look at what’s in it for them, money-wise, they face decisions on what technology to adopt and what farming practices to pursue, but the task is not as easy as it used to be. Higher yields are no longer the only factor that leads to higher profits. Read more.

Seeds of life in Nepal

Farmers in Nepal are producing enough quality seeds to ensure good harvests and sufficient food on the table. Read more.

Technologies meet farmers

Hundreds of thousands of Asian farmers are adopting a range of IRRC-facilitated technologies because of the many impressive economic, social, and environmental benefits. Read more.

Bangladesh combats the “white plague”

Salinity affects around 1 million hectares in Bangladesh. Some climate experts say that sea-level rise will cause the country’s landscape to become “sicker.” Read more.

Ready for climate change

Farmers are fast adopting stress-tolerant varieties of rice to head off yield losses. Read more.

Farmers get their groove back

Drum seeding finds its way back to Tamil Nadu as farmers learn how to control weeds effectively and maximize profits using the technology. Read more.

Greener rice

Green Super Rice for the Resource-Poor of Africa and Asia aims for environmental breakthroughs in agriculture with rice varieties that are more robust, high-yielding, and disease-resistant, yet thrive with less water, fertilizer, and pesticide. Read more.

Extension goes mobile

Farmers can now use ubiquitous mobile phones to access fertilizer information whenever and wherever they need it. Read more.

In rice cultivation, salt has a negative effect. Once salt gets to the roots, it becomes detrimental to the whole plant.

Mr. Chakravathy decided to use a drum seeder this year to sow his new crop. (Photo: M.N. Budhar)

Machines of progress

Cambodian farmers adopted IRRI’s postharvest technology package, which improved the quality of their rice grains, increased their harvest’s milling output, and allowed them to save on labor, time, and money. Read more.

A glimmer of hope for Vietnam’s white gold

The recently concluded project, Climate Change Affecting Land Use in the Mekong Delta: Adaptation of Rice-based Cropping Systems (CLUES), offers a basketful of climate-smart practices and technologies that should help rice farmers in the Mekong Delta cope. Read more.

From rags to riches with rice farming

A couple from humble beginnings earned a million pesos worth of assets from planting rice. Read more.

Love at first site

One Filipino farmer’s experience with a better way of managing his crop’s fertilizer needs could inspire change across the nation’s rice fields. Read more.

Demonstration site in Bac Lieu Province where AWD viability was tested. (Photo: CLUES)

How to support smallholder farmers throughout the world

Smallholder agriculture is practiced by families (including one or more households) using only or mostly family labor, and, from that work, they derive a large but variable share of their income, in kind or in cash. With urbanization, integration, and globalization of markets, the sector is undergoing great changes. Read more.

Extreme poverty in decline, but much more to do

More than one billion people are still poor and 805 million of them are still hungry. More work needs to be done. Rice will play a continuing role in reducing these numbers. Read more.

Precision agriculture for small-scale farmers

Crop management has no such thing as a one-practice-fits-all solution. In fact, awareness is increasing throughout the world that crop management practices must be tailored to location-specific needs in order to produce more food with higher profitability and to reduce risks to the environment. Read more.

Mapping opportunities to increase productivity in coastal Bangladesh

In the coastal polder zone of Bangladesh, satisfying food demand and improving the livelihoods of about 8 million people while at the same time preserving natural resources are major challenges. Read more.