Mr. Tran, IRC Executive Secretary, reported to the Committee that the Session was successfully organised in Cairo, with the generous assistance of the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation. About 64 delegates from 30 IRC member countries, 3 countries as an observer capacity and 23 participants from regional and international agencies (WARDA, IRRI, WFP, FAO, ...). The Commission elected Dr. Y. Wally, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture, Egypt, as the Chairman; Dr. S. R. Obien, Director General of the PHIL-Rice, The Philippines, as the 1st Vice-Chairman; and Dr. B. Derla, Directorate of Agriculture, Chad, as the 2nd Vice-Chairman of the Commission for the next four years.

During the 3-day Session, the delegations actively participated in the deliberation and addressed the following major issues and concerns on rice production in the world:

1. Yield deceleration of rice (annual growth rate declined from 2.8% in the 1980s to 1.1% in the 1990s), less land, less water and increased rice import especially in Asia (Indonesia, the Philippines, China...).

2. Productivity declines of rice (lower outputs/inputs ratio) in the intensive cropping systems (2-3 rice crops per year).

3. Yield gaps between the rice farmers and research stations reaches 40-50%.

4. The environmental impact of the shifting cultivation of upland rice, in particular, in Asia and Africa.

5. The impact of changing from transplanting to the direct seeding method, especially in Asia, owing to the shortage of labour and the availability of herbicides.

6. More attention to plant biotechnology, at the costs of conventional breeding, within the IARCs and several NARS.

7. Effects of private sector research on rice and intellectual property right (IPR) on the exchange of germplasm and scientific information.

A "brain storm" session was also organised on the first day of the meeting, with the participation of 12 selected senior scientists and administrators, to discuss the three major themes and propose appropriate solutions, as follows:

• Hybrid rice: the participants of the meeting suggested more involvement on behalf of the private sectors.

• Yield gap: Promote, among others, integrated crop management in rice cultivation in developing countries.

• Studying and monitoring productivity declines of rice in the intensive cropping systems.

• A field trip to Sakha on the Nile River Delta was also organised in the afternoon 8.9.98, with the participation of the IRC delegates, the Egyptian researchers and rice growers.

In conclusion, there were 61 recommendations made by the Commission for the IRC Member Countries, the regional and international institutions and FAO. The Executive Secretary therefore kindly requested the technical units concerned to facilitate the implementation of the Commission's recommendations, through their PWB programme, particularly in the coming biennium 2000-2001 and Medium-Term Programme.

Thereafter, the Committee specifically discussed the following:

1. More collaboration with IARCs, particularly WARDA, should be encouraged to promote the Inland Valley Swamp Development and Use for Food Production as an alternative to the shifting cultivation, and expedite local trials of the promising varieties developed from O. sativa x O. glaberrima. The Committee noted that ESCB is supervising a Common Fund-funded project on "Sustainable Productivity Improvement for Rice in Inland Valleys in West Africa", which has been implemented by IVC/WARDA and that FAO is currently a member of this Inland Valley Consortium.

2. More effort should be put into hybrid rice, especially in those countries where increased rice production and improved farmer income must be achieved, particularly where arable land is limited, owing to its 20 % yield advantage , as compared to the best commercial varieties.
   Although considerable progress has been made in the F1 seed production technology, the cost of hybrid rice seed is still high, thus restricting the small farmers' wider adoption. More collaboration and cooperation among technical units concerned and between FAO and IRRI, China, Japan, and NARS should be strengthened to promote the large-scale adoption of hybrid rice outside China.

3. Water is the main factor of rice production. Some specialists predict that the shortage of water for agricultural use may occur in the coming century, since the best land is being lost to urbanisation, industrialisation and population growth. The improvement of water management and savings should be stressed in collaboration between FAO (Regular Programme and SPFS) and IRRI, IMMI and others. The team-work approach is required for the promotion of rice production in the world.

Back to Top 

The Chairman stated that we are presently preparing the divisional future work under the programme approach for medium-term planning and the biennium 2000-2001. We should take this opportunity to discuss how we can work together on rice, as a team, since several technical services in the Committee, such as AGLW (water management and saving), AGSI (post-harvest lost, processing), AGSE (small-scale farm mechanisation), FIRI (rice-cum-fish), AGPP (IPM on rice), AGPS (seed industries), AGPC (rice development and IRC), ESCB (rice trade), etc. have been involved in the rice commodity for many years.

Through its Regular Programme and Special Programme for Food Security, AGLW indicated that the relationship between water and rice is very important. As the Division will discuss the preparation of medium-term planning in the near future, this meeting is a good opportunity to strengthen the collaboration, with regard to rice component issues, between AGL and AGP. In addition, among other technical services, AGPS should be involved in this rice project, with its seed component for example, on hybrid rice; AGPP with IPM on rice; SDRE with its extension for technology transfer; SDWW with gender and socio-economic issues, etc.

The Committee agreed on the following:

1. The working team is a good approach to strengthen cooperation and collaboration in rice activities and related issues among the in-house technical services.

2. A rice project should be prepared for the medium-term planning, as rice is the staple food for more than 3 billion people in the developing countries, who rely on rice for up to 50-60% of their daily diet consumption. It has also been noted that the CGIAR system has given highest priority to rice, among other commodities, with 16% of its total budget in its current medium-term programme, as compared to 7% for maize, 6% for cassava... In the various technical services, the rice project should be composed of the existing rice components in the current PWB programme.

3. The project should be more global to allow flexible participation of interested technical services in the related agro-ecologies and geography. Each involved technical service will prepare and implement its own activities, related to rice components, within the project.

4. AGPC, which serves as the executive secretariat of the Commission, will urgently prepare a rice project (Form MT-02), in consultation with the technical units concerned. The special meeting's participants will be the focal point for further discussion regarding the preparation of a rice project.

Back to Top