The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) hosted the 15th annual meeting of the Council for Partnership on Rice Research in Asia (CORRA) in coordination with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) last October 24 as part of its continuing advocacy for sufficiency of rice in the Asia Pacific Region.
The meeting was spearheaded by PCAARRD Executive Director Patricio S. Faylon and IRRI Director General Robert Ziegler.
Faylon thanked the CORRA members for their partnership especially on their sharing of scientific tools and methods that push agricultural development in Asia.
On the other hand, Ziegler noted the deep relationship between CORRA and PCAARRD. He also encouraged the members to take advantage of the current challenges in rice productivity in the Asia Pacific such as unrelenting growth of demand for rice; restricted land, water, and human resources; climate change; continuous increase for rice trade with the markets needing more transparency; and entry of the private sector into rice seed production.
With these challenges, Ziegler proposed the following opportunities that CORRA may participate in: new science and technology (S&T) tools that can increase productivity of rice (i.e., use of telecommunication devices like mobile phones to directly communicate with farmers); emergence of hybrid rice technology for the private sector; rice seed market; and adding values to rice varieties.
Also during the meeting, IRRI Deputy Director General Achim Dobermann discussed the Global Rice Science Partnership (GRiSP) which brings rice research institutions all over the world together to formulate and execute a rice research agenda in a global perspective. He encouraged CORRA to actively participate in providing direction to GRiSP.
Another highlight of the event was the reporting of CORRA members from India, Pakistan, Thailand, and Sri Lanka on their respective strategies on rice production in coping with climate change. The members also held an open discussion on intellectual property and germplasm-licensing strategies in their countries.
In the closing section of the gathering, the members voted for India as the venue for the next CORRA meeting. Incidentally, the International Rice Research Conference will also be held in India next year.