Challenge – Rice production in ASEAN countries face challenges due to adverse
impacts of climate change, land degradation, increases in population and
urbanization. For every 1oC
increase in temperature, a reduction of 1.3% in economic growth is projected (Dell,
Jones, and Olken, 2012) and a loss of up to 10% of
yield in rice is documented (Peng et al.,2004). Yield loss of up to 23% is expected in Thailand and Vietnam, who
are major rice exporters (Teng et. al., 2016). Heavy rainfall, floods
followed by droughts will lead to rice
production losses in Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Brunei. The UN and the World Bank recognize malnutrition
as a key global health challenge leading to losses of up to 9% of a country’s
GDP. Among several ASEAN countries, an estimated 24 million children are adversely
impacted by malnutrition leading to reduced brain development and ability to learn.
ASEAN countries proactively recognize climate change
issues. However, currently they lack a regional standardized germplasm
evaluation network that jointly addresses these issues through targeted, rapid
variety deployment designed to meet farmers’ needs. IRRI, ASEAN, and the ASEAN Plus
Three Dialogue Partners have a proven track record of partnering for over 40
years to accelerate germplasm access and release improved rice varieties
through the International Network for Genetic Evaluation of Rice (INGER) and
Multi Environment Rice Testing (MERiT) networks. Yale University economists
Evenson and Gollin (1997), estimated the value of each INGER released variety
to be USD 2.5 million per year. In
ASEAN, with over 430 varieties released, this partnership has generated over USD
1 Billion in benefits. Thousands of new rice breeding lines with higher yield and
tolerances to pest and diseases and major environmental stresses, have been
transferred to ASEAN and Plus Three ASEAN Dialogue Partners, China, Korea, and
Japan resulting in the expansion of rice production over millions of hectares, increased
germplasm diversity, and accelerated farmer access to new varieties by about 10
years. Additionally, INGER and MERiT disseminated IRRI breeding lines have
contributed 50% of the parentage of many national popular varieties, with added new
desired trait genes and increase diversity. ASEAN RiceNet is an elite germplasm dissemination and evaluation network established after the endorsement of ASEAN
and +3 dialogue partners ( China Japan and Korea) at the 41st ASEAN Ministers
on Agriculture and Forestry meeting, to provide climate resilient rice elite
pre-variety breeding lines to ASEAN countries to address the challenges of
climate change. IRRI, with its decades of being in partnership with ASEAN and
being located in Philippines is the co-ordinator of ASEAN RiceNet. Dr. Shoba
Venkatanagappa is the co-ordinator of ASEAN RiceNet based at IRRI HQ.
Beneficiaries – ASEAN RiceNet will benefit rice farmers, traders and
consumers across ASEAN, through faster access to new and improved higher value
varieties which are better adapted to changing climate and have higher pest and
disease tolerances leading to fewer pesticide inputs. This will have
environmental and human benefits and increased farm productivity and incomes. ASEAN
scientists will also benefit from training and increased capacity to adopt best
testing, evaluation and breeding strategies. IRRI scientists will visit each
country annually and interact with national partners to identify emerging needs
and where possible provide solutions in a rapid effective manner.
Objectives:
- To increase farmers' competitiveness across ASEAN countries through improvements in overall yield, pest and disease
tolerances, and environmental stress tolerance in new rice varieties compared
to the best local varieties by 2030 through the evaluation of new IRRI-bred
germplasm and local lines and checks.
- Capacity
development of scientists and researchers across ASEAN countries, through
training activities provided by IRRI each year on the implementation of
advanced breeding technologies and preparation for national variety release
planning. Participation of women scientists and researchers will be highly encouraged
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