CUDDALORE:
In the global rice agenda, India has a vital role to play because of its rich rice ecologies and vast pool of scientific manpower, according to Robert S.Zeigler, Director General of International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the Philippines.
He was delivering a special lecture organised under the aegis of the agronomy department of Annamalai University at Chidambaram near here on Wednesday. Mr. Zeigler said that India's food security had a bearing on the international food security because it happened to be a major rice producer in Asia. However, the country was facing many challenges to retain the rice production at the present level. The primary problems were that land, labour and water were moving away from rice, that is, these three aspects were becoming scarce. Most of the rice-growing areas were located in the delta region and therefore were at sea level. Any rise in sea level would drastically affect the rice-growing areas. Flood was another factor that gravely cut into production and according to statistics 10 million hectares of rice lands in Asia were lost every year to the floods.
The climate change too had its negative impact on rice yield and it was estimated that every one degree Celsius rise in temperature would reduces 10 per cent of yield. Mr. Zeigler said that the IRRI was developing submergence-resistant rice varieties that could survive even 17 days of flooding. For instance, the Swarna (Sub 1) tried in Uttar Pradesh had started yielding good results and the seeds would be distributed to about one million farmers over a period. The rice production in 1991 was put at 350 million tonnes and considering the requirements for 2035 it must go up to 550 million tonnes. The supply-demand gap could be bridged only through judicious planning, involving the policy makers and all the stakeholders such as the farmers, farm scientists and the public and private sectors, he said.
Mr. Zeigler opined that the farm policy should be based on ground reality and should not be driven by commercial interests and not be at the behest of the pesticide and fertilizer manufacturers.
‘Golden rice'
The Director General revealed that the IRRI was evolving the ‘Golden rice' — GR1 and GR2 varieties that would have carotenoid level of 8 ug/g and 20 ug/g respectively — rich in Vitamin A. It was expected to be released in two-three years time, he said. The IRRI was also working on rice varieties that would address the diabetics' problem but categorically said that it was not into production of Bt rice. He called for redoubling the efforts to create more number of rice scientists to overcome the challenges.
He hinted that the IRRI and Annamalai University could have joint Ph.D and post-doctoral programmes in the next five to six years. On the occasion, Mr. Zeigler released a compact disc, a brief documentary on “farming livelihoods,” promoting the integrated farming system. Vice-Chancellor of Annamalai University M.Ramanathan said that the visit of Mr. Zeigler would inspire and motivate the students and scholars and raise the glory of the university to a new level. U.S.Singh, IRRI, New Delhi, Rm.Kathiresan, Head of Department of Agronomy, and Crissan Zeigler participated.
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