International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has set out plans to reach 18 million poor households in South Asia and Africa with improved rice varieties and increase yield by 50% in 10 years. For this the institute is receiving significant new funding, about $19.9 million from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to harness major scientific advances and address some of the biggest unsolved problems in agriculture. ??IRRI?s new project will help develop and distribute improved varieties of rice that can be grown in rain fed ecosystems – where farmers have little or no access to irrigation – and withstand environmental stresses such as drought, flooding, and salinity,?? IRRI officials said in Banos, Philippines.
The funding, spread over three years, will initially help place improved rice varieties and related technology into the hands of 400,000 small farmers in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Farmers are expected to achieve a 50% increase in their yields within the next 10 years, said IRRI Director General Robert S. Zeigler.He said that ??with climate change threatening to worsen the frequency and severity of these problems, the need for insurance – in the form of stress-tolerant crops – is growing ever urgent.??
The grant to IRRI was part of a package of agricultural development grants announced by Bill Gates, co-chair of the foundation, at the World Economic Forum in Davos. ??All of the grants are designed to help small farmers boost their yields and increase their income so they can lift themselves out of hunger and poverty,?? the release said.
