7/27/2019 Rice Today Vol. 12, No. 4 A legion of heroes

1/1

World Food Prize laureates Hank Beachell, Gurdev Khush,

Yuan Long Ping, and Monty Jones have made their marks

in staving o hunger by increasing rice productivity worldwide.

But, even with their milestone achievements o developing high-

yielding semidwar rice varieties and hybrid rice, the challenge o

deeating hunger continues. Only now, it is an even tighter race

against time to increase rice production.

By 2035, when the planets human population is expected

to surpass 8.5 billion, the world will require more than 100 million

tons o additional rice. It takes around 10 years to breed a new rice

variety, meaning that 2035 is just two conventional breeding cycles

awaynot much time rom a breeders perspective.

With such a daunting challenge, we cannot count on just a ew

heroic rice scientiststo save the day; we need what I would call a

legion o heroic scientistsall working together like the IRRI sta

members in the photo below!

In November, the7th International Rice Genetics Symposiumin Manila, Philippines, will gather many o the worlds best riceresearchers, experts, and representatives rom the public and

private sector to share their knowledge and experience on

advancements in rice genetics, a cadre o current and uture heroes!

So, Rice Todayis ocusing on rice genetics and how it is helping

ast-track the development o improved varieties (see Rice genetics

gets personal).

Thanks to modern breeding using our understanding o

genetics, Golden Rice has been developed. It contains a source

o vitamin A and has the potential to help reduce the devastating

eects o vitamin A defciency, especially among poor rice

consumers. To help clear up misconceptions about Golden Rice,

Dr. Michael Purugganan, an authority on plant evolutionary and

ecological genomics, conronts some misconceptions in DebunkingGolden Rice myths: a geneticists perspective.

We also ocus on what some o our modern-day rice heroes

are working on. A team o plant breeders and pathologists

continues to work together to improve resistance against bacterial

blight disease (see Beating blight). Green Super Rice, a type o rice

that thrives under less than perect conditions, is now making its

way to armers felds. This has been made possible because o new

breeding tools and the excellent collaboration o IRRI scientists and

their partners (see Breeding for tough times ahead).

Elsewhere, in Arica, the Cameroon government has deployed

strategies and policy measures to increase its rice production and

make it more competitive in the market. See Cameroon: Central

Africas potential rice granary.

Want to know some more about arm mechanization and its

progress? A eature on the Not-so-silent revolution has a historical

perspective on small machines in postwar Vietnam while Laser-

guided dreams is a story about how laser-leveling is changing lives

in Vietnam today.

We also get up close and personal with two scientists, worlds

apart but with a common passion, who ended up being more than

laboratory partners in For the love of rice.In Breaking the barriers: from housewives to breadwinners, IRRI

economist Sam Mohanty tells the tales o three Indian women who

have risen above cultural stereotypes and are helping other village

women improve their economic conditions.

Will rice production in India or throughout South Asia see a

brighter scenario in 2035-40? Mapping the crop of the future oers

a glimpse into the yield gains o C4 rice in the region through

simulation models.

I hope you enjoy these and other eatures and appreciate the

eorts and contributions o the heroes who have been working

toward fnding solutions to the challenges o eeding the world.

Lanie Reyes

Rice Todaymanaging editor