IRRI Annual Report 2000-2001 I IRRI 2000-2001 Rice Research the Way Forward

Many viewing the cover of this latest IRRI annual report may think that scientists have ambitions to grow rice on some distant planet. However, although one day there may well be rice on Mars, this is not the message we want people to get from reading the following pages. Instead, we hope that at long last people will realize that, while rice is the basis of a production system that feeds half the planet, it is also a system that allows a wonderful balance between humans and the environment. Put simply, we at IRRI firmly believe that it is possible to feed three billion people in a safe and sustainable way that doesn’t damage the environment, destroy traditional practices, or leave little of nature for our children. How? The answer to this simple question is perhaps one of IRRI’s best- kept secrets and also the reason for the environmental theme in this annual report. Since they first started work more than 40 years ago, the scientists at IRRI have (a little unfairly) mostly been seen as focusing solely on production increases as a way to ensure food security. How- ever, production increases cannot be achieved in a vacuum. Instead, they very much rely on the environment in which rice is grown. As a result of four decades of such work, IRRI has amassed a great store of knowledge on rice environments and ecosystems. As far as this Institute is concerned, the days of unsustainable high-input rice production are a thing of the past and the era of the rice farm as a sustainable, balanced ecosystem of its own is here to stay. The world’s rice-growing regions should be seen as unique ecological regions no different from the great forests and vast oceans of the planet—especially as they cover about 11 percent of Earth’s arable land and are the largest single area dedicated to feeding the world. But before anyone decides that IRRI has washed its hands of its traditional goals and mandate, please let me assure you that this is not the case. Food security and improved incomes remain our fundamental goals for poor rice farmers and consumers. However, with the latest advances in science and technology, I’m pleased to report that these can now be achieved with little impact on the environment. Using the scientific knowledge and expertise gained over the past 40 years, rice farms of the future will be not only clean and efficient producers but also safe and environmentally sensitive. Considering the enormous role that rice plays on this planet, in terms of both the area it covers and the number of people it feeds, this must be seen as a worthy goal deserving the support and commitment of all those involved in rice and its future development. The urgency and importance of the problems facing rice farmers and consumers remain IRRI’s primary focus—whether it be grinding poverty or a lack of food—but it’s clear that these wars no longer need to be waged at the expense of the environment or human health. Clearly, rice research is the way forward not just for rice farmers and consumers but for the entire planet as well.