Sixfold economic impact of irrigated rice science

Irrigated rice is planted in half the world’s rice fields (about 135 million hectares), and produces 75% of the world’s rice supply. Irrigated rice is consequently the most important agricultural ecosystem in Asia, producing the most food to feed the most people. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, 444 million tons of rice was consumed worldwide in 2008. By 2050, this is expected to rise by 50%.
The Irrigated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC) was established in 1997 with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). It has provided a platform and mechanism for partnerships between national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES) and IRRI. This has greatly strengthened the development and delivery of appropriate technologies and has helped identify and address regional research needs in irrigated rice.
Funding from SDC ended in December 2012. The IRRC continues to operate as a platform that houses projects such as: Closing the Rice Yield Gap (CORIGAP); Reducing risks & raising livelihoods in rice environments through improved knowledge of environment and management; Diversification and intensification of rice‐based systems in lower Myanmar, and Sustainable Rice Platform. These projects aim to improve food security and gender equity and alleviate poverty through optimized productivity and environmental sustainability of rice-based farming systems.

Rice breeding creates billion-dollar impact

Improved rice from IRRI’s breeding work has given farmers in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia an additional US$1.46 billion worth of rice every year from 1985-2009, an independent study by the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) finds.
In the years that followed the release of IR8 , or “miracle rice”, improving rice is not just about getting more rice out of a hectare anymore. IRRI’s breeding work has taken on the different "stresses" to the rice plant - pests, diseases, floods, heat, drought, salinity, and cold (referred to mostly as biotic and abiotic).
Major rice-producing areas in Asia find themselves in deltas that provide rich soils but also, are prone to flooding and saline-intrusion, and also in areas that frequently experience drought, heat, or cold. Understanding grain quality, creating healthier rice, and charting out pathways to revolutionary rice types are also in IRRI’s breeding agenda as it prepares the rice-producing world to a future of lesser resources and more mouths to feed