Los Baņos, Philippines - One of the most valuable developments in the modern history of rice production will be the focus of a major gathering of scientists, policy makers, business people and extension workers in Vietnam this week.

The on-going and accelerating adoption of hybrid rice by Asian farmers will be the main topic under discussion at the 4th International Symposium on Hybrid Rice in Hanoi on May 14-17. Hybrid rice can achieve substantially higher yields through a process known as heterosis, or hybrid vigor, which enables the offspring of two genetically different plants to produce more grain than either parent. At the same time, hybrid rice is providing new opportunities for private-sector investment in rice farming through the specialized process of producing hybrid rice seed.

More than 200 hybrid rice scientists, policy makers, seed producers and extension workers are expected to attend the meeting in the Vietnamese capital to discuss the current status and future prospects of developing and disseminating hybrid rice technology. Opening the symposium on May 14 will be Nguyen Cong Tan, Vietnam's vice prime minister. L.H. Ngo, the Vietnamese minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, will be among representatives from the 20 countries active in developing and disseminating hybrid rice technology.

Also present will be a number of international agencies supporting the development of hybrid rice, including the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the Asia Pacific Seed Association (APSA).  Ren Wang, deputy director general for Research at IRRI, said the hybrid rice varieties now being used by farmers in countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines have allowed them to increase their yields well beyond the level of the modern, semi-dwarf, inbred high-yielding varieties (HYVs) used previously.

China, the pioneer of hybrid rice, first successfully developed and commercialized the technology in 1976, under the leadership of Yuan Long Ping, who is recognized as the father of hybrid rice. Currently, hybrid rice covers 15 million hectares in China (out of 30 million hectares of total rice area) and produces an average yield advantage of 1.5 tons per hectare over inbred HYVs under irrigated conditions. This has allowed China to produce about 22 million tons of additional rice annually from the same area of farmland, thus saving almost 4 million hectares of land for other uses such as alternative crops or nature reserves.

Outside of China, IRRI has been developing hybrid rice technology for the tropics since 1979, under the leadership of Sant S. Virmani, plant breeder and deputy head of the institute's Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biochemistry Division.

"Currently, more than 20 countries are developing this technology in collaboration with IRRI and China, to help increase their rice yields," reported Dr. Virmani. "In 2001, more than 700,000 hectares were planted to rice hybrids in irrigated areas in Vietnam (480,000 hectares), India (200,000 hectares), Bangladesh (15,000 hectares), the Philippines (5,000 hectares), Myanmar (10,000 hectares) and the USA (10,000 hectares)."

Dr. Virmani said that in most cases farmers were able to achieve yields 1-1.5 tons per hectare higher than those currently produced by HYVs. He predicted that several other countries would commercialize rice hybrids over the next five years, bringing the total area outside China as high as 2 million hectares.

While the adoption of hybrid rice worldwide has not nearly kept pace with the rate inside China, the main reasons for this have been identified, and work has begun to overcome these constraints. Problems identified so far include the inconsistent performance of hybrids due to inadequate agronomic management guidelines for farmers, inferior grain quality and inadequate levels of resistance to diseases and insect pests in the first set of released hybrids, insufficient and costly supplies of hybrid seed, and inadequate government policy support.

One of the key changes farmers must make to their traditional practices to benefit from hybrid rice is to buy new seed every cropping season. Because of the higher yields possible, hybrid rice seed is significantly more expensive than other types of rice seed. "But, if the farmer is then able to maintain the price he usually gets at harvest time for his rice, he should get extra income to cover his extra seed costs and achieve an even better profit," Dr. Virmani explained.

The first International Symposium on Hybrid Rice took place in China in 1986, the second at IRRI in the Philippines in 1992, and the third in India in 1996. Hanoi was chosen as the venue of the fourth international symposium in recognition of the extensive and rapid adoption of this technology in Vietnam over the past five years. The event is being co-sponsored by IRRI, Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the FAO, and the China National Hybrid Rice Research and Development Center.

The theme of the symposium is "Hybrid vigor in rice for food security, poverty alleviation and environmental protection." The participants (including representatives from public, private and NGO seed companies) will discuss the current status and future prospects of developing and disseminating hybrid rice technology. The symposium will also include a special session on public- and private-sector partnership for hybrid rice commercialization. Such partnerships are seen as critical for the successful promotion of this technology in countries with market economies. 

The major source of funding for the symposium is the IRRI-ADB Project on Hybrid Rice. Financial support, in cash or kind, has also been provided by the Rice Tec Company (Texas, USA), the S.M. Sehgal Foundation (New Delhi, India), the ICAR-UNDP Project on Hybrid Rice (combining the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the United Nations Development Program), and Xiangfan Chia Tai Agriculture Development Company (Hubei, China).

IRRI is the world's leading international rice research and training center.  Based in the Philippines and with offices in 11 other countries, it is an autonomous, nonprofit institution focused on improving the well-being of present and future generations of rice farmers and consumers, particularly those with low incomes, while preserving natural resources. IRRI is one of 16 Future Harvest centers funded the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), an association of public and private donor agencies.

For more information, visit the websites of the CGIAR (www.cgiar.org  <http://www.cgiar.org/>) or Future Harvest (www.futureharvest.org  <http://www.futureharvest.org/>). Future Harvest is a nonprofit organization that builds awareness and supports food and environmental research for a world with less poverty, a healthier human family, well-nourished children, and a better environment. Future Harvest supports research, promotes partnerships, and sponsors projects that bring the results of agricultural research to rural communities, farmers and families in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

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For additional information, contact Duncan Macintosh, IRRI, DAPO Box 7777, Metro Manila, Philippines; telephone (63-2) 845-0563 or (63-2) 844-3351 to 53; fax: (63-2) 891-1292 or (63-2) 845-0606; email: d.macintosh@cgiar.org <mailto:d.macintosh@cgiar.org> Web (IRRI): <http://www.irri.org/> ; Web (Library):<http://ricelib.irri.cgiar.org/> Web (Riceweb): http://www.riceweb.org ; Web (Riceworld):http://www.riceworld.org