LOS Baños, Laguna—based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and Bayer CropScience are collaborating on a project aimed at strengthening rice productivity.

IRRI and Bayer have signed an agreement to establish a Scientific Know-how and Exchange Program (Skep). Bayer said in a statement that the collaboration aims to improve the use of rice-genetic diversity for crop improvement and disease management, reduction of greenhouse -gas emissions and building the capacity of young rice scientists.

The agreement will allow IRRI and Bayer to extend their scientific collaboration to benefit rice farmers in Asia and elsewhere.

“Rice is the most important food crop on our planet, and by our research for high-yielding, disease-resistant varieties, we intend to make a contribution to securing the world’s food supply in the 21st century. Our collaboration with IRRI will contribute to strengthen and build the future research capacities needed,” said Prof. Friedrich Berschauer, chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer CropScience.

The Skep agreement includes four joint activities. First, Bayer CropScience will join a wide international effort that seeks to capture the genetic diversity of rice by establishing a new in-depth dataset of rice-genome information for more than 2,000 different cultivated and wild-rice species.

Second, both parties will develop tools to rapidly and reliably detect the presence on rice seeds of bacterial blight, a major disease in many Asian rice-growing countries. Current tests are inadequate and sometimes produce false positive results. The new toolkit will be made widely available.

Furthermore, the collaboration includes the measurement of greenhouse-gas emissions in rice fields following a switch from transplanted rice to direct-seeded and water-saving irrigation.

The fourth element of the agreement is the support a full PhD scholarship, provided by Bayer CropScience, for a promising young rice scientist.

In April 2008 Bayer CropScience joined the Hybrid Rice Development Consortium (HRDC), an IRRI-led partnership program between the public and private sectors to develop and share hybrid-rice technologies.

“This agreement will build on IRRI’s capacity to deliver rice-science solutions that help rice farmers increase their yields in an environmentally sustainable way and, in so doing, help lift farmers and consumers out of poverty,” said Dr. Achim Dobermann, IRRI deputy director general for research.

“IRRI brings its strengths in conserving the world’s largest collection of rice, breeding new varieties of rice, and expertise on all aspects of environmentally sustainable rice production to the partnership. We are looking forward to combining our strengths with those of Bayer CropScience to increase the scope and impact of rice research,” he said.

The agreement between Bayer CropScience and IRRI will ensure IRRI can continue to widely deliver its research, including the seed of new rice varieties, to its many partners. There are no allowances for exclusive access to IRRI’s research or research outcomes.

Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, nutrition and high-tech materials. Bayer CropScience AG, a subsidiary of Bayer AG with annual sales of about €6.4 billion in 2008, is one of the world’s leading innovative crop science companies in the areas of crop protection, nonagricultural pest control, seeds and plant biotechnology.

The company offers a range of products and extensive service backup for modern, sustainable agriculture and for nonagricultural applications. Bayer CropScience has a global work force of more than 18,000, and is represented in more than 120 countries.

Established in the Philippines in 1960, IRRI is the oldest and largest international agricultural research institute in Asia. It is an autonomous, nonprofit rice research and training organization with about 1,300 staff and offices in 15 major rice-growing countries.

IRRI’s mission is to reduce poverty and hunger, improve the health of rice farmers and consumers, and ensure that rice production is environmentally sustainable. IRRI works closely with national agricultural research and extension systems, as well as farming communities and a range of international, regional and local organizations.