Rice, states the booklet for the dedication ceremonies of the INTERNATIONAL RICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE, "is the principal food for over sixty percent of mankind." It is particularly important to Asia where 90 percent of the world's supply is grown and where over half the world's population lives. As the population of the world continues to increase, particularly in the underdeveloped countries of Asia, Latin America and Africa, rice production must continue to rise. Current estimates indicate it must double in the next two to three decades just to keep even with population growth.

Rice can be grown under very diverse conditions. It is adaptable to a wide spectrum of soil acidity and alkalinity, and to a broad range of temperatures and sunlight hours. Most important for Asia, it can be grown in flooded deltas and river valleys where only a few other foods such as taro can grow; it thrives under such conditions. Rice is also one of the few crops that can be grown repeatedly on the same land without seriously depleting the soil.

Some authorities have traced the origin of rice to a grass-like plant grown in Southeast Asia and India before 3000 B.C., but cultivated rice was first mentioned in history in 2800 B.C., when a Chinese emperor established ritualistic ceremonies for rice planting. Cultivation of rice spread westward through the centuries and reached Europe during the period of Moslem expansionism—700 to 900 A.D.

A moderately tall annual, rice develops a grain high in carbohydrates and medium in protein. The quality of the protein is, however, considerably higher than that in wheat, maize and sorghum, although those grains have a higher protein content. Moreover its carbohydrates are easily digested, a fact which appears to explain why its marginal protein content has proved to be so nearly adequate for rice-eating peoples. Other pluses for rice are that it is relatively nonallergenic and seems to be palatable to most people as a major food for a lifetime. In Asia it is the preferred grain by a margin of over two to one.

Rice is of the genus Oryza. The most commonly grown species is Oryza sativa; of its two major subspecies, indica and japonica, indica is by far the most important. (In the light of today's knowledge it is more accurate to consider indica and japonica as ecogeographic races rather than subspecies since their characteristics can be transferred in either direction through crossing and selection.)

Indica rice varieties, traditionally grown throughout the tropics, are tall, with numerous secondary stems (tillers) and long leaves. They are intolerant to cold, but are relatively drought, insect and disease resistant. Japonica is generally grown in temperate climates such as northern China where it apparently originated. The plant is sturdier, with more erect, greener leaves than indica and less tillering; it is more resistant to lodging (flattening by winds and heavy rains). Generally japonicas are more responsive to fertilizer and less resistant to disease and insect predations.

Of major concern in considering rice improvement is eating preference—developed by people over centuries of a rice diet. Consistency of the cooked product is the prime criterion. Cooked rices range from dry and fluffy (indica) to more or less glutinous (japonica) according to the amount of amylopectin to the amylose in the starch composition of the grain. The glutinous rices are grown and preferred in Japan, central and northern China, Laos and northeastern Thailand. Fluffy rice is grown and preferred in Pakistan, India, Southern China and the rest of Southeast Asia. Other factors that must be taken into consideration are the hardening of the cooked rice when it is cooled, color and scent, but these are subsidiary to consistency.

There are four major kinds of rice culture: rainfed paddy, upland rice, deep-water rice and irrigated lowland rice. Rainfed paddy culture is the most common in South and Southeast Asia. It depends on monsoonal rains to soften the fields for plowing, harrowing and planting, and to keep the seedling roots submerged. It is the least demanding, most erratic and cheapest method of cultivation. If rainfall is too little or too much or at the wrong time, the yield may be disastrously low. It permits planting of only one crop per year and because of climatic uncertainty, farmers are hesitant to invest in pesticides or fertilizers.

Upland rice culture is similar to the growing of any other grain crop. The land is tilled before the rains and seeds are broadcast. The crop is dependent upon rainfall. Because the land is not diked there is no standing water and weeds and pests are a problem, particularly weeds since standing water discourages weeds.

Deep-water rice culture (or floating rice) is practiced primarily in the heavy monsoonal areas of East Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Rice varieties with elongating stems developed over the centuries for these conditions can withstand flooding and standing water to depths of five meters.

Irrigated lowland planting is the method used in nearly all high yield Asian countries—China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. The rice is grown under conditions ensuring a controlled water supply and proper drainage. Most of this rice is fertilized and transplanted, and more than one crop can be harvested per year. Since rice is the staple of 90 percent of the frequently-malnourished peoples in the low income countries of Asia, the need to increase rice production at a rate faster than the rate of population increase is obvious. Such countries must not only feed their increased populations, they must provide more rice per capita: rice is the major calorie and protein source of their peoples. However, there is little land left in Asia for conversion to rice production except in parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, and upland rice regions are likely to be converted to growing more suitable crops, such as sweet potatoes, which are drought resistant. Rice lands will undoubtedly be opened up in Latin America and Africa, but these lands are unlikely to produce more than is needed to feed their own burgeoning populations. In Asia increased production can really only come from multiple cropping and from increasing the yield per hectare. To optimize rice production, therefore, the INTERNATIONAL RICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE (IRRI) was incorporated in 1960 in Los Baños in the Philippines.

On June 23, 1958 the New York Times reported that "President Carlos Garcia of the Philippines urged on the United States yesterday an expanded program of educational aid for Southeast Asia. . . . He cited several institutions, such as the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, saying that with their 'vast means and resources' the United States 'can embark on an expanded educational aid program for Southeast Asia through the Philippines and help train the youth of the region who will be the Asian leaders of tomorrow.' " According to Philippine government memoranda resulting talks between the Philippines and the foundations led to the visit to the Philippines in June 1959 of three officials of the Ford and Rockefeller foundations to inspect the University of the Philippines College of Agriculture campus at Los Baños, Laguna, as a proposed site for an international rice institute. The Rockefeller Foundation had already given a grant of US$280,000 for a new building on this campus, and Americans had been deeply involved from the beginning in developing this special agricultural college. Exactly 50 years ago, in 1909, four American scientist-educators under the direction of Dean Edwin B. Copeland, and 12 Filipino students, created this campus in the scrub wilderness of Mt. Makiling at a spot where the Spanish had found medicinal waters. Perhaps here a way would be found to heal the world of one of its present ills—malnutrition.

Forrest F. Hill, Vice-President of the Ford Foundation; J. George Harrar, Vice-President of the Rockefeller Foundation; and Robert F. Chandler, Jr., Associate Director for Agriculture of the Rockefeller Foundation, discussed the projected rice institute with Philippine Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources Juan de G. Rodriguez; Dean of the College of Agriculture, Leopoldo Uichanco; and Dr. Dioscoro L. Umali, director of the rice and corn projects of the college. Reporting on these discussions, a Philippine Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources memorandum commented that, "more fundamental than the material benefits which the Asians may derive from the research studies is the spirit which will bind them together in pleasant and neighborly relations with our nation as the medium."

The Rockefeller Foundation had long been active in agricultural development. In 1943 it initiated intensive programs in Latin America that emphasized increased production and development of improved varieties of corn and wheat; notable success was achieved by the early 1950s. It then turned its attention to Asia. In 1951 and 1953 it funded two exhaustive surveys of the problems of Asian agriculture and "found out that agricultural development in Asia had been hindered by the lack of trained personnel. More important, they found out that any worthwhile effort along this line . . . . would probably call for reexamination of educational systems of some Oriental countries." In 1955 it sent two men on a year and a half tour of the rice regions of the Far East. In 1959 when it found that the Ford Foundation was interested in a joint effort in the Philippines, it had already studied the problems and had worked out a plan of action.

On September 16, 1959 the Philippine cabinet accepted an offer by the two American foundations to build a center for the study of the rice plant "with the view to increasing production per unit area, both in quality and quantity." The Board of Trustees of the center was to number 10, one representative of each foundation, the Secretary of Agriculture, the President of the University of the Philippines, the Director of the center and five eminent Asian scientists. The Philippine cabinet agreed to exempt all equipment and supplies for the center from import taxes and allowed special immigration status to staff and researchers. According to a government spokesman, the foundations agreed to invest US$5-6 million in setting up the plant and laboratories and to supply US$1 million yearly for maintenance.

The agreement to establish the INTERNATIONAL RICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE was signed by Rodriguez, now former Secretary of Agriculture, and the presidents of the Ford and Rockefeller foundations in New York City on December 9, 1959. The initial grant from the Ford Foundation amounted to US$250,000 and from the Rockefeller Foundation US$200,000.

The agreement stated that IRRI, "organized as an autonomous, non-stock, philanthropic, non-profit corporation," would engage in: 1) basic research in rice, its production, management, distribution and utilization, 2) publication of its findings, 3) distribution of new or improved rice strains, 4) training of Asian scientists, 5) establishment of a collection center for the world literature on rice and 6) organization of pertinent conferences, seminars, etc. The Ford Foundation was to build the physical plant, the Rockefeller Foundation to finance its operations. A 25 year life for the INSTITUTE was anticipated, with "all its physical plane, equipment and other assets" going to the College of Agriculture on its dissolution.

IRRI was incorporated on March 8, 1960 under the laws of the Philippines. Its incorporators were the Americans Hill and Harrar of the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, respectively, and Filipinos Rodriguez, Vicente G. Sinco, President of the University of the Philippines, and Paulino Garcia, Chairman of the National Science Development Board.

It is Ford Foundation policy to limit its participation in such programs to money grants, but Rockefeller Foundation policy is to support projects with its staff as well as with its money. Robert Chandler, therefore, was lent as director of the new INSTITUTE. With degrees from the universities of Maine and Maryland and post-doctoral studies in California, Chandler was for many years a member of the Cornell University faculty of agriculture. Later President of the University of New Hampshire, he left that position in 1954 to become Associate Director of the Rockefeller Foundation.

The first Board of Directors, which met on April 14, 1960 to determine INSTITUTE policy, was made up of ten men from six nations. Besides Chandler, Hill and Harrar of the United States, and Rodriguez, Garcia and Sinco of the Philippines, the others were: Prince M. C. Chakrabandhu, Director-General, Rice Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Thailand; K. R. Damle, Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Food and Agriculture; Hitoshi Kihara, Director, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Japan; and P. C. Ma, Dean, College of Agriculture, National Taiwan University, Republic of China. Harrar was elected Chairman.

The College of Agriculture agreed to make land available to the INSTITUTE on a long-term lease at nominal rent; 18 acres for buildings, 50 acres for experimental plots, and a further 150 acres purchased with a Ford Foundation grant, for expansion. The research center of the INSTITUTE was designed by Philippine architects, A. J. Luz Associates, and staff housing by C. D. Arguelles and Associates. Three Philippine contracting firms were involved in the construction of the buildings: the administration and laboratory buildings were built by F. Cacho & Co., the cafeteria-dormitory building by D. M. Consunji and the service building and greenhouses by Atlantic Gulf and Pacific Co.

The choice of architects was sound; the INSTITUTE is considered to be visually an architectural gem. Set beneath Mt. Makiling, it is surrounded by green fields and blue mountains. Each week hundreds of visitors, including world leaders such as President Adolfo Lopez Mateos of Mexico, King Bhumipol and Queen Sirikit of Thailand, Vice-President Chen Cheng of the Republic of China and Princess Beatrix of Holland, "come to see its architectural magnificence and the breathtaking panorama of its grounds," as well as visit its research facilities.

By May 1961 the service building of 72,000 square feet was completed and in use. It is designed for: 1) seed drying, processing and storage; 2) fertilizer, insecticide and fungicide mixing and storage; 3) agricultural engineering offices and an experimental laboratory; and 4) machinery repair and storage. In the process of construction were: 1) an administrative and library building; 2) a laboratory building for biochemistry, soil physics and chemistry, entomology, agronomy genetics, plant pathology, breeding and physiology; and 3) a 60-person dormitory which would include a cafeteria and a lounge.

Writing for the Philippine Sunday Times Magazine in July 1961, Director Chandler set forth the aims of the INSTITUTE: "The trustees of the Rockefeller and Ford foundations envisioned the creation of one of the best agricultural research programs in the world. They expect that the INSTITUTE will serve as the principal source of basic knowledge on the biology of the rice plant and as a training ground for young scientists who are seeking a career in some phase of rice research." Recognizing that such training should be in a region similar to that in which those being trained will work, the Philippines was chosen for IRRI. It is centrally located in the rice basket of Southeast Asia, the people speak English which is the lingua franca of Asia, and it is an "outstanding leader in the society of free nations in this part of the world."

Although work began on experimental plots as early as 1960, IRRI was not formally dedicated until February 7, 1962. Emphasis during the ceremonies was placed on the world's need for increased rice production. Philippine President Macapagal gave the welcoming address, noting that the Philippines had one of the lowest average yields per hectare of any of the 23 rice producing countries, and President Kennedy of the United States sent words of congratulation to the Philippine president and government, recognizing this as "an important international effort towards increased food production for millions of the world's population."

Philippine newspapers welcomed the new INSTITUTE in editorials. The Herald said: "There is no underestimating the tremendous boon that is certain to result from the presence of this INSTITUTE in this country." The Bulletin commented: "This international undertaking, the first of its kind anywhere, has been made possible by generous donation from the Ford and Rockefeller foundations and a large grant by the Philippine Government, coupled with a pledge of laudable cooperation by scientists from America and Asia who will pool their know-how and efforts toward advancing knowledge and practices in the rice industry. These are benefactors of mankind, indeed, for by their continuing efforts they will pave the way to alleviation of suffering from food shortages. . . ," adding that "the Philippines should feel privileged to have been chosen the site of the INSTITUTE."

The dedication ceremonies booklet stated that the Ford Foundation has provided a total of "US$7,150,000 for the purchase of land, for construction of the INSTITUTE buildings and of staff houses, and for the purchase of initial equipment, furnishings, vehicles and machinery." Operating expenses, it noted, are being met on an annual basis by the Rockefeller Foundation "which, in addition, has assigned to the INSTITUTE six members of its own agricultural staff." Other members of the staff have come from Ceylon, India, Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines. Most of the technical men, the Director pointed out, come from rice-growing countries of Asia: "We are selecting promising scientists, not those old ones who have already established a name for themselves; young scientists who will build a reputation for themselves as they build one for the INSTITUTE."

Twenty-four research scholars were chosen for 1962, 10 from Thailand and 14 from the Philippines. In 1963 the number increased to 45, and scholars came from the additional countries of Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and South Vietnam.

During the first years (1962-1966) IRRI concentrated on basic research and scientific experimentation. Most Asian rice varieties seem to have been selected over the centuries for their ability to withstand poor soil conditions and minimum care—i.e., to produce a minimal crop under the most adverse conditions. Some work had been done in the 1920s and 1930s in rice breeding and by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Cuttack, India, in the 1950s. However, major success in increasing rice production was achieved in post World War II by Japan and Taiwan in response to the need to feed their growing populations on limited land; the rapid progress made at IRRI in the early 1960s was made possible by this earlier work.

By 1963 IRRI had collected 6,867 varieties of rice from 73 nations planted 5,800 of them and tested 800. Of these, 400 were considered worth further testing and seeds were sent to 17 requesting institutions in 14 countries to be grown under varying conditions. Collecting continues. As Harrar earlier stated, "we expect to have the best world rice collection right here," and it is available to all who ask for it.

The INSTITUTE was also studying herbicides, which are particularly useful where standing water is not available to keep down weeds. In 1963 over 65 herbicides were being tested against each other and against the advantages of hand weeding. Green manure was being tried in experimental rice fields, i.e., legumes were being grown that could be plowed under to add nitrogen to the soil. Efforts were being made to develop varieties of rice resistant to the major rice diseases: blast, bacterial blight and bacterial streak. By 1969 IRRI had set up 40 plant disease nurseries to study blast— the most serious of all rice diseases—in 23 countries, supplementing the Uniform Blast Nursery Project of FAO.

At the same time the INSTITUTE was studying the problems of pesticide residue in the environment. Gamma BHC and diazinon, two systemics used by the INSTITUTE to control stem borers, a major threat to rice crops, have been found to have no detrimental effect on the soil at even 10 times the recommended field application, and both degrade rather rapidly. In granule form, they eliminate the need for a liquid spray which washes off under heavy rains. However, the danger remains of insect biotypes developing that are pesticide resistant and/or that can attack the new rice varieties bred for genetic resistance.

Since 1964 Richard Bradfield, professor of soil science who came to IRRI after retirement from Cornell, has been experimenting with multi-cropping rice or growing other crops in rotation with rice. He has pointed out that multiple cropping does not require new lands or infrastructure to increase agricultural output, and multi-cropping can compensate for the loss of one crop by the planting of two or three others. To succeed, however, one must substitute "brains for muscle." Governments of developing countries must show a healthy respect for farming as a profession and farmers must be educated as multiple cropping demands water management and fertilizing, both practices that require a modern attitude toward farming.

Bradfield is particularly interested in crop rotation, for example, alternating rice with sweet potatoes, corn and soy beans. Since there is a need in the tropics for a high protein crop to supplement the high carbohydrate crops, he is also experimenting with mungo beans, bush sitao and peanuts. Working with sorghum, Bradfield has found that he can grow four crops from a single seeding simply by re-irrigating the cut fields as soon as the harvest is over.

IRRI has also undertaken studies of planting techniques. Soaked seed spread broadcast, it finds, requires only one man-day of labor per hectare, compared to fifteen man-days per hectare for traditionally transplanted rice. On experimental plots yields can be the same.

In 1966 IRRI released information on IR-8-288-3, dubbed by the international press, "the miracle rice." Widely tested throughout tropical and subtropical Asia during 1965, IR-8 is a cross between Peta, an Indonesian variety of indica widely grown in the Philippines, and Dee-geo-woo-gen, a dwarf from Taiwan. "We set out to change the architecture of the tropical rice plant," says Chandler. "First, geneticists shortened it by introducing dwarf genes. Next, through crossbreeding and selection, they rearranged the leaf pattern so that the new plant has just the right amount of leaf surface to take full advantage of solar radiation."

IR-8 is short, with thick sturdy stems which prevent lodging; it has a high tillering capacity and a high grain-to-straw ratio. Since it is not highly photosensitive—does not require a specific amount of diurnal light —it can be planted at any time of the year and its shorter growing time (120 days) permits multiple cropping.

Life magazine, however, pointed out that rice scientists from IRRI were the first to admit that there was nothing miraculous about IR-8: "We hope that in the next two years something better can be developed." Its grain is chalky, making it more breakable during milling, and less tasty than most traditional rices. Although it is more disease resistant than its parent Dee-geo-woo-gen, it is still subject both to bacterial blight and to blast. Nevertheless, IR-8 has set a standard for the modern rice plant and it has consistently established record yields.

IR-8 is so named because it was the eighth crossing done at IRRI. The team doing the work was headed by a 35-year-old American, Peter Jennings. Suggested by T.T. Chang, a geneticist from Taiwan who had carefully studied the genetic architecture of the two parent plants, the cross was made in 1962 by Dr. Jennings. IR-8 was the result of a selection from the fifth generation of the cross. It was identified from among hundreds of progeny by American plant breeder Henry M. Beachell. Prior to being given a name—the first variety to be so recognized by the INSTITUTE—IR-8 was tested in India, East Pakistan, Thailand and Malaysia, and on Philippine farms as well as on IRRI experimental plots.

In 1966 IR-8 seeds were distributed to more than 80 countries for planting and further on-the-spot testing. It was planted that year on approximately three million hectares worldwide. Results were so satisfying that 6.4 million hectares were planted to IR-8 in 1967, and in 1968 an estimated 13 to 14 million hectares in 20 major rice producing states were planted in IR-8 and IR-5, another early selection by IRRI plant breeders. Multiple cropping on these same hectares greatly increased hectare use. Major rice growing nations using these IRRI developed varieties are: Burma, Ceylon, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Pakistan, Vietnam and, of course, the Philippines. Korea found that IR-8 and IR-5 were "not particularly suited to the country's soil conditions and non-tropical climate;" it continues to grow japonicas developed earlier. Thailand, which prefers a longer, tastier grain, crossed an IRRI variety with local varieties and by April 1968 had developed a new high-yield strain suitable to its soil and to its people's taste preference. Taiwan, home of the parent strain, finds that locally developed varieties do as well as IR-8 since the latter was more specifically developed for the tropics.

Burma, which in 1968 planted 333,000 hectares to IR-8, has dubbed it "Rizal rice" in honor of the great Philippine nationalist, José Rizal. Malaysia calls it "Ria," which means happiness, and in Vietnam it is known by the name of the God of Agriculture, "Than Nong."

Not resting on its laurels, IRRI continues to crossbreed and seek better insect and virus resistant varieties, as well as varieties that have more taste appeal. By 1968 it had made more than 1,400 additional crossings.

IR-8 and IR-5 have the proven capacity to double or triple rice yields in Asia. This was dramatically proven in 1967-68 in the Philippines when, in spite of two devastating typhoons, that country achieved self-sufficiency in rice for the first time since 1903—much to the surprise of all, including the government itself which had hoped for self-sufficiency in 1969.

In early 1967 President Marcos had ordered all government agencies to concentrate on increasing rice and corn production. The government made readily available to farmers high yield varieties of seed developed by IRRI, the College of Agriculture, and the Bureau of Plant Industry—interacting, cooperating organizations. Easy credit was extended, but with "strings" attached to ensure that farmers purchased the amounts of fertilizer and pesticide necessary to achieve optimum production of the new varieties. From an expected rice deficit for 1967 of at least 200,00.0 metric tons, the Philippines found itself with a slight surplus—and consequent problems of price stabilization and warehousing!

This pattern is being repeated in other Asian countries. In Malaysia and Ceylon the better farmers have doubled their yields, and in India the dry season rice crop more than doubled in 1967. In Vietnam, instead of providing monetary relief, IR-8 rice seed that could be planted immediately was provided to farmers whose rice crops had been wiped out by heavy flooding. The harvest was a great success, although the people prefer IR-5 which has since been introduced.

IRRI has recognized the need for mechanization to supplement the development of improved rice strains. The IR-8 rice grain is hard to remove from the straw, and thus benefits from both mechanical harvesting and threshing. From early on, IRRI has been attempting to develop a low cost, power-operated rice thresher for freshly harvested paddy in the tropics—one that can deal with wet rice plants as well as dry. The Agricultural Engineering Department, under a research contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has developed a drum-type trailer-mounted thresher that can be powered by the small walking-tractors now popular for tillage. It is very simple and is being manufactured locally in the Philippines. It is based on the U-shaped wire-loop threshing drum long used in pedal threshers in Japan and China. Threshing loss is only nine percent.

According to Professor McColly of Michigan State University, simple mechanization can lift Asian agriculture above the subsistence level. "In countries where primitive tools and limited power sources predominate in agriculture, four agricultural workers are required to produce enough for themselves and one other person." Besides decreasing the amount of labor required, or, inversely, increasing the yield per person, simple mechanization can enable a farmer to harvest quickly and at the correct time, thereby cutting down on the average harvest-period crop loss of 25 percent from birds, rats and the elements due to delay in harvest and storage.

However, IRRI recognizes that "technology cannot be successfully transferred from one place to another without undergoing many modifications" because of differences in soil, climate and human-behavior. It also realizes that there must be a conscious desire on the part of the farmer for improved farming techniques before local investment in new machinery is made. But new rice varieties being introduced worldwide by IRRI are in many cases the motivation needed to modernize rice production. Lester Brown of the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in 1968 that these modern rice varieties "may be to the agricultural revolution in Asia what the steam engine was to the industrial revolution in Europe. . . . they are playing a critical role as a catalyst, causing farmers to break with tradition and reconsider their agricultural practices."

IR-8 and other modern, sturdy, short-stemmed types of rice require two things—water control and fertilizer. Unlike the tall traditional rice varieties that simply tend to grow taller and lodge with application of fertilizer, modern strains require additional nitrogen to produce high yields. IRRI has been experimenting extensively to determine the optimum amount required.

From its founding IRRI was dedicated to training as well as to experimentation and development. Three types of programs were envisioned. In the first, young, potential scientists with bachelor of science degrees are accepted as Research Scholars for a two-year period, training under the supervision of senior IRRI scientists in their fields of specialization. The Research Scholar first performs as a research assistant, later undertaking a specific supervised project on his own. He is encouraged to earn a graduate degree while he is in training as all IRRI scientists are on the graduate faculty of the University of the Philippines College of Agriculture.

The second category is that of Research Fellow. This is open to mature scientists who may have specialized interests they cannot pursue at home. They must already have their master's of science; they are usually invited to collaborate with scientists at IRRI for a year or less.

Other trainees sent to study to meet the needs of their employing agencies, are also accepted. Under close supervision, these trainees may spend anywhere from a few months to two years at IRRI. Trainees are usually nominated by their employing agencies.

Although the INSTITUTE originally thought in terms of "a training program for young research workers," it soon became obvious that the practitioner—the extension worker—was the "agent of change," the key to the future of Asia's food supply. As Francis C. Byrnes, Chief of IRRI's Office of Communications, wrote in 1967, "We have already learned how to improve rice technology. We publish all kinds of reports, hold international symposia, publish books, bring graduate students here from all over the world to take advantage of what we have learned. But how can we really put our knowledge to work? How do we get it to the intended ultimate recipient, the farmer himself?" The answer is, of course, via the agriculture extension agent.

On close look, it had become evident that the farmer's apparent reluctance to change his methods was actually his reluctance to accept the word of a bureaucrat telling him what to do when he knew better. Recognizing that "the effective extension worker must be able to grow rice at least as well as the farmer," IRRI conducted a series of tests in 1963-64 which involved U.S. experts being sent out by AID, U.S. Peace Corps volunteers, Filipino agriculturists and others, including IRRI's own research scholars. It was found that Americans, including the Peace Corps, being sent out to work with Filipino farmers, scored from 3 to 26 percent in the rice disease diagnostic tests. Checked again after just six days of training, their recognition skills rose to 72 to 87 percent. Filipinos engaged in agricultural production tested between 27 and 63 percent, which was raised to 77 to 97 percent in six days' training. IRRI research scholars, at the end of one year's training, were found to have a diagnostic ability of only 59 percent, raised subsequently to 94. It was obvious that IRRI would have to assume responsibility for training field workers in rice management.

In 1964, therefore, a rice production training course was inaugurated, at first restricted to Filipinos, but later expanded to include nationals of other countries. In the beginning five extension workers were given six months' training; five more were then enrolled and the first five helped train the second five. In June 1965 nine of these extension agents were allocated rice land in different regions of the Philippines and directed to train the five extension workers assigned to each of them. In May-June 1966 the workers returned to the INSTITUTE for testing and a refresher training course.

The program was so successful that a second class was begun in June 1966. Twenty-eight men from several agencies, all but two of them funded by their sponsors, attended. Skills taught included paddy skills, the science of rice culture, diagnostic skills, applied research and the techniques of communication. After six months at IRRI they were given responsibility for management of IR-8 rice projects in 10 different locations in the Philippines.

As an IRRI publication states, "perhaps what makes these training programs unique is the communication approach used throughout. This approach recognizes that the primary purpose of the training is to influence human behavior. . . ." Trainers identify the nature and level of the changes desired and develop means of determining the success of their efforts. One way of evaluating the trainee's existing skills and attitudes is testing in duplicate, with one copy of the test being kept by the trainee who checks himself against what he subsequently learns.

The trainee spends one half of all the instructional time of the six-month course in the experimental paddy fields, involved in all the stages of rice growth, performing every operation necessary. For many this is the first time they have actually been in a field. They also work under farm conditions, and are assigned papers to write to acquaint them with the materials available in the IRRI library.

However, the publication continues, "it is not enough to train a person to perform a new role in an organization. The organization must be guided in ways to make maximum use of people prepared to carry out roles new to the organization." IRRI therefore talks with the agencies involved and insists that the trainee has a job commensurate with his training to return to. IRRI ensures this by defining the training period as one year and sending the trainee back to his agency for the last six months to practice what he has been taught. It supports him logistically for this period.

By mid-l967 five hundred Philippine government technicians had completed IRRI training. Since that time the program has shifted its emphasis from training Filipinos to training other Asians and preparing them to organize and conduct programs in their own countries. Thirty-five trainees were accepted in June 1967. Fifteen were from four countries other than the Philippines—Ceylon (4), India (1), Indonesia (4) and Pakistan (6)—and an American from the University of Hawaii. The result of this expansion is that currently the University of Hawaii is training all U.S. personnel sent abroad to work in rice cultures, and Philippine trainees are instructing Philippine rice production technicians at the Maligaya Rice Research and Training Center in central Luzon. At the Baybay Agriculture School near Siniloan, two Peace Corps volunteers and two Filipino community development workers now train all Peace Corps volunteers coming to the Philippines and other rice growing countries, as well as Philippine community development workers. A continuing program of short courses is being conducted for Philippine field workers and other groups at the College of Agriculture.

IRRI training programs are also being conducted in other Asian nations. An IRRI specialist organized a series of two-week courses for extension workers in Ease Pakistan in September 1966. In Indonesia four extension agents who took the six-month course at IRRI have trained 115 Indonesians at Bogor in the same techniques. There are similar centers in Ceylon, India, Laos, Pakistan and South Vietnam, all staffed with IRRI trainees who are training their own nationals. Malaysia is forming a training center that will be operating in the near future.

IRRI, nevertheless, continues to increase its international emphasis both in its training programs and in internal make-up. By June 1969 it had trained over 600 research scholars, fellows and extension workers from 27 countries and 5 continents. The seven members of its international staff were located at Ford Foundation projects in East (1) and West (1) Pakistan, at the All-India Coordinated Rice Improvement Project, India (4), and the Central Agriculture Institute, Ceylon (1). By 1967 its staff of 25 scientists comprised seven nationalities: American, Australian, Ceylonese, Chinese, Filipino, Indian and Japanese; of these only eight were American. Its six-member administrative staff came from three nations.

As Chandler wrote in 1968, "IRRI is spending US$1.75 million a year but the annual return to the farmers of Asia as a result of its impact exceeds US$500 million already." Its impact is also felt in other ways. In bringing together scientists and agriculturists from all over Asia, as well as from the United States and other Western countries, IRRI is letting Asians see that they and their neighbors share similar problems, that Western scientific technology can be adapted to Asian conditions, and that East and West can work together as coequals. By so doing IRRI is helping to promote international understanding as well as feed Asia's millions. It is also helping to raise the standard of living of the average farmer and return to him the self-respect and dignity that are his birthright.

August 1996
Manila

REFERENCES:

Alfonso, Luis L. "Rice: A Philippine Success Story," The Asia Foundation. San Francisco: The Asia Foundation. Program Quarterly June 1968.

Annual Report F. Y. 1967-1968, Rice and Corn Administration. Quezon City, Philippines. 1968.

Antonio, Jose S. "World Rice Research Contract Concluded," Sunday Times. Manila. December 13, 1959,

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