Three board members leaving at end of 2012

By the end of 2012, three Trustees complete their tenures on the IRRI Board—Jillian Lenné, Usha Zehr, and Mohammed Syeduzzaman. 

At the dinner hosted by BoT Chair Emerlinda Roman, the Board expressed their deep gratitude to the departing members for their distinguished service.

Jillian Lenné

Dr. Lenné was praised for her work as chair of the Program Committee and for her work ethic, calm demeanor, profound modesty, and the quiet authority she exuded that helped the Board navigate through the various issues faced by the program committee. 

M. Syeduzzaman

Dr. Roman pointed out Mr. Syeduzzaman’s strong record of service to the governments of Pakistan and then Bangladesh.

As member of the Board, Mr. Syeduzzaman took his duties as chair of the Finance Committee very seriously and worked to mobilize significant funding for IRRI research from the Bangladeshi government and private sector.

Usha Barwale Zehr

Dr. Zehr was praised as a person of multiple talents who sees both details and the big picture in issues brought before the Board.

Dr. Roman described Dr. Zehr as "one who at one moment is strongly arguing a point and then the next a mother talking fondly of her sons." Dr. Roman adds that "she has the gift of articulation but expressed with a combination of clarity, poise, and passion."


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Indonesia: IRRC partners continue activities after project wrap-up

Makassar, Indonesia—A wrap-up meeting and writeshop were held on 15-16 October to formally close a project aimed at improving rice productivity in South and Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Djafar Baco, project consultant, said in his welcome remarks that he hopes for continued collaboration between IRRI and Indonesia in the future, especially in South and Southeast Sulawesi.

Madonna Casimero, IRRI senior scientist, said that she was happy to have lived in Sulawesi as a project scientist of the Irrigated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC) and to have worked with the partners. “This project funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research was unique because it was driven by partners, especially the farmers,” she said.

Now, even with limited assistance from IRRC, partners from the Assessment Institutes for Agricultural Technology (AIAT) from South and Southeast Sulawesi reported on their progress in implementing natural resource management (NRM) technologies in their farmer field schools (FFS) and extending them to farmers in other districts that are not part of the project.

On 18 October, Dr. Casimero; IRRC Communication Specialist Trina Mendoza, and Consultant Phrek Gypmantasiri talked with farmers in South Konawe District, SE Sulawesi, in a new village where the NRM technologies were being promoted by AIAT partners.

AIAT partners, together with key farmers, also drafted booklets on alternate wetting and drying, site-specific nutrient management, and ecologically based rodent management, with guidance from Ms. Mendoza and Dr. Casimero. They reported that the IRRC-produced NRM videos are now shown regularly at a local TV station in South Sulawesi.

The partners plan to institutionalize NRM in the national curricula of FFS for implementation at provincial level and develop communication materials for training and extension.

“This is not the end of a partnership, but the start of bigger collaborations,” says Dr. Casimero. 



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Local community gets cosmetology training for livelihood

The Host Country and Community Relations Office sponsored Ganda Mo, Hanapbuhay Ko, a livelihood training course for women of Los Baños and Bay, the two towns that host the IRRI headquarters.

The 5-day (22-26 October 2012) skills training on basic cosmetology covered use of beauty tools, cutting hair for men and women, manicure, pedicure, footspa, hair perming, hot oil treatment, and hair coloring and highlighting, and was held for women who were interested in enhancing their livelihoods or add to their income.

The training was held in partnership with the Ang-Hortaleza Foundation Inc. (A-H, formerly Splash Foundation) and is being held for the sixth time. A-H Foundation provided the trainers and cosmetology kits.

Sixty-one women finished the course, after which they were exhorted to ponder over four important habits: making decisions based on values of diligence, perseverance, family, and honesty; managing time and financial resources; having positive goals; and continuously learning and applying new skills.

Those who finished the course had the opportunity to apply their new skills through Libreng Gupit (free haircut) activity held at the evacuation center at Bambang Elementary School, Los Baños.



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Learning Alliance holds first training on outscaling downdraft rice hull furnace technology

IRRI's Pat Borlagdan (right) shows participants how the
IRRI-developed downdraft rice hull furnace technology works.

Sixteen participants from Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, and the Philippines completed the training on the new IRRI-developed downdraft rice hull furnace (dRHF) technology, held on 25-27 September 2012.

Trainees, which included dRHF pilot-testing cooperators, manufacturers, and Learning Alliance partners, were taught the proper operation of and fabrication procedures of critical components of the dRHF, including the combustion grates and ram drive assembly as feeding mechanism.


Participants were also given a demonstration of fabricated components in actual use (photo) in a batch recirculating and flatbed paddy dryer.

Martin Gummert, IRRI postharvest specialist, led a discussion on intellectual property concerns between IRRI and clients, with emphasis on licensing.

Pilot-test cooperators and first users of the technology also shared about their ideas and experiences. IRRI's Pat Borlagdan answered questions from the participants relating to the components of and operation of the dRHF.

The training was part of strategy to commercialize the technology and was funded through IRRC's Post-Production Working Group and the IRRI-ADB Postharvest Project, both managed by Engr. Gummert.


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Three researchers' lunches held in October

IRRI BOT member Steve Baenziger (center)
was guest during the 10 October YRL.

The flurry of activities in October at IRRI headquarters offered more opportunities for young IRRI researchers to chat with their more experienced seniors who were in town.

The three Young Researchers Lunches in October featured the following guests and attendees:

5 October. Frank Rijsberman, the new CGIAR Consortium CEO, with Reneeliza Jean Melgar, Sudhir Yadav, Balram Marathi, Shanta Karki, Reianne Quilloy, and Krishna Jagadish.

10 October (top right). Steve Baenziger, professor of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Nebraska, USA, and incoming IRRI Board of Trustees Program Committee chair, with Adam Sparks, Reza Mohammad Emon, Ruby Sallan-Gonzales, Jeshurun Asher Tarun, and Christine Jade Dilla-Ermita. Dr. Baenziger answered questions from some of the young researchers' on advanced breeding technologies. The group had a long discussion on the potential benefits of an IRRI partnership with the private sector.

Michael Francisco, Sr. (4th from left),
guest during the 23 October YRL.

23 October (left). Michael Francisco, Sr., editor of Nature Biotechnology, with Nikolaos Tsakirpaloglou, Rona Niña Mae Rojas, Armin Bhuiya, Ying Wang, Zilhas Ahmed Jewel, and Jung Hyun Shim. Mr. Francisco's advice for the young researchers was to meet and interact with as many other other researchers as possible, and to cultivate the ability to describe one's own work in a way that's interesting and concise.


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IRRI Toastmasters Club forms Los Baños counterpart

The IRRI and Los Baños Community Toastmasters Clubs (TMCs) hosted a joint induction of new members and a charter presentation on 22 October, held at the IRRI Dining Room.

The Los Baños Community TMC is newly organized by the IRRI TMC for professionals in the surrounding communities who are interested in honing their communication and leadership skills.

The event carried the 'parade of nations' theme, with guests and members wearing national costumes of UN member countries.

V. Bruce J. Tolentino, deputy director general for communications and partnerships, in his inspirational speech, emphasized the values of passion, planning, being pragmatic, and achieving pleasure from 'positively accomplished' projects.

Guests were Ma. Luisa Joven, Area 78 governor, who gave the opening message; Emily Hagad, Division K governor, who administered the oathtaking of the club members; and Grace Paras, District 75 governor, who conducted the chartering of new officers of the LB Community TMC.

District 75 comprises all the Toastmasters Club in the Philippines. Both IRRI and LB Community TMCs belong to Area 78, Division K.

Grace Centeno and Vini Cadiz are presidents of IRRI and LB Community TMCs, respectively.



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IRRI joins ADB to celebrate World Food Day

 

Two rice tasters, Julian Cribb, founding editor of Science Alert (at left in the video) and WooChong Um,
ADB's deputy director general for Regional and Sustainable Development (at right in the video),
knew what they liked, respectively, brown rice and white rice versions of the popular IRRI variety IR64.
Watch the video to find out their reasons why. Mr. Cribb, the well-known Australian author
of The Coming Famine: The Global Food Crisis and What We Can Do to Avoid It and other books,
later gave a special Tuesday morning seminar in which he discussed the need to recycle all our
waste water and nutrients back into food production, which would create an entire new industry.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) celebrated World Food Day 2012 at its headquarters in Manila during a 2-day food bazaar and exhibition this week (15-16 October). According to WooChong Um, ADB's deputy director general for Regional and Sustainable Development, the event raised awareness on food security, nutrition, and sustainable agriculture.

Participating in the ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the2-day World Food Day celebration at ADB
on 15 Octoberwere (from left) Julian Cribb, founding editor of Science Alert; Gene Hettel, head of
IRRI's Communication and Publications Services; Father Francis Lucas, chairperson emeritus of the
Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC); Aristeo Portugal, representative of
FAO Philippines; Regente Dioneda, supervising agrarian reform officer, Department of Agrarian Reform, Philippines;
and WooChong Um, deputy director general for Regional and Sustainable Development at ADB.

Joining ADB in this effort, IRRI staged a rice-tasting activity for ADB staff and visitors. Consumers typically know the type of rice that they like and dislike. When asked why, however, some consumers find it difficult to describe what makes a certain rice type acceptable or unacceptable to them. At the IRRI exhibit, nearly 200 volunteer rice tasters were given the opportunity to say why they liked or disliked what they were sampling (see video on top).

Rosa Cuevas served more than 200 samples of the popular IRRI rice variety IR64—in either brown
or white form—to eager volunteer tasters from ADB who visited IRRI's booth and exhibit.

Rochie Cuevas, cereal chemist at IRRI's Grain Quality and Nutrition Center (GQNC), who organized the tasting exercise, served rice in cups to the tasters with the help of GQNC assistant scientist Lenie Quiatchon. Other IRRI staff members working at the IRRI exhibit and tasting activity were Gene Hettel, Gigi Caballero, and Cynthia Quintos from Communication and Publications Services (CPS), and Aileen Garcia from the Public Relations Office.

Gigi Caballero, CPS product development and distribution manager, assists Julian Cribb with registering
to receive an email versionof Rice Today magazine. Anyone can sign up for this convenient version
of the popular magazine online.

IRRI also prepared a special supplement of Rice Today, which contained selected features on food security and quality that have appeared in recent past issues of the magazine. Mr. Hettel, CPS head, said IRRI also took advantage of the event to acknowledge ADB's support of some of the Institute's important research involving integrated crop and resource management in the rice-wheat system of South Asia and fighting planthoppers, which is a new threat to the sustainability of intensive rice production systems in Asia.


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