Originally published on cgiar.org by:IRRI (International Rice Research Institute) on Feb 28, 2007

Los Baños, Philippines – The important role, and impact, of women in rice research has been highlighted with the awarding of the L'Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science awards for 2007.

One of the women recognized this year is a Peruvian scientist studying in the Netherlands. The award will enable her to further her studies on how rice production in the paddy fields of northeastern Thailand could be improved, while protecting the value of other associated plants used for food and medicine by local residents.

Gisella Cruz García, 29, is a PhD student in the Crop and Weed Ecology Group at Wageningen University, where her research focuses on the biodiversity of paddy rice ecosystems. The field work for her PhD will be carried out in cooperation with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines, which she will join as an international research fellow later this year.

“We’re delighted that Ms. Cruz García has been honored with this prestigious award,” the Institute’s Director General Robert S. Zeigler said. “She joins a small but very impressive group of world-class female rice researchers that have worked at IRRI over the years. The work of many of these women, and the extraordinary impact some of them have been able to achieve, has been one of the great untold stories of rice research for far too long.”

Dr Zeigler said there were two very important aspects to Ms. Cruz García’s research. “She is one of the first researchers to try to quantify and model the plants – ranging from the truly wild to the intensively managed – in any agroecosystem. This is despite the fact that many of these resources are common to agroecosystems not only in Asia, but around the world. Second, her work will radically expand the modeling of agroecosystems and so enhance what we can achieve with crop modeling for rice as well.”

In announcing her award, L’Oréal-UNESCO said that rice fields cover 135 million hectares of arable land in Asia. “As well as their importance to agriculture, these fields are also considered to be a unique source of biodiversity, with more than 100 useful plant species growing alongside the rice plants.”

“Despite this, little research has been done on the characterization of biodiversity in paddy rice agroecosystems,” Ms. Cruz García said in accepting her award. “Because of this, one of the main benefits of the research will be more realistic modeling of such agroecosystems, with particular emphasis on aspects critical to human welfare such as associated species used as foods and/or medicines.”

Ms. Cruz García will be carrying out botanical surveys and analyzing the management practices of households in her targeted area of Kalasin Province in northeastern Thailand in conjunction with the quantification of the useful plant diversity.

For more information on the award and Ms. Cruz García’s work, please click here: www.loreal.com/_en/_ww/for-women-in-science.aspx.

To download photos for this story, please click here:

http://www.irri.org/media/press/images/wildfoods.jpg

Caption: Two women in north eastern Thailand having breakfast where almost every part of their meal came from their rice paddy field: Sticky rice, two wild vegetable species, and a protein dish of a water insect (seasoned with chilli, lime, and home-made fish sauce). The photo was taken in Feb. 2006

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The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is the world’s leading rice research and training center. Based in the Philippines and with offices in 10 other Asian 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 15 centers funded through the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), an association of public and private donor agencies. Please visit the CGIAR website (www.cgiar.org) for more information.

For information, please contact:

Duncan Macintosh, IRRI, DAPO Box 7777, Metro Manila, Philippines; tel +63-2-580-5600; fax: +63-2-580-5699; email d.macintosh@cgiar.org .

Web sites:

IRRI Home (www.irri.org),

IRRI Library (http://ricelib.irri.org),

Rice Knowledge Bank (www.knowledgebank.irri.org).