News Overview

07 February 2024 (HOMA BAY COUNTY, Kenya) –The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) held a Farmers’ Field Day at the Oluch Kimira Rice Irrigation Scheme in Homa Bay County, Kenya on 7 February to upscale the adoption of high-yielding rice varieties and climate-smart agronomy for increasing the productivity income, and food security of Kenyan farmers. The activity contributes to the

16 NOVEMBER 2023 (NAIROBI, Kenya) – The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) hosted its First National Rice Stakeholders’ Conference on 16th and 17th of November 2023 in Nairobi. The conference is aligned with the vision and mission of IRRI in Africa.

The Burundi office of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Institute of Agronomic Sciences of Burundi (ISABU) are jointly working to achieve one of the Great Lakes Accelerated Innovation Delivery Initiative, Rapid Delivery Hub (AID-I GRL) projects’ goals, which is providing high-quality rice seeds to rice farmers and seed producers in Burundi. This partnership is taking significant steps

While most breeding efforts are focused on producing improved rice varieties, farmers in sub-Saharan Africa continue to use old varieties that are susceptible to various environmental stresses. Seeking to understand the disconnect, researchers combined qualitative and quantitative data on the preferred rice traits of farmers, researchers, custom millers, traders, administrators, and seed producers from Burundi.  Through this innovative approach, the study uncovered

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (18 February 2023) – The Philippine Department of Agriculture entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to continue their collaborative efforts to enhance the country’s rice sector competitiveness during a signing ceremony on 13 February 2024. The move is a bid to support the Philippine Development Plan that provides a policy

By Martin Ndomondo , Dr Daniel Menge , and Dr Ajay Panchbhai SeedCast-Tanzania was officially launched by Dr. Patrick Ngwediagi, the Director General of the Tanzania Official Seed Certification Institute (TOSCI), during the three-day NARES-IRRI breeding network’s Annual Advancement Meeting held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania last 30 August 2023. SeedCast is a digital innovation that aims to strengthen

SpeedFlower for indica and japonica rice offers a promising solution for addressing the limitations of longer generation times and seasonal constraints. The reduction in generation times by almost half can result in a faster varietal release process and ultimately increase in genetic gain. The speed breeding protocol can enable the development of new high-yielding rice varieties in a much shorter

photo credit: IWMI/Prashanth Vishwanathan By Shalini Gakhar, Sheetal Sharma and Rabi Sahoo Since October 2022, India has embarked on the fastest rollout of 5G mobile data in the world, with average download speeds nearing 100 megabits per second. Agriculture is one of the fields set to be impacted: here we share five ways in which 5G can enable more productive