Magazines Archives - 2009 February

US$25.95m initiative aims to boost grain supply in South Asia
Story 12 - Food Business Area

AN ambitious initiative that seeks to reverse declines in annual cereal yield, decrease hunger and malnutrition, and increase food and income security for farmers in South Asia has been undertaken by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), an agricultural institute based in the Philippines.

The Cereal Systems initiative for South Asia (CSISA), which receives funding support from the Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development,
seeks to boost yields of grain farmers in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal by five million tonnes annually and increase the yearly income of six million poor rural households in the region by
at least US$350.

To do this, the initiative must increase the yield of four million farmers by at least 0.5 tonne per hectare on five million hectares, and of two million farmers by at least one tonne per hectare on 2.5 million hectares over a 10- year period.

Achieving the target would result in five million tonnes of additional grain produced annually, with an additional economic value of US$1.5 billion per year as well as substantial savings in energy and production costs, according to IRRI.

A total of US$25.95 million in funding has been committed for the initiative over an initial three-year period. “The initiative will bring together a range of public and private-sector organisations to enable sustainable cereal production in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal,” IRRI stated.

To meet its objectives, the CSISA will improve the region’s post-harvest technologies and practices, develop and disseminate improved wheat and maize varieties and create a new generation of
agricultural scientists.

Achim Dobermann, deputy director general for research at IRRI, stressed the importance of ensuring food security, citing the spike in food prices in 2008 which sent economies in the Asia-
Pacific region struggling with inflationary pressures. “The food-price spikes of 2008 were a stark reminder of what can happen when agricultural productivity growth — which is reliant on continued
R&D — tapers off and demand begins to overtake supply,” he noted. “CSISA can take big steps in the
eradication of hunger, malnutrition and poverty in a region that has grappled with these afflictions for far too long,” he added.

If successful, the initiative would help reduce global poverty on a large scale. South Asia is home to 40% of the world’s poor, with nearly half a billion people surviving on less than US$1 a day.

Based in Los Banos, Laguna, the Philippines, the IRRI is Asia’s leading rice research and training institution. A non-profit institution, it is focused on improving the well-being of rice farmers and consumers, particularly those in the low-income segment. The IRRI is one of 15 centres supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, an association of public and private donor agencies.

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