About GRiSP

The Global Rice Science Partnership (GRiSP), an initiative of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), represents for the first time ever, a single strategic and work plan for global rice research and how it can contribute more effectively to solving development challenges. GRiSP was launched in November 2010.

GRiSP is leading scientists to embark on the most comprehensive attempt ever to deploy rice’s genetic diversity. Cutting-edge research aimed at discovering new rice genes and deciphering their functions will feed into accelerated efforts to break the yield barrier in rice and to breed new generations of “climate-ready” rice with flooding tolerance and other traits that are essential for adapting production in the face of climate change.

GRiSP is expected to boost supplies enough to reduce anticipated increases in rice prices by an average of at least 6.5% by 2020, and at least 13% by 2035 (see more about potential impact below).

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) will lead GRiSP and activities in Asia, with the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) leading the work in Africa and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) the work in the Latin America and Caribbean region. Other internationally operating research organizations such as the Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), L'Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), and the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) will play a strategic role in GRiSP and many more partnerships will be fostered.

Mission

GRiSP’s mission is to reduce poverty and hunger, improve human health and nutrition, reduce the environmental footprint, and enhance the ecosystem resilience of rice production systems through high-quality international rice research, partnership, and leadership.

Objectives

Objective 1
To increase rice productivity and value for the poor in the context of a changing climate through accelerated demand-driven development of improved varieties and other technologies along the value chain.

Objective 2
To foster more sustainable rice-based production systems that use natural resources more efficiently, are adapted to climate change and are ecologically resilient, and have reduced environmental externalities.

Objective 3
To improve the efficiency and equity of the rice sector through better and more accessible information, improved agricultural development and research policies, and strengthened delivery mechanisms.

Research themes

Theme 1: Harnessing genetic diversity to chart new productivity, quality, and health horizons

Theme 2: Accelerating the development, delivery, and adoption of improved rice varieties

Theme 3: Ecological and sustainable management of rice-based production systems

Theme 4: Extracting more value from rice harvests through improved quality, processing, market systems, and new products

Theme 5: Technology evaluations, targeting, and policy options for enhanced impact

Theme 6: Supporting the growth of the global rice sector

Justification

• Rice is the staple food of the world’s poor.
• Rice is grown in unique production systems and provides unique ecosystem services.
• Rice research has the largest source of documented past international agricultural research impact.

Projected demand for rice will outstrip supply in the near to medium term unless something is done to reverse the current trends of slow productivity growth and inefficient, often unsustainable, management of natural resources.

Steep and long-term price increases would wreak havoc on the lives of the poor and send dangerous tremors across the political and economic landscapes in the world’s most populous regions.

Potential impact

By 2020

• Expenditures on rice by those under the US$1.25 (PPP) poverty line will decline by nearly PPP $5 billion annually (holding consumption constant).
• Counting those reductions as income gains means that 72 million people would be lifted above the $1.25 poverty line, reducing the global number of poor by 5%.
• As a result of increased availability and reduced prices, 40 million undernourished people would reach caloric sufficiency in Asia, reducing hunger in the region by 7%.
• Approximately 275 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions will be averted.

By 2035

• Expenditures on rice by those under the $1.25 (PPP) poverty line would decline by PPP $11 billion annually (holding consumption constant).
• Counting those reductions as income gains means that 150 million people would be lifted above the $1.25 poverty line, reducing the global number of poor by 11%.
• As a result of increased availability and reduced prices, 62 million undernourished people could reach caloric sufficiency in Asia, reducing hunger in the region by 12%.
• Nearly 1 billion tons of CO₂ equivalent emissions will be averted.

These are impressive numbers, considering that they arise from an aggregate global 25-year inflation-adjusted investment of roughly $3.0 billion, or $20 per person lifted above poverty. Very few other development investments have similar efficacy in poverty eradication.