Rice is life to the people of Asia. It plays a fundamental role in the region not just as a food, but also in terms of economic growth and environmental impact. Recognizing this, the IRRI Fund Singapore seeks to raise money for rice research that will ensure enough rice for all Asians, while protecting the environment and providing a healthy, sustainable and profitable lifestyle for Asia’s millions of poor rice farmers. All the money raised by the IRRI Fund goes to the International Rice Research Institute to support its work with hundreds of research and development partners across Asia.
Can Asia feed itself? This is arguably the single biggest challenge facing Asia today. Less land, less water, less labor; the list of challenges just keeps on growing. We urgently need new knowledge to overcome these major challenges, as well as the new threat of climate change.
The good news is we have done it before, and we believe we can do it again. In the 1960s, widespread famine threatened Asia. The region’s food production was struggling to keep up with a rising population, thus stalling economic growth and trapping millions in poverty.
In response, the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations worked with the Philippine government to create the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), a committed group of scientists and researchers from around the world with the common goal of averting hunger in Asia and producing more rice through science. IRRI’s first breakthrough—high‐yielding, short-stemmed rice varieties—is estimated to have saved millions in Asia from famine and provided a foundation for the region’s subsequent economic growth, lifting more people out of poverty than at any other time in recorded history.
Since then, rice research has led to a steady increase in rice production, lowering the price of rice, improving the lives of rice farmers and consumers, and promoting economic stability, peace, and employment throughout Asia.
Click here to read the press release announcing IRRI’s 50th Anniversary Campaign.
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