Hyderabad, India – The Green Super Rice (GSR) project will be completing its second phase on 31 December 2015. The completion workshop for project partners in Asia was held on 21-23 November at the Indian Institute of Rice Research (IIRR) in Hyderabad, India.
Jauhar Ali, scientist from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and GSR project leader, presided over the workshop with presentations on the overall view of Phase II achievements and the need for targeted upscaling of GSR varieties. So far, 28 GSR inbred varieties have been released in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Lao PDR. IIRR Director V. Ravindra Babu mentioned that farmers in different target locations are already adopting the GSR varieties. He also highlighted the importance of farmer feedback since they are the ones working on the ground.
GSR Project Director Zhikang Li of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) presented a challenge to all 30 participants in attendance as the upcoming phase of the project will focus on upscaling and reaching out to resource-poor farmers. The workshop was a good platform to create a strategy to reach those targets.
The Green Super Rice project began in 2008; Phase II began in November 2012. The GSR project is led by CAAS in partnership with IRRI and AfricaRice. A completion workshop for African partners was held earlier in Uganda.
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