Direct-Seeded rice (right) matures 3–4 weeks earlier than transplanted rice (left), and so is more likely to avoid damaging early-season drought and...

LAO farmers tend vegetable terraces on the Nam Khan River near Luang Prabang. Improved rice production allows farmers to diversify their crops, and therefore...

The Mekong River, pictured here at Luang Prabang, Lao PDR, is central to the lives of hundreds of millions of people. (Photo: Peter Fredenburg) The...

Drought is a major constraint to rice production in Asia, where at least 20% of the total rice area is drought prone. When rice is grown under rainfed...

Since land was first cultivated to create a favorable environment for crops, other less desirable plants have exploited the same land more effectively. Control of weeds has been described as humanity’s biggest single occupation, and while herbicides have greatly reduced the effort needed to control weeds in some farming systems, in others, controlling them requires more...

The Alimit River winds through remote northeastern Ifugao Province, Philippines. (Photo: IRRI) In the overleaf that follows, the breathtaking bird’s-eye...

RICE TERRACES and patchwork fi elds constitute a typically stunning Yunnan vista, which now—thanks to new high-yielding rice varieties that produce more...

Africa is labeled as a “poverty continent.” While respectable progress has been made in reducing poverty in other regions of the developing world, the number of African people living on less than one dollar per day has increased, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The region, which includes countries in central, eastern, western, and southern Africa, is now the main...

THE NEW blast-resistant jasmine rice shortly before harvest. (Photo: Ubon Ratchathani Rice Research Center) Rice improvement efforts supported by the International...

Rice research can play a major role in achieving many of the eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly those that call for the eradication of poverty and hunger, and for environmental sustainability. The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) conducts research that regularly leads to validated technologies that have the potential to improve...