Global Rice Science Partnership (GRiSP)

The worlds' major rice researchers come together to develop an innovative and holistic strategy to ensure that rice can keep feeding half the world.

Rice is one of the most important staples across all regions of the developing world: 3 billion people—half the world—rely on it as a source of daily nourishment and one billion as a source of income.

For every one billion people added to the world’s population, 100 million tons of rice need to be produced each year.

However, its production is often plagued by inefficiency, which in the future will impede the ability of rice producers to meet the growing demand.

The future of rice production requires more eco-efficient production systems that are more resilient to climate change and contribute less to greenhouse gas emissions. This includes systems that use less water and less land, as these resources become increasingly scarce.

The Global Response
CIAT, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the Africa Rice Center, and several other organizations have come together to design an innovative solution to rice production and food security for the future. The Global Rice Science Partnership (GRiSP), a CGIAR-wide research program, provides a 5-year plan for streamlining all the major international rice research activities in order to boost yields, food security and incomes, and improve the environmental sustainability of rice production.

CIAT will lead activities in Latin America and the Caribbean on themes that will directly benefit poor rice farmers in other parts of the world, particularly Africa and Asia, who face the same challenges of slow productivity growth and inefficient management of natural resources.

Strategy
The primary emphasis of GRiSP is on improving rice-based production systems and value chains in different rice growing environments: irrigated, rainfed lowland, and rainfed upland. All research will use an interdisciplinary approach in which targeting and prioritizing of activities are based on a clear understanding of the different ecosystems, management systems, and market segments.

This will need a broad range of scientific partners to seek out innovations, as well as many partnerships at the grass-roots level for both dissemination of new varieties and production techniques, and, crucially, for feedback from farmers themselves. The result will be accelerated development and dissemination of improved rice farming practices across the whole sector.

Research Themes
Based on these considerations for effective management of the research and development process, the program is divided into six major 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

Potential Impact