Agriculture and Rice Research: Neglected Public Goods With Unmatched Return to ODA V. Bruce J. Tolentino, Ph.D. Deputy Director-General International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) International Conference on Asian Food Security Singapore, August 21-22, 2014
Founded 1960 by Ford and Rockefeller Foundations, and Philippines; Currently 1,350 staff from 34 nations; HQ at UPLB; scientists in rice-growing countries;
Autonomous, non-profit organization, with international status by treaty; Funding: governments, philanthropies. IRRI is unique!
IRRI s mission Reduce poverty and hunger, improve health, ensure environmental sustainability through rice science.
oldest food crop; Rice: the global staple staple for billions (~ 50% of world, >70% of poor)
The green revolution 1960s-70s yields ~1.5 tons/ ha. Today yields 4+ tons/ ha. +
1 billion hungry people Rice price crisis!
Most hungry people are in Asia Source: FAO
People Consumption per capita like in kg/person rice! 70 65 60 Global, per = 65 kg person 55 50 45 Thailand = 140 kg Myanmar = 228 kg Philippines = 120 kg Vietnam = 215 kg
600 Additional global rice needs: 8-10 MMT/ year 550 500 450 400 350 300 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 2025 2027 2029 2031 2033 2035 Asia Africa Americas Rest of World
2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 %/yr Growth in global rice yield has slowed 1970-1990 1990-2011 Source of raw data: FAO, 2013
Worsening resource scarcity Land Labor Water
Climate change WILL reduce rice productivity
Rice systems must become more resilient to: Drought Submergence Salinity Heat Adaptation
Rice systems must become more efficient in Water use Fertilizer uptake Mitigation
Climate-friendly rice salinity drought heat submergence
To ensure food and nutrition security for all today, and also for future generations, we must invest in agricultural R&D. Basic agricultural R&D is a public good, appropriate for Official Development Aid (ODA).
10.0 7.5 ODA commitments to all LDCs in selected sectors and total, 1973-2006 (real US dollars per capita) Health Food Aid Total ODA (right axis) Agriculture Debt Relief 20 15 5.0 10 2.5 5 19 - - 1975 1980 1985 1990 Rice 1995 Science for 2000 a Better 2005 World
ODA to agriculture, millions of 2006 dollars
ODA to agriculture as a share of total ODA
Agriculture s share of total ODA
Global real ODA to agriculture
Pre-history: food price crisis Index of real international food prices, 1900-2005 (1977-79 =100) Source: K. Anderson (2006), Reducing Distortions to Agricultural Incentives: Progress, Pitfalls and Prospects. <www.worldbank.org/agdistortions>. Data shown are an index of export prices in US dollars for all major traded agricultural products, deflated by the MUV index which is the unit value of manufactures exported from France, Germany, 24 Japan, UK and US, with weights based on those countries exports to developing countries.
Relative to other things, food cheap, yet barely affordable to the poorest Major food riots, Jan. 2007-Apr. 2008 March 13, 2002 World: Many Hungry Mouths Around 815 million people -- 13 percent of the world's population -- suffer from hunger and malnutrition, mostly in developing countries, said Jacques Diouf, head of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. 25
250 200 150 100 50 0 OECD DAC ODA for Agriculture (Jan 2014 data) 2008 reference level = 100 Food price crisis = a wake-up call! 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 YEAR http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/agriculture.htm Australia Belgium Canada Denmark Germany Netherlands Norway Sweden Swiss UK USA OECD
Total funding for CGIAR (15 Centers) 2008 to 2013 ($M) 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Via CGIAR channels 191 205 229 187 284 285 Bilateral 340 401 444 526 576 673 Other centre income 22 23 23 22 27 23 Total CGIAR 553 629 696 735 887 981
OECD DAC Agri ODA (US$m) Sub-Sectors 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Agricultural development 921 1,783 2,600 2,994 2,606 Emergency food aid 3,908 3,373 2,742 2,870 2,448 Agricultural policy 1,221 2,348 1,952 1,713 1,778 Food security programs 1,885 2,280 1,743 1,460 1,731 Rural development 1,661 2,116 3,176 1,872 1,639 Agricultural water resources 1,435 946 1,233 1,337 1,590 Agricultural land resources 206 365 135 246 573 Agricultural financial services 198 284 168 179 552 Agricultural research 835 515 649 659 485 Livestock 62 149 129 96 479 Industrial crops/export crops 267 150 362 216 314 Agricultural co-operatives 78 183 70 60 260 Agricultural services 176 274 228 88 252 Agricultural inputs 485 168 154 156 236 Agricultural extension 97 86 122 227 151 Fishery development 209 282 216 163 129 Plant and post-harvest protection 38 27 18 17 59 Other (15 other sub-sectors) 2,185 2,060 2,146 2,466 2,334 TOTAL 15,866 17,387 Rice 17,843 Science for 16,821 a Better 17,616 World
Return on agricultural research: 40% ++ Returns to investment in agricultural research typically exceeds 40% a best bet for eradicating global poverty and hunger; For every $1 invested, at least $9 worth of additional food is produced in developing countries.
Impact of IRRI Research IRRI delivered benefits of US$1.46 billion per year and boosted rice yields by an average of 11.2%. Average benefits (per ha., per year): Philippines: US$52/ha. Indonesia: US$76/ha. Vietnam : US$76/ha.
A US$20 investment in rice research will lift one person out of chronic poverty. http://www.grisp.net
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