Biotech Updates

IRRI Reports Return on Rice Research Investment

June 20, 2013

According to the International Rice Research Institute's (IRRI) report, a US$12 million investment in rice research has returned more than $70 million in benefits to rice farmers and national economies in four Asian countries. The report looked at a selection of natural resource management technologies rolled out by IRRI as part of the Irrigated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC) mandate in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

Commissioned by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) to assess the effectiveness of its international research programs, the report is the first to look at natural resource management technologies on an international scale, encompassing several countries. Titled, Meta-Impact Assessment of the Irrigated Rice Research Consortium, the report showed a sixfold return on SDC investment over 16 years.

See IRRI's news release at http://irri.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=12595:rice-research-investment-delivers-sixfold-return&lang=en.