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Reiner Wassmann, coordinator of the Rice and Climate Change Consortium at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), has told SciDev.Net that a flood-tolerant genetically modified (GM) rice variety should reach farmers by 2009. [The development of the GM rice variety was announced in 2006.] The rice variety, called Swarna Submergence 1, carries the gene sub1a from Arabidopsis thaliana, which enables it to be submerged for up to 17 days. Researchers led by David Mackill of IRRI and Pamela Ronald of the University of California in the U.S. are working on the flood-resistant rice and are currently conducting field trials in "several Asian countries." Wasserman said that a large portion of Asian rice land is located in deltas and low-lying areas that are at risk from flooding during the monsoon season, and climate change intensifies these risks. Crop scientists estimate that annual flooding leads to losses worth US$1 billion across South and South-East Asia. The article notes that about 60 international rice scientists from 13 countries gathered last week (October 8-9) for the 3rd steering committee meeting of IRRI's Irrigated Rice Research Consortium in Hanoi, Vietnam. At the meeting, the scientists discussed improved rice varieties and innovative crop management techniques to help farmers address problems of growing rice in a changing climate, and with scarce water resources. The article can be viewed online at the link below.
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