MANILA, Feb 17 1994 (IPS) - Worried about a shrinking gene pool of rice varieties, scientists will be fanning out across Asia in the next three years to collect hardy paddy seeds before they vanish for good.

The exercise is part of an effort by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), which is based in the town of Los Banos south of the Philippine capital, to further safeguard and preserve the genetic diversity of rice.

IRRI is going ahead with the collection despite criticism from some agronomists and green groups that its rice germplasm collection smacks of 'genetic imperialism'.

IRRI has 84,000 varieties of rice seeds in an earthquake-proof refrigerated vault at its research centre in Los Banos.

Most were collected in easily accessible areas of the world. Now, with support from Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), IRRI will launch expeditions into the remote highlands of South-east Asia, the Himalayas and the swamps of Indonesia and Bangladesh to collect seeds of wild and cultivated rices.

More than half the world's projected eight billion people in the next 30 years will be rice-eaters -- most of them living in Asia. IRRI says rice production needs to double in that time.

But traditional rice varieties are disappearing. Only 120 of the original 3,000 varieties of rice found in the Philippines still remain. Nearly 90 percent of the country's paddy fields are planted with only five modern seeds.

The reason is IRRI's own success with Green Revolution high yield seeds that doubled rice production and made Asian countries self-sufficient. This expanding monoculture of rice seeds as well as environmental degradation has endangered the natural diversity of rice which were suited to different climates and soils.

The loss of diversity has also exposed Philippine, Indonesian, Thai and Vietnamese rice to devastating insect and viral epidemics in the past decade -- forcing farmers to buy ever more expensive pesticides to maintain harvests of their staple grain.

''Wild rices may look like weeds, but they are a rich reservoir of genes, some of which control natural resistance to major rice pests and diseases,'' says Bob Huggan of IRRI. The Oryza nivara variety of wild rice found in India is the only source of genes for resistance to grassy stunt virus.

The world's rices are under-represented in IRRI's gene bank. Most of Irian Jaya, parts of southern Africa, are regions rich in wild rices that have yet to be 'discovered'.

But some scientists say storing seeds in IRRI's refrigerated bunker is not the answer. Frozen seeds do not adapt to a changing growing environment, and their natural evolution is frozen as well.

IRRI scientists argue that their germplasm collection is the only way to save species of rice with valuable genetic traits that would otherwise become extinct, and its collection is available to rice scientists everywhere.

Says IRRI's director, Klaus Lampe: ''Germplasm conservation and evaluation are internationally recognised global responsibilities of IRRI.''

Under the 3.2-million-dollar Swiss-funded project signed in Manila Wednesday, IRRI will develop appropriate methods for farmers themselves to conserve rice varieties and encourage the establishment of community seed banks.

IRRI scientists will help local farmer's groups to develop better seed storage and encourage farm-based conservation of rice germplasm.

Under another agreement signed with the Swiss government, IRRI will be engaged in a three-year project to improve rice research in Laos, the south-east Asian nation with the lowest per capita rice production.

Increasing population and falling production of the staple crop has meant that Laos has been importing up to 50,000 tons of rice per year for the last five years.

The project aims to increase rice productivity and reduce environmental degradation in areas of shifting cultivation. (END/IPS/KD/CB/94)

Origin: Manila/AGRICULTURE-ASIA/

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