05 November, 2012

Bill Gates’s Foundation Funds Research for the “Rice of the Future”

IMG_1652Just read an article on Business Mirror that "the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), the British government and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) have allocated $14 million to fund the second phase of research for C4 rice over the next three years".

C4 rice is called “the rice of the future” because it supposedly has “improved photosynthesis capacity”. It has a built-in fuel injector that can make 50 percent higher grain production while using less water and nutrients.

The big question is, will C4 benefit our country’s agriculture? Why does our country still import rice from our Asian neighbors? IRRI is housed under our roof, shouldn’t we benefit from their research findings as well?

I don’t exactly know the agreement between our government and IRRI, but our agriculture sector will definitely benefit from IRRI’s research findings.

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