In the past decade, rice output in Asia has increased by an average of 1% per annum, but to meet growing food demands and keep the price of rice affordable to the poor, annual yield increase has to be around 1.5%. A yield gap assessment for rice has shown that, in the major rice granaries of Asia, gaps between actual yield and attainable yield (defined as 80% of potential yield) is still considerable at some 2.5 t/ha. In Southeast Asia alone, closing this yield gap would increase total annual production by an estimated 75 million tons, providing additional food for some 625 million people. Increasing yields can be accomplished through further intensification, but needs to be done under increasing scarcity of resources (water, land, energy, labour), while minimizing the negative environmental consequences such as soil degradation, water pollution, overuse of pesticides, and greenhouse gas emissions. Irrigated rice systems, are the most productive rice production systems. SDC has been supporting Asia wide research networks in irrigated rice since 1988, focussing on aspects of ‘soil fertility’ and ‘integrated pest management’ in the early days. In 1997 the Irrigated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC) was created, and national extension/advisory services joined forces with researchers. IRRC developed practical and affordable technologies and practices for smallholders to ‘sustainably’ enhance their rice production. While the scope of work widened with time (e.g. postharvest), the underlying idea to enhance productivity of rice production systems by a more efficient use of resources (water, labour etc.) leading to a reduced ‘ecological footprint’, remained the same. IRRC technologies such as Site-Specific Nutrient Management, Alternate Wetting and Drying, direct seeding, improved post harvest practices, and ecologically-based pest management are meanwhile used by thousands of smallholder farmers in Asia. They are very successful when applied individually. National partners started to package individual practices into integrated management systems and campaigns in Vietnam, Indonesia, and China. These programs are quite successful at a pilot level but are difficult to scale out since component technologies, when combined may positively or adversely influence each other. So far, no underlying systematic process of integration of component practices exists. The objective of the entry proposal is the support of SDC to IRRI and its partners in developing science-based, quantitative tools and participatory methods to i) generate evidence, and ii) optimize ‘integrated sustainable rice production systems’ in order to close rice yield gaps and improve food security for hundreds of thousands people in Asia, while minimizing the environmental footprint of rice production. Learning alliances among farmers, researchers, and extension staff from both the public and the private sector can play a powerful role in this process. This program has a strong applied agriculture research (production system optimization) for & and development (outscaling) component, and builds on SDC’s investment in IRRC that will end by December 2012. It addresses the next ‘growth’ step by specifically supporting the NARES of five major granaries in Asia (Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, China, and Myanmar) in optimizing their respective rice production systems with the targeted integration of rice management practices, and out-scaling of sustainable production systems. Increased rice yields, reduced costs of production, and reduced environmental impacts in the major rice granaries will enhance regional and global food security while at the same time alleviate poverty and protect the environment.

As this is a contribution, no tender is foreseen.