World's largest rice congress to be held in October

Gathering over 1,000 delegates

This is the sixth edition of the International Rice Congress, which is slated to take place on October 16-19. It is also the first time that the world's largest event of rice to be held in the Philippines, where IRRI headquarter locates. 

This year’s IRC will revolve around the theme “Accelerating Transformation of Rice-Based Food Systems: From Gene to Globe” to highlight solutions and innovations that could help address critical issues on agriculture and climate change, food and nutrition security, environmental sustainability, and human and economic development.

The congress will bring together the world's leading experts in agriculture and related fields such as research and development, academia, and civil society to network with individuals and organizations and harness each other’s potential and find areas of collaboration.

During the last Congress, around 1,500 delegates from 64 countries participated, including high-level representatives from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Programme, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, governments of India, Uganda and Singapore, Bayer Crop Science, Oxfam, and Corteva Agriscience. The event also featured over 300 poster presentations and at least 400 research presentations of different studies across the globe.

The event will also see the attendance of representatives of governments of countries such as India, Uganda, Singapore, etc. It will more than 300 presentations and at least 400 research reports from around the world.

According to an IRRI representative, the 2023 event will uphold an equivalent or even larger scale than previous editions. In addition to high-level working sessions, the conference also has many side events between organizations and on many topics.

For the part of the Vietnamese delegation, leaders of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, former MARD Minister Cao Duc Phat, IRRI's Chairman of the Board of Trustees as well as representatives from related departments and businesses are expected to attend the event. 

On behalf of the Organizing board, IRRI Director General Jean Balié expressed his excitment to showcase cutting-edge technology, and breakthrough studies, and innovations from different parts of the world during IRC 2023. 

"We would like to emphasize the urgency to focus the discussions on how to provide holistic science-based solutions to the combined impacts of climate extremes, looming rice crisis, conflict, and economic shocks to the rice value chain. We look forward to meeting long-time partners and collaborators as well as new players in the agri-food, climate change, and nutrition sector and learn from each other", he said. 

As the host country of this year's congress, Philippine DA Undersecretary for Rice Industry Development, Leocadio Sebastian highlighted the role of rice. This is one of the priority areas of the Philippine Government to achieve the goal of food self-sufficiency and improve the lives of Filipino farmers.

“Rice is one of the priority areas of the Philippine government to achieve food self-sufficiency and improve the lives of Filipino farmers. The IRC 2023 is an excellent opportunity to speed up the discovery, development, and implementation of genetic, digital, and nature-based solutions to respond to the numerous challenges that the rice sector faces,” said the DA Undersecretary for Rice Industry Development, Leocadio Sebastian. 

Strategic cooperation between IRRI and Vietnam Agriculture News

To amplify and promote the sharing of experience in rice production in a real situation of Vietnam, IRRI paid a visit and met with Vietnam Agriculture News representatives on June 6. 

The English edition of Vietnam Agriculture News (vietnamagriculture.nongnghiep.vn) has received high praise from Ms. Ruby Shaira Panela, who serves as the Specialist of Media Relations and Social Influence at IRRI. She highly values the articles that have been published on the platform. The articles were shared on IRRI's social media platforms and received a significant amount of views and engagement. 

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) was impressed with the production organization, coordination, and press corporates of Vietnam Agriculture News during the Global Conference on Sustainable Food Systems held in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) in April. 

Ms. Panela expressed her anticipation for the Vietnam Agriculture Newspaper's involvement in the Congress, stating that they hope for the newspaper to become a strategic partner and collaborate with IRRI in producing comprehensive articles on the various events. 

The International Rice Congress has been serving as a platform for scientists, experts, as well as Government and industry commanders. The event has garnered significant attention from private sector entities, cooperatives, and individuals alike, all seeking to collaborate and devise innovative solutions for rice farming in the current landscape.

Vietnam, a prominent rice exporting nation, has consistently shared its expertise on accomplishing a prosperous food system transformation. The country once faced a shortage of food supplies and had to import food from other countries in the 1980s has made significant strides and undergone rapid transformation in just over 30 years of doi moi.

Vice Editor-in-Chief Tran Van Cao has expressed his happiness in accepting the invitation extended by IRRI. He committed that the newspaper would collaborate closely with others, with a focus on sharing and co-creation, in order to promote the well-being of farmers and the sustainable growth of the rice industry.

The Deputy Editor-in-Chief has stated that the Vietnam Agriculture Newspaper will provide prompt, comprehensive, and precise updates on the forthcoming rice congress across all its available platforms, including printed newspapers, online, English, television, and radio versions. 

According to Mr. Tran Van Cao, rice is a crucial food source for over 50% of the world's population and a valuable commodity for farmers. He believes that the upcoming congress presents a chance for all stakeholders to unite and motivate each other toward a sustainable future.

IRRI is dedicated to abolishing poverty and hunger among people and populations that depend on rice-based agri-food systems. Through our work and partnerships, we aim to improve the health and welfare of rice farmers and consumers; promote environmental sustainability in a world challenged by climate change; and support the empowerment of women and the youth in the rice industry.

IRRI is a member of CGIAR, the world’s largest agricultural research partnership dedicated to a food-secure future. Previous IRC were held in Beijing (2002), New Delhi (2006), Hanoi (2010), Bangkok (2014), and Singapore (2018).