Public, private, and NGO-sector partnership for developing and promoting hybrid rice technology

There is no greater incentive for public, private, and NGO-sector partnership in agricultural research and development (RandD) than to together meet the enormous challenge posed by global food security, which will require that our limited global resources be used effectively to develop sustainable systems that also conserve natural resources. Comparative advantages of each sector are to be identified and harnessed for achieving the common goal of global food security. In agricultural systems around the world, the roles of the public and private sector and the relationship between them is changing. Recently, there has been a growing awareness, in both sectors, of significant benefits that can be derived from partnership. Investment by the public sector in agricultural RandD has been declining, whereas investment by the private sector has been increasing in both developed and developing countries. Concern is growing that the current level of investment, by both the public and private sector pooled together, may also be inadequate to ensure food security in the coming decade, thus highlighting the urgent need for partnership. In this article, several ways to establish effective partnership are outlined. The current status of hybrid rice in tropical Asian countries has been considered and the strength and level of involvement of the public, private, and NGO sectors have been described. The comparative advantages of these in the development and promotion of hybrid rice are enumarated. As a case study, the current status of partnership among these sectors in India is given. Finally, a model for establishing effective partnership for various activities among different sectors for developing and promoting hybrid rice in tropical Asian countries is proposed. The public sector, which has a comparative advantage in technology generation, can complement the expertise of the private sector in large-scale seed production and distribution and both sectors, along with NGOs, can jointly undertake technology transfer to develop and promote hybrid rice. IRRI can play an effective role in developing and implementing a detailed action plan for partnerships for the member countries under the IRRI/ADB project on hybrid rice.