Direct Seeded Rice Consortium

Partnerships for the future of rice production

The Direct Seeded Rice Consortium (DSRC) is a public-private multi-stakeholder research for development platform on direct seeded rice (DSR), convened by the International Rice Research Institute in 2017 and with members across Asia and the Pacific.

DSRC is a collaborative effort of public and private organizations to improve the environmental and socioeconomic sustainability of rice production systems by developing and optimizing innovations, practices, and methodologies to facilitate wide-scale adoption of mechanized and precise DSR in Asia and Africa.

Goals

Improve the environmental and socioeconomic sustainability of rice production systems in Asia and Africa by developing comprehensive, science-based agronomic packages adapted to drivers of agricultural change
Catalyze widespread adoption of improved mechanized and precise DSR practices through public and private partnerships

Objectives

Develop robust mechanized DSR systems with low seeding rates to enable farmers to use high-quality inbred or hybrids in DSR systems
Develop precise weed, water, and nutrient management practices including ICT-based decision tools
Reduce risks by combining agronomic and breeding solutions, crop modeling, and GIS approaches by proper targeting
Identify elite varieties suited for DSR
Assess the long-term performance of DSR-based systems for long-term sustainability
Support and strengthen the service economy of scaleable mechanization and precision agriculture technologies (e.g. an unmanned aerial vehicle/drone technologies)
Promote capacity development and knowledge sharing
Catalyze widespread adoption of mechanized and precise DSR