Rice ecosystems analysis for research prioritization

The prioritization of rice research among environments relies on reasonably useful and accurate information on what those environments are, how much rice area there is and how production is distributed among them. To date therice resource allocation debate has been limited to relatively broad ecosystem distinctions, i.e. irrigated, rained lowland, upland and deep-water (Barker and 1-lerdi, 1 982; Herdt et al., 1987). Consequently, data pertinent only to fairly general classes has been much used. Detailed rice environmental datasets, with their inevitably more complex nature, have not been much employed. There has been progress during the past decade in developing agro-ecologiacal classifications at continental and national scales (Higgins et al., 1987). In the rice world, a broadly applicable international ecosystems classifications was derived (IRRI, 1984). Geographic dababases and maps have been developed that are more or less consistent with these classes ( e.g Huke, 1982; Garrity et sl . I986; Jone and Garrity, 1986). Likewise, at the national level, massive agroecological classification efforts have been completed in several Asian countries, as in Bangladesh (FAO, 1988) and India. But the deployment of these classifications, and their rich datasets, in research prioritization analysis has been very limited.Analyses at broad levels will continue to be needed, since major issues in research allocation are unresolved even at these levels. But as the formal tools of research prioritization are trained upon the rice sub-ecosystems, and the geographic scales of analysis are refined for national, regional and local levels, the need for the products of detailed ecosystems analysis is becoming more apparent.

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