National agricultural research groups in major rice producing countries of south-east Asia have formed a consortium under the patronage of the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to work for improving paddy productivity under unfavourable agro-climatic situations.
Research workers from India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam have joined this initiative called the Consortium for Unfavourable Rice Environments (CURE). These countries are facing similar kind of problems in rice cultivation.
The need for such a consortium was felt because the international funding for problem-solving research was drying up, making it necessary for the affected countries to poor their resources, according to IRRI