Contributors to the digital version of "Stem Borers of Rice":

We would like to acknowledge the following persons who have contributed in updating the Stem Borers of Rice module:

Eric Azucena, Albert Barrion, Tom Clemeno, Michael Cohen, Oscar Garcia, K.L. Heong, Gary Jahn, Paul Marcotte, Lorenzo Ocampo, Madeline Quiamco, Benjie Nunez, Irvin Panganiban, Adonna Robles, Roger T. Rosales, Jonathan Woods, and Gina Zarsadias.

We are also grateful to the original writers of the module.  

Some pictures were taken from

 For comments and suggestions, please contact:

The Training Center
International Rice Research Institute
DAPO 7777,  Metro Manila, Philippines
Email: inquiry@irri.exch.cgiar.org
Fax: (63-2) 891 1292
Tel #: (63-2) 845 0563; 844 3351 to 53

Background Information

Rice Production was IRRI’s first group training course. Its initial offering was at IRRI headquarters in Los Baños, Philippines in 1964 for a group of young Filipino scientists. In 1967, the course went international and attracted rice scientists from throughout Asia. The course was conducted annually at IRRI until 1992 when the Rice Research Institute, Department of Agriculture, Thailand, accepted responsibility for a research-oriented version of the course.

One of the major accomplishments of the course was the quantity, quality and variety of training materials developed to support it. A key set of materials was a series of 17 self-learning slide-tape modules on various aspects of rice production. These included:

Morphology of the rice plant
Growth stages of the rice plant
Rice races, plant types, and varietal improvement
Land preparation
Methods of growing rice
Soil fertility
Fertilizer materials
Fertilizer calculation
Fertilizer use and management
Weed identification in lowland rice
Weed identification in upland rice
Methods of weed control
Stem borers of rice
Identification of leafhoppers and planthoppers
Methods of controlling leafhoppers
Identification and biology of rats
Methods of rat control

Unfortunately, by the mid-1990’s the slide-tape format was obsolete. Additionally, much had been learned about all the topics and the modules were badly in need of a content revision as well. Thus, in 1999, the process of updating and converting these learning modules to a digital format was begun.